The following Monday came bearing bad news in the form of a large sign on the Gryffindor bulletin board, so large it covered everything else. Annabelle was one of the first to see it, along with Angelina and Alicia. It was printed in large, black letters and had a seal and curly signature at the bottom.
By Order of
THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS
All Student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups and Clubs are henceforth disbanded.
An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students.
Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge).
No Student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.
Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an Organization, Society, Team, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.
The above is in accordance with
Educational Decree Number Twenty-four.
Signed:
Dolores Jane Umbridge
HIGH INQUISITOR
"She can't be serious." Angelina growled angrily, glaring at the poster.
"You don't think she knows about our meeting, do you?" Anna asked them quietly.
"Forget that! Does this include Quidditch?" Angelina exclaimed.
Anna glanced nervously at Alicia, who shrugged.
"I'm going to talk to McGonagall." Angelina announced, turning and marching out of the common room.
"We should head to breakfast. We can ask Harry when we see him." Anna suggested as the remaining two girls headed toward the portrait hole. They reached the Great Hall about a minute before the guys, who approached them quickly.
"Did you lot read that decree in the common room?" Fred demanded, sitting next to Anna. "What are we going to do?"
"We don't know. We're waiting for Harry to get here so we can ask." Anna told them.
Everyone in the Great Hall was seriously discussing the poster, some even hurrying up and down the tables to talk to several different people. The second Anna and the twins saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione, they got up and approached them, and they weren't the only ones. Neville, Dean, and Ginny approached them, too.
"Did you see it?"
"D'you reckon she knows?"
"What are we going to do?"
They all talked over each other, staring at Harry expectantly. He glanced around to ensure no one was listening in on them before answering quietly, "We're going to do it anyway, of course."
"Knew you'd say that." George beamed proudly, thumping Harry's arm.
"The prefects as well?" Fred asked, looking curiously at Ron and Hermione.
"Of course." Hermione answered coolly.
Ron glanced over his shoulder. "Here comes Ernie and Hannah Abbott. And those Ravenclaw blokes and Smith…and no one looks very spotty."
Anna wasn't sure what he meant by "spotty", but she felt the same sense of alarm as Hermione at the sight of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws approaching.
"Never mind spots, the idiots can't come over here now, it'll look really suspicious-sit down!" She mouthed the last two words at Ernie and Hannah, gesturing frantically for them to return to their tables. "Later! We'll-talk-to-you-later!"
"I'll tell Michael." Ginny said impatiently, swinging her legs over the bench. "The fool, honestly." She hurried over to the Ravenclaw table to join her boyfriend and his friends.
Anna, Fred, and George returned to their previous seats to finish their breakfast, and were joined a few moments later by a sour-looking Angelina.
"I've just spoken with Professor McGonagall." she told them angrily. "Apparently Umbridge's new decree does include Quidditch teams, so I have to go officially ask for permission to reform the team."
"That's rubbish." the twins chorused, looking disgusted.
"Yeah, well," Angelina shrugged, picking at her eggs. "Anyway, you talk to Harry?" she directed her question at Anna.
"Yeah, we all did." she answered. "He said we're still doing it."
"Good."
XXX
Anna barely got time to work on her Charms essay that evening. She was interrupted by Angelina, who stormed across the common room toward her when she entered with Alicia and Katie.
"Well, there's no practice tonight." she informed her tensely.
"Why?" Fred and George asked from their spots on the couch next to Anna.
"Umbridge hasn't given us permission. Apparently she 'needs time to consider'." she quoted angrily.
"That's barmy. From what I heard, she gave the Slytherin team the okay right off the bat." Anna said.
Angelina shrugged, looking miserable. "Well, take advantage of your spare time, I guess."
The twins did, indeed, use their time wisely. They demonstrated the Puking Pastilles for everyone in the common room. Everyone watched, transfixed, as Fred took a bite out of the orange end of the chew, vomited impressively into the bucket Anna had placed in front of him, and forced down the purple end of the sweet, causing the vomiting to stop.
Anna smiled at the young second year boy as she gave him a couple Puking Pastilles, which he purchased by giving her four Sickles. Anna put the money in the small bag Lee was holding and turned to help the next customer.
While Anna was placing the orders, Lee was regularly vanishing the vomit with his wand, and Fred and George continued to take turns demonstrating. Anna had flat out refused to demonstrate this product, or help test it. She didn't exactly enjoy puking.
George's demonstration of projectile-vomiting into the bucket caused a surge of eager students making purchases. The first time Anna counted the money, they'd earned about 26 Galleons, but by the time the large crowd dispersed they earned more than double that. Anna, Fred, Lee, and George stayed up well past midnight counting their earnings before they went up to bed. Once changed into her pajamas, Anna forced herself to work on her homework, but she ended up falling asleep on her book.
