Chapter 45: The Quidditch Match

The night before Gryffindor's first quidditch game, I had to go back in time twice just to get a third of my homework finished. I had to use Professor McGonagall's empty classroom again to study. When she came in, she seemed a little concerned.

"Miss Granger, you haven't had to use my classroom recently, I thought you had your work under control," she said upon discovering me. "It's not healthy to go back in time too much, as you very well know."

"Don't worry Professor; I'm just avoiding my friends. They keep trying to get me to help them, so I thought I'd get more work done here," I lied.

"Alright, well be sure to get back to your common room before curfew," Professor McGonagall replied before going into her office to get some papers and then leaving. I hated lying to my teacher, but it was better than telling her the truth and possibly having my time turner taken away.

I knew she didn't like how much I was using it. She'd told me that it was safer the less I used it, and that I should only use it for classes when it was absolutely necessary, and the occasional circumstance when I needed an extra hour or two for my homework. But my schoolwork was too important for me to stop or slow down.

When I awoke the morning of the quidditch match to the loud squealing of Parvati and Lavender, I was not in a good mood. My mood only worsened when I looked out the window to find that it was storming. Not only was I going to be wasting a couple of hours watching the quidditch game, I was probably going to get sick too.

I decided I wanted to postpone having to go outside as long as possible, so instead of getting breakfast in the Great Hall, I went straight to the empty library. I settled myself in my favorite chair and spread out my homework for ancient runes.

I was stationed near a window, so when the students began pouring out of the school and heading toward the quidditch pitch, I could see them clearly. It was so miserable outside that I felt bad for them all, until I remembered that I was probably out there too, because I would be repeating this hour later.

I returned my focus to my work, and was almost finished translating the passage we had been assigned when someone startled me by sitting down next to me. I turned to see who it was, and I was shocked to find that it was Lisa Turpin. We hadn't spoken since the Hogwarts Express on our way to Hogwarts in our first year.

"Hi Lisa," I said uncertainly. "Why aren't you down at the quidditch match?"

I went down for a little while, but the rain became too much," she replied. "My glasses got so fogged up, I could barely see Sue sitting next to me, let alone the match itself."

"Oh," I replied. "That's too bad."

"What about you? I thought I saw you down at the match," Lisa said.

I panicked for a moment, but then decided to pretend like I didn't know what she was talking about. "I've been here all day. You probably mistook someone else for me," I said.

"Didn't you cast a spell on Harry Potter's glasses partway through the game?" Lisa frowned.

I mentally berated myself for being so thoughtless. I couldn't decide whether I was more upset with my present self for not coming up with a better excuse than mistaking me for someone else, or my future self for not remembering this conversation and making myself less visible. Then again, if I'd hidden from Lisa, this conversation wouldn't have happened and I wouldn't have known to hide later at the game. I raised a hand to my head, overwhelmed by the complexity of time turning.

"I could barely see anyway," Lisa said then, getting up to leave. "It was probably someone else. I'll see you around."

When Lisa had gone, I returned to my translating, trying to figure out what had just happened. I couldn't decide whether she really believed I hadn't been down at the pitch, or whether she'd just left upon seeing my distress. She probably thought I was lying to her about being at the game and I sighed, wishing things didn't have to be so complicated. But I had to go to the quidditch game. Harry would never forgive me if I missed it.

When I saw that the school was returning from the quidditch pitch, I packed up my things quickly and ran for the nearest bathroom. I slipped into a cubicle and turned my time turner back to before breakfast; I was starving.

When I arrived, Harry was staring sullenly at his plate and Ron was eating like a pig as usual. Thankfully, neither was talking, so I didn't have to make an effort to pay attention to them. Instead, I tried to think of spells I might be able to use to keep myself dry and warm.

By the time we were heading down, all I could think of was the water repelling charm, which I did use on myself. Unfortunately, I was still as cold as everyone else.

The quidditch game began and I discovered that with the rain and wind, it was impossible to almost fall asleep in the stands, despite how tired I was. On the other hand, I couldn't see anything that was going on, so I just sat there in the freezing cold, wishing I was back in the comfort of the library.

I remembered that Lisa had mentioned something about me casting a spell on Harry's glasses and tried to figure out what it could be. It wasn't until Ron made a comment about how difficult Harry's visibility would be in the rain with fogged up and rain-spattered glasses that I realized I could use the water-repelling charm on the glasses just like I'd used it on myself.

A surge of energy ran through me then. I don't know where the energy came from, maybe from the idea that if I could help Harry to see he would catch the snitch sooner and we could all go back into the warmth of the castle and eat some hot soup. I watched for an opportunity to cast the spell on Harry, but he never flew close enough to be in the range of the spell.

