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Harry Potter and the Unexpected Visitor | ||||||
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Category: Post-OotP Characters:All Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Fluff Warnings: Disturbing Imagery Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 223 Summary: Harry James Potter has come back to Privet Drive after his abysmal fifth year at Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, as Albus Dumbledore asked him to do. There, he mourns around everything that happened the last months, especially his Godfather's death, but all will change when someone he did not expect comes... The author has stated this story will not be continued. SIYE Hitcount: Story Total: 176751; Chapter Total: 7046 Author's Notes: Summary: the DA is started, and Nott gets a lesson in how not to sign a contract. The beautiful phoenix Ra is finally born, and the Quidditch tryouts are held. |
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One Hatching Egg Is Worth A Thousand Closed The next few days went smoothly and without problems of any kind, not even in Potions. The first three classes, they had to do individual work with some potions and poisons in preparation for their future work in pairs. At least Snape had not been as big an arse as he usually was in the past: maybe it was due to the fact that Draco was now being friendly towards them, but he couldn’t be sure of that. Care Of Magical Creatures and Transfiguration had been the same as usual, but with more complicated things to learn about: while McGonagall dealt with human-to-animal transfiguration, and Hagrid showed them a few creatures that were in the Forest, like one of the Acromantulas he managed to pick out of the nest and showed it to the students while talking about the animal’s magical abilities and all the properties of its venom. Magical Healing was a completely different matter. It was taught by Madam Pomfrey at the Hospital Wing, a place Harry didn’t like for obvious reasons (there was not a year in which he didn’t have to stay at least one night in there). Harry learnt lots of healing charms and spells that would surely be useful if he or one of his friends ever got hurt, and he also started to learn how to diagnose illnesses. One thing that was annoying Harry a lot was the fact that some girls were starting to stalk him between classes. It didn’t matter the hour, neither the day, they were always there. Harry had a good idea about why they were doing that: after all, they had been looking at him in that scary way during the Welcome Feast. And Harry’s fears were made real; he now had a group of groupies behind him 24/7. Soon, it was Friday night. Harry was nervous because after dinner he would have to tell everybody in the school about the DA, its structure and the timetable for each group, maybe even give a speech about how important and/or serious it was. The only nice point about it would be to see certain people’s reactions when they tried to sign the charmed contract. “Earth to Harry, Earth to Harry. Harry, wake up,” Ginny whispered in his ear. Harry shook his head to stay awake, because he had been dozing off for a few seconds while thinking. “Sorry, Gin. I am a bit nervous about this thing, between the Death Eaters and Voldemort outside, and the fact that I am going to give a speech about the DA in just a few minutes,” Harry confessed. “Don’t worry, big boy,” Ginny teased him. “You will do it greatly, you know it. Just stop worrying about what’s happening outside and concentrate on what’s happening inside the school. You are a great wizard, you know that,” she said, unconsciously repeating the same words Hermione told him back in his first year, in the last obstacle towards the Philosopher’s Stone. “Thanks,” Harry replied with a smile, and kissed her, just before the desserts disappeared from the plates on the tables. Dumbledore then rose from his seat. “Please, all those people who are not interested in joining the Defence Association must leave the Hall right now, as well as those who are third years and below. Except you, Mr. Creevey,” he told Dennis, who was the only third year who had been in the DA since it started. The young boy sat happily next to his brother while Harry stood up and went towards the High Table. When Dumbledore sat down again, Harry faced his companions and future pupils and then started to talk. “Well, the first thing I’m going to tell you is that, for those who don’t know about it, the DA was founded last year because Umbridge didn’t let us study Defence Against the Dark Arts due to Fudge and her paranoid thoughts about Dumbledore trying to become Minister for Magic by means of ‘lying’ about Voldemort’s return.” Nearly all the students shivered. “Oh, come on, stop doing that. It’s idiotic to shiver just because I said Voldemort. Anyway, Voldemort’s true name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, and, believe it or not, he is a half-blood.” “But he hates all half-bloods and Muggle-borns!” someone shouted. “No,” Harry corrected, “he only says that because it was the only way to manage to get help from pure-blood maniacs like Lucius Malfoy and people like him. I’m pretty sure that if they knew the truth, they would leave him in a heartbeat. You really want proof of what I said? Look.” Harry took out his wand, gave his back to the students, and started to write in the air, with big black letters, TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE. Then he swished his wand and the letters moved forming the sentence I AM LORD VOLDEMORT. “As you can see, his nickname is only a stupid