Harry Potter and the Time of Shadows

- Chapter Eight-

The Keeper

Harry pinned a note on the notice board in the Gryffindor common room, informing anyone that wanted to try out as Keeper to come to the Quidditch Pitch at one o'clock on Saturday. He then informed the rest of the team about the practice.

By Saturday, all any Gryffindor wanted to talk about was Quidditch. Everyone was excited to know who would be the new Gryffindor Keeper.

Rumours were circulating about who would be trying out, and who had the best chances. Harry even heard the Creevey brothers saying that they were both coming to practice.

Seamus told Harry he would be there, and so did Neville. Ginny seemed eager to come, she told Harry she would be riding one of the twin's Nimbus Pros.

After a very quick and early lunch, Harry grabbed his Firebolt and headed for the Quidditch Pitch. As he walked onto the grassy field, he saw virtually the whole house had turned up. They were all talking excitedly, most of them with broomsticks over their shoulders, some racing to the store cupboard to use some of the school's Shooting Star, which Harry felt would handicap even the best Keeper.

Several people were already off the ground, many of them looked very impressive. They all chased each other through the air, and swerved around each other.

"Everyone!" Harry called, but nobody seemed to hear him, especially those high up.

Harry pointed his wand at his throat and thought loud thoughts.

"Sonorus" he said, thinking of what Ludo Bagman had done when he commentated at the World Cup.

"EVERYONE!" he yelled.

His voice was much louder than usual, and since he was shouting, it sounded as though someone had set off a Howler. The noise was so loud that one girl fell off of her broomstick, but was caught by a boy standing under her.

He pointed his wand at his throat again, and whispered, "Quietus."

His throat felt slightly hoarse, but his voice was not very croaky.

"Everyone," he repeated. "Welcome to the Quidditch trails. I can see there are a lot of people here who want to be our new Keeper. But we want just one of you. The best."

Many people cheered, and Harry shouted louder to everyone.

"So! We will be testing you all, one by one, against our three Chasers. Chasers!"

At Harry's words, the Gryffindor Chasers, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell zoomed out of the changing rooms, wearing their red Gryffindor Quidditch robes. Alicia was carrying the big red Quaffle in her hand.

"Now," said Harry, picking up a piece of parchment that everybody had signed in on. "First up. Seamus Finnigan!"

Seamus mounted his broom, and kicked off of the ground. He shot quickly towards the three goalposts, and stayed still in front of them, his hands out ready to stop the Quaffle.

Alicia flew towards him and threw the Quaffle at the left goalpost. Seamus sped towards it, and caught it. He threw it back to Alicia, who passed it to Angelina.

She flew towards the middle goalpost, faster than Alicia had, and flung the Quaffle towards the hoop. Seamus caught the ball again, but lost his balance slightly, and had to stop for a second to pull himself back up onto his broomstick.

When Katie approached him with the Quaffle, she hurled it at the left goalpost, as fast as she would in a real match. Seamus dived at it, but missed entirely. He flew down to pick up the Quaffle, which was almost at the ground, and flew back up to give it back to the Chasers.

Harry took a quill out of his pocket and wrote next to Seamus's name. Two of out three.

He made a mental note of Seamus's performance, and moved to the next name on the list.

"Neville Longbottom!"

Neville mounted what looked like a school Shooting Star, and kicked off of the ground. He wobbled in the air, and made his way towards the goalposts.

Alicia looked at Neville for a second, and nodded, more to herself than anyone else. She held the Quaffle in one hand, and flew towards him. When she was fairly close to the goalposts, she threw it, and Harry noticed that it was much slower than she usually threw. Neville flew slowly towards the Quaffle, and caught it. Smiling proudly, he threw it back to Angelina, but threw it much to weakly, and Angelina had to dive down to catch it.

She shot the Quaffle at the goalpost, and it went in, Neville nowhere near it.

Harry wrote next to Neville's name: One out of three.

"Next up! Natalie McDonald!"

A quivering second year flew jerkily to her place guarding the posts, and Harry braced himself for a long practice.

*

"Colin Creevey!" he yelled, more than half an hour later.

Colin flew towards the Keeper spot, quite nervously.

