THE DEMENTOR ATTACK

Professor Dumbledore sent all the Gryffindor back to the great hall. They were joined by the other houses who had confused looks. "The teachers and I are going to conduct a thorough search of the castle.", Professor Dumbledore said with a grim look as the other professors closed the main door to the hall. "I am afraid that, you will have spent the night here. There will be guards to the entrance of the hall and I am giving responsibility of taking care of the students to the head boy and girl. Any disturbance should be immediately notified to us."

Percy acknowledged the order and looked at the great hall in pride. "You can send the message with one of the portraits or ghosts.", Dumbledore added. "And you also will be needing..", with a wave of his wand all the desks and chairs of the great hall vanished and with another the floor was filled with purple sleeping bags. "I wish you all a good night, and hope you all will sleep well.", Dumbledore added and closed the door behind him.

The hall immediately began to buzz excitedly; the Gryffindors were telling the rest of the school what had just happened.

"Everyone into their sleeping bags!" shouted Percy. "Come on, now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!"

"C'mon," Ron said to the other three they seized three sleeping bags and dragged them into a corner.

"Do you think Black's still in the castle?" Hermione whispered anxiously.

"Dumbledore obviously thinks he might be," said Ron.

"I hope that, he gets caught soon. I am sure that if he comes once, I am sure that he will come again.", Simran said with a tone of fear.

"It's very lucky he picked tonight, you know," said Hermione as they climbed fully dressed into their sleeping bags and propped themselves on their elbows to talk. "The one night we weren't in the tower.". "I am sure that, the security will be increased after this incident.", Hermione said turning to Simran.

"But he did get out of a maximum-security prison, didn't he?", Simran asked.

"I am not sure why he chose this night. I am sure that, he knows about time of the Halloween feast at Hogwarts.", Natasha said.

"I reckon he's lost track of time, being on the run," said Ron. "Didn't realize it was Halloween. Otherwise he'd have come bursting in here."

All around them, people were asking one another the same question: "How did he get in?"

"Maybe he knows how to Apparate," said a Ravenclaw a few feet away, "Just appear out of thin air, you know."

"Disguised himself, probably," said a Hufflepuff fifth year.

"He could've flown in," suggested Dean Thomas.

"I think we three are the only one who read Hogwarts the history,", Hermione said to Simran and Natasha.

"Probably," said Ron. "Why?"

"Because the castle's protected by more than walls, you know," said Hermione. "There are all sorts of enchantments on it, to stop people entering by stealth. You can't just Apparate in here. And I'd like to see the disguise that could fool those Dementors. They're guarding every single entrance to the grounds. They'd have seen him fly in too. And Filch knows all the secret passages, they'll have them covered..."

"Hermione is right, you know. There is no way, that black could have come into the castle by any normal means.", Natasha said agreeing with her friend. Even Simran agreed with a nod.

"The lights are going out now!" Percy shouted. "I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!"

"I think we better go to sleep before Percy starts taking off points.", Simran said with a yawn.

The candles all went out at once. The only light now came from the silvery ghosts, who were drifting about talking seriously to the prefects, and the enchanted ceiling, which, like the sky outside, was scattered with stars. What with that, and the whispering that still filled the hall, Natasha felt as though she was sleeping outdoors in a light wind.

Once every hour, a teacher would reappear in the Hall to check that everything was quiet. Around three in the morning, when many students had finally fallen asleep, Professor Dumbledore came in. Natasha watched him looking around for Percy, who had been prowling between the sleeping bags, telling people off for talking. Percy was only a short way away from Natasha who quickly pretended to be asleep as Dumbledore's footsteps drew nearer.

"I take it that, you did not find him anywhere, Professor.", Percy said when Professor was near him.

"Yes. We searched nearly the whole castle. Only the third floor and Professor Trelawney's rooms are remaining. It seems he slipped through our hands.", Dumbledore said. "I take it that, everything is fine here?"