anagram he made up because he hated his father for leaving him and his mother. And another thing, if I ever hear somebody saying something stupid in the lines of ‘You-Know-Who’ or ‘He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’ during the DA classes, you’ll lose house points, no matter which house you are in. “Before I continue talking about the DA, you will all have to sign this parchment,” Harry said, showing the charmed contract. “Basically, you are accepting not to show anybody about what you will learn here unless it is to defend yourselves. You won’t be able to join if it is within your plans to betray the school or the DA, especially if you are in league with Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Should you somehow manage to sign in even with that in your mind, there are more things that you will face, and I can tell you those protections are not something to laugh at.” Harry let that thought go through everybody’s minds before conjuring a table in front of the stairs that lead to the High Table. Then he put the contract over it and conjured a white quill and an inkpot so that the students could write their names with it. For a few seconds, nobody moved, waiting for someone else to sign the parchment. Ginny, Ron and Hermione were the first to do that, slightly exasperated at the others. They used the quill and wrote fluently on the parchment, which glowed lightly after someone signed. Harry’s friends winked at him while they were doing it. That was the cue for the other people. Draco stood up right after Hermione had signed, and, to the surprise of everybody, his name was accepted without a problem. Next ones were the former DA members, who remembered what had happened to Marietta last year, but also knew that Harry would never do something that could endanger them severely. Cho was in that group, and she tried to catch Harry’s attention, but in vain. Slowly, the members of the other houses approached to the table. One by one, they signed the parchment. A few people left the Great Hall instead of writing, maybe because they were not very fond of the idea of writing on a charmed contract. Most of these were Slytherins, but also a few Ravenclaws. In the end, apparently everybody had signed, but Harry needed to be sure about it. “Has everybody come here to write their names?” he shouted. Nobody answered, so Harry directed his gaze towards Theodore Nott, whom he didn’t remember having showed up next to the table. “Nott, I know you haven’t written your name here, neither your friends.” “I have done it, Potter, just start with the interesting things,” was the reply. “No, you didn’t.” Harry took the contract and whispered: “Arguere non membrum”. This was a very useful charm he had found in the wards’ book: if used on a magical contract, the person casting the charm would know who had not signed said contract in the room the contract was. Nott, Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle and Bulstrode glowed red, as well as all the professors. “Believe me, I do know if you have signed or not. Now, come here and sign the contract or leave the Great Hall. Your choice.” Nott smirked and stood up from his seat, his right hand into his pocket. Harry could see that he was going to do a trick, and he tried to do some wandless and wordless Legillimency on the boy. For his surprise, it worked like a charm. Although he couldn’t hear Nott’s thoughts, he could ‘read’ his intentions, like Fabian had taught him once: he had been adamant on showing him that activating Legillimency in the middle of a battle was very useful and proved it to him in a duel which Harry won by a nail, but because he was very fast at thinking with his feet. So, you are going to use a magical quill for this, huh? Harry thought, amused. You are going to have a big surprise right now, then. When Nott arrived to the table, he took his hand out of the pocket. For an untrained eye, there was not anything in it, but Harry knew that there was a quill in his sleeve, and that he was about to do a switch. Harry was looking carefully at the Slytherin’s hand, and was rewarded when he saw that he had the white quill in his hand, but he also had a pink quill, carefully hidden behind the white so that it would look like he used the white quill. It didn’t work. “Potter, what the hell is happening? Your quill won’t work.” “Are you sure? Give it back,” he replied, taking both quills from his hand. Harry used the white this time and his name was written smoothly on the parchment, which glowed again before swallowing the ink. “It works fine for me,” he said giving the other boy the white quill. “This is not the same quill I used before,” Nott said in hushing tones. “Professor Dumbledore, would you mind telling us what charms does this pink quill have?” Harry asked the Headmaster, giving him the quill Nott had used before. Dumbledore took it and performed some revealing charms on it. “It has a magical-signature blocker on it, which would have prevented the one who used it on a magical contract to be included into said contract.” “Thanks, Professor. Just what I thought.” Harry turned to Nott and gave him the quill. “I suggest you to keep that quill when you sign the contract with your daddy’s boss. Something tells me you would rather use it in that circumstance,” he told Nott, smirking. Nott took hold of the quill and, before Harry could stop him, tried to sign again with the pink quill. The parchment glowed dark red and Nott turned his back, thinking he had won. He thought otherwise when a burst of magic hit him square in his back, transforming his robes into a clown’s fancy dress, completed with