Sorry for late chapter. As I mentioned in my Shinobi's Creed chapter, I got my hands on Assassin's Creed IV earlier the previous month, and well…couldn't put the game down. *Sheepish grin*

Before we begin, I have a small request to make. I've been thinking of finding an image to be the Cover Art for my Harry Potter fanfics. Sadly though, when I went searching through pictures for mages (and variations of mages), or Harry Potter, I found none that seemed to fit my fanfic, at least in my opinion. There was always something off. If any of you perhaps have images you think could fit as a cover art for my fanfic here, whether it's one you've found, drawn, or if you know someone who could draw a picture (for free), please let me know via PM's, or in your review of this chapter. I'd greatly appreciate it.

For now, let's get on with the show!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series. They are the works and property of J.K. Rowling.


Chapter 9

Close Encounter

Harry sighed a bit as he sat down to breakfast. There had been a bit of a commotion back in the Gryffindor Common Room. One of the First Year students, unable to keep up with Sir Cadogan's ridiculous passwords, had managed to convince the knight to give him a list of all the passwords. Said list had apparently disappeared and the eleven year old boy had been frantically asking people about it in the Common Room.

Ginny glanced at Harry when she heard him sigh. "You okay there?"

Harry nodded at her as he began serving himself up some food. "Yeah. Just got a little waylaid in the Common Room."

Neville, who was sitting across from him, nodded. "That first year…Thomas? I felt bad for the kid, since he sorta reminded me of myself our first year. I promised to keep an eye out for that list, but I think it's long gone."

Harry nodded as he began eating. "Owl post been here yet?" He asked.

Before any of them could answer, there was the rustle of feathers and chorus of hoots as owls flooded in through the windows. Hermione just smiled at Harry as she said, "Does that answer your question?"

Harry just chuckled, only to blink in surprise as a mixture of owls and birds of prey landed in front of him, depositing a long thin package. This was soon followed by Talon landing with a letter as well. Harry grabbed the letter and opened it up.

Harry, the Curse Breaker we sent your Firebolt too sent it back yesterday, claiming there were no curses, jinx's, or hexes on it. He declared it was in perfect working order. So now we've sent it to you, so that you can have a broom and a back up broom, should anything happen to one of them.

We also took a look into how the Firebolt arrived at the Mage Sanctuary in the first place. As it turns out it was sent to the Sanctuary from Hogwarts. When we questioned the Headmaster, he in turn questioned the House Elves of Hogwarts, who said it arrived amongst the other presents mailed to Hogwarts students from their families. Since you weren't in the castle and it was marked for you, they automatically sent it to the Sanctuary. We still have no idea who sent it though, but it seems less likely it was done with malicious intent. Still, be careful.

Your father and I will be out of contact for a few days, as we're being sent to help out the Battle Mage Sanctuary in North America. They require some assistance teaching some of the younger Battle Mages, and since it was my home before I met your father, they figured we'd be a good choice. We'll contact you when we get back home.

Love, Mom and Dad.

Harry's eyes widened, as he looked at the wrapped package. Ginny managed to glance at his letter, and her eyes widened.

"Harry…it's the Firebolt?" She whispered quietly, so that no one else besides Hermione or Neville would hear. The other two looked shocked as well as Harry slowly nodded.

"Yeah, it is," he said, as he picked up the package. "I should go get this stashed away."

Hermione stood up. "I'll go with you. I have to get a couple of things," she said.

Ginny grinned. "We'll keep your food safe Harry," she said.

Harry nodded as he and Hermione started to head back towards the Common Room. "So you complete that report for Ancient Runes?" He asked.

Hermione nodded. "Yes. It was quite fascinating comparing the Ancient Runes of different cultures. I might have gone a little overboard," she said with a weak chuckle.

Harry gave her a mock surprised look. "Overboard? You? Never," he said with a grin, only for Hermione to punch him lightly in the arm.

When they reached the Common Room though, they practically ran into Ron, who seemed to be rushing out of the exit. Harry barely managed to pull Hermione out of the way, as Ron barely missed running into them. "What's the rush Ron?" Harry asked.

Almost immediately, Ron's eyes locked on Hermione and he yelled in anger. "You! YOUR DAMN CAT DID THIS!" He shouted, throwing some ruined sheets on the floor. Sheets that were shredded and had what looked like blood on them.

Hermione's eyes widened. "R-Ron? You…you don't mean-"

"YES! YOUR DAMN CAT ATE SCABBERS WHILE I WAS HAVING BREAKFAST! LOOK!" He shouted, throwing a weird spiky shaped thing on the floor, which had several ginger hairs on it. "I TOLD YOU TO KEEP YOUR CAT UNDER CONTROL!"

Hermione trembled. "I-I did! Crookshanks couldn't have done it, he was in my bedroom! I was the last one to leave the girls dormitory, and I made sure he was still locked up!"

"Then explain this damn it! There's no other cats in Gryffindor, and especially none with fur this color!" He said, pointing to the hair.

Hermione trembled. "I-I don't know. M-Maybe someone tracked them in? Or one of the times Crookshanks sneaked in earlier in the year?"

Harry placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Ron, unless you have definitive proof, I suggest you stop yelling," he said a bit angrily.

Ron glared at him. "What else could have happened?! Huh?!"

"Ron, didn't you learn this lesson last year? You thought I was the Heir of Slytherin and accused me of attacking your sister because of circumstantial evidence. You're doing the same thing now," Harry said coldly, causing Ron to wince a bit.

"W-Well this time there's a lot more evidence! Her cat's been going after Scabbers ever since she brought it to Hogwarts! And now he's succeeded!" Ron shouted, before storming off angrily.

Hermione just trembled a bit, tears falling down her face, as Harry gave her a one armed hug. "Don't let him bother you. He's an idiot, remember?" He said softly.

Hermione simply looked down. "B-but what if he's right? What if Crookshanks did kill Scabbers?"

"If he did, then it was an unfortunate event. But it's part of nature," Harry said quietly. "And besides, we don't know for certain. Why don't we go see if Crookshanks is still in your dorm room," he said.

Hermione nodded as they rushed back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Harry was about to head up the stairs to the female dorms, only to be stopped by Hermione.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you. The Founders made it so that boys can't head up to the female dorms," she said, as she headed up the stairs.

Harry just blinked in surprise. "Well that's completely unfair," he said, as he sat down with the still wrapped Firebolt in his hands.

Several minutes later, Hermione returned with Crookshanks in her arms. "He was in the dorm room still," she said. "This proves it. Unless someone let him out and then back in, he couldn't have eaten Scabbers," she said, now feeling better as well as angry.

"Sadly, I doubt Ron will listen or care," he said with a sigh. "For now, let me put away my Firebolt and find Travis. I need to tell him something," he said, as he headed up to his years dorm.

He blinked as he ran into his brother on the stairs. "Travis, I was looking for you," he said. "Listen, I got a letter from mom and dad today. They're going to the American Battle Mage Sanctuary, to help train some of the younger mages there," he said.

Travis nodded. "Alright then. Hey, what's that?" He asked.

Harry grinned as he held up the Firebolt. "My Firebolt. It's perfectly fine," he said with a grin. Travis's grin widened as well.

"That's awesome! So does this mean I can have your Nimbus?" He asked with a grin.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "And why exactly do you want a broomstick? You thinking of trying out for the Quidditch Team?"

Travis shrugged. "Maybe. But also…well flying looks really cool. And the only flying I did was that emergency training all Battle Mages go through," he said.

Harry just smiled at him. "I suppose I could lend it to you, until you can get your own broom," he said. "Though if you want to try out for the Quidditch team, you could come to the training tomorrow and try out for the reserve team. We do need an extra Chaser or Beaters. Though you might not be able to play in the match against Ravenclaw the next day."

The younger Wallace grinned eagerly. "Really?! That'd be so awesome! Umm well, I mean, if the Team Captain has no problem," he said.

Harry chuckled as he headed to his dorm room. "I'm sure Oliver won't have a problem if it helps the team out," he said.

