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(AN: Thanks to Durayan and JK for the beta on this one. Only a few more chapters to go!)
The Quidditch Final
Upon returning to Hogwarts, Remus knew part of his job from now on would be Harry's protection. What he didn't know was that Harry wasn't in immediate danger from Sirius Black, but rather from the Slytherin Quidditch team. They pulled many a prank on Harry and the rest of his team in an effort to advance their chances of winning. Marveling at the ingenuity of some of the pranks, Remus had to keep a close eye out for any attempt to injure Harry.
There was a long-standing rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor. It was no secret that these two houses were opposites of each other and to match them up in the Quidditch final always brought the school to a near stand still. But this year the stakes were even higher. Remus could remember several times in his own youth when a Quidditch match brought about excitement and even volatile behavior, but he couldn't ever remember it being like this! The week leading up to the match was indescribable – almost as if both teams were preparing for war.
Harry was taking the brunt of the attempted damage from the Slytherins. They tried every chance they got to take him out of the game. But to Remus' pleasure, other Gryffindor students constantly surrounded Harry wherever he went. He didn't look too pleased about this as it was an invasion of privacy, but Remus was certain that Harry knew it was for his own good. It was simply an act of over-protection on the part of his housemates.
The tension over the match wasn't limited to just the students, either. Snape had become overly smug about Slytherin's chances to win the Quidditch cup when it was pointed out that Gryffindor could only win the cup if they won the final match by at least 50 points. He took great pride in the fact that the players on the Slytherin team were ever so much larger than the players on the Gryffindor team, so they were sure to win. Under her breath one night at dinner, Professor McGonagall pointed out to Remus that even though the Slytherin team was larger in size, that didn't make them more talented than the Gryffindor team.
Remus tried to stay out of it. After all, it really wasn't fair for teachers to play favorites or root for one house over the other. But that didn't stop him from wishing with all his might that Gryffindor would indeed win this match and win the cup as well. It had been so long since they had won and, after the year Harry had been though, he knew it would do the boy's heart good to win this one!
The night before the match, the Great Hall was bustling with excitement and anticipation for the upcoming match. Even students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were slapping the Gryffindor team on their backs and wishing them luck. It looked as if no one but those in Slytherin were going to cheer for the Slytherin team to win. Insults were thrown back and forth and vicious sneers and stares were shot across the Hall. The teachers up at the staff table tried to keep the peace, but eventually Flitwick suggested that they send all the students off to their own common rooms before things got really out of hand.
About an hour later, when the staff was sure that all students were tucked away in their proper houses, they decided to take action to ensure a safe and relatively fair match the next day. Knowing the cunning abilities of the Slytherin students, not to mention Gryffindor House's desire to win the Quidditch cup and put an end to the reign of the Snake, Madam Hooch suggested that some of the teachers take turns watching the grounds overnight just in case someone was tempted to sneak out and place a curse on the Quidditch pitch. McGonagall offered to take the first shift, Remus volunteered for the second, and Hagrid said he would take the final watch. Satisfied that the playing grounds would be well guarded, Madam Hooch and the rest of the staff retired for the evening, hoping to get some sleep but feeling just as nervous and excited as the students.
Remus lingered in his room for the few hours before his shift was to start with the hope of getting a little sleep, but he simply couldn't. The idea of possibly watching Harry and his team win the Quidditch Cup was just too exciting. He felt nervous and tense even though he would only be watching, and he had a rather large knot in the pit of his stomach. It was the same feeling he had in his stomach the night before the Quidditch Final in his seventh year.
James and Sirius both played on the house team for a few years. The team had always been good, but they had never managed to win the Cup. On the Hogwarts Express in their last year, James swore to them all that this would be the year. Remus could hear James' voice in his head, making the promise he would fulfill at the end of the year.
"I mean it, Sirius. We are going to win this year or we will die trying!"
Peter chimed in rather quietly. "Don't you think you should rephrase that? Think about what happened last year."
"Come off it," Sirius sighed. "You think that was the first time anyone's been injured in a Quidditch match? That injury was minor compared to some."
"I wouldn't call a fractured skull, a broken arm, and broken ribs minor," Peter said.
"Nor would I," agreed James. "But at least we won that game!"
Sirius and James exchanged punches and laughed heartily until Remus pointed out the fact they were forgetting. "Yes, you won the game…but with James in the hospital wing for as long as he was, you lost the next game and were disqualified from playing in the final."
Sirius shook his head. "Now why did you have to go and bring that up?"
"Yeah, Moony," said James. "Besides, I promise that I'll save all major injuries for the final game. AND I promise to win that game if it's the last thing I do!"
