Calla Potter

by LeFoxxx

AU. Calla Potter has always been hiding. From bullies, from the Dursleys, from the teachers who only ever noticed when she didn't pay them rapt attention. But she is also the twin sister of Harry Potter, the so-called Boy Who Lived, and when they begin at Hogwarts, she must come out of the shadows and face the world, no matter what it means for her.

51. The Quidditch Final

What frustrations Calla had had with Harry had dwindled in the face of Buckbeak's own terrible fate. As a group, they had all taken to reading and researching as much as they could to help with the case, though taking as much pressure off of Hermione's shoulders as possible. Ron, for one, had risen tremendously to the challenge, as Calla had been pleased and Daphne had been shocked to see.

"Who knew Weasley had it in him?" Daphne had said one day before Ancient Runes. "Making it up with Hermione and doing the research she usually does?"

"I'm not too surprised," Padma'd said mildly, leaning against the wall. "It had to happen at some point, after all."

"I'm just glad it's happened now," Calla said. "We've got far too much to be worrying about without all their drama getting in the middle of things."

"Speaking of," Daphne said, lowering her voice, "I know we're not meant to, but we have to go and speak to Hagrid at some point, outside of classes. There's no point simply researching without also working with him."

They'd had no time to debate this further, however, as Professor Babbling had called them in and Calla had taken her seat away from the girls, still between Zach and Susan. Zach was slumped on his desk dramatically, and looked up when Calla sat down. "I am so ill," he declared, and Calla giggled.

"Yeah? And what's wrong?"

He coughed. "Plague, most likely."

"He's been like this all day," Susan told her with a huff. "Ignore him. All he needs is a Pepper-Up Potion and to stop whining."

"I'm not whining," Zach said. "It's serious."

Susan rolled her eyes. "Just get yourself seen to. And don't cough near my Runes charts."

With a laugh, Calla set about taking out her things, placing them on her table. "By the way," Susan whispered, leaning across the aisle, "did you hear about Hagrid's Hippogriff? I thought you would have, but my aunt knows people on the committee and she told me, isn't it awful?"

"I know," Calla said back, sighing. "We're trying to help, but..."

"There's always something you can do," Susan said, sitting up as Professor Babbling strode into the room.

Rune charts fell from the ceiling, with various new and unseen Runes appearing. Calla grinned, sittin up straight and getting her quill out to start taking notes.

In Charms, which was their next class, there seemed to have been a great upset amongst all the Gryffindors. "It was epic!" Dean Thomas was telling Izzy and Terry as Calla entered; he was grinning, sitting on a desk with his feet propped up on a chest. "Just went up to him and smack! Right across the face."

"One hell of a right hook," Seamus was saying too. "He had it coming, though, like."

"What's going on?" Calla asked, and both Daphne and Padma just shrugged.

"Have you heard?" Dean called to her, just as Harry and Ron appeared in the room. "Well, I suppose they know better than us what happened."

Calla turned around and frowned at Harry and Ron. "What did you do?" she asked her brother flatly, and he made a face in indignation.

"We didn't do anything!" he protested.

"It was Hermione!" Ron said excitedly. "Slapped Malfoy right around the cheek!"

"She did what?" Padma asked, mouth falling open.

"Why?" Daphne demanded, hands on hips. "What did-"

"He called Hagrid pathetic," Ron told her, with a hard look. "He deserves it, and more. But Hermione was bloody brilliant!"

"Yeah?" Calla asked, frowning around he boys. "Where is she?"

Both boys startled and turned around. "But-" Ron said. "She - she was right behind us. She was right there, wasn't she?"

"Yeah," Harry said, staring at the doorway. "Where'd she go?"

"Yes, Yes," Flitwick called, "settle down, please, class."

They all shared very confused looks and hurried to their seats, Isobel slipping into the empty seat that had been left beside Padma. "Is Hermione alright?" she whispered, and they all shrugged.

"You don't think Malfoy..." Harry said slowly, but then he shook his head. "He won't have done anything to her, right?"

"He had better not."

That day, Flitwick told them they were to work on Cheering Charms, which according to Daphne was very likely to come up on the exam.

"I'm sure I'll be crap at this," Isobel said to them, holding her wand. "Sorry, Padma."

Padma looked very disgruntled by this early apology; she usually worked with either Hermione or Daphne, both of whom were quite good at Charms. Isobel, however, had a tendency to be quite experimental with her magic. The period came and went, though, and it wasn't terrible at all. By the end, all their charms had worked, and Daphne and Calla were both perfectly cheerful as they headed to lunch, Calla half-skipping down the corridor.

"Think you might've overdone it a bit, Daphne," Ron said, staring after her. Calla turned to them and beamed, her bag swinging.

"Come on!" she called, and the girls hastened to keep up with her. "I can't wait for lunch!"

"Christ," Isobel muttered, following her down.

The charm was mostly wearing off by the time it came to leave the Great Hall and go to their next classes, though, and Calla was beginning to worry a little about Hermione. "I'm sure she's fine," said Padma, though she looked rather concerned, too.

"Yeah," Daphne agreed. "And it looks like Harry and Ron have gone to see her anyway." She shouldered her bag as they reached the steps at the edge of the entrance hall. "Anyway, I'm off. I'm sure Hermione'll show up in Divination."

With a wave, she disappeared along the corridor and Calla, Padma and Isobel began the long walk up to Divination. They managed somehow to be the first ones there, and Calla slumped at her table - which now had a crystal ball on it - still turned towards Padma and Isobel. "Is it bad I'm starting to get tired of this class?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. "It still makes my head ache."

"Is this because you're not good at Palmistry?" Isobel asked, and Padma scolded her.

"Not really," Calla said, shrugging. "I don't mind that so much, it's just that this room always bothers me. It makes my head hurt, and... Yeah." She'd never actually told them the full truth about her visions, not really. And if they knew some of the things she'd seen... There were an awful lot of things she didn't think she could bring herself to tell anyone. Horrible things, that terrified her. Pale hands reaching from deep within forests, blood spilled scarlet on gravestones and in half-destroyed buildings, people writhing, screaming on the ground.

She jolted herself out of her memories, shuddering. "Calla?" Padma said, frowning. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said quickly; too quickly, she was sure. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

Padma and Isobel exchanged worried glances. "We were just asking if you think you should tell Trelawney this room hurts your head? It's probably all the smoke."

"Oh." Calla shook her head. "No, no, she says it's important for her Inner Eye." Isobel raised her eyebrows and Calla flushed. "I won't mess with her process."

Just then, Parvati and Lavender rushed up the stairs, giggling something about Seamus Finnigan and thoroughly distracting Padma, so that Calla had a moment to herself to draw out her books and her Seeing records before Harry came into the room, followed by Ron and, to Calla's relief, Hermione.

"Hi!" she said chirpily. "Are you alright?"

Hermione nodded, though her cheeks were flushed as she hurried to their table. "Yes, just fell asleep, I got distracted. But I'm fine."

"You do look tired," Calla said as kindly as she could. "You should make sure you get an early night tonight."

Hermione nodded briskly. "Yes, thanks, Calla."

"What's with this?" Ron asked, gesturing to the crystal ball before them. "I didn't think we were due to start crystal balls yet."

Calla shrugged. "I guess we are, now. Still, it's better than Palmistry."

Ron nodded. "Even you didn't like that, Calla. And now that's saying something."

Calla stuck her tongue out playfully as the boys sat down. "Don't complain," Harry said. "At least she might stop flinching every time she looks at my hands."

"Good day to you all," came Trelawney's misty voice from a doorway, and Calla turned to see her shrouded in a burgundy shawl, creeping into the classroom. She looked around, seeing Parvati and Lavender seeming to shake with excitement, while Padma clearly was not so interested, instead frowning at Trelawney's appearance. Calla held back a grin.

"I have decided," Trelawney said dramatically, "to introduce the crystal ball a little earlier than planned. My Inner Eye has informed my that the orb will make an appearance in your end of year examination, and I am anxious to ensure that you all have sufficient practice."

"Her Inner Eye has informed her!" Hermione said, rolling her eyes. She made no effort to be quiet, either, though Trelawney didn't seem to care. "She's the one who makes the exams."

Calla shook her head, turning back to Trelawney. Maybe Hermione had a point there, but she was in general very dismissive of Divination. Trelawney continued, "Crystal gazing is a particularly refined art. I do not expect any of you to See when you first stare into the orb's depths, though one of you has a particular aptitude." Her round eyes landed on Calla, and she flushed bright red as everyone turned to look at her. Harry gave her a sympathetic smile. "We shall start by practicing relaxing both the conscious mind and the external eyes. At that, Ron started laughing, and Calla shot him what she hoped was a harsh enough glare to shut him up, but wasn't. "So as to clear the Inner Eye and the super-conscious. Perhaps, if we are lucky, more than one of you will see before the end of the class."

