CHAPTER NINE .
Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff
Throughout Gryffindor Tower, the only conversation topics that could be heard were of Christmas, and everyone was electric with excitement. The Hogwarts express was not running, as the ministry had decided it would be too dangerous, and so there were almost as many people staying for Christmas as there had been the previous year, at the Yule Ball. Cho was now fully recovered, and Harry was secretly delighted when he was confronted, by a Red-faced, stuttering her thanks, Cho in the corridor.
The weekend before Christmas was a Hogsmede weekend, and Harry, Ron and Hermione were all very enthusiastic to go. It was snowing, and the roads of Hogsmede were no more than slushy tracks through the snow. The windows of the historical book store had been boarded up, but there were sounds from inside, so it had evidently been brought. However long Ron peered through the gap in the door, all he could see was the occasional flash of light. 'Are you quite done yet?' Snapped Hermione, shivering. 'Harry and I are freezing- Let's go and get a butterbeer.' Reluctantly, Ron drew away from the window, and Harry noticed that Ron had a small pile of snow on the top of his head.
Madame Rosmerta greeted them heartily as they came in the door, and told them the latest rumours of Voldermort in the area. They left in high spirits, because of the thought of holidays and Christmas, and returned to Hogsmede, very contented with their purchases, and full of butterbeer.
Hermione was anxious to get all her homework done by Christmas day, and was already drawing up revision timetables, which covered the entire year until their exams. Even Harry and Ron tried to work hard, but to their surprise, they were already far ahead, thanks to their past experiences, and Hermione, but they still managed to find time for lengthy discussions, going on well into the night about Lord Voldermort.
On Christmas Eve, thick snow covered the castle, and the grounds. Inside, the fires roared, and the atmosphere was jolly and pleasant, and full of Christmas Spirit. The Christmas decorations, although without as much splendour as last year, still gave the castle a very festive atmosphere.
Only Neville was missing from the dormitory, who had told him that his grandmother wanted him home for the holidays, but Harry knew that there was a more important reason- every Christmas Neville visited his parents. With the absence of Neville's snores, the dormitory was unusually quiet, and all that could be heard was the occasional owl hooting.
Harry woke up the next morning to a huge stack of presents at the end of his bed. 'Ron! Wake up!' he shouted. Ron muttered something, rubbing his eyes blearily, and then he sat bolt upright. 'Merry Christmas!' he said, pulling his own presents towards him.
Harry unwrapped his usual jumper and home-made pasties from Mrs Weasley. He got a 'sparkler joke kit' from Ron, and an invisible ink pen from Hermione. A package of mini magical instruments came from Sirrius, and Hagrid made 'Flap-cakes', with green icing. However, there was one more present in the pile, and Harry didn't recognise the writing on the label. It was small, and wrapped very carefully. He pulled off the wrapper. A card fell out, and he picked it up and read:
Dear Harry, HAPPY CHRISTMAS! Love Cho
Harry's astonishment and delight must have shown on his face, because Ron paused stuffing chocolate frogs into his mouth to say 'What are you grinning about?' spraying chocolate all over his new maroon jumper. Harry ignored him, and picked up the little present, which had fallen out with the card. He pulled off the thin red tissue paper it was wrapped in, and a small, transparent ball fell out. Harry picked up the small ball, and examined it slowly, turning it around in his fingers. As he held it, a small cloud of pink smoke formed in the centre of the ball, slowly spreading, until the ball was completely filled with a thick pink smoke. Harry had never seen anything like this before- the blue smoke was swirling round, like the mist did in a crystal ball, but no image formed, no matter how hard he starred through it. As far as Harry could see, it was just a simple ball, which changed colour when it was touched, like the one Harry had seen in a muggle shop many years ago. However, Harry felt certain that it must have some sort of magical power. He would ask Hermione about it, but that meant he would have to tell her who he got it from. He didn't want Hermione to know about Cho. 'Harry?' Said Ron's voice from far off. Harry blinked. 'Yeah?' He said slowly. 'Let's go and see Hermione, she'll be wondering where we've got to!'
Hermione was sitting in the common room with Ginny, surrounded by a mass of multi-coloured wrappers. 'Merry Christmas!' she said as they entered the common room. Ron grinned at her, for once in a good mood. 'Did you like the present?' he said, eyeing the stack of presents beside her. 'Yeah, thanks Ron!' She said, pulling a large book titled 'Brains and Broomsticks' out from under Crookshanks. 'It's about really clever people who are good at flying!' Said Ron, delighted that his present had been a success. 'Hermione.' Said Harry quickly, before Ron had a chance to say anything else. 'D'you know what this is?' He handed over the small ball to Hermione, prepared to tell her that Sirrius had sent it to him. Hermione glanced at the ball, which Harry noticed was now full of a dark green smoke, and then giggled. 'Harry! Who sent this to you?' trying to stifle her giggles, because a group of 7th years had just entered the common room, looking very irritated. 'Sirrius.' Harry muttered, puzzled by Hermione's reaction. 'Sirrius, Harry? Sirrius sent you an Amore Globus!' Ron suddenly snorted, sending bits of chocolate frog all over Ginny. 'What's so funny??' Harry panicked, glancing from Ron to Hermione, who were both in silent hysterics.
