Ch 32:- A New Kid in Town
The next week flew by.
All in all, Harry didn't have time to get nervous about the upcoming match; Alison Linney did though. Malfoy and his cronies had finally realised that she was actually going to be the seeker and had begun to pile on the pressure during the school day, quite apart from standing and jeering during the half hour lunchtime practices. Pansy Parkinson was the most obnoxious, but Crabbe and Goyle had taken to walking out in front of her and smirking nastily, whilst Malfoy just smirked. They didn't do anything physical because Dennis Creevey and Natalie MacDonald had taken to escorting Alison most of the time and Ginny had detailed some of the other Gryffindors to help.
Seeing Alison being the centre of attention, both good and bad, reminded Harry of his own celebrity status as the Gryffindor seeker only a couple of years previously. He wasn't jealous - much - mainly because he had so many other things on his mind.
Most importantly, Harry was trying to get his classes to a uniformly high grade before Christmas, for all the spells they were supposed to know. He could just see Dora checking the students' abilities and he wanted them to do well - mainly so Dora wouldn't have anything to complain about.
Various teachers were also piling on the work, to ensure they too covered everything they were supposed to during that term. Even Dumbledore appeared a couple of times to give Harry his defensive spells and Occlumency practice, though he refused to even discuss the goings on in the ministry.
Ginny was still quiet, though she was fast becoming a fixture at Harry's side outside classes. He still wondered when she'd suddenly pick on someone and leave him back on square one. Despite being profoundly uneasy, he hadn't the heart, or the willpower, to push her away. Instead, he spent a lot of time staring out of the windows and humming various fairly apocalyptic songs about love, loss and motorcycle crashes by a wizard singer who called himself Moat Life.
The news from Ron that Mrs. Weasley was trying to get permission to invite Harry to the Burrow for Christmas now had a double edge. He really wanted to be there, but it was going to be the most frustrating Christmas ever. Harry wondered just what Mrs Weasley could do to persuade Dumbledore though, since he was the key to allowing Harry any latitude at all. Still, he reflected, she'd got them all into the Order - maybe she could get him into the Burrow.
- o -
Saturday morning dawned cold and grey. From the Gryffindor tower windows, Harry had looked out at the lowering clouds and shivered. The wind was from the northeast, and snow had been forecast for later.
The four friends now sat at breakfast chewing on their bacon and eggs. The quidditch match had been brought forward to the morning, as it usually was in winter, so Harry was hoping the snow would hold off long enough to complete the match. Hermione was reading the Daily Prophet as usual, Ron was discussing tactics with Ginny and Harry was looking round the hall. He could see Alison Linney was making heavy weather of her breakfast, despite the attention of Colin and his little brother. She looked up at that moment and he could see her nervousness clearly in her expression. He waved and she smiled slightly. Then she smiled more widely for some reason.
Harry looked round sharply, just catching Ginny lowering her hand to the table and trying to look innocent. Ron and Hermione were laughing.
Harry sighed. 'Well, if it cheers her up. – '
'She reminds me of you, when you had to face Slytherin.' said Hermione, still chuckling.
'Really?' asked Ginny, suddenly taking an interest.
'Yep. He was petrified.'
'Aww, - poor Harry.' cooed Ginny and she patted him on the head. She had been getting steadily more relaxed in his presence for the last two weeks and occasionally she stepped over the line between friendship and familiarity. This was the sort of thing she did, but Harry just couldn't bring himself to reciprocate. The thought that the only reason she was sitting with them was that she couldn't have the boy she wanted was just too much to overcome. He just smiled slightly sickly and kept eating.
Ginny paused and looked at him.
'You okay, Harry?' she asked.
Harry smiled again, somewhat more sincerely.
'Yeah, I'm okay, Gin. Maybe I'm getting nervous too.'
Ginny hesitated. 'Sorry. I didn't mean - well, I didn't - '
Harry put a hand on her wrist. 'I said it's okay.' He took his hand away. 'Now. enough with the apologies.'
Ginny smiled. 'Yes, O teacher mine.'
