A Wizards Life in Magical Academia re:

Chapter 7:

Year 1

October had come, a sharp icy breeze present in every nook of that cavernous castle now.

Today not the best day for Harry James Potter.

He'd received a Troll on his Energy Potion (apparently the worst grade you could receive) despite the potion being identical to the Exceeds Expectation worthy potion Malfoy had smugly submitted. Causing him to stalk to lunch in a foul mood.

Said mood only getting worse upon actually sitting through the meal.

"Are you sure you're okay with sitting here?" Harry inquired, setting his spoon down besides his bowl of soup as he gratefully accepted the platter of bread rolls from a flushed Neville,

"The rest of my house doesn't speak to me anyway, why would they care where I sit?" Delphi, humming out her reply non-committally as Ron's expression became pinched and suspicious,

"Why?"
"I'm a halfblood, Weasley. I don't really fit in with... their kind."
She jerked her head to the House of silver and green, where (despite her blase statement that they wouldn't care) Malfoy was glowering at the three of them from across the room and a few others in her house looked scandalised. Delphi reaching for a bread roll as mutters and glares met her from the Gryffindor table also, buttering it with a small smile as Harry glared down an incensed Cormac McClaggen who looked DESPERATE to say something.

"Are there really no halfbloods in Slytherin?" Harry more wondered aloud than actually asking the girl beside him, she answered all the same,

"Nah, there are a few. Tracey Davies is a halfblood, but she's part of Daphne's clique so it's overlooked."
"So it's a 'who you know' sort of setup?" Harry actually asked, met with a nod,

"Yeah. Another example would be Miliscent, Goyle and Crabbe. They're idiots and their families are poor, but they are openly allied to Parkinson and Malfoy, so not even the older years would dare say anything to them."
"What about Zabini?" Ron blurted out, having sat with his lips clamped closed the moment the girl had slipped into the seat between him and his best friend.

"He's like me I guess, no one talks to him." She shrugged, the three of them (independent of one another) found their eyes flicking to the dark skinned boy on the otherside of the room, his eyes on a small book in his right hand as he stirred a cup with his left, "But people don't talk to him cause they're scared, not because he's a nobody or his blood status."
"He's a pureblood." Ron muttered to himself, unintentionally answering a question Harry had thought to ask, "Though I'm not surprised."

Harry did manage this question though,
"Why would they be scared of him?" Met with stunned looks before realisation dawned on Ron's face,

"How do you-"

"Right! You were raised by Muggles so you wouldn't know."
"Wait- really?! I thought that was just a rumour!" Delphi nearly shrieked out, drawing even more attention to the three of them and giving them even more points and muttering to ignore,

"Well mate, it's not Zabini they're scared of, but his mum."

"Harry!" A cheery, hopeful male voice that stopped Harry from inquiring further.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, a weight settling in his stomach as the three of them twisted round to the brunette boy jogging to them from the door to the Entrance Hall.

"Hi Oliver." Harry sighed, meeting the exuberant grin of Oliver Wood's with a tired one of his own. He was thankful for Ron truly in this moment, as the ginger flicked his eyes between the two of them before setting to gathering up their lunch to go, elbowing Delphi to do the same instead of staring down the approaching fifth year.

"Glad I caught you!"
"Well I'm just here. Eating my lunch." He intoned slowly, tone leading and a little expectant. Harry even went so far as to pick up his spoon and waved it a bit to give Oliver a hint. The older boy ( to his credit) seemed to get the hint and hit him with a nod, his smile dripping off of his face giving Harry the comfort to turn away and turn back to his food.

But of course it wasn't over.

Delphi tugged at his sleeve and jerked her head behind them, a flat expression on her face. The state of Oliver Wood when Harry turned around honestly left him speechless.

