I tucked my hair behind my ears and made my way out to the quidditch pitch. It was raining and cold, but I was just happy to be there.
"Harry!" I beamed, running over to him. He seemed particularly pleased at seeing me, which supported my suspicion that he had left the gloves for me. Suddenly, he cringed as his hand flew to his forehead. Ron was at his side and grabbed his arm to keep him from falling.
"I'm fine," he insisted. Ron and I exchanged glances, which he must have seen. "It's Voldemort. I think he's upset that something isn't happening fast enough"
"Potter! Weasley! Bennett!" Angelina shouted from the pitch. We turned to see she was waiting for us to begin. With one last glance at Harry, I mounted my broom and flew to center field.
It was the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Poor Ron was so nervous he couldn't speak. The Slytherins were wearing badges saying "Weasley is our King", implying that he will single-handedly make it an easy win for Slytherin.
"Don't worry, Ron. It's my first game too," I smiled, my hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, but you don't have a bloody badges mocking you!"
"Harry did last year, and he still won"
"Let's hope I'm as lucky as Harry, then," he scowled. I took a step back and mounted my broom. The doors opened and we shot into the air, circling the pitch until we reached our starting positions. This was my first game ever. I felt a curl of nervousness in my stomach.
I looked to Harry for a reassuring smile, but he was glaring at Malfoy, who was gazing at me. It was unsettling, and I found myself looking for another friendly face. Ron looked terrified, so I kept looking around until I found Ginny. She looked prepared to win and smiled at me. I could see concern in her eyes. I smiled back.
The whistle blew, and the match began.
In a nutshell, the game was fairly pathetic. Poor Ron was so embarrassed by the snide cheering from Slytherins that he missed nearly every shot. Ginny, Angelina, and I made up for it, though. We worked well as a team. Ginny and I had so much practice from summer that our strategies were near identical. I was surprised at how distracted the other team seemed, but I brushed it off and took advantage of it.
Thankfully, Harry didn't seem distracted at all. He caught the snitch and won the game.
Malfoy didn't seem pleased at all, and took defeat in a very Malfoy-like way. He seemed to be shouting insults at us, mainly me. Some of it must have been British slang, because I had no idea what "trollop" meant. It must have been bad, because Harry and George leapt at him with malice.
"Stop!" I ran over to them, "Fred, do something!"
I had a feeling he wasn't going to do a thing for Malfoy. My wand pulsed in my pocket, urging me to use its power. There was no way I was going to get directly involved. Last time I had, well, it didn't turn out so well, so I sprinted for McGonnogal. Of course, Umbridge was with her, but it didn't matter to me. I didn't want anyone to get hurt, and I didn't want to hurt anyone by getting involved.
McGonnogal broke the fight and dragged them to her office, landing them with a week of detention. No one got too badly hurt, but they definitely were bruised and beaten. I offered to take them to the hospital wing, and Professor McGonnogal said it was up to them. I insisted, and they didn't even try to resist.
"I can't believe you did that. You could have gotten hurt-"
"He deserved it," Harry replied bluntly.
"That doesn't mean you have to land yourself a detention by punching him!"
"You don't know what he said about you"
"No word is worth getting beaten up for"
An announcement in an all-too-familiar voice rang from the speakers. Umbridge had produced another decree from the Ministry. This time, she had authority over all punishments. That had suspicious timing. I looked at Harry, who was frowning and glaring at the door.
Umbridge entered, proudly announcing that Harry, Fred, and George were off the team. She looked at me as if she desperately wanted to kick me off for instigating the fight, but held back. I glared at her as she walked out, completely comfortable with turning her back to me. Not that I would hex her, but it was so tempting.
I turned to Harry. He was devastated. I stood up, determined to fix things.
"Don't worry, Harry," I said before marching towards McGonnogal's office. He followed right after, despite his condition.
"But Professor, she can't ban them! Without them, Gryffindor won't stand a chance!"
"I'm sorry, but there is, regrettably, nothing I can do"
I had a feeling she wanted Umbridge gone just as much as I did.
"It may be in your interest that Hagrid has returned from temporary leave-"
Harry and I exchanged quick glances before running to get his cloak. We hurried to Hagrid's hut, well hidden under the invisibility cloak. However, it seemed that we were outgrowing it. We had to, er, walk close together in order to not uncover our feet.
"Hagrid!" I called as Harry rapped on the large wooden door. The large man opened the door and we slipped in before pulling off the cloak.
"Oi! You two, it's not good ter scare me like that," he grumbled, a large steak pressed against his eye. "Harry, why are yer like that?"
"Me? What about you?" we didn't fail to notice Hagrid looked even worse than Harry.
"This is top secret, all right? Dumbledore sent me to parley with the giants," he said in a low voice.
"Giants?" my eyes widened. He shushed me before continuing.
"I tried to convince them to join the cause, but I wasn't the only one trying to win them over"
"Death eaters?" Harry asked.
"Yes. Trying ter persuade them ter join You-Know-Who" he stopped and looked out the window to see it had turned gloomy. I didn't need to be told he had failed on his quest.
"There's a storm coming," I said, suddenly terrified. It reminded me of my dreams.
"We'd all best be ready when she does"
"Hagrid!" Umbridge's shrill voice ordered from the other side of the door. Hagrid ushered us to hide, and we scurried under the cloak before he opened the door.
"I'm ordering you to tell me where you've been," she stepped in and looked around with distaste.
"I told you, I've been away for me health"
"Your health?"
"Yeah. A bit of fresh air, you know?"
"Oh, yes. As gamekeeper fresh air must be difficult to come by. If I were you, I shouldn't get too used to being back. In fact, I might not even bother unpacking at all!" she took one last grimace at the little hut and left.
"You two best be careful with her around," he warned.
"I'm more worried about you, Hagrid. If she finds your teaching even a bit dangerous or unconventional, she'll sack you!"
"You two best be getting back to the school, now," he insisted, unconcerned for himself. I sank back under the cloak beside Harry and we shuffled back to Hogwarts. Once we were back, and the hall was empty, we whipped the cloak off and I shoved it in my pouch until we got back to the common room.
"Jenny!" Angelina called. I pulled the drawstring closed and whipped around with a smile. "You're replacing Harry as seeker"
My jaw dropped, "I'm what?" Well, I guess it had to happen, since he got kicked off.
"You're the best one for it, since Umbridge banned Harry and the twins," she didn't bother to hide her sour expression.
"Who'll replace me?"
"I've recruited Dean Thomas," she looked almost sick to her stomach.
"I'll do my best, Angelina. Don't worry"