The Bludger Incident
For Harry, the weeks were still flying by. He had had fun on Halloween, and now Remus was sending him letters occasionally. He could only wait until next year, when he would have his godfather again.
As the first Quidditch match of the year approached, Harry began to get more and more nervous. He did not fancy spending the night in the hospital wing having his arm regrown. Draco seemed adamant that Dobby would not hex the bludger this time, giving Lockhart no reason to vanish his bones.
"I told Dobby not to mess with Hogwarts. He should not have any reason to come here." Draco assured Harry.
"He didn't have any real reason last time. I was actually safe from the basilisk." Harry countered.
"He couldn't have known that." Hermione defended. Harry rolled his eyes.
"Sure, whatever." Harry shrugged off.
The day of the Quidditch match came. All three of the Gryffindors were keeping an eye out for the renegade house elf, and they seemed satisfied when they did not see him.
Harry and Draco left for the locker rooms after breakfast. They got dressed and lined up in front of the chalkboard Wood used to explain plays to them.
"Come on, team. We've practiced hard. We've studied our plays. I am confident that this game will end in our favor. We will win." Wood announced excitedly. Fred and George looked at one another deviously. Then, both of them stepped forward. First Fred knocked on Wood's forehead. Then, George took a turn. Wood stood frozen in shock.
"What was that for?" Wood sputtered when he actually came to his senses. Both redheads shrugged.
"Knock on wood." The cited in unison. Wood still looked confused.
"What does that mean?" Wood asked them. Harry stepped forward.
"In the muggle world, it's meant as a counter for jinxes. You know, when you say something will or will not happen, you knock on wood so that it's not jinxed." Harry turned to the twins. "Where did you learn that?"
Fred shrugged again. "Dear old dad told us about it." He explained. Harry nodded his head in understanding. Wood still looked murderous.
"Just get out there and play, eh?" Wood commanded. Everyone nodded.
The game began perfectly. Draco made quite the show of making several goals against the Slytherin team. Harry kept his eyes peeled for the snitch.
"Practicing for the ballet, Potter?" Finnegan sneered after Harry had to dodge several bludgers.
"You wish. Then, maybe you could find the snitch." Harry jeered as he scanned the field once again.
Just when Harry thought they were in the clear, one of the bludgers started acting up. No matter how many times the twins hit it towards the Slytherins, it always came back for Harry.
"What's with the rogue bludger?" Fred asked as he once again hit the bludger toward Zabini. Harry sighed.
"I had hoped for one change, just one, minor change." Harry muttered under his breath.
"What was that, Harry-bear?" George asked as he hit the bludger away from Harry once again.
"Nothing." Harry lied. He had to find the snitch quickly.
Draco, who at the moment was not in possession of the quaffle, looked worriedly over at his friend. He would kill the house elf later.
Harry was just about to grab the snitch when the bludger came back and slammed into his arm, effectively breaking it. Harry used his other arm to grab the snitch and then rolled onto the ground in agony.
Draco raced down from the sky and quickly hopped off his broom to check on Harry. It was at this time that Lockhart started talking about how he could fix the arm in a jiffy.
"No!" Draco yelled out and tried to block Lockhart's wand.
"Oh, dear boy, you don't know what you're talking about! I can fix this with a simple spell." Lockhart bragged.
"No, you are not a mediwizard or a healer in any way, shape, or form." Draco countered strongly. Thankfully, Draco's quick thinking distracted Lockhart long enough for Madame Pomphrey, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape to make it to the pitch. They were about to take Harry away when the bludger came to life again and started attacking Harry, again.
"What in the world is it with rogue bludgers today?" Professor Snape muttered as he blasted the deathtrap ball with a curse.
Madame Pomphrey helped Harry up and walked him over toward the castle. Draco and Hermione followed along quickly.
Once at the hospital wing, Madame Pomphrey healed Harry's arm. She insisted, however, that Harry stay overnight for observation. Harry sighed.
