High Speedy Chase

After another day or so, the team was informed by Professor Snape that the potion that had killed Penelope Clearwater was 'Inside Melter' which was apparently a very common way to kill in the Dark Ages. Abby found it fascinating.

The news had the opposite effect on Gibbs. He'd been clinging to the hope that maybe Abby had made a mistake somehow. That it really had been an acid or some other chemical that had killed Penelope. But, no. Professor Snape had confirmed his fear. There was someone else murdering their classmates. The team's workload was now doubled.

The only thing keeping Gibbs from going completely ballistic was the knives. Abby now had all 637 knives from the students and was checking them all for the presence of human blood. It was possible that they would soon have a very solid lead for the majority of the killings.

In the mean time, the agents were getting ready to go watch the first Quidditch game of the season: Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff. Tony was explaining the rules of the game to Ducky, Jimmy, and McGee while Gibbs, Jenny, Fornell, Colonel Mann, and Ziva kept their minds on the case.

Professor McGonagall walked into the room. "Is everyone ready to go?"

"Yes!" Tony said immediately. He threw on his jacket, as did several other people.

"Are you coming, Agent Fornell?"

"No," Fornell answered. "It seems as though Diane, my ex-wife and Gibbs' - " Professor McGonagall scowled briefly, "- visited my office and found out where I was. She's demanded that I meet her for dinner. Apparently, I've forgotten to pay her for something." Fornell sighed and spun his chair to face his computer.

"I was under the impression that your whereabouts were currently top secret," McGonagall said, raising an eyebrow.

"Diane's a witch," Fornell stated, raising his eyes to look the teacher in the eye. "And a control freak. Put the two together and you can figure out a few things she might have done."

"That's a breach of – "

"She knows. And she doesn't care."

"Sounds just like Diane," Gibbs said nonchalantly as he headed towards the door.

Professor McGonagall frowned. She disapproved of this witch very much. In any case, she led the way out of the room and down to the front doors.

"Doctor Mallard, Mr. Palmer, if you'd like to actually see the game, you might want to let me borrow your glasses for a moment."

"Uh…" Jimmy said confusedly.

"It's raining, Mr. Palmer. Quite a bit, actually."

"Um… Alright…" Jimmy took off his glasses and handed them to the professor She merely tapped them with her wand and handed them back, then repeated the process with Ducky's glasses and her own before actually stepping outside into the rain.

"Good Lord!" Ducky exclaimed. "How do they plan to play anything in rain like this?"

"Why aren't my glasses getting wet?" Jimmy asked. He took them off his face and put them back on as if it would fix the 'problem'.

The group made it to the pitch and sat with the rest of the teachers who had chanced a trip in the rain.

Though the game was hard to see, it was still fairly exciting. Tony, who had attended practices all week, happily explained anything that confused anyone. He'd taken a strong liking to the most popular wizard game.

Things began happening rather suddenly. The pitch seemed darker and colder than it had been before, though the rain hadn't gotten any heavier.

"Oh no…" McGonagall breathed as several other people gasped.

"What's going on?" Tony said with gritted teeth. He had his hands over his ears, as if trying to block out sound.

"Dementors," McGonagall said simply. She looked over her shoulder, behind the pitch. "Oh, goodness."

Gibbs felt far more miserable than he had in years. Various scenes flashed before him.

A gun shot rang, and the woman in front of him fell to the ground, a puddle of blood beginning to develop under her head.

A man in Gibbs' own basement holding his old Marine sniper rifle pointed it at its owner, ready to pull the trigger as he taunted.

"They're both dead, Gunny. I'm sorry," said an emotionless voice.

Gibbs couldn't help it. He let out a scream and plugged his own ears. The voices didn't stop, neither did the scenes.

And as suddenly as it had started, everything stopped, and just in time. Gibbs had been a second off from passing out. The scene in front of him became clear, and Gibbs realized something was very wrong.

Professor McGonagall was clambering over her coworkers and the agents, rushing to get down from the stands and onto the field. Professor Dumbledore, who Gibbs hadn't ever seen show any trace of anger, was looking absolutely furious. And then there was something on the ground. A something in dark red robes and with black hair.

"What happened?" Gibbs asked dazedly.

"I don't know!" Jenny said beside him. She too seemed fairly off.

