The Quidditch Final

'He- he sent me this,' Hermione said, holding out the letter.

Hagrid had clearly been crying when he'd written it, as teardrops had smudged the ink quite badly in places.

Dear Hermione

We lost. I'm allowed to bring him back to Hogwarts. Execution to be fixed.

Beaky enjoyed London.

I won't forget the help you gave us.

Hagrid

John felt Sherlock's grip on him tighten, though he was grateful for the extra support, since he could barely feel his legs.

'They can't do this,' said Harry. 'They can't. Buckbeak isn't dangerous.'

'Malfoy's dad frightened the committee into it,' said Hermione, wiping her eyes. 'You know what he's like. Once he'd said his piece, there was nothing even Mycroft could do to convince them otherwise. There'll be an appeal, only I can't see much hope. Nothing will have changed.'

'Yeah, it will,' Ron said fiercely. 'You don't have to do it alone this time. I'll help.'

'Oh, Ron!' Hermione flung her arms around Ron's neck.

Ron, looking quite terrified, patted her on the head. Finally, she drew away.

'Ron, I'm really, really sorry about Scabbers…' she sobbed.

'Oh – well – he was old,' said Ron, looking thoroughly relieved that she had let go of him. 'And he was a bit useless. You never know, Mum and Dad might get me an owl now.'

Just then, Dean rounded the corner. 'Hey, it's a party in the hall,' he said as he saw them. 'Whoa, you all look terrible,' he added once he got closer to them.

'It's been a long day,' said Sherlock.

'I'll say.'

'Dean, why do you stink of whiskey?' asked Hermione, waving her hand in front of her nose.

'Oh, that's not me. Cas had his first adventure with some firewhiskey today,' said Dean.

'You're joking!' said Ron, shocked.

'Nope. He was a mess, falling all over the place. I left him with his brother a minute ago. I hope they get rid of the Dementors soon,' he added with a slight frown. 'Let's go inside, John looks like he's about to drop.'

Since Black's latest break-in, it had gotten even harder to visit Hagrid in the evenings, so the best chance they had to speak to him was during Care of Magical Creatures.

He seemed numb with shock during the Gryffindor and Slytherin lesson.

''S all my fault. Got all tongue-tied They was all sittin' there in black robes an' I kep' droppin' me notes and forgettin' all them dates yeh looked up fer me, Hermione. An' then Lucius Malfoy stood up an' said his bit, an' the Committee jus' did exactly what he told 'em… Mycroft was furious, o' course, but not much he could do.'

'There's still the appeal!' said Ron. 'Don't give up yet, we're working on it!'

''S no good, Ron,' said Hagrid sadly as he walked them up to the castle. 'That Committee's in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. I'm jus' gonna make sure the rest o' Beaky's time is the happiest he's ever had. I owe him that…'

He turned back to his cabin once they reached the castle steps, his face buried in his handkerchief.

'Look at him blubber!'

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had been standing just inside the castle doors.

'Have you ever seen anything so pathetic?' said Malfoy. 'And he's supposed to be our teacher!'

The three boys made furious moves towards him, but Hermione got there first – SMACK!

She had slapped Malfoy around the face with all the strength he could muster.

Malfoy staggered and the rest of them looked flabbergasted as Hermione raised her hand again.

'Don't you dare call Hagrid pathetic, you foul – you evil –'

'Hermione!' said Ron, trying to grab her hand.

'Get off, Ron!' Hermione pulled out her wand.

Malfoy stepped backward, and Crabbe and Goyle looked at him for instructions, thoroughly bewildered.

'C'mon,' Malfoy muttered, the three of them disappearing into a passageway to the dungeons.

'Hermione!' Ron said again, both stunned and impressed.

'Harry, you'd better beat him in the Quidditch final!' Hermione said shrilly. 'You just better had, because I can't stand it if Slytherin win!'

'We're due in Charms,' John reminded them. 'We'd better go.'

'You're late, boys!' said Professor Flitwick as they entered the classroom.

John felt an odd vibration behind him and turned, but there was nothing there. 'Wait,' he said, 'where's Hermione?'

'She was right behind us,' said Ron, frowning.

'That's weird,' Harry said. 'Maybe she went to the bathroom or something?'

