a/n: Ok. I idn't check this for typos, because MG wanted the fic NOW. Ok i'll post it.
16: Quidditch and Dobby
‘POTTER!’ McGonagall roared the next day, bursting through the great hall, she was clad in bright pink robes, with the Marauders Heirs symbol hovering over her. Everyone burst into fits of laughter. It wasn’t every day that they saw the strictest teacher in school (Apart from Snape) In pink robes.
Fred and George clapped Harry on the back as he left after McGonagall. As he entered the office, he admired his handy work. The whole room had been decorated bright pink, much like McGonagall herself.
‘Put it right Potter!’ She shouted shrilly. Harry stifled a smirk at her panicky look. He could have sworn he could hear his parents laughing as well.
‘Now Potter! Or one hundred points will be taken from Gryffindor!’
‘Whoa, Ok! Calm down!’ He waved his hand, and McGonagall’s room was put back to normal, as were her robes. She calmed down a little.
‘Ok, as for your detention, it will be…’ She seemed to pause, thinking of a new way to punish Harry, which hadn’t been done before ‘Help the house elves prepare their meal tonight’ Harry sighed- at least it wasn’t that bad, he would get to see Dobby and Winky again.
‘Yes Minerva’ He said in a sarcastic tone.
‘And don’t call me by my first name!’ Harry shrugged.
‘Ok, Minerva’ The deputy head rolled her eyes as he walked out of her office, and back into the great hall.
‘Great prank, Harry’ Ron congratulated him, as he slumped down next to him, in the great hall. ‘Detention?’ Harry nodded slightly.
‘Yeah, I have to work in the kitchens tonight’ Ron shrugged.
‘Ah, that isn’t too bad’ Harry nodded in agreement.
‘Yeah, that’s what I thought’ He replied, helping himself to some bacon.
As they were travelling to their first lesson (Charms) Alicia Spinnet, a Gryffindor Quidditch player stopped them.
‘Hey Harry’ She greeted him ‘Do you know about Quidditch practice?’ When Harry shook his head, Alicia tutted.
‘I told Fred and George to tell you! Oh well, Quidditch practice, this Saturday at seven o’clock’
Harry was grateful for this, their old team captain, Oliver Wood, has got them up at ridiculously early times for practice, and seven o’clock seemed relatively early compared.
They continued on to charms, Ron and Harry talked about the Quidditch season ahead of them. Ron said he wasn’t going to try out for keeper, as he didn’t have quick enough reflexes. Harry personally thought that was wise- he didn’t really think Ron could do well enough guarding the hoops.
They finally arrived at Charms, and swiftly entered the classroom. Today it seemed that they were working on accuracy charms that made a person more accurate. Harry already knew about these spells, he had read that they were illegal to use in Quidditch matches.
It was a fairly easy lesson, and in no time at all it was the end of the day, and Harry was saying goodbye to Ron and Hermione, and making his way to the kitchens. He was planning on making some mayhem while in there, so he took some ‘equipment’ with him as well.
Dobby and Winky were ecstatic to meet him again, but however, they were determined for him to serve his detention.
‘You is working on Slytherins breakfast’ Dobby said ‘Harry you is being a naughty boy!’ Harry smiled at him. He was happy to be working on the Slytherin common room; it meant he could improve the food a little. He talked to Dobby while he worked.
‘So Dobby, how have you been?’ The house elf smiled.
‘Dobby is fine, sir. I is planning on another pay rise!’ Harry grinned at him. Dobby was so different from the other elves. While the other elves were wearing pillowcases, he was wearing a jumper, jogging pants (which were too big for him) and the socks Harry had given him for Christmas the year before. The other elves seamed to have gotten used to this, however, so they didn’t glare at him so much.
It was while working at the kitchen that Harry realised that Dobby was actually a proper friend. They talked about idle things, like Quidditch and Hogwarts itself, and to Harry’s delight, Dobby had met his mother and father.
‘They was nice people’ Dobby explained ‘but Mr Malfoy despised them, So Dobby pretended he did as well’ Harry nodded. He left the kitchens at eight o’clock, when the house elves told him he had finished his detention.
It was strange, that was the first detention Harry had ever enjoyed.
The next day at breakfast, The Slytherins were belching, turning blue, growing beards, and extra arms. Some of them grew ten times fatter than they were, and others became incredibly tiny. Everyone was laughing so hard; many people had tears in their eyes. Ron had fallen of his chair when he saw Malfoy with a massive head, and tiny body.
