Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

A/N: Thanks to MaeSilverpaws1, who is beta-ing this story.

Chapter Sixty-Eight

Prank, Quidditch Cup, and Finals

There was quite the commotion in the Great Hall, just two days after the group had decided on their nicknames. The clouds that had gather in the Great Hall turned out not to be the charmed ceiling, but actually clouds in the room. The rain started to pour down on everyone just after the food for lunch disappeared and everyone screeched at being caught off guard by the sudden downpour. What was more, though the rain had looked like it was just water, as soon as everyone got out of the Great Hall, they found that anywhere their hair was touched by the 'water', had turned bright red which just happened to match the Weasley's shade almost exactly.

When the Weasley twins were caught just outside of the Great Hall, they tried to argue that they weren't the ones that did this and McGonagall couldn't prove it was them because their hair was just as red as the rest of the schools. However, McGonagall was able to find out easily enough that they were the ones that had cast the charm for the downpour, not knowing that the two youngest Weasleys had also cast the spell, not to mention the three other students that had gotten the hair coloring potion in the clouds. She had also failed to notice that the extra strength potion was made by the last person she would have suspected.

After the Weasley twins gave their explanation … "We just fancied seeing what it was like to not have our hair stick out in the crowd" … they received two weeks' worth of detention. Harry felt a little guilty about them getting into trouble for this alone but they didn't seem to mind. After all, they were the ones that were credited with the prank that everyone was now laughing about. This bit of knowledge only made Harry pout, having wanted some of the credit too, but he felt better about it once he got to Hagrid's cabin later that day and Sirius had congratulation him on an excellent prank.

The rest of the term went by rather quickly which didn't surprise Harry at all. After all it seemed to him that every minute had been scheduled out for him (which naturally Hermione had given him a schedule like that). He still had his lessons with Remus learning to cast the Patronus, then there were his Animagus training which had been going rather well after the potion but he still had several of transformation to do before he was able to actually transform and he had Quidditch practice three times a week. Hermione then would remind him about his studies that he had to do and reluctantly he would force himself to do them. He knew that neither Remus nor Sirius would accept that he got bad grades because he was too busy doing other things. Harry had been surprised when two weeks after his lost against Hufflepuff; there was a package on his bed. There was a note on top of it that said;

Don't lose or you won't get to keep this

Harry frowned at that and the paw print that was at the bottom of the note telling him that Sirius had sent it. His frown turned into a beaming smile followed quickly by hysterical laughter as he looked at the most amazing broom he ever laid eyes on … The Firebolt. His whole team gaped at the broom during his first practice with it and he let them all have a go on it after the practice. He gave his slightly damaged Nimbus 2000 to Ron, who quickly learned if he put his weight on the right side the broom, it didn't wander for him. It actually made him slightly quicker to get to all of the post as well, because if he waited at the center post, he was already facing inclining towards the right, but if the shot was to the left, the broom naturally moved quicker that way.

He had to stop both of his Patronus and Animagus training the week of the Quidditch cup. Dumbledore had assured everyone that he wouldn't let any more Dementors on the pitch for this game, but Harry was still worried about the fact that his Patronus didn't have a shape yet, though the indistinct shield he had was stronger than it was before. Harry pushed that thought out of his mind as he got ready for the game, because this was the game that decided it all. Three teams were in the running for the victory. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, though Slytherin could not do anything to win the game themselves as the other two teams played each other. Gryffindor had to win by a hundred and eighty points (meaning that they had to be up by thirty points before the Snitch was caught). Ravenclaw on the other hand only had to win by a hundred points. If neither team did this, Slytherin would be declared the winner. Harry was determined to win, he would not let his team down again, even if another Dementor came to try to knock him off his broom, he'd catch the Snitch before he fell.

As Harry turned to mount his broom his eyes landed on the Seeker on the Ravenclaw team and he felt something in his stomach that had nothing to do with nerves. He was looking at a very pretty girl, who had her own determined look on her face. He was so caught up with her expression that he hadn't heard the whistle at first. Kicking himself for allowing himself to be distracted, he pushed off the ground too just as the Quaffle was thrown into the air, and the game had started. The game was a long one and Harry found for the first time he had to play defensively. Seeing as the point difference was so important in this game, the Chasers were the most important factor in the game for the Gryffindors, though if the pretty Ravenclaw Seeker got the Snitch at any time in the early part of the match, they would lose.

Harry cursed as he noticed the Snitch a half an hour into the game but Gryffindor was only up by ten points. He realized that Ravenclaw was playing a very interesting game. They had given up their offense, preferring to force the Gryffindor Chasers to make their plays without have the chance of having a breakaway. Ravenclaw seemed to be putting all their hopes on their pretty Seeker as she tried to deal with getting the Snitch first. He had to admit that it worked for them this time, and it wasn't the worst plan seeing as Gryffindor had the best offense … the best Chasers period … in school. The only problem with their plan was that the Gryffindors also had Harry on the team and he wasn't about to let anyone else catch the Snitch.

His heart sank in his chest only ten minutes later when he saw the pretty Seeker dive suddenly, a look of triumphant on her face, the Snitch close at hand. He pushed himself flat on the broom, and zoomed at speeds that no other person on the pitch could have gone even if they did have a Firebolt … they would never have been able to control it as Harry was able to do. The pretty Seeker's hand was stretch out having only been a few feet away from the Snitch when Harry passed her and cut off the path she was using to get to the golden ball. He cursed that he wasn't able to catch the Snitch himself because they where only up by twenty points.

