Renouncing Magic's Child

The next morning, Harry did not rush to get out of bed. He had always been an early riser but not this morning. Instead, he had simply rolled over and gone back to sleep, or at least tried. It had been slightly difficult as he recalled everything they had read in the last few days. This book was by far the worst so far. But he couldn't help but fear that things would only get worse from here.

Eventually, he sat up in bed and reached for his glasses on the bedside table, only to remember that thanks to Professor Snape he no longer required them. That had been a pleasant surprise. One he still wasn't quite used to. It had also really confused him that the teacher hadn't allowed him to relinquish him of the duty of fulfilling his vow to protect him. Why would he willingly keep such a vow going? Wasn't it enough that his older self had died for that vow? He didn't want this Severus to die too. Weirdly, he'd come to terms with the professor's part in his own horrible history.

Severus Snape, the one from his time, was a bitter, twisted bastard. But he'd been honourable and brave too. And Harry had to respect that.

Dobby popped into the room with a tray of food. "The princey needs to be eating. Breakfast was an hour ago."

Harry took the light scolding with a smile. It was good to see his friend again. "Thank you, Dobby."

"You's being welcome, Master Princey."

Harry didn't have much of an appetite but he forced himself to eat what was on his plate. He knew that Madam Pomfrey would have something to say if he didn't. Plus the Goblin healers. And Dobby. And Kreacher. And probably Sirius and Arcturus too. Not to mention the rest of the Black family. Even though they'd all been estranged for years, they were getting closer and Harry could just picture how his life would be in the new timeline. It was somewhat bizarre having Draco Malfoy for a cousin. Not necessarily bad. But definitely strange.

The anomosity between them seemed to have lifted in the last month and he could almost imagine being friends with the other wix. And that left him feeling slightly perturbed.

He had a quick shower before heading off in the direction of the chamber where the younger ones often gathered to fly and play Quidditch. Even though it was technically indoors, you'd never know it. It was strangely similar to the section of the house where the creatures were staying and yet different too. There was grass where carpet ought to be and the walls... Well Harry had yet to find walls. The door into this particular room was simply perched into an arch in the centre of the room. Sometimes magic still amazed him.

Harry was surprised to see many of the others already in the air. But what was even more surprising was that a number of students, mostly ravenclaws, were sitting off to one side, reading. He wondered if they were catching up on the books. Or if they'd done that already and had managed to grab a book or two from Mother Magic's library. Hermione was sitting there too, her own head buried in a book. He also noticed that a couple of the Slytherins had joined them. Theo Nott for one. Harry wondered about him. He was so quiet and reserved. Harry knew next to nothing about him. Except that he was the son of a death eater. But that really didn't tell him anything about Theo himself.

It said something though that Mother Magic had not wanted Nott's father in the chamber.

His attention was diverted when Cedric called him over. "We're thinking of seeing if we can convince the adults to give us weekends off."

"Why?" Harry asked and everyone looked at him like he was a little balmy. And maybe he was.

"We want to arrange a quidditch tournament," Krum said. "We just need to make sure we have enough players. And that we team everyone up fairly."

Harry nodded. That would be fun. "Who have you go so far?"

"That's the problem, everyone wants to play," Cedric said with a huff. "Well, not quite everyone. Most of the Ravens weren't interested. And Granger actually looked scared at the idea of playing. Percy downright scoffed at the idea. But surprisingly even some of the Slytherin girls were interested and you know they don't usually play at school."

Harry's eyes widened at that. He didn't think a girl had ever played on the Slytherin team. He'd call them sexist but he wasn't sure that was it. Slytherin girls just never seemed interested in playing.

"We've got seven teams," Krum said. "Some idiot thought it would be good to make the champions the captains. We've tried to divvy everyone up fairly but it's sort of difficult, seeing as how I have no idea how good anyone is."

"The Weasley twins even managed to get Charlie and Bill to play - well, one of the Bills, at least. The older one, I think."

Harry nodded. "So what? We try and get a couple of games in every weekend?"

Krum smirked. "That's what we thought. Just see how it goes and keep a tally of the scores and see which team has the most points when we leave here."

