Hold my Broom

Silence.

Not a single noise

*CHRIP* *CHIRP*

Except for some birds.

In the pitch, mostly in the stands, every person standing was looking at a tall blond with broad shoulders who was holding in his hand a iron ball.

"What just happened!" shouted an angry voice.

Frederich Franjeux, Captain of the Hufflepuff team, was speaking with his vice-captain when suddenly he was taken aback by the shout of one of his teammates. Looking right and left he finally saw where everyone was looking and shifted his gaze to see the tall student who made an awful remark some minutes before. At first, he didn't understand why everyone was looking at the boy until the captain finally saw what the young man was holding in his hand.

'Is that a Bludger?' thought the Captain stunned.

Normally speaking, holding an iron ball in his hand is not an grand feat. But keeping in his hand an aggressive ball of metal with enough strength to break an arm… that was something. Moreover, the blond haired boy didn't seem to be bothered by the Bludger which was firmly held in his hand without moving. Furthermore, when he looked more closely, Franjeux soon saw something that immediately picked his interest.

"This boy… wasn't it in the first row two seconds ago?"

Dudley when arriving at the tribunes seated himself with his friends at the first row of seats in front of every other student. But now, the tall blond was five seats behind, near the back of the tribune, standing up casually. Seeing this and sensing the strange atmosphere in the pitch, the captain's instinct was tingling.

"Cedric, my boy, can you explain to me what just happened, please?" asked Freddy.

"I-I… I'm not sure. I just heard Tasmin shout and then I saw the blond one… actually I'm really not sure of what I saw…" replied Cedric who was watching Dudley incredulously.

Freddy, hearing his Vice-Captain, turned towards his teammate Chaser.

"Tasmin… Sweety… Explanations… Now… Please."

Tasmin, who didn't stop staring at the tribune until now, looked at her Captain with a dazzled gaze.

"I'm not… Nevermind…"

The girl sighed deeply and focused her thoughts for a moment before giving an explanation for Freddy, whom a small grin began to form on his lips.

"I was teaching the new recruit how to handle the club and I tried to show him how to hit the Bludger correctly. But when I released the ball the boy got scared and sent the Bludger directly towards the spectator and the next thing to happen was… this guy catching the ball in midair." said the girl pointing at Dudley.

Freddy looked at the tribune, more especially at Dudley, and then at Tasmin again with a bigger grin.

"Catching? In midair? How?" simply asked Freddy smiling more.

"He jumped," replied Tasmin, who knew too well what was hiding behind that smile of his.

Freddy didn't say anything, he simply smiled with a larger smile.

In the tribunes, Dudley was facing the dazzled girl who looked at him with wide eyes.

"Heeello, you're okay? Have been asking you like an eternity now." asked Duldey.

The girl shuddered before muttering something awkwardly.

"I-I-I.. I'm okay" she responded.

"Well good then. If you excuse me." said Dudley.

Dudley turned back and walked slowly to his seat while Jenna and Terry stared at him incredulously.

"What?" asked Duldey when he arrived near them.

"Dud… How… How did you do that?", asked Terry.

"Do what?" he answered.

" Jumping three meters high while doing a back flip to catch an enchanted iron ball capable of breaking an arm. That stuff," replied Terry almost snapping.

"Nice trick by the way" continued Jenna giving her friend a thumbs up.

"Thank you" replied Dudley in a falsely modest tone.

"Stop! Jenna, let me talk for two minutes please. Dudley, how did you do that?" begged Terry who was getting a headache listening to his two companions.

"I jumped. That's it." replied the blond boy shrugging his shoulders.

"But how? The ball was more than three meters above us!" replied Terry nervously.

"I jumped high", simply said Dudley.

"You! But that's impossible. At least not without casting a spell first," exclaimed Terry, who was getting more and more confused.

"What, there's not a wizard or two who can do that? I thought wizards were magical," questioned Dudley, scratching his head with the Bludger.

"Wizards aren't magical themselves, they manipulate magic." continued Terry.

"... I don't see the difference." said Jenna, confuse.

" Yeah, no....Me neither..." replied Dudley, raising an eyebrow.

"Dudley... In order to do what you did, you have to be able to cast a spell without wands and without chanting. Only the most experienced and gifted wizards are able to do that. Moreover, you hold a Bludger in your hand without any difficulty. It takes the strength of at least three or more men to hold that ball like you do," Terry said, pointing to the iron ball.

