CHAPTER NINE
GRIM DEFEAT
"Grim Defeat." Fred read.
"A sad day in the Quidditch world." George said as if talking of the dead.
Hermione rolled her eyes. Yes she had been worried when her brother-in-all-but-blood fell from his broom, but the way they were carrying on about the actual game itself…
It was JUST Quidditch!
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"Inter-House sleepover!" Sirius cheered. "Knew my being there did some good. Perfect time to prank the Slytherins."
Snape glared at him.
"Don't think we didn't consider." George said.
"Only thing was…not everyone could sleep." Fred added. "Only works when the victim's asleep."
"Though an inter-house sleepover without the threat of a mass murdering lunatic on the loose in the castle sounds fun." Ginny mused. "Just only friends from other houses. I might actually break down and invite Luna."
"Luna?" Ron asked.
"Loony Luna Lovegood." Ginny explained. "She's a Ravenclaw. You know Luna, Ron. She lives at the Rook not far from us."
Ron blinked cluelessly.
"I've met Luna." Hermione said. "She's…"
"Eccentric?" Ginny supplied.
Hermione nodded.
"Those are the best kinds of people!" Sirius argued.
"All the Lovegoods are." Arthur said. "Xenophilius is an interesting man. Very eccentric, but loves his daughter more than anything."
"What of Mrs. Lovegood?" Harry asked.
"Died five years ago." Molly said. "I offered to take Luna in temporarily while Xeno got things in order, but he didn't want to be separated from his daughter. The poor dear was in the room when her mother died of a spell backfiring."
Ron gulped remembering his old wand backfiring. He was very grateful the slugs were the worst that had happened to him.
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"That's why I picked it." Sirius said.
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"The newspapers have dates on them." Sirius argued. "Besides, I'm not THAT crazy to burst into the Great Hall when I'm the most wanted man in the wizarding world."
"So you do admit that you're crazy." Tonks teased.
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"That's the closest." Sirius confirmed.
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"Not all." The twins and Sirius chorused in a sing-song tone.
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"We should have done that." Sirius whispered to Remus.
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"Thanks a lot Sirius." All the Gryffindors who were still in school groaned.
"What?" Sirius asked.
"You'll see." Harry said.
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"I'm almost scared to hear what you had in mind." Sirius told Dumbledore.
"Some were tricks your father might have taught you. I know that the Black family knew many dark spells that were even beyond my comprehension. Probably even Voldemort's as he grew up in a muggle environment." Dumbledore admitted. "And considering the number of letters I received from your parents concerning your sorting, I knew it was unlikely you would have listened to Orion Black teaching you a dark spell."
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"I was just as angry at Sirius as the entire world." Remus admitted apologetically.
Harry frowned at the reminder that he too didn't trust Sirius for a time.
"Hey." Sirius said catching the reactions of his friend and godson. "I don't care what the two of you, or ANY of you lot for that matter, thought of me back then. What matters is that all in this room, as well as a few others, knows the truth now."
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Everyone, except Sirius, laughed at that. Sirius looked abashed at that.
"A flowering shrub?!" Sirius exclaimed.
"I wonder what flower you'd be?" Harry teased.
"Fred. Read." Sirius said with a hint of an 'or else' tone, but not one that promised murder.
Just a SEVERE prank that would make him even more of a laughing stock.
Fred calmed down from his bout of laughter and continued reading.
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"LUCKY!" Sirius pouted.
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"Mental is more like it." Ron whispered.
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Molly nodded in confirmation.
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"I have a better guard dog." Harry declared as he smiled softly at Sirius as he decided to take advantage of the time he had before Sirius found out JUST how much Harry had hated him at the time of the book.
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"Bet Malfoy was kicking himself after that." Harry muttered.
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There was a bit of a moment of silence for said Hufflepuff.
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"Is someone jealous?" Charlie teased his younger brother.
"It's…complicated." Fred said not wanting to betray his twin by announcing George's crush on Angelina. No, Fred was trying his own way to get George to act on his own to get a girl.
Step one: Get George to stop denying the feelings had been handled during the Yule Ball. They were still working on Step two.
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"And Harry's going to be punished for Wood's mistake." Tonks sighed.
"If that boy was still in school, I'd be having words with him." McGonagall declared.
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Sirius glared at Snape
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"Actually," Remus said with a hint of anger in his tone. "I DID leave information. When I got back and heard what you had done, I thought that perhaps it might have fallen to the floor and the students would divulge the information, but I found it RIGHT where I left it…out in the open."
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"High expectations." Moody said.
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"We covered that too." Ginny said.
"So did we. And we were supposed to be learning advanced Hexes." George said.
Those who didn't have the class glared at Snape who knew this was going to be a LONG book, let alone series.
Even Tonks' hair had gone black so the Potions master knew SHE was pissed.
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If looks could kill, between McGonagall and Molly alone, Snape would be dead. That wasn't counting the others in the room. Even Dumbledore looked VERY disappointed.
And worse was that Snape had no argument for his defense knowing that his reason for being so pushy with this lesson was his grudge against Lupin.