a green lime bowler hat, big shoes, red nose and a white (more white than normal) face. All the Great Hall erupted into a big fit of laughter when Nott tripped with the hem of his now gigantic red and gold trousers and fell to the floor. “Did you really believe that I would be as thick as to not to include an Impervius charm against magic quills?” Harry shouted at him while he clumsily ran away, followed by his little troupe composed of Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle and Bulstrode. “OK, now that we have gotten rid of them,” Harry said with a smirk, “we will start on to the important things.” Harry took out his wand and closed the doors to the Entrance Hall with a flick, followed by some strong privacy charms that would not allow anybody to try to spy on the meeting. “The first thing is that I have decided to separate everybody in two groups, Beginners and Veterans. In a nutshell, the Veterans will be the people who were in the DA last year, and everybody else will be in the other group. Of course, that may change in the future: for example, if someone from the Beginners’ group feels that he or she is enough skilled to join the Veterans, I will test him, and if he does it well I will move him. Of course, that doesn’t mean the Veterans have their position secured, they will go back to the Beginners if they are having problems with their work. “Second place, the timetable. Professor Dumbledore has assured me that nobody is having classes in the afternoon at seven thirty, so the two groups will have one class of one hour and a half. That will start in two weeks’ time to give you time to adjust yourselves to the new timetables. The Beginners will have it on Tuesdays and the Veterans on Wednesdays. I have been assured that you will be given enough time to come back to your houses in spite of the curfew starting at nine o’clock PM, but please go straight to your common rooms and do not try to push the limits of Mr. Filch or any professor you find on the way.” That earned a few chuckles from the students. “There will also be one class on Sundays, from ten to twelve for Beginners and from two to four for Veterans.” Harry was boo-ed from the younger’s seats and also from some of the older’s. “Yeah, I know it is very annoying having to go to class on a Sunday, but I fear that it is the only time in the timetable that would allow everybody to attend the classes. Of course that means it’ll be a bit more packed, but I should point that I am going to be busier than most of you, because I have to go to all four classes as a teacher, my normal classes, Quidditch and a few independent studies I am doing right now.” Harry had said that on purpose to placate the spirits of his fellow students, leaving the last bit of information with some air of mystery. “Third, what you are going to do in the classes. I am going to teach you spells that are important and useful in a duel, but I will also teach you to improve things like your agility, your stamina, and your strength. For that, you are going to be into a scheduled physical training, which includes some running before breakfast.” That raised more protests, especially from those who were not early-raisers, like Ron was before the summer started. “Hey, come on, it’s not like I am asking you to do something impossible. Just consider that your homework. We are not going to have that time during the lessons. Those are going to be directed to the spell casting and the movements that could save your lives if you were in a real fight. Those movements and drills won’t be useful if you are not fit enough to use them in a battle situation. “The last thing in the agenda is an idea Professor Flitwick here has suggested that will help to test the skills of the DA; in April, just after Easter break, Hogwarts will hold a Duelling Tournament between the students. Everybody in the school will be allowed to join, but I am going to ask you to participate. During those duels you will see many people fighting between themselves, and they can give you new ideas about how to duel, how to move… really important things. I also have the bad news that I won’t be allowed to participate in the Tournament. Nevertheless,” Harry said to his peers and future pupils, who looked surprised at him with the last announcement, “should the finalist believe to be able to do so, he or she may be able to ask for a duel against me. Said duel would be held the day immediately after the finals. Thank you for hearing me, and I’ll be looking forward to start teaching you next Tuesday.” Harry left his position under the strenuous applause of the other Hogwarts’ students, while going straight towards the Gryffindor table, where all his friends were waiting for him. Ginny was the first to reach him, and gave him a long kiss on the lips that Harry was anticipating from the moment he saw her. Ron saved him from the lack of oxygen by patting his shoulder. “Hey, mate! When were you going to tell us about the tournament?” he asked, feigning some anger. “Do you remember Charms’ class on Wednesday?” he answered. That day, the tiny Professor had asked him to stay behind for a few minutes before going to eat. “Well, he told me that he had thought for years to organise some kind of Duelling Club, but the lack of good Defence teachers had always held him back. Since he knows that between Professor Martin and me we will have everything covered, he proposed it to me, and I agreed that it was a good idea. I had not told you because he had asked me not to say a thing until today, while he consulted with the rest of the staff. It was only half an hour ago that Dumbledore gave me the ‘yes’ and it was something that had to be told to everybody at the same time.” “Well, I can understand that,” Ron replied, and he looked around. The Great Hall had emptied at a great rate, and only a few people remained behind: Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe from Ravenclaw; the sixth year Slytherins that had stayed at the meeting (Draco, Blaise Zabini, Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis and Rose MacCallister) and the Ministry Six (that is, the six who had gone to the Department of Mysteries last June). “But why aren’t you going to participate?” “Mate, I can wipe the floor with all of you. Do you really think anybody else, apart from the professors, would stand a chance against me?” Harry replied back with a cheeky grin. Ron only answered with a half-hearted punch to his shoulder. “Hello, Harry,” Draco said to his newest friend, then looked at the others. “Granger, Weasleys, Longbottom, Lovegood,” he said. It was amazing to see how much had Draco changed in the last three months, both physically and psychologically. Since Harry had told him to have some physical training, he had taken to running around the Black Lake everyday as well as going to the Room of Requirement to use some of those exercising machines Harry had told him about on his first visit to Hogwarts. It was not easy to notice, but under his robes he was developing a good pack of muscles that would have made nearly every girl at the school drool. The best was that now he had a very different personality, compared to the old Draco’s one: instead of the usual petulance and arrogance, he was now a kind guy who never bragged about his inheritance or the usual things that, in the past, always made him look down at whomever was not a pureblood by his standards, like the Weasleys. After Draco talked, an awkward silence appeared around them, until the blond boy talked again, “Well, I think first things are first. Ronald, Hermione, Ginevra, Neville, Luna, I’m sorry for insulting you and your families during the last five years. I know that it’ll be very difficult for you to forgive me, but I am asking you to try to do it and then we can treat each other, if not friendly, at least in a civil way. What do you say?” Saying that the two boys and the three girls were surprised was an understatement. None of them had ever heard Draco Malfoy apologizing to anybody, and less to talk to someone else using their given names instead of their surnames. The first one to accept the apology was Luna, who smiled at him and raised her hand towards him. “I’d be glad to be your friend, Draco,” she said in a happy tone, slightly imbibed with the eeriness that usually surrounded her. One by one, in turns, the other four teenagers reached Draco and shook hands with him, accepting, if not his friendship, at least his trust. Even Ron joined them and made peace with his once biggest enemy thinking: If Harry says that he is now safe, why can’t I do the same as him? The other Slytherins approached them this time, shaking hands too and having a short chat with the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaw before heading back to the dungeons. When Hermione reminded the others that they should get going back to their rooms a few seconds after the Slytherins left, Cho and Marietta, who had been discussing in hushed but fierce tones, went straight to the group. “Harry,” Cho said, with a smile and battling eyes, “Marietta has something to tell you.” “I’m sorry for snitching you to Madam Umbridge last June,” she said in a hardly apologising tone, before looking at her friend like saying, ‘Can I go now?’ “Apologies accepted,” Harry replied in an equal cold tone before trying to leave, but this time he was stopped by Cho, who was tugging on his robe. “Well, Harry, aren’t you going to say something more?” she asked with a broad smile. “Mmm, let me see… no,” he said, getting his sleeve loose from Cho’s grip and walking away with his friends before the Asian-looking girl tried to say something more. Harry was not very surprised with the fact that his ex-girlfriend was trying, again, to come back with him, but the fact that she had thought that her friend’s sneaking had been the reason why Harry had broken with her was, at least, laughable. Luna left the group on the fourth floor, since Ravenclaw’s tower was accessed from there, and the remaining Gryffindors kept going until they reached the seventh floor and went past the Fat Lady’s portrait. Once there, they sat on the couches and started to laugh at Cho’s discomfort when she had been outsmarted by Harry. “Won’t she ever give up?” Ginny asked with a mixture of anger and hilarity written on her face. “Probably not,” Hermione said. “She must be still obsessed with you. Harry, you should check if your saliva has some kind of highly addicting drugs in it, because I can’t find another explanation.” Harry only snorted this time, as well as Ginny, but the other three laughed softly at Hermione’s idea. “Changing matters,” Ginny said, obviously wanting to forget that her boyfriend had been (briefly) romantically involved with the Ravenclaw Seeker, “what do you think about the Slytherins? That surely was surprising, at least for me. I imagined that Draco would join the DA, but the other four?” “Well, before Draco changed sides, he had too much pull within Slytherin House so that nobody tried to join us, but now that pressure has been lifted, because none of the five pro-Voldemort sixth years have a lot of influence in there,” Neville explained, once more showing the great change he had had since last year. “That would be the reason, Nev. Anyway, do you