Chapter Five: The Quidditch Match
I'm sorry this took so long to update. I'll try to do better for the next chapter. The Internet server kept getting down, too.
Disclaimer: The plot, characters, and settings in this story all belong to J.K. Rowling. None of it belongs to me.
November was wet and rainy, and it gave Sirius the chills. Each night after hunting he would crawl into his makeshift bed in the forest, hoping it wouldn't rain tomorrow, or the day after, so he wouldn't feel so wet, miserable, and cold as he went to sleep. Each day it rained. Sirius scowled at the dark clouds in the sky as he woke up every morning. He hated the rain and the chills and was very bored with his hiding. He wished something would happen, a Quidditch game, anything. He occasionally watched the Gryffindor team practice in the fields, in the early morning, but he hadn't done that lately. It wouldn't hurt to see if they were out now. Stretching out his legs, Sirius bounded out of the forest in his doglike form, heading off toward the Quidditch pitch.
The Gryffindor team was practicing in the rain. Sirius saw Harry flying around the field and he smiled inwardly. He had spotted Harry in the scarlet robes another morning ago, talking to the Gryffindor Keeper and having fun flying. He looked so much like James that it scared Sirius sometimes. While watching Harry, the godfather often wondered whether he had been borne back into the past, been given a second chance, to save James and tell him his fate. However, he had to shake the thoughts out of his head once he caught a passing glance at Harry's Lily-like eyes. They were bright green, keen, and very clear. Once Sirius had seen them filled with sadness and anger, and that called to him. Harry needed a family, and he would soon give that to him.
The Gryffindor team was in intense training on the field. It looked like they had a match coming up. The Keeper wasn't there yet. After a few minutes, the Keeper (and Captain) of the team came storming on the field very angrily. The rest of the team dropped down to the ground in silence, waiting. Sirius leaned closer in order to hear what the Captain was saying.
"We're not playing Slytherin!" he told them angrily. "Flint's just been to see me. We're playing Hufflepuff instead."
Sirius didn't know what the effect of this news was, but this was apparently bad news. He thought of Flint, a nasty, clever boy in his time at Hogwarts. He was a typical Slytherin, and Sirius suspected his son would be the same.
"Why?" the rest of the team asked.
"Flint's excuse is that their Seeker's arm's still injured," the Captain answered furiously. "But it's obvious why they're doing it. Don't want to play in this weather. Think it'll damage their chances…" A clap of thunder was heard in the distance.
"There's nothing wrong with Malfoy's arm!" Harry replied furiously. "He's faking it!"
"I know that, but we can't prove it," the Captain rejoined bitterly, "And we've been practicing all those moves assuming we're playing Slytherin, and instead it's Hufflepuff, and they're style's quite different. They've got a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory—" He was interrupted by giggles from the three girl Chasers, and he frowned irritably. "What?" he asked.
"He's the tall, good-looking one, isn't he?" one of them commented.
"Strong and silent," said another, and the girls giggled again.
One of the Weasley boys said impatiently, "He's only silent because he's too thick to string two words together. I don't know why you're worried, Oliver, Hufflepuff is a pushover. Last time we played them, Harry caught the Snitch in about five minutes, remember?"
Sirius smiled inwardly as he heard of Harry's feat.
"We were playing in completely different conditions!" Oliver responded passionately. His eyes bulged slightly, and Sirius could see he was very worried about the change of teams. "Diggory's put a very strong side together! He's an excellent Seeker! I was afraid you'd take it like this! We mustn't relax! We must keep our focus! Slytherin is trying to wrong-foot us! We must win!"
"Oliver, calm down!" said the Weasley boy who had spoken earlier. He looked alarmed. "We're taking Hufflepuff very seriously. Seriously."
The team then began their practice for the day. They trained harder than ever. Sirius concluded that it was very close to the day of a Quidditch match. He would check this place out tomorrow and find out. Quickly, he turned and headed back to the forest before one of the team saw him. He needed breakfast.
