Chapter 22
The Prides Vs Puddlemere
The morning of the first match Harry rose early and decided to go to the Great Hall to try and get a quiet breakfast alone. He was feeling a little jittery about the game, and he wasn't interested in being the centre of attention when he ate. When he entered through the massive oak doors, he got a bit of a shock; there were at least fifty witches and wizards wandering around where the staff table used to be. That table had been replaced with two larger tables and a space left in front, where this unusual crowd was currently mingling. Harry walked up to the front to get a closer look and recognised Angus and the rest of the team, spread out individually amongst small groups, chatting amicably with the strangers gathered in the Hall. The large man noticed Harry almost immediately and excused himself from two witches and a wizard, who all seemed to have been immersed in the conversation.
"This is the circus Harry..." explained the big man. "They are members of the press and unfortunately both teams have to talk with them before we get to eat." The disgust in his voice reminded Harry amusingly of Ron. Angus seemed to have very similar priorities in life: Quidditch and food, not necessarily in that order. "Come on, I'll introduce you to a few and whatever you do, be careful what you say. Then again, I suppose you know that." This comment brought a slight frown to Harry's face; he had hoped that maybe the Quidditch press was slightly less hostile than the gossip columnists who seemed to make up the majority of the Daily Prophet's reporters.
Following Angus' lead, Harry had visited six groups of reporters. When questioned about the game, he chose noncommittal answers, saying things like 'It's a team game', 'I just hope I'm able to play in a few matches' and 'this is a big step for me'. When questioned about a few things relating to Voldemort, Harry was forced to use 'No comment'; much to the appreciation of Angus and the disappointment of the journalists. The seventh group Harry was introduced to contained two people he already knew.
"Harry, great to see you" said Oliver Wood, looking the part of a professional Quidditch player; well built, with broad shoulders and his close cut hair and firm jaw giving him a rough look, albeit one that was lightened considerably by the smile he now wore on his face.
The pair shook hands in a way that made it obvious to all who witnessed they were long time friends.
"Hello Harry" said the second familiar face from behind bejewelled spectacles.
"Hiya Oliver, Rita." The faces of Harry and the reporter must have appeared quite sickening to an outsider, as both had adopted equally sugary smiles. Closer attention would have shown, however, that there was little affection in their eyes.
Rita Skeeter bombarded the pair with a long list of questions, about 'How they knew each other,?' 'What it would be like to play on opposite teams?', 'What Oliver thought of Harry's change of position?' and 'How many goals Harry would score past his old Quidditch captain?' Harry and Oliver answered them with well rehearsed clichés like, 'It's a funny old game' and 'Anything can happen out on the pitch'. Harry found that all the times he had borrowed Quidditch Weekly from Ron were really quite useful as he recalled all the ways players answered these impossible questions. The Quidditch section of the interview apparently over; the witch informed the pair that she was working for 'Teen Witch Weekly' and her readers would like to know more about them. Before either of them could refuse, Rita was on them in her time-honoured style, firing another salvo of questions about their personal lives, girls, money, fame and the Quidditch lifestyle. Wincing slightly, the two young men tried to answer truthfully, while never giving out too much information. When 'The Circus' had finally drawn to a conclusion, thanks to an announcement from the two coaches, the two teams separated from the reporters and went to their separate tables to have a little breakfast.
Harry was feeling a little worn out by all the attention and ate only sparingly before they all left for the changing rooms. He couldn't help comparing this morning to his first Quidditch match; he hadn't eaten much then either. As they left for the pitch, there was a moment when both Harry and Oliver tried to go the Gryffindor changing room, but Oliver averted any awkwardness by laughing and stating 'Old habits die hard and I'm the visitor now.' So Oliver turned around and promptly walked briskly down the corridor to the Ravenclaw changing room accompanied by his teammates. Harry couldn't help but noticing they all looked pretty big, with the exception of a slight wizard who Harry presumed played Seeker and wondered, not for the first time, if maybe he was a little out of his depth. Then Harry smiled, remembering what Ginny had said to him and knew if she thought he was good enough, he would do his best to prove himself.
In no time at all the team was changed and was presented with the starting roster for the game. Harry was startled to realize that he was on the starting rotation, with Simon and Andy being the other Chasers. Then, before the shock of Angus's decision had time to properly sink in, 'the Prides' were all subjected to an aggressive and awe-inspiring pre-match talk. Then in his booming voice Angus ordered the team out to the pitch, adding a final instruction of 'Win this one'. They entered the stadium to a roar of applause; Harry was stunned at how much louder it was than the House matches. The captains shook hands, the whistle blew, and the balls were up! Within moments Harry could feel the difference between this and House games; he'd thought the practices were fast, but they were nothing compared to this. The pace as frantic as Harry could ever have imagined, and the teams proved to be very evenly matched. After a quarter of an hour, the score remained deadlocked at nil-nil. Several players, including Harry, had had shots on goal but all of the shots had been blocked by the team's respective Keepers. The players who were having the most success were the beaters; they seemed to have almost knocked every player from their brooms at one point or another. Harry had a very near miss when he was almost sandwiched between the two heavy balls fired at him. Only a shout from Simon and an instinctive mid air pirouette saved Harry from serious injury. When Angus shouted for a timeout from the sidelines and 'the Prides' returned to the ground for instructions, it became painfully evident he was not pleased.
What followed was a lot of shouting and fist-waving and when the team returned to the air Harry thought it looked like it had done some good. Simon quickly intercepted a long pass and performed a fake scissors with Andrew, before performing a one-handed round the back pass to Harry. This showboater's trick had the desired effect, completely fooling Harry's marker and leaving Harry a clear run at the hoops. Harry flattened on his broom, leaving a Bludger that had been struck at him in his wake and entered the scoring area. He performed a jink designed to increase the difficulty of another Bludger attack as he sped towards the hoops. Oliver had hung back, preventing Harry's speciality, the lob, which he was obvious forewarned about. Harry began to set up for a fake left, but Oliver suddenly tore out at him, flying straight at him arms spread, steering with his knees. Harry slowed, rolled and dived slightly and Oliver, who had been expecting an early shot, flew straight over his head, allowing Harry a simple throw through the centre ring for the first points of the game.
Harry's teammates joined him as he swooped round and returned to their own half of the field, all congratulating each other. The goal boosted 'The Prides' confidence and soon they were playing like they did in practice, moves carried out at full speed with smiles on their faces. Puddlemere fought back but were being out played by the Chasers as they started to settle into the game. Their focus was evident, they were diving harder, their passing was more mixed and creative, and with heightened levels of confidence, they began to pull off some decidedly cheeky plays. Simon excelled at this, although every one had to admit that his very best was when he had taken a Quaffle facing away from the Puddlemere hoops and thrown it over his shoulder in a looping arc into the left hoop over Oliver Wood's head without even looking. Oliver, who had been coming out to meet him, was forced to turn to watch it sail through the left ring.
Harry saw Mandy finally take the Snitch in a death-defying catch; she was upside down flying no handed and the snitch was only feet from the upright that supported the rings. Playing chicken with one of the goal posts, Mandy had grasped the tiny golden ball and swerved off and only by twisting her body did she manage to avoid the contact. 'The Prides' were up forty points before this spectacular catch, making it a victory. Harry had had a good game, scoring six goals, including one of his lobs. The final score of 260-70 clearly delighted Angus, who was bouncing around red-faced from shouting. After a fair bit of mid-air hand slapping, the team returned to their coach and were almost mobbed by fans and reporters. Harry thought this was a bit much for a reserves game and just showed how seriously Quidditch was actually taken by the Wizarding world. When Harry saw Oliver Wood surrounded by a large group of crying girls of varying ages, he fought his way in and grabbed his old captain's hand, and gave it a firm shake, saying. "Good game Oliver."
"Should have had you as Chaser in the team from the look of it. Well played Harry, the crazy fans might have a new pin up boy, not that I won't miss them a little." Looking around at the massive group of screaming girls, Harry and Oliver started laughing at the absurdity of it all. The former teammates walked back to the changing rooms together, talking about the current Gryffindor team and the run of success now enjoyed by their house. Harry diplomatically accredited Oliver's training and captaincy with this success, informing him his management style had lived on in all the Gryffindor captains since his departure. They finally parted company to go into the changing rooms and when Harry enter he found his team mates had already started celebrating. Mandy cheerful informed him that the match had been broadcast on the wizarding wireless and Harry had won man of the match. As he wasn't old enough for the prize, a bottle of 'Firebrand Whiskey', they had already opened it and the team was apparently doing their best to finish it before his return, so he wouldn't be disheartened by not being able to drink it, of course.
Both teams ate lunch in the Great Hall and Harry was glad to see that any animosity the teams had on the field was left behind as the old Hogwarts students chatted about their time on the house Quidditch teams and great victories won on the old pitch. Mandy and Trisha seemed to have other plans, the pair had taken a shine to Oliver and fuelled by a fair quantity of whiskey, were making rather unsubtly attempts to seduce him, much to everyone's amusement, except perhaps Oliver, who had the look of a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car. Harry, however, had a feeling that maybe Oliver was acting, he seemed to have a slight twinkle in his eye, which suggested he was enjoying himself. When lunch was finally over, the other players left. Oliver, Harry noted, looked particularly happy, although whether it was to get away or carry on elsewhere, Harry didn't know.
With his first Quidditch match over, Harry headed straight for the library. Since his game had overlapped with his usual studying with Hannah, they had arranged to do it later. He found his friend in their usual spot, surrounded by books, and they soon fell into their usual routine of Potions theory. This lasted a couple of hours before they could take no more reading about the effects of highly poisonous animals venoms. By unspoken consent, they decided to give potions a rest and they started talking about charms and the current topic, which, it turned out, both were having trouble with.
Oddly enough, their saviour from an unsuccessful piece of homework arrived shortly into their conversation. "Hermione! Perfect timing; do you have radar for poor students needing your talents?" said Harry knowing full well the effect flattery had on Hermione.
"I was just coming here to do some Charms research," replied Hermione blushing, but she quickly regaining her composure and added, "and I could hardly describe you two as poor students. What is it Hogwarts's Aurors-to-be need help with?"
"One of your specialities: charms," said Hannah, picking up on Harry's technique.
"Enough you two," said Hermione, smiling but with still rosy cheeks. "But we can't practice charms here," she added, directing her attention at Harry.
"The Room of Requirement it is then."
Harry and Hannah collected their things, checked out a couple of books and the three proceeded to the seventh floor. Once there, Hannah explained she was having trouble with the Protean charm. Hermione instantly started explaining the theory behind the charm and the reasons why it would fail; after the previous year and the number of coins she had made for the DA Society, Hermione had plenty of experience with the Protean charm. An hour before dinner, both Harry and Hannah had successfully charmed various objects to act as magical signals, which was the true purpose of the charm; Hermione had also instructed them on ways to change the charm to have slightly different effects, including the warming effect of the coins she used to announce DA meetings to the founding members. Harry had particular success combining it with a summoning charm, while the effects where considerably weaker, Hermione had confirmed she had felt a slight pull from the coin towards the paperweight Harry had charmed when it was activated.
The three left just before six that evening and went to dinner together, only parting company with a couple of wisecracks when they reached their respective tables. Harry sat next to Ginny who was smiling at him. "You were really good out there today, I couldn't believe it was so fast."
"That's what I thought at the first practice, but you do get used to it, and the other Chasers make it easier."
