𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 | 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳

4 || A Three-Headed-Surprise

"Are you serious, Professor?" Wood asked.

"Absolutely," said Professor McGonagall crisply. "These two are naturals. I've never seen anything like it. And that was your first time on a broomstick?"

Both of us nodded silently. Harry looked a little better, less pale, and my heart was thumping in my chest. We were going to play Quidditch?

"He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive," Professor McGonagall told Wood. "Didn't even scratch himself. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it. And Dream can throw perfectly. She dodged Malfoy as well as Johnson."

Wood was now looking as though all his dreams had come true at once.

"Ever seen a game of Quidditch, you two?" he asked excitedly.

"Wood's captain of the Gryffindor team," Professor McGonagall explained.

"They've got just the right build, too," said Wood, now walking around Harry and I and staring at us. "We'll have to get them brooms."

"I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first-year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks..." Professor McGonagall peered sternly over her glasses at me and Harry.

"I want to hear you're training hard, or I may change my mind about punishing you." Then she suddenly smiled.

"Your parents would have been proud," she said kindly. "They were excellent Quidditch players themselves."

"You're joking."

It was dinnertime. I had just finished telling Ron what had happened when we'd left the grounds with Professor McGonagall. Ron had a piece of steak and kidney pie halfway to his mouth, but he'd forgotten all about it as he gaped at our grinning faces.

"Seeker and Chaser?" he said. "But first years never -- you must be the youngest house players in about--"

"-- a century," we chorused. "Wood told us."

Ron was so amazed, so impressed, he just sat and gaped at us.

"We start training next week," said Harry. "Only don't tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret." Fred and George Weasley now came into the hall, spotted Harry, and hurried over.

"Well done," said George in a low voice. "Wood told us. We're on the team too -- Beaters."

"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch cup for sure this year," said Fred. "We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You and Ashlynn must be good, Wood was almost skipping when he told us."

"Anyway, we've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school."

"Bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you."

Fred and George had hardly disappeared when someone far less welcome turned up: Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Having a last meal, Potter? Dream? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"

"You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you," said Harry coolly. There was of course nothing at all little about Crabbe and Goyle, but as the High Table was full of teachers, neither of them could do more than crack their knuckles and scowl.

"I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only -- no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"