chapter 16:Twice Is Not Coincidence

The roar of sound as the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw teams walked out of the tunnel was almost solid. Roger Davis didn't hesitate as he strode to the center of the pitch and waited for Madam Hooch to place the box holding the four balls on the turf.

As the two captains shook hands, Harry glanced at the crowded stands. At the front of the teachers box, Filius Flitwick grinned while sat on his specially-raised chair while beside him, holding a large packet of popcorn which Filius occasionally stole from, was Ponoma Sprout. The other teachers were scattered through the box but Dumbledore was absent from his throne-like chair, apparently due to a meeting with Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge. Snape skulked in the corner and at the front, Professor Quirrel leaned slightly over the banister for a better view, one hand holding his turban onto his head as the loose end flapped in the wind.

"…and may the best team win." Madam Hooch finished. "Now, take your positions!"

Harry jumped into the air, holding the broomstick so that it carried him up as he swung himself onto it, his flight-path a smooth curve towards the Ravenclaw Goal-hoops. Once there, he spun round and raised himself up to the top of the center hoop, allowing him to dive into position at an instant's notice.

The first ball that Madam Hooch released was the Golden Snitch, followed by the Bludgers, then she threw the Quaffle into the air before ascending to get a good view of the action. The box, unattended, vanished, but Harry caught an incredibly brief distortion in the shape of a House Elf as it did so.

The starting whistle sounded and Harry caught Cho's eye before pointing to the Hufflepuff goalposts. Cho followed his motion and then accelerated past the Hufflepuff Seeker as she aimed for the Golden Snitch that was circling the leftmost pole.

Harry turned his attention to the Quaffle which was being carried by Roger Davis. As one of the Hufflepuff Beaters slammed a Bludger towards him, Roger rolled and used the roll to power his pass, sending the Quaffle to the second Chaser in what was obviously a pre-planned tactic.

Harry absently drifted left just enough to avoid the second Bludger that hurtled past him, then he moved back into position as one of the Hufflepuff Chasers managed to intercept a pass with a vertical climb that caught the Ravenclaw Chasers by surprise. Harry used the returning Bludger as an impromptu kick-stool to begin accelerating upwards, then he looped over and dived down, intercepting the Quaffle and passing it to one of the Ravenclaw chasers before spiralling back up to guard the goals again, once more dodging a Bludger.

Harry frowned slightly as the Bludger rocketed away, then reversed course and flew back at him, aiming directly for his head. Motion in the stands showed him that Hermione had noticed the problem, but that was a distant concern. Although he was (probably) more than tough enough to take the impact or simply punch the Bludger away, it would give away the fact that he was far stronger (and more resilient) than any human had any right to be.

Neville tried to shout something and Harry grinned as a thought occurred to him. As the Bludger lined itself up and accelerated to almost three times the speed it had been moving before, Harry flipped the broom into a spin around a vertical axis and caught the Bludger, redirecting it straight down with as much strength as he could. The iron ball slammed into the earth and shattered, the magic imbuing it dissipating as the outer case turned into little more than curved pieces of shrapnel. Continuing the spin, Harry redirected the Quaffle before it could pass through the hoop, sending it rocketing past the attacking Chasers and into Roger's hands.

"..and Potter just took out a faulty Bludger with a move I've never seen before!" The announcer that Harry had been ignoring almost screamed. "It's no wonder that the Puff's can't get the Quaffle through the hoops, what chance does the Quaffle have when Potter can block a Bludger bare-handed?!"

Harry glanced down at the wreckage below, then turned his attention back to the game, catching Cho's eye and pointing her to the left where the Snitch was hovering near the base of the Slytherin Banner.

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"Merlin's balls!" Neville gasped as he dropped back down into his seat. "He just… I've heard games on the radio, but… How?"

Hermione simply watched Harry regain his composure, her mind whirring as she tried to figure out exactly how he had (once again) achieved something that she had previously believed to be impossible.

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"Now that was more skill than I've ever seen before!" Flitwick exulted before half-turning to look at Snape. "Severus, I don't think your team is going to be able to do its usual trick of taking down the Keeper with Bludgers any more."

"Indeed." Snape said, his eyes fixed on the glinting of shattered iron in the grass. "I am certain that Flint is paying close attention to this match."

"I so have to get him on the Dueling Circuit." Flitwick muttered to himself, stealing another handful of popcorn while Quirrell moved across for a better view. "With reflexes like those…"

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Harry grinned as the score rose to 160-0 for Ravenclaw. Even if the Hufflepuff Seeker (and he probably should find out the unfortunate boy's name) managed to catch the Snitch now, Ravenclaw would win.

Motion from below caught his attention and he swerved sideways as the remaining Bludger rocketed vertically through the space that the tail of his Broomstick had been occupying.

"Okay, that cannot be a coincidence." Harry muttered to himself as the Bludger arced round… only to be sent careening away by a strike from one of the Hufflepuff Beaters.

Harry gave the Beater a bemused look, then he turned his attention to the Bludger that was trying to head back towards him, only to be blocked by the other three Beaters.

"Not that I'm complaining," Harry called, motioning to the impromptu team-up, "But why?"

