A/N: For some reason, the breaks in the story weren't showing up in the preview...so, sorry for the lack of format, lol. You'll be able to tell when the 'time' and stuff changes.
Chapter 8- Daring Dives
Harry only noticed that he had been outside for a long time when he sneezed, making Lupin laugh quietly.
"I think you better get inside before you become a human icicle," he chided, a sympathetic grin on his face. Harry nodded softly, leaning back against a large rock.
"Ron and Hermione will probably send out the guard if I don't get back soon."
"Nah, Professor Snape wouldn't relay the message."
It was then that the snide comment the Potions Master had made resurfaced in front of his eyes, and Harry squinted his eyes at his former Professor.
"Professor? Snape said something really odd."
"What did Professor Snape say?" Lupin gently scolded, though he looked interested. Harry squirmed slightly, tilting his head,
"Well, he said I was the cause of Ginny and Dean's breakup—which is ridiculous, but anyway, he said that I was like my father in that way…but I didn't understand what he meant." A thought suddenly occurred to Harry, and his expression turned from quizzical to sickened. "Ew, Professor? Did my mum date Sn—Professor Snape? Did, oy, my dad steal her away?"
Lupin let out a howl of a laugh, and his shoulders shook for quiet some time.
"Oh Harry, no! Your mother was an incredibly loving woman, but she wasn't that loving!"
Harry snickered slightly, but he still wanted to know the reasoning behind Snape's comment.
"So…what did he mean?" He watched as Lupin's expression turned into one of thoughtfulness, and Harry swore there was a slight blush on his former Professor's cheeks.
"Lily Evans was the most remarkable witch in our year, well, in all of Hogwarts as your dad would've said. So…it was a bit depressing to the male population when she finally confessed her love for your father," Remus rolled his eyes a bright smile on his face. "Actually, she cursed him first, and then agreed to go out with him."
Harry let out a shocked laugh and shook his head in disbelief. He wished he had been able to see his parents' relationship even if was only for a short while. They seemed to have a love/hate thing happening, and he knew from experience that those were the most amusing.
"Were you part of that section of the male population?" Harry had to ask the question, seeing as Snape had specifically told him to ask Lupin. Again, that blush rose on Lupin's cheeks and he shrugged suggestively.
"We were prefects together for two years, people suspected things, though I suppose you don't want to hear about your mother's love life…"
"Ew. No thanks," Harry managed a real laugh with his former Professor before he stood up. "I'm going to go…" He smiled, pure and authentic. "Thanks, Professor."'
"I told you Harry, any time. And call me Remus, will you? I haven't been your professor for three years!" Lupin looked genuinely happy with the turn of the conversation the two had shared, and waved a goodbye as Harry put the mirror away.
It had been a very successful outing, Harry thought as he trudged back towards the castle, noticing how really late it was. He wondered where Ron and Hermione were when he saw a gaggle of first years scurry down to the Great Hall. His neighbor Mark waved to him slightly, though he seemed to be in a deep conversation with one of his fellow Gryffindors.
"Wait." Harry stopped dead in his tracks, watching as the first years disappeared around a corner. "Mark Evans?"
"You think he's related to you?"
Hermione peered over her pot of knotgrass. She was indeed very focused on perfecting the grass, seeing as it may be useful; it was an ingredient to Polyjuice Potion. It was two weeks after the fight/discussion, and though Harry was still on edge with his two best friends, he couldn't managed to completely be mad at them. He had waited a bit before he disclosed his connection between his mother and Mark, because he figured that a new mystery wouldn't be the best way to start up a conversation with them again.
"Well…he lives near me and has my mum's maiden name, I have to be a bit suspicious," Harry said as he trimmed the plants. Herbology wasn't getting any harder because it was a N.E.W.T. class, it was just more tedious because cuts and holes and everything that had to deal with planting and maintaining the plants had to be more precise.
"Don't you think he'd know that, though?" Ron added. "He said his Grandmum was a witch, wouldn't she know about Lily Evans?"
"She'd know about Lily Potter," Hermione noted, looking thoughtful. "I suppose you could ask him to ask her, though if you've never heard of any uncles, Harry, I think it's just a coincidence."
With little scissors they continued for the rest of the class, snipping away at grass until it was all even and smooth on the top. Higher grades were given to those students whose grass had remained above twelve centimeters. Hermione's was fourteen while Harry and Ron had barely managed an eleven.
As they left the class, they spotted the fifth year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs coming from Care of Magical Creatures, Ginny lagging behind and holding her left arm tightly to her chest. The trio made a beeline towards her, and she smiled weakly up at them as Ron inquired about her arm,
"I slipped down the hill towards class, I busted my elbow up right and nice."
"Go to the Hospital Wing," Hermione suggested, though it seemed more like a demand. Ginny shook her head, rolling her eyes at the same time Ron did.
"You think you'll be alright for tomorrow's match?" Harry asked as they entered the school and headed down the hallway toward Gryffindor Tower. Ginny shrugged and used her other hand to move some hair out of her eyes.
"As long as it doesn't get slammed into, I'll be fine…I'm right-handed, remember?"
Harry hadn't remembered, but he recalled her swift throws of the Quaffle, and they were indeed with her right hand. Ron had started up a conversation of some new plays he had devised with his sister and Katie Bell ("You just keep doing what you've been doing, Harry!"), who he had waved over from a group of other girls.
He and Hermione watched on in interest as Ron used wild gesticulations to describe the plays, and Harry ushered over Corona Moon, the newest Chaser, towards the group. They entered the common room, and the group of discussing Gryffindors headed to the corner.
"Ron definitely has a knack for Quidditch," Hermione noted, looking a bit surprised. "I mean, I knew he loved it, but I didn't think he'd take such an initiative."
"I'll tell him you said that," Harry said with a grin, earning a slap on the arm from Hermione. "But you're right, he's good at it. I haven't figured out how he sees all these formations and loopy things."
"Chess, Harry. He's a master and you know it." Hermione shrugged sitting down on the couch. "It's just a miracle that he's using his intelligence for once, he didn't get named Prefect for nothing."
Harry avoided her eyes as he pulled out his Charms notebook, hoping to get a start on an essay that was going to take him at least a week to finish. He didn't think disclosing the information about Harry's lack of a Prefect badge he had gotten from Dumbledore would be a good idea, so he concentrated on the essay, hoping to get a decent amount done before he went to bed. The first Quidditch match of the year, against Slytherin of all teams, was going to require all the energy he could get.
But his mind drifted back to Mark, and with a glance at Hermione to make sure that she wasn't paying attention to him, he dipped his quill into the inkwell and headed the parchment,
Dear Dudley…
He didn't know where to go from there. Would he be able to risk getting a letter to his cousin without his aunt and uncle seeing? Hedwig was smart enough to hide it from them, but was Dudley? And who was to say that Dudley would actually respond? Harry was going on that little bit of hope his cousin had given him the last time he saw him. He had cleaned up the mess and didn't beat him up, which was definitely something. Determined, he began to write,
I know it's not normal for you to be getting a letter from me, but I just have a simple question. Does you mum have any male relatives on her side with the surname Evans? It's important for me to know, but I'll understand if you don't want to do this for me. Thanks if you do.
--Harry
"Welcome wizards, witches, and all of you other magical creatures to the first Hogwarts Quidditch match of the year, I'm your host, Seamus Finnegan, here to bring to you the excitement and action of a fierce rivalry, Gryffindor versus Slytherin!"
The crowd hollered madly as both teams entered the field, broomsticks in hand. Harry nervously twitched his feet, realizing for the first time that this was his team on the field, and that he was in control of what happened.
Oh hell.
"Come on Harry." Ron gave him a slight push so that he would head towards the center of the field to shake the Slytherin Captain's hand. Luckily enough for Harry, Malfoy hadn't been given the title, and it was Montague who met him. He sneered and the two barely listened to the rules Madame Hooch was announcing because they were too busy glaring at each other.
"Teams, mount your brooms!"
Sweat immediately appeared on his forehead, and he was happy for the gloves he had received from Ron for his birthday.
"Release the snitch and bludgers!"
Harry watched the small golden ball for a few seconds before it disappeared in the bright light of the stadium. His eyes instead caught Ginny Weasley, who sent him an excited grin and a wink. The young wizard felt his stomach settle and shot off when Madame Hooch said,
"GO!"
He soared up high above the castle, flying to his usual height, mesmerized in the feeling he hadn't had in so long. He loved flying on this pitch. Harry was about ready to do his normal loops around it to get his vision back into seeing quick moving objects, but the crowd erupted in cheers and Seamus screamed,
"WEASLEY SCORES! GRYFFINDOR'S GOT THE LEAD!"
Harry whooped a cheer as he saw Ginny and the other chasers celebrate for a moment before the Quaffle was back in play. He watched as they formed the defensive formation Ron had created, and with a large grin saw Katie manage to get the Quaffle back, just like Ron had predicted.
"And Gryffindor's stolen the Quaffle! Katie Bell is soaring towards the goal—Slytherin's Keeper has no chance! She shoots---SHE SCORES! TWENTY TO ZERO GRYFFINDOR!"
He saw Ron pump his arm and look sensationally proud. Harry knew he should be watching for the Snitch, but since Malfoy was just tailing him instead of searching on his own, he figured he could waste a few minutes watching his team perform.
It was great. All of the plays worked out perfectly and it was as if the Slytherin Chasers couldn't figure out that the girls had actually planned it all out. Both sets of Beaters were dueling it out with each other instead of aiming for the Chasers, because it seemed fruitless for the Slytherins to try and catch the Gryffindors.
"And here comes Montague with a fierce roll towards the Gryffindor goals, he shoots—no! He fakes right and goes left! It's…NO! WEASLEY'S GOT IT!"
"Thought last year's game was a fluke, Potter," Malfoy sneered as he hovered above Harry, "I didn't think the Weasel could really play."
"He doesn't think you can either, and unlike you, Ron's right." Harry smirked triumphantly as Malfoy fumed, going into a dive to get away.
"Does Malfoy have sight of the Snitch? Potter's not moving so it's highly doubtful…OUCH! Weasley is slammed by Warrington, she's half your size you loathsome rotting---"
"FINNEGAN!" McGonagall's voice rang through the stadium.
There was a slight grumble of apology from Seamus, but he returned to the announcing in a much lighter voice, "But that's the way the cookie crumbles, and Weasley deserves a round of applause for managing to stay on her broom."
Harry hadn't seen the collision, but he watched now as Ginny tucked her left arm close to her body. They had hit her from the left? Why would they try to take out that arm if she was right handed?
There wasn't time to think about it, again, a Slytherin Chaser, Adrian Pucey, rammed his shoulder into Ginny, making her shriek with indignant pain.
"Well, while the Slytherins are finding it funny to beat up a girl, Corona Moon has scored two goals! Get out of the way, Weasley! Here comes Warrington again!"
Harry's head snapped down towards the field and with clenched teeth saw the Slytherin Chaser heading straight towards Ginny, who was staring determinedly at the goals with the Quaffle tucked under her arm. Warrington was zooming at a fast speed, and Harry was sure that this collision would send Ginny flying off of her broom.
"Here it goes," he muttered under his breath, and with a blink he was in a steep dive, trying to calculate the exact point he should try to hit.
"POTTER'S GONE INTO A DIVE! HAS HE SEEN THE SNITCH?"
Not exactly…Harry thought as his hair whipped in the air. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Malfoy's outreached hand, though what he was reaching for Harry had no idea: he had not spotted the Snitch and doubted Malfoy really had.
"Malfoy's right on him, can you see it? I can't see the bloody thing!" ("FINNEGAN!" "Er…the little thing?")
Warrington hadn't stopped his trek towards Ginny, and if Harry had figured out things right, he could knock out two birds with one stone.
"Wait, there's no Snitch! They're—they're going to COLLIDE!"
The crowd gasped and Harry felt more than saw Malfoy stutter. Ginny looked up and her eyes widened in surprise as Harry managed push Ginny away with his shoulder while Warrington and Malfoy slammed perfectly into each other.
"Oooh," the crowd groaned in unison as Malfoy and Warrington spun away from each other grabbing their heads to try and stop the dizziness. Harry let go of a breath he had been holding; he thought maybe a foul would be called, but no whistle was heard.
Ginny stared at Harry with wide, curious eyes, but she thrust the ball to Katie, who swiftly shot it through the hoop, scoring another ten points.
"And Gryffindor scores after a horrible looking crash between Malfoy and Warrington, they seemed to be getting back into the action, but who really cares?"
Got to find that Snitch before Malfoy decides to ram me
So he soared back up over the pitch, his eyes looking for any indication of something sparkly or quick moving, and he was surprised after a few minutes, that he found the Snitch hovering near Ron's right foot.
"Got ya."
He pulled himself as close to his Firebolt as possible, taking away all the wind resistance he could. His dive wasn't as steep as the last one he had completed, but he had to watch out incase Ron made a sudden jerk to stop the Quaffle (Slytherin was in possession).
"Potter looks determined, but is this another trick? He's heading straight for his own goals!" Seamus seemed very excited, though he was obviously trying not to fall for one of Harry's fakes again. "Flying right along side Montague, who's slowly pulling away from the Gryffindor Chasers!"
Harry couldn't hear the roar of the crowd, if there was a roar, for all of his focus was on the Snitch, who seemed to be having fun with Ron's untied shoelace.
"And Malfoy's caught up to Potter, the three of them are so close they seem like one big red and green blur!"
For a split second Harry wondered if Ron knew what he was going to do, but his question was answered as Ron didn't move as Montague shot towards the goal, keeping as still as possible to not scare the Snitch. With a last second decision, Harry pulled the brake on his broom, snatching up the snitch and stopping himself from crashing into Ron or the goal posts.
Malfoy's brakes weren't as good.
"Ooh."
"A second after Montague scores, Potter catches the Snitch and Malfoy and Weasley collide, what a brutal match! But in more important news: GRYFFINDOR WINS 200 TO 10!"
Harry pumped his arms as he flew towards Ron, who was looking slightly dizzy after the collision. He smiled, though, and Harry knew that he was going to be all right.
"It was right tempting to move, but I knew I'd scare the Snitch," Ron joked, rubbing his shoulder.
"I wish there was a way I could've warned you," Harry apologized, floating down to the pitch where the rest of the team was celebrating. He watched as the Slytherins skulked off, Malfoy looking particularly peeved.
"Nah, I saw it before you did, I was just happy Ginny and the girls were keeping the Quaffle on the other side."
"That was a marvelous catch, Harry!" Katie laughed, hugging him around the neck, "Congrats on your first win as Captain!"
He blushed furiously as she gave him a kiss on the cheek, followed by Corona who was so excited that she gave him two, one on each side. Ginny nudged him in the arm and sent him a dazzling grin from all the excitement of the match.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked, his voice soft and his eyes looking over her arm. She laughed and poked him in the chest,
"I'm fine, and don't you dare risk that again! You almost killed yourself!"
"Well I couldn't exactly let him ram into you! What if you had been hurt even more?"
Ginny stared up at him with her eyebrows furrowed and head tilted slightly, staring at Harry with very interested eyes. He felt a blush rush up his neck because of the examination, but maintained eye contact with her. With a soft laugh, Ginny shook her head and quickly wrapped her arms around his neck hugging him tightly.
"Thanks," she said softly, and she pulled back just as quickly as she had latched on. Harry hadn't even had a chance to hug her back before she was pulled away by Luna Lovegood, who was sporting her Gryffindor hat.
He stood stunned for a few seconds, but then was tackled by Ron and Neville, who were popping some small fireworks compliments of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
"Let's get going, Harry!" Neville exclaimed, shooting off a firecracker that roared like a lion.
"The party is already underway!" Ron laughed, rubbing his knuckles into Harry's head. With a smile and a nod, Harry followed the rest of the celebrating Gryffindors back towards the school, ready to have something of his own to commemorate.
The party was still in full swing at curfew, though Hermione and the other Prefects (Ron had dubbed himself 'Honorary non-Prefect' for the night.) didn't seem to mind. They all agreed that the light-hearted atmosphere was needed and could be extended as long as McGonagall allowed.
Harry was listening to one of Seamus' stories about announcing the match (the boy was very excited about the new job) when he noticed that Ginny seemed to be doing the exact opposite. He watched her for a few seconds, gazing off into the distance behind him with a slight frown on her face, before Harry turned around to see what she was looking at.
Ah.
Dean Thomas had his arm around Parvati Patil, and was looking quite cozy as they joked around with some seventh years. Harry's head snapped away before they could notice him staring, but something even worse occurred.
Ginny was staring at him with slightly narrowed eyes. Harry flushed and shrugged, but she just shook her head and gave him a soft roll of her eyes. Her take on the situation wasn't very convincing; Harry was still quite sure that she was still hurting over the breakup.
A sudden stinging of his forehead made Harry forget all about Ginny's romantic problems, and he put his head in his hand, hoping that he wouldn't attract attention. He tried to make it look as natural as possible, but the throbbing continued to grow, and he knew his face was contorted in pain.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard someone shout his name, but he couldn't force his eyes open to see, he was experiencing a vision, he knew it, if only it would come…
The room was dark, but it smelled of alcohol. There were slight flickers of light coming from somewhere, but all the figures were covered in their black, or at least dark, robes.
"Voinþã a voi tu ajutã-mer…help?" a voice asked. He had a British accent, but there was no way he was speaking anything remotely like English. Harry realized that it was the person on the other side of the room that was talking, his hands moving along with his words.
Who was it? Why would Voldemort want him to see this…? Pay attention, he scolded as the other person at the table spoke,
"Da , numai noi trebuie la spre a lua away de aici." What language was it? It didn't sound at all familiar, and Harry wasn't an expert on figuring this out…remember what it sounds like to ask Hermione, or Dumbledore…
"De ce?" the first person asked, sounding slightly startled.
"This is why," another third voice hissed.
Harry's heart leapt as he realized he was watching the scene from Voldemort's point of view. He felt the wave of a wand, and all the candles in the room lit up bright and large. Somehow a breeze managed to knock the hood of all the cloaks off the heads of the people in the room, but it didn't put out the candles.
The faces of the two men speaking appeared, and that was when Harry woke up with a jolt.
Ron and Hermione were standing on either side of him, while Ginny was still sitting in her seat, looking terrified. The entire room had gone silent, except for the whimpers from someone behind him.
"Harry? Harry, are you okay?" Hermione asked fearfully. Not responding, he reached out and grabbed Ron's tie, pulling him towards him. When he was sure that no one but Ron would hear him, he whispered in his friend's ear,
"It's Charlie."
