Title: Deadly Love

Written by: oopsiesgrl

Rating: PG - Parental Guidance recommended (some swearing)

Chapter Eight: Quidditch Tryouts

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On Friday morning, Harry received his first letter since his arrival at Hogwarts. With the new restrictions on mail, they no longer saw the sea of owls flying into the Great Hall the way they used to. Each morning this year, there were usually only a dozen or two birds carrying letters to their owners.

As Hedwig swooped down to Harry, her white feathers glistening in the sun, he wondered whom the letter could be from. Hedwig landed on the table and chirped at Harry with affection. She raised her left leg for him to untie the letter.

He removed the parchment from Hedwig's leg and opened it. "It's from Sirius!" he said happily.

"What does it say?" asked Ron.

Harry laid the parchment out on the table and the three of them huddled together to read.

~

Dear Harry,

How are you? I heard about what happened on your first day back at Hogwarts. Dumbledore wrote to me about it. Are you, Ron, and Hermione all right? Is your hand okay now, Harry?

I'm not trying to frighten you, but be careful at Hogwarts. I'm certain Dumbledore will do all he can to make sure everybody's safe, but there are always things he may miss. I'm especially worried about who was involved in the carriage incident. Voldemort or a Death Eater should not have been able to come so near Hogwarts with the precautions Dumbledore took. It is very possible that that person is at Hogwarts right now. He might have pretended to be one of us to get in. Or maybe someone who pretended to be back on our side never actually came back. Snape was once a Death Eater, and then he suddenly came back to our side with no apparent reason. Maybe Snape isn't trustworthy, or maybe he is. I don't know. Also, I don't think it was Voldemort that night; it's not his style. But it could be someone who wants to regain his trust after betraying him. Again, it could be Snape trying to regain his trust. Be careful, Harry.

I'm sorry I brought those things up. Let's go on to a lighter subject. I heard Mariana Fitz is working as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year. She's wonderful. I knew her in school, and so did your parents. Did she tell you yet? She's very nice.

I'm fine, and so is Remus. We're still on some business, but we'll be able to come to Hogwarts in a month or two. I saw Hagrid a month ago. He was looking for his mother, and hoping that she will consider their relationship before taking sides with Voldemort. Have you heard from him yet? Well, Remus is looking forward to seeing you, Ron, and Hermione. Say hello to them for us. Take care, and be on your guard.

Sirius

P.S. You have a very clever owl. She probably knew you wanted to hear from me and that I wanted to write to you, so she came to find me.

~

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked up from the letter.

"Do you think Sirius is serious about Snape?" said Hermione quietly. "He's right. You have to be careful, Harry."

"I don't think Snape did it," said Harry. "He saved my life once, and I don't think he is as bad as those other Death Eaters. Especially now. He seems much nicer."

"What if he's under the Imperius Curse?" gasped Ron. During Voldemort's last reign of terror, he often used the curse to control others, making it difficult for the Ministry of Magic to tell apart the true followers from the forced followers.

"Ron is right!" whispered Hermione. "He may not try to harm us, but what if Voldemort forced him to? I mean, he seems dazed half the time, right? And that's one of the signs of the Imperius Curse!"

"Write to Sirius about Snape," said Ron. "Maybe he'll know something."

"Okay."

"Here, I have some parchment and ink with me." Hermione fumbled through her bag.

Harry quickly scribbled a letter before breakfast ended.

~

Dear Sirius,

I received your letter. I'm fine, and so are Ron and Hermione. We just thought about something concerning Snape. He's acting really weird since the beginning of the year. He seems dazed half the time, but he still remembers where he is and everything. Could it be the Imperius Curse?

Professor Fitz told me she knew my parents. She seems very nice. I'd love to get to know her better.

That will be all for now. Say hi to Remus for us. Hope you're well.

Harry

~

Harry folded up the parchment and tied it to Hedwig's leg.

"Take it to Sirius for me, okay?" Harry stroked her feathers gently and fed her several pieces of bread. Hedwig chirped satisfyingly and took off.

"Let's hope we hear from Sirius soon," said Ron.

********

That afternoon, Harry waited in the Gryffindor common room with Katie, Alicia, and Angelina for Fred and George to come. He had been looking forward to the Quidditch meeting since classes began after breakfast. If anything could take his mind off troubles, it was Quidditch, even if it was only talking about it. And today, he needed the distraction. Sirius' letter had brought out the worries hidden in the back of his mind. All day, Voldemort, Snape, and Death Eaters were all he thought about. He had no inkling of anything that was taught. In Charms, Professor Flitwick had called on him five times for not paying attention.

