章 1546: 8
Chapter 8: Brooms, Duels and three-headed dogsNotes:
Hello everyone,
there you go, next chapter. This week a few things that needed to be done before Halloween.
Once again thanks for all the feedback, you all are amazing
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Just a few days after the whole potions incident it was time for their first flying lesson. Harry did want to get into the quidditch team again, but without Neville having and needing the remebrall he wasn't sure how to do that.
Once both the lions and the snakes were assembled and Madame Hooch appeared, they all started to try to "up" their broom. Having practised in the summer, Harry and Mione did it flawlessly. Even Neville only needed a few tries and this time was almost certainly not in danger of accidentally flying away and crashing down. This time around it was Seamus.
Harry wasn't sure if it had been either the timeline trying to stay the same or his reaper helping him out, which led to the scenario which would bring him back into the quidditch team. Either way, once Seamus had broken his wrist after crashing with a rouge broom and had been taken away by Hooch, Malfoy again started to make trouble. After joking about Seamus' inability to use a broom he then suddenly saw Trevor, Neville's toad, hopping around in front of him.
Oh no, please don't do what I think you're about to do was all that Harry could think. But Draco, the little ferret, couldn't resist. He grabbed Trevor and jumped on a broom, levitating about three feet above the ground.
"That's your toad, Longbottom, isn't it? Wanna come and get it, you squib?"
With that he continued to rise, the croaking toad still in his hand. Neville was about to jump on his broom, when Mione held him back, reminding him that Harry was the better flyer as they had found out in the holidays. And it was so true, because when Hermione was talking Nev down, Harry was already grabbing the next-best Cleansweep broom and followed Draco. And while the blonde Slytherin surely had some experience on a broom, Harry was a prodigy when it came to flying. In addition to that he had seven years of experience and had had a broom encounter with a Hungarian Horntail. Right now, Harry was sure of it, he could easily outmanoeuvre Viktor Krum. Which meant that little Draco Malfoy here was anything but a challenge.
Hermione saw that Harry was playing with Draco, always cutting off the path for the blonde ferret. But he didn't come close to him, not wanting to endanger the boy by ripping the toad out of his hands. After having sent a Patronus message to Minerva, with a notice-me-not obviously, though unnecessary thanks to Harry's breathtaking flying skills that caught everyone's attention, she decided to hex Malfoy into dropping Trevor so Harry could catch him. Despite the fact that he deserved so much worse than that she just went for a mild stinging jinx into the lower back that hit precisely. After the DA training and their horcrux hunt her aim was pretty good.
Harry saw the hex coming, but Draco didn't. He squealed and dropped Trevor right away, making Harry go into a fast dive as if he had seen the snitch. Comfortably, with quite some distance to the ground he caught the toad and landed skillfully in front of Neville, handing him the toad while he saw Minerva fast approaching.
"Mr Malfoy. Come down right now!"
Harry had to admit, the only two voices that were more frightening than an upset Minerva were Riddle and Snape, which made her voice quite terrifying. And it did work, because Malfoy landed as fast as possible, though not as skillfully as Harry before and nearly crashed down thanks to being nervous. His first words after getting up from the ground were his lousy attempts at justifying his flying and making Harry look guilty. Luckily the head of House Gryffindor had seen most of the incident herself and interrupted Draco before he could continue his slanders.
"Silence, Mr Malfoy. Don't think your lies can fool me, I've seen it all from my office window. That'll be twenty points from Slytherin for endangering someone else's familiar and disobeying a teacher's order, as well as a detention with Mr Filch. Mr Potter, the point loss for recklessness and the points for courage and helping a friend negate each other, but would you be so kind and follow me now?"
Other than last time Draco wasn't snickering and during when he was just leaving Neville came up to him and thanked him, not as a friend but as the Heir Longbottom to the Heir (yes, both know he was Lord but they still didn't want that secret to get out) Potter. That clearly signalled the purebloods in attendance that despite his apparent lack of knowledge about the wizarding world and his heritage, Harry was still recognised as Heir of his house by at least one ancient and most noble family. That was one hell of a statement to make by Nev, now truly showing his Gryffindor side.