"Everything is under control here, sir.", Percy said with pride.

"Good. There's no point moving them all now. I've found a temporary guardian for the Gryffindor portrait hole. You'll be able to move them back in tomorrow."

"And the Fat Lady, sir?"

"Hiding in a map of Argyllshire on the second floor. Apparently, she refused to let Black in without the password, so he attacked. She's still very distressed, but once she's calmed down, I'll have Mr Filch restore her."

"I hope that, the next person will be able to defend against black better.", Percy said.

"I certainly hope that, it will not come to that Mr. Weasley. Because if he does, the students may not be lucky next time.", Dumbledore said.

Natasha heard the door of the hall creak open again, and more footsteps.

"Headmaster?" It was Professor Snape. Natasha kept quite still, listening hard. "The whole of the third floor has been searched. He's not there. And Filch has done the dungeons; nothing there either."

"What about the Astronomy tower? Professor Trelawney's room? The Owlery?"

"All searched..."

"Very well, Severus. I didn't really expect Black to linger."

"Sir, do you have any idea, how he might have been able to get into the castle?", Snape asked Dumbledore.

Natasha raised her head very slightly off her arms to free her other ear. She wanted to hear everything that might have happened.

"Many, Severus, each of them as unlikely as the next."

Natasha opened her eyes a fraction and squinted up to where they stood; Dumbledore's back was to her, but she could see Percy's face, rapt with attention, and Snape's profile, which looked angry.

"You remember the conversation we had, Headmaster, just before - ah - the start of term?" said Snape, who was barely opening his lips, as though trying to block Percy out of the conversation. Natasha now wanted to know, what the theory was. She knew Snape was a really intelligent person, and wanted to hear what he had to say about it.

"I do, Severus," said Dumbledore, and there was something like warning in his voice.

"It seems - almost impossible - that Black could have entered the school without inside help. I did express my concerns when you appointed -"

"I do not believe a single person inside this castle would have helped Black enter it," said Dumbledore, and his tone made it so clear that the subject was closed that Snape didn't reply.

Natasha was dumbfounded now. Black having inside help? It certainly was not the first time that, bad guys had infiltrated the castle. In her first year, Voldemort himself was able to come inside with the help of her DADA professor. But she was clueless as to who the present one would be. She silently agreed with Dumbledore that, it was not an inside job.

"I must go down to the Dementors," said Dumbledore. "I said I would inform them when our search was complete."

"Didn't they want to help, sir?" said Percy.

"Oh yes," said Dumbledore coldly. "But I'm afraid no Dementor will cross the threshold of this castle while I am Headmaster."

Percy looked slightly abashed. Dumbledore left the hall, walking quickly and quietly. Snape stood for a moment, watching the headmaster with an expression of deep resentment on his face; then he too left.

Natasha glanced sideways at her friends. The three of them had their eyes open too, reflecting the starry ceiling.

"What was all that about?" Ron mouthed.

"An inside job? That's preposterous!", Simran muttered. Hermione was not sure about what to think about the theory.

The school talked of nothing but Sirius Black for the next few days. The theories about how he had entered the castle became wilder and wilder; Hannah Abbott, from Hufflepuff, spent much of their next Herbology class telling anyone who'd listen that Black could turn into a flowering shrub. Natasha found that funny, as she knew that was a ridiculous theory was humans couldn't turn into plants, as Professor McGonagall had explained in her lessons.

The Fat Lady's ripped canvas had been taken off the wall and replaced with the portrait a guy called Sir Cadogan and his fat grey pony. Simran had explained to her that, the portrait was near the stairs that led to the north tower and was a really stupid person. Nobody was very happy about this. Sir Cadogan spent half his time challenging people to duels, and the rest thinking up ridiculously complicated passwords, which he changed at least twice a day.

"He's a complete lunatic," said Seamus Finnigan angrily to Percy. "Can't we get anyone else?"