think the pro-Voldemort Slytherins will give us a lot of problems this year?” Hermione said, with some concern in her voice. “Well, should Tom try to attack the school, I wouldn’t put past him to ask them to attack us from behind. At least we can count on the fact that those are a minority in that house,” Harry reflected. The five friends kept talking for a few minutes, enjoying the warmth and the cosy environment provided by the fire and the couches (Neville wasn’t, due to the fact that his girlfriend was not there) until they decided to call it a night and went to their comfortable beds, where all of them went asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows. ~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~* **~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~ ~ The next day, the group was having a very hearty breakfast that would give them strength for the lots of things they had planned for that day: since they had, somehow, managed to finish all their homework (even Ron, who had a tendency of procrastinating), they had thought of visiting Hagrid in the morning and talk with him, then have a picnic to eat and finally enjoy the sunny day. Harry was now having a good ration of scrambled eggs when the morning post arrived, causing the usual flapping noise that the hundreds of owls provoked. Harry smiled when five owls landed in front of him, dropping a white box. “Finally! I’ve been waiting for this for weeks!” Harry said, still grinning like mad. In one of their lessons about Elemental Magic, Harry had asked Professor Dumbledore if he could have a perch like the one he had in his office for Fawkes. The old Headmaster had told him he would ask a friend of his that did personalised working with metal and wood, and it had been nearly a month since then, because, even with magic, it was very difficult to make something with very little details as Harry had asked to do, and even more to enchant both the metal and the wood so that they did not burn or melt with the fire phoenixes exploded with when it was their Burning. Ron swallowed the piece of bacon he had on his mouth and asked: “Is that the…?” Harry nodded. “And in a good moment, too. The egg has been making some movements that, according to the book, are signals that the bird is going to go out of the egg in a day or so.” “Why don’t you take the egg to Hagrid’s? I’d bet he would love to see how phoenixes are born,” Ginny proposed with a smile. Harry smiled again at his girlfriend. He loved the way her mind worked, and this wouldn’t be the last streak of genius she had. “Good idea, Gin. Ask Draco if he wants to come with us while I run upstairs to get it. I’ll see you down here, OK?” When everybody else nodded, Harry stood up and went to his room, where the before multicoloured egg stood. In that moment, it was glowing red, like fire, as the book said it was a few moments before the egg hatched. Harry ran back to the Great Hall, with Hedwig perched on his shoulder (she had been watching the egg with care when Harry wasn’t able to do it) and met everybody in the Great Hall, from where they went straight to Hagrid’s hut. The half-giant had been the first wizard Harry had ever met after being sent to live with the Dursleys and Harry had always held a very big space in his heart for him. He may be a bit strange with his love for dangerous animals, but he was still a great person. They found Hagrid sitting in front of his hut, cleaning some beans. “Hi, Hagrid!” Hermione said with a smile. “Good mornin’ to you all!” he replied with one of his big grins. “I know it’s bin on’y a few days, but I ‘ave miss’d you all.” “So do us, Hagrid,” Harry replied, carefully hugging him so as not to drop the phoenix egg. “Holy blazes, ‘Arry! You’ phoenix is goin’ to hatch soon!” Hagrid said. “I know. We brought it here because we knew you would like to see it hatching.” Hagrid smiled at them. “You know me too well. An’ it’s nice to see you again, Draco.” Draco smiled. “Yes. How are Buckbeak and your brother?” “Very well, thanks. Shall we get inside?” Harry nodded and followed Hagrid into the hut. They would have been cramped, but Harry used a charm that made the room bigger than usual. “Tha’s nice of you, ‘Arry,” Hagrid said. “You’re welcome. I’m going to start to assemble the phoenix perch before the egg hatches,” Harry replied. He knelt down, opened the white box and took all the pieces out of it, which he put in its place according to the instructions the craftsman had sent him. In a few minutes, the perch stood in the middle of the room. It was really pretty: both the plate and the bar for the phoenix to Burn and stand — respectively — were made of pure gold, and magical runes had been engraved on them to protect the perch from melting and the phoenix from falling right after a Burning. The mahogany stand had been engraved with a different set of runes, which protected the wood from burning and from breaking. According to the craftsman, Harry would be able to place a few decorations in the perch without damaging the piece of art he had been sent. But now it was the moment to see how phoenixes were born. Harry put the red egg carefully over the plate and waited there, patiently looking at it. A few minutes after that, the egg changed to a more intense red colour than the one before. Orange waves were running up the egg, and, unexpectedly, it caught fire. Everybody but Harry and Hagrid worried about it, fearing that the fire would be bad for the bird, until a song started to sound from the fire. It was the phoenix song! Slowly, the flames were put down, like if a soft wind were blowing in the hut. Even before the fire