Slytherin Raised by Wolfstar: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

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Chapter Six: Battle Of The Seekers

The following day was not much more pleasurable then the one before. After signing up for an interesting sounding extra-curricular class, ghoul studies, Harry went down to breakfast in a good mood but things started to go downhill once he arrived in the Great Hall. The four long house tables were laden with tureens of porridge, plates of kippers, mountains of toast and dishes of eggs and bacon, beneath the enchanted ceiling (today, a dull, cloudy grey). Harry and Theodore sat down next at the Slytherin table next to Allison and Tracey, who were deep in a conversation.

‘You’ll do fine, Allison, you have been practicing all summer and you got the build.’

‘Thanks Tracey.’

‘What are you guys talking about?’ Harry asked curiously.

‘I am trying out for Quidditch Beater after school, three possessions have opened up and I’m hoping one is for beater. The other person competing for the spot is Peregrime Derrick, he’s two years older but six years dumber, I like my odds.’

‘Well I’ll see you on the field tonight. Good luck.’

Daphne Greengrass then sat next to the girls and started her gossiping, ‘Did you hear that a first year Ravenclaw girl fell down the dormitory stairs last night, how hilarious-‘

Harry didn’t really care about gossip and instead turned to his porridge, but he only got a few spoonfuls in when overhead there was a rushing sound and a hundred or so owls streamed in, circling the Hall and dropping letters and packages into the chattering crowd and Harry watched as Hedwig arrived with red envelope.

‘Oh no,’ Harry said really worried.

Tracey, who had been listening to Daphne, turned around. ‘What, what’s wrong?’

‘It’s that,’ Harry pointed towards the letter, ‘I’ll never gotten a Howler before.’

A Howler is a magical red letter which enchants the written message into the writer's voice, usually at a very high volume, which intensified if the recipient did not open the envelope as soon as it arrived.

‘Why does the morning post have to arrive in such a public space? Ok, here I go.’

Harry reached out with a shaking hand, gently took the letter from Hedwig, and split it open. All three of Harry’s friends covered their ears. He thought for a moment his eardrums would burst; a roar of sound filled the huge Hall, shaking dust from the ceiling.

‘...HOW DARE YOU FLY ALL THE WAY TO HOGWARTS! NO NOTE, NO NOTHING BUT YOUR EMPTY BROOM CASE! WE THOUGHT YOU WERE KIDNAPPED! WE SEARCHED ENDLESSLY FOR YOU FOR HOURS, WE WERE ABOUT TO GO TO THE AURORS WHEN WE GOT YOUR LETTER...’

Remus yells, a hundred times louder than usual, making the plates and spoons rattle on the table, and echoed deafeningly off the stone walls. People throughout the Hall were swivelling around to see who had received the Howler and Harry sank lower and lower in his chair that only his jet black messy hair could be seen.

‘...AND THEN WE GOT YOUR LETTER! INSTEAD OF WAITING THE SMALL AMOUNT OF TIME FOR US TO GET OUT AND APPARATE YOU TO HOGSMEADE, YOU TOOK IT UPON YOURSELF TO FLY ALL THE WAY TO BLOODY HOGWARTS! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN HIT BY AN AIRPLANE, YOU COULD HAVE DIED! AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR CLOAK?! HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD YOUR FATHERS BLOODY CLOAK AND NOT TOLD ME...’

Harry just wanted to crawl up into a ball and die from the embarrassment and shame. And Remus was right, if they had stopped to think him and Theodore could have just flooed to Hogsmeade or have his parents apparate them their. They did not think their plan all the way through. Remus’ voice then became Sirius’.

‘...I AM SUPPOSED TO BE WRITING HOW DISAPPOINTED I AM IN YOU, AND YES YOU NEEDLESSLY SCARED US, BUT MAN AM I PROUD! YOU FLEW THAT FAR AND WERE ALL RIGHT?! I DON’T THINK JAMES AND I COULD EVER HAVE DONE THAT! JUST THINK IT THROUGH NEXT TIME AND STAY SAFE...’

A ringing silence fell. The envelope, which had dropped from Harry’s hands, burst into flames and curled into ashes. Harry just sat stunned, as though a tidal wave had just passed over him. A few people laughed, but Harry was just glad Snape and McGonagall weren’t in the Hall or they would have had all the proof they needed to expell him and Theodore. Gradually, a babble of talk broke out again.