'It's a love ball, Harry!' Ron finally managed to stutter. It changes different colours, depending on how you feel about the person who first gave it to you!' Harry felt his face slowly turning red. 'Red symbolises friendship, Green symbolises friendship, and black symbolises hate!' Hermione said, staring at the cloud of green smoke in the ball, still giggling. She handed it back to Harry, and the ball began to fill with the same pink smoke again. 'Wow, Hermione, you must really like Harry!' Ron said loudly, causing several Gryffindors to turn and stare at Hermione. They had evidently not forgotten Ritta Skitta's article the previous year. 'No, Ron it symbolises your feelings about the person who originally gave it to you. Who gave it to you Harry? It can't have been Sirrius. It only works for Boys and Girls!' Hermione said, half grinning at Harry, but she had also gone rather pink. Harry's face felt like it was on fire. 'Cho.' He muttered, as quietly as he could under his breath. 'C'mon Harry! My hearings not that good!' Said Ron impatiently. 'Cho Chang!' Harry repeated slightly louder. He saw Ginny out of the corner of his eye, and for some reason, she had also gone red. 'Come on, let's go and have a snowball fight.' Said Harry quickly, trying to take their minds off the Amore Globus. This seemed to distract them all, and the happy party made their way outside, accompanied by Fred and George.
The Christmas dinner was just as delicious as usual, despite the extraordinary number of people there. They had an enjoyable evening by the common room fire, playing with Ginny's new board game- Wizard's Mouse Trap. This involved different coloured chocolate mice, each belonging to a player, which scrambled around the board, trying not to be caught by various traps which the players set up around the board. If you caught one of the opponents mice, you got to eat it! Harry finally went to bed, full of chocolate mice, and still perplexed by his pink Amore Globus. He didn't need to be told what pink symbolised.
As the rest of the school returned after the holidays, the perfect snow was ruined by dirty footsteps, and escaping detention after meeting Filch in a corridor was a feat yet to be achieved, as he was constantly mopping at the muddy slush traipsed all over the castle, and was in a very bad mood. Despite the fact that Christmas was over, the castle was filled with a cheerful buzz, and even Harry was forgetting to worry about Voldermort.
Lessons began again, and so did quiddich practice. The next few weeks were filled with revision, homework and flying, but nothing dramatic happened. However, Hermione, who miraculously had time to check the newspapers regularly on top of all her work, informed Harry that there had been several muggle killings and disappearances in the area, although there was no proof Voldermort was behind them. There was no evident pattern in any of the killings or disappearances, and although this comforted people that Voldermort might not be behind the attacks, many people were afraid this might be evidence of the death eater's activities. However, with all the OWL preparation, Harry couldn't afford to spend too much time worrying about this as well.
The second quiddich match of the season was against Hufflepuff, and Harry was determined not only to beat Hufflepuff, but to prove himself to the rest of the team, in relation to his performance last match. Although Alicia was pleased that Harry had eventually caught the Snitch, she still thought it was just luck (Which Ron reasonably pointed out later- it was.) On the day of the match, Harry woke early, and was surprised to find Alicia pacing the common room nervously when he entered. 'Harry! Where's Ron?' She burbled, as she saw Harry emerge from his dormitory. 'How did Ron sleep? He is okay, isn't he? Why isn't he up yet? 'He's fine Alicia! Get some breakfast- I'll wake him up.' Alicia still looked worried, but she made her way out of the quiet common room and slowly climbed out of the portrait hole.
Harry looked at his watch. It was still 5.30. The match didn't start till 10.00. There was no point in waking Ron now- and Alicia was unlikely to get any breakfast at this time! But Harry understood why Alicia was so nervous- he hadn't been able to sleep either. He wondered aimlessly back to the dormitory, and smirked at Ron, who's head was hanging off the end of his four-poster. Harry picked up yesterdays charms homework, but he couldn't concentrate so early in the morning. He flicked through the pages, his thoughts elsewhere. He thought about everything that had happened last year... and what would happen this year.
Voldermort had killed people endlessly in large numbers before- now that he was so powerful, why wasn't he killing more? Why did Voldermort want to kill Harry? He hoped he would find out- Dumbledore had promised to tell him 'when he was older', but Harry had no idea how long Dumbledore meant by that. And what had Snape been sent to do at the end of last year? He had tried asking Sirrius, but Sirrius had completely avoided the question when he wrote back to Harry. He wondered what Dumbledore had meant, when he had said that Lupin was gathering the 'Old Crowd'.
