Harry Potter and the Magic Within

Harry Potter and the Magic Within

Chapter 9: 'The Nightly Visitor'

Harry had not had a very good day when he had attacked Malfoy. He did, however, decide to stop letting it bother him. He thought as little as possible about the overheard conversation between Dumbledore and McGonagall and so he acted as normal as ever. In the following two weeks nothing else happened of interest. The only parts Harry truly didn't enjoy at all were Potions lessons with Professor Snape, in which he and Malfoy barely dared to take their eyes off each other for fear of the other starting another fight. When the next weekend came, Harry, Ron and Hermione had to spend most of it working. The amount of homework they had was tremendous.

On Monday morning, Harry went down to breakfast and was sure there was some news going around from the amount of chatter and excitement everywhere he looked.

'What's going on?' he asked Ron and Hermione as he sat down for breakfast.

'Look!' said Ron pointing to the notice pinned to the doors of the Great hall. A small crowd were gathered around it. He got up and walked over to see what the fuss was all about. It was a Quidditch notice. It informed him that all the Quidditch teams were to go and have their own meetings in which they should decide on how to recruit their new members. Harry knew that many of the teams players in various teams had left Hogwarts. Gryffindors captain and keeper had left some time before and would need to be replaced. The meetings for the teams would be at that lunch break that day. Harry went back to sit down, he was grinning. He loved Quidditch and was extremely glad that he would soon have quidditch matches and quidditch practices in order to get his mind off things.

'Good news isn't it,' said Ron, smiling as much as Harry.

'Very good,' agreed Harry.

'I'd like to try for the Gryffindor team but i'm not good enough,' said Ron as he ate. Harry had a sudden idea. He didn't mention it to Ron or Hermione. He just ate his breakfast in silence. Harry left the school for the Quidditch pitch at lunch time. He met Fred and George, the Gryffindor Beaters, in their Gryffindors changing room. The three chasers were sitting down in the room not far from the twins and were talking excitedly about something.

'Hi, Harry,' said Fred, smiling. Now was when he should mention his idea to them.

'Listen,' he said quietly, 'I've had an idea, for the new keeper.'

'Yes?' said Fred and George together.

'What about Ron?' he said simply. The twins looked at each other for a moment.

'You know he's a good keeper,' continued Harry. 'He would probably make a great captain as well, but I doubt that would be allowed.'

'Good thinking, Harry,' said George. 'We'll have to run it by the girls though,' he added, nodding towards the three girls chatting away. Harry nodded and grinned. He imagined the look of surprise on Ron's face if he told him that he was in Gryffindors Quidditch team. The team sat in conversation for a long while. It was dark when they walked back to the school. It turned out that captains were usually older students, so Harry gave up any thought of Ron being captain. He could be keeper though, Harry thought. Harry walked in to the common room with this weighing on his mind. The team had seemed happy with Ron as the choice for a keeper. Harry just wished it was definite and that he could tell Ron the good news.

'Hey! Harry!' said Ron as Harry entered. Harry smiled and sat down to watch Ron and Hermione's game of chess.

Thirty minutes later, Hermione had lost and Harry sat in silence for a while as he gazed at the fire. Ron watched him. Perhaps he was thinking that Harry's mind was preoccupied with the same thoughts that had led to his silence the few days before.

'Do you want to have a game of chess?' he asked.

'No, thanks, Ron,' Harry replied. Ron sat silently, watching Harry closely. Then he stood up so suddenly that Harry and Hermione jumped.

'Why won't you tell us!' he stormed. Harry raised his eyebrows, he was not used to Ron doing this. 'We are your best friends!' he continued.

'You usually tell us everything but we know you're keeping something from us!' he was now pacing as he spoke. 'Come on Harry! Tell us!'

and with that he sat right in an arm chair in front of Harry with his arms crossed, looking annoyed but not actually angry. Now, aware of how he had acted, Ron bit his lip and looked a little embarrassed and sat silently waiting for Harry or Hermione to do something. Hermione had her mouth slightly open and was staring at Ron. Then she turned her eyes on Harry. Harry fidgeted. It seemed he had to tell them.

'Well? Tell us then,' said Ron, less loudly than his previous words.

