Miranda Black and the Chamber of Secrets

Chapter 7 - Quidditch Practice & Slugs

I was glad when the weekend arrived. I woke up on Saturday morning, and pulled on my robes before I woke Ginny up too. We hurried down to the Great Hall, and realized that Harry, Fred and George weren't there.

"Where's Harry?" Ginny asked Ron as she slid into the seat next to him.

"Quidditch practice," Ron replied, "We're going to watch it now, do you want to come?"

"Sure," I said, "Sounds fun,"

"You might want to take a piece of toast down," Daniel recommended.

Ginny and I grabbed two pieces of toast and hurried off with the others. When we were outside, Ron led us to the pitch.

"Look! There's Fred, George and Harry!" Ginny exclaimed, pointing up into the grey sky.

"Oh yeah! I see them!" Daniel said.

"Let's say hi," I said.

"HI HARRY, FRED AND GEORGE!" We all shouted. All three looked to the ground and briefly waved before turning their attention back to their practice. We took a seat near a first year boy named Colin Creevey, who had his camera out.

"Who's that?" I said, noticing a group of people walking out of the changing rooms. I pointed to them. They were mean looking and wearing emerald green robes - Slytherins!

"It's the Slytherin team! But what are they doing here?" Hermione told us, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Hello, Gryffindors," said a strangely familiar voice.

"Malfoy? Since when are you on a Quidditch team?" said Harry as he flew down from the sky and landed neatly.

"Since yesterday. Guess what, Potter? I'm a Seeker," Malfoy replied. Ron groaned and Oliver Wood flew down to the ground.

"Flint! What are you doing here? We booked the pitch early today!" Wood complained.

"We have a note," said Flint, "Specially signed by Professor Snape,"

I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch pitch owing to the need of their new seeker.

"No way! This can't be happening." Wood shouted angrily. Hermione and Ron stood up to join the teams facing off, with Daniel, Ginny and I following cautiously.

"Oh don't worry, Wood, it gets even better. My father has gifted us these," Malfoy smirked while holding a sparkling, new, flash Nimbus 2001 broomstick in his right hand. The rest of the team all held up the same broomsticks.

"At least no-one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," said Hermione sharply, "They got in on pure talent,"

Malfoy's smirk changed into a frown.

"No-one asked for your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood," he spat. Gasps came from the Gryffindor team. Everyone was in shock. I didn't know what that meant, but it was obviously something bad.

"HOW DARE YOU!?" Yelled one of the girls on the Gryffindor team. Ron charged forward. He pulled out his Sellotaped wand - it had snapped when they crashed the car - and said, "You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!"

A loud bang echoed around the pitch as whatever spell he tried to cast backfired on him. He squeezed his stomach, doubled over. He began to throw up slugs. The Slytherin team were laughing so hard that most of them were on the ground.

"Let's take him to that giant friend of yours, he might help," I said quickly, remembering the kind twinkle of Hagrid's eyes.

"Good idea," Harry agreed, handing his broom over to Hermione so he could assist a doubled over Ron.

We began to walk off towards Hagrid's hut, with Harry and Daniel holding Ron up. I walked up to the door to go knock, but Ginny pulled me back. Someone was coming out of the house - Gilderoy Lockhart.

"It's a simple matter if you know what you're doing!" Gilderoy was telling the giant, "If you need help, you know where I am! You can also have a copy of my book - I'm surprised you don't have one already! I'll send you a signed copy tonight. Good-bye,"

We waited until Professor Lockhart had disappeared completely from view before we went up to the door. Hagrid came out with a grumpy look on his face, but when he saw us he smiled and said, "Bin wonderin' when you'd come ter see me - come in, come in - I thought you mighta bin Professor Lockhart back again,"

"Hi Hagrid! This is Ginny, Miranda and Daniel. And Ron he's throwing up - ewww - slugs," exclaimed Hermione.

"'Ello Miranda, Ginny an' Daniel. Better out than in, Ron," he said cheerfully, putting a bucket in front of him, and heartily patting him on the back with his large hand.

"I don't think there's anything to do except wait for them to all come out," Hermione said.

"That's true, Hermione," Hagrid said, now bustling around his small kitchen making tea.

"Hagrid, what did Lockhart want?" Harry asked curiously as he sat down.

"Givin' me advice on gettin' Kelpies out of a well, like I don' know. An' bangin' on about some Banshee he banished. If one word of it was true, I'll eat my kettle," Hagrid said.

"Dumbledore thinks he's the right man for the job -"

"He was the on'y one! The on'y one! Gettin' difficult ter find a teacher for it," Hagrid explained, cutting off Hermione mid-sentence, "Who was Ron tryin' ter curse?"

"Malfoy. He called Hermione something really bad. I don't really know what it was, but everyone got mad," Harry said.

"He called her a filthy little Mudblood," Ron said before puking up another few slugs.

"He didn'!" he growled at Hermione.

"He did! But I don't know what it means either," Hermione said, "I mean, I can tell that it's really bad, but that's all I know,"

"It means someone who's Muggle-born, like Hermione and I," Daniel exclaimed, "It's very cruel to say that to someone," I briefly wondered how he knew that, having grown up in the Muggle world.

"Yer righ' Daniel. It's a nasty thin' ter say. Sayin' someone's blood is filth, yeh see. Oh well, not much we can do about it now. Hey Harry! I heard you've bin handin' out signed photos. How come I haven't got one?" Hagrid said, his voice growing louder towards the end.

Harry looked furious, "I have NOT been handing out photos! Whatever Lockhart told you isn't true!"

"Haha! I was on'y jokin'! I told Lockhart yeh didn' need teh. Yer more famous than him without even tryin'!" Hagrid said happily.

"Bet he didn't like that," Ron said in between slug burps.

"Don' think he did Ron," Hagrid said, chuckling.

We talked for ages, and I lost track of time. When I had first seen Hagrid in Diagon Alley, I'd thought he looked scary, but now I could see that he was friendly as could be. He obviously cared about Harry a lot. Eventually, it was time for us to leave.

"Hey, Hagrid, it's lunchtime for us so we might need to go grab some food," Hermione said as she checked the clock.

"Oh, okay," Hagrid said. He stood up and opened the door for us. "Off yeh go, then. Stay outta trouble,"

"Bye!" we all shouted as we left the hut. Ron's slug burps were occurring less and less often.

As soon as we stepped into the Main Entrance of the castle, Professor McGonagall appeared. She told Harry and Ron that they were to have their detentions tonight for flying the car. They groaned and moaned all the way to the Great Hall. Hermione told them it was their fault, and we couldn't help but agree.

That night, Harry had to help Lockhart answer fan mail and Ron had to polish all the trophies in the trophy room without magic. They must have had a lot of work to do because when we fell asleep they weren't back.

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Another chapter done!! YAY! lol. Read . Vote . Comment . Enjoy next chapter!