The First Quidditch Match
Harry sat at the Gryffindor table lost in thought. Tomorrow would be the first quidditch match and he didn't know what to do. He thought hard. He knew Hermione would say that they had to follow the timeline. He knew Snape had to save him to further suspicion of Quirrell. Yet, he couldn't help but wonder: why had Dumbledore allowed Quirrell to remain at the school after he nearly caused the death of a student? Harry sighed.
Right then, Draco plopped down next to his friend. He grabbed some food and set it on his plate. He looked over at Harry's plate and then started dishing up some food for his friend, too. Harry came out of his stupor.
"Hey!" Harry protested as Draco continued to pile food onto his plate.
"You're too skinny." Draco complained as he replaced the serving spoon in the mashed potatoes. He looked across the table at Hermione whose nose was currently buried in a book. He cleared his throat and Hermione looked up at her friend. She smiled, nodded her head in agreement with Draco, and quickly went back to reading.
"So, what if I am? You're not my mother." Harry argued as he dug into the food Draco had placed on his plate. "What are you reading, Mione?" Harry asked, changing the topic. Draco scowled at the dark-haired boy before turning to Hermione, waiting for her answer.
"I'm just looking for another way to stop Quirrell tomorrow without using fire." Hermione whispered resolutely as she put her book away. Draco quirked an eyebrow.
"Stop Quirrell from what?" Draco asked, looking from Harry to Hermione and back again. Hermione looked around uneasily. Draco caught the hint. "Not a conversation for here?" Harry and Hermione nodded in agreement.
"How about we head to the come and go room after dinner?" Harry suggested. Draco nodded in acceptance of the plan before turning back to the food in front of him.
At that moment, Ron plopped down in front of Harry. Harry sighed internally and rolled his eyes. Draco smirked.
"Hi, Weasley. What brings you to our neck of the woods?" Draco asked jokingly. Ron sneered at the blond and turned back to Harry.
"Hey Harry, I haven't seen you around a lot." Ron started conversationally.
"Well, I have a lot of schoolwork to do. Add quidditch practice to that, and I barely have time for Draco and Mione here." Harry admitted as he lackadaisically used his spoon to point to Draco and then Hermione.
"We have to spend some time together, soon! Want to go flying tomorrow evening?" Ron asked imploringly. Draco rolled his eyes.
"Ronald, Harry will fly during the quidditch match tomorrow. Tomorrow evening Harry has homework." Hermione chastised. Ron waved her off.
"He can do it later," Ron told her, not taking his eyes off Harry.
"I actually do have homework to do, Ron." Harry lied, trying to find some sort of excuse to be far away from Ron. Truth be told, Hermione should be proud of him. He finished his homework for the week earlier this afternoon. He found that it was amazing how much easier the work was when he had done it all once before.
"Well, we'll just have to postpone then." Ron decided. Harry just rolled his eyes. He looked down at his watch.
"Oh, sure. Hey, I've got to get going. See ya!" Harry hurried as he got up and left. Hermione and Draco caught on and followed him to the Room of Requirement.
"So, what's the story with Quirrellmort and fire?" Draco asked, brow quirking.
"Do you remember when Professor Snape caught on fire?" Hermione asked.
"Which time?" Draco replied, smirking. Harry doubled over laughing, remembering a certain potions class, Neville, and a knocked over cauldron. Hermione glared at Harry.
"At the Quidditch match." Hermione clarified.
"Which time?" Draco joked. Hermione glared at Draco. "Oh, you mean the day of spontaneous combustion?" Hermione rolled her eyes and nodded. "Yeah, sure, I remember it."
"It wasn't spontaneous combustion." Hermione informed him. "I thought that Professor Snape was cursing Harry's broom, so…I…might have set him on fire."
"Okay so you thought Professor Snape was cursing Harry, and your first thought was, 'Hey, let's set the professor on fire'?" Draco questioned her. Harry nodded.
