Chapter 126: The Injury
The Quidditch season had officially begun, and the castle was buzzing with discussions about the upcoming first match: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. If Gryffindor won, they would move into second place for the House Cup. The hype surrounding both teams was immense.
As Sean entered the Great Hall, he overheard a Gryffindor student holding court.
"I'm telling you, there's something going on with Harry Potter! Every time the Gryffindor team has practice, he disappears, rain or shine. I reckon—"
The surrounding students leaned in. Harry, sitting not far away, tensed.
"—he's the new team mascot!"
A chorus of boos and jeers met this pronouncement. Harry Potter? The Boy Who Lived? A mascot? The discussion quickly shifted to Harry's actual skills—everyone knew he was on the team, that was obvious. Some wished him well; others joked they'd follow him around the pitch holding a mattress to catch him when he fell. Harry wasn't sure which was worse.
At that moment, Ron got into another argument.
"I told you, Sean took out the troll with a single Levitation Charm!"
"Oh, give it a rest, Weasley," Theodore Nott sneered. "I'm sure Green is impressive, but I'm not believing a word you say. Remember? Your Levitation Charm is worse than mine. I bet you still can't even make the feather spin, let alone cast a non-verbal charm…"
Ron, his face crimson, didn't bother with a verbal reply. He simply launched himself across the table, tackling Nott to the ground.
"I earned twenty points for my house!" Ron roared, straddling the winded Slytherin. "And you just got out of detention!"
The incident left Ron brooding for the rest of the day. He kept looking at Sean, opening his mouth to speak, then closing it again.
"Will he... will he accept us?" Ron finally asked Harry later, his voice uncharacteristically subdued.
"Sean?" Harry hesitated. "I... I'm not sure." Everyone in the first year knew of Sean Green, but aside from Hermione, Justin, and Neville, almost no one actually knew him. They could list his attributes—brilliant, humble, hardworking—but if asked what he was like, even Harry could only say, "He's... a good person." Anything more? He had no idea.
What Harry and Ron didn't realize was that their (and by extension, the entire Gryffindor team's) obsessive interest in Sean had attracted the attention of a certain intelligent, pretty Ravenclaw.
"Find out what's going on, Roger," Cho Chang murmured, her eyes following Sean as he left the Great Hall.
Sean, bundled in his thick scarf, walked through the courtyard with Hermione and Justin. After the troll incident, Hermione had developed a new wariness of the castle's hidden dangers and now spent nearly all her free time in the relative safety of the Room of Hope. Occasionally, the three of them would venture out into the cold for a brief break... like now.
Hermione had conjured a portable jar of bright blue, magical flames to keep them warm. As she opened the lid to stir them, Sean's wand twitched almost imperceptibly. A small, blue fire-salamander leaped from the jar. When Hermione quickly slammed the lid shut, the salamander gave a cheeky hiss, melted the glass, and popped back inside.
Hermione glared at Sean. "You did that."
"No, I didn't," Sean said calmly.
Hermione trusted him instantly, her gaze shifting to the magical creature with suspicion. The salamander hiccuped, burping a small jet of blue flame that nearly singed her eyebrows. Incensed, she began chasing the tiny lizard around the courtyard with her wand.
Justin, snapping pictures with a magical camera, later noticed that Sean appeared in the exact same pose in every photo: sitting quietly to the side, reading.
[You have practiced an Advanced Transfiguration to the Adept standard. Proficiency +300]
His progress in inanimate-to-magical transformation was incredibly fast. Almost too fast. But when he compared it to the progress timelines detailed in McGonagall's private notes, he realized he was only just matching her pace when she was a third-year.
The study of Transfiguration was endless. Beyond turning objects into magic, there was turning magic into objects, self-into-animate (like Krum's shark head), and animate-into-animate (like Moody turning Malfoy into a ferret). The latter two were the pinnacle of the art. Sean had a long, long way to go. He wondered... if he could turn fire into a salamander, could he turn it into a dragon? He thought of Fiendfyre, which could take the shape of magical creatures. Was Fiendfyre a form of Dark Magic that incorporated Transfiguration principles? Did its all-consuming nature stem from an advanced, uncontrolled Vanishing Charm? McGonagall had said that vanished objects "go into non-being, which is to say, everything."
It was a dangerous, fascinating thought.
Hermione returned, panting, having given up. Why am I arguing with a magical salamander? she fumed, then started to laugh at her own absurdity.
Just then, Snape limped across the courtyard. Justin instantly noticed the professor's pained gait and nudged Sean, knowing he spent his evenings in the dungeon. Sean looked up.
Snape was heading straight for Harry and Ron, clearly looking for an excuse to punish them.
"What's that in your hand, Potter?"
"Quidditch Through the Ages," Harry showed him.
"Library books are not to be taken outside the school," Snape sneered. "Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor."
"He just made that rule up," Harry muttered furiously as Snape limped away. "Wonder what's wrong with his leg?"
"Dunno," said Ron gleefully. "But I hope it's really hurting him."
(End of Chapter)
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