"You nervous?" Archie asked as he chewed on a piece of bacon for breakfast. It was the morning of the first game of the year, and as luck would have it, Ravenclaw were set to verse Gryffindor.
"No" was Harry's simple and cold reply. That was another thing that confused Archie; ever since that particular history lesson about the 'Boy-who-lived' where Harry had stormed out of the classroom, he had become distant and cold.
Well…more than usual anyway.
Archie had even enlisted the help of Hogwarts resident pranking twins to try and get a smile on his face, but all the Weasley twins managed to accomplish was proving that there is no way in hell anyone can prank Harry Potter. He always just seemed to know when someone was going to prank him. The Weasley twins and Archie had, in their frustration, named his uncanny ability to thwart their schemes as 'Harry's super duper, mega, and ultra cool Pranking sense'. The name was still up for discussion at their next meeting.
Something that only served to frustrate the trio more was when they had asked him how he continued to evade being pranked, in the hopes of making their pranks all the more unavoidable, he had just replied that they needed more 'skill points'.
What the hell were skill points?!
When that question was put to Harry, he had replied that to know what skill points were, they needed to acquire more skill points.
Suffice to say, they didn't have the required skill points and Harry was succeeding in diverting unwanted attention.
Stephanie had advised to give Harry his space when he had asked for her advice on the situation, but after a month passed with no change in his attitude, he was honestly starting to get worried.
"Well, do you think we've got a chance at beating the Gryffs today?" he asked, trying to get at least a few words out of his friend.
"Mm, Ellwood, Davis and I have a strategy to neutralize Weasley" he supplied quietly while chewing on his own breakfast. That answer surprised Archie for the wrong reasons, aside from several grunts, mumbles and monosyllabic answers; he really didn't speak all that much lately. It was sad that he really had to think to remember the last time he had strung a full sentence together.
"Well…ehh, care to share?" he asked, a huge grin on his face.
"No."
Archades sighed dejectedly, hoping a win today would at least help his friend lighten up a bit. He was sure he wouldn't mind so much if he at least knew why he was acting this way.
It was an extremely cold Sunday morning that found Archie sitting in the Hufflepuff stands beside Cedric so they could watch their friend debut for the Ravenclaw house Quidditch team against Gryffindor. The news of the two second years making the team was a secret that Ellwood intended on exploiting and using to his advantage, so naturally, everyone in the castle had found out about it not two hours after their first training session.
That didn't seem to bother the Ravenclaw captain as much as it should have, mainly because he too had caught wind of five of Gryffindor's new recruits; the Weasley twins as their new beaters, and Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet as their new Chasers. The only experienced players they had on their team were Charley Weasley and Jeremy Brown with Oliver Wood as a second year keeper. This game definitely had the potential to prove whether Ravenclaw were finally able to make a legitimate run at the cup.
Meanwhile in the changing rooms, Harry and the rest of the Ravenclaw team had changed into their dark blue and bronze Quidditch robes. Harry had made sure to place a temporary sticking charm on his glasses so they didn't fall off while he was playing, he knew that his flying style was flamboyant at the least, so it was a smart decision on his behalf.
"Alright guys, there's no need to be nervous" Ellwood began as he stood before his team that were seated in a line on the bench, a blackboard with their tactics being drawn, erased, and redrawn behind him as he spoke. His speech was mainly for the two newbie's benefit, and the two newbies in question knew this "as long as we follow through with our planned strategies, there's no way we can lose. The training you've all been through in the last month should be more then enough to trounce our opponents today" he finished with conviction.
"I want us to go out there and do the best we can, and I know for a fact that our best puts us way ahead of the Gryffindorks" he jokes, earning several chuckles from the team, all except Harry, who had his face set in stone. His role in the game would be the most important of all, in his opinion.
"What's our goal?!" Elwood shouted, holding his hand out and motioning for the others to follow.
"Victory!" the team collectively shouted as they heard the crowd cheering from inside the change rooms. Gryffindor must have made their way on the pitch.
"Alright, let's do this, game faces on everyone" and with that, every member of the team set their own faces in stone. It was fine to joke around and have fun during training as long as you get your allocated tasks done, but on game day, it was all business as far as Ellwood was concerned.
With Ellwood in the lead, Harry followed him out to the pitch, ignoring the loud cheers that greeted them, though he did discreetly try and look for Archie.
Madam Hooch was standing in the middle of the pitch, ready to referee the game, with her broom in hand. Harry noticed, with some form of amusement, that the opposing team's eyes widened a fraction when they caught sight of his broom.
"Now, as you all know, I expect a good, clean game" she said, as a formality, not really expecting anything less from these two teams.
"Mount your brooms please, on my whistle, you may begin" she said as Harry steadily mounted his broom with his feet firmly planted on the ground, waiting for her whistle.
At the sound of a loud whistle, fifteen brooms shot up into the air.
"And we're off, the Quaffle is immediately taken by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor being the closest to the ball at the time, what an excellent chaser that girl is, and rather attractive too…"
"JORDAN!"
"Sorry Professor"
The Weasley twins' partner in crim and friend Lee Jordan had taken up the post of commentator after the Jerome Smith, the regular commentator, graduated last year; he was watched closely by McGonagall.
