Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Quidditch Cup
"He sent me this," Hermione said, holding out the letter.
Gienah took it. The parchment was damp, and enormous teardrops had smudged the ink so badly in places that it was very difficult to read.
Dear Hermione,
We lost.
I'm allowed to bring him back to Hogwarts. Execution date to be fixed.
Beaky has enjoyed London.
I won't forget all the help you gave us.
Hagrid
"They can't do this," said Harry. "They can't. Buckbeak isn't dangerous!"
"Bastards", hissed Gienah.
"Malfoy's dad's frightened the Committee into it," said Hermione, wiping her eyes. "You know what he's like. They're a bunch of doddery old fools, and they were scared. There'll be an appeal, though, there always is. Only I can't see any hope...Nothing will have changed."
"Yeah, it will," said Ron fiercely. "You won't have to do all the work alone this time, Hermione. I'll help."
"Oh, Ron!"
Hermione flung her arms around Ron's neck and broke down completely. Ron, looking quite terrified, patted her very awkwardly on the top of the head. Finally, Hermione drew away. Gienah smiled but didn't say a word.
Sunday evening Cedric was going his prefect patrol on the first floor, his eyes were drooping. Gienah creeped up behind him and covered his eyes with her hands.
"Gienah" He smiled.
"Hello." Gienah kissed him when he turned around. She took his hand and began to take him to the staircase.
"I have prefect rounds" Cedric groaned.
"You have five minutes to go. No one really cares you know. They just make you do it so they can give you something to do." Gienah said earnestly, taking him down the stairs.
"Where are we going?" Cedric asked suspiciously.
Gienah threw Harry's cloak over the two of them as they crossed the grounds.
"To Hagrids?" Cedric said in suprise.
"That's right" Gienah said sarcastically. "My fathers and Harry is in there and Hagrid's the minister. We're getting married in the hut of my dreams."
"Ha, ha" Cedric said dryly.
"You know how Hogsmeade is your thing?" Gienah asked. "The forbidden forest is mine."
"Hogsmeade is not my thing, it's everyone's thing but your thing. And excuse me?"
Gienah took the cloak off of them and into her cloak pocket.
"This is where I come when I need to breathe." She said with a smile on her face. She offered him her hand, he stared for a few seconds and then took it.
They walked for half an hour, not seeing a single creature but heard them scuttle away as the humans treaded down their path.
"Adenydd, daughter of Kantrava" came a deep voice. Gienah turned and saw the handsome centaur she'd met two years ago. She kneeled before him.
"I am at a disadvantage, young centaur for I know not your name." Gienah said softly. The centaur came nearer to her and placed a hand on her head.
"Firenze, son of Urna." Before kneeling before her and bowing his head. They rose together and he searched her face before saying "You have been marked."
"I have." She smiled. "An honour I could not have hoped for."
"The honour is ours Adenydd, I assure you."
Cedric felt like he had interrupted something and shuffled back.
"This is Cedric Diggory" Gienah said suddenly.
"My pleasure." Firenze bowed his head. "Adenydd, I must tell you something-"
Out of the trees emerged two more centaurs, then three, then they were surrounded.
One centaur led the rest. He had dark long hair and olive skin. His eyes betrayed his age, his hide a beautiful mahogany.
"Adenydd, daughter of Kantrava" The centaur knelt down elegantly. And the centaurs around him too bowed their heads.
"Rise" She said in a queenly voice she'd never spoke in before. "I come in peace and offer my friendship to the keepers of the old forest."
"Your star has spoken to our kind for a century and more" The centaur spoke in a soothing melodious tone.
"I hope I do not disappoint" Gienah said with a small smile.
Firenze smiled but the centaur looked very grim.
"The age of the wizard has triumphed past decay. The new moon will drive the shadows away and bathe us all in a new light."
"I don't understand, Magorian son of Mangore."
"It is not for your ears I speak Adenydd." Magorian said with amusement in his eyes. "We have waited for you to return to our forest. We of the old forest would like to bestow upon you a gift so you may speak of us in your old age and let it be known that while the Yarraman marked you, we were first to bequest the Nagual."
Another centaur came forward and kneeled and in her arms was an ornate headpiece made of old silver. Pale silver stones were encrusted in the warrior crown.
"Moonstone to bless you with long life. The ivy plated with old silver offers the wearer greater unity with the earth. The goblins may create great weapons of destruction but our trade is in healing. May many moons pass your time on this earth and the nagual rise once more."
Gienah shivered as he placed the crown from the bed of ivy and gently placed it over my head. It sat comfortably and tingled with magic.
"We will leave you now Adenydd, one day we may speak among a feast in starlight and tell you the stories of the skies." Magorian bowed once more and silently walked into the trees and the colony followed. a few centaurs stared at her reverently, others looked weary.
Firenze was last to leave, kneeling before her and taking her hand to his lips before he swiftly left the clearing.
Gienah felt a sadness engulf her and tears fell from her face. Cedric approached her and she hugged him tightly sobbing into his chest. He stroked her and couldn't help think she looked like a queen even in her leggings and Harry's forest green jumper.
"Why were you crying Gen?" He asked softly after minutes passed by and they now lay in the forest floor staring up at the canopy and glimpses of the starry night.
"I don't know."
Gienah turned and looked at him.
"I love the forest and the skies and the ocean. And looking at the world now, the life they lead they call civilization, it isn't at all. It's barbaric." Gienah said to him, trying to get him to see what she saw.
"Why did the centaur's bow down to you?" Cedric asked. "Is it because you're the Lady Black?"
"Oh no" Gienah laughed. "Don't mind them."
"The ministry may like to dismiss centaurs as star loving fools but I know better." Cedric said quietly, sitting up and looking down at her. "Somethings going to change, or you're going to be right at the heart of it."