"So, professor, are you now gonna fetch Oliver Wood from Flitwick's charms class to tell him you found him a seeker?"
Minnie laughed and nodded, again telling how much she wanted the cup again in her office. And despite having seen some flashes of Harry's memories from quidditch games, seeing his skill live in action was something entirely different. Neither Charlie Weasley nor James Potter had ever delivered a move like that, and especially not in such a young age (at least physical age). It didn't matter to her that he would be the youngest player in well over a century, she was simply an ambitious woman and would bend the rules to fit her agenda. But first she'd have to tell Wood the news.
Oliver Wood became the righteous new captain this year, since he was undoubtedly the best keeper Hogwarts had ever seen and Puddlemere had already made its offer for when he finished his NEWTs if he kept up his talent. She had to admit, she was proud of him.
"Filius, would you be so kind and let me borrow Mr Wood for the rest of your lesson? I need him in regards to some house business."
A bit confused, Wood left class, not only because he felt the aftermath of Percy Weasley's confundus charm, which they were currently studying, but also because he was surprised. What could his head of house possibly want? And then she said the last thing he expected her to say:
"Wood, I found you a new Seeker."
That left him stunned. Since Charlie left they were pretty much done, no good seeker was found in Gryffindor house. And now she came to him, smiling like he had never seen her before, and telling him that young Harry Potter would be his new seeker.
"You won't believe it without having seen it yourself, but after another student had stolen Mr Longbottom's toad and lifted off he followed, pulling manoeuvres like professional players and catching the falling toad in a fifty feet dive without any scratch on himself. And his landing… he'll even be a better player than his father before him."
Eventually Minnie left, having to go to class while Oliver went to the Quidditch pitch with Harry, teaching him the basic elements of the game - again. This time around he didn't wait for Harry to get his broom though, he was way too interested now. Afterwards they did a bit of flying, which left Oliver stunned all over again (because of Harry's talent, not again thanks to some spell, though he was pushing Harry so much that the young first-year considered to stupefy him. But officially he didn't know that spell so…not possible).
Oliver went back into the common rooms after quite an interesting training session with his new seeker, having to tell that to his teammates. This year, this quidditch season was not only going to be fun, but most likely very successful. Now they only had to get Potter a broom. If he could really convince McGonagall into buying one from the house funds…so many possibilities.
Sometimes - no, actually most of the time - being a time traveller had its perks. At dinner Harry was again reminded of that, when Ron and the Weasley twins came up to him, the youngest redhead starting with the whole " youngest player in over a century" while the twins were just happy about a new seeker. But what was more interesting than that was Malfoy. This time he couldn't come up to Harry, basically asking him when he had to leave after the broom incident, but had heard the ferret planning to challenge him to a duel. This time around it was only due to wanting revenge.
"Potter! You will pay for what you've done!"
"Oh come on Malfoy, you stole Nev's toad and I just hunted you down and flew way better than you. You're just jealous."
Obviously Draco didn't take that statement very well and would have raised his wand if there would not have been teachers around. Instead he leaned forward and whispered:
"You, me, wizard's duel. I challenge you. Trophy room at midnight, that one's never locked, just wands, no contact."
Harry shook his head, such a challenge he wouldn't accept. Though he did overhear Malfoy talking about some dark spells he knew, last time he had been a no-show.
"If, then public in the great hall, and now, otherwise I'll decline. For a proper duel of satisfaction we need a judge and a duelling platform."
"Oh, you're chickening out? Don't be boring, Potter and name your second."
Once the ferret had said that, Ronald Weasley jumped up and proclaimed himself Harry's second. Obviously, that was not something he wanted.
"Stop it Weasley! If that duel were to take place I'd always choose Neville here as my second, because House Potter and House Longbottom have been allies for centuries. Now sit down and don't embarrass your family further."
