Chapter Fourteen:
If there was one thing Buckbeak's impending execution was good for, it healed the rift in the four's friendship. Ron was no longer holding a grudge against Hermione for her cat, and Hermione was no longer getting on their case about Crookshanks just acting like a cat, nor was she having any 'I-told-you-so' moments over Harry's sneaking to Hogsmeade. Elizabeth was grateful for this. Despite everything, she'd been feeling guilty about the whole situation and, honestly, she was missing Hermione. Harry and Ron were great, but sometimes when she was around the boys, she just wanted another girl around. They were great, but sometimes Harry and Ron could be a bit...immature. Hermione was someone who helped balance that.
They were getting back to the habit of spending their free time in the library, though with the security tightening around the castle, there wasn't much else to stay. Even with spring weather moving in, students rarely stayed out in the courtyards.
This also meant Elizabeth didn't really get a chance to talk with Hagrid. After all, she didn't take Care of Magical Creatures. Elizabeth didn't always get a chance to talk to Harry, Ron, and Hermione about Hagrid until after classes were over, but there were some days, like a warm day close to Easter holidays, Elizabeth had Potions with the Ravenclaws at the same time. So she'd wait in the entrance hall after class to wait on her Gryffindor friends, to head upstairs to their next classes—they had Charms, she had Defense Against the Dark Arts—together.
Unfortunately for Elizabeth, she wasn't the only one waiting in the entrance hall. Not long after Elizabeth stopped to wait, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had come in and stayed at the door, glancing back outside and chuckling. Elizabeth glared at them, knowing exactly what they were up to. They were coming from Care of Magical Creatures, and they were laughing. It didn't take a genius to know what they found so amusing.
Elizabeth wasn't usually that short tempered, but she also knew that it was Malfoy's fault that Buckbeak was going to be executed. He was enjoying the aftermath of it far too much. And he definitely was enjoying Hagrid's misery more than anyone should.
"You are a horrible...thing!" Elizabeth hissed, moving towards Malfoy and his goons, not caring that she was half the size of Crabbe and Goyle, and not much shorter than Malfoy. She gripped her wand, aiming it at Malfoy. If she'd had thought at all, she would have thought about the fact it was just her against three Slytherins, two of whom were quite large. But at the moment, Elizabeth didn't really care.
"Careful, Martin," Malfoy said coolly, "Wouldn't want to get into trouble, would we?"
"Detention would be worth shutting you up," Elizabeth snapped, tightening her grip around her wand, starting to raise it, just as she felt someone grab her wrist.
It was Goyle. Elizabeth had been so focused on Malfoy, she didn't think about his two goons. Crabbe was snickering behind Malfoy while Goyle had Elizabeth's right wrist gripped in his huge hand, holding it over her head.
"Let go, you buffoon!" Elizabeth cried, yanking at her arm but there was no breaking loose of Goyle's grip. Her heart was starting to race a bit. It was just now starting to sink in that trying to take on Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle by herself was a mistake.
"What's going on?"
Elizabeth looked over in relief as Harry, Ron, and Hermione had come in the front door. They seemed to take in the scene of Elizabeth, her arm held over her head by Goyle, then Ron and Harry started forward. But Hermione was faster, her wand out and aimed at Goyle, snapping "Flipendo!"
Elizabeth's wrist was yanked from Goyle's grip as he stumbled backwards and Elizabeth nearly fell herself, but she stayed on her feet, gripping her own wand as Hermione turned her wand to Malfoy.
"You foul...you evil..." she hissed, "Ganging up on someone when they're alone?"
Malfoy had stumbled backwards, and Crabbe and Goyle looked to him. Elizabeth almost laughed.
"Not so brave when there's more than one, are you?" she asked.
Malfoy just glared, muttered something to Crabbe and Goyle, and then the three hurried off to the dungeons.
"What was all that about?" Ron asked, though he was staring at Hermione with a look of admiration.
"Malfoy was hiding by the door," Elizabeth said, trying to calm herself down, "They were just there...laughing over everything with Hagrid. And I just...Lost it."
"You were trying to take them on by yourself?" Harry asked, dumfounded. Elizabeth felt her face flush.
"I wasn't thinking," she said meekly.
Overhead, a bell began ringing and Ron let out a curse.
"We're late for class, we need to get going," he said.
They hurried on up the stairs, where Elizabeth split off from them to head to Defense Against the Dark Arts. She rushed into the classroom, a little out of breath.
"You're late, Elizabeth," Professor Lupin said calmly, looking up from where he was collecting homework assignments.
"I'm sorry, Professor Lupin," Elizabeth said, quickly taking a seat in the back next to Justin and starting to dig out her own essay.
"This isn't a wise time to be late to class, exams are approaching," Professor Lupin said simply. Elizabeth felt her face growing warmer. Since the mishap with the Hogsmeade visit, Professor Lupin wasn't really cold or distant, but he definitely had this change to his tone, where he seemed sterner. As if he was keeping a closer eye, making sure she and her friends weren't causing more trouble.
"I won't let it happen again, sir," Elizabeth said simply.
Defense Against the Dark Arts passed normally after that, and Elizabeth kept her focus on her work. Over the past year, she'd slowly became more capable at Defense Against the Dark Arts. She still wasn't all that great at it, but it was no longer her worst subject at least. Not like Charms, which she still struggled in quite a lot.
By the end of the class, Elizabeth was in a better mood than what she was after encountering Malfoy. She was chatting with Susan—comparing notes on their latest Muggle Studies essay that was due at the end of the week—all the way through a filling lunch of chicken and pie. She was just about to ask Hannah if she'd mind giving any suggestions when she felt a tap on her shoulder and looked up to see Harry and Ron.
"Can we talk to you a moment?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, sure," Elizabeth said, gathering her things and getting up, looking to her Housemates, "I'll see you in History of Magic."
Elizabeth quickly followed Harry and Ron back out to the entrance hall.
"What's wrong?" she asked, "Where's Hermione?"
"We don't know," Harry said, "She never showed up in Charms—"
"How could she not? She was right with us when we left the entrance hall," Elizabeth said.
"She wasn't there, though," Ron said, "You...You don't think Malfoy did something to her?"
"He left before we went upstairs," Elizabeth said, frowning. Had Hermione still been with Harry and Ron when Elizabeth split off to Defense Against the Dark Arts? She'd been in such a hurry, she didn't really pay attention...
"Maybe she's just up in your common room," Elizabeth said hopefully, "Or the library? I'll go check the library and you can check your common room. Let me know if you find her."
Harry and Ron nodded, heading off up the stairs. Elizabeth followed to a point until she headed towards the library instead.
There was no sign of her bushy-haired friend, however. Elizabeth made her way along aisles of books, ducking occasionally to avoid a book flying by to sort itself back onto the shelves. Still, no matter how many tables or chairs she checked, Hermione was nowhere in sight. Elizabeth couldn't help but find that strange. A library without Hermione didn't make sense. At least, not when Hermione couldn't be found anywhere else.
Elizabeth made her way up a small spiral stairway onto the second floor to double-check if Hermione was up there—it was one of their favorite places to study, overlooking the rest of the library—and heard someone call her name. She turned quickly and saw no one. Elizabeth made a face, then realized it was Harry's voice. Maybe they found Hermione.
She dug into her bag, just pulling out her little mirror when a book hit her in the back of the head on its way to a shelf. Elizabeth yelped, rubbing the back of her head as she glared after the book and held up the mirror.
"Any luck?" she asked, turning to the mirror to see Harry staring back.
"Yeah, we found Hermione," he said, "She was asleep in the common room."
"Asleep?" Elizabeth asked, "All this workload must be catching up to her."
"I'll say," Ron said from off view, then the mirror was turned to him, "Do you know what she told us? She said she forgot to go to Charms! How do you forget to go to a class that you're heading towards?"
"Shh, I'm still in the library," Elizabeth said softly, ducking into an alcove between two bookshelves. She didn't want to get on Madam Pince's bad side.
"She said she's on her way to talk to Professor Flitwick about missing class," Harry said, turning the mirror back to him.
"She has to be cracking under pressure," Elizabeth whispered, "I mean, Ron's right. Missing a class you were walking to because you forgot to go?"
"She insists it was just a mistake," Ron said, "I doubt we'll get through to her."
"She's stubborn, that's for sure," Elizabeth replied with a sigh, "Anyway, I need to get to class. I'm sure you do, too."
"Yeah, we have Divination next," Harry said, "See you at dinner?"
"Sure, I haven't went off to the Gryffindor side in a while," Elizabeth said, "See you then."
Elizabeth pocketed her mirror and then headed off towards her History of Magic class.
This wasn't the end of Hermione's odd behavior for the day, however. When Elizabeth sat down with Harry and Ron at dinner—Hermione across from them—there was more news.
"I dropped Divination," Hermione said as Elizabeth fixed herself a plate.
"What?" Elizabeth asked in disbelief, "You're dropping a class? Divination? It's useful, though!"
Hermione huffed in annoyance.
"Divination is a lot of hogwash and wooly guesswork," she said, "I don't understand how you enjoy it, Elizabeth."
"Because I happen to believe in it," Elizabeth said sharply, feeling heat rise to her face, "I told you before I get feelings—"
"They had to just be coincidences," Hermione said, "I mean, you haven't really had any this year, have you?"
"Before the Quidditch match when Harry fell from his broom," Elizabeth said.
"It was storming that day. That would make anyone edgy."
"When I broke up with Tobias."
"Maybe you just knew things were starting go badly anyway," Hermione said patiently, "I mean, he was upset with you over Harry, and—"
"It wasn't that," Elizabeth snapped, but she couldn't help but wonder. She had been having doubts after all. Sirius Black broke into Hogwarts twice—one of which he'd ended up in Harry and Ron's room, and was standing over Ron with a knife. Those were drastic things. Wouldn't she have been able to 'sense' them, as they were?
The subject was dropped, however. Hermione seemed to realize she hit a sore spot with Elizabeth's ex, and seemed to think it was best not to talk about Divination anymore. So instead, silence fell over them, Harry and Ron exchanging awkward glances.
The tension was gone quickly, however, and Elizabeth was soon in the routine of working on homework with her friends in the library as they often did. Homework seemed to pile up even more. Easter holidays came but they weren't a holiday at all. Instead of classes, all time was spent studying for said classes.
At least after the holidays they had a distraction. The final Quidditch match of the season was approaching. Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. The entire school hummed with tension. Elizabeth barely got any time with Harry, as he was often guarded by other Gryffindors and it made it hard to get anywhere. They were taking no chances of Slytherin sabotaging the team.
The tension was at its highest the day of the match. It was all Elizabeth and her roommates could talk about as they got ready, each pinning Gryffindor rosettes to their robes. Of course they'd all be supporting Gryffindor. No one in the school wanted to see Slytherin take home the Quidditch Cup—except for the Slytherins but Elizabeth didn't think that counted.
"Harry has that Firebolt," Susan said confidently, "There's no way they're going to lose."
"But it's not just about winning the match," Sally-Anne said, "Gryffindor has to be ahead by fifty points before Harry catches the Snitch, or else Slytherin loses, but still wins the Cup. That's a lot of pressure."
"And this is why I love Quidditch, but will never play," Elizabeth said, tucking back her hair behind her ear, "I am horrible under pressure."
They made their way upstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast. Elizabeth noticed Harry was already there with the team, so she split off from her friends and went over to the Gryffindor table, wishing her friend luck before heading back to her own breakfast.
The weather couldn't be more perfect for Quidditch. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, not even so much as a breeze. It was drastically different from the first match, where Gryffindor had played against Elizabeth's own House, the Hufflepuffs. Elizabeth made her way up the stands with the rest of the Hufflepuffs, managing their way to the front of the stands, where Justin and Rodger had saved seats. Elizabeth grinned a little. They knew about Elizabeth's claustrophobia so always tried to make sure she had a seat towards the front, so she didn't feel so closed in. She had to admit, it did give her the perk of getting some of the best views of the games.
It wasn't long afterward before the Gryffindor team came out of the locker room. Elizabeth joined into the screaming and cheering with most of the school. Only one small section wasn't cheering for the Gryffindors—a small section of green on one end of the stands.
Instantly, Elizabeth knew this match would be one of the most intense she'd seen at Hogwarts. It wasn't like any professional match, but Elizabeth had to admit, it came close. Within the first few minutes, Gryffindor had scored, and a double-foul was called when a Slytherin nearly knocked a Gryffindor Chaser from her broom and then Fred retaliated by giving the Slytherin a bloody nose with his Beater's bat.