Harry didn’t quite feel like socializing after that incident, however Terence ran up to him out of nowhere. He looked nervous and panicked.

‘Harry, I’m not supposed to tell you this but your spot on the team is being threatened. If you want any chance of still being Seeker be extra early to tryouts tonight. And don’t tell Flint I told you.’

And with that he ran off, probably to not get caught relaying top secret information. Harry realized that must have been what he saw them talking about last night, Marcus was trying to screw him over for some reason. Harry desperately wanted to deal with this now, but he had Charms class.

Harry, Tracey, Allison, and Theodore made their way up to the third floor of the Training Grounds Tower, and entered the Charms classroom. Just like the previous year they shared the class with the Ravenclaw students in their year and were taught by tiny but genius Professor Flitwick.

Flitwick started by asking how all their summers had went, but then dived right into course load. He taught a long lecture on chapter chapter six dealing with the Skurge Charm. By the end he assigned a small research paper on the history of the spell.

After class he attended his first day of ghoul studies, which was in the Serpentine Corridor on the third floor and dealt with the study and history of ghouls, ghosts, and poltergeists. It was very fascinating but the class couldn’t end quick enough as Harry needed to get to Quidditch try outs.

After the class ended he gathered all his gear, quickly ate an early supper with Allison, and then made a beeline for the Quidditch Stadium in the north end of the grounds. When they got to the Stadium only Marcus Flint had arrived. Flint took one look at Harry and cackled a chilling laugh.

‘What are you doing here Potter, you’re off the team?’

‘Because you never dismissed me as Seeker.’

‘True, but I didn’t need to. You quit, remember, you lost our house all those points and then resigned from the team.’

‘But you denied my resignation, you said you still needed me.’

‘I said you would be our Seeker until the seasons final game and afterwards I’d decide your fate, I have decided your fate. Besides, I don’t need you anymore, we have a new Seeker now.’

‘Who?’ The only person Harry could think of that could replace him was Terence, but Terence had been the one who warned him so he didn’t understand. Not until another voice spoke from behind him.

‘Me!’

Harry turned around. Standing behind him was the silvery-haired weasel he hated the most, Malfoy.

‘I sent a letter to Flint a week ago stating my interest in joining, and wouldn’t you know it your spot was vacant.’ He said with a devious smirk.

Allison nearly blew a fuse at him. ‘You bribed your way onto the team.’

Harry didn’t understand, ‘What do you mean he bribed them?’

She pointed at Malfoy’s broom and the six other brooms on the grass next to Flint. They were sleek, highly polished, jet black, with golden writing on each handle spelling the words “Nimbus Two Thousand and One”.

‘I can’t believe it, you bought your way onto the team. Do you even want to be a Seeker?’

‘I did no such thing, these are just a donation from my father, and for the record as I stated last year I love to fly.’

Harry couldn’t deal with Malfoy right now, he knew fighting him would achieve nothing, instead he turned to Flint.

‘Tryouts haven’t officially begun yet, so he isn’t technically the Slytherin Seeker yet. Let me tryout and the better Seeker gets the spot.’

‘Yeah, no I am in charge of how tryouts are done, you can’t tell me what to do.’

Allison stepped forward. ‘Let me put it a way you’ll understand, you want to win the Quidditch cup, so you need the best players, test them both and take the better Seeker. Otherwise you may loss this year.’

Marcus seemed to struggle to use the few brain cells he had, but after what looked like a deep and intense thought process he slowly nodded. ‘Fine, after initial trials I’ll clear the field and release the Snitch, first to catch it is Seeker, that is my final decision on this.’

Malfoy’s visible confidence just plummeted, and he became even more pale then he already was.

‘W-w-what?!’

‘You heard me Malfoy. Now on the bench with both of you, it’s time to test the other try outs.’

Soon a handful of Slytherins arrived and Flint had them all perform a really physically challenging set of Quidditch moves, then split them up into those trying out for Beater and Chaser. Harry watched Allison’s excellent performance, she was smaller than the other guy trying out, but she really knew how to put force into her strikes and Harry was pretty confident she’d get the spot. As for the Chasers none of them particularly stood out, they were all good, but none were excellent.

After an hour Marcus Flint ordered them all to the bench and called Harry and Draco forward. As they both approached their captain Malfoy elbowed Harry in the ribs hard, but he pretended it didn’t hurt so that it would annoy Malfoy. The two held their brooms ready, Flint held the Snitch in one hand and a whistle in the other.

