Chapter 8

October blew in and passed surprisingly quickly. Harry had been so distracted by homework, Quidditch practice, and library searching in the Dark Arts books that he was surprised to find it was already the last Saturday in October. Halloween and the Halloween Dance were the upcoming Monday. They hadn't found a single thing yet on defeating anyone as powerful as Voldemort. There was a Quidditch match scheduled for today Harry remembered suddenly as he woke up that Saturday morning. He glanced at the clock and was informed that it was already 10:30. The match started at 11:00! Harry jumped out of bed and without showering, changed into his green Quidditch robes. He then sprinted downstairs to find an irritated Ryan waiting for him.
"Harry, where have you been? The match starts in fifteen minutes we barley have time to eat! The girls went downstairs half an hour ago and left me to wait for you."
"Sorry, I overslept." Harry however, didn't mind if he had to skip breakfast. He didn't feel much like eating.
"I couldn't tell." Ryan replied as they climbed through the pirate ship portrait and raced down to the dining hall.
"Where have you guys been?" Megan asked when they arrived at the Emerald table four minutes later.
"Harry overslept." Ryan told them.
"We kind of figured that." Lizzie said taking another bite of her cereal.

Harry could tell Ryan was nervous. He would pick up his toast and put it down without taking a bite only to pick it up once more. Harry himself wouldn't have eaten anything if it hadn't been for Lizzie. She kept insisting that he eat something and finally ended up shoving some waffle in his mouth while he wasn't looking.
"There. Don't you feel much better?" Lizzie asked.
"Just great." Harry replied sarcastically while chocking down his waffle.
"Well, we're going to head down for the pitch now. Good luck! See you guys after the match." And the girls left Harry and Ryan to finish, or rather not finish their breakfast. Five minutes after the girls had left, Harry and Ryan departed through the great front doors and ran down the mountain, turning left at the bottom onto the Quidditch pitch.
The pitch looked vaguely similar to Hogwarts'. The frame was the same with the pitch in the middle and the bleachers surrounding the pitch on all sides. Instead of grass however, there was sand on the ground and it was much windier here as they were at the beach. It was very sunny and very windy. Not bad Quidditch weather but it would be better if there wasn't so much wind Harry thought as he and Ryan headed for the lockers. In the locker room, the captain, Katie Laughlin was giving them a pre-game speech.
"Ok team. It's the first match of the year. The first match ever. I haven't seen Diamond's team yet but I'm guessing that they're fairly good..." Harry hadn't been this nervous since his very first Quidditch game at Hogwarts.
"We've practiced long and hard and I'm sure we can beat this team..."
Oh well, he figured that even if he threw up, which he felt like doing, they had a good replacement seeker.
"So go out there and give it your all. Lets try to start the season out on the right foot."
Just as Katie finished, he heard some magnified voices from outside. He knew those voices. Lizzie? Megan? Lizzie and Megan were doing the commentary. Why hadn't they told him and Ryan? He heard Lizzie's voice again.
"Welcome to the first Quidditch match of the year, Emerald vs. Diamond."
Then Megan, "And now we'd like to present to you the teams. On Diamond's team, Captain: Peter Nolan, Melissa McGrath, Matt Morris, Craig Danato, Adam Harris, Lauren Lane, and Steven Cromwell!"
Harry could see from where he was standing the Diamond team walk onto the pitch smugly and bow to the crowd. Harry noticed that only 1/4 of the crowd and the teachers were clapping for them. The rest were silent.
"Which ones are the two girls?" Harry whispered to Ryan.
"I don't know, I could've sworn I heard Megan say two girls names, Lauren and Melissa." Ryan replied
"As far as I can tell, the whole team looks like all boys." Harry told him trying to smooth out the wrinkles in his robes.
"Oh there they are. The ones with the kind of long hair!" Ryan pointed to two very un-feminine looking girls scowling at the crowd.
"I could've sworn they were guys if it hadn't been for the long hair." Harry remarked, "Boy, I feel sorry for whoever ends up going to the Halloween Dance with them."
Then he noticed that almost the entire school was there. A huge lump formed in his throat.
Lizzie could now be heard again,
"And Emerald's team, Captain: Katie Laughlin, James Pollbin, Bob Martell, Kara Denver, Julie Denver, Ryan Relleh and Harry Potter!"
Harry followed his teammates out onto the pitch. The applause for his team was much louder than that of Diamond's. Ms. Carvinglow then walked onto the pitch and told the captains to shake hands. Katie and the mean-looking Diamond captain grasped each other's hands briefly.
"Mount your brooms!" Ms. Carvinglow told the players.
Harry swung his leg over his Firebolt and at the whistle kicked off into the air. He heard Megan, "And they're off. Diamond in possession..." A breeze was blowing him slightly to the right. He would have to keep his broom slanted to the left a bit to stay straight he noted flying high over all of the other players.
He turned his ears back to the commentary while still looking for the snitch. It was Lizzie's voice now,
"And Morris has the Quaffle. Pass to McGrath. McGrath goes to score. Oh and he's hit by a buldger. What a shame what a shame."
Megan,
"Laughlin is in control of the Quaffle now. Pass to Martell, back to Laughlin, pass to Pollbin. Oh no! the pass is intercepted by Harris. Wait, no Martell has gotten control of the Quaffle again. Pass to Laughlin... Laughlin scores!!!!!!!!!!"
The crowd cheered at this. Lizzie came back,
"There has been no sign of the snitch yet. Emerald is leading 10-0. Diamond in possession..."
Harry flew in a few circles around the pitch trying to throw the other seeker off. Then the thought struck him. The Wronski Fient! He had wanted to try the Wronski Fient since he had seen it at the Quidditch World Cup last year. If Hermione's boyfriend who can't even pronounce her name right can do it than why can't I he reasoned? The score was now 60-50 Diamond.
Harry then decided to try it.
He hesitantly pushed the nose of his broomstick downward and went into a very steep dive. The Diamond seeker was following, thinking Harry had seen the snitch. On his way down he actually spotted it. The snitch was about fifty feet above him and rising as he continued his dive. About five feet from the ground, Harry pulled out of the dive shooting upward on a direct line towards the snitch. Before the Diamond seeker had realized what he had done, Harry had caught the snitch and was flying around the field triumphantly, his right arm raised in the air. The crowd was applauding and Lizzie and Megan had finally realized that he had the snitch.
"Potter has the snitch! Emerald's won 160-60!"
Harry handed the snitch to Ms. Carvinglow and flew back to the ground.
Ryan was gaping open-mouthed at him. The twins said,
"Wow Harry! That dive thingy you did was really cool!"
"Nice Wronski Fient Potter." Katie told him, and then turned to explain to the twins just exactly what "that dive thingy" Harry had just done was.
Harry managed to mutter a "Thanks you were all really great too! It wasn't that big a deal," still in disbelief that it had actually worked. He wished that Ron could've been there to see it.
"C'mon Harry. Lets get back to Emerald Tower and take a shower. Hey I made a rhyme haha."
"Whatever. Ok let's go." Harry replied hitting Ryan on the head with his broom.