Ronald Weasley couldn't believe it. Harry Potter had the chance to fight in a proper duel against that bigoted idiot Malfoy and he refused. Apparently he didn't have the Gryffindor courage like Dumbledore had always told him. Lately he realised that Harry Potter was completely different than what the headmaster had promised. Lonely, magically weak, no friends and so much more. Nothing of that was true and so he didn't have a chance in becoming Harry's friend, not with the plans his mother and Dumbledore had made. He even tried to get friendly with the other houses' students when they had joined the Gryffindor table, but chatting with a snake… That was too much to ask from him, no matter how much gold and fame he'd get as the best mate of the boy-who-lived. There should be something he could do to get closer to Harry, but what that was he didn't know.
All those thoughts led Ron Weasley to do something that neither he nor anyone else had ever expected from him: to make a plan.
As soon as it was after curfew and all his roommates were asleep, Ronald Weasley snuck out of the dorms and into the common room. Luckily no one else was down there at that time of night so without any problems he left, ignoring the complaints of the fat lady. He made his way down to the trophy room to confront Malfoy in Potter's stead to defend his honour. Afterwards there was no chance that they wouldn't become friends.
What had led to that absurd theory was the fact that Bill Weasley once told him that a second would not only fight after the dueller had died but could also fight in the dueller's stead. And since he openly proclaimed himself Potter's second (hoping that Malfoy, who had already left when Harry had scolded Ron, hadn't heard that he made that stupid Longbottom kid his second), Malfoy would hopefully fight him.
Thankfully Ronald Weasley's absence was noticed by Harry, obviously not really asleep since he had expected something like that, who hurried down into the common room just minutes after the redhead had left. He grabbed his own Marauder's Map and murmured the correct words to alert Hermione, or to be precise the charm on the necklace he had given her. It was one of his father's "inventions" with the help of the Potter grimoire to alert his wife in case of emergency.
While Harry waited, he realised that he had actually forgotten to tell Mione about that charm, hoping that she'd still understand the message. For a second he already hoped that she was coming down to meet him when he heard footsteps but against all odds it had been the Weasley twins, holding their own Map.
"Oh look at that, Fred. Little Harry down here all alone."
"Hello Harry. What are you doing here around that time of night?"
Oh no. Either they were up to something or they had seen Ron leaving the common room with their map. That was not ideal, especially because when following Ron they might stumble across wormtail on the map. He couldn't allow that to happen. So there was only one thing to do: take their map.
"Okay guys, let's cut that short please. And no twin-speak. Please tell me you have the Marauder's Map and you're on your way to follow your younger brother."
That actually left the twins speechless. No one else knew of the map, not even Lee. And how did Harry know that they were following Ron? But their line of thought was interrupted by another voice, Hermione had finally arrived.
"Harry! The next time you give me something that is charmed please tell me. I don't want to end up with a heart attack. Oh, Fred, George. What are you doing here?"
Now the pranksters were officially confused. What was going on here?
It was George, who finally spoke up after nearly a minute of silence and staring at each other.
"How…how do you know of the map? Have you ever heard of the marauders?"
Both nodded and Harry asked to see the map, wanting to know whose it was and hopefully find a good reason to keep it. After a bit of hesitation, they surrendered the piece of parchment, which Harry placed on one of the tables in the common room. He tapped it with his wand and spoke:
"Mr Prongslet solemnly swears that he's up to no good."
The Messrs. Moony, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to see that Mr Prongslet has found his way to Hogwarts. How may we be of help?
"Would you be so kind and show me whose map that is?
Mr Padfoot greets his Mr Prongslet and is happy that he has found his map. There is no one more deserving of it than him.
Harry smiled. It was Sirius' map, which meant he could argue with a legal claim to take it from the twins.
"What…"
"…was…"
"...that?"
"Guys, I know you probably love the map, but don't tell me you still need it for the passages. My dad was one of the marauders and that map belonged to my godfather. It's mine by birthright and means a lot to me. And despite the fact that I have my father's, I want Mione to have that one. How about a deal: you can borrow it from time to time and I try to introduce you to as many marauders as possible. Only Prongs, my dad, is dead, the others are still alive. I know their names."