XXX
Anna walked down the stairs into the common room the next morning and was instantly approached by Harry, who appeared to have been waiting for her in the common room.
"Hi. Can we talk?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah, sure." Anna answered instantly. The two headed out the portrait hole and waited until they were alone in the corridor.
"Okay, I got a letter from Sirius yesterday, and I talked to him in the common room fire last night." Harry told her quietly.
"What?" Anna demanded quietly, staring at him with wide eyes. "Why didn't I get to talk to him?"
"Sorry. You looked really busy last night, and a lot happened. But anyway, apparently the Order knows about our defense group."
"How could they already know?"
"Apparently Dung had been disguised in the Hog's Head and overheard us. Sirius thinks it's a great idea, but Mrs. Weasley and Wren…"
"Let me guess," Anna interjected, "they're against it."
"Yeah. They don't want us to get hurt or in trouble."
"Well, it's not like they can control us from outside Hogwarts' walls." Anna pointed out.
"Yeah. But that's not everything." Harry told her as they walked down the many flights of stairs. "Our conversation was interrupted."
"What's so shocking about that? People come in and out of the common room all the time." Anna pointed out in confusion.
"It wasn't someone coming into the common room." Harry answered in a low mutter, glancing around cautiously. "Umbridge's hand appeared in the fire." Anna's head snapped around to stare at him and she almost missed a step. "She almost grabbed Sirius's head, but he got away and we ran to our dormitories without getting caught."
"That sounds way too close." Anna whispered, her eyes wide. "What do you think she would've done if she'd caught my dad? I mean, it's got to be illegal, he practically snuck onto school grounds. Knowing her, she would've tried getting him thrown back in Azkaban if she caught him."
"Hermione thinks Umbridge may have intercepted my mail. If she read my letter she'd have known Sirius would be in the fire. And it would explain what happened to Hedwig."
"What happened to Hedwig?" Anna demanded worriedly.
"She arrived at my History of Magic class yesterday with an injured wing. I left her with Professor Grubbly-Plank to be taken care of, she should be fine. We think Umbridge might have attacked Hedwig to get my letter."
Anna sighed, shaking her head. "This is getting insane."
"Harry! Anna!"
The two had just reached the Great Hall, and Angelina was already sitting at the Gryffindor table waiting for them.
"What's up, Ang?" Anna asked curiously as they approached her seat.
"Umbridge just got back to me about our Quidditch team. We've been reformed, though she seemed really hesitant about it." Angelina told them, rolling her eyes. "So we'll have practice at seven tonight."
Anna glanced up at the ceiling, noting the dark gray clouds, pouring rain, thunder, and lightning that matched the weather outside.
"Great." she answered, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her tone.
Harry headed down the table for his own breakfast among his friends while Anna joined Angelina.
The day certainly wasn't enjoyable. The only good thing Anna could think of was that she only had one class on Tuesdays. Unfortunately, that one class was Defense Against the Dark Arts.
The weather also didn't improve, so Anna walked down to the pitch with her friends in the pouring rain. They were completely soaked by the time they entered the warm relief of the changing room.
"I can't believe she's making us practice in this." Fred grumbled, glaring back out the door at the rain.
"Maybe we could get out of it." George suggested. "If we caught the flu, she couldn't make us fly." he added with a smirk.
"If we were genuinely puking, yeah, but I bet she'd know what we'd done." Fred argued out of corner of his mouth. "If only I hadn't offered to sell her some Puking Pastilles yesterday-"
"We could try the Fever Fudge," George muttered, "no one's seen that yet-"
"Does it work?" Ron asked hopefully as he and Harry entered the changing room as soaked as the rest of the team. The rain seemed to have intensified in the last minute, beating against the roof as the wind nearly took the door off it's hinges.
"Well, yeah," Fred answered, "your temperature'll go right up-"
"-but you get these massive pus-filled boils too," George added, "and we haven't worked out how to get rid of them yet."
"I can't see any boils." said Ron, staring at the twins as if searching for the boils.
Anna burst out laughing, unable to help it because she knew exactly where the boils were. And she was very happy she'd tested the Fainting Fancies instead of the Fever Fudge.
"No, well, you wouldn't," Fred answered darkly. "they're not in a place we generally display to the public-"
"-but they make sitting on a broom a right pain in the-"
"Alright, everyone, listen up." Angelina called loudly, emerging from the Captain's office. "I know it's not ideal weather, but there's a good chance we'll be playing Slytherin in conditions like this so it's a good idea to work out how we're going to cope with them. Harry, didn't you do something to your glasses to stop the rain fogging them up when we played Hufflepuff in that storm?"
