Disclaimer-JK Rowling owns all. Unfortunately.

Chapter 14 Gryffindor Vs Slytherin

It was the next day and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Vesper made their way down to Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures class. So much had happened that previous afternoon:

"Remus, I-"

"I don't want to hear it, Vesper!" She recoiled from Remus' severe tone. Never in her life had she heard him yell like this before. "This has got to be the stupidest thing you've ever done! Luring your friend out of the castle into direct danger-"

"Because running around Hogsmeade with a werewolf isn't dangerous at all!"

Vesper instantly regretted her words but her voice remained strong. "Look, Remus, I'm sorry. Look, I had a lapse in judgment the first time but after seeing Black in Hogsmeade…" She sighed. "Had I known that Harry was going yesterday, I would've tried to stop him."

Remus pulled her into a warm embrace; his safe, sturdy arms wrapped around her and held her close. "I'm sorry too, Vesper; I shouldn't have yelled so harshly." He pulled away slightly to look her in the eyes. "But I need you to understand the gravity of the situation. Black could have killed Harry many times this year; he could have killed you many times this year. If he had hurt you that time in Hogsmeade-" he paused, and Vesper could've sworn she heard his voice quiver a little. "I would have gone after him and killed him myself. You are the most precious thing to me, Vesper, and if anything ever happened to you, I really don't know what I would do."

"I love you, Remus," she said, her eyes swimming with unshed tears.

"I love you too, Vesper. Now get back to the Tower, I'll see you in class."

She turned around and headed for the door. But before she could reach for the handle-

"Oh, and starting this summer, you're grounded. Three weeks."

Well, it could've been worse, Vesper reminisced, but the sight of Hagrid's brought about new memories.

She made her way back to Gryffindor Tower knowing that Remus would be watching the map. When she entered the Fat Lady's corridor she saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione gathered together. Vesper immediately saw the redness and tear stains on Hermione's face. "What did you do now?" she said turning on Ron.

"It wasn't me; we're good now!" said Ron quickly. "Hermione got a letter from Hagrid."

"'S all my fault," Hagrid said during their lesson. "Kep' gettin' all tongue-tied an' droppin' me notes. Then Lucius Malfoy stood up an' said his bit an' the Committee did exac'ly what he told 'em…"

As they left class, Vesper could see Malfoy along with Crabbe and Goyle walking ahead of them.

"Did you see him blubbering?"

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had been standing at the Entrance to the castle waiting for them.

"Have you ever seen anything so pathetic?" said Malfoy. "And he's supposed to be our teacher!"

Harry, Vesper, and Ron all made to move towards Malfoy, but Hermione got there first.

WHAM! Hermione had punched Malfoy with all her strength. Malfoy staggered, and Crabbe and Goyle just looked confused. Hermione raised her hand again.

"Don't you dare call Hagrid pathetic, you foul-you evil-"

"Hermione," said Ron while he and Harry pulled a struggling Hermione away from Malfoy. They were preoccupied so Vesper took the opportunity to do what she had planned all along. She stalked up to a shocked looking Malfoy and-

SMACK!

Vesper pulled back her hand ignoring the throbbing pain. She turned to see Ron and Harry staring at her with wide eyes.

"What?" Vesper said, confused. Still they kept staring. "Oh, so Hermione can punch Malfoy, but I can't slap him? I'm the irresponsible one!"

They started to laugh and Ron released Hermione.

"You had better beat him in the Quidditch final, Harry!" said Hermione shrilly. "I don't think I could stand it if Malfoy wins!"

The Easter holiday passed in a whirl of work. Vesper felt like she had at least one essay for every class she was taking. Not to mention the fact that Oliver Wood had ordered daily practices and had taken to reminding them that Slytherin was 200 points ahead of them. It was hard to get homework done when Wood was constantly telling her different tactics and maneuvers.

The week before the game was a dangerous time. Scuffles and small fights between the Gryffindors and Slytherins were common in the corridors. Wood insisted that the members of the Quidditch team be escorted everywhere after one Slytherin had nearly tripped Vesper down an entire flight of stairs. The whole of Gryffindor House gladly took it upon themselves to do the job. Harry and Vesper were having a particularly hard time at it since they were the most valuable players on the team-or so their housemates told them.

Finally it was the night before the game. Vesper was so nervous that she couldn't sit still. She had given up and began to pace the floor ten minutes ago. It was a relief when Oliver told the team to go to bed.