Usually the twins would have debated with Harry and discussed his offer for days, but they still wanted to follow Ron, so after a brief exchange of words they turned over the map. Yes, they did know it quite well and meeting even just one marauder…that would be a dream come true.
So now Mione had her own map, and then they left together to get Ron. On the way the bushy-haired genius checked for Pettigrew and obviously he was visible on the map and in the first year boys dormitory like Harry had told her. He said his tracking spell was perfect.
They had previously discussed why the twins had never seen Peter on the map, and the rat had either been lucky or the twins had never bothered to look at the other boys' dormitories for it would have been strange to watch Percy or afterwards Ron in their bedrooms. Still, too big a risk to take. They had needed to get a hold of the map.
Since the four of them had spent longer than planned in the common room it was already past midnight when they reached the trophy room. Obviously Draco had never shown, apparently the chance of Harry actually showing had been too low for him. That also meant that Ronald was long gone, and a brief glimpse on the map did confirm that.
Ronald Weasley was furious. As soon as he had reached the trophy room he had waited for Malfoy to show. Shortly after it was midnight he finally accepted that there never was a duel planned, and instead it had been a trap. That conclusion was supported by the fact that he was able to hear Filch and his stupid cat coming closer.
"That blonde bastard. He told Filch. Damn."
Since he obviously didn't want to get caught, he ran. He didn't know where he was going but the main thing was to get away as far as possible. Not that that was an easy task. Locked doors and that stupid Peeves were quite a hindrance. But eventually he was able to escape them all. Now all he needed to do was figure out where exactly he was. Then he heard someone else talking, quiet voices coming closer.
"He should be right there, down that corridor around the corner. Why did that idiot have to run into the off-limits corridor? I really hope that the headmaster was joking with his whole "painful death"-speech."
It took him a second to recognise but it was without a doubt the stupid know-it-all Granger, Potter's best friend. And was that one of the twins replying to her?
Just a few seconds later he bumped into the four students on the lookout for him, who had anything but friendly words for him and his actions. His stupid defenses were basically torn apart and Fred and George were close to punching their idiot brother (no, not Percy this time). But they all held back, simply because Filch was still around and after all that trouble they just went through they didn't want to get caught.
Despite the fact that Hermione had tried to stay as far away from the "Fluffy-Corridor" as they called it, in the end their way led them there, because the stupid poltergeist was blocking their way back. And even though both Harry and Mione walked past the locked door, Fred saw an opportunity to sneak into there and hide. Before the two could react, the three redheads were already gone.
"Why did he open that door? What an idiot…no, a whole bunch of idiots. Come on Harry, we don't want them to get eaten."
They rushed in, just as the screams began. No Weasley had been stupid enough (hard to believe, yes) to get close to Fluffy but a three-headed dog was still quite a terrifying sight. Just as fast as the three had entered that corridor they ran out again, but not without Harry and Hermione hitting them all with a confundus charm to make them forget the trapdoor underneath the creature.
Luckily by now Peeves was gone and so they made their way back into the Gryffindor common room, where Mione berated Ronald about his complete stupidity and recklessness, before then deciding that it was already getting late.
"So, after that whole mess, I'm going to bed now, if you don't mind. We could have been killed."
Harry couldn't resist doing another inside joke and said:
"...or worse, expelled. Isn't that true, Mione?"
Already laughing, he tried to run away, but she was faster. Mione playfully punched him on the shoulder, giving him her best attempt at an evil stare for less than five seconds, before she as well burst out laughing.
"Prat! You're a stupid Prat, Harry James Potter."
The next morning they were once again able to see Draco's disappointment when they were all well, laughing and not expelled.
Well, who was not laughing was Ronald Weasley, simply because neither the twins nor Harry were really on speaking terms with him. The stupid Granger girl wasn't as well to be precise, but he actually preferred that. Stupid know-it-all. He would have to write to his mother soon, she surely would have some ideas to help him out.