"She's really flying down the middle of the pitch towards the Ravenclaw goal, a sizzling pass to Brown who takes the Quaffle under his wing and advanced toward Worthington, the veteran Ravenclaw keeper. Brown passes it to Spinnet, and NO, what's this? Potter has intercepted the pass and Ravenclaw are on the breakaway with Potter, Ravenclaw's rookie Chaser flanked by Ellwood and Davis. Potter performs a battle roll to avoid a well aimed bludger from Fred or George Weasley, can't really tell, and lays it off to Davis. Potter and Ellwood put their heads down and speed towards Wood, blocking the Gryffindor keeper's sight of the Quaffle, is that even allowed?!" he shouted, amidst the cheers and the jeers from the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor stands respectively.
"And Davis SCORES as Potter and Ellwood veer off at the last moment to give their team mate a clear shot, ten nothing to Ravenclaw after a good team move, I wonder if it would have been possible if Potter didn't have that 'effin broom…"
"JORDAN!"
"Sorry professor" sounding anything but apologetic.
"Wow, that was awesome!" cheered Archie in the midst of the other Hufflepuffs applauding politely.
"Wow! Harry and Roger are really good, it's kind of intimidating to someone who wants to play next year" Cedric said from beside him; the boy's grey eyes were locked on the Quaffle and would occasionally look to each seeker.
"Hey, yeah, you said you wanted to play" Archie recalled "why didn't you try out this year?"
"The Hufflepuff Seeker is a seventh year and there are no reserves, so I figure I'll try out with everyone else next year when the spot's open" he said with a shrug "My father told me he would be bale to buy me a really good broom too by next year if I really wanted to play."
Archie nodded politely with a smile. The Diggorys, though an old pureblood family, were not exactly rich and racing brooms weren't exactly cheep either.
"There you are" came a feminine voice from behind the two boys. Turning around, Archie and Cedric were greeted with the sight of a flushed Stephanie who looked like she had run up several dozen flights of stairs. She probably had if she was looking for Archie…
"Hey Steph, take a seat, you watching this too?"
Stephanie deliberately sat next to Cedric's left, opposite to Archie, as the boy sulked "It's not like I could do anything else, and the rumours were that Harry is really good, so I came to see for myself."
"You don't know anything about Quidditch though" Archie commented with a frown as the crowd erupted in cheers as Harry himself scored a goal. Cedric had his eyes glued on the game once again as Archie and Stephanie spoke.
"I don't" she muttered "but everyone seems to like it, and if I can see a stupid Gryffindork get pummelled by a psychotic ball, who am I to complain?"
Cedric chuckled "Ouch, harsh."
Archie rolled his eyes, used to his long time friend's twisted humour.
Harry took the time to survey his surroundings and catch his breath in the few moments he had now before the game started up again. To the untrained eye, it would seem that Ravenclaw were trouncing the Gryffindors with the score being one hundred and forty to ten in their favour, but Charley Weasley had come disturbingly close to catching the Snitch on several occasions. The plan was for the chasers to score as many points as possible before Charley inevitably did the job he was famous for and the beaters were doing admirably in cutting him off. The problem was, he was adapting to them and would catch it soon if something wasn't done to stop him.
As he received the Quaffle from Davis, Harry launched it to Ellwood, but not before seeing a flash of gold and Weasley diving towards it. He'd caught sight of the Snitch.
Ignoring the play they were about to implement, Harry veered to the right and zoomed towards Weasley's intended path. Davis had seen him go off course and stray from their plan but passed it to him regardless, this action caused the six chasers on the pitch, both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw alike, to move to the same area, virtually halting Weasley's dive with a body of players. Weasley had no choice but to curse and stop his dive, losing the snitch in the process.
The crowd, seeing what had happened, cheered wildly, especially the Ravenclaw section. With the Quaffle still in hand, Harry's eyes followed Davis zoom towards the Gryffindor goal to take advantage of the open field. Cocking his arm back, Harry gave a mighty throw and released the Quaffle with a loud grunt.
The crowd almost became silent as the Quaffle had to have easily covered one hundred and fifty feet at a breakneck speed, straight into Davis's waiting hands who easily, having been headed towards the far hoop while Wood was guarding the near hoop, put the Quaffle through for a goal.
"Did you see that? That was amazing by Potter to not only cut Weasley's, the elder, chance at catching the snitch, but to pick out Davis from virtually the other side of the pitch. If this keeps up, not even Weasley catching the snitch will save Gryffindor, boy this is exciting!"
Surprisingly enough, the game lasted for quite a bit longer with the score now being two hundred to fifty, in Ravenclaw's favour, and they were on the attack again. All they needed was one more goal and even if Weasley caught the snitch, they wouldn't be able to win.
Harry, however, saw something that made his stomach fall out form beneath him. Charley Weasley, on the opposite end of the pitch, racing towards the snitch unopposed! Spencer was far too far away to stop him and so was any other player on the Ravenclaw team; even their beaters couldn't do anything as the bludgers were being controlled by the impressive Weasley twins teamwork; they had planned this!
"Ellwood! Weasley! Snitch!" Harry yelled at the top of his lungs. The captain whipped his head around, having heard the warning and cursed. The red haired seeker was within seconds of catching it. Deciding that there was only one chance left, Ellwood, with all his might, passed the Quaffle to Harry who was hovering near the Gryffindor goal, far enough away that Wood couldn't come out to block any passes coming in his direction yet close enough to score.
Harry scowled when he noticed the Quaffle was coming in too high and too fast. In almost an instant, his mind analysed the situation. If he were to fly high and intercept, not only would he give the opposing chasers time to track him down and intercept, but he would have to pause yet again to actually shoot. Acting on instinct, Harry climbed on his broom, balancing both feet on it and making sure he had a steady footing. When this was assured, he barely had enough time to scold himself for trying something so utterly foolish before leaping into the air with the grace of a swan.
