Harry felt sick to his stomach. Knowing that his parents had been murdered because they had been betrayed by someone they'd considered a friend was hard, but to find out that he'd spent years sharing a dormitory with the man responsible was something else entirely. He'd fed Scabbers, he'd patted and played with him. What had Pettigrew thought each time he'd been around Harry? Had he felt remorse or had he been plotting Harry's death all along?
Why hadn't Sirius told Harry the truth earlier? It would have been so easy for Harry to capture the rat. But now, just as Harry had learnt the truth, Pettigrew was gone. He wanted to track the rat down and tear him apart.
Harry had been going through the motions since he'd learnt the truth. He got up each day, went to class and then returned to his bed in the dormitories. Ron, Hermione, and even Malfoy had been watching him with concern but he couldn't bring himself to care. Ron and Hermione had tried to ask Harry what was wrong but he'd ignored them until they'd given up. The most emotion he'd shown was when he'd stormed out of the dormitory when Ron had mentioned Scabbers.
Since the break in, teachers had been finding excuses to walk in the corridor with him and Percy Weasley had been following him like an extremely pompous guard dog. Professor McGonagall had even summoned Harry to her office.
'There's no point hiding it from you any longer, Potter,' she said in a very serious voice. 'I know this will come as a shock to you but Sirius Black-'
'I know he's after me,' Harry said emotionlessly. 'I heard Ron's dad telling his mum.'
Professor McGonagall looked taken aback. Luckily, she seemed prepared to put Harry's mood down to the stress of the situation.
Oliver Wood, however, was not. Despite serving detention for sneaking out to train in the middle of the night, Oliver was more determined than ever. The brutal training, coupled with Harry's distraction and the worsening weather had resulted in a number of dark bruises, despite Fred and George's best efforts to protect him.
'Potter! Focus!'
Harry forced his mind back to the present. Oliver was going over the team's tactics for their first match on Saturday. The rest of the team were focused intently on what Oliver was saying. They were playing Slytherin, their biggest rivals, and the team was determined to win.
'Flint's been trying to weasel their way out of playing us in this weather but they don't have a valid excuse so the game's still on. We need to keep our focus! We need to win!' Oliver shouted, his eyes bulging slightly.
'Oliver, calm down!' Fred said, looking slightly alarmed. 'We're taking Slytherin very seriously. Seriously.'
Remus sighed as he watched Harry from his seat at the staff table. He was worried about him. Since Sirius had broken in, Harry had been withdrawn. He was pushing his friends away and had been distracted in class. Remus guessed Harry must be scared and he wanted to talk to him but he didn't know what to say. Even though it had been reported that Sirius had used an invisibility cloak (and didn't that hit him like a punch to the gut), Remus felt responsible for Sirius actions because he still hadn't reported that Sirius was an illegal animagus.
Remus looked away and accidently made eye contact with Snape. Snape was sitting further up the table glaring at him. Remus frowned back and looked away. Snape hadn't been subtle about the fact that he didn't trust Remus and thought he was helping Sirius. As if he would betray James's memory or do anything to hurt Harry. Remus glared at his food. It shouldn't matter to him what Snape thought, but somehow it did. He felt his stomach turn and sighed deeply, the full moon was fast approaching.
That night he dreamt of werewolves and of a young Sirius Black laughing under James' Potter invisibility cloak.
Harry walked into Defence Against the Dark Arts and froze as he saw Snape sitting at Lupin's desk.
'Nice of you to join us Potter. This lesson began ten minutes ago. Ten points from Gryffindor. Sit down.'
'Where's Lupin?' Harry didn't care if he sounded rude.
'He says he is too ill to teach today,' Snape said. 'I believe I told you to sit down?'
Harry glared and slumped into his seat. He hardly listened as Snape droned on about Lupin's teaching style and werewolves. What did it matter anyway?
Draco was shivering on his broom. He gripped the handle tightly, feeling like he was going to fall off. His soaking robes clung to his body. He really wished Flint had been able to get them out playing. Rain belted against his face stinging his skin with its ferocity. The crowd was probably cheering but Draco couldn't hear anything over the roar of the wind, rain and thunder. He looked around, searching for any sign of the snitch or Potter. It was hard to see in the rain but eventually he spotted Potter. Potter looked to be having an even worse time, his glasses were fogged up and as Draco watched he almost crashed into one of the Weasley twins. He was surprised Wood was even letting Potter play, after all he'd been walking around looking like an Inferi all week. Draco shook his head. Now wasn't the time to worry about Potter, he had a job to do.
He circled the pitch, searching for the snitch with no luck. A flash of lightning startled Draco and he flinched at the thundering boom that followed. He was relieved when Madam Hooch blew her whistle and both teams flew to the ground.
'Wood called for a time out.' Flint glared across the pitch at the Gryffindor captain.
Draco looked over. Potter was gesturing to his glasses. He saw Granger run onto the pitch and preform some kind of charm on them. Potter would be able to see again. That would make Draco's job harder.
Draco glanced up into the stands where he's spotted Sirius in his dog form earlier. He felt an irrational surge of jealously. His own father hadn't wanted to brave the weather for him. Sirius might be here to watch Draco too but he knew who Sirius wanted to win. He grit his teeth, he wouldn't let it get to him. He'd finally beat Potter.
Soon they were back in the air. Potter's flying had improved, he was flying like himself again. Draco scanned the sky desperately, it was more important than ever to spot the snitch quickly.
His heart leapt as he suddenly saw a glitter of gold. The snitch. His body was full of adrenalin as he drove his broom down. He was getting closer.
'Harry!' Someone called.
He could feel Potter on his tail. He reached out his hand. Potter was right beside him. His fingers were so close. An eerie silence fell across the stadium as he pulled away from Potter. His fingers closed around the snitch.
Overcome with joy he pulled his broom to a stop with smile. His smile froze as he saw that Potter had stopped flying and was looking down to the pitch. Draco looked down too and his joy abruptly disappeared at the sight of at least a hundred Dementors. Somehow it got even colder.
Draco looked back towards Potter just in time to see his eyes roll back in his head and suddenly he was falling. Draco's blood ran cold and without a second thought he dove down, flying under Potter and catching him around the waist. Draco grunted with effort as he hurled Potter onto his broom and narrowly avoided crashing into the ground himself.
'Potter?' he said landing and pulling Potter off his broom onto the ground. 'Harry! Wake up!'
