Erised's Bane

Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry it took me so long to update! (Darned college!) Anyway, I'm back again to deliver a new chapter. I know the last chapter was kind of….bad….well, not bad, just not up to par with what I usually write, especially since it was the beginning of part two. Honestly, this one probably won't be any better because I'm mostly writing it just as fun on my part, with blatant self insertion. There is however importance to the chapter, as it will contribute to the storyline. So yeah…

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise and neither does the albino squirrel who lives in my pants.

Denton, TX

It was just like any other Quidditch game he had been in…except for the fact that it was about a thousand times louder and a million times more difficult. An hour into the game and Harry had already been hit by bludgers six times and knocked off of his broom twice. At one point he fractured his leg, putting the game on hold for about ten minutes while it was healed.

At this point, he was just counting the seconds until they could get the game over with. But, even if he saw the snitch, he couldn't catch it now. England was behind by a great deal of points and to catch the snitch would be to admit their defeat, something which they were definitely not ready to do.

"Head's up Harry!" said Liam. Harry crouched low over his broom, allowing Liam to strike a bludger in his direction to knock the American seeker away and stop him from tailing Harry.

It appeared from the roar of the crowd that the Americans were calling for a foul after that shot, but as it never actually hit the player (which hadn't been Liam's intention anyhow) there was nothing that could be done.

Sweat dripped down into Harry's eyes as he flew there, but as quickly as he was zipping around over the field he didn't dare take his hands away from the shaft of the broom to wipe it out of his face. The sun was grueling, and a faint haze could be seen in the air, indicating that the temperature was indeed above a hundred degrees.

It took twenty long minutes for the British team to finally get up enough points so Harry could begin trying to end the game, during which time they had had to thwart at least two attempts of the other seeker to catch the snitch, including a spectacular Wronsky Feint by Harry that would in the next day be all the talk in the Quidditch section of the Daily Prophet and other 'reliable' newspapers.

Harry's eyes immediately took on their natural reflexes the moment the British side had enough points to attempt a win. He ignored the occasional flashes of gold from wristwatches and other items of jewelry, searching for the blurred little item he had been trained to find amidst the sea of humans and broomsticks.

It was a full ten minutes later that he finally saw it. Seeing that the other seeker was far across the field and that it was highly unlikely he could even try and get the snitch before him, Harry immediately went into overdrive and shot towards the snitch. Within seconds the announcer had called the game over—Britain 275, America 260.

The stadium erupted into an outcry of boos, with the occasional excited cheer from the rare British fan. Harry himself was at the bottom of a giant heap of bodies—he had just won his first professional Quidditch game, and in a manner that would get him noticed as one of the world's premier players of the sport.

Along with the rest of his teammates he went up to greet the American Secretary of Magical Affairs and shake his hand, as well as that of the opposing team. After that it was a quick stop in the showers to clean up, as well as to have the few bruises he had received in the game cared for, get dressed, and make his way to the restaurant where they would be having their celebratory dinner.

It was a surprise to Harry that Liam had decided to take his team to eat in a muggle restaurant, but his remark to this was that 'If you're going to eat in Texas (which is where the Quidditch stadium was located, due to the vast amount of land available) you're going to have barbeque, and if you're going to have barbeque you're going to have it in the best place in the Lone Star State.' Of course, Hennessy wouldn't be joining them—he wasn't fond of group functions to put it lightly.

The other surprise to Harry was the fact that, beside Sabrina, Ron and Hermione would be apparating in with them as well. "To celebrate your victory," Sabrina said with a wink.

They had only been at the restaurant for five minutes when two young people entered the restaurant and, seeing Harry, ran immediately to his side, shouting.

"…best game I've seen in years, that was amazing, couldn't have ever thought I would know somebody who played like that!"

"…no book could describe the way you played today, you deserve every bit of recognition you get from this, it's amazing Harry…"

"Ron, Hermione!" Being as busy as he had been, this was the first time he had seen them since school let out. "You saw the game?" he asked.

"Yeah, Liam sent us the tickets two days ago. It was tough getting my mom to agree to let us come on such short notice, but she went ahead and gave us her okay," said Ron.

"And Liam also said that he can take us sightseeing around the Dallas area," Hermione added. "I think it would be very interesting actually, I've been to France you know but I've never been anywhere like here."

The three of them sat off to the side, Ron staring at awe at the internationally known Quidditch players while Hermione kicked him and reminded him, 'they're just people', but after only a few minutes there was a complete absence of talking as they indulged in their meal. Ron in particular, after getting over his initial shock that a plate full of ribs was served without so much as a fork, was trying a little bit of everything that he could fit on his place.

When they were all done, and sufficiently stuffed, they sat back and sighed. "I don't think I've ever had food as good as this," Ron said in shock.

"Actually, I'd have to agree," said Harry, who was mildly surprised. He had heard stories of Texas, of course—horses, cowboys, and Indians—but never anything about barbeque, which in mind was a little bit of a miracle in itself.

Finally, when they were able to comfortably move about again, they loaded into a large car with Liam and Sabrina. "So, anything particular you want to see kids?" he asked.

"I had a cousin who went to the University of North Texas," said Hermione. Ron and Harry both looked at her quizzically-neither had ever heard her mention an American cousin before. She looked at them, as if saying 'what?' and turned back to Liam. "We used to be good friends when I was younger but because of school I haven't seen her in years, she's a freshman there now."

"All right, University of North Texas it is." It was still light outside, but Harry noted that Liam turned on the headlights. He was about to say something about this when all of a sudden the car took off at an incredible speed. Harry felt himself pushed into the backseat.

"What's going on?" he said.

"We're going really fast," answered Liam. "Bit of a modification on a muggle artifact, they're legal in America you know, so long as they've got anti-muggle barriers on them. We should get to UNT in just a few minutes, otherwise it would take about an hour with that helluva crowded highway they've got."

"You know, one of the American magic schools is located near the University of North Texas campus," said Sabrina calmly. "It's the one I worked at when I lived here."

Harry looked at Sabrina. Her face was slightly downcast—he had never really known the entire reason she had come to America in the first place, though from what he had heard it was a mixture of her having had to kill somebody and a ruse to attempt to lure Voldemort's focus to the United States. She turned then to Liam. "Do you think we could stop at my old workplace before we have to return to Britain?" she said. "There's something I need to pick up there."

Liam nodded, though he didn't hide the confusion on his face. "If you want to," he said with a shrug. "But Hermione's got first dibs and she wants to see her cousin," he added, winking at her.

Harry watched the blurred images outside of his window, thinking as they went along. He was happy to see his friends, but of course there was one thing missing…Susan wasn't there.

He didn't know why—if Liam had invited Hermione and Ron obviously he must have invited Susan too, but had something happened to keep her from coming? Of course, what with the way things seemed to be going in the magical world at the moment it would be only natural for her mother and father to want to keep her safe at home. Or maybe it was something else altogether…

Liam pulled up to a stop in front of a large sign that read 'University of North Texas'. "Everybody out!" he said with a jolly laugh. Harry, Ron, and Hermione loaded out, but when they had left the car the door closed. Sabrina rolled it down and nodded to Harry. "Hey Harry, we'll be back to pick you guys up at around ten tonight."

Then, almost as if in a cloud of dust, the car vanished. Hermione and Ron looked at in shock, while Harry was focused on the fact that Sabrina seemed to have been planning this little trip to her old school all along.

(A/N: I don't remember if I had her teaching at the Salem Witch's Academy or if I didn't have her teaching at all while she was in America, I think at one point I had her playing for an American Quidditch team but it has been a long, long time since I started this story!)

"Well, where's your cousin?" said Ron. He was holding her hand, an indication to Harry that despite everything the two were still going out with one another.

"Maple Hall," Hermione answered. "She really likes it there or so she's said in her letters. By the way, she knows I'm a witch and I've told her about you two, and she's a little bit obsessed with magic and all sorts of things that are considered 'nerdy' in the muggle world, so…well, I'm just telling you. Her name is Willow, by the way."

Ron and Harry looked at one another with mild surprise-Hermione's cousin certainly did sound like an interesting person.

Maple Hall was an older building with large white columns adorning the front. They exuded a definite air of 'we don't belong here' as they entered, Harry at one point having to jump to the left to avoid a pair who ran suddenly out of the building at top speed.

"She lives down here," said Hermione, gesturing to a long hall that extended in front of them. The clerk at the desk give them a slightly odd look but didn't say anything—after all, even somebody who lived and worked permanently in a place couldn't know ever single one of the over six-hundred people who lived there.

Loud music that Harry couldn't identify was blasting from the room as they approached. Hermione knocked loudly and the music went down. A tall, somewhat pudgy girl with shoulder-length brown hair opened the door and screamed when she saw Hermione.

"Mione!" she shouted, throwing her arms around her cousin. "I can't believe you're here, why didn't you tell me you were coming! Did you fly in?" She then leaned close, "Was it a broom?"

"No, Willow," Hermione said with a laugh, rolling her eyes. "And don't talk like that in public, you muggles aren't really supposed to know about us."

"I know, I know," said Willow with a grin. "I can't help it though, it's just so totally awesome." She then turned to the others. "More of you? Ron and Harry, Harry's the one with the scar on his forehead. I've heard stories about you ever since Mione started school, it's so awesome I'm finally meeting you!"

"Yeah…okay…" Ron said awkwardly.

Harry, though, found the girl's enthusiasm to be rather enjoyable. "Maybe you should let her come visit Hogwarts sometime, Hermione," he said with a smile.

"I would if it were allowed, or possible," Hermione responded. "So Willow, why don't you take us and meet your friends?"

"Oh yeah, okay," she said. "One minute." She grabbed her keys and led them to a large room with a pair of billiards and a bunch of couches and chairs situated around a large television set. Many of the chairs were occupied, and Willow unhesitantly approached the group.

"Hey guys, I'd like you to meet my cousin Hermione and her friends, Ron and Harry. They're from Britain."

"Really?" said a young blonde woman. Then she winked at Harry, "So I guess you have that sexy accent right?"

"That's Heather," said Willow, rolling her eyes.

"Texas accents are sexy too," said a man sitting next to her.

"And that's Larry. You'll have to forgive the two of them, they used to date and they have a lot of things in common. Like their ability to annoy me. All. The. Time. Non-stop flirting."

"We're still getting used to not being together," Larry protested.

"Whatever," Willow replied with another roll of the eyes.

She then introduced the rest of the people all in turn.

After hanging out with the group for a while, Willow took them all back to her room. "Okay, so I've heard Hermione's stories for all these years through her letters, but I want to hear about the real things that are going on." She sighed and smiled. "I mean, I know that sometimes it seems like I just like the hocus pocus of it all, and I am really jealous of Hermione for getting to be a witch, but I also know from what she tells me that there is some really bad stuff going on right now, and if it affects your world it affects mine."

Harry and Ron were both quite shocked by this statement, but Hermione smiled. "You've been helping for a while now, Willow, just by doing the little you've done."

"And what's that?" asked Harry.

"Reports of strange occurrences in the area," said Willow. "After Hermione told me about the magic school around here, and about her whole world, I started keeping tabs on all the strange things that go on around here that the newspaper either doesn't report, glosses over, or just forgets about after a few weeks. A year or so she told your headmaster about it and ever since then I've been sending him reports once a month."

"Seriously?" Ron suddenly looked a lot more interested in Willow. "You've spoken to Dumbledore?"

"Well, I've only ever met him once," she said. "But he's a very nice man. In fact, he said himself he thinks I would have made a very good witch if I had been born with that talent. But, oh well I say, I do know about your world and it could help me become a writer someday. That's what I want to do, write books for kids and young adults and all that. Maybe if things ever get better in your world I can write your entire story and market it as fiction," she said with a wink.

"You're cousin is really cool!" said a surprised Ron in the car. They were on their way to a spot where they could easily apparate back to Harry's flat near the Quidditch fields, where they would be spending the night.

"Did you tell Dumbledore about her?" asked Harry.

Hermione nodded. "Back when the Order first started. Dumbledore actually said that one of the things he regretted back when the first Order was around was not having enough information from muggle sources—they're sometimes even more reliable than sources from our world, he said. And when I told him my cousin lived near the American magic school and had her own website about funny things going on around there he asked if she might mind sending him a report about it."

"You never told us about any of this," said Harry.

"Well…I guess it was just because we've been so caught up in everything else, you know?" she said with a sigh.

"It seems like that's the case nowadays all too often," Harry said.

"So, any idea what Sabrina was doing at this school?" said Hermione with a slight frown.

"Nope," Harry and Ron responded in unison.

But it was no surprise that all three of them were wondering, and that Sabrina had been silent since she and Liam had returned to the car.