18

Chapter 18: Quidditch and Heart Attacks

In the weeks leading up to Hufflepuff's first Quidditch match life in the castle had taken yet another surprising turn.

Since the troll incident and the subsequent familial visit Harry's school mates had taken to trying to figure out just who 'Balaur' was with surprising vigor though none more than Cedric Diggory and Albus Dumbledore.

The Headmaster had somehow managed on multiple times to 'run across' Harry and his friends in the hallway and engaged them in friendly chat. These conversations were thankfully always interrupted by one of the professors who would smile at them as they lead Dumbledore away. It appeared that none of the teachers had much patience with Albus Dumbledore these days.

Aside from that excitement however Harry was pleased to find that his small group of friends was steadily expanding.

Harry and the others had decided that it was high time their little group of friends branched out a little. Within the last two weeks they had managed to incorporate not only the other Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw (Lisa Turpin didn't count) and Gryffindor first years but also several of the upperclassmen that did weren't the twins and Lee Jordan who had already been sitting with them periodically throughout the year.

Harry had even begun to plan on how to incorporate some of the students in Slytherin.

They didn't seem that bad after all and some of them seemed very interesting despite Ron's original misgivings, but Hufflepuff and Slytherin had no classes besides astronomy together. That wouldn't have been such a bad thing of course, except for the fact that come time for astronomy the first years were usually too tired for much of anything...

The morning November 23rd dawned bright and clear with just the slightest chill on the breeze, beautiful Quidditch conditions.

That morning Harry woke up nervously. Today Charlie would be there to watch. Charlie who was a seeker. He knew that Jonathan Cursty, who just so happened to be the captain of their Quidditch team much to his surprise, said that he was an amazing seeker but... What if he messed up?

What did he have to worry about though? Charlie would never make fun of him for anything he messed up on! After all, he was the youngest seeker in a century and there was a reason for it!

He had three people who were making a special trip to the school to see him and he would do his best to make them even prouder than they were now!

With new resolve Harry climbed out of bed and made his way to shower and get ready for the day ahead.

He was always the first of his roommates to get up and they had somehow made a nice system to get ready that, thankfully, avoided any further incidents as the one that had happened on the first morning still refused to go near a sleeping Justin without his wand and someone to rescue him just in case, though the need for someone to personally wake Justin and Ernie had severely decreased once Harry had asked Professor Sprout for a spell that acted much like a muggle alarm clock which she had happily provided.

Bless that woman...

"Okay team," Jonathan Cursty the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain said as he stood before his team in the locker rooms. "This is it! The first match of the season and I must say that this is the best team we've had in a long time! We've all seen the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin a few weeks ago. We have some hard competition this year but that doesn't mean we can't win! We're going to go out there and do our house proud! We Badgers are the hardest working in the school so let's go out there and show them how it's done!"

With cheers and cries of agreement the team stood and made their way to the entrance to the Quidditch pitch. Harry looked nervous as he bit his bottom lip and shifted his weight from one foot to the other nervously.

"Are you okay Harry?" Jonathan asked as the Ravenclaw team was being introduced.

"Yeah, just a little nervous," Harry said with a shy smile as he wiped his palms against his robes nervously.

"No need to be nervous," He said with a grin as he ruffled the first years unruly locks, "You're an amazing seeker, do your best and there isn't a single thing that anyone can say about it."

"Even if we lose?"

"Even if we lose. It's just a game, do your best and you're a winner in your own way. Especially since you're the youngest person out there. You'll do fine. In fact... I bet you that you get that snitch, now come on, their calling us out."

"Now, I want a nice fair game, and good luck!" Madame Hooch's voice drifted through the now hushed stadium as she addressed the two captains and their teams. As Cursty and Andrews stepped forward and shook hands I noticed Harry's gaze drawn to the flashing 'Potter for President' sign that Harry's friends had set up. Oddly, it did not only contain the Hufflepuff badger but also the Hogwarts crest as well. Taking in Harry's brilliant smile I couldn't be happier that Harry had made such great friends.