He was on his knees, hands clasped as if in prayer and giving Harry a feeling of sheer mortification,

"Please! Please join the team!" Oliver Wood, sixteen years of age, shrieked out his plea with actual tears teetering on the edge of his big, brown eyes, "You're exactly what I need. I've got the best team I can possibly make right now, with the exception of a top tier Seeker. I'll do anything you want, just please play with us!"

A moment, then two. In all honesty, one could have told Harry he'd stared down at Oliver Wood for a decade, mouth agape as he visibly searched for a response and he would have believed them.

And he would have believed that Oliver really did curl up into a ball and sob on the Great Hall floor when he simply placed his spoon down on the table, slipped his bag on and walked away...

It was about five minutes later, down the corridors to their destination when Delphi finally brought her amused (yet seemingly incensed) rant to a close,

"Honestly, it was pathetic." The girl was struggling to speak through her strings of giggles, ignoring the condemnation from Ron and Harry in their sidelong glares,
"Leave him alone." Harry folded his arms as she continued,

"Why don't you just ask that Florean guy to get you to work different days." She folded her arms over her chest, the grin she'd had on her face for the past ten minutes sinking into a more perplexed look,

"It's not my place to tell Mr Fortescue when I will and won't work." Harry shook his head, surprising the two with the small half-sigh of disappointment that almost escaped his body, "I'm lucky to have the job I have AND I still need it."
"Why don't you just tell Wood that?" Delphi fiddled with the strap of her dusty black satchel as she levelled him with a pleasantly curious amethyst stare,

"Because, technically, I shouldn't be leaving the school to go do it."

Delphi's eyebrows rose high and Harry took that as a wordless instruction to continue,

"I kinda... punked the system. I am supposed to get a member of staff to sign off on me coming and going. But the slip claimed that that member of staff should also ensure I have permission of my Head of House."
"And you didn't ask McGonagall?" Ron's inquiry met with a head shake, "Why?"
"Professor McGonagall has been kind of funny with me since I borrowed that book from her." Harry folding his ownarms over his chest as Delphi stood to the side not knowing what he was talking about, "I don't think she'd say yes. So I'm gonna keep it a secret."
"For how long?" Ron,
"As long as I can get away with it." He met Delphi's unimpressed sneer with a daring look, "Can't get in trouble if they don't know I should be."
The girl said nothing further on the point, instead snickering to herself again,

"I'm kinda glad you've kept it to yourself." She shook her head and nearly skipped in merriment with a smirk on her lips, "Honestly, seeing a bloody fifth year on his knees begging a first year for something as innocuous as Quidditch is just ludicrous enough to make my day."

Ron glared, Harry shook his head as he responded,

"Though, I can't imagine loving a sport that much" A harsh snort-like chuckle ripping past his lips seemingly involuntary, "I really do feel bad for just walking out on him like that."

"Only at Hogwarts." Delphi dramatically sighed, the two openly laughed as Ron bit back on a grin.

...

...

A stormy afternoon met the Hogwarts students, four p.m. having the majority of the schools occupants huddled away somewhere in doors, staving off the damp, wet and chill beside cozy fires or within warm cubbies as soon as classes ended.

The Gryffindors (mostly nestled in their Common Room) no exception,

"Announcing the magnanimous, Fred!"
"Announcing the illustrious, George!"

"Here to make your day!" Cheery and simultaneous, a lanky duo of freckly red heads plopped onto the sofa; twins now either side of a younger and shorter looking lad who could only be their younger sibling. Said younger sibling, Ronald (Ron) Weasley midway through a vicious trouncing of a scowling Cormac McClaggen. The elder boy red faced and muttering expletives under his breath as he ran his hands through his wiry hair and scowled at his petulant bishop, refusing to move as Ron's queen flicked obscene gestures in its direction.

"What do you want?" Ron snapped, rolling his head to his left to lock hazel eyes onto the brother he recognised as Fred,

"Aww, Ronnie! How mean!"
"Can't we just want to check in on our ickle baby Ron-Ron?"

