Disclaimer: Anything familiar to JKR's books probably comes from there and is hers not mine. Also, Harry Potter, Hogwarts, the Wizarding World, and anything else that has to do with it belongs to the lovely JK Rowling, not me. I'm just playing in her sandbox and building my own Hogwarts in it.

Chapter Twenty-Five

"And Angelina Johnson is headed towards the Slytherin goals!" Lee Jordan yelled during the third game Harry had played in that month. It had been a crazy month full of practices, classes, and training for the unknown Task. Now, though, Harry was above the Slytherin vs. Gryffindor match using the first teams; the second teams would be playing next week.

"Oh! She drops the Quaffle as a Bludger almost hits her in the head! Nice Bludger by the Slytherin Beater, Pritchard. Hard to believe he's only a first year."

Graham had, indeed, lived up to Maya's words. He was just as good a Beater as the Weasley twins once he got going, and together with the ball of energy known as Astoria, they were out-Beating the Weasleys this game.

"Malfoy in possession of the Quaffle, and he passes to Greengrass, who returns it in an overhead toss over Bell. The Gryffindors weren't expecting that! Ouch! A Bludger to the arm for Malfoy, but it was too late! He had already spotted it, knew he wouldn't get out of the way, and passed the Quaffle to Nott, who was almost directly below him! Nice Bludger by Weasley, and a nice reaction by Malfoy and Nott.

"Nott's headed towards the Gryffindor goalposts! Come on Weasley number three, save it!" Lee called to Ron through the megaphone. "Nott gets ready to throw, and… drops the Quaffle on purpose? Oh! A well done play as Greengrass grabs the Quaffle from well below him and scores through the very bottom of the right goalpost! Too bad, Ron; maybe next time! One-sixty to seventy, Slytherin in the lead.

"Gryffindor in possession again."

Harry smirked a little as he recognized the play as one Draco had come up with during practice. Randomly dropping the Quaffle while preparing to throw it confused the Keeper immensely, giving the second Chaser a chance to score. He had been planning on it being so sudden and random that the Keeper couldn't keep up, which was the case this time.

Shaking his head, Harry went back to searching for the Snitch, Patricia on the other side of the Pitch as she searched as well. Both had been searching for a couple of hours.

Draco as captain had certainly changed the way Slytherin played. It was more sly and confusing compared to the powerhouse that the team had been in Harry's first year where he had been the crucial player for Slytherin's win as most of the team couldn't play as well.

"And one of the Weasley twins hits Greengrass in the side, she drops the Quaffle!" Lee called.

Harry winced slightly, knowing that would leave a bruise, and flew towards the Gryffindor goalposts. He circled around them and went higher into the air as he began flying in a figure-eight over the match. The Snitch was being very elusive this match, annoying Patricia and Harry immensely, even if they couldn't do anything about it.

Lee had just called out "Two hundred to one-ten, Slytherin!" when Harry finally spotted the Snitch as a moving flash of gold near one of the Weasley twins, who Harry barely recognized as Fred before tearing off after it, being closer than Patricia.

He wove in and out of players in crimson and green, just barely ducking under Astoria as he passed her, going down into a dive. Behind him, Harry could almost hear Patricia following, trying to catch up.

It didn't matter, though, as Harry reached out with his right hand and closed it around the Snitch as he used his left arm to pull up sharply, only about two feet above the ground.

Raising the Snitch above his head, Harry grinned at the final score of three hundred-sixty to one hundred-twenty.

Another match won, Harry thought as his teammates flew towards him, grins on their faces, thinking about how Slytherin was in the lead for the tournament.

…

Harry listened closely to the light, almost silent breathing as well as the barely audible sock-covered footsteps, trying to keep a map in his mind of where Tracey and Ginny both were. The black cloth covering his eyes was stuck to him with a charm that only the castor could remove, so Harry ignored it, letting his other senses take over.