Harry then got two detentions in one- one from Snape and another from McGonagall. He was fairly happy- three detentions in two days was a pretty grand feat.
The funniest thing about all of it was how none of the Slytherins could find the right counter spells to counter the charms and curses upon them, and when they asked the teachers, they couldn’t either. So again, it was up to Harry to fix everything. He tortured then for a minute or so, saying that he couldn’t really remember the counter curses, but then when Snape threatened to take 500 points from Gryffindor he quickly obliged.
Most people were still laughing all the way through breakfast, but Hermione disapproved.
‘Really Harry, you’ve knocked one hundred points off Gryffindor in these two days’ But Ron just snorted.
‘Yeah, and you’ll get all those points back today, knowing you’ However, Harry could see that Hermione was amused by Harry’s little stunt, she just didn’t show it.
The next week went by slowly. Harry and Ron got a detention for every weekday, and each time Hermione seemed to let her amusement show more openly. Finally the day came for the first Quidditch practice of the season. It seemed like Alicia Spinnet had been voted captain, although she gave everyone a say in what was going on. Harry dragged himself down to the Quidditch pitch just on time, and met up with all his fellow players.
‘Harry! There you are!’ Alicia said, happily.
‘Now, team’ She said ‘Lets get up there already, we don’t want you all falling asleep!’ She they did as they were told. The fresh air of the morning slapped the sleep out of Harry’s eyes; he rose up gradually, clutching his firebolt. He did a corkscrew dive, to show he hadn’t lost any of his skill when away, and his teammates clapped. He grinned.
After an hour of training, Alicia brought them down on the ground and discussed new tactics. She seemed to be able to explain them in a lot more interesting fashion than Oliver Wood had, and Harry was ready for the start of a new season.
‘Well, that’s it for today, then, team’ Alicia said ‘we’re having try outs for the keeper tomorrow, I’d like some of you to be there, to help me choose’ Harry nodded, and followed the rest of them back up to the castle, it was dangerous, but allowed as they were travelling as a group of seven.
Ron and Hermione were only just eating breakfast when Harry entered the castle, so, feeling incredibly famished, he sat down next to them, and shovelled bacon and eggs on to his plate, eyeing it hungrily.
Hermione laughed at him.
‘Nice practice?’ She asked, watching him cram all the food into his mouth. Harry nodded, and waited till he swallowed the food.
‘Yes, but extremely tiring’ He paused for a second ‘You guys want to come down with me to help pick the new keeper?’ They both seemed rather enthusiastic about this.
That night, Harry had another lesson in controlling his powers, and he found it a lot more tiring than Quidditch practice. He went straight to bed, and didn’t wake until nine, the next morning.
It was an extremely dull day, and grey clouds hung over the Quidditch pitch. However, it was obvious it wasn’t going to rain, and as there was no wind, the conditions were fine.
Harry went down to breakfast to find lots of Gryffindors looking un easy. Harry shared sympathy for them; he knew what it must have felt like. Alicia was at breakfast as well, but no other team member. Ron, Hermione, Fred and George soon entered the hall.
After about ten more minutes they trailed down to the Quidditch pitch, Harry wished all of the competes good luck, and watched them take off into the air.
There were three keepers that stood out, Colin Creevey, another boy, and a fairly large sixth year girl.
They told the other people to go back to the castle (to their disappointment) and watched as Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell shot at the keepers. They all seemed to have the same abilities.
‘Ok, there’s only one way to settle this’ Alicia said. ‘We’ll shoot ten balls at you, and the person who saves the most is on the team’ The three recruits nodded, looking slightly nervous.
The first person up was the third year boy; He managed to save seven of the ten goals, in which everyone clapped him for. He grinned at them, as he landed back on the ground. Next up was the girl. She did even better, saving nine goals. Everyone clapped and cheered, and the boy muttered dejectedly.
So it was down to Colin. He managed to save all of the goals, apart from the last one. It was a tie, so they shot five more goals. Finally the sixth year girl came out victorious, and Colin looked extremely peeved.
‘Well, Joanna, you certainly proved yourself’ Alicia said to the girl. ‘However, Colin, we’re going to keep you as a back up keeper’ Colin’s face brightened. They walked back up to the castle, talking animatedly about Quidditch, and the new keeper.
As they walked back up to the castle, they saw a vast army of troops ready for battle on Hogwarts lawn, training for a battle of some sort.
This reminded Harry of the upcoming war, and he shivered. It was sooner than he’d liked to have thought.
a/n: K, what did you people think? I'll try my best to make the next chappy exciting and good, and hopefuuly ill post it before tuesday..