Chapter 8: Chapter 8
My fame didn't seem to go down, my actions seem to only add to my already inflated fame. In an alternate reality, I would have been in the library racking my brain about Nicholas Flamel and the Philosopher's stone. Just a massive waste of mine and the other two's time and energy.
A week later we had played against the Hufflepuffs and crushed them with an overwhelming 270 point lead but Alicia got pretty banged up when she accidentally crashed into the Hufflepuff Seeker- Cedric Diggory and both were sent to the hospital wing. We had to play with only 6 players, but them having no proper seeker gave us a massive advantage which led to our victory.
Although at the middle of the game my broom started bucking wildly as I heard the crowd gasp as I was dangling from my broom. Fred came quickly to help me and I gratefully took his help and got on the broom, Wood called the team to surround me after I shouted in the middle riding a bucking broom, "SOMEONE'S BEWITCHING MY BROOM. FORM UP! FORM UP! FORM UP!"
Half a moment later I was surrounded by my teammates and the bucking had stopped. I turned to the others, "I think Snape is cursing me. Look. he is muttering something. We need to do something and going to the teacher's would be a waste, he could easily deny it." Fred and Gearge gave a huge smile and said, "Leave that to us Harry. You go catch the Snitch." Fred turned to George, "Bludgers are very tricky to handle aren't they George?" George nodded with a devilish grin, "Shame, if it hit someone in the stands...."
I knew it was actually Quirrel, but who would believe that the stuttering fool could do something so heinous? After that Bludgers started to mysteriously fly towards the teacher's stands and for the rest of the game I did not have any kind of problem. But the whole school had noticed it and there were many rumors that had spread like wildfire. With some discretion, Lee had spread a false rumor that it was Draco Malfoy as he is the person with the biggest grudge.
November was pretty uneventful except for the Quidditch matches. Since Cedric was still in the Hospital Wing, Hufflepuff lost against Ravenclaw, who lost against us. Slytherin lost against Hufflepuff but won against Ravenclaw. December came by and it started snowing heavily, the grounds were covered with a few feet of snow and the Lake was frozen solid. I went skating with Hermione and a few muggleborns who seemed to enjoy skating. Cold made the Dugeons unbearable, making our breath come out in frosty clouds ergo making Snape even more irritable than before.
And just like that, Christmas Eve had arrived. A week before Professor McGonagall had brought a form asking for signatures of the students who were staying back for the Christmas Holidays. I was the first one to sign followed by The Weasleys. They had to stay back because Mr & Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were visiting Charlie in Romania.
I woke up to an excitable Ron who was shaking me awake, "Wake up Harry! It's Christmas eve! We got presents!" I quickly dressed and slid down the stairs to the common room where a pile of presents waiting to be unwrapped. Looking at the presents sent to my name made my heart tighten a little as a lump formed in my throat. I know they are just presents and I'm being materialistic, but it's these little acts of kindness that can truly be called "Magical".
I sat down with Ron and the twins and the first one I unwrapped was from Petunia and Vernon: A fifty pence coin. I just gave it to Ron who seemed fascinated by it. The second present was a whistle personally handcrafted by Hagrid, which when blown made an owl like sound which actually brought Hedwig to my window sill. After a few treats and scratches I let her take off.
The next one was a lumpy package covered with brown wrapping sheet, Ron and the twins also got one each. Inside was a emerald green Jumper with a large 'H' on the front. I wore it over my shirt as Ron also wore his albeit reluctantly and after getting bullied by the twins to wear it, a maroon jumper with a large 'R' on the front. The twins both got blue Jumpers with a 'F' and 'G' respectively and promptly exchanged theirs just to confuse the fell out of people and especially their mother.
Hermione got us both a box of chocolate frogs. They must have set aside their differences after the troll incident. I had previously sent her the charms book for Dummies with my own notes and understanding to her. I don't know how much help it would be but it was all I could at the moment.
The last one was a neatly wrapped soft parcel with a letter attached to it. Ron finished opening all his presents and came by to me in curiosity. "What's that Harry?" I just shrugged, "Beats me." but I knew exactly what it was and where it came from. Ron read the letter out, "Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. A very Merry Christmas to you."
Percy had just come in with a jumper of his own the twins forced it on him and frog-marched him out of the common room, singing and making catchy phrases teasing the bespectacled Prefect Weasley.
