Chapter 31: Hit and Miss

WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN,

HE ALWAYS LETS THE QUAFFLE IN, WEASLEY WILL MAKE SURE WE WIN —

But Harry had seen it at last: The tiny fluttering Golden Snitch was hovering feet from the ground at the Slytherin end of the pitch. He dived. . . .

In a matter of seconds, Malfoy was streaking out of the sky on Harry's left, a green-and-silver blur lying flat on his broom. . . .

The Snitch skirted the foot of one of the goal hoops and scooted off toward the other side of the stands; its change of direction suited Mal- foy, who was nearer. Harry pulled his Firebolt around, he and Malfoy were now neck and neck . . . Feet from the ground, Harry lifted his right hand from his broom, stretching toward the Snitch . . . to his right, Malfoy's arm extended too, reaching, groping . . .

It was over in two breathless, desperate, windswept seconds — Harry's fingers closed around the tiny, struggling ball — Malfoy's fingernails scrabbled the back of Harry's hand hopelessly — Harry pulled his broom upward, holding the struggling ball in his hand and the Gryffindor spectators screamed their approval. . .

They were saved, it did not matter that Ron had let in so many goals, nobody would remember as long as Gryffindor had won —

WHAM!

A Bludger hit Harry squarely in the small of the back and he flew forward off his broom; luckily he was only five or six feet above the ground, having dived so low to catch the Snitch, but he was winded all the same as he landed flat on his back on the frozen pitch. He heard Madam Hooch's shrill whistle, an uproar in the stands compounded of catcalls, angry yells and jeering, a thud, then Angelina's frantic voice.

"Are you all right?"

" 'Course I am," said Harry grimly, taking her hand and allowing her to pull him to his feet. Madam Hooch was zooming toward one of the Slytherin players above him, though he could not see who it was at this angle.

"It was that thug, Crabbe," said Angelina angrily. "He whacked the Bludger at you the moment he saw you'd got the Snitch — but we won, Harry, we won!"

Harry heard a snort from behind him and turned around, still holding the Snitch tightly in his hand: Draco Malfoy had landed close by; white-faced with fury, he was still managing to sneer.

"Saved Weasley's neck, haven't you?" he said to Harry. "I've never seen a worse Keeper . . . but then he was born in a bin. . . . Did you like my lyrics, Potter?"

Harry did not answer; he turned away to meet the rest of the team who were now landing one by one, yelling and punching the air in triumph, all except Ron, who had dismounted from his broom over by the goalposts and was making his way slowly back to the changing rooms alone.

"We wanted to write another couple of verses!" Malfoy called, as Katie and Alicia hugged Harry. "But we couldn't find rhymes for fat and ugly — we wanted to sing about his mother, see —"

"Talk about sour grapes," said Angelina, casting Malfoy a disgusted look.

"— we couldn't fit in useless loser either — for his father, you know —"

Fred and George had realized what Malfoy was talking about. Halfway through shaking Harry's hand they stiffened, looking around at Malfoy.

"Leave it," said Angelina at once, taking Fred by the arm. "Leave it, Fred, let him yell, he's just sore he lost, the jumped-up little —"

"— but you like the Weasleys, don't you, Potter?" said Malfoy, sneering. "Spend holidays there and everything, don't you? Can't see how you stand the stink, but I suppose when you've been dragged up by Muggles even the Weasleys' hovel smells okay —"

Harry grabbed hold of George; meanwhile it was taking the combined efforts of Angelina, Alicia, and Katie to stop Fred leaping on Malfoy, who was laughing openly. Harry looked around for Madam Hooch, but she was still berating Crabbe for his illegal Bludger attack.

"Or perhaps," said Malfoy, leering as he backed away, "you can remember what your mother's house stank like, Potter, and Weasley's pigsty reminds you of it —" (Rowling OotP 19)

"Draco Malfoy!" Before Harry could completely comprehend what the blond had said. An oppressive cold heat bore down on them all like the most heavy humidity Harry had ever felt. The most alarming change to the scene was, however, the near black purple tinge that the world had adopted.

The entire group froze immediately and spun around to find the source.

Harry could honestly say that he'd never seen Kate with so much magic lashing out...then again, usually she was able to check her temper and when she was younger she hadn't been as powerful. But right now… Malfoy looked like he was going to shit himself.

Harry was the only one, in fact, who was not particularly concerned with his sister's fury, except Jamie, who he noticed also looked quite upset but was standing a little behind Kate nevertheless.

Fred and George both went limp and watched Kate approach.

In a tightly controlled voice that only betrayed a hint of steel, Kate said, "Come with me, Mr. Malfoy, I would like to discuss that disgusting display, and I'm sure Jamie wishes to congratulate Gryffindor of their win."

Jamie nodded behind her and Harry could feel the others deflate. "And I fully expect Harry, Fred, and George are capable of walking away?"

"Professor, he called our mother-" Fred exclaimed angrily, before being cut off.

"Hem hem." Umbridge had made her very unwelcome appearance. "I do believe that I am in charge of discipline at this school." She declared, "And I believe that Mr. Potter-"

"Let's take this inside, shall we?" Kate bit out, "Everyone can go, except you, Draco."

The trek up to the castle was done in silence, neither Umbridge or Draco making a sound. Draco, at least, seemed to realize he was in for it, but Kate suspected Umbridge was trying to plot the best way to take down as many Gryffindors as possible. At least Kate had managed to calm her magic before too many people noticed. When they reached Kate's office, they all sat down, Kate at her desk and Draco and Umbridge in the two armchairs in front of it. She made a mental note to incinerate and replace the one Umbridge was in.