"Yep, that's our Hermione for you. Always taking one for the team." Harry quipped. That earned a glare from both of his friends.
"Well, this time, can you at least get the right bad guy and not set my godfather on fire?" Draco asked. Hermione nodded and took out her book.
The day of the match came and Harry could hardly stomach food. Hermione said she had a plan of action for today, but she refused to tell him what it was. For all he knew, she was going to use Sectumsempraon the man.
"Ready for the match?" Someone asked behind Harry. He jumped and turned around quickly to find his best friend and teammate standing behind him, grinning.
"Don't do that!" Harry exclaimed.
"What? More Post-Traumatic Stress?" Draco asked, concerned. He had asked Hermione more about it after she suggested it in the Room of Requirement a couple weeks ago. It seemed like some really scary stuff. If Harry had it-if they all had it-they should really think about working through it, together. Harry nodded.
"But not how you think." Harry mumbled. Draco got the gist of what Harry was saying. The Dursleys must have really messed Harry up.
"Good morning, boys." Hermione greeted cheerfully. Harry and Draco grunted in acknowledgement and went back to their food. The only ate a little bit before Wood called them away to get ready for the match.
Draco and Harry got dressed for the match in the locker rooms of the school. Then, Wood began to go over last minute plays. Harry had a thought and turned to whisper to Draco.
"Hey, you know all of Slytherin's plays from next year on. You could be very useful then." Harry reminded him, innocently. Draco looked offended.
"And I'm not useful now?" Draco whispered back. Harry blushed.
"You're useful now." Harry admitted. Draco preened at his best friend's statement. Harry rolled his eyes.
"Got it?" Wood asked, ending his lecture to the beaters. The twin Weasleys nodded.
"Got it!" They affirmed in unison.
"Good. Now, let's get out there and win!" Wood encouraged stereotypically. Harry rolled his eyes again.
They went out onto the pitch and the game started. Nothing differed from the original game, so Harry had a lot of time to sit and wait, anxious for what he knew was about to come. He looked to the stands to see Ron waving eagerly at him. He ignored the redhead and looked for Hermione. She was not there, so he assumed she must already be in place by the teacher's stand. He noted how Professor Snape seemed to be watching him and Draco more often than he was his Slytherins, but he filed that information away for later.
Suddenly, his broom jerked. It began to go wild and he struggled to hold onto the stick without losing his grip. He looked over at the teacher's stand and saw Professor Snape muttering something under his breath. Then, he looked over at Quirrellmort and saw him mouthing something as well. So, it was true! Professor Snape really had tried to save him, and Quirrellmort really tried to kill him. He noted that this was not new information, but it disturbed him still the same.
Hermione was behind the teacher's stand. She waited until she saw Harry's broom begin to move about erratically before she began her plan. She looked for the nearest bludger, which happened to have just been hit by a Slytherin beater. She thought of that bludger in her mind and whispered, "Accio."
Harry watched as a Slytherin beater hit the bludger, aiming for him. Imagine his surprise when the bludger went the opposite direction toward Quirrellmort. He had to hold in his laughter as he watched Quirrellmort be knocked out by a stray bludger intended for him. That created a sense of poetic justice for him that he could not even begin to describe.
At that moment, Harry saw the snitch. It was just within his reach. He flew towards it, hand outstretched. Right as he was about to snatch it, the other seeker came out of nowhere and hit him from behind. He opened his mouth in shock and his hands flew down to the broomstick.
The next thing Harry remembered, the snitch was again in his mouth. He spat it out and showed it to everyone. The crowd cheered as Madame Hooch declared Gryffindor the winners. That night, Draco was treated to his first ever Gryffindor victory party. It was everything he imagined it would be.
Meanwhile, Fate and Time were watching on, enjoying their view. Time turned to Fate.
"Why was that so important?" Time asked Fate. Fate just smiled and shrugged.
"I just really enjoy watching Harry catch the snitch in his mouth." Fate explained simply.