As Harry's vision returned he focused on Dumbledore's face
and it pulled him back to reality, he was shaking with fear, he could remember
everything he'd seen and it frightened him.
Dumbledore was holding him upright and Harry felt as though
his bright blue eyes were penetrating him, he tried to speak but the words
wouldn't come, finally he managed to say, "I remember it now, Sirius,
Sirius! We've got to warn him!"
Dumbledore's face was set and he was gripping Harry even
more tightly, "What exactly did you see Harry?"
Harry took a deep breath and described the dream to the
Headmaster. Once he'd finished Harry
collapsed into the bed in exhaustion, Dumbledore looked concerned but gave
Harry a grim smile, "Rest now Harry, you've done what you could, leave it to me
now, alright. I'll let Ron and Hermione
know where you are, but you must rest."
Harry nodded, his head was pounding and Dumbledore gave him
another sleeping draught, which brought on waves of calming slumber.
Harry slept right through the next morning. Dumbledore was true to his word and told Ron
and Hermione what had happened, which meant that they were there in the
Hospital Wing waiting for him when he woke.
"Hi Harry, how are you feeling?" asked Hermione tentatively
"Sleepy." mumbled Harry through the sheets.
Ron and Hermione smiled at him and sat down on the next
bed.
Harry struggled up to sit and looked at his two best
friends, he was so glad to see them. He
smiled weakly at them but thinking about the dream he shuddered, "Did
Dumbledore tell you what my dream was about?"
Ron and Hermione nodded glumly
"Don't worry," urged Ron, "Sirius will be fine."
"Yes, Dumbledore will have everything under control now."
Harry relaxed at this and felt as good as he had in days as
though a huge weight had been lifted from him.
The rest of the day passed slowly for Harry but he was glad
of the rest and didn't mind that Ron and Hermione had been sent to their
lessons by Madame Pomfrey, Harry felt refreshed by tea-time and managed to
convince Madame Pomfrey to let him go back to the dormitory for the night.
He and Ron didn't feel much like sleeping that night, Ron
was getting nervous about the quidditch match on Saturday,
"It's just 2 days Harry! We've only got one more practice before then!"
Harry tried not to laugh at Ron, but he noticed that he was
feeling slightly nervous as well.
"Don't worry Ron, from what I've heard from Alicia,
Angelina and Katie you've been doing fine in the practices I've missed,
besides, Ravenclaw aren't that strong this year, or so I've been told."
This didn't seem to calm Ron down much but he smiled at
Harry and seemed ready to sleep at last.
Harry lay awake for a while giving some thought to his
worry for his godfather before he too slept.
The day that followed was a hectic one for Harry, he and
Ron managed to survive Divination without Harry's death being predicted because
Professor Trelawny was trying desperately to explain how to interpret muggle
tarot cards. They were less lucky
however in Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall was insistent that the 5th
years work doubly hard so that they could look at some simple human
transfiguration by the end of the year. Hermione helped Harry and Ron to finish all of their homework before
quidditch practice so that they would be able to concentrate on the match the
next day.
The practice went very well that evening, even Madame Hooch
who was supervising them, was impressed by the team's form and they ended the
practice in confident mood for their first match of the year.
The day of the match finally dawned and Harry was awoken by
Ron who looked frantic with excitement, Harry grinned at him and Hermione met
them as they went to the Great Hall for breakfast. They were met by Draco Malfoy, who was flanked by Crabbe and
Goyle,
"So, now the Gryffindors are reduced to a team with three
Weasels as well as a Potthead! I
wouldn't give you much chance against the Ravenclaws even though their team is
full of Mudbloods." drawled Malfoy
Ron was incensed but Hermione held him back, Harry however
was amused by Draco's obvious jealousy,
"Well, I'm at least we know that the Slytherins are going
to be easy to beat, after all you are still their seeker aren't you
Malfoy? Or did they boot you off once
your father's money ran out?"
Draco was reaching for his wand when they were interrupted
by the rest of the Gryffindor team who dragged Harry and Ron off to hurry them
through breakfast.
The stands were packed for the first game of the season,
the atmosphere was tense and expectant. The Gryffindor team huddled in the dressing room as the noise from
outside grew, Alicia gave the team some last words of encouragement, especially
to Ron who looked slightly green.
The
two teams emerged to a roar from the crowd, Harry glanced around for Hermione
in the crowd, he couldn't find her without Ron's hair next to her, but his
attention was drawn away from the stands by Cho Chang who was standing opposite
him glaring at him, he felt suddenly uneasy and turned away noticing that Ron's
nervous face was also looking at him. He gave Ron an encouraging smile and they watched as the captains shook
hands and Madam Hooch raised the whistle to her mouth. Harry shot up into the air enjoying the
feeling of freedom that he always got from flying, he ignored the dirty looks
he was getting from Cho and tried to concentrate on finding the snitch. Ron was
still looking decidedly peaky, but was making a manly effort to appear
confident. The Ravenclaws seemed anxious
to test him out early on and were giving the Gryffindor chasers a lot of
trouble, Harry grinned as Lee Jordan once more had to be reprimanded by
Professor McGonagall for cursing Angelina's bad luck at losing the quaffle.
Harry
flew towards the Gryffindor goalposts to encourage Ron and to try to shake off
Cho who had been following him closely with a look of grim determination on her
face. He swerved around a bludger and
shouted some words of encouragement to Ron who seemed to have settled down a bit,
then he decided to try a dive to get rid of Cho whose presence was unnerving
him, he went down steeply and heard the shouts of the crowd, he picked up speed
on his Firebolt and could hear Cho straining to keep up with him, He pulled out
of the dive at the last second and doubled back, Cho almost crashed but managed
to recover well enough to call for a time out. The Gryffindor team gathered round, Alicia praised the other chasers for
keeping the score at 0-0 but made it clear that they should try out some better
moves to pull ahead. She took Harry and
Ron aside and encouraged them,
"Ron,
you're doing fine, keep it up. And
Harry, nice Wronski Feint, but keep working on that snitch, we need to win this
thing!"