"Hermione did it." Harry answered, pulling out his wand. He tapped his glasses and said, "Impervius!"
"I think we all ought to try that." Angelina decided. "If we could just keep the rain off our faces it would really help visibility-all together, come on-Impervius! Okay. Let's go."
After everyone did the same as Angelina, they put their wands back into the inside pockets of their robes. They then grabbed their brooms and headed outside into the rain.
They squelched and slipped through the mud to the middle of the pitch. Even though the Impervius Charm was supposed to improve their visibility, it didn't do much. It was still hard to see through the rain coming down in sheets, and the sky was darkening as night set in.
"Alright, on my whistle!" Angelina shouted over the wind.
The team kicked off the ground, spraying mud in every direction. The wind blasted into their sides, blowing them slightly off course as they all rose in the air. Anna almost got knocked in the head by the one Bludger they were practicing with. She almost couldn't see it. Luckily, the Quaffle was bigger and easier to see, even though Anna almost got hit in the face with it when Angelina passed it to her. It was impossible to see what the rest of the team was doing unless they were mere feet away.
Their practice lasted for about an hour before Angelina admitted defeat, but as they all walked back to the locker room, she insisted it wasn't a waste of time. Anna wasn't sure whether to laugh at or pity Fred and George, who were waddling bandy-legged across the pitch with expressions of pain and annoyance.
They reached the locker room and Anna grabbed a towel, using it to dry her ponytail.
"I think a few of mine have ruptured." Fred mumbled in a hollow voice, referring to the boils on his butt. Anna bit her lips together to keep from laughing, hiding her face by sitting and bending down to take off her boots.
"Mine haven't." George muttered through clenched teeth. "They're throbbing like mad…feel bigger if anything…"
"OUCH!"
Anna looked over her shoulder to see Harry had his face pressed into his towel.
"What?"
"What's up?"
Several people asked all at once, everyone turned to stare worriedly at Harry. He slowly emerged from behind his towel, his glasses missing from his face.
"Nothing." he muttered. "I-poked myself in the eye, that's all…"
The look he gave Ron said otherwise, but Anna let him be and followed the rest of the team out of the locker room after they'd changed and pulled their cloaks on.
"Still sore?" she asked Fred and George quietly, glancing worriedly between them as they continued hobbling across the grounds. They both nodded, their jaws clenched. "Maybe we could try the Cure for Boils?"
"That might work on getting rid of these, but we need to figure out how to keep them from popping up in the first place." George pointed out.
"Maybe we can check the library. Or I can." Anna quickly amended, seeing the twins' disgusted expressions at the thought of going into the library.
"We'll think of something." Fred agreed, throwing his arm over her shoulders as they walked in the pouring rain.
XXX
Since Anna had no morning classes on Wednesdays, and the twins had no classes at all on Wednesday, they spent the morning after breakfast trying to find a way to get rid of the boils in the Fever Fudge. They searched the library up until lunch time, but they couldn't find anything that would work.
They put it in the back of their minds while they ate, but it went without saying that the twins would return to searching while Anna went to History of Magic. However, as they were leaving the Great Hall, Harry approached them.
"Anna, Fred, George." he called quietly. They stopped and Harry gestured for them to follow him off to the side of the entrance hall.
"What's up?" Anna asked as they stood by the wall, people walking past them on their way to their next classes.
"A couple things. Angelina says Quidditch practice is cancelled-"
"Yes!" Fred exclaimed, fists in the air.
"For someone who loves Quidditch so much," Anna teased him, "you sure are happy practice is cancelled."
"I love Quidditch when I'm not sitting on a hundred boils, and when I can actually see my hands in front of my face." Fred informed her seriously before cracking a smile and winking.
"Anyway," Harry interrupted, fighting a smile, "we also found a place for our defense meetings."
"Really?" Anna asked excitedly.
"Where?" the twins demanded.
Harry glanced around cautiously before answering, "At 8:00 tonight, meet us on the seventh floor, opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by trolls. You'll see when you get there."
With that, Harry left them feeling both curious and excited for the coming evening. They spent the hours doing homework, on Anna's part, or working on joke products, on the twins' part. Finally, at 7:45 they decided they could head to the given destination.
They reached the tapestry fairly quickly, and Anna was surprised to see a highly polished door with a brass handle on the wall across from the tapestry. She glanced curiously at the twins, who looked the same.
"Do you remember this room being here before?" she asked them as they approached it.
