Then the applause began. It started with Dumbledore clapping most enthusiastically, a large smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes. Harry wondered if the old man knew what he was trying to do and helped him along by making the announcement himself. Soon, more and more people began to clap. Students started standing up, cheering loudly. Even the older Slytherin students were cheering. Harry saw and heard the Weasley twins whistling over at the Gryffindor table. Tracey Davis was looking at him with a kind of worshipful glance that honestly had him disturbed.
There were a few people here and there who were not cheering for him. He could see looks of jealousy from a few people at various tables. Draco and his ilk, the pug faced Pansy and other Death Eater children were giving him hateful glances, and Daphne Greengrass was frowning at him.
A small amount of tension in his shoulders faded as he realized his gamble had paid off. He now had a broom to use, and no one could say anything about him getting preferential treatment because everyone else had the same broom he did. The plan had actually gone off even better than expected thanks to Dumbledore.
He frowned again. How had Dumbledore known about this when he had not received a reply from Andromeda? That was something he wanted to know.
Perhaps Andromeda had wanted to surprise him? He knew the woman had a bit of a mischievous streak that did not show very often hidden behind that professional demeanor. It did sound like something she would do, though it wasn't quite the kind of subtle act he would have expected from her. And she did know of his plan. Maybe she had contacted Dumbledore so he could make the announcement? He decided to ask Andromeda when he went home for Christmas. For now he would simply be thankful everything had turned out for the best.
"I'VE FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT!"
Silence descended upon the hall almost as quickly as it came. Everyone stared at Hermione Granger, who had suddenly jumped to her feat, a look of triumph on her face. The girl flushed as she realized she had just shouted out loud and, after quickly mumbling out an embarrassed apology, sat back down and almost shrunk into her robes like some kind of turtle.
Hannah, Lisa, Neville, Susan, and Terry all looked at each other, confused.
"Figured... what out?" Hannah asked cautiously, looking at the bushy haired girl like she had gone insane. Hermione just blushed some more and tried to hide further in her robes.
As the others looked at the girl in confusion, Harry hid his laughter by snorting into his goblet.
XoX
"I can't believe you actually managed to buy everyone Nimbus 2000's," Angelina shook her head as she and the rest of the Gryffindor team sat in the locker rooms getting ready for their first game against Slytherin. Sitting by her side was Alicia on her left, and a grinning Katie on her right. The latter had the broom in her lap, the former was actually stroking the broom like it was some kind of cat. Harry found the sight disturbing, but at least it was better than seeing how Ms. Figg treated all of her cats.
"Oh, you'd better believe it," George said with a grin, tossing an arm over Harry's shoulder.
"Harry Potter does not do things halfway," added Fred, repeating the gesture on Harry's left.
"Yes indeed. It's all or nothing with this lad."
"In his mind, there is no such thing as overboard."
"Yes, even overkill is a word that has no meaning in his vocabulary."
"I am surprised," Harry interrupted in a dry voice, "that you even know what the word vocabulary means."
Alicia, Angelina and Katie snickered, while Fred and George gave him mock offended looks.
"Oi! I will have you know that Gred and I are the very definition of sophistication and snobbery."
"Indeed, Forge and myself are so sophistimacated that our vocabularium supersedes that of everyone else's."
"Too right. We're blokes of higher edumication."
"And you can't tell us otherwise," they finished together, much to the amusement of those in the room. Well, those whose name wasn't Oliver Wood, who did not look very happy.
"What I want to know," the surly captain began with a brooding glare, "is why you decided to buy all of the other teams Nimbus 2000's as well."
"First of all, I didn't buy the brooms," Harry gave Oliver a blank stare until the older boy became uncomfortable, "In fact, I didn't pay a single knut for these brooms. I merely... convinced Nimbus Broom Racing Company that it would be in their best interest to donate the brooms to the school in order to promote their products."
"How did you do that?" Katie asked curiously.
Harry tilted his head.
"I'm not exactly sure I understand the question. Could you clarify?"
"I mean, how did you convince the Nimbus Broom Company to give twenty-eight Nimbus 2000's away for free."
A mysterious smile graced Harry's lips.
"Ah, but I never did say they were free, did I? I just said that I didn't have to pay for them." Katie frowned. "As to the how, let's just say there are many more ways to get what you want than simply tossing a bucket full of galleons around and leave it at that."
Not wanting to go into details about how he, or more specifically Andromeda, had managed to convince Nimbus Broom Racing Company to donate twenty-eight brooms on his behalf, Harry turned back to Oliver.
"As to your second question, I believe that answer should be obvious. It was to level the playing field. When we win, I don't want people to say it was because we had better brooms than everyone else, I want them to know that we won because we are more skilled, more talented, and just plain better than they are."
Harry had always possessed a strong sense of fair play when it came to sports. To him, it should be the skill of the players that won the day, not the superior equipment they possessed. One of the things that had always disgusted him about professional sports in the muggle world was how many athletes took steroids and other enhancement drugs to improve their performance. That same situation applied here, albeit, in a different manner. Instead of drugs people had superior brooms.
It was also a matter of pride for him. Harry liked to be the best. He enjoyed proving to himself that he was the best. In his mind, he couldn't be the best if his side had an unfair advantage. By leveling the playing field, he was ensuring that no side was disadvantaged in any way. Victory would be determined by the skills of the players, not their brooms.
"Well," Oliver still looked a bit surely, but seemed somewhat mollified, "I suppose that makes sense."
"You know, you're awfully noble for a first-year," Katie said with a smile.
Harry tilted his head to side in an endearing gesture of idle curiosity.
"You think so?"
"I know so," Katie nodded, "I don't think anyone else has ever thought about how unfair it is that some people have better brooms than others."
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