Reminders about the AU world(mentioned in prev chaps):
Quidditch template- Standard(Og Quidditch), World’s Wrath(active environment conditions hinder the players), Fae’s help( magical obstructions that can also work as support)
In this AU, only certain music, unique to each Cerberus puts them to sleep, not any music.
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Leon walked with a spring in his step, owning yesterday's surprises, disappointments, and adventures- the awesome breakfast helped, too.
‘Ok, let’s see! Saving the Unicorn, my second Astraeus trail and Hufflepuff Quidditch match.’ Leon repeated his list once more- the one that he had prepared first thing in the morning. Future major events were arranged by urgency, while their reverse order formed the timeline of when said events would actually occur.
Leon didn’t have anything to do with the Quidditch match, and couldn’t do anything more than just keep up his spell practice schedule for the Astraeus trail. That left ‘saving the Unicorn’ task, so he walked towards Hagrid’s Hut to spend more time with him and learn more about the Unicorns even though the Unicorn doesn’t need to be saved until after his Astraeus trial- he likes to be prepared, and he wanted to know if Voldemort started to hunt for them yet.
Leon didn’t know how many unicorns Voldemort killed offscreen, so no amount of preparations would be sufficient as he was going to be on a wild goose chase.
‘At least, I am not chasing real Goose, I am not brave enough for that.’
The Hufflepuff cracked a smile and grabbed the giant ring on the door – a door knocker- and knocked thrice.
A booming bark answered his first knock before Hagrid’s shushing, and shuffling noises were heard.
“Ah! Leo, what are you doing here? Come in, Come in!” The happy giant invited him in, pushing away his large dog.
“I am free and am bored, do you want my help with anything regarding magical creatures?” He waved at the invitation and asked, standing in front of the huge hut.
“Can’t say I need help. But I am going to feed the Thestrals, wanna join me?”
Leon answered by jumping straight to the ground from Hagrid’s abnormally large doorsteps.
“Let’s go!” he said, glancing at the hut that made him feel like he was a toddler.
With a booming laugh, Hagrid grabbed a bucket near the door and walked out of his hut.
The Hufflepuff had to jog to keep up with the gentle groundskeeper as they made their way towards the Thestrals' territory.
As they skirted around the forbidden forest, Leon eyed the jolly giant. “So, Hagrid, I heard the Forbidden Forest has Werewolves running around. Is it true?”
“Nah! We don’t have any werewolves here.”
“Professor Sprout said there is a manticore though, did you meet it?”
“Well! You didn’t hear it from me, but Ben is a grumpy bastard and old too, but he is alright if you don’t treat him like he is a dumb beast. It didn’t end well for the last wizard who did. Old Ben savaged him right up.”
“Really? Didn’t the ministry jail him or something?”
“Ha! Ben is very old, he let it slip once that he knew Salazar. Magical creatures- don’t say this to him- grow in power as they age. No one wanted to venture into the forbidden forest and face Mighty Ben for a fool who walked into his lair and taunted him.”
‘Awesome! I want to see Ben!’
Leon quickly shook away the images of a powerful manticore- a lion with the head of a man and the tail of a scorpion pouncing at him and stuck to his rehearsed lines.
“So, is he like the guardian of the Forbidden Forest or something- protecting Unicorns, chasing away-”
“HAHAHA!” Hagrid’s laughs cut him off, the half-giant clutched his stomach and wheezed, taking deep breaths.
“Maybe I will take you to him after you become an adult, then you will see how he is the furthest thing from a guardian. And nothing in the Forest can hurt Unicorns, not even old Ben even if he becomes insane enough to try. They are very fast and can sense danger- impureness some people like to say- most wizards won’t even see a unicorn in their lives even if they try to.”
Hagrid heavily patted Leon’s shoulder, mirth at the thought of the Old Ben being a guardian still flashing in his eyes.
‘Hmm! I read as much, and no attacks on Unicorns yet,’ he concluded eyeing Hagrid’s jolly expression. ‘The Unicorn dies after Hagrid gets a dragon egg- near the end of the first year, I think- for slipping up Fluffy’s magical tune.’
Leon smiled at the thought of the giant dancing in the bar while playing a flute.
‘I have more time to plan.’
“We are here!” Hagrid stopped and handed a bucket to Leon.
“Toss a piece in that direction, they are shy with strangers,” he said and waited.
Leon didn’t see any Thestrals, shrugging he flung a large piece as Hagrid instructed.