died completely, Harry could see the mound of ashes which was the only thing that rested from the egg, and, if you looked carefully, you could see a few of the phoenix’s feathers stretching out. Once all the flames had died down, Harry went towards the perch and, digging carefully between the ashes — which he didn’t throw away, because those ashes were very powerful potion ingredients — he took the tiny new born phoenix. The three girls cooed when they saw the phoenix, while the boys were awed to see one of the rarest magical beings in the world being born. He was approximately the size of a chicken, and it had little red and golden feathers covering its body. Its wings were not well developed, so it wouldn’t be able to fly yet, but it still was able to do some of the best known abilities of a phoenix, as they discovered soon. “Look!” Hermione said when the baby phoenix flashed and appeared on Harry’s shoulder. Then, in a swift move, he pecked Harry on the base of his neck to make him bleed. The phoenix drank a few drops of Harry’s blood and then he sealed the injury with some tears. Harry smiled with some confusion written on his face. “Don’t worry; that was the bonding ceremony between the phoenix and the one he chooses as his companion. Although I have to say this is strange,” he continued while picking the phoenix again with his hands. “Why?” Draco asked. “Phoenixes on’y bon’ with a wizard when the wizard has won their trus’, and tha’ usually happens after a lot o’ time. It seems this tiny guy trus’ed you even befor’ he came out o’ the egg,” Hagrid explained while caressing the head of the golden bird. Wow! Harry thought to himself. This is really great! Master? Is that you? a tiny voice chirped in Harry’s mind. It took a moment for Harry to recognise who was talking now. Is that you, er… phoenix? Yes, Master, it’s me. Every phoenix that bonds to a wizard is able to talk with him telepathically from the moment they bond. I had to hurt you because for us phoenixes it makes the strongest connection, and the nearest to the magical core the most powerful the bond between wizard and phoenix will become. Harry smiled. Well, I think I should ask you first how I should name you. Calling you ‘phoenix’ every time I want to talk with you sounds really rude. I suppose you are right, the phoenix replied, while he was being admired by Harry’s friends. You can give a name that is related to fire, or the sun, or something like that. What about Ra? Harry asked. He remembered the history classes he had been given when he was in the Muggle primary school. The Ancient Egypt was a favourite of his, he especially liked the hieroglyphics because they were very funny, and the names of the gods had been in an exam. He had not scored well in that exam, but he had held back because he knew that if he had better marks than Dudley he would be punished. Ra was the Sun God, and I think it is very appropriate to you, don’t you think? Ra, I like that, the phoenix said. I’m happy you like it, Harry told him. May I ask you something, Master? Ra said. Of course! And please, call me Harry. There is something within you that I feel familial with, some kind of a double nature within you, like an animal… Ah! Harry said. I am an Animagus, which is a wizard who can transform himself into an animal. I can be a phoenix; maybe that is what you are detecting. Yes. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to sleep; I need to gain strength for growing up. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you are not disturbed, Harry told the chick, putting him back on the plate. Then he realised everybody else was looking at him. “Harry, are you OK? You kind of zoned out for a few minutes,” Ginny asked. “I was having a conversation with Ra. The phoenix,” Harry replied when his friends didn’t catch the name. “Apparently, when a phoenix bonds with a wizard, they can talk in their minds. And he pecked me in the neck because he wanted to make the bond between us the strongest,” he explained. “Wicked!” Ron said, impressed. “Shhh! Ra is trying to sleep. I should take him back to our dorm. I’ll be here again in a heartbeat.” Harry transformed into his phoenix form and grasped the perch with his talons, disappearing next to his bed and coming back few seconds after leaving. “What do you think about Ra, Hagrid?” Harry asked the half-giant. “He’s nice, ‘Arry. I’ve never seen a phoenix right after they are born. I ‘ave been with Fawkes a few times, but ‘e was nothing like Ra,” Hagrid replied with a smile. “Good,” Harry replied. The seven kids stayed for a few hours, talking with Hagrid about a lot of things, and when lunch time arrived they took the picnic basket. It had been a very nice morning after all ~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~ ~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~ Weekend ended too soon, and they went back to classes without too much pressure over them. Harry had to take care of Ra and Hedwig now, but it was not very difficult to do. Classes were now a bit more difficult than last week, which Harry and his friends thought was because the professors had let them adjust their timetables to the new situation. All the fifth years were swamped with homework, but with Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville helping them, Ginny and Luna always managed to complete their assignments in due time. Ron was looking forward to the Quidditch tryouts, which would be held next Saturday. Gryffindor had lost four members since last year (the twins, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet) and the beaters’ who had replaced Fred and George, Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper, had said that they would rather sit out of the game this year. The week passed slowly, with few things that could be said to be remarkable. The Daily Prophet had not reported about any Death Eater attack, and Harry supposed it was because Voldemort’s attempt on the Hogwarts Express had made him lose a big deal of his supporters. The young man snorted every time he remembered that Death Eater’s face when the Portkey didn’t work! Before Harry could think, it was again a Saturday, and they would now be holding the tryouts. The Gryffindor co-captains had promised to be impartial (at least not very partial) when they had to choose someone for the team, meaning that Ginny would have to win his position. Harry didn’t doubt she would do it, and he was looking forward to the celebration they would surely have after the tryouts. “You ready, Harry?” Ron asked for the umpteenth time at breakfast. “Ron, please, give me a moment. I, unlike you, have not the ability of eating our breakfast in less than a minute, which means that I’m not finished yet,” Harry answered his friend, a bit angry with him and his obvious excitement. “Oh, Ron, please, calm down. It won’t do any good if you crisp everybody’s nerves just because you are nervous,” Ginny scolded her brother, who looked outraged at her. Fortunately for him, Harry was able to finish with his breakfast before Ginny hexed her brother badly. “Come on, there are going to be a lot of people there, and the sooner we have all the team the better,” Ron said. “Coming,” was Harry’s answer. Katie joined them and the three went to the Quidditch changing rooms. There, after they changed into their robes, they discussed what they would do. “How much time do you think we will be out there?” Ron asked. “It’ll be a lot of time,” Katie said. “I’ve heard a lot of people that said they wanted to try out. It’d be a good thing that you called out all those who are not in our house; I wouldn’t put it past them to try that.” “Good thinking,” Harry said. “I’m sure those girls that have been stalking me will show up, too.” “Stalkers, Harry?” Katie asked, giggling. “Not very funny, I can tell you,” Harry grunted, “when they follow you twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and the only thing you can tell is that they look at you like if you were a piece of meat.” Katie smiled, but didn’t say anything else. “I believe that we should hold the Chasers’ and the Beaters’ tryouts before anything else,” Ron proposed. “That would cut out the time and it would help to provide us with better elements.” “It’s a good idea. Shall we?” Harry said, nodding towards the pitch. There were around seventy people on the pitch, and Harry could say that at least twenty of them were not really going to participate in the tryouts, because ten of them were girls whose giggling was going to crate on his nerves, and the others didn’t even have their brooms. “Let’s get on with the show,” Harry muttered and used a Sonorus charm on his throat. “All right, all those who are not going to participate in the tryouts please leave the pitch to the hopefuls. I don’t want to lose my time with you. That includes those who are not Gryffindors,” he included. The twenty that Harry had spotted, as well as a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs went out of the pitch. There were still some forty people in the group. “Thank you. Now, please separate yourselves in the positions you want to try out for. The Chasers and Beaters over there with Katie Bell, Keepers with Ron Weasley and Seekers with me.” Only five people stayed with Harry, who used a Quietus to stop the yelling; the others separated between his friends. “What do we have to do, Mr. Potter?” one of the boys asked. “Just Harry, boys,” Harry answered with a chuckle. “We are last because Chasers are the thing we need the most right now. You can still join the reserve team if you are good enough, so don’t worry about not making the starter.” “Well, with you in the team we thought it was rather stupid to try that,” the same boy said with a nervous giggle. “Well, I still need to find someone that will substitute me when I leave the school and, providing my bad luck, I’ll sure miss one match this year.” The boys smiled and stood to watch the tryouts for the Chasers and the Beaters. Ron was on the goals, and was going to be the obstacle for the to-be-Chasers. The Beaters would be playing in two groups, half of them would be the defender Beaters and the other half would be the attacker: the first would have to knock out the Chasers; the second would have to defend them. They would alternate their positions so as to show their ability with their bats. The first hopefuls were not very good, and were replaced soon. One of the biggest surprises was watching Neville tryout for Beater. He had not expected the ex-clumsy boy to join the team, and he was doing very well. All that work out during the summer had helped a lot in developing the muscles of his upper body, and he may have been able to train with his broom in the summer. Harry could tell he was doing it very well. But the best performances were those of Ginny and Dean Thomas. Ginny seemed to have a natural ability when playing Chaser, like Harry at Seeker, and Dean was putting his Muggle sports’ practice to play, and some of his shots at goal did not enter thanks to some good saves by Ron. After more than two hours, Harry had put down on a list who he had liked the most and why. Said list had seven names or so on the Chasers’ list, and six on the Beaters’. Ginny and Dean were on the first list, and Neville and the Creevey