Disclaimer – Harry Potter is not ours. We just let our imagination play in JK Rowlings world.
Chapter 21 Gryffindor vs Slytherin
The next few days passed quickly. Remus was finally released from St. Mungo's. Harry was allowed to visit him once more at Number 12 Grimmauld Place near the end of the break. Harry was still having a hard time believing Remus was really all right, that what he'd done hadn't killed him. Time and talking with Remus were slowly letting it sink in.
Easter break was almost over. Snape was hardly ever seen. The few times Harry did see him at meals he seemed preoccupied and left as quickly as he'd finished. Neville said Snape had asked him more questions about the venom, too. Neville seemed quite bemused that he currently was getting along with his most hated professor. They were trying to recreate what must have happened to Lupin. Neville said that the venom apparently paralyzed the werewolf's organs and allowed the silver nitrate to actually kill the parasite that caused the lycanthropy. Once the parasite was dead, the paralysis continued to start to affect the human. The phoenix tears then were able to neutralize the venom. Now that they knew a system that had actually worked, Neville was helping Professor Snape in finding alternatives to use as either the venom or tears. It wasn't logical that Harry could go around biting and healing all the werewolves in the world. They needed a long-term solution not based on just Harry. Neville thought that the plant, hellebore, might have the type of poison that affects the same cells as the venom. If they could add small amounts of silver nitrate to it, they could have a possible long-term solution. Snape was researching if the use of a bezoar as the antidote to see if it would work better with the use of the plant than the phoenix tears.
Classes resumed and life settled into a normal pattern again. Ginny was now away more often studying with other fifth years for her OWLs. Hermione was beginning to nag Ron and Harry about starting to revise for their NEWTs. With the new term, Harry was losing his free period, but as it was for Apparition study, he was okay with it.
He got a letter from Fred and George in mid-April. They wondered if Harry would be willing to part with a small loan. They had money coming in, but cash flow sometimes got a little tight in the middle of the months. Harry had to think about it. He had no problem with the idea of loaning money to Fred and George. He had no problem with giving the money to Fred and George, but the way they had phrased their letter made it sound like it was a recurring situation. Harry decided to find out a little more if he could. He went to see if he could find Ginny.
A week later, Ron sat in the common room just staring into the fire with a forgotten letter clutched in his hand. Harry came over and plopped in a chair near him. "Oi. What's up, Ron?"
Ron looked up, the blankness leaving his eyes as he focused on his friend. "What?"
Harry sat down by him. "What're you thinking about? You're sitting here in a daze."
Ron looked at him and his face became impassive. His entire body seemed to pull back and become rather cool. "Why don't you tell me? You seem to be the one pulling the strings."
Harry frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"I don't want your charity! Whether it's coming from you or the twins, it's still the same!" Ron stood up and started to walk away. Harry grabbed his arm and spun him around.
"I didn't tell them to give you any charity and I'm not offering any to you. Now sit back down and talk to me! Don't just blow up and walk away!" Ron gave him a glare, but sat back on the couch. "Now tell me what you're going on about."
"Fred and George," Ron shook the crumpled parchment in his hand at the names, "say their investor wants someone to go over their books and offered me five galleons to do it."
Harry furrowed his brow in confusion. "So?"
"Well, Mr. Investor, I don't need to have your charity. I can come up with my own money!"
"What charity? They asked me, as their investor, to loan them some galleons. Now I don't have too much problem with that except I'm not sure they really need it." Ron started to glare at Harry. "Just listen. You've seen how they've been this past year. They buy fancy dragon hide jackets and then a couple months later ask if you would want to buy them from them cheap because 'they've gotten sick of them'. Ginny said that they'll go for weeks spending all their time at their store or their new digs and then suddenly for a week or so spend all their mealtimes at the Burrow, eating with your parents. And this happens over and over again. Now I could be wrong, but as this is business, I just want to be sure that they aren't withdrawing too much when times are good, just to suddenly need to replace it when the bills are due. I believe they can make a go of their business and that it could more than adequately support them. I just told them I needed some statements on their business before I would consent to invest more. If, after I see the statements, I believe they need the money, I'll invest it. I happen to know the goblins charge 45 galleons to do statements, so if they're offering you five, it's a bargain to them. I didn't tell them to ask you. As I do believe you know what you're doing with them, I would accept them from you, though."
Ron's glare had dissipated during Harry's speech. His eyes turned thoughtful. "Sorry about blowing up at you, mate. I think I will do this. I could use the galleons. I'd like to get something nice for Hermione." Ron looked up at Harry. "Those goblin books with the translator spell will come in handy that you gave me for my birthday. I'll write back to Fred and George and tell them to send me copies of everything they have and I'll get started on it."
Harry breathed a sigh of relief as Ron went up to the dorm to write his letter. Harry wished money wasn't such a touchy subject for Ron. There wasn't much Harry could do about it though. Harry's thoughts turned to the full moon that was once again returning in two days. He wished he still had the mirror to talk with Remus. It was hard being separate from him. He wanted to know how he was feeling. Was he feeling the approach of the full moon at all? As a werewolf he often got tired and drawn as the full moon approached. Harry bet that Remus' nerves were probably worse than Harry's just wondering what would really happen this time.
Harry heard that Remus was going to be watched by specialists from St. Mungo's as well as Dumbledore and Professor Snape. Everyone was anxious to witness whether the lycanthropy was truly gone.
Harry was tense over the next days. The night of the full moon he didn't think he slept at all. The next morning at breakfast Harry's anxious eyes looked for the Headmaster. He found him at the Head Table. He looked tired, but very happy. He caught Harry's eyes and gave a slight nod. Harry relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief.
Classes regained Harry's attention until breakfast a few days later. Four owls came into the Great Hall carrying a multicolored box with WWW on the side. They landed in front of Ron. Ron looked with some trepidation towards the box. Eventually he used his wand to open it. The whole table cringed as it opened. Nothing happened.
Ron tentatively looked over the top of the box to see inside. A bright flash later his hair was purple. Ron groaned and took out the letter that was on the top of a bundled stack. He opened it up.
Dearest ickle Ronnikins,
Sorry, but we just couldn't resist. The hair will only last 15 minutes. Couldn't do anything too bad for someone who's helping us out. We've included copies of everything we could find for you to use to make those reports. We've also added a few extra 'bonus' items for your pleasure.
Ta for now,
Gred and Forge
Ron dug through the box and found a small bag filled with various wheezes. He looked over to Harry and quirked an eyebrow.
Harry glanced towards the entrance to the Great Hall. "You may want to stash those somewhere. Here comes Filch." It was true. Mrs. Norris was proudly leading the grumpy old caretaker right up the Gryffindor table. Ron unobtrusively palmed the bag of wheezes to Harry and stuffed the letter in his pocket.
"What is this? You should know that all the foul effects from those spawns of devils are on the list of banned items. I'll just have to confiscate this box and give you detention for the next week or so. There's plenty of scrubbing needed doing in the trophy room."
"These are just papers from my brothers. There's no tricks in here at all. See?" Ron tilted the box towards Filch. Mr. Filch flinched as if he expected to be attacked. Ron did his best to hide his smirk, but the sides of his mouth were twitching.
Filch gingerly fingered the papers inside and grumpily let Ron seal the box back up. "Just you be careful. I'm keeping my eye on you." He turned and, after one more glare, left with Mrs. Norris.
"Someday I will give that cat a good kick. Maybe as Leo. I'd love to come across her as Leo…" Ron drifted off in a hazy dream with a smile on his face.
"Classes start soon. Maybe you should bring that to the dormitory." Ron snapped out of his dream and nodded. Harry said he'd watch his books for him as Ron brought the box away.
Over the next few days, Ron's enthusiasm started to dissipate. That first night after classes he eagerly tore into the box (only to have his hair turn purple again). Much to his dismay, all he found were various bits and pieces of parchments. Obviously Fred and George didn't track their expenses and income properly. Ron started to laboriously create records as they should have been kept since the start. After a few days, Ron was officially grumpy. One could often hear him muttering about "those absolute gits" or "what were they thinking?" Eventually Harry was amused to hear, "Five galleons is not enough for this! I bet they didn't send this to me to save money, I bet the goblins turned them down when they saw this!"
Harry just grinned. He was in too good a mood to let Ron's grumping bring him down. He'd received a letter from Moony. Moony told him how the full moon went and his feelings of relief. He told how he thought he'd always be a little apprehensive, but it did look like the lycanthropy was truly gone. Neville was also in a very good mood. The treatment for his parents had started and they could see some response to the new drug. It would be a slow process and may not bring a full recovery, but even now there was some improvement in their conditions. Neville couldn't wait until summer and he could see for himself.
April turned to May. One morning at breakfast news was reported of an attack by Death Eaters in Diagon Alley. Several people were killed before Aurors were able to repel the attack. There was even mention in passing that one of the goblins who stood guard at the entrance to the bank was killed. This was lightly glossed over before the focus of the article returned to the wizards.
Harry decided to write a letter to Ragnok. He gave his condolences on the death of the goblin and assured him that the trust was there if the goblin's family needed it. He received a reply thanking him for his thoughts and the assurance that the fund was available to goblins as well. In this particular case it was not needed however. The situation was taken care of without its assistance.
Ron finally sorted the books to his satisfaction and advised that a short loan of 80 galleons to tide the twins over until summer would be more than adequate. Ron was determined to get the twins sorted out over the summer and was confident that they would easily be able to pay it back with interest. Harry wasn't much bothered by it, but let Ron set the terms. Ron sent the voucher for the money from Harry along with a blistering letter on exactly how it should be spent and how much he would allow them to withdraw for living expenses for the next month until he could dig deeper in the books over the summer. The twins were absolutely brilliant with their inventions, but Ron was the brilliant one on the business end. Harry was pleased when he heard the twins were more than happy with letting Ron arrange things for them and also seemed to be looking forward to the time Ron could take over that part for them in another month.
With that distraction over, Ron's attention turned to Quidditch with a fervor. This was his one shot at captaining a game this year. He was merciless in his practices and ran drills over and over until almost the whole team was complaining. Most members looked to Katie with 'what did you do to us?' expressions, but she just brushed it off. She was the one not complaining. She was just happy to not be the one in charge for this game.
The weekend of the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin game was almost perfect weather conditions. Everyone was hyped and ready to play. At the announcers call, the Gryffindor team exited the locker rooms to a stadium full of cheers. Moments later, the Slytherin team was also cheered as they entered the pitch.
Slytherin was actually quite far ahead in points. With Malfoy as captain, the team had sunk to new lows in dirty play. Gryffindor would need to be 150 points ahead with Harry catching the snitch for Gryffindor to take the cup.
Malfoy had been quiet the last couple of weeks, but as he shook hands with Ron his eyes drifted to Harry and Harry didn't like the intensity in them. There seemed to be a cool fire burning in his gaze. Ron seemed a little thrown as well as Draco didn't want to mouth off or crush his hand. This was a different strategy for the blond Slytherin. Usually he focused on intimidating the opposing captain.
All players mounted their brooms and waited for Madam Hooch to release the balls. Finally the quaffle was released and the game began.
Harry grinned as he immediately soared high to get an overview of the field as he usually did. He loved the feel of flying, with the wind in his hair. He felt Draco's presence behind him, marking him, but paid him little attention. That inattention ended up being a mistake.
As Harry started to scan the pitch looking for the snitch, he was hit from behind with a hex to upset his broom. Harry's broom gave a huge lurch and almost unseated him. Harry quickly clamped tightly to his broom and whirled to face Malfoy.
"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing, Draco?"
Draco's eyes were lit with a fervor Harry hadn't seen before. "The time for you to pay has come, Potter,"
Harry stared at Draco in disbelief. "This is not exactly the time or place for this! For Merlin's sake! This is a Quidditch match!"
Draco was keeping one eye on Madam Hooch. His voice was low and his eyes glittered when he replied. "This will be more than a Quidditch match!"
Harry frowned and turned to speed away from him. He started to pull his wand out to be ready for when Draco would send another hex his way. While he was ejecting it, he was hit with an Expelliarmus and his wand went flying from his hand. Draco was right there to scoop it out of the air. His face was twisted into a triumphant sneer.
Harry felt a flutter of panic. He held out his hand, "Accio wand!"
Draco gave a start of surprise that Harry was obviously able to wandlessly cast the summoning charm, but though both his and Harry's wands trembled in his fist, he was able to keep a tight grip on them both.
Draco got a look of decision on his face and broke off from Harry's trail. Harry started to chase after him. He needed to get his wand back. Draco took the brief moment of privacy while he was ahead of Harry, to secure Harry's wand in his own holster while he kept a firm grip on his own wand. Then he turned his broom to face Harry again. "So, Potter. You're all alone up here now with no wand." Draco's gaze flicked down to Madam Hooch. She was currently yelling at a Slytherin Beater about a foul. Malfoy sent another bludgeoning hex towards Harry's broom. Harry quickly did a wandless shield that caused the hex to deflect away. Draco scowled, glanced at Hooch and sent another.
Harry dove out of the way and started flying quickly to the other side of the field. He tried to think. Malfoy was right on his tail. A few more maneuvers and Harry gained a little distance. Malfoy wasn't shooting hexes at him at the moment and Harry took a breath to try to figure out what to do.
If he stayed up high in his usual pattern, Malfoy would get clear shots at him. At least when Madam Hooch wasn't turned his way. Sure enough, currently he was in the sight line of the Referee, which meant that Draco wasn't about to commit such an obvious foul. So he still cared enough about the game to not deliberately cause his team to lose. He wanted revenge on Harry, but only out of sight of the Referee.
Suddenly another hex came Harry's direction. Harry did a Sloth-Grip Roll to get out of the way. He couldn't let his mind wander. Madam Hooch had turned away. Harry dove again and got back into the peripheral vision of Madam Hooch. He was breathing hard. He tuned in to the commentary to see what was happening in the game. Slytherin was ahead, 60 to 10. The Slytherin Beaters were being brutal to the Gryffindor Chasers.
So the game was going nowhere, Harry was an open target, and at this rate there was no way they would get the House Cup. Harry ducked another flash of light from a spell coming his way. This was for the birds. He wasn't having any time to look for the snitch anyway, so he may as well try something new.
Harry dove right into the melee of players. The Slytherin Chasers were on a drive towards Ron's hoops. Harry coming out of the sky like that broke their concentration and a pass was missed. Katie Bell recovered and was able to set up a run back to the Slytherin hoops. The Slytherin Beaters objected to Harry's presence and soon a bludger was being sent his way. Harry ducked and the bludger went passed until Jack Sloper, the Gryffindor Beater was able to redirect it.
Harry stayed in the active field of play. He could hear Ron shouting at him, but while there were other players and Referee so close, Draco wasn't attacking him. Of course, the beaters were, but Harry could avoid them pretty well. Finally Ron called a timeout. Harry flew to the ground.
Ron greeted him with a slap on the back of the head. "Oi, Harry! What do you think you're doing up there? Why aren't you looking for the snitch?"
"Because, you git, every time Hooch turns her back Draco throws curses at me! And he's got my wand!"
Ron blinked. "Oh," He furrowed his brow. "Well, I reckon our strategy wasn't working too good down here either and you did help turn the quaffle over." He gave a brief nod and continued. "Okay. You can keep at this level and try to disrupt the Slytherin plays, but watch for bludgers and make sure you stay out of the path of our Chasers. If their Beaters focus on your instead of our Chasers, maybe we can rack some points up on our score. Try to keep an eye out for the snitch while you're at it, though."
Harry nodded, but mentally wondered at how he could possibly try to disrupt plays while watching for bludgers, Malfoy and the snitch all at the same time. The players took to the sky once more and the game continued.
Harry kept close to the Slytherin Chasers. Close enough to annoy, but not close enough to get an elbow in the face. An elbow may be a foul, but if the Referee's not looking…. This accomplished three things. The Chasers couldn't set up their plays properly, Malfoy couldn't get a clear shot and the Beaters occasionally hit their own players when directing the bludgers at Harry. Harry gave up looking for the snitch and settled for trying to keep half an eye on Malfoy. Gryffindor was starting to gain on points now, but they would still lose the House Cup if Harry caught the snitch yet.
The game dragged on. Harry was feeling a little worse for wear. Over the last hour he had accumulated quite a few new bruises. He'd avoided most of the bludgers sent his way, but didn't duck Goyle's bat once. He also got a few elbow hits when he got too close to the Slytherin Chasers.
Gryffindor was up 210 to Slytherin's 120 when Draco focused sharply and started across the field. Harry immediately took off after him. Harry frantically started to search ahead of Malfoy for the snitch. He finally spotted it floating by Ron's left hoop, slowly drifting its way towards the center of the pitch. Harry was flying low to the ground while Draco was coming at it from above. Harry needed to block Malfoy from getting the snitch.
Harry calculated the angle and saw Ginny was in the area, too. He gestured for Ginny to come near then pressed his Firebolt in a steep climb and felt his robes billow out behind him. He was going to get there first. Harry came within centimeters of where the snitch had been. Malfoy scowled and looped around Harry searching for where the Gryffindor was trying to shield it. He looked around in confusion because he couldn't see it. Harry's hands were both on his broom so he obviously hadn't caught it. Draco started to backtrack towards Ron's goals. Ginny pulled up near where Harry was flying at a steady pace.
"What's up, Harry?" she asked.
"Be ready to help block the snitch from view when I dive," Harry said.
Ginny's eyes widened and she nodded. Harry quickly did a flip upside down and his robes started to fall over his head and then he zoomed over towards Ron's goals.
Ron's eyes were focused on the Chasers at the opposite end of the field, but he had caught a bit of that play. "Good going, mate, on blocking Malfoy. What happened though? Where did the snitch go?"
"It got caught in my robes, but it never touched my skin so it's still in play. When I flipped, I had Ginny block the snitch from Draco's view."
Ron smirked then tensed as the Gryffindors scored and the quaffle started back towards his end of the field. "Good thinking. Now get back out there."
Draco was glaring daggers at Harry. He didn't know exactly what Harry did, but he knew Harry had done something. The frustration level of the Slytherin players was growing by the play. Draco started yelling at the Beaters to ignore Harry and keep after the Chasers, but after Harry would break up a few more Slytherin plays, the Beaters would focus back on him.
It was as Harry was blocking another Chaser that Draco lost his temper and sent another hex Harry's way. Harry saw it at the last moment and was able to roll away from it. Instead the cutting hex hit Crabbe a glancing blow on the side of his head. Madam Hooch blew her whistle. Gryffindor got another penalty shot and Crabbe was out of the game.
The Slytherin team started to fall apart after that. Gryffindors took heart and their momentum shifted into high gear. When the score reached 350 Gryffindor to 190 Slytherin, Harry decided he needed to risk flying high again so he'd be better able to see the snitch.
Without the distraction of the players and bludgers, he only needed to defend against the hexes from Draco. The game had been going for over two and a half hours already and Harry wanted it to end. Everyone was tired and he wanted to get away from Draco. Harry started an up and down roller coaster style of play. He'd head up high and look around for about a minute and get back down by the players. On his fifth time up, he caught a glimpse of gold coasting high along by the Slytherin stands. He started his descent as usual then abruptly shifted directions to chase the snitch.
The chase was brief and uncontested as Draco didn't seem to even be thinking of the snitch as being a reason for Harry's change of flight. There were Slytherin Chasers on that side of the field and Draco assumed Harry was trying to break up their play as he normally did in this game. When Harry's fist rose with the captured snitch, Draco gave a yell of fury. Madam Hooch blew the whistle and everyone started over towards Harry or the ground. The final score was Gryffindor 520, Slytherin 190.
Suddenly screams started ringing through the air as curses started their way towards Harry. On instinct Harry ducked below the first one and he heard a shout of pain behind him as it hit someone in the stands. He quickly shoved the snitch into a pocket and put up a shield to deflect the next two and tried to aim the deflection away from the crowd. Aiming deflections wasn't something he'd ever practiced and it only partially worked. The second hex that came towards him deflected away from the crowd, but hit Ginny on the leg as she had been flying towards him. The third hex he managed to deflect up to the sky.
Harry could distantly hear Madam Hooch shouting for Draco to land, but Draco was ignoring her and was intent on Harry. Harry decided to lead him away from the other students. He kicked his Firebolt into high gear and raced out of the pitch.
He was trying to dodge Draco's curses, but he didn't have to dodge much because Draco's aim was off due to his dodging Madam Hooch's attempts at stopping him. Harry tried to think of where he should go. He quickly decided on the Forbidden Forest. It was possible he could lose Draco in there. Harry dove into the canopy. His interesting little parade dove in behind him.
Harry was once again thankful for his animagi forms. He had spent a lot of time running and flying through these trees and knew his way around somewhat. Harry was able to fly the same routes now with his Firebolt that he had flown as a phoenix. He was getting several scratches, but that was a small price to pay. He knew there was a tree ahead that hid another tree behind it. You had to angle high through the leaves or else you'd hit a hidden branch from the next tree. Harry didn't have any worries about he, himself, making it through, but knew Draco would probably get tripped up. Madam Hooch, unfortunately would also probably get hit. He had to try to stop her from following them through the leaves.
The only thing Harry could think of was to go faster. Draco would fly faster as well, but he hoped Madam Hooch had more sense than to fly so fast blindly in a forest canopy. Harry increased his speed and Draco did the same. He could tell Madam Hooch was falling behind.
Up ahead was the tree. Harry pressed himself flat to his broom and flew as high as he could through the opening in the branches. Even so, he could feel the branch drag at his robes and knew he just got a large scrape on his thigh. It was definitely easier as a bird. Though he had never tried to fly this fast through the trees in his form. As soon as he was through he dove and swerved to the left around a tall bush-like tree, slowing a bit to see what would happen. Within a few seconds, he heard Draco hit and give a yelp. Harry winced as he could almost feel the air leaving his body with the "Oomph" sound that came directly after. Besides the initial crack of impact, Harry could hear the sound of something lighter traveling on, crashing through the leaves and branches until there was a distant 'thud' when it hit the earth. It didn't sound heavy enough to be a body so Harry assumed it was his broom.
If Draco had not been on the broom when it fell to the ground, it meant he was stuck in the tree. Harry cautiously turned back around and flew back towards the tree he'd heard the impact on. Without the adrenaline and wind rushing through his hair, the forest seemed still, too still.
Madam Hooch came within sight down below. She had flown in the more open area below the canopy. Harry called her over and together they searched for Draco. Harry was still cautious. He wished he had his wand.
Finally they found him. He was unconscious and snagged on a large, forked branch. The branch was stable and broad enough to hold his weight. Harry started to untangle Draco's robes. It looked like when he flew through the gap, he hit the main branch with his leg and somehow his robes got tangled up in some branches that slammed him down on his current resting place like a catapult that refused to let go of its projectile. Madam Hooch started casting emergency first aid spells on Draco to find out what was wrong with him. Finally she looked up to Harry.
"I don't know what all that was about, Mr. Potter, but Mr. Malfoy needs to get to Madam Pomfrey right away. Fly back to the castle and let her know he's on his way. I'll immobilize him and take him back more slowly."
Harry just nodded and turned his Firebolt to go do as she said. He landed at the castle steps and was met by the Headmaster, and Professors McGonagall and Snape.
"Draco Malfoy's been hurt. Madam Hooch is bringing him in. I need to let Madam Pomfrey know that he's on his way." The Headmaster nodded and Harry ran past them.
When Harry entered the Hospital Wing, the first thing he saw was Ginny. She was sitting on one of the beds. Madam Pomfrey was behind a curtained area. She came out when she heard him rush in. He passed his message on to Madam Pomfrey along with a brief description of what he saw. She quickly rushed off to start assembling supplies and Harry sat down by his girlfriend.
"I'm sorry you got hurt."
Ginny smiled at him. "It's not a big deal. Madam Pomfrey fixed it in a trice. It was only a graze, unlike the one that Marco Gunn was hit with."
Harry quickly lifted his head. He knew that name. That was one of the younger Slytherins in his Defense group. "What's wrong with him?"
"It got him in the neck. He's lost a lot of blood. It's still touch and go, but Madam Pomfrey is hopeful. Tell me what happened with you."
Harry's eyes were still on the curtained bed just down from Ginny's as he told her what Malfoy had been doing during the game and how he led him into the forest afterwards. Soon there was a commotion towards the door and Madam Pomfrey was directing the teachers on where to place the unconscious Malfoy.
Harry and Ginny watched them work until they seemed to get him stabilized. Then Snape's eyes roamed the room until they landed on Harry. He swooped over like an overgrown bat.
"Well, Potter, what have you to say for yourself? Trading curses during a Quidditch game! I think the game should be stricken from the records!" Harry could hear McGonagall sputtering behind him.
Harry blinked and then exploded in return. "There was no 'trading curses'! He was after me. I didn't even have my wand! In fact, would you mind getting it from him? I believe he has it in the holster on his arm."
Snape sneered and looked around. The Headmaster and McGonagall were standing behind. Dumbledore lifted his brow and asked, "Would you check, Severus?"
Snape tossed his head, which made his greasy hair fly back over his shoulder and out of his eyes and he stalked over to the bed that Draco lay in. He lifted the boys sleeve and removed the wand from the holster. Even he knew the Bloody Boy-Who-Lived's wand by sight. Unfortunately, this was it.
He seemed to swallow uncomfortably and removed the wand. The Headmaster took it from him and handed it back to Harry. Harry nodded his thanks and put it away. "Is Draco going to be okay? He hit the tree pretty hard."
"Time will tell, my boy. I believe the initial diagnosis is two broken ribs along with his left femur. He also has a concussion. Madam Pomfrey will be able to give a more complete prognosis after he regains consciousness." The Headmaster's gaze became grave. "Harry, could you give me your account of what has happened? I have already heard from several eye witnesses of the attack after the game and Mr. Weasley reported that it had been an on-going thing throughout play, but I need to have a more complete knowledge of what happened."
Harry briefly told his side of what happened and the chase into the forest. Dumbledore nodded his head in a weary way as if he had expected what he had heard. Harry was allowed to leave after that. He gave one last look to the two beds now surrounded by curtains. Madam Pomfrey was dividing her time between the two.
They made their way to the Gryffindor Tower. The common room had a party going full blast. As Harry and Ginny made their way into the room, a cheer rose. Harry gave a half-hearted smile and looked to find Ron and Hermione.
Ron was holding court and reliving several key plays for a bunch of lower classmates. Hermione was smiling indulgently at him. Ron looked up as Harry and Ginny crossed the room and abruptly abandoned his following.
"Harry, mate! How are you? Colin said he saw you coming back into the castle. What happened after you took off? Where's that Malfoy git?"
Harry and Ginny took turns explaining a condensed version of what happened. They speculated briefly what punishment, if any, Malfoy would get then Harry got Ron talking about his first win as acting captain. Ron's face split into a wide grin and he was off again. Others were drawn over by his wide arm movements and excited voice describing the different plays as he saw them and eventually Harry and Ginny were able to drift away.
They found a open chair against the wall and Harry pulled Ginny onto his lap. They just sat quietly, enjoying watching the party until Professor McGonagall came to chase them all to their dorms for the night.