The meat got dragged down like it was caught by something before it slowly disappeared into the air.
‘Amazing!’
Hagrid too started to feed the herd.
“That’s it, Leo. Let’s go!”
“Aw! I wanted to touch them!”
“Come with me a couple more times, then they will be all over you.” Hagrid patted the Hufflepuff on the back, nearly knocking him off his feet.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
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The holidays came to an end with Leon visiting Hagrid once more.
He was going to keep up his visits to learn about the Unicorn herd movements and habits.
Leon still wasn’t sure what he would or could do, but with plenty of fanfictions to fall back on he did have some idea on how to save the Unicorn, but he was still searching for better ideas.
“Welcome, Team Hufflepuff!” The announcer shouted, marking the beginning of the second Quidditch match of the season.
House Hufflepuff welcomed their team with rhythmic claps and stomps, and as they reached the center of the field a giant badger - a huge Bondug- formed above the stands and imperiously trotted up to the fliers- defiant and arrogant, before protectively curling its tail around the Hufflepuff team, glaring at the world.
“Now, the favorites to win the cup-”
“Jordan!”
The announcer ignored his house head and continued. “With Potter as the seeker, the flying vixens and charming beaters, and of course Captain Wood- we have the Gryffindors.”
A trumpet sound welcomed the Gryffindors, they flew onto the field like the knights of the old, confident and fierce, and landed right in front of the Hufflepuffs and the glaring badger.
With a roar a golden lion made of ethereal fire and a flowing mane appeared, towering over the Gryffindors, glaring at the Badger.
The Mascots locked eyes, their ethereal form so detailed that Leon could see their muscles coil, ready to pounce.
A whistle from the referee made the mascots dissolve as the players took to the sky.
“Huff! That doesn’t become easy even after all the practice.” Tonks joined the first years, snatching a milkshake from Leon’s hand.
With the magical feat fresh on his mind, he let go of the theft in favor of badgering the seventh year.
“Did you do it alone?” He asked as Madam Hooch spun the wheel to finalize the game’s template.
“No way! I and two other seventh years were working in tandem. Creating that amount of magical smoke is easy, but the fine control, the fine control, Merlin damn it, is too much. Ah, that hit the spot.” With a wave of her wand, Tonks vanished the glass.
“I really can’t wait to become a Witch,” she muttered.
Loud cheers drowned the field as the roulette stopped in Fae’s help section- Wandering Sea Serpent.
Water started to appear, flooding the Quidditch field. Its level slowly rose before two giant serpentine eyes glinted in the shallow water. A large serpent burst out of the water, its fangs, the length of a human, glistened in the sun as the azure serpent made of water gained height.
The impromptu lake formed in the field slowly vanished. The serpent absorbs it to form a body as wide as a truck.
The magical snake, the length of half the Quidditch field, flew in the air, performing a lap around the field.
It snapped its maw at a student who was near it but continued to move at the edges of the field like a giant invisible barrier separated it from the flying morsels.
With another whistle from Madam Hooch, the match started.
“Hoo, a serpent. It would have been a real slap in the face of Slytherins if it had been present in their previous match. Losing even when your house mascot is helping you got to suck!”
“Jordan!”
“Ah! Just saying, professor. Now, the Gryffindors have the Quaffle. It looks like the flying vixens of the Gryffindors are going to score.”
“How are two giant Serpents supposed to help?” Leon asked incredulously as he saw the Serpent split into two: one stalked the Quaffle, trailing behind the team, while the other stayed behind.
No one deigned to answer Leon as the Gryffindors zoomed past the Hufflepuffs.
“Woo! The Serpent blitzed past the players and stood in front of the middle goalpost. The Hufflepuff keeper is floating above the snake’s head not favoring any of the other two goalposts. Bad decision, but- Ouch! The Hufflepuff beaters timed the Bludgers very well.”
As the gryf chaser dived to dodge one another smacked the quaffle out of her hands from behind.
Hannah caught the Quaffle and dived right into the Serpent's mouth.
“Bold! Even if the template is Fae’s help, that’s a bold move.”
As soon as the Serpent closed its mouth, swallowing Hannah, she gained a speed boost and soared through the serpent’s body, the clear water that made up the snake allowed the audience to follow the Hufflepuff.
“Ah! Fortune favors the bold. Maybe we should have some words with the Sorting hat, Hannah Abbot should have been one of the Gryffindors.”