Harry was suddenly jolted awake at a loud snort from Ron, who had just woken up, and discovered himself half-hanging out of the bed. Harry grinned at Ron, as he rolled out of bed onto the floor, bringing all his duvet covers with him. Harry pulled out the very squashed charms text book from under him, and then remembered what day it was. He looked at his watch. It was 9.00. 'Ron! We've got to get up- the match starts in an hour!' Ron slowly clambered back onto his bed, wrapping his covers round him. 'But it's so cold!' He said, rolling his eyes, but Harry knew that Ron would be very keen to get some practice in before the match- after all, it was only his second match. He felt surprisingly calm, as he and Ron hurried down to breakfast in the Great Hall, but an hour later, when he was facing the Hufflepuff's on the quiddich pitch, he wasn't quite so sure. He felt his stomach leap, as he saw Cho, sitting in the front row of the Ravenclaw stands, waving frantically at him, but he convinced himself that this was to do with nerves rather than anything else.
He was surprised to see his fellow fifth year, Ernie Macmillan, standing opposite him. He was the new Hufflepuff seeker, a replacement for Cedric Diggory. 'I've not won a match yet!' Ernie whispered to Harry, out of the corner of his mouth. He looked very pale. 'The team aren't too happy with me.' Harry looked down at the line of sullen faced Hufflepuffs- it looked like Ernie was right. 'Well, good luck.' Harry muttered, unable to find anything more comforting.
Suddenly, Madame Hooch blew the whistle, and Harry automatically kicked off the ground before his brain could register what he was doing. He wobbled, but managed to steady his broom, just in time to prevent himself from toppling onto the other fast-rising players. He saw the snitch fly out from behind Madame Hooch, but it shot away so fast he was unable to follow it. Lee Jordan was still commentating. Harry wondered who would take over next year when Lee had left, but shook himself, and shot after Ernie, who was circling the pitch high above all the other players. 'Spinnet immediately takes the quaffle, and is making her way up the pitch... No! She's been intercepted by Todd... he weaves a well aimed bludger by one of the Weasleys... he's going to score... Yes! It's saved by an excellent dive by Ron Weasley! Bell is now in possession... Approaching the Gryffindor goalposts... and she scores!' Harry punched the air as he did a celebratory lap of the pitch. Ernie was still hovering over the Gryffindor goal posts, watching Harry as he circled the pitch. He was evidently a good seeker- he hadn't let Harry out of his sight once!
Without warning, Ernie suddenly dived. The Gryffindor team froze. Harry knew he would never get there in time. Ernie was at the opposite end of the pitch! Harry pelted at full speed down the pitch, towards Ernie, trying to follow Ernie's gaze, scanning the ground for the snitch. Then Harry noticed something. Ernie wasn't looking at the snitch- he was very hard on the end of his broom! And Harry realised what he was doing- he hadn't seen the snitch- it was a Wronski Feint! Harry knew that to do a Wronski Feint, you had to keep your eyes on the end of your broom all the time, or you wouldn't be able to pull out of it in time, and Ernie wasn't even blinking! Harry was so relieved that Ernie hadn't seen the snitch, he stopped in mid- air. What was left of the colour in Alicia's face seemed to drain out of it, and she gave a muffled squeak, almost falling off her broom in horror. The audience were completely silent, some were staring at Harry in disbelief ('He could at least try!') but most eyes were on Ernie. Hufflepuff hadn't won the quiddich cup for years, and if Ernie caught the snitch, then they would still have a chance.
Harry pointed his broom upwards, and flew as high as he could above the pitch. Harry looked down again, just in time to see Ernie's face, contort with concentration, pull out of an almost perfect dive. And suddenly something got in the way of Harry's view. The Snitch! Harry stretched out his hand, and felt the cold metal and tiny wings fluttering beneath his fingers. Ernie was staring bemusedly up at him. He evidently hadn't realised what had happened, and was confused because Harry hadn't followed his Wronski Feint. The team were no longer playing, and everyone was staring from Ernie to Harry, trying to work out what had happened. 'He's got the Snitch!' Lee Gordon suddenly shouted (He was watching the game through a pair of omnioculars). Before, it would have been possible to hear a pin drop in the stadium, but suddenly the it erupted with sound. The gryffindor supporters seemed to double in a mass of scarlet and gold, as they poured onto the pitch, screaming, shouting and clapping all at once, brandishing Gryffindor banners and waving frantically to the team, who were still hovering in the air, still dazed by what had happened. Ernie looked devastated, he seemed to be blaming his perfect Wronski Feint for Hufflepuff loosing the match.
Harry grinned at Ron, who was zooming delightedly in and out of the Hufflepuff goalposts, and together, they flew back down to the ground, where they were bombarded by a surge of Gryffindors, congratulating them from all directions. Harry caught a glimpse Fred and George who were hurrying quickly back to the changing rooms. They were obviously determined to stock up on as much food as possible, before the rest of Gryffindor returned to the common room.
