(Edited: 27/07/2020)

Chapter 8

Harry's Point of View

When we woke I was buzzing with excitement. Today was the day I'd been waiting for Merlin knows how long! It was going to be the first Quidditch match of season; Gryffindor verses Slytherin! No homework today, just a day out at the pitch! I grinned, and Percy moaned slightly.

'Harry, I swear to Merlin, isn't it supposed to be my job to get hyper? I don't inflict you with it this early in the morning so could you please, please refrain from inflicting me with your over energetic thoughts?' Percy moaned, mentally burying his head under a pillow. I laughed.

'Oh Percy, if I could help it I would, but really, it's the first match of the season! You can't tell me you aren't excited to see if we win?' I grinned stupidly.

Percy glared at me. 'Ask me again when it's not five in the morning and I'll give you the answer you want. Seriously, not even Draco is up and starting his morning beauty routine. I think you can wait a few more hours, I mean seriously?'

I sighed, but laid back down on our bed, putting up a mental blockage to let Percy get back to his oh so precious sleep. Too awake to follow suit I picked up a book – Quidditch through the Ages – and began to read, letting the words slowly lull me back into a calmer state.

I must have fallen back to sleep because when I woke again it was light and the other boys were noisily getting ready round us. Percy had obviously been awake a short while longer, because we were already dressed and ready to go down to breakfast.

'Morning sleepy head.' Percy laughed. 'It's not often I'm awake and functioning before you, is it?'

'No.' I agreed. 'Please don't do it again, it messes with my head.'

Percy laughed out loud, and Draco gave us a frown.

"Harry's awake." Percy explained with a smile. Draco smiled back.

"Complaining, is he?"

"Apparently it defies nature that I should be functioning in the morning before him." Percy explained.

The boys all laughed, shaking their heads. Blaise even snorted.

"Harry. You can't expect to always be the first awake. I mean, I don't know how late you stayed up last night, but even Crabbe was awake before you this morning."

I gasped. 'Crabbe? But we have to pull him out of bed most mornings! We aren't late are we? I don't want to miss the match. Hurry up Percy! We're going to be late!'

"Ow!" Percy grabbed our head as I shouted at him. "Sheesh Harry, calm down. It's only eight thirty. We still have a whole hour and a half before the game actually begins. We're not going to be late!"

The boys burst into laugher again, and we all headed down to the hall in high spirits. Breakfast was a rowdy affair, shouting at the Gryffindors and boasting about our own skill. Bets were flying round the hall. Ten galleons on Gryffindor. Twenty on Slytherin. Five that they draw. Fifteen that the snitch is caught within the hour.

'Feel like placing any bets, Percy?' I joked.

'You laugh,' Percy said, 'but I actually think I might.'

I groaned.

"Hey Draco!" Percy called. "How much do you bet that Gryffindor win?"

"Really?" Draco looked disgusted. "Where's your house pride, Potter? I wouldn't bet anything on a Gryffindor success. Ten galleons that they lose?"

"You're on!" Percy grinned. Blaise, Theodore, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy took the same bet.

'If we lose...' I warned.

Percy waved me off. 'I know, I know, but it's not as if we don't have the money. Besides, if we do win than we're sixty galleons richer. Live a little would you?'

I sighed. 'Fine...' I grumbled.

After breakfast we made our way down to the stands. None of the houses mixed together on the way down, forming four lines of red, green, yellow and blue. Percy giggled slightly and I smiled.

'Taking rivalry to the extreme...' I joked.

The stands were all coloured to represent our houses. It wasn't that the houses weren't allowed to mix, it was just that they didn't. Draco, Theo, Blaise and us sat at the front of one of the Slytherin boxes, eager for the match to begin. Across from us, a fluttering red banner caught our eye. Potter for President? We read in confusion.

"What –" Before Percy could finish our question the Teams came marching in, their brooms slung over on shoulder, and the crowd let out a roar of approval for their favoured team. There, at the very front of the Gryffindor Team, I recognised the mop of messy black hair and slight frame that made up our brother. I growled, Percy echoing the noise.

"What in the name of all things magic is our brother doing on the pitch?!" Percy growled. "That stupid stuck up idiot! Not only does he bend all the rules, he also does it in a way that will most likely get him killed! The stupid, stupid nitwit!"

"Huh?" Draco looked down at the pitch. "What?! And he's riding a Nimbus 2000! That isn't a school broom, he must have brought his own! That little blood-traitor! My father will be hearing about this..."

Draco trailed off, muttering rude things about our brother and how he was going to get onto the team next year, if just to beat him.

A sharp whistle brought us back to the present. Fifteen brooms rose up, high, high into the air. The game had begun.