Calla had to hide a grin at everyone else's confused faces; she pulled the crystal ball closer towards her and touched her fingertips to it, looking at the smooth, milky surface for a long moment before it cleared a little, and shadows began to rise to the surface. "What is she doing?" Ron muttered to Harry.

"Dunno," Harry said. "But it's probably working."

She shot him a small grin over the top of the crystal ball, and then looked back down, concentrating on trying to clear her mind, and to clear the crystal ball with it. The ball always cleared easier than her mind did, and the pleasantly happy hum the Cheering Charm left her with helped, too, to put her at ease.

The shadows began to take shapes and then forms, taking on colour and life. Something red was growing in the depths of the ball, not a fire, but something else, something similar. She frowned, leaning closer. "Don't tell me you can actually see something," Hermione said flatly, breaking Calla's focus.

"I could," she said. "Just be quiet for a moment." When she glanced back at the ball, the red image was gone, and she sighed, as something else rose to the forefront. The swing of an axe, the scattering of crows - seven, she knew they must be seven - and a mouse, scurrying across the grass. She looked closer, frowning.

"This is such a waste of time," Hermione hissed. "I could be catching up on Cheering Charms right now!"

"Hermione," Harry said lowly. "I think Calla's trying to concentrate."

She didn't have the mental space to say thank you - she had to focus - but hoped Harry knew she was grateful anyway. The mists in the crystal ball were moving and clearing, tendrils of cloud weaving in between one another, like they were creating shapes themselves. And she was sure the ball was glowing too, lit from within, by something not quite silver and not quite gold, but bright all the same. The jagged shape of something stood against the swirling mist.

Trelawney murmured something Calla didn't focus on, and she looked closer, the beginnings of something nagging at her. A pale hand reaching out, shaking, claws extending from the nails. Something blooming from the fingertips under the nail, something red, and then something grey curling like smoke amongst the mist of the ball.

"Looks like there's going to be a lot of fog tonight," Ron said, and Hermione burst into laughter. Calla snapped up, concentration well and truly broken by the laughing all around her.

"For-"

"Now, really!" said Trelawney, rushing over. "You are disrupting the clairvoyant vibrations!"

Calla glared at Ron, who seemed to still be stifling his laughter. Hermione was making even less effort, and Calla could still hear her giggling. The sound made her cheeks heat up; clearly none of her friends were taking this, or her, very seriously at all. But now Trelawney was at their table, and leaning over Calla's shoulder to get a look at the crystal ball and its depths.

"There is something here!" Trelawney said, leaning down closer, eyes to the ball.

"Can you see it, too?" Calla asked her, staring. If Trelawney saw what she saw then she could help to make sense of it.

"Something is moving," said Trelawney. "But what..." Hermione tutted. "My dear," Trelawney said, ignoring Hermione and looking up at Harry with wide and sorrowful eyes, "it is there... Plainer than ever it has been before... Stalking towards you... Coming closer... It is... The Grim! And-"

"Oh, for goodness' sake!" Hermione cried out. "Not that stupid Grim again!"

But Trelawney was looking at Calla. "My dear, I had not foreseen already... How could I not have seen... You have the dying hand."

"Dying hand?" Hermione repeated with a mocking laugh that set Calla on edge. "This is ridiculous!"

"I am sorry to say," Trelawney said to Hermione coldly, "That from the moment you entered my class, it has been adamantly clear that you do not possess any of the qualities required for the noble art of true Divination. Indeed, I don't remember ever meeting a student who was so hopelessly mundane."

Calla almost choked. She might have wanted to say something to Hermione, but she certainly wouldn't have said that! And no teacher had ever spoken to Hermione like that, nor had Hermione ever spoken to a teacher like she had.

"Fine!" Hermione said, stuffing her copy of Unfogging the Future into her bag, nearly knocking into Calla in her haste. "I give up, then! I'm leaving!"

Calla stared at her open mouthed. "What do you mean, you're leaving?"

Hermione huffed and didn't even answer, just turned around and, to everyone's shock, kicked open the trapdoor and climbed down out of sight, slamming it behind her. Calla stared at her, partly shocked and partly angry and partly very concerned over what on Earth had just come over Hermione. She'd never liked Divination, Calla knew, from the first day she'd entered the classroom. She'd been waiting for something like this for ages, and everything had built up on her and now she'd just dismissed everything Calla or Trelawney thought and said all lesson and stormed out without another care. Regardless of Hermione's pressures it was hard not to feel offended about the whole situation.

"Ooh, Professor!" Lavender said, waving her hand in the air. Calla turned around and saw that Padma was just as shocked as her, Harry and Ron at Hermione's outburst. "I've just remembered, you saw this, didn't you? Remember, in the first class? Around Easter time of our number will leave us forever! You were right, Professor! You saw it ages ago!

And indeed she had. Calla stared at Trelawney; of course it had come true. Not in the way everyone expected it to, but it had come true nonetheless. "Yes, my dear," Trelanwey was saying, wrapping her shawl around her, "I did indeed know Miss Granger would be leaving us. One hopes, however, that one might have mistaken the signs... The Inner Eye can be a burden at times."

Calla knew that. But she was still reeling from Hermione's outburst, and what she'd interrupted, and everything. It was irrational, but all of a sudden it was like this anger she'd been trying to hide from was prickling all over her like a rash. Of course this was going to happen, she thought. Hermione had never liked Divination, she'd always thought it was nonsense. How many times had she dismissed Trelawney's predictions? How many times had she interrupted Calla's Seeing with her comments and tutting?

They left soon after that and Calla found herself being the first to leave the room, still reeling and still upset even though she toldherelf she shouldn't be. She could hear Harry shouting after her but she didn't care. She fumbled for the map but then remembered she'd given it to Remus and let out a shriek of anger that had a younger Hufflepuff boy staring at her in fright, as she lurched off to the side and ran for the nearest passage, rushing down the stairs until she reached the bottom floor and spilled out onto the castle grounds.

She didn't know what she wanted, exactly, but she wanted to be outside and feel cool air and soft ground. Before she knew what she was doing, she was running, towards the dark line of trees that marked the Forbidden Forest. She'd been about to run into it, unthinking and unseeing through stinging tears, when something stopped her; a great streak of black running in front of her.

Calla shrieked, stumbling back and grabbing a tree trunk. It was not just a streak of black, but a dog. It let out a low growl and she sank against the tree, shuddering as her eyes took it in, really saw it. "You-" she started, lump in her throat "-You're the dog from Magnolia Crescent!"

Remus had told her to stay away but she forgot that now. This dog wasn't going to hurt her; rather, it went towards her gently as a dog might walk to its owner, and nudged her elbow with its nose. It was oddly comforting. She stared at its eyes, wiping her own tears away from behind her glasses. "What... You're a dog! Why have you followed me?"

The dog shook its head, and then licked nervously at her hand. She snatched it away, getting sharply to her feet and the dog took a few steps back, looking at her carefully. Like it was considering something. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "You're a nice dog." The second she said it it sounded stupid. "Sorry, I - I shouldn't be out here, I'm just upset." The dog rubbed its head against her leg strangely, and she stared at it. "You're just a stray," she said, more to affirm it to herself. "A sweet stray, though." The dog made a strangely human sound like laughter. And then it held up its paw to her.

Calla just stared at it. "What?"

The dog nudged its paw closer and Calla hesitantly pressed her own hand to it, like a high-five. The dog barked cheerfully, and then like it was nothing, set its paw down and turned to run into the Forbidden Forest.

"Wait!" she found herself calling. "Come back!"

She was just beginning to realise how alone she was out her. It was still cloudy, and the light was already beginning to dim, and she definitely wasn't meant to be so close to the Forbidden Forest. The dog, though... Something about it was definitely familiar and not just because she'd seen it in Magnolia Crescent, or, she supposed, that night out the window. No, it was something else, and it confused her. She wanted to follow the dog, but when she tried to step forwards realised how awful of an idea that would be. Again, she called, "Come back!"

But the dog did not, and it was beginning to get cold. Calla picked up her bag and drew her robes tightly around herself, but as she took the bag, realised something on the ground. It was small and silver and looked like a bracelet. Frowning, she knelt down, and reached a hand to the bracelet. Surely someone had dropped it... Unless the dog... No. She shook her head. That was a stupid idea. But still.

She picked up the bracelet, turning it over in her hand. There was a thin bar of silver on it, and when she turned it over, she saw a small inscription. Only two words, but they brought her heart to a stop and tears to her eyes.

For Lily.

She didn't really know how she'd gotten back up to the castle, but she had, and she was still clasping the bracelet when she went into the Ravenclaw dormitory, tired and confused and with so, so many questions. "Where did you go?" Padma asked her as she entered. "We were looking for you, is everything alright?"

"What happened to Hermione Granger?" Isobel asked, leaning forward. "She totally flipped in there!"