"Potter's gone mad at the sight of Weasley zeroing in on the Snitch, so mad he's leapt right off his broom without even facing the Quaffle. Ladies and Gents, it's a sad day when players would rather kill themselves then lose to Gryffindor…"
So shocked was the Transfiguration professor that she didn't reprimand the cheeky commentator.
It seemed that the entire stadium took a collective intake of breath when he leapt into the air and there were even a few gasps when said broom began to plummet to the ground.
Harry however paid no mind to what was going on around him. There were only three things on his mind; the Quaffle, the Hoop he was aiming at and his position in the air. He had to time this perfectly.
To the shock of everyone in the crowd, Harry had performed a backwards summersault in mid air and used the speed of the Quaffle to his advantage, directing the ball into the nearest hoop…with his foot. Football fans at Hogwarts would forever remember this defining moment in Hogwarts Quidditch History when Harry Potter invented the Mid-air Scissor kick.
What was even more shocking was that the Quaffle slammed straight into the inside of the Hoop and through, the force of the kick being so great that the entire pole shook violently.
Almost too shocked to cheer, everyone's eyes immediately left the shaking pole to see a rapidly descending Harry Potter, heading into the ground face down with his arms tucked by his sides.
In the stands, Dumbledore quickly rose to his feet and whipped out his wand, however, he found an intervention on his part was completely unnecessary as Harry quickly caught up with his broom, mounted it, and pulled up before he could smack into the ground.
There were several moments of silence until…
"UN-FREAKING-BELIEVABLE!" cheered the voice of Lee Jordan, his normal bias absent in his praise of the daredevil stunt "Potter just pulled off the most Gryffindor like stunt I have ever seen on the Quidditch pitch, and it seems it could have won them the game for WEASLEY HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH!"
The Gryffindors immediately voiced their approval at Charley Weasley's feat while the Gryffindor captain himself was gaping in shock at Harry. The rookie Ravenclaw chaser of the hour was watched by several hundred pairs of eyes as he quickly lowered himself to the ground and hopped on one foot towards the changing rooms, his right foot never touching the ground and seemingly in pain as he ignored the commotion he caused.
Immediately after his departure, Ellwood and Weasley flew straight to Madam Hooch to argue their cases.
"He used his bloody foot to score that goal! Is that even allowed?! Besides, I know I caught the Snitch before he scored!" roared Weasley over the sounds of the crowd.
"Bollocks! Nowhere does it say in the rulebook that you cannot use your feet to score! Besides, he beat you to the punch Weasley, this is clearly our game!"
Hooch, being the only person who had the sense to not glue her eyes to Harry Potter during his shot frowned before blowing her whistle.
"Goal to Ravenclaw! Charley Weasley has caught the Snitch! RAVENCLAW WIN TWO HUNDRED AND TEN TO TWO HUNDRED!"
The cheers coming from the crowd seemed to be deafening, especially from Archie and Cedric, and even to some extent, Stephanie who could appreciate a good show.
Minerva McGonagall however narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the entrance of the change rooms, choosing to remain silent.
Harry sighed in annoyance for what had to have been the fiftieth time that day as he sat at his desk in the second year boy's dorm rooms, hit right foot having being covered in a cast despite his head of house's and the school nurse's opinions.
"What are you doing holed up in here Harry, my man?" asked Archie who barged into the room to see Harry at his desk reading over a book that he really shouldn't be reading. Archie filed that bit of information away for a later date, intent on completing the task he had come up here for.
"Don't call me that" Harry answered with a glare. Archie being so familiar with him was nothing out of the ordinary, they had practically been friends for over a year now, but immediately after that game, people – mostly older girls – who had all but ignored his existence have pretty much declared their undying love or unwavering friendship for him – it was annoying.
"Everyone else is doing it" Archie reasoned with a shrug "I still don't get why you refused to have your foot fixed by Madam Pomfrey the conventional way, you know, with a skele-grow potion or by magic itself" he commented with a frown, eyeing Harry's cast with disdain. He had his right foot and ankle covered in a thin cast so it could heal the natural way.
"Healing bones with magic or potions will ultimately weaken them" Harry lectured "Given the fact that it was my first game and I've already broken something, I can imagine that there will be many more breaks in the future; I'd rather not weaken myself by healing my injuries with magic, especially not ones as simple as a broken foot…now if I broke my pelvis? That's another story."
Archie snorted in amusement "And how would you go about breaking your pelvis? Would it have anything to do with you and Professor Sinistra, you know, with your newfound fame, I don't think it too far out of the realm of possibility that you could bag her" he paused with a frown "and with the way you've been so bitchy lately, its definitely possible for you to fu…"
He never got to finish his sentence as Harry merely flicked his wand without looking in Archie's direction, transfiguring one of the other boys' socks into a Rottweiler puppy that proceeded to chase Archie around the room for a few minutes. Archie, while running for his life, had the time to remember, with shock, the advanced magic Harry had just performed.
Archie was given the time to regain his breath, Harry had decided he had paid for his comment enough "You know, you should invest in some pads for your feet if you plan on pulling a stunt like that again…I'd imagine you could get more power on your kick as well if you did so…you have a good kick by the way" he added with an afterthought "Football has obviously done you wonders."