"How could you miss that?" Professor Sprout screeched, also looking angrier than Gibbs had ever seen. "Dementors! Those things aren't supposed to be on the grounds!"

"What are dementors?" Gibbs snapped irritably.

"They are creatures that feed off of happy memories, leaving only bad ones behind," Ziva offered. "Muggles cannot see them. They are supposed to guard the wizard prison!" she said this in an accusing manner to Professor Sprout, as if it were her fault.

"They're guarding the exits of the school, currently!" Sprout huffed.

"Why?!"

"Because of Sirius Black!"

"Who is Sirius – "

"GIBBS!" Abby shouted, bouncing in her seat. If it was possible, she looked paler than usual, but if anything else was off it was covered by her ear-to-ear grin as she stared at her cell phone screen. "I set things up so I would get updates of test results sent to my phone and – well, look!" She held the phone out to Gibbs.

The man took a minute to read the small writing. "Isn't that –"

"Yup," Abby answered before Gibbs finished.

"What's going on?" Professor Sprout asked sharply.

"We may have found our culprit!" Abby said joyously as the agents all stood up and began their exit.

"WHAT? Who?"

"I am not at liberty to say until said person is in custody!" Abby was bouncing in her seat, a grin still plastered on her face. She whispered to Ducky, who whispered to Jimmy.

Down on the field, the boy announced to be Harry Potter was being floated out on a stretcher by Madam Pomfery.

"What happened to the poor boy?" Ducky asked with concern.

"He fell off his broom… I think," Abby said uncertainly. "I can't really be sure. I don't think I was really seeing clearly…"

"I certainly wasn't!" Ducky took off his glasses and rubbed them on his soaked shirt, doing more damage than good.

"Look!" Abby exclaimed, pointing at the field. "They're leaving! Gibbs'll get him! Ducky! We'll – " Abby suddenly looked extremely downcast. "We'll have to go back to D.C."

"There, there, Abigail!" Ducky comforted, patting her shoulder. "You'll always be able to remember."

The teachers started leaving the stands. Abby, Ducky, and Jimmy left with them and followed them out to the Hogwarts grounds.

Gibbs, Jenny, Tony, Ziva, McGee and Colonel Mann walked together in a half casual formation, though they looked ready to kill. Students gave them a wide birth.

Gibbs' keen eye spotted their target: a tall boy in yellow Quidditch robes with a broom slung over his shoulder. "DIGGORY!" he shouted as loud as he could.

Cedric Diggory froze. As the agents moved toward him, the crowd around him thinned and then gave him a wide radius of space. He looked as if he were fighting with himself. It seemed as though he were pushing against some invisible force as he swung a leg over his broom and kicked off into the air.

"Damn!" Gibbs shouted. He threw his hat to the muddy ground and looked up at the ascending student murderously.

"Hold on, Boss!" Tony shouted. He took off into the crowd.

"What is going on here?" snapped Professor McGonagall, stomping up to the agents, Professor Sprout with her. "The match is over! Why is Diggory on his broom?"

"Diggory," Gibbs said with venom, "is escaping."

"Why would he need to escape?" Sprout said suspiciously.

"Because his life is over the moment we catch him!"

Before the teachers could inquire further, Tony stumbled back over, a broom in each hand. He handed one to Gibbs. "Just like driving, Boss! Ziva, on back! You're shooting, I'm steering." He mounted the broom, and Ziva got on behind him. Tony kicked off and hovered a few feet into the air.

After observing, Gibbs got onto his broom and kicked off, as well. With the broom a mere two feet off the ground, Colonel Mann jumped on the back and drew her weapon from its holster.

"McGee, Jenny, get all the kids inside now! DiNozzo, David, Colonel, I want him alive!" Gibbs shouted as he climbed into the air. Tony followed him.

Professor McGonagall spluttered, unable to form a sentence out of confusion and shock and disbelief.

"Pansy Parkinson's blood was on Diggory's potions knife, Professors!" Jenny said loudly over the heavy rain. "We need to get all the students inside now, or he might take one of them hostage!"

"Cedrid Diggory, a killer?" Sprout managed to say. "That can't be! He's a – "

"Evidence doesn't lie, Professor! People lie!" McGee yelled. He wiped the rain off his eyelids and looked around at the crowd of students stopping to watch Gibbs, the Colonel, Tony, and Ziva climbing into the air searching for Diggory.