"Yeah," Calla said numbly. It didn't seem important anymore; she clutched the bracelet tightly. Reason told her it wasn't necessarily her mother's or from her father, but her heart told her that it was. It had to be. And her heart also told her that the dog, for whatever reason, had left it there for her. That that had been his intention. "I can't believe it."

Xx

Though the Easter holidays soon came upon them, Calla didn't think that holiday was a particularly apt word to describe them. They'd all been given such a heavy workload that it felt like they were in classes anyway - and Lisa Turpin had worked out a studying schedule that almost exactly fitted their usual timetable - and what with that, her Occlumency and Seeing work, and trying to help Hagrid with Buckbeak's appeal, Calla barely had time for anything else.

A few nights she and Harry had gone to visit Remus, and all of them had ended in some sort of studying. They worked on Boggarts and then through some of the harder aspects of the course, and through it all Calla kept quiet about the bracelet that she'd found - that she was sure that dog had left for her.

But the second to last night of the holidays, Remus had a different idea. To work on their Patronuses. "I feel it's been rather neglected recently," he said. "And if the two of you are up for it-"

"We are!" Harry said enthusiastically before Calla could say another word about it. She frowned, but was hardly about to disagree, especially when Remus pulled out the wardrobe, already prepared.

"Who wants to go first?" he asked. "Calla? Are you alright, or?"

"No," she said quickly. "I'll - I'll go."

She smiled and fiddled with her hair as she got up, already feeling terrified. What if she fainted again. What if she heard that voice again; that horrible, horrible voice. Even now it seemed to crawl over her skin. Haunting her.

"Remember," Remus told her, as Harry stepped towards the wardrobe. "It has to be a very strong memory. Have you got one?"

She nodded; it was the only thing that she thought might possible work. As the wardrobe opened, though, and the Boggart came out, she began to worry. What if she couldn't? What if the same thing happened as had happened every time before, again and again and again? What if they had to give up on her? What if she couldn't?

The Dementor came out with rattling breath and she shivered, freezing all of a sudden as she tried to look at it. She remembered the night after beating Tom Riddle, remembered how she'd still managed to fight him even when she felt that same hopelessness she did now, remembere dhow she win. She remembered her brother, and Ron and Padma and Daphne, and Hagrid and Hermione, and she remembered how everyone congratulated her. How everyone had said, "Well done." Like she'd earned it, like she'd done something. She had to remind herself that she had.

Calla tightened her grip on her wand, and concentrated as hard as she could on her friends' faces, on Hagrid, on relief and the feeling of victory, the reminder that no, she wasn't weak or hopeless. That she could fight, and she could win. "Expecto patronum!"

Silver shot out of the wand and Calla gasped, staring after it. It wasn't only a shield, but more silver wishing off the end, forming a misty haze of magic, dancing in the air around her. It didn't have a form, not that she could see, but she jabbed her wand at the Dementor, wishing with everything she had that it would go, and her magic obeyed. Silver rushed at the grey of the Dementor and with a gasp, Calla saw it pushed back into the wardrobe. Remus shut the doors with a slam, and then turned to her, wide-eyed.

There was a few seconds of relieved silence before Harry said, beaming, "Calla, that was so good!"

"You - you think so?" she asked, blinking, and he nodded.

"Yeah! It took me ages to get it like that, didn't it, Remus?"

Remus nodded, beaming at Calla. "That was a very good shield Patronus, Calla."

"You think so?"

He nodded again, looking proud enough that it made Calla want to cry. "You did wonderfully; how did you control it? I saw you... Push the Patronus towards the Dementors."

"I don't know," Calla said blinking. "I just, really, really wanted the Dementor to go away and my magic made it go away." She looked between Remus and Harry. "Was that not what I was meant to do?"

"No, no, it was! It was excellent, Calla, just unexpected." When she rose her eyebrows, he added hastily, "Most can't gain that control over a Patronus until it takes on a corporeal form. To be able to move it, is very well done."

Calla felt her cheeks heat as she blushed with pride. She had done it; she had actually done it. Harry beamed, wrapping her in a very tight hug. "You did it!" he said. "Now even if the Dementors do come to the last match, we'll both be alright!"

As it happened, the final Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor against Slytherin, fell not long after that, on the last Saturday after the Easter holidays. Slytherin were leading the tournament by two hundred points - Michael and Mandy had a bet going, with Michael arguing Slytherin would win because of their consistent performance and lead so far, and Mandy arguing that Gryffindor wanted it more and had more of a fight to bring to the match. Calla just hoped, very very much, that Gryffindor would win. She couldn't bear to hear Malfoy's gloating.