I tore the package open and out fell a shiny silvery cloth that felt fluid to the touch. "Wow! I know what thas is! That's an Invisibility Cloak. That's extremely rare and I would give anything to have one!" Ron said with shining eyes.
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Christmas Dinner. Never in all my days have I seen a feast so, so, so.... just wow! There must be almost a Hundred roast turkeys, roast potatoes and buttered peas, Gravy boats filled with rich thick gravy and cranberry sauce and many many more. The most interesting thing was the crackers. These crackers went of with a cannon blast everytime someone pulled at it with someone and they got a gift. My neighbors from the other houses had to take all the crackers from my vicinity when the air was filled with cannon shots (courtesy of the twins and myself) and they couldn't take no more. And this was only the first course.
The next course was the dessert. Ice-cream, treacle tart which was my favorite and flaming pudding. It was literally on flames. Although they were magic, edible flames which were completely harmless. Percy unexpectedly almost broke a tooth when he found a silver Sickle in his slice of Pudding. Seeing this Ron started eating the pudding ferociously but sadly for him, he did not even find a single Knut.
I had to burp a few times to settle my stomach and get the air out of my stomach so that I didn't feel so full and bloated.
The next day after a hearty breakfast we picked up our brooms and played a game of "Flying-snowball-fight-tag" in the Quidditch pitch with a few of the other house students. We initially had set rules, but it devolved into a game of just trying to hit another flyer with snowballs. It was utter chaos and the most fun I had in this holiday.
After burning off the food in our bellies we trudged back to the castle to have some more food- lunch. After having my fill I was about to go to the Gryffindor dorms when Professor McGonagall had come up to the table, "Potter, you are wanted in the Headmaster's office. And do make haste, would you? The password is 'Sugar-Quills'."
After a few minutes I found myself up the familiar staircase, in front of Dumbledore's office. I was about to knock when a voice called, "Come in." Tch.... what a fucking show-off, I thought. I opened the door to Dumbledore's office. Inside was an assortment of devices and magical-gadgets that do who knows what. I read in one fanfic that these were all instruments that were used to monitor me.
Might be true, but sounds rather ridiculous. The amount of devices here could probably monitor the whole castle with the Forbidden forest included, it's funny to think it was all just for lil' old me.
After my brief distraction, I refocused back to Dumbledore who was sitting opposite another person with long black hair that reached their shoulder. I immediately knew who he was, "Doggy." I said absentmidedly, a distant memory triggered, a day before Voldemort came knocking ten years ago. The handsome-looking man leapt from his chair, "Harry! You remember!" he scooped me into a big hug and started sobbing, "I'm so sorry Harry... I failed you... I failed James... I... I.."
I had to console him to stop crying and calm him down when Dumbledore came up to us with his signature kind smile, "It seems you remember dear old Sirius. I'm surprised you remember something when you were but a child of one year old, my boy." I nodded giving a hug back to Sirius, "I remember everything. It started on my Eleventh birthday. I started remembering everything that happened in my life for the next few days. Even after that, whatever I read or see or witness, I never forget."
"My my... A natural Occlumence. A very rare occurrence but not unheard of. And it does explain your letter you sent us before term started when you were with the Dursleys." Dumbledore stroked his beard as he thought aloud. "A what now?" I asked acting confused. "It means you are smarter than the rest of the snot-nosed brats." Sirius grinned as he explained.
"The only snot-nosed brat I see now is you." I shot back grinning at him like a fool. Sirius gaffawed giving me a look of pride, "You are every bit your father Harry. Except your eyes.... and your smarts. They are your mother's." We talked about our lives for sometime until it was time for him to leave, "I'll be seeing you Harry." I gave him a hug, "Welcome home Sirius."
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The holidays came to a close as students started coming back to the castle for the next half of the year. Hermione came back with happy expression as we came down to the castle gates to meet her. We went up the castle discussing the holiday and the homework assignments we were given. The most tedious for me was the Potions assignment, fir I had to triple-check everything before ai submitted it. Everything else I had finished in the first two days.
For Hermione it was History of Magic and oddly Defence against the dark arts and Ron had difficulty in all the subject. Not like he is stupid, he is just dumb and lazy. Classes had started as usual and Quidditch practice was going on with great fervor as Oliver kept drilling us.