Vesper slept surprisingly well that night. Not a single dream had disturbed her sleep and she felt reenergized. She dressed quickly and joined her teammates as they made their way down to the Great Hall. A loud roar of applause coming not only from the Gryffindor table, but from Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's as well, greeted them as they entered the Hall. Wood urged them to eat but Vesper's nerves were beginning to settle in. If she, Katie, and Angelina didn't put enough points on the board fast enough then Malfoy could catch the Snitch and Harry wouldn't be able to do anything to stop him. The team eventually gave up on eating and headed out to the locker rooms. Cho Chang called out, "Good luck!" to Harry as they passed by. Vesper had the sudden urge to smack her.

No one spoke as they got changed; the weight of the match pressing down on them. Again, enormous applause greeted them as they walked out onto the pitch.

"Mount your brooms!" said Madam Hooch. "On my whistle! Three…two…one!"

Vesper immediately shot up into the air and grabbed the Quaffle. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Flint trailing closely behind her. She added more speed and shifted her position more to the right. As Vesper came into scoring range she pulled back her arm and-

"Intercepted by Warrington of the Slytherin team, he's tearing up the field-WHAM-a nice Bludger there by George Weasley I think, and the Quaffle is caught by Johnson and SHE SCORES!"

A streak of green flew by Vesper and crashed right into Angelina. She watched as Angelina tried to wriggle her way back into position on her broom. Vesper was seeing red but not for long. Fred chucked his Beater's bat at the back of Flint's head effectively smashing his nose on the broom handle. Madam Hooch awarded penalty shots to both teams. Vesper took the Quaffle with trembling hands and zoomed over to the Slytherin end of the pitch. She stopped at the designated spot for penalty shots, quickly raised her arm and launched the ball through the center golden hoop.

"YES! SHE'S BEATEN THE KEEPER! TWENTY-ZERO GRYFFINDOR!"

Vesper felt light as a feather as the tension lifted from her shoulders. She turned her attention to a still-bleeding Flint, who was getting ready to make his shot.

"Wood's a superb Keeper," said Lee. "Very difficult to pass-YES! I CAN'T BELIEVE HE SAVED IT!"

The game got dirtier as time went on. On the next play, Katie was in possession of the Quaffle when Montague went to grab Katie's head instead of the Quaffle. Gryffindor was awarded another penalty which Katie threw with precision bumping the score thirty to zero. But it wasn't long after that that Slytherin managed to score a goal putting the score at thirty-ten.

Even though being a Chaser was the most dangerous position on a Quidditch team, Vesper had never actively feared for her safety before. And she was right to be. The Beater Bole struck her on her right shoulder with his bat while she had held the Quaffle. George had her back and elbowed Bole in the face. Penalties were awarded to both teams making the score forty-ten.

Katie scored again. Fifty-ten. Then Angelina. Sixty-ten. Vesper caught the Quaffle that Warrington dropped and scored. Seventy-ten. If Harry managed to catch the Snitch now they would win the Cup.

The noise level from the crowd grew and Vesper looked around to see the cause of it. She didn't have to look far. Harry was streaking through the air at an incredible speed. Looking ahead, Vesper saw Malfoy diving after the golden Snitch. She stared on in awe as Harry was only ten feet from Malfoy. Five feet. At his ankles. Neck and neck…

"YES!"

Harry pulled out of his dive, his hand clenched in a fist around the Snitch. Wood managed to make it to Harry first but Vesper was there a second later. She crushed his body to hers and held on tight. They rest of the team joined them in their mid-air hug before slowly descending to the ground and were surrounded by hundreds of spectators. Tears of joy ran down her face, and as Vesper watched Harry get hoisted up on the shoulders of the Weasley twins with the Quidditch Cup in his hands, Vesper felt that maybe, finally, she would be able to produce a Patronus of her own.

AN- Happy holidays everyone! Hope everyone had a nice Christmas and will have a lovely New Year's. I can't believe that I started this story a year ago and it's nearly done. Only a few more chapters to go. :(

Not my best work, but I really am bad at writing Quidditch scenes (you'll notice that I cut out some of the things in the book). It's also a bit short but I wanted this out for the holiday.

I might take a bit longer for the next chapter as my exams are in 2 weeks.

As always, 5 reviews before the next chapter comes out.

Love Lora