"You know," Daphne had said to her the night before, when everyone was on edge and nervous, "Draco won't shut up about this match."

"Neither will anyone else."

She paused before she said, "I know he's been an arsehole this year. Theo and Blaise are nicer but they still don't stand up to him, not really. None of us do." Daphne shook her blonde head. "But he's gone too far. With Buckbeak and the way he's spoken to you and Harry, and now everything with the match. Pansy, too."

"And?" Padma had said from Daphne's other side.

"And I just want to say that they're wrong. And I'm sticking by you." Calla had blinked at her and then smiled. "Just so there's no... Doubt. Because they've been awful this year and I-"

Calla wouldn't let her say anything more; she hugged her tightly, and after a moment Padma did the same.

Xx

In the morning, everyone went down to breakfast early to wait on the Quidditch teams entering. It would be a decisive match for the tournament; if Gryffindor won by over two hundred points, they would win, and if they didn't, then Slytherin had the cup. Calla felt like she could barely eat, her eyes going to the Great Hall doors every time someone came through.

Everyone had been so nervous the whole run-up to the game, and that nervous energy was still tangible at breakfast. She kept a tight hold on the banner she'd drawn, with a massive scarlet and gold lion in the middle, and the words "GO GRYFFINDOR" at the top in bright red bubble writing.

"You do have to eat, you know, Calla," said Padma, gesturing to her untouched toast, which had now gone cold.

She shook her head, taking a ginger bite, eyes still trained on the doors. There was a loud commotion from outside and she sat up straighter, peering around as the Gryffindor team, decked in scarlet, entered the Great Hall. An enormous applause went up, and Calla joined in the clapping with enthusiasm, catching Harry's eye and beaming at him. "Good luck!" she mouthed, and he nodded. He was incredibly nervous, Calla could tell that, but no one seemed to be more nervous than Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Captain, who spent the next twenty minutes running up and down the table talking to his teammates and pacing.

"I'll just be a minute," Calla said, getting up quickly and striding over to Harry, who was picking at a roll.

"Don't interfere with my team," Oliver said to her nervously, and she shook her head, slipping between Harry and Hermione.

"Hey," she said to him. "Good luck for today. You're going to be great."

"I'm not so sure," he admitted. "I-"

"Trust me," Calla told him, with a quick, tight hug. "If you fly like I know you can, you'll do brilliant."

"Right, team!" Wood announced. "We should get down to the pitch early, check out the conditions."

Harry looked at Calla, and she nodded. "Go. You'll be great!" She huffed him tightly again, and then he stood up with the rest of the team to tremendous applause, as they left for the match.

"I'll see you at the match," Calla said to Ron and Hermione, and went back to the Ravenclaw table, where Mandy was looking even more nervous than some of the Gryffindors.

"You better have told your brother to win the tournament for Gryffindor," Mandy said. "There's no way I'm losing this bet to Michael, right?"

Calla grinned. "Don't worry. Harry's going to win. I'm sure of it."

When at last it came time for the rest of the school to go to the pitch, everyone seemed on edge. Calla saw Crabbe trip up a first year Gryffindor, who she and Padma managed to catch just in time to stop her falling into the mud. They both glared at Crabbe, forming a little barrier around the girl, who smiled at them gratefully.

The girl found her friends just as they reached the stands, and Calla looked around to try and spot Ron and Hermione anywhere. "I can't see them," she said anxiously to Daphne, who was also peering worriedly over the heads of the crowd. "Can you?"

Daphne shook her head, but then pointed. "Over there! Hermione! Ron!"

They both turned, spotting them, and pushed through the crowd. Hermione grabbed Calla's hand and she pulled her through, with Ron following. "Here," said Hermione, shoving a banner into Padma's hands. "You can help us to hold this."

"I've got one too," Calla said, showing Hermione the banner that was currently sticking out of her bag.

"Excellent," said Ron. "We'll hold them up together."

When they pushed into the stands, they were full of people wearing scarlet and gold scarves and hats and gloves and robes, even most of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaws. Michael had been going to wear green for Slytherin, until Lisa told him off, and he begrudgingly wore a red hat, despite the bet he'd made with Mandy.

While the Slytherin end was a sea of green, the stands were swamped in scarlet. Calla grinned at the sight as she and her friends all settled in to a little pocket of space.

