Foreshadowing the Past

Chapter 6

He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat. - Napoleon I

Connor and Quentin had missed lunch because practice had gone well past the hours in which lunch was served, and so they made sure that they were early for dinner. Ivy and Zack were in the Common Room, working on something with Charms, and said they'd meet the other two in the Great Hall later. They had just come down the main stairs, when Vanessa stepped out of the shadows from beside the stairs and grabbed Quentin's arm.

"Not so fast, Leo," she said silkily. "I want a word with you and your little friend."

She had stayed to watch her baby brother at practice, and had not liked what she had seen at all. The Gryffindors had put together a very strong and skilled team, and would not be easily beaten. She felt that it was her duty as a Slytherin, and a future team captain (if Snape had any brains at all), to even out the odds a bit before the game between the two houses. She had had all afternoon to decide how to use what she had learned today to best serve her interests, and thought that she knew which tack to take.

"What do you want, Vanessa?" Quentin demanded, his guard immediately in place. His sister never sought him out for friendly chats, and the fact that she had been lying in wait for them didn't bode well.

"I know about your little friend's secret," Vanessa told him, looking pointedly at Connor. "I saw what happened at the Quidditch pitch this morning. He knew that that other kid was going to fall off of his broom before it even happened." She knew all of the her brother's friends names, of course, but derived pleasure out of refusing to acknowledge that they were important enough for her to use them. Quentin's face had gotten pale, but Connor simply crossed his arms and leaned against the wall as if he was bored. The first reaction pleased her, but the second confused her a little, since she was sure from what she had heard that he did not want others knowing his secret.. "That got me to thinking about a few other strange things that have happened around Potter. The Ashwinder eggs, for a start."

"Are you going someplace with all of this?" Connor asked blandly, not giving away the fact that his heart was beating like a drum in his chest. "I didn't get lunch, and I'm starving."

Quentin looked warily at his friend; by the tone of his voice and his casual attitude, he clearly didn't understand how malicious his sister could be. It was never wise to antagonize her at the best of times, and she plainly had some motive in all of this.

"Where I'm going," Vanessa said icily, flipping her long hair over her shoulder and stepping closer, so that there would be no mistake of her sincerity, "Is straight to the biggest gossip in the school to let her know all about your little talent. Unless..."

"Unless?" Connor arched an eyebrow, acting unimpressed with her threat. His parents and aunts and uncles had all worried about a situation like this one arising, and had drilled him countless times in what he should do about it if it did. He had thought it silly then, but he wasn't laughing now as her gray eyes flashed with fury and the corners of her mouth turned up in a smug smile.

"Unless you agree to throw the Slytherin/Gryffindor match," she said with a hint of triumph in her voice. "If you don't want your secret spread all over the school, you'd better play your worst tomorrow."

Connor had been idly inspecting his fingernails while Vanessa had been stating her demand. When she finished, he gave a short, amused (he hoped) laugh and said, "Nice try. It's good to know that the Gryffindor team has you that scared, but your plan won't wash."

"Oh, I think it will," Vanessa smiled confidently. "Or you'll look like a bigger freak than your dear old dad ever was."

Professor McGonagall paused on one of the steps of the main staircase and looked down, unnoticed by those below. She had seen Connor and Quentin in the stairwell, obviously talking to another person, who had waist length silvery blond hair, and had suspected mischief. She had believed that she had been adept at spotting trouble when she had been head of Gryffindor House, but since becoming Headmistress many years ago, that talent had been honed into a sixth sense of sorts. She knew Vanessa Malfoy's reputation as a bully and a manipulator well from her conversations with Severus and others, though thus far, the girl had been clever enough not to get caught with her hands dirty from anything serious. Something was telling her to check on these kids now, though, and she didn't like what she heard of the last few words of the conversation she was about to interrupt.

"Is there a problem here, children?" she asked, looking pointedly at Vanessa with an arched brow.

