Chapter Ten: The Calm Before The Storm
Harry landed on the ground, having caught the Snitch for the third time in a row. Jamie - who had caught it only three times to Harry's seven - scowled at him as he scanned the rest of the team. With the game against Hufflepuff coming up, he decided that the team needed as real a practice as possible so he'd split them into two teams: Ginny, Roberta, Harvey and Connor were on his team; and Ron had Jamie, Henry, Sharon Skelton and Wilhelm Whisp. His, or rather Ginny's, team was doing rather better than Ron's, as they were ahead by seventy points by his count. He waited until Ginny had finished scoring against Ron and then shouted up to the flying players. "Okay team, I think that enough for tonight! Come on down!"
Several players sighed with relief and immediately headed for the ground, the two Weasleys and Jamie were not among them. Harry looked at his watch and frowned. "Don't you guys have a Prefect's Meeting in about a hour?!"
Ginny stopped her headlong dive at Ron and glanced at her watch. "You're right, Harry, we do. Thanks."
"No problem," Harry assured her. Jamie followed them as they descended and reluctantly got off her Firebolt when she reached the ground. "I know how you feel, Jamie. Being up in the air, flying on a broom. for a long time, it was when I felt the most alive. the most free."
"That's exactly how I feel too, Harry," Jamie told him, and followed him towards the changing rooms. They parted company at the showers, Jamie headed in the girls' showers on the right, Harry into the boys' showers on the left.
Once they were showered and dressed in clean clothes they headed up to the castle, with Mark and Civis close behind. Harry didn't have anything in particular to do that night, so he helped his two friends with their Charms homework and then Jamie challenged him to a game of chess, which he cheerfully accepted. They were still playing two hours later, when Ginny, Simon, Hera and Wilhelm climbed in through the portrait hole. Ginny scanned the room for a few seconds and then spotting Harry, hurried over and sat down on his lap, tucking herself under Harry's chin as his arms encircled her.
"Did you have a good meeting, love?" Harry asked her, then ordered one of his bishops to move into a position that would threaten Jamie's queen.
Ginny nodded and tilted her head upwards so that Harry could kiss her, an invitation that he immediately accepted.
"I know you've been together for over a year now, Harry, but do you have to kiss her in front of us?" Mark asked when they finally separated.
"Yes, I do," Harry told him seriously. "I'd love to do other tings to her, but this is neither the time or place." He turned to regard the chessboard. "Bishop to H3." Harry's bishop moved to the indicated square and dispatched Jamie's queen. "Checkmate."
----
"Hello, ladies and gentleman, and welcome to the next phase of the Inter- House Quidditch Cup. Today, the defending championships and current top- rated team, Gryffindor, go up against the second-paced team, Hufflepuff!"
On this occasion the cheers were fairly even, with the majority of the Ravenclaws and a few of the older Slytherin siding with Gryffindor and the bulk of the Slytherins cheering for Hufflepuff.
"Playing in red for Gryffindor today are. David, Shaw, Skelton, Whisp, Weasley, Weasley, and. Potter!"
"And their opponents, playing in yellow for Hufflepuff will be. Brock, Brock, Whitby, Hopkins, Zeller, and. Summersby!"
Harry nodded to Summersby as they came forward for the ritual handshake. They grasped palms briefly then separated.
Madame Hooch released the Bludgers and the Golden Snitch, and then took the Quaffle in one hand and raised her whistle to her lips. The second he heard the whistle blow Harry took to the air and banked to one side to allow Wilhelm to shoot forward and grab the Quaffle as it fell downwards on it's return arc, the ball tucked under his arm the diminutive 5th year shot towards the Hufflepuff goal flanked by Ginny and Skelton. Zeller, the newest of Hufflepuff's Chasers, was caught off balance by the quick attack and left behind in the push, which left Hufflepuff at a disadvantage, one that Harry's Chasers took full advantage of by scoring three goals in the first ten minutes.
After that Hufflepuff rallied and play returned to roughly equal attack and counter-attack that usually characterised their matches with Gryffindor. By the time the game had reached the half-hour mark Gryffindor was leading by a mere ten points at forty points to thirty. Ginny intercepted a reverse pass between Stebbins and Zeller and then shot for the goal, she threw the Quaffle at the right-hand goal but she did it too fast and the Hufflepuff Keeper, fourth-year Kevin Whitby, had no problem catching it and passing it to Hopkins. Hopkins passed the Quaffle back to Zeller who headed towards Ron.