"And here are the Gryffindors!" came Lee Jordan's voice from the commentary box, and Calla stood on her tiptoes to try and spot her brother jogging out onto the pitch. "Potter, Bell, Johnson, Spinnet, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood! Widely acknowledged as the best side Hogwarts has seen in a good few years-" His next words were frowned by boos from the Slytherin end, but in the Gryffindor stands there was a riot of cheers and applause right back.

"And here comes the Slytherin team, led by Marcus Flint. He's made some changes in the line-up and seems to be going for size rather than skill..." There were more boos from the Slytherin end, which Calla felt like might be a tad more justified; but even so he might have had a point. The team were all large in build, except Malfoy, the Seeker.

Calla didn't hear Madam Hooch tell the two teams to shake hands, but she watched Wood and Flint do so anyway. They did it very angressuvdly, too, like they were both trying to break one another's fingers.

"Mount your brooms!" came the call from Madam Hooch, and the crowd went wild, drowning out the sound of her whistle.

"Come on, Harry!" Calla screamed, voice lost amongst everyone else's as fourteen players rose into the air. She kept her eyes on her brother and beamed as he flew around the pitch to wild applause.

"And It's Gryffindor in possession!" Lee Jordan was yelling. "Alicia Spinnet of Gryffindor with the Quaffle, heading straight for the Slytherin goalposts, looking good, Alicia!" Calla groaned as the Quaffle was intercepted by a Slytherin Chaser - "Warrington," Lee called him - and then she cheered as he was slammed into by a Bludger that George had hit.

Angelina Johnson caught it and sped back along the pitch, swerving away from Montague, and dodging a Bludger, and then flinging the Quaffle nearly into the goals. "Yes!" Ron yelled, jumping up and down as the crowd went absolutely wild. "Come on!"

There was a gasp, then, as Angelina was slammed into by Marcus Flint, who was then promptly hit in the head by Fred's Beater's club, sending him smashing into his broom handle. The crowd simmered as Hooch called for two penalties, one for each side, and Calla grasped Hermione and Daphne's hands tightly.

They all watched anxiously on sudden silence as Alicia Spinnet took the Quaffle, headed for the goalposts, and hurled it as hard as she could into the hoops. The Keeper missed by inches, but he missed, and the crowd went wild. "Come on, Spinnet!" Mandy was shrieking. "Come on!"

It was Flint who took the next penalty for Slytherin, and again everyone went quiet, holding one another and waiting. "Course," Lee Jordan was saying, "Wood's a superb Keeper! Superb! Very difficult to pass, very difficult - AND YES! I DON'T BELIEVE IT! HE'S SAVED IT!"

"Yes!" Hermione screamed, tightening her grip on Calla's hand and holding it so hard Calla thought her fingers might snap in half.

The match resumed with fervour; possession switched from Gryffindor to Slytherin and back to Gryffindor again, as Katie Bell sped up the pitch, holding the Quaffle tightly under her arm - one of the Slytherin Chasers swerved in front of Katie and grabbed for her head. Calla yelled as Katie rolled over in the air, managing to get away but dropping the Quaffle in the process.

"Foul!" Ron was yelling, face going bright red. "That was a foul, a bloody foul! Dirty rotten bastard!"

On the pitch, Hooch seemed to be yellin at Montague, and a moment later Katie was taking another penalty. Everyone watched on nervously as she threw it, soaring past the Slytherin Keeper.

"THIRTY-ZERO!" Lee Jordan screamed from his commentator's box. "TAKE THAT, YOU DIRTY, CHEATING-"

"Jordan, if you can't commentate in an unbiased way-"

"Just telling it how it is, Professor!"

"He's bloody right!" Isobel was yelling. "That was rotten!"

"Harry!" Calla shouted, suddenly noticing him flying sharply towards the Slytherin end of the pitch. "Harry! He's seen the Snitch, has he?"

Malfoy clearly thought so, racing after him. Then Calla saw Derrick swing his bat and yelled out, though it was lost in the crowd; a Bludger narrowly missed Harry's head and Calla screamed. "Harry!" Another one came from Bole, and she was sure this time that it hit his elbow. The two Slytherin Beaters went rushing after him, clubs held up and Calla yelled. "Harry! Harry!"