Alicia shot the Quaffle at the right hand goalpost, and Colin sped to try and save it. He blocked the goal, but only just. The ball bounced off of his fingertips, and went towards the stadium barrier. He flew to get it, and passed it back.

Angelina put the next goal away without any problems. Katie hung in mid-air, waiting for someone else to save one of Angelina's goals so she could shoot, but so far the only person who had saved their second ball was Seamus.

"Dennis Creevey!"

Colin's second year brother approached the goalposts, so small that Harry could barely see him from the ground, and that he wasn't just a broomstick, flying on its own.

Alicia scored an easy goal against him, and Dennis flew to the ground, looking extremely disappointed.

*

Harry felt that he had been watching people attempting to save the Quaffle for almost two hours. Each person was as useless as the last, with few exceptions.

One sixth year made it to their third ball, but while trying to catch it, he fell from his broom and landed hard on the ground. He was rushed instantly to the Hospital wing.

A seventh year girl actually saved the third ball, although it turned out that she had a minor attitude problem. She punched Fred and George hard in the face when they whistled at her, and slapped Katie for laughing when she did.

"Ginny Weasley!"

Ginny took her post in front of the goals, her face set in concentration. Harry had seen her play Quidditch at the Burrow, and she was a reasonably good Chaser, although Harry had never seen her play Keeper.

Alicia tried scoring in the middle hoop, but Ginny saved it, and grinned. She passed it back and Angelina caught it, obviously thinking that she finally had a challenge.

She threw it towards the left goal, faster than she ever had before that day. Ginny sped to save it, and stopped it, an ecstatic look on her face.

Katie sped towards her, a sneaky smile creeping over her tired, sweating face. She flew towards the right goalpost, and Ginny did too. Katie then threw it with all of her might at the left hoop. Ginny instantly turned, and sped to get to it, but missed by less than an inch.

Harry smiled, she was definitely the person to beat. He recorded her score, and put a small star next to her name.

*

After more than an hour, Harry felt that he would find no one else as good as Ginny, his mind was virtually made up. There were only three names left on the list.

"Lisa O'Donnell!"

A third year flew up, looking just as concentrated as Ginny had. However, it seemed that she was nowhere near as skilled. She touched the first Quaffle, but it went through her hands, into the hoop. She screamed "Ah! I broke a nail!" and came off the pitch.

"Wendy Mitchell!"

Another small girl came onto the pitch, shaking. She saved the first goal, but the second sped past her. There was only one person left.

"Hugh Stephens!"

A dark-haired, tall and well-built boy flew up to the goalposts. Harry saw all three Chasers were smiling at him.

The shot that Alicia made was incredibly slow, perhaps trying to make him look good. Hugh saved it, and smiled back at her.

"Hey! Harry!" someone behind him called.

Harry turned and saw Ron and Hermione walk onto the pitch.

"Harry," said Hermione, holding a small piece of pie in her hand. "Have you been here all this time. It's been over three hours!"

"Yeah," Harry replied gloomily.

"Seen any good Keepers?" Ron asked, watching Hugh save his second ball, which had also been sent at him with less than half effort from Angelina.

"Oh yeah," Harry replied sarcastically. "Let's see, there was the guy who thought he was trying out for Chaser, who caught the ball from Alicia and put it through the hoop himself! There was the girl who injured three of our players for whistling and laughing!"

Ron stifled laugh, and Hermione tutted with disapproval.

"There was a guy who forgot his broom. He went off to get it two hours ago and hasn't come back yet. And this guy's charming my Chasers into giving half-assed shots!"

Hermione and Ron both looked taken aback. Harry lowered his tone, and spoke in a much calmer voice.

"But, we had one good person here today. In fact, I'm gonna tell her she's our new Keeper right now."

"Really?" said Ron. "Who is it?"

Harry smiled. "Ginny."

"Ginny?" Ron had gone red, but he looked very proud of his sister.

"She's really that good?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, she really is, no one else is half as good as her."

"Really?" Ron repeated. "But we play Quidditch all the time at home, and I can always beat her, I didn't realise she was that good."

"Well she is," Harry commented. "She made it past -- wait a second." A thought had suddenly struck Harry. "You say that you can always beat Ginny?"