"I don't know Cedric, really, I don't." Gienah said honestly. "I always dreamed that I would become infamous. I wanted to be Morgana, I wanted to be Ravenclaw- I wanted to be powerful and have the world at my feet. But the things I've been told, the centaurs, Snape… They speak of history and they speak of what will be, no one knows about the present. And I'm terrified. I want to succeed on my own terms. Not as a pawn for someone else's game."
"Don't be scared Gienah." Cedric said. "You have no obligation to be anyone but yourself. But I won't lie, when you wore that crown you looked like a queen. I can see you as queen and I would happily serve you as queen."
Cedric kissed her passionately and she cried again, feeling crushed by the pressure, and her heart felt it could burst at Cedric's speech.
The next day while the class were feeding salamanders Gienah, Hermione, Harry and Ron lingered near Hagrid. He seemed numb with shock at the verdict.
"S'all my fault. Got all tongue-tied. They was all sittin' there in black robes an' I kep' droppin' me notes and forgettin' all them dates yeh looked up fer me, Hermione. An' then Lucius Malfoy stood up an' said his bit, and the Committee jus' did exac'ly what he told 'em..."
"There's still the appeal!" said Ron fiercely. "Don't give up yet, we're working on it!"
They were walking back up to the castle with the rest of the class. Ahead they could see Malfoy, who was walking with Crabbe and Goyle, and kept looking back, laughing derisively.
"S'no good, Ron," said Hagrid sadly as they reached the castle steps. "That Committee's in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. I'm jus' gonna make sure the rest o' Beaky's time is the happiest he's ever had. I owe him that..."
Hagrid turned around and hurried back toward his cabin, his face buried in his handkerchief.
"Look at him blubber!"
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had been standing just inside the castle doors, listening.
"Have you ever seen anything quite as pathetic?" said Malfoy. "And he's supposed to be our teacher!"
Gienah, Harry and Ron both made furious moves toward Malfoy, but Hermione got there first - SMACK!
She had slapped Malfoy across the face with all the strength she could muster. Malfoy staggered. Harry, Ron, Crabbe, and Goyle stood flabbergasted as Hermione raised her hand again.
"Don't you dare call Hagrid pathetic, you foul - you evil -"
"Hermione!" said Ron weakly, and he tried to grab her hand as she swung it back. Gienah grabbed onto Ron, trying to stop him stop Hermione.
"Get off, Ron!"
Hermione pulled out her wand. Malfoy stepped backward. Crabbe and Goyle looked at him for instructions, thoroughly bewildered.
"C'mon." Malfoy muttered, and in a moment, all three of them had disappeared into the passageway to the dungeons.
"Hermione!" Ron said again, sounding both stunned and impressed.
"Gienah, you'd better beat him in the Quidditch final!" Hermione said shrilly. "You just better had, because I can't stand it if Slytherin wins!"
"We're due in Charms," said Ron, still goggling at Hermione. "We'd better go."
They hurried up the marble staircase toward Professor Flitwick's classroom.
"You're late!" said Professor Flitwick reprovingly as Harry opened the classroom door. "Come along, quickly, wands out, we're experimenting with Cheering Charms today, we've already divided into pairs -"
Gienah, Harry and Ron hurried to a desk at the back and opened their bags. Ron looked behind him.
"Where's Hermione gone?"
Gienah looked around too. Hermione hadn't entered the classroom, yet Gienah knew she had been right next to her when she had opened the door.
"That's weird," said Harry, staring at Ron. "Maybe - maybe she went to the bathroom or something?"
But Hermione didn't turn up all lesson.
"She could've done with a Cheering Charm on her too," said Ron as the class left for lunch, all grinning broadly - the Cheering Charms had left them with a feeling of great contentment.
Hermione wasn't at lunch either. By the time they had finished their apple pie, the after-effects of the Cheering Charms were wearing off, and Gienah, Harry and Ron had started to get slightly worried.
"You don't think Malfoy did something to her?" Ron said anxiously as they hurried upstairs toward Gryffindor Tower.
"Just see if he has" snarled Gienah.
They passed the security trolls, gave the Fat Lady the password ("Flibbertigibbet"), and scrambled through the portrait hole into the common room.
Hermione was sitting at a table, fast asleep, her head resting on an open Arithmancy book. They went to sit down on either side of her. Gienah prodded her awake.
"Wh - what?" said Hermione, waking with a start and staring wildly around. "Is it time to go? W - which lesson have we got now?"
"Divination, but it's not for another twenty minutes," said Harry. "Hermione, why didn't you come to Charms?"
"What? Oh no!" Hermione squeaked. "I forgot to go to Charms!"
"But how could you forget?" said Gienah. "You were with us till we were right outside the classroom!"
"I don't believe it!" Hermione wailed. "Was Professor Flitwick angry? Oh, it was Malfoy, I was thinking about him and I lost track of things!"
"You know what, Hermione?" said Ron, looking down at the enormous Arithmancy book Hermione had been using as a pillow. "I reckon you're cracking up. You're trying to do too much."
"No, I'm not!" said Hermione, brushing her hair out of her eyes and staring hopelessly around for her bag. "I just made a mistake, that's all! I'd better go and see Professor Flitwick and say sorry ... I'll see you in Divination!"
Dear Gienah,
Remus hasn't owled me for a month now. I didn't want to worry you but I can't keep this from you any longer. I'm worried. Charlie's going to be taking care of things at the reserve.
I love you,
Sirius
The Easter Holidays were not exactly relaxing, the third years complained how they had never had so much homework. Neville Longbottom seemed close to a nervous collapse.
"Call this a holiday!" Seamus Finnigan roared at the common room one afternoon. "The exams are ages away, what're they playing at?"
Even without Divination, Hermione was taking more subjects than anybody else. She was usually last to leave the common room at night, first to arrive at the library the next morning; she had shadows under her eyes, and seemed constantly close to tears.
Ron had taken over responsibility for Buckbeak's appeal. When he wasn't doing his own work, he was poring over enormously thick volumes with names like The Handbook of Hippogriff Psychology and Fowl or Foul? A Study of Hippogriff Brutality. He was so absorbed, he even forgot to be horrible to Crookshanks.
Gienah received the letter at the beginning of the Easter Holidays. She may as well had read her execution date. Gienah stopped studying all together. She walked around a shell of the person she used to be. They never saw her cry either. Even Malfoy had taken pity. What was worst, she had no control over the situation. Dumbledore was alerted by Sirius warning him that Gienah may escape to find her father. Fawkes was constantly on guard by the Hogwarts towers, Hagrid and the centaurs on alert in the forest and Harry, Ron and Hermione had confiscated her map and placed a charm on the secret passages to alert them if anyone passed.
Gienah had attempted to escape as a snake through the forest but when she appeared at Hogsmeade Dumbledore was waiting for her, sitting on a bench and reading the Daily Prophet. The only studies she took seriously were her Dark Arts lessons with Snape.
She spent long walks with Cedric in the evenings, but she wouldn't speak and he wouldn't force her. Most days she cried and he comforted her.
Gienah still attended Quidditch practice every day, not to mention endless discussions of tactics with Wood. The Gryffindor-Slytherin match would take place on the first Saturday after the Easter holidays. Slytherin was leading the tournament by exactly two hundred points. This meant (as Wood constantly reminded his team) that they needed to win the match by more than that amount to win the Cup. It also meant that the burden of winning fell largely on Gienah, because capturing the Snitch was worth one hundred and fifty points.
"So you must catch it only if we're more than fifty points up," Wood told Gienah constantly. "Only if we're more than fifty points up, Gienah, or we win the match but lose the Cup. You've got that, Haven't you? You must catch the Snitch only if we're -"
"I KNOW, OLIVER!" Gienah yelled.
She stopped eating, stopped talking, stopped living. Wood was wary of approaching her but the fact was, she was still on top of her game and she continued to run with the team every morning before breakfast. Angeline yelled at Wood about young girls and impressionable minds.
"You've got her developing an eating disorder!" Angelina poked him on the chest.
Wood spluttered.
"And I suppose it's my fault her father's missing?"
"She's a wraith on a broomstick" Angelina said heatedly.
The whole of Gryffindor House was obsessed with the coming match. Never, in anyone's memory, had a match approached in such a highly charged atmosphere. By the time the holidays were over, tension between the two teams and their Houses was at the breaking point. A number of small scuffles broke out in the corridors, culminating in a nasty incident in which a Gryffindor fourth year and a Slytherin sixth year ended up in the hospital wing with leeks sprouting out of their ears.
No one touched Gienah since Crabbe and Goyle ended up in the hospital and refused to say who had cursed them. The black haired witch no longer walked with Harry, Ron and Hermione. Luna would still speak to her but only because she had the patience of a vampire. Ginny too stayed close to the witch remembering a time when she had done the same. Gienah had subscribed to every newspaper keeping an eye out for information regarding the missing werewolf case. The morning on the day before the match the front page was plastered with Lupin's face on it. A few people offered their condolences, and others who never knew her father was a werewolf began to avoid her.
That evening she walked to Snape's detention with her assignment in her hand.
"Enter"
Gienah came in and sat down, brought out a parchment, ink and a quill Lupin had given her two Christmases ago.
"You're wasting away." Snape said roughly.
Gienah looked up and stared at him blankly.
"Literally!" Snape hissed, approaching her and pushing the sleeve of her jumper away to reveal skeletal arms. "How will this help find your father?"
"I can do nothing to help him" Gienah said, pulling the jumper down to cover the offending appendage.
"Put that away" Snape ordered. She did so.
"Stand" Gienah complied.
He waved his wand and the room was empty but for the two people standing. Their was a knock on the door.
"Enter" he said, looking critically at her. "Today we will have a practical lesson. You are duelling. All bets off. No rules but yield or die."
Malfoy came in, looking a little nervous after realizing what he had signed himself up to.
"Duelling positions!" He yelled standing in the centre.
Gienah stood some three steps away from him and held her wand ready. Her wand seemed to spark in anticipation.
"BEGIN!" Snape roared.
The walls had disappeared. They were in a darkly lit room with floating lanterns in a circle above them. Snape was watching from a distance, drowned in darkness. Gienah barely addressed the change of setting as she cast the first spell.
"Cassava" Gienah whispered, the root like tentacles sprouted like a web before her. Draco cast a relashio at the source but he hit a smaller tentacle and where it was cut another two grew in place. One had managed to wrap around his ankle.
"Incendio!" Malfoy roared and the tendrils licked away from the burning light. Gienah abandoned the spell and silently cast a rolling fog.
"Gemini"
As Malfoy cleared the fog he saw seven of Gienah. He conjured a large slab of rock in front of him and hid beneath it, peeking from behind.
"Serrasmus" Malfoy flung at her before retreating. He felt something crash into the rock, some debris fell on his head. He looked back again and saw the piranhas refused to touch her. They just squirmed before dying. Gienah vanished them lazily.
He heard her cry "Bombardem Maxima" and the rock exploded, shards pierced his back but he ignored them as he faced all seven of her again.
"Stupefy!" The image faded. "Relashio" The doppelganger exploded.
Gienah rolled her eyes and Malfoy screamed "HA!" And got her with a cutting jinx on her chest. She was losing blood but she had no time to heal her wound.
"Ignus inferno" Gienah screamed and Draco was surrounded in a ring of fire.
"Glaciem tueri" The fire clashed with ice and turned to water. Gienah shivered, feeling weak as the cold created frost on the surface of her exposed skin. Malfoy was grinning as she fell to her knees.
"Yield cousin!" He sneered.
"Vanajakshi" She whispered. The cobra was slithering around her wrist trying to warm her. "Strike."
The cobra looked at her eyes for a moment before it bared her fangs and slithered across the few metres. Malfoy only noticed the golden cobra seconds before it bit him. Last thing she heard was a scream.
Gienah woke back in the classroom, her injury gone and Malfoy panting on the floor across her.
"Impressive for third years" He said after some consideration. Vanajakshi returned to her mistress. Snape threw a vial to Malfoy who was looking at the puncture on his wrist.
"I forgot about your.. pet" Snape said.
Vanajakshi hissed at him before resting her head against her pulse point and turning back to gold.
Malfoy was regaining some colour.
"But I had her" Malfoy muttered, looking at his puncture heal and Gienah standing up without a scratch on her body.
"You duelled in your mind." Snape said. "There was no real risk, except if you decided to strangle each other. Or had a snake on your persons."
"Could you use that as an attack?" Gienah asked him.
"I don't see how anything could be gained that could be achieved by a sleeping jinx." Snape said. "Effective for duelling practice, not much else."
"Malfoy, please go to the Hospital Wing to check your injury." Snape said. "Gienah stay behind."
Once Malfoy left Snape leaned back on his desk and folded his arms.
"If you start eating, and studying, and talking again, I will personally see to it that we both go and search for your father".
Gienah's eyes seemed to glimmer with a little life.
"I will arrange for your exams to be taken at the end of this month." Snape continued. "Then we will go on a little.. vacation".
"A month!?" Gienah shouted. "He could be six feet under by then!"
Snape pursed his lips.
Gienah continued to meet his gaze.
"A fortnight, but you must pass all your exams." Snape sighed.
Gienah smiled for the first time in three weeks and left the classroom and headed straight to the library.
Gienah slept badly. First she dreamed that she had overslept, and that Wood was yelling, "Where were you? We had to use Neville instead!" Then she dreamed Lupin was being tortured by Fudge at the Ministry, he was looking straight at her as she stood helplessly and croaked help, Gienah was sobbing as she tried to reach him but she was dragged back by Dumbledore and placed in a tower surrounded by giants. She threw herself out of the window and then woke with a start.
It was a few seconds before Harry remembered that the match hadn't taken place yet, that he was safe in bed, and that Lupin was somewhere out there. Quietly as she could, she got out of her four-poster and went to pour herself some water from the silver jug beneath the window.
The grounds were still and quiet. No breath of wind disturbed the treetops in the Forbidden Forest; the Whomping Willow was motionless and innocent-looking. It looked as though the conditions for the match would be perfect.
Gienah and the rest of the Gryffindor team entered the Great Hall the next day to enormous applause. Both the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables were applauding them too. The Slytherin table hissed loudly as they passed.
Wood spent the whole of breakfast urging his team to eat, while touching nothing himself. Then he hurried them off to the field before anyone else had finished, so they could get an idea of the conditions. As they left the Great Hall, everyone applauded again.
"Okay - no wind to speak of - sun's a bit bright, that could impair your vision, watch out for it - ground's fairly hard, good, that'll give us a fast kickoff -"
Wood paced the field, staring around with the team behind him. Finally, they saw the front doors of the castle open in the distance and the rest of the school spilling onto the lawn.
"Locker rooms," said Wood tersely.
None of them spoke as they changed into their scarlet robes. In what seemed like no time at all, Wood was saying, "Okay, it's time, let's go -"
They walked out onto the field to a tidal wave of noise. Three quarters of the crowd was wearing scarlet rosettes, waving scarlet flags with the Gryffindor lion upon them, or brandishing banners with slogans like "GO GRYFFINDOR!" and "LIONS FOR THE CUP" Behind the Slytherin goal posts, however, two hundred people were wearing green; the silver serpent of Slytherin glittered on their flags, and Professor Snape sat in the very front row, wearing green like everyone else, and a very grim smile.
"And here are the Gryffindors!" yelled Lee Jordan, who was acting as commentator as usual. "Black, Bell, Johnson, Spinnet, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood. Widely acknowledged as the best team Hogwarts has seen in a good few years -"
Lee's comments were drowned by a tide of 'boos' from the Slytherin end.
"And here come the Slytherin team, led by Captain Flint. He's made some changes in the lineup and seems to be going for size rather than skill -"
More boos from the Slytherin crowd. Gienah, however, thought Lee had a point. Malfoy was easily the smallest person On the Slytherin team; the rest of them were enormous.
"Captains, shake hands!" said Madam Hooch.
Flint and Wood approached each other and grasped each other's hand very tightly; it looked as though each was trying to break the other's fingers.
"Mount your brooms!" said Madam Hooch. "Three...two...one..."
The sound of her whistle was lost in the roar from the crowd as fourteen brooms rose into the air. Gienah felt her hair fly back behind her; her nerves left her in the thrill of the flight; she glanced around, saw Malfoy on her tail, and sped off in search of the Snitch.
"And it's Gryffindor in possession, Alicia Spinner of Gryffindor with the Quaffle, heading straight for the Slytherin goal posts, looking good, Alicia! Argh, no - Quaffle intercepted by Warrington, Warrington of Slytherin tearing UP the field - WHAM! - nice Bludger work there by George Weasley, Warrington drops the Quaffle, it's caught by - Johnson, Gryffindor back in possession, come on, Angelina - nice swerve around Montague - duck, Angelina, that's a Bludger!¨ SHE SCORES! TEN-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"
Angelina punched the air as she soared around the end of the field; the sea of scarlet below was screaming its delight
"OUCH!"
Angelina was nearly thrown from her broom as Marcus Flint went smashing into her.
"Sorry!" said Flint as the crowd below booed. "Sorry, didn't see her!"
A moment later, Fred Weasley chucked his Beater's club at the back of Flint's head. Flint's nose smashed into the handle of his broom and began to bleed.
"That will do!" shrieked Madam Hooch, zooming between then. "Penalty shot to Gryffindor for an unprovoked attack on their Chaser! Penalty shot to Slytherin for deliberate damage to their Chaser!"
"Come off it, Miss!" howled Fred, but Madam Hooch blew her whistle and Alicia flew forward to take the penalty.
"Come on, Alicia!" yelled Lee into the silence that had descended on the crowd. "YES! SHE'S BEATEN THE KEEPER! TWENTY-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"
Gienah turned the Firebolt sharply to watch Flint, still bleeding freely, fly forward to take the Slytherin penalty. Wood was hovering in front of the Gryffindor goal posts, his jaw clenched.
"'Course, Wood's a superb Keeper!" Lee Jordan told the crowd as Flint waited for Madam Hooch's whistle. "Superb! Very difficult to pass - very difficult indeed - YES! I DON'T BELIEVE IT! HE'S SAVED IT!"
Relieved, Gienah zoomed away, gazing around for the Snitch, but still making sure she caught every word of Lee's commentary. It was essential that she hold Malfoy off the Snitch until Gryffindor was more than fifty points up -But she was starting to feel weak and lightheaded…
"Gryffindor in possession, no, Slytherin in possession - no! Gryffindor back in possession and it's Katie Bell, Katie Bell for Gryffindor with the Quaffle, she's streaking up the field - THAT WAS DELIBERATE!"
Montague, a Slytherin Chaser, had swerved in front of Katie, and instead of seizing the Quaffle had grabbed her head. Katie cart-wheeled in the air, managed to stay on her broom, but dropped the Quaffle.
Madam Hooch's whistle rang out again as she soared over to Montague and began shouting at him. A minute later, Katie had put another penalty past the Slytherin Seeker.
"THIRTY-ZERO! TAKE THAT, YOU DIRTY, CHEATING -"
"Jordan, if you can't commentate in an unbiased way -"
"I'm telling it like it is, Professor!"
Gienah felt a huge jolt of excitement. She had seen the Snitch - it was shimmering at the foot of one of the Gryffindor goal posts - but she mustn't catch it yet - and if Malfoy saw it -
Faking a look of sudden concentration, Gienah pulled her Firebolt around and sped off toward the Slytherin end - it worked. Malfoy went speeding after him, clearly thinking Gienah had seen the Snitch there...
WHOOSH.
One of the Bludgers came streaking past Harry's right ear, hit by the gigantic Slytherin Beater, Derrick. Then again...
WHOOSH.
The second Bludger grazed Harry's elbow. The other Beater, Bole, was closing in.
Gienah had a fleeting glimpse of Bole and Derrick zooming toward her, clubs raised - She turned the Firebolt upward at the last second, and Bole and Derrick collided with a sickening crunch.
"Ha haaa!" yelled Lee Jordan as the Slytherin Beaters lurched away from each other, clutching their heads. "Too bad, boys! You'll need to get up earlier than that to beat a Firebolt!"
But Gienah was feeling faint, she was losing height…
"The Gryffindor seeker is diving towards the ground - no, FUCK, someone get Genna, she's fainted!"
Madame Hooch was nearby and captured the frail girl in her arms. They tried to ennervate her awake but it was clear her heart beat was slowing down.
Madame Pomfrey came onto the pitch and the whole stadium watched as Gienah was placed on to a stretcher. Wood came down and felt her head, then her heart beat. George pulled him back and slapped him.
"Wood, you need to tell Hooch we're bringing Harry on."
Wood nodded.
Harry, Ron and Hermione ran down and found Wood who grabbed Harry and told him grimly "You're on." Hermione and Ron followed Madame Pomfrey into the hospital wing.
"Black has been taken to the hospital wing, no update as of yet, appears to have fainted from exertion. It's not looking good for Gryffindor. Three years on the team, having won six games out of eight. Easily the best record this year but extenuating circumstances happen. Potter, her brother, has been called to play as reserve and if the gift's genetic Gryffindor may still be in with a chance. And Potter's in kit!"
Harry came out to roars in the stadium. He felt his heart beating out of his chest.
"Potter also has a firebolt. Doesn't hurt to have Sirius Black for a godfather."
Hooch blew her whistle and fifteen broomsticks rose to the air.
"We're sixteen minutes into the game and it's Gryffindor in possession again, as Johnson takes the Quaffle - Flint alongside her - poke him in the eye, Angelina! - it was a joke, Professor, it was a joke - oh no - Flint in possession, Flint flying toward the Gryffindor goal posts, come on now, Wood, save -!"
But Flint had scored; there was an eruption of cheers from the Slytherin end, and Lee swore so badly that Professor McGonagall tried to tug the magical megaphone away from him.
"Sorry, Professor, sorry! Won't happen again! So, Gryffindor in the lead, thirty points to ten, and Gryffindor in possession -"
It was turning into the dirtiest game Gryffindor had ever played in. Enraged that Gryffindor had taken such an early lead, the Slytherins were rapidly resorting to any means to take the Quaffle. Bole hit Alicia with his club and tried to say he'd thought she was a Bludger. George Weasley elbowed Bole in the face in retaliation. Madam Hooch awarded both teams penalties, and Wood pulled off another spectacular save, making the score forty-ten to Gryffindor.
The Snitch had disappeared. Malfoy was keeping close to Harry as he soared over the match, looking around for it once Gryffindor was fifty points ahead - Harry had played enough times with the team but never against an opponent so bloodthirsty.
Katie scored. Fifty-ten. Fred and George Weasley were swooping around her, clubs raised, in case any of the Slytherins were thinking of revenge. Bole and Derrick took advantage of Fred's and George's absence to aim both Bludgers at Wood; they caught him in the stomach, one after the other, and he rolled over in the air, clutching his broom, completely winded.
Madam Hooch was beside herself -
"YOU DO NOT ATTACK THE KEEPER UNLESS THE QUAFFLE IS WITHIN THE SCORING AREA!" she shrieked at Bole and Derrick. "Gryffindor penalty!"
And Angelina scored. Sixty-ten. Moments later, Fred Weasley pelted a Bludger at Warrington, knocking the Quaffle out of his hands; Alicia seized it and put it through the Slytherin goal - seventy-ten.
The Gryffindor crowd below was screaming itself hoarse - Gryffindor was sixty points in the lead, and if Harry caught the Snitch now, the Cup was theirs. Harry could almost feel hundreds of eyes following him as he soared around the field, high above the rest of the game, with Malfoy speeding along behind him.
And then he saw it. The Snitch was sparkling twenty feet above him.
Harry put on a huge burst of speed; the wind was roaring in his ears; he stretched out his hand, but suddenly, the Firebolt was slowing down -
Horrified, he looked around. Malfoy had thrown himself forward, grabbed hold of the Firebolt's tail, and was pulling it back.
"You -"
Harry was angry enough to hit Malfoy, but couldn't reach - Malfoy was panting with the effort of holding onto the Firebolt, but his eyes were sparkling maliciously. He had achieved what he'd wanted to do - the Snitch had disappeared again.
"Penalty! Penalty to Gryffindor! I've never seen such tactics." Madam Hooch screeched, shooting up to where Malfoy was sliding back onto his Nimbus Two Thousand and One.
"YOU CHEATING SCUM!" Lee Jordan was howling into the megaphone, dancing out of Professor McGonagall's reach. "YOU FILTHY, CHEATING B -"
Professor McGonagall didn't even bother to tell him off. She was actually shaking her finger in Malfoy's direction, her hat had fallen off, and she too was shouting furiously.
Alicia took Gryffindor's penalty, but she was so angry she missed by several feet. The Gryffindor team was losing concentration and the Slytherins, delighted by Malfoy's foul on Harry, were being spurred on to greater heights.
"Slytherin in possession, Slytherin heading for goal - Montague scores -" Lee groaned. "Seventy-twenty to Gryffindor..."
Harry was now marking Malfoy so closely their knees kept hitting each other. Harry wasn't going to let Malfoy anywhere near the Snitch...
"Get out of it, Potter!" Malfoy yelled in frustration as he tried to turn and found Harry blocking him.
"Angelina Johnson gets the Quaffle for Gryffindor, come on, Angelina, COME ON!"
Harry looked around. Every single Slytherin player apart from Malfoy was streaking up the pitch toward Angelina, including the Slytherin Keeper - they were all going to block her - Harry wheeled the Firebolt around, bent so low he was lying flat along the handle, and kicked it forward. Like a bullet, he shot toward the Slytherins.
"AAAAAAARRRGH!"
They scattered as the Firebolt zoomed toward them; Angelina's way was clear.
"SHE SCORES! SHE SCORES! Gryffindor leads by eighty Points to twenty!"
Harry, who had almost pelted headlong into the stands, skidded to a halt in midair, reversed, and zoomed back into the middle of the field.
And then he saw something to make his heart stand still. Malfoy was diving, a look of triumph on his face - there, a few feet above the grass below, was a tiny, golden glimmer -
Harry urged the Firebolt downward, but Malfoy was miles ahead -
"Go! Go! Go!" Harry urged his broom. He was gaining on Malfoy - Harry flattened himself to the broom handle as Bole sent a Bludger at him - he was at Malfoy's ankles - he was level -
Harry threw himself forward, took both hands off his broom. He knocked Malfoy's arm out of the way and -
"YES!"
He pulled out of his dive, his hand in the air, and the stadium exploded. Harry soared above the crowd, an odd ringing in his ears. The tiny golden ball was held tight in his fist, beating its wings hopelessly against his fingers.
"And it seems to run in the family after all. Harry Potter has captured the snitch for a Gryffindor victory and the Quidditch Cup. GRYFFINDOR WIN! 230 - 20 to Gryffindor. GRYFFINDOR WIN THE QUIDDITCH CUP!" Lee Jordan roared to hundreds of screaming spectators.
Then Wood was speeding toward him, half-blinded by tears; he seized Harry around the neck and sobbed unrestrainedly into his shoulder. Harry felt two large thumps as Fred and George hit them; then Angelina's, Alicia's, and Katie's voices, "We've won the Cup! We've won the Cup!" Tangled together in a many-armed hug, the Gryffindor team sank, yelling hoarsely, back to earth.
Wave upon wave of crimson supporters was pouring over the barriers onto the field. Hands were raining down on their backs. Harry had a confused impression of noise and bodies pressing in on him. Then he, and the rest of the team, were hoisted onto the shoulders of the crowd. Thrust into the light, he saw Hagrid, Plastered with crimson rosettes - "Yeh beat 'em, Harry, yeh beat 'em! Wait till I tell Buckbeak!"
