Who did it?!
The Quidditch Pitch Inferno of 1998
The Battle of Hogwarts is here and the only question on everyone's mind is 'who set fire to the bloody Quidditch pitch?!'
A/N: this story is a plot bunny I came up with. The following people added ideas on my idea and the story expanded from there. I tried to incorporate each idea into the story. They might or might not recognize their open prompt but they were all used in some way. Fran Lawrence, Caleigh Janeen Gregory, Mary Samuel, Soonalote Tinney Moefaauo, Brandi Cook
Hermione Granger was in a furious duel with Thorfinn Rowle as Corbin Yaxley stood at his back, shielding his friend. It seemed like no matter which curse or spell she flung at him, he easily deflected it. It was painfully obvious that she was going to lose but she was going down fighting. It seemed, however, like Rowle was more interested in playing with her than fighting her. He was slowly but surely backing her into a corner. He wasn't torturing her and he also hadn't flung the killing curse at her. Yet. As he got close enough to press against her, Rowle grabbed her wrists and kept them pinned to the wall. He stared at her intently for a moment, then a sudden grin curled his lips. "Oi, I found her, Corbin! Gryffindor's very own Princess, Hermione Granger!"
"Want to play, Granger?" Rowle crooned, nuzzling under her hair and nipping at her lobe. He felt her shivering. Yaxley was too busy deflecting curses away from them to answer. Hermione looked past them. Nobody had noticed her being stalked. Everyone else was too busy fighting for their lives. Any minute now, Thorfinn Rowle was going to turn her into his own personal plaything! Merlin help her, she didn't want to be taken by a Death Eater!
"Reckon you could find somewhere more private to play with her, mate? Somewhere we don't stand a chance of dying, perhaps?" Yaxley panted, deflecting more curses away from them.
"Oh, Princess, your pretty shirt is all dusty! Let me help you with that." Rowle said, pseudo politely. He dusted her shirt off, making sure to rub all over her chest as he did so. Then he ran his hands up, down and between her legs and across her bum. "I'll just dust off the pants, too, sweet thing."
"Please, please, let me go!" she begged. He started kissing her cheeks as she felt two hands began inching under her shirt. She started squirming wildly trying to get away from him.
"Oi, Corbin, empty room to our right. Plenty of wide sturdy tables for me to lay her down on, aye?" Rowle had a wicked glint in his eyes.
Yaxley grinned wickedly. "Get her out of sight. I'll stand watch for you!"
Hermione started whimpering and opened her mouth to scream. Nothing came out. She had been placed under a silencing spell. Rowle lifted her up. Just then she heard a whisper. It sounded like 'Quidditch'? A flash of blond streaked past. Then Lucius Malfoy stopped in front of her and her captors. He grinned at her predicament but addressed the two big blonds in front of her. "Rowle, Yaxley, tie her up, put her somewhere she can't get away and let's go! They've set the Quidditch pitch on fire! We got to put it out!"
Both men jerked at the mention of their beloved pitch. "The pitch?" Rowle yelped in surprise.
"It's on fire?" Yaxley growled in anger.
Rowle looked at Yaxley, looked at Hermione and made his choice. Yaxley helped him lift her and they carried her into the empty room. They laid her on a table and tied her down in such a way that she couldn't attract any help. Rowle leaned over and kissed her breathless. "Don't go anywhere, Princess, I'll be back for you!" Then he and Yaxley ran out to help fight the fire.
Hermione was gasping in outrage. He'd LEFT her! How dare he just tie her down and LEAVE her! ANYONE could walk in, find her and KILL her! He'd feel funny if he came back to a dead witch, wouldn't he? She continued raging quietly to herself as she struggled to get free from the bindings they'd used.
Outside the room, Voldemort was confused. One moment, he'd been fighting the Potter brat and the next he was gone, as if he'd vanished into thin air. He looked around, noticing he had far fewer people in the room with him now. There was a steady stream of people headed out the door. He and the reminding fighters, equally confused, followed them out. They were all headed to the Quidditch pitch? What!
"Bloody Quidditch! Are you serious?!" he shrieked. "I'm trying to wipe out Muggles! Get back here!" the Death Eaters looked at him, then the pitch. Then they looked at each other. You could almost SEE them debating, Quidditch pitch or Voldemort, fight fire or fight people. As one, they all shrugged at him, then flew down the path to the pitch. Voldemort let out a shriek of outrage as he stamped his feet angrily, firing random Avadas in the direction of the pitch. "Run off and leave me, will they! We'll just see how THEY like it! I'll run off and leave them to talk their way out of prison! Ha!"