"None of the other pictures wanted the job," said Percy. "Frightened of what happened to the Fat Lady. Sir Cadogan was the only one brave enough to volunteer."

Sir Cadogan, however, was the least of Natasha's worries. She was now being closely watched. Teachers found excuses to walk along corridors with her, and Percy Weasley (acting, Natasha suspected, on his mother's orders) was tailing her everywhere like an extremely pompous guard dog. It was like in her first year, when professor Snape had taken to follow her everywhere to make a lookout for her, except that, it was now every teacher at Hogwarts. To cap it all, Professor McGonagall summoned Natasha into her office, with such a sombre expression on her face Natasha thought someone must have died.

"I have a really sad news for you, Ms. Potter. The teachers have come to a decision to not to allow you to go to further Hogsmeade visits until Black is caught or is confirmed to be nowhere near the school.", McGonagall said.

"But Professor, that's not fair!", Natasha protested.

"I am sorry, Natasha. But this is for your own safety. Ad you know, Black is after you, and cannot risk to lose you. I hope that you understand."

Natasha wanted to argue more, but she knew that it was useless. She just nodded with sadness in her face. "And about your Quidditch training. Out on the field with only your team members, it's very exposed, Potter -"

"We've got our first match on Saturday!" said Natasha, outraged. "I've got to train, Professor!"

Professor McGonagall considered her intently. Natasha knew she was deeply interested in the Gryffindor team's prospects; it had been she, after all, who'd suggested her as Seeker in the first Place. She waited, holding her breath.

"Hmm..."Professor McGonagall stood up and stared out of the window at the Quidditch field, just visible through the rain. "Well...goodness knows, I'd like to see us win the Cup at last...but all the same, Potter...I'd be happier if a teacher were present. I'll ask Madam Hooch to oversee your training sessions."

When Natasha went back to the common crestfallen due to the bad news that she had received, she was told her friends of what happened.

"That's outrageous! They can't do that to you!", Ron said angrily.

"Yeah. You have every right to go, as you have a signed form.", Simran said.

"I think I agree with Professor. I mean, with the recent developments at the school, it just might not be safe for her to go to Hogsmeade.", Hermione said thoughtfully.

"But I really want to go, Hermione.", Natasha said. "If I just talk to her again after sometime, after all this is cooled down-"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Natasha.", Percy who was nearby said. "It seems that the teachers were serious about this, and I don't think you can change their mind this."

Accepting defeat, Natasha just sat down at the couch. She did not see the looks that, the twins Weasley twins who were sitting next them gave each other.

The weather worsened steadily as the first Quidditch match drew nearer. Undaunted, the Gryffindor team was training harder than ever under the eye of Madam Hooch. Then, at their final training session before Saturday's match, Oliver Wood gave his team some unwelcome news.

"We're not playing Slytherin!" he told them, looking very angry. "Flint's just been to see me. We're playing Hufflepuff instead."

"Why?" chorused the rest of the team.

"Flint's excuse is that their Seeker's arm's still injured," said Wood, grinding his teeth furiously. "But it's obvious why they're doing it. Don't want to play in this weather. Think it'll damage their chances...".

There had been strong winds and heavy rain all day, and as Wood spoke, they heard a distant rumble of thunder.

"There's nothing wrong with Malfoy's arm!", said George furiously. "He's faking it!"

"I don't think that, we can prove that George. And we've been practicing all those moves assuming we're playing Slytherin, and instead it's Hufflepuff, and their style's quite different. They've got a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory -", Wood said looking concerned.

At the mention of Cedric, Natasha got a weird feeling in her stomach. She had started getting the feeling from the near end of the previous year. Natasha was feeling attracted to him in a weird way, and was coming to know slowly that she was falling in love with him. Her interaction with Cedric was very minimal, as they only exchanged some few greeting some days. She wanted to make it more, but her busy schedule and classes were somehow stopping her from it.