There was Percy, jumping up and down like a maniac, all dignity forgotten. Professor McGonagall was sobbing harder even than Wood, wiping her eyes with an enormous Gryffindor flag; Harry was borne toward the stands, where Dumbledore stood waiting with the enormous Quidditch Cup.
A sobbing Wood passed Harry the Cup, as he lifted it into the air, Harry felt he could have produced the world's best Patronus.
The entire Gryffindor team and Harry went to see Gienah after the match. They postponed the celebration for the evening not feeling right without their seeker. Gienah was feeling faint but conscious. Hermione and Ron sat around her when they came in. She was silently crying. When she saw Wood she broke down completely.
Wood walked over to her and hugged her.
"I'm so sorry. I lost the match because… Pomfrey said I went into starvation mode. Loss of muscle mass- And- I - I didn't even think!"
"Gen" Wood grinned. "You didn't lose the match. We won."
"What?" Gienah said weakly.
Harry came forward from the back holding the Quidditch Cup.
"I believe this is yours." Harry said sheepishly.
Gienah began crying again and it wasn't out of grief.
She hugged Harry and whispered "You did it. You caught the snitch Harry."
Gienah was forced to remain at the hospital wing for a week being fed nutrition potions and having homework brought to her. Snape had reluctantly come to offer her tuition for her exams. she hadn't told her friends what she was planning to do in fear that they'd try to stop her.
"Does the headmaster know that you are planning to abandon your post next week?" Gienah asked.
"No." Snape said without a trace of shame. "I have never taken a sick day off in my life. I'm sure he'll manage to find a suitable cover."
Gienah chuckled.
"You're charms theory is abysmal and don't get me started on herbology. Ancient Runes is passable. Everything else you could stop revising now and probably still get Outstanding. But you'll miss first spot competing with Granger."
"I think it'll be good for her." Gienah said after a pause.
"That is not the kind of talk I want to hear from any student of mine." Snarled Snape.
"I hope I'm not disturbing you?" Cedric had just come through the hospital wing.
"I have just finished with the insolent girl, Diggory. She's all yours." Snape walked off, his cloak billowing behind him.
"One day I want to do a dramatic exit just like that." Gienah smiled as Cedric leaned in for a kiss.
"He does do a good turn and strut" Cedric agreed. "How long have we got?"
Gienah checked her watch.
"Twenty minutes"
Cedric grinned and closed the curtains around her.
The next day Gienah was released from the hospital and felt her strength return to her. She was too busy to dwell too much on her father and Hermione, Harry and Ron took it in turns to make sure she was eating.
Gienah took all her written exams that Friday, she was excused from her lessons by permission of the potions master and she told everyone else she had to speak with aurors concerning her father's disappearance. In reality the ministry had done nothing more than send her a letter concerning procedure with missing wizards and done nothing on the protocol.
The history of magic paper couldn't have gone any smoother. There were two essay questions. One on medieval witch hunts and the other on the vampire clan wars. She struggled with charms but managed to finish on time. Herbology was a disaster. Ancient Runes was more difficult than her mocks but the others she could have done in her sleep.
Gienah finished at seven that evening and rather than wait to meet Cedric down at the entrance hall she went to Hufflepuff basement where she saw their entrance for the first time. She waited for someone to come through before smiling sweetly and stepping inside. It was light and airy with a gold and yellow carpet rather than Gryffindor's deep reds and mahogany. Cedric was walking down the stairs and blinked when he saw Gienah standing by the door.
"How did you get in?" Cedric said eventually, walking up to her for a kiss.
"I have my ways" She smiled tiredly.
"Why are you here?" Cedric asked, stroking her hair.
"Well I had planned to crash and burn in my dormitory but Friday nights date night so I thought I could crash and burn in your dormitory instead."
"Hmm" Cedric kissed her again. "When you say crash and burn…"
"Pft" Gienah said as she walked up the stairs he had come down from. "I'm exhausted so can we please go to bed."
A sixth year boy looked at her and Cedric with eyebrows raised as they passed. Cedric grinned sheepishly.
"Where is everyone?" Gienah asked suspiciously entering the dormitory in the same style as the common room. Cedric had the neatest space with posters of Puddlemere United and a colour coded revision timetable. There were photos of his family on the bedside table and a few books by a wizarding author she'd never heard of.
She felt an arm snake around her waist and she was on the bed on top of Cedric. He waved his wand and the hangings were drawn. Gienah felt her beat faster. They hadn't done anything as intimate as that day in the shrieking shack which now felt ages ago. But they were in his bed. Alone. Cedric seemed to be thinking the same thing before sighing and putting her gently beside him and pulling the covers. Gienah looked at him a little confused.
"You look exhausted" Cedric said and he stepped out of the bed and came back in wearing pyjama bottoms but no shirt. Gienah stared.
"Wow." She said softly.
Cedric blushed.
"I- ur- normally sleep shirtless but I could find an old t-shirt" Cedric was about to leave the bed when Gienah stopped him.
"I think I can control herself." Gienah pouted.
"Ok but you need a t-shirt." He left and returned with a grey t-shirt and looked at her.
"Urm, Cedric" Gienah said with a blush. "I need to change."
"Right" Cedric turned around and she quickly stripped and put on his t-shirt that smelled like peppermint and clean soap. Cedric turned around, his gaze lingering on her bare legs covered mid-thigh.
Cedric pulled her into bed and brought a book out, while she rest her head on his bare chest and traced the abs on his torso. Eventually she drifted off to sleep.
The next morning she woke up to Cedric's arms locked around stomach, his lips against her shoulder and their legs entangled. She closed her eyes and relished in the smell of him, the feel of him against her and how safe she felt in his arms. She quietly tried to extract herself from their twisted limbs but he grumbled and drew her even closer.