Neither of the professors seemed anywhere near moving. Jenny took charge. She strode over to the students with a confident air and ordered them to get into the castle. Her demeanor clearly told the students that if they didn't heed the order, there'd be consequences. They grudgingly resumed their journey to the castle.

Teachers were drawn to the scene and, as opposed to the students, Jenny knew there'd be no making them move. With the majority of the students back inside the castle, Jenny turned her attention to the chase that was becoming easier to see as the rain lessened slightly. However, that was all she noticed. She blocked out all sounds and smells and concentrated on her agents, her coworkers, flying through the air.

Jenny gasped in horror. Ziva turned sideways and fell off the back of the broom. She had a long way to fall…

Half-way through her fall, however, Ziva drew her arms in and her legs together. She hit the ground with a dull thud and allowed herself to fall and roll before popping back up. She spun around a few times before sprinting to her right.

"Tim!" Jenny said urgently. McGee turned around to look at his director. "Go with her!" McGee ran off.

In the same fashion as Ziva, Gibbs fell off the front of his broom. He landed in the same style, as well. As opposed to Ziva, when he stood up he looked skyward.

"Gibbs!" Ziva shouted as she ran towards him, a broom in either of her hands. She handed one to him, and they kicked off, moving far faster with one person on a broom rather than two.

McGee, gasping for breath, came back over to Jenny's side. "They didn't have a chance of getting him going that slow. Two people on a broom doesn't seem to work. Ziva shot the lock of the broom shed and… well, there you go."

Jenny was so focused and worried that she only heard McGee's voice and not any of the teachers' gasps or questions. "I don't want to bring anyone home in a box!" was all that was on her mind. She became more stressed still when Diggory flew even higher into the air. Proper landing wouldn't matter anymore. A fall from that height… Jenny shook her head. She didn't want to think about it.

The four airborne agents made mad swipes at Diggory from various angles and at various speeds. At the same time it seemed to have some sort of an odd rhythm. Then, quite suddenly, they all flew off up into the raining clouds and out of sight.

Cedric Diggory seemed to relax. He descended a bit and circled, looking below him. There wasn't a chance he'd risk landing amidst all the teachers… no, he'd have to make a break for the school boundaries. But the dementors. Well, he reasoned with himself, surely the dementors wouldn't know yet!

Diggory began flying in the direction of the school gate. Seemingly out of no where came another flying figure. The blonde hair told those on the ground that it was Colonel Mann. She sped towards her target, almost flat on the broom she rode.

Diggory continued flying at the boundaries, but he suddenly stopped. After a brief moment of confusion, he turned and flew over the Colonel.

Almost to the same spot Diggory had been, right over the gates, Colonel Mann pulled her broom over her. It had the desired effect. She had switched directions with her flip, once again on Diggory's tail. She pulled herself back upright and somehow managed to get neck-and-neck with her prey.

From the clouds came three other fliers. Tony flew on the opposite side of Diggory, while Ziva flew above him and Gibbs below. The only option Diggory had available was to press on forward.

As the chase reached what had to be top speed, Ziva jumped from her broom and fell a short distance. Her ending position was not the one she'd been aiming for. She hung from Diggory's broom with one hand. Gibbs flew directly under her, ready in the event that she fell. Ziva managed to heave the rest of herself onto the broom. She reached into Diggory's pocket, grabbed his wand, and then let it fall to the earth. To end it, Ziva pulled out her gun and pushed it into the back of the boy's head. "Down to the ground," she snarled.

"No!" Diggory shouted. He began trying to buck Ziva off the back of his broom, but she held steady. Tired of the boy being uncooperative, Ziva took aim and pulled the trigger. She hit her target. The very tip of Diggory's ear began bleeding and he swore.

"I will not be so kind next time!" Ziva shouted. "Land!"

Reluctance clear, Cedric Diggory began flying downward. Gibbs, Tony, and Colonel Mann kept their formation as they descended.

The group landed. Ziva kept her gun poised, ready to hit Diggory in the back. "Hands up!" she shouted.

He obeyed and Tony slapped handcuffs on him and started shoving him forward. "You're in a hell of a lot of trouble, kid!"

Cedric Diggory was pushed into the castle, looking extremely miserable and pitiful.

Author's Note

Next chapter - An Unwelcomed Twist

Oh, heavens! What will happen next? Only I know! :)

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