Travis nodded eagerly. "Okay. Can you talk to Oliver for me?"

"Of course," he said. "For now, let's go get some breakfast. I'm hungry," he said, as he hurried to put his broomstick away in his year's dorm room. He rejoined his brother, and the two joined with Hermione back in the Common Room, before they headed to the Great Hall.

When they reached it, a confused looking Ginny and Neville greeted Harry and Hermione as they sat down. "My brother came storming in here, ranting about your cat as he headed to Professor McGonagall. Dare I ask what happened?" Ginny asked Hermione.

Hermione glared a bit. "Apparently, something did happen to Scabbers, and Ron thinks Crookshanks killed him. But as I've just discovered, that's impossible, because Crookshanks was still locked in the girl's dormitory where I left him earlier. So there's no way he could have gotten at Scabbers," she said as she pet Crookshanks.

Neville blinked in surprise. "Hmmm. You know I remember hearing him squeak a lot when I left the dormitory today. Maybe I should have checked on him."

Harry shrugged. "It doesn't matter now. Unless Professor McGonagall starts asking about it, let's forget this whole issue for now."

The others nodded and they began talking about other things as they finished eating breakfast.

Meanwhile, a figure slowly looked over the piece of paper he had recently acquired. As he did, he smirked a bit. "You won't get away this time. I swear that this time, you will die." Sirius Black chuckled darkly, as he looked over the list of passwords to the Gryffindor Common Room. He'd get his revenge, and soon.

The next day, the Gryffindor team was in high spirits as Harry took to the air for their training on his Firebolt. Harry just grinned wildly, as the Firebolt handled like a dream. It felt like it turned on the lightest touch, and its speed was unbelievable. He grinned as he blasted around the Quidditch Pitch to the cheers of his fellow teammates.

Oliver grinned as he watched his Seeker show off his broom. The team, both first line and reserve players, were cheering as he looped through the air before shooting from one end of the pitch to the other in record time. He clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "Alright everyone! Listen up!" he said, as they drew close. "We have a new candidate for the reserve team, who's hoping to try out for Beater position. Travis Wallace here has asked to try out for Beater, so we're going to start off with his testing. After that, we're going to run drills, alright? Travis, head on up."

Travis nodded, as he slowly lifted off on Harry's Nimbus 2000, carrying a Beater's bat. He adjusted a bit to flying with the bat, and then glanced as Oliver opened the chest that contained the four Quidditch balls.

"I'm about to release one of the Bludgers! Everyone stay on your toes!" He called, as he released one of them.

The Bludger slowly rose up, as everyone else landed, save for Travis. Fred and George slowly moved themselves between the group and the Bludger, which slowly rose up, before shooting towards Travis. Bludgers were supposed to target only people flying on broomsticks, but they had been known to occasionally go after anyone within range.

Travis immediately shot off, heading towards the Bludger, which whirled in with deadly purpose. His face a mask of concentration, Travis readied his Beater bat before letting out a powerful swing, nailing the Bludger and sending it spiraling away, only for it to boomerang around and head for Travis again. With another mighty thwack, the Bludger went flying a second time.

Oliver nodded in approval as he watched. "Your brother's got quite the arm on him there Harry." Harry just grinned in response as Travis began shooting off, letting the Bludger trail him before ducking to avoid it. As it came at him from the front again he backhanded it this time, sending it flying for a third time. Fred and George were grinning as they watched.

"It seems dear brother that we have some competition," Fred said.

George just smirked. "I like to think of it as a suitable replacement for when one of us can't play," he responded.

Oliver clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "Alright then! Angelina, Alicia. Head up there and let's test him on how well he can protect you two as well," he said.

The two Chasers nodded and shot off into the air, taking the Quaffle with them. Travis saw them come up and felt his chest tighten a bit in nervousness. He turned his eyes back to the Bludger, which now shot at the Chasers, with him in quick pursuit.

With practiced ease, Angelina dodged the Bludger, which shot back at her, only for Travis to be there to smack it away. It roared off, heading for Alicia this time, as Travis moved to stop it. For five minutes, he flew defense around them, only to be surprised when without warning, a second Bludger nearly smashed into him.

On the ground, the team watched. "Let's see how he handles dealing with multiple ones," Oliver said.

Travis quickly found himself being worn out, constantly shifting his gaze to keep track of both Bludgers, while trying to protect himself and the two Chasers from them. He barely ducked under one, blindly back handing it as it shot away, while the second dive bombed Angelina, who barely dodged it. He shot at it, this time smacking it hard so it went straight into the ground, where it actually stuck for a few moments, giving him breathing room as he moved in on the second one that was now harassing Alicia. He smacked it away, panting, his arm hanging a bit limply at his side, only to hear the whir of the previously grounded Bludger heading for him. He turned, ready to defend himself, only to see Fred Weasley come up and smack the Bludger towards Oliver, who managed to catch it and restrain it. George meanwhile was on the second Bludger, smacking that one towards Oliver after the Seventh Year student had secured the first Bludger.

The trio of Beaters slowly made their way to the ground, where a tired Travis almost slipped off his broom, if not for Harry catching him. "Easy there," his brother said with a grin.

Oliver stepped forward, looking Travis over. "You did fairly well up there Travis. You'll need to work on keeping aware of what's going on around you and your endurance a bit, but otherwise, I think you'll be perfect for reserve Beater," he said with a grin. "Welcome to the Gryffindor Quidditch Team."

Travis smiled weakly. "Thank you captain," he said, as Harry handed him a cup of water.

Oliver just nodded as he turned to the rest of the team. "Alright everyone! Let's get up there and train! We've got a big game tomorrow!"

The others all cheered, and headed up, with Harry making sure Travis was sitting and resting first before heading up as well. With a grin, the team started to train, eager for tomorrow.

A few hours later, when their training drew to a close, Oliver called them all in for a final meeting. "Alright. Some last notes before tomorrow. The weather's suppose to be pleasant tomorrow. A lot better than our match against Hufflepuff was. It's also been confirmed that Cho Chang will be Ravenclaw's Seeker tomorrow. She managed to recover in time. Harry, you'll need to be careful. She's a pretty experienced 4th year student. Though she'll be riding a Comet Two-Sixty so in the broom department you shouldn't have any problems. Now I doubt it'll happen again, but what about your Dementor Problem?"

Harry sighed. "I've been learning the Patronus Charm from Professor Lupin, and I've managed to do pretty well. But it's no guarantee," he said. "If they come in a large group again, I might need someone to catch me. And my broom too," he said with a bit of a dry chuckle, earning a couple of snickers from some of the guys and an elbow from Ginny.

Oliver nodded in response. "Alright everyone. Turn in early then, and get as much sleep as you can. I want you all rested and ready. Dismissed!"

The team cheered, as they headed to the locker rooms to shower and change. Unaware of the eyes that were watching our bespectacled hero heading into the locker room while joking with his younger brother.

Meanwhile, Hermione quietly sat in the library, going over several books. As she glanced at a list she had compiled, she shook her head quietly. "There's no other explanation," she muttered to herself. "Everything matches up perfectly."

She sat back quietly, lightly and nervously chewing on the feathery tip of her quill pen, as she looked at the list. Before her lay the rather startling answer to a question she had been pondering. The new question now though was what to do with what she now knew. She closed her eyes in thought, before sighing as she began to clean up. For now, she'd do nothing. Harry and her friends had enough on their plate as it was. They didn't need to know this. Not yet anyways.

The castle was filled with nervous anticipation the next day, as students ate breakfast in the Great Hall. The Gryffindor table was especially buzzing with energy and conversation, as they knew this match was necessary to keep them in the running. They also were admiring Harry's Firebolt, which Oliver insisted be placed in the center of the table, for all to see. Many people from all tables were coming over to see the broomstick.

Harry tried his best to eat, but a mixture of nerves and constant interruptions of questions about the Firebolt was making it difficult. Eventually, Hermione stood up. "Enough! Can't you see he's trying to eat?" She said, causing many people to gain sheepish expressions as they backed off.