After eating two rats in the forest and drinking a little bit of water from a small pond, Sirius stretched himself out on the forest ground and pondered the information he had just received from the Quidditch pitch. Malfoy was the Slytherin Seeker; Sirius guessed that the Lucius Malfoy he hated had a son who was attending Hogwarts. Who would marry him, I don't know, thought Sirius, but she must have been desperate. Lucius' son must be horrible, just like him. Lucius didn't have any Quidditch talent; he probably bought his son onto the team, with all the money he has. Poor Gryffindors, having to play a Malfoy in Quidditch. He then turned his thoughts to the Diggory boy the team had been talking about. Sirius remembered Amos Diggory, a rather arrogant boy in Ravenclaw. He had been Head Boy the year before James and him, and was bossy and pompous. Sirius hadn't liked very much, but he wondered what his son was like. Obviously a ladies' man, judging by the Chasers' reactions, and a Hufflepuff too. He mustn't be too bad if he were a Hufflepuff. He did, however, seem like a threat to the Gryffindor team, according to the Captain. Ah, well, he would wait and see.
The match occurred a few days later, on the Saturday of that week. It was raining and thundering as the two teams played, and the players kept crashing into people on their brooms. Nobody could see the game clearly. The Gryffindor Keeper landed and tried to call for a time-out. Slowly, the Gryffindor players descended, one by one, as they discovered the Captain's call. Harry landed last.
As the scarlet-robed group huddled under an umbrella, Crookshanks's owner, the bushy-haired girl, ran out of the stands and toward the team. She had her wand out and looked very happy about something. Sirius watched as she spoke to Harry and did a spell on the boy's glasses. The Captain looked ready to kiss her, and Harry looked delighted. The team then rose back up into the air again, ready to play.
Harry seemed to have a much better sense of direction after the girl's spell. He played passionately and joyfully, and with talent and skill. After hovering in the air for a few minutes looking for the Snitch—Sirius had figured out his godson was Seeker long ago—he suddenly looked into the stands, toward Sirius' direction, straight at Sirius. Sirius panicked and dived under the stands. Harry had stopped to stare at the dog, but he was distracted. At that moment the Seeker called, in an anguished tone, "Harry! Behind you!" Harry spun around, shook the water out of his hair, and spotted the Snitch hovering near him playfully. He speeded toward it, ready for victory, but something stopped him.
A sudden silence spread over the cheering crowd, and Sirius felt a horribly familiar feeling come over him. He turned around slowly and saw long black robes above his head. Dementors. They were here, during the Quidditch match. Sirius shuddered and felt very angry. They were ruining the game. They ruined everything. They didn't care.
Sirius tore his eyes away from the nearby dementors and watched, horrified, as his godson fell off his broom fifty feet in the air. He was unconscious. Dumbledore ran out onto the field and slowed Harry down with his wand, then sent a Patronus to the dementors in the stands. The headmaster was brimming with fiery anger. The game resumed into its normal chatter as soon as the dementors left. The Hufflepuff Seeker, Diggory, caught the Snitch, and the Hufflepuff side of the stands erupted in cheers. Diggory then turned around and saw Harry on the ground. He flew and landed and tried to talk to the referee for a rematch. The referee shook her head and refused. Sirius saw her mouth form the words, "It was a fair game, Diggory, and you know it." Diggory began arguing with her. Sirius looked away and back to the field.
Gryffindor supporters were pouring out onto the field, with Crookshanks' owner and the youngest Weasley boy in the lead. The teachers ordered them to back off, and one of them conjured a stretcher and put Harry on it. They were taking him up to the castle. He looked dead, but he couldn't be dead. His broomstick was being swept away by the wind. Sirius sat there, shocked. This was all his fault. It was all his fault the dementors came.
Sirius ran back to the forest, drenched, and saw with horror that Harry's broomstick had been carried to the Whomping Willow. It was already in many pieces. He spotted a professor coming out to retrieve the bits of wood and straw. It was Flitwick. The teacher put a charm on the tree and hurriedly collected the pieces of the broomstick in a bag. Sirius followed him with his eyes. He had gone back into the school.
Sirius went to his makeshift bed and sat down, sopping wet and very depressed. He had ruined the Quidditch match. He had made Harry fall from his broomstick. It was all his fault. He knew what he had to do. He had to get Harry a new broomstick. He would get Crookshanks to help him. Sirius sighed. It was all his fault, but he would help pay the damage. For Christmas, he would send Harry a new broomstick, and make his godson happy again.
A/N: *wipes sweat off brow* that was a ton of writing. Please review! Any suggestions are welcome. If you want more dialogue, if you think this just drags on and on, if you like the style the way it is, etc. Please review. I would really, really appreciate it. Thanks very much.
Special thanks to googoo4you for reviewing. I really appreciate it. J