But she didn't turn up all lesson. They'd split up into pairs and practice Cheering Charms on each other. Neville only managed to produce a weak chuckle out of John, but several times, John heard Sherlock's laugh across the classroom. He turned every time to see Sherlock doubling over, eyes creasing at the corners.

They all left the classroom in a very good mood, but Hermione wasn't at lunch either.

Sherlock and Castiel left for Transfiguration, while the rest of them hurried up to Gryffindor Tower.

'You don't think Malfoy did something to her?' said Ron anxiously.

They scrambled through the portrait hole into the common room, where they found Hermione fast asleep at her table, head resting on an open Arithmancy book.

Harry prodded her awake.

'Wh-what?' said Hermione, waking with a start. 'Is it time to go? Which lesson have we got now?'

'Divination, but not for another twenty minutes,' said Harry. 'Hermione, why didn't you come to Charms?'

'What? Oh, no!' Hermione squeaked. 'I forgot to go to Charms!'

'How could you forget?' John asked, confused. 'You were with us till we were right outside the classroom.'

'You know what, Hermione?' said Ron. 'I reckon you're cracking up. You're trying to do too much.'

'No, I'm not!' Hermione insisted, brushing her hair out of her eyes. 'I just made a mistake, that's all. I'd better go to Flitwick and say sorry… See you in Divination!'

Hermione joined them at the foot of the ladder to Professor Trelawney's classroom twenty minutes later. 'I can't believe I missed Cheering Charms!' she said. 'And I bet they come up in our exams. Proessor Flitwick hinted they might.'

Together they climbed the ladder into the stuffy tower room. Glowing on every table was a crystal ball full of pearly white mist. They all sat together at one of the tables.

'I thought we weren't starting crystal balls till next term,' Ron muttered.

'Don't complain, this means we've finished palmistry,' Harry muttered back. 'I was getting sick of her flinching every time she looked at my hands.'

'Good day to you,' said a familiar, misty voice, and Professor Trelawney made her usual dramatic entrance from the shadows. 'I have decided to introduce the crystal ball a little earlier than I had planned,' she said, seating herself by the fire and gazing around. 'The fates have informed me that your examination in June will concern the Orb, and I am anxious to give you sufficient practice.'

Hermione snorted. 'Well, honestly… "the fates have informed her"… who sets the exam? She does! What an amazing prediction!' she said, not troubling to lower her voice.

'Crystal-gazing is a particularly refined art,' Professor Trelawney continued as if she had not heard Hermione. 'I do not expect any of you to See when you peer into the Orb's infinite depths. Although…' she trailed off and looked over at John, who signed resignedly. 'We shall start by practicing relaxing the conscious mind and external eyes, so as to clear the Inner Eye and the superconscious. Perhaps, if we are lucky, some of you will see by the end of class.'

And so they began. John was feeling very relaxed, as he always did in Divination class, and folded his arms on the table. He rested his chin on his arms and stared into the milky fog. He watched it twist and come together to form four different creatures. A stag, a rat, a dog, and something else that he couldn't identify. He smiled, watching them frolic around.

'See anything yet?' Harry asked them, after about a quarter of an hour.

'Yeah, there's a burn on this table,' said Ron, pointing. 'Someone's spilled their candle.'

'It's sort of like cloud watching. I'm seeing some woodland creatures,' said John. 'Maybe I'm going to a teddy-bear picnic.'

'This is such a waste of time,' Hermione hissed. 'I could be practising something useful. I could be catching up on Cheering Charms-'

Professor Trelawney rustled over to them. 'Would anyone like me to help them interpret the shadowy portents within their Orb?' she murmured.

'I don't need help,' Ron whispered. 'It's obvious what this means. There's going to be loads of fog tonight.'

Harry and Hermione burst out laughing.

'Now, really!' said Professor Trelawney. 'You are disturbing the clairvoyant vibrations!' She approached their table and peered into their crystal ball. 'There is something here!' she whispered. 'Something moving… but what is it?'

John was still watching the animals, however, they were moving differently, more urgently now.

'My dear…' Professor Trelawney breathed, gazing up at Harry. 'It is here, plainer than ever before… my dear, stalking towards you, growing ever closer… the Grim!'

Parvati and Lavender gasped quietly.

John frowned. 'That's not the Grim,' he said, squinting at the crystal ball. 'It's a dog, obviously, but it's not the Grim.'

