Leo Perry and the Scrolls of the Druid

- CHAPTER TEN -

Odin's Scrolls

The day after the Quidditch tryouts, Leo and Henry found out that tryouts for Nittlemac would be held on October third. This was two weeks away. Leo still had no idea of how to play Nittlemac and wanted to learn, but with homework and classes he never had time.

A week before the tryouts, Henry had started teaching him what the school sport was all about.

'Alright,' Henry started, 'It's kinda of complicated so stay with me.'

'OK,' said Leo, nodding.

'First, there are two balls. The Nitt is a plain ball. It doesn't fly, jump, run away or anything. The players just pass it to one another and try to score with it. The other ball is the Mac. Hence, Nittlemac. The Mac, flies and tries to get away from players and stuff. It's harder to hold onto and harder to score with. They also try to act like bludgers sometimes and try to knock you off your broom. You with me so far?'

'The Nitt and the Mac,' Leo responded.

'Right,' Henry continued, 'There are also to playing areas. There's the lower level and the upper level. The lower level extends from the ground to about forty feet in the air. Players in that level can't rise above that forty feet without gaining a penalty. Now the upper level is above that forty feet and you can't go too high there. I imagine that if you went to high you'd get a penalty for ignoring or leaving the game or something like that. The players in the upper level can't go down into the lower level. It's kind of like two games at once.' Leo nodded and waited for his friend to continue. 'There are three "baskets". They're actually holes in the ground. At one point apparently, they were played with baskets. Anyway, the center basket, when scored on gains a team five points and both teams can score in it. The defensive baskets or end baskets, when scored on gain a team ten points, and the teams can only score in the opposite end to theirs. Got it?'

'Yep,' said Leo, 'There are two balls, the Nitt and the Mac. Two playing areas, the lower level and the upper level. Then there are three baskets to score on. The one in the center gives you five points and the ones at the ends give you ten points.'

'Good,' said Henry, 'Now there are the players. In the lower level there are the forwards and the goalie. Each team has three forwards and a goalie in the lower level. The forwards try to score and block the center basket and the goalies defend the end baskets. The upper level has two forwards, who do the same thing as the forwards in the lower level, and two defense on each team. The defense defend the baskets, without going down into the lower level. Both levels use the same baskets to score on. Now there are four playing periods. The first period, one team on the upper level have the Nitt and the opposite team on the lower level have the Mac. This rotates through all four periods so that each team has the Nitt and the Mac twice, once on each level. Get it?'

'Pretty much,' Leo said, 'It'll be easier if I actually get to play it.'

'Yeah,' said Henry. For the next week, when Leo had any spare time, he talked to Henry and other people about Nittlemac to learn as much as he could before tryouts. Henry was only helpful with the rules and how to play. All the stuff you could learn out of a book. Leo reminded himself that Henry had never played either and was probably only regurgitating facts. Tom was a big help as he had played for so long. Leo learned some tricks from him and hoped to have time to practice them on his broomstick.

Before Leo knew it, the weekend had arrived and it was almost time to head out to the Nittlemac stadium, which was on the opposite end of the yard from the Quidditch stadium.

Leo changed into his sport robes and headed with Henry out to the stadium. He carried his Whistler One-hundred and Henry had borrowed Tom's broom, a Hawk One-Eighty.

'Nervous?' Henry asked Leo.

'Yeah,' Leo replied. He wasn't in the mood to talk. He was focused on the tryout.

When they arrived, they saw just as many spectators, if not more, as the Quidditch tryouts.

'Are you guys ready?' asked a tall, Loberon boy, 'I'm the captain. My name is Nathan Johnson. You can call me Nate. I'm a sixth year and I'll be happy to see your moves today. We'll get started in just a second.' Leo was surprised that the captain was a sixth year. He had been under the impression that Nittlemac was for the younger students, before they could tryout for Quidditch. As he looked around however, he saw many other older students. There were already some fifth years, fourth years, a third year and a second year on the team. There were also older students who were trying out and this made Leo even more nervous. He noticed that he and Henry were the only first years trying out.

'Where's everyone else?' Leo asked, 'I thought everyone was trying out?'

'Apparently they're too chicken,' replied Henry, 'Most said there was no point this year so they'd try out next year.'

'Why boast about it like they did then?' Leo asked. For the past week many of the first years had been boasting about trying out and told Leo and Henry that they wouldn't make it because they were too inexperienced.

'Alright, let's get to it!' Nate said after returning. Leo walked out onto the field with all the other Loberon students trying out. The crowd cheered for them. Leo looked around. The stadium was a bit smaller than the Quidditch stadium. The walls around the field were higher than the Quidditch stadium. The walls must've ended where the lower level meets the upper level.

'We're looking to fill five spaces,' started Nate, talking to the crowd just as much as the candidates, which there were eleven. 'We need three forwards, one upper and two lower. We also need two defense men. So let's get started.' Leo was trying out for a forward position.

Nate called out their names. The potential forwards had to try to score on the end basket which was guarded by the Loberon goalie, a fourth year girl, named Charlene Klairvoets.

'Leo Perry,' called out Nate. Leo mounted his broom. Nate tossed the Nitt to him and Leo raced down the field toward the goalie. He dove down close to the hole and then he pulled up. He turned to the left but at the last second, he swerved to the right and he threw the Nitt as hard as he could to the basket. It went straight into the hole and Charlene just missed saving it by a hair. The crowd cheered for Leo. Leo headed back to the other end and landed next to Henry.

'Good work,' said Nate.

'That was great,' said Henry. Leo watched as the other potential forwards tried their best to score on the goalie. Most managed to do it, but some did poorly and landed in low spirits.

Henry Walsh,' called Nate. Henry stood up, ready to go. He was last to tryout. He wanted a defense position. One of Loberon's forwards came out with a Nitt. They were up in the upper level. The forward went fast across the field and Henry was always in front of him. He looked so focused. The forward managed to fake turning left and flew around Henry to the right. He threw the ball toward the end basket and Henry flew after it. Just before the boundary of the lower level, Henry managed to hit the Nitt with his broom handle and sent it off course. The ball just missed the basket. The crowd cheered and Henry put his hands up in triumph.

After landing and hearing an 'Everyone did a great job' speech from Nate, Leo and Henry went back to their dormitory to wash up and change before dinner.

'So when do we find out if we made the team?' Leo asked as they made their way down to the dining hall.

'They tell us at the Halloween banquet,' Henry responded. After a great meal, their spirits rose even higher as their friends complimented them and assured them that they would make the team.

Leo wrote his father a long letter describing the day's events and then went to sleep, smiling with Casper laying at his feet.

The rest of October flew by. With homework, projects and classes, Leo didn't do much of anything else. Leo had lived at the school for almost two months before he realized it.

'I want each of you to research a large and dangerous animal,' Professor Natwelle said one Monday morning, a week before Halloween, to Leo's Defense Against Dark Forces class. 'I will of course be giving you the beast that you are to study. I want a written report, three pages, minimum. You are to tell me how and where they live, what they eat, how they defend themselves, how you would defend yourself from it and anything else you find that seems important!' Then she started assigning animals to people.

'How can she expect this from us?' Lizz said as she and Deirdre turned to Leo.

'I don't know, but I won't be the one to argue with her,' said Leo. The others agreed.

'Leo Perry,' called professor Natwelle, 'You will be researching the Hippogriff.'

'The Hippo-what?' Leo asked his friends.

'It's like a bird slash horse thing,' Lizz said, 'It's really ugly.'

'It's related to the Sphinx and the Griffin. That type of thing,' said Deirdre. The rest of the class was uneventful, except for Lizz's giggles when she was assigned the Unicorn.

'They're so pretty don't you think?' she asked. Leo rolled his eyes.

'I want this done by Monday!' called Natwelle as the students left the class.

By Sunday afternoon, Leo had minimal information on the Hippogriff and him and Henry decided to go to the library. Leo looked at different animal books and Henry finished up his Herbology homework.

'Would "they are very noble animals and very rarely acknowledge people other than when attacks" be a good line?' Leo asked Henry, looking up from a very thin book, Feathers and Hooves.

'Sounds good,' said Henry. Leo spent the rest of his afternoon looking at the few passages containing any information on hippogriffs that the library had. The only problem was when he managed to find a new one the same information kept appearing. By dinner he had managed to gather a list of facts on hippogriffs and decided that he would write the report that evening before bed. He was all set.

He and Henry headed back to the living room quickly and then went to meet their friends in the dining hall. It was a large meal of chicken, rice and eggrolls. Leo noticed that some people were even using chopsticks. He was having so much fun with his friends he didn't leave the dining hall until much after dinner. The Loberon first years were about the last to leave.

'Going to practice those Nittlemac moves?' Leo turned to see Chris.

'No,' Leo said confused by the tone of Chris' voice, 'Why?'

'Well, I just thought you could use it.' Leo heard laughing and looked to see not far behind Chris, Jessica and Chris' tall friend. Chris was being very rude and Leo didn't like it. After all wasn't this the same boy who had complimented him the day of his flying lesson? The Loberons left without saying a word, as Professor Olorin was still sitting at the table having a discussion with another professor.

'What's his problem?' Leo asked after leaving.