A week had passed and I had finally learnt and mastered all the spells in the guidebooks. I can now perform them non-verbally and with little effort. I had moved on to the syllabus of OWL, NEWTS above. I first concentrated on the Defensive spells like the shielding charm and deflecting spells, disarming spells and wandwork.
The first and obvious choice was , the Shielding charm and its different variants. It creates a an invisible shield in front of me and blocks most jinxes and hexes and minor curses, but the best thing about this is that it can block all Physical attacks, constructs and forces. And the second best thing? I started learning to enchant objects because of this spell.
I convinced Flithwick to teach me how to enchant objects with permanent charms and spells. I complained about getting soaked whenever Peeves thought it was a good idea to throw water balloons at us. The spell he thought was the spell, which does not allow water, mud, dust, dirt or grime to stick to the item which is enchanted.
It took me a few days but it was pretty easy once you understand the concept of enchanting. But my enchantments last only for a few hours, maxing out at 4 hours. Permanent enchantments were very advanced and I have no clue how the Weasley twins managed such a feat without even finishing their magical education.
After learning which was extremely useful for Quidditch, I started with for the enchantments, sadly not improving much in these few days. It was a bright Saturday morning which quickly became gloomy and dark when the team heard the news. Snape was refereeing the next match against Hufflepuff.
I did not mind it much though, cause I have an ace up my sleeve. Besides it was a better situation for me, since I know his intentions were to protect "Lily's son" from harm.
We were in our locker room where Oliver was giving his usual speech punctuated with the Twins' remarks. "I have come up with a stratergy were we move away from our original play. Harry is gonna try catching the Snitch as soon as the game starts. We are to support him. Chasers, I sorry but you are on your own, although the Hufflepuff Chasers aren't very good. Weasley Twins... Follow Harry protect him and him alone. If you get the chance, you knock Diggory of his broom. We go hard and we go fast today. Got it?"
We all gave our assent to the change of plans as we knew it was coming because of the practice we have been doing recently. I stood at the back Hovering a Galleon above my hand, making it spin rapidly. Now, confidant about my wandless magic, I pocketed the coin and followed my team out to meet the noisy crowd. Cheers erupted as both teams walked out with Lee Jordan talking excitedly on the Megaphone.
We mounted our brooms and flew up. I flew above the rest of my team and waited there as Snape blew her whistle indicating the start of the game. I did not react as Cedric flew past me trying to trick me into thinking he found the snitch, but a simple glance into his eyes and a faint Legillemancy probe showed me he was just bluffing.
I kept circling the sky to find any golden gleam or shine... Cedric seeing that his bluff was called, joined me in the air doing the same with a disappointed look on his face. I kept diving and coming back up much to Diggory's irritation and I could see he was getting extremely frustrated. He wasn't the cool and collected self he was in the movie... granted he was in his sixth year at that time. A third year Pattinson(Cedric), wasn't as matured as a sixth year so it was easy enough to rile him into getting faked or fooled.
On the other hand the Gryffindor chasers were having the time of their lives creating a huge gap between our points. Gryffindor was 80 points to Hufflepuffs 10 points which was got because of a penalty shot, this gave them a lead of 70- no wait 80 points. Angelina just scored bringing the total to 90 to 10.
I was watching the Hufflepuff side for the Snitch when Fred signaled and pointed. The Snitch! I dived down, leaning completely flat on my broom to give me extra speed. By now almost everyone forgot about me since I have not left my position for some time. Cedric saw me diving but hesitated for a few seconds before diving after me, this cost him everything.
I zoomed through the Ravenclaw stands and banked to the left avoiding a Rouge bludger without slowing down. I saw the gold twinkle in my face as I was chasing it in an arms length. I shut of the whole world as my Occlumency kicked in and zeroed in on the small Golden ball. Just as it was in my range I let a pulse of magic from my hand pulled the snitch wandlessly.... a bit more... aaaand FUCK YEAH!
I stopped and soared into the air, shouting with joy "WOOOOOOO!!!!" My Occlumency was turned off as I heard the roar of the stadium and Lee's screaming into the Megaphone, "ANOTHER WIN FOR THE LIONS AS POTTER MAKES A CLEAN CATCH OF THE SNITCH!! ANOTHER REMARKABLE PLAY FROM THE GRYFFINDOR SEEKER. THE GRYFFINDORS HAVE WON BY A LANDSLIDE SCORING 250 TO 20!!"