For the next few days, the Gryffindors could talk of nothing but quiddich. The finals, which would be taking place at the end of next term, would be against Slytherin- this was an extra initiative for the team to win, especially for Ron and Harry, after an encounter with Malfoy in the history of magic corridor. 'Watch it, Malfoy!' Ron shouted, as Malfoy barged past Hermione, sending her armful of heavy books flying. 'Watch what? It's a mudblood, Weasley. When will you learn?' Ron and Harry simultaneously pulled out their wands. 'Potter!' Barked Snape, his sallow face twisted into a tight lipped smile. 'Detention.' He snarled. 'Tonight, 8.00 in the hospital wing. All three of you, be there promptly.' 'All three, Professor?' Said Ron, outraged. 'All three of you, Weasley.' 'But Hermione didn't-' 'Count yourself lucky, Weasley, that I didn't take off any points from Gryffindor.' He turned, his black cloak billowing in the draughty corridor, leaving them in shock, to the company of a sniggering Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle.
At five to eight, Ron, Harry and Hermione left the warm Gryffindor common room, and made their way down to the hospital wing. 'Snape would pick the coldest night of the year to give us a detention.' Ron grumbled through chattering teeth, fumbling with the toggle of his third cloak. Snape was waiting outside the hospital wing when they arrived. Nobody was ill- the beds were all empty, and Madame Pomfrey was nowhere in sight. 'Bed Pans!' Snape barked as they reluctantly approached him. 'I believe Mr Weasley knows what to do.' He smirked, and stalked off. 'What have we done to make him so spiteful?' Hermione burst out as soon as Snape was out of sight. ''Nothing unusual Hermione.' Ron murmured, rolling his eyes as he handed each of them an ordinary muggle cleaning cloth, and then quickly pulling his wand out from up his sleeve, and concealing it in the cloth. Harry grinned, wishing he had brought his. He expected Hermione to protest about cheating, but as Ron rightly pointed out, they didn't deserve the detention, so before long, the bed pans were all gleaming. 'Come on then, let's go back to the common room!' Ron said, piling the discarded cloths back into the cupboard, and re-concealing his wand. 'No!' Squealed Hermione. 'If we go now, Snape will know we used magic, and then he will really have a reason to give us detention. We couldn't have scrubbed them all by now!' 'But he didn't actually say we weren't allowed to use magic.' Wheedled Ron, but Harry agreed with Hermione. 'Ron, it's obvious we're not allowed to use magic. Come on, stay here for a while, then we'll go back, ok?' Ron reluctantly agreed, and they sat around the hospital wing fire, which was not alight, as there were no patients, but was still smoking.
Harry was staring out of the window, watching the occasional solitary owl fly past. He was just observing a particularly large owl skimming the trees with it's talons as it flew, when he noticed a movement on the ground. There was no light, but Harry was sure there was something there, lurking in the shadows. 'Ron! Hermione!' He whispered, as though he was afraid that whatever it was might hear him. 'Look!' They both hurried towards the window, and sure enough, there was another movement, down by the edge of the forest. Suddenly, it moved out of the shadow of the forest, and Harry could make out a cloaked figure. Whoever it was, pulled out there wand, and a soft glow illuminated their features, as the golden beam from the end of their wand spread. 'Karkaroff!' Hermione muttered 'It couldn't be anyone else- you can tell- he used the Bulgarian version of Lumos- Lumonia. You can tell by the way the light spreads!' Hermione picked up her cloak from beside the fireplace, and made for the door. 'Hermione- wait!' Shouted Ron and Harry simultaneously. 'What about Snape? What about Dumbledore?' 'What about Voldermort.' Harry added quietly. 'You don't understand!' Hermione shouted, her eyes glittering with tears, and with that she slammed the hospital wing door, and they heard her footsteps pattering down the stone steps outside. 'We can't let her go by herself!' Ron pulled open the door. 'Hermione! Wait for us!' Ron shouted, hurrying down the stone steps after her. Hermione was pulling open the huge oak door in the entrance hall, and they saw her face, screwed up with anxiety, relax slightly as she saw them. 'Why do you have to talk to Karkaroff so urgently?' Harry gasped. They were both clutching stitches, out of breath and completely baffled. 'I just do.' And she began to jog again, towards the forest.
It was quite easy to see where Karkaroff was now, and Harry and Ron slowed down, no longer able to ignore their burning stitches. Hermione continued to run towards the light, but suddenly, it went out, and they were plunged into total darkness. Harry spun around and then he saw it big dark and black 'Hermione!' called Harry, but he could no longer hear her footsteps in front of him. He ran towards where the light had been, Ron close behind him, but neither Hermione nor Karkaroff were in sight. 'Hermione!' They both shouted, beginning to panic. Ron turned helplessly to Harry, lost for words.
'She's fine.' Muttered Harry, more to himself than to Ron, as they made their way up to the common room after hours of unsuccessful searching. Both of them knew that this was very unlikely, and even if the figure had been Karkaroff, they had no proof that he wasn't working for Voldermort.
Neither of them spoke as they changed into their pyjamas and got into bed. Harry lay awake for hours, tossing and turning, until he eventually fell into a restless sleep.
Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff
Throughout Gryffindor Tower, the only conversation topics that could be heard were of Christmas, and everyone was electric with excitement. The Hogwarts express was not running, as the ministry had decided it would be too dangerous, and so there were almost as many people staying for Christmas as there had been the previous year, at the Yule Ball. Cho was now fully recovered, and Harry was secretly delighted when he was confronted, by a Red-faced, stuttering her thanks, Cho in the corridor.
The weekend before Christmas was a Hogsmede weekend, and Harry, Ron and Hermione were all very enthusiastic to go. It was snowing, and the roads of Hogsmede were no more than slushy tracks through the snow. The windows of the historical book store had been boarded up, but there were sounds from inside, so it had evidently been brought. However long Ron peered through the gap in the door, all he could see was the occasional flash of light. 'Are you quite done yet?' Snapped Hermione, shivering. 'Harry and I are freezing- Let's go and get a butterbeer.' Reluctantly, Ron drew away from the window, and Harry noticed that Ron had a small pile of snow on the top of his head.
Madame Rosmerta greeted them heartily as they came in the door, and told them the latest rumours of Voldermort in the area. They left in high spirits, because of the thought of holidays and Christmas, and returned to Hogsmede, very contented with their purchases, and full of butterbeer.
Hermione was anxious to get all her homework done by Christmas day, and was already drawing up revision timetables, which covered the entire year until their exams. Even Harry and Ron tried to work hard, but to their surprise, they were already far ahead, thanks to their past experiences, and Hermione, but they still managed to find time for lengthy discussions, going on well into the night about Lord Voldermort.
On Christmas Eve, thick snow covered the castle, and the grounds. Inside, the fires roared, and the atmosphere was jolly and pleasant, and full of Christmas Spirit. The Christmas decorations, although without as much splendour as last year, still gave the castle a very festive atmosphere.
Only Neville was missing from the dormitory, who had told him that his grandmother wanted him home for the holidays, but Harry knew that there was a more important reason- every Christmas Neville visited his parents. With the absence of Neville's snores, the dormitory was unusually quiet, and all that could be heard was the occasional owl hooting.
Harry woke up the next morning to a huge stack of presents at the end of his bed. 'Ron! Wake up!' he shouted. Ron muttered something, rubbing his eyes blearily, and then he sat bolt upright. 'Merry Christmas!' he said, pulling his own presents towards him.
Harry unwrapped his usual jumper and home-made pasties from Mrs Weasley. He got a 'sparkler joke kit' from Ron, and an invisible ink pen from Hermione. A package of mini magical instruments came from Sirrius, and Hagrid made 'Flap-cakes', with green icing. However, there was one more present in the pile, and Harry didn't recognise the writing on the label. It was small, and wrapped very carefully. He pulled off the wrapper. A card fell out, and he picked it up and read:
Dear Harry, HAPPY CHRISTMAS! Love Cho
Harry's astonishment and delight must have shown on his face, because Ron paused stuffing chocolate frogs into his mouth to say 'What are you grinning about?' spraying chocolate all over his new maroon jumper. Harry ignored him, and picked up the little present, which had fallen out with the card. He pulled off the thin red tissue paper it was wrapped in, and a small, transparent ball fell out. Harry picked up the small ball, and examined it slowly, turning it around in his fingers. As he held it, a small cloud of pink smoke formed in the centre of the ball, slowly spreading, until the ball was completely filled with a thick pink smoke. Harry had never seen anything like this before- the blue smoke was swirling round, like the mist did in a crystal ball, but no image formed, no matter how hard he starred through it. As far as Harry could see, it was just a simple ball, which changed colour when it was touched, like the one Harry had seen in a muggle shop many years ago. However, Harry felt certain that it must have some sort of magical power. He would ask Hermione about it, but that meant he would have to tell her who he got it from. He didn't want Hermione to know about Cho. 'Harry?' Said Ron's voice from far off. Harry blinked. 'Yeah?' He said slowly. 'Let's go and see Hermione, she'll be wondering where we've got to!'
Hermione was sitting in the common room with Ginny, surrounded by a mass of multi-coloured wrappers. 'Merry Christmas!' she said as they entered the common room. Ron grinned at her, for once in a good mood. 'Did you like the present?' he said, eyeing the stack of presents beside her. 'Yeah, thanks Ron!' She said, pulling a large book titled 'Brains and Broomsticks' out from under Crookshanks. 'It's about really clever people who are good at flying!' Said Ron, delighted that his present had been a success. 'Hermione.' Said Harry quickly, before Ron had a chance to say anything else. 'D'you know what this is?' He handed over the small ball to Hermione, prepared to tell her that Sirrius had sent it to him. Hermione glanced at the ball, which Harry noticed was now full of a dark green smoke, and then giggled. 'Harry! Who sent this to you?' trying to stifle her giggles, because a group of 7th years had just entered the common room, looking very irritated. 'Sirrius.' Harry muttered, puzzled by Hermione's reaction. 'Sirrius, Harry? Sirrius sent you an Amore Globus!' Ron suddenly snorted, sending bits of chocolate frog all over Ginny. 'What's so funny??' Harry panicked, glancing from Ron to Hermione, who were both in silent hysterics.