A piece of parchment with his teammates and team colour written on it was thrust into his hand and then a random Raven was asked to cast random colour charms to work out who would play who first. Harry was not surprised, but was disappointed, when his team did not get picked to play first. He settled down onto the grass with his new team and tried to discuss strategy. His team was really random. He had Draco, Luna and Terence playing as chasers. He'd played against Higgs before and knew he was good in the position. But he was less sure about Draco and Luna. He didn't know that Draco even considered other positions. He would have expected him to want to play seeker. And Luna... well, he just couldn't picture her playing Quidditch at all. His beaters were a little better. He had Seamus and George. George looked like he wasn't sure he wanted to play without his twin and Harry couldn't really blame him. But best of all, Harry had lucked out with keepers, gaining Oliver.

They watched the first two teams compete, paying close attention for when they got to play them. Harry looked closely at each of the teams, trying to assess who would present the greatest challenge. Viktor's team looked strong, especially since he'd gained the Weasley twins. Somehow he'd managed to get the only team that consisted completely of Quidditch players. But even so, the other teams would not prove easy, Harry was sure. The quidditch players were spread pretty evenly.

The first game went to Cedric's team but only just. Fleur's team had put up a good fight.

Then it was finally their turn and Harry couldn't be more relieved to be back in the air. This was exactly what he needed. He split his attention between searching for the snitch and coaching his team. It was clear that they weren't used to playing together. Well, some of them. Oliver was spectacular as always, refusing to let a single quaffle in, much to Angelina's annoyance. Draco and Terence quickly found a rhythm and even though Luna seemed easily distracted she had even scored a goal or two. As for George and Seamus, they worked well enough together. Of course, their teamwork wasn't quite as fluid as George and Fred's but it worked well all the same.

Happy that his team were doing okay, Harry decided to put all his attention on finding the snitch. He laughed when Viktor attempted to distract him with a feint. He wouldn't fall for that. Instead, he decided to scare the other seeker, performing his own feint. He could practically feel Viktor's panic as he thought Harry had seen the snitch while he'd been distracted trying to feint him. Harry pulled out of the dive, his feet brushing the grass and right then he saw it. The snitch was at the other end of the pitch and he had a head's start. He darted forward as fast as he possibly could, zooming past the other players.

And then finally, he reached out and took the snitch, ending the match.

He let out a little sigh of relief. This was exactly what he needed.

Teams:

Cedric’s Team

Keeper:Ron

Chaser #1: Dean

Chaser #2: Michael

Chaser #3:Susan

Beater #1: Anthony

Beater #2: Blaise

Seeker:Cedric

 

Harry's Team

Keeper: Oliver

Chaser #1: Draco

Chaser #2: Luna

Chaser #3: Terence

Beater #1: George

Beater #2: Seamus

Seeker: Harry

Viktor’s Team

Keeper: Ron

Chaser #1Dean

Chaser #2: Terence

Chaser #3:Michael

Beater #1:George

Beater #2:Fred

Seeker: Viktor

 

Harry's Team

Keeper: Daphne

Chaser #1: Draco

Chaser #2: Luna

Chaser #3: Casius

Beater #1: Seamus

Beater #2: Blaise

Seeker: Harry

 

Fleur's Team

Keeper: Tracy

Chaser #1: Fleur

Chaser #2: Angelina

Chaser #3: Casius

Beater #1: Millicent

Beater #2: Bill

Seeker: Charlie

 

Viktor's Team

Keeper: Oliver

Chaser #1: Angelina

Chaser #2: Marcus

Chaser #3: Susan

Beater #1: Millicent

Beater #2: Justin

Seeker: Viktor

 

Fleur's Team

Keeper: Daphne

Chaser #1: Ginny

Chaser #2: Fleur

Chaser #3: Marcus

Beater #1: Anthony

Beater #2: Tracy

Seeker: Charlie

Round One Scores:

Cedric Vs Fleur: 170 - 160

Harry Vs Viktor: 200 - 60

Viktor Vs Fleur: 180 - 120

Tournament Points:

(Points / Number of Games)

Harry: 20 /1

Viktor: 18/1

Cedric: 17/1

Fleur: 16/1

Fleur: 12/1

Viktor: 6/1

Harry: 0/0