Ch. 13

Quittach Cup

"BLAISE!" Tally screamed and ran forward. Harry rushed after her with Ron and Hermione at his heels.

"Well, well, well. if it isn't the famous Scar-head and his sidekick, the Weasel." Malfoy sneered. His wand pointed at Blaise. "Care to join your Bloodtraiter friend, Mudblood? No? Its all for fun and games."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING MALFOY?" Tally screamed, pushing through the Slytherins to get to Blaise. "Are you crazy? You can kill him!" Malfoy laughed loudly as did the others; however, Malfoy's mouth twitched nervously.

"That's the idea" Theodore Nott said loudly. One of the Slytherin's came forward and punched Tally hard in the stomach, causing her to double over and loose her balance. She ended up tripping over Blaise and landing hard on the floor. Harry began cursing everyone in front of him. Ron quickly followed while Hermione ran to help Neville, although she didn't get far when the Slytherins began cursing back and nearly hit her with one. Harry could still hear Tally screaming at Malfoy.

"You fool, you'll always be like your father! Never one to stand up for himself, always a damn follower." Malfoy sneered at her.

"I know where my loyalties lie, the Dark Lord will reign." Tally stood and spit on him, causing many of the Slytherins, many who were seventh years, to turn their wands on her. Harry felt his anger raise as her screams of pain filled the stone-walled hall. The power surged through Harry and the torches flickered and went out. All of his rage boiled. Many of the students lite their wands and looked around in fear. Tally's screams had ended, but her crying was evident. Harry shot out his hands and watched as half of the group went flying into the walls. Hermione gasped. Harry continued to produce strong bouts of wandless magic, throwing the Slytherins as far as he could until he heard Tally plead with him.

"No more Harry, you'll kill them!"

"It's nothing they don't deserve."

"Don't you see, you'll be just like them. They aren't worth it, please stop!" Her sobs continued as she begged for their mercy. Harry felt fear, guilt, and shame course through him and immediately placed his hands at his side. Ron and Hermione were wide-eyed with fear as they watched him and Neville was crouched low over Tally and Blaise.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He said as he sank to the floor. Tally crawled to him and Ron and Hermione went to help Neville with Blaise. Harry felt Tally wrap her arms around him and whisper calming words into his ear.

"No worries now Harry, no worries. I'm here, all is well."

"Stupid Potter, you could have killed us!" Malfoy screamed in rage. Harry opened his eyes and stood up, bringing Tally up with him.

"That was the idea." He said quietly. Malfoy stood gapping at him.

"When will you learn Malfoy? We are all one and the same. Voldemort will not care who you are or what blood you have when he gets what he wants. Can't you see that? He killed Blaise's parents and they were Pure-bloods. They will kill you too." Tally said, her voice full of sorrow. Malfoy looked away from her and Harry noticed he looked afraid, maybe even ashamed.

"POTTER, WEASLEY, GRANGER, ADAMS! What are you doing? Fighting?" Snape came up behind them. Neville and Ron had gotten Blaise up from the floor. He looked far worse than Harry could have imagined. Snape stopped dead at the sight of him. "Granger, Adams, Longbottom, take Zambini to the Hospital Wing. Potter, Malfoy, come with me." He whipped back around and walked back towards his office. Ron went to help with Blaise, while Harry reluctantly followed Snape, Malfoy at his side.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, what is the meaning of all this?"

"Sir, I was minding my own business when Potter and his friends attacked me. My friends were only defending me." Malfoy said in his most innocent voice. Harry began to protest, but Snape cut him off.

"I don't care for excuses Malfoy. That boy looked near death and I cannot allow such matters to occur again. Detention for the both of you to be served on friday at six, be prompt." He waved them out and they were forced to leave. Malfoy glared at Harry before they had to separate.

When Harry reached the hospital wing, he found Madam Pomfrey in complete choas. Blaise had serious injuries and would have to spend many days in the hospital and Tally had to stay the first night. When they had explained to Madam Pomfrey what had happened, she became enraged and immediately summoned Dumbledore, which only managed to make Harry even angrier.

"You did powerful wandless magic, Harry. You could have hurt them."

"I know!"

"Well, I will discuss this with Professor Adams and see if he can give you lessons on how to control your powers." After that Dumbledore had left them.