'It's a love ball, Harry!' Ron finally managed to stutter. It changes different colours, depending on how you feel about the person who first gave it to you!' Harry felt his face slowly turning red. 'Red symbolises friendship, Green symbolises friendship, and black symbolises hate!' Hermione said, staring at the cloud of green smoke in the ball, still giggling. She handed it back to Harry, and the ball began to fill with the same pink smoke again. 'Wow, Hermione, you must really like Harry!' Ron said loudly, causing several Gryffindors to turn and stare at Hermione. They had evidently not forgotten Ritta Skitta's article the previous year. 'No, Ron it symbolises your feelings about the person who originally gave it to you. Who gave it to you Harry? It can't have been Sirrius. It only works for Boys and Girls!' Hermione said, half grinning at Harry, but she had also gone rather pink. Harry's face felt like it was on fire. 'Cho.' He muttered, as quietly as he could under his breath. 'C'mon Harry! My hearings not that good!' Said Ron impatiently. 'Cho Chang!' Harry repeated slightly louder. He saw Ginny out of the corner of his eye, and for some reason, she had also gone red. 'Come on, let's go and have a snowball fight.' Said Harry quickly, trying to take their minds off the Amore Globus. This seemed to distract them all, and the happy party made their way outside, accompanied by Fred and George.
The Christmas dinner was just as delicious as usual, despite the extraordinary number of people there. They had an enjoyable evening by the common room fire, playing with Ginny's new board game- Wizard's Mouse Trap. This involved different coloured chocolate mice, each belonging to a player, which scrambled around the board, trying not to be caught by various traps which the players set up around the board. If you caught one of the opponents mice, you got to eat it! Harry finally went to bed, full of chocolate mice, and still perplexed by his pink Amore Globus. He didn't need to be told what pink symbolised.
As the rest of the school returned after the holidays, the perfect snow was ruined by dirty footsteps, and escaping detention after meeting Filch in a corridor was a feat yet to be achieved, as he was constantly mopping at the muddy slush traipsed all over the castle, and was in a very bad mood. Despite the fact that Christmas was over, the castle was filled with a cheerful buzz, and even Harry was forgetting to worry about Voldermort.
Lessons began again, and so did quiddich practice. The next few weeks were filled with revision, homework and flying, but nothing dramatic happened. However, Hermione, who miraculously had time to check the newspapers regularly on top of all her work, informed Harry that there had been several muggle killings and disappearances in the area, although there was no proof Voldermort was behind them. There was no evident pattern in any of the killings or disappearances, and although this comforted people that Voldermort might not be behind the attacks, many people were afraid this might be evidence of the death eater's activities. However, with all the OWL preparation, Harry couldn't afford to spend too much time worrying about this as well.
The second quiddich match of the season was against Hufflepuff, and Harry was determined not only to beat Hufflepuff, but to prove himself to the rest of the team, in relation to his performance last match. Although Alicia was pleased that Harry had eventually caught the Snitch, she still thought it was just luck (Which Ron reasonably pointed out later- it was.) On the day of the match, Harry woke early, and was surprised to find Alicia pacing the common room nervously when he entered. 'Harry! Where's Ron?' She burbled, as she saw Harry emerge from his dormitory. 'How did Ron sleep? He is okay, isn't he? Why isn't he up yet? 'He's fine Alicia! Get some breakfast- I'll wake him up.' Alicia still looked worried, but she made her way out of the quiet common room and slowly climbed out of the portrait hole.
Harry looked at his watch. It was still 5.30. The match didn't start till 10.00. There was no point in waking Ron now- and Alicia was unlikely to get any breakfast at this time! But Harry understood why Alicia was so nervous- he hadn't been able to sleep either. He wondered aimlessly back to the dormitory, and smirked at Ron, who's head was hanging off the end of his four-poster. Harry picked up yesterdays charms homework, but he couldn't concentrate so early in the morning. He flicked through the pages, his thoughts elsewhere. He thought about everything that had happened last year... and what would happen this year.
Voldermort had killed people endlessly in large numbers before- now that he was so powerful, why wasn't he killing more? Why did Voldermort want to kill Harry? He hoped he would find out- Dumbledore had promised to tell him 'when he was older', but Harry had no idea how long Dumbledore meant by that. And what had Snape been sent to do at the end of last year? He had tried asking Sirrius, but Sirrius had completely avoided the question when he wrote back to Harry. He wondered what Dumbledore had meant, when he had said that Lupin was gathering the 'Old Crowd'.
