The issue of Sirius Black and her mum had been plaguing Christina for several days, but she'd had to postpone any kind of investigation into the matter because of the approaching quidditch match. Apparently last year's tournament had been cut short because of the whole thing with the chamber of secrets, and now the whole school was hankering for a proper quidditch tournament.

Derrick was fully supporting Hufflepuff in the upcoming match and had taken to wearing a bright yellow cape with a badger painted on the back around the school. Christina and Abigail attempted to show him up by making lion capes at a Gryffindor poster-making party, but neither of them were great artists and the lions looked more like mutant golden retrievers. Sam was actively not taking sides and refused to wear a cape of any kind.

The day before the match, excitement running high, they went into defense class only to find Snape, in all his creepy glory, sitting where Lupin usually sat.

"Sit down, all of you. There will be no need for foolish wand-waving today."

"Excuse me sir, where's Professor Lupin?" Asked Derrick.

"Professor Lupin is ill today." Said Snape as he closed the window shades, plunging the room into darkness. "Turn to page 394."

Page 394 was near the back of the book and it was on werewolves, completely different from the simple dueling lessons they'd been doing.

"Didn't Professor Lupin leave a lesson plan?" Asked Andy. "I thought he wanted us to keep practicing Expeliarmus!"

"I am teaching today and you will do what I say, Sommers." Snape snarled. "Now turn to page 394." He stepped up to the front of the class. "We will be studying werewolves. Do any of you know what a werewolf is?"

"It's a human who changes into a wolf-like creature against their will, every month at the full moon." Said a Slytherin.

"Excellent. Ten points to Slytherin. Now, start reading. I want two rolls of parchment by Monday all about werewolves, with special emphasis on how to recognize one."

"But why werewolves?" Sam whispered to Christina. Christina shrugged.

"Did I give permission to speak?" Said Snape. "Ten points from Gryffindor."

"I'm not in Gryffindor, Christina is and she didn't even say anything." Said Sam. "If you're going to dock points, do so fairly."

"Fine. Ten points from Ravenclaw and detention for you, Miss Larkin."

Sam scowled at Snape and opened her book.

. . .

The next morning was cold and rainy, but Gryffindor house turned out anyway for the match. Everyone was bundled up in hats and scarves, and most students had umbrellas or plastic ponchos.

"Did you know Harry Potter's the youngest house seeker in a century?" Paolo shouted over the wind and rain as they headed out to the stands. "He's incredible! He caught the snitch in his mouth once!"

"Yeah, well, Cedric Diggory's better!" Said Derrick hotly. "He's a phenomenal player and he's literally the nicest person!"

"Nice doesn't matter on the quidditch pitch!" Said Paolo. "Diggory's no match for Potter. You'll see!"

"How long do quidditch matches last?" Asked Christina. "I want to get started on my herbology homework. Plus we've got Snape's essay."

"It only ends when the seeker catches the snitch." Said Paolo. "Which could be a while, in these conditions. Sometimes matches can go for days at a time."

"Hufflepuff's not a strong contender." Said Nora, who was walking between Andy and Paolo. "I think the match'll be over pretty quickly."

"Look, there's an open bench over there!" Said Sam. "You'll want to go higher up to get a better view of the players."

"All right, let's get it before someone else does." Nora ran over and stood on the bench, spreading her arms wide to claim it. "You lot can borrow my omniculars if you want, they're great for seeing what's actually happening on the pitch."

Down on the pitch, Madam Hooch released the balls and the players took to the air.

"Johnson starts out with the quaffle!" Lee Jordan shouted into his megaphone. "A swift pass to Spinnet, and Gryffindor is looking good. Potter and Diggory are circling to find the snitch. It's going to be very hard to spot in these conditions, folks!"

"How big is the snitch again?" Asked Abigail.

"It's about the size of a walnut." Said Sam. "Hard to find even on a clear day."

"And Gryffindor scores!" Lee shouted. The Gryffindor section leapt from their seats and began cheering and waving flags.

At some point Nora passed her omniculars to Christina and she trained them on the players. There was Wood, hovering in front of the goalposts, like he was only a few feet away. She moved them up to see Diggory, hovering in the air. Harry was a little further left, scanning the pitch with the same motion Diggory was. She turned the slow motion knob to watch Fred and George perfectly sink a bludger into the Hufflepuff keeper's face, allowing Alicia Spinnet to score.