"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor – what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive too –"

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry Professor."

'They do say to start as you mean to continue,' I mused as Percy and I laughed at the commentator. Lee Jordan was one of the few Gryffindors that were civil with Percy and me. Well, actually it was only him and the Weasley twins that were civil too us, but that's beside the point. Jordan couldn't stop complimenting the Gryffindor female Chasers as he commented on the game.

The game had been going on for about an hour now, and all Charles had done was hover at the side of the pitch, out of everybody's way. The points were currently 80:20 in Slytherin's favour after we knocked out the other team's Keeper, Oliver Wood, but Percy wasn't too concerned.

'Look at Charles, Harry. He might be an arrogant idiot, but the skill with which he moves on his broom, the ease in which he sits... Charles has been all but trained by James since he was five. He knows his way round the Quidditch pitch. He isn't going to fail to catch the snitch.'

Sure enough, mere moments after Percy had pointed this out to me Charles dipped into a steep dive, heading for a distant glint of gold hovering near the grass. Our Seeker, Terence Higgs, had spotted it too, but Charles had the advantage of both a faster broom and a head start. Two minutes later and the game was over, the golden snitch grasped in Charles' hand as his team-mates lifted him up on their shoulders.

Percy smirked and turned to our disappointed classmates sitting beside us. "We agreed on ten galleons didn't we?"

Draco shook his head. "Pure luck, that was. Charles Potter isn't even that good of a flyer. He just has enough fame to make the team."

"Nah, he has some skill." Blaise disagreed, handing over the money. "But you're right that his catch was just pure luck."

"Oh that was. He only noticed the Snitch a couple of seconds before Higgs, and was closer, giving him a fair head-start." Percy agreed. "But sometimes that is what decides the outcome of a game – luck. It's like a duel. A dueller can have all the skill and experience in the world, but even with that they can slip up if their opponent manages to slip under their guard in the half second it takes to cast a spell."

'Huh.' I feigned surprise. 'You actually know things!'

'Oh, shove off!' Percy laughed, mentally shoving me.

As we walked back to the castle we passed the party of celebrating Gryffindors. Percy flashed them a grin on our way. "Nice catch, Charles. And, as for you Fred and George – you two are brilliant! You have got to teach us batting at some point!" He begged.

The ginger haired twins grinned. "I take it us means you and Harry, not your Snake-friends."

"Obviously. As if you'd ever help 'the enemy'. Besides, I don't think they'd what to." Percy laughed.

Draco huffed, pretending to be offended. "Percy, I thought we were your friends!"

"You are." Percy frowned. "But I still can't see you or Theo or Blaise even being interested in Beating for Quidditch. You strike me more as Chasers."

"True." Theodore cut it. "You can deny it all you want, Draco, but we all know what you really want to do."

Draco pouted, but didn't deny it.

"See you on Monday, then?" Percy grinned at the Weasley twins. "Oh, and don't let Filch catch you with those fireworks you ordered yesterday. He'd have your guts!"

"How did you-"

We didn't wait to hear the rest of the twins' question as we turned to carry on walking up to the castle.

Later that night a party was in full swing in the Common Room. The room was lit up with multi-coloured fairy lights and someone had smuggled food and drink up from the kitchens. Music was blaring from speakers placed round the room. The comfy chairs were pushed against the walls and everyone was dancing. Some of the older years were dressed up in outfits that didn't seem all too appropriate for a school party, but hey, what do we know? Percy and I just avoided them, sitting with Draco at the edge of the room watching our house party.

"Is it always like this after a match?" I asked Draco.

"Yeah," Draco nodded his head. "According to my father is always has been like this too. Doesn't matter whether we win or lose, we celebrate the effort that our team put into trying to win. Even Severus turns a blind eye and lets us party, it's brilliant."

Before much more could be said, Higgs strolled up to us, a scowl distorting his face.

"Potter!" He growled. "You never told us your brother was playing on the Lions team as Seeker!"

We scowled. "If you haven't noticed, Charles and we are really on the best terms. Besides, he wouldn't give away any information to us that could possibly threaten the success of his team."

"I heard you bet ten galleons on Gryffindor's win six separate times."

I threw up our arms in exasperation. "That was just a bit of fun! Besides, I've been flying with the Weasley twins a couple of times. I know that they're good. You can't get much better than them. And if that's just the Beaters of a team, they you can very well expect the rest of the team to be brilliant as well."

Unfortunately, that just wound up Higgs even more. "You need to decide where your loyalties lie, Potter, because I swear on my Magic, if there's something you're not telling us... we will act."

