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Author: Shamrock Holmes Story: Harry Potter and the Torch of Caelum Rating: Teens Setting: Pre-HBP Status: Completed Reviews: 1 Words: 59,803
Chapter Nineteen: School Without Malfoy "Did you check out the Slytherin practices last night?" Harry asked Civis as they waited in the Gryffindor changing room a week later for the rest of the team to join them. As usual, Ginny, Jamie and Mark were with them. The hobgoblin chuckled, "Oh yeah, I checked it out all right." "And?" "I never thought that there could be a more hopeless team than the one Slytherin already had, but there is, and this is it. Bletchley's taken over as Captain, and as far as I can tell he doesn't have even the most basic grasp of strategy; Joanna Dorny and Millicent Bulstrode, the new Beaters, can't tell the difference between a Quaffle and a Bludger, and their aim, when they manage to hit the right ball… let's just say if they were trying to hit the opposition Keeper, they'd probably commit a Bumphing penalty by hitting someone facing the centre circle. As for Mandy Flint, the new Seeker… she might be able to handle a Bluebottle or Ron's old Shooting Star, but she certainly can't manage a Nimbus Two Thousand And One, plus she wears glasses as thick as bottle bottoms and she still has problems reading the boards in class. The only one with any talent is Tracey Davis, the reserve Chaser, and she doesn't seem to… umm… understand the meaning of teamwork." "She is a Quaffle-hogger then?" Harry asked. "Hufflepuff'll make mincemeat out of them," Civis concluded. "Owen Cauldwell, Summersby's replacement is too good, he's got a good set of eyes and he's pretty sharp with a broom. Not as good as you or Charlie, or Ginny for that matter, but he'll run rings round Flint, and he could give a lot of other Seekers I've seen a run for their money too." "Well, that's not our problem," Harry told him. "Agreed." "Ravenclaw could be a problem for us though," Ginny pointed out. "I concur," agreed Civis. "They have been practicing a lot and it shows. You'll have to watch out for Chang. And Roger Davies has managed to pick up some pretty fancy tricks I've not seen used in professional Quidditch in fifty years, and not even your dad would have tried anything like them when he played here." "Do they work?" Harry asked him. "Sometimes, but good solid defending should see you through. They were abandoned for a reason." At that moment, they heard some of the other members of the team outside, so Civis transformed, turning back into his crow form. Once the rest of the team had gathered in the changing room, Harry gave them a brief talk about tactics for the upcoming Quidditch Final and then they headed out onto the pitch. They had a good practice and after showering and putting on clean robes, they headed up to the castle. "Does anyone want to go and watch the Slytherin-Hufflepuff match on Saturday?" Harry asked them as they climbed up the stairway leading to Gryffindor Tower. Neither the Beaters or the two reserve players were interested, and Katie and Hermione — who as usual had been watching Ron practice — pleaded too much homework, so Harry turned to his other best friend. "Ron?" "Hermione's right, Harry. I've still got eighteen inches on that essay on the Praessus Oslongitus Charm for McGonagall, and it's due in next Tuesday." "We'll be there," Jamie told him on behalf of herself and Mark. "I'll come too, Harry," Ginny told him. "If you help me with my Charms homework on Sunday." "Of course I will, Gin," Harry assured her. "I'd be happy to help anyway." Then he bent down and brushed his lips across hers. When he looked up again he noticed Ron had a slightly stricken look on his face. "What's wrong, Ron?" "It's just… I'm happy for the two of you and all, but… seeing my best friend and my little sister snogging, takes a bit of getting used to, that's all." "Well, then I guess you know what I feel like when you and Hermione do it." "What do you mean?" asked Ron, perplexed. Hermione sighed, "Ron, just when I think you might have acquired a little emotional sensitivity, you change my mind. Obviously, Harry's saying that his feelings for me are similar to the way you feel about Ginny." "Oh, right… I get it," said Ron, shaking his head a little. "So