Angelina, Alicia, and Katie suddenly giggled.

"What?" said Wood, frowning at this lighthearted behavior.

"He's that tall, good-looking one, isn't he?" said Angelina. "Yes he certainly is.", Natasha thought and giggled with the other girls.

"Strong and silent," said Katie, and they started to giggle again.

"He's only silent because he's too thick to string two words together," said Fred impatiently. "I don't know why you're worried, Oliver, Hufflepuff is a pushover. Last time we played them, Natasha caught the Snitch in about five minutes, remember?"

"We were playing in completely different conditions!" Wood shouted, his eyes bulging slightly. "Diggory's put a very strong side together! He's an excellent Seeker! I was afraid you'd take it like this! We mustn't relax! We must keep our focus! Slytherin is trying to wrong-foot us! We must win!"

"Oliver, calm down!" said Fred, looking slightly alarmed. "We're taking Hufflepuff very seriously. Seriously."

"I agree with Oliver, Fred. This time, they even have very good chasers. The people who played at that time has graduated, and Diggory has certainly become good the last year.", Natasha said agreeing with Wood.

"Do you mean, he became good in playing or something else?", Angelina asked teasingly. Natasha felt blush coming to her cheeks.

The day before the match, the winds reached howling point and the rain fell harder than ever. It was so dark inside the corridors and classrooms that extra torches and lanterns were lit. The Slytherin team was looking very smug indeed, and none more so than Malfoy.

"Ah, if only my arm was feeling a bit better!" he sighed as the gale outside pounded the windows.

Natasha had no room in her head to worry about anything except the match tomorrow. Oliver Wood kept hurrying up to her between classes and giving her tips. The third time this happened, Wood talked for so long that Natasha suddenly realized she was ten minutes late for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and set off at a run with Wood shouting after her, "Diggory's got a very fast swerve, Natasha, so you might want to try looping him -"

Natasha skidded to a halt outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, pulled the door open, and dashed inside.

"Sorry I'm late, Professor Lupin. I -"

But it wasn't Professor Lupin who looked up at her from the teacher's desk; it was Professor Snape.

"This lesson began ten minutes ago, Ms. Potter, so I think we'll make it ten points from Gryffindor. Sit down.", he said motioning to a chair nearby. Natasha knew better than to not to obey, and sat next to Simran.

"Turn all your books to page 394.", the professor said lazily and started going toward a magical projector that he had in the room. The students started turning the pages as fast as possible. "What happened to Professor Lupin?", Natasha asked Simran.

"Snape said that, he was sick and it was not anything serious.", Simran said with an angry look at the Professor. Ron was turning his pages very lazily and the Professor noticed that and said, "Turn to page number 394.". With the flick of his wand, Professor Snape changed the Ron's page to 394.

"Werewolves! We are going to have a lesson about Werewolves?", Ron asked clearly shocked by the page's contents.

"Please, sir, we've done Boggarts, Red Caps, Kappas, and Grindylows," said Hermione quickly, "and we're just about to start -"

"Be quiet," said Snape coldly. "I did not ask for information. I was merely commenting on Professor Lupin's lack of organization."

"He's the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had," said Dean Thomas boldly, and there was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the class. Snape looked more menacing than ever.

"You are easily satisfied. Lupin is hardly overtaxing you - I would expect first years to be able to deal with Red Caps and Grindylows. But I say, we need to move on to more important topics.", Snape said.

Natasha didn't try to argue as she knew that, arguing with Professor Snape was the worst thing to do. But was clearly confused as to why the Professor was taking the topic very fast. There was a magical slide show showing pictures of werewolves and their attacks beside the professor.

"Which of you can tell me how we distinguish between the werewolf and the true wolf?" said Snape.

Only Hermione's and Natasha's hands were in the air. But Natasha knew that, the chances of the professor calling them was very small.