"As I was saying, Mr. Potter-"

"Has done nothing wrong today and so help me Merlin if you say another word!" Kate cut her off forcefully.

Umbridge stares at her in shock for a moment but also seemed to take a second to appreciate the magic pulsing off the DADA Professor in waves. "Why I have never-" She began.

Kate's magic seemed to pulse and Umbridge shut up.

"We can discuss this at another time, Professor." Umbridge humphed before she left, trying to salvage a bit of dignity. As soon as she shut the door, Kate turned her attention to the blond, who didn't look quite as smug as he might have had it been another professor in front of him. Someone who could be fired without causing an international incident.

"I have never seen such blatant bullying and attempts at assault in my life! I am appalled and I hope nobody in Slytherin ever wants to be a professional Quidditch player, because after that display in front of actual professionals, sister or not, I can guarantee you that every team will eventually hear about this and be unwilling to ever sign one of the Slytherins out there today. Congratulations, Mr. Malfoy, you have successfully ruined your own reputation and looked like a fool doing it."

Draco opened and closed his mouth several times. Kate controlled her temper and changed course.

"I think Vincent Crabbe can have detention with Mr. Filch for the next two weeks, and you Draco, can have detention with me for all of next week."

Draco made a noise of protest but Kate silenced him with a harsh look, "The only reason why you will not be receiving a similar punishment to your friend is because technically, all you have done was name call, no matter how replusive it was. As for your little song, I will be taking 100 points from Slytherin for that display, although I should take many more, and make no mistake, if this had been Ilvermorny or another American magical school, you'd have been lucky not to be expelled."

Draco sneered, suddenly regaining some of his normal vitriol. "This is the best magical school in the world, no matter who teaches here. And this will not stand, wait until my father hears about this-"

Kate actually snorted, she couldn't help it, "First, the teachers have a lot to do with the quality of a school, and secondly, did you just threaten me, a fully grown adult, with your father?"

Draco flushed slightly, but did not back down.

"In case it has escaped your notice, your father is not the most powerful person on this earth in influence, money, magical ability, intelligence or any other scale. He alone, is no threat to most people, especially adults, and is only an impressive threat against school children, who happen to go to a school where he is on the Board. A board which, in reality, has little to no power." She said brutally, not even bothering to mention that she was, unlike Lucius Malfoy, the most powerful, in terms of magical ability, witch in the world, and more than wealthy enough to be unafraid of anything Malfoy could try. Unlike Draco however, Lucius was more aware of what she was and could do, and therefore would never do anything against her unless he absolutely had to, it would be suicide, despite her being a "mudblood" or whatever.

Draco glared at her now, but his mouth stayed stubbornly shut. Kate didn't have to use Legilimency to see that her words were getting to him nonetheless.

She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Draco, you can't keep hiding behind Daddy, you're 15 years old, for Merlin's sake. You have to think for yourself, I know its easy to want to stay a kid forever, but you won't and the faster you realize that and begin to prepare yourself, the better off you'll be."

"I am ready to be an adult and I do know what I believe!" Draco insisted, "Professor, I know what I'm doing and I know I'm right."

"That's what we all think at 15, and it's cruel to have to be forced out of the hubris that the security of being a teenager brings so early, but you are about to get stuck in a war, kid, and you don't know what the hell you're getting into." Kate said, trying to be gentle but clear. She already knew he wouldn't be able to handle being a death eater, but it wasn't too late for him… she hoped.

Draco smirked, "I think it's you who doesn't know what you're getting into."

Kate was tempted not to dignify that with a response, "I have defeated 3 dark lords in 4 years and toppled several rogue regimes in the process. This ain't my first rodeo, Draco."

She, unfortunately, knew what it felt like to see stuff at a much younger age than you should have to, but she was already older than Harry's parents had been and she couldn't ever just let people suffer. Especially when she had the power to stop it.

"For my detentions, you will be doing research." She told him, deciding they'd both had enough and she'd given him plenty to chew on, "You can go."

He did not run away like she'd expected him to.

THE NEXT DAY

Dolores Umbridge was both insulted and humiliated, not to mention suspicious of the American who seemed suddenly, rather fond of Harry Potter, the attention seeking spoiled brat himself. Only Severus and his house seemed to be able to see the nasty liar for what he was and she had hoped she could add Kate to the list but she was beginning to wonder if that was wise. If anything, Ross seemed to know Potter far too well and seemed far too willing to spend any amount of time in the boy's company. At first, she had attributed this to Kate wishing to monitor the boy herself as well as not trusting the miscreant, but after her display today, she wasn't so sure. She vowed to keep a closer eye on the two of them, if something was afoot between them, then Ross would have to go. As she made her way down to dinner, she passed the library and saw something that immediately raised all of her mental alarms.

"Mr. Potter, what are you doing?" She demanded as she stalked over to the table that he, that Mudblood Granger, and the son of that loser, Weasley sat, in hushed conversation, surrounded by books.

"Research." He answered immediately.

"On what?" She narrowed her eyes.

"None of your business." He retorted while his little sidekicks smirked at her.

"Detention, then." She said victorious but still suspicious. "For all of next week."

He shrugged nonchalantly, "Ok." He smiled pleasantly, "Is that all?"

"I wonder if your precious team can continue to win if you are constantly in detention like this." She tried.

Potter, infuriatingly, answered easily, "I'm sure we'll find a way, but thank you for your concern."

It was not until that night that it struck her as suspicious how little he seemed to care about getting sent to detention with Professor Ross, in fact it took her so long to calm down that she never even heard Hermione's comment about continuing to look for "the charter" as she left the room, furious in the face of the brat's defiance.

A/N:::REVIEW! I'm sorry this is late, but we are getting to some tougher chapters to write.