Harry Potter 01 - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

himself, but there seemed to be something wrong with his voice. Professor McGonagall was sweeping along without even looking at him; he had to jog to keep up. Now he’d done it. He hadn’t even lasted two weeks. He’d be packing his bags in ten minutes. What would the Dursleys say when he turned up on the doorstep?
    Up the front steps, up the marble staircase inside, and still Professor McGonagall didn’t say a word to him. She wrenched open doors and marched along corridors with Harry trotting miserably behind her. Maybe she was taking him to Dumbledore. He thought of Hagrid, expelled but allowed to stay on as gamekeeper. Perhaps he could be Hagrid’s assistant. His stomach twisted as he imagined it, watching Ron and the others becoming wizards while he stumped around the grounds, carrying Hagrid’s bag.
    Professor McGonagall stopped outside a classroom. She opened the door and poked her head inside.
    ‘Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?’
    Wood? thought Harry, bewildered; was Wood a cane she was going to use on him?
    But Wood turned out to be a person, a burly fifth-year boy who came out of Flitwick’s class looking confused.
    ‘Follow me, you two,’ said Professor McGonagall, and they marched on up the corridor, Wood looking curiously at Harry.
    ‘In here.’
    Professor McGonagall pointed them into a classroom which was empty except for Peeves, who was busy writing rude words on the blackboard.
    ‘Out, Peeves!’ she barked. Peeves threw the chalk into a bin, which clanged loudly, and he swooped out cursing. Professor McGonagall slammed the door behind him and turned to face the two boys.
    ‘Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood – I’ve found you a Seeker.’
    Wood’s expression changed from puzzlement to delight.
    ‘Are you serious, Professor?’
    ‘Absolutely,’ said Professor McGonagall crisply. ‘The boy’s a natural. I’ve never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter?’
    Harry nodded silently. He didn’t have a clue what was going on, but he didn’t seem to be being expelled, and some of the feeling started coming back to his legs.
    ‘He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive,’ Professor McGonagall told Wood. ‘Didn’t even scratch himself. Charlie Weasley couldn’t have done it.’
    Wood was now looking as though all his dreams had come true at once.
    ‘Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?’ he asked excitedly.
    ‘Wood’s captain of the Gryffindor team,’ Professor McGonagall explained.
    ‘He’s just the build for a Seeker, too,’ said Wood, now walking around Harry and staring at him. ‘Light – speedy – we’ll have to get him a decent broom, Professor – a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I’d say.’
    ‘I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can’t bend the first-year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn’t look Severus Snape in the face for weeks …’
    Professor McGonagall peered sternly over her glasses at Harry.
    ‘I want to hear you’re training hard, Potter, or I may change my mind about punishing you.’
    Then she suddenly smiled.
    ‘Your father would have been proud,’ she said. ‘He was an excellent Quidditch player himself.’
    *
    ‘You’re joking. ’
    It was dinner time. Harry had just finished telling Ron what had happened when he’d left the grounds with Professor McGonagall. Ron had a piece of steak-and-kidney pie halfway to his mouth, but he’d forgotten all about it.
    ‘Seeker?’ he said. ‘But first-years never – you must be the youngest house player in about –’
    ‘– a century,’ said Harry, shovelling pie into his mouth. He felt particularly hungry after the excitement of the afternoon. ‘Wood told me.’
    Ron was so amazed, so impressed, he just sat and gaped at Harry.
    ‘I start training next week,’ said Harry. ‘Only don’t tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret.’
    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.’
    ‘I tell you, we’re going to win that Quidditch Cup for sure this year,’ said Fred. ‘We haven’t won since Charlie left, but this year’s team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Harry, Wood was almost skipping when he told us.’
    ‘Anyway, we’ve got to go, Lee Jordan