"Anyone?" Snape said, ignoring them both. "Are you telling me that Professor Lupin hasn't even taught you the basic distinction between -"

"We told you," said Parvati suddenly, "we haven't got as far as werewolves yet, we're still on -"

"Silence!" snarled Snape. "Well, well, well, I never thought I'd meet a third-year class who wouldn't even recognize a werewolf when they saw one. I shall make a point of informing Professor Dumbledore how very behind you all are..."

"Please, sir," said Hermione, whose hand was still in the air, "the werewolf differs from the true wolf in several small ways. The snout of the werewolf -"

"That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger," said Snape coolly. "Five more points from Gryffindor for speaking out of turn."

No one made a sound throughout the rest of the lesson. Professor Snape explained stuff about werewolves and then They sat and made notes on werewolves from the textbook, while Snape prowled up and down the rows of desks, examining the work they had been doing with Professor Lupin.

"Very poorly explained...That is incorrect, the Kappa is more commonly found in Mongolia...Professor Lupin gave this eight out of ten? I wouldn't have given it three..."

When the bell rang at last, Snape held them back.

"You will each write an essay, to be handed in to me, on the ways you recognize and kill werewolves. I want two rolls of parchment on the subject, and I want them by Monday morning. It is time somebody took this class in hand.", he said.

"Snape's never been like this with any of our other Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers, even if he did want the job,", Ron said to the girls. "Why's he got it in for Lupin? D'you think this is all because of the Boggart?"

"I feel as if he has some grudge against Lupin.", Natasha said thoughtfully.

"But why?", Ron asked.

"We have no idea. He is Snape, remember?", Simran said.

Natasha woke extremely early the next morning; so early that it was still dark. Natasha fumbled for his alarm clock and looked at it. It was half past four. Cursing her bad luck, she tried to go back to sleep, but it was very difficult, now that she was awake, to ignore the sounds of the thunder rumbling overhead, the pounding of the wind against the castle walls, and the distant creaking of the trees in the Forbidden Forest.

In a few hours she would be out on the Quidditch field, battling through that gale. Natasha saw that Hermione and Simran were sleeping peacefully. Natasha smiled at that, because to Hermione sleeping was a rare thing, because of her workload. Natasha still didn't know how she was doing it. Finally, she gave up any thought of more sleep, got up, dressed, picked up her Nimbus Two Thousand, and walked quietly out of the dormitory.

As she reached the common room, she saw Crookshanks coming out of the boy's dormitory. She was still wondering what was the deal with the cat and Ron's rat. Natasha knew that, cats did chase rats but this cat was obsessive. The noise of the storm was even louder in the common room. Natasha knew better than to think the match would be cancelled; Quidditch matches weren't called off for trifles like thunderstorms. Nevertheless, she was starting to feel very apprehensive. Natasha whiled away the hours until dawn in front of the fire, while reading a book.

At long last Natasha thought it must be time for breakfast, so she headed through the portrait hole alone. She struggled to eat her breakfast, as she was genuinely nervous about the match. The team captain was also making things worse by repeatedly telling that, the match was going to be a bad one.

"Stop worrying, Oliver," said Alicia soothingly, "we don't mind a bit of rain."

As soon as they finished breakfast, the team went to the locker room and changed into their scarlet robes and waited for Wood's usual pre-match pep talk, but it didn't come. He tried to speak several times, made an odd gulping noise, then shook his head hopelessly and beckoned them to follow him. Natasha was growing more and more nervous by the minute. The wind was so strong that they staggered sideways as they walked out onto the field. If the crowd was cheering, they couldn't hear it over the fresh rolls of thunder.

The Hufflepuffs were approaching from the opposite side of the field, wearing canary-yellow robes. The Captains walked up to each other and shook hands; Diggory smiled at Wood but Wood now looked as though he had lockjaw and merely nodded. He then looked at Natasha and gave her a nod. Natasha was not even able to blush as she was getting colder and colder. Natasha saw Madam Hooch's mouth form the words, "Mount Your brooms." She pulled her right foot out of the mud with a squelch and swung it over her Nimbus Two Thousand. Madam Hooch put her whistle to her lips and gave it a blast that sounded shrill and distant - they were off.

