Year 2 (pt. 2)
Every year there are a few quidditch matches that are particularly looked forward to. One of these is the first Gryffindor and Slytherin match of the year. Given these two houses being extreme rivals it wasn’t unusual for everyone to be on the edge of their seat, waiting for the game, hearing trash talk, and picking what team they are going to support. Michael decided he would support Gryffindor, given Hermione was also supporting that team. Also he found out that Draco was going to be the new seeker for Slytherin.
On the day of the match Michael met Hermione and Ginny outside the great hall’s doors to head down to the pitch. Once they got there, they found a spot towards the middle of the field. Luckily, where they were sitting wasn’t anywhere close to Slytherins because they knew there could be a chance violence because the match was so intense.
The captains of each team shook hands, and the balls were let loose onto the pitch. After a while it became obvious that there was a specific bludger that was acting abnormally. It was chasing Harry around. Michael looked towards Hermione who had furrowed eyebrows. Ginny nudged her and said the obvious, “Is that bludger chasing after Harry?”
“I think it is.” Hermione said in a concerned voice. Meanwhile, Fred and George had also taken notice of this and were trying to keep it away from Harry as much as possible. It was clear it was a challenge because Harry kept having to make sharp turns, making the bludger fly fast past him and making large turns to get back on track.
After a while, everyone seemed to notice what was happening and you could hear murmurs in the crowd. On a few occasions, Harry had gotten a little too close to the stands before trying to make a sharp turn. The bludger was getting close to the spectators and the towers. You could hear screams from the crowds when the bludger got a little too close for comfort.
All of a sudden Harry came right at the section of the stands where Michael, Hermione, and Ginny had been sitting. Harry made a sharp turn and the bludger came trailing after him unable to stop. The bludger flew straight into the crowd and Michael, with his fast reflexes, punched the bludger as hard as he could back out onto the quidditch field. Within a second the bludger went flying into Harry.
The hit was so hard it knocked Harry off his broom and he fell about 15 feet onto the grass. There was a loud gasp from every student at the game. Harry laid motionless on the ground for a second as Madam Pomfrey came running onto the field along with Professor Lockhart. Michael thought he killed him and was stunned he was that strong. As Harry started moving, Hermione and Ginny started down towards the quidditch field and Michael followed.
“Don’t worry, I know just the spell for a broken arm. Just give me a second to remember it…” Michael heard Professor Lockhart telling Madam Pomfrey. “No! Put your wand away, Lockhart. I am a medical professional and I know how to fix this. We don’t need one of your silly spells.” Within a few seconds, Lockhart had already performed the spell. As Michael, Hermione, Ginny, Madam Pomfrey, and Professor Lockhart stood around Harry, he picked up his arm, which had just been given the spell. It was all floppy and similar to rubber. Michael nearly gagged seeing Harry's arm bend in ways he never thought possible.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE THIS TIME LOCKHART?!” Madam Pomfrey exclaimed. “THERE ARE NO BONES IN THIS YOUNG MAN'S ARM!” She told Michael to put Harry on the stretcher she had brought out with her. “Mr. Potter, you are going to have to regrow all the bones in your arm.” Michael looked at Hermione in shock. “I have a medicine that will make them grow back in one night. It will be rather painful I’m afraid.” Michael heard Madam Pomfrey say as she walked off the quidditch field with the stretcher floating by her side.
Michael, Hermione, and Ginny walked off the field as well, allowing the game to continue, with a new seeker put in place of Harry. “I didn’t realize you could punch that hard.” Ginny said to Michael. “I didn’t either, honestly.” he responded, flexing his hand in pain. Hermione was too lost in thought to care about how Michael punched the bludger but as they walked back towards the castle Ginny and Michael continued to talk about how cool it was that he was able to punch a bludger.
“Next year you need to join the quidditch team. I am sure they wouldn’t even think twice about letting you join.” Ginny said. Michael thought about it for a second before saying, “That isn’t a bad idea. Quidditch looks pretty fun. I just need to learn the rules a bit better though.” Ginny looked excitedly at Michael and responded, “I can teach you them! We can make a day to do that sometime. We can invite Hermione if you’d like too.”
They looked over to Hermione who had been silent the entire time back to the castle. She looked as if she was so lost in thought that her body was just moving on its own without any idea of where she was going. “What’s on your mind?” Michael asked her. She didn’t respond. Michael looked to Ginny who gave him a look to ask again. “Um… What’s on your mind, Hermione?”, he said a little louder this time.
“Oh. I guess I’m just worried about Harry. I suppose there isn’t much to worry about, he is in good hands with Madam Pomfrey. But the bludger. I know a little bit about how they work and they don’t just chase after one specific person like that. Ginny, have you heard of something like that happening before? I know you are knowledgeable on the subject of quidditch.” Ginny shrugged and responded with a small, ‘I don’t know, possibly.”
Hermione sighed and then said, “Maybe I am just overthinking it then. Sometimes bewitched things freak out and behave weirdly. It’s not like this is a professional game so perhaps the equipment wasn’t charmed correctly.” Michael and Ginny shrugged and after reaching the grand staircase, they went their separate ways. Michael went back to the Hufflepuff common room and Hermione and Ginny to the Gryffindor common room.
