The young couple had a very good night indeed. The bed was more than wide enough for two children and they cuddled comfortably until they fell asleep. They also enjoyed waking up together, before Hermione faded back to her bed, to get ready to officially start their first day of study at Hogwarts. They needed to have some breakfast first, though.
They met in the common room, where they joined the other first-year Gryffindors and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry grabbed Hermione's hand as soon as they started walking. This didn't deter Ron, who moved promptly to Harry's other side. Ron tried to start a conversation about Quidditch, but Harry just ignored him, conversing quietly with Hermione.
When they reached the Great Hall, Neville approached and hesitantly asked, "Do you mind if I sit with you?"
Harry smiled. "You're welcome, especially if that can help keep some others away from us." Both knew he was referring to Ron, but the redhead had already seen the food and paid no attention to anything else.
It didn't help much, though. Neville sat at Hermione's side, sparing her Ron's presence, but Ron managed to push himself to Harry's other side, where his lack of table manners made breakfast quite unpleasant. Ron did his best to stay close to Harry, not minding the hints that he was unnerving, nor the more explicit refusals to accept his company.
"He's a real pest, that boy," Harry said.
"Maybe we should get to know his older brothers? Percy may not be of much help to us, but Fred and George can. Besides, Legilimency may allow us to discern their honest replies from pranks."
Harry gave it a thought. "Yes, that may be helpful. According to Bill, they're much smarter. They could become good allies, as long as they don't try to prank us."
They couldn't find the twins that evening, or the next, but they felt no urgency about that. They could wait for their chance.
–..–
Things started to change during their first flight lesson. Hermione was quite apprehensive about riding a broom, at first. "Just think of it as if you are riding your bicycles, only you don't see the wheels. I'm sure you can do it," Harry told her.
Harry's confidence in her made wonders. She promised herself to make her friend and bond-mate proud of her, and her renewed determination had the immediate effect of making the broom respond much better to her commands. And then Neville's broom began acting erratically.
It was clear that the scared boy was no longer able to control the misbehaving broom. Their instructor tried to calm Neville by speaking to him. It was clearly not working. Harry, who was already sitting on his broom, as did the other children, saw that without proper help, Neville was bound to fall down and be badly hurt. He kicked off and flew directly towards Neville. Hermione followed him a fraction of a second later.
It was just in time. As they approached the scared boy, he lost his last hold on the broom and started falling down. Harry and Hermione caught his hands before he reached any significant speed. Harry helped Neville mount Hermione's broom, sitting behind her and hugging her waist. As he finally let go of Neville, something fell out of the boy's robes.
Harry didn't think. He just acted instinctively, racing after the falling object, catching it just a few inches above the ground and changing direction before he would crash down. He quickly joined Hermione and helped bring Neville down with no harm.
"That was the most fascinating save I've seen in several decades," they heard Professor McGonagall's voice.
Harry turned around. His head of house was approaching, looking very excited. "You two – come with me," she said to Harry and Hermione.
Hermione looked questioningly at Harry, but he only shrugged, knowing no better. The professor stopped near another classroom, calling an older boy to join them and they all assembled in the professor's office.
"I've found you your seeker," the professor told the older boy, "and possibly another player too." She now turned to the two first-years. "Have any of you ridden a broom before?"
Hermione shook her head, as did Harry. The professor smiled at Harry. "Actually, I remember seeing you riding a toy broom when you were about a year old. James was so proud of you!"
"You knew my parents?! Can you tell me about them?"
She smiled at the suddenly enthusiastic child. "I knew them since they were about your age. I stayed in contact with them even after they graduated. We can set some meetings so I can tell you all I know about them, although your father kept some things secret from me."
She waited for Harry to calm down a bit. "This here is Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. As our seeker of last year has graduated already, we need a new one, and we may also need a reserve player, as we currently have none."
She turned to Oliver now. "Mr Potter has just saved an object that was falling, chasing after it at high speed, grabbing it just inches from the ground and changing direction in time, not to crash." Oliver looked at Harry with some amazement. "As for Ms Granger, she helped Mr Potter catch a fellow student who fell from a misbehaving broom and bring him to safety. It was her first time on a broom. I suspect she can prove a very good player in whatever position you give her."
Oliver nodded understandingly. "Well, if the professor thinks you're good, I can trust her judgement. You will join our training sessions and I hope you'll prove her right."
By the time they finished the meeting at McGonagall's office, the flying lesson was over. "Let's learn some more about Quidditch until we have dinner," Hermione suggested, and Harry agreed immediately. Although they had read a bit about the game, as suggested by Bill, they didn't feel like they knew enough to really participate. A short visit to the library gave them enough books to learn as much as they cared to know about it.
Harry didn't feel like talking about what had happened during the flying lesson, but he couldn't escape the rumours, nor escape Ron, who managed to push Neville aside and sit at Harry's side. "She didn't expel you, did she?"
