Draco's provocation

"Have you heard? Harry Potter made the Quidditch House Team! And he's a Seeker!" For the past few days, the young witches and wizards in the Castle had talked of little else. Some were astonished; others were skeptical.

That Thursday afternoon, after Professor McGonagall took Harry and Ron away from the lawn, she went straight to Oliver Wood and introduced the two boys to him.

Wood had already been worrying about the standard of this year's players. Their seventh-year Seeker had his mind on his exams and could hardly concentrate on training, while the fourth-year reserve was simply too poor a player.

Then Harry and Ron landed on his doorstep, delivered by the Head of House herself.

Wood knew that Professor McGonagall had been an outstanding Quidditch player in her youth-at least at the house level. There was no question about her eye for talent.

After a brief tryout, Wood's grin nearly stretched around to the back of his head. What a surprise. A wonderful surprise!

Even with the high expectations Wood already had thanks to his faith in Professor McGonagall, Harry and Ron's skills still delighted him. He made the decision on the spot: Harry and Ron, both first-years, were going straight onto the team.

Of course, that still required Professor McGonagall's special permission. Under the usual house rules, first-years weren't allowed to join the Quidditch team.

Professor McGonagall was well aware of the predicament her house's Quidditch team was in. With a sweep of her pen, the matter was settled. Harry not only joined the team but went straight into the first-team lineup as a Seeker. As for whether he, the seventh-year, or the fourth-year reserve would actually play, that would be decided in later training sessions.

For his part, Wood had very high hopes for Harry.

As for Ron, both Wood and Professor McGonagall believed he had excellent potential as a Keeper. For now, he would be Wood's reserve. Even as a substitute, Ron was thrilled.

No one in his family had ever joined a house team in their first year before.

Harry was pleased, even though training would now take up much of his free time. Ron was pleased too, especially after receiving a letter of praise from Mother, Mrs. Weasley.

All the young Gryffindor witches and wizards were pleased. So who wasn't?

Draco wasn't pleased!

Why? Why did Potter get to join the Quidditch team in his first year?

Potter was one thing, but why did that redheaded Weasley get to join too?

Young Master Draco was displeased. Young Master Draco was unhappy. And what happened when Young Master Draco was displeased and unhappy?

He stirred up trouble, of course!

And so, after the news got out, Draco went over to the Gryffindor table to provoke Harry and Ron at breakfast, lunch, and dinner almost every day.

From that day onward, however, Harry and Ron had training nearly every day and simply had no energy left to spare for Draco.

Ignored and denied the attention he wanted, Young Master Draco grew even unhappier.

Besides Draco, one other person was unhappy: Oliver Wood.

Of course, Wood wasn't unhappy with Harry and Ron's performance. In fact, they kept giving him one pleasant surprise after another.

What upset him was that the whole school had somehow found out.

"What the hell! I specifically said we were keeping them as secret weapons and not to let it get out. Fred and George, you two blabbermouths!" Furious and embarrassed, Wood asserted his authority as captain by roaring at them during training. The twins' training load increased by thirty percent that day.

"Nicely done, Wood!" That endorsement came from Angelina Johnson, the pretty older girl on the Quidditch team. "Those two troublemakers have needed sorting out for ages."

Fred & George: Sob, sob, sob.

Over the next few weeks, Harry's days were full. He was exhausted but happy.

And, prompted by Hermione, he found a medal belonging to his father, James Potter, in the trophy room: Hogwarts Chaser of the Year.

It was one of the few pieces of information about his parents that Harry had ever come across.

Hagrid clearly knew quite a bit, but his ability to express himself left much to be desired. All he could say was that they had been good people, an excellent wizard and witch. He couldn't manage to convey anything else.

There were countless accounts of Harry himself in various books, yet his parents received only a few passing mentions. Their main claim to fame was apparently being Harry Potter's parents.

That was rather awkward...

That day, after dinner, Harry and Ron set off for the Quidditch Pitch to attend training.

When they reached the Castle entrance, Draco and his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, came toward them and blocked their path. They seemed to have been waiting there all along.

"Well, Scarhead, you've been getting pretty full of yourself lately." Draco gave Harry a challenging look.

"Mama's Boy, do you have any idea how annoying you are?" Harry said irritably. Draco had been pestering him almost every day lately, and he was sick of it-especially now, when he needed to hurry to training.

"Don't call me that!" Draco instantly flew into a rage. He deeply resented being called Mama's Boy.

"If you stayed away from me, I wouldn't call you that, would I?" Harry rolled his eyes, his face full of distaste. "Could you get out of the way already? I'm in a hurry."

With that, Harry and Ron moved to go around the three boys and hurry to training. Wood really would shout at them if they were late.

"Hmph!" Draco seemed to remember only then what he had come to do. He stepped sideways, blocking Harry's path again. "I challenge you to a duel!"

"A duel?" Harry looked in surprise at Draco, whom he could only describe as scrawny. He couldn't help giving a derisive laugh as he cracked his knuckles: