Chapter 11 Back and Front to Normal
February was passing quickly only being 28 days long. With the end of February coming meant the second Quidditch match of the year. Or the complete stomping of the year. Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff. The Twins had the Quidditch team out training rain or shine, mostly rain. With the warm February the others hoped for nice weather but these thoughts were rained on repeatedly.
Harry sped around catching the Snitch quicker and quicker.
With Monica stopping more goals than ever which may not have pleased the Chasers but meant something good for Gryffindor.
The Beaters being the leaders were split between the responsibility of leading the troops and fighting with them at the same time.
Finally February 27th came, the day of the last game of the year. If the Gryffindors got 30 or more points they would get the lead from Ravenclaw who beat both Hufflepuff and Slytherin with the help of a new Cho Chang. Unless Hufflepuff scored 470 points Gryffindor would have the lead.
"Harry, just catch the Snitch. Really that's all we have to say. You catch it we win. You don't and we score three goals we win. Any questions?" Monica raised her hand. "Yes Keeper?"
"Didn't you guys say Hufflepuff was nothing? So why were we training so hard?" With a smirk on her face Monica was satisfied trying to get her hair to dry.
"Because in March will be our last game Gryffindor against Slytherin. I want us to be at our best. I'm not too worried though about the cup it's just we don't want too lose to them. We were able to avoid the colder months with the other Houses playing against each other but now we have two games less then a month apart. Thankfully we played Ravenclaw early in the year when they were having 'problems' with a player. The Slytherin game will be the hardest game we play this year and it will be our last game. We want to win that. Don't let the rain bother you just do your jobs and we will have the cup!" The team broke apart and got their brooms.
During the game Lee Jordan was calling the action. What he could see of it.
Harry searched for the Snitch diving after anything shiny. Once going after another player whose arm was just shiny enough with the rain water on it to catch his eye.
The people wanted the game to end early to get out of the rain rooting for both teams to just catch the Snitch. It was already 40-0 as the lightning and thunder started. The lightning helped Harry see better if only for a second.
Finally he saw his prey and chased after it dodging players and Bludgers. The people watching weren't sure what was going on not being able to see through the rain but cheered anyways when Lee announced someone had landed on the ground with something in their hand. "Not sure who it is yet but my money's on Harry, literally." It was the Gryffindor Team who had won 190-60 with Harry's catch of the Snitch. "That's it! Gryffindor has won the game! And with only one team left to play, Slytherin, the Quidditch Cup is all but theirs! Thank you Harry! I couldn't afford to lose 10 Galleons." Others started to jump up and down in celebration forgetting that just a moment before they wanted nothing more than to run inside out of the rain.
Getting inside felt wonderful to Harry. He had just won the game and practically the Cup. Now he was able to relax in the Common Room.
Ron left later to join Cho for some "studying" which Harry really should have been doing also. Actual studying and not Ron's version of it. Instead he let his life be normal for a change. Hermione was right he needed a life.
The Twins were setting off their own fireworks in celebration causing everyone to either duck for cover or look at all the pretty lights. Lee Jordan took some of the other students with him to the kitchen to get some food from the House Elves. Monica was telling stories of America to some of the younger students, and the only ones Harry didn't see in attendance were Ginny and Devin. "Go Devin." Harry lazily raised a fist in support as he was tired from the rain and the match to do much else.
The party went until dinner when most of the students left to eat. Harry had enough food from what Lee Jordan brought up so stayed in his chair resting. The game hadn't really worn him down so much as the rain and the wind had. A tap on the shoulder made him jump as he turned around to see who it was.
"Hi Harry, good game, but you really should be studying. OWLs are just a couple of months away." Hermione had two Transfiguration books and handed one to him.
"Thank Hermione." Harry tried not to look at her not wanting to jinx this moment of normality.
"Don't expect me to be your Pedagogue Harry you will have to read as much as I do. No copying off my notes or anything else since that will only hurt you when the tests are here. I would have Ron join us but he has been studying with Cho. Cho took the OWLs last year so maybe we could get her to help us study sometime since she knows what will be on the tests and what they want us to do on the practical exams." She pulled another chair up and sat down. "Now since we have mainly…"
Hermione went on about what she thought they should study as the two quizzed each other. By the end of the night Harry was even more tired than before but his spirits were up. Hermione was a friend again, mostly, and things were becoming normal. "Well Harry tomorrow is Sunday and we will have a full day to study. Meet me in the Library after lunch with your school books and any other book you think might help." She stood packing her things up.
"Wait Hermione." She stopped. "Thanks for helping me. I have read a lot of books and probably don't need the help but thanks for helping me anyways. It means a lot to me." She didn't say a word and continued to pack her things.
After she left Harry got his things together and went up to his dorm room for bed. Getting into bed Harry wrapped the sheets and blankets around him feeling the warmth take him into the night. He slept, and slept, until the girl came back to him. She was wearing a new cloak deep red with a black design on it. Harry wanted to get closer to see what it was. The girl backed away though which confused Harry. Before she always seemed to want to get close to him but now was pulling away. She was up against a wall when Harry was able to see the design. The Dark Mark!
"NO!" Harry sat up in bed. The Sun wasn't up yet and neither were his roommates. Harry shook his head and curled up into a ball. What was going on? Why was the same girl appearing in his dreams again and again? Harry stayed in his position until the Sun came up enough for him to get changed and go for his morning run.
After his run Harry went back and took a shower. He could use the Prefect Bathrooms again but didn't feel like it.
He went down to the Common Room to wait for Ron to get up before going to the Great Hall for breakfast. He heard footsteps and talking come from the girls' dorm rooms and saw Monica talking to the air. "Hey Monica who are you talking to?" Harry was curious as to what exactly she was doing.
"Uh no one." She put a finger to her lips telling someone to be quite.
"Invisiblity Cloaks are probably against the rules right Hermione?" Harry walked over towards Monica waving his arms around trying to find the person.
"What are you doing Harry?" Hermione had just gotten down the stairs and saw Harry flailing about.
"What are you doing there?" Harry was confused now. The only other girl who knew about his cloak was Ginny but he was sure he saw her earlier.
"Uh Monica was talking to someone so I thought you were using my cloak since no one else was here."
"I'm telling you I wasn't talking to anyone." Monica turned on her heel and left quickly leaving the door open a few seconds longer to, Harry thought, let someone else through behind her.
"See that? Someone was following her. She had to keep the door open for them."
"Annoying to think someone else has a cloak like yours?" Hermione had her hands on her hips smiling at Harry.
"No just dangerous. Remember all the things we did? All the trouble we got in because of that cloak? Can't be letting other students running around like that. As a Prefect it is my duty to make sure they don't." Harry tried to sound serious but had to admit he wanted to know who else had a cloak. Maybe it was Monica's. She did come from America so that may explain why Harry or Hermione hadn't seen anyone else using one.
Well, hearing about someone using one since you can't 'see' someone using an Invisibility Cloak. About five minutes later Ron came down from the boys' dorm rooms and saw Harry and Hermione talking.
"It's about time you two started talking again. I now know what it feels like to be Harry when you and I use to fight Hermione." The Trio went to the Great Hall for breakfast together again. Life going back to normal as much as it could in the wizarding world.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron were the Golden Trio again. Classes were fun and easy. Hermione made sure to make the other two study as hard as she was. Harry was sure he could make an elephant levitate in his sleep.
They were in Transfiguration class they were working on turning a pin cushion in to a hedgehog. "This is harder than I thought." Harry tries again and the pin cushion grows legs and a nose.
"That would be an incomplete Harry."
Hermione turns her pin cushion in to a hedgehog. It goes over and sniffs Harry's incomplete version. It snarls and bites it. "Hey, make it stop!"
"Uh, levisoa!" Hermione's Hedgehog floats in the air away from Harry's incomplete version.
Ron's pin cushion catches on fire. "Put it out!"
"Weasly what are you doing?" Professor McGonagall flicks her wand and the fire is put out. "That was even worse! You must concentrate."
In the end most of the students had a complete hedgehog. Harry got it right on his second try. Neville also got it on his second try.
The students were getting more and more stressed as tests came.
It was even worse for those who were on Quidditch teams. They had more than tests they had practice. Slytherin versus Gryffindor was coming up. Both Houses hate each other. Beating one or the other meant more than winning the House Cup.
Harry was starting to regret being the Seeker. "Come on Harry you'll have to do better than that!" Fred knocks a bludger towards him.
"You're lucky you don't care about your tests."
"Oh we care we just know you don't need an O to pass. E or A will get you by." George knocks the bludger towards a Chaser.
Harry gets back to the Common Room and sits down in the chair near the fire. "You should start skipping practices. You need to get your transfiguration down. What if you get a bowling ball with wombat legs?"
"Wombat?"
"I talked to an older student and they said last year they had to turn a bowling ball in to a wombat."
"Oh. Maybe they change it every year?"
"Then what would it be? We should have gone over more animal transfiguration!" Hermione gets a book out looking for the right chapter.
Students were being carted to Madam Pomfrey after nervous breakdowns. Neville had a particularly bad one in the middle of the library. "There just isn't enough room! I write and I write but the parchment runs out and I can't write any more. I need more notes! My grandma said I better be getting all E's. I need to take more notes!" Others took him out of the library when he started writing on his arm.
A few days and many Quidditch Practices later the final game of the year was about to be played. The Twins had just shaken hands with the Slytherin Captain and were getting on their brooms. The balls were released and the players took to the air.
Harry went above the rest of the players looking for the golden Snitch. About five minutes into the game he was hit from behind by a large Slytherin player. "Scrawny Seeker, I bet that hurt didn't it? You might be a little faster than I am but I have the size advantage." He kicked the back of Harry's broom and flew off towards the stands to show off.
Harry kept looking around not listening to anything else but the flutter of wings. Harry dove and went to the left following the sound of wings fluttering. After a 50 foot dive he saw his prey, the Snitch, and went after it like his life depended on it. Keeping his eyes on the prize Harry never saw the large Slytherin player come up from the side.
The Slytherin Seeker knocked the wind out of Harry but not off his broom. "Come on skinny that's all you can take?" He went for a kick missing Harry's head by centimeters.
"Foul! Excessive roughness on the Seeker. Free shot for Gryffindor." Katie Bell took the Quaffle and shot at the left hoop. "Goal! 70-40 Gryffindor! Thank you babe, keep this up and I can spend that money I'm winning..." A stern look from Professor McGonagall stopped Lee from saying anything else.
Harry went back to looking for the Snitch, something that did not take long. Harry again heard the flutter of wings before he saw it. Going after it he wouldn't let up even after the Slytherin Seeker tried twice to block him. "Harry sees the Snitch, he's chasing after it, go Harry go!" Lee stood up and started shaking his fist in support. "He almost has it, just a little closer Harry, come on Harry!"
Harry was about to get it when a bludger hit his outreached hand. "And Harry's hurt!"
"I can still play." Harry had lost the Snitch.
Harry feels his hand throb with pain but does his best to ignore it. "Slytherin scores again! They are now tied 80-80! It will come down to who catches the Snitch."
Harry sees a glint of gold and starts to fly after it when he realizes it was Hermione. She was wearing the bracelet he gave her. He didn't realize she still wore it.
Another flash of gold and this time it was the Snitch! "Slytherin takes the lead 100-90! What's that? It looks like, yes, Harry is after the Snitch again!"
Harry was in hot pursuit of the Snitch. This time though he made sure to keep an eye out for the large Slytherin and the bludgers.