Ron became very wary of his brothers moving hands, well aware of the two's deftness at slight of hand and was left to fantasize (in growing horror) at what sickening prank they'd done to him this time,

"Oh calm down." Expression read by Fred,

"We did it three hours ago, and it won't take effect until breakfast." A reply broke by George's snicker.

Impish grins twisted up the lips of the twins as that information settled in Ron's mind, the tips of his ears cherry red as the rest of the colour on his face faded into white,

"Joking!" They exclaimed in unison, Ron was not convinced, the two ignored that fact.

"We're going to keep it simple, brother mine." Fred folded his arms and leaned quite heavily back into the plush red and gold sofa as his twin leaned forward in his own seat, "We're here on business."

"Oliver has a fantastic idea, truly brilliant really." George nodded vigorously as he spoke, only briefly interrupted by Lee Jordan's smirking remark,
"For a guy who sleeps with a Quaffle." and he was met with a few surprised looks and snickers,
"As Harry Potter's designated best mate, Oliver thinks you're the best person to ask on how we could get Harry to join the team."
"Our first match is in a few week and Oli needs Harry to train with the team at least once before then."
"We're running out of time and Oli's going spare."

"At this rate we're gonna have to ACTUALLY use that knob Cormac."
A pause settled over the trio, Ron's eyes flicking across the table to a boy forgotten by the duo. Until he flicked his eyes back to his brothers who had a sharp but amused glimmer in their own gaze, clearly daring the visibly livid boy to say or do anything in response.

He stood quickly, flying to his feet and smashing his knees on the table in the process (knocking the remaining chess pieces down) as he ground his teeth closed, his fingers into fists and stormed off to the opposite side of the squat Gryffindor Common room.

"Good, now that he's gone..."

"...spill the Knuts, brother mine."

Fred and George leaning in on their brother, said boy pushing them off and away, instead leaning forward to gather up the downed chess pieces and put everything away. Gaze focussed on his task even as he formed his reply,

"I don't bloody know." His lips propped forth in small pout, his hand scratching at his scalp for a moment as he hummed to himself, "He's... Harry didn't tell me why he said no. I mean, I wouldn't."

Ron shook his head, resisting the urge to roll his eyes also as he remembered that afternoon,

"Honestly, I wonder if he just wants to string Wood along." He huffed, nostril flared a little, "He and Rowle laughed a bit about it afterwards."

Ron slid the chess set away and slumped back into his seat, shaking his head almost the whole way,

"Nah, that's not right." Ron sighed, "He has his own reasons for not joining the team."

"And those are?"
"None of your business." Ron folded his arms and ignored the two. Going so far as to begin to make a path to the dorms and escape entirely.

A vice like grip on each of his arms said otherwise,

"Right, Ronnie, let's explain you something."

"If Oli doesn't get a reason from Harry as to why he's not getting Harry on the team, Oli will keep bothering him." George, a remarkably serious expression freezing his features in place,

"So... if you're really his friend, you'll give us a good reason to go back to Oliver with." Fred on Ron's otherside, leaning in with an almost compassionate gaze boring into him, "For Harry's sake."

...

...

"That'll be 25 Sickles, please."

"Ah, hold on, I have this coupon." The pink clad woman chirped out with a toothy smile.

Harry smiled thinly but patiently, knowing full well what he was going to have to say when she pulled out a familiar slip of paper that had been cut out of the magical publication, The Daily Prophet,

"I'm sorry, ma'am. But I'm afraid that we no longer accept the Daily Prophet, 50% off vouchers. That promotion is, unfortunately, no longer running."

'Please don't prove me right. Please don't prove me right.' Harry prayed to himself over and over again, worrying his hands together from beneath the counter as he watched the words sink in for the woman with a held breath,

"What do you- no longer running?"

"Yes ma'am, the voucher has expired."