"No." they both answered. George grabbed the handle and turned it, pushing the door open. Anna's mouth fell open as they stepped into the room. It was spacious and lit with flickering torches. The walls were lined with wooden bookcases, there was a set of shelves on the far end of the room holding a range of instruments such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors, and a large Foe-Glass, and there were large, silk cushions on the floor.
Ginny, Neville, Lavender, Parvati, and Dean were already there, along with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"What is this place?" Anna asked as the three approached the group that was already gathered.
"It's the Room of Requirement." Harry explained. "I guess it only appears when you have real need for it, and it has everything you could possibly need. Dobby told me about it."
"Cool." Anna, Fred, and George said together before approaching the many cushions on the floor. Anna took a seat next to Hermione, who was reading a book.
By the time it was 8:00, every cushion was taken and Harry approached the door and turned the key that was protruding from the lock. The click of the lock was so loud, Anna heard it and everyone fell silent and turned to Harry. Hermione marked the book she'd been reading and set it aside so they could all listen.
"Well." Harry started nervously. "This is the place we've found for practices, and you've-er-obviously found it okay-"
"It's fantastic!" Cho exclaimed, and a few people murmured in agreement.
"It's bizarre." Fred noted, frowning around at everything. "We once hid from Filch in here, remember George? But it was just a broom cupboard then…"
"Hey, Harry, what's this stuff?" Dean asked from the back of the group, gesturing to all the things on the shelves.
"Dark Detectors." Harry answered, moving between the cushions to reach the shelves. "Basically they all show when Dark wizards or enemies are around, but you don't want to rely on them too much, they can be fooled…" He stared at the objects for a moment before turning back to the group.
"Well, I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and-er-" His gaze found Hermione's raised hand. "What, Hermione?"
"I think we ought to elect a leader." Hermione stated simply. Anna turned to look at her in confusion.
"Harry's leader." Cho stated at once, voicing Anna's thoughts.
"Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly." Hermione stated. "It makes it more formal and it gives him authority. So-everyone who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?"
Everyone raised their hands, though Zacharias Smith did so reluctantly.
"Er-right, thanks." Harry muttered, his face turning slightly red. "And-what, Hermione?"
"I also think we ought to have a name." she said brightly, her hand still in the air. "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"
"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" Angelina asked hopefully.
"Or the Ministry of Magic Are Morons Group?" Fred suggested, making Anna and George snicker.
"I was thinking," said Hermione, frowning at Fred from around Anna, "more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings."
"The Defense Association?" Cho suggested. "The D.A. for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about?"
"Yeah, the D.A.'s good." Ginny agreed thoughtfully. "Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"
Anna chuckled along with several others, a few people making comments of agreement.
"All in favor of the D.A.?" asked Hermione, kneeling up on her cushion to count the raised hands. Anna and the twins were just a few of the several to raise their hands. "That's a majority-motion passed!"
She pinned the piece of paper with all of their signatures on it on the wall and wrote DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY at the top.
"Right," Harry started speaking when Hermione returned to her seat, "shall we get practicing then? I was thinking, the first thing we should do is Expelliarmus, you know, the Disarming Charm. I know it's pretty basic but I've found it really useful-"
"Oh please." complained Zacharias, rolling his eyes and folding his arms like a petulant child. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"
"I've used it against him." Harry explained quietly. "It saved my life last June."
Zacharias opened his mouth stupidly, but no words came out. Everyone else seemed to be awkwardly silent, as well.
"But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave." Harry added at a normal volume.
Zacharias didn't move, and neither did anyone else.
"Okay. I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice." Harry decided.
Everyone stood up and divided up. George tossed his arm over Anna's shoulders.
"Would you be my partner for once? I know you enjoy snogging my twin, but I'm your friend, too, aren't I?"
Anna laughed, noticing Fred roll his eyes at his twin. "Of course, George." she answered.
Everyone moved away from other pairs, and Anna noticed Neville was left alone, so Harry partnered with him.
"Right-on the count of three, then-one, two, three-"
"Expelliarmus!" Anna shouted with everyone else in the room. However, George was faster and Anna's wand flew from her hand into his. Other wands flew in several directions, some wayward spells hit the bookshelves, sending books flying. Lee's wand hit Anna in the arm when Fred's spell knocked it from his hand. Other people weren't fairing much better. Some spells were barely strong enough to push the victim back a couple feet.
Despite Zacharias's complaints, it seemed starting with the basics like Harry suggested was a good idea. Even some of the older students were struggling with a simple Disarming Charm, which was second year stuff.
George tossed Anna her wand back, but before they could continue their practice, Fred nudged George's elbow with his. Anna and George both looked at him, only for Fred to nodded toward George's opposite side, where Zacharias Smith was practicing with Anthony Goldstein. George instantly smirked and glanced knowingly at Fred. Before Anna knew what was happening, George pointed his wand at Smith's back and suddenly Smith's wand flew from his hand.
Anna snorted, covering her mouth with her free hand to keep from laughing. Zacharias looked around in confusion, picked his wand up off the ground, and pointed it back at Anthony.
This time, Fred pointed his wand silently at Smith's back and the same thing happened: Smith's wand flew from his hand. They did this a few more times before Harry noticed.
"Sorry, Harry." George said hastily when he caught Harry's eye. "Couldn't resist…"
When Harry moved on to check the others, Anna approached the twins, who were snickering together.
"You two…" she trailed off, unable to come up with something to say. "You're good at nonverbal spells."
"Why, thank you." they chorused, bowing deeply and making her laugh again.
"Can we get back to practicing?" she asked.
They'd only gotten back to practicing for a couple minutes, and Anna was able to disarm George a few times, when a whistle suddenly echoed in the room. Everyone lowered their wands and turned to look at Harry.
"That wasn't bad, but there's definite room for improvement." he told them all. "Let's try again…"
They went back to work with Harry moving in and out of them to offer help and suggestions.
"Expelliarmus!" Anna shouted, causing George's wand to fly into her hand. "Ha!" she laughed, pointing at him and giving a hop.
George narrowed his eyes at her before suddenly, both his and Anna's wands shot from her hands and into his. He smirked smugly while Anna's mouth fell open.
"Did you just do that wandlessly?" she demanded. She didn't know either twin could do that. She didn't really know anyone, at least their age, that could do wandless magic. Much less wandless and nonverbal.
"Possibly." George told her smugly, tossing her wand back to her.
Before they could go back to practicing, Hermione shouted across the room, "Hey, Harry, have you checked the time?"
Anna glanced back to see Harry look down at his watch, his eyes going wide. He quickly blew his whistle and everyone stopped practicing again.
"Well, that was pretty good," he told them all, "but we've overrun, we'd better leave it here. Same time, same place next week?"
"Sooner!" Dean Thomas demanded excitedly, and several people nodded in agreement, Anna included. It felt good to let loose and practice like this. They hadn't been allowed to with Umbridge teaching Defense.
"The Quidditch season's about to start," Angelina pointed out quickly, "we need team practices, too!"
"Let's say next Wednesday night, then," Harry decided to appease everyone, "and we can decide on additional meetings then…Come on, we'd better get going…"
Harry pulled out the Marauder's Map and used it to ensure the coast was clear before sending them out in threes and fours. Anna left with Fred and George in the fourth group, heading down the corridor toward the portrait hole.
"Wednesday can't get here soon enough." Fred announced, to which Anna and George voiced their agreements.
XXX
Dumbledore's Army was quick to discover it was next to impossible to fix a regular meeting time, mainly because they had to work around three different Quidditch team's practices. However, Hermione came up with a clever way for them all to communicate. She gave every member of the D.A. a fake Galleon at the end of their fourth meeting. Instead of having the coin's serial number around the edge, it said the time and date of the next meeting. The coins would grow hot when the date changed, so they'd be able to feel it. Whenever Harry changed the date on his coin, all the coins changed to match it so they'd know.
However, due to the first Quidditch match approaching, the D.A. had to put off their meetings because Angelina insisted they needed almost-daily practices. Ron wasn't nearly as good as Oliver Wood, but he was improving and working extra hard to prove himself. Anna tried to make the twins be nicer to him, pointing out his weakness was that once he made a mistake, he'd lose his confidence.
"You know, he might actually make us proud." Fred commented after one such practice as they made their way back to the castle. During this practice, Ron had hung from his broom one-handed and kicked the Quaffle so hard from the goal it flew the length of the pitch and through the center hoop at the other end. It was beyond impressive.
"Yeah." George agreed. "We might have to seriously consider admitting we're related to him."
With November came colder weather and frost. Anna's hands nearly froze to her broomstick during practices, and they stung every time she caught the Quaffle in her tingling fingers. The castle wasn't much warmer except in the common room by the fire. Anna found it especially warm in the evening hours, after she finished her homework and before she went up to bed, when she would curl up on the couch by the fire, snuggled into Fred's side while they discussed shop and Quidditch stuff with George.
The morning of Gryffindor's match against Slytherin came early and cold. They ate their breakfast as they always did before heading down to the pitch to change in the locker room. Harry and Ron were about ten minutes later then the others, and Angelina was giving the rest of the team a pep talk. Anna noticed Ron was attempting to put his uniform on back-to-front because he was so nervous. He did this for several minutes before Anna took pity on him and helped him. She noticed his face was pale and tinted gray, as if he was going to be sick.
Angelina also announced that Slytherin finally gave her the new Slytherin team's lineup. Apparently Derrick and Bole, the previous Beaters, had graduated and were replaced by Crabbe and Goyle, who were in Harry and Ron's year.
"It's time." Angelina told them in a hushed voice after several minutes of people entering the stands. "C'mon everyone…good luck."
Anna and George high-fived each other as they headed out. They walked in a single file line, their brooms propped up against their shoulders. The sun was bright and warm on Anna's skin and the crowd cheered loudly as they walked onto the pitch. Anna thought she could vaguely hear people singing in the crowd, but she couldn't hear exact words. The Slytherin team was already waiting for them, and Anna noticed they were wearing silver, crown-shaped badges on their robes.
"Captains shake hands." Madam Hooch ordered, and Angelina and Montague approached each other. Like always, Montague tried to crush Angelina's hand in his, but to her credit, she didn't flinch. "Mount your brooms…" Hooch ordered.
Anna swung her leg over her broom, and as soon as the whistle was blown, the balls were released and all the players shot into the air. Angelina nabbed the Quaffle from the air and bolted down the pitch. Anna followed to have her back. Angelina ducked Warrington, passed Montague, but then she got hit from behind by a Bludger from Crabbe.
Anna tried to grab the Quaffle, but Montague knocked her aside and grabbed it instead, heading the opposite direction. Luckily, George whacked a Bludger at Montague, hitting him in the head. He dropped the Quaffle right into Katie's hands. Anna spun around and Katie passed the Quaffle to her.
Anna dodged around Warrington, who tried to intercept her, and ducked a Bludger, which whistled mere inches by her ear. Over the howling of the wind in her ears, Anna became aware of the fact that part of the crowd was singing something.
Goyle swerved in front of Anna, so she passed the Quaffle to Angelina, who had a clear path. With the Quaffle in her Captain's hands, Anna slowed her flight and let herself listen to the song being sung in the crowds.
…Weasley is our King
Weasley was born in a bin,
He always lets the Quaffle in,
Weasley will make sure we win,
Weasley is our King.
Anna grinded her teeth together, noticing Lee started talking even louder in his commentary in an attempt to drown the song out.
Anna focused on Angelina, who threw the Quaffle at the Slytherin goal. Unfortunately, the Slytherin Keeper caught the ball and threw it to Warrington, who swooped past both Anna and Katie. As he got closer to Ron at the other end, the singing below grew louder, and Anna was sure it would shake Ron's nerves more than anything else.
Weasley is our King,
Weasley is our King,
He always lets the Quaffle in,
Weasley is our King.
Anna shot down the pitch, hoping against hope that she could do something to help Ron save the goal. But she knew she'd never be able to reach the goals before Warrington.
He got close enough to shoot, and threw the Quaffle. Ron dove desperately, his arms waving, but the Quaffle soared right between his hands and through the center hoop.
Anna groaned lowly as the Slytherins began singing even louder. The score was now 10-0 to Slytherin.
Katie got the Quaffle and bolted back down the pitch. Lee's commentary was almost impossible to hear over the singing, and it was pissing Anna off more than it should've. So, she forced herself to bolt after Katie in case she'd need backup. Angelina followed right behind her.
Warrington bolted toward them, knocking his shoulder into Anna's and heading for Katie. Before she could dodge him, he slammed into her at full force and stole the Quaffle from her shaky hands.
Anna flew at him to try and take the ball back, but Warrington threw it right over her head to Pucey, who headed back up the field. Angelina tried to stop him, but he swerved easily around her. Thankfully, Fred sent a Bludger at him, knocking him in the back. Pucey dropped the Quaffle to Katie below him, but she dropped it, too, so that it landed in Montague's hands.
Anna laid down flat to her broomstick, speeding as fast as she could to try and stop Montague before he reached the goals. He barely dodged her, and Anna was afraid to look when he threw the Quaffle. It soared through the right hoop. There was a groan from the Gryffindor fans, but Slytherin supporters were ecstatic.
"Don't worry!" Anna called when she flew by Katie and George. "20-0 is nothing. We can still win this."
But that twenty soon became forty as Ron let two more goals in. The Gryffindor Chasers were desperate to close the gap and make a goal of their own.