"Not at all, Professor," Vanessa said brightly. "Just having a little chat with my brother."

"Yes, Professor," Connor added calmly. "Vanessa was just telling me that she would tell the whole school about my precognitive abilities if Quint and I didn't agree to play poorly at tomorrow's match."

Quentin looked thunderstruck, and Vanessa looked at though she had just been slapped; this was evidently not the reaction that she had counted on. "I think he must have misunderstood me, Professor," Vanessa said. "I was just..."

"Oh I understood her perfectly," Connor contradicted not letting her finished whatever lie she'd been about to utter.

"Well," McGonagall said briskly. Her nostrils were pinched and white, and her mouth a thin line that told anyone who knew her that she was seriously angry. "I think that you and I will need to have a very serious talk, Miss Malfoy! My office, please, immediately!"

With a last venomous look at the two Gryffindors, the Slytherin girl followed behind the headmistress, feverishly formulating a story in her head to try to allay the older woman's suspicions and worm her way out of trouble. Potter and Quentin were going to pay for this!

**********

"You would not believe the look on her face!" Connor laughed the next morning as he, Zack, Ivy and Quentin sat by the fire in the Common Room while they waited for Rachel to come down. Connor and Quentin were both dressed in their game robes, and they were waiting so that they could all go down to breakfast together.

"You're a dead man," Quentin said with a shake of his head, a tone of wonder in his voice. While he was delighted that his obnoxious sister had gotten a taste of her own medicine, he was still absolutely floored that Connor had challenged her that way. Vanessa was a formidable adversary, and he sincerely hoped that Connor was up to fight that was sure to be coming.

"I'm going to have to agree with Quint on this one," Ivy said. "She's going to skin you alive and hang your hide out to dry if you don't watch your back."

"He's got friends to watch it for him," Zack said emphatically.

Connor saluted Zack in thanks as he watched Rachel skip down the steps. "I couldn't throw the game," he said logically. "And I couldn't let her hold anything over my head, or I'd just end up being her puppet for the next three years until she's left school, or even afterward."

"Or until she decided to spill her guts and tell someone the whole story." Rachel agreed with a yawn, a bit sleepy still from her late night.

"For now, she'll think twice before saying anything to anybody; McGonagall will see to that," he said with satisfaction. "If word suddenly gets out, Vanessa will be on the very short list of suspects."

"Any idea what kind of punishment McGonagall dished out?" Ivy asked as they all headed for the portrait hole.

"Not a clue, yet," Connor said cheerfully, considering the possibilities. "But I hope it was good. Maybe something to do with the Forbidden Forest..."

At breakfast, they were all quick to notice that the Slytherin team was all sitting together, dressed in their traditional Green and Silver robes. Noticeably absent in their number was Vanessa, who was dressed in her black Hogwarts uniform, sitting at the opposite end of the table, looking sullen. A quick count of the green robes told them that the team had been allowed to replace their star seeker with one of their reserve players.

"I guess that answers the question of what her punishment was," Rachel said, looking a bit pityingly toward the Slytherin girl. "I wonder how long she's out for."

"I think she got what she deserved," Zack said firmly, not feeling the least bit sorry at her predicament. He'd felt the sting on her sharp tongue on more occasions than he could count, and he relished the fact that she'd finally slit her own throat with it.

Connor shrugged, slightly uncomfortable at the way her team had shunned her. Vanessa was mean spirited and manipulative, but he knew how he would feel if he couldn't play Quidditch, even temporarily. He didn't think his friends would abandon him, however, no matter how many games he was banned for. As they sat at their own table, next to the rest of the Gryffindor team, Quentin and Connor looked at each other, and suddenly their nerves kicked in. The realization that they would shortly be playing in their first real Hogwarts Quidditch game, and not a casual game with friends or family, settled on them.

"You two look as though you've seen a ghost!" Mariah said, looking on them with amusement. She remembered her first game and the nausea that had accompanied it, and saw that her two newest Chasers had it bad.