Harry actually stopped reading for a moment and looked towards Archie with a frown "That was actually kind of smart" he narrowed his eyes with suspicion "if you're one of my new fan girls under Polyjuice please go and take a long walk off the Astronomy tower" he replied coldly, though the amusement in his eyes ruined the effect.
Archie brushed off the insult with a huff "I am known for my few moments of brilliance" he conceded.
"Yeah, but you're more known for your much more frequent moments of utter idiocy" he insulted with a smirk, his eyes back reading his text which Archie had noticed was an incredibly advanced transfiguration text he had seen Harry reading before.
"You know, you just sounded like Professor Snape just then."
Harry gasped in mock horror as he looked at Archie "Perish the thought!"
Archie frowned at that "It wasn't an insult, what do you have against the Professor anyway?"
"Are you mad? You mean other then having the man practically steal our house cup away from us minutes before we would have won it?" he asked, not really caring about the cup but more about how blind his friend could be when he chose to be.
"You should have been watching where you were going" he defended as Harry gave up decided it was pointless.
"So, you going to come down and enjoy the party that is practically being thrown for you or are you going to stay up here like a geek and read all night?" Archie asked, amidst the sounds of loud cheering and music coming from the common room that had been annoying Harry all night.
"I'll pass" Harry commented while taking his book to his bed and lying down. He had the aid of a crude cane so he could walk more easily, refusing to accept the crutches Madam Pomfrey had provided complaining that they were too 'cumbersome' "I have better ways to waste my time" he said dryly.
"And what's better then peeking on Ellwood banging Spencer for a good hour and a half through the dorm keyhole and the aid of a few nifty spells?" he asked with a grin, ignoring Harry wince at his crude comment.
"I don't know, how about 'banging' Spencer yourself instead of peeking like a 'geeky' pervert" he challenged as Archie seemed to space out; Harry was weirded out when the boy let out a low giggle. He shook his head to clear that image from his mind less he need to take a cold shower "Come on mate, you need to come down, the girls have been hounding me for hours about you!" he all but whined.
"I'd imagine you'd use that situation to your advantage, all those pretty girls and all" he commented dryly.
"It does sound like a good idea, there are several of them…" he trailed off with a smirk.
"How very promiscuous of you Archades" he commented dryly, the boy in question just waved him off.
"Meh, Stephy is the only woman for me anyway" he said with a grin.
"She certainly seems to be fascinated by your genitalia" he commented with a smirk as Archie winced in phantom pain – the girl had a wicked knee.
"Those are just 'love taps'" Archie defended feebly as Harry actually barked out a laugh very much like his guardian would at such a lame comment.
"So, other then disrupting the little quiet time I'll have for probably a few months, is there any other reason you have graced me with your presence, oh 'King of the Love Taps'?" he said with a snort.
"You mean other then the fact that Ellwood and Spencer finally passed out?" Archie asked with a grin as Harry rolled his eyes "I dunno, those girls were actually getting pretty annoying and having to watch the upper years get absolutely smashed on firewhisky while I'm prohibited to touch the stuff isn't exactly the most fun thing in the world" he said with a shrug "Though Roger seems to be having run, he's snogged four different girls already, one of them was a hot looking and extremely drunk fifth year…" he trailed off as Harry just shook his head in exasperation, was it only him that didn't enjoy acting like a complete idiot?
Harry watched secretly with interest as his friend walked over to their bedroom window that looked out towards the grounds and gazed at something with longing. Harry narrowed his eyes when he figured out what his friend was looking at; he had been doing this ever since that Potion's class – the Forbidden forest was in clear view from that window.
Harry averted his eyes when his friend turned in his direction with a sigh and headed towards the door "Hopefully the girls are bugging Polack or something by now, I'll see you later, watching drunk people make fools of themselves is pretty fun" he said, as he left the room and headed back to the party being held in honour of the Ravenclaw's victory over Gryffindor.
Harry awoke with a start, his book lying open on his chest with his spectacles sitting slightly askew on his face. He concluded, after the cleared his head of the post-sleep cobwebs that he must have fallen asleep while reading last night without knowing. Getting up to go and wash his face, not feeling very tired anymore, he noticed with a frown that their dorm door was slightly ajar. Looking around the dorm room, he silently checked each bed to see if everyone was where they should be only to stop short at Archie's bed when he saw it empty.
Harry looked at his watch to see that it was as late, or early, as four thirty in the morning and couldn't think of a valid reason why his friend wouldn't be in bed. Looking out his window with a sense of dread, he noticed the moon still shining mystically in the sky down at Hogwarts and its grounds. The light it provided showed a small cloaked figure running towards the Forbidden forest with great haste. Harry quickly put two and two together and cursed in as many languages that he knew.
Hobbling over to his bed and fetching his temporary cane which he had transfigured himself earlier to look better then the stick of wood that it practically was into a thin black piece of wood topped off with a silver eagle head at the top. After getting his cane, he fetched his own cloak that he threw over himself quickly before moving as quickly and silently as possible towards the exit to the Ravenclaw common room. He thanked and cursed Merlin for not having a sentient portrait guarding their rooms before he sneaked out, never noticing a small figure staring at the boy with wide eyes.
Argus Filch was not a pleasant person, in fact, the caretaker of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardly could be described as downright nasty, taking a twisted sense of pleasure in torturing the ungrateful 'maggots' – as he referred to the students as – in any way possible. Patrolling the halls early in the morning after a huge party was one way he would do this. It was commonplace in a building full of hormonal teenagers to find a couple or a triple out of bed after curfew in a broom closet or the like, which is why tonight found the miserable squib stalking the corridors.