Natasha was finding it hard to focus in the match, as the rain was very heavy and was affecting her vision. She knew that, in the darkness of the rain she had to be practically in front of the snitch to be able to catch it. She lost track of time. It was getting harder and harder to hold her broom straight. The sky was getting darker, as though night had decided to come early. From the distance, she heard madam Hooch's whistle and feared the worst that, Cedric had already caught the snitch.

Natasha could just see the outline of Wood through the thick rain, gesturing her to the ground. The whole team splashed down into the mud. "I called for time-out!" Wood roared at his team. "Come on, under here -". Natasha was relieved at this, and asked, "What is the score? I totally lost the track of the match. "

"We're fifty points up," said Wood, "but unless we get the Snitch soon, we'll be playing into the night.". The team discussed more strategies to continue the game and when Madam hooch said that, the time was up, they mount their brooms and went back up. Full of fresh determination, she urged her broom through the turbulent air, staring in every direction for the Snitch, avoiding a Bludger, ducking beneath Cedric, who was streaking in the opposite direction. Natasha knew that, she had to catch the snitch soon as the conditions were getting from bad to worse.

She turned, intending to head back toward the middle of the field, but at that moment, another flash of lightning illuminated the stands, and Natasha saw something that distracted her completely, the silhouette of an enormous shaggy black dog, clearly imprinted against the sky, motionless in the topmost, empty row of seats. She got distracted by the dog a bit and did not pay attention to the surroundings.

"Natasha!" came Wood's anguished yell from the Gryffindor goal posts. "Natasha, behind you!"

She looked wildly around. Cedric was pelting up the field, and a tiny speck of gold was shimmering in the rain-filled air between them. With a jolt of panic, she threw herself flat to the broom handle and zoomed toward the Snitch.

"Come on!", she growled at her Nimbus as the rain whipped her face. "Faster!"

But something odd was happening. An eerie silence was falling across the stadium. The wind, though as strong as ever, was forgetting to roar. It was as though someone had turned off the sound, as though Natasha had gone suddenly deaf - what was going on?

And then a horribly familiar wave of cold swept over her, inside her, just as she became aware of something moving on the field below...

Before she'd had time to think, Natasha had taken her eyes off the Snitch and looked down.

At least a hundred Dementors, their hidden faces pointing up at her, were standing beneath her. It was as though freezing water were rising in her chest, cutting at her insides. And then she heard it again...Someone was screaming, screaming inside her head...a woman...

"Not Natasha, not Natasha, please not Natasha!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl...stand aside, now..."

"Not Natasha, please no, take me, kill me instead -"

Numbing, swirling white mist was filling Natasha's brain...What was she doing? Why was she flying? She needed to help her...She was going to die...She was going to be murdered.

She was falling, falling through the icy mist.

"Not Natasha! Please...have mercy...have mercy..."

A shrill voice was laughing, the woman was screaming, and Natasha knew no more.

Cedric Diggory was going after the snitch in full speed. He had noticed that, Natasha was distracted by something and took the advantage of it to chase after the snitch. Then suddenly the atmosphere was turning colder. "This is strange.", Cedric thought. In a second Cedric saw the snitch right in front of him and caught it easily. Just when he thought that he will hear cheering, he was greeted by screams. He looked down and saw that, Natasha Potter was getting attacked by hundreds of dementors and was going to fall from her broom at any moment. He knew he had to help her, but he couldn't repel the dementors back. He swiftly flew a bit away from the dementors and went down. As soon as he started going down, he saw that Natasha Potter was in a freefall from her broom. He immediately sped towards her and tried to catch her with his two arms. "To hell with the snitch.", he thought. Natasha Potter somehow fell right into his arms and he placed her body back of his broom and went down.

