CHAPTER 11
Days flew into weeks, weeks flew by and before Harry even realised it, the
on-coming Quidditch final between Gryffindor and Slytherin was only days
away. The intensity between Gryffindor and Slytherin became so extreme
that Harry and the fellow Gryffindor team were always escorted by five or
six other Gryffindors and the rivalry between the two houses was so
extreme, it coulds rival with the intensity of the Quidditch final between
Gryffindor and Slytherin two years earlier. It also seemed that Slytherin
were a lot more determined to win than ever and Malfoy and the rest of the
Slytherin were a lot more determined to ruin Gryffindor's chances they
tried every means possible, even cheating.
Harry slept badly the night before the match and awoke at the crack of dawn. Not feeling like sleeping, Harry took to pacing around the dormitory going over strategies and tactics for the match. When he realised he was turning into a fanatic Wood, Harry quickly got dressed and went down to the Great Hall He was soon joined by Ron, who equally seemed as worried as Harry. One by one the rest of the Gryffindor team trudged down to the Great Hall. By that time it was eleven and they started making their way down to the changing rooms.
"Wait Ron", Hermione called out running up to him. She had her Gryffindor scarf around her waist and a Gryffindor flag, rolled up under her arm. She hugged and kissed Ron, wished him and Harry good luck before joining Ginny in the Gryffindor stands.
Ron grinned from ear to ear and Harry said slyly, "Come on lover boy".
"Em Harry?", a girl asked. Harry turned around and saw Cho Chang standing behind him. Harry realised she had gotten prettier and he realised how much he still liked her.
"Good luck and beat that scumbag Malfoy. I can't stand to have him gloating about how he won", Cho said.
"Don't worry, I'll wipe that smirk of his face", Harry said grinning. Feeling a good deal happier and more determined, Harry and the team quickly got changed into their Quidditch robes and walked out onto the pitch. A loud cheer erupted from the Gryffindor stands and it seems that Gryffindor weren't the only ones cheering. It seemed that Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were also cheering wildly for the Gryffindor team. The Slytherins weren't pleased and booed even louder than before, but they weren't matched by the cheers.
"Teams shake hands", Madame Hooch shouted over the noise. Harry and Malfoy gripped each others hands, trying to squeeze the life out of each other's hands. Harry quickly mounted his Firebolt, and when he heard Madame Hooch's whistle kicked of hard from the ground and soared into the sky.
"And the Quaffle is immediately taken by Johnson, and she's belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, back to Johnson and-Oh no Slytherin in posession, passes to Montague, whos flying like an eagle up there-he's going to score- no, stoppedby an excellent move by Gryffindor keeper Dean Thomas. Gryffindor take the Quaffle- thats Katie Johnson speeding past there-Oh no here come the Slytherin beaters- this will be messy. Yes she's ducked that hit by the Bludger, passes to Johnson- she sees her chance, aims- OH YES SHE'S DONE IT. TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!", Lee Jordan shouted jumping up. Gryffindor cheeres filled the air, with howls and moans from the Slytherins.
"Slytherin in possession- Pucey with the Quaffle-passes Spinnet-passes Bell-hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose-only joking Professor", Lee Jordan said seeing the angry look on Mc Gonagall's face. "Slytherin score-on no!" The Slytherins were cheering wildly and Malfoy swooped past Harry, shouting loudly.
Gryffindor in possession, what is Katie Bell doing?", Lee Jordan asked as he watched her near the Quaffle then suddenly jerk away from it very fast. Montague caught the quaffle and raced off, with Johnson chasing after him. Montague dropped the Quaffle, and when Angelina went to catch it, she suddenly jerked out of the Quaffle's way.
"What the?", Harry asked watching the spectacle higher up. He watched again as Johnson sped towards the Quaffle again, but jerked away from it.
"And Slytherin just scored another ten points, that puts them in the lead with fifty points to ten. What is happening to the Gryffindor chasers, theyre not catching the Quaffle", Lee Jordan shouted out. Harry watched as Slytherin scored another ten points and the Slytherin crowd were going wild with delight.
Several more minutes passed and still the Gryffindor chasers hadn't caught the Quaffle, they were now prowling behind the Slytherin chasers, trying to catch the Quaffle. By that time Slytherin were so far ahead, even if Harry caught the snitch, they would still lose. The Gryffindor chasers were now working together each trying to speed towards the Quaffle, but to no avail. Suddenly a glint of gold caught Harry's eye and he saw Malfoy chasing after it, already gaining. Harry shot forwards chasing after Malfoy, gaining on him slowly. Head to head they now were, Harry reached out and closed his hand on the cold snitch.
"Harry Potter just caught the snitch, but Slytherin still win by fifty points. I cant believe this, Gryffindor's winning streak is over", Lee Jordan said startled. Harry sped towards the ground and called the rest of the team over to him. "What happened?", Fred asked wildly.
"I don't know", Katie Bell answered.
"How can you not know", Dean thomas added, "I got hammered out there, they were coming from everywhere and everyone time I tried to catch the Quaffle my broom jerked out of the way".
"How can that be?", George asked.
"Well I don't know", Angelina Johnson replied angrily.
"Yeah there was something odd", Dean added.
"It was Malfoy", Harry said.
"Come off it Harry, we all know you don't like Malfoy but he could never do that", Fred said.
"I'm telling you it was him, he done something to our brooms. He was smiling the whole time and our brooms couldn't go near the Quaffle", Harry said.
"Yeah I had that too, whenever I tried to catch it, my broom would jerk out of the way", Angelina said.
"Same here", Alicia Spinnet added.
"Well there's nothing much we can do now, look at them", George said with disgust. The Slytherin team were cheering madly and Malfoiy was just lifting up the Quidditch Cup.
"What happened?", Ron and Hermione asked, coming up to Harry.
"We don't know", Harry replied glumly.
The Slytherin win against Gryffindor put everyones happiness down and Harry had to live with the shame of breaking his promise to Cho, but there was something odd about it, that Harry couldn't put out of his mind. He didn't know what had happened, but he firmly believed Malfoy was behind it. Hermione dismissed his ideas but Ron believed him, so the two would spend hours trying to figure out what happened.
"Maybe ist a repellant charm", Ron said. They were sitting at the back of the library, surrounded by stacks of books.
"But how could he make it repel only us?", Harry asked.
"I don't know but he must have. Its the only explaination", Ron replied.
"Come on lets tell Mc Gonagall", Harry said getting up. They quickly made their way to the entrance hall and found Mc Gonagall giving out to a Ravenclaw first year.
"Professor we believe that the Slytherins cheated in the Quidditch final", Harry said. Mc Gonagall quickly stopped talking to the Ravenclaw first year and turned around to face Harry. "That is a very serious accusation Mr Potter. Please follow me", she said leading them to a medium sized office on the second floor. The office was painted red and it had portraits of the past heads of Gryffindor houses on the walls. Most of them were dozing while the other ones snapped out of their daydreams to watch Ron and Harry. A small fire was lit in the the grate and a large mahogany desk.
"Now could you please explain yourselves", she said curtly.
"Well Professor we believe that Malfoy put a repellant charm on the Quaffle to make it repel our brooms", Harry said.
"Well that is very serious, have you any proof?", Mc Gonagall asked.
"Er...no", Harry said slowly.
"Very well, I cannot do anything without any proof", Mc Gonagall said shuffling through her papers. "You may go now", she said.
"But Professor, brooms don't just jerk away from Quaffles", Harry said.
"There is nothing I can do", Mc Gonagall replied.
"But surely you saw the way Angelina and Alicia would jerk away in the other direction. They didn't do it on purpose", Harry said defiantly.
"Very well Mr Potter. I will look into it, but i can't promise anything", Mc Gonagall said. "Now could you please go back to your common room", she said curtly. Harry and Ron quickly left her office, in no mood to get in trouble with her.
Harry and Ron walked back into the common room, with grim looks on their faces. Ron sat himself down beside Hermione, who was reading a letter.
"Hey Hermione, what letter you reading?", Ron asked putting his arm around her. Hermione jumped and quickly stuffed the letter into her pocket.