"Yeah, I mean I'm no Charlie but --"

"Always?" Harry interrupted.

"Well, usually yeah. She's got a few past me but --"

"Ron," Harry interrupted again. "Here, take my Firebolt for a second."

Ron took the broomstick in Harry's hand. He held it like it was more fragile than a crystal glass.

"Girls!" Harry called to the Chasers. "Try and shoot a few goals against Ron!"

The girls nodded, and Ron kicked off the ground. He flew quickly and gracefully and hovered in front of the goalposts, ready to stop any Quaffles that came his way.

Katie took the ball first. She made a quick chest-shot and it zoomed through the air at the right post. Ron dived to save it, catching it and flying back to the middle of the goals effortlessly.

Alicia took the Quaffle from Ron, and flew back to the centre spot to get more speed before she released the ball. She sped towards the goals, and gave one of her best shots at the goals. Ron caught it with one hand, and spun around in the air, the Quaffle balanced on his arm. He threw it to Angelina, who grinned at Ron mischievously.

"OK Weasley," she whispered. "Let's see watcha got."

"Bring it on," Ron taunted back, also smiling.

Angelina shot through the air like a bullet. She faked one way, then faked the other, she held the ball up over her right shoulder. She flew straight towards the left goalpost, but at the last second, shot for the right one. Ron spun the Firebolt around, and lunged himself forwards, knocking the Quaffle upwards and over the hoop. He quickly flew behind the goal to catch it, and held it up in triumph.

Harry clapped from the ground, amazed at what a good Keeper his best friend was. He saw Hermione smiling proudly at Ron, and he looked down at her and gave a cheeky, lop-sided smile.

"Yes!" Harry said, jumping up and punching the air. "We've found our Keeper!"

"You mean it Harry?" Ron called, coming down to the ground. "I'm the new Keeper?"

"Yep, welcome aboard." Harry extended his hand, and Ron shook it, and pulled Harry into a quick hug, Harry patted his best friend's back, both of them grinning from ear to ear.

He pointed his wand at his throat again and said "Sonorus."

"Everyone," his magically magnified voice said. "Thank you for trying out today, you should all be proud of yourselves."

He heard Fred and George snigger behind him.

"But," he continued. "I am pleased to present Gryffindor's new Keeper. Everyone, I give you Ron Weasley!"

Ron held his arms in the air, and the whole crowd burst into applause. Ron mounted the Firebolt again and took flight. He flew a speedy lap around the stadium, doing a lot of fancy spins and loops on the way.

When Ron came back to the ground, Harry took the charm off of his voice, and whispered to Ron.

"We'll need to get you a new broom, you can't exactly ride my Firebolt in matches."

Ron nodded, and whispered back.

"I'll write to mum and dad, tell them I'm the new Keeper, see if they'll get me a decent broom."

Harry felt a pang of guilt, Mr and Mrs Weasley could definitely not afford a very good broom, and, not for the first time, Harry felt terrible about the small fortune in his vault at Gringotts.

"No, I'll tell you what, I'll buy your new broomstick," he offered, worried that Ron's usual streak of pride would get in the way. Sure enough:

"Harry, I can't let you do that," Ron looked certain that he did not want 'charity' from his best friend. Harry tried to think of a compromise.

"Well then, I'll pay for half of it, and call it your birthday and Christmas present," he crossed his fingers behind his back, hoping Ron would accept.

"OK, deal."

"Great, 'cause we should really start practise now, we're playing Slytherin in six weeks," Harry said.

"Um," said Ron. "I kinda need a broomstick to use now."

"Here," said a voice behind Harry, Harry turned around and saw Seamus standing there, his broomstick in his outstretched hand. "It's a Comet Three-Fifty."

Ron took the broomstick, inspected it for a moment, and said, "Thanks,"

He kicked off the ground, as did Fred and George, and Harry climbed onto his Firebolt and flew through the air after them. After a quick aerial chase, the whole team decided to stop practice, the Chasers were far too tired, having been flying for over three hours.

"Next practice, Monday evening," Harry told the rest of the team.

*

The news that Ron was playing Keeper travelled through the school like wildfire. And Ron, it seemed, was loving the attention. Gryffindors that had never spoken to Ron before were going up to him and congratulating him.

