"Alright, let me go." Jade huffed at Blaise and Draco as she jerked her arms away from their grasps.
"If you'd just listened to-" Blaise started but got cut off by Ron and Hermione coming up to them. Hermione had a concerned look on her face but Jade just ignored it. This, unfortunately, was normal behavior with her Slytherin friends.
"Have you seen Harry?" Jade asked, pushing past the wall Draco and Blaise had made in front of her in an effort to keep Jade separated from Ron and Hermione.
"The quidditch team is bringing him to the Hospital Wing," Hermione told her,
"How'd you know?" Draco snarled, "Last I saw, all of them were still on the field."
"They sent Katie ahead to tell Madam Pomfrey," Hermione explained.
"Let's go." Jade nodded,
"Yeah, right." Draco scoffed and Jade made her way over to Hermione and Ron before turning to look at him.
"Go back to the Common Room, I'll talk to you guys later."
"Since when does she boss us around?" Blaise smirked at Draco but as he saw the look on Jade's face he quickly cleared his throat, she was still mad they picked her up like some ragdoll and carried her away, ignoring her shouts of protest. "Yeah, okay, see you."
"Come on," Ron said as he led the way to the Hospital Wing, a small crowd of students was waiting at the door as Madam Pomfrey tried to get them to back up.
"Out of the way!" A voice called from down the corridor and everyone turned to see one of the Weasley twins holding Harry in their arms while the other followed with the rest of the quidditch team. The small crowd parted quickly and Madam Pomfrey directed them towards the closest bed.
"Is he alright?" Ron asked Madam Pomfrey, quickly coming to Harry's side. Madam Pomfrey touched his forehead, grabbed his wrist, and looked him over for any obvious marks.
"He's-" A sharp and sudden intake of breath interrupted Madam Pomfrey and everyone turned to a very confused Harry.
"Harry!" Fred came to Harry's other side and smiled down at him through his mud-streaked face. "How're you feeling?" Harry looked around at everyone staring at him,
"What happened?" Harry grimaced as he pulled himself up to his elbow and then sat all the way up.
"Easy, Mr. Potter." Madam Pomfrey laid a gentle hand on his knee before raising her hand and giving him a small smile.
"You fell off," Fred explained, sharing a smile with George. "Must've been… what, fifty feet?"
"We thought you'd died," Alicia spoke up. Hermione made a small noise and Ron shot Alicia a look. Hermione's eyes were extremely red, Jade hadn't noticed it before but as Hermione gently rubbed her nose against her sleeve she realized Hermione had been crying.
"But the match," Harry asked. "What happened? Are we doing a replay?" No one said anything, Jade looked around but the quidditch team grimaced slightly. "We didn't… lose?"
"Diggory got the Snitch," George told Harry. "Just after you fell. He didn't realize what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch." Well, that was nice of him. "But they won fair and square… even Wood admits it." Damn it.
"Where is Wood?" Harry asked and Jade realized that Wood wasn't with the rest of his team.
"Still in the showers," Fred answered. "We think he's trying to drown himself." Fred let out a small half-hearted chuckle, Harry put his face to his knees, Fred grabbed his shoulder and shook it roughly. "C'mon, Harry, you've never missed the Snitch before."
"There had to be one time you didn't get it," George told him.
"It's not over yet," Fred tried to cheer Harry up. "We lost by a hundred points."
"Right? So if Hufflepuff loses to Ravenclaw and we beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin-"
"Hufflepuff'll have to lose by at least two hundred points."
"But if they beat Ravenclaw-"
"No way, Ravenclaw is too good. But if Slytherin loses against Hufflepuff-" Jade let out a cackle of laughter at the thought and the twins looked up at her.
"Sorry."
"It all depends on the points." George went on. "A margin of a hundred either way." Despite their efforts, Harry just laid there, staring at the bed. Jade guessed he was pretty upset about the loss. Since their very first game, Harry had never failed to grab the Snitch.
"Cedric wanted a rematch?" Jade offered to grab people's attention away from Harry.
"Yeah, Wood wouldn't hear it though and I'm sure Hooch won't argue with Diggory about it," Fred told her. A few students left after they found out Harry was alive and fine but Jade stuck around with the quidditch team, Ron, and Hermione to keep him company. "We'll come and see you later," Fred told him as he and the rest of the team got ready to leave, "Don't beat yourself up Harry, you're still the best Seeker we've ever had." The team left then, trailing mud behind them.
"Dumbledore was really angry," Hermione said in a quiet voice. "I've never seen him like that before. He ran onto the field as you fell, waved his wand, and you sort of slowed down before you hit the ground. Then he whirled his wand at the Dementors. Shot silver stuff at them. They left the stadium right away… He was furious they'd come onto the grounds. We heard him as we were leaving." Harry looked up from his thought and saw the anxious looks on his friends' faces.
"Did someone get my Nimbus?" He asked and Ron and Hermione looked quickly at each other.
"Um..." Ron avoided the question.
"What?" Harry asked, looking between the three of them.
"Well… when you fell off, it got blown away." Hermione continued hesitantly.
"And?"
"And it hit… it hit the Whomping Willow." Hermione grimaced and Harry's face fell. The Whomping Willow was a very violent tree that stood alone in the middle of the grounds.
"And?" He asked again, his head hung as if he already guessed what happened.
"Well, you know the Whomping Willow," Ron said. "It, it doesn't like being hit." Slowly, Hermione reached down for a bag at her feet, turned it upside down, and tipped a dozen bits of splintered wood and twig onto the bed.
"Oh, Harry, I'm sorry." Jade sighed, she knew how much he loved his broom, Harry was having a rough day.
"It's fine." He waved away Jade's concern, "Could I get some rest? Talk to you guys later?" Jade and Hermione nodded their heads quickly and Hermione gently nudged Ron away from Harry's side.
"We'll see you later," Ron called after him as they made their way for the door and left Harry to his thoughts.