Just as Harry felt he couldn't wait any longer for the meeting to start, the painting of the Fat Lady opened again. A large foot wearing handed down, weathered shoes stuck in through the hole, followed by George's red head. Behind him, Fred came in.

"Hey," said George to Harry and the girls. "Sorry we're late. We kinda...uh...got in trouble for using some Slytherins as testers for our Nose Bots."

"Yeah," said Fred glumly. "Filch was questioning us about it. He gave us detention again. Hey, but the candy works!" His face spread into a smile. "You should have seen Adrian Pucey's nose! Man! It was the size of a watermelon!"

Katie giggled and shook her head. Harry listened amusingly. He would have liked to see Adrian Pucey's nose.

"Have you guys started discussing anything yet?" asked Fred.

"No," answered Alicia. "We were waiting for you two."

We're here now, so let's get down to business," said Fred. He and George took two chairs and sat down by their teammates.

"First of all," started Angelina. "We need a Captain. Who do you think it should be?"

Everyone's eyes turned to Harry.

"Me?" he said in amazement.

"You're easily the best player on the team, Harry," said George.

"I'm only good as a Seeker. I definitely won't do well playing Chaser, not to mention a Beater. Besides, you guys have had way more experience than me."

"Think about it, Harry," said Angelina. "Oliver became Captain during his fifth year."

"Yeah, but he was the oldest then."

"Okay...then...the rest of us are all leaving Hogwarts the end of the year. Even if one of us is made the Captain, it'll only be for a year, so there's not much of a point to it."

"Come one, Harry," said Alicia.

"I'll feel awkward leading a group of seventh years," said Harry. "I think you should be Captain, Angelina. You have the best leadership skills out of all of us."

Angelina looked around at the rest of the team. "Are you sure, Harry?" she asked.

Harry nodded.

"How about it, Angie?" said Katie.

"Does everyone agree?" asked Angelina.

"Yeah! Sure!" they chorused.

"Okay, then. Harry, promise you'll be Captain next year? You'll be good."

"Sure."

"Okay," said Angelina. "Let's go to the next topic. Who will be our new Keeper? Does anybody have anyone good in mind or do we need to hold tryouts?"

"We haven't really seen anybody else in our house play," said Alicia.

"Yeah," said Fred. "I think we need to hold tryouts."

"Okay," said Angelina. "How about...Saturday next week? That will give people time to prepare."

"Sounds good," said Fred, and everybody else agreed.

"It's best if we get someone who isn't too old," said Alicia.

"Yeah, we need a really good player from fourth year or below so they can stay a while on the team," said George.

Angelina nodded.

"We should look for Chasers and Beaters for next year too," said Fred. "That way, Harry won't have to look for five players by himself."

"That's a good idea, Fred," said Angelina. "Katie, can you write an announcement? We'll have the tryouts on Saturday, the...19th, at 10 in the morning. I'll book the Quidditch field."

********

During the following week, many Gryffindors, second year and older, became very desperate to practice for Quidditch. They practice day and night, any spare minute they had. Those who didn't own a broom borrowed one of their friends' and they practiced together or, if they really had no other choice, one of the school's. Even Professor McGonagall held a different air than usual. She too seemed quite excited about finding a new Keeper and forming a team for next year. McGonagall is the Head of Gryffindor house, and having a good Quidditch team was important to her. The first years, as well, have been roused from their usual first-month-of-school-stupor. They weren't allowed to be on the team (McGonagall bent the rule for Harry), but Quidditch was still exciting.

Saturday morning came rather quickly. Half the house showed up on the Quidditch field with their brooms that day. The other half, including Ron and Hermione, came to watch. Ron said he didn't want to tryout, and that he was only joking about being on the team. Professor McGonagall came too, of course.

Members of the other houses were forbidden to come near the field while the tryouts were going on. McGonagall herself put a spell around the field. And windows from the castle that looked out onto the field were blocked. They are opponents, after all.

The Quidditch field is located near the Forbidden Forest. Like a professional field, the one at Hogwarts had the standard fifty-foot tall hoops on both ends. The grass underneath was trim and neat. Argus Filch wasn't very nice of a person, but he took care of the castle and its grounds well. The tall stands and locker rooms had been magicked away. A couple of chairs had been placed at the edge of the field, in which sat the Gryffindor team and McGonagall.