Harry sat up in his chair. He had to tell them, not just because they knew something was wrong and obviously wouldn't rest until they heard, also because Harry wanted to tell someone. He wondered for a moment why everything always seemed to happen to him. Then he took a deep breath and started talking about the night he sent Sirius his letter. Ron and Hermione sat listening intently. By the time Harry had finished repeating the conversation he had heard, Ron and Hermione looked both surprised and puzzled.

'So - you mean - err,' Ron sputtered. Hermione looked thoughtful.

Harry nodded at Ron's confusion.

'Do that for another three or four days,' said Harry, 'and you'll be where i am about now.' Hermione looked up.

'What do you think is going to happen to you now, Harry?' she said, 'what hasn't already happened to you?' She looked worried. Harry shrugged.

They all sat in their own thoughts for quite some time. Harry, trying to think of something other than Dumbledore's conversation, let his mind go back to ways in which he could get Ron on to the Gryffindor team for definite. He knew Ron could fly very well. He also knew that Ron acted as a good keeper after all the times they had played Quidditch up the hill at the burrow. When they left the common room some time later, Hermione, Ron and Harry didn't speak much except to say: good night.

Harry woke suddenly. He thought he had been dreaming or something similar, but he then realised that something was sitting on his bed cover in front of him.

'Woahh!' Harry yelled jumping up. The cold stone floor made him grimace. What was that? What was on his bed? He tried to get a better look at whatever it was. It spoke.

'Harry Potter, sir, Harry Potter!' It was Dobby! Dobby the house-elf.

Harry had met the elf just before his second year at Hogwarts and last year he had come to work in the Hogwarts kitchens.

'Dobby?' said Harry, relieved but still surprised.

'It is Dobby, Harry Potter, sir,' said Dobby, looking very happy indeed. Harry got back in to his bed, it was too cold not to.

'What are you doing here?' he asked.

'Dobby has come to visit Harry Potter, sir,' Dobby said quietly.

'But why in the middle of the night?' said Harry a little confused. Dobby looked around as though making sure there were no eavesdroppers, then said in a hushed voice:

'Dobby was waiting until he knew for sure, Harry Potter.' Harry listened closely. 'It is definite now. Dobby has heard it, sir.'

'Heard what?' said Harry, wishing Dobby would get to the point.

'Dobby heard about Harry Potter's guardian,' he said cheerfully.

'My what?' said Harry, utterly bewildered.

'Guardian, sir, someone to protect you.' Dobby stared. 'Didn't Harry Potter know?'

'No, Dobby,' Harry replied, feeling rather peculiar. 'Who is it?' Dobby didn't answer; he was rocking backwards and forwards, muttering.

'Bad, Dobby, bad, Dobby,' were his words. Then he spoke to Harry again. 'Bad, Dobby, Harry Potter can't have been meant to know.' He shook his head and his big ears flapped as he did.

'Why do I have a guardian?' said Harry. He had escaped death more times than he could count on one hand, he wasn't exactly bad at looking after himself. Dobby wouldn't answer. He was convinced he had done something terribly wrong and disappeared a moment later. Harry lay thinking for a long while. When he did sleep, it wasn't as comfortable as before the visit.

Harry Potter and the Magic Within

Chapter 10: 'The New Keeper'

Harry woke up rather early. He got changed and went to wake Ron up but Ron wasn't in his bed. Harry wandered down to the common room. The first thing he saw were Fred and George carrying a box of what looked like some of their joke items. They went straight up to their dormitory with only a small greeting in passing for Harry. Harry then saw Ron and Hermione whispering over by the window. They were looking at something on the table. Hermione saw Harry and said something quickly to Ron, who pulled something under the table. Harry walked up to them.

'What was that?' he said curiously.

'What was what?' said Hermione, not very convincingly.

'That thing you just hid under the table,' said Harry wryly. He knew they were hiding something. He had seen it once or twice before then. Ron made a coughing noise, then changed the subject.

'Do you want breakfast, Harry? I'm starving,' he said and walked towards the portrait, Hermione followed making 'yumm' noises. Harry didn't follow; he ducked down and grabbed the thing they had been hiding. It was The Daily Prophet; he wondered what on earth they would hide it from him for. He sat down and idly flicked through the pages.

He almost dropped it. He had seen the most terrible sight ever. There was a major story about a huge attack in a road full of Muggles. The moving picture showed a street with steaming ruins of houses. There had been thirty-five deaths, Harry read. His worst fears were confirmed when the paper informed him that a cloaked figure had been seen by an eye witness Muggle, minutes before the attack. There was another picture beneath the main picture and article. This showed a message branded in to the road by what must have been a wand. I WILL GET YOU NEXT TIME!

Harry felt as though he had been frozen. He didn't have any trouble working out who that message was meant for. He knew it was for him. Even the paper had guessed it. Harry left the paper open on the table and went up to his dormitory. He felt ill. He sat on his bed staring out of the window. He now wished he had just gone down to breakfast with Ron and Hermione and could be wondering about what they had hidden. It was a lot better than knowing what they were hiding. Ron burst through the dormitory door a moment later. He was out of breath. Harry looked at him blankly.

'Did you read it? Was it you who read it on the table?' said Ron, rather shakily. Harry nodded. Ron's face fell. He came over and sat next to Harry. 'We thought it was best to hide it,' he said grimly.

'I wish I hadn't read it,' said Harry shaking his head. Ron looked anxiously at him for a moment. 'Well, I suppose I had better just not think about it all,' Harry said finally. Then he stood up and walked to the dormitory door.

'Are you coming for breakfast?' he said casually. Ron looked rather surprised at Harry's reaction but then grinned a little and jumped up from the bed and over to follow Harry to the Great hall.

Hermione was waiting for them at breakfast. She was just as surprised at Harry's calm reaction as Ron was, perhaps more surprised.

'So you're alright then?' she asked, watching Harry closely.

'Yeah, I'm fine,' he said nodding and eating his toast. If he had been entirely honest he wouldn't have said he was fine. He wasn't taking the news as badly as he had thought though. He just kept his mind off those things. Then he remembered something. Dobby. He told them all about the elf's visit.

'Ah, I wish you had woken me up,' said Ron, who liked Dobby.

'A guardian?' said Hermione, looking a little indignant. 'You don't need one,' she said stiffly. 'No one has ever looked after themselves better than you, Harry.' Harry raised his eyebrows. He wasn't so sure - he did after all play a highly dangerous game for recreation. That got him thinking about Ron's chances of being keeper.

He wished he could tell Ron, he didn't think it was wise though. If Ron was then turned down for keeper, it would be terrible if he had known.

Harry, Ron and Hermione left the hall to go to their Dark Arts class. Harry dreaded to think what Professor Argent would say to him.

'Good morning, Class,' said Professor Argent, warmly. 'We shall be moving on to a much harder curse to repel today. I doubt very much, however, that a clever class like you will have any problems with it.' The class laughed, as she did. 'Ok, let's get started.' She then began to tell them about the new curse. It was a curse, which, if it caught you, would make your eyes close and stay that way. Harry was hoping with all his might that nothing else strange happened when he attempted this counter curse for the blinding spell. Maybe he was imagining it, but he thought Professor Argent kept looking over at his and Ron's table more than was natural. He elbowed Ron.

'She keeps on looking over at us,' Harry hissed.

'Well, she's probably checking that you don't cause any trouble again,' said Ron as he tried again to make his wand sparkle, as it was supposed to if he had the spell right. Harry was still uncomfortable.

'Now, can I have a volunteer to try blocking the curse?' said Professor Argent, loudly. Hermione put her hand up and Professor Argent let her come up to the front of the class to try out the counter curse.

'Alright, Hermione?' Argent asked, pulling out her wand. Hermione nodded and pulled out hers. Harry sat watching absent-mindedly. Ron was looking in his book for any hints on getting his spell to work properly. Harry's gaze wandered as Hermione was being praised for her excellent block. He looked out of the window, his head on his hand.

Maybe he was imagining it, but it seemed that snow was falling outside the window. How could it be snowing? It wasn't that cold. It was only two weeks into October. He was sure now. He sat up and elbowed Ron, who ripped a page in his second hand book. Ron looked absolutely bewildered. He turned to Harry.

'You didn't do that did you?' he whispered.

'No,' Harry exasperatedly whispered back, still staring out the window.

The class suddenly became aware of the snow too. Neville and Dean went to the window. Argent even went to stand and look at the snow. Apart from Harry's strange suspicions of her, he thought Professor Argent was just as nice as Lupin who had taught Defence Against the Darks Arts in Harry's third year. At that moment, there was a little knock at the classroom door and Fred and George came in.