"Mount your brooms, please," Madame Hooch spoke again and my attention was once again drawn away from the sign and back to the pitch where Madam Hooch was now blowing on her silver whistle and signaling for the players to take off.

As the fifteen brooms rose into the air my attention went back to Harry as he immediately turned and began to circle the pitch, smart.

"And the quaffle is immediately taken by Jeremy Stretton of Ravenclaw who immediately has to dodge a bludger sent his way by Hufflepuff's own Matthew Taylor. How he managed to get a bludger so fast nobody knows!" Lee Jordan immediately began to commentate.

"Stretton belting along towards Hufflepuff's goal posts, another bludger this time by Kirsty, neat pass to Burrow who passes back and it's intercepted by Diggory! Diggory flying fast now and dodges a bludger sent his way by Inglebee, passes to Truman who takes aim and... Score! First points of the game to Hufflepuff as Stretton takes back the quaffle and dives under Diggory to avoid a bludger, Diggory dodges as well, nice broom work there by Hufflepuff's newest chaser and Harry Potter is making a spectacular dive for the snitch, I'm glad he can see it 'cause I sure can't. Andrews hot on his tail, they better pull up soon or their going to hit the ground and, no I can't believe it, Potter pulls off a successful Wronski feint as he leads Andrews directly into the path of a bludger which she just barely dodges. Great find by Hufflepuff this year, Potter is the youngest seeker in a century-"

Charlie let out a shaky breath as his fists slowly release their iron grasp of the bench below him. Who would have thought watching a Quidditch game would be so nerve wracking?

"-Truman with the quaffle, bludger from Samuels, ouch, looks like it clipped his shoulder and the quaffle is taken by Burrow. Andrews goes into a dive but Potter isn't following, looks like she was just trying to give him a taste of his own medicine but it didn't work. Pass to Stretton but it's intercepted by Diggory. Pass to Cursty, pass to Diggory, bludger from Inglebee and Diggory passes to Truman before dodging, Truman shoots and... Score! Hufflepuff leads 20 to 0!"

"Budge up there, move along," Hagrid's gruff voice sounds from behind him and Charlie only just stops himself from calling out a greeting to the half giant. He loved Hagrid, he really did but the man just couldn't keep a secret as big as this one.

"Hagrid!" Hermione called out in greeting and Charlie could feel his smile grow as Hagrid joined her, Ron and Neville on their bench.

"Bin watchin' from me hut," He heard Hagrid say as one of his large hands reached up to pat a large pair of binoculars that were hanging around his neck. "'S'not the same as bein' in the crowd. No sign of the Snitch yet, eh?"

"Nope," Neville said excitedly as they all kept an eye on the game.

"Did you see my little Bambi's feint though Hagrid?" Sirius piped up from beside him with a grin, "Better than his dad whenever he had to sub for our seeker isn't he?"

"I don't think James would appreciate that Siri," Remus chuckled from beside him.

Harry was once again circling around the perimeter of the game, one eye on Emily Andrews, Ravenclaw's seeker and captain who was currently hovering above the center of the stadium, and the other looking for the snitch.

Every now and then Harry would make quick darting movements that would draw Andrews' attention to him. Harry hoped that if he were to do that enough then she would probably be too irritated with him to pay attention when he finally caught sight of the snitch.

So far he'd managed to mostly stay out of the fray, he'd only had to avoid those cannon balls they had decided to call bludgers twice, once during his feint and the other when Jason Samuels had decided to send one his way.

Lee Jordan was still commenting, a steady drum of noise that managed to counteract the sudden lulls and roars of the crowd below but Harry was only paying the slightest amount of attention to it as his eyes narrowed in on a tell tale flash of gold by the middle goal post of the Ravenclaw's side.

With a quick glance to Andrews who was looking the other way Harry dove.

He leaned forward on his broom until his chest was a mere inch from the polished handle and tucked his legs up and under himself so that he resembled something close to a bullet. Andrews must have noticed that this wasn't just another one of Harry's tricks though and now she was on his tail seeing as she had been closer in the first place.

