(A/N I am sooooooo glad that these last couple of chapters have been good.

I have to agree with reviewers that the last three chapters have been the best. Every time I wrote previously it seemed like I was struggling with words and adding too much detail. It made the writing halting and didn't really flow. This, in my world, is much better.

I would Love some questions in your reviews!)

Chapter-20 George Jordan

"The Quaffle is released and immediately taken in possession by the Gryffindor Chaser James Potter. Potter is traveling down the Pitch as fast as the newest model of Nimbus can go. He got it for Christmas... Lucky rich bas—"

"JORDAN!"

"Right. He dodges the swerves and snatches from Cauldwell and Jones, the Hufflepuff Chasers. Beater and Captain, Diggory, is aiming to shoot a bludger at Potter and—and—Black blocks it. Suppose it's nice to have friends on the pitch... But! Wallace Whitby, the other Hufflepuff beater, beats it straight back and Potter dodges it. Diggory beats it back. Wallace beats it to Diggory. Why! THEY'RE PLAYING PING PONG WITH POTTER IN THE MIDDLE! Potter's approaching the goal line while dodging the bludger from the beaters. He's coming in fast on the left and—"

The Hufflepuff stands on the other side of the field jumped for joy as the Keeper blocked the shot.

"—a spectacular save by Andy Abbot puts Hufflepuff in possession of the Quaffle. Great Defense by the Hufflepuff team, the lousy bunch of stuck up—"

"JORDAN!"

"Right, sorry Professor. You see, everyone, last year I was shot down by Carol Cauldwell, the first chaser for Hufflepuff. I guess I'm still a little sour—

"JORDAN!"

The commentator's podium went silent for a moment and then George's voice came back onto the microphone.

"Well, I'm back and I have detention Friday, but who cares! I'll just skip anyway. The Hufflepuff chaser, the gorgeous Meredith Madley, is racing down the center pitch. She's ducking low. What tactic is this? The beaters are on both sides of her! Don't they have the rest of the team to protect?"

Shouts of disapproval came from the Hufflepuff stands as the Keeper, Andy Abbot, was hit violently in the arm by a bludger. Ally winced. That looked painful.

"Well, guess it paid off. Hufflepuff leads the game ten to zero. Looks like Fred Hooper, the Gryffindor Keeper, is taking this very hard. Just so you ladies know, he's single--Gryffindor team captain, Wood, is signaling for something. Oh! I've never seen this play before. Looks like the Chasers are flying in a circle and tossing the Quaffle to each other. Potter to Wood to Towler back to Wood to Potter who chucks it back to Towler to Wood to Potter and this is mighty confusing! The Quaffle is all but a blur and it looks like the Beaters are confused. Wait! The circle is breaking up! All three chasers are approaching the goal! Who has the Quaffle! The Hufflepuff Keeper looks confused, and Abbot is calling for help from his chasers, but they're too busy being attacked by bludgers from the Gryffindor beaters. GOAL! GRYFFINDOR TIES WITH HUFFLEPUFF!"

Gryffindors supporters raged on in the stands. Cheering and shouting for more goals. Ally saw James whirl around and high-five Sirius.

"Well, it looks like Potter had the Quaffle after all. It's Hufflepuff in possession of the Quaffle. Chaser Jack Jones, or JJ as he is referred to by any of his female fans, is speeding down the pitch with his two other female chasers by his side. And—what's this?—they're diving? Where's the Quaffle? Jones certainly doesn't have it. It looks like Diggory is trying to say to Wood that he's not the only one who can hide the Quaffle. Gryffindor beaters Stimpson and Black lob a bludger at the group and they're broken up. Stimpson goes after Cauldwell—Hey mate! That's my girl! And it looks like Cauldwell is trying to signal me—Oooh—that's not polite."

"Anyway, Black took over chasing Meredith with his bat. Jones is flying in circles and the Quaffle is nowhere to be seen. And—OUCH!"

The Hufflepuff stands groaned. Meredith was just knocked off halfway off her broom by a bludger shot by Sirius.

