Harry Potter: Don't touch

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 - You absolutely have to see this! Come quickly!

When Justin burst into the shared bedroom with such a shout, Harry immediately realised that there was really nothing important about what Finch-Fletchley wanted to show him. Even so, he only took a deep breath and let his friend grab his hand to take him somewhere.

- You'll like it, I promise," this Finch-Fletchley phrase was also familiar to Potter, so it passed his ears.

- If you suggest practising fun charms on Peeves again, I'm prepared to give you my answer straight away - no.

The last time the restless Justin had suggested Potter do something interesting, they had practised the spell 'Chiiring Fan', also known as fun charms, on Peeves. Harry had made the mistake of giving in to Justin's influence, thinking it was a great idea to cheer up the ghost, as Finch-Fletchley had managed to convince him by telling him that "Come on, he's always being a bully, no one will notice the difference anyway". As a result of this practice, the bedroom of Pansy Parkinson and her roommates was almost completely smeared with mud, and Dumbledore's magical hat was missing from his study, which was found on the roof of Hogwarts a few days later. However, no one guessed the connection between these incidents and the two third year students.

- We won't do anything this time, we'll just have a look! - Justin reassured Potter and led him to the third floor.

In one of the corridors, a group of rather motley students were standing in a circle, actively discussing and shouting. In the centre of the circle was Filch's cat and one of Hagrid's roosters, who had somehow managed to escape from the giant. Everything fell sharply into place for Harry.

- So, I take it we have a crucial Quidditch match against Ravenclaw tomorrow, we should be training hard, but instead you brought me to watch Mrs Norris fight Hagrid's rooster?

- Yeah, you got that right! But don't worry, there's Fred and George over there collecting bets, and they're on the Quidditch team too... So wait for me, I'm going to go put two Sickles on the rooster.

Finch-Fletchley walked over to George, said something and handed him a couple of silver coins.

- And don't you think it's rather cruel to watch living things trying to kill each other? - Harry asked when Justin returned.

- It's nothing like that! There's someone there to make sure it doesn't get too violent. Don't sweat it, anyway, enjoy the legendary battle!

Harry looked at the rooster trying to get around the students to get away from the cat. He obviously wasn't much interested in fighting, and in fact he seemed to be the only one who wasn't happy with the situation.

- And as for Fred and George, they have already won their match, they have nothing to prepare for, that's why they are having fun, but this is different for us....

Suddenly the spectators were clamouring, and Harry's attention was drawn back to the heated battle: the cat made a lightning-fast dash and swung its paw, aiming for the rooster's wing; it almost hit him, but he flew up and escaped the cat's claws.

- You can still bet on Mrs Norris! - Shouted one of the twins.

Harry turned away and continued:

- 'And we've got a match tomorrow, we can still practise our new tactics.

- And miss a spectacle like this? - Justin pointed at Filch's cat, which was scurrying away from a rooster with cat hair from its ear in its beak.

Apparently, the rooster had finally realised that a fight could not be avoided and had gone on the attack. Those who had bet on Mrs Norris watched the escape of their favourite with sadness in their eyes. However, this battle of the ages was far from over, because from around the corner where the cat had fled, an enraged Filch emerged.

- Who's messing with my cat! Is it you bastards?Two of the more cowardly freshmen from Hufflepuff ran away as soon as they saw the head boy. The older boys, however, continued to stand - not everyone was afraid of the Housekeeper.

- It's not us, it's him! - One of the Weasley twins pointed at the cock crowing.

Mrs Norris appeared behind Filch and hissed angrily at the rooster. The rooster, seeing the aggression from its rival, began to slowly approach the head boy.

- Shoo! Where's that oaf Hagrid?! Get him, will you!

Not waiting for the students to react, Filch tried to kick the cockerel, which was a big mistake, but it flew at the head clerk and began to peck him furiously, and Mrs Norris tried to stand up for her master, but when she got a beak on her head, she became reluctant and ran away.

From the screams of the head boy - it was worth noting that the students were in no hurry to help him, and Fred even wanted to suggest to the audience that they bet on the rooster against Filch - Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape came to the scene of the battle. Seeing the unloved teachers in a bad mood, Harry preferred not to risk it and fled from the dangerous place at a fast pace.

He was told about further events by Justin, who returned to the bedroom half an hour later.

- You're such a pussy," he said without anger, and settled back on the bed.

- It was a tactical retreat," Harry disagreed. - Watching a fight between a cock and a cat was one thing, but watching a similar fight in front of an angry Snape and McGonagall was quite another.

Justin didn't answer anything. Something had happened in there that made his battle fervour fade.

- Will you tell me what happened in there? - Potter asked curiously.

- A lot of things. You missed the best part, by the way. If you leave out the details, Fred and George managed to get a rooster on Snape, and before he was cut in two, not Snape, but the rooster, unfortunately, managed to bite the professor right on his hooked nose. That was really cool! True, Fred and George got a hundred points off each, and me another twenty for starting to laugh, but it was definitely worth it. Soon Hagrid came in and started shouting at Snape for killing a rooster, then Filch started shouting at the giant, well, I left when Hagrid started shouting back at Filch and McGonagall was trying to calm everyone down. I think they're still dealing with it.

