ATTENTION: Is there anyone out there who would be able to go over all (and I know that's a lot) of the chapters in this story and correct all (or most of) the many mistakes that I've made in this story? It's a big job, and it would be nice to find someone who could do the whole thing in about three months – please send me an email if possible, the address is on my bio page!

In Every Darkness

Chapter Eighty Nine

The time before the Easter Holidays passed in a blur of going to classes, doing homework and studying for tests. Hermione was in her element, but everyone else in their year walked around with bemused expressions most of the time.

There had been a brief period of excitement (for Harry at least) the day that Draco Malfoy had returned from his trip home, when the two of them met and Malfoy had told him what had happened at the all-important meeting with the Death Eaters.

He'd been accepted, and was now the undisputed king of the Slytherin house – everyone jumped to do what they were told when Malfoy spoke.

It turned out that the main reason Voldemort had wanted Malfoy to be marked was because he wanted to make sure that he had as many of the students at Hogwarts ready to join him the moment they graduated.

Another fleeting moment of excitement had come two weeks later, when Blaise confessed to Harry that she had Draco were now officially a couple between themselves. Of course, the whole school had thought them to be a couple since that fateful Hogsmeade weekend some time before hand, but now they had decided to give the rumours fruit.

Blaise seemed to have new life after this. She certainly seemed to like Draco, who seemed to honestly like her back. They were often seen walked slowly around the school, arm in arm, in silence, something Pansy had never done. She had called Draco hers, but that had been far from the truth, no matter what she had thought. Draco had rarely spent more time in her company than he had to.

Despite the fact that Blaise held more of Draco's attention than she'd ever been able to do, Pansy refused to give him up easily, and was always trying to impress him, or steal supporters to gain her own reputation in Slytherin, which she was under the impression would bring Draco back to her.

But everyone in Slytherin knew that this was an impossible feat now – Draco had been chosen by the Dark Lord, and Pansy would never stand a chance in Slytherin without his support.

So Blaise was installed as Slytherins queen, with a court of fifth, sixth and seventh year students. The younger students, who were still friends with Harry, were hanging out more with their own house again now, and making alliances with the older students.

But they didn't forget their friends in the other houses either, Harry noticed as he watched them all over the next little while.

Then the holidays arrived, and with them came Neko. Tatsu and she stayed in Hogwarts for the holiday period and spent what little spare time Harry had teaching him new things.

Neko was impressed that Harry had managed to maintain most of his skills with the katana while she had been away, despite the business of his school life.

Despite the work load, Harry spent an enjoyable two week holiday with his friends and those he considered to be his family, ie Tatsu and Neko.

On the last day of the holidays, Neko announced that she was going to move to England to coincide with the break-up of Hogwarts over summer, and would be staying for some time – she hadn't decided how long yet.

Harry was totally delighted with the news, as it would mean that he would have his two trainers in one house over the entire summer – and he'd be in the house too. It would be very hard work, but very useful over all.

DA continued to work hard to learn to fight, and Unity advanced to the last round of the semi-finals. Harry would later wonder how in the world he'd managed to stay sane through this period, and general deducted that he wouldn't have without the support of his friends, particularly Hermione without whom he would have gotten a D in every one of his assignments – or so he thought.

Then suddenly the exams were upon them, and Harry felt he'd never be ready. The theory part of the exam came first, in all subjects, which was a little scary, in Harry's opinion, as theory was the stuff he didn't get the most.

To his surprise in the first test, which was Charms and a two hour long exam, he knew the answers, basically, to just about every question there.

Harry now blessed the time that Hermione had spent pestering him and Ron to do all of the extra-credit and studying that they could for each exam.

The next day they had transfiguration, which went a little worse than Charms, but still a lot better than Harry had expected he'd do.

The third day was Potions, which Harry was certain he was going to fail, and was up until midnight trying to cram knowledge into his skull, before falling into an exhausted sleep, using his text book for a pillow as Hermione had often done back in third year.

He jolted awake when people starting coming downstairs for breakfast, did a quick skim-read of his text-book one last time and headed down to eat himself.

Again, the test surprised him by covering things that he had actually studied, though there were a lot more answers on this test paper that he felt a bit iffy about.

"How did it go?" Lily asked them when they met her outside the school once the exam was over.

Ron and Harry both simply groaned and Hermione smiled good-naturedly. "I think I did quite well, though one of the long answer questions was on a very odd subject …"

"I think I did OK," Harry said slowly, "there were lots of places that I really didn't think I did well, but I know I passed."

Ron just shrugged, "I don't know," he said. "I think I got a lot of it, but I'm not sure."

"Well, you're never sure until you get the results, are you?" Lily pointed out. "So there really isn't that much use fretting over it now."

The next day was Defence Against the Dark Arts, which Harry breezed through, answering every question and sure that he got all of them right.

Then he and Ron had a free day while Hermione took her History test, and that week was over. The next Monday was Ancient Ruins, then Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, and Arithmancy. Friday was test free as they got ready for the practical exams that would start the next week.

Every waking moment was spent doing something towards a practical in some subject over that Friday and the following weekend. Monday's exams started with Defence Against the Dark Arts, which was a relief for Harry, since he knew that had everything for this year totally covered, and he therefore had time to practice Potions instead.

As he expected, he aced the test the next day, and watched in slight amusement as the other students in his year – particularly those who had not been interested in DA – stammered and stalled and tried to remember.

"Well lad," his examiner said to him, "You may as well go and start studying for your next test. Well done."

"Thank you," Harry replied and quickly left the hall, ignoring the wistful stares that followed him. He was the first one finished. Defence Against the Dark Arts must be the only class in which Harry was better than Hermione. Something to be proud of.

He put his time before dinner working on Charms and Potions – potions wouldn't be until the next week, but Harry was quite sure that he needed to get all the help he could for the exam. His friends tried to tell him he was fine, but five years of being hopeless at potions made him a little freaked out about the coming exam.

Not that he was any different from any of the other Hogwarts students in fifth year or above. All of them had tests going on at the moment and so they were all to be seen sitting around and studying various things most of the time.

Practical examinations faded from Harry's mind. Each night Sirius came to visit him sometime, and they went over everything they could together, which Harry was grateful for.

Despite his fears, he thought that he did quite well in the Potions practical, and thanked Michael McGonagall and Sirius for their help at the beginning of the year, and throughout the rest of it. Without that, he doubted he would have gotten anywhere. Perhaps now he would deserve his marks in Potions.

Then the two weeks of exams were over. It was now the second last week of term, before the summer holidays would let them rest. Unity was busy, in five days, on the last Saturday of school, they would be playing the final Quidditch match of the year, against a group of Beauxbatons girls who Gabrielle said were very good.

"They practice together a lot," she told Unity on Monday afternoon in their training session, "The Seeker is fast and has good eyes. Not quite as good as you, but if she had a Firebolt Harry, I'd be getting worried."

Harry nodded. The team flew on Nimbus 2000's, all of them. This would be tough against a few of his players, but he was sure that they would do fine overall.

"What about their Chasers?" he enquired.

"Well, two of them work very well together, but the third might be a weak spot. She only joined them this year, when one of their other members graduated. She doesn't know the team quite so well … but then again, I'm sure our Chasers can read each others minds! If we practice well, we'll get through," Gabrielle said after a bit of thought. "Their Beaters aren't the best, not nearly as good as ours," she added.

"Well, you heard her," Harry smiled at his team, "Chasers, practice throwing and catching moves up and down the pitch, Beaters, your aim, Keeper, easy, try to keep our girls from scoring, and I'll just practice flying for the minute."

Everyone nodded, grabbed their brooms and jogged onto the pitch. They practiced until it was far to dark to see, then headed up to the castle for dinner.

Hard as this training was, all of them enjoyed it after being bound inside by the exams for the majority of the past three months. They were finally outside, and Harry, Ron, Ginny, Luna and Ernie spent most of their time in the air, joined whenever possible by their two team-mates from other schools.

Then the day of the game came. This was the fourth last day of school, and no one was not going to enjoy it. Harry lead his team onto the field, looking around the huge stadium that surrounded him, full of cheering, and booing, students and teachers.

His eyes quickly picked out DA, who were all cheering as loud as they could. He saw Blaise, sitting next to Malfoy, with a slight smile on her face as she watched them walk out.

Harry knew that she supported him in this match, but also knew that she could not show that she did so. She was a Slytherin today, surrounded by those who had 'befriended' her when she and Draco had gotten together.

Harry blinked, turned his face from the audience and looked to the opposite side of the pitch, where the opposing team were just now walking onto the field.

They were all girls, as Gabrielle had said, very pretty and moving with graceful, flowing movements. Harry smiled slightly – he knew that they were good, but he knew that his team was better. He would enjoy the challenge, and hopefully the victory afterwards.

Madam Hooch stood in the centre of the field, "Alright, this is the final match of this years Quidditch tournament. The winner of this match will be the winner of the tournament and will receive the cup, as well as each member gaining their house, if at Hogwarts, one hundred points, and a gift to the team of ten galleons to spend at Honeydukes in the excursion to Hogsmeade tomorrow!"

There was a roar of approval from the crowd, and Harry smiled again. There was no trace of fear in him, no fear of defeat, but there was anxiety, because he wanted to do well.

It was amazing how alike fear and anxiety were …

"Mount your brooms!"

Harry swung onto the broom, and the sound of the crowd seemed to fade in his ears, beyond the boundary of the pitch was a blurred sea of faces, and he tuned it out.

The whistle blast echoed in his ears, the loudest sound around him, and immediately he kicked off. He had already taken refuge in his centre, and his mind was now totally focused on the game.

He was fully aware of the girl coming up behind him, the Seeker for the other team. She was pretty, he noted with detachment as he searched for the Snitch, but she was uninteresting to him except as his major opponent in this game.

The sound made by the bludgers whistling through the air was loud enough for him to doge them with ease as he cruised around the pitch, noting most of what went on. The opposing Seeker would not make a move without him being aware of it, but he did not bother to properly mark her.

She flew behind him, following him, clearly thinking that he would lead her to the Snitch. He was uninterested in a position such as this. He would use his own eyes to search things out.

There was a flash of gold, reflecting from the wristwatch of a spectator in the bottom row of the stands. Harry gave a triumphant smile and dived for it.

Inside he laughed with glee – the other Seeker had seen the flash of gold, and thought that this was the Snitch. He did nothing to let her think this was not the case, though he blocked her view of it.

They hurtled down. Dimly, Harry heard Nelly yelling out the commentary, something about Snitches …

The ground was rushing up to meet him, the other Seeker closing in from above. He waited and waited as the ground came so close he could pick out a tiny ant crawling over a blade of grass.

At the last possible second, he swerved sideways and up, feet brushing the ground gently. The other Seeker ploughed straight into the ground, and Harry wondered, briefly, if she had hit the ant he'd seen.

Madam Pomfrey came stalking onto the pitch to see the Beauxbatons girl. Harry could hear her crying loudly, but didn't look down. He imagined that she was trying to induce him to pity her, so he would not do that again.

To bad for her. He had other ideas.

Harry heard Nelly say something about a broken wrist, which would be quick to mend. He turned his attention on the pitch, searching for the tell-tale flash of gold that would lead him to victory.

By the time the other girl had made it to the air again, he had seen nothing of the elusive golden ball, but his team had managed to score seven times, and the points now went eighty-fifty to Unity.

Proud of the fact that his team was so far winning, Harry knew that it was not nearly enough to win them the game, should the other girl catch the Snitch before he did.

So he would have to catch the Snitch first.

After flying for a little while, Harry dove again, and she followed him. Again, he headed for the ground, then pulled out and headed up again … and again she hit the ground head on.

Once more he did this, and the fourth time he dived, she did not follow him. Perfect.

He searched for the Snitch, as both teams scored goals. The game progressed well into the day. By about three o'clock, Harry was beginning to tire, but would not admit it to anyone.

His opponent lagged behind him, obviously weary. The score was now two hundred and thirty - two hundred to Unity. Both Keepers were tiring and making more mistakes.

It would be time to end the game soon, Harry thought, as he had for the past several hours. And then he saw it.

The golden snitch was hovering just over the ground straight below him. He smiled slightly, and dove. As he had dived randomly downwards several times over the game, the other Seeker did not follow him immediately, then she saw the Snitch and hurtled downward to.

But she had given Harry the time he needed with her hesitation. His hand closed around the tiny ball, and it's white wings were beating hopelessly against his fingers.

The sound of the crowd once more became reality, and smiled in triumph.

Then a bludger, hit before he'd caught the Snitch, crashed into the small of his back, and he was knocked from his broom, unconscious, onto the ground. His fingers, however, remained locked in their grip on the ball, even though the darkness of unconsciousness had overtaken his brain.

I GOT ONE HUNDRED PER CENT IN MY MATHS TEST! WHOOHOO!!!!!

Note on Blaise: In the books, (the British/Australian editions at least, it has never said what gender Blaise Zabini was, therefore he/she is something of a Slytherin wild card. In this story, Blaise is a girl.)

Well, I can't leave this story without a final cliff-hanger now can I? Next chapter's the last folks! Then I'll be back onto After the Dawn: The Philosopher's Stone.

Thanks:

Athenakitty, TuxedoMac, Nerwen Faelvirin, uNoeWhoe, Joou Himeko, Dah, BlaqueTonik, Kraeg001, gina87, PhoenixPadfoot89, RoguesHeart, Heart and Mind, misty43, cassandra, dnd4ever, TopQuark, EriEka127, gaul1, cantfindagoodname, Iniysa, Kelei, torifire126, Songbreeze Swifteye, Hikuro Hoshi, Charmed-103, Dumbeldave, Laughing Cat, Agent Hal, telpesir, pixielax06, Carolina06, Flame of Shadow, harryluvzginny, theauthorthatwrites2, moonypadfoot, tortie, bigstu, Nasser Himura, fcuking cahty, Nphipps, HermioneGreen, jbfritz, Kaizer Knuckz, LunaLovegood61, amarilis, The Lady Reaper of the Shadows, Kaizer Knuckz, HiddenFlame42, HiddenFlame42, Cmon, HiddenFlame42, HiddenFlame42, HiddenFlame42, HiddenFlame42, HiddenFlame42, HiddenFlame42, HiddenFlame42, HiddenFlame42, HiddenFlame42.

Theauthorthatwrites2: If you're having trouble with spam, it's easy enough to simply change your account email address – it's on the 'settigns' page where you write in your bio. Thought you might like to know.