Harry sighed to himself. Next year was going to be hard work.
- o -
The clouds were still low and the breeze cut like a knife as the students surged down to the quidditch pitch like an army of invading ants. They flowed up the stairways and spread out over the stands, as if devouring the brightly coloured seats and turning the skeletons of the structures into heaving masses of waved antennae.
The teams had gone down earlier and were already dressed in their quidditch robes and tightening the various items of leather gear that made up the quidditch protective armour. Squeaking slightly and looking like the cast of a teenage Roman bondage movie, they carried their brooms over their shoulders as they walked out onto the pitch.
The Slytherins were late, no doubt intending to try to psyche out the Gryffindors but Katie Bell was well able to deal with the machinations of the likes of Malfoy. She immediately got the team onto their brooms and took off for the warm up, leading them round the stadium several times in close formation. The circuits got slightly quicker each time, but Katie was watching the opposing team's entrance like a hawk.
At the first sign of the Slytherins, Katie signalled the Gryffindors to break upwards. They rose rapidly in her wake, holding station, and then diving behind her as she swooped down and tore over the heads of the Slytherins emerging onto the pitch. Katie and the Gryffindors then continued around the inside of the stadium, as if buzzing the Slytherins had been completely incidental.
It was of course Malfoy who complained bitterly to Madam Hooch, but she waved him away and told the team to get on with their warm up. The Slytherins scrambled onto their brooms and took off vengefully, but had barely got within shouting distance of the Gryffindors before Madam Hooch blew her whistle and called the teams down to the centre of the pitch, for the pre-game talk about fairness and wanting to see a clean match.
She might as well have saved her breath.
Ten minutes into the match and the weather was already starting to deteriorate. The light was getting worse, an ominous grey fog was beginning to cloak the hills to the north. Gryffindor were 40 - 30 down, and Colin Creevey was sporting a torn sleeve and several bruises. Luckily his red robes hid the blood from what was a painful gouge out of his upper arm. The Slytherin foul had led to a free quaffle, and thence to one of the goals, but Harry reckoned they'd soon run out of players if they tried to use fouls as a means of winning - and there was still no sign of the snitch.
There was no doubt the Gryffindors were good, and Ron had made some spectacular saves, but their ability was more than offset by the brutality of the Slytherins. Pretty soon, all the team apart from Alison and Ron had been the target of foul or bludger. Fortunately only glancing blows had connected, leaving them all sore and battered but still functional. Colin and Andrew had done their best to get the bludgers back at the Slytherins, but the power of Crabbe and Goyle meant that in a straight contest, Slytherin would always gain the upper hand.
Slowly the Slytherins continued to draw ahead, but it was whilst returning from the Slytherin end after putting another goal past Zabini that Katie waved the others over for a mid air discussion.
'This is getting nowhere!' she snarled. 'We need to change to the vertical plane, like we discussed yesterday!'
The others nodded.
'Right, I'll stick to the centre, Harry and Ginny go low or high, and swap over. Now lets go!'
The team spread out immediately, ready to defend against the Slytherins as the restart whistle blew. Harry caught a glimpse of Alison climbing to a vantage point above the centre of the pitch, closely followed by Malfoy. So far she seemed to be coping with his spoiling tactics, but Harry wondered just how closely she could be watching for the snitch.
It was Ginny who managed to intercept the first fumbled Slytherin pass, but instead of trying to move forward, she climbed rapidly, with two of the Slytherin chasers in hot pursuit. Whilst they were still climbing, she put the handle of her broom down and dived for the centre of the pitch, then pulled up from twenty feet above the surface and climbed once more.
It was Harry who took the Quaffle, as he dived passed Ginny over the centre of the pitch. Again a climb followed his dive, though not straight at the goals, his sharp turn fooling the beaters and chaser alike. Katie was flying low, close to the Slytherin goals and on the side Harry had chosen, and it was to her that Harry passed the Quaffle, almost straight below him. Climbing behind the keeper, Katie flicked the quaffle through the centre hoop as she passed it then charged back to the centre of the pitch.