The only person who did not seem pleased with Ron was Ginny. She was so angry with her brother that she had not talked to him since he had been made Keeper.

"What's the matter with her?" Ron asked, after she ignored him once more in the common room.

"Isn't it obvious?" said Hermione, with a superior tone in her voice.

"No," Ron replied simply.

"She's mad at you because she would have been Keeper if you weren't," Hermione said, picking up a spell book and starting to read from it.

"Well that's just crazy," Ron said to her, but she did not reply, so he began to talk to Harry. "You made me Keeper because I was the best person for it, right?"

"Yes," said Harry, looking over at Ginny in a distant corner of the common room. "But I guess she feels left out."

"Hmph," Ron said, before going up the stairs to bed.

*

Ron wrote a letter to his parents early the next day, telling him that he had been made Keeper. Harry read it over Ron's shoulder as he was writing it.

Hi Mum and Dad,

I've got some interesting news. Harry was made Gryffindor Quidditch captain (big surprise!) and he made me Keeper!

It's great, everyone knows who I am! The only problem is that Ginny would have been Keeper if I hadn't been, so she's really mad at me.

Actually, there is another problem. I need a good broomstick if I'm going to stop any Quaffles from Slytherin in our first match. I can't exactly ride the Shooting Star we've got at home, it would take forever to just get from one goalpost to the other. Harry has offered to pay for half of it, as a Christmas and birthday present, and he says you can just take the money out of his Gringotts vault. You could make it your Christmas present to me too!

Ron

As they went up to the Owlery to post the letter, Harry thought again of Hedwig. He wondered if he would ever see her again.

"Don't worry Harry," Ron said as he tied the letter to Pigwidgeon's leg, which was no easy task because he was jumping up and down on the spot with excitement.

"Hedwig would never let you down. I'm sure she's OK."

"She's been gone for three months! The only other time she's been away this long is when she was delivering a letter to Snuffles when he was living down south! Something might have happened to her!"

Having never said that aloud before, Harry realised it was a real possibility. He leaned against the wall of the Owlery, looking up at the hundreds of owls, sleeping without any troubles.

"Come on Harry," he heard Hermione say. "Breakfast."

As the three of them walked down to breakfast there was a huge round of applause from the Gryffindor table. Fred and George both yelled "Our new Gryffindor Keeper!" and the applause got louder. Ginny remained silent, her arms folded across her chest, and her eyebrows lowered.

"I could get used to this," Ron smiled as he helped himself to some scrambled eggs.

*

Meanwhile, in Care of Magical Creatures, they had moved off from Demiguises. They were all very surprised to come down to Hagrid's old hut to find instead of the Demiguise crate, a large metal platform, at least ten feet each way, with three giant snails. Each snail was a different colour, one was blue, one was green and one was purple.

"Class," said Charlie standing by the side of the platform. "Today we will be studying Streelers. Now, who can tell me something about Streelers?"

Hermione of course, was the first to raise her hand.

"Anyone besides Hermione?" Charlie asked, looking around to see if there was anyone else with their hand up.

"The Streeler is originally from Africa," said a familiar voice behind them.

Harry spun around and saw that it was Draco Malfoy who was speaking. Apparently, everyone else found that as shocking as he did.

"Go on Malfoy," said Charlie, his the most stunned face.

"They change colour once an hour and the trails they leave behind will kill any plants it passes over, which is probably why you've got it on that platform."

"Er, very good Malfoy," Charlie said. "Five points to Slytherin."

Malfoy nodded, and Harry wondered if Malfoy was up to anything.

"However," Charlie continued. "There is on more important thing about the Streeler. Does anyone know what it is?"

Hermione raised her hand again.

"OK, Hermione."

"The trail of the Streeler, as well as killing plants, is one of the only things that can kill Horklumps."

"Good, five points to Gryffindor."

Malfoy suddenly looked sour again.

"Horklumps are small creatures that breed very quickly. Professor Sprout tells me that she has got a few in one of her greenhouses, so we need some of the Streeler trail to get rid of them. Obviously it is too dangerous to have the Streelers inside the greenhouse, because they would kill all of the magical plants."