At the last second, Harry turned his broom and sped upwards, leaving the Beaters to collide on the pitch. "Too bad boys!" Lee was shouting. "You'll have to do better than that to beat a Firebolt! 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 towards the Gryffindor goalposts, come on now, Wood, save-"

"No!" Ron bellowed, as the Quaffle sailed past Wood and cheers erupted from the Slytherin end. Lee Jordan swore so loudly and so strongly that McGonagall had to take the microphone from him, but it didn't make much difference seeing as how the Gryffindor end all reacted in much the same way.

The match only got rougher from there; Bole hit Alicia Spinnet with his club and, from the sounds of it, tried to claim that he thought she was a Bludger, George tried to elbow Bole in the face in response, and both times were given penalties by Hooch. To Calla's utmost relief, Wood saved the Slytherin penalty, and Angelina managed to get hers past the Keeper, taking the score up to forty to ten. Harry had told her that, to win, he had to only catch the Snitch if Gryffindor was up by over fifty points - three more goals and they would be.

There was a rush of sound and excitement as Katie Bell made another goal, and Fred and George swooped over to her, clubs lifted ready for defense. Everyone was cheering, but a moment later Bole and Derrick had aimed both of the Bludgers at Oliver Wood, and they both caught him in the stomach, winding him. "That's a bloody foul!" both Ron and Isobel were yelling. "That's a foul!"

Madam Hooch was absolutely beside herself as she shrieked at the Beaters, awarding Gryffindor another penalty. Angelina scored and Ron went absolutely wild with cheering. Warrington took the Quaffle but a second later Fred had pelted a Bludger at him, causing him to drop the ball. Alicia Spinnet caught it and flung it into the goal.

Seventy to ten.

"Come on!" Calla found herself screaming. "Come on, Harry!" They were sixty points in the lead now, and if Harry caught the Snitch, they'd have won the match - and the cup.

Calla's attentions were on her brother now, watching as he circled high above the pitch, Malfoy on his tail. She gasped with everyone else when he sped up, heading upwards to the Snitch. "Come on, Harry!" Hermione screamed.

But just as Harry reached out his hand to the Snitch, Malfoy reached his out to catch the tail of Harry's broom. "Foul bastard!" Ron yelled, and Isobel yelled something that would have definitely gotten her a year of detention if anyone heard her or cared much.

"YOU CHEATING SCUM!" Lee yelled into his megaphone, holding it out of McGonagall's reach. "YOU FILTHY CHEATING BASTARD!"

McGonagall, too, looked furious, shaking her fist violently in Malfoy's direction, her hat falling off as she yelled. Even when Alicia took the penalty for Gryffindor, she was clearly furious, and missed by a good few feet. Ron groaned loudly.

The team had been thrown off their game, that much was clear. Possession went to Warrington, then to Montague, and he scored to an onslaught of Slytherin cheering. Seventy to twenty.

Angelina Johnson took the Quaffle, streaking towards the goal, but every single Slytherin player except Malfoy was also flying towards her, determined to stop her. "No!" Calla yelled, but just then Harry seemed to come out of nowhere, flying straight for the Slytherins. They all scattered, leaving Angelina's route to the goalposts clear. "SHE SCORES!" shrieked Lee. "SHE SCORES! GRYFFINDOR LEAD EIGHTY TO TWENTY!"

"Come on!" Calla screamed, and Daphne jumped up and down beside her, holding her arm tightly. Calla's eyes swivelled around, trying to spot Harry, and saw him, diving down towards Malfoy, who was looking triumphant. The Snitch. "Look!" she screamed, pointing, watching as Harry put on speed, racing down to the Snitch faster than she'd ever seen anyone fly before.

Harry threw himself forwards and shoved Malfoy out of the way, leavin his way clear to the Snitch. Calla yelled loudly as she realised what was happening, as her brother reached out and his hand wrapped around the golden Snitch. The crowd positively exploded, everyone clutching one another, Ron screaming and swearing himself hoarse, Hermione dancing around, Daphne and Padma holding her so hard she was sure she herself would soon explode. The team swooped down to Harry and caught him in a heap and Calla found herself running down with everyone else into the pitch, the crowd swamping over the grass, and hoisting the team on their shoulders.

She beamed as she caught Harry's arm and yelled her congratulations, jumping up and down with excitement, while everyone around her completely lost their senses. Hagrid was crying and yelling praise, McGonagall was weeping, Percy was jumping up and down maniacally like he'd completely forgotten the meaning of dignity. The crowd propelled Harry onwards towards Dumbledore and the cup with the rest of the team and it was all Calla and the others could do to beam and cheer as he was passed the cup by Wood and, beaming, lifted it proudly into the air.

Happy Friday!