'Whatever do you mean, dear boy?' Professor Trelawney asked.

John was strongly reminded of their first lesson with tea leaves. 'Look, the dog is protecting the stag from this rat thing that keeps attacking it. And there's a big thing over here. I'm not sure what it is, but it looks like it's waiting for something.'

Professor Trelawney looked at him, bewildered. 'Perhaps you have something of an overactive imagination, Mr Watson. This is definitely the Grim and only the Grim.'

John sat back in his chair, dejected.

'Oh, for goodness' sake!' Hermione said loudly. 'This is ridiculous! John is a real Seer, why aren't you listening to him?'

'It's fine, Hermione,' John muttered. 'I'm not a real Seer, it's fine.'

Professor Trelawney stood up straight, surveying Hermione with unmistakeable anger. 'I am sorry to say that from the moment you arrived in my classroom, my dear, it has been apparent that you don't have what the noble art of Divination requires. Indeed, I don't remember ever meeting a student whose mind was so hopelessly Mundane.'

There was a moment's silence, then-

'Fine!' said Hermione, suddenly getting up and cramming Unfogging the Future back in her bag. 'Fine!' she repeated, swinging the bag over her shoulder and almost knocking Ron off his chair. 'I give up! I'm leaving!' She strode over to the trapdoor, kicked it open, and climbed down the ladder.

Slowly, John rose from his own seat. 'That was uncalled for,' he said quietly, also packing away his book. 'As a teacher, your job is to guide and nurture. Calling your students names isn't even close to appropriate.' He lingered by the crystal ball for a second, then followed Hermione out. The trapdoor closed itself once he'd stepped off the ladder, and set off to find Hermione.

She was sat with her head in her hands half way down the stairs.

'Are you okay?' John asked, sitting down beside her.

She sniffed and ran her hands through her, but said nothing.

'Maybe Ron's right, maybe you are doing too much. Far be it for me to tell you what to do, but maybe you don't need Muggle Studies?' he suggested.

Hermione gave a weak chuckle.

'Think about it?'

'I'll think about it,' she conceded. 'Don't quit Divination though, John. You really are an incredible Seer. I've seen it for myself.'

John smiled. 'That's very nice of you, Hermione, but I'll believe that when I see it – no pun intended.'

Hermione shook her head.

'Let's go back to the common room,' said John. 'We can practice our Cheering Charms, what do you think?'

'That sounds good.'

The Easter holidays brought a mountain of homework in the lead up to exams, for Hermione more than anyone else.

Ron took over responsibility for Buckbeak's appeal, and was just as likely to be found poring over books about Hippogriffs as he was his own work. Sherlock, too, was spending a lot of time writing and receiving letters, mostly discussing strategy with Mycroft.

Castiel, though he too had a lot of work to do, was suddenly trapped in the hospital wing with a rush of people breaking down from stress.

Harry had Quidditch practice in all his free time, and Dean flitted around between them, finding any excuse not to work.

John ended up spending a lot of his time alone. He wasn't having much trouble with his homework, so he amused himself by listening to Oliver Wood repeating to Harry that he must only catch the Snitch if they were fifty points ahead, over and over again.

The night before the match saw everyone piled into the Gryffindor common room. Even Hermione put away her homework for the night, unable to concentrate with all the noise.

Fred and George were even louder than usual, cracking jokes and playing tricks on people.

John laughed along with them, cheeks aching, when Sherlock sat beside him.

'How are you feeling?' Sherlock asked.

'Fine, why?'

'Not nervous, or anything?'

'Should I be?' John was taken aback by the attentiveness Sherlock was showing him, then he realised why. 'Oh, don't start with that again,' he tutted. 'Just because I'm in a good mood doesn't mean we're definitely going to win.'

'But-'

'Just leave it, will you?' John got up and went over to Hermione.

Sherlock sighed.

'It doesn't seem like it's going well,' said Castiel, coming up behind him, sipping a glass of water.

'I admit, I wasn't expecting him to fight it this much. I thought he was coming around.'

'I'm not all that surprised,' said Cas. 'Considering everything Professor Trelawney has said to him.'

'What do you mean?'

'Wait, he hasn't told you?'

'Told me what?'

Cas took another nervous sip of water. 'She's been telling him he's wrong every time he says something in Divination, and he wasn't exactly confident to begin with.'