"Gienah" Cedric whispered. Gienah smiled and supposed a few more hours couldn't hurt.
Gienah woke up every hour or so, until seven where she dragged herself away from Cedric as her first exam was at nine.
"Were you going to leave me without a kiss?" Cedric said groggily.
Gienah was dressed but he looked too adorable. Cedric gave her his hand and she returned to bed for a few minutes more. She was enjoying his lips leaving hers and heading for her pulse point when she felt him against thigh. Cedric was breathing heavily and his hands were dangerously up her leg.
"I need to go" Gienah said with difficulty, he looked so beautiful in the morning she thought. His grey eyes heavy with sleep and his hair far from his usual perfection.
"Fine" he groaned. "But I propose we change Friday night date night to crash and burn every week."
"We'll discuss it with the board." Gienah kissed his cheek and left before he could keep her hostage.
Potions required the brewing of the Confusing Concoction, Herbology she was required to correctly trim and harvest a number of dangerous plants. Defence Against the Dark Arts was the most unusual. Professor Ambrogio had compiled the most unusual exam; a sort of obstacle course outside in the sun, where they had to wade across a deep paddling pool containing a Grindylow, cross a series of potholes full of Red Caps, squish their way across a patch of marsh while ignoring misleading directions from a Hinkypunk, then climb into an old trunk and battle with a new Boggart.
At six she went down into the dungeons and knocked on Snape's office.
"Enter." He called.
Gienah opened the door excitedly and saw Snape writing a letter on his desk.
"I will meet you at the headmaster's office at nine tonight, be packed for a week's journey." Snape dismissed her.
Gienah was already packed since three nights ago so she spent half an hour figuring out how to explain her sudden departure when Hermione came in to get a book she'd forgotten in the library.
"Gienah?"
Gienah turned around and looked guiltily at Hermione.
"I'm - I need to talk to you, Harry and Ron."
Hermione looked at her in a jumper and dark jeans with her fur cloak flung over her shoulder and a small trunk in her hand.
"Where are you going?" Hermione said sadly.
"Where are Harry and Ron?"
"Downstairs but-" Hermione followed after Gienah forgetting her book yet again.
"Gen?" Harry looked up and down at her. She was wearing her dragon hide boots.
"I'm leaving in an hour and I need to say bye to Cedric." Gienah said quickly. "Hopefully it'll be no more than a week but I can't be sure. I need to find him. I can't sit here and wait around for Sirius to get back with good news. If anything happened, I'd never forgive myself"
Gienah was trying so hard not to cry, then Harry hugged her and said "I understand" and she fell apart. Hermione was sobbing in Ron's shoulder when she finally left them and walked down to the Hufflepuff basement. Cedric was going to be the worst she sighed.
"Gienah?" She turned and saw Cedric on the stairs. "Where are you going?"
"I was just going to see you and then - I'm leaving Hogwarts Cedric. I need to find him."
"You can't" Cedric said, taking her hands in his. "Your father is after him, it is not your responsibility."
"If you think that you don't know me at all!" Gienah said, tears falling once more. "How can he not be? Is there anyone else who loves him more than I do?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Cedric was kissing her face, repeatedly. "When are you leaving?"
"In an hour."
"And you're packed?"
Gienah nodded.
"Let's go for a walk." Cedric said, holding her hand a little tighter than usual.
They didn't go far. They walked a little while by the grounds and she confessed how she had done her exams in the last two days and that she was going with Snape.
"Where will you be going?"
"Snape is in contact with Sirius, so we might be meeting him. It might be a werewolf hate campaign or they be caged to be used for illegal trade. I think Remus had most likely infiltrated the black market and was either discovered as being undercover or a werewolf." Gienah's voice was tearing up and he hugged her again.
"Please look after yourself." Cedric pleaded.
"I'll be with Snape" Gienah laughed shakily. "Who wants to mess with that overgrown bat?"
Cedric chuckled and walked her to the headmasters office. Gienah wiped her tears. It would do no good crying before her departure. They'd leave her to rot.
"Lemon drop?" The gargoyle remained where it was.
"Sugar quill, chocolate frogs, licorice wand, fizzing whizbee" Gienah reeled off. "Blood-flavoured lollipop".
The gargoyle jumped out of the way. Gienah smiled despite herself and was taken to the door. She knocked and heard a tired voice call her to come in.
Dumbledore was facing his large window. Fawkes came over to her and pecked her on the head affectionately. Snape was standing by the fireplace.
"Urm, have I inturrupted something?"
"No, no my dear girl" The headmaster turned and looked down at Gienah. "Just discussing a few finer details. Are you ready, Gienah?"
"Yes, professor" Gienah said with a brave smile.
"I must ask you to obey Professor Snape's every order and to not needlessly place yourself in danger." The headmaster looked at with grim concern.
"Yes sir" Gienah said though she didn't like the idea.
"Severus is placing himself at personal risk to assist you." Dumbledore stressed. "Do not jeopardise your mission."
Gienah nodded.
"Do not waste another word Albus" Snape said, with a severe look at Gienah. "She will act as she pleases. Salazar knows what I'm thinking. It'll be a suicide mission with her in tow."
"If anything I'm glad out of any guardian I have I'm glad it's you" Gienah said furiously. "Then maybe I can prove my worth!"
Snape shook his head.
"She has your flair for the dramatics" Snape said. "Typical Gryffindor sentiment."
Dumbledore chuckled.
"Flair for dramatics?" Gienah raised an eyebrow. "This coming from the master of the turn and strut?"
Snape sneered.
"Enough."
He entered the fireplace and said "Lupin Cottage".
Gienah followed and threw the dust on the floor and repeated the same thing.
"Good luck" She heard as she was pulled away and entered in her familiar childhood home.