Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, as you all know

Chapter Thirty

Rain, Thunder and Lightning

All anyone could talk about over the next few days was Sirius Black's break-in. Maisie and Diana had been in the spotlight, and Diana finally knew how Harry felt. Having people bug you and ask you questions all the time was annoying.

Ginny, Jamie and Colin had formed their own trio. Not that they weren't still friends with the others, but they just weren't seeing them as much. This wasn't a surprise to Diana. She knew from the moment they were separated into different houses that their friendships wouldn't last, not really.

Meanwhile, according to Harry, Oliver Wood had been training the Gryffindor Team harder than ever, as the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin drew nearer and nearer. One day though, Harry came back with some bad news.

"Slytherin aren't playing," said Harry angrily, leaning against the wall.

"You're not playing?" Diana asked.

"No, worse. We're playing against Hufflepuff." Harry wiped the mud off his glasses, looking outraged.

Diana knew why Harry was so mad. For the first time in their life, Harry and Diana would be on different sides.

"It's just Quidditch," Diana said, trying to cheer Harry up.

"You wouldn't understand," Harry muttered, walking away.

Diana huffed under her breath. It wasn't fair of Harry to say that. She'd never really seen the point of Quidditch, and never really liked it. She thought it was too confusing. But she certainly understood the tension it brought.

Diana woke up on the day of the match feeling nervous. A storm had been brewing that night, and she could hear the thunder rumbling and the raining hammering against the windows. She'd only ever seen a few games of Quidditch, but knew it would be easy for Harry to get knocked off his broom.

Maisie was already awake. "Excited?" she asked, grinning.

"No," Diana replied. "I'm not excited. Not only will there be a 50% chance Harry will be knocked off his broom in the rain, but we'll have to be out in the weather for hours on end."

"It can't be that bad. It'll stop after a while," Maisie predicted. But her face fell as she opened the window.

"Harry better be tough," she spluttered, wiping the raindrops off her face. "That's some weather."

"But it's not just that," Diana admitted. "Lately, Harry's been acting really angry. I'm worried that if Hufflepuff win, he'll blame me."

"He's just angry at Black," Maisie informed her. "He's angry at him because Black ran into you, and he's angry at that Slytherin boy, Draco Malfoy, for faking his injury."

Diana exhaled. She'd been wondering if Harry had been angry at her for some reason. But the feeling that he would be hurt in the match didn't go away.

Diana and Maisie headed to the Quidditch Arena soaking wet.

"Horrible weather," Maisie muttered angrily.

"You're lucky I brought an umbrella," Diana said, taking out an umbrella from her bag.

Suddenly she spotted Alfred, looking rather peaky.

"Hi Alfred!" Diana called.

Alfred started and looked towards her. "Hi Diana," he mumbled. "Hi Maisie."

Diana wondered why he looked so gloomy. He had his hands in his pockets and looked as though he was devastated.

"A cat was found dead in the Forbidden Forest a few days ago, with horrible bite marks and claws in it," Maisie explained.

"Was it Alfred's cat?" enquired Diana.

Maisie looked angry with herself. "Oh - of course! It was his cat!"

"What was it called?" asked Diana, getting the feeling that Maisie was hiding something.

"Uh, Emerald," Maisie said, shivering in the rain. "His cat was called Emerald."

Diana got the feeling Maisie wasn't telling her something - something about Alfred.

Diana and Maisie sat down on the soaking wet benches.

"Lovely," said Maisie. "Just lovely."

"You're definitely pleased with this weather," Diana summed up, sitting down.

Suddenly lighting struck somewhere in the Forbidden Forest, and Diana heard the crash of several trees falling down.

"Some storm," grumbled Maisie.

Madam Hooch pressed her whistle to her lips and the teams were off, racing through the sky.

They were playing for hours. The sky was darkening and Harry zoomed around the pitch looking as though he had no clue what he was doing. He probably didn't. His glasses must've made it hard for him. Diana could barely see through the weather as well. Maisie continued to grumble angrily about the weather.

With the first flash of lightning came the sound of Madam Hooch's whistle. The Gryffindor Team went for a timeout, and Hermione came down and put a spell on Harry's glasses.

"It's pouring!" Maisie complained as the weather got worse.

"Shut up about the weather," snapped Diana, watching Harry zoom around looking as though he could finally see where he was going.

"Harry!" Oliver Wood roared from the Gryffindor goalposts. "Behind you!"

