Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Untitled Story - Year 1
Chapter 12 - Quidditch, The Fool, and the Duel
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Thursday, 12 September 1991
Grounds
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
15:44
"Mr. Potter!" said McGonagall, her face unreadable.
The class grew quiet. Harry turned around.
"Yes, Professor?"
"Come with me. The rest of you will not leave the ground again until Madam Hooch returns."
As Harry followed Professor McGonagall through the halls towards the DADA classroom, Harry grew increasingly nervous.
"Professor, could I borrow Wood for a moment?" asked McGonagall, after opening the door to the classroom.
"Cer-C-Certainly." came the answer.
Harry soon found out that Oliver Wood was the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
"Mr. Wood, I believe I have found you a seeker."
Wood looked incredulous.
"A first year?"
"He's a natural. You should have seen the catch he made outside."
Harry, who had figured out what they were talking about, spoke up.
"My being on the Quidditch team may be a problem. I'm a first year, and I'm not allowed my own broom. Having used the school broom already, I can say I don't fancy any competitive sports using it."
"That won't be a problem, Mr. Potter. There's actually an exemption for first years who make the teams with that rule."
"Well, I'll give it a go, but I think I'll prefer just flying to an organised sport."
"Potter, tryouts were held last week, but I didn't manage to find a competent seeker. Practise is every Saturday after lunch, starting next week, and might be held during the week as well, depending on how well the team performs." said Wood, before returning to the classroom.
"Mr. Potter, you may return to your class." said McGonagall. "I'll arrange for a broom."
As Harry returned to the class, which was covering basic hovering and movement still, he mounted his broom, and joined the class. He noticed that Hermione was looking decidedly uncomfortable on the broom, and seemed too nervous to do anything but sit there.
"Hermione, what's wrong? You look like you're terrified."
"I'm afraid I'll fall off."
"Hermione, you're three feet off the ground. You won't even get a bruise falling from this height. Come on, follow me around. It might help you keep your mind off falling if you're concentrating on keeping up with me." said Harry.
"Okay, I guess I could try that."
"Excellent! Come on, then!" said Harry, moving away at a slow speed.
Hermione followed, somewhat unsteadily, eventually catching up with Harry.
"You're getting better. Let's try going a bit faster." said Harry, picking up speed.
Ten minutes later, Harry was flying along the ground at a good clip, Hermione tailing him, looking much more comfortable with using her broom. Once she had to concentrate completely on keeping up with Harry and following him, she found she forgot all about falling off.
By the time class ended, Hermione had managed to overcome her fear of falling, and was keeping up with Harry easily.
"Harry, what did professor McGonagall want?" asked Hermione, as they made their way back into the Castle.
"I'm on the Quidditch team. Apparently, from what I gathered, she was coming out to supervise the class until Madam Hooch returned, and saw me going after Neville's Remembrall. Speaking of which, I should probably give it to him. Meet you in the common room?"
"Yes. Thanks for your help with flying."
"You're welcome." said Harry, before making his way to the Hospital wing, where he found that Neville had already been sent back to the common room.
Arriving in the common room, he found Neville at one of the tables, apparently having been chosen by one Ron Weasley for a game of chess.
"Here's your Remembrall, Neville. It must have fallen out of a pocket when you fell."
"Thanks Harry. I hear you made the Quidditch team."
"I see news travels fast here. I'd hate to see how fast a piece of real gossip moves. Yes, apparently, McGonagall saw me go after your Remembrall when Malfoy threw it."
"You must be the youngest seeker in ages!" said Ron, looking up in surprise.
"In about a century, yeah."
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Thursday, 12 September 1991
Great Hall
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
20:03
Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor table, loading his plate, when he heard a sneer that was quickly becoming familiar.
"So, Potter, you're still here."
"So it would seem, Malfoy."
"It seems that the 'Great Harry Potter' can even avoid detention. Why don't we find out just how great you are, Potter?"
"And how do you suggest we decide that, Malfoy?"
"A Duel. Midnight. The Library."
"An interesting proposition." said Harry, a calculating look on his face.