A slight tingling and a foot moving slightly closer to him was all the warning Harry got before he heard Ginny mutter a spell under her breath, but Harry was already moving. He slid to the right in his socks, ducking under the spell Tracey had suddenly sent from behind him.

Over and over, Harry dodged, ducked, and slid to escape being hit by a Stinging Hex from Tracey or Ginny, his ears and instincts motivating him. At times a spell would lightly touch his bare arm, meaning it had just missed him, while at others they would hit him dead on in places he hadn't been expecting the spell like his foot or an ear. Even with random parts of his body stinging, though, Harry continued on, ignoring pain and exhaustion as he fought to keep moving.

"Stop," Tracey finally said, and Harry didn't even say anything as he sunk to his knees and took deep breaths, trying to regain the ability to breathe normally.

A light whisper and the feel of the cloth falling from his face told Harry that they were done for now.

Hands put his glasses back on his face, but Harry kept his eyes closed as both girls helped him stand and sit down on a couch that the Room must have provided. It wasn't until a water bottle was shoved into his hand that he looked up.

"Are you okay?" Ginny asked softly, and Harry nodded as he gulped down the water quickly.

"We were starting to hit you more and more, so I knew you needed to stop," Tracey informed him, and Harry nodded in both understanding and thanks.

"Hopefully this will be helpful," he said once he had drained the water bottle. "We're still not sure what the Task will be, remember?"

"Having good reflexes will be good no matter what the Task is, Harry," Tracey reminded him, and Harry nodded, rolling his eyes as she had said this more than once over the past few days.

"In fact, I think we should all do this," Ginny said, and Harry looked at her a bit sharply, wondering what she meant. "For our training, I mean," she elaborated. "Everyone should take turns trying to dodge Stinging Hexes while blindfolded. It'll help our instincts when it comes to dueling in case someone else joins the battle or if you can't see."

"True, and it'll make everyone more paranoid at my house during the summer," Harry smirked. Just the thought of pointing a wand at someone only for the humorous reaction was amusing him and making him look forward to the summer.

"Worry about the Task before anything else, Harry!" Tracey exclaimed, drawing him back to the fact that it was already almost April. While he still had another two months or so before the Task, no one knew how bad it was going to be, so he had to remember to take it seriously, even if he didn't want to constantly worry.

"I know, Trace," he sighed, and she put a hand on his shoulder. "I really just wish I didn't have to do this! Why was I even entered in this Tournament? I'm only fourteen."

"When this dumb Tournament is over, we're going to try and figure that out," Ginny promised, Tracey nodding in agreement. "For now, are you up to practicing some more?"

"Let's try this one again," Harry said as he forced himself up from the couch, offering a hand to each girl to help them stand up.

He ignored the pain in his body as all three got back into position, the blindfold back on his face. Preparing for the Task, no matter how far away, was more important than worrying about a bit of pain that would go away in a few hours.

…

Harry grinned while looking at the chart on the bulletin board in The Den. It had each Quidditch team listed with its points in the order of its standing depending on the number of points the team had. Another chart had the same thing but with the number of wins, losses, and ties.

Slytherin and Durmstrang were tied with the most number of wins, but Slytherin had more points than Durmstrang, followed by Gryffindor before Durmstrang.

The second Slytherin team that Draco had put together wasn't doing that badly in 7th place overall out of ten teams. It was certainly the best of all the secondary teams, of which each Hogwarts House had one.

The tournament was a huge success among the students. Each match had almost the entire House of whatever teams were playing as well as others who just wanted to watch as spectators. Most matches had at least a few members of the staff watching while Lee commentated and Madam Hooch refereed, if only to keep it safe for the players.

No House won any points for the matches, but it made them more fun. This way there wasn't anything actually at stake but pride, so mostly they were playing to have fun.

The plan was to have a final match between the top two teams when the professors informed the students that the Pitch had to be closed. It was an unspoken agreement that the Pitch was going to be used for the Third Task – why else would they cancel Quidditch?

