About a week after the little incident with Draco Malfoy, Harry and I were eager to get our revenge on him, and the opportunity came with the mail.
That morning, as owls flooded into the Great Hall, everyone was paying attention to two long, thin packages carried by twelve owls. Harry and I were just as interested as everyone else to see what was in the large parcels, and we were amazed when the owls had soared down and had dropped the packages right in front of us, knocking my bacon to the ground and spilling Harry's pumpkin juice. They had hardly fluttered away when another two owls dropped two letters on top of the parcels.
I ripped open the letter first, which was lucky, because mine said:
DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE.
It contains your new Golden Arrow, but I don't want anyone knowing you two have got broomsticks or they'll all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you two tonight on the Quidditch field at seven o'clock for your first training session.
Professor M. McGonagall
I had difficulty hiding my glee. I looked at Harry's letter, which almost said the same thing, only he had a Nimbus Two Thousand.
We left the hall quickly, wanting to unwrap our broomsticks in private before the next class, but Crabbe and Goyle barred our way upstairs. Malfoy grabbed both the parcels from us and felt them.
"Those are broomsticks," he said, "you're both in for it now, first years aren't allowed them." he threw them back to us, looking jealous and admiring at the same time (wait. is that possible?).
Professor Flitwick appeared at Malfoy's elbow.
"Not arguing, I hope, boys? And girl," he squeaked.
"Potter and Black have been sent broomsticks, Professor."
"Yes, yes, that's right," said Professor Flitwick, beaming at both Harry and I. "Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances. And what models are they?"
"Harry's got a Nimbus Two Thousand, and I've got a Golden Arrow, sir," I said, fighting not to laugh at the look of horror on Malfoy's face. "And it's really thanks to Malfoy here that we've got them."
We headed upstairs, smothering our laughter at Malfoy's obvious rage and confusion.
"Well, it's true," Harry chortled as we reached the top of the marble staircase. "If he hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall I wouldn't be on the team..."
Unfortunately, because of Malfoy, we didn't have time to unwrap the broomsticks, so the whole time during the classes, my thoughts kept wandering to the broomstick just waiting to be unwrapped, and because of that, I didn't do so well during the classes. Hermione helped me a lot, even though she was angry with Harry and Ron for the dog incident. Harry and I bolted our dinner that evening and then we rushed upstairs with Ron to unwrap the Nimbus Two Thousand and the Golden Arrow at last.
"Wow," said Ron as Harry's and my broomsticks rolled onto the ground.
Even I thought it looked wonderful. Sleek and shiny, with a golden handle, it had a long tail of neat, straight twigs with the words Golden Arrow written in silver near the top. Harry's had a mahogany handle and had the words Nimbus Two Thousand written in gold.
As seven o'clock drew nearer, Harry and I left the castle and set off in the dusk toward the Quidditch field. We'd never been inside the stadium before. Hundreds of seats were raised in stands around the field so the spectators were high enough to see what was going on. At either side of the field were three golden poles with hoops on the end.
Too eager to fly again to wait for Wood, Harry and I mounted our broomsticks and kicked off the ground. What a feeling- we swooped in and out of the goal posts and then sped up and down the field. The Golden Arrow turned wherever I wanted at my lightest touch.
"Hey, Potter, Black, come down!"
Oliver Wood had arrived. He was carrying a large wooden crate under his arm. Harry and I landed.
"Right," Wood said, his eyes glinting, "I'll only be teaching you two the rules this evening, then you two'll be joining team practices three times a week."
He opened the crate. Inside were four different-sized balls.
"Okay. Now, Quidditch is easy enough to understand. There are seven players on each side. Three of them are called Chasers. Black, you're a Chaser. So is Bianca Harris, who you've met before."
He took out a bright red ball about the size of a soccer ball.
"This ball's called the Quaffle. Black, listen carefully, as this is your part. The Chasers throw the Quaffle to each other and try to get it through one of the hoops to score. Ten points every time the Quaffle through one of the hoops. Following me?"
"Isn't this sort of like basketball on broomsticks with six hoops?" I wondered.
"What's basketball?" said Wood curiously.
"Never mind," said Harry quickly.
"Now, there's another player on each side who's called the Keeper- I'm the Keeper for Gryffindor. I have to fly around the hoops and stop the other team from scoring."
"What are they for, then?" Harry asked, pointing at the other three balls.
"You'll see. Black, take this."
He handed me a small bat and then released one of two identical black balls. It zoomed in the air, then rushed at Harry's face. I leaped in front of him and swung the bat at it so it wouldn't break Harry's nose- it rose in the air, then shot toward Wood, who caught it.
"The Bludgers rocket around, trying to knock players off their brooms. That's why we have two Beaters on each team- the Weasleys are ours- it's their job to keep the Bludgers away from their side and to try and knock them towards the other side." Wood panted as he strapped the ball back into the box.
"Have the Bludgers ever killed anyone?" I asked.
"Not at Hogwarts. We've had a couple of broken jaws, but nothing really worse. Now, the last member of the team is the Seeker. Potter, that's you. You don't have to worry about the Quaffle or the Bludgers-"
"Until they crack my head open."
"Don't worry, the Weasleys are more than a match for the Bludgers- I mean, they're practically a pair of human Bludgers themselves."
Wood reached into the crate and pulled out a tiny golden ball with fluttering silver wings.
"This is the Golden Snitch. It's the most important ball of the lot. It's very hard to catch because it's very fast and it's hard to see. Potter, you've got to catch the Snitch before the other team's Snitch, because whichever team's Seeker catches the Snitch first will win his or her team an extra hundred and fifty points. A game of Quidditch only ends when the Snitch is caught. That's it- any questions?"
Harry and I shook our heads.
"Well, we won't practice quite yet, you two will be able to show off your skills in front of the team. The Quidditch Cup'll have our name on it this year, I just know it."