"Neville, what happened?" Hermione asked.

"I was waiting outside the common room door for Blaise, then all these Slytherins came, including Malfoy and starting taunting me. Blaise came out of the door then and walked into the middle of it. The Slytherins just grabbed him and started punching, kicking, and hexing him. I tried to intervene, but there were so many of them that they overpowered both of us. I tried to help, really I did." Ron squeezed his shoulders to help comfort him before placing an arm around Hermione. Harry saw Tally lying in a bed beside Blaise. Her eyes were bloodshot and swallen. She smiled weakly at him before rolling over onto her side, her back facing him.

"You all should leave now, they need rest. You can come back in the morning." Pomfrey said before ushering them out.

The following week seemed to last a lifetime. The next day everyone seemed to have heard about the fight between the Slytherins and the Gryffindors. They also knew that Blaise seemed to be the worst injured in the whole ordeal.

"Hey, how's that Zambini bloke doing?" Seamus asked. Seamus didn't hang out much with them and never fully trusted Blaise because he was a Slytherin. However, now that news had gotten around that he had been attacked by his own housemates, Seamus, as well as many others from different houses, felt sympathy toward him.

"He's fine. Madam Pomfrey said he should be released in a couple of days." Tally said as she sat down beside Harry. Harry was watching her closely. He knew she was disappointed in him and he wasn't sure if she was angry. She looked at him and smiled. "It's alright Harry, I know you didn't really mean it. You let your emotions run again, that's all." She leaned in and kissed him lightly before grabbing food for her breakfast. She still had her usual water bottle from Josh in front of her and she took a long drink from it.

"Can your brother help me?"

"Yes." That was all she said.

During the week, Harry had forced his team to practice every night. The final game of Quittach was to be played on Saturday and Harry was going to be sure they won. Since Slytherin lost to Ravenclaw, the Gryffindors would be playing against the Ravenclaws, which meant Harry would be in close proximity to Cho. He hadn't seen her since Hogsmeade weekend and she had dropped out of the DA.

Now it was friday evening and Harry was making his way to the Dungeons for detention with Snape. Somehow Harry knew that Snape had made the detention on Friday so that Harry wouldn't be able to get a good nights sleep for the game on Saturday He reached the Potions classroom and knocked on the door. He heard 'Enter' and opened the door to see Malfoy already seated.

"Take a seat Potter." Harry moved to one of the tables and sat down. "What I had witnessed on Monday was truly disturbing." He paused and gave a look to Malfoy, "I would hope young men as yourselves would have better judgement than that. For your punishment you are to clean every crevice, every corner of this room. I'll be back to check on you." Snape left through his office door and locked them in.

Harry and Malfoy worked in silence for a few hours, working hard and fast. Sweat had broken out on Harry's forehead, back, and underarms. He was furious and using his anger to fuel him through this punishment.

"I didn't do most of the cursing." Malfoy said quietly from the other side of the room.

"You still could have killed him." Harry retorted causing Malfoy to snort.

"No, I wouldn't have. I'm not a monster." Harry snorted this time.

"But you wouldn't have stopped it if someone else had." Malfoy was silent for awhile.

"You have no idea what my life is like. You think that it's an easy life that I live." Harry laughed bitterly at Malfoy before angrily answering,

"And what, you think my life is all rainbows and butterflies?"

"Blaise had been a good friend to me." Harry was shocked to hear this.

"Really? The two of you never were around each other."

"He preferred the library or to stay in the common room, but that doesn't mean we weren't good friends. We grew up together. His parents were good friends with mine. It was a shock to hear that they were murdered." Harry turned to face him.

"Why did you attack him?"

"You think I wanted to do that? I wasn't even the one who started it, Nott was."

"Why didn't you try to stop it?"

"I would have been beaten to a bloody pulp like Zambini, what would you have done?" Malfoy defended himself angrily.

"I would have fought for my friend, I will always fight for my friends, even if it's till my last breath." Harry exclaimed, determination present in his voice.

"And that is why you are the infamous Boy-Who-Lived. It is your destiny to fight for the ones you love, everyone knows that." Both were silent for a moment, but Malfoy then continued, "I don't always believe that what my Father does is right. When Zambini's parents died, I was disgusted with how things were turning."

"Then why do you still fight for evil? Why aren't you against him now?" Malfoy now laughed, his face showed saddness and bitterness.

"Because if I try to fight beside you, Harry, I'd be dead before sunrise." Harry blinked rapidly at that statement and then whirled around when he heard someone grunt.

"You two have been here long enough, you can go." Snape stood in his office doorway, but he had an odd look on his face, almost like...sympathy.

That night Harry had a fitful night, his mind was full of everything from that week, the fight, the game, and now Malfoy. In his dream Harry saw his hands long, white, and spider-like. He recognized them, but couldn't remember where. He looked around and saw a room full of cloaked figures. Harry stood thinking a moment, trying to figure out why everything looked familiar. Suddenly a cold, deathlike voice filled the room and Harry instantly knew where he was...or rather, who he was.

"Is everything all set?" A Death Eater stepped forward and knelt quickly.

"Yes my Lord. Everything is ready for the raid." There was a slight chuckle, but it was only full of cold melace.

"Good. Soon we shall make our move." Harry awoke with a start. The sun had begun to rise, but it was still too early to get up yet. Harry caught sight of the moving photograph that Tally had given him for Christmas. He sat up and picked up the picture to examine it more closely. He watched his father laugh as Sirius ruffled Remus's hair while Peter looked in awe at them. He then looked at Tally's father and beside him was Aidan. Tally's father was only a year older than Harry is now in the picture. His life seemed so easy then with the way he was laughing and poking the guy beside him. Harry did a double take and brought the picture straight to his nose. The man standing on the other side of him was the man who had ended his life out of anger, Tally's uncle David. Harry watched him as his anger flared. Their friendship seemed so solid within the picture, much like his own father's friendship with Wormtail did. It saddened Harry to know what their futures had held.

The sun had fully risen now and the other occupants in the room began to stir. Harry placed the picture back on the bedside table and got ot of bed and began to get ready for the day, having completely forgotten what had awoken him so abruptly.

Harry sat with his team, Hermione, and Blaise that morning. Blaise looked emensly better and was in good spirits. He would be sitting with Hermione and keeping her company throughout the game, although he was a quittach enthusiast. The team was in high spirits and excited about the up-and-coming game against the Ravenclaws.

"Don't worry, mate, you are an awesome coach!" Ron told him as he slapped him on the shoulder on their way to the locker rooms. Harry smiled at him and nodded. His team was well prepared to play against Cho's team.

In the locker room, everyone was talking happily with one another and discussing tactics. Tally walked over to him and whispered words of encouragement to him. He laughed as she tickled him quickly before heading back over to Katie and Ginny. She certainly knew how to raise his spirits now that they had been a couple for five months. Harry cleared his throat to get their attention. When that didn't work, he started banging on the lockers until everyone turned to see what was going on.

"Alright everyone. We've had a great year, so far we are undefeated. Let's not change that now. We can beat them, we've done it before. Let's go win the cup!" everyone jumped up and shrieked, screamed, or hooted with excited. They went out into the pitch when their names were called. Harry had found out that the commentator's name was Rebecca. There were many boos amongst the crowd, but the cheers were just has loud. Harry heard the whistle blow and flew quickly into the air.

The game was extremely dirty and rough. Cho would fly around Harry, hissing absentities into his ear or trying to knock him from his broom when Hootch wasn't looking. During the game Sloper was hit from behind with a bludger that was whalloped into the back of his head. Euan Abercrombie took his place. After that, all hell broke loose. Everyone was attacking everyone. Katie, Tally, and Ginny put forth their best offense moves, while Ron put on his best defense. And hour into the game, the score was tied, 70-70.

Harry had been able to keep Cho at a distance, which caused her to become very angry with him. He could only assume she was still upset over Hogsmeade. As Harry was flying high above, he spotted the snitch halfway between him and the ground. He streaked after it and saw Cho dive after him. As Harry closes in on the snitch, he feels some hot hit him in his back and the crowd shrieked in protest. He felt himself fall, but caught ahold of his broom just before he fell in mid-air. Tally and Ginny quickly flew beside him.

"HARRY! Are you alright?" Tally asked, fear etched on her face. Harry flung himself back over his broom and looked at them.

"What the hell happened?"

"She hexed you, I think." Ginny replied. Harry looked around and saw Cho smiling in triumph back at him.

"Did she catch the snitch?"

"No, but she definitely stopped you from catching it." Tally replied. She quickly kissed him before flying back into the game. Harry regained his composure and went back to his position above the field. The attack on their Captain upset the Gryffindors and they retailiated against their opposing team. With renewed force and strength, they took the lead. Harry saw the snitch again, this time it was much closer to him and he merely had to dive a few feet to catch it.

After the team landed and celebrated on the field. The girls all doing some weird sort of happy dance while the guys all stood back and watched in amusement. Hermione, Blaise, and Neville made their way to them through the crowd.

"Wow, that was one wicked game." Blaise commented while slapping Harry and Ron on the back. Tally had left the dancing girls only to drag Hermione and Neville into the mix. They started laughing as the two of them joined the dancing. Harry couldn't remember the last time he had seen Hermione let loose like that. Suddenly there were cries and shouts from behind him. He whirled around to see a streak of red light flash pass him. He whipped his wand out and looked around for the source. He had just spotted Cho aiming at him again and he quickly shielded himself, Blaise, and Ron as another curse flew at them. Just as he was about to fire back, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape intervened and immediately took her away with them.

"Wow, what a nutter." Ron said, still stunned by being attacked by Cho Chang.

"Who knew that you would have the charisma to send a girl off her rocker by rejecting her." Blaise said in a highly amused sort of voice. Harry shot him a mocked angry look, which caused him to laugh. The three boys looked back at the team and saw that the girls were still dancing their happy dance and were surprised to see that the boys had joined as well. None of them seemed to be aware of what had just occurred. "Just do my a favor and don't get on Tally's bad side." Blaise said with a shudder, "Something tells me that she won't miss her target and her hexes will be twice as worse than what Cho Chang could ever produce." Harry and Ron laughed at that, but both silently agreed too.

Later that evening, after explaining to McGonagall what had happened, Blaise was allowed to join them in the Gryffindor common room. Dumbledore was even contemplating whether or not to move Blaise there permanently since there were death threats being thrown at him more and more everyday. Harry sat amongst the celebrating Gryffindors, lost in his own thoughts.

"Cho must have been really pissed to have cursed you like that in front of the whole school." Harry jumped at the sound of Tally's voice and looked up at her. She smiled and walked around the back of the chair. Along the way, she slid her hand across his shoulder blades, something she had done since before they began dating, causing a shiver to run down his body. She then sat down beside him.

"You saw that?"

"How could I not? You must have meant something special to her."

"I don't see how I could have. The only thing we did was argue and she was constantly jealous. Plus, she cried and demanded to know what happened with Diggory. Did he talk about her and things like that. It was all so irritating."

Tally laughed quietly and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Harry. Someday life will be easy for you, I promise."

"How do you know?"

"Can't you feel it? I feel it in you, in everyone." She looked up at him and smiled.

"Feel what in everyone?"

"Don't you remember Christmas, Harry? The one thing you gave me that I never thought I could possibly have." She paused as he studied her. "Hope, Harry. You gave me hope. I feel it within everyone. There is hope for a better day, a better tomorrow."

It was soon becoming close to June as the whether began to warm up. Most people spent there days outside enjoying the fresh air and light breezes. However, at this very moment, Harry was sitting in the Defense classroom with his girlfriend and her brother trying to break into his mind. His wall was nearly complete and even Adams had a hard time getting through, if he could at all.

"Very good Harry, I'm very impressed. You have come a long way." Harry smiled.

"Thanks Josh. I definitely feel like I have learned something instead of feeling sick like I used to with Snape." Josh smiled at him.

"I sense there is something that you are contemplating. Would you like to talk about it?" Harry looked at Josh for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders.

"No, its not important."

"Nonsense, everything is important. Come on, you can tell me." Harry sighed at glanced at Tally.

She smiled at him and stood.

"I'll be outside when you're done." She left the room without a backwards glance.

"You are the only person I know who has ever had this kind of affect on her." Josh said quietly as he stared at the closed door. "So, tell me, what's up?"

"Do you remember when Blaise was attacked?"

"Sure, that's the reason he is staying in Gryffindor now and the reason why I have been giving you lessons on wandless magic, isn't it?" Harry nodded. Harry had learned to quickly control his wandless powers and subdue his emotions that it wasn't much of an issue for him anymore.

"Well, I was put in detention with Malfy because of it. When we were there, he said some of the weirdest things. It just got me thinking, that's all."

"What sort of things?"

"He talked about his family. He said that if he even attempted to switch sides, he be dead before the night was over." Josh was silent for a few moments.

"You know, I wouldnt' be surprised if he was telling the truth. Malfoy's been distant lately. I think this war has finally gotten to him. I know his mother isn't a Death Eater as far as I know, but she does share the same views as her husband and family. But Malfoy is here now and his father is in Azkaban. He is forced to see the world through eyes of people like you, or Blaise, or Tally, or even Hermione. He understands that this war means life or death. Give him time, he might actually surprise you." Harry nodded and stood to leave.

"Oh. I had a dream a couple of weeks ago, I had forgotten it because I have been distracted lately. But I kind of had a similar dream last night." Josh raised his eyebrows at him. "I think Voldemort is planning something big. I don't know what, but I know that its huge. Just keep a look out for anything." Josh nodded,

"I'll let Dumbledore know." Harry nodded and left. He made his way outside with Tally and settled against a tree next to her as they waited for Ron and Hermione to join them.

Soon he saw them walk out of the castle doors, for a moment he thought they were holding hands, but realized that Hermione had tripped and Ron had grabbed her to keep her on her feet. Harry sighed at them and Tally chuckled. Shortly after they left the doors, Harry saw Blaise come out chatting quietly with Malfoy. Both boys looked sad. After a moment, Blaise turned and left Malfoy standing in the castle doors.

"Hey guys."

"Hey Blaise." Tally replied

"What were you and Malfoy talking about?" Harry asked.

"He was just apologizing for everything." Blaise said and shrugged his shoulders. There was a large shadowed that came over them just then and they looked around to see Hagrid standing beside them.

"'ello everyone. 'aving a good day are ye?"

"Hey Hagrid." They all chimed back.

"How's everything, Hagrid?" Harry asked politely. Hagrid chanced a glance to the forest before turning back to them.

"Oh, fine fine. Lis'en, I was-er-wond'ren if you lot can come wit me. I-er-was jus' goin ter see a relative and he has been asking about yer." Hagrid said, looking cautiously at Tally and Blaise.

"It's alright Hagrid, they won't say anything. You can trust them." Hagrid pointedly looked at Blaise.

"Are ye sure?" Blaise looked uncomfortable at the accusation and Harry felt his anger rise.

"Harry..." Tally whispered into his ear and placed a hand on his arm. Harry breathed deeply.

"Yes Hagrid, Blaise is a good friend. You can trust him." Hagrid nodded.

"Alrigh', do yer want ter follow me then?" Ron shot his head up at Hagrid.

"You want us to go see Grawp? Now?" Ron had never met Grawp, but had heard of the events that Harry and Hermione had been through dealing with Grawp last year. Hagrid shifted his weight and red spots appeared on his cheeks.

"Well, ye don't haft ter. I jus' thought yer might like ter see him, that's all." Hermione shot Ron a look and stepped up to Hagrid. Though she looked determine, her voice conveyed her emotions.

"Of course we want to go see Grawp, he did save us from the Centaurs afterall." Her voice was shaking in fear and she glanced nervously at Harry, who could only nod. He hadn't seen much of Hagrid this year, except for class, but even then they didn't talk very much.

They began to follow Hagrid into the forest, trying to keep as close together as possible once the brush and trees closed in around them and they stepped off the path. Blaise and Tally hesitated before leaving the path, uncertainty and fear laced on both faces. Harry took ahold of Tally's hand and squeezed it. She smiled and slowly stepped into the dark brushes of the forest, Blaise following close behind.

A/N: Ok, I know that I totally am rushing through the second half of Harry's school year and I'm sorry, I can't help it. I'm excited for the ending and to begin the sequal. There will probably be about 4 or 5 more chapters after this one.

Also, thanks again Esrb99 for the nice review. Everyone go read his story, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It has a lot of R/Hr. Its good.

Review, comment, flame...you know the drill...