"Oh Ron you startled me! Oh nothing important", Hermione said quickly looking away.
"Hermione, who wrote that letter?", Ron asked.
"Oh just some girl I met in France last year", Hermione said looking away.
"Then why are you hiding it?", Ron asked.
"I'm not hiding it", Hermione replied.
"That's a letter from Krum isn't it?", Ron asked.
"Ist none of your business. Its my letter", Hermione replied getting annoyed.
"Why did you lie to me?", Ron asked.
"Look Ron", Hermione said calming down. "I knew you'd act this way.
"Anyway me and Victor are over for a long time now", Hermione explained.
"That still doesn't explain why you lied to me".
"Look I'm sorry Ron. He wrote to me afterall. I didn't write back anyway, I just got it yesterday", Hermione explained.
"You're meant to be my girlfriend Hermione, and you still didn't tell me...", Ron started.
"That's because I knew how'd you react", Hermione butted in.
"But you were going to write to him right", Ron asked.
"No I wasn't! Ron get it through your thick head, me and Victor are over. Why can't you trust me?", Hermione said getting angry.
"Trust you? I'm not the one who lied to me!", Ron shouted.
"I said I was sorry. Why do you always take it so far?", Hermione shouted back.
"I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"I don't!", Ron bellowed. The whole Gryffindor common room, who had been watching the whole time, became even quieter.
"Harry tell her I don't take it too far", Ron said turning to Harry.
"Sorry Ron, but I'm staying out of this", Harry said backing off.
"Yeah, go and side with Hermione!", Ron shouted.
"I'm not siding with anyone", Harry replied calmly.
"Ron why don't you see? Harry is not on my side. You're just making a fool of yourself", Hermione said.
"Yeah you always side with Harry. Why don't you two get together?" Ron knew right at that moment that he had gone too far.
"WHO DO YOU THINK I'M WITH?...Oh I've had enough of this", Hermione said exasperated.
"What you breaking up with me?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. Ron ist over between us", and with that Hermione stormed out of the common room and slamming the portrait behind her.
"WELL THAT'S JUST FINE BY ME!", Ron shouted after Hermione, but she had gone.Ginny quickly got up and followed Hermione out of the common room.
Ron turned around, facing the rest of the Gryffindors and shouted, "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?", before turning around and heading up to the boys' dormitory.
Harry slept badly the night before the match and awoke at the crack of dawn. Not feeling like sleeping, Harry took to pacing around the dormitory going over strategies and tactics for the match. When he realised he was turning into a fanatic Wood, Harry quickly got dressed and went down to the Great Hall He was soon joined by Ron, who equally seemed as worried as Harry. One by one the rest of the Gryffindor team trudged down to the Great Hall. By that time it was eleven and they started making their way down to the changing rooms.
"Wait Ron", Hermione called out running up to him. She had her Gryffindor scarf around her waist and a Gryffindor flag, rolled up under her arm. She hugged and kissed Ron, wished him and Harry good luck before joining Ginny in the Gryffindor stands.
Ron grinned from ear to ear and Harry said slyly, "Come on lover boy".
"Em Harry?", a girl asked. Harry turned around and saw Cho Chang standing behind him. Harry realised she had gotten prettier and he realised how much he still liked her.
"Good luck and beat that scumbag Malfoy. I can't stand to have him gloating about how he won", Cho said.
"Don't worry, I'll wipe that smirk of his face", Harry said grinning. Feeling a good deal happier and more determined, Harry and the team quickly got changed into their Quidditch robes and walked out onto the pitch. A loud cheer erupted from the Gryffindor stands and it seems that Gryffindor weren't the only ones cheering. It seemed that Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were also cheering wildly for the Gryffindor team. The Slytherins weren't pleased and booed even louder than before, but they weren't matched by the cheers.
"Teams shake hands", Madame Hooch shouted over the noise. Harry and Malfoy gripped each others hands, trying to squeeze the life out of each other's hands. Harry quickly mounted his Firebolt, and when he heard Madame Hooch's whistle kicked of hard from the ground and soared into the sky.