As of right now, Harry thought, it would be Slytherin vs. Durmstrang as they were both in the top three of each chart. That would probably be the match with the most spectators, especially because Harry and Viktor had agreed not to let their two teams play until the second-to-last game unless they were to be in the final game together. Everyone wanted to see their teams play, but no one could deny that having them at the end would be worth the wait.

…

Ron, who was sitting at one of the two-person tables with his chess set ready for a game in The Den, was surprised when someone sat down across from him. It was rare that someone would play with him unless dared, for a bet, or without being nagged into it.

Of course, when Ron looked up and saw Harry sitting across from him, emerald eyes looking into his blue ones with a hidden message in them, Ron understood and moved his white pawn forward two spots.

The pair played in silence except for commands for a few minutes, each boy taking his time to decide upon a move. Finally, Harry broke the silence.

"Are your friends ready?" he asked softly, and Ron didn't even look up as he made his move to begin putting Harry into a trap while thinking over the question that he didn't need explained.

"You'll need to ask Hermione about Lavender and Parvati, but Dean and Seamus have been hanging out with the guys from our year more and more, even Blaise and Theo," Ron finally replied, mentally cursing as Harry ruined the trap he had been planning by doing an unexpected move while beginning to formulate a new one.

"This Saturday," Harry said, meaning in six days, "will they be ready?"

"They might be," Ron said. "I haven't let them see my Journal yet, so I'm not sure if they can see them yet."

Movement caught Ron's eye, but he saw that it was Harry's black snake Ankh and didn't make another move. A quiet hiss from Harry informed Ron that his friend was asking the snake something. When the snake slithered away in the direction of where he had seen Ginny sitting earlier before suddenly disappearing altogether, Ron knew that Ankh was going to ask Ginny a question for Harry.

"He'll let us know if they can in a few minutes," Harry stated, and Ron looked into the teen's eyes before nodding.

"They're over there with her?" he asked, and Harry looked up sharply before grinning a bit and nodding.

"You're more observant than people give you credit for, Ron," he whispered quietly, but Ron heard it with a bit of shock. "I mean it, Ron." Ron just grinned before claiming one of Harry's knights.

"Hey, Ron?" Harry asked quietly after a few more moves.

"Yeah, Harry?"

"Meet me by the lake tomorrow, an hour after classes are over." Ron looked up in confusion, but Harry seemed to be staring through him instead of at him, the look in his eyes saying he was thinking quickly. "I've got something difficult to ask you, and I don't want to be overheard."

"I'll be there," Ron agreed.

From then on, they finished the game in silence, only interrupted by Ankh informing them that Ron's friends were able to see the Journals, Ron winning the game with only one more move before Harry would have won.

…

"That was a nice addition to the group," Harry sighed as he sat down on a couch in The Den, looking around at the new group of people being shown how to use the Journals by younger students and friends their own ages.

"I still can't believe the twins got that many people to join the group," Draco muttered. "Well, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle are expecting me, so I'll see you all later." He left to various goodbyes from the group.

"How did they get almost all of fifth and sixth years in the group except for the Slytherins?" Susan suddenly asked.

"By being the twins," Ginny replied with a smirk.

"Should we be afraid of that look?" Terry stage-whispered to Padma, who looked Ginny's face over quickly before nodding quite seriously. Everyone burst out laughing, and it wasn't until they calmed down that anyone even tried to speak again.

"I believe the twins just pointed details out to the older students with help from Cedric and the girls," Hermione said, and everyone nodded thoughtfully; it was quite believable.

"The Gryffindors have been a bit easier to convince since Ron stopped being a brat," Neville said, surprising most at his wording.

"Your being in the Tournament along with Cedric and the fight we had over it helped," Natalie added with a grin from beside Graham, who was trying to look bored while really quite interested.

"It probably helped in Ravenclaw as well," Padma admitted sheepishly.