"What was that precious?" he asked towards his faithful companion as if he could understand her. Mrs Norris was just as notorious as Filch when it came to being hated by the students. The Weasley twins swore up and down that the cat could 'taste' fear and track down students better then Filch ever could "You hear someone out of bed eh? Lead us to them then, come on" he urged with a large grin as the balding man chased his cat down the corridor only for the both of them to stop short when they saw a black cat running out towards the grounds at top speed.
"Oh well precious, you can't be right all the time" he said with a disappointed sigh as he turned and walked away, leaving a hissing cat behind that eventually stalked after her master when she was done.
Had they stayed a minute longer, they would have seen a terrified first year slowly walking around the school unsupervised and lost.
Harry ran as fast as his four legs would carry him, thanking Merlin that he had an ability that allowed him to circumvent Filch whenever he pleased. Eventually, he made it to the outskirts of the forbidden forest and immediately sniffed the air. His senses were heightened at the moment utilizing his sensitive hearing, smell and his increased touch receptors to their most, he was able to follow Archie's trail further into the forest.
His black coat allowed him to keep the shadows and avoid any unwanted attention he may garner from the other inhabitants of the forest, which was a good thing because he seriously didn't want to confront a giant spider in mortal combat any time soon, not when he needed to stay in this form to track Archie.
Eventually, Harry happened on a clearing in the forest that didn't have the sky blocked out completely by the dark and gloomy trees that were more then plentiful elsewhere. The effect of the admittedly small opening allowed for the moon's rays to shine through the canopy and onto a spot on the ground that was beautifully illuminated by its light. At the scene of the light was a cloaked figure who had removed his hood to reveal a head of brown hair that was carefully removing a plant from the ground by digging up the soil around it and placing it in a pot, careful not to cut the roots.
Harry was fine to sit and allow Archades to continue collecting whatever the hell he felt necessary to risk his life for to come out into this hellhole for until he spotted, with his keep eyes that allowed him to see quite well in the night, a huge snake slithering silently towards Archie's position; the boy was far too absorbed in his own world to notice.
Just as silently, Harry too sneaked to Archie's position, careful to mask his emotions behind his Occlumency shields. He had no plans of alerting the humongous serpent to his presence by projecting any emotion wilfully or not in its direction.
Seemingly done, Archie sighed happily and potted the plant he had been working on which had a black stalk and glowing white petals adorning it. Out of all the herbs and magical plants he had ever read about, it was definitely the most beautiful and magical looking one he'd set his eyes on. Ready to leave, Archie turned around to head back only to retreat several steps in fright when he finally spotted the twenty foot predator slithering its way towards him. The snake itself had its massive jaws opened menacingly and instead of the regular pair of fags one would come to expect from any serpent dripping with venom, it sported a mouth full of razor sharp and instead of hissing, knowing it was spotting, it was almost growling, yet not quite.
The snake's scales were a dark grey, however, they also seemed to be covered in a shadowy aura that surrounded its body in entirety creating a menacing image, well, that and its pair of glowing violet eyes.
Archie immediately recognized the creature to be a Vorpala, a magical serpent that has an abnormally large life span and is a natural carnivorous predator. It is often known to eat humans when particularly hungry and its venom can easily paralyse its prey with one drop injected into the blood stream. This one in particular looked to be exceptionally dangerous and he honestly couldn't think of a way to leave this situation alive. Closing his eyes and waiting for the end, he was surprised when it didn't come; instead, with his eyes closed, he was able to hear a loud hissing unlike a serpent's joining the fray.
Tentatively, he opened his eyes to see, to his horror, a rather normal black cat standing in front of him in a protective position with its back arched and fangs bared, hissing menacingly. This is what he gets as a saviour? A freaking black cat? It didn't even look like an adult! Archie moaned mentally at the ridiculousness of it all.
Archie looked on with sadness when the Vorpala seemed to be mocking the feline as it reared its head back and struck. To Archie's surprised however, the cat was quicker and it sidestepped the strike, causing the Vorpala to crash unceremoniously into the ground before the cat attack, slashing one of its violet eyes with its claw, damaging it beyond repair.
The Vorpala roared in outrage and pain, terrifying the young Montague with the sound it produced and charged blindly at the offending feline – away from Archie. Then, when the Vorpala looked certain to land a killing blow on the brave cat, the most amazing thing happened, something that Archie would remember for the rest of his life.
The cat leapt away again from a strike and almost in an instant, it morphed into the shape of a crouching, spectacled human with a cane in hand and furious emerald eyes.
"Harry?!" Archie shrieked in surprise, noticing that his voice had raised several octaves with disgust.
Harry however ignored the boy and glared at the Vorpala, his wand drawn and pointed between its eyes before he…hissed at it!
Archie's mouth dropped open in shock once again that evening so soon after he had finally reattached it to the rest of his jaw. Harry was speaking to the snake! Harry was speaking the language of the snakes and it understood! Harry was a Parseltongue! Suddenly, Archie was beginning to feel light headed.
"Leave before I am forsssed to kill you Vorpala" Harry hissed menacingly as the creature in question reared back in shock.
"Food…kill…ssspeaker…kill…ssso hungry…kill…devour…dessstroy…" The Vorpala hissed back unintelligibly, much to Harry's annoyance. The brief pause in momentum as the Vorpala processed this new information was all the time Harry needed to strike.