Katie got the Quaffle and dodged around Pucey and Montague before passing to Angelina, who swerved around Warrington. Anna held her breath, hovering tensely with nothing else for her to do but watch as her Captain neared the goal…
"GRYFFINDOR SCORE!" Lee shouted over the crowd. "It's forty-ten, forty-ten to Slytherin and Pucey has the Quaffle…"
Pucey bolted down the pitch, heading straight for Anna. She lunged forward and slammed into him, but he merely passed the Quaffle to Warrington before throwing his elbow into Anna's chest. She winced and pulled back to watch down the field.
Warrington passed to Montague, who passed back to Pucey when he neared him, however Angelina intervened and nabbed the Quaffle from the air. She turned around and passed it to Katie. Anna turned to fly alongside them just as Katie got smacked by a Bludger from Goyle. Once again, Pucey got the Quaffle and turned around.
The sound of the crowd growing excited made Anna pause and look around. Her eyes instantly fixed on the two figures diving toward the ground. Her breath caught in her throat. Harry and Malfoy were neck and neck, diving for the tiny glint near the grass.
Finally, thankfully, Harry's hand closed around the Snitch and Gryffindor's fans screamed ecstatically.
Anna threw her fists into the air and bolted for the ground, as did most of the team. However, her joy was nearly completely squashed when she saw a Bludger hit Harry right in the back, knocking him off the broom. Luckily, he was mere feet from the ground, but he still landed hard on his back.
Madam Hooch whistled shrilly as the team landed and gathered around Harry.
"Are you alright?" Angelina asked frantically when she reached him first.
"'Course I am." Harry answered grimly, taking the hand she offered so she could pull him to his feet. Anna glanced over to see Madam Hooch flying toward Crabbe.
"It was that thug, Crabbe." Angelina told him angrily. "He whacked the Bludger at you the moment he saw you'd got the Snitch-but we won, Harry, we won!"
Anna was yanked, literally, from the conversation by a pair of arms wrapping around her stomach and spinning her around. She yelled, laughing as she dropped her broom.
"We won!" Fred yelled excitedly, finally letting her feet touch the ground. The rest of the team landed, cheering and pumping their fists. Anna noticed, however, that Ron had landed and was heading slowly toward the changing rooms by himself. Harry turned to face the rest of the team. Anna and Katie approached him and gave him a tight group hug.
"We wanted to write another couple of verses!" Malfoy was yelling to Harry from several feet away. "But we couldn't find rhymes for fat and ugly-we wanted to sing about his mother, see-"
Anna pulled away, narrowing her eyes angrily at the blonde Slytherin.
"Talk about sour grapes." Angelina commented, sending Malfoy a disgusted look.
"-we couldn't fit in useless loser either-for his father, you know-"
Anna gritted her teeth, but glanced anxiously at Fred and George. They were halfway through shaking Harry's hand when they stiffened, looking over at Malfoy.
"Guys-" Anna stepped in front of them.
"Leave it." Angelina ordered them, grabbing Fred's arm. "Leave it, Fred, let him yell, he's just sore he lost, jumped-up little-"
"-but you like the Weasleys', don't you, Potter?" Malfoy continued, sneering at the Gryffindor Seeker. "Spend holidays there and everything, don't you? Can't see how you stand the stink, but I suppose when you've been dragged up by Muggles even the Weasleys' hovel smells okay-"
Anna pressed her palms firmly against Fred's chest while Katie and Angelina each grabbed hold of one of his arms. His face was red with fury, his dark eyes were fixed on Malfoy as he struggled in their hold. Harry, meanwhile, was keeping George back by himself.
"Fred, look at me." Anna whispered up to him. "Fred. Ignore him." she ordered a little louder when he still glared over her head.
"Or perhaps," Malfoy continued, "you can remember what your mother's house stank like, Potter, and Weasley's pigsty reminds you of it-"
Anna growled, her teeth clenched angrily as Malfoy's words reached her ears. She almost considered releasing Fred and attacking Malfoy herself. First insulting Molly, then Lily? But she kept firm and realized Harry and George were no longer standing next to her and the others. Looking quickly over her shoulder, she realized they were sprinting for Malfoy.
Harry drew his fist back and Anna's mouth fell open as he slammed it into Malfoy's stomach.
"Harry! HARRY! GEORGE! NO!" Angelina shouted while Katie shouted for them to stop. Anna just focused on keeping Fred from joining the fight, keeping her fingers tangled in his robes with her eyes fixed on the fighting boys.
Harry and George were both pounding into Malfoy, who was now screaming like a wimp. The crowd in the stands was also yelling, some appeared to be cheering them on.
Finally, a voice nearby cried, "IMPEDIMENTA!"
Harry and George were knocked back by the force of the spell.
