Unfortunately, the teachers' search was fruitless. Sirius Black had escaped from under their noses. The school talked of nothing but Sirius Black for the next few days. The theories about how he entered the castle became wilder and wilder. For Katie, it came to a head in Transfiguration Tuesday afternoon.
"I heard he stole some Polyjuice potion and snuck into the castle that way," whispered Chloe as they all attempted to transfigure their rabbits into slippers.
"But then how would the Fat Lady have known it way him?" Leanne questioned.
"He might have told her," said Chloe defensively.
"If he was smart enough to sneak into the castle, I doubt he'd be stupid enough to go around bragging about who he was," argued Leanne.
"Well I heard that he got snuck in by some Centaurs from the Forbidden Forrest," Rose interjected.
"No way!" said Rhea. "Gavin said his memory was kind of fuzzy on Halloween. I bet Sirius is a Legilimens and used it to possess him!"
Katie, meanwhile, had been distracted and her rabbit had turned a violent shade of magenta. "Can you please stop talking about that bloody man for two seconds?" she snapped.
"Miss Bell!" Professor McGonagall snapped. "That language is entirely inappropriate for school. Five points from Gryffindor and if I hear you use that word again, it will be ten points and you will be given a detention. Do you understand me?"
Katie bit her lip. She considered that quite unfair, when it had been the other girls who were distracting her.
"I asked you a question, Miss Bell," McGonagall said tersely.
Katie looked back at her defiantly. Why couldn't she be like Snape and actually be nice to the students from her own House? "Yes ma'am," she answered with a hint of defiance.
McGonagall squinted disapprovingly at the small cheek, but continued, "And I would suggest that the rest of you ladies concentrate a bit more on your work as well."
The Fat Lady's ripped canvas had been taken off the wall and replaced with the portrait of Sir Cadogan, a rather pompous and incompetent knight with a fat gray pony he couldn't mount for the weight of his armour. Nobody was very happy with him. Sir Cadogan spent half his time challenging people to duels and thinking up ridiculous passwords, which he changed at least twice a day.
"He's a complete lunatic," Katie heard Seamus Finnigan say angrily to Percy one breakfast. "Can't we get anyone else?"
"None of the other pictures wanted the job," said Percy. "Frightened of what happened the Fat Lady. Sir Cadogan was the only one brave enough to volunteer."
"Don't say that too loud," Katie told Percy.
"If Sir Cadogan heard anyone calling him brave," said Alicia, "he'd probably break down crying."
"No," Angelina argued, "I bet he'd burst with joy. Then we'd have to get another portrait. On the other hand, that might not be such a bad idea…"
"Don't say that!" pleaded Alicia.
"I don't know about you," Katie grumbled, "but I'm sick of being called a 'scallywag' myself."
The weather worsened steadily as the first Quidditch match of the year drew ever nearer. Undaunted, the Gryffindor team was training harder than ever under the eye of Madam Hooch. McGonagall had asked for extra protection for Harry since the incident with Black breaking into the castle—she seemed to think Harry might have been the target. No one on the team was very happy about it, least of all Harry, but they knew they had to do whatever McGonagall wanted if they didn't want Quidditch canceled.
At their final training session before Saturday's match, the wind was gusting so horribly that Angelina, Alicia and Katie were having trouble making accurate throws with the Quaffle. Wood, meanwhile, was screaming that if they threw like this in a game, they would turn it over before they made it to midfield.
"I don't care if you have to tuck it into one another's arms!" he shouted. "Just make sure that those passes are accurate!"
Angelina, Alicia and Katie tightened up their formation to their passes would be shorter and less likely to be intercepted by opposing players.
"Fred! George!" bellowed Wood. "Stop playing around with that thing and hit it like you mean it! The Slytherins won't be that nice to you, we have to give them a taste of their own medicine!"
"Does that include punching them in the gut when they fly by?" Fred barked back after a particularly hard hit at the Bludger.