"We see ghosts every day," Rachel said in confusion.

"It's just a Muggle expression," Zack explained with a grin. "If Muggles see a ghost, they really freak out - just like these two are about to do."

Connor really wanted to protest, but found that his stomach became queasy at the thought of opening his mouth. Quentin called upon the Malfoy fortitude and managed to say, "Well we are not Muggles, and we are not freaking out."

"So you'll be wanting a nice big bowl of porridge," Zack said, scooping a large amount of his usual morning fare into a bowl and setting it in front of Quentin. "You're going to need your strength."

"Er," he said, eyeing the bowl with distaste. "I don't like porridge. Connor can have this."

Connor shook his head vehemently, and pushed away the bowl that Quentin had slid over to him. He swallowed, and then managed to say, "Not hungry."

The others chuckled, and Zack reclaimed the bowl and dug in. Once it became clear that no one was going to force them to eat, Connor and Quentin were able to join in the conversation, which centered, unsurprisingly, on Quidditch and Vanessa's absence from the Slytherin team.

"I heard that she's got a ban from this game, and that she's also got a week's worth of detention with McGonagall." Beater Jeremy Ogden said from across the table. "But no one knows why, and apparently Vanessa's not talking."

"With McGonagall?" Chaser Amanda Barton asked in surprise. The offender's head of house usually punished most violations of rules, even fairly serious ones; a week's worth detention with McGonagall would have to have been a huge infraction.

If anyone found the silence among the numerous Weasleys at the table strange, no one said so. Connor had held a brief meeting in the Library last night with all of his cousins and had written a letter home to his parents, though he was sure that McGonagall would have done the same. He wanted to make sure that everyone knew the score when it came to Vanessa, and they had all agreed that they would need to be especially careful about what they said about Connor when other people were around. Connor found it comforting that he could call on his family to close ranks and be supportive. That night, the only nightmares he had suffered were about the Slytherin Quidditch team chasing him with Beater's bats.

Rumors and speculation soon gave way to last minute talk of strategy and flying patterns. Before Connor was quite ready for it, Mariah stood, and beckoned to her team to follow her out. In the Gryffindor changing room, they strapped on all of their protective padding and checked over all of their gear. Mariah gave them a pep talk as they listened to the footsteps of hundreds of students making their way to the stands to watch the match. Just a few minutes later, Quentin picked up his broom, touched his gloved fist to Connor's and said, "Here we go!" The third chaser, Amanda Barton, put one arm around each of them and squeezed reassuringly, propelling them forward out onto the pitch.

Connor swallowed hard, and tried to block out the deafening noise of cheering students coming from the stands surrounding the pitch. There was a sea of red and green, depending on which team each person was supporting. There was slightly more red in the crowd as far as he could tell, probably owing to the fact the Slytherin had won the Quidditch cup for two years in a row, and the other houses wanted to see them lose their grip on it this year. He forced himself not to look any more closely at the crowd in order to keep his nerves in check, and focused instead on moving to his place and mounting his broom in preparation for the start of the game. Mariah walked to the center of the pitch to face the Slytherin team's captain; a hard-faced sixth year named Aurelia Flint. Madam O'Leary, the referee, bid the captains to shake hands, and then blew her whistle, indicating that they should kick off into the air so that she could release the balls.

Connor forgot his nerves as soon as his feet left the ground. He looked over to Amanda, who had a look of intense concentration on her face, and then over to Quentin, who was wearing a wide grin. It looked as though Quentin's nerves had been left on the ground as well. They waited while the Snitch was released; Connor caught sight of it buzzing past Aurelia's head before disappearing. The bludgers were released directly after that, and then Madam O'Leary tossed the Quaffle high into the air. It seemed to hang there for a moment before Amanda shot forward, snatching it from the hands of the Slytherin seeker, and making her way toward the opposing goal hoops. Connor and Quentin flanked her, and they were soon passing the ball smoothly back and forth while dodging Bludgers and avoiding the other Chasers. Quentin made the first goal for Gryffindor, and Connor made one on his second attempt. The Slytherin Beaters were brutal in their attacks, and Gryffindor had a tough job avoiding Bludgers sent from every direction.