Higgs turned and stumbled off, a bit unsteady after drinking a bit. Flint came up after him, frowning after his tipsy Seeker.

"Sorry about Terence," Flint apologised, "he's just annoyed he missed the Snitch. Don't take it personally, it's just him trying to vent his frustration."

"That's ok." I shuffled our feet a little, both Percy and me feeling a bit guilty. "Sorry we didn't bet on you winning. It's just... well, the Weasleys are friends of my family, so I've seen them play plenty of times, and I though a bit of friendly competition might make the game a little more interesting between our friends..."

Flint smiled. "Its fine, Potter. You showed us within the first week that you belong with us. Those Gryffindor's don't know what they're missing. And I expect you to be trying out for the team next year. You too Malfoy. I've watched you two play in the evenings. You're fair flyers, the pair of you. Add in a bit of training... you'll go far."

"Thanks." I beamed at the older Slytherin.

Draco laughed and thanked Flint too. Once the fourth year had disappeared off to go find Higgs again, Draco dragged me out to where the rest of our group was dancing.

"But Draco, we don't have anybody else to dance with!" Percy and I groaned. Dancing was horrible. We just couldn't grasp how on earth you were supposed to move. Structured dancing made sense, you had rules and an order to when you moved and how you moved. This though, this was just mayhem.

"Relax!" Draco laughed. "We don't need partners. We're dancing as a group, it'll be fun!"

It took of good half hour, tonnes of sugar and Percy to take over before Draco properly got us dancing. And then it was just a hyperactive Percy attempting to mimic whatever everybody else was doing. I just hid away and didn't watch. Have you ever watched someone who really can't dance, trying to and thinking that they're really good at it? Yeah, that's what it was like with Percy. I saw at least ten older students giggling at us.

At eleven Severus came in to round us off to bed. The fourth years and older were allowed another hour, but us younger years were sent straight up to our dorms.

"Never," Percy giggled, "never, ever make me do this ever again!"

"Oh, don't worry," Blaise teased. "I don't think our poor eyes could bear to see the sight of you dancing again. Merlin, you'd think you'd never danced before."

Percy sobered quickly, his sugar rush gone within moments. "We haven't. The only music we're ever heard was at Charles' birthday parties, and even then we never went outside to join in."

Silence filled the dorm. Draco moved forward to sling an arm over our shoulder, clearing his throat. "We should get ready for bed. Severus might come up to check on us, and I for one don't want a detention for not getting ready for bed as he told us to."

The boys hurried through the bathroom and quickly slipped into their nightwear. As soon as we had all just jumped into bed and settled down the door slammed open and our Godfather slipped into the room, a half-smile twitching at his lips.

"Night boys, sleep well." He said, flicking his wand to turn out our light as he retreated from the room.

"Night, Professor!" We all called back, giggling slightly.

"Night guys!" Theo stage whispered when Severus had gone.

"Night!"

"Sleep well!"

"See you in the morning!"

'Goodnight Harry.' Percy murmured. 'Today was good.'

'It was, wasn't it?' I agreed with a small smile. 'Sleep well and don't get any nightmares!'

It didn't take long for us to slip into Hypnos' sweet embrace. We dreamed of the same girl as before. Her blond hair was pulled up in a ponytail and she was dressed in armour, similar to that that the ancient Greeks had worn in battle. A helmet with blue plumbs was cradled under her left arm. She looked kind of cute, brandishing her dagger like it was a small sword.

Then the scene changed, and we were in this dark, dark room. The walls were rough and cold, like we were in a cave, but there was no cool drafts of fresh air or light. There was just cold and dark. Then the voice began to speak. It was soft and convincing as it swept through the dark air.

"Come to me, little demigod, favourite of Hecate. Come find me, help me rise! We could do great things, you and I. Imagine the revenge you could get on those that abandoned you. And your father! Don't you want to get back on your father for abandoning your mother so soon after she conceived you?"

Percy and I frowned.

"Dude, I don't know who the hell you are, but I'm pretty sure that, even if we did want revenge, we wouldn't need help. And what are you saying about James? He didn't abandon Lily. If anything, he's been the perfect husband to her. Just... Leave my brother and me alone!" Percy all but shouted back.

"Wrong answer, little Demigod. I will rise, whether you help me or not, and you better be on the right side when I do, or not even your precious Olympian Gods will be able to save you from my wrath..."

The threat hung in the air, before the dream faded into blissful darkness, leaving just a ghost of unease. But, it was only a dream, wasn't it? Stupid voices in dreams couldn't hurt us in real life. They were just figment of our overactive imagination. It was probably just unease left over from being threatened by Higgs that caused the strange dream. Nothing to worry about, right?