Remus smiled to himself. They did in fact win that game and win the Quidditch Cup – and they managed to do it without any real injuries. It was later on that night that the trouble came when Filch caught them all out of bounds and took the map from them.
His eyes shifted over to his desk where the map lay. He hadn't looked at it since he'd been back from the Easter holiday. There would be a great crowd outside tomorrow and not too many people would be paying much attention to the actual castle. Thinking it would be an obvious opportunity for someone to try to break into the castle, Remus headed over to the desk ready to have a look and see if Sirius was anywhere near. But then the thought struck him that if Harry was Sirius' target, it wouldn't do Sirius much good to break into the castle when Harry would be out on the Quidditch Pitch. Remus ran his fingertips over the blank parchment and opted not to worry with the map tonight. He glanced at the clock and realized that it was nearly his turn outside at the pitch.
The night air was cool and crisp and Remus was glad he had worn his cloak. He found Professor McGonagall by the entrance to the Pitch. After a long yawn, she thanked him for taking over and headed back towards the castle in the dark of night.
Without even thinking about it, Remus glanced up at the moon. Waning crescent. It was a habit of his. After all, the moon was very hard to resist looking at – especially on a night like tonight. It was a peaceful night with no real wind. The trees were all calm and the sounds of crickets and other nighttime creatures filled the other wise silence of the dark. Closing his eyes, taking in the fresh, spring scent of the night, he leaned back against the wall surrounding the stadium.
A crackling of leaves off in the distance brought Remus out of his calm state and he glanced around to see what had caused the noise. It was quiet for a moment, but he kept his eyes wide open hoping to catch whoever or whatever it was that made the sound. Then he heard it again. His head whipped around to catch sight of something wending its way through the trees. He couldn't quite make out what it was but he was certain it wasn't human. Remus drew out his wand and muttered, "Lumos!" He aimed the narrow beam of light into the trees. A pair of pale eyes caught the glow, and stared back at him for a moment, before vanishing suddenly. It's not possible…
Remus doused his wand and moved with inhuman stealth towards the edge of the trees where he'd seen the animal. There. A movement in the brush…
"Padfoot?" he muttered hoarsely, cutting into the quiet.
The animal darted away at the sound of Remus' voice. Remus advanced quickly, lighting the wand again, searching. There. Those eyes…Padfoot's eyes…He pushed aside an over grown bush and rounded one of the larger trees to come to a stop at a fallen log. Hiding in a dug out hole under part of the log was the animal. Much to Remus' surprise, it was not a dog, but a cat. A fat, ginger cat with a squished up face and piercing yellow eyes. The cat stared up at Remus and flicked his bushy tail around as if to tease Remus.
Confused, he tried to work out exactly what he had just seen. A cat…it was just a cat. Not a dog. Not Padfoot. He can't possibly manage magic like that, not after 12 years in Azkaban. Remus drew a shuddering breath. Clearly, the encounter with the boggart over Easter had done a number on him. He rubbed at his eyes and shook his head.
I'm losing my mind! I've let my imagination run away and now my eyes are playing tricks on me. It was dark. And I haven't slept tonight. Let the cat alone.
Turning his back on the cat, Remus strode back over to the Quidditch Pitch and waited out the rest of his shift convinced that he was letting his imagination get the better of him. Not only that, but his eye lids were getting very heavy from a lack of sleep. It came as a relief when Hagrid and Fang appeared a few hours later to relieve him of his post.
"Everythin' go all right?" Hagrid asked with a yawn.
"Just fine, thank you. Nothing out of the ordinary." Smiling, Remus wasn't sure who he was trying to convince – Hagrid or himself.
"Well, I'll be takin' over then."
Remus noted that Hagrid didn't seem his cheerful self but he hesitated asking him about it. "I'm sure you'll have no problems." Turning to leave, Remus heard Hagrid give a mighty sniff. He glanced over his shoulder at the giant and saw that he was wiping a tear away from his eyes. Then Remus realized what must be wrong. "Before I go I just wanted to know how everything turned out with your hippogriff."
"Not well at all," Hagrid sobbed. "I tried my best, but them Committee folks'll do jus' about anythin' Lucius Malfoy tells 'em to."
"I'm so sorry, Hagrid. Really I am. What is to become of the animal?"
He took out what appeared to be a small tablecloth and blew his nose into it. "Buckbeak's t' be executed before term is up."
Remus shook his head in sorrow. "Is there anything I can do?"
"No…there's nothin' anyone can do. But it's nice o' yeh t' ask."
Remus gave Fang a pat on the head and began his walk back up to the castle. He truly did feel badly for Hagrid and his hippogriff. A nagging thought crept into his mind when he pondered what Hagrid had said. The execution would take place by the end of term, which meant that an executioner would be coming to Hogwarts at some point. A shiver passed through his body at the thought, but he brushed it away as he entered the castle and headed for his chamber.
