Just had my first day of classes, it's quite weird to see everybody with masks on haha. Enjoy the chapter xxx

Chapter 11

Gryffindor Versus Ravenclaw

Scabbers' death, it seemed, had marked the end of Ron and Hermione's friendship.

Ron was enraged that Hermione had never taken Crookshanks's attempts to eat Scabbers seriously, hadn't bothered to keep a close enough watch on him, and was still trying to pretend that Crookshanks was innocent by suggesting that Ron look for Scabbers under all the boys' beds. Hermione, meanwhile, maintained fiercely that Ron had no proof that Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers, that the ginger hairs might have been there since Christmas, and that Ron had been prejudiced against her cat ever since Crookshanks had landed on Ron's head in the Magical Menagerie.

Rachel didn't dare side with anybody. She told both Ron and Hermione that she wasn't going to pick sides because she loved them both and would hate to lose them as friends. Meanwhile, Harry held the firm belief that Crookshanks ate Scabbers, which made Hermione even angrier.

"Okay, side with Ron, I knew you would!" she said shrilly when she was working on an Arithmancy assignment with Rachel. "First the Firebolt, now Scabbers, everything's my fault, isn't it! Just leave me alone, Harry, I've got a lot of work to do!"

Ron had taken the loss of his rat very hard indeed.

"Come on, Ron, you were always saying how boring Scabbers was," said Fred bracingly "And he's been off-color for ages, he was wasting away. It was probably better for him to snuff it quickly—one swallow—he probably didn't feel a thing."

"Fred!" said Ginny indignantly.

"All he did was eat and sleep, Ron, you said it yourself," said George.

"He bit Goyle for us once!" Ron said miserably. "Remember, Harry?"

"Yeah, that's true," said Harry.

"His finest hour," said Fred, unable to keep a straight face. "Let the scar on Goyle's finger stand as a lasting tribute to his memory. Oh, come on, Ron, get yourself down to Hogsmeade and buy a new rat, what's the point of moaning?"

Harry invited Ron and Rachel to the Gryffindor team's final practice before the Ravenclaw match so that they could have a ride on the Firebolt after they'd finished. This seemed to cheer Ron up a bit ("Great! Can I try and shoot a few goals on it?") so they set off for the Quidditch field together.

While Harry went down and met with the team and showed Madam Hooch the Firebolt, Ron and Rachel took seats in the stands, watching as they finally started practice.

The Firebolt was a great broom indeed; Harry was very fast and he was a blur most of the time. When Wood let the Snitch out of the box with the balls, Harry caught it very fast multiple times.

At long last, the practice ended and, while the rest of the team went to get changed and go back to the castle, Ron and Rachel vaulted the barrier to the stands and met with Harry on the pitch, careful not to wake the sleeping Madam Hooch.

"Here you go," said Harry, handing Ron the Firebolt.

Ron, an expression of ecstasy on his face, mounted the broom and zoomed off into the gathering darkness while Harry and Rachel walked around the edge of the field, watching him. After some time, Harry called for Ron to come back down again so Rachel could have a try.

Rachel took the broom from Ron and mounted it before kicking of, letting out a scream of joy as she rushed into the air. Wind blew her hair from her face and she felt on top of the world, zooming around the air. She couldn't wait to get her own broomstick and try out for the Quidditch team…

Night had fallen before Madam Hooch awoke with a start, told Harry, Ron, and Rachel off for not waking her, and insisted that they go back to the castle.

Harry shouldered the Firebolt and they walked out of the shadowy stadium, discussing the Firebolt's superbly smooth action, its phenomenal acceleration, and its pinpoint turning. They were halfway toward the castle when Harry suddenly stopped walking.

Rachel and Ron turned around.

"What's the matter?" said Ron.

Harry pointed at the edge of the woods. Ron and Rachel pulled out their wands and muttered, "Lumos!"

Two beams of light fell across the grass, hit the bottom of a tree, and illuminated its branches; there, crouching among the budding leaves, was Crookshanks.

"Get out of here!" Ron roared, and he stooped down and seized a stone lying on the grass, but before he could do anything else, Crookshanks had vanished with one swish of his long ginger tail.

"See?" Ron said furiously, chucking the stone down again. "She's still letting him wander about wherever he wants—probably washing down Scabbers with a couple of birds now…"

The next morning, Rachel came down to breakfast with Lukas, finding that the team had already headed off to the Quidditch pitch. The four tables were mostly empty, and they found Hermione sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table, reading a thick book titled Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles.

"Shouldn't you be heading off to the pitch?" said Lukas, sitting down beside Hermione.

"Shouldn't you?" said Hermione. She didn't sound too snappish. Rather, she sounded tired and upset.

"Lukas was being a whiny baby," said Rachel, earning herself a punch on the shoulder. "Ouch, Luke, I was just messing with you."

"Well, then, are we heading off?" said Lukas, for when they looked out of the great windows they saw people zooming around the Quidditch pitch already.

"Right," said Hermione, closing her book.

They left the Great Hall, the last of their breakfast still in their hands. Up by the pitch, they found seats near the back and just managed to hear the last of the commentary from Lee Jordan.

"Right you are, Professor—just giving a bit of background information—the Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake and—"

"Jordan!"

"Okay, okay, Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor heading for goal…"

Rachel looked around and saw Harry zooming past Katie Bell, the Ravenclaw Seeker Cho Chang tailing him closely. She cut across him multiple times to change his direction until Fred Weasley yelled something at Harry.

As Harry reached the Ravenclaw goal posts, Cho fell behind, and then he dove to the ground. Cho Chang was close behind him, but a Bludger, hit by one of the Ravenclaw Beaters, came pelting at them and they had to avoid it. Rachel "Ooooooh'ed" with the rest of the Gryffindors while the Ravenclaw supporters applauded the Beater.

"Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go! Potter's really putting it through its paces now, see it turn—Chang's Comet is just no match for it, the Firebolt's precision-balance is really noticeable in these long—"

"JORDAN! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!"

Gryffindor was fifty points ahead. Rachel watched as Oliver Wood dodged a Bludger and stopped the Quaffle from going through the goal when everybody chirped excitedly; Harry had accelerated again, going toward the Snitch until Cho Chang blocked him.

Even from far below, Rachel could hear Wood's roars.

"HARRY, THIS IS NO TIME TO BE A GENTLEMAN!" he was roaring as Harry swerved to avoid collision. "KNOCK HER OFF HER BROOM IF YOU HAVE TO!"

Harry dove again. Cho followed him, and Rachel yelled at her to stop. She found it a stupid tactic. She was very glad when Harry pulled out of the dive very sharply and accelerated toward the Ravenclaw end of the field.

"He's seen the Snitch!" gasped Lukas, pointing ahead.

"Look on the field!" shrieked a fourth-year girl, and Rachel looked down and squinted. On the field stood three dementors, looking up at where Harry was flying.

Something silver-white that was enormous shot directly at the dementors and Hermione made a scream of surprise, for Harry had been the one to cast the spell.

Madam Hooch's whistle sounded and for a few seconds everybody was confused as to what happened, not knowing where to look—where the Gryffindor team was gathering in the sky, or where the three dementors were falling and stumbling very un-dementor-like.

"We won!" Lukas roared.

They ran onto the field, and Rachel didn't even notice that Hermione lagged behind. They found Ron running ahead and together, Ron, Rachel, and Lukas hurried toward where Harry had gotten to the ground.

"Yes!" Ron yelled, yanking Harry's arm into the air. "Yes! Yes!"

"You did it!" yelled Rachel, hugging Harry, beside herself.

"Well done, Harry!" said Percy, looking delighted. "Ten Galleons to me! Must find Penelope, excuse me—"

"Good for you, Harry!" roared Seamus Finnigan.

"Ruddy brilliant!" boomed Hagrid over the heads of the milling Gryffindors.

Rachel was screaming herself hoarse with happiness, hugging many people around her while everybody else roared. Zaine was close-by, jumping around with first-years and second-years, yelling that they won, and she laughed when Lukas joined them by jumping on Zaine's back.

"Look there!" yelled Ron, pointing off to the side.

What Rachel saw was probably the best thing she's seen all day.

Harry and Professor Lupin were standing next to a fuming Professor McGonagall and a crumpled heap of black robes and Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and the Slytherin team captain Marcus Flint.

Ron and Rachel fought their way through to Harry's side and Rachel was beside herself with giggles while Ron doubled over with laughter.

"Come on, Harry!" said George, fighting his way over. "Party! Gryffindor common room, now!"

"Right," said Harry, and they left the stadium, Ron and Rachel skipping arm-in-arm, singing "We won!"

It felt as though they had already won the Quidditch Cup; the party went on all day and well into the night. Fred and George Weasley disappeared for a couple of hours and returned with armfuls of bottles of butterbeer, pumpkin fizz, and several bags full of Honeydukes sweets.

Rachel dove at the butterbeer and the sweets, happy when George shoved a box of Pink Coconut Ice in her hands. She took her food and drink with her to the couch, where Lukas was telling the first-years about the very first Quidditch match he ever attended back in first year, while Fred and George were juggling bottles.

"Wait, what happened them?" asked Jacob Homesteeds, very invested in the story of Harry's spectacular catch when his broomstick had been jinxed.

"Well, our friend Hermione Granger—"

"The smart girl?" said Alyssa Yambor, and Rachel giggled.

"Yes, the smart girl," she said, passing around the Pink Coconut Ice Cream.

"Yes, her, she went and lit a fire to Snape's cloak, but then she suddenly bumped into Quirrell, our old Defense Against the Dark Arts professor—"

"A terrible one, too," said Rachel, opening her butterbeer.

"He had been jinxing the broom the whole time!" Lukas said. "Snape had been saying the counterjinx. And then we looked, and Harry was on the ground, and he coughed up the Snitch!"

"Was that a catch?" said Jane MacCartney, a pretty girl with blonde hair. "I mean, he didn't catch it in his hands, did he?"

"It counted," said Rachel, grinning. "So we won that game."

"Did you win the house cup?" asked Cody Morris, and Rachel immediately lapsed into the story of how she went down into the chambers to face who they thought was Snape, but ended up being Quirrell.

The Gryffindor party lasted until one in the morning, when Professor McGonagall turned up to insist they all went to bed.

Rachel went up to her dormitory with the only girls in first year, Romilda Vane, Jane MacCartney, and Alyssa Yambor, finishing up the tale of the Chamber of Secrets before they parted so she could go to bed. She entered her common room to find Lavender Brown and Katie Moon giggling and playing a game with Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, while Parvati Patil was delicately braiding her hair. The curtains were drawn around Hermione's bed and Rachel could hear sniffles, but when she called out, they suddenly stopped and she got no response.

The remaining four girls stayed up, talking about the match until they slowly fell asleep one by one. Rachel had a very pleasant sleep, dreaming of winning the Quidditch cup, and being part of England's national team, and the whole stadium shouting her name, "Rachel Haney! Rachel Haney! Rachel Haney! Rachel—"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Rachel jumped up, hearing Lavender Brown give a yelp of surprise. Hermione pulled her curtains aside and Rachel clicked on her light.

"What the hell was that?" Rachel said groggily.

"Sounded like one of the boys," muttered Katie Moon, whose blonde hair was in a heap on her head.

"Bloody hell," muttered Rachel. "It's what, three in the morning?"

"Where are you going?" asked Hermione, for Rachel had climbed out of bed and was putting on her bathrobe and stuffing her feet into her slippers.

"Seeing what is going on," said Rachel, and she left the dormitory.

She descended down the stairs into the common room, where Ron was arguing with Lukas, who looked very annoyed.

"I'm telling you, I saw him!" Ron was saying.

"What's all the noise?"

"Professor McGonagall told us to go to bed!"

More boys were coming down the stairs, and a gaggle of girls were gathered behind Rachel.

"Excellent, are we carrying on?" said Fred Weasley brightly.

"Everyone back upstairs!" said Percy, hurrying into the common room and pinning his Head Boy badge to his pajamas as he spoke.

"Perce—Sirius Black!" said Ron faintly. "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!"

The common room went very still. Rachel's eyes widened in shock and she heard a yelp of fear behind her.

"Nonsense!" said Percy, looking startled. "You had too much to eat, Ron—had a nightmare—"

"I'm telling you—"

"Now, really, enough's enough!"

Professor McGonagall was back. She slammed the portrait behind her as she entered the common room and stared furiously around.

"I am delighted that Gryffindor won the match, but this is getting ridiculous! Percy, I expected better of you!"

"I certainly didn't authorize this, Professor!" said Percy, puffing himself up indignantly. "I was just telling them all to get back to bed! My brother Ron here had a nightmare—"

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron yelled. "PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"

Professor McGonagall stared at him.

"Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he possibly have gotten through the portrait hole?"

"Ask him!" said Ron, pointing a shaking finger at the back of Sir Cadogan's picture. "Ask him if he saw—"

Glaring suspiciously at Ron, Professor McGonagall pushed the portrait back open and went outside. The whole common room listened with bated breath, and Alyssa Yambor was shaking beside Rachel. She quickly threw an arm around the trembling girl to comfort her.

"Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?"

"Certainly, good lady!" cried Sir Cadogan.

There was a stunned silence, both inside and outside the common room. Alyssa trembled even harder.

"You—you did?" said Professor McGonagall. "But—but the password!"

"He had 'em!" said Sir Cadogan proudly. "Had the whole week's, my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!"

Professor McGonagall pulled herself back through the portrait hole to face the stunned crowd. Her face was chalk-white.

"Which person," she said, her voice shaking, "which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?"

There was utter silence, broken by the smallest of terrified squeaks. Neville Longbottom, trembling from head to fluffy-slippered toes, raised his hand slowly into the air.