'I heard he fell off his broom so many times, he just gave up,' said Ryan referring to the Aguilor flying lesson.

'That's probably it,' said Henry, 'He saw your moves, thought you were good and said so. Then, he tried to do some good moves and couldn't pull it off. He's just jealous. Also, I bet he was one of the ones grabbing for your broom at that lesson and he was mad that Murray wouldn't let him fly on it.' Leo nodded in agreement.

'Not to mention he's been rude since I met him. It kind of goes off and on,' said Leo.

'That's alright,' said Henry, 'My older brother is in Aguilor and he told me that Chris is an idiot. He said that he thinks he rules the place even when the older kids threaten him.'

'What a jerk!' said Tyler, who was also with them.

'Yeah Brad also said that he's always getting himself into trouble too,' said Henry.

'I didn't know you had a brother,' Leo told Henry.

'Oh,' said Henry, ' Really? He's a sixth year in Aguilor. His name's Brad. There's not much more you need to know. He likes to pick on me, but we get along fine.' Leo thought about this. He had just assumed that all of his friends were only children, except for Lizz who had an older sister in Loberon.

When they reached the living room Leo went straight back to work as his classmates sat down nearby and finished their homework and talked. Leo didn't talk much. He needed to finish his report. The information that he had was all that he could find in the library and it wasn't quite enough for three pages so Leo had to think of big words to help him fill the gaps.

After babbling on and on, his report was just about finished. It was almost midnight and most of Leo's friends had already gone to bed. As he read over his report before heading to the dorm for bed, he fell asleep.

When he woke up, he found that the living room was completely empty. The torches were all out and the fire had burned down to ashes. It was very dark and Leo had no idea of what time it was. He looked out the window and there was no sign of sunlight. It was probably past one or two in the morning.

Just as he was about to get up out of his chair and head to his bed, he heard voices. They were coming from the girls' dormitory. Leo pretended to sleep in case one of the voices belonged to Cyndi. He didn't want to get in trouble for being up so late.

'We probably shouldn't,' one of the girls whispered after entering the living room.

'Oh come on,' whispered the other girl, 'If we find them we won't have to study again.' Leo recognized this voice as Lizz's and opened his eyes a crack to watch the shadows. The other girl was most likely Deirdre, as she seemed to be Lizz's best friend.

Leo watched as the shadows left the room through the entrance. It was way past curfew and they would most likely get caught. He would have to go after them.

He waited hesitantly for a moment and then followed after the two girls. He walked past the coat of armor and headed down the corridor after the fading whispers. They weren't even trying to be quiet!

He sped up and went down a set of stairs, following the voices. He turned a corner and just saw a set of blue robes disappearing into a secret passageway behind a tapestry. He followed and found a hidden staircase he followed quickly and he exited from another tapestry two floors down. Leo made a mental note to remember this spot.

Down the hallway, standing in front of a large painting, were Deirdre and Lizz. Were they going to sneak into another clan's living room? Maybe they were meeting some boys. No, not if Deirdre's there. Leo decided to watch to see what they would do before confronting them. He hid behind a groove in the wall of the corridor.

'It's supposed to be behind here right?' he heard Lizz ask.

'I don't know,' said Deirdre, 'All my dad's book says is that the scrolls are hidden somewhere in the school.'

'What were they called again?' Lizz asked.

'Odin's scrolls, I think,' she whispered.

'Odin!' Lizz yelled out very loudly. Nothing happened.

'Lizz!' Deirdre cried, quietly.

'I thought maybe it would be the password to the portrait or something.' Leo decided to step out now, before they all got in trouble for wandering the school in the middle of the night.

'Hey,' he whispered as he walked up to them. Both girl's jumped and cried out loud.

'You scared me!' said Lizz, 'Why are you creeping around here?'

'I could ask you the same thing,' he retorted. Deirdre remained quiet. 'Why would you go around yelling out things at the top of your lungs when you're not even supposed to be out here?'

'None of your business,' said Lizz, 'Why are you following and spying on us?' Leo ignored her and turned to Deirdre.

'Why're you out here anyway?' he asked trying to sound friendly. Deirdre looked at Lizz and she shook her head.

'We were . . . ' Deirdre paused.

'Who's there?' called a voice. It was a teacher and they were right around the corner.

'Let's go,' whispered Leo. All three ran to the tapestry they had exited from, but when they pushed it out of the way they found solid wall. Apparently the passage had been one way, and the stairs on this floor were back where the teacher was. They could only hope that they would be overlooked. Leo closed his eyes and hoped.

'Well, are you going to explain what you are doing?' Leo opened his eyes to find a thin, old witch in a nightgown with very messy hair.