Things were very different in Hogwarts after that Halloween. Teachers were seen more often patrolling the corridors, mostly watching Harry wherever he went with Percy doing much the same. Fred told me that their mother had written to the three of them to order them to keep a close eye on Harry to make sure that he didn't get into any trouble and stayed safe. To make matters worse, the Fat Lady had been replaced with the most infuriating portrait of one Sir Cadagon who continually made it difficult to even get into our own common room. He changed the passwords daily, challenged practically everyone who passed and was basically the most ridiculous prat that ever lived. My job as a prefect became all the more difficult and I noted that I had been given almost twice as many patrol shifts than anyone else, and when I asked McGonagall about it, she merely stated that I was the most accomplished prefect the school had, and that meant I needed to shoulder more responsibility.
Why couldn't I have just pretended to be an idiot from the beginning? I regret it all now. Things just wouldn't pick up at all, in fact, as the days passed they only got worse. Snape took over Defence Against the Dark Arts when Lupin fell sick, though when I tried to visit him in the hospital wing Madame Pomfrey refused any visitors. She at least accepted the chocolates off me and agreed to give them to him with a wish to get well soon before shooing me away. We were now learning about werewolves, which completely jumped ahead of our curriculum and I had a bad feeling Snape did it on purpose, I just couldn't tell why.
Worse still, the winds and weather were taken a stormy turn, so when it came to our match on Saturday, we were facing the worst conditions yet. Slytherin had backed out, the cowards, so now we were facing Hufflepuff. I wasn't worried, even though they had a decent team and that handsome new captain, our team was better. Katie and Angelina giggled over one Cedric Diggory when he came up in discussion, though when they asked me what I thought about him I could honestly say I hoped he'd fall off his broom and break his arm so that Harry can just catch the snitch without any competition.
By the time the match started, I was surprised any of us could actually stay on our brooms. We were struggling against the howling wind, and even Harry's nimbus had slowed down against it as rain pelted against us, freezing us to the bone. I managed to get to the quaffle first, though it was harder to grip onto it in the wet. The Hufflepuff chasers came at me but I neatly swerved and dodged, using the wind to my advantage in order to put the quaffle through the hoop for the first ten points less than a minute after the whistle, much to my team's relief. It gave us a start, a kick of confidence we needed.
We were fairly evenly matched as teams go, the weather making it equally impossible for either team to get a solid lead for a while as both scored one after the other until Hufflepuff were in possession and I saw an opening. I went for it, dive bombing the chaser with the quaffle with a signal to Angelina who was closest and she immediately knew what I wanted. She flew at the chaser, forcing him to swerve towards me and I pulled up at the last minute, coming alongside him and popped the quaffle out of his grasp then launched it with all my strength up the pitch to where Katie was waiting, grabbing it before scoring once more.
We were doing well, fifty points in the lead now but then Oliver signalled for a time out as all of us struggled to even feel our fingers. Harry joined us last, blinking as he wiped at his goggles. "How're they doing Harry?"
"They're great, only reason I can see anything out there." He said as he jumped off his broom and crowded with us under the large umbrella. "What's the score?"
"We're fifty points up, but unless we get the snitch soon, we'll be playing into the night." None of us wanted that, we were all so cold we could barely move our fingers.
"Let me try something." I said, pulling out my wand before casting warming charms on us all, focusing mainly on our hands. It had an immediate effect, everyone breathing relief and Harry could now flex his fingers quickly, which was exactly what we needed if he was to catch that snitch. Wood gripped my face with relief and plastered my cheek with a kiss before grinning, yelling for everybody to get back into the air as I stood there for a moment, surprised and a little flustered until George nudged me.
"You still with us?"
"Um…yeah." Fred rolled his eyes, giving my backside a kick in order to get me back into the air so that we could resume the game. It was much easier to handle the quaffle now that I could actually feel my hands and the difference was clear from the get go. Katie yelled my name over a clap of thunder and passed the quaffle but she sent it too high, making the crowds in the stadium gasp as I surged for it. Not even thinking about the danger, I jumped, completely abandoning my broom for the briefest of moments as it continued to fly underneath me before I grabbed the quaffle with both hands then landed, perhaps a little further down the broom than normal, but successful all the same.