"Look sweetheart." Harry winced as the woman spoke her words in a sickly sweet, condescending tone, "I'm sure that crook, Fortescue, has told you what your supposed to say when presented with these. But you haven't even looked at the slip of paper so how can you possibly tell me it has expired."

"If it would alleviate your concerns, I would be willing to point to the printed expiration date on the bottom left of the voucher." Harry responded with a smirk he was really fighting to keep off of his face,

"Yes, it really would, then you can take it and give me my…" Her words trailed off as she herself viewed the mentioned section of her voucher, Harry allowing smugness to infect his carefully sculpted smile,

"Would you let me see it please, ma'am." Harry held out his hand expectantly and the woman scowled and flung it onto the counter. Harry's smile completing the metamorphosis into a smirk at the petulance as he picked it up, flipped it over and made a big display of dragging his finger over the paper and finding the date, "Aha, there it is. As you can see, right here, it expired on the 29th of October and today is the 30th. Thus, I must regrettably apologise as it is now expired and we are no longer accepting

"Buh… It's only a few days. MAKE AN EXCEPTION!" She demanded at volume and missed the narrowing of Harry's eyes and the clenching of his fists under the register,

"I'm sorry, our policy does not allow for such actions. I am sorry." Harry spoke as levelly as he could muster, despite his urge to throttle the woman in question, "Now, that will be 25 sickles. Please."

He spat out the last word and felt, rather than saw, the fearful cringe of the short woman before she rummaged in her pastel pink handbag with a grumble and thrust forth the appropriate currency. Harry taking it with a sweet smile and a sickly 'thanks'.

"May I have your name please, madam? So I can call when your treat has been prepared."

"Madam Dolores Umbridge." She sniffed, drawing herself to her full, unimpressive height and attempting to look down her nose at the eleven-year old who stood an inch taller.

"Lovely, if you would please move aside it will be prepared shortly. Next please." Harry glared at her in his peripheral vision and saw her cheeks turn scarlet as he turned his well-practiced smile to the next customer.

A good few minutes later, the foul woman took her three cones with her (with much scowling and muttering),

"She was… foul." Aster, the amber eyed cashier beside him, thin black lips turned down in a grimace as the somewhat toad-like woman waddled away, the girl running talon-like hands through her neck length hair as she glared her away, "Did you see the way she looked at me?"

Harry shook his head, not in denial of seeing it, but in disgust at the Umbridge woman's actions,

"She's disgusting." Harry said as he grabbed a tray of glasses to take to be washed. Settling in to do some cleaning and hoping he'd never run into the foul Dolores Umbridge ever again.

"At least she didn't ask for the Manager." Bill snickered as he flicked a wand off to the shop floor and wrenched the dust and grime from the floor. It hovered a few inches off of the ground before vanishing

"Evanesco is the incantation, try it back at Hogwarts."

"Thanks Bill." Harry cheerily called, jotting down the spell on another littler requisitioned list to add to his collection, receiving a wave off from Bill as soon as Florean came out from the back of the shop with his eyes on a roll of parchment about two feet long. A little smirk on his lips that left his staff fairly curious as to its contents,

"That's you for the day Harry, your pay for September's on the table upstairs. Grab it and get yourself safe back to school." He flicked his eyes up at the boy and was met with a grateful little nod before he said his goodbyes. Graciously rejecting the offer of an escort to King's Cross.

He didn't fly off the his seat this time, but he did thump into the doorway of the compartment when he made to leave just a little too soon, thus the Hogwarts Express was met with the same loathsome glower he had for the entire month of September so far. All before he took a deep breath, tugged his school cloak up around his neck before sprinting through the mud and rain back up to the castle. Bouncing from one foot to another in cold and impatience as he waited for Hagrid to let him in about fifteen minutes later.

Everything was going fine, until his drenched self found his way back into the Gryffindor tower...

Harry glared, blindly and unimpressed as he hung upside down with his glasses on the floor. The feeling of rope bound around his ankle and holding him aloft just on the other side of the Fat Lady's portrait as the Gryffindor's laughed up a storm at his misfortune,

"Nice one, brother mine."