"Chaser Zeller of Hufflepuff is heading for the Gryffindor goal, will she level or can Ron Weasley stop her in her tracks?"
"Abercrombie, I've warned you before." McGonagall reminded him.
"Sorry Professor," Abercrombie said, and then continued without drawing breath. "Chaser Zeller takes a hit to the side from a Bludger, sent her way by Beater Shaw of Gryffindor. she drops the Quaffle, which is immediately scopped up by Chaser Hopkins of Hufflepuff who takes aim. and scores! Hufflepuff are down level-pegged with Gryffindor and are still in possession. Chaser Stebbins with the Quaffle."
Hufflepuff's lead didn't last long though, as the Gryffindor Chasers regrouped within seconds and regained control of the game, a stunning shot from fifty years by Wilhelm bringing them back in the lead. About a minute later, Harry spotted a glint of gold lurking near the teachers' stand out of the corner of eye. It was the Golden Snitch.
Urging the Lightstrike to its maximum speed, he intercepted the tiny ball within seconds, and before Summersby have even had a chance to react, the game was over.
----
Two days later, he was summoned to the War Room after dinner. "What's up?" he asked, glancing around the faces at the table.
"Nothing major, Harry," Dumbledore assured him. "However, there is the issue of tomorrow's Hogsmeade visit. One or two members of the Council believe that given the attack during the last visit it would be unwise to expose the students to potential danger again unnecessarily."
Harry didn't answer straight away, instead he mulled it over for a few minutes before replying. "I think you may have a point, Sparky. It could have been a lot worse last time."
"All in favour of cancelling the visit then?" Albus asked.
After a few minutes deliberation on the part of several of the Council they all agreed it was for the best, although some - like Harry - did so reluctantly.
The rest of the week passed smoothly for Harry and his friends; the Death Eaters quiet, almost ominously so, and classes were going fine, with his DA and Combat classes going the best - Harry finally managed to channel a reasonable Stunning Charm through his stick, which with his mastery of the Scintilla Spell, and the Hover and Disarming Charms meant that even without a wand he could defend himself reasonably well. When he mentioned this, the Tiger smiled and handed him another list of even more complex spells including the Time Freeze Charm, the Impediment Jinx, the Reductor Curse and the Shield Charm.
"When you can do all those, then you will have something to crow about Mr Potter," he told Harry, then walked over to where Hermione and a couple of the others were still struggling with the basics.
Harry struggled and picked up his swordstick and the 'target globe' again. He threw the globe into the air and brought up his stick to target it. "Immobulus!"
The stick glowed briefly but a second later the sphere hit the floor with a crack.
Harry sighed. "This going to take a little work," he predicted.
----
The weekend wasn't a complete waste however. Because of the late stage at which the Hogsmeade weekend had been cancelled, there was no time for Voldemort's spies inside the castle to inform him of the change of plan and the fifty-strong raiding party was taken completely by surprise by the combined Order and DFDL ambush set up at the town's access points and only three of them escaped, two Vetuni and one Death Eater which, as they were female, was tentatively identified as Bellatrix Lestrange.
Two days later, Ron celebrated his eighteenth birthday, he got a large pile of presents from friends and family but his favourite was the present from Harry, Ginny, Jamie and Mark: a brand-new Thunderburst racing broom.
The Ravenclaw-Slytherin match took place on the next Saturday and it ended after two hours with Ravenclaw scoring an impressive two hundred and thirty points to Slytherin's twenty points. On Sunday, Harry was again called to the War Room, to discuss a security problem, namely whether to allow the seventh year students to attend the usual 'Career Week' event at the Ministry, where they would attend interviews with potential employers. It took three hours, but Harry eventually persuaded the Council to agree to the trip and the students left Hogwarts on Sunday morning accompanied by Professors Ambrose, Flitwick and McGonagall, Dr Chrystan, Hagrid and Civis, plus half the Shengming and most of the Guardians.
Surprisingly, the trip went off without a hitch, for which Harry was grateful. His own interviews were stressful enough - especially the Auror interview, which was conducted by a three-person panel: a bald man in his late thirties in plain black robes, who introduced himself as Director Wright of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; and also two cream-and- gold-robed wizards who turned to be Deputy-Commander Graydon and Captain Bullock of the Dark Force Defence League. It lasted three hours and during that time everything from his academic record, to his thoughts on the use of the Killing Curse, to his actions at the Department of Mysteries almost two years before was subjected to intense scrutiny.
When he left the office, he collapsed into the one of chairs outside and looked around at the group of young people assembled for interview, there were only five Hogwarts students there: Hermione, Romulus, Blaise, Ernie and Harry himself, but six non-Hogwarts students had also applied for the four available posts - Ju Li Adlon and Debra Ling from the Shogun Mage School in Japan; Dimitri Gaskin, Otto Glaisinov and Helena Berkov of the Durmstrang Institute; and Jean-Pierre Roche of the Beauxbatons Academy. After Harry's interview, only Blaise and Jean-Pierre Roche still had to have theirs so the group didn't have to wait long and half-an-hour later they were finished, the Hogwarts students stayed in the waiting room to wait for their escort, but the other students disappeared with the teachers that had accompanied them almost immediately. Once Professor McGonagall and Dr Chrystan had caught up with them, they rejoined the other Hogwarts students in the Atrium and then they Flooed to the Leaky Cauldron where the students were staying for the night.
It took another three days to finish all the interviews, but Friday morning found them speeding back to Hogwarts on the Express. Harry shared a compartment with Ron, Hermione, Romulus and Blaise, but he wasn't very good company, as he spent most of the journey staring out the window, thinking to himself.
I can't wait to get back to the castle, to see Ginny again. and Jamie and the others of course. I know it's only been less than a week but it feels like longer. I don't why but ever since New Year I ache when I can't touch her. Harry told himself. I need her, as much as I need air to breathe it's so painful. I don't know how I'm going to manage after the end of this year. Harry paused and sighed. I guess if we all survive the war, then we'll work something out. We'll have too.
A/N: Sorry about the long wait and the short chapter, but hopefully the next one will be good enough to make up for it. I'm not when it'll be up., but I'll try and get it done within the next week to ten days. In the meantime, please review.
Harry landed on the ground, having caught the Snitch for the third time in a row. Jamie - who had caught it only three times to Harry's seven - scowled at him as he scanned the rest of the team. With the game against Hufflepuff coming up, he decided that the team needed as real a practice as possible so he'd split them into two teams: Ginny, Roberta, Harvey and Connor were on his team; and Ron had Jamie, Henry, Sharon Skelton and Wilhelm Whisp. His, or rather Ginny's, team was doing rather better than Ron's, as they were ahead by seventy points by his count. He waited until Ginny had finished scoring against Ron and then shouted up to the flying players. "Okay team, I think that enough for tonight! Come on down!"
Several players sighed with relief and immediately headed for the ground, the two Weasleys and Jamie were not among them. Harry looked at his watch and frowned. "Don't you guys have a Prefect's Meeting in about a hour?!"
Ginny stopped her headlong dive at Ron and glanced at her watch. "You're right, Harry, we do. Thanks."
"No problem," Harry assured her. Jamie followed them as they descended and reluctantly got off her Firebolt when she reached the ground. "I know how you feel, Jamie. Being up in the air, flying on a broom. for a long time, it was when I felt the most alive. the most free."
"That's exactly how I feel too, Harry," Jamie told him, and followed him towards the changing rooms. They parted company at the showers, Jamie headed in the girls' showers on the right, Harry into the boys' showers on the left.
Once they were showered and dressed in clean clothes they headed up to the castle, with Mark and Civis close behind. Harry didn't have anything in particular to do that night, so he helped his two friends with their Charms homework and then Jamie challenged him to a game of chess, which he cheerfully accepted. They were still playing two hours later, when Ginny, Simon, Hera and Wilhelm climbed in through the portrait hole. Ginny scanned the room for a few seconds and then spotting Harry, hurried over and sat down on his lap, tucking herself under Harry's chin as his arms encircled her.
"Did you have a good meeting, love?" Harry asked her, then ordered one of his bishops to move into a position that would threaten Jamie's queen.
Ginny nodded and tilted her head upwards so that Harry could kiss her, an invitation that he immediately accepted.
"I know you've been together for over a year now, Harry, but do you have to kiss her in front of us?" Mark asked when they finally separated.
"Yes, I do," Harry told him seriously. "I'd love to do other tings to her, but this is neither the time or place." He turned to regard the chessboard. "Bishop to H3." Harry's bishop moved to the indicated square and dispatched Jamie's queen. "Checkmate."
----
"Hello, ladies and gentleman, and welcome to the next phase of the Inter- House Quidditch Cup. Today, the defending championships and current top- rated team, Gryffindor, go up against the second-paced team, Hufflepuff!"
On this occasion the cheers were fairly even, with the majority of the Ravenclaws and a few of the older Slytherin siding with Gryffindor and the bulk of the Slytherins cheering for Hufflepuff.
"Playing in red for Gryffindor today are. David, Shaw, Skelton, Whisp, Weasley, Weasley, and. Potter!"
"And their opponents, playing in yellow for Hufflepuff will be. Brock, Brock, Whitby, Hopkins, Zeller, and. Summersby!"
Harry nodded to Summersby as they came forward for the ritual handshake. They grasped palms briefly then separated.
Madame Hooch released the Bludgers and the Golden Snitch, and then took the Quaffle in one hand and raised her whistle to her lips. The second he heard the whistle blow Harry took to the air and banked to one side to allow Wilhelm to shoot forward and grab the Quaffle as it fell downwards on it's return arc, the ball tucked under his arm the diminutive 5th year shot towards the Hufflepuff goal flanked by Ginny and Skelton. Zeller, the newest of Hufflepuff's Chasers, was caught off balance by the quick attack and left behind in the push, which left Hufflepuff at a disadvantage, one that Harry's Chasers took full advantage of by scoring three goals in the first ten minutes.
After that Hufflepuff rallied and play returned to roughly equal attack and counter-attack that usually characterised their matches with Gryffindor. By the time the game had reached the half-hour mark Gryffindor was leading by a mere ten points at forty points to thirty. Ginny intercepted a reverse pass between Stebbins and Zeller and then shot for the goal, she threw the Quaffle at the right-hand goal but she did it too fast and the Hufflepuff Keeper, fourth-year Kevin Whitby, had no problem catching it and passing it to Hopkins. Hopkins passed the Quaffle back to Zeller who headed towards Ron.
"Chaser Zeller of Hufflepuff is heading for the Gryffindor goal, will she level or can Ron Weasley stop her in her tracks?"
"Abercrombie, I've warned you before." McGonagall reminded him.
"Sorry Professor," Abercrombie said, and then continued without drawing breath. "Chaser Zeller takes a hit to the side from a Bludger, sent her way by Beater Shaw of Gryffindor. she drops the Quaffle, which is immediately scopped up by Chaser Hopkins of Hufflepuff who takes aim. and scores! Hufflepuff are down level-pegged with Gryffindor and are still in possession. Chaser Stebbins with the Quaffle."
Hufflepuff's lead didn't last long though, as the Gryffindor Chasers regrouped within seconds and regained control of the game, a stunning shot from fifty years by Wilhelm bringing them back in the lead. About a minute later, Harry spotted a glint of gold lurking near the teachers' stand out of the corner of eye. It was the Golden Snitch.
Urging the Lightstrike to its maximum speed, he intercepted the tiny ball within seconds, and before Summersby have even had a chance to react, the game was over.
----
Two days later, he was summoned to the War Room after dinner. "What's up?" he asked, glancing around the faces at the table.
"Nothing major, Harry," Dumbledore assured him. "However, there is the issue of tomorrow's Hogsmeade visit. One or two members of the Council believe that given the attack during the last visit it would be unwise to expose the students to potential danger again unnecessarily."
Harry didn't answer straight away, instead he mulled it over for a few minutes before replying. "I think you may have a point, Sparky. It could have been a lot worse last time."
"All in favour of cancelling the visit then?" Albus asked.
After a few minutes deliberation on the part of several of the Council they all agreed it was for the best, although some - like Harry - did so reluctantly.