They spent the rest of the lesson trying to collect the thick, black liquid that each Streeler left behind them into glass beakers. It was hard work to follow the Streeler, but not touch any of the fluid. Neville was unlucky enough to spill one drop onto his hand, and got a nasty burn.

"Why is Malfoy being nice today?" Ron whispered to Harry while chasing a particularly big Streeler.

"I dunno," Harry replied. "Maybe it's something to do with what happened last lesson."

"Maybe," Ron said thoughtfully. "I wonder what that was all about."

Harry remembered what had happened, it had been very strange...

They were studying the Demiguise, and Malfoy was standing at the back as normal, muttering to Crabbe and Goyle. Harry had thought after their first lesson, that Malfoy was started to behave himself, at least in Care of Magical Creatures.

They were laughing about something, mocking someone. Harry was sure that he heard the word "Potter" whispered. He turned around to look Malfoy in the face. He smiled impassively.

"Can I help you Potter?" he asked with thinly disguised hostility.

"Yeah, you can tell me what you were saying about me!" Harry replied, taking out his wand.

"You? Whoever said we were talking about you. You really think a lot of yourself Potter, you strut around here thinking you're the most important person, and everyone wants to be you!"

"Shut your face Malfoy!" Harry raged. He realised that he had yelled much louder than he intended to, and the whole class turned to face them.

"What's going on?" Charlie asked.

"Potter was threatening me!" Malfoy said instantly, and Harry was sure that Charlie would not believe him.

"Is this true Harry?" he asked kindly.

"No," Harry answered. "Malfoy was talking about me behind my back!"

"Five points from Slytherin!" Charlie commanded. Malfoy looked outraged.

"Why do you always believe Potter? Just because he's famous. Or because he's your brother's friend. Your kind always stick together!"

Charlie did not raise his voice, or take any more points from Slytherin. Instead, he swooped down on Malfoy, and whispered something in his ear.

Crabbe and Goyle both leaned in, trying to listen, but had clearly not heard a thing. Harry was sure that Charlie had said something that sounded like "Dragon".

Malfoy's eyes went wide, and he went paler than usual. A nerve was twitching in his temple, and he reached into the pocket with his wand in. However, he did not take it out, or come back with a vicious insult. He just stood there with his hands in his pockets, utterly silent.

"What do you think Charlie said to him?" Harry asked, turning his attention back to the Streelers.

"No idea," Ron replied, scooping up more trail in his bottle. "I asked Charlie after the lesson, he told me to mind my own business."

"It must've been something really bad for Malfoy to be acting this nice," Harry commented. "Maybe he threatened to go to Dumbledore."

"I don't think so," Ron said sceptically. "It just doesn't seem like Malfoy to be afraid of Dumbledore punishing him."

"Maybe," said Harry dreamily. "Ouch!"

He had paid for his lack of attention by letting a drop of Streeler trail leak from the bottle he was holding into his hand.

Over half way through the lesson, they saw the Streelers change colour. It was quite a beautiful sight, it happened very smoothly. They were now coloured red, sky blue, and golden brown.

By the end of the lesson, they had collected almost thirty beakers of Streeler trail. Malfoy seemed to be the one to gather the most.

"Great," said Charlie, assessing them all. "This should be enough to get rid of those damn Horklumps."

When the class was dismissed, Harry, Ron and Hermione stayed behind to talk to Charlie about Ron being the new Keeper.

"I already knew," said Charlie after Ron told him. "Our dear brothers, Fred and George spoiled the surprise yesterday. Congratulations, although it would be great if you could've been a Seeker like me. But I guess Gryffindor have an excellent Seeker anyway."

He smiled at Harry, who smiled back.

"Thanks Charlie," he said.

"I reckon the Cup will be ours again with any luck," Charlie commented.

"Yeah, hopefully," Harry agreed.

"Well just don't get too arrogant," Hermione said. "It's been two years since we had the last Quidditch Tournament. Just because Gryffindor won the Cup last time, it doesn't mean we're definitely going to get it this time. You don't know how much the other teams have improved since then, and most of them have got a few new players."

"Thanks for those words of confidence," Ron muttered.

They spent a while discussing Gryffindor's chances at getting the Quidditch Cup. Finally, they went back to Gryffindor Tower before their first Quidditch practice.