"Harry, no! He's just trying to get you in trouble!" hissed Hermione.
"Nobody asked for your opinion, mudblood." said Malfoy.
"I'd prefer if you didn't insult my friends, Malfoy. If you'll wait here, I believe I may be able to improve your proposition." said Harry, before heading to the staff table.
Reaching it, he made his way to Professor McGonagall.
"Professor, Mr. Malfoy has challenged me to a duel. I was wondering if we might be able to make it extra-credit for Defence. An extra-curricular project, maybe? He wanted to have it at midnight in the library, but I think he'd just tip off Filch so I'd get caught. Rather cowardly, I think."
"You're certain you want to have this duel, rather than simply not show up?" asked McGonagall, wondering what scheme Harry was cooking up.
"Oh yes, Professor. I was hoping maybe after dinner, in here, before everyone goes back to their common room."
"Well, I don't see why not. It would make an excellent educational opportunity, I suppose. Why don’t you return to your seat and send Mr. Malfoy up here."
Returning to his seat, Harry told Malfoy, who looked decidedly less smug now.
"What did you do?" asked Hermione.
"I asked McGonagall if we might have the duel after dinner, and have it count as extra-credit for Defence. Perhaps if I humiliate Malfoy enough, he'll lay off the insults and taunts. Besides, we've learned, what, 3 spells so far? What's he going to do, try to put my eye out by poking it with his wand?"
"I don't think it's a good idea, but you have a point. We haven't learned enough to do much damage."
"No, HE hasn't learned enough to do much damage." said Harry, before Dumbledore stood up, and the hall grew quiet.
"We have had an unusual request tonight. Draco Malfoy challenged Harry Potter to a duel. Mr. Potter, seeing an opportunity, saw his head of house, and arranged for the duel to count for extra-credit in Defence Against the Dark Arts. The duel will take place in here after dinner is completed, and you are all invited to watch."
Harry noticed that Malfoy was looking less confident than ever.
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Thursday, 12 September 1991
Great Hall
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
20:45
As dinner completed, Dumbledore stood.
"If students would please stand?" said Dumbledore, who waved his wand after everyone had gotten up. The tables flew to the walls.
"Please make a space in the centre of the hall." Dumbledore said, and as the students moved to the edges of the hall, Dumbledore put up a shield around the space in the middle to contain errant spells. He then called for Harry and Malfoy to move to the centre.
"What, no wand, Potter?" said Malfoy, looking superior again.
"Nope. No wand." said Harry. "You'll find, however, that I'm not as helpless as you seem to think."
At this point Dumbledore spoke up, his voice carrying around the quiet hall.
"The rules for this duel are as follows: No unforgivable curses, no intentionally lethal spells, and no dark magic. On three, you may begin. One, two, three!"
Malfoy, apparently only knowing some borderline dark spells, thought for a moment before shouting "Levicorpus!"
The spell bounced off an invisible shield around Harry, who was standing with his arms crossed, looking bored.
"Try again?" said Harry.
"Encindio!" yelled Malfoy, looking surprised when nothing happened.
Harry, laughing, spoke.
"It's pronounced 'In-sen-dee-oh', Malfoy, and I don't think it's polite to use it on a person. Perhaps you'd like a demonstration why?" said Harry, before waving his hand and causing Malfoy's robes to burst into flames. After a second of screaming, Harry waved his hand again, and the flames went out.
"Not very kind, is it, Malfoy?" said Harry, before gesturing with his hand again, and sending Malfoy into the air, spinning like a top, before bringing him down again and setting him on his feet, looking a bit green.
He promptly emptied his stomach, and sent another spell at Harry, whose shield was still up.
"Is there any particular requirements for this to end?" Harry asked Dumbledore.
"One of you must concede defeat or be unable to cast spells."
"Oh, good." said Harry, before summoning Malfoy's wand. "That count?"
"Indeed it does, Mr. Potter." said a chuckling Dumbledore.
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Thursday, 12 September 1991
Gryffindor Common Room
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
21:00
The conversation was fairly uniform that evening in the school. It mainly consisted of the duel, or more accurately, Harry's use of wandless magic, except in the Slytherin common room, where it mainly consisted of students being displeased at Malfoy for being humiliated so badly.