‘I am going to get you both to look down as to not see the direction the Snitch takes off, once I judge enough time has passed I’ll blow this whistle and the first Seeker to grab the Snitch gets to keep the position. Now heads down you immature worm bags.’

Both Harry and Draco put their heads down, Harry expected him to cheat somehow but his head stayed down. They both heard the sound of the Golden Snitch take off, they gripped their brooms tightly and waited. After ten seconds they heard Flint blow the whistle and they both immediately mounted their brooms and kicked off. The race was on.

Harry took off like an eagle, but Malfoy took off like a falcon. Despite Harry being pretty confident he was more skilled, it was fact that Malfoy had the better broom. Harry went high into the sky to get a better vantage point, and Draco stayed closer to the ground and circled the stadium.

Minutes passed and Harry was starting to get dizzy from darting his eyes back and forth so much looking for the Snitch, but then straight ahead in the far distance he saw it, a quick golden blur. He took off towards it as fast as he possibly could, Malfoy must have saw this and took off like a bullet towards Harry. In almost an instant he was neck to neck with Harry, and a smirk on his face told Harry he now saw the Snitch as well.

Of course it wouldn’t be so easy as first to the Snitch wins, the Snitch itself was giving them a challenge as it flew close to the speed of sound and never in a straight line. They both chased it around. Draco was always in the lead however whenever the Snitch instantly changed directions it took Draco and extra second or two to do the same, where as Harry did it almost as fast as the Snitch did.

Then, in a very reminiscent moment of when Draco and Harry first faced off on a broom, the Snitch dived towards the ground, and the two second years dived right after it. Draco was a gaining on the Snitch faster than Harry could, Harry put all that he could into going faster but it wasn’t possible.

The ground was approaching very fast, both boys had their hand extended to try and reach the golf ball sized Golden Snitch. The wind was rushing by them so quickly it made Harry’s eyes water, but he then realized his big round glasses were breaking some of that wind because Draco was squinting trying to still keep his eyes on the Snitch as the ground got eerily close.

They had to pull up or the were going to crash, but Harry used Draco’s couple second delay and temporarily impaired vision to his advantage. Draco pulled up, giving Harry the couple seconds he needed to snag the Snitch and pull up himself. He landed and proudly showed the golden ball to Marcus.

‘Look, I did it, see.’

‘Yes Potter, I have bloody eyes. Now you and Malfoy it with the others while I decide which three of you eight are joining the team.’

They both sat down on the bench, Allison gave Harry a thumbs up. ‘You did excellent Harry!’

‘You did too, you are getting Beater for sure.’

Harry than turned to Malfoy and did something he thought he’d never do. He put out his hand.

‘Draco, I underestimated your abilities, you were actually better than I thought out there. May the best wizard win?’

Draco looked at Harry’s hand for a second, seemingly contemplating if he should take it or not. Finally he didn’t, but he did respond.

‘May the best wizard win.’

After another couple minutes Marcus Flint marches over.

‘Ok, I have decided that Potter stays Seeker, Runcorn you got Beater, and Malfoy I have decided you would make a good Chaser. Now I don’t submit these results for another week so don’t give me a reason to change my mind or one of these five failures will replace ya. Now clean up and get back to the castle before I report you as out past dark.’

Harry and Allison were overjoyed, but Malfoy clearly was not happy. He did manage to get one more spite at Harry, he picked up one of the new brooms and said, ‘Looks like my dad bought an extra by mistake, I’m going to have it returned.’

So everyone on the team was going to have a Nimbus Two Thousand And One but him. He didn’t really care though because his broom was still far better than most on the other three teams and had sentimental value as well. He and Allison returned to the common room where they shared their news with Tracey, Theodore, and Terence.

‘Oh that is great news Alli, also counting you Terence now half the Quidditch team is under fourteen. I think that makes history.’ Tracey said excitedly.

‘Yeah, I think you’re right,’ Terence said a little red in the face, ‘Also Harry I’m sorry I couldn’t warn you earlier, I couldn’t jeopardize my own position on the team, but I’m really glad you made it.’

‘I’m just glad you warned me. Thanks Higgs.’

The five of them celebrated into the night, and although it had been a day full of stress, in the end it wasn’t as bad of a first day as he had thought. But shadows he didn’t know surrounded him were plotting, and those Harry had come to care about were in more danger then he could ever imagine.