One Day They'll Know Your Name

Pain has a name

The first Quidditch match of the year, which was Halloween, was fast approaching, and Harry was extremely nervous. The last practice had gone well. Draco was meshing in well with the rest of the Chasers, the Keeper rarely let anything through, and Harry had caught the Snitch easily enough. Flint had been training him in some dives and other evasive maneuvers. His favorite move was the Wronski feint. Flint had drilled him on it until Harry was sure he could do it in his sleep.

Match day arrived and Draco had to practically drag Harry to breakfast, he was so nervous. Draco made him eat at least a piece of toast, and the other Les Amis members stopped by to wish him luck, even Ron, who was technically his rival since it was a Gryffindor-Slytherin game. Flint stood and the rest of the team quickly followed as he made his way down to the pitch. They met in the locker room after they finished changing for a pregame talk.

"Ok, here's what's going to happen. Malfoy, Pucey, and I will make as many points as we can and more. Bletchley, for each Quaffle you let past, you're doing thirty pushups. Bearbuck, Clearwater, keep the Bludgers away from us. Portugal, catch the damn Snitch. Let's go!"

The Gryiffindors were already on the pitch when the Slytherins flew in to cheers and boos. Harry quickly flew above the rest of the team, opposite the Gryffindor Seeker. Harry couldn't remember her name. "Good luck," he said quietly. She nodded in return. A moment later, Madam Hooch's whistle blew and the Quaffle was thrown upwards, followed by six blurs of red and green.

The game went on as usual, with Slytherin in the lead by quite a few goals, when Harry had to duck nearly off his broom to dodge a Bludger. It veered back around, as Bludgers usually do, and he thought no more about it. But when he saw Clearwater hit the wild ball toward one of the Gryffindor Chasers and the Bludger swung back around towards him, making him duck again, he definitely thought about it. The hard balls may have a mind of their own, but they all at least acted within the laws of physics, generally speaking. He dodged again when the Bludger came screaming at him.

Flint called a time out, and Hooch wrestled the Bludger under control for a few minutes. "Bearbuck! Clearwater! What's happening with the Bludgers? Porter, you good?" He whirled back on the Beaters. "You have one job! Keep the Bludgers away from us! Now do your job!"

The girls nodded frantically, and the team took off again. This time the Bludger went straight towards Harry and Clearwater barely knocked it away from him. Harry suddenly saw the Snitch and dove for it. The Bludger followed, smashing through a, luckily, empty set of bleachers. Harry paled, then doubled his speed. He had to catch the Snitch, now. He didn't care if they were ten points or five hundred points behind or ahead of Gryffindor. The game had to end before somebody got hurt.

Just as his hand closed around the Snitch, Harry felt something hit his outstretched arm. He tumbled to the ground near the middle of the field, then felt the fluttery feeling in his left hand. He opened his palm and the Snitch fluttered up around his head, like those birds he saw in one weird cartoon Dudley watched. Buggy? Donny? Something like that. He laughed a little, then he registered the pain in his arm. He slowly sat up, moving his arm as little as possible. Suddenly he was surrounded by nearly every person in the school, or at least, that's how it felt.

"Bloody hell, Harry, what was with that Bludger? Did it hit you at the end?" Ron was one of the closest, and the first to get his questions out.

"I'm fine, Ron—"

"Oh my! It looks like you broke your arm! I know just the spell to fix it for you!" Lockhart had arrived, and he was not welcome.

"No, that's alright, Professor. I'll just go see Madam Pomphrey—"

"Nonsense, my boy! I'll have it fixed up in no time!"

"Really, Professor, you really don't have to—AH! What did you do to my arm?!"

"Oh dear, I must have missed the wand movement by a millimeter, I'll fix it right up!"

Luckily, Professor Snape arrived just then. "If you were to attempt to... assist any more, I'm afraid you would have vanished all of Mr. Iapikoa's bones, and then where would we be?" Harry had never been so happy to hear his Head of House's disdainful tone.

With that, Professor Snape levitated Harry off the ground and into the hospital wing. Madam Pomphrey appeared at her office door as the professor lowered Harry onto the bed he'd been on at the end of last year.

"Already, Mr. Pardon? And the first Quidditch match of the year too," she teased.

"You know me, Madam, I'm always trying to get in here one way or the other."

The Mediwitch looked down at Harry's arm and gasped, "Severus! What in Merlin's name happened?"

"Mr. Iapikoa here was hit by a Bludger, and when our newest... Professor attempted to remedy the situation, he, as usual, made it unfathomably worse." Harry almost choked at the sarcasm practically dripping from the Potions Master's lips. Madam Pomphrey didn't seem to notice and just continued to bustle around the hospital wing.

"Ah! Here it is! I warn you now, young man, this is not a pleasant experience. The potion is absolutely awful, I've been told, and the rest of the experience is even worse. This potion is called Skele-gro. It will regrow those bones the good professor vanished. Drink up, then I'll give you something to let you sleep."

With a sigh, Harry downed the potion, almost gagging with the burn as the liquid slid down his throat. He quickly drank the sleeping potion, and almost instantly fell asleep.