I pelted up the pitch, rolling when one of the other chasers tried to snatch the quaffle from me then made a feint pass, pretending to throw to Angelia who was flying parallel to me then in the confusion, I flung the quaffle and put it through the hoop again. A cheer followed though it was barely audible, the storm hanging right over our heads. Looking around I started to rise upwards, searching for Harry through the grey sludge of rain and wind until suddenly, there was screaming and I instantly saw why.
Dementors were filling the sky, inky black against the thick swell of clouds but worst of all was Harry. He was falling. Falling. His broom had completely vanished and he was tumbling from the skies some fifty feet above. I didn't even think about it, I urged my broom forwards to try and catch Harry, reaching out my hand but missed him only by a bare few inches and, knowing full well that my broom wouldn't catch up, dove after him. Another round of screams followed, the twins bellowing at me as I freefell through the air after Harry and managed to grab him, wrapping him up in my arms as we tumbled and I used my other hand to try and grab for my wand.
The ground was coming up too quickly, the breath catching in my throat as I saw a vast, muddy ocean rushing up to meet us. Finally my hand gripped onto my wand and I yanked it out from its arm-strap and yelled with all the urgency I possessed. "Arresto momentum!" Immediately my wand gave a bright burst of light and we started to slow, rapidly at first then gently until finally, my back touched the muddy ground with a dull thud and squelch as Harry remained trapped against my chest, still unmoving.
After a moment to drink it all in, I then flung him over onto his back and started to shake him, yelling for him to wake up but he was out cold, the dementors still soaring overhead and gradually swooping in closer as Dumbledore, in a fury that I had never imagined possible, bellowed with a voice that completely overpowered the storm and pointed his wand to create a patronus of a silver phoenix. It flew at the dementors and immediately burst into huge sweeping rings which banished the dementors off as I stayed kneeling in the mud, staring whilst gripping onto Harry.
Soon enough the rest of our team landed, racing over as McGonagall also ran to our side. Before we knew it, Harry was being rushed up to hospital and in the confusion, we realised that Diggory was holding the snitch though he seemed to be arguing with Madame Hooch. "It wasn't a fair match, the dementors interrupted…it wasn't a clean game!" I overheard him saying as Fred and George shook my shoulders, trying to get an answer out of me. Madame Hooch refused to call it a draw or agree to a rematch, saying that Cedric had caught the snitch fair and square and declared Hufflepuff the winner. Oliver looked so pale he could have been a ghost. I'm not even sure what shocked him more. The fact that Harry had almost died or that we lost. Either way, no one was in a good mood.
"Mia!"
"I'm fine." I finally answered, shaking my head to focus myself. "Did anyone see which direction Harry's broom went? And mine?" Katie told me she'd seen both being carried by the wind towards the school, pointing in the right direction so I decided to take off and go looking for them.
"Are you crazy?! You just jumped off your broom! You need to go to the hospital wing!" Fred was saying but I just wanted a moment alone. We'd lost the match, it was almost impossible for Gryffindor to win the Cup this year now, and I knew Harry would no doubt blame himself for it. The least I can do is find his broom for him. So I waved off everyone, leaving them to be ushered by McGonagall off the pitch as I slipped away and followed Katie's direction.
The storm was subsiding now, the rain seemingly deciding to take a break as I trudged across the grounds looking for some wayward brooms, until I happened upon the Whomping Willow. To my horror, I saw its branches twisting and convulsing, one rather bludgeoning branch hammering at something at with a gaping stare, I realised it was our brooms. "No!" Waving my wand I summoned the remains to me, now nothing more than a broken stick and mangled tail. I wasn't so bothered about my own broom, but Harry's nimbus…it was completely beyond repair. He's going to be devastated, how do I tell him this? It was his very first broom, he'd had it for three years and now…
I was so distracted with the broken remains of two brooms that I hadn't noticed the Willow was now aiming to try and smash me up as well. If it hadn't been for the warning shout from someone behind me, I might not have noticed until it was too late. Leaping backwards I then quickly put a safe distance between me and that tree, still cradling the broken brooms in my arms as I did so then looked around to try and see who had yelled. There was no one in sight, which was odd. I was sure I heard someone yell my name. My full name too, not a lot of people remembered it. Having been distracted, I couldn't even clearly remember what it had sounded like.
Maybe I'm just going crazy. So shaking my head, I trudged back up to the castle with the brooms, soaked through and miserable, and headed up to the hospital wing to see Harry, hoping Filch doesn't catch me dripping mud and rain over his floors along the way whilst completely unaware of the big black dog which was now watching me leave with intelligent blue eyes.
