31 The First Match

Seeing Dumbledore standing in the entrance to the Hospital Wing, Hermione quickly pushed Nova away and backed a couple of steps back. Nova didn't mind too much as he was sure that his actions had startled her to an extent.

Looking at Dumbledore directly Nova saw that his soul was a phoenix as well, but it wasn't the same as what Nova was looking for. Dumbledore's soul had should signs that it has grown over the course of his life, that he had suffered but at the same time overcome those pain. But at the same time his soul was that of a person meeting the end of days, still strong but sadly not as active as it used to be.

As Dumbledore walked closer to Nova and had gotten a good look at his overall health, he suddenly felt overwhelming fear and his mind started to shake as he made eye contact with Nova. It was as if he was being devoured. With understanding of what he was experiencing Dumbledore quickly remembered a conversation that he had with Nova weeks ago on staring into his eyes.

Nova upon seeing the situation that Dumbledore was in quickly understood what was wrong and closed his eyes and extended his mind to help him see.

"I can see that you are back to good health Mr. Void. It seems that everything is as it should be. Though it seems that your awakening has caused the school much difficulty and have incapacitated everyone."

Hearing Dumbledore speak, Nova nodded his head. He then looked in the direction of Hagrid and Ron. And silently observed them. Hagrid was part giant so he would be fine, as for Ron he was ok as well but it would take some time for him to recover and looking in the direction of Madam Pomfrey, who was still in her office, she would be on her feet in a few minutes as well.

"After looking at the few people in here, I see that there is no problem with any of them

they didn't suffer too much damage to their souls but was more like a small shock to the soul. They will all be fine after a few minutes." Nova explained.

Dumbledore nodded his head in understanding as he too had felt the affect and even though he was not affect like the others, the damage was still done.

"Now if you don't mind I still have to check my condition to see where my strength is at." Nova said.

He then walked over to Ron and Hagrid and placed them both in a bed before going to his own and laying down since he still felt tired.

"Now wait a minute, I still need to know what is going on here. Not only did you just hug me like a mad man, but after being turned into flames and looking different in the mirror. I need to know what is going on!" Hermione told Nova rather pointedly.

"And you will I just need to decide how much you need to know." Nova calmly said. He was going to say more but Madam Pomfrey burst out of her office, to see what the noise was about. Upon seeing all the people, she immediately said, "Visiting hours are over why are all these people here. Everyone out. That include you too headmaster."

"I was just on my way Poppy." Professor Dumbledore said as he calmly exited the room.

Hermione on the other hand didn't want to leave until she got an explanation, but upon receiving a stern gaze from Madam Pomfrey she quietly left.

As Nova laid in the bed, he started to diagnose himself and saw that his body was in peak performance and then breathed a small flame only to see that it too was at its full power. Seeing that he was indeed back up to full strength Nova let himself fall asleep in the Hospital Wing.

The next morning dawned very bright and cold much to Nova's frustration. Though he didn't mind the cold he still found it mildly annoying and discomforting. As he went to the Great Hall, Nova found it was full of the delicious smell of fried sausages and the cheerful chatter of everyone looking forward to a good Quidditch match. As everyone watched him enter, some of the talking had died down and instead of Quidditch, they were discussing whether or not he had actually done what the rumors were saying.

When he approached the Gryffindor table, Nova saw Hermione talking with Harry and Ron seemingly trying to get Harry to eat something.

"You've got to eat some breakfast."

"I don't want anything."

"Just a bit of toast," wheedled Hermione.

"I'm not hungry."

"Harry, you need your strength," said Seamus Finnigan. "Seekers are always the ones who get clobbered by the other team."

"Thanks, Seamus," said Harry and then watched Seamus pile ketchup on his sausages. Sitting down next to Hermione, Nova was approached by Fred and George Weasley, who came over and started to talk with him.

"Hey did you really turn into a giant dragon?" One of the twins immediately asked.

"How did you turn Percy into a weasel? Can you show us or is it dragon magic?" Said the other.

Hearing his name, Percy looked over but upon seeing that it was Nova and hearing about weasels, he quickly ducked his head back down, which caused the twins to start laughing.

"No it is nothing special, you can achieve it with regular transfiguration magic, if dragon magic really existed then your brother would have stayed a weasel permanently." Nova explained.

Hearing this the brothers nodded their heads in understanding, "You know I heard you two liked playing tricks on others, since it was a simple magic, why don't you enchant something that can be held or eaten that turns the person into a random animal."

When Nova said this the twins eyes went wide and were about to say something, when Wood came and got them for the match.

"You're not giving them any bad ideas I hope right?" Hermione asked.

"No, but I feel that if they do decide to do something like that it would be quite profitable for them." Nova told her.

"So when are you going to tell me what is going on?" Hermione asked.

"Later."

"Does what ever this is about have something to do with you crashing into my house and lying to my family about your origins?"

Hearing Hermione say this caught Nova completely off guard as he drank a strange drink called coffee causing him to choke as he swallowed it.

"Oh so the enchantments were broken. Whoops, should have seen that coming."

"Well does it." Hermione did a follow up on her question, with an expression that all but scared Nova.

"Hey look at the time. We should start heading towards the game." Nova quickly got up and headed out the Hall. For the expression, Hermione gave was that of his wife's when he was in trouble.

By eleven o'clock the whole school seemed to be out in the stands around the Quidditch pitch. Many students had binoculars. The seats might be raised high in the air, but it was still difficult to see what was going on sometimes.

Nova, Ron, and Hermione joined Neville, Seamus, and Dean the West Ham fan up in the top row. As a surprise for Harry, they had painted a large banner on one of the sheets Scabbers had ruined. It said Potter for President, and Dean, who was good at drawing, had done a large Gryffindor lion underneath. Then Hermione had performed a tricky little charm so that the paint flashed different colors. Impressed with the art that was on the banner, Nova manipulated the art on the banner to jump off the canvas andbecome as large as a giant lion.

