The New Trio and the Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 4: The Keeper and the Keyfrog

Notes:

A bit of a short, filler chapter, because I want to sort of emphasise the difference between this fic and canon, but also because I'm trying to stick to the chapter names... sorta.

Anyway, everything HP & co. belongs to JK

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The summer passed quickly, as did autumn and winter, so it seemed as though spring was suddenly upon them in the blink of an eye. Harry had decided to have his need for glasses removed, by undergoing a slightly painful magical procedure in early spring. Harry and Neville visited each other often, becoming closer than Harry and Ron were. Ron seemed to be getting louder and more dramatic every time Harry saw him, and the cool misty air of Neville's greenhouse (he'd gotten one meant solely for his use that Christmas) was more attractive to him, even if it was always fun cooking up a nice prank with the twins. Harry had never told Ron that he was the Heir of Slytherin House, due to his hatred of all things Slytherin. It wasn't that he didn't trust his friend, but that he didn't know how he would react when confronted with such things, not to mention the fact that he wasn't traditional. Instead, he would simply visit when he either felt like a nice game of Quidditch, or when he needed a break from the monotony of magical theory, which was what he had been learning about for the past two months.

One such a day, both Harry and Neville had decided to go to The Burrow. They arrived at around ten in the morning, and were almost immediately embraced by the loving Mrs Weasley. She had always had a large soft spot for the two, since Harry was only surrounded by male authority figures, and Neville only had "that harpy of a grandmother", so she was always ready to give out some motherly love. Never did her efforts seem suffocating though, since she always seemed to know when to stop.

As soon as the door shut behind them, they could hear loud footsteps as Ron and Ginny practically flew down the many staircases and tumbled into the kitchen. Garnering exasperated yet fond looks from their mother, they pulled the two boys into a group hug, pushing them out the door at the same time. Now, Neville was not particulary fond of Quidditch, but he would accept a broomstick in order to let his friends have a nice two on two game. It slightly reassured him that the comet he was given was probably slower than most butterflies, but sometimes he just disliked the feeling when he was away from the earth he loved so much.

This time, however, Ron was more interested in showing off his Keeper skills. "Okay, you lot, I want to show you something I've been working on for the past week."

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Ginny roll her eyes at her older brother's antics. He shot her a confused look, only to be met by an innocent grin from her.

Ron mounted his broom and shot into the air, hovering protectively in front of the self-made goalposts, and called, "Well? Go on, Harry! Try to get the quaffle past me."

Harry got onto the broom he'd been given earlier. It was much older and slower than his one at home, but he didn't want to have an unfair advantage against his friend if he wanted to show off his Keeper skills. He'd been a better Chaser than Seeker when he'd still had the blocks in place, but now he was faster and more observant than before, but since he was also bigger and more coordinated, his Chaser skills had not suffered too much. He caught the quaffle thrown at him by Ginny, who, along with Neville, had also risen into the air. He attempted to barge past Ron and score, but he didn't succeed. Ron gently pushed him off course, causing the quaffle to fall down to the ground.

Neville's turn was next, and he simply threw the ball to the left-most hoop, looking a bit green, and Ron flashed over to kick it out of the way. When Ginny went to fetch the quaffle, Ron sighed. "Ginny, I don't know if you can even carry that thing properly, let alone-"

However, this was the time she chose to score, sliding from normally perching on her broomstick into a one-handed sloth grip roll, throwing the quaffle when she was almost upside down. With a definite whoosh, the quaffle soared through the hoop, and Harry and Neville cheered for the diminuitive witch, while Ron was simply staring at the place where she'd been, mouth hanging open. "Wh-where'd you learn how to do that?" he asked, his face reddening a bit.

"Here, when you were stuck doing chores. This broom is the fastest of the ones in the shed, and I looked at some Chaser technique books when we went to Flourish and Blotts last month," Ginny stated calmly.

At that moment, all four of them seemed to realise that they were being watched, and that the watcher was still clapping in delight at Ginny's move. The four of them lowered to the ground, dismounting as soon as they were in range, and approached the white blonde-haired girl.

"Oh, that was simply brilliant, Ginevra! I watched you perfect that move, you know, and I must say, that was far better than that horrible fiasco last Thursday, wasn't it?" the girl asked.

Ginny smiled kindly. "Thanks, Luna, I didn't know you were watching me. If I had, I might have invited you to join me, or to sit underneath the apple tree so you could see better."

Luna's eyes opened wider in interest. "An apple tree? I didn't know you had an apple tree here. Could you show me? I might find some Dabberblimps. They've been known to be seen near areas of frequent physical activity, and they positively love apples."

A slightly bemused Ginny led Luna to the tree, and Neville went along, mainly to see what kind of apple tree it was. Harry and Ron were left standing there awkwardly, brooms still in hand. They looked at one another, and Ron shrugged. "Mum always reckons she and her dad are a bit mad. They live over the hill a ways."

Harry was concerned that Ron might think her mad, then resolved himself to the fact that anyone should be allowed to think whatever they wanted about other people, as long as they kept their opinions to themselves. He suggested a Seeker's game, and with a grin, Ron accepted, although not before showing off some rather daring moves he said were what some Keepers did to keep the Chasers from scoring.

They had only played one game, when a shriek of delight came from the direction of a nearby pond. Harry looked around, and realised that the sound must have been either Ginny or Luna, for they weren't under the apple tree any more. Harry motioned to Ron that they should go find them, and once they arrived, Harry noticed that the three were crouched over something, Luna animatedly babbling about it and Ginny and Neville listening intently, oohing and aahing at the appropriate times.

"What did you find, Luna?" asked Harry curiously. Ron rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion beside him, but Harry ignored him.

"A Blue-ringed Keyfrog!" exclaimed Luna. "See?"

Harry came closer to them and saw a tiny frog, no bigger than the pad of his little finger, which did indeed have even smaller blue rings overlaying its dark red skin.

"It looks poisonous," commented Harry.

"Oh yes it is, Harry Potter. Very poisonous, but most people don't believe it exists. It's said to be only slightly less poisonous than the basilisk, but no one has ever been able to verify it."

This made Harry's eyes light up. "Is there any way to get some of the poison out of it? I know someone who'd be really interested in it."

Luna smiled happily. "Yes. Its winter nest is lined with its own poison. Daddy found one next to the river last summer, and he told me that it isn't affected by being touched by the poison, it only makes it sleepy so that it can hibernate. They always have two nests, you see."

The five spent the next hour tracking down its winter nest, Ron rather reluctantly, then Ginny was chosen to go and ask her mother for a lidded container, since she was often teased for being the "favourite child", and once that task was done, they spent the time remaining before Neville and Harry had to leave with their respective guardians splashing around in a different pond... once they'd checked that there were no Keyfrogs in it.