Flicking his wand, he sent a blue beam of power out of his wand that crashed into the ground the Vorpala had been seated on. Fortunately for the Vorpala, it was able to get away in time, unfortunately for the Vorpala, Harry was not done.
With a slight twirl and jab of his wand, the debris created by the explosion of the blasting hex slamming into the ground was transfigured into almost a dozen spear length wooden spikes. The spikes seemed to hover in mid air around the suddenly fearful Vorpala until Harry jabbed his wand again in mid air, causing the spikes to crash down into the area the Vorpala had been occupying, piercing its tough scales in several places yet not killing it. With cold eyes, Harry flicked his wand and swished it from left to right, causing a yellow beam of light to generate from the swish and quickly sever the beast's head.
Turning to his friend after he was sure the beast was dead, Archie involuntarily took another step back when he saw the fury in his eyes.
"You don't need to explain, I already know why you're here" he hissed out, and Archie was brutally reminded of his Parseltongue abilities that he had shown not too long ago "I hope it was worth almost losing your life over, just feel glad that I'm a light sleeper" he said as he limped over to his friend, cane in hand to aid him and grabbed his shoulder, ready to drag him back.
"Wait!" Archie yelped as he broke free from the grip and took out a knife and immediately set to work on the Vorpala. Harry sighed as he let his friend cut loose several fangs, its one remaining eye - which was still glowing an eerie violet - , its heart, its liver, its venom glands and a few samples of said venom before he got up ready to leave.
"Are you finished precious?" he sneered "We'll be lucky if we don't encounter something on the way back, the creatures of this forest must have heard something" he said angrily as Archie paled and nodded quickly. Harry transformed back into a black cat with bright green eyes and headed back in the direction Archie assumed was the castle.
Following behind with his newly obtained potions ingredients inside a bottomless bag and the pot with the glowing plant held tightly in his hand, Archie sped alone the forest floor, keeping to the shadows as Harry led the way back.
Suddenly, the pair was assaulted with the sound of hundreds of light footsteps followed by chattering and hissing noises, they were being followed and whatever was following them was in a huge pack!
The sounds seemed to get nearer and nearer until, out of the bushes ahead of them burst a large half man half horse holding a spear and looking past them. This was a centaur and its skin was a dark grey while the coat of its horse half was even darker.
"Quick, Archades Montague and…Harry Potter" the Centaur said in a kind voice, shocking the two who had stopped dead in their tracks upon his arrival "I will stall the herd of Acromantula tailing you with a parting bit of advice – do not return until you can defend yourselves from such a threat. You are lucky I am here to do so" he finished sternly.
Harry, still in his cat form nodded his head and ran past him, Archie following quickly as he feebly tried to hide his plant – worried that he'd offend the centaur if he saw it.
The two had not stopped running until they had returned to the castle. The sun had just begun to peek out over the horizon when they did so which didn't bode well for them – the teachers would be waking soon.
Changing back into his human form, Harry pulled Archie by his arm while using his one remaining appendage to utilize his cane. Neither of the boys spoke until they rounded and corner to see a small form curled up behind a statue sobbing quietly.
The two had a silent conversation that was made up of glares, hand gestures and more glares until Archie finally relented – not being as good at glaring as Harry – and approached the girl.
"Hey" Archie said softly as he approached the girl "My name's Archie, what are you doing up and about and why are you crying?" he said kindly, startling the girl who was about to scream until she realized who it was. Archie too had realized who it was when he saw the teary oriental face looking back at him. The girl's name was Cho Chang, a first year who had been giggling along with the other girls not a few hours ago while observing Roger's antics.
"I…I saw Harry sneaking out and I was going to…to tell him he would lose us points and maybe the house cup again if he went out so I followed him…but I lose him and I got lost…" she said in a quiet voice that was interrupted by stutters as she was still crying. Archie could practically feel the glare of Harry's being directed at the back of his head as he smirked triumphantly.
"Yeah, Harry's a bit of a tool" he agreed with a chuckle, ignoring his friend who had by now tuned the two out as he kept a look out for teachers "You don't have to worry about us though, we're not getting caught, let me take you back to the dorms okay?" the girl nodded with a big smile and allowed Archie to lead her back.
The two boys saw Cho off to bed while standing in the common room alone. When the door of her dorm room closed and they were finally alone, the two were met with a terse silence.
"Woo, what an adventure!" Archie cheerily exclaimed "We need to do that aga-oomf!" he began only to be cut off as Harry rammed his cane into his foot and slammed it in his stomach immediately afterwards.
"Okay" Archie wheezed, catching his breath "I deserved that" he admitted.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" he hissed, immediately reminding Archie of something he had just figured out.
"Don't go all angry on me!" he argued back in a loud whisper "When were you going to tell me you were a Parseltongue!" he accused "Or an Animagus for that matter!" he caught his breath "those are really advanced or frown upon magics!"
"It was none of your concern! I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't mention it again either" he said with finality "What the hell was worth risking your life for in the Forbidden Forest anyway?" he argued back "you are aware of how close you came to becoming Vorpala food tonight aren't you?"
Archie lowered his head in shame at that, what could he say? He was right.
"I can't tell you why…" Archie began "But suffice to say that I really needed this Moon Thistle for something more important that school" he said with a seriousness that made Harry pause "I may tell you some day, but today is not that day…leave it alone" he let out a sigh "Suffice to say that its important enough to me that I knew that dangers of venturing into the forest and I still ignored them to get it."
