The New Marauders and the Trickster God

Chapter 28: End of the First Year

The happening with the ghosts was the main topic for the entire next week, students exchanging whom they had met and how they had been able to talk to someone long deceased. Also, a theme was, how Harry, Sam and Loki had defended them. Most believed that this was precisely what a hero like Harry would do cementing his status at the Golden Boy.

Soon however the topic changed when the last Quidditch match of the year approached, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. After the first two Gryffindor matches in which Harry in the first one snatched the Snitch right from under the nose of the Slytherin Seeker. During the second one, he set a new record for the quickest Quidditch match in Hogwarts' history. They all wanted to see what stunt the boy would pull now. What happened though stunned them speechless.

It was a lovely Saturday, the sun was shining brightly, and it was quite warm with 25°C for the end of May. Before the game, Wood asked Harry what he had planned for that game, but Harry only shrugged and told the team captain that he would have to see what would come up.

As soon as they left through their gate and into the pitch, Harry flew up quite a bit, hovering over the pitch's centre over everyone else. When the game began he pulled his broom parallel to the ground with a smirk. Once he was sure that his broom wouldn't do anything unexpected, he let himself fall back so that he came to lie on the length of the handle, his head resting on the bristles. He quickly added a few padding charms to the broom so that it wouldn't be too uncomfortable before he placed his right foot on the end of the handle and put his other leg on his knee.

Contently hovering in the air that way he let his eyes fall shut, relaxing and enjoying the sun when he remembered something. Tapping into his magic, he projected it outwardly for a few feet. He gave it the purpose of repelling Bludgers that might come his way. They would fly in a curve around him before looking for a better target.

Harry was utterly relaxed and nearly falling asleep when he suddenly felt a fluttering against his right cheek that startled him when about ten minutes later. Luckily, he could catch himself quickly enough so that he didn't fall off the broom. Opening his eyes, he could see the Snitch hovering a few inches away from him in a way that he thought that it looked at him expectantly. The Snitch even flew away a few feet before returning to him and again hovering in front of him.

"What?" Harry asked incredulously. "You want me to catch you or what?"

The Snitch bobbed as if nodding and Harry raised an eyebrow, wondering whether something was wrong with the little golden ball.

"But I don't want to. Let the others chase some stupid balls in this lovely weather, but I want to enjoy the sun," he huffed before he leaned back again.

What the Snitch did next left Harry openly gaping at it. The Snitch flew down to Harry's chest where it came to rest and lazily stretched its wings before it neatly folded it against its body.

"Having enough from being chased around?" Harry asked with a chuckle.

In return, the Snitch hummed content that it could just lie there and not have to escape some idiot that tried to catch it.

They both spent quite some time when eventually the Hufflepuff seeker wanted to check on Harry. He saw the Snitch lying there while Harry was sleeping, not even noticing the small ball. The other seeker saw that as an excellent opportunity and slowly reached out for the Snitch, not wanting to alert either Harry or the ball to what he wanted to do. However, he didn't anticipate that the ball came to life when his fingers were just mere inches away from it and suddenly sped off. Cursing under his breath, the boy sped after it in the direction he saw it flying off.

Once the other seeker was far away enough though the small ball, hidden beneath Harry to escape the other seeker, came out of its hiding place. Hovering over Harry's chest, it looked into the direction of the one who just wanted to catch it. Harry looked at it with open curiosity. It seemed that had the little ball a tongue, it would have stuck it out after the Hufflepuff seeker in malicious glee before retaking its place on Harry's chest.