The Truth About Wizards ;; ʷᵃᵗᶜʰⁱⁿᵍ ᵗʰᵉ ᵐᵒᵛⁱᵉˢ

Friends?

Outside in the courtyard, it's now day time. Oliver and Harry appear, carrying a trunk. They put it down. "Quidditch is easy enough to understand. Each time has seven players, 3 chasers, 2 beaters, 1 keeper and a seeker. That's you. There are three kinds of balls." picks up a red one, "This one's called the Quaffle. Now, the chasers handle the Quaffle and try to put it through one of those three hoops." Points to the hoops in the Quidditch pitch in the distance. "The keeper, that's me, defends the hoops." He throws the ball to Harry. "With me so far?"

"Three Chasers, one Keeper," said Harry, who was determined to rememberit all. "And they play with the Quaffle. Okay, got that. So what arethey for?" He pointed at the three balls left inside the box."I'll show you now," said Wood. "Take this."He handed Harry a small club, a bit like a short baseball bat.

"I'm going to show you what the Bludgers do," Wood said. "These two arethe Bludgers."He showed Harry two identical balls, jet black and slightly smaller thanthe red Quaffle. Harry noticed that they seemed to be straining toescape the straps holding them inside the box."Stand back," Wood warned Harry. He bent down and freed one of theBludgers. 

At once, the black ball rose high in the air and then pelted straight atHarry's face. Harry swung at it with the bat to stop it from breakinghis nose, and sent it zigzagging away into the air - it zoomed aroundtheir heads and then shot at Wood, who dived on top of it and managed topin it to the ground.

"Eh, not bad, Potter, you'd make a fair beater," Wood added, whipping a small tickle of sweat from his forehead.

Marlene smirks and nudged Mary "Hot not gonna lie."

"See?" Wood panted, forcing the struggling Bludger back into the crateand strapping it down safely. "The Bludgers rocket around, trying toknock players off their brooms. That's why you have two Beaters on eachteam - the Weasley twins are ours - it's their job to protect theirside from the Bludgers and try and knock them toward the other team. So-- think you've got all that?" 

"Three Chasers try and score with the Quaffle; the Keeper guards thegoal posts; the Beaters keep the Bludgers away from their team," Harryreeled off.
"Very good," said Wood.
"Er - have the Bludgers ever killed anyone?" Harry asked, hoping hesounded offhand.
"Never at Hogwarts. We've had a couple of broken jaws but nothing worsethan that. Now, the last member of the team is the Seeker. That's you. And you don't have to worry about the Quaffle or theBludgers, the Weasleys are more than a match for the Bludgers - Imean, they're like a pair of human Bludgers themselves."Wood reached into the crate and took out the fourth and last ball. 

Compared with the Quaffle and the Bludgers, it was tiny, about the sizeof a large walnut. It was bright gold and had little fluttering silverwings.

"I like this ball." Harry whispered.
"Ah, you like it now. Just wait. It's wicked fast and damn near impossible to see."
"What do I do with it?" Harry asked carefully, running his fingers over the indents of the ball.
"You catch it... before the other team's seeker. You catch this, the game is over. You catch this, Potter, and we win." The ball flutters out two delicate wings and jumps into the air. Harry manages to keep an eye on it, moving rapidly along with the balls speed.

"I should've taught you," James muttered and bit his lip placing a hand on Harry's shoulder as the boy smiled up at him, "once we've fixed everything, you will." Harry smiled.

In Charm's class. Filtwick is very short, and is standing on a bunch of books to make up for his stature and to see his class. "Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!"squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books asusual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magicwords properly is very important, too -- never forget Wizard Baruffio,who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with abuffalo on his chest. Good. And enunciate. Wingardium Leviosa. Off you go then."