"She just likes to keep students here as long as possible. Probably likes the company." Harry muttered.
"Maybe we should get her a cat." Draco suggested. Hermione laughed. Then, her eyes widened in realization.
"Ooh, I get Crookshanks next year!" Hermione exclaimed. Harry sighed.
"Yay, we get that beast to look forward to." Harry mumbled. He was not looking forward to an irate Ron this time around. Although, now that he thought about it, maybe Ron did deserve what was coming to him, and he was sure the rat deserved it.
"Hey, don't blame Crookshanks! He knew before we did that Scabbers was Pettigrew." Hermione argued with her hands on her hips.
"Yeah, but only because Sirius told him." Harry countered. Then, Harry looked around the room. "Maybe this conversation is a bit loud. After all, we are talking about things that haven't occurred yet." Both his friends nodded in agreement.
Madame Pomphrey soon shooed Hermione and Draco out to allow Harry some rest. He was sure he was in for the most boring night of his life when suddenly, Professor Snape appeared by his bedside.
"We still do not know what happened to the bludger." Professor Snape informed him without so much as a greeting.
"I do." Harry muttered, but nodded his head in understanding. There was an awkward pause.
"It's not that surprising to see how often you are in the hospital wing, Mister Potter, considering how often your father was in here. I believe he was in here almost every week, and I can only take credit for half of those instances." Harry could have sworn that Professor Snape smirked a bit when he told him that. Harry nodded.
"Though, I heard some stories from Remus about what they did to you. I'm sure some of those instances were justified." Harry informed him. Professor Snape inclined his head.
"Childish grudges do tend to create some interesting stories, I am sure." Professor Snape added. Harry smirked.
"I'll say. I'm sorry, by the way, for what my father did to you. No one deserves that. I can only hope that he had grown up by the time my mum married him. I can't stand bullies and I hate to think my father was one." Harry admitted. Professor Snape looked a little shocked.
"Your father was many things, Mister Potter. I know Lily. He must have matured if she was willing to marry him." Professor Snape soothed. Harry's smiled.
"Thank you, sir." Harry returned. Professor Snape nodded. There was another awkward silence. He only left when Madame Pomphrey shooed him away, as well.
Harry could only ponder on what had occurred. It seemed strange, Professor Snape almost defending his father to him. Harry shook his head to get his thoughts straight.
He did not have much time to think before they brought in a petrified Collin Creevey. Harry thought back to his first second year. It seemed odd that everyone thought he was the heir of Slytherin, when he had been in the hospital wing under lock and key practically when Collin had been petrified by the basilisk. Just another inconsistency he would have to think on later.
The next morning, when he was let out of the hospital wing, he told Hermione about his realization.
"That's true! We never thought about that before! How could they think you were Heir of Slytherin after Collin's petrification? You were in no shape to petrify him." Hermione agreed.
"You know, I was pretty jealous of you for that. Not that you were the Heir of Slytherin-I knew you weren't-but that everyone thought you were. If anyone should have been suspected of being the Heir, it should have been me." Draco complained.
"Why do you think we needed Polyjuice? We pretended to be Crabbe and Goyle to figure out if you knew anything about the Heir." Harry explained. Draco's eyes widened.
"Hermione was Goyle? I mean, I know you must have been Crabbe, because of the whole glasses thing, but Hermione turned into a boy?" Draco sputtered. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"No, I was supposed to be Millicent Bulstrode. However, I accidently grabbed a cat hair rather than her hair. I ended up in the hospital wing for a few weeks after that incident." Hermione corrected. Draco nodded, looking a little less concerned.
"Wait, you were a cat?" Draco asked. Harry smirked.
"Catgirl. Na na na na na na na na na na. Catgirl." Harry sang. Draco looked at Harry confused and Hermione slapped his shoulder. All Harry could do was laugh. Draco was still laughing at Catgirl, though he did not get the cultural reference. Harry decided he would explain the joys of Batman to the blond later.