Once they were back at Emerald tower, there were mobs of people surrounding them and yelling out "Congrats on the win guys." "Great catch Potter!" and "Good Job Keeper." They finally made their way through mob of people that was an obvious sign meaning there's-going-to-be-a-party-here-soon to the dorm to shower.





Harry woke up on Monday morning, Halloween, to find that all of his classes were still scheduled. He had been hoping that since it was Halloween they would have the day off but he had no such luck. He dressed, grabbed his books and headed down to breakfast as he usually did on a Monday morning. He sat down next to Megan, the only other one up and looked around at the hall. There were decorations everywhere. The hall had more decorations if possible than Hogwarts had ever had. There were real bats hanging upside down from the ceiling and the tables had been enchanted to change from their original color of Green, Purple, Red, or White, to Orange and Black. There were also Orange and Black streamers hanging from the ceiling. Looking up at the ceiling, Harry saw Ron, Hermione and Nevelle eating breakfast at the Gryffindor table. Harry tried to look up as little as possible because seeing Ron and Hermione but not having them see him or hear him made him very depressed. As he was finishing his strange, orange pumpkin shaped pancake Lizzie and Ryan came down.
"Now who're the ones who overslept?" Harry asked the disheveled looking Ryan and Lizzie.
Lizzie sighed exasperatingly and Ryan just grunted at him.
Tonight's the Halloween Dance Harry remembered, and Lizzie hasn't said anything about it yet.
"Hey Harry?" Lizzie started.
"Yeah?"
"Meet me in the common room at 7:30 and we can go down to the dance from there. You know, as friends."
"Ok." Harry replied, relieved that they were still going together. Why'd she keep saying "just as friends?" He wished she wouldn't. He wanted to be more than her friend.
They headed to the Transfiguration classroom moments later. Ryan had orange cream cheese all over his face from falling asleep in his bagel. No one bothered to tell him this though.
"Hello Class!" Professor Allaw greeted them merrily. "Happy Halloween. Since it's Halloween, I will give you a free period. You may do whatever you like as long as you stay in here and don't blow anything up."
The class cheered. Harry, Lizzie, Megan, and Ryan played poker with Lizzie's cards betting on things they didn't really have.
Professor Allaw was the only Professor nice enough to give them the period free on Halloween. All of the other professors continued their lessons as usual. Time seemed to pass so slowly. Harry couldn't wait for the dance tonight. Finally, the bell rang and ended the last class. Astronomy was canceled because of the dance. It was 4:00 and Harry figured it would take him about a half an hour to shower and get dressed. He had no clue as to why Lizzie needed 3 and a half hours to get ready. Megan was meeting Ryan at 7:30 too. Harry really didn't understand girls at all. He and Ryan both headed for the common room and took showers. Harry dressed in his emerald green dress robes from last year. They still fit him even though he had grown about three inches over the summer. Ryan wore some horrid looking blood red robes but Harry didn't say anything about these. He and Ryan tried desperately for at least fifteen minutes to flatten Harry's hair but after five bottles of hair gel, tons of water and enough combing that Harry was surprised his head hadn't fallen off; they hadn't even managed to get even his bangs to stay flat. Harry washed his hair again because of all the gel in it and just let it be in its usual messy state. He was surprised to find that it was already 6:00.
He and Ryan went down to the common room and sat, and waited and sat some more. Finally they decided to play a game of wizard chess. They watched couples leave the common room and figured that they would probably be the last ones down there.
Finally, Megan came downstairs but to Harry's disappointment without Lizzie. She looked very nice, Harry thought, in light blue dress robes that brought out her blue eyes and seemed to calm down her flaming hair, which was tied up in some sort of braid twist. The robes would change between different shades of blues as she moved going from light, to dark, to royal, to baby blue.