The three Gryffindor chasers tried to enter the snake’s body but were rebuffed.
“Oh! Angela wanted to follow the Hufflepuff but just got wet, instead. Wait for the Snake to open its mouth folks, it’s not allowing anyone to gain the speed boost.”
As one Gryff waited to dive into the Serpent’s mouth, the other two flew back to chase Hannah without wasting any time. But with the headstart she has, and the speed boost the Serpent imbued her with, it doesn’t look like they were going to reach her.
“Ah! Doesn’t this look like the story one of the stories of Harris and the Fae? A young wizard asks, what he thinks, a water spirit to hide his family from his enemies and help them pass a fast-moving river. And the ‘spirit’ turned into a huge serpent and asked him and his family to climb into its mouth.”
Hannah emerged from the Serpent’s tail like a bullet and dashed towards Gryff’s goalpost.
“And unlike most of the stories where things go oh so wrong, the naïve wizard and his family reach the other shore safely. The moral is kids that Fae’s are batshit crazy and don’t deal with them unless you are a hunk like my boy Harris.”
Leon ignored Professor McGonagall’s rebuke, his eyes following the second Serpent as it stalked his friend.
Just as it looked like she would continue unimpeded, a streak of gold and yellow tried to crash into her.
“Get her, Rose! Siriusly, give her a Black eye,” A loud voice magically resounded in the field from the professor’s stand.
A man with high cheekbones, curly hair falling on his shoulders, and an unrepentant glint in his eyes was shouting, standing up from his seat as a little girl tried to drag him down, looking mortified.
“Sirius Black, you better cancel your spell if you don’t want detention at this age,” Professor McGonagall, harshly whispered. But the announcer, Lee, used his microphone to let everyone hear his house head cow the former student.
“Jordan!”
“And we have a goal, the tussle between the first years ended with Rose Potter’s defeat.” Jordan turned his back to the professor and continued his commentary, covering the microphone with his body.
“Hannah used the serpent as cover to score the first goal, give it up for the bold Hufflepuff for testing the waters.”
‘Hmm! Dumbledore is attending the match, so no one is going to curse Rose’s broom, right?’ Leon wondered staring at the turban-wearing fraud in the professor’s stand.
The match continued with both sides scoring and the seekers hovering over the field, butting in now and then.
The serpents moved around, stalking the Quaffle, ready to provide a boost for those who were talented enough to fly into its mouth. Spitting out anyone who touched their fangs or even lightly brushed against their skin right back, soaked and blocked for their mistake.
“Quaffle is in the hands of Hannah, again. What is this, she is trying to break out the serpent of the stomach, instead of the tail.”
Hannah was thoroughly rebuffed and had to emerge into the group of Gryff beaters and a chaser, losing the Quaffle.
Rose dived crashing into the Hufflepuff beater as he aimed at her team’s chaser.
“Nice! Crush those stuffy badgers, Rose.” Sirius's voice was heard again, followed by Professor McGonagall’s berating.
Rose opened Leon’s eyes in this match. She was everywhere on the field, fake diving, blocking, along with keeping an eye on the field for the snitch.
Compared to her, the Hufflepuff seeker looked like a dumb log, he was an older student- 5 or 6th year.
He wasn’t able to keep up with the blur the potter was.
“Look at that, Rose is diving, again. The Hufflepuff seeker is hot on her trail.”
The Gryff flew near to the stalking serpent and with a quick dive, she entered the Serpent’s mouth, leaving behind the Hufflepuff, her eyes focused on the other side of the field.
With a powerful exit, she soared across the field, dodging a bludger, and caught the snitch, like she was plucking a rose in a garden.
Her movements were so fluid and nonchalant, her actions so under control, it made people think she was strolling in her garden.
The Gryffindors roars shook the stadium as the Gryffindors won the match with a 30-point lead- the snitch wasn’t worth 150 points, after all.
Even though the girl who lived moved like she was the protagonist of the world, the vaunted seeker position wasn’t that vaunted.
“Seriously, Rose is so good at everything,” Susan muttered.
“Yeah, along with being a flying prodigy her spells pack a mean punch,” Tonks joined in before smirking at Leon. “Even a dozen Smiths can’t scratch her.”
Leon raised an eyebrow at the seventh year.
‘Really? Maybe I will ask her for a duel after my duel with Susan is done.’
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A/N: How do you all think Harry's magical skills would differ if he had been raised in a magical household as the Boy Who Lived?