- So it's a good thing I left early, I don't think Snape would have missed the opportunity to take points off me," Harry summed up. - Okay, we have a match against Ravenclaw tomorrow, I suggest we go to the Quidditch pitch now and fly around a bit.

- I disagree, I'd rather do what I usually do now instead of flying.

- And what do you normally do? - Harry asked.

- I don't usually do shit," Justin told him.

He turned on his other side and did nothing.

* * *

The evening match against Ravenclaw started off great for the Hufflepuff team, with the Eagle Faculty's defence crumbling in the first minute, and Grant Page's quaffles coming in one after another. Ginny Weasley scored seven goals, while Skotkins and Bones scored one goal each, and the Clawtonians only managed one successful takedown of Herbert Flit's rings - Roger Davies made a solo pass with a quaffle in his hands and overpowered the goalkeeper to hit the left ring. At the score of 90-10, the Claws went on the defensive and, playing second number two, managed to score two goals, cutting the deficit to sixty points. Harry saw firsthand that after graduating from the school of two corrals, Ravenclaw was not the powerful team it used to be. Much of this successful start for the Hufflepuff team was due to Ginny Weasley's success in attack, and Potter and Finch-Fletchley outplaying the opposing corrals by a head. However, as it turned out Potter had been acting wrong all along, after Zhou Chang nearly caught the snitch, Diggory reminded him of the game plan.

- 'Harry, let's not be amateurish,' Cedric flew up to Potter. - We play the tactics we discussed - you play against their Seeker, and Finch-Fletchley takes out the hunters.

- Alright, I'll do it now then," Harry replied briefly and focused his attention on Zhou.

After Potter stopped sending bludgers at the hunters, the hunters were able to relax and regain their percentage of quaffle possession. The Ravenclaw team had come out of defence and were finally making regular forays into Herbert Flit's rings, Justin wasn't doing a good job of knocking down the quaffle-wielding hunters so they were hitting the Hufflepuff team's rings more often, but Zhou Chang couldn't get a good look around and didn't even have a chance to catch a snitch, while Cedric had almost no one in his way.

The game took a slightly different turn, but still, even though Potter was no longer playing against the Ravenclaw hunters, the Hufflepuff players had a slight advantage. Balls went into all the rings, but the gap between the teams grew wider and wider. When the difference reached a hundred points, Roger Davies took a time-out, and then the Ravenclaw hunters abruptly changed tactics and started attacking with Potter's bludgers. Harry hadn't expected this at all: one of the black balls broke his finger and threw him off his broomstick.

But thanks to Madam Trick's actions - she had used her wand to slow him down - he was not seriously injured again. Of course, the pain from his broken finger was pretty bad, but Harry had been used to wild pain as a child, so compared to those sensations, his broken finger wasn't that much of an inconvenience. Cedric Diggory had to take time out to heal his penman's finger. The sixth year preferred not to go to Madam Pomfrey, but to heal Potter's finger himself. It was quite a risky move, but it was successful and Harry could move his finger safely without any apparent problems.

The game resumed. Potter, emboldened by his thirst for revenge, stopped tightly guarding Zhou and began bombarding the Ravenclaw's enclosures, Justin joined him and the two of them hit the enemy enclosures with bludgers about ten times. However, it was a trap.

Roger Davies had realised in time that in a clear field the Hufflepuff hunters were much stronger than his team's hunters and had bet on catching the snitch that was Zhou Chang. But to give her a chance to look around, Potter had to get away from her, and while Harry and Justin were firing at the opposing players, the Ravenclaw Seeker was able to break free of the tight custody, spotted the snitch, and was heading straight for it, ahead of Cedric. Potter quickly realised his blunder, but unfortunately not fast enough for him to have a comeback from the other end of the pitch. He flew with all available speed to the nearest huge black ball, stood so that it stood between the approximate location of the snitch and the bludger, pointed his wand discreetly in his pocket, and whispered quietly:

- Rapido.

It was a spell he had learnt back in his second year, but he had no idea how he could use it. The spell causes the nearest large object, in this case a bludger, to fly at a target at great speed. But so that no one would notice the rule-breaking, Harry made himself the target of the spell, and he chose his position so that once the black ball came towards him, it could be redirected towards Zhou without losing its speed of flight.

As soon as the bludger almost hit him, Harry stepped sharply out of the ball's trajectory and, recalling all the information he had read in the book on Quidditch, bludgers and trajectory, also taking into account wind speed, hit it with all the power available. The impact was so hard that Harry seemed to manage to twist his arm by doing such an action.

The speed of the ball was already incredibly tremendous due to the spell, but it was even more so due to the added acceleration given by the impact of the bat. When an object flew at that speed, it was very difficult to control, but Harry had been studying Quidditch books since second year for a reason; he had taken into account all the forces that could affect the position of the snitch and the bludger after the impact: the bat strike itself, the Rapido spell, the speed of the wind, the approximate speed of Chang, and even the vibrations of the golden ball.

Before reaching out for the snitch, it was as if Zhou had sensed something at the last moment. She turned away from it and looked perplexed at the approaching bludger, which half a second later hit her directly in the head.

A crunch sounded, Zhou Chang lost consciousness and fell off her broom.