Harry Potter - The Accidental Animagus

Chapter 49 - The Rogue Bludger

Harry himself didn’t know about the unusual encouragement being offered in a secluded corner of the castle, but he certainly had his own share of well-wishers trying to settle his nerves. Draco Malfoy had been looking particularly smug over the past week and was sure to have been practising hard after his narrow defeat last year, so this would be far from an easy game. Meanwhile, Oliver Wood was very keen to win the Quidditch Cup again, which wasn’t helping anyone’s nerves. “Get the Snitch or die trying” didn’t sound like particularly good advice, especially after Harry nearly got himself killed last year with Quirrellmort cursing his broom.

Something else that made Harry that much more nervous was that his live audience this year included four more people who were very close to him. Sirius and Remus had smacked themselves in their heads over the summer when they remembered that Hogwarts Quidditch matches were covered on the Wizarding Wireless Network. (With Remus’s former lifestyle, he didn’t listen to the wireless much, and Sirius’s family never went for that “newfangled muggle contraption”). They immediately bought a set and got one for the Grangers too. It was nice that his family would be able to hear the match live, Harry thought, but Quidditch was a violent game, and he didn’t want to think about how his parents would react if something went wrong.

The Gryffindor Team walked onto the pitch, to boos from the Slytherins and cheers from everyone else. The Slytherin team met them with the roles reversed. There was a hint of thunder in the air—not a good sign, for while they had practised in all weather, all three of last year’s matches had been in good playing conditions.

“All set, Potter?” Malfoy grinned at him. “Wouldn’t want to have a panic attack in the air, now, would we, scaredy-cat?”

Harry’s heart skipped a couple of beats, and he very nearly set the grass on fire with accidental magic, but he forced the jolt down. Malfoy couldn’t possibly know his secret. He was just mocking him for freaking out about Mrs. Norris last week. He refocused the energy into a controlled pulse of magic that he hoped would be intimidating. He thought he saw Malfoy twitch, but the Slytherin had excellent control. “I’m ready, Malfoy,” he replied with a threatening stare. He wished he had a tail to twitch at him. “Are you ready to lose again?”

“No, I’m ready to win, Potter,” Malfoy glared back. “You got lucky last year, but it won’t happen again.”

“We’ll see.”

“On my whistle…” Madam Hooch called. “Three…two…one…”

“And they’re off!” Lee Jordan announced over the roar of the crowd. “Katie Bell of Gryffindor with the Quaffle. Gryffindor’s definitely got a great veteran team this year—Quidditch Cup winners last year, in case you’ve been living under a rock. Passes to Johnson—then Spinnet—whoa! Back to Bell and dodges Flint of Slytherin—I didn’t even see that. Bell shoots—she scores! Ten-nought, Gryffindor!”

The crowd roared far below as Harry looked down on the stadium. Getting the first goal of the year was always a good start, but he had bigger fish to fry.

“Of course, the big show this year is the rematch between Gryffindor’s star Seeker, Harry Potter and Slytherin’s Draco Malfoy. Potter went three-nought last year, including beating Malfoy to the Snitch by inches, despite an apparently malfunctioning broom. Now, we’ll see if he can repeat his performance, hopefully without the malfunctioning broom part.”

Malfoy didn’t look too happy about the attention Harry was getting, but he wisely kept circling the pitch opposite Harry, scanning intently for the Golden Snitch. As the two of them looked, they heard a familiar song wafting up from the crowd: “Harry Potter is our king! Potter can catch anything!”