Don't Compare Yourself to Someone with an Unfair Advantage

"Strange. Did Peeves cause trouble in the library?"

"Did the Gryffindors blow up the library?"

"Did Madam Pince finally decide to take a holiday?"

When Andrew returned to the dormitory, the other three stared at him with their mouths open.

"Is it that surprising?"

Andrew rolled his eyes at his roommates, then rummaged through the dwindling pile of snacks and pulled out a bag of candied fruit.

"Of course it is. We've always thought that if Madam Pince let you put a bed in the library, you'd never come back to the dormitory."

Kevin ate one of Bell's knights and answered with a grin.

"The upper years call the library our third dormitory. Don't act like going there is strange."

Andrew grumbled at his roommates while checking how long the Transfiguration Spells on the objects in his trunk would last. He took out his notebook and began recording the results. "Where's Hal?"

"He heard there was news and went to ask around."

"News?"

"Yeah. Harry Potter was apparently given a special place on the team. Professor McGonagall even bought him a Nimbus 2000 with house funds."

"What?"

Andrew stopped what he was doing and gaped. "A Nimbus 2000?"

"That's right. A brand-new broom and the house team's Seeker position." Bell saw he couldn't gain an advantage, so he ignored the soldier hurling insults, packed up his chess pieces, and conceded. "And not a single Gryffindor objected."

"Look on the bright side. You can't compare yourself to a legend who'll end up in textbooks." Andrew tossed the snacks around, though everyone would have helped themselves anyway. "Keep practicing. If you can't catch a person with one hand and the ball with the other like he can, wait until the normal recruitment in second year."

"Guess I'll have to... But you really won't come to practice?"

"No... You know I'm more interested in Transfiguration." Andrew shook his head. "Hughes, want to play cards?"

"Hold on. I'm almost done copying this passage from History of Goblin Rebellions. Two minutes or so."

Hughes looked up from his desk to answer, then went back to copying.

"You should get a Self-Inking Quill, mate. I heard the upper years say they're really useful!"

Kevin hunted for the Exploding Snap cards as he spoke, then muttered at Andrew, "You've got some nerve, dragging us into a card game as soon as you get back from the library."

"Want to go to the library together this afternoon?"

Andrew smiled.

"No thanks. I can't do that. How does Ravenclaw have someone like you?" Kevin shook his head repeatedly. "Twice a week at the library is my limit. I'd rather try out all sorts of charms than dig through those books for long-winded explanations of how they work..."

"One day you'll end up with a cow standing on your chest," Bell said. He put away the last muttering knight and tidied the chessboard. "Especially with those spells students pass around. Who knows what happens if one goes wrong?"

"They wouldn't get passed around if they weren't safe. I just finished studying the Leg-Locker Curse. Interested? One homework assignment for the spell. That's the friends-and-family price."

The price was fair, and most of Kevin's homework was soon spoken for.

Then they haphazardly laid out cushions and started playing cards.

About six or seven minutes later, a gloomy-looking Hughes became the test subject for the charm. "Were you three counting cards again?"

"Of course not."

All three answered in unison.

"Don't worry, I've even worked out the counter-charm."

Kevin beamed. "I'm risking having to do my own homework. This is completely fair!"

The charm lesson was a great success. Once again, they had made it through a day without sending any roommates to the hospital.

By the time Hal returned from gathering news, they had already played several lively rounds. Hughes was on a winning streak and thoroughly enjoying himself, while Andrew and Bell had slips of paper stuck all over their faces.

"Nicely done, Hughes. But Andrew, you're back this early?"

*???*

What's that supposed to mean?

Andrew rolled his eyes. "Of course I am. The library doesn't have a dining hall."

"Fair point. I'll put that in the suggestion book for you," Hal said cheerfully. "You'll never guess what happened in the castle."

Apparently too eager to share the news to wait for anyone to guess, Hal blurted out the answer. "Miss Granger—you know the one—beat up several Ravenclaw students!"

*???*

Andrew's eyes widened. Wait, which house are you in? Have we got a traitor in our house?

Why do you look so proud? Are you a Gryffindor spy?

"The ones who were scamming people... You know..."

Seeing their baffled looks, Hal explained. Everyone relaxed. Those people? Then they'd deserved it.

Fake herbs, fake amulets, fake potions—change the approach a little and it was a whole new scam. Those students seemed to treat the school as a testing ground and were willing to lose money just for practice.

If they were caught, everything they had would be confiscated and they'd get detention. But that didn't stop them; none of it was serious enough to get them expelled. They were a headache, especially since they were fast, knew the secret passages, and used magical disguises or, now and then, Polyjuice Potion. All of that made them even harder to catch.

"No idea which one got on her bad side. It sounds like she started going after them after a prefect told her off. Things are chaotic with the new students settling in, but she really did uncover a group and call in the prefects to deal with them.

"The upper years couldn't fight her, of course, but the lower years could get into a scuffle. And then—"

Hal spread his hands. "The first-year newcomer got a thorough lesson in jinxes."

"Served them right. Every one of that lot is more disgusting than the last."

"Exactly. And how did they dare take on the top Defense Against the Dark Arts student when she had her wand? Even if she is a first year..."

"She's top of every class. You can't compete with that."

"Andrew?"

"What?"

"Don't you have anything to say?"

"What can I say?"

Andrew spread his hands and leaned back in his chair. "Our house admits too many different sorts of people. If I'd been there, I'd have had to help someone from another house take on students from my own... Ridiculous."

"Look on the bright side. At least we don't have to change dormitories over it... We've all got different interests, but none of them clash. Isn't that enough?"

"True. Can't ask for too much."

Andrew shook his head. "Come on, let's go eat."

Those words worked astonishingly well. Hal alone looked disappointed. "Wait, don't go yet. I've got a firsthand account of Harry Potter's Quidditch tryout!"

"Tell us over dinner. Tell us over dinner."

They headed noisily for the dining hall.