***
The weather for the Quidditch Final was near perfection. Remus arrived in the stands early in order to get a good seat. He was glad he did so, for the seats were soon filled with shouting students most of whom were waving scarlet and gold pennants. Only a fourth of the spectators sported Slytherin green and silver. Remus himself had found a Gryffindor rosette and pinned it to his robe.
Once the players took to the field, the roar in the stadium was deafening. Lee Jordon's voice could barley be heard over the cheers and shouts from the crowd. When Madam Hooch signaled for the two team captains to shake hands, the sound died down a bit but came back to full volume once she blew her whistle.
The game was fast and furious. The Slytherins pulled every trick in the book to try and stop the Gryffindor team from scoring, but the Gryffindors fought back and took an early lead. Slytherin managed to score but it was only through foul play near cheating. It was absolutely the dirtiest game of Quidditch Remus had ever seen.
Dirty tactics aside, Harry was amazing to behold. Most of the crowd was drawn to watch him on his new Firebolt, but Remus knew that it still took real talent to fly as well as Harry could. He whipped around the field so quickly that it was quite difficult to follow him at times. No, it isn't the broom that is impressive, Remus thought. It's the person flying it.
As the game advanced, the tricks pulled by the Slytherin team grew worse. Malfoy was giving Harry quite a time with the Snitch and even managed to stop him from catching it by holding the back of the Firebolt until the Snitch flew off. After that, Harry marked Malfoy as closely as he could, but yet still managed to pay attention to the rest of the game. Upon noticing that Angelina Johnson was in danger of being blocked by the entire Slytherin team, Harry dashed off to help her causing the Slytherins to scatter and leaving Angelina in the clear to score.
The crowd cheered, but then froze as everyone, including Harry, noticed Malfoy chasing after the Snitch. Harry zoomed like lightning to catch up. He gained on Malfoy as the entire stadium held its breath. Would he catch up? Would he get to the Snitch before Malfoy? Harry threw himself forward into the dive and wrapped his fingers around the tiny gold ball.
An eruption of joy boomed from the stands as Gryffindor students began chanting "WE WON THE CUP!" Remus laughed and applauded along with the rest of the bystanders, in total amazement of Harry and his magnificent win. Down on the field, Harry and the rest of his team were lifted onto the shoulders of the crowd and carried over to Professor Dumbledore who presented them with the Quidditch Cup.
"Look at that dive! Just look! That is genuine talent, Harry."
Remus approached the door to the nursery in puzzlement. Whatever James was doing in there was certain to be interesting.
"James?" Remus asked with a light rap on the door.
"Come on in. I was just putting up a few posters for Harry."
"A few?" In fact, James had put up about a dozen posters - all of his favorite Quidditch players performing their best moves. " Good grief, James. The boy isn't even a month old yet. You really think he has an interest in Quidditch already?"
"Of course he does! What boy doesn't?"
"James, Harry is only interested in eating, sleeping, and getting his nappies changed!"
"Well, believe what you want, Remus, but babies are very susceptible to suggestion. If I can teach him about Quidditch early, then the chance that he'll be a great player increases. Take Hamish MacFarlan here. In his autobiography, he was quoted as saying that he remembers flying long before he remembers walking. And he said he owed it mostly to his father."
"So you want Harry to fly before he walks?"
"YES! I want Harry to be the best damn Quidditch player that has ever lived! He'll be the captain of his team at Hogwarts. He'll win the Cup every year. He'll have offers from every team in Britain. Mark my words, Remus, you are standing in the presence of greatness here!" James pick up his tiny son and showed him off to Remus. "You tell him, Harry. Tell him that someday he'll sit in the stands and watch you win the Quidditch Cup. Tell him that you will be the greatest player that ever lived!"
"Don't you think you're pressing your own hopes and desires on the boy? I mean, what if Harry doesn't want to play Quidditch. What if he's interested in art or science?"
"That will be all right. I want him to be intelligent and do well in school. But I tell you Remus, I just feel it. I can see it in the way he looks at these posters. He'll be the best player around."
"And what position will he play?"
"Doesn't matter! He'll be so talented that he can take his pick of which position he'd like to play."
Remus laughed. "Oh, James! You really have it bad for this kid!"
"Well, he does kind of have me wrapped around his finger now, doesn't he?"
"Yes he does. And that's exactly the way it should be."
Remus couldn't take his eyes off of the sight of Harry beaming with pride and joy over his team's victory. Harry held the Cup high into the air and chanted with the rest of the crowd, "WE'RE NUMBER ONE!" Oh James, if only you could see this!
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