"Though Cedric being your friend and dating Cho has helped a lot as well," Terry added with a slight smile, amusement shining in his eyes.

"Cedric was the main one to try to persuade Hufflepuff," Justin informed the group.

"Must have worked well," Blaise observed, and the Hufflepuffs nodded.

"I've got a question," Natalie suddenly said, and everyone turned to her, but she was looking Harry in the eyes. "For someone so into uniting the Houses, you're not trying to unite the older Slytherins with the rest that hard."

The Slytherins all shared looks, trying to decide who would explain, or at least begin the explanation that the others, or at least Natalie, needed.

"The older Slytherins need… incentive," Daphne began slowly. "Otherwise, they won't change their ways."

"Incentive?" Hannah asked as Hermione looked on in understanding, the only one to have figured it out, Harry thought.

"The Slytherins don't have a reason to change their ways," Theo explained. "Without something to give them all the final push, none of the Slytherins will leave the shadows."

All of the non-Slytherins looked confused at that, and Harry realized then and there that the politics of Slytherin really weren't known outside of the House except to possibly the teachers. It was a bit surprising given the fact that the other Houses hung out with Slytherins more, but it also made sense as those that intermixed with others were the ones who had stopped playing the politics so much.

"Slytherin is a very political House," Blaise began. All of the Slytherins with serious faces that seemed to be worrying the others, even Ginny, who was gripping Harry's arm more tightly than normal. "I'm not sure what you see when you look at Slytherin, but it's probably very different than it actually is once the first years get to around Christmas."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, looking interested alongside her worry.

"Slytherin is in three groups right now," Maya said. "You have our group, the ones uniting the Houses and a lot more light. Then there are the darker thinkers, the ones who believe in what the Dark Lord said and did; Draco pretends to be one of these, his friends are among this group, and the rest are mostly the seventh years. Everyone else would be in the third group: the neutrals."

"The neutrals are more split in two with their opinions," Graham said gravely, and Harry felt a pang of sorrow as he listened to the eleven-year-old.

Before Hogwarts, he had been a mature, playful kid; now he was a mature kid who still had fun here and there with mainly Natalie but was mostly just serious and playing with his mask. It was terrible what growing up as a Pureblood did to the kids, making them more mature than they should be, making them realize things than they normally would have. Being in Slytherin made them grow up even more, taking away all but a few threads of their childhood for good.

"Most agree with our group while the rest are leaning towards our view but mainly don't care. None of them have a reason to join the group, and they don't want to anger the few seventh years that will actually do something to them," Graham stated, ignoring the slightly shocked looks from those not in Slytherin, obviously unable to believe that he actually knew and understood this.

"If someone gives them that final push, I'm pretty sure they'll all come to our side, but without that final push…" Harry finished with a sad shrug.

"Personally, while I'm hoping for that push, I really don't want to be here when they get it," Astoria stated. "The only sort of thing that will get that reaction from them will affect all of us negatively, not just them."

"Then we should hope that they'll come around without a push that affects us all," Neville said quietly, and everyone agreed.

In the minds of every Slytherin, however, they all knew that nothing but something monumental would get them to choose a side.

…

"Potter!" Snape suddenly called out in Potions, surprising everyone, though none more than Harry. Snape didn't usually call on Harry for anything, so this had to be important. Usually Harry would be called down to the dungeons and into his office after class.

"Yes, sir?" he asked, looking up curiously, realizing then that Snape had been waiting for his hands to be empty and his potion simmering before calling on him.

"The Headmaster has asked me to inform you that the Quidditch Pitch will be close from the first of May until the end of the school year, so your Unofficial Quidditch Tournament must be done by then." In two weeks, then; just enough time to plan the final match against Durmstrang.

"Thank you, sir," Harry replied over the quiet complaints of both the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. He was among the few to understand that it wasn't Snape's fault; the professor was only the messenger, and this meant that Harry didn't have to inform his friends as they had heard it first-hand.