When play re-started Harry noticed to his relief that Cho
had decided to stop following him so closely, he flew all around the pitch
keeping his eyes peeled and suddenly noticed the snitch at the opposite end of
the pitch, but he flew straight for Cho, she noticed him and her eyes widened
in alarm, she dodged as he shot past and then groaned when she realised that he
had doubled back and was obviously going for the snitch.
Harry raced forward and was just reaching for the snitch
when there was a loud groan from the crowd, Harry kept looking at the snitch
and held out his hand. Just as he was
about to grab it a bludger whizzed past his face meaning that he swerved away
and lost the snitch, he then glanced at the score board and his jaw dropped, it
was Gryffindor 10 – 70 Ravenclaw !!! He must have been concentrating so hard on
the snitch that he hadn't noticed the goals!
Harry glanced at Ron who was looking very dejected and red
faced, Harry sighed in disappointment for him, but then returned to looking for
the damned snitch. It seemed that the
snitch was hiding well because neither Harry or Cho had seen it for a while,
the crowd were getting restless and Harry noticed that Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle
was sitting near some Gryffindors and chanting,
"Queasy Weasleys save less goals than money!"
and that the Gryffindors weren't rushing to defend their
new keeper, Harry felt angry and circled past Ron who looked green once more
trying to cheer him up,
"Come on Ron! I
believe in you!"
Ron smiled weakly but Harry was cheered by the steely
determination which started to flicker in his eyes, Harry was about to add
something else but was distracted, Cho had spotted the snitch and was giving
chase, Harry jolted into action and followed, he picked up speed and eventually
drew level with Cho, he could see the snitch ahead and pushed to get in front,
Cho was glaring at him but Harry was concentrated on the snitch, it swerved to
the right and Harry swung around, Cho almost crashed into him but Harry held
her off, stretched out his arm and grabbed the snitch.
The crowd erupted in cheers and the scoreboard flickered to
Gryffindor 170 – 120 Ravenclaw.
Harry landed and ran over to Ron who looked very relieved
that the match was over.
"Well done Harry!" He
said less enthusiastically than usual, Harry put an arm around his friend and
said,
"Well, we won is the main thing."
Ron smiled weakly and nodded,
"Yeah, I guess you're right, but maybe I should think about
getting someone else to be keeper."
Harry stared at him, "Ron!…"
Hermione came storming through the crowd looking
determined, she grabbed Ron and Harry's arms and led them inside.
When they stopped she turned to Ron and said,
"Are you okay?"
Ron shrugged and turned away, Hermione glanced at Harry and
then turned back to Ron.
"Ron, it was your first match, you were nervous, we both
know you can be a good keeper, you just need some more confidence, you made a
few good saves, the Ravenclaw chasers played really well, besides, we won, so
there's no need to look like you've killed someone!"
Harry nodded in agreement and Ron turned back to face them
eyes shining and said
"I know what you're trying to do, but it won't work! I'm just not good at Quidditch okay?"
Harry sighed Ron could be really stubborn when he felt like
it.
"Harry wasn't nervous in his first match was he? Even with his cursed broomstick trying to kill
him! And he was in the first year!"
Harry blushed and was speechless.
Hermione looked cross,
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself Ron, let's just go and
enjoy the party okay?"
Ron scowled at them but followed as they made their way to
Gryffindor tower.
The three of them entered the Common Room and the
Gryffindors cheered and welcomed them in, everyone seemed to think that Ron had
done okay, Neville came over and said tentatively
"Um, I thought you were very brave to play seeing as you
have only been playing for a week."
Ron brightened slightly but no one could seem to cheer him
up properly.
The party wasn't one of the best, after all it had been a
narrow victory and they'd expected to win after all. Harry, Hermione and Ron all felt that it would be worth getting
the extra sleep and turned in earlier than the rest. Harry lay in bed thinking about Ron, Cho, Quidditch and Cho, he
thought dejectedly about the looks that Cho had given him, she obviously blamed
him for Cedric's death, and he couldn't blame her, after all, he already blamed
himself.
He decided that it would probably be best to give her some
space, after all, losing her boyfriend must have been hard enough, without
having Harry around as a constant reminder of what had happened.
He sighed deeply and went to sleep.
So, there you have it, Gryffindor win by the skin of their
teeth, don't you feel sorry for Ron? I
do anyway. Next chapter brings exciting
news for Harry, and a very cool Care of Magical Creatures class with Hagrid.
Hope you like it so far, (a warning though – as you might
have guessed there are dark things to come, so be brave!) and bear with me, I
know I'm slow, but I'm trying my best!
Keep reviewing!
Jona
xxx
Thanks must go to Jess (author name; Soul Reaper) who is my
inspiration as ever!
Oh and I realise that this is important so
I'd better disclaim everything,
I'm not the owner of any of the characters or concepts from the wonderful world of Harry Potter that has been so vividly created for the adoring public by our favourite saint J.K. Rowling, *All Hail her magnificence*. But I do own this particular storyline although I must admit to have been inspired by both Rowling's books and all the wonderful fanfic on this site, which I love, um, does that about cover it? I dunno why it's so important but apparently it's better to be safe than sorry in today's vicious world. *sigh* Ah well, can't have it all can we?