The Chasers performed as well as ever, but none of them could get a single goal past Ron. Fred and George, it seemed, had become even more lethal with their Beater's clubs. Their new Nimbus Pros gave them a big improvement in speed and accuracy.

Harry felt pleased with his own performance, he managed to catch the Snitch every time in a matter of minutes. Harry felt sure that the Quidditch Cup was theirs again.

After about an hour of practice, Harry called the end of the session.

"Today was great everyone," he told them, hovering in the air just above them as they listened from the ground. "I think we're gonna bring the Cup home this year!"

The team cheered, and Fred let off some red and gold sparks from the end of his wand.

"Disgusting," said a familiar, drawling voice from the ground.

Harry turned around, and saw seven figures, dressed in green Quidditch robes and carrying broomsticks, walking onto the pitch.

"A Weasley playing for your team Potter?" sneered Draco Malfoy, as though the boy who had been helping Charlie in their lesson had never existed. "I mean another Weasley."

"Yeah, that's right Malfoy," said Ron. "I got the job yesterday."

"Yesterday?" Malfoy called to Harry in the air. "You only got your Keeper yesterday? I got my new Chaser and Beaters weeks ago.

Harry looked at the other six figures behind Malfoy. He saw an unfamiliar boy, tall and bulky. He also saw two other boys holding Beater's clubs: Crabbe and Goyle.

They were both smirking over their fat, stupid faces, holding the clubs as if they were going to hit something with them right then.

Harry flew lower towards Malfoy, and stopped just in front of his pale, pointed face.

"Them, Beaters? They're too stupid to know which balls are Bludgers."

The Gryffindor team laughed loudly, but the Slytherins took a step towards Harry, most of them flexing or cracking their knuckles.

"Well at least three of my team aren't too poor to get decent brooms," Malfoy retorted.

Fred and George stepped forward.

"Then what do you call these?" they said, holding out their Nimbus Pros.

"Oh, very impressive, just like these," said Malfoy, waving his hand at the others behind him, who all took out their broomsticks. Written in gold on each one was the words: Nimbus Pro.

"And take a look at this," Malfoy held out his own broom. It was the most magnificent broomstick Harry had ever seen. He remembered the broom next to the Nimbus Pro in Quality Quidditch Supplies. It had a thin handle, and each twig on its end was perfectly in line with the rest of them. At the top of the gleaming handle were the words: Firebolt Evolution.

"Just a little something that father picked up for me," Malfoy smirked. "And he kindly gave the rest of my team new brooms as a kind of 'thank you in advance' for making me captain."

"So in other words," Harry said, still hovering in front of Malfoy's face. "You bribed the rest of the team into voting for you."

"Bribing is such a harsh word," Malfoy said, mounting his broomstick and signalling to the others to do the same. "Let's just say that I graciously gave a gift to my team mates, and they graciously voted me captain."

"Well then Malfoy," said Harry. "How about a little friendly race between the two of us?"

"I assure you Potter, there is nothing friendly about the two of us. However, I would like a chance to show off my new broomstick. Once around the stadium. Let's go!"

He quickly took to the air and flew so fast that he had become a green and blonde blur.

Harry sped after him as fast as he could, but his Firebolt was no match for the Firebolt Evolution.

"Think you can catch me Potter?" Malfoy taunted from far in front of Harry.

He rose higher and dove lower on his way, showing off the broom's acceleration. He did a few loop the loops and spun around quickly, but Harry could still not catch up.

Malfoy did an entire circuit of the stadium, and Harry ended at the same place almost a minute later.

"Sorry Potter," said Malfoy, jumping off his Firebolt Evolution.

"Shut it Malfoy," Harry spat.

"Potter, I didn't think you were such a sore loser. I thought you were the golden boy," Malfoy said.

Harry got off his Firebolt and stormed off the pitch, followed by Ron and the rest of the team.

"Just wait," said Harry, hatred filling his voice. "Gryffindor versus Slytherin, we'll see who's the sore loser then."

Hoping it rather than believing it, Harry changed back into his school robes.

If he couldn't beat Malfoy in a race, Harry thought, how would he beat him to the Snitch?