Card the moon

Chapter 17 – Fear in the halls

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"Hey Ron."

"Yeah Harry."

"He's doing it again."

"Want me to tell him to bugger off?"

"Would he?"

"Probably not."

Sigh, "Didn't think so."

Life draining demons and dangerous magical spirits had roamed the halls since start of term, and no one seemed to notice. One homicidal mass-murderer rips up one painting; panic, panic, everyone to the bunker.

Honestly, some people.

He understood why Luna was trying to keep her thing quiet, but it boggled the mind that no one had reported 'something'. Was everyone at Hogwarts just that desensitized to weird shit.

Did that mean he was the weird one.

"Don't you have class Percy!"

"It's in this direction Ron."

They were both pretty sure it wasn't, as sure as they were that he was doing it because Molly had asked him to.

Harry appreciated the thought, he just wished there'd been an alternative to Percy.

"Cheer up mate. Least there's Quidditch."

There almost hadn't been.

After the attack on the fat lady, McGonagall had brought him in to explain the situation. He'd never seen her look so grave, when she tried to tell him. But of course, he already knew all about Sirius Black. All about him.

But then she'd brought up Quidditch. Not safe out there; shouldn't be training in the dark. Her argument was sensible, but this was Quidditch she was talking about. Sensible did not apply.

And as much as he would have relished more time to sleep, trouncing Slytherin took priority. Yes, demons and monsters roamed the halls, but beating Slytherin was still the priority.

Quidditch did that to you.

He'd had to beg, and a bit of pleading never went wrong. Plus, it helped that she wanted that Quidditch cup in her office as much as the team wanted to put it there. It wasn't just the members of her house Snape rubbed the wrong way.

She relented, on the condition Madam Hooch be present at their practices.

Harry didn't mind, though he saw little reason for it. She hadn't been able to wrangle a runaway Longbottom his first year; what was she going to do against Sirius Black?

Sleep, from what he'd seen thus far; lucky witch.

Three days out from their first game of the season none of the team was getting much. This would have been a problem for his training with Luna, if his various well-meaning stalkers hadn't already made that near impossible.

He'd tried doing extra spell practice when he could, but he was being stifled at every turn. He couldn't just throw around blasters and cutters wherever he pleased, and the youma had not stopped coming.

Hermione had taken another three groups; pairs, like the last ones he'd fought. The enemy must have figured out they were being attacked. Only so much could be chalked up to coincidence.

He had to wonder how long it would be before the boss showed up to investigate personally. Harry had no faith he could take someone like that.

He needed to get better. He needed to get better fast. He also needed perfectly pompous Percy to stop following him around.

"Okay, we're here. Thank you, Percy."

"Just be sure to wait for me when class is over."

"Yeah, yeah we'll do that," said Ron as his brother strode off. "We are not doing that."

"Not unless he beats us out," agreed Harry.

It was like the opening of the chamber of secrets all over again; fear was having a parade through the halls with no sign of anyone stopping him. Harry was all too glad to get back to the common room, until he got there.

Wood was pacing before the fireplace. The rest of the team sat nearby looking dour. He was hesitant to join them, but Wood spotted him before he could back his way out; Ron was in the way.

"We're playing Hufflepuff this weekend," he said without preamble.

All ideas of escape vanished, "What! Why?"

"Slytherin's seeker."

"What about him," the useless little ponce.

"Notice how he ain't been around at all today."

He had actually, just not in a way that left him wondering where the obnoxious git was. A smart dog doesn't wonder where his fleas have run off to, he just appreciates the alone time.

"Flint comes up to me after Charms today and says their seeker's got beat up, so the team can't play. I thought he was ruddy full of it, so I went up to the hospital wing and checked."

"So did we," threw in Fred.

"You should of seen him," said George.

"Why?" please don't let it be a youma.

"Whoever did it knew what they were doing," said Wood, retaking control of the conversation. "According to Pomphrey there was barely a place on his body that wasn't bruised. Three broken bones, four cracked ribs. They were thorough, whoever they were."

"They don't know who did it?"

Wood shook his head. "They found him not far from their house entrance this morning. Looks like he was out late, the last one back. They're pretty sure he lay there all night."

"Whoa!" said Ron. "Never thought I'd feel bad for Malfoy."

Neither did Harry. The only consolation was the certainty it hadn't been a youma. Wrong M.O. Though that did beg the question, would one of Luna's Clow cards be able, or inclined, to do something like that. They'd certainly worked 'him' over every time he'd come across them.

"So, we're playing Hufflepuff," said Harry.

Wood nodded.

"Bollocks." The seeker for Hufflepuff was an older, larger boy named Diggory. Normally being small and light was an advantage to a seeker, but Saturday was looking to be bad weather, very bad. High winds, torrential rain; nothing that would actually stop the game, but more than enough to drastically change the dynamics.

"He's bigger, heavier than you. That will give him the advantage," Wood said, which Harry already knew.

"Yeah, but he's riding an old Cleansweep," said Fred.

"He's got nothing on Harry's Nimbus," agreed George.

They were trying to sound positive, but he could tell they were nervous; so was he. It was one thing to go out and beat Slytherin; there was motivation, a driving force that allowed one to overcome all obstacles, no matter how absurd.

Hufflepuff though; he had nothing against Hufflepuff or Diggory. Without that motivation, the weather would be that much harder to deal with.

"Our best bet is to make the game as short as possible," said Wood. "That's on you Harry. Find the snitch before Diggory. Whatever you have to do."

"No pressure," said Fred.

"What a bloody mess," said Ron, flopping into the nearest chair. "Who you think did him then."

"Who knows," said Harry. He didn't, and he wasn't sure he wanted to.

"I mean, if it was somebody in Gryffindor, you'd think we'd know about it."

"Why would somebody in Gryffindor beat up Draco? He's annoying but that's hardly enough reason to beat him."

"Be honest mate, if you got the chance, you'd think about it, wouldn't you?"

Would he? "Spose I would. But Pomphrey said whoever did it knew what they were doing."

"Counts us out then. I've wrestled with Fred and George before but, never hurt anybody, not like that. Who ya think did it?"

Harry shrugged, but to himself he was thinking 'not who, but what'. He wouldn't go looking for it, there wasn't time, and he was being watched. He'd just have to hope that Luna, the girl, or Hermione, also the girl, got to it before it hurt anyone else that didn't deserve it, whatever it was. In the meantime, he had homework.

"So, you want to start with Transfiguration, or Charms?"

"Shouldn't we wait for Hermione?" said Ron, looking for a good excuse to do neither.

"You want to be here all night." If they waited for the time traveler, all night might be optimistic.

"Charms then. Maybe she'll check it over when she finally shows up."

"I wouldn't count on it Ron," not with how much of her own work she had to do. "I really, really wouldn't."

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Announcement

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Just real quick.

We're doing a NaNoWriMo in May. One new chapter ever day for thirty one days. Come check it out starting Friday. Book of Shadows. Be there, or be a four sided equilateral.