Harry glared at him one final time before stalking up the stairs. When he reached halfway, he turned back around "You owe me a new pair of shoes by the way" he said, motioning towards his one ruined shoe which made Archie laugh at the absurdity of it all.
The two went to bed, thankful that they had no classes tomorrow, or today, as the sun could attest to.
Groggily, Archie and Harry made their way down to the great hall for lunch having just woken up and skipped breakfast, the latter still hobbling with his cane.
"When did you get a new cane?" asked a surprised Archie when he finally realized Harry holding onto an eagle head rather then a rough piece of wood.
"I transfigured the old one into this, the head was the hardest part and it was what I was reading about in that book" he said as the two made their way into the great hall where they were immediately confronted by a pissed off looking Stephanie.
"You two promised to study with me!" she accused, as the two boys remembered their Charms study session they had planned "You ditched me, I want an explanation!" she said coldly, getting her knee ready to use on Archie should his answer not suffice.
Seeing only one way out of this without getting floored, Archie took it.
"Harry's a Parselmouth!"
Chatter around the great hall instantly hushed as everyone stared at him with a bit of shock, surprise and even some fear. Stephanie was openly gaping at him, and she was not the only one.
Harry had removed his glasses and began to rube the bridge of his nose in annoyance, an act he found himself doing more and more of ever since he knew Archie.
Seeing everyone looking at him and knowing he had no way out of this without roughly three million uncomfortable and not to mention annoying questions, he turned to the majority of the hall.
"What are you looking at foolsss?!" he hissed out in Parseltongue as several students shrieked upon hearing the snake language spoken so casually from a fellow student. Parseltongue was the sign of a dark wizard! What did that make Potter?!
"Oh and Stephanie, the reason why we were late today?" he went over to her and began to whisper in her ear. At first, she got over her shock about Harry's abilities and her eyes widened before narrowing in anger. Her face then showed relief briefly before her face trembled with fury. Archie discreetly crossed his hands over his privates and hoped for the best, knowing what his friendhad done.
Surprisingly enough, Stephanie launched herself at Archades and hugged him tight "I'm so glad you're alright!"
Archie was so stupefied that he let his arms drop to his sides as a goofy expression came to his face. That was all the incentive Stephanie needed and she kneed him in the groin, one of her hardest and best attacks ever.
"But if you ever do something so stupid again, I'm replacing my knee with a knife!" she hissed, storming off and leaving a moaning Archie on the floor. Feeling justice was done, Harry took a sandwich from the table, frowning when the students gave him a wide berth, and headed back to the common room.
Unsurprisingly enough, the infamous 'rumour mill' of Hogwarts had done its job to perfection and spread the word of Harry's new ability like wildfire, not that he cared much, it allowed him to study in peace more often. Though no one outright persecuted him for it, they were wary of him and his success in the Quidditch game against Gryffindor was quickly forgotten.
The months rolled by with Christmas coming and going. Harry had gone home to visit his mother, as was standard, and had helped Remus around 'Moony Nights' while he wasn't studying. As predicted, they had attracted all sorts of 'half-breeds' and 'magical-creatures', however, mostly, the customers consisted of Goblins and Werewolves who would either come for a drink after work or come to use the 'Full Moon Rooms' during that time of the month to help control their problem.
Back at school, Harry and the Ravenclaw team were winning game after game; the cup was won with a slaughtering of Slytherin, who, without Moran were nothing special – even with their cheat tactics.
The Easter break brought an important time for all second years were they would chose which electives they would be taking up along with their classes. Harry had immediately chosen to take Ancient Runes, a class where they would study several rune languages and symbols before learning to use them to perform magic. He also chose to take Arithmancy, an intellectually demanding class that studied that importance of numbers and their magical properties.
Archie had also selected to do Runes with him but instead of Arithmancy, he had opted to take Care of Magical Creatures, a class in which they were shown how to care for, deal with or learn about several magical creatures.
Harry had just finished his final exam of the year when he was called to McGonagall's office by a fifth year Gryffindor prefect without reason, so, outside McGonagall's office door is where we found the ebony haired boy as he knocked on the door thrice.
"Come in" ordered a stern female voice from the other end. Harry did as told and was greeted with the sight of his Transfiguration professor with her lips thinned and a tray of tea and biscuits waiting for him. He never really was a fan of tea.
Harry sat in the chair provided opposite McGonagall "Tea?" she offered with a wave of her hand. Feeling his ear go warm as he neared the tea, he suspected it to be bugged in some way, probably with a mild truth serum. He declined respectfully while keeping his Occlumency shields up just in case she was an accomplished Legilimens.
"You know Mr. Potter, you show an incredible amount of skill for a second year in my class, in fact, I've had several students report to me that they had witnessed you perform feats that I do not teach in my class until sixth year" she began "You show an almost unusual amount of skill, I would say."
Harry merely looked at her in mock confusion before raising an eyebrow "I'm sorry for outshining your Gryffindors ma'am, perhaps I should not perform so spectacularly?" he offered innocently and he was greeted with an angry glare from the Gryffindor head of house.
"Do not presume me to be as petty as Severus, I do not favour any house, merely even the scales as Professor Snape continues to see it fit to deduct points from my house unfairly – most of the time, I am in the right" she paused "no, I am merely here to try and confirm a theory of mine…" she looked at Harry over her cup of tea, taking his silence as an admission to begin.