We were qualified for the finals!
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"POTTER! POTTER! POTTER! POTTER!" I was carried off to the Gryffindor common room where there was a already a party going on with chips, crisps, chocolate, sweets, some food and bottles upon bottles of Butterbeer and Sherbets. The party that was raging in the common room, became a blur of movement and dancing when Seamus and Dean brought in a Gramaphone which played a rocking song from the Weird Sisters.
I was occasionally lifted up and crowd surfed, chugged butterbeer, balancing bottles on my nose or forehead.... A senior girl even pushed me against the wall and snogged me deep and forcefully before running away with a blush, the crowd was whooping and whistling at that.
The party was over only late in the night when McGonagall came and threw out stinging jinxes to disband the party. Although I could see a faint twitch in her lips as she walked out of the Gryffindor common room before giving a warning to us.
Hermione, Ron and I started frequenting the library more often since the date of examinations were announced. The professors have started piling on the homework and increasing the workload of students. Snape was limping around with a bleeding leg which seemed to refuse to heal, it made him all the more insufferable and irritable, even going as far as docking points from his own Slytherins.
Quirrel seemed to be turning paler and paler as the days went by, and my forehead prickled more and more in his presence. But a bit of Occlumency fixed it and life moved on without a care until one day I saw Hagrid rummaging through a section of books in the library which were about the Care of magical creatures.
I excused myself from the other two and followed Hagrid out of the castle inside my Invisibility Cloak, which I always have on my person. I slipped through the door of his cabin as he was going in and revealed myself, "Hey Hagrid!" Hagrid scrambled about turning to look at me in shock. "Merlin's Beard! H-harry! you scared the socks of me. What the hell are ya' doing 'ere?"
He shuffled about to block my view of the rattling cauldron in the fire. I made myself comfortable on the sofa and sighed, "It's okay Hagrid. I know you have a Dravon egg. Honestly! You should have called me too. It's such a rare thing to witness a dragon hatching from its egg."
Hagrid looked like he was slapped in the face hard. It took him a minute to calm down and collect himself. He was soon back to his cheerful self and also a bit excited as he showed me the black and brown egg, vibrating inside the cauldron. We soaked it in brandy and a bit of dragon blood before placing it back in the cauldron nestled in a bed of fire beans.
For the next week I regularly visited Hagrid to see the progress and one evening Hedwig came to me with a letter, "It's hatching!" the letter said. I quickly got my Invisibility Cloak and rushed off to Hagrid's cottage. Hagrid was crouched over the egg which he placed on a cooling rack and placed it on the table.
*crack* *crick*
I was just in time to witness the most cutest little head poking through a hole in the egg. It's soft chirps awoke the little kid in both of us as we hunched our the cute little critter. I wonder if Parsletougue works on other reptiles.... After it fully emerged from it's shell, we fed it a mix of chicken blood and brandy and bit of spiced wine with mashed frog liver as advised by most guide books.
It had a small snout, greenish grey skin with tiny brown patches. "That's a Norwegian Ridgeback Hagrid! Wow! She is so cute!" I scratched it under it's chin and quickly took back my hand as its mouth shot out and tried to bite me. Hagrid with his puppy dog eyes and child like smile turned towards me, "She? It's a girl? I picked out a name for a boy since female dragons are extremely rare nowadays. I was gonna name him Norbert...." he looked in with a thoughtful expression.
I patted his back with a chuckle, "Not to worry.... let's just change it to Norberta, Berta for short." we cooed and stroked it like it was a puppy, Fed it some pieces of chicken liver. I mentally sighed as I brought up a difficult topic, "You know Hagrid, Berta is gonna grow exponentially big in a matter of weeks and everyone is bound to notice a massive, flying, fire-breathing lizard. Not to mention rearing a dragon is illegal. You could be sent to Azkaban for it."
Hagrid's chin quivered like a child throwing a tantrum, "But... but but..." Hagrid started bawling like a kid, now really throwing a tantrum. I could only console him, "Don't worry big guy. Let me talk to Ron's brother Charlie and see what we can do. We could send him off to the dragon reserve on Romania where he works. We know he would take good care of her, over there." The half-giant accepted with great reluctance after some thought.
Weekly Power Status
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