Chapter 55: Gryffindor Vs. Hufflepuff
I woke up the next morning without Harry being in the room. He had gotten up early to get ready to play.
I looked out the window and groaned. It was raining even harder today. If it wasn't for Harry, I wouldn't even bother going to the pitch.
I showered, dressed, and went down to the common room with my rain jacket to wait for Hermione. Ginny was sitting on the couch with her friend Colin.
"Sister."
"Brother."
"Hullo, Colin." I said.
"Alright there, Ron? You going to the match?" asked Colin, excitedly. He had calmed down a but after first year, but he still had his moments.
"As soon as Hermione gets down." I said, zipping up my rain jacket.
"Speaking of Hermione, how exactly was Hogsmeade?" asked Ginny, in a high pitched voice.
I gave her a strange look. "I already told you it was brilliant, Gin."
"Yeah, you did. But you didn't tell me how it was just being there with Hermione." she said, dragging Hermione's name out.
"I mean it was just a day. We had fun, alright?"
"Are you gonna have fun next time?" asked Ginny. Colin looked as if he was too excited to hear my response. In fact, they both looked like how Parvati and Lavender looked when they were listening to good gossip, as they called it.
Before I could give a smart ass answer, Hermione popped up, her hood already tight around her head.
"Morning Ron. Ginny, Colin." she said.
Ginny and Colin giggled.
"There you are!" I said to her. "Took you long enough!"
Hermione gave me a sour look. "Well you didn't have to wait for me if you didn't want to, Ron."
"Just come on." I said, pulling her by her sleeve out the portrait hole, leaving Ginny and Colin laughing loudly behind.
I really didn't know why I was acting the way that I was. All I knew was that I wanted to get as far away from them as I could.
After breakfast, we made our way down to the quidditch pitch. I hadn't talked to Hermione as all at breakfast, and it was a silent, dreary walk to the pitch.
"What's eating you?" asked Hermione, as we did off a spot on the bench in the stands.
"Nothing."
"You've acted like you're cross with me all morning. Are we having a row I didn't know about?" joked Hermione.
I couldn't help but grin. That was actually funny.
I looked over at her and smiled. "I'm fine." I said, putting up her huge umbrella to keep both us and our spots dry.
Hermione shivered and took out a small jar, placing one of her wall bluebells in it and print our in between us, so we'd both be warm.
"Harry is lucky to have us as a friend." said Hermione. "This weather is absolutely atrocious."
"Yeah." I agreed, as the Gryffindor team walked out onto the pitch. "This is gonna be a tough one after all."
The wind was so strong that they staggered sideways as they walked out onto the field. It was thundering so loud, you couldn't even hear the person next to you. Harry looked frantic as he wiped off his glasses. How on earth was he going to see the Snitch in all of the rain?
The Hufflepuffs were approaching from the opposite side of the field, wearing canary-yellow robes. The Captains walked up to each other and shook hands. Madam Hooch put her whistle to her lips and gave it a blast that sounded shrill and distant - they were off.
Harry rose fast, but his Nimbus was swerving slightly with the wind. He looked like he was trying to hold it as steady as he could.
Within five minutes, everyone looked as if they were soaked and could hardly see what was going on, especially Harry. He flew backward and forward across the field past blurred red and yellow shapes, looking as if he had no clue what was happening with the rest of the game.
"He's really flying blindly put there." said Hermione, running her hands on her thighs.
"Its those glasses of his, they aren't helping. But he's blind as a bad if he doesn't wear them." I said.
Hermione got this look on her face as if she had an idea.
"I'll be right back." she said, and she took off before I could say anything.
About five minutes later, Madam Hooch's whistled, signaling a time out. Another three minutes after that, the team took to the field again, this time with Harry flying as if it were a sunny day.
A little bit later, Hermione came back, looking rather pleased with herself.
"So?" I asked. "What did you do?"
"I put an impervious charm on Harry's glasses. That way, the rain won't fog them, and he can at least see better."she said, taking her wand and putting a drying spell on her clothes as she got under pt umbrella.
"Ah. Brilliant!" I said.
"Thank. Oliver seemed to think so too." she said, pridefully.
Harry stayed searching while the others tried desperately to score against the other team.
Suddenly, it got really cold. Like bone chilling cold. Hermione pointed a shaky hand up to the sky.
About three dementors had popped up out of nowhere, causing harry to thrash this way and that.
And then it happened. Harry must have fainted again, because he toppled off of his broom.
"NO!"
He fell fast towards the ground as we watched, then suddenly, he began to slow down. Dumbledore had appeared on the field and had his wand pointed at Harry, slowing him down and trying his best to have him land safely.