"What do you think you're doing?" Madam Hooch screamed angrily as Harry jumped to his feet again. She was clutching her wand in one hand, her whistle in the other. Her broom had been abandoned several feet away.
Malfoy was curled up on the ground, whimpering like a baby with a bloody nose. George had a swollen lip, while Harry looked relatively unharmed. Fred jerked forward and Anna stumbled back a step before throwing her weight into his chest to stop him.
"I've never seen behavior like it!" Madam Hooch continued to rant. "Back up to the castle, both of you, and straight to your Head of House's office! Go! Now!"
Harry and George turned on their heels and stormed off the pitch toward the castle. Anna continued her firm hold on Fred while someone helped Malfoy walk off the field toward the castle, too.
"Fred?" she asked hesitantly. The other girls slowly released their holds on him, but Anna kept a firm grip on his robes. Fred was glaring after Malfoy and the Slytherin team. "Fred, please look at me." she asked gently, lifting a hand to place it gently on his cheek. He released a hard breath through his nose before dragging his eyes down to hers. "We can get back at Malfoy another way." she whispered. "I understand how upset you are, I was tempted to attack him, too, believe me. But this isn't the way to do it. Let's get changed and go up to the common room. Harry and George will meet us there after they talk to McGonagall. She won't be too harsh on them when she hears what he was saying."
XXX
"Banned." Angelina said in a hollow voice later that evening. "Banned. No Seeker and no Beaters…What on earth are we going to do?"
Anna sat on the couch next to Fred, her elbows on her knees. Turned out, McGonagall would have let them off relatively easy,…but Umbridge wouldn't. Umbridge had decided that Harry and George needed to be punished, and their tempers were too dangerous to be on a Quidditch team. And she decided that Fred would have joined in if he'd had the choice, so he was banned, too.
It sure didn't feel like they'd just won their first match of the year. Most of the team was slumped around the common room fire, depressed and angry. The only member of the team not present was Ron, who hadn't been seen since the end of the match.
"It's just so unfair." Katie mumbled in a numb voice. "I mean, what about Crabbe and that Bludger he hit after the whistle had been blown? Has she banned him?"
"No." Ginny grumbled miserably. Her and Hermione were sitting on either side of Harry. "He just got lines, I heard Montague laughing about it at dinner."
Anna's fist clenched of it's own accord, her teeth gritting angrily for what felt like the hundredth time that day.
"And banning Fred when he didn't even do anything!" Angelina complained furiously, slamming her fist down on the end table.
"It's not my fault I didn't." Fred growled with an ugly, angry look on his face that Anna rarely saw. She looked sadly up at him. "I would've pounded that little scumbag to a pulp if you three hadn't been holding me back."
Anna chewed her lip before hesitantly resting her head on his shoulder. She worried he'd pull away, but he shifted and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He held her tightly, but she sensed he needed it.
Harry had let his Snitch go, and it was zooming around the room. Anna's eyes followed it in a daze, unsure what to think and feel. Crookshanks was jumping from chair to chair in an attempt to catch the Snitch.
"I'm going to bed." Angelina announced several minutes later, slowly standing up. "Maybe this will all turn out to have been a bad dream…Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and find we haven't played yet…"
Katie and Ginny went up a moment later.
"We might as well go to bed, too." George mumbled, standing up. Anna lifted her head from Fred's shoulder so he could stand up, too. She climbed to her feet and followed them.
"Guys?" she called quietly, making them stop at the foot of the boys' staircase. They turned to look solemnly at her. "I'm sorry this had to happen." she whispered, unsure what to say. She stepped forward and wrapped an arm around a twin each. "Everything will get better." she whispered into George's shoulder. They both wrapped their arms around her, too, squeezing her close.
"Thanks, Anna." George mumbled into the side of her head. They pulled away and George gave her a very small, fake smile before heading up the stairs. Anna fixed her gaze on Fred, who hadn't gone up yet, and found that he was staring at her.
"You really think everything'll get better?" he asked doubtfully.
Anna smiled slightly. "I don't know. But we can hope, right? And I know you would hate it if I said 'it's just Quidditch', but if you take everything else into account, it could be a lot worse, right?"
Fred smiled slightly, nodding his head. "I suppose that's true." Taking a step closer to her, Fred lifted a hand and rested it on the side of her head, tilting her face up more for him. Anna gave him a smile, and he returned it before leaning down and giving her a sweet kiss.
When they pulled away, Anna opened her eyes and stared up into his.
"Love you." he murmured.
"I love you, too." she whispered. "Have a good night."
"You too." he grinned slightly. "Sweet dreams."