The next day, Malfoy couldn't believe that Harry and Ron are still at Hogwarts. Unlike in the original timeline, they had a good night's rest.
Ron decided to question what could've been in the vault that was so important, but Harry knows that it's the Philosopher's Stone.
Even though Hermione didn't think it was morally correct to trick Malfoy like that, she hadn't given them the silent treatment simply because they hadn't planned on actually violating the school rules.
When it was the usual daily fly-in of owls, everyone noticed that six huge school owls carried a long and thin package. Harry wondered if, just like in the original timeline, he's getting Nimbus 2000 from McGonagall.
Suddenly the package landed right infront of him, and then another owl flew in and dropped a letter onto it. He grabbed the letter and read it first:
DON'T OPEN THE PACKAGE AT THE TABLE.
In it is Your new Nimbus 2000, but I don't want everyone to see that You've gotten a broom, because then everyone else would want it too. This evening You'll have Your first training, Oliver Wood will be waiting for You at seven o'clock at the Quidditch pitch.
*M. McGonagall *
So it is his new broom!
"What is it?" Ron whispered to Harry, and he gave him the letter, and gasped quietly in awe.
"Nimbus 2000!" Ron sighed out of jealousy, "I've never touched a broom like that."
Ron and Harry hurriedly left the Great Hall, because Ron wanted to see the unpacked broom before the start of school for the day.
Suddenly Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle came into their way. Malfoy snatched the package from Harry's hand and touched it without opening.
"That's a broom," he ended up saying and threw it back to Harry, his face showing both jealousy and anger, "you'll really get it this time, first years can't have a broom.
Ron couldn't take it anymore, and before Harry could even open his mouth and say that he knows he won't get in trouble, Ron said.
"That's not just any old-flown broom, it's Nimbus 2000. And what did you say you have? Comet 260?" Ron grinned at Harry, "Comets are great, but not as great as Nimbuses"
"What do you know about it, Weasley, you and your family can't even afford a half of the handle," Malfoy retorted back, "You have to save up with your brothers, stick after stick."
Ron wanted to say something but suddenly, Flitwick appeared.
"I hope you're not arguing, boys?" Flitwick asked.
"Potter has gotten a broom, professor," Malfoy quickly said.
"Yes, yes, very correct," Flitwick nodded and with a smile turned his head to Harry, "Proffesor McGonagall told me everything. What model is it?"
"Nimbus 2000, sir," Harry answered calmly, enjoying that Malfoy is flabbergasted and horrified that Harry hasn't just not gotten in trouble but also has gotten a broom and teachers know about it.
"And it's thanks to Malfoy," Ron added.
After Flitwick has left, Harry and Ron ran up the stairs.
"What, it's true!" Ron said, trying hard not to laugh.
"I agree," Harry can't help but have a huge smile on his face.
"So you take this as an award for violating the school rules?" An angry voice sounded behind them.
"When you say it like that it sounds wrong,"
"Because it is wrong!"
"Oh, come on, I haven't done anything too wrong!" Harry tried defending himself, but he wouldn't be upset if he loses.
"But it was! You could've been expelled!"
Harry raised an eyebrow at that, he's done much worse things before and he's never been expelled.
"If you think so," Harry ended, not wanting to argue.
At that, Hermione crossed her arms, turned around and left.
Harry was easily able to focus today, but Ron on the other hand, kept thinking about the broom.
He was constantly whispering to Harry fun facts about Nimbuses and Quidditch throughout the day, towards the last two periods it was getting really annoying.
"Ron, could you shut up for a while?" Harry unintentionally quietly snapped at Ron.
Ron abruptly stopped, surprised at the sudden snap.
"Sorry..." Ron blushed in embarrassment and looked away.
At that, Harry immediately realized what he has done.
"You don't need to apologize..." Harry said, trying to backtrack and reverse his mistake, "I didn't mean to snap like that, it's just that you've been talking all day, don't get me wrong, I like Quidditch, but talking about it constantly? It's kind of annoying." Harry explained, genuinely feeling sorry for snapping at his best friend.
Harry was waiting on the field for two minutes before Wood arrived.
"Hey, nice to see you again, Potter."
"Nice to see you too"
"So, McGonagall said you have a natural talent, I want to see how true that is," Wood said.
Harry nodded, sat onto his broom and flew into the air, then he noticed that Wood did the exact same.