"Who was the other young Chaser for the Prides?" asked Parvati, leaning into the conversation. Ginny scowled at her and Harry smiled as he guessed she was being quite protective of him.
"That's Simon; he's really nice, quite quiet, unless he's on a broom or dealing with Mandy or Trisha." replied Harry
"They're the two pretty Seekers?" asked his classmate. "Is he seeing one of them?"
"I think they are all single, but I could be wrong." This time Ginny stared at Harry, and Harry leaned over and whispered to her "but they're not a patch on a girl I already know." Ginny put her hand over her mouth and gasped at his comment, going scarlet and Harry just smiled at her. Unbeknownst to him, he was getting a few strange looks from around the Great Hall. Ron soon joined them and the conversation moved on to the next Gryffindor match. Ron was particularly enthusiastic after the morning's game; he was all over Harry asking him to diagram many of the plays 'The Prides' had used. Harry quickly realized that if the Chasers were asked to execute these plays having only seen them used at full speed, the effort would be useless, and so he asked Ron if he could come to practice to go over them in person. Ron agreed immediately, leaving Harry with the sneaking suspicion he had been set up.
Gryffindor practices had become almost as heavily attended as the matches and it was quite amusing to hear the usual crowd noises when simply trying out new plays and practising flying. The whole team had improved no end but none more so than Ginny; she was totally at home in the air and didn't mind the more conniving side of the game. Harry had tried to mark her in a short practice match at the end of one session and found she was more than capable of losing him, faking dives, flying fast then stopping forcing him to veer off or using other players as screens once she had seen the Snitch. She was determined and aggressive and the agility of the slight girl meant even the miniature golden ball was hard pushed to out manoeuvre her. The twins were also looking stronger, still working in almost perfect unison. Harry couldn't get over how they played just liked the Weasley twins, hard but always fair, unless protecting their team mates demanded more, then armed with a bat and their skill on brooms they looked deadly. They seemed quieter than Fred and George but maybe that was their youth and Harry could picture those two growing to become the schools trouble-makers. All in all, Ron had assembled a very strong side; Slytherin played Hufflepuff this weekend so it would be a good gauge of the team's chances this year but Harry could already see that the team would do well.
The week preceding the match flew by. Harry found himself as busy as he had ever been in his years at Hogwarts; much to his own amusement, he had come to quite enjoy his dance lesson with Tonks as being a welcome break from the usual school routine and he enjoyed being able to spend time with Tonks and Remus, who always came to the room with her. Sometimes they even practised a little fencing after Harry had mastered another dance step. On a couple of occasions, much to both adults amusement, Harry literally danced when sparing, doing a little cha-cha-cha to avoid a lunge and position his feet again. Tonks had commented he looked more graceful with a sword, again making Remus laugh as he added. 'Yeah like a fairy'. This caused Harry to hit Moony on the arm quite hard, causing Moony's grin to fade as he rubbed his arm.
The problem was that Harry's feeling of uneasiness had returned. He knew security around the castle was tighter than ever, it was just he knew something wasn't right and it was this feeling that lead him one evening to rush back to the sixth year boys room for his invisibility cloak, an item he hadn't touched since the skirmish in London. The reason he had wanted his cloak was because he had seen a group of students, mostly from Slytherin and all from the sixth and seventh years, hanging around the entrance hall after dinner that evening. When Harry returned to the Hall he had found them gone but he had an idea that the group had gone outside so he silently opened the massive doors and exited out into the darkness, which as the year progressed, was falling significantly earlier. His suspicions were confirmed when he caught glimpse of a few figures lit by a combination of the pale moonlight and the ambient glow from the castle windows.
*****
Editor's Note: My apologies to all the readers of this story for the delay in getting up the last chapter. Jonny has been very gracious in taking the blame, but it's all my fault, between holidays and a rather unpleasant week in the hospital. St. Mungo's it's not. Nonetheless, Jonny chose to stick with me as his editor, and I want to thank all of you, and him, for having patience with me.
Dice
The Prides Vs Puddlemere
The morning of the first match Harry rose early and decided to go to the Great Hall to try and get a quiet breakfast alone. He was feeling a little jittery about the game, and he wasn't interested in being the centre of attention when he ate. When he entered through the massive oak doors, he got a bit of a shock; there were at least fifty witches and wizards wandering around where the staff table used to be. That table had been replaced with two larger tables and a space left in front, where this unusual crowd was currently mingling. Harry walked up to the front to get a closer look and recognised Angus and the rest of the team, spread out individually amongst small groups, chatting amicably with the strangers gathered in the Hall. The large man noticed Harry almost immediately and excused himself from two witches and a wizard, who all seemed to have been immersed in the conversation.
"This is the circus Harry..." explained the big man. "They are members of the press and unfortunately both teams have to talk with them before we get to eat." The disgust in his voice reminded Harry amusingly of Ron. Angus seemed to have very similar priorities in life: Quidditch and food, not necessarily in that order. "Come on, I'll introduce you to a few and whatever you do, be careful what you say. Then again, I suppose you know that." This comment brought a slight frown to Harry's face; he had hoped that maybe the Quidditch press was slightly less hostile than the gossip columnists who seemed to make up the majority of the Daily Prophet's reporters.
Following Angus' lead, Harry had visited six groups of reporters. When questioned about the game, he chose noncommittal answers, saying things like 'It's a team game', 'I just hope I'm able to play in a few matches' and 'this is a big step for me'. When questioned about a few things relating to Voldemort, Harry was forced to use 'No comment'; much to the appreciation of Angus and the disappointment of the journalists. The seventh group Harry was introduced to contained two people he already knew.
"Harry, great to see you" said Oliver Wood, looking the part of a professional Quidditch player; well built, with broad shoulders and his close cut hair and firm jaw giving him a rough look, albeit one that was lightened considerably by the smile he now wore on his face.
The pair shook hands in a way that made it obvious to all who witnessed they were long time friends.
"Hello Harry" said the second familiar face from behind bejewelled spectacles.
"Hiya Oliver, Rita." The faces of Harry and the reporter must have appeared quite sickening to an outsider, as both had adopted equally sugary smiles. Closer attention would have shown, however, that there was little affection in their eyes.
Rita Skeeter bombarded the pair with a long list of questions, about 'How they knew each other,?' 'What it would be like to play on opposite teams?', 'What Oliver thought of Harry's change of position?' and 'How many goals Harry would score past his old Quidditch captain?' Harry and Oliver answered them with well rehearsed clichés like, 'It's a funny old game' and 'Anything can happen out on the pitch'. Harry found that all the times he had borrowed Quidditch Weekly from Ron were really quite useful as he recalled all the ways players answered these impossible questions. The Quidditch section of the interview apparently over; the witch informed the pair that she was working for 'Teen Witch Weekly' and her readers would like to know more about them. Before either of them could refuse, Rita was on them in her time-honoured style, firing another salvo of questions about their personal lives, girls, money, fame and the Quidditch lifestyle. Wincing slightly, the two young men tried to answer truthfully, while never giving out too much information. When 'The Circus' had finally drawn to a conclusion, thanks to an announcement from the two coaches, the two teams separated from the reporters and went to their separate tables to have a little breakfast.
Harry was feeling a little worn out by all the attention and ate only sparingly before they all left for the changing rooms. He couldn't help comparing this morning to his first Quidditch match; he hadn't eaten much then either. As they left for the pitch, there was a moment when both Harry and Oliver tried to go the Gryffindor changing room, but Oliver averted any awkwardness by laughing and stating 'Old habits die hard and I'm the visitor now.' So Oliver turned around and promptly walked briskly down the corridor to the Ravenclaw changing room accompanied by his teammates. Harry couldn't help but noticing they all looked pretty big, with the exception of a slight wizard who Harry presumed played Seeker and wondered, not for the first time, if maybe he was a little out of his depth. Then Harry smiled, remembering what Ginny had said to him and knew if she thought he was good enough, he would do his best to prove himself.
In no time at all the team was changed and was presented with the starting roster for the game. Harry was startled to realize that he was on the starting rotation, with Simon and Andy being the other Chasers. Then, before the shock of Angus's decision had time to properly sink in, 'the Prides' were all subjected to an aggressive and awe-inspiring pre-match talk. Then in his booming voice Angus ordered the team out to the pitch, adding a final instruction of 'Win this one'. They entered the stadium to a roar of applause; Harry was stunned at how much louder it was than the House matches. The captains shook hands, the whistle blew, and the balls were up! Within moments Harry could feel the difference between this and House games; he'd thought the practices were fast, but they were nothing compared to this. The pace as frantic as Harry could ever have imagined, and the teams proved to be very evenly matched. After a quarter of an hour, the score remained deadlocked at nil-nil. Several players, including Harry, had had shots on goal but all of the shots had been blocked by the team's respective Keepers. The players who were having the most success were the beaters; they seemed to have almost knocked every player from their brooms at one point or another. Harry had a very near miss when he was almost sandwiched between the two heavy balls fired at him. Only a shout from Simon and an instinctive mid air pirouette saved Harry from serious injury. When Angus shouted for a timeout from the sidelines and 'the Prides' returned to the ground for instructions, it became painfully evident he was not pleased.
What followed was a lot of shouting and fist-waving and when the team returned to the air Harry thought it looked like it had done some good. Simon quickly intercepted a long pass and performed a fake scissors with Andrew, before performing a one-handed round the back pass to Harry. This showboater's trick had the desired effect, completely fooling Harry's marker and leaving Harry a clear run at the hoops. Harry flattened on his broom, leaving a Bludger that had been struck at him in his wake and entered the scoring area. He performed a jink designed to increase the difficulty of another Bludger attack as he sped towards the hoops. Oliver had hung back, preventing Harry's speciality, the lob, which he was obvious forewarned about. Harry began to set up for a fake left, but Oliver suddenly tore out at him, flying straight at him arms spread, steering with his knees. Harry slowed, rolled and dived slightly and Oliver, who had been expecting an early shot, flew straight over his head, allowing Harry a simple throw through the centre ring for the first points of the game.
Harry's teammates joined him as he swooped round and returned to their own half of the field, all congratulating each other. The goal boosted 'The Prides' confidence and soon they were playing like they did in practice, moves carried out at full speed with smiles on their faces. Puddlemere fought back but were being out played by the Chasers as they started to settle into the game. Their focus was evident, they were diving harder, their passing was more mixed and creative, and with heightened levels of confidence, they began to pull off some decidedly cheeky plays. Simon excelled at this, although every one had to admit that his very best was when he had taken a Quaffle facing away from the Puddlemere hoops and thrown it over his shoulder in a looping arc into the left hoop over Oliver Wood's head without even looking. Oliver, who had been coming out to meet him, was forced to turn to watch it sail through the left ring.
Harry saw Mandy finally take the Snitch in a death-defying catch; she was upside down flying no handed and the snitch was only feet from the upright that supported the rings. Playing chicken with one of the goal posts, Mandy had grasped the tiny golden ball and swerved off and only by twisting her body did she manage to avoid the contact. 'The Prides' were up forty points before this spectacular catch, making it a victory. Harry had had a good game, scoring six goals, including one of his lobs. The final score of 260-70 clearly delighted Angus, who was bouncing around red-faced from shouting. After a fair bit of mid-air hand slapping, the team returned to their coach and were almost mobbed by fans and reporters. Harry thought this was a bit much for a reserves game and just showed how seriously Quidditch was actually taken by the Wizarding world. When Harry saw Oliver Wood surrounded by a large group of crying girls of varying ages, he fought his way in and grabbed his old captain's hand, and gave it a firm shake, saying. "Good game Oliver."
"Should have had you as Chaser in the team from the look of it. Well played Harry, the crazy fans might have a new pin up boy, not that I won't miss them a little." Looking around at the massive group of screaming girls, Harry and Oliver started laughing at the absurdity of it all. The former teammates walked back to the changing rooms together, talking about the current Gryffindor team and the run of success now enjoyed by their house. Harry diplomatically accredited Oliver's training and captaincy with this success, informing him his management style had lived on in all the Gryffindor captains since his departure. They finally parted company to go into the changing rooms and when Harry enter he found his team mates had already started celebrating. Mandy cheerful informed him that the match had been broadcast on the wizarding wireless and Harry had won man of the match. As he wasn't old enough for the prize, a bottle of 'Firebrand Whiskey', they had already opened it and the team was apparently doing their best to finish it before his return, so he wouldn't be disheartened by not being able to drink it, of course.
Both teams ate lunch in the Great Hall and Harry was glad to see that any animosity the teams had on the field was left behind as the old Hogwarts students chatted about their time on the house Quidditch teams and great victories won on the old pitch. Mandy and Trisha seemed to have other plans, the pair had taken a shine to Oliver and fuelled by a fair quantity of whiskey, were making rather unsubtly attempts to seduce him, much to everyone's amusement, except perhaps Oliver, who had the look of a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car. Harry, however, had a feeling that maybe Oliver was acting, he seemed to have a slight twinkle in his eye, which suggested he was enjoying himself. When lunch was finally over, the other players left. Oliver, Harry noted, looked particularly happy, although whether it was to get away or carry on elsewhere, Harry didn't know.
With his first Quidditch match over, Harry headed straight for the library. Since his game had overlapped with his usual studying with Hannah, they had arranged to do it later. He found his friend in their usual spot, surrounded by books, and they soon fell into their usual routine of Potions theory. This lasted a couple of hours before they could take no more reading about the effects of highly poisonous animals venoms. By unspoken consent, they decided to give potions a rest and they started talking about charms and the current topic, which, it turned out, both were having trouble with.
Oddly enough, their saviour from an unsuccessful piece of homework arrived shortly into their conversation. "Hermione! Perfect timing; do you have radar for poor students needing your talents?" said Harry knowing full well the effect flattery had on Hermione.
"I was just coming here to do some Charms research," replied Hermione blushing, but she quickly regaining her composure and added, "and I could hardly describe you two as poor students. What is it Hogwarts's Aurors-to-be need help with?"
"One of your specialities: charms," said Hannah, picking up on Harry's technique.
"Enough you two," said Hermione, smiling but with still rosy cheeks. "But we can't practice charms here," she added, directing her attention at Harry.
"The Room of Requirement it is then."
Harry and Hannah collected their things, checked out a couple of books and the three proceeded to the seventh floor. Once there, Hannah explained she was having trouble with the Protean charm. Hermione instantly started explaining the theory behind the charm and the reasons why it would fail; after the previous year and the number of coins she had made for the DA Society, Hermione had plenty of experience with the Protean charm. An hour before dinner, both Harry and Hannah had successfully charmed various objects to act as magical signals, which was the true purpose of the charm; Hermione had also instructed them on ways to change the charm to have slightly different effects, including the warming effect of the coins she used to announce DA meetings to the founding members. Harry had particular success combining it with a summoning charm, while the effects where considerably weaker, Hermione had confirmed she had felt a slight pull from the coin towards the paperweight Harry had charmed when it was activated.
The three left just before six that evening and went to dinner together, only parting company with a couple of wisecracks when they reached their respective tables. Harry sat next to Ginny who was smiling at him. "You were really good out there today, I couldn't believe it was so fast."
"That's what I thought at the first practice, but you do get used to it, and the other Chasers make it easier."
"Who was the other young Chaser for the Prides?" asked Parvati, leaning into the conversation. Ginny scowled at her and Harry smiled as he guessed she was being quite protective of him.
"That's Simon; he's really nice, quite quiet, unless he's on a broom or dealing with Mandy or Trisha." replied Harry
"They're the two pretty Seekers?" asked his classmate. "Is he seeing one of them?"
"I think they are all single, but I could be wrong." This time Ginny stared at Harry, and Harry leaned over and whispered to her "but they're not a patch on a girl I already know." Ginny put her hand over her mouth and gasped at his comment, going scarlet and Harry just smiled at her. Unbeknownst to him, he was getting a few strange looks from around the Great Hall. Ron soon joined them and the conversation moved on to the next Gryffindor match. Ron was particularly enthusiastic after the morning's game; he was all over Harry asking him to diagram many of the plays 'The Prides' had used. Harry quickly realized that if the Chasers were asked to execute these plays having only seen them used at full speed, the effort would be useless, and so he asked Ron if he could come to practice to go over them in person. Ron agreed immediately, leaving Harry with the sneaking suspicion he had been set up.
Gryffindor practices had become almost as heavily attended as the matches and it was quite amusing to hear the usual crowd noises when simply trying out new plays and practising flying. The whole team had improved no end but none more so than Ginny; she was totally at home in the air and didn't mind the more conniving side of the game. Harry had tried to mark her in a short practice match at the end of one session and found she was more than capable of losing him, faking dives, flying fast then stopping forcing him to veer off or using other players as screens once she had seen the Snitch. She was determined and aggressive and the agility of the slight girl meant even the miniature golden ball was hard pushed to out manoeuvre her. The twins were also looking stronger, still working in almost perfect unison. Harry couldn't get over how they played just liked the Weasley twins, hard but always fair, unless protecting their team mates demanded more, then armed with a bat and their skill on brooms they looked deadly. They seemed quieter than Fred and George but maybe that was their youth and Harry could picture those two growing to become the schools trouble-makers. All in all, Ron had assembled a very strong side; Slytherin played Hufflepuff this weekend so it would be a good gauge of the team's chances this year but Harry could already see that the team would do well.
The week preceding the match flew by. Harry found himself as busy as he had ever been in his years at Hogwarts; much to his own amusement, he had come to quite enjoy his dance lesson with Tonks as being a welcome break from the usual school routine and he enjoyed being able to spend time with Tonks and Remus, who always came to the room with her. Sometimes they even practised a little fencing after Harry had mastered another dance step. On a couple of occasions, much to both adults amusement, Harry literally danced when sparing, doing a little cha-cha-cha to avoid a lunge and position his feet again. Tonks had commented he looked more graceful with a sword, again making Remus laugh as he added. 'Yeah like a fairy'. This caused Harry to hit Moony on the arm quite hard, causing Moony's grin to fade as he rubbed his arm.
The problem was that Harry's feeling of uneasiness had returned. He knew security around the castle was tighter than ever, it was just he knew something wasn't right and it was this feeling that lead him one evening to rush back to the sixth year boys room for his invisibility cloak, an item he hadn't touched since the skirmish in London. The reason he had wanted his cloak was because he had seen a group of students, mostly from Slytherin and all from the sixth and seventh years, hanging around the entrance hall after dinner that evening. When Harry returned to the Hall he had found them gone but he had an idea that the group had gone outside so he silently opened the massive doors and exited out into the darkness, which as the year progressed, was falling significantly earlier. His suspicions were confirmed when he caught glimpse of a few figures lit by a combination of the pale moonlight and the ambient glow from the castle windows.
*****
Editor's Note: My apologies to all the readers of this story for the delay in getting up the last chapter. Jonny has been very gracious in taking the blame, but it's all my fault, between holidays and a rather unpleasant week in the hospital. St. Mungo's it's not. Nonetheless, Jonny chose to stick with me as his editor, and I want to thank all of you, and him, for having patience with me.
Dice