"Lucky Diggory caught her."

"I thought she was dead for sure when she started falling."

Natasha could hear the voices whispering, but they made no sense whatsoever. She didn't have a clue where she was, or how she'd got there, or what she'd been doing before she got there.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life."

Scariest...the scariest thing...hooded black figures...cold...screaming...

Natasha's eyes snapped open. She was lying in the hospital wing. The Gryffindor Quidditch team, spattered with mud from head to foot, was gathered around her bed. Ron, Hermione and Simran were also there, looking as though they'd just climbed out of a swimming pool.

"Natasha!" said Fred, who looked extremely white underneath, the mud. "How're you feeling?"

It was as though Natasha's memory was on fast forward. The lightning...the Grim...the Snitch...and the Dementors...

"What happened?" she said, sitting up so suddenly they all gasped.

"You fell off," said Fred. "Lucky that Diggory caught you."

"We thought you'd died," said Alicia, who was shaking.

Hermione made a small, squeaky noise. Her eyes were extremely bloodshot.

"But the match," said Natasha. "What happened? Are we doing a replay?"

No one said anything. The horrible truth sank into Natasha like a stone.

"We didn't - lose?"

"Diggory got the Snitch," said George. "Just after dementors attacked you. When he saw you falling, he came down and somehow caught you. Really brave thing he did. He even wanted a rematch. But they won fair and square...even Wood admits it."

"Where is Wood?" said Natasha, suddenly realizing he wasn't there.

"Still in the showers," said Fred. "We think he's trying to drown himself."

Natasha put her face to her knees, her hands gripping her hair. Fred grabbed her shoulder and shook it roughly.

"C'mon, Natasha, you've never missed the Snitch before."

"There had to be one time you didn't get it," said George.

"It's not over yet," said Fred. "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," said George.

"But if they beat Ravenclaw..."

"No way, Ravenclaw is too good. But if Slytherin loses against Hufflepuff..."

"It all depends on the points - a margin of a hundred either way -"

Natasha lay there, not saying a word. They had lost...for the first time ever, she had lost a Quidditch match. Whatever the twins were saying were not comforting her.

After ten minutes or so, Madam Pomfrey came over to tell the team to leave her in peace.

"We'll come and see you later," Fred told her. "Don't beat yourself up. Natasha, you're still the best Seeker we've ever had."

The team trooped out, trailing mud behind them. Madam Pomfrey shut the door behind them, looking disapproving. Ron, Simran and Hermione moved nearer to Natasha's bed.

"Dumbledore was really angry," Hermione said in a quaking voice. "I've never seen him like that before. He ran onto the field as you fell, and received you as soon as Diggory came with you. Shot silver stuff at Dementors. They left the stadium right away...He was furious they'd come onto the grounds. We heard him -"

"The whole thing was scary. I thought you died, even before Diggory caught you.", Simran said in a shivery voice.

"Then he magicked you onto a stretcher," said Ron. "And walked up to school with you floating on it. Everyone thought you were..."

His voice faded, but Natasha hardly noticed. She was thinking about what the Dementors had done to her...about the screaming voice. She looked up and saw the three friends looking at her so anxiously that she quickly cast around for something matter-of-fact to say.

"Did someone get my Nimbus?"

"Er -"

"What?" said Natasha, looking from one to the other.

"Well...when you fell off, it got blown away," said Ron hesitantly.

"And?"

"And it hit - it hit - oh, Natasha - it hit the Whomping Willow.", Simran said.

Natasha's insides lurched. The Whomping Willow was a very violent tree that stood alone in the middle of the grounds.

"And?", she said, dreading the answer.

"Well, you know the Whomping Willow," said Ron. "It - it doesn't like being hit."

"Professor Flitwick brought it back just before you came around," said Hermione in a very small voice.

Slowly, she 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, the only remains of Natasha's faithful, finally beaten broomstick.