Harry chuckled softly. "Thanks Hermione," he said, as he began to dig into his food, eating what he could. That was until a drawling voice interrupted him.

"Quite a broom you have there, Potter," Draco sneered, standing over Harry with Crabbe and Goyle. "Too bad there's no sticking charm or parachute should you get near a Dementor."

Harry just rolled his eyes. "Too bad your Nimbus 2001 didn't come with an ability to increase your Quidditch skills. You might be able to reach mediocre level if you did," he said.

Draco glared a bit. "We'll see how smug you are when Slytherin takes back the House Cup, and Hagrid's precious hippogriff is dead," he said, as he stormed off with Crabbe and Goyle behind him. Harry glared at Draco's retreating form.

Eventually, the time came for the game to begin. The Quidditch players headed down to the locker rooms to change first. As Harry pulled his playing robes over his head, he heard the hundreds of footsteps of eager students heading to their seats. He let out a nervous breath as he checked to make sure his wand was where it should be, then glanced to Oliver. Oliver was nervously stretching and bouncing a bit on his feet. Fred and George were both stretching in unison, taking practice swings with their Beater's Bats. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie were talking quietly amongst themselves, as they finished securing their playing gauntlets. The reserve players were also geared up as well, with the exception of Travis, as he had just joined yesterday and needed more practice. Ron looked green in the face, too nervous to glare a bit at Harry. The previous night, Harry had confronted Ron with the fact that Hermione had found Crookshanks still locked in the girl's dorm room. Ron had simply said that obviously he had gotten out somehow, and someone else had let the cat back into the dorm room afterwards. So for the sake of not starting up the feud the two had in their First and Second Years, Harry had given up.

Dean Thomas was nervously reading a small book about famous soccer players, as he was a very big soccer fan. Demelza Robins was rapidly tapping her feet on the ground, causing her knees to bounce a bit. And Ginny was focused on checking the buckles and ties on her gauntlets and other pieces of protective equipment, for the tenth time. When the time came, the reserve players would sit on the sidelines in special boxes that protected them from the elements, waiting to be called in to replace an exhausted or injured player.

Finally, Oliver turned to them all. "It's time," he said. "Let's get out there and show Hogwarts why we're the best team here!"

There were nervous shouts of agreement from the team, as they followed Oliver out.

The weather was still perfectly clear, with a cool breeze blowing. As the Gryffindor team walked onto the field, their fellow Gryffindor students cheered their approval. Across from them, the Ravenclaw Quidditch team in playing robes of deep blue were waiting. Harry quietly scanned them, before his eyes landed on a girl of Asian descent. The girl glanced at him, and grinned a bit mischievously at him.

'So that must be Cho Chang,' he thought quietly. He had to admit, she was pretty. He shrugged as he turned back, watching Oliver stroll out to meet Madame Hooch and the Ravenclaw captain, Roger Davies.

Madame Hooch nodded to the pair of them. "Shake hands, and let's have a clean game," she said. The two captains shook hands with each other, before returning to their teams. Fourteen players mounted their brooms, as Madame Hooch opened the lid of the ball box. They rose slowly into the air, hovering a few feet off the ground, as Madame Hooch put her whistle to her lips. With a sharp whistle, the Bludgers and Snitch were released, and she threw the Quaffle into the air.

The fourteen players shot off in different directions, as Lee Jordan began his commentary. "It's another beautiful day today for this Quidditch game and excitement is high as we see the debut of the new Firebolt, currently being flown by Harry Potter of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team! The Firebolt is top pick for this year's national Quidditch Team, and-."

"Jordan, will you please comment on the game and not the Firebolt?" Came the voice of Professor McGonagall, who was sitting next to Jordan to supervise his commentary. Harry chuckled a bit as he heard Jordan start a real commentary, before beginning his scan of the Snitch. He noticed that Cho seemed to be following close behind him.

