October passed into November, and it was once again time for Eddie to pull on his Quidditch robes for a match against Ravenclaw, for Malfoy had not provoked Buckbeak. In fact, they hadn't even looked at hippogriffs at all. Instead, they'd started with the flobberworms, with promise for "bigger" lessons around mid-November. Eddie only presumed that without the Golden Trio being formed, Hagrid had not felt the need to put together an "impressive" first lesson.

That morning was as miserably wet and dreary outside as it was in the books, and Eddie had his guard up, slipping his wand into his sleeve before pulling on his quidditch robes, as he was preparing for a potential dementor attack. He hoped Cedric would catch the Snitch quickly. Eddie chuckled to himself slightly as he could only imagine the speech Oliver was giving Gryffindor right now- he recalled a bit where Fred called Hufflepuff "pushovers". He smirked.

When they marched out to the pitch, Eddie could barely make out the spectators behind the haze that had formed. He could only see the house sections through colors- red, yellow, green, blue. He yanked his foot out of the mud with a squish, and mounted his broom, already chattering from the intense cold. Madam Hooch started the game, and Eddie almost forgot about it to the point that he nearly dropped the Quaffle when it was tossed up. Hanging onto it with his fingertips, he took off for the Ravenclaw end of the pitch.

The game progressed with the crowd being a low, distant roar, and Lee and Lily's commentary being warbled by the rain. At one point Eddie thought he heard Lee mention that Hufflepuff was winning 40-20, but he couldn't be sure. He had only scored one goal himself.

And then, he was flying along, trying to spot his teammates, when he felt a cold chill run down his spine. Sure, he was frozen so badly he was almost a human popsicle, but he recognized that type of cold. Dementors. He reached for his wand-

Whack! A Bludger had snuck behind him and rammed him in the skull, but Eddie didn't know that. In fact, he didn't know much of anything at the moment. His eyes fluttered, then he slipped and fell, and everything went black.

Several hours later, in the hospital wing, he awoke.

"Uh…" he groaned, rubbing his head, "What happened?"

"Took a nasty Bludger to the back of the head," said Justin, indicating his temple.

Ah, he thought, so a new take on how Harry's match could have gone. "Did we win at least?"

"Ah, nope." Justin shook his head. "We lost by ten, I think." Eddie nodded.

When the team and Justin had left, he was then greeted by Hannah, Lily, Victoria, Tom, and Nathan.

Hugging him, Hannah asked, "Are you all right?"

Eddie laughed slightly. "Fine, I'm fine. But I won't be if you keep crushing my windpipe."

Relaxing slightly, Hannah let go of him. Straightening up, she said "Oh, well, I'll see you in the common room when Pomfrey lets you leave." And she walked out.

Hoping his situation didn't mirror Harry's too well, Eddie asked if his broom hit the Whomping Willow. To his immense relief, it hadn't.

He stayed chatting with them until Madam Pomfrey chivvied them off, leaving him alone, to rest.

In a few days' time, Eddie was finally able to leave, and slip back into the normalcy of the Hogwarts schedule, even if it meant having to endure Malfoy's taunts.

"Why couldn't you stay on your broom, then?" he leered. "Thinking about Hannah too much?"

"You try getting hit with a hundred and fifty pounds of solid iron in the back of the skull. See if you stay on your feet," Eddie replied coolly.

November passed into December, the leaves ever so slowly falling off the trees. Now that they could make trips into Hogsmeade, they could get better Christmas gifts for one another. After much deliberation, Eddie decided on a scarf and a box of Honeydukes chocolate for Hannah, which she enjoyed.

They had a fun Christmas. Starting out with what was now a traditional Hufflepuff vs. Fateful Eight snowball fight, they snuck out to the Room of Requirement for a sort of sleepover, bringing with them cocoa and marshmallows from the kitchens. Well, it wasn't a planned sleepover, but seeing as none of them were willing to get up and go back to the common room, they ended up spending the night.

A/N I know this is one of, if not the shortest chapter I've posted, but it's my last week of school and I've been crammed with assignments, so this chapter was a bit rushed, I apologize. Good things are coming next chapter, I promise!