The first time-out was called in what seemed like no time at all to Connor, and he wondered if something had gone wrong that he hadn't noticed. He landed with a thud in the grass between Quentin and Mariah, and only noticed that he was out of breath when he saw that the others were as well. They huddled up and Mariah said, "We're doing great. We're up by sixty points, but it's still anyone's game. Aiden and Jeremy, I need you two to keep an eye on Amanda, the Slytherins seem to be targeting her at the moment, since she's scored the most goals so far. Connor, Quentin, you're doing fantastic; how are you feeling? Getting tired?"

"Tired?" Connor asked, puzzled.

"Well we've been at it for thirty-five minutes," Mariah said with a chuckle. "Glad to hear it isn't weighing on you. Whitney, that snitch hasn't shown at all yet, so just keep alert. You've got a better broom than their seeker, but he'll play dirty if he thinks you're going to get there ahead of him. Everyone all right? Good. Let's get back out there and kick some Slytherin butt."

They all returned to their starting positions, and the Quaffle was put back into play. Connor managed to swipe it almost immediately, and swore under his breath as it was knocked out of his hand as he was passing it to Amanda. Jeremy sent a Bludger, and the Slytherin Chaser dropped the Quaffle as the large iron ball hit him in the solar plexus and knocked the air out of his lungs. Quentin snatched the slowly falling Quaffle from the air and they all set off again. They played back and forth with possession, and Connor lost track of the points after a while. Several fouls were committed by both teams, some intentional and some not, and penalty shots taken; Connor was frustrated at how often the Slytherin Keeper was able to keep them from scoring. He had just managed to score another goal, when he heard a collective gasp from the crowd, and tuned his hearing in to the announcer as he pursued a Slytherin chaser who was currently in possession of the Quaffle.

"There it is, folks!" came the voice of the student announcer. "The snitch has finally been sighted, and both seekers are in pursuit! Glendale from Gryffindor is really pushing maximum speed from her broom, with Walker of Slytherin close behind. This is one fast Snitch! The other players took their eyes from the game to follow the progress of the Seekers, but Connor's focus was absolute, and his job wasn't over yet. He took advantage of the lapse in concentration and seized the Quaffle from the Chaser in green, and turned back toward the opposing goal hoops. He scored just seconds before he heard the announcer cry out, "I don't believe it! Slytherin gets the Snitch, but Gryffindor wins by only ten points! Connor Potter's last goal has won his team the game! Official final score: Slytherin 340, Gryffindor 350, game time: One hour, forty-seven minutes!"

Connor was almost unseated from his broom as Quinten crashed joyfully into him and Aiden hit him from the other side. They landed on the pitch as one, and were joined by Amanda, Mariah, Jeremy and Whitney, who were jubilant over their win.

"I didn't even see you make that last goal!" Jeremy admitted with a grin. "Thank Merlin one of us was paying attention!"

"Actually," Connor said as Gryffindors poured out onto the grass and surrounded their champions. "I didn't know the score of the game, I just saw an opening and took it!"

Hands were clapping him on the back from all directions, and shouts of congratulations could be heard over the intense jeers and booing from the Slytherin supporters. Connor felt as though his face would crack in two if his smile got any wider, and exchanged handshakes with Quentin as everyone clamored to make their congratulations heard. It was the quiet voice in his ear saying, "Well done, son," that caught his attention, and he turned to find his Dad grinning down at him, with his Mum close behind.

"Dad!" Quentin yelled above the din.

Connor swung around in confusion to see Quentin throwing his arms around a tall blonde man in a hug. Looking up at his own father, he wasn't surprised to find his expression calm and unreadable.