Below, Katie Bell had managed to get the Quaffle, and was shooting towards the Ravenclaw goal posts at high speed. She managed to duck under a Bludger, and quickly passed the Quaffle to Angelina, who caught it, and rolled to avoid one of the intercepting Ravenclaw Chasers. She shot forward towards the goal, drawing the Keeper towards her, before tossing the Quaffle over her shoulder to Alicia, who shot by, grabbing it and throwing it at one of the wide open hoops, putting Gryffindor first on the scoreboard.

Harry grunted as he slipped to one side around a Bludger, and saw a glint of gold, hovering near the Ravenclaw goalposts. With a sudden burst of speed he shot away, Cho trying to match him but failing as the Firebolt transformed Harry into a scarlet blur. The crowd let out a massive yell as Harry shot down, only for the Gryffindor fans to let out a groan as Harry was forced to dodge a Bludger shot at him by one of the Ravenclaw Beaters. Harry silently cursed as he pulled up, trying to regain his search altitude, as the game continued on.

Within twenty minutes, Gryffindor was holding the lead at eighty points to Ravenclaw's thirty. Harry had been doing his level best to shake Cho while searching for the Snitch, but she was constantly swerving towards him, forcing him to keep checking to make sure she didn't ram into him. As such, his searches were constantly being disrupted. Fed up, he shot forward again, putting a massive amount of distance between them, as Jordan yelled excitedly into his magical microphone.

"And look at that folks! Potter's really showing off the Firebolt's speed, with its ability to accelerate to its top speed in ten seconds flat! And its precision handling ensures that-."

"JORDAN, STOP ADVERTISING THE BLASTED FIREBOLT AND COMMENT ON THE GAME!" McGonagall shouted, causing everyone to flinch.

Harry, now having some breathing room, glanced down, watching George smack a Bludger at Roger Davies, which smashed into his back, sending the Quaffle flying from his grip and into Katie's waiting hands. The youngest of the Chasers shot back down the field, with the other two Chasers in hot pursuit. And that's when Harry saw the Snitch, hugging low to the ground and heading towards the Gryffindor goal posts. Harry swerved, going into a power dive as he aimed to intercept the Snitch. The crowd again let out a massive yell as Harry shot towards the ground.

Pulling up, Harry skimmed the ground, heading straight for the low flying Snitch as he came up behind it. Just as he was about to start reaching for it, Cho appeared in front of him, forcing him to pull up and roll as he passed over her to keep himself from hitting her. The Gryffindor fans let out another groan, as the Snitch vanished again. Cho just grinned as she headed off.

"DAMN IT HARRY, KNOCK HER OFF HER BROOM NEXT TIME!" Oliver shouted, as Harry rose up into the air.

Harry growled a bit, half tempted to do that, as Cho moved in again to start distracting him. Down below, Alicia narrowly avoided a Bludger, only for a second one to smash into the tail of her broom, sending her spinning, and the Quaffle flying. Roger Davies managed to grab it and shot towards the Gryffindor goal posts. Oliver moved to stop him, only for a Bludger to be smacked his way. He ducked, leaving the goal post open for Roger, who scored. The score now stood at one hundred to seventy, in favor of Gryffindor.

Harry swerved to the right to narrowly avoid Cho, as she continued to play her game. "Enough of this." He muttered, scanning the ground. Seeing an open enough spot, he made a third dive, with Cho following right behind. He smirked, figuring she would focus on him and not seeing if there was an actual Snitch. He rapidly plummeted to the ground, before yanking up, pulling up sharply. He heard Cho's surprised scream as she tried to pull up as well. She half succeeded, as she managed to pull up enough to skid across the ground, rolling off her broom. Harry shot up, scanning for the Snitch as she dazedly tried to get to her feet. Madame Hooch, who was about to call a time out, stopped as she saw Cho was alright enough to grab her broom and lift off.

Harry smiled as he saw the snitch for the third time. With a determined grunt he shot forward, leaning down as he headed towards the ground in front of the Slytherin fans, where the Snitch currently hovered. Cho was barely getting back into the air, and would never be able to catch up in time. Harry grinned, as victory seemed assured.