One of the Gryffindor Chasers—Elizabeth wasn't sure her name. Alice? Amanda?—lined up for a shot and the crowd fell silent. Elizabeth gripped the edge of the stands in front of her, leaning against the railing as she stared, holding her breath in anticipation...
"SHE'S BEATEN THE KEEPER! TWENTY-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"
Elizabeth screamed and cheered with the rest of the crowd, hopping in place. Gryffindor was keeping the lead! Now Oliver Wood, Gryffindor Captain, just needed to keep the Slytherin penalty from going in...
And he did! Elizabeth cheered, but she couldn't even hear her own voice over the roar of the crowd.
The match only got more intense from there. It was definitely one of the most violent games Elizabeth had seen at Hogwarts. Gryffindors were dominating in scoring—soon they were leading by forty points—though a lot of them came from penalties. More than once, Slytherins would take cheap shots at the Gryffindors—including the Beaters ganging up and sending both Bludgers at Oliver Wood.
"YOU DO NOT ATTACK THE KEEPER UNLESS THE QUAFFLE IS WITHIN THE SCORING AREA!" Madam Hooch screamed over the roars of "FOUL!" among the crowds.
Gryffindor scored the penalty shot. They were now leading by fifty points, and soon by sixty, the score sitting at seventy-ten.
Elizabeth's gaze went to Harry circling above. Gryffindor was up by sixty. If Harry caught the Snitch, Gryffindor would win the Cup. Elizabeth was leaned against the railing, gripping to it so tightly her hands hurt. Did he know where the Snitch was yet?
He apparently had. Harry started to shoot upward. Elizabeth cheered him on.
Then Malfoy grabbed hold of Harry's broom and pulled him to a near stop.
"YOU CHEATING LITTLE GIT!" Susan screamed, her face red with rage, "SLIMY, CHEATING LITTLE SLIMEBALL!"
"Penalty!" Madam Hooch's voice was shrill, "Penalty to Gryffindor! I've never seen such tactics!"
Elizabeth was fuming herself. She wanted nothing more than to get a hold of Malfoy herself. Maybe hit him with a good Leg-Locker Curse...She'd done it before. But she knew it'd just cause trouble. Especially if she did it during the middle of the Quidditch match.
Unfortunately, the Chaser didn't score the penalty. Soon after, Slytherin scored. Seventy-twenty. Gryffindor was still fifty points up. If Harry just caught the Snitch...
Elizabeth noticed Harry was keeping closer to Malfoy now, probably wanting to make sure he didn't get to the Snitch. Though shortly after, Harry went streaking off across the field. Elizabeth soon saw why. All of the Slytherin team—save Malfoy—were going after one of the Gryffindor Chasers—Angelia—who was racing for the Slytherin goals. Harry went in a dive straight through them, clearing the way for Angelia to score.
"SIXTY POINTS UP!" Elizabeth screamed, "COME ON, GRYFFINDOR!"
Elizabeth froze seconds later. Malfoy had gone into a dive. Harry seemed to notice, because he went diving after him.
"GO, HARRY, GO!" Elizabeth leaned more against the railing, to the point if she didn't have such a deathgrip on it she'd probably have tumbled over, "YOU CAN DO IT! YOU'RE ON A FIREBOLT!"
Superior broom—and skill—were winning. Harry was gaining on Malfoy. He was even with him. He was pulling ahead...
"GRYFFINDOR WINS!" Lee Jordan screamed so loudly he probably didn't even need the megaphone as Harry rose from his dive, his hand raised, gripping the Snitch, "TWO-HUNDRED-THIRTY TO TWENTY! GRYFFINDOR WINS THE QUIDDITCH CUP!"
The screams and cheers were deafening. Elizabeth hugged Susan next to her, both of them bouncing in place, soon joined by their other housemates.
"SLYTHERIN LOST!" Lewis screamed nearby, laughing brightly, "GRYFFINDOR BEAT THE PANTS OFF THEM!"
Elizabeth laughed, grinning so much her face hurt. Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup. The cheer around the school was infectious. There was no way anything could ruin this day.