𓏲 . THE BOY WHO LIVED . .៹♡
                                                 CHAPTER TEN
                             ─── SLYTHERIN'S THRONE

The Morning dawned very bright and cold. The Great Hall was full of the delicious smell of fried sausages and the cheerful chatter of everyone looking forward to a good Quidditch match. Today was Charlus and Harry's first Quidditch match.

Ron was quick to scarf down all the breakfast foods that the table had to offer. The other three, however, opted for small things. Hermione ate oatmeal, Charlus ate a a piece of bacon and Alistair ate a yogurt and an apple, and Harry? Well, he  flipped a piece of bacon on his plate with his fork, although it didn't seem like he was going to eat it. He appeared to have fallen into his thoughts as he stared into his plate.

"Come on mate. " Alistair encouraged Harry from where he sat in front of him on the breakfast table. "Take a bit of toast, go on." "Alistair is right, Harry." Hermione agreed with the slytherin boy. "You and Charlus are going to need your strength today. "

Ron nodded in agreement before Harry shook his head.  "I'm not hungry." he insisted, although Charlus knew he was lying. He was hungry, but the nerves were making him unable to eat. "Well then if you're not gonna eat-" Charlus began to say before he stole the piece of bacon off his brother's plate and put it in his mouth. '-why let beautiful, juicy bacon go to waste."

Harry smiled at him amusement until just then when a voice coming from behind the Potter twins had now joined the conversation. "Good luck today, Potters. " the voice said and the boys turned around to be met with Professor's Snape's scowl, and Charlus instantly rolled his eyes. "Then again, now that you've proven yourself against a troll, a little game of Quidditch should be easy work for you." Snape continued with a painfully obvious fake smile.  "Even if you have to play against each other."

 Harry and Charlus said nothing. And the long-haired professor left  the Great Hall. The boy with the glasses watched him intently before he turned back to his friends and his twin brother. "He's limping. " Charlus turned around again, to take a look at Snape as he walked away. It was true, he wasn't walking as usual. "That explains the blood."

"Blood?" Hermione repeated in disbelief. "What blood?" "Listen, the last night, I'm guessing that Snape let the troll in." Charlus began to explain to his friends and his twin brother. " He used it as a distraction so he could try to get past that three headed dog. But, he got himself bitten, and that's why he's walking like that."

Hermione frowned. "But... Why would anyone want to go near that dog?" she asked. "The day Alistair,Charlus and I were at Gringotts, Hagrid took something from out of one of the vaults. He said it was Hogwarts business, very secret." Harry replied.

"So, what you both said-" Alistair began to say  and tapped his fingers on the table. "-that whatever Hagrid took is now being guarded by that dog."  Charlus  nodded in agreement. "And that's what Snape wants."

The other two thought about Charlus' accusation for a moment, but were interrupted when  two screeches were heard from above.  They all looked up to see Hedwig and Phoenix flying towards them. Each of them dropped a broom-shaped package on the table in front of them.

"A bit early for mail isn't it?" Hermione asked as they all looked down at the packages. "But we never get mails." " Let's open it." Ron said before he looked at Harry and Charlus. Alistair watched as his friends removed the wrappings from their gifts. As Harry and Charlus pulled out the contents, the black-haired boy smiled. "Merlin's Beard! You both got a Nimbus Two Thousand as a gift."

Harry and Charlus smiled and admired their gifts before a wave of confusion flashed over them. "But who...?" they asked in unison before they looked up towards the teachers table and caught the sight of Professor McGonagall, who sat there with Hedwig, and Professor Snape, who sat there with Phoenix. McGonagall met their gazes and just smiled at them.

At eleven o'clock, Charlus stood in the Slytherin changing rooms  after he had met the entire team and made friends with some of them. He was only a few minutes away from his first match as Slytherin Seeker. His eyes fell on the mirror and caught sight of himself in his green Quidditch uniform. He wore the number seven and had 'Potter' written on the back of his jersey. He felt pretty confident.

With a smile, the boy joined his teammates  before he got ready to fly out to the pitch. He got his new broom, which Snape had given him, and looked to his left to see a boy with chiselled features, dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes. It was Adrian Pucey who gave him a reassuring smile.

Lee Jordan, a Gryffindor and the commentator, announced the Slytherin team and Charlus flew out beside Adrian. The young boy heard the cheers from the crowd as soon as they were visible. The Gryffindor team, who was already on the pitch, stared at them as they entered.

Charlus searched the Slytherin stands for Alistair, and his eyes found him. "Go Charlus!" he heard him yell, and he smiled at him. Then he looked towards the Gryffindor stands and saw Hermione and Ron cheering him on before he looked at the field and saw Harry flying just as high as him across the field. The oldest Potter jokingly made a motion with his hands and slammed his fist against his palm. Harry did the same and Charlus grinned.

"Hello everyone!" Lee Jordan shouted into a small microphone in his hand that had a larger horn attached to it so that his voice could be projected nice and loud. "Welcome to our first quidditch match of the season! This game is between Gryffindor and Slytherin!"