Wood asked him do to a bunch of thing: catch a bunch of tennis balls, then he threw them to test just how well he'd be able to avoid the Bludgers.
After all of these tests, Wood was very impressed.
"Wow, Potter! You're much better then I expected! I see what proffesor McGonagall meant, you truly have a natural talent!"
"Thanks," Harry said, sure, he has a natural talent for flying and Quidditch, but he's so good at it because he's played it for years.
"Alright, so, onto the rules," Wood opened the box on the ground, in it were four balls, each different shape, weight and size, all of these balls are used during the match.
"Quidditch rules are simple to understand but are harder to apply during game, it's not the easiest sport. On each side there are seven players. Three Chasers,"
Wood took out a red ball in a size of a football ball, "this is a Quaffle," Wood continued explaining, "Chasers throw it between eachother and they try to score a goal by throwing it through a ring. One goal equals ten points. Is it clear so far?"
Harry nodded, not really wanting to repeat what Wood said. Luckily, Wood nodded and took that as if Harry really does understand.
"On every side there's also another player, called Keeper - I'm the Gryffindor's Keeper." Wood continued, "my job is to keep the opposser from scoring a goal. Then there are the Beaters, our Beaters are the Weasley twins. Their job is to keep the Bludgers away from our team and, if needed, hit it and make it fly towards the opposing team." Wood gestured towards the big, heavy, dark ball, which is now chained to the box, jumped a little.
Harry automatically took one little step from it, but when he realized what he was doing he stopped.
Wood didn't seem to notice it.
"The Bludgers fly around the pitch and try to hit the players. And then there is a Seeker - now that's you. Your job is to catch the Golden Snitch. You don't have to pay attention to any other ball," Wood explained.
"Only to the Golden Snitch and the Bludgers" Harry said, remembering all the times he's been injured because of a Bludger, unlike when he remembers the dementors or the night he died, this is pretty much nothing.
"Yea," Wood said, as if not really paying attention to what Harry said, "your job is both the most important and the hardest, because the Golden Snitch is small and fast, often times it's very hard to spot. You'll have to fly around all of the players and all over the pitch. That's why Seekers are the players that get the most penalties and get injured a lot. But, once a Seeker catches the Snitch the team they're on will gain one-hundred and fifty points, and will most likely win."
Wood took out the Golden Snitch and showed it to him, it looks just like the one in which the Resurrection Stone was.
Then he placed the Snitch back.
"The longest match in the world was played for three months - I think. They had to find people so the players could get atleast a little sleep.
So, I think this should be it - any questions?"
Harry shook his head.
"Alright, we'll train with the Golden Snitch next time. I bet our name on the Quidditch cup, you could even be better then Charlie Weasley, he really could've played for the English national team if he hadn't gone to chasing those dragons somewhere." Wood said.
Harry had completely forgotten just how busy he always was at Hogwarts, because he hadn't have to just do homework and study, he also has Quidditch practices, and they're always exhausting.
When it was the 31st of October, he only realized that it's Halloween because of the smell in the hallways... his parents were murdered by Voldemort on Halloween...
He was very glad that he has classes, normally he wouldn't be so happy, but this time he is, because he doesn't want to think about the night his parents died.
At the Charms class, Flitwick told them that they've learned enough to be able to move stuff in the air.
Flitwick made them to be in pairs: Harry ended up being in pairs with Seamus and Ron ended up with Hermione.
"And don't forget the beautiful movement of your forehand, which we trained!" Flitwick reminded them, "first swish above your head and then down, don't forget, above your head and down. And you have to clearly say the incantation that's also very important - just remember the wizard Baruff, who said 'f' instead of 's' and found himself with a wild bull on his chest."
The levitation spell was hard for all of Harry's classmates, for Harry it was hard not to be able to do it.
It was Seamus's turn to do the spell, he was running out of the patience. When he had completely ran out of the patience he poked the feather with his wand and it immediately caught on fire. Harry immediately began extinguishing the fire with his hat.
Meanwhile, Ron also wasn't very successful.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron kept yelling, but still not succeeding.
"You're saying it wrong," Hermione told him, clearly getting irritated by the fact that he's not successful, "You have to say Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, that 'gar' has to be long."
"If you're so smart then do it yourself," Ron retorted.
