Chapter 103 - And so the hunt begins

Entering the changing room, Harry felt bad since he had been unconscious in the hospital wing for the final match of the previous year, meaning that Gryffindor had been a player short and had suffered their worst defeat in three hundred years against the Ravenclaws that even without Thomas managed to beat them with almost 250 points difference.

Wood took a moment to regain control of himself. Their last defeat was clearly still torturing him, especially since he knew that despite everything the Ravenclaws weren't even in their best form.

"Listen up people. After our defeat last year… I want everyone this year, to train harder than ever before… Okay, let's go and put our new theories into practice!" Wood shouted, seizing his broomstick and leading the way out of the locker rooms. Stiff-legged and still yawning, his team followed.

They had been in the locker room so long that the sun was up completely now, although remnants of mist hung over the grass in the stadium. As Harry walked onto the field, he saw Ron and Hermione sitting in the stands.

"Aren't you finished yet?" called Ron incredulously.

"Haven't even started," said Harry, looking jealously at the toast and marmalade Ron and Hermione had brought out of the Great Hall. "Wood's been teaching us new moves. By the way, where are the others?"

Hermione frowned at Harry and said, "They're with those two Slytherin girls, Daphne and Tracey. They've been practicing some new charm that Daphne created." She sniffed and took a bite of her toast.

Ron rolled his eyes at Hermione and said, "Oh, come on, Hermione. Don't be such a know-it-all. It's a great spell. It turns the Lumos spell into a living being, sort of. It's like a little fairy that follows you around for a few minutes before it extinguishes itself. It's really cool. We should try to learn it sometime."

Before Harry could ask anything about this new charm, he heard Wood's voice calling him and telling him to mount the damned broom already. Shaking his head and putting his curiosity away, he mounted his broomstick and kicked at the ground, soaring up into the air.

The cool morning air whipped his face, waking him far more effectively than Wood's long talk. It felt wonderful to be back on the Quidditch field making Harry smile as he soared right around the stadium at full speed, racing Fred and George.

"What's that funny clicking noise?" called Fred as they hurtled around the corner.

Harry looked into the stands and saw Colin sitting in one of the highest seats, his camera raised, taking picture after picture, the sound strangely magnified in the deserted stadium.

"Look this way, Harry! This way!" he cried shrilly.

"Who's that?" said Fred.

"No idea," Harry lied, putting on a spurt of speed that took him as far away as possible from Colin.

"What's going on?" said Wood, frowning, as he skimmed through the air toward them. "Why's that first year taking pictures? I don't like it. He could be a Slytherin or worse a Ravenclaw spy, trying to find out about our new training program."

"He's in Gryffindor," said Harry quickly.

"And the Slytherins don't need a spy, Oliver," George clicked his tongue.

"What makes you say that?" Wood asked the twins not understanding what they meant.

"Because they're here in person," Fred said, pointing towards the field.

Several people in green robes were walking onto the field with their broomsticks in their hands.

"I don't believe it!" Wood hissed in outrage. "I bloody booked the field for today! We'll see about this!"

Wood shot toward the ground, landing rather harder than he meant to in his anger, staggering slightly as he dismounted. Harry, Fred, and George followed.

"Flint!" Wood bellowed at the Slytherin Captain. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!"

Marcus Flint was even larger than Wood and had a look of trollish cunning on his face as he replied with an annoying smile on his face, "Plenty of room for all of us, Wood. Doesn't our great Headmaster say that we all should be friends and share? Or maybe the great Gryffindor is not so keen on sharing with their peers?"

The three girls from the Gryffindor's team, Angelina, Alicia, and Katie had come over, too glancing at the snakes. And while there were no girls on the Slytherin team, that didn't intimidate the three girls who stood shoulder to shoulder with their friends against the Slytherin team.

"But I booked the field!" said Wood, positively spitting with rage. "I booked it!"

"Ah," said Flint. "But I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape that says, 'I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker.'"

"You've got a new Seeker?" said Wood, distracted. "Where?"

And from behind the six large figures before them came a seventh, smaller boy, smirking all over his pale, pointed face letting his blonde hair free.

"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" Fred muttered, looking at Malfoy in disgust.

"Funny you should mention Draco's father," Flint smirked as the whole Slytherin team smiled still more broadly. "Let me show you the generous gift Mr. Malfoy made to the Slytherin team."

All seven of them held out their broomsticks. Seven highly polished, brand-new handles and seven sets of fine gold lettering spelling the words Nimbus Two Thousand and One gleamed under the Gryffindors' noses in the early morning sun.