Charlus looked down as Madam Hooch flew to the middle of the field. Hooch, who was refereeing the game, looked at the teams. "Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you." she said, once they were all gathered around her. Charlus noticed that she seemed to be speaking particularly to his teammates.

Madam Hooch opened the chest and let out  two Bludgers and the  Golden Snitch. "The Bludgers are up, followed by the Golden Snitch. Remember, the Snitch is worth one  hundred fifty points. The seeker who catches the Snitch ends the game." Lee informed them as Charlus caught sight of  the Golden Snitch which flew into the air. After a second or two, he had lost the Golden Snitch.

The two teams looked at one another with fierce looks, and with that, Madam Hooch now took the quaffle in her hand and threw it into the air. "The Quaffle is released, and the game begins!" Lee announced.

The game began, and Charlus wasted no time in squinting about for some sign of the Snitch. In the meantime, everyone charged towards the Quaffle. One of the Gryffindor girls grabbed it first, while the others flew after her.

The girl skillfully dodged the other Slytherin players while she approached the three hoops. She immediately threw the ball through one the hoops, causing a bell noise goes off. " ANGELINA JOHNSON SCORES! TEN POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR!" Lee announced as Angelina and Fred high five as they passed each other.

Harry smiled as the crowd roared loud. He beamed and clapped while Charlus did a couple of loop-the-loops to show off. Then they were off again in search of the snitch. Once Harry caught sight of a flash of gold, but it was just a reflection from one of the Weasleys' wristwatches, and once a Bludger decided to come pelting the way of the oldest Potter, more like a cannonball than anything, but Charlus dodged it. "Well done!" he heard Hagrid shout.

"Slytherin takes possession of the Quaffle. Bletchley passes it to Captain Marcus Flint." After these words from Lee, Charlus had to search Marcus across the pitch, and when his eyes found him, he was holding the Quaffle and making his way through the Gryffindor players.  He dodged a Bludger and pushed Angelina away with his foot, causing her to lose height, almost fall off her broom, but she managed to get it under control and fly back up. Marcus was as good as at the hoops and threw the quaffle when Oliver flew up and knocked it away with the end of his broomstick, which sent the Quaffle flying in the other direction.

Two of the chasers threw the ball back and forth while they skillfully dodged the other players. One of the chasers, who had the ball in her hand, flew around the goal with the two Slytherin beaters following closely behind her before she passed the ball to Angelina, who was completely free. She threw it through one the hoops before the Slytherin keeper could catch it, and the bell sounded again.  "ANOTHER TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!" Lee boasted loudly.

One of the Slytherins who had the Quaffle tried to make a score, but Oliver caught the ball with a grin and threw it to one of his teammates. Flint, who had enough, grabbed his team's beater bat and hit a bludger in Wood's direction. The bludger hit Oliver straight in the chest and knocked him through the hoop that he was guarding, causing him to fall to the floor, which earned a "Boo!" from the crowd.

For the first time, Charlus met Harry's gaze from across the pitch to see that he was just as angry at Flint as he was. With the Slytherins now playing dirty, it wasn't long before the score was tied at 20-20.

Charlus spotted the golden snitch. In a great rush of excitement he flew after the streak of gold. His brother had seen it too.  Neck and neck they hurtled toward the Snitch. Charlus was faster than Harry - he could see the little round ball, wings fluttering, darting up ahead - he put on an extra spurt of speed,  and when it seemed like he was going to get it, he had to dodge another Bludger, which went spinning dangerously past his head.

Then before Charlus knew it his broom gave a sudden, frightening lurch. For a split second, he thought he was going to fall. He gripped the broom tightly with both his hands and knees. He never felt anything like that. He noticed Harry's broom doing the exact same thing.

It happened again. It was as though the broom was trying to buck him off. But Nimbus Two Thousands did not suddenly decide to buck their riders off. And then Charlus realized that his broom was completely out of his control. He couldn't turn it. He couldn't direct it at all. It was zigzagging through the air, and every now and then making violent swishing movements that
almost unseated him.

No one seemed to have noticed that Charlus and Harry's brooms were behaving strangely. It was carrying them slowly higher, away from the game, jerking and twitching as it went.

Suddenly, people were pointing up at them all over the stands. The brooms had started to roll over and over, with them both only just managing to hold on. Then the whole crowd gasped. The twins brooms had given a wild jerk and Harry and Charlus swung off it. They were now dangling from it, holding on with only one hand.

" Oh no, Harry,Charlus!" Alistair exclaimed, and he could see in Gryffindor stands that Ron and Hermione were scared too. Beside them, Hagrid stared through his binoculars.  "What's going on with Charlus and Harry's broomstick?"

At these words, Hermione seized Hagrid's binoculars, but instead of looking up at Charlus and  Harry, she started looking frantically at the crowd. Snape was in the middle of the stands opposite them. He had his eyes fixed on Charlus and Harry and was muttering nonstop under his breath. "It's Snape! He's jinxing the brooms!"