Seeing that he had done this, the group look over at Nova with a wide mouth.

"How did you do that? You got the lion to look so life like?"

"One of my friends is a lion, so I based it off of her and her husband."

"You have friends that are lions."

"Yeah you even have stories about them. The Nemean Lion and the constellation Leo, I believe."

"Merlin's beard Nova. Are they as big as you?" Ron asked since he had seen Nova's real form.

"No they are like big kittens. Though a little bigger than this model I made." Hearing Nova call the canvas a big kitten, the group just kinda stopped talking and just watched the lion lay on the ground in front of them.

Soon the players started walking out of the rest area onto the field. Madam Hooch was refereeing. She stood in the middle of the field waiting for the two teams, her broom in her hand.

"Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you," she said, once they were all gathered around her.

"Mount your brooms, please."

Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her silver whistle. Fifteen brooms rose up, high, high into the air. They were off. "And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor -- what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too --"

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry, Professor."

The Weasley twins' friend, Lee Jordan, was doing the commentary for the match, closely watched by Professor McGonagall. Nova couldn't help but laugh when he heard the commentary, but as he looked at the girl, Angelina, he couldn't help but nodded in agreement with Jordan's words.

"And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve -- back to Johnson and -- no, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes -- Flint flying like an eagle up there -- he's going to sc- no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and the Gryffindors take the Quaffle -- that's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and -- OUCH -- that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger -- Quaffle taken by the Slytherins -- that's Adrian Pucey speeding off toward the goal posts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger -- sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which -- nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes -- she's really flying -- dodges a speeding Bludger -- the goal posts are ahead -- come on, now, Angelina -- Keeper Bletchley dives -- misses -- GRYFFINDORS SCORE!"

Gryffindor cheers filled the cold air, with howls and moans from the Slytherins. Seeing the score, the lion at the bottom let out a loud roar, which caused the cheering for Gryffindor to get even louder.

"Budge up there, move along."

"Hagrid!" Ron and Hermione squeezed together to give Hagrid enough space to join them. "Bin watchin' from me hut," said Hagrid, patting a large pair of binoculars around his neck, "But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd. No sign of the Snitch yet, eh?"

"Nope," said Ron. "Harry hasn't had much to do yet."

"Kept outta trouble, though, that's somethin'," said Hagrid, raising his binoculars and peering skyward at the speck that was Harry.

"Hey Hagrid." Nova said.

"Oh hello Nova." Hagrid replied.

"I heard you were helping treat me while I was sleeping. I wanted to give you my thanks. Would you like any kind of payment?" Nova asked.

"No, no need." Hagrid replied.

"If there is anything you need in the future let me know. Treat it as me owing you a favor." Nova replied. Hearing Nova say this Hagrid nodded his head, though Nova had a feeling that Hagrid would probably never ask.

Coming out of his conversation, Nova heard Dean Thomas yelling, "Send him off, ref! Red card!"

"What are you talking about, Dean?" said Ron.

"Red card!" said Dean furiously. "In soccer you get shown the red card and you're out of the game!"

"But this isn't soccer, Dean," Ron reminded him. Hagrid, however, was on Dean's side. "They oughta change the rules. Flint coulda knocked Harry outta the air."

Lee Jordan was finding it difficult not to take sides. "So -- after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating

"Jordan!" growled Professor McGonagall.

"I mean, after that open and revolting foul

'Jordan, I'm warning you --"

"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinner, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession."

All of a sudden, Nova saw Harry losing control of the broom, and it wasn't just Nova that noticed.

"Dunno what Harry thinks he's doing," Hagrid mumbled. He stared through his binoculars. "If I didn' know better, I'd say he'd lost control of his broom... but he can't have...."

Suddenly, people were pointing up at Harry all over the stands. His broom had started to roll over and over, with him only just managing to hold on. Then the whole crowd gasped. Harry's broom had given a wild jerk and Harry swung off it. He was now dangling from it, holding on with only one hand.

As Nova looked closer, he saw an invisible hand shaking and making the broom act as it was, showing clear signs that someone was messing with the broom.

"Did something happen to it when Flint blocked him?" Seamus whispered.

"Can't have," Hagrid said, his voice shaking. "Can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark magic -- no kid could do that to a Nimbus Two Thousand."

At these words, Hermione seized Hagrid's binoculars, but instead of looking up at Harry, she started looking frantically at the crowd.

"What are you doing?" moaned Ron, gray-faced.

"I knew it," Hermione gasped, "Snape -- look."

Ron grabbed the binoculars. Snape was in the middle of the stands opposite them. He had his eyes fixed on Harry and was muttering nonstop under his breath.

"He's doing something -- jinxing the broom," said Hermione. "What should we do?" "Leave it to me."

Hearing all this Nova looked over towards Snaped, and he was indeed moving his mouth for spell the magic being woven was of protection and stability.

"Go" Nova said to the lion down below and sent it to be underneath Harry just in case. Nova then continued looking around for the culprit. If they were even there.

Though he didn't find who the person was, he knew that Hermione had done something as the magic hand holding the broom faded, giving Harry control of the broom once more.

Moments later, the crowd watched as Harry was speeding toward the ground when the crowd saw him clap his hand to his mouth as though he was about to be sick -- he hit the field on all fours -- coughed -- and something gold fell into his hand.

"I've got the Snitch!" he shouted, waving it above his head, and the game ended in complete confusion. Seeing that the game was over Nova created invisible platforms for the lion to run on as it roared out in delight before running straight back into the original banner and taking its original form

"Come on guys lets get out of this cold." Nova said. As he was ready to get out of the cold.

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