Grindelwald's Burden (Books 1-7)

4. The Midnight Duel

Wow only 4 chapters in and we are already over 5k in reads and nearly 1k on votes :o  thank you everyone!

Harry had never believed he would meet a boy he hated more than Dudley, but that was before he met Draco Malfoy. Still, first-year Gryffindors only had Potions with the Slytherins, so they didn't have to put up with Malfoy much. Or at least, they didn't until they spotted a notice pinned up in the Gryffindor common room that made them all groan. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday and that Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.

"Typical." said Harry darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy." He had been looking forward to learning to fly more than anything else.

"You don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself." said Ron reasonably. "Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."

"What are you both talking about?" Y/n asked as he entered the common room now.

"We've got flying lessons with the Slytherins." Harry said pointing out the notice to him now.

"Flying with Atticus...how fun." Y/n sighed as he looked at the notice.

"Have you played Quidditch before Y/n?" Ron asked him.

"Yes, back at home we'd play on broomsticks. Atticus always played seeker so I was a chaser." Y/n told him.

Ron had been correct when he said Malfoy talked about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting on the house Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories that always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters.

He wasn't the only one, though, the way Seamus Finnigan told it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick.

Even Ron would tell anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang glider on Charlie's old broom.

Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly. Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas, who shared their dormitory, about football. Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly but Y/n thought it sounded interesting and had asked Dean about the game.

Harry and Y/n had even caught Ron prodding Dean's poster of West Ham football team, trying to make the players move one night.

Neville had told everyone he had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Y/n felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground.

Hermione Granger was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was. This was something you couldn't learn by heart out of a book ...not that she hadn't tried.

At breakfast on Thursday she bored them all with flying tips she'd gotten out of a library book called Quidditch Through the Ages.

Neville was hanging on to her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick later, but everybody else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the mail.

Harry hadn't had a single letter since Hagrid's note, something that Malfoy had been quick to notice, of course. Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table.

A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke.