Knee Slapper

"One of the Weasley Twins scores! Don't ask me who because I have no idea! And that's thirty to twenty-five for Gryffindor! Looks like we're going to have new banners this year! And I'm all for it!" the young announcer calls out as both teams blitz to regain equilibrium along the field.

"Yeah... I'm gonna go..." Harry says, handing Parvati back her scarf and standing. While everyone around him was loving it, aside from a select few like Hermione, he found the whole thing so incredibly boring that he was beginning to feel the urge to throw himself off of the stands...

"I-I'll come. We still have two hours to get some studying in before dinner." Hermione follows.

Ron sniffs at them, "Following him like a pet, I told you she liked him."

"To be honest, this is pretty boring to me too..." Neville admits before Hermione could wheel around and respond. "Do you two mind if I join you?"

Hermione glances at Harry who hadn't actually been listening, still walking to the exit. "I-er, sure? I think?"

Just as the duo begin to follow Harry however, he pauses midstep and looks up, as if smelling something foul. "Does anyone hear that...?"

...

Harry's eyes widen as he hurriedly ducks to the side, kicking Hermione into Neville just a bludger flies through the area his head had just been. It continues its momentum, crashing into the stand and into an unfortunate student's leg, utterly obliterating it as if it were shot from an actual cannon.

Screams ring out, Hermione included as the student screams in agony, gripping his mangled leg, the bludger dislodges itself in a cloud of wooden splinters and flies back into the sky and headed straight back at Harry.

He just crooks a brow at it, reaching out with a telekinetic grip and stopping it dead in the air. If he said he wasn't surprised that'd be a lie, he hadn't expected someone to try and kill him so blatantly...

Still holding the bludger, he ignores the panicked movements around him and focuses on the other stands, specifically those who had reason to try and harm him. None of the Slytherins was responsible judging by how amused they are by it, nor was Dumbledore who was quickly making his way over with a grim expression.

Among the teachers, he did notice Snape muttering under his breath with his eyes locked on the bludger, it was rather obvious he was magically manipulating it. None of the other teachers seemed to be doing anything, other than the few who were panicking obviously.

He locks eyes with Quirrel, and squeezes his hand into a tight fist, cracking and crushing the bludger until the half-hollow iron sphere was the size of a tennis ball.

"M-Mr Potter! We should leave now before anything else untoward occurs!" Professor McGonagall exclaims, grabbing him by his sleeve and pulling him towards the exit. Hermione hurriedly follows but Neville remains behind to try and help the injured and calm everyone else...

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"H-Harry! What was that!?" Hermione hurriedly asks as the Professor escorts them to the castle.

"Someone tried to kill me, obviously." he states matter-of-factly.

"B-but who would do such a thing!?"

"Oh, I don't know, the Death Eaters who bribed the government to let them go, people who fear me, organisations who want attention. Maybe even the people who sold books with my name on them, can't risk their lucrative business after all." he easily lists off.

"Perhaps you can discuss this after you're out of danger, Mr Potter, Miss Granger?" McGonagall says, urging them to go faster by speeding up her own stride.

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Surprisingly, Harry doesn't find himself immediately taken to the Headmaster's Office as he'd expected. McGonagall just escorted them to their respective Houses, then hurried off, allowing them to go study in the library as they'd intended.

He was pretty sure all the faculty were having a meeting about it, and judging by how Hermione was freaking out, the rest of the school would be in a similar state. After calming her down and shoving some of the more obscure books in her face, he leaves and immediately heads to Quirrel's office.

The man clearly knew something and probably suspected Snape too, which would hopefully get him an ally against Dumbledore. Having one of the man's own teachers working against him would make life far easier... Not to mention, Harry had been looking for chance to get into the Restricted Section of the library, something Quirrel should be able to provide him.

"Ah, Harry." Quirrel smiles as he steps into his office and sets his cloak down on the coat rack. "I thought I might find you here."

Harry's eye twitches at the man, either he'd been replaced by someone stupid, or he'd miraculously been cured of his stutter... Well, there was a third option. "Not putting on the act anymore?"

Quirrel shakes his head and makes his way to his desk, "No, I don't see a point when it's just you and I. We were both there, both saw Severus attempting to kill you. I believe in this case our goals align."

"So it was Snape?" he questions, while he had seen it, he wasn't an expert in wand-waver magics yet. For all he knew the bludger was cursed before the match even started.

"It was, I'm certain of that. Some sort of Dark Magic, a Subjugation Charm I assume. Very situational but after the initial cast all that's required to maintain it is eye contact... And the chant." he surmises.

Harry scowls at that, it appeared that the cold war they had going on had finally been broken. Since Snape and presumably Dumbledore had decided to kill him, it'd be remiss of him to not reply in turn.

But first, he needed to know who his ally actually is. Dumbledore wasn't the only person out for his blood, as he'd told Hermione. "What's your goal?"

"My goal? You see, the Headmaster has stolen some of mine. Remember his warning at the start of the year?"