The yells of applause and a chant of "More, More, Gryffindor!" from three of the four grandstands blotted out the hisses and boos from the fourth.
This form of attack seemed to give the Slytherin Beaters quite a lot of trouble. Used to aiming for opponents at about the same level as them, Crabbe and Goyle were way behind when trying to hit targets that rapidly varied in height. Slowly they managed to adapt their play, but by then Gryffindor had caught the Slytherin total and begun to draw ahead by a goal or two.
Then the Snitch came into play - it was suddenly right in front of Harry.
Harry's first instinct was to reach out and grab. It was fortunate for his team mates that he was awake enough to countermand the order to his hand quickly enough, to avoid forfeiting the game by touching the snitch. He could do nothing but watch as the little golden ball flicked it's wings at him and shot off sideways, rapidly chased by Alison Linney, who appeared to have been watching closely after all and nearly took the handle off his broom as she charged past.
Harry lost sight of Alison and the snitch as his attention was drawn back to the main game, and he dived down to deftly remove the Quaffle from under the Slytherin chaser's arm then climb rapidly to corkscrew down the pitch towards the Slytherin goal.
It was then that an odd mental picture appeared before his eyes. He could see himself, just for a millisecond, but from some way away, and from behind. He knew it was himself, but he wasn't sure how. There was a bludger coming up behind him fast.
Harry jinked left, and was amazed as a bludger flashed past him and through the right hand Slytherin goal, making the goalkeeper dive aside as it passed. He took advantage of the distraction to score, then turned and hurried back to the centre, wondering what had happened. Ginny screamed up beside him however and yelled in his ear over the cheering of the crowd.
'Great goal, Harry! I thought that bludger had your name on it!'
Harry turned and shouted back. 'I just saw myself being chased! – was that - ?'
Ginny however wasn't looking at Harry anymore. She was looking at Alison.
Alison Linney was neck and neck with Draco Malfoy, with the snitch just feet ahead of them.
Malfoy was trying to push Alison sideways, but each time he lurched across, she was just far enough away to avoid being hurt, and close enough to push back as Malfoy returned to following the snitch. Timing was all, and she was the better.
The pair charged along the pitch, waving from side to side until they reached the Gryffindor goal posts. The snitch went between the posts, Alison swerved around the posts, but Malfoy, intent on trying to push her out of the way, glanced the right hand post and spun away trying desperately to get his broom under control. Unfortunately the snitch then disappeared as Alison swung round wondering what had happened to Malfoy.
Harry didn't have time to watch any longer, as the quaffle was now in play again, and Gryffindor was under attack. Furthermore, the ominous grey mist from the northeast had reached the school grounds, and it was a fine snow. He hurled himself into the fray once more.
As the conditions deteriorated, the accuracy of passing fell away on both sides and the scoring rate dropped to zero. It was fast becoming a trial of endurance, as the wind froze the players' hands and faces and snow gathered in their hair and clothes. Harry had wondered afresh about the sudden image of himself being attacked by the bludger and the next time he saw Ginny being chased, he blinked his eyes on the image and screamed a mental warning to her. He was rewarded by her suddenly diving and turning, then climbing behind the Slytherin who had been chasing her to score once more over his head. As they returned to the middle of the pitch, he got a huge grin from her and a thumbs up.
They didn't reach the middle of the pitch though. A shout from the Slytherins had Harry's head nearly twisted off his shoulders as he tried to look behind him. Malfoy was streaking down the pitch, not all that far from the ground, with the snitch just in front of him. Harry looked round desperately, but Alison Linney was nowhere to be seen.
Harry should have looked up. As it was, the first thing he knew was Alison screaming 'Get out of the way!' as she dived almost straight down through the gathered players with snow streaming back from her robes in her wake. She began to level out as she built up speed, but she was obviously too high and going far too fast to pull up beside Malfoy, besides, she couldn't get a hand to the snitch if she was beside him anyway.
Alison didn't bother to level out with Malfoy. Approaching from above and behind his right shoulder at tremendous speed, she rolled upside down and passed in front of Malfoy whilst still diving, raising her hand to pluck the snitch out from under his grasp. She didn't have time to roll upright and Harry could see her straining to push the handle of her broom upwards into a climb.