At that, Hermione rolled up her sleeves and casted the spell: "Wingardium Leviosa!"
And the feather infront of her flown into the air.
"Oh, great job!" Flitwick called out, "Look everyone, miss Granger has done it!"
This made Ron's mood very bad.
"I'm not surprised that no one can stand her," he told Harry, when they walked in the busy hallway, "she's insufferable."
Harry just kept his mouth shut, he knows she's only like that because she's scared of failing and she wants to show that, just because she's a muggle-born doesn't mean she's untalented.
Suddenly, someone bumped into him - it was Hermione. When he saw her face he saw that she was crying. Harry was close to running after her, wanting to comfort her, but he remembered that they're not friends yet.
So he just said to Ron: "I think she heard you,"
"So what?" Ron retorted, but he wasn't confident in himself, "she had to notice that no one's friends with her."
Hermione hadn't shown up all day since then, not even at the dinner.
Harry overheard Parvati telling Lavender that Hermione's crying at the girl's bathroom and is refusing to come out or look at anyone. Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Ron also overheard them, he also seemed like he wasn't completely sure with himself, but as he entered the Great Hall, he had completely forgotten about that worry. Harry on the other hand, couldn't stop thinking about it.
Just as Harry was putting food onto his plate Quirrell had ran into the Great Hall, seeming completely terrified, and having his turban crooked. Everyone saw how he ran towards Dumbledore's chair, leaned onto the table and yelled: "Troll - In the Dungeons - Just that I wanted to you."
And then it seemed that he lost his consciousness. If he actually fell unconscious or not was the last thing Harry cared about in this moment.
Everyone began panicking. Harry remembered that in his original life, the troll ended up coming to the girl's bathroom, almost killing Hermione. He wants to make sure that this won't happen.
Suddenly Harry was shot out of his dark thoughts when he heard a cannon. When the cannon sounded, everyone shut up.
"Prefects!" Dumbledore called out. "Take your house's to your common rooms immediately!"
Percy immediately got into it.
"Everyone behind me! First years, be together! If you'll listen to my every word you won't have to be scared about anything! Let me through, I'm a prefect!"
But Harry didn't care about anything but Hermione right now, he was trying to look around (unnoticingly), to see, if he'll see the troll.
"What's wrong, Harry?" Ron asked, trying to be as calm as possible.
"I'm worried about Hermione - she doesn't know about the troll!" He automatically whispered to Ron.
Ron bit his lip, "are you seriously planning on going to the girl's bathroom to see if she's safe?"
"Yea," Harry nodded, then he looked around and immediately moved.
He crouched quickly and joined the Ravenclaw students, who haven't noticed him, who went the opposite way.
Just as he started quickly, but carefully, walking towards the girl's bathroom he noticed Ron getting right beside him.
Suddenly they heard hurried footsteps and Harry automatically hid behind a statue, Ron followed him.
Ron carefully looked out from behind the statue, and said, confused, "Snape? What is he doing here? He should be at the Dungeons with other teachers."
Suddenly Harry could smelled something disgusting, a smell of old socks and uncared and unhygienic public bathroom. So the troll is in the girls bathroom!
Harry immediately also peeked his head out of the statue and looked around if Snape had disappeared.
He has! So Harry immediately got out and ran towards the girls bathroom.
He opened the door and has gone inside, but before he could say anything he heard huge footsteps. He has to hurry.
"Hermione! There's a troll!" He told her, since he doesn't know in which stall she is he called out loud enough that even if she was in the farthest stall she'll hear him.
He immediately ran out of the bathroom needing to see where the Troll is, and also if Ron is alright.
The troll is just in the hall, but his distance between it and Ron is a wall, so Ron's pretty safe.
Harry heard quick footsteps behind him, so he immediately looked and saw that it was Hermione, she's clearly confused.
"A Troll? What are you talking about?" She asked, she's clearly been crying, nor has she noticed the Troll.
Harry just quickly gestured towards the Troll, "come on, let's just get out of here, I don't want to fight it again,"
"What-?" Hermione started, but Harry hadn't payed attention to anything she said and just took her hand ran past Ron, shooting a quick look to him non-verbally telling him to come too.
After a while they've returned to the Gryffindor's who didn't seem to notice them.
When they've gotten back inside the Gryffindor Common Room they've quickly found out that no one has noticed that Harry and Ron even left.