Urging his Nimbus faster Harry reached out with his right hand, Andrews doing the same. She was still further away than Harry but her arms were also longer and so they reached the same distance as his own...

They were almost there, a mere fifty feet away, straining his arm just that little bit more...

Harry rolled away on instinct as a bludger soared through the air where his head had been moments before.

Harry's roll forced him into Andrews who was forced to turn her broom away or be barreled over by the small first year.

Righting himself midair Harry turned back around only to find the snitch gone.

With a frown Harry turned his broom to raise back up into the air so that he could start his search all over again. He was halfway to his previous height when his broom gave a sudden lurch that managed to release his grip.

For a split second Harry could feel his heart stop before he quickly scrabbled to find purchase on his brooms sleek handle as he clenched his thighs to the wood as tight as possible.

This was wrong, what was going on? Brooms didn't just stop in midair or try to buck off their riders!

When the broom still wouldn't move Harry threw all of his weight forward in an effort to at least even it out so that he was not in danger of falling backwards but that just seemed to make it worse as the Nimbus tipped forwards and kept going so that Harry was forced to hold on for dear life.

This was terrifying! Why has no one noticed yet!?

Now Harry was hanging upside down like a sloth as the broom began to jerk from side to side, it felt like some sick game of tug of war and Harry was the prize, what on earth was going on!?

No one seemed to have noticed that Harry's broom was behaving strangely as it pulled him higher and higher from the game, jerking and twitching as it went.

"Dunno what Harry thinks he's doing," Hagrid mumbled as he stared through his binoculars, instantly grabbing my attention as my gaze zeroed in on where my little mate was riding his broom upside down. "If I didn' know better, I'd say he'd lost control of his broom but he can't have..."

No, that wasn't possible! Brooms couldn't do these things on their own and no one here were crazy enough to curse his broom!

As if everyone had heard Hagrid people were now pointing up at Harry from all over the stands as his broom starting speeding in jerky zigzags with him still upside down and only just managing to hold on. People were gasping in fear now as Charlie stood up and started to make his way to the front of the stands his eyes locked on Harry at all times, he might have stepped on a few people.

The broom gave a viscous swipe forward and Harry's legs came to dangle and kick helplessly in midair.

No, this couldn't be happening! Whatever else was going on Harry should have been safe!

Where are the closest stairs!? Teachers side!

Charlie charged, he didn't give a damn who he hit as he ran through the people who blocked his way!

Vaguely Charlie realized that his foot had kicked the new defense professor in the back of the head as he jumped over the man and that he had shoved Professor Flitwick into his old head of house but that was just too bad!

Finally Charlie reached the stairs just as Harry managed to swing himself back onto his broom much to Charlie's relief.

Before he could relax too much however Harry dove to the ground, one hand firmly clutched to his mouth and the other holding onto the broom for dear life.

With a sudden back Harry tumbled off of the broom and onto the plush grass of the pitch, as Charlie ran towards him as fast as he could he vaguely registered the single hand that Harry held in the air but it wasn't a wave.

Harry had the snitch.

After all of that Harry had still managed to catch the snitch!

In his mouth!

"Harry!" Charlie called out in the gravelly voice of Balaur as he dropped heavily to his knees and pulled his small mate into a desperate embrace, "I'm so glad you're safe! But never do that again! Do you understand!?"

"Yes Balaur," Harry said with a tired giggle as he snuggled further into Charlie's embrace.

"So yer Balaur," Hagrid said through narrowed eyes as he poured tea for the small group of six not including himself. Despite the apron, Hagrid looked extremely frightening and Charlie couldn't help but gulp in slight fear. It appeared that Hagrid was extremely protective of Harry, a fact that he would appreciate far more if he weren't at risk of being shown just how much Hagrid cared.

"Yes," Charlie managed to say and was immensely thankful that the voice charms stopped the fear from shining through.

At his confirmation Hagrid seemed to grow larger so that he seemed to fill the hut entirely as his usually kind and friendly eyes shone with malicious glee.

"You bes' nev'r hurt him. Or ye'll be hearin' from me an' Fluffy."