The rest of the week passed smoothly for Harry and his friends; the Death Eaters quiet, almost ominously so, and classes were going fine, with his DA and Combat classes going the best - Harry finally managed to channel a reasonable Stunning Charm through his stick, which with his mastery of the Scintilla Spell, and the Hover and Disarming Charms meant that even without a wand he could defend himself reasonably well. When he mentioned this, the Tiger smiled and handed him another list of even more complex spells including the Time Freeze Charm, the Impediment Jinx, the Reductor Curse and the Shield Charm.
"When you can do all those, then you will have something to crow about Mr Potter," he told Harry, then walked over to where Hermione and a couple of the others were still struggling with the basics.
Harry struggled and picked up his swordstick and the 'target globe' again. He threw the globe into the air and brought up his stick to target it. "Immobulus!"
The stick glowed briefly but a second later the sphere hit the floor with a crack.
Harry sighed. "This going to take a little work," he predicted.
----
The weekend wasn't a complete waste however. Because of the late stage at which the Hogsmeade weekend had been cancelled, there was no time for Voldemort's spies inside the castle to inform him of the change of plan and the fifty-strong raiding party was taken completely by surprise by the combined Order and DFDL ambush set up at the town's access points and only three of them escaped, two Vetuni and one Death Eater which, as they were female, was tentatively identified as Bellatrix Lestrange.
Two days later, Ron celebrated his eighteenth birthday, he got a large pile of presents from friends and family but his favourite was the present from Harry, Ginny, Jamie and Mark: a brand-new Thunderburst racing broom.
The Ravenclaw-Slytherin match took place on the next Saturday and it ended after two hours with Ravenclaw scoring an impressive two hundred and thirty points to Slytherin's twenty points. On Sunday, Harry was again called to the War Room, to discuss a security problem, namely whether to allow the seventh year students to attend the usual 'Career Week' event at the Ministry, where they would attend interviews with potential employers. It took three hours, but Harry eventually persuaded the Council to agree to the trip and the students left Hogwarts on Sunday morning accompanied by Professors Ambrose, Flitwick and McGonagall, Dr Chrystan, Hagrid and Civis, plus half the Shengming and most of the Guardians.
Surprisingly, the trip went off without a hitch, for which Harry was grateful. His own interviews were stressful enough - especially the Auror interview, which was conducted by a three-person panel: a bald man in his late thirties in plain black robes, who introduced himself as Director Wright of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; and also two cream-and- gold-robed wizards who turned to be Deputy-Commander Graydon and Captain Bullock of the Dark Force Defence League. It lasted three hours and during that time everything from his academic record, to his thoughts on the use of the Killing Curse, to his actions at the Department of Mysteries almost two years before was subjected to intense scrutiny.
When he left the office, he collapsed into the one of chairs outside and looked around at the group of young people assembled for interview, there were only five Hogwarts students there: Hermione, Romulus, Blaise, Ernie and Harry himself, but six non-Hogwarts students had also applied for the four available posts - Ju Li Adlon and Debra Ling from the Shogun Mage School in Japan; Dimitri Gaskin, Otto Glaisinov and Helena Berkov of the Durmstrang Institute; and Jean-Pierre Roche of the Beauxbatons Academy. After Harry's interview, only Blaise and Jean-Pierre Roche still had to have theirs so the group didn't have to wait long and half-an-hour later they were finished, the Hogwarts students stayed in the waiting room to wait for their escort, but the other students disappeared with the teachers that had accompanied them almost immediately. Once Professor McGonagall and Dr Chrystan had caught up with them, they rejoined the other Hogwarts students in the Atrium and then they Flooed to the Leaky Cauldron where the students were staying for the night.
It took another three days to finish all the interviews, but Friday morning found them speeding back to Hogwarts on the Express. Harry shared a compartment with Ron, Hermione, Romulus and Blaise, but he wasn't very good company, as he spent most of the journey staring out the window, thinking to himself.
I can't wait to get back to the castle, to see Ginny again. and Jamie and the others of course. I know it's only been less than a week but it feels like longer. I don't why but ever since New Year I ache when I can't touch her. Harry told himself. I need her, as much as I need air to breathe it's so painful. I don't know how I'm going to manage after the end of this year. Harry paused and sighed. I guess if we all survive the war, then we'll work something out. We'll have too.
A/N: Sorry about the long wait and the short chapter, but hopefully the next one will be good enough to make up for it. I'm not when it'll be up., but I'll try and get it done within the next week to ten days. In the meantime, please review.