"Why did you toy with him, Harry? Why not just end it right away?" asked Neville.
"I was hoping that humiliating him might take him down a peg or two." said Harry.
"Hey, Harry, what was that you did to make him spin like that?" asked Hermione.
"I just did it. It's not any spell that I know of, though I'm sure there is one. I find I can just 'will' my magic to do stuff."
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Thursday, 12 September 1991
Headmaster's Office
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
21:00
Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall were discussing the duel. Snape looked annoyed, though he occasionally looked pleased. Dumbledore looked contemplative. McGonagall looked pleased.
"Why didn't you make Potter forfeit when he lit Malfoy on fire? Surely that was against the rules of the duel." said Snape.
"The rule said "No intentionally lethal spells", Severus. If Mr. Potter could light Mr. Malfoy's robes on fire, he could certainly have set his body on fire. He also put them out immediately after. Malfoy didn't even get any burns." said McGonagall. "I get the impression from how he acted during the duel that his sole reason for doing it was to humiliate Malfoy."
"He succeeded. I hope it takes Malfoy down a bit off his pedestal. He's becoming a very annoying problem. He thinks of himself as the embodiment of Slytherin ideals, and won't believe that he isn't. Those in the house not following his beliefs are being tarred with his brush by the rest of the first years in other houses.” said Snape, before continuing. "The boy is so arrogant that he doesn't even try to succeed in class, apparently relying on 'His Father' to take care of his passing. I hope he learns from this, although I highly doubt he will."
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A/N: New Chapters may be slow in coming until August, when my new computer arrives. My Laptop, which I use to do most of my writing, had the LCD backlight stop working, and hooking it up to a monitor defeats the reason I use the laptop.
Also, in case you didn't notice, I enjoy Malfoy bashing. As to Snape's reaction, his house is shunned by the others because of the actions of a few. Because of his previous role as a spy, he must continue to be biased against everyone other than Slytherins. His already likely time consuming job as head of house is made more difficult by students like Malfoy making trouble.
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Thursday, 12 September 1991
Grounds
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
15:44
"Mr. Potter!" said McGonagall, her face unreadable.
The class grew quiet. Harry turned around.
"Yes, Professor?"
"Come with me. The rest of you will not leave the ground again until Madam Hooch returns."
As Harry followed Professor McGonagall through the halls towards the DADA classroom, Harry grew increasingly nervous.
"Professor, could I borrow Wood for a moment?" asked McGonagall, after opening the door to the classroom.
"Cer-C-Certainly." came the answer.
Harry soon found out that Oliver Wood was the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
"Mr. Wood, I believe I have found you a seeker."
Wood looked incredulous.
"A first year?"
"He's a natural. You should have seen the catch he made outside."
Harry, who had figured out what they were talking about, spoke up.
"My being on the Quidditch team may be a problem. I'm a first year, and I'm not allowed my own broom. Having used the school broom already, I can say I don't fancy any competitive sports using it."
"That won't be a problem, Mr. Potter. There's actually an exemption for first years who make the teams with that rule."
"Well, I'll give it a go, but I think I'll prefer just flying to an organised sport."
"Potter, tryouts were held last week, but I didn't manage to find a competent seeker. Practise is every Saturday after lunch, starting next week, and might be held during the week as well, depending on how well the team performs." said Wood, before returning to the classroom.
"Mr. Potter, you may return to your class." said McGonagall. "I'll arrange for a broom."
As Harry returned to the class, which was covering basic hovering and movement still, he mounted his broom, and joined the class. He noticed that Hermione was looking decidedly uncomfortable on the broom, and seemed too nervous to do anything but sit there.
"Hermione, what's wrong? You look like you're terrified."
"I'm afraid I'll fall off."
"Hermione, you're three feet off the ground. You won't even get a bruise falling from this height. Come on, follow me around. It might help you keep your mind off falling if you're concentrating on keeping up with me." said Harry.
"Okay, I guess I could try that."
"Excellent! Come on, then!" said Harry, moving away at a slow speed.
