don't own anything ;(
Rude awakening
Harry was rudely awoken by Peeves the poltergeist at half past four in the morning. Peeves who was blowing freezing air down his shivering neck, zoomed off crackling with glee after blowing him hard in the ear. Harry, who couldn't get back to sleep, cursed Peeves. In just a couple of hours, he would be out in the rain and thunder, playing Quidditch against Hufflepuff and Cedric, he needed his sleep. Grabbing ahold of his Nimbus Two Thousand he moved quietly towards the door. As he opened the dormitory door on his way down to the common room, Hermione's cat Crookshank tried to sneak in.
"Sorry, fuzzy head. Unfortunately I can't let you eat the rat, it's not part of the plan." He whispered apologetically to the cat whilst herding it away from the door and down the stairs.
A fire was crackling merrily in the fireplace, making the common room very cosy and warm especially in contrast to the dark, windy weather howling outside. Harry felt like he'd forgotten something important again. He couldn't however, remember Sirius coming to the common room so soon again. After sitting still in front of the fire for nearly an hour, stroking Crookshank absentmindly every now and then, he suddenly stood making the ginger cat drop to the floor with a soft thump. Why hadn't he thought of it sooner? He silently berated himself.
Crookshank who sat licking his paw in self pity, giving Harry a glare in between licks, shifted nervously at the absolute attention he suddenly was getting from Harry. The cat seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when Harry, without a warning dived under the table searching franticly for something. Harry who was getting frustrated at not finding any paper, settled for a piece of gum wrapping, found under one of the chairs. On it, he scribbled:
I know the truth. Stop!
Hoping that Sirius would get the picture and stop trying to get Pettigrew, he slowly advanced on the now fidgeting cat.
"Crookshank…come here kitty, kitty." he called in a soft voice. "I just want you to deliver this message to the big black dog." Harry wasn't sure if the ginger cat understood him or not, but it sat still enough for him to tuck the wrapping under its collar and cast a sticking charm.
"Now, go to the dog." he ordered the cat. Crookshank gave him a bored look. Harry mentally sighed. "Go find Sirius." he tried. The cat yawned showing of its sharp pointy teeth.
"Go to... the woof, woof." he said in a defeated voice, whilst leaning back against the wall, closing his eyes and feeling very ridiculous.
Hearing a scratching noise, he looked around and found the cat scratching on the portrait wanting to getout.
"Yes! Good cat! I promise to give you treats for Christmas." Harry said as he let the cat out into the empty corridor. He followed the cat with his eyes until it had disappeared completely in the darkness. Feeling wide awake now and quite hungry he started to head down to the Great Hall, hoping there was something he could eat down there.
"..Come back you lousy coward…" echoed after him in the corridor. Harry shock his head at sir Cadogan's antics.
Harry was surprised to see that most of his professors were down for breakfast already.
"Good morning, Harry." said Remus after swallowing his tea. "What are you doing down at this time of the morning?" he asked after getting a murmured good morning back from Harry.
"Peeves." Harry offered as an explanation, whilst filling his bowl with porridge.
"Peeves?" asked the headmaster from behind him. "What does Peeves have to do with you being down here at this hour?" he asked again after sitting down next to Harry at the Gryffindor table.
"Mwoke mwe up." answered Harry in the middle of a spoonful. He didn't realise that most of the teachers had moved down to the table to sit with him and Dumbledore. Now he had Remus, Professor McGonagall, Flitwick and Hagrid sitting with him as well. Professor Snape gave Harry a sneer as he passed the table on his way out, shaking his head as if to say that the other professor's were making complete fools of them self and that he wanted nothing to do with it.
When Hermione and the rest of the early risers of Hogwarths came down, they were meet by a most unusual sight indeed.
"Well, I must say it has been wonderful to breakfast with you today, Harry. I must however get to my office and get my wool socks on, so that I am prepared for the game later on. Good Luck." the headmaster said, eyes twinkling merrily. Harry just waved him of distractedly, as he was looking for the rest of the team.
Oliver Wood was in a very pessimistic mood, when he finally showed up. And nothing the other team mates did could cheer him up. Harry managed to press down a fourth piece of toast before Oliver ordered them down to the pitch. As they walked down to the Quidditch pitch, Harry caught sight of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle laughing at him from under a big umbrella. The sight reminded him again that there was something he was supposed to remember, he wasn't sure if it had something to do with Malfoy or not. It frustrated him that he could not remember.
After casting the Impervius on his glasses to repel the rain, he felt somewhat prepared for the game.
The captains shook hands and the game begun. Harry rose fast, swerving slightly in the wind. It felt great to be up in the air as usual, even after getting drenched in just five minutes. Shivering slightly, Harry dove sharply towards the ground and then rose, before coming to close to the ground. Getting a little warmer with the adrenaline pumping, Harry felt that he might actually be able to pull the game off.
Harry caught sight of the snitch twice, whilst doing his warm up exercises. The first time a bludger stopped him from getting to it. And the second time he barely avoided crashing into Fred, who had appeared from nowhere.
Suddenly there was a clap of thunder, followed by forked lightning. Harry who felt a little too reckless being high above the other players, started to dive. However, at that moment several things happened. Another clap of thunder, followed by lightning illuminated the stands and Harry waved excitedly at the black dog sitting, motionless in the topmost, empty row of seats. As he waved he felt something hard slap into the palm of his hand and found himself holding the golden snitch. Turning with a smile towards the other players, his face paled at the sight that meet his eyes.
At least a hundred Dementor's were looking up at him from underneath their hoods, in what Harry felt was a revengeful approach. Harry didn't let the surprise of not feeling any cold or experiencing any bad memories, stop him from pulling out his wand and casting the Patronus charm.
Expecting Prongs to emerge and charge on the black clad creatures, Harry was shocked to see a huge golden orb emit from the tip of his wand, float almost lazily onto the middle of the pitch and then explode, illuminating the whole Quidditch pitch and giving birth to a giant silvery phoenix. The air was suddenly filled with screams of terror from the Dementor's. Harry together with the rest of the school looked with almost terror filled anticipation as the phoenix swooped down on a Dementor. When it finally reached its target, Harry noticed several silver shadows emerge from the dark creature, before the cloak fell down on the wet, cold ground, empty. Most of the Dementor's took their escape into the forbidden forest in terror. The Patronus Phoenix flew back towards the petrified Harry, filling the now silent day with beautiful, heart lifting song.
The snitch, still clutched in Harry's hand, was fluttering wildly to get free. Harry shook himself out of his stupor when the silvery Phoenix once again exploded, leaving Harry with yet another stunned expression on his face. He slowly made his way down to the other players and discarded the fluttering snitch, into a shell shocked Madam Hooch's hands, before heading down towards the showers. The entire school seemed to follow him with their eyes until he disappeared. Madam Hooch finally blew her whistle after realising what it was Harry had given her.
Gryffindors supporters suddenly realised that Gryffindor had won the match and a huge cheer filled the stands. The rest of the Gryffindor team flew towards the showers, where they found Harry, contemplating on weather or not to drown himself.
He had just earned himself another week of staring and whispering. Would he ever get a quiet week was his last thought, before being lifted up by the team and carried of towards the Gryffindor tower, in a very loud affair.