Harry turned around and started heading towards something, something no one but he and Cedric Diggory could see through all the rain. Diana watched tensely as Harry stretched out his hand, but then to her horror, hundred of dementors started gliding onto the pitch.

Many people started screaming. Diana felt the cold rush over her, and she turned to Maisie. But Maisie's angry mutters turned to gasps of horror, and Diana looked around and saw Harry falling, his broom starting to zoom away in the wind.

It was fifty feet, Harry would never survive the fall. But before he could hit the ground, Dumbledore ran onto the pitch, pulled out his wand and yelled something, and Harry slowed down.

"The dementors," Diana muttered shakily to herself. "He collapses near dementors."

Dumbledore conjured up a silver Phoenix with his wand, and the dementors hurried away. Diana looked at his ancient face, and saw that he looked absolutely furious with the dementors.

"Come on," Diana muttered, pulling Maisie up while watching Dumbledore carry Harry away on a stretcher. "Let's go."

Diana, Maisie, Ron, Hermione and the Gryffindor Team crowded round a bed in the hospital wing. The Gryffindor Team were chatting rapidly, but sounding sinister. Maisie was attempting to dry her shirt, whacking it with her wand. Ron and Hermione were whispering tensely, but Diana didn't feel like talking. In truth, she didn't know how she felt.

"Lucky the ground was so soft," said Chaser Alicia Spinnet.

"I thought he was dead for sure," Maisie said, giving up trying to dry herself.

"But he didn't even break his glasses," Hermione said.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life," Katie Bell said.

Harry's eyes snapped open suddenly, and several people jumped.

"Harry!" exclaimed Fred Weasley. "How're you feeling."

"What happened," groaned Harry, sitting up.

"You fell what must've been fifty feet," Diana said. People stared at her. She hadn't said a word since Harry fell, but she felt she ought to now.

"We thought you'd died," Alicia informed him.

"But the match," asked Harry. "What happened? Are we having a replay."

Everyone sat silently.

"We didn't lose?"

"Cedric got the snitch after you fell," Maisie said. "He didn't see what happened. He said he wanted a rematch. But we'd already won."

Diana could tell it was only the seriousness of the situation that was stopping Maisie from jumping up and down happily.

Harry put his face to his knees. Fred shook his shoulder roughly.

"Come on, Harry, you've never missed the snitch before. There had to be one time you didn't get it."

"It's not over yet," said George. "We lost by a hundred points, right? So if Hufflepuff lose to Ravenclaw and we beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin..."

"Hufflepuff'll have to lose by at least two hundred points," Fred pointed out.

"But if they beat Ravenclaw..."

"No way, Ravenclaw are too good. But if Slytherin lose against Hufflepuff..."

"It all depends on the points - a margin of a hundred either way..."

"Where's Wood?" said Harry abruptly, looking around.

"Still in the showers," Fred answered. "We think he's trying to drown himself."

Harry sat in silence. After ten minutes or so, Madam Pomfrey came over to tell the team to leave him in peace.

"We'll see you later, Harry," Fred told Harry. "Don't beat yourself up, Harry, you're still the best Seeker we've ever had."

The team trooped away, leaving just Diana, Maisie, Ron and Hermione.

"Dumbledore was really angry," said Hermione. "I've never seen him like that before. He ran onto the pitch as you fell, waved his wand, and you sort of slowed down before you hit the ground. Then he whirled just wand at the dementors and a silver Phoenix came out of his wand. They left the stadium immediately... Dumbledore was furious they'd come into the grounds, we heard him-"

"Then he magicked you onto a stretcher," Ron said. "And walked up to the school with you floating on it. Everyone thought you were..."

There was a tense silence, broken by Harry.

"Did someone get my Nimbus?"

Diana and Maisie looked quickly at each other, and so did Ron and Hermione.

"Er-"

"What?" Harry asked, looking at all of them.

"Well... when you fell off, it got blown away," said Hermione hesitantly.

"And?"

"And it hit - it hit - oh Harry, it hit the Whomping Willow."

Diana knew for a fact that the Whomping Willow was a very vicious tree that stood in the middle of the Hogwarts grounds.

"And?" asked Harry.

"Well, you know the Whomping Willow," replied Ron. "It - it doesn't like being hit."

"Professor Flitwick brought it back just before you came round," said Hermione in a small voice.

Diana watched as Harry stared at the broken remainders of his faithful Nimbus 2000, finally beaten.