Harry was suddenly jolted awake at a loud snort from Ron, who had just woken up, and discovered himself half-hanging out of the bed. Harry grinned at Ron, as he rolled out of bed onto the floor, bringing all his duvet covers with him. Harry pulled out the very squashed charms text book from under him, and then remembered what day it was. He looked at his watch. It was 9.00. 'Ron! We've got to get up- the match starts in an hour!' Ron slowly clambered back onto his bed, wrapping his covers round him. 'But it's so cold!' He said, rolling his eyes, but Harry knew that Ron would be very keen to get some practice in before the match- after all, it was only his second match. He felt surprisingly calm, as he and Ron hurried down to breakfast in the Great Hall, but an hour later, when he was facing the Hufflepuff's on the quiddich pitch, he wasn't quite so sure. He felt his stomach leap, as he saw Cho, sitting in the front row of the Ravenclaw stands, waving frantically at him, but he convinced himself that this was to do with nerves rather than anything else.
He was surprised to see his fellow fifth year, Ernie Macmillan, standing opposite him. He was the new Hufflepuff seeker, a replacement for Cedric Diggory. 'I've not won a match yet!' Ernie whispered to Harry, out of the corner of his mouth. He looked very pale. 'The team aren't too happy with me.' Harry looked down at the line of sullen faced Hufflepuffs- it looked like Ernie was right. 'Well, good luck.' Harry muttered, unable to find anything more comforting.
Suddenly, Madame Hooch blew the whistle, and Harry automatically kicked off the ground before his brain could register what he was doing. He wobbled, but managed to steady his broom, just in time to prevent himself from toppling onto the other fast-rising players. He saw the snitch fly out from behind Madame Hooch, but it shot away so fast he was unable to follow it. Lee Jordan was still commentating. Harry wondered who would take over next year when Lee had left, but shook himself, and shot after Ernie, who was circling the pitch high above all the other players. 'Spinnet immediately takes the quaffle, and is making her way up the pitch... No! She's been intercepted by Todd... he weaves a well aimed bludger by one of the Weasleys... he's going to score... Yes! It's saved by an excellent dive by Ron Weasley! Bell is now in possession... Approaching the Gryffindor goalposts... and she scores!' Harry punched the air as he did a celebratory lap of the pitch. Ernie was still hovering over the Gryffindor goal posts, watching Harry as he circled the pitch. He was evidently a good seeker- he hadn't let Harry out of his sight once!
Without warning, Ernie suddenly dived. The Gryffindor team froze. Harry knew he would never get there in time. Ernie was at the opposite end of the pitch! Harry pelted at full speed down the pitch, towards Ernie, trying to follow Ernie's gaze, scanning the ground for the snitch. Then Harry noticed something. Ernie wasn't looking at the snitch- he was very hard on the end of his broom! And Harry realised what he was doing- he hadn't seen the snitch- it was a Wronski Feint! Harry knew that to do a Wronski Feint, you had to keep your eyes on the end of your broom all the time, or you wouldn't be able to pull out of it in time, and Ernie wasn't even blinking! Harry was so relieved that Ernie hadn't seen the snitch, he stopped in mid- air. What was left of the colour in Alicia's face seemed to drain out of it, and she gave a muffled squeak, almost falling off her broom in horror. The audience were completely silent, some were staring at Harry in disbelief ('He could at least try!') but most eyes were on Ernie. Hufflepuff hadn't won the quiddich cup for years, and if Ernie caught the snitch, then they would still have a chance.
Harry pointed his broom upwards, and flew as high as he could above the pitch. Harry looked down again, just in time to see Ernie's face, contort with concentration, pull out of an almost perfect dive. And suddenly something got in the way of Harry's view. The Snitch! Harry stretched out his hand, and felt the cold metal and tiny wings fluttering beneath his fingers. Ernie was staring bemusedly up at him. He evidently hadn't realised what had happened, and was confused because Harry hadn't followed his Wronski Feint. The team were no longer playing, and everyone was staring from Ernie to Harry, trying to work out what had happened. 'He's got the Snitch!' Lee Gordon suddenly shouted (He was watching the game through a pair of omnioculars). Before, it would have been possible to hear a pin drop in the stadium, but suddenly the it erupted with sound. The gryffindor supporters seemed to double in a mass of scarlet and gold, as they poured onto the pitch, screaming, shouting and clapping all at once, brandishing Gryffindor banners and waving frantically to the team, who were still hovering in the air, still dazed by what had happened. Ernie looked devastated, he seemed to be blaming his perfect Wronski Feint for Hufflepuff loosing the match.
Harry grinned at Ron, who was zooming delightedly in and out of the Hufflepuff goalposts, and together, they flew back down to the ground, where they were bombarded by a surge of Gryffindors, congratulating them from all directions. Harry caught a glimpse Fred and George who were hurrying quickly back to the changing rooms. They were obviously determined to stock up on as much food as possible, before the rest of Gryffindor returned to the common room.