"Jinxing the brooms?!" Ron gasped. "What should we do?" "Leave it to me." she said and handed the binoculars to him. Before Ron could say another word, Hermione had disappeared. Ron turned the binoculars back on Charlus and Harry. Their brooms were vibrating so hard, it was almost impossible for them to hang on much longer. The whole crowd was on its feet, watching, terrified, as the Potter twins tried to get back up. "Come on, Hermione." Ron muttered desperately.

Hermione had fought her way across to the stand where Snape stood, and was now racing along the row behind him; she didn't even stop to say sorry as she knocked Professor Quirrell headfirst into the row in front. Reaching Snape, she crouched down, pulled out her wand, and whispered a few, well-chosen words. Bright blue flames shot from her wand onto the hem of Snape's robes.

It took perhaps thirty seconds for Snape to realize that he was on fire. A sudden yelp told her she had done her job. Scooping the fire off him into a little jar in her pocket, she scrambled back along the row—Snape would never know what had happened.

It was enough. Up in the air, Charlus and Harry were suddenly able to clamber back on to their brooms before they raced off after the snitch. They pushed each other out of the way before they flew downwards, getting closer and closer to the ground.

Harry finally pulled up his broom, but Charlus did not. He waited until the very last possible moment before he pulled up his broom, and slowly he began to stand up on his broom. Then he extended his hand to catch the Snitch. He leaned too far forward and fell hard on the ground.

Everyone in the arena stopped in an instant. As Charlus got up slowly, he clap his hand to his mouth as though he was about to be sick. Then, to everyone's surprise, he coughed  and something gold fell into his hand.

"I've got the Snitch!" he shouted, waving it above his head, and the game ended in complete confusion. Harry loudly cheered in the air even though he thought Charlus was stupid to dive like that. "Ah Charlus, how disgusting..." Alistair said from the Slytherin stands. " WAIT, DOES THIS MEAN THAT SLYTHERIN WON?!

"CHARLUS POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE GOLDEN SNITCH! ONE HUNDRED FIFTY POINTS FOR SLYTHERIN! SLYTHERIN HAS WON THE GAME!" Lee yelled, and soon enough everyone in the stands had stormed the pitch to celebrate.

After the game, Harry and Charlus changed out of their Quidditch robes and into their normal ones before they headed off with Alistair, Ron and Hermione to catch up with Hagrid and walk through the courtyard with him.

The girl with the bushy hair had just explained to her friends that she believed Snape was the one who had hexed Harry and Charlus' broom during the Quidditch match.  The four boys agreed with the girl, as she had given them information and evidence as to why she thought so.

"Nonsense. " Hagrid said, who on the other hand, was completely against the idea. "Why would Professor Snape try to curse Harry and Charlus' broom?" "Who knows?" Harry countered quickly. "Why was he trying to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween?"

The half-giant stopped abruptly and turned to the three Gryffindor and the two Slytherin children. "Who told you about Fluffy?" he asked them. "This massive thing is called Fluffy? Seriously?" Alistair asked incredulously, and the others looked at the half-giant in shock as well.

"Course he's got a name. He's mine. Bought him off of an Irish feller I met down at the pub last year. " Hagrid began to explain to them but immediately continued speaking, "I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-" But the half-giant interrupted himself, as he realized he said too much.

"Yes?"  Harry and Charlus asked in unison. "Shouldn't have said that..." Hagrid mumbled to himself. "No more questions! No more questions! That's top secret, that is."

The three Gryffindors and the two Slytherins were intrigued by Hagrid's revelation, so much so that Charlus, driven by an insatiable curiosity, pressed on,"But, Hagrid, whatever Fluffy's guarding, Snape's trying to steal it!" The other four kids nodded in agreement. "Codswallop! " Hagrid said gruffly. "Professor Snape is a Hogwarts teacher. He'd do nothing of the sort."

"Hogwarts teacher or not, I know a spell when I see one!" Hermione also spoke up, and by now the six of them had come to a halt. "I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact and Snape wasn't blinking!" "Exactly!" Harry and Charlus confirmed once again in unison and nodded the head.

Hagrid fell silent for a moment and sighed before he leaned down towards them. "Now you listen to me, all five of you." he said in a stern voice and pointed his finger at each of the five in turn, who looked at him with less than impressed expressions. "You're meddling in things that are not to be meddled in. It's dangerous. What that dog is guarding is strictly between Professor Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel!"

"Nicholas Flamel?" Harry asked, now confused, before he  looked to his three friends and his twin brother, who all grinned knowingly. "I shouldn't have said that. " Hagrid mumbled to himself as he walked away quickly from the five of them. "I shouldn't have said that. "

"Nicholas Flamel. Who is Nicholas Flamel?" Ron asked as soon as Hagrid was gone, and the four boys all looked at each other cluelessly before they turned to the girl beside them for the answer.  "I don't know." she responded in a quiet voice and shrugged her shoulders.