"And the Quaffle is immediately taken by Johnson, and she's belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, back to Johnson and-Oh no Slytherin in posession, passes to Montague, whos flying like an eagle up there-he's going to score- no, stoppedby an excellent move by Gryffindor keeper Dean Thomas. Gryffindor take the Quaffle- thats Katie Johnson speeding past there-Oh no here come the Slytherin beaters- this will be messy. Yes she's ducked that hit by the Bludger, passes to Johnson- she sees her chance, aims- OH YES SHE'S DONE IT. TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!", Lee Jordan shouted jumping up. Gryffindor cheeres filled the air, with howls and moans from the Slytherins.
"Slytherin in possession- Pucey with the Quaffle-passes Spinnet-passes Bell-hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose-only joking Professor", Lee Jordan said seeing the angry look on Mc Gonagall's face. "Slytherin score-on no!" The Slytherins were cheering wildly and Malfoy swooped past Harry, shouting loudly.
Gryffindor in possession, what is Katie Bell doing?", Lee Jordan asked as he watched her near the Quaffle then suddenly jerk away from it very fast. Montague caught the quaffle and raced off, with Johnson chasing after him. Montague dropped the Quaffle, and when Angelina went to catch it, she suddenly jerked out of the Quaffle's way.
"What the?", Harry asked watching the spectacle higher up. He watched again as Johnson sped towards the Quaffle again, but jerked away from it.
"And Slytherin just scored another ten points, that puts them in the lead with fifty points to ten. What is happening to the Gryffindor chasers, theyre not catching the Quaffle", Lee Jordan shouted out. Harry watched as Slytherin scored another ten points and the Slytherin crowd were going wild with delight.
Several more minutes passed and still the Gryffindor chasers hadn't caught the Quaffle, they were now prowling behind the Slytherin chasers, trying to catch the Quaffle. By that time Slytherin were so far ahead, even if Harry caught the snitch, they would still lose. The Gryffindor chasers were now working together each trying to speed towards the Quaffle, but to no avail. Suddenly a glint of gold caught Harry's eye and he saw Malfoy chasing after it, already gaining. Harry shot forwards chasing after Malfoy, gaining on him slowly. Head to head they now were, Harry reached out and closed his hand on the cold snitch.
"Harry Potter just caught the snitch, but Slytherin still win by fifty points. I cant believe this, Gryffindor's winning streak is over", Lee Jordan said startled. Harry sped towards the ground and called the rest of the team over to him. "What happened?", Fred asked wildly.
"I don't know", Katie Bell answered.
"How can you not know", Dean thomas added, "I got hammered out there, they were coming from everywhere and everyone time I tried to catch the Quaffle my broom jerked out of the way".
"How can that be?", George asked.
"Well I don't know", Angelina Johnson replied angrily.
"Yeah there was something odd", Dean added.
"It was Malfoy", Harry said.
"Come off it Harry, we all know you don't like Malfoy but he could never do that", Fred said.
"I'm telling you it was him, he done something to our brooms. He was smiling the whole time and our brooms couldn't go near the Quaffle", Harry said.
"Yeah I had that too, whenever I tried to catch it, my broom would jerk out of the way", Angelina said.
"Same here", Alicia Spinnet added.
"Well there's nothing much we can do now, look at them", George said with disgust. The Slytherin team were cheering madly and Malfoiy was just lifting up the Quidditch Cup.
"What happened?", Ron and Hermione asked, coming up to Harry.
"We don't know", Harry replied glumly.
The Slytherin win against Gryffindor put everyones happiness down and Harry had to live with the shame of breaking his promise to Cho, but there was something odd about it, that Harry couldn't put out of his mind. He didn't know what had happened, but he firmly believed Malfoy was behind it. Hermione dismissed his ideas but Ron believed him, so the two would spend hours trying to figure out what happened.
"Maybe ist a repellant charm", Ron said. They were sitting at the back of the library, surrounded by stacks of books.
"But how could he make it repel only us?", Harry asked.
"I don't know but he must have. Its the only explaination", Ron replied.