~
Michael and Hermione were sitting in the library studying but eventually they got off track and started talking about Mrs. Norris and how the students were told that the cat was petrified but still alive. It was unknown how this happened but the staff were trying to do anything in their power to unpetrify her. After a while Hermione remembered something Harry told her that she was going to tell Michael.
“Oh! So Harry was telling Ron and me about this house elf, Dobby, who visited him in the hospital wing while he was regrowing his arm bones. He mentioned something about Dobby waking him up in the middle of the night.” Michael made a face at this. “Dobby told Harry he had bewitched the bludger to chase after Harry. It was a way to scare him into leaving Hogwarts or something.”
Michael rolled his eyes. “There are far scarier things I am sure than a bludger chasing you around a quidditch field.” Hermione shrugged at this. “Not to mention how dangerous that was to the people in the stands. If I hadn’t punched it, who knows who would have gotten hit.” Hermione nodded in agreement.
“Oh, there is also this new dueling club that is being put on by Professor Snape and Professor Lockhart. It takes place above the Darks Arts classroom on Wednesday. I was wondering if you would like to go with me. I think it could be quite interesting. We might be able to learn something, however, we are more advanced than a lot of our peers so I have a feeling the most we could pick up is a few tips or tricks here and there.” Hermione said. Michael thought about it for a moment and once he figured Draco would probably go to this he agreed.
He knew that if Draco was going to the dueling club then it would be easy to duel him. Draco wouldn’t back down from a chance to try and humiliate Michael.
~
Wednesday came around quickly and Michael went hoping to duel Draco. When he got there, he found Hermione in the decent crowd of students and made a path so they could stand towards the front of the group and closer to the instructors.
“Welcome to the dueling club, students. Here myself and Professor Snape will teach you how to properly duel in a safe environment. We will also show you how to win a duel.” Professor Lockhart said with a wide smile.
“We promise nothing.” Snape said in his usual monotone voice. With that, they started. Snape and Lockhart gave an explanation of how duels properly start and how we would be conducting a duel during this club.
When Lockhart asked for volunteers for the first two to duel, many hands went up. Snape called upon two students, “Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter.” Michael was a little angry he wasn’t the one who would be dueling Draco but he just stood there without objections.
‘Ready to lose Potter?” Draco said in a taunting voice. Once the duel properly began, nothing happened for a bit. They both stood there with their wands pointed at each other while everyone kept quiet. After a while, Draco said, “Serpensortia” and a snake launched out of the end of his wand towards Harry. Most students shrieked at this. The snake turned away from Harry and started towards the students.
All of a sudden Michael noticed a hissing noise filling the air. He looked towards Harry, who was hissing at the snake. And the snake was listening? Michael looked at Hermione who looked back at him. The snake was backing away from the students and that's when Snape went up to Harry and pulled him out of the room. Michael had heard of people who could speak to snakes but was told they all died out when Salazar Slytherin’s bloodline died out.
“Parseltongue?” Michael said out loud. Hermione looked at him and said, “I thought nobody could speak that anymore.” Michael was thinking the same thing.
“Well, to move past that. How about someone new volunteers to let Malfoy have a proper duel.” Lockhart said. Michael quickly jumped up onto the platform where duels take place. “Well Mr. Butcher, I suppose if Malfoy agrees then you two can duel.”
Malfoy agreed to the duel. Michael glares at Draco before smiling and walking to his half of the dueling stage. Snape entered the room again and was interested in who was going to duel each other. Snape said to begin and Michael pulled out his sword and swung down on Draco before stopping the sword right before it cut Draco's arm clean off. It happened so fast that Draco hadn't even pulled out his wand yet and as Michael looked at Draco, he noticed that Draco was tearing up. Michael started laughing at him.
“What's wrong Draco? You look like you were almost killed," Michael said, putting his sword on his back again. Snape stepped between the two of them and started scolding Michael,
“This is a spell duel Mr. Butcher if it were a sword duel I would have told you.” Michael looked at Snape and said,
“If you want me to use spells, fine I'll use spells.” he pulled his wand out of his sword and Snape rolled his eyes before telling them to begin again.
Michael struck first with the Expelliarmus spell. Draco looked at Michael and tried to grab his wand but as he did Michael shouted Levicorpus, lifting Draco by his ankles making the rest of the room laugh uncontrollably at him. Michael dropped draco after about 10 seconds of waving draco around in the air by his ankles. Michael walked away, Snape looked at him and so Michael said.
“You wanted me to use magic. I used magic.” Michael walked away satisfied with what he had done to Draco.
~
Over the next two months, there were a few students that were found in hallways and empty rooms frozen. This caused a tenseness to surround the school and all the students within it. Before everyone had been on the edge of their seats waiting for a quidditch match but now they were because they were afraid they were next. Michael wasn’t scared but when he saw Hermione or Ginny in the hallways he noticed they seemed to be on edge. He could see that people were more terrified in the hallways for more than just him.