Hermione followed, somewhat unsteadily, eventually catching up with Harry.
"You're getting better. Let's try going a bit faster." said Harry, picking up speed.
Ten minutes later, Harry was flying along the ground at a good clip, Hermione tailing him, looking much more comfortable with using her broom. Once she had to concentrate completely on keeping up with Harry and following him, she found she forgot all about falling off.
By the time class ended, Hermione had managed to overcome her fear of falling, and was keeping up with Harry easily.
"Harry, what did professor McGonagall want?" asked Hermione, as they made their way back into the Castle.
"I'm on the Quidditch team. Apparently, from what I gathered, she was coming out to supervise the class until Madam Hooch returned, and saw me going after Neville's Remembrall. Speaking of which, I should probably give it to him. Meet you in the common room?"
"Yes. Thanks for your help with flying."
"You're welcome." said Harry, before making his way to the Hospital wing, where he found that Neville had already been sent back to the common room.
Arriving in the common room, he found Neville at one of the tables, apparently having been chosen by one Ron Weasley for a game of chess.
"Here's your Remembrall, Neville. It must have fallen out of a pocket when you fell."
"Thanks Harry. I hear you made the Quidditch team."
"I see news travels fast here. I'd hate to see how fast a piece of real gossip moves. Yes, apparently, McGonagall saw me go after your Remembrall when Malfoy threw it."
"You must be the youngest seeker in ages!" said Ron, looking up in surprise.
"In about a century, yeah."
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Thursday, 12 September 1991
Great Hall
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
20:03
Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor table, loading his plate, when he heard a sneer that was quickly becoming familiar.
"So, Potter, you're still here."
"So it would seem, Malfoy."
"It seems that the 'Great Harry Potter' can even avoid detention. Why don't we find out just how great you are, Potter?"
"And how do you suggest we decide that, Malfoy?"
"A Duel. Midnight. The Library."
"An interesting proposition." said Harry, a calculating look on his face.
"Harry, no! He's just trying to get you in trouble!" hissed Hermione.
"Nobody asked for your opinion, mudblood." said Malfoy.
"I'd prefer if you didn't insult my friends, Malfoy. If you'll wait here, I believe I may be able to improve your proposition." said Harry, before heading to the staff table.
Reaching it, he made his way to Professor McGonagall.
"Professor, Mr. Malfoy has challenged me to a duel. I was wondering if we might be able to make it extra-credit for Defence. An extra-curricular project, maybe? He wanted to have it at midnight in the library, but I think he'd just tip off Filch so I'd get caught. Rather cowardly, I think."
"You're certain you want to have this duel, rather than simply not show up?" asked McGonagall, wondering what scheme Harry was cooking up.
"Oh yes, Professor. I was hoping maybe after dinner, in here, before everyone goes back to their common room."
"Well, I don't see why not. It would make an excellent educational opportunity, I suppose. Why don’t you return to your seat and send Mr. Malfoy up here."
Returning to his seat, Harry told Malfoy, who looked decidedly less smug now.
"What did you do?" asked Hermione.
"I asked McGonagall if we might have the duel after dinner, and have it count as extra-credit for Defence. Perhaps if I humiliate Malfoy enough, he'll lay off the insults and taunts. Besides, we've learned, what, 3 spells so far? What's he going to do, try to put my eye out by poking it with his wand?"
"I don't think it's a good idea, but you have a point. We haven't learned enough to do much damage."
"No, HE hasn't learned enough to do much damage." said Harry, before Dumbledore stood up, and the hall grew quiet.
"We have had an unusual request tonight. Draco Malfoy challenged Harry Potter to a duel. Mr. Potter, seeing an opportunity, saw his head of house, and arranged for the duel to count for extra-credit in Defence Against the Dark Arts. The duel will take place in here after dinner is completed, and you are all invited to watch."
Harry noticed that Malfoy was looking less confident than ever.
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Thursday, 12 September 1991
Great Hall
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
20:45
As dinner completed, Dumbledore stood.
"If students would please stand?" said Dumbledore, who waved his wand after everyone had gotten up. The tables flew to the walls.