"Not too shabby yourself, brother mine."

"Hi Harry, you ok?" A familiar voice found his ears after the two mischievous lines prior,

"I'd be better if I could see." He glared at the brown unfocused blob in front of him who quickly scrabbled down to retrieve his glasses and place them on his face. Once his sight was restored, the glare simply turned withering in the face of Oliver Wood, frozen and gaping at the boys look, "Is this your play, Oliver? Bully me into joining the team?"

Maybe he was expecting some reply, but the wide eyes and stiffening of his figure showed that that wasn't the one,

"Whu- What? No! I… I just…" A trio of older girls sidled up behind the spluttering Wood with expressions of equivalent amusement and disbelief,

"Our dear captain has been desperate to speak to you, but unable to catch you. So, he asked our teams lovely Beaters, who double as this schools resident fools, to set a little trap for you." The youngest looking of the tree spoke up, shoulder length brown hair ruffled in her own hands, "Hi, I'm Katie"

"Trap is a very strong word." One of the two redhead who had spoken prior,

"This is a very strong rope. Trapping me in place." Harry glared, the two redheads grinning impishly and fist bumping each other. He sighed tiredly, "Nice to meet you Katie. Are you a Chaser then?"

"Uh huh! Joined this year, I'm a second year." She responded gleefully, grinning brightly before settling into a comfortable smirk, "You can call me 'senpai' if you like."

Harry's eyebrows knitted together in massive confusion,

"Why would I call you that? Is it a nickname or something?" He asked in utter bewilderment, the feeling deepening as she visibly deflated and a few of his housemates laughed again,

"Welp, I guess Harry Potter is a normie." She sighed, looking genuinely disappointed as she stepped back a bit. Harry feeling affronted for what he perceived as a slight and a bit disheartened, "Shame, you're so cute too."

"I think we should get back on topic." Oliver drew attention to himself as he stood with his hands on his hips and stared down the hanging Gryffindor, "I've seen the memory of your little manoeuvre, I don't think even the great Charlie Weasley could have pulled off a fifty foot dive. Let alone at eleven, or on his first broom lesson."

Harry winced when he heard stunned gasps and whispers spreading around the common room from his other housemates, trying to drown them out he spoke up,

"Who's Charlie Weasley?" Harry asked, convinced he must be one of Ron's older, graduated, brothers,

"Our big bro." The redheads spoke in unison, "He was the teams Seeker whilst he was here, one of the best we've ever had."

"Yes, I got to play with him. He was incredible, could have played for the national team if he really wanted. Instead he got into dragon taming." Oliver shrugged and his posture radiated disappointment, "Although I think he wasted his talent, I respect his wishes. But every fibre in my body refuses to allow who I see to be his second coming not reach the truly glorious potential he is destined for!"

Oliver's eyes glimmered with light and he pointed a righteous finger at him as he made his heated declaration,

"You, Harry Potter, are going to be an incredible Quidditch player. A walking testament of the glory of the game!" Oliver continued with passion that made Harry blush crimson, "And I'll get you there, no matter if you can't make every training session cause of your work."

"It's not really about missing training, I only work weekends. It's more getting the time off work to play matches on a Saturday." Harry admitted with a blushing sigh, "My boss is really nice allowing me to have a job in the first place. Palming off all he's done for me just to go fly around on a broom for a day feels… wrong."

"No need to worry though." Katie placated warmly,
"Yeah, Oliver completely went behind your back," Fred started,

"Found out where you worked," George continued,

"And sent a friendly little letter begging you to be part of the team." Both announced together with ear to ear grins, "Isn't that great?!"