"Someone's sabotaged the Bludgers." The Beater replied as he drifted down to shield Harry even as all the non-Beaters descended to the ground. "Hooch has agreed to a time-out while she secures that one for examination and gets a new set…whoa!"

The Bludger burst into flames and slammed past the trio of Beaters. Harry dived as fast as he could to suck the Bludger after him and thus get the Hufflepuff out of harms way, not even bothering to pull up as he leapt off the broomstick. As the flaming hunk of iron hurtled towards him, Harry ripped off the left sleeve of his robe, wrapping it around his right hand before taking up a pose that he had seen in the Power Rangers television show that Dudley had enjoyed (mainly because of the explosions).

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"No, he isn't!" Hermione gasped.

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"What on earth?" Flitwick gasped as he joined Quirrell at the banister.

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Harry drew back his right hand, then stepped forwards, spinning on his toes as he used his cloth-wrapped hand to catch and deflect the Bludger, sending it straight into the ground where, like the first one, it shattered into pieces, the flames fading away. The sound of the impact was almost deafening in the shocked silence from the stands and Harry looked up at the gaping faces.

"Erm… I've studied Karate?" He offered weakly.

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Hermione flopped into her seat as her strength seemed to evaporate.

"Dammit, Harry." She breathed.

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"He definitely needs to go on the Dueling Circuit." Flitwick managed as Harry retrieved his broom and took to the air once again.

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"That was certainly… interesting." Harry noted as they left the pitch.

"You have a gift for understatement." The Beater who had tried to protect Harry laughed. "I've seen many things, but a Keeper who not only blocked every single shot but also two Bludgers?"

"Yeah." Harry sighed, then he looked up at the burly student. "Thanks for the save, even though we're on opposing teams."

"Hey, those Bludgers were faulty." The Beater shrugged. "I like to think that the Gryffs and you Ravens would do the same for us. Heck, I know the Twins would. They only really play for the chance to bash things hard as they can."

"Sorry about making you lose by so much." Harry offered and the Beater shrugged.

"We've had worse. I admit, losing four-hundred to zero is a bit embarrassing, but you deserved it. You did good out there. My uncle's on the Wimborne Wasps and he'll probably be asking you to join his team as soon as you graduate."

The Beater turned and entered the changing room that the Hufflepuff team were using and Harry facepalmed.

"Dammit. I never got his name!"

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"S-sorry, but the br-br-breaking of the bl-bl-bludgers didn't m-m-matter. Whoever d-d-did this m-m-managed to sc-sc-scramble their sig-signature." Quirrell said, lowering his wand as he backed away from the collected metal shards.

"I was afraid of that." The newly-returned Albus sighed as he leaned over the metal. "So someone tried to injure Mr Potter… but who? And why?"

"Revenge for the Dark Lord?" Severus offered from where he was lurking in the corner. "I've already checked, Malfoy had nothing to do with this."

Flitwick nodded at Severus' declaration before speaking. "Well, whoever it is, they've made a big mistake. They've targeted one of my Ravens, something that I will not put up with."

The Charms Professor stalked out of the room, almost radiating an aura of bloodthirsty vengeance and Albus watched him leave.

"It's times like this that you remember that beneath that genial exterior is the heart and mind of a Goblin Warrior." Severus finally commented, the sarcasm that most would have expected to be there totally absent. "I am suddenly very relieved not to be the target of his incipient vengeance."

"I shall alert the Quidditch League of today's events." Madam Hooch almost spat. "I'm sure that they'll allow for the inclusion of tracking spells to record the magical signature of anyone who tried to interfere with them again and from now on, I'll not only run the checks myself and with two others, I'll keep the balls with me for the entire day before the match."

"And we teachers will keep an eye out for anyone trying to cast a spell." Albus agreed. "Perhaps I can ask Septima to see if she can create some monitoring arrays that will alert us to anyone in the audience trying to use magic that could affect the game?"

"Let her make it an official project for NEWT credit and she'll get all the help she needs from her students." Severus suggested and Albus nodded.

"An excellent idea, Severus. Once again you prove that you do indeed represent the cunning of your House."

Snape lowered his head slightly to hide his smirk even as his hand stroked the pocket in which the third of Lily's journals resided.

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"Harry!"

Harry staggered back a pace as the bushy-haired missile impacted on him.

"Hey, Hermione. Enjoy the game?" He joked, trying to ease the tension. His joke fell flat as Hermione increased the pressure of her hug to the point where even he was finding it slightly difficult to breathe. "Look, I'm alright."

"She was biting her nails for half the game." Neville joked as he slapped Harry on the shoulder. "When word gets out about what you did, you'll be getting offers from all the teams as soon as you've taken your OWLs. Also, four-hundred to zero? That has to be the most one-sided score ever!"

"Actually, that was the Slytherin/Gryffindor match in 1954." Hermione said, releasing Harry as her bookworm tendencies took over. "It was a Gryffindor victory with the score finishing at eight hundred and sixty to one hundred and fifty after the Slytherin Seeker caught the Snitch, being the only remaining Slytherin player on the pitch due to injuries and penalties. The worst Hufflepuff game was in 1975 when they lost five hundred and seventy to twenty against Slytherin."

"And once again we prove that there's nothing Hermione doesn't know." Neville joked, earning a huff and a dope-slap from the girl in question. "Worth it."