"Madam Jenkins is calling for a penalty. Hufflepuff chaser Meredith was in fact the chaser with the Quaffle. Whether she gets the goal or not depends on how bad that bludger hit her! Madley is lining up for her goal, she shoots!"

The stands were roaring with cheers and Ally had to clamp her hands over her ears. Looking at her watch it was shouting along with the rest of the crowd "IT'S TIME TO WIN!"

Ally rolled her eyes and turned back to the game.

"An amazing save was done by Gryffindors own Fred Hooper! Excellent, excellent, that'll show you Carol Cauldwell! Seeker Donna McDonald dodges a bludger, she and Zeller, the Hufflepuff seeker, are still in a mad search for the snitch. Anyway, Chaser Kevin Towler is in possession of the Quaffle. He's dodging endless attacks from the Hufflepuff beaters, Diggory and Whitby. Towler is speeding down the pitch; he's unstoppable and is easily the fastest player out there! Towler's approaching the goal fast! GOAL FOR GRYFFINDOR! THEY LEAD TWENTY TO TEN!"

"What a match this is coming to be. Cauldwell, my ex, is in possession of the Quaffle and the Hufflepuff Captain and beater, Amos Diggory, is following close behind his chaser. She's high up on the pitch, what is she thinking? Is she going to drop the Quaffle in the goal? A Bludger hit over there by Black is heading straight forward, it looks like Diggory was expecting that. He easily chucks it toward the Keeper. Fred Hooper takes it hard in the gut! That looked like it hurt. Cauldwell dives quickly, looks like she's going to make the goal with Hooper injured and—and—I DON'T BELIEVE IT!"

Ally and Lily, forgetting their old grudges with Potter, jumped for joy when James managed to steal the Quaffle straight from Cauldwell's hands, and cheered along with the rest of the Gryffindor supporters.

"Potter's racing fast down the field, along with Towler and Wood. Potter passes to Wood, Wood passes to Towler. Towler passes to no one and its hit back by Black's beater's bat. Funny that Potter is on the far right of the hoops. The Keeper is prepared! Potter makes a dangerously low pass to Wood! AND WOOD SCORES! GRYFFINDOR LEADS THIRTY TO TEN!"

"Hufflepuff beater—and—why does it seem to be getting dark all of a sudden? Hufflepuff beater Diggory is mad he seems to be shouting for Carol and Jones. You know Carol; I would never treat you that way, seriously."

"JORDAN!"

"Anyway the Chasers seem hesitant to approach him a—what the? Oh no..."

The sky was dark and story around the pitch. A few minutes ago it was a sun shiny day and now... The dark figures of the countryside were looming in closer to the pitch then Ally could remember. Ally felt cold, cold and darkness was settling in around her.

She had no idea what was happening, the world was going numb around her.

Ally was running through the forest... Getting closer and closer to a dead end and she heard growling behind her. Sticks and branches were scratching her face; her eyes were blurred from tears. She was being chased... She heard a gunshot behind her...

People were screaming and trying to get out of the stands. Ally could faintly see a figure falling. She was being pushed and shoved. Ally was finally rammed into the railing that separated the stands from the pitch. She teetered dangerously over the side and screamed. Lily heard and pulled her back onto the benches.

A great blast sounded from the commentator's podium. The school silenced and watched as a silver light emitted from Dumbledore and the figure Ally saw earlier floated down to the ground.

Ally watched the commentator's podium with rapt attention. There was silver light flowing out from Dumbledore's wand that was encircling the pitch. The light was fighting against the Dementors and they were being forced back into the countryside. A low hum was coming from the light.

Dumbledore was standing now, towering over the wizards and witches around him. Ally had no doubt that he really was the most powerful wizard in the world. Not only did he look powerful, by he was terrifying. His eyes crackled with unseen power beneath the surface.

"STUDENTS!" Dumbledore said angrily, "WILL WALK BACK TO THEIR RESPECTIVE DORMITORIES! PREFECTS WILL LEAD THEM! ANYONE WHO DOES NOT WALK STRAIGHT TO THE CASTLE WILL BE FACING EXTREME PUNISHMENT!"

His voice shook the entire Quidditch pitch. Lily jumped into action and she began to shepherd the first and second years around her to the exit. Ally was breathing slowly. Sam's face came into view.

"Are you okay, Al?" she asked, concerned, "You blanked out for a while."

"I'm fine..." Ally breathed deeply, "I just need a minute, Stay here?"

"Sure." Sam said and held out her hand.

Ally stood up with the help of Sam and they waited on the side of the stands for the crowd to pass.

"What happened?" Ally rubbed her head; she was getting a massive headache.

"Dementors came in to close to the stands... That's why it went dark..." Sam shuddered visibly, "Those things shouldn't be allowed so near the pitch."

"I have a funny feeling..." Ally said, "That they aren't allowed this close to the stands. That's why Dumbledore is so mad."

Dumbledore was standing in the middle of the pitch watching the students file out. How he got there so fast was a mystery. No one could apparate in or out of Hogwarts grounds, but he always managed to be everywhere at once.

"Are you going to be alright?' Sam said, "You were hit pretty hard in the head."

"I was?" Ally asked, "Thanks for telling me. That would explain the throbbing headache..."

"Why did you go frigid?"

"Later..." Ally said, watching Dumbledore "Let's get out of here."

They left the stands after the last of the Gryffindors filed out. Ally and Sam walked slowly back to the castle in silence. Professors were guarding the path to the castle; they all had a weary eye watching the dark floating figures in the countryside.

They marched with the rest of the school and ran up to walk next to Lily. In silence, they entered the grand entry doors of the castle and helped Lily lead the younger students to the portrait hole. Ally, Sam and Lily looked around to see if anyone was watching and then left the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"It's a joyous occasion when Dementors attack isn't it?" Ally said spitefully as they entered the room Ally had found the other day.

Careful not to tread on the rug that would change the room into something else, Ally sat down on a cushy armchair.

"Where did you find this room?" Sam asked, fingering a tapestry on the wall.

Ally shrugged.

"I don't know... I just found it one day while I was wandering the halls. Be careful about jumping on the rug, though."

"Why what happens?" Lily said.

"The room will change into something else; it happens every time I come here, it's completely random." Ally said. "One day you'll jump on it and it'll turn into a bedroom, the next day it'll turn into a kitchen. But it's always, always a common room when you first walk in."

"Have you tried jumping on it twice?" Sam looked around the room with curiosity, evaluating each wall and piece of furniture.

"Well..." Ally stopped, "Er... no?"

Sam sighed.

"I think I know why you're obviously not in Ravenclaw..."

"Gee... thanks." Ally said and lay down across the armchair, throwing her legs over the arm rest.

Ally watched Lily, who had remained silent for most of the conversation.

"Hello? Lily?"

"This is not good." Lily buried her face in her hands. "This is really not a good."

"No, I expect everyone loves a good Dementor attack every once and a while..."

"Not that, Diggory!" Lily said and sank onto the couch.

"He's fine," Sam said, "Dumbledore wouldn't let anything happen to his students. Especially when there's Dementors involved."

"Listen," Lily said sternly, "If the Dementors attack now, whose saying they won't do it again. The cheering from the Quidditch pitch was loud, sure, but that's not what attracted Dementors there in the first place. It's because we were happy."

"Dementors feed off of your every happy thought." Sam interrupted.

"Yes, they do. If you'd let me say that." Lily said. "A large amount of people were at the Quidditch pitch today, Right?"

"Right," Ally said.

"Well, people were there earlier. Why didn't the Dementors attacked during practice?"

"Because it wasn't a large amount of people, like you said."

"Right! The feeling was amplified so the Dementors felt an undeniable pull to the pitch, even though they were way out there in the countryside!"

"Are you leading up to something or not?" Ally said sourly.

"What I'm saying is the Dementors will attack again when we Hogwarts students get together outside of the castle."

"But the Quidditch pitch will definitely be guarded after what happened today, right?" Sam predicted, "The Diggory's are an influential family. People will sympathize with them and there will be guards at the next match."

"We already know that." Ally said, "I think Lily is taking about something else."

"I'm talking about Hogsmeade."

"What? Hogsmeade?" Sam exclaimed, "What does that have to do with the Quidditch pitch?"

"Everything," Ally said, "All the attention will be on protecting Hogwarts' precious Quidditch players, the next Quidditch game, in a couple of weeks. Dementors won't be able to get anywhere near the pitch. So when the Hogsmeade trip rolls around the corner, they'll be starving for some happy thoughts."

"No one will be guarding the town and they'll swoop in." Lily picked up.

"We should tell Dumbledore." Ally said.

"Don't you think he already knows?" Lily said incredulously, "This isn't the Headmaster's fault; it's the Ministries involvement in Hogwarts!"

"She's right." Sam said matter-of-factly, "No one in the ministry is going to listen to a couple of sixteen year olds..."

"We should talk about what Ally and I were planning earlier..." Lily said.

"What was that?" Sam inquired.

It took a while to fully explain to Sam what Ally and Lily had in mind to protect themselves against the Dementors. Being a Ravenclaw, she always wanted to get a word in edgewise on the situation. She was particularly interested in learning about the Dementors and how to defend against them. When they came to the Animagus subject Sam jumped up to disagree.

"That's absurd!" Sam shouted, "You're going to use an illegal practice that has a thousand chances to go wrong, and you're going to do it while there's a war going on and anything can happen?"

"Well... when you put it that way." Ally said.

"No to mention you two aren't even of age yet. You have N.E.W.T.s to study for!" Sam shrieked.

"Most of the time we spend on this will be in the summer. And beside what you just said almost strengthens our point." Lily pointed out, "The practice is only illegal because of some mad ministry official who botched the work, and only because he didn't have the time to do it properly. We do have the time to do this properly; it won't go wrong at all."

"And we will be turning seventeen over the summer holidays, or at least I will." Ally said.

"I'll be seventeen in June." Lily added.

"I don't honestly care, you shouldn't do this but I know I can't stop you."

Sam sighed and closed her eyes. Seemingly lost in thought, Ally and Lily waited for her to finish her statement.

"I refuse to have anything to do with the Animagus transformations..." she sated firmly.

Ally sighed, she had a feeling Sam would say that, she was actually hoping that she would do this with them. It was a foolish hope after all.

"But I will help you adamantly with your Patronuses. That really interests me. So," she raised her eyebrows and smiled at her two friends. "When can we start?"

"Now, we can start now." Lily smiled. "I'll go get the books we need. I was planning for us to start this tonight anyways..."

Without another word she ran out of the room and left Sam and Ally alone.

"So." Ally said.
"So." Sam mimicked.

"Do you want to jump on the rug?"

A few minutes later Lily entered the room to complete chaos. Sam and Ally were stomping on the rug in turns while the scenery around her transfigured before her eyes.

Quidditch field...

STOMP!
Classroom...

STOMP!

Garden...

STOMP!

Room full of feathers...

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Ally and Sam stopped jumping onto the rug and looked at Lily like they hadn't noticed she was in the room before then.

"Jumping on the rug, it changes the room around..."Ally said.

Lily rolled her eyes and slammed her books onto the table in front of them. Feathers flew up around her, making her more intimidating.

"I thought you two would be getting ready for this..."

"Oh," Ally hopped off the rug and Sam followed, "Sorry, it's really fun though. Hold on one second..."

Ally jumped onto the rug one more time and the room transformed into a library with a dueling ring on the right side.

"I think the room knows what we need when we jump on it." Ally said, "When I found this room it turned into a kitchen and a bedroom because I was hungry and tired. Isn't this cool? But I think it only has a limited amount of rooms, it repeats sometimes."

"Well..." Lily scrunched up her nose, "We should get to work."

She handed the book about advanced incantations to Sam and pointed out the page about the Patronus.

"Everything you need to know about the Patronus is there. Ally will work with you first. I'll be writing down the incantation we need to know to get into the trance. The trance will show us the Animagi form we will turn into."

"Whatever you do, though, Ally," Lily warned, "Do not attempt to say the incantation out loud yet. Only say it in pieces or fragments. You don't want to know what will happen if you say it incorrectly and out loud."

"Alright, already," Ally said, "I won't say it out loud. Now can we get started?"