"For a twelve year old boy, you take an usual amount of effort in your appearance, why, I don't believe I've ever seen a student your age with an ear piercing while teaching here" Harry's eyes widened slightly before reminding himself to find a stronger glamour charm to cover his piercings; seeing no need to hide them though as the teachers probably knew, he let the charm drop showing his two small diamond studs and ring in his upper ear.
McGonagall smirked at the action "You also wear, if my knowledge of the Muggle world is to be accurate, designer clothing and have a pair of designer glasses – most unusual, I repeat for someone your age."
Getting tired of the games the professor was playing, he commented "I'm flattered professor, really, and if I were maybe a few centuries older, I'd definitely make a pass…"
Angered at the jab at her age, the interrupted furiously "That is not what I meant and you know it Mr. Potter! Twenty points from Ravenclaw for your cheek and I'd advise to not comment on a woman's age in the future" she yelled, her cheeks flushed in anger.
Trying hard not to laugh at the normally stern professor looking so flustered, he remained silent "Now that I have mentioned that first anomaly, let me state another in regards to you" she paused "now your father was probably one of the most gifted students I have ever had the pleasure of teaching in my time at Hogwarts, yet not even he showed even a smidgen of your potential until his fifth year – your unnatural skill in Transfiguration also intrigues me…"
Harry narrowed his eyes as he saw where this was going, though he opted to remain silent.
"Then there is your performance during Quidditch" she said, frowning at the memory of their defeat "while I am still sour at our defeat, it is not that which I am commenting on, rather the grace of your movements when you are on a broom…they are too graceful…very much like…a feline perhaps…"
Harry was sure she knew about his ability to turn into a cat, though he still remained silent. How he thought he could hide such a thing from a cat Animagus and a Transfiguration professor he'd never know.
"On their own, these facts don't mean much, but together, they point to you having an ability that I believe you have been holding out on me for" she paused again, taking a sip of her tea "that is the ability of being an Animagus…are you a cat Animagus Mr. Potter?"
Harry looked at his professor with his head cocked before almost instantly, where he once sat, he was replaced with a black cat with startling green eyes. He then transformed back without a word and only the slightest show of discomfort.
"I thought so" she said to herself with a smile, which looked oddly placed on her usually stony face, however it was gone as quick as it came "Is there a reason you are not registered, Mr. Potter? You know that it is an offence to not do so correct?"
Harry snorted and lounged back in his chair "Who said I'm not registered?"
"I don't like liars Mr. Potter" she said with a frown however she was silenced when Harry held his hand up, stopping her protests – she didn't take too kindly to that.
"Who said I registered in Britain?" he asked with a grin as McGonagall's eyes widened in shock.
"But you…"
"Mhmm"
"But isn't it still…"
"Negative"
"Are you absolutely…"
"One hundred percent"
"Will you stop answering my question bef…?"
"Negative"
McGonagall frowned but the amusement in her eyes was clear as day "I am satisfied to have solved the enigma that I find myself dubbing you as Mr. Potter, you have my word that I will not reveal this to anyone as you have obviously gone to great lengths to keep it hidden…to some extent, I can understand why also…" she frowned, being one of the few who knew of his past.
Harry nodded in thanks as he watched the Professor pull out a book from her desk and slide it over to him. It was titled 'Tipping the Scales; a Text on Battle Transfiguration'.
"It was your father's favourite book" she said quietly "in that book you will find many uses for Transfiguration from several experts, including the Headmaster himself, to use during battle as well as several spells and theories. Normally I would never consider giving it to a merely second year going on third year student, but you are far from normal."
Harry took the book graciously and with reverence and nodded at the Professor in thanks.
"I also hear that you are well one your way to securing the number one spot for the year again…congratulations" she said with a smile as Harry frowned. He had just finished his exams…
"I will see you after summer break Mr. Potter, do say hello to Lily and Remus for me."
Wondering just how many people knew of his visits to his mother, he nodded and left the office with another words of thanks back towards his common room. He needed sleep after such a long week.
Harry stood beside a teary Nymphadora Tonks at Kings cross who had enveloped him in a bone crushing hug. Looking around awkwardly to see several people snicking or staring at him with jealous looks in their eyes, he softly pat her on the back and urged her to let go.
"Oh, I'm going to miss you somuch Harrikens!" she cooed through her tears as Remus and her parents watched with amusement.
"Good Luck with your Auror training Nymphadora, you better not suck after all our sparring" he said with a grin.
Stephanie kneed Archie in the groin when he let out a cough that mysteriously sounded like 'sex'.
With a kiss on the cheek, she sauntered off, placing one foot directly in front of the other and swaying her hips. Before she was out of sight, she sent a victorious look towards Remus who she had caught looking and winked at him. Remus chuckled before turning to an amused Harry.
"I think she likes you."
"She's half my age Harry."
"You were definitely paying careful attention to her posterior though, hoping to find the answer to life and its mysteries on it then?" he cheekily replied with a grin.
"Congratulations on winning the House and Quidditch cup, people at Moony Nights have even been commenting on some of the stunts you pulled out on the pitch, I'll be sure to make a few games next season" he said, changing the subject.
"You know, I wonder if the carpet matches the drapes…" Harry trailed off and immediately let out a bark of laughter when the comment caused him to zone out and walk straight into a trunk and fall over.
Bidding Archie, Cedric – who was with Archie at the time – and Stephanie a good summer, he headed home to Moony Night – his second year of Hogwarts completed.