"Please make a space in the centre of the hall." Dumbledore said, and as the students moved to the edges of the hall, Dumbledore put up a shield around the space in the middle to contain errant spells. He then called for Harry and Malfoy to move to the centre.
"What, no wand, Potter?" said Malfoy, looking superior again.
"Nope. No wand." said Harry. "You'll find, however, that I'm not as helpless as you seem to think."
At this point Dumbledore spoke up, his voice carrying around the quiet hall.
"The rules for this duel are as follows: No unforgivable curses, no intentionally lethal spells, and no dark magic. On three, you may begin. One, two, three!"
Malfoy, apparently only knowing some borderline dark spells, thought for a moment before shouting "Levicorpus!"
The spell bounced off an invisible shield around Harry, who was standing with his arms crossed, looking bored.
"Try again?" said Harry.
"Encindio!" yelled Malfoy, looking surprised when nothing happened.
Harry, laughing, spoke.
"It's pronounced 'In-sen-dee-oh', Malfoy, and I don't think it's polite to use it on a person. Perhaps you'd like a demonstration why?" said Harry, before waving his hand and causing Malfoy's robes to burst into flames. After a second of screaming, Harry waved his hand again, and the flames went out.
"Not very kind, is it, Malfoy?" said Harry, before gesturing with his hand again, and sending Malfoy into the air, spinning like a top, before bringing him down again and setting him on his feet, looking a bit green.
He promptly emptied his stomach, and sent another spell at Harry, whose shield was still up.
"Is there any particular requirements for this to end?" Harry asked Dumbledore.
"One of you must concede defeat or be unable to cast spells."
"Oh, good." said Harry, before summoning Malfoy's wand. "That count?"
"Indeed it does, Mr. Potter." said a chuckling Dumbledore.
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Thursday, 12 September 1991
Gryffindor Common Room
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
21:00
The conversation was fairly uniform that evening in the school. It mainly consisted of the duel, or more accurately, Harry's use of wandless magic, except in the Slytherin common room, where it mainly consisted of students being displeased at Malfoy for being humiliated so badly.
"Why did you toy with him, Harry? Why not just end it right away?" asked Neville.
"I was hoping that humiliating him might take him down a peg or two." said Harry.
"Hey, Harry, what was that you did to make him spin like that?" asked Hermione.
"I just did it. It's not any spell that I know of, though I'm sure there is one. I find I can just 'will' my magic to do stuff."
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Thursday, 12 September 1991
Headmaster's Office
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
21:00
Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall were discussing the duel. Snape looked annoyed, though he occasionally looked pleased. Dumbledore looked contemplative. McGonagall looked pleased.
"Why didn't you make Potter forfeit when he lit Malfoy on fire? Surely that was against the rules of the duel." said Snape.
"The rule said "No intentionally lethal spells", Severus. If Mr. Potter could light Mr. Malfoy's robes on fire, he could certainly have set his body on fire. He also put them out immediately after. Malfoy didn't even get any burns." said McGonagall. "I get the impression from how he acted during the duel that his sole reason for doing it was to humiliate Malfoy."
"He succeeded. I hope it takes Malfoy down a bit off his pedestal. He's becoming a very annoying problem. He thinks of himself as the embodiment of Slytherin ideals, and won't believe that he isn't. Those in the house not following his beliefs are being tarred with his brush by the rest of the first years in other houses.” said Snape, before continuing. "The boy is so arrogant that he doesn't even try to succeed in class, apparently relying on 'His Father' to take care of his passing. I hope he learns from this, although I highly doubt he will."
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A/N: New Chapters may be slow in coming until August, when my new computer arrives. My Laptop, which I use to do most of my writing, had the LCD backlight stop working, and hooking it up to a monitor defeats the reason I use the laptop.
Also, in case you didn't notice, I enjoy Malfoy bashing. As to Snape's reaction, his house is shunned by the others because of the actions of a few. Because of his previous role as a spy, he must continue to be biased against everyone other than Slytherins. His already likely time consuming job as head of house is made more difficult by students like Malfoy making trouble.
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