do we have to keep everything private?" "I'm fine with you and Hermione kissing in public, if you'll put up with me and Ginny doing it," said Harry. "Mandragora." The Fat Lady's portrait swung open and the group of Gryffindors were able to clamber into the common room. ---- When Harry drifted back into awareness on Saturday morning he was greeted by two intriguing sensations: one, his back was a little stiff as he appeared to have fallen asleep on one of the common room sofas; and two, the warm weight that he had his arms wrapped around was certainly not a blanket, in fact unless he was very much mistaken it was a female body belonging to — Harry fervently hoped — his girlfriend Ginny. Cracking his eyes open, he confirmed both his initial suspicions. Smiling to himself, he flexed his back muscles a little to loosen them up and then closed his eyes again, it was still dark and he figured he might as well make the most of the situation. If he had been thinking straight — a rather unusual thing for people to do at two in the morning, admittedly — he would have realised that this probably wasn't the best idea, but he wasn't thinking straight, so this fact did not occur to him. However, it made itself rather obvious a few hours later, most of the early risers either didn't notice the couple, or were smart enough not to do anything about it. But Ronald Weasley — as Hermione Granger had pointed out numerous times — was not known for his good judgement or intelligence in such matters. "POTTER, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE PLAYING AT?!!" Harry started out of his peaceful slumber, and instinctively tightening his gasp around Ginny. This had the effect of waking Ginny from her own slumber. "What… where... Uhh, Harry?" "Yes love?" "Why are we in the common room?" This question appeared to enrage Ron even further, and he lunged at the two of them. Whether he was intent on doing Harry bodily injury or just getting Ginny away from him, no-one one ever found out, for the question as to whether the Bat-Bogey Hex could be done without the use of a wand was answered seconds later. It could be. The half-a-dozen or so students present froze, and stayed that way until Katie appeared at the bottom of the girls' staircase five minutes later. "What's all the racket about?" Harry sighed, "Ginny and I fell asleep on the sofa while we were studying last night. Ron found us about five minutes ago, and over-reacted." "I see," said Katie, peering at Ron. "Bat-Bogey Hex?" Ginny nodded. "I've never done it without a wand before though." "I suppose we'd better get him to Madame Pomfrey," said Katie. "Probably a good idea," agreed Harry. "I'll go and get Hermione," said Natalie McDonald, who had been watching the whole incident from a study table near the window. "That's another good idea," said Harry. "I think Ginny and I should probably get changed and head down to breakfast. If you can manage, Katie?" Katie nodded, and using the Mobilicorpus Charm, guided Ron's unconscious form towards the portrait hole. A slightly shaken first-year opened it for her and she passed out into the corridor. "It's going to be a looong day," predicted Harry, with a groan. Ginny did not disagree. "You'd best stay clear of Ron for a day or two," Harry told Jamie when he joined her at the Gryffindor table twenty minutes later. "Potter isn't exactly his favourite name right now." "Why, what did you do now?" "Well, do you remember Ginny and I were still studying when you went up to bed?" "Yeah." "Well, we fell asleep on one of the sofas." "And Ron over-reacted as usual, I suppose." "Yeah, he did," Harry confirmed. "Ginny had to put a Bat-Bogey Hex on him to get him to calm him down. So he won't be in a very good mood when he gets out later on this morning." "Thanks for the heads up," said Jamie, digging into her breakfast. ---- "Good morning, everyone. Today, the Quidditch Cup continues as the second placed team — Hufflepuff — will take on Slytherin!" "There has been one change to the Hufflepuff line-up since the last game, so I present... Brock, Brock, Whitby, Cauldwell, Hopkins, Stebbins, and... Smith!" "And with the removal of Draco Malfoy as Captain and four key players suspended it is rather different Slytherin line-up today... Bulstrode, Dorny, Flint, Baddock, Davis, Pritchard