Angelina stood up and faced the crowd. "Sonorus," she pointed her wand to her throat and muttered. Her voice boomed out as if she was using a microphone. "Quiet please, everyone! My name is Angelina Johnson, in case you don't know. I play the position of Chaser and I'm the new Captain of the Gryffindor team. From the announcement we posted, you probably already know what we're looking for. All interested in playing the position of Keeper, follow Harry Potter and Alicia Spinnet. Beaters, go with Fred and George Weasley. And Chasers follow Katie Bell and me. We will be testing you three at a time while one of us takes notes on your performance. Good luck, all!"

Angelina and Katie led their group of people to the other end of the field. They had the Chasers attempt scoring and passing the ball to each other. Fred and George tested the Beaters on how hard and accurate they hit the Bludgers. Alicia shot the Quaffle from all angles while the Keeper tried to prevent her from scoring. Harry took notes on the players' performances.

After several hours, Alicia and Harry had been through just about all the people trying out for Keeper. The last person on their list was Dean Thomas, and he seemed to be the best one so far. He hadn't missed even one of Alicia's shots yet. His years as goalie for Muggle soccer were paying off.

Harry was glad Dean was the last person because he hands were sore from writing. He looked up from the notepad after making another mark for the last block Dean made. Harry followed Alicia as she flew around with the Quaffle in her hands, going for another surprise attack. She flew closer to the hoops, and shot at the one farthest left. Just then, Harry noticed something by the edge of the Forbidden Forest behind her head. It looked like a swish of a cloak and a face. Harry squinted for a closer look, but didn't see anything. Just as he was beginning to turn away, thinking it have been an animal or something, the face appeared again behind a tree. As suddenly as it had appeared, it disappeared again.

'Maybe it's someone spying on our tryouts,' thought Harry. Students were forbidden to go into the forest, but Slytherins didn't care about the rules. They would cheat any time if it meant it would win them the Quidditch Cup.

Dean had caught the last Quaffle, and he flew back down to the ground. Alicia came over to Harry, who was still staring intently to the forest.

"Harry, what's wrong?" she asked.

"I saw someone behind the trees in the Forbidden Forest. Could it be someone spying on our tryouts?"

Alicia looked toward where Harry was pointing. "I don't see anything, but we better check to be sure. Let's ask McGonagall if we can go and see."

The two of them flew down to where McGonagall was sitting.

Harry explained what he had seen and they asked for permission to go into the Forest.

"Okay." McGonagall was willing to bend the rules when it came to their chances of winning the Quidditch Cup. "Don't go too far in though."

Harry and Alicia made their way across the field. Ron and Hermione caught up.

"What's the matter?" Hermione asked.

"Someone might be spying on our tryouts," explained Alicia.

"I saw something in the forest," said Harry.

"I'll bet it's Malfoy," said Ron. "It would be like him to stoop so low to cheat."

The four of them were close to the forest now, and slowed down their steps.

"Should we split up and search?" whispered Hermione, who felt it might be necessary they don't be too loud.

"Okay," said Harry. All four took out their wands just in case the spy tried to put a curse on them. They split up and went in different directions.

Harry walked into the Forbidden Forest. It was very dark, even near the edge. The towering trees blocked every ray of light. Leaves rustled under his feet.

His eyes searched the area around him. There seemed to be nothing, only shadows over shadows. He gripped his wand tightly, expecting Malfoy or another Slytherin to jump on him.

In the darkness, Harry suddenly saw a corner of the black cloak again. He walked toward it, but the person began walking deeper into the forest as soon as he began following.

"Who are you?" Harry called out to the figure. There was no response. The person continued to walk slowly forward. Harry ran to catch up, and tried to grab the cloak. His hands almost touched the fabric, but the figure suddenly shot forward out of reach at the speed of light. Harry was stunned. "A Slytherin is not this powerful," he thought. "I've seen this magic somewhere. Not many wizards can perform it. Who is this person? Voldemort?" The hand holding his wand shook slightly. "Sirius said he shouldn't be able to get in. And my scar doesn't hurt."

Harry walked closer and stopped. The figure stood several feet away, its back toward him. His heart pounded in his chest. Subconsciously, he had followed the figure farther into the Forbidden Forest than he wanted. They were now quite far from the Quidditch field. The voices of the players couldn't be heard anymore. Nor could he see Ron, Hermione, or Alicia anywhere near.

"I have to be careful."

Harry took a step forward again and gripped his wand tighter. "Who are you and what do you want?" he called out, louder this time.

For a while, the figure didn't respond. Then, it began laughing coldly, the sound of its voice chilling every bone and marrow of Harry's body. When the laughter subsided, the figure said in a deep voice, "You don't want to know..."

Suddenly, a flash of red light shot towards him. Harry felt a burning sensation on his right arm. Everything turned black.