Finally, Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor team captain, called a time out, and I saw my chance. I pushed my way through the crowd in an attempt to reach the bottom of the pitch where the Gryffindor team was huddled.

"Don't shove me!" a voice said, disgruntled.

I turned and found myself face to face with Lisa Turpin.

"Crap," I muttered, spinning around before she could see me fully and hurrying down to Harry. I desperately hoped this didn't turn into anything bad. Professor McGonagall had been very clear about making sure that I wasn't seen to be in two places at once. But most likely, Lisa would just think I was a jerk, not that I was involved in time magic. Still, it wasn't ideal.

I got to Harry and took his glasses, casting the Impervius charm on them just as I had done on myself earlier. I would have done it on all of him, but he was already soaked, so I didn't see a point. When I got back to my spot in the stands, I tried to see if I could locate Harry in the sky, but the rain was still so bad that the players were almost impossible to make out.

The game went on for a while longer, and it only became more and more miserable. I noticed that Lisa Turpin was gone and sighed sadly to myself, knowing that my past self was having a conversation with her now that would confuse her and make her think I was a liar.

Suddenly, I felt an inexplicable wave of despair wash over me. Moments ago, I'd been lamenting my situation with Lisa, but now it felt like it was the end of the world, that I would never be able to win back her trust, and that my life was ruined because of it. Looking up, I saw that the Quidditch pitch was cloaked in black. It was dementors, dozens of them. In the back of my mind, I knew that they were the reason I was overreacting about Lisa, but as long as they were there, I couldn't let the feelings go.

I was about to sit down because I was feeling overwhelmed with misery and exhaustion, but then I remembered Harry fainting on the train, and I remembered that he was currently flying on a broom, and he was probably very far from the ground.

"Where's Harry?" I cried frantically to Ron, but he was staring unseeingly in front of him with his arms wrapped around his body.

There was nothing I could do. I barely had the strength to keep standing, let alone to get out my wand and think of a spell. All I could do was watch in horror as a body I could only assume was Harry's plummeted headfirst towards the ground while dementors swarmed around him.

If it weren't for Professor Dumbledore stepping in at that moment, it would have been disastrous. First, he slowed Harry down enough so that he wasn't hurt when he hit the ground. Then he did a spell that made a dazzlingly bright light fill the Quidditch pitch. I had to shield my eyes it was so bright, and when I could look again, the dementors were gone.

When I looked back, he had conjured a stretcher for Harry and was taking it up to the school. Ron grabbed onto the sleeve of my robe and pulled me out of the stands. We made it all the way to the hospital wing, but weren't allowed in until Madam Pomfrey did a full examination.

While we waited, I sat down on the stairs nearby and leaned my head against the wall. I had been in shock this whole time, and suddenly, I felt a wave of emotion come over me and I began to cry.

I didn't care that Ron was standing right there. I didn't care when the rest of Harry's team arrived and saw me. I didn't even care when Professor Dumbledore came out of the hospital wing and stormed off to his office. When Madam Pomfrey finally opened the doors and told us we could enter, I wiped away my tears and followed everyone in.

Harry was asleep in the bed, and other than looking very pale, he seemed fine. When Madam Pomfrey assured us that Harry would be okay, Oliver Wood left, saying he needed to shower and be alone.

Suddenly, Professor Flitwick came in with a large bundle in his arms.

"Professor, what's that?" asked Alicia Spinnet.

"It seems that Mr. Potter's broom flew into the whomping willow when he fell to the ground," Professor Flitwick said, unwrapping the bundle to show us all the mess of twigs inside. "I wasn't sure if Mr. Potter would still like to keep it or...?"

"We'll take it," Ron said. Professor Flitwick passed it over and Ron placed it under Harry's bed so he wouldn't see it right away when he woke up.

"Alright, I'll leave it to you then, Weasley," Professor Flitwick replied as he turned to leave again.

Just then, Harry started to stir, and finally, he opened his eyes. He immediately wanted to know what had happened, so the team explained how the game went. I hadn't even realized that I didn't know which team had won until now.

When the team left, Ron and I moved up to sit on either side of Harry's bed. Of course, he asked about his broom, which I had been hoping he wouldn't ask until he was feeling better. When we showed it to him, he looked like someone had just died, which I suppose it had; his broom was his friend in a way.

I spent the rest of my day by Harry's bedside like a good friend. When dinner came, I snuck away and repeated the afternoon so that I didn't get behind on my homework. I ended up having to work in Professor McGonagall's classroom again because all over the castle, everyone kept interrupting me to ask how Harry was and why I wasn't with him.

It was a very long and emotionally draining day. When I finally headed up to my dormitory to sleep, I was unconscious within seconds of my head hitting the pillow.