We ditched the umbrella and raced through the stands to get down to the field. As we ran, I caught Harry's broom out the corner of my eye being blown away. I also had seen that Diggory had caught the snitch.
When we got to the middle of the pitch, Hermione let out a gasp as we both looked at our best friend, lying as if he were lifeless. Dumbledore shot some silver shit into the air, scaring off the dementors.
As Harry was loaded onto a stretcher, we heard Dumbledore ranting angrily at the other teachers about what had happened. It was barmy hearing him be so angry.
Hermione and a few from the Quidditch team followed Pomfrey and Harry up the the hospital wing. Hermione cried into her hands as Pomfrey checked over him, mending whatever was broken.
"He took a nasty fall, but he will recover nicely." she said after about 30 minutes. I'll leave you some time with him, and then the boy needs to rest." Madam Pomfrey said, looking us over. "Before you leave, remind me to give you two some pepperup potion, so you won't catch the death of cold."
During the time she was curing Harry, the team minus Wood had walked in just as muddy and soaked as Hermione and I were.
"How's he holding up?" asked Alicia Spinnet, a chaser on the team.
"Just been patched up." I said. "Pomfrey reckons he will be okay."
Professor Flitwick came in with a bag in his hand that he handed to Katie Bell, another chaser on the team. They talked in whispers, with Katie looking into the bag, her face changing to one of despair.
She walked back over to us, bag in hand.
"Hope his mind is batched up too, because he will need to have his wits about him when we show him this." said Katie.
"What's that?"
"His...his broom." said Angelina.
Hermione and I both looked into the bag. If there was ever a broom, we couldn't tell. It liked to be nothing but big splinters of wood and straw.
"Shit."
"Lucky the ground was so soft." said George.
"I thought he was dead for sure." said Fred. "But he didn't even break his glasses."
"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life." shuddered Hermione, eyes still tearing up.
Suddenly there came a groan. We looked over and seen that Harry was coming around. He looked completely out of it.
"Harry!" said Fred, as cheerfully as he could be. "How're you feeling?"
"What happened?" Harry said, sitting up so suddenly we all gasped.
"You fell off." said Fred. "Must've been - what - fifty feet?"
"We thought you'd died," said Alicia, shaking.
Hermione made a small, squeaky noise. Her eyes were extremely bloodshot.
"But the match." said Harry. "What happened? Are we doing a replay?"
No one said anything. We looked at each other and then back at him with gloomy expressions.
"We didn't...lose?"
"Diggory got the Snitch." said George. "Just after you fell. He didn't realize what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch. But they won fair and square...even Wood admits it."
"Where is Wood?" said Harry.
"Still in the showers." said Fred. "We think he's trying to drown himself."
Harry put his face to his knees, his hands gripping his hair. Fred grabbed his shoulder and shook it roughly. They talked about the points and what would happen next with the games as the result of the loss. It amazed me that this bloke had fallen fifty feet and all he cares about was the game. Showed true dedication..
After ten minutes or so, Madam Pomfrey came over to tell the team to leave him in peace.
"We'll come and see you later." Fred told him. "Don't beat yourself up. Harry, you're still the best Seeker we've ever had."
The team trooped out, trailing mud behind them. Madam Pomfrey shut the door behind them, looking disapproving. Hermione and I moved nearer to Harry's bed.
"Dumbledore was really angry." Hermione said in a quaking voice. "I've never seen him like that before. He ran onto the field as you fell, waved his wand, and you sort of slowed down before you hit the ground. Then he whirled his wand at the Dementors. Shot silver stuff at them. They left the stadium right away...He was furious they'd come onto the grounds. We heard him!"
"Then he magicked you onto a stretcher and walked up to school with you floating on it." I said. "Everyone thought you were..."
Harry looked worried and defeated. He sighed, ran his fingers through his hair again, and took in a breath.
"Did someone get my Nimbus?" he asked.
Hermione and I looked quickly at each other.
"Ummmm..."
"What?" said Harry, looking back and forth between us.
"Well...when you fell off, it got blown away." said Hermione hesitantly.
"And?"
"And it hit - it hit - oh, Harry - it hit the Whomping Willow."
Harry looked like he had gotten struck by a bludger. "And?" he said, looking as if he was dreading the answer.
"Well, you know the Whomping Willow." I said sadly. "It - it doesn't like being hit."
"Professor Flitwick brought it back just before you came around." said Hermione in a very small voice.
Slowly, she reached down for the bag at her feet, turned it upside down, and tipped a dozen bits of splintered wood and twig onto the bed.
Harry looked as if he had lost a best friend.