"No. She actually thought we were good enough to join the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She thinks I can be a good seeker."
"You're joking!"
Harry didn't feel like elaborating. He just shook his head and paid attention to his food, but not for long. Fred and George Weasley now came into the hall, spotted Harry, and hurried over.
"Well done," said George in a low voice. "Wood told us. We're on the team too — Beaters."
Fred and George had hardly disappeared when someone far less welcome turned up: Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. "Having a last meal, Potter? You knew you shouldn't fly without permission. When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"
"You're a lot braver now that you've got your little friends with you," said Harry coolly. There was of course nothing at all little about Crabbe and Goyle, but as the High Table was full of teachers, neither of them could do more than crack their knuckles and scowl.
"I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only — no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"
Harry had actually read quite a lot about that. He stood up. "Of course, I know what a wizard's duel is, although I doubt you actually know, yet as you challenge me, it is my right to choose where and when, and I choose here and now. Who's your second?"
"Crabbe," said Malfoy, his face turning even whiter. "Who's yours?"
"My dear friend, Miss Granger." Harry turned to the head table. "Can you please clear the hall so that nobody will be in danger, thank you?"
Dumbledore, who hadn't felt like intervening before, thought this was going out of hand. He stood up. "Mr Potter, Mr Malfoy, you should know that duels are not permitted at school. I suggest you stop this immediately."
Malfoy seemed relieved by this intervention, but Harry wouldn't relent. "As Scion Malfoy challenged me, Scion Potter, I think it is my right and my duty to put him in his place. I'll duel him here and now, if you please." His voice sounded loud and clear despite the noise as if he was using some spell, although he didn't even hold his wand.
'Are you sure this is the right thing to do? You know that if he beats you, you lose everything,' Hermione talked in his mind.
'He can hardly tell one end of his wand from the other, and he's not at all powerful. I can easily beat him even without a wand,' Harry replied. He had already scanned Malfoy with Legilimency and found that the boy knew almost nothing and needed a stone with some runes carved on it, which he always kept in his pocket, to be able to perform even the simplest magic.
Professor Flitwick approached the scene. He urged the other students to move away and then conjured a raised platform and cast some shielding wards on it. He then motioned the rivals to take their places. "You should wait for my signal before starting. On the count of three, then: One… Two…"
Malfoy didn't wait. He cast a spell that Harry didn't recognize but aimed it so poorly, that Harry didn't even need to move to avoid it. He just stood and smiled confidently, making Malfoy more anxious. A second spell followed, and Harry took a small step aside to let it fly. Malfoy seemed to get furious. "You can't even fight. You just stand there, smiling like an idiot!"
Harry grinned wider. "Your skills are not very impressive, scion Malfoy. I'm already busy planning how to use all the Malfoy fortunes."
Draco seemed to get even more furious. He cast several more spells, which Harry just sidestepped easily. He then tried something else, a spell that created a kind of wide cloud of darkness that seemed to move quickly towards Harry, who couldn't step aside, as it was too wide. Harry erected a wide shield instead. It absorbed the dark cloud and seemed to get thicker in doing so. He then flicked his wand and whispered a spell. It left no trace in the air, but Draco's wand seemed to get plucked from his hand and sail in the air towards Harry, who lifted his free hand and caught the wand. "Now, Scion Malfoy, do you still believe you can take me?" he said.
Draco, who fell on the platform when trying to hold on to his wand, looked hatefully at Harry but said nothing.
Professor Flitwick climbed to the platform and lifted Harry's hand. "I hereby declare Scion Potter as the winner of this duel. Please give Draco his wand back."
Harry pretended to give it a thought. "Well, by all accounts, this wand is now mine, as is everything that belongs to Malfoy, but as I want my underling to be able to use some magic, although I doubt he has much talent at that, I think I should give him this wand, so he may learn a bit, if he can, and become a useful servant. However, this wand, and any other he may take hold of, can never be used against me, my family or my friends. Trying to do so may have grave consequences. Be warned!"
Harry smiled at the applauding audience and then turned and threw the wand to Malfoy, intentionally making it fly a bit of a distance from its target, forcing Draco to move in order to catch it. Draco almost missed the wand and had to move quickly before he managed to catch it with two hands. He looked at Harry with hatred, and then aimed it at Harry, shouting another spell. Harry erected his shield again, just in time, as that spell seemed to go towards the professor, who wasn't even looking. Harry followed it with a stunner and a disarming spell, making Draco fall on the platform and lose his wand, which Harry plucked from the air and put in his pocket. "It looks like giving Draco a wand is not quite safe," he commented dryly, as he stepped down from the platform and into Hermione's hug.
"I was so worried about you. I couldn't recognize any of his spells," Hermione said, tightening the hug.
"You could just use some Legilimency on him. These were dark spells, alright, but he couldn't put much power into them and that shield charm we've found in the book was more than enough for them." Harry was content to leave the duel behind and not think of it.