Harry's heart was in his mouth as, first, Alison missed digging a furrow in the pitch with her head by about three feet, and then she avoided bashing her brains out on the front edge of the Hufflepuff stand by an even smaller margin. At last she was clear of obstructions and Harry could see the wild smile on her face as she continued the outside half loop to finish three hundred feet up, over the centre of the pitch and almost at a standstill.
The whistle for the end of the match was completely unheard amongst the howls of anguish from the Slytherins and the howls of delight from the rest of the school.
Harry and the rest of the team were yelling with delight and relief as they climbed almost vertically through the now rapidly falling snow towards Alison. She was sitting on her broom holding the snitch aloft with one hand whilst making small corrections to keep her self in the centre of the pitch, as the wind tried to blow her over the Forbidden Forest. Colin was the first to reach her and his wild hug of joy was immediately followed by the hugs of the rest of the team as they reached her. She was grinning from ear to ear as the rest of them piled onto the floating raft of brooms to add their congratulations, until she saw Harry.
Alison's face fell as Harry bore down on her with a look of thunder. He stopped in front of her, broom handle to broom handle and angrily shook his finger at her, to the amazement of the others.
'You could have - you could - you - you – YOU - LITTLE - GENIUS!' he roared, and allowed his face to break into a huge grin as he pushed his way to her side and embraced her.
Only he could hear her voice as he hugged her.
'Thank you Harry,' she murmured, 'I just had to try.'
Only she could hear his reply.
'I would have tried it too.'
- o -
The broom raft was almost over the forest before the Gryffindor team realised and broke away to fly back to the pitch. The cheers had been getting a little faint, but as they spiralled down into the bowl, the noise rose to deafen them. Harry stayed back from the rest of the team. He wasn't the hero this time; Alison had eclipsed him, and he looked down fondly on her as she reached the ground and dismounted. Colin was hugging her and then so were the rest - except Ginny. He couldn't see her. That was when Ginny's broom pulled up beside him and her arm went round him and squeezed.
'Disappointed?' she asked.
After a second or so, he allowed his arm to sneak round her and squeeze back. She didn't seem to mind.
'No way.' he said. 'We won, and Alison deserves it. Gryffindor needs a new hero.'
'Heroine!' exclaimed Ginny.
Harry turned to her as they descended to the pitch. The snow was still falling, and the noise made talking difficult.
'You know what I meant.' he said seriously.
Ginny laughed, her eyes dancing with glee.
'I know what you meant!' she giggled and then she suddenly kissed him.
It was a very quick kiss, and she immediately turned away to look fixedly at the celebrations on the ground, but to Harry it was as if she'd touched him with one of Hermione's electric protection spells. She'd kissed him before, - but that was before Dora, and before Dean, and before all the arguments. He really didn't know why she'd done it this time, except maybe the excitement of the moment.
Whatever had possessed her to do it, however, he didn't dare try to kiss her back.
They were approaching the ground now, and Ginny still hadn't looked at him again. In fact as soon as they landed, she was off her broom and hurrying to join the team as the rest of the Gryffindors left the stands and swept the team back to their tower. Harry followed close behind the rest, but something made him look back.
The Slytherins were gathered near the stands, silent in their hatred for the rest of the school.
Harry hoped McGonagall realised how relations between Slytherin and the rest of the houses were deteriorating because, just for a second, he caught a glimpse of murder in their eyes.
- o -
Back in the common room, the team were the centre of a noisy crowd of juniors, whilst the older students looked on with tolerant smiles; after all, this was just one match, not the Quidditch Cup. Eventually, Professor McGonagall made an appearance. She warmly congratulated the team and then warned them that lunch would not be held up just because they hadn't got changed. There was a sudden mad scramble to get their clothes from the pile that had been brought from the changing rooms, then the boys and girls split up and raced for the showers.
Though her smile was as often directed at him as at anyone else, Ginny hadn't even spoken to Harry in the common room. They both spent all their time answering the questions of the younger Gryffindors. As she was about to leave the room however, she stopped by the door and turned. She didn't say anything, but she grinned wickedly at Harry and blew him a kiss, then she scooted through the door and slammed it behind her.
As they headed for the showers, Harry could feel Ron's eyes on him, but he just shrugged; after all, Ron knew the score.
- o -
By lunch, the excitement had worn off enough for Ginny to return to her normal behaviour. Harry was mainly grateful, - but not entirely. As the afternoon slipped away, he couldn't help but go back again and again, to the sudden warmth of Ginny's lips against his, the sound of her giggle, and the look of mischief in her eyes.
'Oi Harry!' exclaimed Ron. 'You're in check again!'
'Eh? – Oh blast. Erm, - knight to – no that's no good! – Rook to – no. - Oh, I concede, Ron!' He laughed. 'I'm only delaying the inevitable.'
Ron grunted. 'Yeah, you're playing even worse that usual. What's up?'
Harry glanced at Hermione. She was reading a gigantic tome about charms, imaginatively called "Charming!" and making copious notes on a large piece of parchment. Harry could almost feel her listening, though. As if on cue, she lifted her eyes from the page and appraised Harry coolly.
'She was just messing about.' she stated baldly.
Harry nodded curtly. 'Yeah, I guessed that.'
Ron, however viewed this exchange with bewilderment.
'Who was? – why did you guess it? – How about you give up the mind reading and talk with your mouths?'
'Ginny.' said Hermione, and buried her head in her book again.
For a few seconds it looked as if comprehension dawned on Ron, before the look of terminal confusion returned.
'The kiss.' added Hermione, glancing up again.
Ron turned to her, his face screwed up in puzzlement. 'What kiss?' he bleated.
Harry was now fervently hoping Hermione would just get back to her book, but oh no.
'The kiss Ginny gave Harry after the match, Ron.' she persisted.
'I didn't see anything!' complained Ron.
Hermione glanced up at Harry's now bright red face.
'Good, - because she was just messing about.' she reiterated, then got back to her study.
'Wha – whe – ' Ron looked round at Harry, but Harry just shrugged again and set up the chess pieces once more, despite the protests from the players about being overworked.
'Forget it, Ron.' he muttered and made his first move.
Ron sat for a few seconds before shaking his head.
'Bloody hell, Harry.' he exclaimed 'You always start like that, no wonder you keep losing.'
- o -
In bed that night, Harry was still playing the scene over and over again, and he was still coming to the same conclusion. 'Messing about'
Eventually he gave up and drifted off to sleep to the sound of the wind.
- o -
The Sunday morning sun was slanting through the dorm windows when Harry awoke. The light had that clarity that only comes with sunlight over a recent snowfall. He leapt out of bed, put on his glasses and peered out. The wind had sculpted the snow into fantastic shapes overnight and drifts were piled everywhere. Footsteps showed where the early risers had already made their mark and lines and splodges of snow showed where snowballs had landed.
Harry looked at his watch and panicked. If he didn't get moving he'd miss breakfast completely.
He was almost the last into the great hall, and he rapidly spooned porage into his mouth, followed by bacon and egg, to the accompaniment of the shouts of the students who were now hurrying outside to continue the fun.
Eventually, he too was outside and enjoying a stupendous snowball fight between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Of course, as might be expected at Hogwarts, it wasn't long before the snowballs began to take on the most peculiar trajectories, some even turning back on themselves to hunt down their prey. One or two were also rather heaver than anyone short of an Olympic shot putter could have hurled, and the recipients were fortunate that the snow was still only loosely packed.
The first snowball that exploded was the sign for everyone to rapidly take cover - before then slinking off in all directions trying to look innocent. Harry was one of these, but instead of spreading out with the rest, to investigate the drifts further from the school, he decided that the last DADA essay for Moody should take precedence, especially as it was due in the next day.
With a final look round over the scene of the battle, Harry headed inside, to the warmth and quiet of classroom fourteen.
- o -
Lunch was notable for one thing, the absence of the Creeveys, Linney and MacDonald. Four empty seats were eloquent evidence of the missing foursome, who Harry was beginning to mentally refer to as the Modern Marauders.
'I wonder where they are, then.' muttered Ginny, beside him.
'You noticed too, eh? It's not like them to miss food, is it?' he replied.
'No chance. I reckon Colin would faint if he didn't get at least half a cow inside him every day.'
Ron was staring at them. 'Who's this you're on about then?'
'The Creeveys.'
'Linney and McDonald.'
'Oh. – They were outside earlier.'
'Most of the House was outside earlier, Ron.' said Ginny, witheringly.
'Sorry, I'm sure.' He retorted.
Ginny just sighed and got on with her dinner. Harry felt a little sorry for Ron just then, - but not sorry enough to actually dare to say anything.
- o -
The essay was flowing from Harry's quill like a mountain stream, when the door of the classroom opened and Ginny wandered in looking thoughtful. She mooched over to stand behind him and he had that strange feeling of having someone reading over your shoulder.
'You don't spell it like that.' she said, eventually.
'What'
Legilimens has only two Ls'
'Oh. – yeah, thanks.' He turned to look up at her, 'Is there anything I can do for you? – beyond giving you reading practise?'
He smiled to take the sting out of his words.
Ginny looked thoughtful again. 'You could lend me your map.'
'Still missing?'
'Yeah.'
He dug out the map and started it up, then handed it to Ginny.
'How do I - Oh, yeah.'
She was quiet for a while, then 'Why down there? Look, Harry!'
The map was stuck under his nose, nearly smudging his essay, and her finger was pointing at the quidditch changing rooms beside the arena. Sure enough there were four dots all squashed together and the names of the modern marauders.
'They're not moving.' muttered Ginny, doubtfully.
Harry chuckled. 'Well they wouldn't be moving much if they were –'
'HARRY! – Really!' huffed Ginny. 'They're only - - well they - - They just wouldn't! – Alright?'
'Yeah. – Ok – whatever, Gin. - Er - finished with the map?'
Ginny handed him the map back and he cleared it.
'I think I'll head over there and see what's going on!' she murmured, almost to herself.
''Kay, but if they throw you out, don't say I didn't warn you.'
'If they're up to that sort of thing, I'll be doing the throwing out!'
- o -
It was barely more than half an hour later that Ron crashed into the room and staggered over to Harry's desk, gasping. Harry looked up in alarm, hastily putting his newly finished essay into a drawer as Ron collapsed across the desk, wheezing.
'Harry, - - been looking – for you - - everywhere!' he managed.
'What in Merlin's name is wrong?'
'Linney, - - Creeveys – MacDonald!'
'What about them?'
'We found - them - unconscious!'
Harry's blood ran suddenly cold. He jumped to his feet and pointed his wand at Ron.
'Reinvigoratio!' he said loudly and was rewarded by the sight of Ron suddenly breathing easier and managing to stand up.
'Cool, Harry!'
'Yeah. Now, what's happened?' Harry closed a couple of drawers and locked them, then started to steer Ron out of the classroom.
'Gin dragged me and Neville out to look for them and we found them all unconscious in the changing room, and they'd all been hexed like crazy!'
'Who?'
'Guess!'
'For sure?'
'Yeah, We roped in a few fourths and got them up to the hospital wing. Pomfrey managed to wake up Colin!'
The two of them hurried along corridors and down stairs, Harry keeping up a barrage of questions that Ron was struggling to keep up with.
'Are they going to be okay?'
'Yeah. Pomfrey's not worried now, but they looked really bad. They were nearly frozen too. She said that was the most dangerous thing.'
'Someone else is going to look bad by the time I've finished with them!' grated Harry. 'But they won't be cold.'
'You going to take on half of Slytherin then?'
Harry hesitated at the foot of the stairs to the hospital wing. 'What?'
'Colin reckoned there was at least fifteen of them!'
'The more the merrier!' snarled Harry, as he started up the stairs two at a time. Now he knew why four DA members hadn't been able to handle Malfoy.
- o -