Author's Note: Here's a quidditch chapter, hope you like it!

CHAPTER EIGHT - GRYFFINDOR VS. SLYTHERIN

As September flowed into October, the weather became crisp and cool. Quidditch season had now arrived. Quidditch tryouts had been held the previous week and Gryffindor's new captain, Katie Bell, had demonstrated that she could lead the team with quiet effectiveness. There had been quite a few changes in the team roster since last year's struggle with Dolores Umbridge. First, Harry had been fully reinstated as seeker, which was a great relief to him and everyone else on the team. Ginny had tried out for one of the chaser positions now open, and had turned out to be completely brilliant at it. Ron had proven himself as keeper by helping the team win the quidditch cup last year. Harry felt that Ron's performance was almost unrecognizable when compared to his shaky goal-keeping failures from early on last year. As they got ready to face the first game of the season against Slytherin, Ron's confidence seemed strong and unshakable.

Jack Sloper and Andrew Kirke made the team again as beaters. Their playing was nowhere near as good as Fred and George's had been, but they had continued to improve since the boost from last year's successful quidditch final. The only brand new player was a chaser by the name of Duncan Morey. Duncan was a year younger than Ginny, and Harry could only remember seeing him in passing. Duncan had dark blond hair, acne on his chin, and his eyes had a slightly crossed look about them, but as a chaser he rarely missed a pass or a goal during practices.

Harry felt almost giddy during Gryffindor's first quidditch practice. He hadn't been able to fly on his Firebolt for almost a whole year because of Umbridge's ban, but as Harry mounted his Firebolt again that first day of practice with the new team, Harry felt an incredible sense of freedom wash over him. Quidditch was the one thing in the wizarding world that Harry hadn't had to struggle to learn or understand. Flying on a broomstick had felt as natural to Harry as breathing, and some of his best and happiest moments had been while playing quidditch.

Harry had chased the snitch with an almost reckless abandon during that first practice, and after his fifth effortless-looking capture, everyone cheered. Ron and Ginny were whooping from their own broomsticks, and Hermione was clapping below in the stands. Harry felt happier than he had since before losing Sirius as he landed with the rest of the team on the quidditch pitch. The upcoming game between Gryffindor and Slytherin was filling the school with a happy excitement, but also with some absolutely necessary escapism. No one really wanted to think about what was going on outside of the school with Voldemort and the Death Eaters, so many students were throwing themselves into this quidditch season even more whole-heartedly than usual.

Harry had needed this temporary respite from reality more than anyone else had, and he found himself almost living for his next chance to play quidditch again. Harry found that he felt the most like his old self while aboard his Firebolt, and many times Harry felt almost loath to return to the ground after practice was over. Harry hadn't really been paying much attention to the students outside of his own close-knit small circle of friends and dormitory mates, so when Luna Lovegood unexpectedly tapped him on the shoulder the day of the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match in the Great Hall, Harry was briefly taken aback by her appearance.

At the end of last year, Luna had gone with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville into the Ministry of Magic to attempt to save Sirius from Voldemort. In the horrible events that had followed that night, Sirius had been lost, and everyone who had gone with Harry to help had been injured; some severely. Hermione and Luna had both been knocked unconscious, Hermione with internal injuries. Ron had been attacked by a brain and he still bore the deep scars on his forearms from its powerful tentacles of thought. Ginny had broken her ankle, and Neville had sustained a hard kick in the face which had resulted in a broken nose and wand.

Harry still felt that he was the one to blame for all of those injuries, and along with the horrible nagging guilt of losing Sirius, everything sometimes became too much to bear. In Harry's dream Sirius had told Harry that he was not to blame, but Harry was still unable to forgive himself. Anytime that these thoughts occurred to Harry, he had to push them all away for fear of losing control again. Grieving had been a tremendously long and drawn-out process for Harry, and so far genuine healing had remained quite elusive.

As Harry stood looking at Luna, he noticed that she was once again wearing the same radish-shaped earrings she had worn last year. She was also once again wearing her ludicrously large lion-shaped hat in support of Gryffindor. As the hat roared realistically, Harry saw that she had apparently decided to improve upon it for this year.

"I like your hat, Luna," Harry said, recovering quickly, "that serpent's new isn't it?"

"Oh, yes," said Luna, as her wildly protuberant eyes seemed to almost pop with excitement. "I wanted the lion to be chewing on the serpent last year, you know, so I made sure to finish it this summer. Good luck, Harry!" Luna said, and with a suddenly dreamlike grin on her face, she drifted back to the Ravenclaw table. As Harry watched her go, he noticed a very pretty seventh year girl with a long black shiny ponytail chatting to her friends nearby. It was Cho Chang. Cho was the seeker for the Ravenclaw quidditch team, and she had been Harry's first real crush. Harry had gone out with her for a while last year.

Unfortunately, Cho had been Cedric Diggory's girlfriend the year before that, and after Cedric's untimely death, things had become rather complicated. Harry and Cho had dated and Harry had even shared his very first kiss with Cho, but she hadn't been able to get over losing Cedric. Cho had always wanted to talk about the horrible events surrounding his death, which Harry had unfortunately been witness to. Harry and Cho had fought often while together and by the end of the year she was with someone else. As Harry looked at Cho now, he still thought that she was very pretty, but he simply did not fancy her any longer. More often than not while dating her Cho had been in tears, and Harry had found that very difficult to handle. Harry had a hard enough time dealing with his own emotional burdens, without adding someone else's as well.

Harry turned away from the Ravenclaw table and attacked his breakfast; he would need the energy for the match later that day. Later when Madam Hooch blew the whistle to begin the match, the weather was gray and windy, but not rainy. Harry circled the pitch as the wind buffeted against him, aggressively wanting another win against Slytherin. Malfoy was circling the pitch in the opposite direction with a look of intense concentration. Harry had always been able to reach the snitch before Malfoy, often picking up the snitch right before Malfoy's rat-like nose, and Malfoy had always tried to retaliate in some way.

Ginny, Katie, and Duncan were working wonderfully well together below Harry as they scored again and again. Once again, the Slytherin team was made up of huge brutes rather than skilled players, and Gryffindor had the advantage. The Slytherin team, however, had no moral scruples whatsoever, and they often resorted to dirty tricks to try to win. Harry glanced down to check the progress of the game; he had still seen no sign of the snitch. As he did, Harry saw Slytherin's three huge chasers barreling towards Ron and his goalposts.

Ron looked very determined as he watched them close in. Suddenly one of the chasers faked a pass and then threw the quaffle very fast towards the left goal hoop. Ron saw what he was doing, though, and he raced to intercept. The bright red quaffle had been thrown so hard that as Ron reached to stop it, it went through his hands, hitting Ron with great force in the face. Ron's broom dipped slightly, he was dazed and was now spurting blood from both nostrils, but he had managed to stop the quaffle anyway.

The stadium erupted in cheers and shouts as the red and gold colors of Gryffindor waved in the wind. Harry yelled, "Yeah, Ron!" as he continued to search for the snitch. Hermione was screaming herself almost hoarse in the stands, waving her Gryffindor flag wildly and calling Ron's name. Ron had noticed this and smiled widely as he gingerly pinched his bloody nose, a slight flush crawling up his freckled face. As Ginny and Katie both scored two more times, the crowd was in a frenzy. The Slytherin side was booing and cajoling the Gryffindor team, but they could barely be heard over the Gryffindor supporter's raucous cheers.

Suddenly, Harry saw the golden glint of the snitch near the ground. Malfoy had seen it a second later and as he pursued Harry he yelled something Harry didn't catch at Crabbe and Goyle, the Slytherin beaters. Harry drew his Firebolt into a very steep dive. As Harry gained speed, he laid flat on his broom focusing exclusively on the small golden fleck that was the snitch. Unbeknownst to Harry, Crabbe and Goyle were both heading right for him. Harry saw Goyle hit a bludger at him out of the corner of his eye and swerved suddenly to avoid the collision. Unfortunately, what Harry did not see was that Crabbe was waiting for him with the other bludger.

As Harry swerved to miss Goyle's bludger, Crabbe's bludger hit him full force almost right between the eyes. Harry's glasses broke and sent pieces of glass everywhere, including into his face cutting the skin around his eyes, nose, and forehead. The force of the blow knocked Harry to the ground hard, the back of his head hitting first. Harry's consciousness slowly flickered in and out as Madam Hooch's whistle was blown. The game stopped as everyone ran to check on Harry. As if from a distance Harry heard the screams and gasps coming from the crowd in the stands. The pain in Harry's head reached a shrill pitch as Harry shuddered uncontrollably, turned his head slightly and wretched on the ground. Suddenly, everything went black, and Harry knew no more.

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Harry could faintly hear a vague buzzing somewhere above his head. As his mind came closer to the surface, Harry realized that the buzzing was actually voices.

"Has he come around yet, Poppy?"

"No, not yet, I'm afraid."

"It's been a whole week, now. Do you think he's in any significant danger?"

"Well, it's a concussion, and quite a severe one at that. It may take some time for a full recovery, Minerva. He won't need to be up on that broomstick of his anytime soon, you can be sure of that." They sounded like women's voices, Harry reflected.

"Has the Headmaster been in yet today, Poppy?"

"Yes, he stopped by early this morning looking like he'd been up all night again. I told him he should take some potion and get some rest, but he refused, as usual."

"Well, we will all feel better when Potter wakes up, I'm sure." Harry heard someone leave. There was silence for a moment, then footsteps.

"You three should be at dinner."

"Madam Pomfrey, we're fine. Please tell us, has there been any improvement at all?" It was a new voice, younger, a girl.

"Mr. Potter will be all right, Miss Weasley, as I've been telling you all week. Severe head traumas like this take time to recover from. He could regain consciousness at anytime now."

Something in Harry's mind clicked into place; Were those voices talking about him? Harry heard a gasp.

"I thought I saw his eyelashes flutter," said another girl.

As Harry struggled his way to consciousness again, he had no idea where he was or what he had been doing, only that his head felt like it had been smashed open by a sledgehammer or perhaps a triple-decker bus. As Harry finally opened his eyes, he heard a horrible low moan, then he realized it was coming from him.

"Harry ..." three different voices said in unison very close by. The voices sounded anxious; they also sounded quite familiar. Everything was extremely blurry, Harry still didn't know where he was.

"What happened?" Harry croaked feebly, raising a hand to his aching head. Harry idly wondered whether half of his head was missing it felt so bad, but he could feel with his hand that his head was still there. He closed his eyes again. Harry then flinched slightly as someone put a cold cloth on his pounding forehead.

"Lie still, now, Mr. Potter. Lie still." said Madam Pomfrey, as she bustled around him. Harry realized that he must be in the hospital wing. "Here, take this potion, it should help to reduce the swelling and the pain a bit." As Madam Pomfrey helped Harry to drink some of the potion from his awkwardly supine position, Harry heard someone else speak from the other side of where he lay; it was Ron.

"You gave a quite a scare there, Harry. We thought that damn bludger may have killed you." Ron said, vehemently.

"Bludger?" Harry said, quizzically.

"Yeah, Harry. Those bastards ..."

"Mr. Weasley!" Madam Pomfrey chastised.

"Sorry ... Crabbe and Goyle ganged up on you illegally when you were diving for the snitch. Don't you remember?" Ron asked.

Madam Pomfrey went bustling off again. Harry tried to turn on his side to see Ron better. This movement made his head throb horribly again, however, and another terrible groan escaped unbidden from his lips.

"Oh, Harry!" This time it was Hermione who had spoken; she sounded extremely frazzled. Then Harry heard a stifled sob - it sounded like Ginny. Hermione reached over and wrapped a comforting arm around her small shoulders. Harry painfully tried to squint up at his friends to make them come into focus.

"Oh, sorry mate, I forgot. Here," Ron said, very gingerly placing something on the brim of Harry's nose. "Your other glasses were completely destroyed beyond all repair, but Dumbledore got these new ones for you." he explained.

As Harry looked up at his three friends and was actually able to see them clearly, he realized that they were all very pale. They looked quite exhausted, in fact. Ron looked worried, but angry. Hermione was holding Ginny in a sisterly way, and Ginny was looking at Harry with big tears in her eyes. Harry was quite surprised and rather touched that Ginny would react in that way, and even in this very weakened state he wanted to comfort her.

"I'm okay," Harry said in a whisper to all of them, but he was looking specifically at Ginny, "Really I am."

"It's those bloody Slytherins that put you in here, Harry. They knew you were going to get the snitch, so they damn near killed you with their stupid bludgers, instead." Ron's ears were glowing bright red as his temper rose, and at this reminder from Ron, Hermione and Ginny were suddenly looking rather furious, as well.

"Did they get into trouble?" Harry finally asked, his voice just a little stronger.

"Oh, yes," piped up Hermione. "McGonagall's got them in detention for the next two weeks, and they were both docked one hundred points each," she said, satisfaction glowing on her face.

"We won anyway, Harry," Ron said proudly looking at his little sister, his temper cooling slightly. "Apparently Malfoy hadn't being paying attention to what the chasers were doing, and he couldn't reach the snitch before Ginny had raised the score to 160 points. He was bloody furious; it was brilliant!"

Ginny looked at her big brother, smiling, taking the compliment in good grace. Then Ginny said disparagingly, "He deserved it. I bet you anything that Malfoy was in on this somehow, Harry." Madam Pomfrey came in to shoo everyone out a short while later and send them to bed, but Ginny had looked back at Harry with a rather intensely anxious look on her face while she stood at the doorway to the hospital wing. Ron and Hermione had already entered the corridor.

"Get well really soon, okay, Harry," Ginny said, in a rather vulnerable voice, before smiling at him again softly and walking out the door.

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That night, the pounding headache subsided somewhat, and Harry tried to remember what had actually happened. Harry remembered diving for the snitch, and then hearing Malfoy yell something at Crabbe and Goyle. Ginny was quite right, Malfoy had been the one who had actually instigated the whole thing, Harry realized bitterly.

Madam Pomfrey kept Harry in the hospital wing for an additional four days, giving Harry what felt like a hundred different potions a day. As Harry became well enough to get out of bed again, Harry saw in a nearby mirror what had caused the girls to react so strongly to his appearance. Harry's whole forehead was deep purple tinged with yellow and the impact had apparently burst the blood vessels in both eyes, making the whites of his eyes look blood-red. He also had numerous small cuts all around his face from the impact of his ruined glasses. "No wonder I feel like I was hit by a sledgehammer," Harry thought, as he gazed at his rather disturbing reflection.

The next few days brought many visitors, including Dumbledore, Hagrid, McGonagall, Moody, and the whole Gryffindor quidditch team. Luna also came by looking as though she had walked in accidentally. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny only left Harry's side when they had to. Ginny appeared to be almost more reticent about leaving than even Ron and Hermione were.

Harry had had to stay in hospital before and though he didn't enjoy it, he wasn't one to complain. Harry felt like it could've been much worse than it had been; he had never been completely knocked out for so long before, and he actually felt rather lucky to be alive. At night as the only patient in the ward, Harry contemplated how many brushes with death he'd had in his short lifetime. Harry found himself once again reliving the incredibly vivid dream he'd had of Sirius not long ago. It still hurt to think of it, but it now brought him a small degree of comfort. "We will be together again," Sirius had said, "I will never be where your heart can't find me."

During his long hours in the hospital, Harry waxed slightly philosophical about his life thus far. If he was meant to die early, either by Voldemort's hand or in some other way, at least he would be going to where Sirius and his parents already were. Harry didn't want to die, but neither had Sirius or his parents and they had died anyway. After all the fighting and narrow escapes, Harry felt that if he wasn't ultimately able to win, at least he could be with Sirius again in the end. Harry actually smiled to himself at these slightly macabre musings; but as his body healed from the concussion, his heart had finally begun its long journey of healing as well.

Another thing that was keeping Harry going in this positive new direction was the image of Ginny standing in the doorway that first day after he had regained consciousness again. Harry couldn't really explain why, but his mind kept drifting to that single image of her. Harry also began to think of Ginny's delicate face more and more often as he slowly recovered in the hospital wing. There was something very compelling about the looks of soft kindness she had been giving him recently, and Harry found that he looked forward to seeing Ginny again at least as much as he looked forward to seeing Ron and Hermione. Even though Harry hadn't had much cause to smile lately, Ginny's numerous visits were always able to illicit that response from him. As he nodded off to sleep that last day in the hospital wing, Harry found himself reflecting on Ginny's sweetly soft voice, and he slept better and more soundly that night than he could ever remember sleeping before.