The same thing happened a few times over the next month with both the Gryffindor team as well as with the Ravenclaws. However, compared to the lions, the Ravenclaws didn't let the Slytherin step on them and so the second time Flint and his team barged onto the field, Matthew used the law in their favor challenging Flint to a duel. Obviously, the Slytherin captain refused to duel, and because of that the Ravenclaws got the green light to retaliate against the Slytherin students if they keep bothering their training. Something that Flint and his team did right away.

As soon as Flint and the Slytherin team bothered the Ravenclaws, Thomas decided to hit them with a harmless spell that turned their robes into bride dresses. He had learned the spell from a prank book he had borrowed from the twins, however, Thomas wasn't a fool to attack an older student without his team captain's permission and as soon as Matthew nodded, Thomas pointed his wand at the Slytherin team and shouted, "Vestis Sponsa!"

A jet of pink light flew from his wand and hit Flint in the chest. The burly Slytherin captain gasped as his robes transformed into a frilly white gown with lace and pearls. He looked ridiculous and furious as he tried to rip off the dress, but it was stuck to him like glue.

The other Slytherins were not spared either and a second later, they all found themselves wearing similar dresses, complete with veils, bouquets, and shoes. They looked like a group of brides ready for a wedding. Despite all of them being mortified by their new beautiful appearance, they glared at Thomas and the Ravenclaws, who were laughing hysterically.

The Ravenclaw team cheered and clapped for Thomas, who bowed and smiled toward the Slytherin. "Thank you, thank you. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Please do come again."

After that day, the Slytherins didn't come to bother them again, even though Snape did put a formal request for the Ravenclaw team to be punished, nothing happened to them since the law was in their favor.

And just like that, October arrived, spreading a damp chill over the grounds and into the castle. Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, was kept busy by a sudden spate of colds among the staff and students. Her Pepperup Potion worked instantly, though it left the drinker smoking at the ears for several hours afterward. Thankfully for Madam Pomfrey, she had quite a few volunteers ready to brew some of this magical potion for her so that she could always be ready for worse cases. Professor Snape came to her and told her that five students wanted more experience and she quickly accepted, after all, if those five students were even remotely decent, that would save her quite a few hours every day.

While Thomas, Adam, Tracey, Michael, and Daphne enjoyed brewing potions and learning more about the healing arts, something sinister happened in the castle on the night of Halloween.

Madam Pomfrey smiled at the five students who had been helping her with the Pepperup Potion. They had done a splendid job, producing enough bottles to last for a week and because of that, she decided to reward them by letting them go and enjoy the Halloween feast.

"Thank you, my dears, for your hard work and dedication. You have helped me quite a lot today. But now, it's time for you to have some fun. Go on, off you go. The feast is waiting for you. I'll manage the infirmary alone, thanks to the sheer amount of potions you made for me."

Thomas and his friends thanked her for letting them practice and left the infirmary. As they were walking towards the great hall, they saw a familiar face coming towards them.

"Hey, guys, happy Halloween!" he greeted them in an unusually quiet manner. "And here I was, coming to bring you some treats. Here, take some."

James then handed them each a handful of candies, but all of them noticed that he looked pale and shaky, while his eyes were wide and his voice was slightly trembling.

"James, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

James swallowed hard and glanced around nervously.

"I have seen something worse," James whispered. "I … have … seen Mrs. Norris hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. The cat was stiff as a board, Tommy almost as if her life was sucked out of her."

The girls let out a yelp of fear as they heard James' words and clutched their candies before looking at each other in horror. Mrs. Norris was dead? Who would do such a thing?

Meanwhile, Adam and Michael stiffened, looking at their friend worriedly. They knew James was not the type to lie or joke about something like this. Even though he was a prankster, he had boundaries, and lying about someone's death was one of them.

Thomas's first fear was that the dark lord came back or worse that devil woman came for him so because of that he quickly asked Bahamut if he had sensed anything in the school.

[Did you felt anything strange today?]

[ I'm sorry, Thomas, but I haven't sensed anything unusual in the school. For some reason, I can't sense anything that is more than five meters away from you. It's like there is a barrier blocking my perception. I don't know what is causing it, but it doesn't feel good. It's at least some ultimate or stronger magic at work or a blood sacrifice used to block any and all perception skills.]

'Any suggestion?'

[Trust yourself, whatever it is wasn't coming for you, that's for sure otherwise you would have been the target or at least one of your friends would have been.]

Thomas felt a chill run down his spine as he heard Bahamut's words. He trusted his teacher's instincts more than anything. If Bahamut couldn't sense anything, then something was very wrong. Nevertheless, as he said, there was nothing he could do about and hopefully, the target of whatever had attacked a poor cat was not him or his friends.

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