On the next Monday Harry received a package at breakfast, and quite a big one. Obviously it was a broom, but he was confused. The last time it had been days later when he got his Nimbus, why would that change? But once he read the note on it, he understood.
Lord Potter,
You have done a great service to the Heir of House Longbottom in saving his familiar with an action that was described to me as dangerous. After my grandson had written to me about said incident I reached out to your head of house and asked her if I could do anything for you. Apparently Professor McGongall was going to buy you a broom with the house funds, but to repay the debt we owe you after saving Heir Longbottom's familiar I insisted on doing that myself. Despite the fact that we are allied, I also insist that you accept that gift.
Sincerely,
Regent Apparent Longbottom
A smaller, less formal note was included as well:
Harry,
Thank you. And please, stop doing such crazy things. Minerva said you would become the best seeker for Gryffindor, so take that broom and win the cup. I'm happy to hear that you all are doing quite well at school, keep that up and don't forget to write to me too from time to time. Don't get into trouble and try staying away from the headmaster.
I hope that we can host you and your friend Hermione at our Manor in the summer so you can tell me all the tales from your first year.
Love,
Augusta
The elderly woman had apparently decided to take the role as his grandmother since Alice had been his godmother, next to Sirius and with Remus as unofficial third one (a third one because of the ongoing war as "backup" and only unofficial because of the laws regarding werewolves) and he could have been raised at Longbottom Manor alongside Neville if things had gone better.
Now, with his new Nimbus 2000 he hurried up into the common rooms, accompanied by Hermione and a smirking Neville who had apparently known about it all along. As expected Malfoy and his goons stopped him and tried to take the broom while laughing about the certainly upcoming expulsion. And again, Flitwick saved them, leaving a furious Draco behind.
The upcoming training session with Wood this evening was nothing special, since they had already trained once. But this time Harry could show off his new Nimbus, making Wood the happiest quidditch captain at Hogwarts.
The only other important event at Hogwarts this week was Hermione's birthday. Last time he didn't know but this time he did, and he had bought her something. Well, to be precise he asked Emma and Dan for permission and then Minnie went and bought it for him at Diagon Alley.
It was damn early when Harry and Minnie met in the common room, so she could hand him the present. Together they waited for Mione to show up, and when she finally came down she smiled brightly. Usually it would be her giving out bone-crushing hugs but this time it was Harry who initiated the hug, nearly knocking her over and whispering her a "happy birthday" in her ear. For that he even got a little kiss on the cheek, which made both of them blush. Before he could hand her his gift she walked over to Minne, who congratulated her, and thanked her for everything - with a hug. Minerva wasn't sure when a student had hugged her the last time, but she really appreciated the gesture and smiled. Those two were simply something special.
And then it was finally time for presents. Mione wanted to begin with Harry's but he shook his head.
"The big surprise comes after Minerva's present. Come on, go ahead."
Minnie had gifted her an old wand holster, one that she had gotten after finishing auror training. She commented with "you'll need something like that, we all know of the upcoming dangers and battles. It's dragon skin and enchanted, resistant to magic and will protect your wand."
Some might think it would be hard to top that, but Harry handed her a big basket that started shaking and meowing as soon as she took it.
"No! Are you absolutely insane? Oh my god, that you Harry. Hello crookshanks, how are you, little fellow?"
All three of them smiled, even Minerva now knew what the cat had meant to Hermione after Harry had told her. For that she even made that little trip to Diagon Alley, something she had never thought she'd do for a student. And she didn't regret it.
Obviously, this time around having gotten to know more people, Hermione did get more presents. Neville and his gran gave her an old book about wizarding families, Daphne one on pure-blood traditions (they all shared the opinion that this should be taught, this only created disadvantages for the muggleborns and thereby loss of traditions) and even a box of chocolates from the Patil twins. Something that would have been unimaginable in the previous timeline. They did improve something.
That thought made Hermione smile.
Notes:
Well, that's it for today, hope you liked it.
As usual, please share your thoughts in the comments.
See ya all next week
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット