Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Harry was woken up early on the day of the Quidditch match by a sudden pain in his scar. A horrible thought occurred to him. What if the opposing team were Death Eaters and the whole thing was a trap? Well he would know in a few hours (the team would be arriving at lunchtime). Unable to go back to sleep, Harry went to the owlery to see Hedwig. She hooted hopefully and flew down onto his shoulder. Harry didn't know if Hedwig was hoping food or a letter to deliver, but it didn't matter because he didn't have either.
He had only sent one letter all year. With Sirius gone he didn't have anyone to write to.
"Sorry" said Harry flatly. Hedwig screeched and took off again. "Wait a minute. We can go and see Hagrid"
So Harry walked through the almost deserted corridors with Hedwig balanced on his arm. He didn't meet anyone except for two ghosts, deep in conversation, who glided past Harry without looking at him and Mrs Norris who stared at him for a few seconds before slinking past him. Harry knew where she had gone. He hadn't taken two steps when Filch, the caretaker called out "Potter"
"I'm not doing anything wrong" said Harry turning to face Filch.
"Not doing anything wrong" Filch repeated "A likely story, Potter. What are you doing with that owl?"
"She's mine!" said Harry "Which you would know if you read any one of these books"
"Why should I read 'em, Potter?" said Filch "Woman's made me a laughing stock. Everyone hates me. And that bloody poltergeist..."
Right on cue Peeves appeared spraying ink all over the walls and floor.
"PEEVES!" bellowed Filch chasing after the poltergeist with a raised fist. Harry left Filch to it and continued outside. Hagrid was busy going about his gamekeeping duties.
"Harry! How are yeh!"
"Fine" said Harry.
"How abou' a spot o' breakfast?" asked Hagrid.
"Yes please" said Harry.
Ten minutes later Hagrid had cooked sausages and toast and made two large cups of tea.
"How're yeh feelin' abou' the match?" asked Hagrid. "Nervous a' all?"
"A bit" Harry admitted "We don't know who we're playing. I don't suppose you know"
"Can't tell yeh, Harry" said Hagrid "Yeh'll jus' have teh wait till they get here"
Harry left Hagrid's hut later that morning feeling relieved. There was no way a Death Eater would turn up at Hogwarts. What had he been thinking?
He found out who he was playing against not long after. He was sitting in the great hall with Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville when Neville pointed at the door and said "Ron, isn't that your brothers?"
Sure enough Fred, George and Charlie Weasley had just entered the hall and were making their way to the Gryffindor table closely followed by two more of Harry's former team mates Oliver Wood and Angelina Johnson. Marcus Flint and Roger Davies had come in too and were moving towards their old house tables. After stopping to say hello to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny Charlie went to sit at the staff table with Bill. Fred, George, Angelina and Wood sat with Harry and his friends. Katie came to sit with them too
"Potter, I just thought you might like to know Oliver's alive and I haven't been channelling his spirit" said Angelina.
"Read that did you?" said Harry without looking at her.
"Yeah" said Angelina "And Harry, I'm sorry about yelling at you and stuff last year"
"That's alright" said Harry shaking her hand.
"Are you playing today, ickle prefect?" asked Fred reaching across the table to ruffle Ron's hair.
"No" said Ron shortly.
"Thought you'd be a cert" said George "What happened?"
"Malfoy was singing that stupid song" Hermione answered for Ron.
Fred and George swore. Angelina scowled.
"If that little git's playing today, I swear I'm going to knock him off his broom"
"He's not" Katie assured her.
"So who's your Seeker?" asked Wood.
"Me" said Harry.
"You're allowed to play again?" said Fred.
"Just since last week" said Harry "McGonagall said no at first, because it would have taken up too much time writing the book"
"I suppose something had to be cut out of that last book" said George.
"Yes and by banning the three of you from playing Quidditch, Rowling gave the muggles more excuses to hate Umbridge" said Hermione.
"They had enough excuses. They didn't need another one" said Angelina "Anyway I heard that some people just skip over the Quidditch matches when they read the books"
"WHAT?" yelled Wood causing nearly every face in the hall to turn and look at him. He lowered his voice "they can't skip the Quidditch matches" he hissed.
"Well if they do there's not much you can do about it" said Hermione
"How come Flint's here?" asked Katie changing the subject.
"We needed a third Chaser and he was the only one to turn up" said Wood.
"But how do you know you can trust him?" asked Ron joining in the conversation again unexpectedly. "Don't you know Slytherin's produced more dark wizards than the other three houses put together?"
Hermione gave Ron a stern look just as George said "We don't like it any more than you do. But we told you we couldn't get anyone else"
"What about..." Katie started to say but Angelina cut her off.
"Couldn't get time off. Anyway Flint won't try anything with the whole school watching. Except he'll probably try to knock you off your brooms."
"I'm terrified" said Harry sarcastically "Being outnumbered twenty to one by Voldemort and a bunch of Death Eaters must be a walk in the park compared to some bloke trying to knock me off a broomstick. Let's go"
As he walked out of the Great Hall, Harry noticed that Cho Chang seemed to be making a big deal out of Roger Davies.
"Don't worry about her, Harry" said Hermione "You two were never going to be happy together"
Harry found that this news did not affect him in the least.
At ten minutes to two Harry and his team mates were changing into their Quidditch robes. Harry suddenly realised he was meant to give them a pep talk.
"Er you'll need to er watch out for Flint..."
"Which one's Flint?" asked Mitchell
"The big bloke" said Harry. He turned to his Beaters "If you two see him trying to foul one of our players, I want a Bludger sent his way. Got it?"
Kirby and Renton nodded.
"Just keep an eye on what everyone's doing" Harry continued "make sure you always know who has the Quaffle. And don't let the other team intimidate you. Just because they're older, it doesn't mean they're better. We've trained for this! We can win it! Let's go"
Forming a single line with Harry in front, they marched out of the changing rooms. The other team arrived about half a minute later. They were wearing red robes with a picture of a dragon on the back. Charlie reached out and shook Harry's hand.
Madam Hooch blew her whistle and they kicked off. Harry immediately flew higher than anyone looking for the Snitch. The game got off to a confusing start. Katie seized the Quaffle in the first few seconds and then passed it to Angelina out of habit.
"Sorry" she groaned. The Phoenix's got the Quaffle back when Angelina passed to Davies. Zacharias Smith intercepted and sped off in the opposite direction. A few seconds later, Fred had hit a Bludger towards him. Harry continued his search for the Snitch while dodging the other players. The Bludgers had avoided him so far. His concentration was broken by someone screaming. Harry wheeled around on his Firebolt. Flint had grabbed the back of Katie's robes and was trying to pull her off her broom. Down in the stands Harry could hear the Slytherins cheering. Katie had let go of her broom and was now trying to prise Flint's fingers from her robes. Madam Hooch blew her whistle.
"Flint, let her go" she ordered.
"Fine" said Flint suddenly releasing Katie's robes. She fell several feet before she managed to get hold of her broom again and return to playing height.
"Are you OK?" asked Angelina.
"I-I'm fine" said Katie shakily.
"What do you care, Johnson?" said Flint with an evil grin "You two aren't on the same team anymore. You should be asking me if I'm OK"
"What for? I don't really care about your well being, Flint" said Angelina just as Madam Hooch awarded the Phoenixes a penalty. Katie managed to get past Wood and score the first goal. Flint didn't try to foul anyone else and the game was very evenly matched. It was a matter of who got the Snitch first. After about twenty minutes it started to rain. Harry's glasses became clouded "TIME OUT!" he shouted signalling to his team mates. As soon as he landed Harry pulled out his wand and tapped his glasses "impervius"
His team mates landed around him. Harry showed them the impervius charm too.
"Just keep playing like we practiced" he said. They mounted their brooms again and Harry resumed his search for the Snitch. A tiny, gold flash sped past his left ear. Harry turned around and raced after it. Charlie was several feet below him. Then the Snitch hurtled downwards, but Harry was determined not to let it out of his sight. He dived after it. He thought he heard Charlie following him but he didn't turn around to have a look. The Snitch moved upwards again, so did Harry. He pulled his broom level and put on an extra burst of speed. Charlie was catching up. Harry extended his arm as far as it would reach and just managed to grip the tiny snitch between his thumb and index finger.
"I've got it!" he shouted as Madam Hooch blew her whistle. The players sped towards the ground. Harry's team mates converged on him. They spent several minutes clapping each other on the back and shaking hands. The to Harry's surprise Charlie came over with his team.
"Well done. You lot played a really good game"
"We should have known Harry was going to get the Snitch" said Fred "I mean he always does"
The Weasley boys, Wood and Angelina spent a few minutes fussing over Harry. Davies, who didn't know Harry as well just shook his hand and congratulated his team on their win. Flint hadn't even acknowledged that Harry's team had won. He stood away from everyone else watching them.
Dumbledore invited the former students to stay at Hogwarts for dinner and they accepted his invitation. Harry was both surprised and suspicious when Flint accepted.
"He's got as much right to be here as anyone else, Harry" said Hermione when he told her and Ron he didn't want Flint hanging around.
"I don't trust him" said Ron "come on let's go find Fred and George"
Fred and George were in the entrance hall selling Skiving Snackboxes.
"You lot want any?" asked George.
"No thanks, I've still got loads" said Harry.
"How about you, Katie?" asked Fred "Might get you out of your N.E.W.Ts long enough to look up an answer or two"
Katie, who had been talking to Angelina at the bottom of the staircase, looked over at Fred.
"Better not risk it"
Angelina and Katie were almost sent flying by Neville racing down the marble steps.
"Harry, I've just seen Flint going into the Forbidden Forest!"