For the next few days, the Gryffindors could talk of nothing but quiddich. The finals, which would be taking place at the end of next term, would be against Slytherin- this was an extra initiative for the team to win, especially for Ron and Harry, after an encounter with Malfoy in the history of magic corridor. 'Watch it, Malfoy!' Ron shouted, as Malfoy barged past Hermione, sending her armful of heavy books flying. 'Watch what? It's a mudblood, Weasley. When will you learn?' Ron and Harry simultaneously pulled out their wands. 'Potter!' Barked Snape, his sallow face twisted into a tight lipped smile. 'Detention.' He snarled. 'Tonight, 8.00 in the hospital wing. All three of you, be there promptly.' 'All three, Professor?' Said Ron, outraged. 'All three of you, Weasley.' 'But Hermione didn't-' 'Count yourself lucky, Weasley, that I didn't take off any points from Gryffindor.' He turned, his black cloak billowing in the draughty corridor, leaving them in shock, to the company of a sniggering Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle.
At five to eight, Ron, Harry and Hermione left the warm Gryffindor common room, and made their way down to the hospital wing. 'Snape would pick the coldest night of the year to give us a detention.' Ron grumbled through chattering teeth, fumbling with the toggle of his third cloak. Snape was waiting outside the hospital wing when they arrived. Nobody was ill- the beds were all empty, and Madame Pomfrey was nowhere in sight. 'Bed Pans!' Snape barked as they reluctantly approached him. 'I believe Mr Weasley knows what to do.' He smirked, and stalked off. 'What have we done to make him so spiteful?' Hermione burst out as soon as Snape was out of sight. ''Nothing unusual Hermione.' Ron murmured, rolling his eyes as he handed each of them an ordinary muggle cleaning cloth, and then quickly pulling his wand out from up his sleeve, and concealing it in the cloth. Harry grinned, wishing he had brought his. He expected Hermione to protest about cheating, but as Ron rightly pointed out, they didn't deserve the detention, so before long, the bed pans were all gleaming. 'Come on then, let's go back to the common room!' Ron said, piling the discarded cloths back into the cupboard, and re-concealing his wand. 'No!' Squealed Hermione. 'If we go now, Snape will know we used magic, and then he will really have a reason to give us detention. We couldn't have scrubbed them all by now!' 'But he didn't actually say we weren't allowed to use magic.' Wheedled Ron, but Harry agreed with Hermione. 'Ron, it's obvious we're not allowed to use magic. Come on, stay here for a while, then we'll go back, ok?' Ron reluctantly agreed, and they sat around the hospital wing fire, which was not alight, as there were no patients, but was still smoking.
Harry was staring out of the window, watching the occasional solitary owl fly past. He was just observing a particularly large owl skimming the trees with it's talons as it flew, when he noticed a movement on the ground. There was no light, but Harry was sure there was something there, lurking in the shadows. 'Ron! Hermione!' He whispered, as though he was afraid that whatever it was might hear him. 'Look!' They both hurried towards the window, and sure enough, there was another movement, down by the edge of the forest. Suddenly, it moved out of the shadow of the forest, and Harry could make out a cloaked figure. Whoever it was, pulled out there wand, and a soft glow illuminated their features, as the golden beam from the end of their wand spread. 'Karkaroff!' Hermione muttered 'It couldn't be anyone else- you can tell- he used the Bulgarian version of Lumos- Lumonia. You can tell by the way the light spreads!' Hermione picked up her cloak from beside the fireplace, and made for the door. 'Hermione- wait!' Shouted Ron and Harry simultaneously. 'What about Snape? What about Dumbledore?' 'What about Voldermort.' Harry added quietly. 'You don't understand!' Hermione shouted, her eyes glittering with tears, and with that she slammed the hospital wing door, and they heard her footsteps pattering down the stone steps outside. 'We can't let her go by herself!' Ron pulled open the door. 'Hermione! Wait for us!' Ron shouted, hurrying down the stone steps after her. Hermione was pulling open the huge oak door in the entrance hall, and they saw her face, screwed up with anxiety, relax slightly as she saw them. 'Why do you have to talk to Karkaroff so urgently?' Harry gasped. They were both clutching stitches, out of breath and completely baffled. 'I just do.' And she began to jog again, towards the forest.
It was quite easy to see where Karkaroff was now, and Harry and Ron slowed down, no longer able to ignore their burning stitches. Hermione continued to run towards the light, but suddenly, it went out, and they were plunged into total darkness. Harry spun around and then he saw it big dark and black 'Hermione!' called Harry, but he could no longer hear her footsteps in front of him. He ran towards where the light had been, Ron close behind him, but neither Hermione nor Karkaroff were in sight. 'Hermione!' They both shouted, beginning to panic. Ron turned helplessly to Harry, lost for words.
'She's fine.' Muttered Harry, more to himself than to Ron, as they made their way up to the common room after hours of unsuccessful searching. Both of them knew that this was very unlikely, and even if the figure had been Karkaroff, they had no proof that he wasn't working for Voldermort.
Neither of them spoke as they changed into their pyjamas and got into bed. Harry lay awake for hours, tossing and turning, until he eventually fell into a restless sleep.