Chapter 6

Harry woke up to someone jumping on his bed.

"Ro-on! It's too early to be hyper! Let me go back to sleep. This is the one day I don't have quidditch practice early in the morning."

"But Harry, IT'S CHRISTMAS!" Ron yelled, jumping again. Harry got up this time and started getting ready.

"So, what's Romeo got in store for Hermione tonight?" Ron asked and wiggled his eyebrows up and down. Harry sighed. Ron was never going to grow up; then again, Harry could act that way too sometimes.

"Nothing you need to know about." Harry responded before he grabbed something out of his trunk and left the room. When he entered the common room he saw Hermione already there. He walked up behind her (I know that this is becoming routine, but bear with me!), put her present in front of her and kissed her cheek.

"Merry Christmas Herm." Harry walked around and sat next to Hermione. Hermione laid her head down to rest on his shoulder while she opened her present. Harry watched her with amusement.

"Oh Harry! I love it! It is absolutely gorgeous!" Harry had given her a stunningly beautiful necklace. It was a thin silver chain, but if you looked closer you'd see that it was actually two extremely thin chains exquisitely weaved together. Then on the chain was a silver locket with a flower and the word 'Herm' engraved on the front. On the inside on the side that opened were the words 'May their Spirits live on'. Then on the other side was a picture of Hermione's parents.

"Oh, by the way, here's you present." Hermione said wiping a tear off her cheek. Harry opened her present to him.

"Wow Herm, this is really great!" Hermione had given him two books. One was of the past quidditch players at Hogwarts, including Lily, James, Sirius, Remus and others. The other book was an old book full of ancient spells.

"When I bought this at the book store the bookkeeper said that the magic in this book isn't used anymore. There are only a few witches and wizards that are able to use it. I thought maybe you might enjoy learning it and then maybe later teach me. The magic in the book is called Elemental Magic.

"Thank you so much Herm! I needed something like this." Harry kissed her not too intensely. "Let's go open the rest of our presents, and then get the Weasleys to have a snowball fight with us.

That was how the rest of Christmas break was spent: snowball fights, reading (on Hermione's and Harry's behalf) and snogging (again on Hermione's and Harry's behalf.) then, all too soon, Christmas break was over and all the students came back. Before they knew it, it was already time for the Quidditch cup, which was on the last day of school.

Harry woke up especially early the day of the Quidditch cup. It wasn't that he was nervous, well ok he WAS nervous, but it was also because of a nightmare he had. He kept running it through his mind to see if he could recall all of the facts before turning to Dumbledore.

*~*dream*~*

"WORMTAIL!"

"Ye-es, master?"

"I have a mission for you of the utmost importance. But I am not sure you can handle it. You have failed me before."

"I can handle it, I swear. I'll do anything."

"Okay, here is the mission. I want you to lead a massacre against Hogsmead. Then I want you to . . ." The rest of the conversation was inaudible, but finally Wormtail nodded his head and left the room.

Harry knew that his dreams usually came true and that he should go to Dumbledore, but he had the feeling that he was forgetting something, something important. He sat in front of the fireplace thinking until everyone else started coming down.

"C'mon Harry, let's go down to breakfast." Hermione said leaning down to lightly brush her lips against his.

"Yeah, mate. By the way, you ready for the big game today?" Ron asked while he was trying to wobble on one foot, still tying the other shoe. Finally he collapsed onto the couch.

"I believe so. I just hope we beat Slytherin. We have been training extra hard, but who knows what they have up their sleeves."

Soon enough, Ron and Hermione were in the stands waiting for the game to begin. Finally, it did.

"WELCOME TO THE QUIDDITCH CUP EVERYONE! NOW, HERE COMES THE SLYTHERIN TEAM!" With that the players flew out, no one bothering to applaud except for the Slytherin house. "NEXT, THE GRYFFINDOR! LET'S GO HARRY! KNOCK MALFOY OFF HIS BROOM IF YOU HAVE TO! OOPS! SORRY PROFESSOR!" McGonagall had been glaring at him. "THE CAPTAINS SHAKE HANDS AND THEY'RE OFF! ALICIA GETS POSSESION OF THE QUAFFLE RIGHT AWAY, AND SCORES! WAY TO GO ALICIA!" the game went like that for about an hour and a half, when the score was 150; 170- in favor of the Slytherin. Everyone in the stands was at the edges of their seats waiting for the snitch to come.

"THERE GOES HARRY! HE SEES THE SNITCH GO HARRY, GO! WIN THE GAME!" McGonagall didn't even both to scold him, she was too busy watching the game. Harry had dove at an angle straight towards the ground and at the last second pulled up when the snitch went towards the stands. Harry went so close to the people in the stands that they could feel the wind from his speed around them. Then the snitch made an abrupt turn and headed straight towards Malfoy, who was on Harry's tail. A horrified look cam over Malfoy's face when he realized Harry was coming at him full speed and he rolled over on his broom so Harry could pass. Then, he realized what he did. He had let Harry get past! He flew over to a beater and took his club as a bludger made its way toward him. He hit it with all of his might right at Harry. Harry was leaning all the way forward on his broom his hand about to encircle the snitch when he felt an excruciating pain in his back and head, then start to black out. At the last second he snapped his fingers shut and held tight to the snitch. He felt himself falling, but couldn't help it, he passed out.

In the stands there was utter chaos.

"HARRY! NO!" Hermione sobbed and dropped to the floor. Ron helped her up and they made their way to the field where Harry was put on a stretcher and levitated to the hospital wing.

A/N- hi everyone! Sorry I am taking so long to post, but school sucks! anyways, I hope you are all enjoying my story KEEP RESPONDING! If no one responds I think no one is reading it then I won't write anymore. Well, I will stop babbling now. Oh yeah- I'm sorry but I don't have the time to email anyone the story (there's also the little fact I am writing it as I think of it). So just save this on your favorites and go there so you don't have to keep going to fanfic every time you want to read. Thanks for reading, I'll write more soon! -meg