And that's when the screams started.

Harry quickly looked to his left, where people were screaming as three hooded Dementor's stood on the ground, looking up at him. Harry's eyes widened before he snatched his wand from his robes, pointing it straight at the trio of cloaked figures and shouting "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Something large and silvery burst from his wand, heading for the trio, as Harry stashed his wand and went back to the Snitch. If he could catch it and land quickly enough, he could get ready to fight if the Dementor's kept coming. With a lunge, he leaned forward, snatching the Snitch form the air before quickly landing and drawing his wand with his free hand, even as the crowd cheered madly at his catch. He turned, ready to fight the Dementor's, only to blink as the three of them were laying on the ground, with two of the Dementors handler's from the Ministry standing over them, wands drawn. Harry slowly lowered his wand, as his teammates rushed down to him.

"Harry, that was amazing!" Oliver shouted, slapping him on the back, as Fred and George cheered, waving their beater Bats in the air. Then the reserve players got to them and Ginny hugged him, having been scared when the Dementor's appeared. Hermione did the same when she, Neville, and Travis got down from the stands.

Harry awkwardly hugged Ginny and Hermione back, as Dumbledore strolled over, followed by Lupin. "That was quite an impressive Patronus," Dumbledore said, as Lupin nodded in agreement.

Harry nodded. "Thank you sir. But I have a feeling that those weren't really Dementors."

Lupin shook his head as he led Harry over to the Dementors. "Sadly not Harry. You seemed to have given some members of the Slytherin house quite a shock," he said.

The three Dementors were in fact Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and Marcus Flint, captain of the Slytherin Quidditch Team. Draco had been standing on Goyle's shoulders, while the other two had been in their own cloaks. And over them were McGonagall and Snape.

"Unacceptable! Trying to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker in such a low and unworthy manner! Disgraceful!" McGonagall shouted in anger, as Snape coldly viewed the four of them.

"You four will serve detention for the next two weeks, and fifty points from Slytherin," he said. "I am half tempted to remove the two of you from the Slytherin team for the final match. Cross one more line, and you will regret it," Snape said, his voice cold and hard.

Harry just grinned softly as he heard that, before he was grabbed by Fred and George. "C'mon Harry me boy! It's time to celebrate!" They both shouted as a cheer went up from the entirety of the Gryffindor house. Harry shouted with them, feeling elated and happy. Nothing could ruin this moment.

The celebration of Gryffindor's victory lasted well into the night. Fred and George, after disappearing for a while, returned with arms full of drinks and treats, which they eagerly began handing out. The Common Room was alive with talking and laughing, as many felt like the Cup was already theirs for the third year running.

Harry grinned as the twelfth person came back, congratulating him on an incredible catch, and for the Patronus he had created. Drinking a butterbeer, he turned to his friends. "So I have to ask, did my Patronus take a shape? Because so far I've only summoned mist against the boggart Dementor, so I was wondering if against Draco and the others, I managed to do better?"

Neville grinned as he finished off a chocolate frog. "I think it was a deer of some kind. It had these huge antlers, I know that much."

"I'm pretty sure it was a stag," Hermione said. "It was hard to tell honestly. I mean, you were moving so fast, and then you summoned it and it shot like lightning towards Draco and his cohorts."

"All I know was it was incredible Harry. Almost as incredible as seeing you burn those Dementors in your first match," Ginny said with a grin.

Harry just chuckled softly. "Well, it works against the likes of Malfoy. Now I just need to get it to work against Dementors."

It was well past midnight, when McGonagall came and forced them all to head off to bed. Harry grinned tiredly as he slipped into his bed. Things were finally looking up it seemed. The Dementors were no longer being the problem they were earlier in the year, Sirius Black had not been seen since Halloween, and Gryffindor was on the roar to securing its third straight year as Quidditch Champions. He closed his eyes, smiling.

The moon was slowly beginning its descent when a figure made its way up the stairs towards the third year boy's dorm. It slowly slid inside, looking at the five beds, each with the curtains drawn around them. Slowly, it stalked towards one, pulling out a long knife. The figure trembled a bit as it reached its destination, as if quivering with anticipation, before slowly reaching out and yanking the curtains aside.

