Chapter Thirty-Five: Like a Bolt of Lightning

Over the next few days, Daphne was actually happy she wasn't a Gryffindor.

The Fat Lady had been replaced by the mad knight they'd asked for directions to their first Divination class, and according to Harry, he changed the passwords twice a day, and constantly challenged people to duels. Daphne was certain that, had Sir Cadogan been assigned to guard the entrance to the Slytherin common room, someone would have cursed him to bits within a day.

Worse for Harry, teachers seemed to be guarding him personally everywhere, as did Percy Weasley.

Daphne was still looking for a chance to talk to Lupin or Fred and George. Ideally, she wanted to talk to Lupin first, but she'd take whatever chance she got. She could talk to Fred and George anywhere, of course, but she figured that even if they knew about additional secret passages, they wouldn't tell her so openly.

Besides, they, and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, were very busy with their practice for the upcoming match. Harry had worn the bracelet to every training since getting it, and he said it really helped him. He'd seemed so happy about it that Daphne couldn't help but be happy as well.

She wanted to try and talk to Lupin on Friday, but to her great surprise, Harry and the others told her that Snape had been filling in during their Thursday class, and indeed, on Friday Snape was indeed the one teaching Defense. They spent the whole class talking about werewolves. Snape seemed to give an inordinate amount of attention to spotting a werewolf in his human form, as opposed to talking about the dangers they posed while transformed, and it made Daphne very curious as to why he'd chosen specifically that subject.

Still, her plan to talk to Lupin and Fred and George was now on hold until at least after the Quidditch match, which she actually really didn't want to go and see. The weather was absolutely awful and the sport still didn't interest her one bit, but there was no way she'd miss a chance to see Harry put Malfoy in his place.

Still, going outside in what felt like a hurricane was extremely uncomfortable, and even when she'd sat down in the stands between Ron and Ginny, things weren't any better. She was keeping up a constant, muttered stream of swearing which made Ron jokingly ask if she was part-pixie.

Wind buffeted them, and Daphne was shivering violently, wishing she'd bought one of those warming bracelets for herself as well. At least she could see that Malfoy, far and away the smallest player on his team, was looking absolutely miserable. He'd been trying to get the match postponed, but in absence of any valid reasons he'd been forced to play.

The players rose unsteadily in the air and the game began. Daphne could see that everyone, even the Slytherins on their amazing brooms, had great difficulties flying normally.

The Gryffindor team, drilled by Oliver Wood and helped by actually being talented flyers, took an early lead, and the Slytherins quickly resorted to their usual underhanded tactics to level the playing field.

Ginny began to swear as well, though much louder than Daphne was doing.

When Marcus Flint collided with Katie Bell, Ginny jumped out of her seat, shouting, "You filthy–"

A loud rumble of thunder rolled across the sky.

"–with your stupid face looking like–"

Another thunderclap.

"–and no one will ever find your body!"

Despite the horrible weather, Daphne was doubled over laughing at Ginny's vehemence and the creativity of her swearing. Ron was astonished, even more than he'd been in last year's final match.

At some point, the Gryffindor team called a timeout, which gave Hermione time to rush down to the field and put some kind of charm on Harry's glasses that would make them repel water, and then the game resumed.

The storm picked up further. The thunder began to follow the bolts of lightning quicker and quicker, and the frequency increased as well.

Daphne was seriously beginning to worry about everyone's safety — and then Harry, who'd seemed to be staring intently at something for a moment, began to race towards something, presumably the Snitch, with Malfoy some distance behind him…but rather than beginning to feel excited, Daphne felt a strange cold and fear beginning to crawl over her.

She looked at the field and gasped. It was full of Dementors. There had to be at least a hundred of them, their hidden faces staring upward at the players.

Daphne looked up and saw Harry grabbing the Snitch — but not even two seconds later he fell off his broom, plummeting towards the ground, towards the Dementors, and Daphne's already fearful mind plummeted just as fast.

Then, though, Harry began to slow down in midair, and someone else strode onto the Quidditch pitch.

It was Dumbledore, looking absolutely livid. He aimed his wand, and something bright and silver, birdlike in shape, flew out of it, forcing the Dementors to fall back.

Harry landed limply on the ground, and even though the heart-numbing cold of the Dementors was fading away, Daphne didn't feel any warmer. She, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny ran down to the field to get to Harry.