Harry paused as the display struck him momentarily dumb, before their words sunk in. Only now realising he'd even admitted he had a job as he realised what they were implying Oliver had done,

"You what?!" He roared, silencing the room as if he'd flicked a switch. Harry would later wonder how intimidating an angry, upside-down eleven year old actually was, but Wood very clearly didn't appreciate the anger and volume. The older boy jumping half a foot back at the shout,

"I erm… Sent Mr Fortescue a letter to ask for you to be allowed onto the team." His bravado vanishing instantly, like a carpet being pulled from beneath his feet, as he suddenly became a blushing sheepish mess,

"Give me it."

"The… letter?"

"Yes, you colossal fool, hand it over. Now!" Harry roared and the older boy leaped a foot back, scrambled around and ran up towards the boys dormitory,

"Th-That wasn't very nice, Harry." Hermione Granger surprised him as the others laughed at their teams Captain, the girl glaring up at him unimpressed,

"What isn't nice is going behind peoples back for your own selfish reasons, Granger." Harry replied with some heat, "I don't have to be all pleased about it. No matter why they did it or who."

Hermione opened her mouth, seemingly to retort, but had nothing to say and simply folded her arms and strode away. Harry rolling his eyes at the bookworm's departure before turning back to the staircase as Oliver ran back down with a short sheet of parchment in hand. Harry grabbing it from him and flipping it around in order for him to read,

Dear, Mr Wood

I must admit, the passion in your words, and the horrific plight my old Houses Quidditch team now finds itself in, truly moved me almost to tears. It is rare to hear news of this sort from the castle in this day and age (the downsides of maturity, I'm afraid) but to hear this devastating tale AND find out that I hold the key to turning it away from tragedy was the only thing that kept me from bawling myself dry.

You have my blessing, young Mister Potter is yours to train into a Seeker of devastating performance and skill. To mould him into the man who will lead our glorious houses proud team to the Quidditch Cup it rightfully deserves.

But I must warn you, as for his character reference, Mister Potter has a bit of a quirk…

I warn you, he is an incredibly kind and warm hearted young man, a fast learner and a hard worker of such a calibre that he could turn the Hufflepuffs, Slytherin green, but he is massively stubborn. I know this first hand and warn that it is not me you should beg but him. If he decides he does not wish to join your team then I am afraid you are out of luck, my young friend.

I wish you luck and will be coming to see the games as often as I can manage, regardless of the outcome.

With compliments,

Florean Fortescue

Percy Weasley started in horror as he trekked down the stairs of the boy's dormitory and found a first year hung upside down with most of the house forming a semi-circle around his suspended form, the boy looking to be holding in tears as a piece of parchment slipped from between his fingers.

"What on earth is all this!" The prefect demanded in fury as he stormed through the crowd, the Gryffindor team turning in surprise at his approach (missing Harry wiping a sleeve over his eyes surreptitiously),

"It was them!" Katie quickly jabbed a finger at the twins who nodded gratefully at their teammate, smirking at their elder brother.

As Percy scolded his brothers, Harry pulled himself up towards the ceiling and wordlessly untied the rope that bound him to one of the light fixtures. Rolling in the air to land crouching,

"My cousin and his friends did that to me once, when I was little." He explained away the motion to a few people who gasped in the face of it, Harry scowled at the memory and walked up to Oliver, "My work will always come before the team, but I do promise I will give training and every game 100%."

Oliver looked down in surprise before scooping up his hand and almost shaking off his arm with a sun bright grin,

"That's all I need from you, Harry Potter." He declared with teary eyes, "Welcome aboard."

Their assembled Housemates cheers and applause shook the glass of the windows and summoned up McGonagall to check for the source of the racket. They partied that night as if they had already won the cup…

...

[Author's Note]

Whoop! Thanks for reading this chapter, it took a little to actually get this bit done but am happy with how it turned out. Hope you guys are too!

DRAGONDAVE45: As much as I'd love to answer your questions, they're a bit spoilery, so I'll keep the asnwers to myself for now ;)

And I'll have to take your assessment on that for house kaiju.

Thanks for reading and see you next time!