The Anger.

Chapter 148: CH 148



Daphne said, "It's a beautiful gift that sends just the right message, Hermione. It's a very astute move on Harry's part; which is why I also agreed with it. Though he didn't need my permission, anyway."

"I'm glad you agreed with it," said Hermione softly. "I wouldn't want to accept such an expensive gift if it made you feel uncomfortable."

Daphne giggled and said, "I do not doubt Harry's love for and dedication to me, Hermione. Have no fear of that."

That earned Daphne a kiss from Harry. It was the first time he'd ever initiated a mouth to mouth kiss. And Daphne realised it.

Straight after the giving of gifts for Hermione's birthday, Harry had to grab his broom and head down to the Quidditch pitch for tryouts for the Ravenclaw team. Simone Martin, now a Seventh Year, had kept his promise and offered Harry the chance to tryout for the seeker spot.

When he arrived he received death glares from no less than three Third Year girls. One was Cho Chang, and the other two were clearly her friends as well as dorm mates.

Martin, in order to gauge the skills of the two seekers, sent them both aloft at the same time. He told them the snitch would become visible exactly thirty seconds after he released it. Which would be as soon as they rose into the normal seeker overwatch position.

As Martin was giving them their instruction the rest of the group came down to watch. "Hey!" he yelled at them. "No spying!"

"We're not!" called back Daphne. "We hope you kick Slytherin butt!" Martin, not knowing how to respond to that, thought better of whatever he was going to say and ignored them.

The group headed into one of the tribunes to watch.

Harry asked for a chance to warm up a bit before taking to the overwatch position and was given the okay. Cho joined him.

Harry shot into the air at a great rate of knots. As soon as he reached the middle of the pitch he immediately pointed his broom straight up. At about two hundred feet up he cancelled all forward momentum and allowed the broom to fall backwards out of the sky before flipping it over backwards and pointing straight down.

Accelerating down he corkscrewed the broom before pulling up a bare three feet off the grass and heading straight up again, corkscrewing all the way.

At about fifty feet up he looped the broom up and over before pulling out and completing a second one. As he pulled out of the second, at speed, he heel-pushed the back of the broom out and skidded it across the sky. At the time, he was completely out of the 'saddle' of the broom and it was only his back foot and one hand on the handle that showed he hadn't simply lost control and was about to fall off.

Just as the broom was about to come to a complete stop he pulled the broom back under him and let it fall out of the sky before swooping towards the three goals at the nearer end of the field.

He flew through the middle ring before looping up and over and ducking through the second, then the third. Heading into his third loop he, instead, Immelmann turned and headed back to the middle of the field, pulling a sloth grip roll for the fun of it.

Diving steeply he hopped up out of the saddle and planted his left foot on top of the knot above the brush twigs, pushing down with his foot while pulling back with his right hand causing the broom to flare out.

Just as he was about to hit the ground at barely walking pace he dropped back into the 'saddle' and said to the now mouth-gaping Martin, "Thanks! That should do it," before hurtling back into the sky to the overwatch position.

When he reached height he was met with a scowling Chang who then turned her nose up at him and flew away to the other end of the field. As soon as he knew the snitch was released, he began a count down in his head and hoped his timing wasn't too far off.

Just in case, he began searching the sky for the elusive little golden winged ball at twenty-five in his count.

A few seconds later, he saw it over near one of the tribunes and took off after it.

Hard on it's winged 'heels' he brushed against the walls of one of the tribunes and followed it as it ducked down almost a foot off the grass.

Taking a moment he glanced to see Chang diving towards him from on high but nowhere near him yet.

When the snitch suddenly changed direction by shooting straight up he caught it by just about leaping out of his broom and snatching it overhead with one hand pulling up on the handle and pushing down with his feet.

Returning to Martin he handed off his prize with a big grin on his face.

Now stationery he could hear the group cheering wildly up in the tribunes.

"Merlin, Potter!" said Martin. "When your Slytherin girl said you could fly..." He shook his head in wonder.

When Chang joined them Martin said, "Alright. You may be able to fly and focus on finding the snitch. But, how well will you do when there are a couple of beaters and a bludger to deal with."

He then pointed to two guys dressed as Ravenclaw beaters and said, "You two. I want you up in the air with a bludger. Your job is to make life hard for both seekers." The two looked each other before grinning and taking to the air with their bats. They carried the bludger aloft with them.

Martin then said, "Alright. Same as last time. In the air and I'll release the snitch. It will be visible after thirty seconds. Go!"

Harry and Chang immediately took off with Harry easily outstripping Chang in getting into the overwatch position.

"Go!" called Martin with a Voice Amplifying Charm, as he released the snitch.

Harry immediately dove between the two beaters and pulled up drawing the bludger after himself. And flew straight at Chang. The Third Year had to suddenly dive in order to avoid the bludger following Harry and flew straight at one of the beaters to get it off her tail.

Harry used the opportunity to start scanning the sky. When he saw the bludger heading his way again, he allowed it to pass over him as he performed a stationary sloth grip roll and pointed the broom straight down knowing the iron ball would perform a sharp loop and come back at him again.

Instead of using one of the beaters to draw the ball off his tail, he immediately headed for Chang, who was heading back up. It, again, changed players and started after her.

As soon as he managed to get the bludger off his tail he sped towards the other end of the field. Whereupon he caught sight of the snitch down low next to the goal posts. And, he was after it.

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