He stomped back into the school. There was something or actually SOMEONE he had to collect. He knew at least six of his followers would eventually catch up to him. But, in the meantime, he knew exactly who he could take to insure the presence of one Thorfinn Rowle, his most dangerous young follower. He'd seen the boy fighting, had watched him stalk the young witch into the corner and knew exactly which room he and Yaxley had stashed her in.
It was a sight they had never seen before and never wanted to see again. Their beloved Quidditch pitch was literally up in flames! Those equipped with brooms immediately mounted up and started doing flyovers, dropping water in an attempt to contain the fire from the air. The Death Eaters made a curve around the outer side and began soaking the bleachers and the towers to extinguish the flames. The members of the Order and the teachers rushed inside and began the same routine from within. Between them all, they quickly gained control of the fire, putting it out little by little. They reinforced bindings and replaced weak boards with stronger material while they were going through the list of repairs needed to reopen the pitch.
"Oi, I think we did a good job, mates. That was our best battle yet, aye? Hey, how about a quick game of Quidditch? Then we get back to the fight." Oliver Wood chattered. Even the Death Eaters looked eager to get into the game. Everyone was lining up to be chosen for a team.
Back at the castle, Hermione was still struggling to free herself. She froze as the door opened. It was Voldemort. "Well, if it isn't Miss Granger! Hello, my dear, how are you doing today? Dear, dear, whoever was it who did this to you? Why, mercy me, I would have thought you'd be right beside Potter!" he asked. At her muffled answer, he waved his wand, lifting the silencing spell.
"I WOULD but your Neanderthal followers grabbed me and tied me to this table!" she spat angrily. He raised a brow at her, pretending ignorance of who she was talking about. "Rowle! And Yaxley!" She was outraged as he threw his head back and actually laughed at her.
"Oh, yes! Thorfinn is extremely fond of his women. Corbin has a hard time keeping him under control, I think. I have more trouble keeping him away from the ladies than keeping Antonin AND Bellatrix under control!" he chuckled. He inspected the bindings they had used. She was hopeful that he was about to free her but he turned away, leaving her bound.
"Wait, please untie me?" she asked, hating herself for being at his power.
"Hmmm, no, I don't think I will. I must, however, take you with me. It's the only way to ensure that Thorfinn, at least, will follow." He waved his wand and she floated, still bound, after him.
Voldemort was astounded. They, they had deserted him! The greatest dark wizard of all time and they had deserted him! For a pitch! How dare they do this! After he took the Mudblood, he walked out of the castle. He made sure there were people who would see him leaving with her. This would be the perfect way to draw Rowle after him, anyway! And where Rowle went, Yaxley followed. He had pretty much taken the young man under his wing. They would definitely rejoin him, if only to get the girl back into Thorfinn's hands! They were two of his most dangerous followers, the other two being Dolohov and Bellatrix. He had no doubt those two, though, would hunt him out without having to be tempted.
As the short quick game had turned into a long drawn out game, Rowle had forgotten about his little captive. As the game drew to a close, however, he looked at Yaxley. "Bloody hell!" they exclaimed at the same time. They ran back to the castle, into the room where they had secured her.
"Merlin, she's gone!" Thorfinn yelled, running his hands through his hair. "Fucking hell, we should have stayed up here!"
"Calm down, Finn, we'll find your girl. I'll help you, ok? I promise you, we'll find your girl!" Yaxley calmed him down as he tried to figure out how she could have gotten free! Then he realized something. He started smiling. "Oi, Thorfinn, look right here, where I'm standing. Notice anything?"
"Yeah, my bloody girl is gone!" he growled furiously. Yaxley sighed. 'Sometimes Thorfinn really acted like the dumb blond the Muggles were always making jokes about!'
"Noooo! That's not what I meant! C'mon, Thorfinn, look, right here, where I'm AT! Besides the girl, what ELSE is not here?" he asked the youngster patiently. Frowning, the young man checked out the area closely. Then his eyes widened.
"Bloody hell, the whole fucking table is gone!" he exclaimed. Yaxley nodded. He had a pretty good idea where Thor's girl might be.
Just then they heard the voices of two teen boys yelling. "Hermione? Hermione? Where are you? Are you sure Bill said she was seen this way, Ron?"
"Yes, Bill saw her being carried this way but then he got swept out the door before he could reach her! It was two Death Eaters who had her." Ron Weasley replied, annoyance clear in his voice. "It's just like her to get herself kidnapped!"
"Actually, it's not like her to get herself 'kidnapped', Ron. That would be more me or you. If she was bound, though, it's not good!" Harry sounded worried. The Death Eaters in question looked at each other. They waited to see if they could gain any more information about the girl. "What was it Molly said? She saw her being floated out by who?'