When they arrived, Dumbledore had already put Harry on a stretcher. He was lying so still that Daphne feared he was dead, and it was only Dumbledore explicitly saying that he wasn't that convinced her otherwise.

She followed Dumbledore, along with the rest of the Gryffindor team and her friends. Madam Pomfrey wanted to chuck everyone out of the hospital wing immediately, but Dumbledore forced her to allow everyone's presence, at least until Harry woke up. Then he left, still looking furious.

A couple of anxious minutes later Harry woke up.

"Harry!" Fred said. "How're you feeling?"

Harry sat upright with shocking speed. "What happened?" he asked.

"You fell off," Fred said. "Must've been, what, fifty feet?"

"We thought you'd died," Alicia, who was still shaking, said.

"What of the match?" Harry asked. "Did the catch count? Are we doing a replay?"

"It counted," Wood said, looking both proud and frightened. "We won, though the Slytherins are demanding a rematch. But Harry, could you maybe try to win a match without nearly dying in the process? I admire your commitment, but my heart won't last long like this."

Despite herself, Daphne laughed. "What's it like, being on the other side of a speech like that?" she asked.

Harry smiled faintly. "I make no promises," he said with a wink at Daphne.

At that moment, Madam Pomfrey came by to throw the team out, though she grudgingly allowed Daphne, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny to stay a bit longer. Ginny was as white as a sheet.

Harry shot her a look. "Told you I'd beat Malfoy," he said.

Ginny smiled, but it was very shaky.

"You should've heard her laying into the Slytherin players," Daphne said with a grin.

Harry chuckled, giving Ginny an appreciative look. Her white face turned red so quickly it looked like taken a Pepper-Up Potion.

"So, er, did anyone bring my Nimbus?" Harry asked.

Daphne hadn't paid any attention at all to Harry's broom when he fell off it, but when Flitwick had dropped it off just before Harry woke up, she'd known something bad must've happened to it.

Ron and Hermione shot each other awkward glances.

"What?" Harry said, looking between all of them.

"Well…when you fell off, it got blown away," Hermione said hesitantly.

"And?"

"And it hit– it hit– oh, Harry, it hit the Whomping Willow."

"And?" Harry said, dread plain on his face.

"Well, you know the Whomping Willow," Ron said. "It…it doesn't like being hit."

"Professor Flitwick brought it back just before you came around," Hermione said in a very small voice. She picked up the bag that Flitwick had dropped off and turned it upside down above Harry's bed. The only thing that fell out was a bunch of splinters and twigs.

Harry closed his eyes. "Right," he said.

He sounded so hurt that Daphne winced.

"Er…maybe we should let you rest a bit," Hermione suggested.

"Y-yeah, we'll check in on you later," Ron said. "C'mon, Ginny."

Daphne wanted to follow them out, but something kept her standing next to Harry just a bit longer.

"Harry…just before you went after the Snitch…it looked like you were watching something in the stands," she said.

She wasn't sure why she was recalling that now, but maybe it had just been because Harry's focus during Quidditch matches was usually top-notch, barring people trying to curse him, Bludgers trying to murder him, or, apparently, Dementors invading the pitch.

Harry, still obviously aching over the loss of his broom, looked up from the collection of splinters on his covers.

"You remember how you said, in our first Divination class, that a real Grim is an omen of death?" he asked.

Daphne nodded. "I thought I saw one in the stands. And less than a minute later, I nearly died. Do you think– Is there some truth to it?"

Daphne shrugged. "I– I don't know," she said. "There have been too many Grim sightings followed by freak deaths to dismiss them entirely, but…it was very dark, very stormy, and there were Dementors seconds away from invading the pitch when you saw it."

"You think I was just seeing things?" Harry asked.

"I really, really hope you were," Daphne said softly.

Harry had to stay in the hospital wing over the weekend, and Daphne, Hermione, and Ron stayed with him most of the time.

Harry hadn't mentioned the Grim anymore after telling Daphne about it, probably because of how seriously Ron had taken even the tea leaf Grim. Daphne had decided to look up more information about the Grim, but she hadn't been able to find any real evidence for its existence. There were plenty of stories, but none of them had been confirmed. Since she desperately wanted to believe Harry hadn't seen a Grim, she chose to interpret the absence of evidence as evidence of absence.

But Harry's own worries weren't about the Grim. They were about the Dementors. He didn't mention it, but every time the word 'Dementor' was used in his presence, he'd reflexively scowl and become a bit defensive. Daphne knew he felt embarrassed about falling off his broom, but she also knew he wouldn't listen to anything she said about the subject because he was stubborn like that.

Fortunately for her, there was someone else who might be able to help. When Daphne passed the office that had been Lockhart's the year before after one class, she saw the door open and Lupin inside, adjusting a glass tank.

Realizing she might be able to ask both her own questions, and ask if Lupin could help Harry, she knocked on the door.

Lupin turned around and smiled when he saw who it was.

"Come in, Daphne. I was just setting up the hinkypunk we'll be discussing this week," he said, gesturing at the one-legged, wispy creature in the box.

Daphne came in and closed the door behind her.

"What can I do for you?" Lupin asked.

"I have…a few questions," Daphne said. "The first is, can you help Harry deal with Dementors? I– He seems to think he's weak for responding the way he does, even though I already told him on the train he isn't."

Lupin smiled sadly. "Yes, his pride is strong. I intended to talk to him after his next class already. It's good that he has such good friends looking out for him, though."

Daphne nodded in relief. "Thanks. My other question is…well, maybe a bit personal," she said.

"Oh?"

"You said you were in school with Harry's parents… I know Harry's father and Sirius Black were good friends. Were you–"

"I knew him," Lupin said shortly, and something about the way he said it made things click for Daphne.

"He's the friend who betrayed you," she said softly.

Lupin looked startled, but then he nodded. "Yes," he said.

He gave Daphne a curious look. "You drew that conclusion pretty quickly," he said.

"I simply put some things together," Daphne said. "I mainly asked because I've seen Snape looking at you the same way he looks at Harry, and I know he looks at Harry that way because he hated Harry's father, so I figured you might have been close with Harry's father because of it."

She didn't mention overhearing Snape saying that he didn't trust Lupin, but she didn't feel she had to.

Lupin smiled faintly. "I see. Good observational skills. It's mostly correct. I tried to get James and…Black to be bit more civil towards Professor Snape on occasion, but I can't claim to have done a very good job, nor to have liked him much.

"Now, however, I'm very grateful to Professor Snape for brewing an exceedingly difficult potion for me on occasion. Whatever his personal opinion of me — and mine of him — he is willing to do this for me, and therefore I trust him.

"Whether that feeling is mutual is hard to say, though I don't think I'm wrong if I say that you partly meant to find out if I helped Sirius Black get into the castle because Professor Snape doesn't trust me."

The way Lupin sounded at once very serene, yet with an unmistakable warning in his voice, reminded Daphne eerily of Dumbledore.

"I…yes," Daphne admitted.

"There might have been a time, once, where I would say I would help him with anything, feeling certain he would do the same for me," Lupin said. "But that friendship died when Lily and James did. I don't blame you for wondering, Daphne, especially given the conversation we had about friendship after the boggart. But you may rest assured that I would never help anyone who might hurt Harry."

He took a deep, steadying breath. "If it ever appears that I am…please remember that I've felt guilty about the deaths of Lily and James for twelve years. Had I been their Secret-Keeper…but Sirius was James's best friend. He was the natural choice, and of course I went along with it. I blame myself for what happened that night, and protecting Harry is all I can do to atone for that mistake."

Daphne was stunned, not just at everything Lupin had just told her, but also how much it reminded her of herself. Just like Daphne still felt guilty for letting Ginny get taken to the Chamber of Secrets rather than breaking her trust by telling someone about her problems, Lupin still felt guilty for trusting James's best friend.

Lupin apparently saw the recognition in her eyes, because he smiled again. "It's a hard job, isn't it, being a good friend?"

The book, during the Quidditch match, is a bit vague about the weather. Among other things, it claims that thunder comes before lightning, which simply isn't true, so I fixed that. Same goes for the timeout happening 'as soon as the first lightning shot across the sky', but a couple of lines earlier the narration mentions the sound of thunder. I highly doubt anyone will care, but I like mentioning useless things like this.

I also made Harry win this time, because in canon it seemed like he was fairly close to the Snitch when the Dementors invaded, and he'd lost some time because his numb hands slipped off his broom. Since I gave him the bracelet to stop that from happening, he was a bit closer to the Snitch than he was in canon, and thus reached it just before passing out.