brothers were — surprisingly - on the second one. Who would have thought those two half-crazy boys could work as well as Gred and Forge? Harry thought with a smile. Those two had been able to do a good work with their bats, to the point that they nearly knocked one of the Chaser-hopefuls down his broom, and only a swift move made by Ginny managed to keep the boy on the broom. Since they now had to find a reserve Keeper, they held now the tryouts for those. Katie and a few of the trying Chasers would be the ones testing their abilities around the hoops. Half of them didn’t even manage to stop one shot, so they were dismissed from the pitch soon. There were still five possibilities to choose who would substitute Ron should something happen to him. The seventh one was Vicky Frobisher, the girl that last year had tried out for Ron’s position and had supposedly outflew him but had not joined due to being in too many groups. Harry could tell that she was a good flier, but she didn’t manage to stop three easy shots that entered the goals. Harry wrote about the possibility of having her as the Reserve Keeper on his notes. While the next two tried to stop the ball, a seventh year boy approached Harry with his broom. “Potter?” he asked. Harry knew that he was called McLaggen because he had heard Percy talk with him long ago, but they had never crossed a word. “What do you want, McLaggen?” On first sight, Harry couldn’t know, but as the older guy started to talk, he realised that McLaggen was very full of himself, and really arrogant. “I just wanted to tell you that I know that I’m much better than all those who are trying out at the Keeper position. I am even better than Weasley, and frankly I don’t know why you keep him in the team if it’s obvious he can’t compare with me. Besides, I am sure you would like to know that the Head of the Auror Group, Rufus Scrimgeour, is a friend of my father, so…” he left the sentence unfinished. Harry was not impressed with him. “Well, McLaggen, if you really think you are better than all those who are trying out at the Keeper position, you should really show it instead of bragging here. Ron has played more games than you and he really is very good in his position. And talking about contacts, my friend’s father is your father’s friend boss, so please don’t pull that card. Only if you really prove you are the best, you’ll get the position.” McLaggen went back to where he had been before going to talk with Harry with anger. He had thought that just with boasting about his abilities would give him the Keeper position he should have been given without actually having to prove it. Harry paid his attention back to the tryouts. Finally, the last three ended their performances without success — McLaggen wasn’t even able to stop one shot. Harry asked himself where would have that guy thought he was any good at Keeping and then told the last hopefuls, the Seekers. “OK, guys, this is your time now. I am going to release the Snitch and you are going to try to catch it. Wait for my signal. Feel free to do any moves you consider necessary to win, but I will not consent to dirty play, understood?” Harry told them. The four boys and the girl nodded and mounted their brooms. Then Harry released the Snitch. “You can go in three… two… one… NOW!” Harry shouted, and the five boys kicked on the ground hard to start flying. In less than fifteen minutes, Harry had decided that three of the hopefuls wouldn’t get the position. They flew well, but they didn’t have the control and reflexes required to be a good Seeker. The last two were the only girl and one of the boys: Natalie McDonald, whom Harry remembered as being a third year, was riding a Nimbus 2000, like the one Harry had during his first two years and the first match of his third year in the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The boy, Euan Abercrombie, had a Cleansweep Eleven, like Ron’s. In the end, it was Natalie the one who won, catching the Snitch with a rather dangerous manoeuvre that nearly resulted in a smash with Euan, but the latter managed to turn his broom away in the last second. “Very well, guys — and girl,” he added for Natalie’s benefit. “We will have the list of players tonight, so have a look at the notice board tomorrow.” ~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~ ~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~ ~~~ Gryffindor’s Quidditch Team for this year will be as it follows: Position Starter Team Reserve Team Keeper Ron Weasley (C) Vicky Frobisher Chaser 1 Katie Bell Geoffrey Hooper Chaser 2 Ginny Weasley Seamus Finnegan Chaser 3 Dean Thomas Emma Dobbs Beater 1 Colin Creevey Neville Longbottom Beater 2 Dennis Creevey Jimmy Peakes Seeker Harry Potter (C) Natalie McDonald ~~~~***~~~~***~~~~ ***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~ ~~***~~~~ Finally! It’s been a long time since the last update, but I had a big writer’s block combined with lots of work with my studies. The most irritating thing (for me) is that I have thought of a lot of things in this story, but it is a pain in the ass just to think what I should write next. I have even designed the main plot for Harry’s seventh year in Hogwarts, but I can’t think about what Harry will be doing for the next weeks. I’m truly sorry for the lateness in posting this chapter. I really hope you can forgive me and send a good review about this fifteenth chapter. Before I forget, I’d like to thank my beta-reader, Fiery Angel, for her exceptional work in revising my grammar and orthography. P.S: Vote for the Alhambra at www.new7wonders.com!!! |
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