Dudely stopped scratching his head with the ball and held it in front of him to get a better look. Jenna and Terry, his two friends, did the same. The Bludger in the boy's palm did not move an inch. The two girls knew their friend's strength well. But they didn't know how strong the young man was. Dudley, for his part, turned the ball in front of him without any problem. He could feel the ball in his hand struggling to get away, but to the young man the Bludger had as much strength as a three-year-old trying to poke him. To him, it was laughable. Yet for his two friends and the rest of the students in the pitch, what Dudley was doing was completely extraordinary.

This made him think a little.

Since he had been at Hogwarts, Dudley noticed that he was a little different from the other students. Of course, one thing he quickly noticed was that he was taller than his peers, a trait he didn't share with any other first years except Jenna. Another point was his unusual ability to cause disasters, but that was still up for debate. No, what concerned the young man was his relationship with magic.

Since he discovered that magic existed, Dudley thought he would find other people with exceptional abilities like him. His colossal strength, which he had learned to control and mostly hide, was an ability he shared with no other student. Other than his strength, his senses were also superior, sharper, whether it was his sight, his hearing or any other senses. He also had a tendency to recharge electric tools he touched like a portable battery, a skill he hasn't been able to exploit since he was at Hogwarts though.

Dudley has often had to deal with unusual things happening to him in the course of his life. The difference with the other students was that he didn't need to be emotionally disturbed to trigger something magical. He could call on it whenever he wanted and without a wand.

For some reason, Dudley was very different from the other students.

Dudley, Jenna and Terry had been looking at the immovable Bludger in the blond boy's hand for two minutes before Terry finally spoke.

"Dud,...do you by any chance did anything else besides your superhuman strength?" questioned the young girl.

"A couple of things" replied the young man thoughtfully.

Terry did not answer, but bit her lower lip, a habit the girl had whenever she was thinking intensely.

"Dudley, could it be that you are..." began Terry.

"OH! BEAUTIFUL BLOND!" shouted a cheerful voice.

Dudley immediately turned towards the source of the voice, not having to think whether it was him or not...

On the Quidditch pitch, Feddy Franjeux was waving to the stands, a wide smile on his face. When he got the attention of the person he wanted, Freddy, surrounded by his teammates, began to speak again towards the spectators.

"Yes, yes, you ... You my Handsome Apollo... Can you please throw that ball back to me?" asked the Hufflepuff Captain, pointing at the Bludger.

"Freddy, what are you saying?" shouted Cedric, his vice-captain.

"Shhhh... Don't spoil the moment," Freddy replied immediately, covering Cedric's mouth with his hand?

Dudley, in the stands, looked towards his house team and then towards the Bludger in his hand before shrugging.

" Ok," said the young man, simply.

He didn't need a swing or anything as the young man sent the iron ball towards the players on the field with a simple toss of his hand. The ball shot out of the stands, flying faster than when it was sent in the tribunes, towards the Quidditch team. Freddy and the others were taken by surprise and jumped back a step, just in time to avoid being hit by the Bludger, which crashed into the pitch like a meteorite.

Once the dust had settled, Freddy and the other players moved closer to the crash site to see a Bludger embedded in the earth and struggling to get out. This scene stunned all the students on the field, leaving them all with their jaws dropping.

"Oops, sorry," said Dudley nonchalantly.

Freddy looked up from the Bludger and looked towards Dudley with eyes sparkling with joy.

"You, you, you... You have to become..." shouted Freddy, unable to calm his emotions.

"Professor Sprout?" exclaimed Heidi Macavoy, the Chaser.

"Hu? What?" interjected Freddy who looked in the direction his partner was looking.

Professor Pomona Sprout, arriving on the field and walking briskly despite her stature, was coming towards the Hufflepuff team, with all smiles.

"Mr. Franjeux, how are you today? Is everything going well for the selections?" the professor asked, gesturing friendly to the players of her house.

"The selection... Yes! Yes, yes... Everything is going well. Everything is going well, even better," Franjeux answered, snapping out of his stupor.

"That's the spirit. I can't wait to see our new team in action. I'm sure we'll have a good chance to win this year" replied Professor Sprout, still smiling.

"I think our chances are increasing, Professor. No disrespect, but if you don't have something important to tell us, I was about to choose..." began Freddy more and more impatiently.

"Oh! Thank you Frederich! I had almost forgotten. I was looking for the Dursley boy. I heard he came to watch the selection." the Professor replied quickly, looking around at the students sitting in the stands.

"Dursley?" exclaimed Freddy as he turned his gaze to the young man who had thrown back the Bludger still nestled in the ground.

The entire Hufflepuff team as well as the spectators and potential recruits turned towards Dudley who was still standing next to Jenna and Terry. Seeing that he had once again unintentionally caught the attention of the audience, the young man, as well as his two friends, could not help but apprehend the worst.

'I don't know why... but I've got a bad feeling about this,' thought Dudley.