The Snitch dove towards the ground and Harry kept after it. "Not this time Potter!" Harry was ready and slowed down just enough the large Slytherin Seeker shot past him.
"Slytherin extends the lead some more! 120-90. The Chasers for Gryffindor are starting to look tired as is the Keeper. Did the Twins work them too hard? I told them not to I have a lot of..." Lee stops as he gets another glare from Professor McGonagall. "Bragging rights resting on this game."
Monica felt sick since the start of the game. It came on too suddenly to be normal but she knew she couldn't leave. If she did the goals would be wide open. "The Quaffle is headed for the right ring and she just misses it! The Miracle Merican Monica has let more goals in today than she has her entire Hogwarts career combined! 130-90."
Harry caught up to the Snitch again. Harry reached his hand out just barely out of reach of the Snitch. "Does he have it? Did he get it? Yes! Harry got the Snitch!" Yelling and shouting filled the air as Gryffindor celebrated the win.
Harry landed on the ground only to be swamped by the students who wanted to congratulate him. "You did it Harry you got us the win! We did it! We win the game and the Cup!" The Twins hugged Harry hard and then let him go so everyone else could hug him.
Half an hour later Harry was in the Common Room celebrating with everyone else. Almost everyone else. Devin was up in his room after he got a little to happy so he could meditate.
Ron sees him standing alone and walks over. "Come on Harry drink, eat, and be merry!" Ron shoved another cup of pumpkin juice into Harry's hand spilling some onto his lap.
Harry felt his scar tingle when Ron walked away. "It must be his scar picking up on everyone's feelings. Dumbledore didn't say it would only notice negative feelings did he? I can't remember."
Not that he needed his scar to tell him that every one was excited. Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup hands down. Now all that was left was the House Cup.
A few minutes later Ron came back with more Pumpkin Juice. "I got great news Mate! Next year I am going to try out for Beater. Since we're losing the Twins we'll need two of them."
"With help from your older brothers you would be the best. I'd love to have you on the team."
Harry got lost in the celebration and thought of next year's team. They would lose a lot of members but he was sure it would be fine. Especially with Ron coming on as a team mate.
A tap on his shoulder brought Harry out of his mind and back into the world. "So Harry now that you can't use Quidditch as an excuse ready to study for OWLs?" Hermione used her wand to dry the spilt pumpkin juice.
"Sure Hermione I can help you study for your OWLs." They both laughed and continued to celebrate late into the night not caring about anything else.
In the Slytherin Room the Quidditch team had all but cursed the life out of the student they made the Seeker. "All you had to do was hurt Harry. Knock him off of his broom in a way that made it look like an accident. After that we couldn't have lost because they wouldn't have had a Seeker!"
"I'm sorry! Really I am. If Malfoy hadn't gotten banned from playing I wouldn't have been out there. Blame him!"
"His father bought us the brooms that should have made this and every other game child's play. We have the best brooms we should have won! The Weasly's are out there on Comets."
"I'm sorry! I thought I had him but he saw me and dodged."
"We let you on the team with one condition. Hurt Harry Potter and help us get the win. You did neither." The boy is cursed again by another Slythering teammate.
"Please, I'm begging you, stop."
Bobby went up to her room feeling sorry for the boy. Times like this she wondered if the Sorting Hat put her in the wrong house. She did fit all the qualities Slytherin Salazaar liked but times like this made her wonder if that was enough to make one a Slytherin.
A/N Wow. When I wrote this in 2005 how did I ever let it get put up? It was originally only 4 pages long! I added more to it and made it 6 pages. I am trying to fix this series but I can only do so much with what I have. I am so glad I am taking the time to go through and fix this series. Seriously the entire Quidditch match was like two paragraphs long. Biggest match of the year? No way that can be only two paragraphs long. Bleh, I can only do so much. Next chapter is longer thankfully.
Also if you need help finding this(Don't have it favorited or followed) just search T and over 100k words!