and the interim Captain... Bletchley!" "Who's going to win, do you think, Harry?" Jamie asked, as Madam Hooch started the game. Hufflepuff immediately gaining possession as Zacharias snagged the Quaffle and shot towards the Slytherin goal. "Hufflepuff definitely," Harry told her. "You heard Civis, Slytherin are a mess." "Zacharias Smith scores for Hufflepuff, and they're still in possession. Hopkins with the Quaffle, he dodges Bulstrode and passes it back to Stebbins... Stebbins shoots, and Hufflepuff are now twenty points ahead." Play continued for another hour without any sign of the Snitch, and Hufflepuff's lead increased to forty points. By this point Harry, who was never a fan of Slytherin, was actually beginning to feel sorry for them — they had managed to score four times, however as one of them had been an own goal by Joanna Dorny who had again mistaken the Quaffle for a Bludger, they were forty points down rather than twenty. "I wonder how much longer this is going to go on?" wondered Ginny, as Hopkins scored again to bring Hufflepuff's score to eighty points to Slytherin's thirty. "I don't know," Harry admitted. "As long as it does." In fact the game took over four and a half hours, and Hufflepuff was a hundred and ninety points ahead when Cauldwell finally caught the Snitch, finishing the match with the score at 340-60 in his team's favour. "That has to be the worst defeat they've ever had," Harry mused as they left the stadium. "Probably," agreed Ginny with a grin. "It's almost as bad as the mauling Transylvania gave England at the last World Cup." "Yeah, that was bad," Harry agreed. "Four hundred to twenty, wasn't it?" "Three hundred and ninety to ten," Ginny corrected him. "That was bad." "Yes, it was. Hopefully they'll do better next year." "It's possible, but I doubt it, Harry." "Me too, love," agreed Harry. "Me too." ---- Potions had become a weekly nightmare for Harry since Malfoy's departure, Snape returned to plaguing him at every possible opportunity, and as the potions got more and more difficult, it was only Hermione's help that kept Harry in the ‘O' grade band. "Potions was a nightmare," Harry told Ginny as he sank into his seat at the Gryffindor table. "Just when I thought we were getting somewhere, he decides to hold a grudge for me reporting Malfoy and his cronies." "At least your other lessons are more fun," Ginny pointed out. "DADA's a bit hairy at the moment too," Harry groaned. "It wasn't much fun fighting the Bogarus Curse earlier, the Patronus Charm is much harder to conjure if it doesn't have specific target. Hagrid got in something new for us today too, and I've got a sneaking suspicion that they won't be as harmless as fwoopers, clabberts or nifflers." "Probably not," agreed Ginny. "But at least Civis'll be with you now." "Yeah, that's a good thing," Harry agreed, scrapped up the last bits of his lunch. As it turned out, Harry's fears were in part proven correct, the new creatures — the overgrown, talking ferrets known as jarveys — weren't as harmless as clabberts or nifflers, but were easy enough to handle compared to hippogriffs or blast-ended skrewts, so it was a rather more cheerful Harry that sat down between Ginny and Jamie at dinner two hours later. "How was Herbology, Gin?" "Fine, we were pruning Sprout's mimbulus mimbletonias, Neville's been too busy to take care of them." "That's pretty tame, she's got us cultivating Devil's Snare," said Katie, from her seat a couple of chairs down. "I think she wants to plant it along the border of the Forest." Harry nodded to himself, Sprout had suggested doing just that at the last Defence Council meeting, an idea that he had only reluctantly agreed to. "Is everyone okay for tonight's practice session?" Everyone agreed that they were and Ginny added that Sharon Skelton had received a Firebolt for her birthday at the weekend. "That'll be good," said Harry. "It'll give us a strong line-up up front next year." Ginny nodded and followed Harry as he got to his feet and headed for the exit, with Katie, Jamie, Mark and Civis the crow, following in their wake. A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, hopefully the next one will make up for it. As always, please review.
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