Wood eyed Madam Hooch sitting in the stands, then looked back to his team. He opened his mouth and closed it again. Then he said, in a rather hushed tone, "Only if Madam Hooch doesn't see it."
Katie grinned mischievously. How she would love to take a swing at Adrian Pucey. She'd never forgiven him for pouring a whole bottle of ink on her head back in first year. At least she'd had the pleasure of beating him and the rest of the Slytherin team the past two years.
Eventually, Wood called his team to the ground. As they trouped off to the locker rooms, however, Madam Hooch called him aside. The troll-like form of Marcus Flint stood next to her.
"Meet you in the locker room!" Oliver called to his team, and sauntered over to the pair of them.
"Wonder what that's about?" Katie thought aloud.
Angelina shrugged. "Maybe they're talking about safety for the match. McGonagall's being really protective." She added in hushed tones so Harry wouldn't hear.
"I would be, too," said Alicia in the same low voice. "A mass murderer going after one of your students?"
"And a murderer who's got the guts to go under Dumbledore's nose, at that," added George.
"If anyone needs proof that Azkaban makes you crazy," Fred noted, "that'd be it."
The team settled themselves down in the locker room, chatting casually as they stripped off padding and gloves. Katie was just putting her trainers back on when the door opened. A gust of wind blew into the locker room. Katie's quick reflexes allowed her to just barely catch her glove before it was sent flying into the giant puddle of mud that covered the floor. Oliver stormed in, his jaw sternly set. Katie knew that face. Whenever he got lockjaw, she knew there was something wrong.
"We're not playing Slytherin!" he fumed. "Flint's just been to see me. We're playing Hufflepuff instead."
"Why?" chorused the rest of them. They couldn't believe it. After all these practices? Slytherin could just decide to pull out at the last minute like this? Had Madam Hooch gone mad?
"Flint's excuse is that their Seeker's arm is still injured," said Wood, grinding his teeth furiously. "But it's obvious why they're doing it. Don't want to play in this weather. Think it'll damage their chances..."
There had been strong winds and spots of heavy rain all day, and as Wood spoke, they heard a distant rumble of thunder. Katie bit her lip in frustration. This was typical Slytherin: do any little, backhanded thing you can to gain the advantage. Those dirty cowards. She wished they could get called "scallywags" by Sir Cadogan all the time.
"There's nothing wrong with Malfoy's arm!" said Harry furiously. "He's faking it!"
"I know that, but we can't prove it," said Wood bitterly. "And we've been practicing all those moves assuming we're playing Slytherin, and instead it's Hufflepuff, and their style's quite different. They've got a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory–"
Angelina looked at Katie, Alicia elbowed her in the ribs, and the three of them broke out into giggles.
"What?" said Wood, frowning at this lighthearted behavior.
"He's that tall, good-looking one, isn't he?" said Angelina. Katie knew only she and Alicia caught the subtle teasing in her voice.
"Strong and silent," Katie agreed before she could help herself. She was going to play Cedric for the first game of the year! She could show off all her best moves to him first hand. This was brilliant! The three of them started to giggle again.
"He's only silent because he's too thick to string two words together," said Fred impatiently. "I don't know why you're worried, Oliver, Hufflepuff is a pushover. Last time we played them, Harry caught the Snitch in about five minutes, remember?"
"We were playing in completely different conditions!" Wood shouted, his eyes bulging slightly. "Diggory's put a very strong side together! He's an excellent Seeker! I was afraid you'd take it like this! We musn't relax! We must keep our focus! Slytherin is trying to wrong-foot us! We must win!"
"Oliver, calm down!" said Fred, looking slightly alarmed. "We're taking Hufflepuff very seriously. Seriously."
"Good," said Wood, turning to his locker. "I just wish I'd known before practice. Waiting to the last minute like this…" He continued to grumble as he pulled off his own gloves and pads. Katie caught snippets of his mutterings, including several words that would have cost him a detention and a mention of the Slytherin Captain, Marcus Flint, but she chose not to get involved. At the moment, Wood just needed his space to complain.
Wood's mood didn't seem to improve much over the next few days. Katie didn't talk to him, but whenever she glanced down the Gryffindor table at meals, or spotted him in his corner of the common room, he was either looking quite surly, or bending his head over a piece of parchment, furiously scribbling diagrams.
The day before the match, the winds reached howling point and the rain fell harder than ever. It was so dark inside the corridors and classrooms that extra torches and lanterns were lit. The Slytherin team was looking very smug indeed. Adrian Pucey gave Katie a horrible sneer as she passed him in the corridor on the way to class.
"Hufflepuff's going to flatten you like a flobberworm," he sniggered. "And I bet you were working so hard, too."
"Sod off," she warned, "or you'll know a new way to sit on a broom."
The eyes of Leanne, Rose, Rhea and Chloe nearly popped out of their sockets, but Katie just kept walking calmly down the hall. After three years, she had a blasé attitude about the insults thrown at her before each match. However, she could never quite come up with the caliber of retorts the Weasley twins were able to.
"Well, Weasels," said Marcus Flint loudly as they passed the Slytherin table to go to lunch, "I heard your mother wants you to come home. She doesn't want to have to bury you after the match."
"Yeah? Well, I heard your mother wants you to come home, too. She's afraid all this leaning is going to actually ruin her poor widdle Marcky-marc's stupidity she worked so hard for. You know, you never told us she's a troll—"
"Or that your father smells like stinksap--"
"Shut up about my parents!" Marcus growled.
Marcus glowered as ferociously as his troll-like features would allow and stomped away. Katie turned to go to potions, shaking her head. He should know better than to try to pull one over on the Weasley twins.
Oliver didn't help one bit. He kept hurrying up to them between classes giving them tips. Personally, Katie was rather disturbed by this practice. She didn't need to be any more nervous than she already was. No matter how cool she and the rest of the team played it, she knew deep down they all were jumping with nerves. The last-minute switch had put them at a rather large disadvantage, not to mention the weather putting a damper on some of their more spectacular plays. It was going to be a good old down-and-dirty fight to the finish. And though the circumstances made her rather apprehensive, Katie couldn't wait for Saturday.
The day of the match, Katie woke to thunder rumbling overhead, wind pounding against the castle walls, and the trees of the Forbidden Forest creaking in the distance. She took a few deep breaths and ran through her head what she wanted to play like today. It was almost silly to her, this "positive visualization" but she had been started on this by her father with football. Now, it was more habit than anything else. Wood didn't know about it, but if he did, she was sure that he would be pleased. Sports—Muggle or Magical—were half mental. After a few meditative minutes, she rose and threw on her robes from the day before. She crossed the room on tip-toe and slipped out quietly so as not to wake her dorm mates.
The noise of the storm was even louder in the common room than the dormitory. Katie met Angelina and Alicia in the common room and the three of them traipsed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry was already down there, finishing off a large bowl of porridge. He looked up at their group, and seemed thoroughly relieved for some reason. Katie suspected Wood had been hounding him down between classes the previous day as well. Oliver had seemed rather concerned about Diggory's skill as a Seeker. She wasn't sure whether to be happy or apprehensive about that. Katie sat down between Harry and Angelina, helping herself to some porridge as well as Harry started on some toast. Oliver showed up soon after, sitting across from Harry. Fred and George were the last to appear only moments later.
"It's going to be a tough one," said Wood, who wasn't eating anything.
"Stop worrying, Oliver," said Alicia soothingly, "we don't mid a bit of rain."
"Come on, Oliver," coaxed Katie, "You've got to have something. What are you always telling us about flying on an empty stomach?"
Oliver gave her a reluctant smile and Katie felt her appetite suddenly ebb. She lowered her head and began to tuck in, determined to heed her own advice.
"I'd rather fly on an empty stomach in this," muttered George.
Katie agreed, but did so silently. This wind could twist her around to make her retch soon enough, but she didn't want to think of it at the moment.
Alicia's reassurances turned out to be rather hollow. It was considerably more than a bit of rain. The whole school still turned out to watch the match, but they ran as quickly as they could down the lawns toward the Quidditch field, heads bowed against the ferocious wind, umbrellas being whipped out of their hands as they went. Katie had an umbrella tumble into her as she neared the pitch. She picked it up and handed it with a knowing grimace to an already-drenched and miserable-looking first year.
The team changed into their scarlet robes in relative silence. Then, they waited for Wood's usual pre-match pep talk, but it didn't come. He tried to speak several times, made an odd gulping noise, then shook his head hopelessly and beckoned them to follow him. Katie exchanged a nervous look with Alicia, and noticed both her and Angelina's taught faces. They were obviously as uneasy as she was about this; none of them could remember a game where Wood could not give them a fervent, if a bit manic, speech beforehand.
The wind was so strong that they staggered sideways as they walked out onto the field. If the crowd was cheering, they couldn't hear it over the fresh rolls of thunder. The rain lashed at them as it came down in sheets.
The Hufflepuffs were approaching from the opposite side of the field, wearing canary-yellow robes. Katie wasn't fond of the almost ludicrously bright Hufflepuff robes, but glancing down at her own nearly-drenched ones which had turned almost maroon in color with the addition of water, she grudgingly admitted that they were much easier to see in horrible weather such as this. The Captains walked up to each other and shook hands; Diggory smiled at Wood (Katie's stomach jumped slightly at seeing his attractive grin again), but Wood now looked as though he had lockjaw and merely nodded. Katie saw Madam Hooch's mouth form the words "Mount your brooms." She immediately held her Cleansweep in place and swung one leg over. As she correctly positioned herself over her broom, she kept her eyes on Madam Hooch. Hooch put her whistle to her lips and gave it a blast that sounded shrill and distant. The kick-off was slowed by the slippery mud that composed the ground, but nevertheless, they were soon airborn.
Alicia grabbed the Quaffle first. Angelina and Katie fell into Lion, as they had practiced so many times. It was their "run-and-gun" offense, as Wood called it, spreading out the defense by using as much of the field's width as possible and using coordinated maneuvers to get long, up-the-field passes. It was Wood's idea to get as far ahead as soon as possible, before the rain and wind had time to wear them down; he wanted to be prepared for a long match. As the wind continued to tug at her robes and the rain impeded her vision, Katie knew that it would nearly take a miracle for Harry to find the Snitch very soon.
Katie saw out of the corner of her eye as two Hufflepuff Chasers zoomed towards Alicia, in an attempt to either make her change her flight path, or drop the Quaffle as she tried defensive maneuvers. Katie smiled. This was precisely what they had hoped for. She swerved towards the left the side of the pitch, towards Summerby, the Hufflepuff who was coming to defend her, then shot off in the other direction, towards the goals. She caught in the corner of her right eye the pass from Alicia to Angelina, who tucked it under her arm. Katie continued her straight shot towards the goals, the yellow-robed Chaser ten meters behind her. A Bludger came flying at her, but it was badly aimed and sped past an arm's length away. Angelina and Katie were both zooming towards the three scoring hoops, but from different angles. The Hufflepuff Keeper kept looking between the two of them, not sure which was the bigger threat. Angelina pump-fakes a throw, which curved into a reverse-pass to Katie, who seized the Quaffle only long enough to hurl it through the left hoop.
A low roar of cheers drifted up from the Gryffindor crowd, dampened by the sounds of wind and pouring rain. It was the Hufflepuff's Quaffle next, and Katie turned tail to assume a defensive position. Unfortunately, Summerby had been far enough behind Katie when she shirked him that he had bolted back the other direction and received a well-tossed pass from Hopkins, to put him ahead of Katie and Angelina. Alicia sped towards him, hoping to knock the Quaffle out from under his arm. Unfortunately, a Bludger almost hit her in the chest, and she had to swerve away at the last minute. One of the Weasley twins swooped down and attempted to knock the same Bludger back at Summerby, but couldn't get enough of his bat behind it. Now it was just Summerby and Wood, looking intensely at the Chaser speeding towards him. Summerby shimmied, though Katie (having worked on the same move with Oliver for an hour that Sunday in September) considered it rather sloppy. Oliver probably shared her thoughts, but made no move except to slightly drift as he hovered in front of the Gryffindor's hoop. Then, Summerby lobbed the ball at the right hoop, only to watch helplessly as Oliver used his signature move and bat the Quaffle away with the back of his broom.
"Mine!" shouted Katie as she soared up to the scarlet Quaffle.
Grabbing it with one hand, she turned and flew towards the Hufflepuff end of the pitch. Hopkins charged towards her, but she looped him easily and let his momentum send him far behind her. Next, Katie saw a Bludger speeding at her for a head-on collision.
"Ange!" she shouted.
Her fellow Chaser shifted over so they flew parallel, with Katie above her. Katie dropped the Quaffle to Angelina without a thought, then quickly veered to the side to avoid the Bludger. Angelina soared towards the Hufflepuff hoops. After a quick zig-zag to disorient the Keeper, she flung the Quaffle at the right goal. The scarlet ball just barely passed the tips of the Hufflepuff Keeper's fingers and soared through. Angelina pumped her fist in the air as she careened to prepare for defense. Twenty-zero, Gryffindor.
Time passed. Katie didn't have any idea how long. She was too focused on the Quaffle. All she knew was that Hufflepuff scored next, because a well-hit Bludger forced Wood to move to the side just enough for Hopkins to force the Quaffle by him. It was now twenty-ten. Fred and George were up in arms about this, and spent a minute arguing with Madam Hooch, who said it was a score because the Quaffle had been in the scoring area, thus allowing attacks on the Keeper. Interestingly enough, Wood made no argument on his own behalf. Instead, he told the twins Madam Hooch was right and to let them get on with the match. Trust the Quidditch maniac to have memorized the rules, let alone follow them devotedly to the letter. Fred and George flew back to their positions grudgingly, leering menacingly at the Hufflepuff Beater who had hit the Bludger with such perfect timing. The However, long practice and mental conditioning from Wood let the Gryffindors channel their frustrations into the game. Their intensity lead to two straight goals by Alicia. Forty-ten. Angelina scored next.
Hufflepuff's third chaser, Adams, seized the Quaffle after the second of Alicia's scores and sped off in the other direction. He dodged a Bludger sent by Fred, but his swerve disoriented him enough for Angelina to pull her own signature move and punch the Quaffle from under his arm. She sped straight at Summerby, who had veered into her path to intercept her. Angelina quickly passed the Quaffle to an unguarded Katie, who flew off to the Hufflepuff end. There was no one between her and the Keeper, so she covered the space as fast as her Cleansweep could take her. At the last minute, she tensed her muscles and executed her well-practiced shimmy. The Keeper's eyes locked onto hers. The eyes! She pulled out of the shimmy, glanced at the left hoop for a moment. The Hufflepuff Keeper drifted over. Then she pulled out of the head-fake and threw the Quaffle through the center hoop, sending the Hufflepuff Keeper sprawling through the air in his attempt to save it.
She raised her fist in triumph as she skirted around the goals. The Keeper tossed the Quaffle to Adams, who streaked off towards the Gryffindor end. Katie laid low to her broomstick, but didn't have a fast enough model to gain ground. She watched with a groan as he made a spectacular reverse-pass to Hopkins. Katie put a hand to her brow, only to see Hopkins throw the Quaffle through the left hoop, brushing just the tips of Oliver's fingers.
The next point dragged on; both teams were beginning to succumb to the storm. Angelina just barely overthrew Alicia, so the Quaffle was intercepted by Summerby. Wood saved his attempt, but Katie only got to midfield before it was turned over again. Fortunately, she redeemed herself a minute later, as she managed to intercept Adams' pass to Hopkins, and toss the Quaffle to Angelina.
"Lion! Lion!" she called. Alicia and Katie fell into formation.
This time, it was Alicia who streaked deep and assaulted the Keeper with Angelina. Unfortuntely, the shot was blocked, but Katie snatched it from under Summerby's nose and scored before the Keeper realized what had happened.
With the first flash of lightning came the sound of Madam Hooch's whistle. Wood gestured them to the ground. The whole team splashed down into the mud.
"I called for a time-out!" Wood roared at his team. "Come on, under here–"
They huddled at the edge of the field under a large umbrella.
"What's the score?" asked Harry.
"We're fifty points up," said Wood, "but unless we get the Snitch soon, we'll be playing into the night."
"I've got no chance with these on," Harry said, exasperatedly, waving his glasses.
At that very moment, bushy-haired Hermione Granger appeared at his shoulder; she was holding her cloak above her head and was, inexplicably, beaming.
"I've had an idea, Harry! Give me your glasses, quick!"
He handed them to her, and as the team watched in amazement, Hermione tapped them with her wand and said, "Impervius!"
"There!" she said, handing them back to Harry. "They'll repel water!"
Wood looked as though he could have kissed her. Katie felt slightly ashamed that she'd just been shown up by a third year, and that Oliver would look at her like that, but then she realized four fifth years and a seventh year had just been outstripped by Hermione as well.
"Brilliant!" Wood called hoarsely after her as she disappeared into the crowd. "Okay, team, let's go for it!"
Madam Hooch gestured for them to form up. They obediently left the shelter of the umbrella and joined her and the impatient-looking Hufflepuffs back in the center of the field. Once again, Katie watched as Madam Hooch mouthed "Mount your brooms" then blew her whistle. Katie pushed off the ground and soared up into the storm with renewed energy.
The storm steadily worsened, but Katie, Alicia and Angelina battled doggedly onward. The passes were getting sloppier. Katie couldn't remember what a Quaffle felt like dry. Fortunately, the rain began to let up a bit, but not enough to raise the conditions to anything preferable. The wind kept blowing, tugging at the drenched robes plastered onto their bodies by the rain. Katie found herself just wanting the match to end. No one had scored in twenty minutes. She wanted to go back to the locker room and change into gloriously dry robes.
Katie shook her head. "It's not over until the Snitch is caught!" she said to herself.
"Harry!" came Wood's anguished yell from the Gryffindor goal posts, "Harry, behind you!"
Katie was curious. Wood didn't usually yell in matches. But she knew better than to abandon formation just to watch the Seeker, so she continued to flank Alicia down the field.
Katie felt it before she saw anything. That chill that penetrated through her bones. At first she thought it was just a particularly biting gust of wind, but then she heard the crying... Fighting through her memories, she glimpsed back to see at least a hundred dementors standing on the pitch, their faces pointing up towards a form she decided was Harry from his slender silhouette. The screaming got louder, the images of her mother dying crept up into her head once again but she forced them back down. She unconsciously touched her necklace. Harry had been speeding towards Cedric, the two of them closing the gap with alarming speed. It seemed that the Snitch was between them. Then, Harry slowed. Katie abandoned all thought of the Quaffle as Harry stopped, and Cedric kept going, flying straight across the pitch, fifty feet from the ground. She thought they were going to collide. Then, something worse happened. Katie watched in horror as Harry slipped off his Nimbus and began to plummet to earth.
"NO!" she screamed, but her call was lost in the storm.