"Lizzie said she'll be down in five minutes." Megan told him.
"Bye Harry. See you downstairs." Ryan told him staring at Megan all the while. They left through the portrait hole and left Harry alone. He was the only one left in the common room. In exactly five minutes-he had been watching the clock on the wall- he heard the door of the girls dorm squeak. He sat up and waited.
Lizzie came down the staircase.
"Hi Harry." She said.
Harry gaped at her. She looked beautiful. She was wearing silvery robes that changed different colors of the rainbow as she moved. She had only a little makeup on, some silvery stuff on here eyes that shimmered when she blinked and a light, light shade of lipstick on. She was wearing no jewelry except for a charm bracelet on her right wrist. Her blonde hair was half up and half down and twinkled like she had put some sort of charm on it, which she probably had.
"Wow." Was all he could say.
"Uh, thanks I think." Lizzie said unsurely. Maybe she had too much makeup on. She thought.
"No I mean wow! You look great." Harry told her and meant every word of it.
"Thanks," she smiled at him, "Shall we go to the dance then?"
"Of course." He said taking her arm.
They walked down to the dining hall in silence. The hall looked fantastic. The Halloween decorations were still up but there were real fairies flying around providing light. The tables were pushed up against the walls and people were dancing in the middle of the floor. Harry couldn't tell where the music was coming from.
"Wow! It's really beautiful in here." Lizzie told him.
"Yeah." He replied.
They went over to the table with food on it and each ate a mini sandwich and drank some punch. Harry then noticed that Megan and Ryan were one of the couples dancing. He also noticed that the two boyish-looking girls on the Diamond Quidditch team did not have dates. He laughed silently at this.
"Do you want to dance?" Harry asked looking at the floor.
"Sure why not?" She asked.
They walked out onto the floor and Harry put his hands on her waist. She put her hands on his shoulders and rested her head on his chest and they danced... and danced... and danced. Harry felt something, he wasn't sure what but if felt nice. He wondered if Lizzie felt the same thing. They danced almost the entire time, not even stopping when the music stopped. Finally, they decided to take a break. Harry was in a rather happy mood at the moment. He had only stepped on her feet twice. Lizzie was also in a very happy mood, he had only stepped on my feet twice, she thought. (A/N wait that's not right, let me try that again) Lizzie was also in a very happy mood at the moment, she had danced for at least two hours with Harry and now she knew, she had felt it. She loved him. Maybe it was only a crush before but now she knew...
They walked outside onto the small deck, lighted only by fairies and sat down gazing up at the stars. Harry noticed that she was shivering and put his arm around her. He wondered where Megan and Ryan were right now. They usually didn't give Harry or Lizzie a moment's peace when they were alone together. Lizzie looked into Harry's eyes and Harry looked back, they leaned closer and closer and suddenly, their lips met. The kiss was only for a few brief seconds, but that didn't matter they were the best few seconds either of them had had in a while. Lizzie broke the kiss first, and settled comfortably in Harry's arms, happy just to be with him. Harry put both of his arms around Lizzie, happy just to be with her. They sat like that for a while when suddenly; an owl could be seen flying towards them. It landed right in front of them and held out its leg towards Lizzie. Harry let go of her reluctantly; he didn't want this moment to end. She bent forward and untied the letter. She unrolled it and read the letter. Harry watched her face drop in what seemed to be horror. Suddenly, tears started pouring from her eyes and there was a small pop. She had turned into an owl! She started flying away. Harry called for her to come back but stopped when he realized she was only flying back to the girls dorm. She had dropped the letter. Harry picked it up. It read:

Miss, Candence,
We are very sorry to inform you that Lord Voldemort has recently murdered you parents and sister. When term ends, you will be staying with your grandparents in Maine.

The Ministry of Magic
Department 9388 New York, Unites States of America

No wonder she was so upset. He decided he would let her alone for the time being. He went back inside and found Megan and Ryan sitting at the table talking. He went over to them and told them what happened, leaving out the kiss. They gaped at him in horror.
"Poor, Lizzie." Megan said, "I think I'll go talk to her."
"Maybe you shouldn't," Harry told her, "I think she wants to be left alone."
"Yeah. My dad died when I was seven, murdered by You-Know-Who and I didn't want to talk to anyone for weeks." Ryan commented sighing, "My mum and I just barley escaped."
"The Dance is almost over, we should probably just go back to the common rooms."
Megan informed them. Harry saw that many people were leaving also.
"Ok." Harry and Ryan agreed and the started up for the common room.

Harry lay in bed. It wasn't exactly the end to the night he had expected. He had been thinking for a while. Voldemort had murdered his parents, and Lizzie's, and Ryan's dad and didn't Megan say that she was adopted? It all seemed very strange. Harry had almost been killed and so had Ryan. Voldemort must've thought for some strange reason that Lizzie was at home. Megan really couldn't remember anything from earlier than three, when she was adopted. Maybe he had tried to kill her too. Voldemort knew something that they didn't Harry was sure. He couldn't sleep however. The heat in the boys dorm appeared to be broken and he was practically freezing to death. He decided he would go downstairs and sit in front of the fire. At least he would be warm there. As he was walking downstairs he heard a noise. It sounded like someone crying and it was just that. Harry walked into the common room and saw Lizzie sitting on the couch staring into the fire hugging a pillow and crying. He went over and sat next to her not saying a word.
"It's not fair." She suddenly said.
"Why me? Why'd he kill them? They never did anything to him!"
Harry put his arm around her and drew her to him. She didn't make any resistance.
"I know. I know." He said trying to comfort her.
Lizzie fell asleep in Harry's arms and Harry didn't move from where he was. He didn't want to wake her up and he was so comfortable that he soon drifted off to sleep as well.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Harry's Dream *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He, Lizzie, Ryan, Megan, Ron and Hermione were in the cave again. This time there were no turns. They seemed to know where they were going now. No one was injured anymore. There seemed to be a faint, white light now surrounding each of them, but not Ron or Hermione. There was also a light coming from the end of the cave. The voice was getting louder. Harry, Harry, Harry. It called. Harry tried to ignore it although it pounded in his ears. The light around the four of them seemed to grow brighter and brighter as they advanced into the cave yet there was still no light around Ron or Hermione. Only the four of them glowed, the four of them...






A/N Thanks for all the reviews. I promise this is going somewhere. Next Chapter: Another Quidditch Match and Harry, Megan, Lizzie, and Ryan find the key to defeating Voldemort. Then in Chapter 10 it'll be Christmas and I promise Ron and Hermione will come into the story again. Disclaimer: Harry & company belong to JK and everyone else (who you've never heard of) belongs to me! Must I do one of these every chapter? Anyway review. Tell me what you want. More romance or more action? I can do both if you want. That was my first time writing anything romantic so don't flame me if it sucked. I'm terribly sorry for those of you who had other ideas for Harry's love life but right now I don't think he can handle a long distance relationship (Ginny, Hermione, Cho ect...) J/K J/K