It wasn't until Harry had led all of the fourth years from his class away from the Potions lab, but kept them in the dungeons, that he spoke to them.

"Don't blame Snape, you guys," he said, looking more at the Gryffindors than the Slytherins. "He's only Dumbledore's messenger. Besides, we've known for weeks that this could be ended at any time. Now that it's ending, think about the final match and how much fun we've had these past couple of months, not that it's ending."

"He's right," Dean admitted as everyone shared looks. "It has been fun getting to play as a Chaser on the second Gryffindor team. Plus, watching him play against Krum is going to be a really good match."

"We've got people to tell, anyway," Draco added. "The rest of the players on all of the teams."

"I'll let Viktor and Fleur know so they can pass it on to their schools," Harry suggested, and everyone nodded, the Quidditch players going off to find the people they had to let know and the rest to actually eat lunch.

…

"So ve vill get to play the Saturday after this one?" Viktor asked, and Harry nodded with a grin that the older teen shared.

"This is going to be great," Harry said, his excitement slipping into his voice. "We only got to play that one time, so this is going to really show what we can do, since there will be other players on the Pitch with us."

"I vunder vhich of us vill vin," Viktor mused as Cedric walked over to where the two Seekers were standing just outside of the Great Hall.

"I'm willing to bet on Harry, but only because I'm hoping for a Hogwarts team to win," the Hufflepuff said to Harry's amusement.

"How many people do you think will place a bet on the match with Fred and George?" Harry asked with a mischievous grin.

"Most of the school," Cedric replied. "Why?"

"Because either Viktor or I could claim part of the money depending upon who wins if we talk to the twins now," Harry stated. Viktor looked interested.

"Vhy doesn't the loser get the gold and the vinner the Snitch and glory?" he suggested, holding out a hand to Harry.

"Deal," Harry replied, gripping the hand tightly and shaking it.

…

"One-third of the money will go to us," Harry told the twins as the three Champions sat at a table with them and discussed the deal. "We'll do what we want with it. I'd suggest you two make it known that you'll keep another third of the money. The rest will go to the winners."

"Good, but we were planning on adding a second part to the bet," Fred said.

"The person has to know how large the gap between the teams will be point-wise," George added.

"So if no one gets it, vho vill get the money?" Viktor asked.

"We'll split it half-and-half with the two of you," the twins said together after sharing a long look.

"Deal," Harry and Viktor said without thinking long about it, shaking a hand each before switching twins.

So… Some Quidditch, some discussion, some more Journals, and some foreshadowing. All in all, I'd call this a successful chapter. Anyone agree? Anyone not agree? Either way, that's about it for the chapter. Two more chapters until the Final Task begins, something I know many of you are looking forward to.

My final comment, more due to a review on SIYE than FF, is that this story will truly not have romance/couple stuff as something I show very often. Here and there, you'll see something that shows Harry/Ginny or my other couples, but it won't be often, nor will it be consistent. I may have a bunch of little hints at it in one chapter and none for the next six. If you're looking for a true romance, this is anything but the story you want to read. If you want an adventure story that has action and small hints of romance added in, you're reading the right story.

On another note, for any Doctor Who fans reading this who have seen "The God Complex," I've got a few comments on the newest episode. (For those who do not see it until next week - *Cough* Jo *Cough* - I will give away no spoilers *Snickers* in here. Just comments that will make no sense.) So… Not a bad episode, eh? I thought it was weird and creepy and really cool. Still, was that last room the Doctor's, or did he see himself? I was thinking it was himself until I realized that room was probably 11 again… (Good meaning and number choice, right?) Also, why that ending? WHY? Moffat's being mean again… :( Otherwise, what's up with the horror theme lately? Three in a row? I guess I can just hope the next isn't yet another horror episode… Thoughts on the episode if you watch it?

Posted: 9/18/11