'Excuse us,' said Fred, 'but we need to borrow Harry Potter. There's a meeting about Quidditch. We and the other team members need to finalise our new member choice.'

'Why, certainly,' said Argent smiling. She nodded at Harry and so he got his things packed away and left with the twins.

'Who is it then?' asked Harry, quickly as they set off through the thin layer of snow on the ground for the pitch.

'Well,' started George, 'we thought Ron would be a great Keeper, at least after a bit of training up, and our new Captain is, Me.'

'You?' said Harry excitedly. 'That's great and Ron will be so happy! When can we tell him?'

'When you get back from this, you can tell him,' said Fred. 'I didn't want to be Captain much, so George got the position and I get to work on some of our secret things.' Fred winked.

'What exactly are we going to the pitch for if we know who we are getting for Keeper, we don't need a meeting,' said Harry.

'Well, we aren't really having a meeting,' admitted Fred. 'We are just having a first practice of the year.' Fred grinned.

'But my Firebolt is - ' began Harry.

'No, we got it, it's with the girls at the pitch,' cut in George.

Harry wasn't that surprised. He knew Fred and George too well. He laughed to himself. He was very glad to be out in the falling snow and to know that he was going to play Quidditch.

Five minutes later, he was on the pitch with Angelina, Katie and Alicia, the Chasers, and Fred and George, the Beaters. The Quaffle, the big red ball, was taken out of its case and the Chasers practiced their passes.

Fred and George let out the two heavy black balls, Bludgers, and practiced hitting them away from their team members. The team had decided it was a little risky to let out the Golden Snitch, the small, fast ball Harry had to catch as Seeker, as it wasn't a good idea in snow. Harry therefore had to practice his flying and watch the rest of the team. He didn't mind at all. It was rather fun. He just hoped none of the teachers could see them through the snow, which was getting thicker.

The team must have been caught up in the Quidditch rush for over an hour. When they finally landed again, they wandered up to the school through the heavy snow in high spirits, hoping that they had not been seen and telling each other the topics they had covered in their so called meeting.

Harry looked at the clock in the common room as he entered it soon after. He had thought it best to put his Firebolt away before he went to lunch and lessons. To his surprise, Ron was in the common room by the window playing a chess game with Hermione. There were lots of people about.

'Harry!' Ron greeted him. 'Why have you got your broom?' he added, puzzled.

'Well,' Harry began, 'We were just making sure the brooms all worked.' Harry knew immediately that neither Ron nor Hermione believed him but they didn't seem to mind. Harry put his broom back in to his trunk in their dormitory, then came back down to the common room to ask a question that had puzzled him.

'Why aren't you at lunch?' asked Harry.

'Well,' said Hermione, 'the afternoon lessons are cancelled. It was Herbology, remember? Professor Sprout said that it wasn't a good idea to study Herbology in the greenhouses when it was snowing. She said it would perhaps harm some of the rare species of plant. We have already been to lunch and just got back a minute ago. What did the team talk about? she finished.

'Oh, we just decided on our new Keeper,' said Harry, getting ready to tell Ron.

'Oh, who is it? asked Hermione and Ron as they played their chess game.

'It is someone who I know is a good player and who I suggested,' said Harry, approaching his target with great excitement. Ron and Hermione looked up to hear the name.

'Who?' said Ron.

'You!' said Harry loudly, to Ron. Ron's mouth fell open.

'But - What? - I mean - ' stuttered Ron, a look of absolute shock on his face. Hermione had her hand over her widely grinning mouth. Harry nodded at Ron, who couldn't speak for a few minutes.

'How on earth did you get me on, Harry?' he said finally, with a look of ecstasy on his face.

'Fred and George thought you were a good enough Keeper and George is the new Captain, so he got a big part in the choice,' Harry grinned. Ron was on the edge of his chair and looked like he had no idea what to do with himself.

'Wow!' he said finally, sitting back in the chair as though he was exhausted from the joy. Harry sat smiling. He didn't have a worry in his mind at that moment. Later, he often wished he was back in that almost carefree moment.

They spent that afternoon talking mostly about Quidditch and then doing their essay for Potions class. Harry and Ron also had to do their Divination homework. When they went to bed, Ron was still muttering, 'wow' even as he got under his covers. Harry fell asleep smiling that night.