"Come on lets tell Mc Gonagall", Harry said getting up. They quickly made their way to the entrance hall and found Mc Gonagall giving out to a Ravenclaw first year.
"Professor we believe that the Slytherins cheated in the Quidditch final", Harry said. Mc Gonagall quickly stopped talking to the Ravenclaw first year and turned around to face Harry. "That is a very serious accusation Mr Potter. Please follow me", she said leading them to a medium sized office on the second floor. The office was painted red and it had portraits of the past heads of Gryffindor houses on the walls. Most of them were dozing while the other ones snapped out of their daydreams to watch Ron and Harry. A small fire was lit in the the grate and a large mahogany desk.
"Now could you please explain yourselves", she said curtly.
"Well Professor we believe that Malfoy put a repellant charm on the Quaffle to make it repel our brooms", Harry said.
"Well that is very serious, have you any proof?", Mc Gonagall asked.
"Er...no", Harry said slowly.
"Very well, I cannot do anything without any proof", Mc Gonagall said shuffling through her papers. "You may go now", she said.
"But Professor, brooms don't just jerk away from Quaffles", Harry said.
"There is nothing I can do", Mc Gonagall replied.
"But surely you saw the way Angelina and Alicia would jerk away in the other direction. They didn't do it on purpose", Harry said defiantly.
"Very well Mr Potter. I will look into it, but i can't promise anything", Mc Gonagall said. "Now could you please go back to your common room", she said curtly. Harry and Ron quickly left her office, in no mood to get in trouble with her.
Harry and Ron walked back into the common room, with grim looks on their faces. Ron sat himself down beside Hermione, who was reading a letter.
"Hey Hermione, what letter you reading?", Ron asked putting his arm around her. Hermione jumped and quickly stuffed the letter into her pocket.
"Oh Ron you startled me! Oh nothing important", Hermione said quickly looking away.
"Hermione, who wrote that letter?", Ron asked.
"Oh just some girl I met in France last year", Hermione said looking away.
"Then why are you hiding it?", Ron asked.
"I'm not hiding it", Hermione replied.
"That's a letter from Krum isn't it?", Ron asked.
"Ist none of your business. Its my letter", Hermione replied getting annoyed.
"Why did you lie to me?", Ron asked.
"Look Ron", Hermione said calming down. "I knew you'd act this way.
"Anyway me and Victor are over for a long time now", Hermione explained.
"That still doesn't explain why you lied to me".
"Look I'm sorry Ron. He wrote to me afterall. I didn't write back anyway, I just got it yesterday", Hermione explained.
"You're meant to be my girlfriend Hermione, and you still didn't tell me...", Ron started.
"That's because I knew how'd you react", Hermione butted in.
"But you were going to write to him right", Ron asked.
"No I wasn't! Ron get it through your thick head, me and Victor are over. Why can't you trust me?", Hermione said getting angry.
"Trust you? I'm not the one who lied to me!", Ron shouted.
"I said I was sorry. Why do you always take it so far?", Hermione shouted back.
"I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"I don't!", Ron bellowed. The whole Gryffindor common room, who had been watching the whole time, became even quieter.
"Harry tell her I don't take it too far", Ron said turning to Harry.
"Sorry Ron, but I'm staying out of this", Harry said backing off.
"Yeah, go and side with Hermione!", Ron shouted.
"I'm not siding with anyone", Harry replied calmly.
"Ron why don't you see? Harry is not on my side. You're just making a fool of yourself", Hermione said.
"Yeah you always side with Harry. Why don't you two get together?" Ron knew right at that moment that he had gone too far.
"WHO DO YOU THINK I'M WITH?...Oh I've had enough of this", Hermione said exasperated.
"What you breaking up with me?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. Ron ist over between us", and with that Hermione stormed out of the common room and slamming the portrait behind her.
"WELL THAT'S JUST FINE BY ME!", Ron shouted after Hermione, but she had gone.Ginny quickly got up and followed Hermione out of the common room.
Ron turned around, facing the rest of the Gryffindors and shouted, "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?", before turning around and heading up to the boys' dormitory.