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"Well, I've heard other teachers criticize so just agreeing is good enough." Ron whispered to Hermione who smiled at the memory of his defense of her.
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"Oh come on!" Tonks groaned. "Even MUGGLES know Kappas are more commonly found in Japan!"
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"Down girl." Moody growled at Tonks who was looking ready to jump Snape then and there.
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"No. It's because he doesn't get that I had nothing to do with a prank gone too far." Remus said glaring between Snape and Sirius. "When we were FIFTEEN!"
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"I didn't know he was teaching." Sirius admitted glaring at Snape.
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"Harry!" Hermione scolded.
"Your cat's fast." Harry defended. "Part I could grab without waking Ron and the others up and I did not fancy another argument about your pets."
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"They should." Sirius said under his breath remembering watching a game between Slytherin and Ravenclaw and his brother had been nearly struck by lightning a few times. And actually struck once.
Luckily, Pomfrey was able to help Regulus.
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"No doubt to them being dry while you were getting soaked." Charlie said.
"Were you okay?" Molly asked Harry fearing the boy might have come down with something.
"The weather wasn't the problem." Harry said.
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"It's the weather." Remus said before turning to Dumbledore. "Perhaps Quidditch matches SHOULD be postponed due to weather."
"It's already been brought up." Dumbledore said. "However, the governors decided that the incident in this specific game was due to dementors and was a fluke."
"I'd feel better knowing that my godson wasn't up in the air where he could be struck by lightning!" Sirius said seriously.
Remus moved his hand around Harry and gently placed it on Sirius' shoulder knowing that underneath the fun-loving playboy Sirius had been in his teens, he still cared for his younger brother whom he couldn't save from the 'family business.' Sirius had been a mess when Regulus had been struck even though he didn't show it publically and still didn't like to show it.
Sirius was still angry at Regulus for going through with the Dark Mark. He had thought that Regulus had felt the same: Publically hated his brother but deep down truly cared.
Guess not.
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"The sooner this game ends the better" Molly said before turning to Dumbledore. "Surely there's SOMETHING you can do about the governors."
Hermione snapped her fingers.
"Indoor Quidditch field!"
"Come again?" Charlie asked.
"In the muggle world, whenever the weather is harsh or just rainy in some cases, some games, like football or even American football which is a different sport all together, and even basketball for the most part as well as hockey…"
"Hermione. Stick to the point." Harry said motioning to the confused faces though he knew what she was talking about having heard his uncle mention it. "Not everyone's muggleborn or raised."
"Right. Sorry." Hermione apologized. "Anyways, they have fields inside building. The World Cup was the closest I've seen to this, but I was thinking we could probably bewitch the field to have some sort of covering. Large enough to have a good game, but everyone is covered and then use some charms to keep the bludgers and the snitch in the play area. That way, the players and the audience are kept dry."
The teachers and Quidditch players exchanged looks.
"It could work." Dumbledore mused. "When this mess with Voldemort is over, we'll look into it. Right now though, we need to concentrate our magic on the war."
"Of course." Hermione said.
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"I love that spell." Harry said.
"You need to learn it." Hermione told him pointedly.
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Ron growled under his breath.
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Everyone turned to the dog animagus.
"What? When I heard it was Gryffindor playing, I figured Harry would be up there and I wanted to watch my godson in action. I hadn't seen him fly since I got back from that mission after his first birthday and James wanted to show off Harry's talent with the baby-broom I got him." Sirius defended.
"Did you EVER think to stealing a wig and clothes in dog form and use that as a disguise?" Tonks asked. "Then you could have watched the game in human form."
"One, no I didn't. Two, I'm not as affected by dementors in my form and considering Hogwarts was crawling with them…" Sirius pointed out.
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Everyone was at attention.
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Sirius turned to Remus in shocked horror who nodded. Even Molly gasped as she realized what was happening. The 'kill me instead' had been the clue.
Harry heard his mother's murder. No child should have to hear that. It was just as bad as a parent watching his or her child die.
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"Considering that fall, no wonder." Ron said.
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"Felt like it too." Hermione admitted.
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The adults rolled their eyes.
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"Malfoy vs. Diggory." Charlie mused. "Based on what I've heard of both, definitely."
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"What happened to the Nimbus?" Arthur asked worriedly knowing how much Harry loved flying at the Burrow and had even allowed his sons to ride the top broom.
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Those who hadn't been at the school at that time winced.
"Sorry." Remus apologized.
"It's not your fault." Harry said shaking his head. "It could have hit any tree. It was just my luck it hit the one that hits back. Besides, I had a reason to upgrade. As long as my Nimbus could fly, I wasn't going to."
"Well, James just rolled over in his grave." Sirius muttered under his breath.
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"A moment of silence for the Nimbus." The twins chorused.
The moment of silence was the shortest Harry had ever witnessed.
"Who's next?" Snape asked wanting this book OVER.
"I guess I'm next." George said before smiling fondly.
"actually," Hermione interrupted. "I think we should break for lunch. I'm hearing Ron's stomach and it's affecting my concentration on foreshadowing place so I can look for them in the future."
"This has already happened though?" Tonks pointed out.
"I'm with Hermione." Ron said. "I'm hungry."