The game seemed to change pace after the Gryffindors had scored two more goals, causing them to be up by forty points. Ravenclaw still played defensively, but now one of their Beaters seemed to be concentrating more on Harry, for whenever he even made a sharp movement, a Bludger was sent his way. They didn't seem to want to let him have any time to locate the Snitch. It hadn't matter though, Harry had already dealt with a rouge Bludger and having a Beater target him was a lot easier to deal with than that. The pretty Seeker seemed to have changed her strategy too, as she started to mark him man on man, restricting his movements.

Harry smirked as he decided to use a feint, talking a sharp turn, drawing the Bludger too him and causing the pretty Seeker to chase after him. When he pulled up to take an unblocked view of the field, he was surprised, but pleased that he saw the Snitch across the field. He darted off towards it, the pretty Seeker doing the same, it seemed that she had seen it too, but Harry wasn't going to let that bother him. He pressed himself against his broom again, going as fast as he could. He seemed to sense, and not see, the Bludger that flew at him by the other Ravenclaw Beater, and he rolled to the left just in time, but his eyes never left the Snitch … he wasn't about to let that slow him down. He reached out his hand easily gasping the Snitch.

The cheers that went though the Gryffindor crowd was deafening, and Harry had the biggest smile on his face as he landed on the ground only to be hugged by his teammates. Wood seemed to be sobbing in his joy of finally winning the cup. Harry couldn't stop smiling throughout the celebration on the pitch or when McGonagall had presented the team with the Quidditch cup or when they had the party up in the Gryffindor tower.

O

Harry was thankful that Hermione had allowed him to take the rest of that weekend off from studying; everyone was talking excitedly about the game and how brilliantly it had been played. Harry had learned that the pretty Seeker was named Cho Chang when Wood had explained excitedly how no one could block his star Seeker. Starting on Monday though, Harry didn't have any time to talk about Quidditch as he received so much homework and extra study time he was force to do because the finals were only weeks away.

Harry was annoyed when he found that even without Quidditch practices he wasn't able to find much time for his Animagus training, as he was only able to practice that once a week. Even after Remus had stopped the Patronus lessons, saying that Harry wasn't going to be able to learn anymore from the form of training that they were doing, Harry still didn't have time to do more in his Animagus training. For one thing, Hermione seemed to have gone into full study mood, always going to the Room of Requirement and turning it into a library where she would have a table full of book before her going over all the subjects she was taking. She barely even nodded her head at anyone that went into the room and she would snap at any one that would try to interrupt her.

Harry was surprised when the twins actually join her when it came to the final week, but he realized that they were taking their O.W.L exams and they wanted to do well in their classes. He was more surprised when Hermione would sit with Luna with the Divination book open and a scowl on her face. Luna wasn't old enough to be in Divination, but Harry assumed that the peculiar girl was the one helping Hermione even though he couldn't really see how. For himself, he didn't really spend much time studying for that class … not seeing the point, you either could see or not. However, he did spend a lot of time on all of his other classes. He was sad that it was unlikely he would learn to transform completely by the end of this year, but he knew that it was important to get good grades in his classes.

After seeing their final schedules, Ron still grumbled about how it was impossible for Hermione to be at several classes at what seemed to be the same time and she ignored him like she had been all year. Harry felt good about all of the finals he had taken, especially the obstacle course that Remus had made them go through, that was filled with all the creatures that they had learned about that year. He was the only one in his class to get through the course without being stopped by a creature (Hermione having been stopped by the boggart) and felt very smug about that. Transfiguration was easy for him as well, having already learned most of the things on the test last year and had plenty of practice in that subject. Charms was a little more difficult but Harry was sure he did well in it. In fact he was sure that he did well in all of his classes expect for Divinations where he felt like he was just making things up. Actually he had in fact made up the 'prediction' he made that a rat was going to die in a very brutal way. He wasn't sure why he had said this, but he was just feeling a little annoyed by all the changes that were made because a certain rat might come to Hogwarts and he wanted that to end.

"It will happen tonight," a creepy voice said as Harry was about to leave Trelawney's room and he turned to see that his Divination Professor had become ridged and the words seemed to come out of her like she wasn't in control of herself. "The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant that had been bound by fear these last twelve years will face those that he betrayed. Tonight, before midnight … the servant will set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. Tonight … before midnight … the servant … will set out … to rejoin … his master …"

Harry gaped at Trelawney as she said this. Was this some kind of joke that she was pulling on him, trying to scare him into believing that she could tell the future? Or was this a real prediction? He could tell without a doubt that she was talking about Pettigrew, but how would she know about the things she had said?

"Oh Harry, sorry … I must have dozed off there," Trelawney said in her normal voice, for the world looking like she had no idea what she had just said.

"Professor …" Harry said slowly. "You just said that the servant would return to his master …"

"What?" Trelawney said looking at him curiously, "I'm sorry dear, I have no idea what you're talking about. Perhaps you had dozed off as well."

"Yeah, maybe," Harry said, leaving the room feeling odd. He was sure that Trelawney had no idea about what she had just said. He didn't like this at all. Was she right about the servant … about Voldemort coming back … He wasn't sure, but all he knew was that he had to get to his friends as quickly as possible and finding Sirius or Remus wouldn't be a bad idea either.

A/N: I feel like the last few chapters have been a little slower than I would have liked them to be and this chapter isn't that action packed either, but I still don't really know how I want to end this year. I know I want Pettigrew to come, but I can't really see why he would, nor do I see how everything will work out in the end. Which is why I've been putting this chapter off so much. Oh well, I guess I have a week to think something up, hope it turns out good.