"Mum said You-Know-Who had her but that's ridiculous, Harry! We both know he hates Muggleborns and Muggles, why would he have taken her with him?" their voices faded away, leaving two wizards staring at each other.
"Merlin! He'll kill her before I get to play with her!" Thorfinn breathed. 'Damn! All the trouble he'd gone to over the years, making sure he had a way to track her, then finally getting his hands on her, all for nothing!' He sank into a crouch, hands on his knees and head bowed in disappointment.
"Not if we track him down! Don't you worry, mate, you'll still get to play with Granger!" Yaxley clapped a rough hand on his friends shoulder. They slipped out without being stopped and Disapparated.
Back in the Great Hall, everyone turned around as Harry Potter and Ron Weasley came back in. They shook their heads no. They hadn't found hide nor hair of Hermione. Nobody had seen Voldemort either, aside from the few who had seen him leave with Hermione. McGonagall called for order using a Sonorus to make herself heard.
"Attention, Attention, everyone! We need to start thinking of getting the repairs started on the Quidditch pitch. The school is also going to need a great deal of work in order to reopen in the next couple of years." She said.
"Who did it?" yelled Flint. "Who fired on the pitch? Why was the Quidditch pitch even targeted? That's what I want to know!"
"I don't know, Mr. Flint. We have no answers at this time. Just as we don't know where Voldemort is or where Hermione Granger is. We need to form search parties and look for her." McGonagall told them.
"Why? She's probably the one who ordered the strike on the pitch!" Ron yelled. McGonagall looked at Harry as if to see whether he was going to stand up for her or not. "She's never liked hearing us even talk about Quidditch. AND she hates the Chudley Cannons!"
Harry looked reluctant to defend Hermione. "Ron has a point. Hermione doesn't like Quidditch. She always said it took too much of our time." McGonagall rolled her eyes. 'Boys!' she thought. She put her hands on her hips, narrowed her eyes, and pursed her lips sternly as she glared at Harry. Harry saw her and gulped, knowing he'd just unleashed the wrath of McGonagall on himself!
"I don't see Miss Granger as the type of girl to order an attack on anything. I do, however, know someone who hates Quidditch and should easily have been able to stop that fire but Nooo, he didn't even try! You can't tell me the most powerful Dark Lord ever couldn't have done SOMETHING to help!" Lucius Malfoy growled angrily. "The Dark Lord could easily have ordered that attack!"
Outraged mutterings were heard all over the Great Hall. A certain reporter from the Daily Prophet had just arrived, hoping for some juicy stories and, oh, what a plum had fallen into her hands! Better yet, it was the perfect way to get back at that smarmy little know it all who had held her captive for a year! She quickly walked around getting quotes from people who held an equally great dislike of Hermione Granger. Finally she interviewed one disgruntled Ron Weasley. Harry was on the other side of the room, getting reamed out by McGonagall for not standing up for Hermione.
Voldemort had just reached his ancestral home when he heard four pops. He looked over his shoulder. As expected, Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, along with Dolohov, had just popped into sight. They were astounded by the sight of Hermione Granger, still bound to the table that Voldemort had walked out of Hogwarts with.
"Welcome to Riddle Manor, my friends. Please adjourn to the dining room while I escort Miss Granger to Thorfinn's room." They chuckled at the outrage clearly showing on Granger's face. They knew about the Quidditch player's obsession with this girl. As soon as he'd known they were headed to Hogwarts, he'd let everyone know Granger was HIS and not to be messed with! They headed into the dining room where comfortable chairs and firewhiskey waited for them.
The Dark Lord floated the table up the stairs and into a room with a huge bed. After some consideration, he muttered a spell which instantly transferred her, still bound, from the table into the bed. Laughing to himself, he put an Unbreakable charm on the bed, the floor under it and the wall behind it. If he knew Thorfinn the way he thought he did, Thorfinn wasn't likely to leave this room anytime soon. Miss Granger might not walk right ever again before it was all said and done! "There. I think that takes care of you. Thorfinn should be here soon. I'll be sure and let the elves know your meals will be served here until further notice." He vanished the table and walked out, leaving a horrified Hermione Granger tied to Thorfinn Rowle's bed.
Hermione Granger didn't give up easily and she was bound and determined to get free before Thorfinn showed up. She was NOT about to be a Death Eater's plaything! Not if she had anything to say about it! She had to get back to Hogwarts! Harry needed her help! Merlin help him if he had to depend on Ron to research anything for him. She fought the ropes until she'd worn herself out. Soon she was so tired she fell fast asleep.