Summary: As the smoke clears, will Harry and Ginny be OK? And was Professor Trelawny right all along?
Author's Notes: See end of story.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to JK Rowling, except for a couple I've added.
Harry had managed to slow his fall, but was still thrown to the ground. He landed hard, and lay winded, face down. He had lost his glasses and his elbow hurt, but he didn't think there was anything broken. There was still noise, smoke and confusion all around. He could hear Professor McGonagall shouting for calm. He clambered painfully to his hands and knees and looked around. He couldn't see very far but he could see Dean Thomas nearby, sitting on the ground looking dazed but otherwise unhurt. Harry turned his head, and felt his stomach plummet as he saw another figure lying, unmoving, on the grass only a few feet away. It was Ginny.
A sick feeling enveloped Harry as he crawled towards her. He knelt beside her and was hugely relieved to see that she was breathing. But she was very pale, her eyes were closed and there was blood oozing down her face from a large bump on her forehead. Her broomstick lay nearby.
"Ginny! Are you all right?" Harry whispered, but she gave no sign of having heard him. He crouched over her, putting an arm round her shoulders and brushing a few bits of debris out of her dusty hair. Something clenched in his own chest as he felt her heart beating rapidly against his arm.
"You'll be all right, Ginny," he whispered in her ear, a strange feeling of protectiveness coming over him. "I know you will. Please - say something?"
But she was still, and silent.
"Harry! Harry, where are you?" Voices were shouting, getting nearer. The smoke was starting to clear, and Harry looked up to see many figures milling around. Professor McGonagall and the other teachers were ordering people about, and doing enchantments to get rid of the smoke and extinguish a few bits of wood still smouldering on the ground. Harry could see Professor Snape in the distance, conjuring up stretchers for the fallen Slytherins. He was glad to see Rosalie and Tony both on their feet, although Rosalie appeared to be limping and Tony was looking miserably at his damaged broomstick.
"Harry, thank goodness you're alive!" Ron and Hermione had arrived, running. "Ginny!" Ron dropped to his knees next to the spot where Harry was supporting Ginny's unconscious figure.
"She's breathing, Ron, I think she's just knocked out - I hope so," Harry told him. Hermione picked up his battered glasses and handed them to him.
Madam Pomfrey had arrived on the scene. "More casualties? Can you walk up to the castle, Potter? You can? Good." She bent to examine Ginny. "I think she'll be all right - but we'll need a stretcher. Miss Granger, please go and tell Professor McGonagall I want all available staff helping in the hospital wing."
"What happened?" Harry asked Ron, as they stood, moments later, watching Ginny being lifted on to a stretcher.
Ron shrugged. "No idea. One minute we were watching the game, the next minute there was a big bang and smoke all over the place."
It took several hours for the confusion to subside. The teachers had cleared the Quidditch pitch as quickly as they could, and all the casualties had been taken to the hospital wing for Madam Pomfrey and her helpers to assess. Professor McGonagall had sent an owl to Professor Dumbledore, who had been summoned that morning to the Ministry of Magic in London, so had missed the match. The whole school was buzzing with speculation about what had happened.
Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let Ron, Harry or Hermione go into the hospital wing with Ginny because it was too crowded, so they had to wait outside for news, once Harry had been checked over himself and given a clean bill of health. Two hours later, Madam Pomfrey had come to tell them that Ginny had come round and spoken a few words, although she was still very groggy.
"She'll be fine after some rest and sleep," said Madam Pomfrey. "What's that, Weasley? Well, yes, you can just look in on your sister, but don't disturb her, I want her to sleep." She would only let Ron go in, and shooed him out again after he had seen Ginny for a few moments.
"She's still really pale," he reported to Harry and Hermione, "and she's got a bandage on her head, but it could be a lot worse. I'd better go and send an owl to Mum and Dad - coming?"
Harry and Hermione followed him down the corridor, Harry falling behind his two friends, reliving in his mind those terrible moments when he had feared Ginny might be dead. Something had changed for him in those moments, and he wasn't sure he would ever feel quite the same again.
By supper time it was all round the school that Dumbledore had arrived back from London, and that he and the other teachers were investigating what had happened during the Quidditch final. Rumours were flying about, but by the next morning the truth was beginning to emerge. And by the time Madam Pomfrey grudgingly agreed to let Ron, Harry and Hermione visit Ginny, they had a lot to tell her.
Ginny was sitting up in bed in the hospital wing, looking much better. "Madam Pomfrey says I've got to keep this bandage on for a week, but it's not too sore now - my awful headache is going away."
"Good." Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down around the bed.
"So - what happened to the other players?" Ginny asked, leaning forward eagerly. "I've asked Madam Pomfrey, but she keeps saying she's too busy to give me all the details. Are they all right?"
"It was a miracle no one was killed," said Hermione, "all of you falling as you did. And I'm amazed none of the spectators were injured."
"Apart from you, Leech was knocked out - but he's OK - and the Slytherin Keeper had a broken arm," Harry told her. "The rest of us all got off with bumps and bruises, I think. We were really lucky."
"Oh good. And what about the match - what's happening about the Cup?"
"Dumbledore's ordered a replay - next Friday, if everyone's fit enough," Harry said. "So don't worry - we're still going to win the Cup!"
Ginny smiled at Harry, and he felt that strange clenching feeling in his chest again. Then she frowned. "Did they find out what caused the explosion?"
Ron snorted in disgust. "Oh yeah. And I'll give you three guesses which cretin was behind it."
"Who?"
"Come on - sneaky expression, blond hair, Slytherin, name starts with M -?"
"Malfoy? But how did he do it? And why?" Ginny gasped.
"Well, 'why' he did it is obvious," said Ron. "He wanted to sabotage the match to get revenge for being banned from Quidditch."
Hermione took up the story. "So he buried a load of extra-strong fireworks from Zonko's in the pitch at one end. I don't suppose it occurred to him that people might get badly hurt, he just wanted to ruin the match. He was lurking a safe distance away, waiting for the right moment to set them off by magic."
"How did they find out it was Malfoy?" Ginny asked.
"He got one of the Slytherin second-years to help him bury the fireworks - that weedy kid, Mossop," said Ron. "Mossop panicked afterwards when he saw what they'd done, and confessed everything to McGonagall when she started asking questions."
"So how are they being punished?"
"Mossop's got detention for a week," said Harry, "and Malfoy's been suspended for the rest of term. I think Dumbledore wanted to expel him, but Malfoy's father managed to persuade the Governors to let him come back next term."
Ron looked disgusted. "Typical. Well, at least Dumbledore took two hundred points off Slytherin as well - so we're pretty sure to win the House Cup now even if we don't win the Quidditch on Friday."
Ginny smiled. "But we *will* win the Quidditch!"
Harry smiled back at her. "Of course we will!"
Hermione was looking thoughtful. "Harry - I've been thinking - d'you remember what Professor Trelawny said about your gift - the Truth-Teller?"
"What - that it would threaten my life - and save it?" said Harry.
"Yes. And - in a way - it has, hasn't it?" Hermione went on, seeing looks of puzzlement on Ron and Harry's faces. "I mean - if you hadn't used the Truth-Teller on Malfoy, he wouldn't have threatened your life by setting off those fireworks. And though you didn't take much notice of Professor Trelawny telling you to beware of the South -"
" - it *could* have saved my life, because the fireworks were at the south end of the pitch," finished Harry. "Yes - I suppose, in a way, she was right..."
"Sounds a bit far-fetched to me," grumbled Ron, "but then, when did you ever know one of Trelawny's predictions to be 100% accurate?"
Harry could think of one accurate prediction she had made, in their third year, but he didn't say anything. "Mm. No, I suppose this time she was pretty close to the truth - for her!" He wondered if the Truth-Teller would ever come in useful again - fortunately it had been undamaged by the explosion, and was now safely back in its box. Ron looked at his watch, then at Ginny. "Mum and Dad should be arriving any minute - they sent an owl to say they'd come and check on you this evening. I'd better go down to the Entrance Hall and wait for them."
"I'll come with you," said Hermione, also getting up. "Harry can stay here and keep Ginny company - you can talk about Quidditch!" She grinned at Harry as she followed Ron to the door.
When the other two had gone, Harry looked around. The hospital wing was fairly quiet. Leech was asleep in a bed on the far side of the room, but Madam Pomfrey had let all the other casualties go back to their Houses by now. He turned back to Ginny, who was starting to look tired. "So - has Torquil been in to visit you?" he asked, just making conversation.
A shadow crossed Ginny's face, and she looked away towards the window.
"Torquil and I broke up," she said abruptly. "A couple of days ago." She looked sad, and impulsively Harry put out a hand towards her. Ginny continued, "I couldn't cope with the Divination. He's so good at it - but I don't like it. It's a very uncomfortable thing, to know what's going to happen." She sighed. "Not just because of the whole exam trouble, but - well, I'd rather not know the future. I'd rather find out what's going to happen as I go along - wouldn't you?"
As she stopped speaking, she looked down at Harry's hand, still outstretched on the bedclothes. Harry looked down at it too. Then, slowly, Ginny reached out and touched his fingertips with her own. Harry took a deep breath and gently closed his fingers round hers. They sat very still for a moment, looking at their clasped hands.
"Yeah," Harry said, his voice sounding odd to his own ears. "Sometimes - things can happen when you aren't expecting them -"
"I know," said Ginny. "It's better that way." She looked up, and smiled a little. And they continued to sit very still, waiting for the others to return, and wondering about the future.
The End
Author's Notes: This one was really tough to finish - I wrote myself into a complicated plot and had serious trouble writing myself out of it! I hope I managed to resolve the loose ends to most people's satisfaction. When I started this story I hadn't planned any Harry/Ginny stuff at all, it just evolved. I really like writing about Ron and Hermione - and I have a very angsty twist planned for their relationship in a future story - ha ha!! - but couldn't make it fit in with this one, so they were sidelined in this one.
If you've got this far and read all 7 parts, thank you, I hope you enjoyed it and please review!