"And the quaffle is back with Hufflepuff chaser Higgins!" Lee yelled. Christina pulled the omniculars away to see Hufflepuff zoom forward with the quaffle in real time.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Said Nora as Christina pried the ominculars off her face. "Just don't do the slow motion too much or you'll lose track of what's happening in real time."

Christina nodded and passed them back to Nora, who handed them off to Andy just in time to see a blunger narrowly miss Wood.

The weather got worse and worse throughout the match, with the strong wind and rain beating up on everyone. It only seemed to get colder as it went on, but then the temperature dropped sharply.

Despite already being quite tall, Nora had climbed up on the bench to get a better view. "Ohmigod!" She screamed. "Guys, look!"

Dementors were swarming the field, fluttering among the players. Christina felt the familiar cold feeling sink into her bones and could hear the woman's voice screaming again.

"Potter's fallen off his broom!" Andy shouted. His voice seemed a long way off. The woman's screams were getting louder, and Christina's vision was starting to go black. She tried to stay grounded at the quidditch pitch, but then her knees buckled and she fell face-first into the bleachers.

When Christina regained consciousness she was lying on her back in the hospital wing. She reached up to touch her aching forehead and found it was wrapped in a heavy bandage.

"What happened?"

"You passed out again." Said Sam, who looked very pale. "We were all watching Potter fall off his broom, and none of us noticed that you were affected too until it was too late. I'm sorry. You face-planted into the bleachers. Derrick picked you up and took you inside."

Christina looked up at Derrick. His sweater was covered in blood. "Is that all mine? Was I bleeding?"

"You split your forehead open on the bleacher in front of us." Said Derrick.

"Head wounds can bleed a lot sometimes, which makes them seem scarier than they actually are." Said Madame Pomfrey. "You've had a nasty bump, but you'll be fine. Are you in any pain? There's a pain relief potion on this table, along with some chocolate. Chocolate helps greatly after a dementor attack, so I insist that you eat some. Now if you'll excuse me, I must attend to Mister Potter."

"What happened to Harry? What happened to the match?"

"Harry fell a long way until Professor Dumbledore used a spell to slow him down." Said Sam. "He was unconscious for a long time. Diggory caught the snitch right after."

"He was calling for a rematch." Said Derrick. "Said it wasn't fair. Gotta love him."

"So Gryffindor lost?"

Sam nodded. "It was horrible. Gryffindor should've won against a team like Hufflepuff. No offense, Derrick. Oliver Wood's distraught."

Christina peeked around the edge of the curtain between the beds to see Harry surrounded by other members of the Gryffindor team. Wood was notably absent.

Sam checked her watch. "I've got detention with Snape in ten minutes. Are you going to be all right, Christina?"

"I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Said Derrick. "I want to go change into a clean sweater, but I don't want to leave you alone."

"No, you guys go on ahead. I want to ask Potter something."

Christina waited until the other members of the Gryffindor team had drifted away to take showers, and it was just Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the shattered remains of the Nimbus 2000 left. She'd have better luck talking to him with fewer people around. She chugged the pain relief potion, crammed a square of chocolate into her mouth, then took and deep breath and got up to go and see Harry.

"Excuse me? Harry Potter? Can I talk to you for a sec?"

The three of them stared at her. Christina realized she looked a little odd, soaking wet with a bloody bandage on her head and chocolate smeared on her hands.

"Err . . . ok. Christina, right? First year?" Harry sounded confused but polite.

Hermione nodded and dragged Ron away.

"Look, I wanted to ask you—err—well—do you know why you keep passing out when the dementors are around?"

"No, and I'd appreciate it if people would stop gossiping about it!"

"No, it's not that! It's that I passed out too, first on the train and then at the match. I hit the bleachers when I fell and cracked my head open." Christina touched the bandage on her forehead. "I don't know why it happens. I heard it happened to you too and I was hoping maybe you knew."

"No, I don't." His voice was quieter this time. "I wish I did. I really do. I'm sorry."

"That's all right. Hey, have you had any chocolate yet? Madame Pomfrey says it's good for dementor attacks. She left some by my bed." She reached around the curtain, grabbed a piece, and handed it to him. "Sorry about your broom, by the way."