'What?' said Sherlock. 'How do you know this?'

'Seamus told me when he was in the hospital wing a few days ago. He really hasn't said something?'

'No, he's never said anything.' Sherlock shivered.

The common room quietened down once the team went to bed. Sherlock stayed with John again, and Dean and Cas fell asleep in chairs in the common room.

John was almost too excited to eat breakfast the next morning, and led the way down to the stands, meeting Molly Hooper along the way.

'Molly!' he said. 'Sitting with us today?'

'Oh, no, John, I'm sitting with Ernie today. We're cheering for Gryffindor, though!' She hurried away.

They settled into seats just as the match kicked off, with Gryffindor gaining possession immediately.

'Alicia Spinnett of Gryffindor with the Quaffle, heading straight for the Slytherin goalposts,' Lee Jordan announced. 'Quaffle intercepted by Warrington. Warrington tearing up the pitch – nice Bludger work there by George Weasley. Warrington drops the Quaffle, it's caught by Johnson. Gryffindor back in possession – nice swerve around Montague – SHE SCORES! TEN-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!'

Angelina was then nearly thrown from her broom as Marcus Flint smashed into her.

Fred Weasley threw his Beater's bat at Flint in retaliation, hitting him on the back of the head and causing him to bloody his nose on the handle of his broom.

John bit his lip, trying not to laugh.

Madam Hooch called a penalty for both teams. Gryffindor scored, but Slytherin did not.

The teams were quite evenly matched and Lee was having trouble keeping up.

'Gryffindor in possession – no Slytherin in possession – no! – Gryffindor back in possession! It's Katie Bell, Katie Bell for Gryffindor with the Quaffle, she's streaking up the pitch – THAT WAS DELIBERATE!'

Montague, a Slytherin Chaser, had swerved in front of Katie, but grabbed her head instead of the Quaffle.

Madam Hooch awarded Gryffindor another penalty, which Katie took easily.

'THIRTY-ZERO! TAKE THAT, YOU DIRTY, CHEATING-'

'Jordan, if you can't commentate in an unbiased way-!'

'I'm telling it like it is, Professor!'

Harry then tricked Malfoy and both Slytherin Beaters with a dive, drawing Malfoy away from the Snitch, whilst also causing the Beaters to collide with each other.

Slytherin did manage to score a goal, but the match rapidly deteriorated as Slytherin began doing just about anything to gain control of the Quaffle.

One of the Beaters hit Alicia with his club, again eliciting retaliation from one of the Weasley twins.

Penalties were awarded to both teams, with Gryffinor being the only one to score once again.

In response to this, the Slytherin Beaters aimed both Bludgers at Wood. They both hit him, one after the other, knocking the wind out of him.

Another penalty and another goal put Gryffindor sixty points ahead. If Harry caught the Snitch now, Gryffindor would win the Cup.

John's breath caught in his chest as Harry went into a dive, a real one this time. Everyone in the stands rose to their feet, then cried out in anger.

Malfoy, who had been following Harry, threw himself forward and grabbed the tail of Harry's broom slowing him down.

'YOU CHEATING SCUM!' Lee was howling through the megaphone, dancing out of Professor McGonagall's reach. 'YOU FILTHY, CHEATING B-'

Professor McGonagall didn't even bother to tell him off. She was shaking her fist at Malfoy. Her hat had fallen off, and she too was shouting furiously.

The Gryffindor team were now beginning to lose concentration, as angry as they were about the Slytherins' dirty tactics.

Angelina had the Quaffle and the entire Slytherin team, minus Malfoy, formed a block in front of her. Harry shot towards them like a bullet, scattering them and allowing Angelina to score.

A gasp ran through the stands. Malfoy had gone into a dive of his own, and Harry raced towards him. It was close, but I the end, Malfoy's Nimbus was no match for Harry's Firebolt.

John watched as Harry knocked Malfoy's arm away, then raised his arm in the air.

The stadium erupted into cheer and stamping as the team converged on Harry.

John jumped up and down, screaming and cheering, completely caught up in the joy of the win. He grabbed Sherlock and hugged him tightly, still jumping excitedly. He didn't notice Sherlock flush pink, then rushed the pitch with everyone else, to celebrate with the team.

Welcome back everyone. Thanks again to Sherlock Harry Winchester for the review. See you all again soon.