The entirety of the Gryffindor house was awoken by a scream of terror, that echoed form the boy's dormitories. In the third year boy's dorm room, Harry managed to yank his curtains aside, grabbing his wand and pointing it at Ron's bed, where the scream originated from. Ron was sitting on his bed, pale as a ghost as his curtains lay ripped and barely hanging. "Ron, what is it?" Harry demanded, as Dean managed to light a lamp.

"I-It was Sirius Black! Here! With a knife!" He shouted.

Harry's eyes widened as he immediately dove for his chest, opening it and rapidly digging through it. He quickly drew forth from the bottom of the chest the sword of Gryffindor. Armed now with wand and sword, Harry rushed down the stairs, as others were beginning to come out of their dorms. He quickly entered the Common Room, but found nothing. He slowly scanned the room, and began searching, as others came down.

"Harry, what's going on?!" Percy demanded as he reached the Common Room. "What are you doing with that sword?"

Harry sighed, not finding anything but keeping his guard up. "Sirius Black, Percy. He was here. And he nearly killed Ron in mistake," he said.

"What?!" Percy yelled, as more people came down. Including a shaken Ron, who was being supported by Seamus and Dean. "Ron, are you alright?!"

Seamus and Dean sat Ron down, as he numbly stared at his brother. "It was Sirius Black. S-standing over me with a knife. H-He was going to kill me Percy. I yelled and he ran…but he was going to kill me."

At that moment, McGonagall stormed in. "What is going on here?! Why are you all up?! And Potter, what are you doing with that sword?!"

Percy came over to her. "Professor, my brother Ron is claiming that he just saw Black standing over his bed with a knife. I think he's suffering from a nightmare, and-."

"IT WASN'T A BLOODY NIGHTMARE! SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME WITH A KNIFE AND HE ALMOST KILLED ME!" Ron shouted, quieting everyone.

McGonagall stared at Ron in shock. "Mr. Weasley, that is impossible. The Gryffindor Tower is secured, and the only way in would have been through Sir Cadogan."

"Then ask him! Ask that raving lunatic of a knight!" Ron shouted.

McGonagall sighed as she turned and left the Common Room again. But with the portrait door opened, they could hear everything.

"Sir Cadogan, did you let a man into the Gryffindor Tower just now?"

"Indeed I did m'lady. He came running out quick as you please not long after."

Everyone could hear a pin drop, before a startled McGonagall responded. "B-But the password-."

"He had them all. Read them off of a list he had," the knight said.

McGonagall soon entered her face livid. "Who….who was the absent minded fool who left a list of the portraits passwords out where they could be stolen? WHO?!"

At that, the first year student who had lost their list shuddered, as they slowly began to raise their hand. But before McGonagall could say anything, Neville came to his defense. "It's not his fault Professor. He wouldn't need a list of passwords if Sir Cadogan had actually just given us normal passwords we could remember."

McGonagall glared at Neville, before her gaze softened a bit. "I understand," she said finally. "I do feel some punishment must be given out for carelessly losing the passwords, but in truth, the fault is not yours entirely," she told the first year student. "For now, I want all of you to report immediately to the Great Hall. Once there, I'll report to Professor Dumbledore what happened. Now please hurry," she said, stepping aside so they all could exit.

As they did, Harry shook his head. That was too close for his taste. Black could have easily killed him, if not for the fact that he had accidentally gone to Ron's bed instead of his. Harry was beginning to think that maybe sleeping with his sword under his pillow might be a good idea. Or at least with it easily reachable from the bed. Either way, this close encounter proved that he had to be more careful.


And chapter. Well that took much longer then I wanted. *sighs* Sorry.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I know I actually did have fun writing it, for some odd reason.

Anyways, I hope to see you all next time. And again, if you have any images, or know someone who could draw an image that could serve as a Cover art for my Harry Potter fanfics here, please let me know.

Till next time! Please review.