Ch 9.

Gryffindor vs. Slytherin

The weeks that followed after the conversation with Remus seemed to slink by slowly. All Harry could do to keep his mind off of it was to emerse himself in his school work and Quittach duties. Though, late at night when everyone had already gone to bed and he lay awake at night, his mind would always return to that day in Hogsmeade,

"What?" Harry asked him quickly.

"Well, some of the other order members are researching the Veil and, hopefully, with time and the research done, we might be able to retrieve Sirius from it."

"You mean, Sirius is alive and you are going to bring him back?" Remus gave him a sad look for a moment.

"Listen Harry, please understand that this is only the research stage and it might take years to figure out a plan of action, if it's even possible to do at all. I'm only telling you this so that it doesn't come as a shock to you later on."

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione's voice cut in, dragging him from his thoughts.

"Yeah, just nervous."

"You should eat something, you look pale and you have to keep your strength up. You too Ron." Today was Harry's first Quittach game as Captain and he wasn't feeling much like eating. When he looked over at Ron, he found him looking much like he felt. He heard laughter from down the table and looked to see the rest of the team laughing merrily and eating as if it were any other day. Harry moaned slightly and turned back to his food. "Harry, you'll do fine, both of you. You haven't lost to Malfoy yet and you aren't going to start now. Ron, you have drastically improved this year and you are a brillant Keeper as Harry is Seeker. I wish you guys would just realize this sooner. Look, the rest of the team is confident." Hermione stated, pointing down the table at them. Harry looked back to see Ginny and Tally raise and make their way over to them.

"Hey Harry, Ron, are you guys ready to kick some Slytherin butt?" Tally asked with a bright smile. However it faultered slightly when she looked at him. "What's up?" She asked, sitting down beside him.

"Harry and Ron are just nervous, they get like this before every game. Tally seemed taken aback by that, she even laughed

"Really?" She looked between them, "Sorry, I didn't realize, it's just that...you guys are so good when we get out to practice and the team is real strong, including the reseves. Its just surprising that you are so worried." Since making Captain, Harry had the team practice three nights a week, including the reserves, so that they could be the top team again. The Chasers had gone out during most weekends to have extra practice and sometimes Ron and John would go with them to practice too. Harry knew his team was strong, but he couldn't help but feel as if he had no stomach at all. Ginny shot him a determined look and said,

"Harry Potter, if you do not lead us to kick Slytherin arse, or for that matter, Malfoy's arse, then I am going to kick yours, got it?" Her voice held no humor, but was rather quite threatening. None of them said anything because their jaws had dropped in surprise. "Well, we're heading down to the pitch now, I suggest you eat a little more and then meet us in the locker room." Ginny continued as if never having threatened Harry and she and Tally stood to leave. As Tally walked past him, he felt her hand slide across his shoulders blades and he felt himself shiver slightly. He looked up to see her watching him as she walked away and wink when he caught her eye. Harry smiled and somehow felt a little calmer talking to the both of them. He felt his face flush at her contact and he hid his head and began to eat some of his toast.

It was a half hour later and Harry and Ron sat in the locker room discussing tactics of the game while waiting for everyone to settle down. Since they had reserves, the locker room was full, mainly of girls, who were still chatting and getting themselves ready. Finally Harry stood and cleared his throat to quiet everyone down. They all turned expectantly to Harry and he smiled weakly at them all.

"Alright, I know we are a great team, I think one of the best yet. We are strong and determined and I know we can win this. I have never lost to Slytherin and that better not change today." Harry paused and he looked at Ginny for a moment, he smiled widely, "In the words of a very smart person, 'if you guys don't kick Slytherin arse today, then I'm going to kick all your arses, got it?" Everyone laughed, but none louder then Ron, Ginny, and Tally who had shared in that conversation. They all stood and waited to be called out onto the field.

"And now GRYFFINDOR!!! Potter, Bell, Weasley, Weasley, Adams, Sloper, Kirke, and reserves, Henderson, Flaunder, McDonald, Abercrombie, Waters, Creevey, and Dobbs." There was a loud roar from the excited crowd. The entire school except, of course, Slytherin, was cheering for Gryffindor, so the gryffindor colors were scattered throughout three-fourths of the stadium.

Harry soared through the air feeling all his stresses being left on the ground. He even laughed at his absurdity for being worried about this game. He looped around the field as he heard Hootch blow the whistle and stopped just above everyone to watch. Katie had the quaffle and was streaking down the field towards slytherin goal. As the other team flanked her, she dropped the quaffle which received a groan from the crowd; however, Tally had been beneath her and caught it easily. With some of her fancy broom work, she was able to get past the opponants and passed quickly to Ginny who scored the goal.

"GRYFFINDOR SCORES!! its now 10 to zero." Harry didn't know who the new commentator was, all he knew was that she was in Hufflepuff and seemed just as enthusiastic about Quittach as Lee had been.

The game contiued like that for another ten minutes. The Gryffindor team seemed to be unstoppable, even Ron had gotten over his embarrassement and only allowed in 2 goals. The score was now 100 to 20. Sloper and Kirke have excellent accuracy and seemed to be able to wail the bludger with such strength that they nearly knocked out Crabbe. However, the Slytherins weren't that easily thrawted and were just as evil as ever. They contantly would throw in illegal moves when Hootch wasn't looking and had whiped out Katie twice, until Harry had to call a time out to make sure she was still able to play.

"You alright Katie?" She smiled at him through a lage gash on her face, but reasurred him that she wanted to kick Slytherins arse one last time before she graduated. And so, that was how the game went. Every once in awhile, Harry would catch a glimpse of the snitch, but never long enough to make a move. Malfoy would sneer some comment to him during the game, but Harry never faultered. Slowly the game had drawn out into an hour and then two. The score had each 430 to 110. It seemed to never end. Harry watched Malfoy whisper to his goal keeper, being he was also the Captain of his team, when Harry noticed a speck of gold in the corner of his eye. He turned to see the snitch flying slightly to the right of the Gryffindor goals behind Ron. Harry shot out and quickly grabbed the snitch before Malfoy even had time to decipher what had occurred.

"POTTER HAS THE SNITCH, POTTER CAUGHT THE SNITCH!!! THE GAME IS OVER!! After and two and half hours, the game is over!" The rest of the commentary was drown out by the cry from the crowd as the rushed forward to meet the team. Harry was hugging Katie when he was pulled away and hugged by McGonagall. Taken by surprised Harry could only smile at her when she let go. Hermione made her way over and gave Ron a hug and a kiss on the cheek, which made him go scarlet. Tally and Ginny rushed over and both gave Harry a hug.

"See, Harry, I told you, nothing to worry about!" Tally screamed, beaming.

"I guess my threat worked?" Ginny said, who was also beaming. Harry could only laugh as he made his way over to the locker rooms.

"Good work everyone, I'm real proud of you all. All of you Reserves, I'm happy to have seen you were all paying close attention to what was happening during the game and were prepared to enter at any time. Now you should all quickly shower and change so you can all head back up to the after party in the common room." Everyone cheered and quickly scrambled into the shower rooms. Harry stayed longer than anyone to clean up and told Ron to head back since Harry knew he was starving. After a quick shower and change, he settled himself into cleaning the locker room when he heard a noise and spun to see Tally standing there, soaking wet, with only a towel wrapped around her. She seemed thoroughly shocked and quite embarrassed to see Harry still here. Harry knew his face was a deep shade of red as he realized how she looked. The sight of her took his breath away and he could only stare at her in amazement. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

"I forgot...well, I forgot..." She took a deep breath a reddened, "To be honest, I forgot my unders. I was just so excited I wasn't paying attention. I didn't realize you were still in here." Harry knew his face was now crimson at the mention of her unmentionables.

"Er-I thought that I should clean up a bit in here, I wasn't really sure if I was suppose to or not, but I thought I'd be polite. How come you are still in here?"

"Oh well, I needed to relax some. My heart was having a mild attack from all the excitement and showers always relax me. Anyway, I'm going to grab my things and then get changed." She quickly grabbed her clothes and stepped quickly back into the shower room. She emerged a moment later fully dressed. "Want some help?"

"If you wouldn't mind." She smiled at him and went to work putting things back in order. When they were done, they walked back to the tower in companionable silence for most of the way. When they reached the common room they were bombarded with Gyffindors celebrating the win.

Slowly the fall turned to winter and the snow began to fall. Their classes became hectic as they came close to their exams. Harry was doing incredibly well in occulmency and rather enjoyed the time he spent with Tally and Professor Adams, who always preferred Harry to call him Josh during the lessons. When he was around them, he could feel the type of relationship they shared. Josh was very protective of his sister, and though she acted like she didn't like it, her face showed that she enjoyed being around him and helping him teach Harry occulmency.

"Ok Harry, I have to tell you that you are doing a remarkable job. However, we are still in the beginning stages and I haven't tried all too hard to read your mind. Since its our last lesson before holiday, I want to give you homework." Harry groaned slightly at this. "It isn't anything you haven't already done. I want you to practice and I mean really practice. Come next term I'm really going to be testing your barrier and see how well you've actually built it. Now that's it for now and I'll see you after the holidays." Harry smiled and left with Tally.

"Where are you spending Christmas this year Harry?"

"Oh, I'm going to be spending it with the Weasley's, Hermione, and Remus at Remus's house." Harry said, meaning Grimuld Palace. "What about you?"

"Oh, I suppose I'm staying here, I mean, we have no where else to go." Harry looked at her, she seemed very sad. She saw him watching her and smiled, "We had to sell our home back in America, during the summer we lived in a hotel room until we were able to move in here. I don't know what we are going to do come this summer, but I guess we will worry about that later." Harry's heart went out to her, he too knew what it was like to be lost when it came to things like this, but he smiled at her and they walked together in silence to the common room as they had so many times before.

His friday lessons were worse then ever, as Snape thought it best to test them on everything they had learned from first year until now. Hermione and Tally seemed to be the only ones in the class not even flinching at the questions. Luckily Harry could remember most of the potions that he had done over the years. When he had finished, Snape merely glared at Harry and walked away to another student. Feeling very drained after that, they headed to the goodbye feast to meet up with Ron.

"Hey, why do you look so glum Harry?" Ron asked.

"Snape. He jsut gave us an unbeliebably hard test. I know I probably didn't do to well on it." Harry said sadly.

"It wasn't that bad Harry." Hermione said critically. Harry shot her an angry look to which she shrugged.

"Cheer up mate, it's Holiday!" Ron said happily as he dug into the food. Harry laughed and grabbed the closest food he could find. Half way through the meal, Harry heard an angry shout and turned to see Tally and Adams arguing by the Slytherin table. Malfoy looked as though Christmas has come early. The entire hall began quiet and Harry could make out their conversation as clearly as if they were standing right besie him.

"What do you mean you are leaving?" Tally demanded.

"You know why I have to go Tally, don't make this any harder."

"But, what about Christmas?" Her voice sounded strained.

"I'll be home before the holiday is over. You will be here with Angel." Tally made a strangled noise

"We never spend Christmas apart. Its a family holiday. What are we suppose to do? Everyone else is going home!"

"Tally, don't act like a child." Adams said looking away from her and at the students around them.

"A CHILD??? I'm sorry if wanting you home for Christmas is such a childish thing. I'll remember that in the future. I'm sorry if I've always just assumed you wanted to be with Angel and me and I'm sorry that I'm such a burdon to you!" She replied, anger present in her voice along with what Harry thought was saddness.

"Tally, I..." However, Adams didn't seem to know what to say and he stepped towards her with his arms out, but she turned away from him. Harry could see her face clearly now and saw tears brimming in her eyes. "Tally, I'm sorry, but you are being silly. You and Angel will have a great time." He put his hands on her shoulders, but she squirmed away from him. He sighed deeply, "I will see you soon. I love you Tally."

"I hate you." Adams face went slack and he literally seemed to be in pain at her words. He took a step towards her, but changed his mind and walked out. His eyes too, were brimming with tears. There was a deafening silence after the door fell closed and Harry could only stare at Tally. Harry was aware now of Malfoy saying something in a hushed whisper, but Harry couldn't make out what he was saying. All the Slytherins started laughing and the Ravenclaws gave them disgusted looks. Finally Tally turned to face where her brother had been. Looking quite angry she stormed towards the door but stopped briefly at the Slytherin table,

"SHUT IT MALFOY!" And she took off out the door in a full out run. Surprisingly, Harry found himself standing up to go after her and he looked to see Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Neville stand up as well. With a look to his two closest friends, they took off out of the Great Hall in search of their friend. However, she was no where to be seen. They made their way up to the Gryffindor tower and searched the rooms, but with no luck.

"Guys, I found her, she's outside!" Neville cried from the common room window. They ran to look and sure enough, she was outside, without any protection from the blizzard outside and was heading off towards the forbiddon forest. They quickly grabbed their outside gear and ran all the way down to the Entrance Hall and out the door. Hermione and Ginny cast the spell to melt the snow slightly as the ran, following Tally's tracks. Her tracks followed the path to Hogsmeade and once surrounded by the trees, the snow wasn't a problem. Looking ahead, Harry say a lump sagging against a tree farther down and ran immediately to it, hoping it wasn't Tally. When he reached the lump, his heart froze in his chest at the sight that greeted him. Harry heard both Hermione and Ginny gasp and Neville let out a small cry. There, half covered in snow, blue in the face, and weezing for breath laid Tally, She wore no coat or gloves, and her body shivered uncontrollably. She had tears streaming down her face and her voice was nearly non-existant when she tried to speak.

"Heart...not fixing....attack. So sorry." She gasped out between breaths. Harry ran to her and threw his cloak around her and heaved her up. She was incredibly light, but because she had been exposed to the cold for so long, her limps were rigid and frozen.

"Ron help me!" Ron scrambled forward and grabbed Tally's other arm and lifted it around his shoulders.

"I'll go get some help." Neville cried and dashed away, faster than Harry had ever seen him run before. Hermione and Ginny ran ahead to melt the snow out of the way, so that they would have a clear path to the castle.

"What happened Tally?" Harry asked as they struggled to get her to the castle.

"can't control...christmas....alone...hurt." Was all she could manage as they made their way to help and warmth. Up ahead Harry saw Neville run out of the castle with Professor Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and Hagrid close behind. Tally stopped and threw her head back, much like the time Harry had seen her have an attack back in September. "Sorry!" She cried as her lungs seemed to colapse in on her and she dropped downward and into unconsciousness.

Hey everyone! I really hope you guys are enjoying the story. Please Review or just comment about what you guys think and if you like the plot and characters and all. Thanks!! Also, sorry about the spelling errors, I never realize I have them until after I submit them. If you wish for me to read one of your stories, just email me or comment and I will be more than happy to!