- CHAPTER FOURTEEN -

Celebration Interrupted

My encounter with Fred was more difficult to ignore than the hand-holding and the flirtatious behavior. I made sure not to bring it up again. I acted as though it had never happened, hoping things would go back to normal. I was far too afraid of acknowledging what had almost happened between us to bring it up. I didn't tell anyone about it, even though Lee had alerted the others to what he had witnessed. Of course, George, Katie, and Alicia all took turns asking me about what had gone on, but I ignored them, acting as though I had no idea what they were talking about.

Fortunately for me, Fred seemed to be doing the same thing. He didn't speak to me about the occurrence, nor did he converse with anyone else about it (as far as I know).

I wasn't sure if I would ever want to talk to Fred about what happened between us, but a distraction arrived swiftly to remove the tension. The never-ending, incredibly difficult Quidditch practices we had been enduring had finally led up to the match against Ravenclaw. I woke up that morning and forced all thoughts of Fred and my personal life out of my mind and focused on the game ahead. There was no sense in me dwelling over stupid feelings while there were more important matters at hand.

At quarter to eleven, after being nearly force-fed our breakfast by an insistent Wood, the Gryffindor team set off for the changing rooms. It was a clear, cool day with a light breeze. That was good news. It would be a lot easier on the players this time, unlike the last game we had played.

Everyone changed in near silence. Alicia and Katie seemed to be trying to psych themselves up. There was a lot of pressure on all of us to win this thing. If we didn't Gryffindor was done.

"You know what we've got to do," Wood said nervously as the team prepared to leave the changing rooms. "If we lose this match, we're out of the running. Just—just fly like you did in practice yesterday, and we'll be ok!"

Oliver looked like he was going to be sick as he opened the door and stepped onto the field. If I had been capable of thought at the time I would have felt sorry for him. He looked as though he was more nervous than all of the rest of us combined. Well…that's not entirely true. Harry looked like he could have given him a run for his money.

I pulled my auburn hair back into a ponytail just as we all walked out onto the Quidditch pitch. I noticed two things at once: the gleam of the sun shining overhead and the deafening roar of the crowd as they spotted us.

I looked over at the twins. They looked determined, probably hoping to knock some poor bugger off of their broom with a Bludger. I smiled at the thought and mounted my broom, turning my attention to Madam Hooch. Wood and Davies shook hands, both looking fierce and powerful. The formalities didn't last long, and on Hooch's whistle, both teams kicked off and soared into the air.

I could hear Lee announcing.

"They're off, and the big excitement this match is the Firebolt which Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor..."

I tried not to focus on Lee's voice, as I knew it wouldn't help my concentration on the game. I found it was difficult, as in just the first few minutes of the match he was yelled at by Professor McGonagall three times to stop advertising Firebolts and focus on the game.

I blocked Lee's voice out of my mind as he began to dive into a detailed play-by-play of what was going on. Lee's commentating always clearly favoured the Gryffindors, and although it was encouraging, it made it difficult to pay attention if I was attempting to hear him at the same time.

My head was in the game then. I flew alongside Katie, managing to block out one of the Ravenclaw Chasers to allow Kate to score the first goal for Gryffindor. I barely registered the screams of the Gryffindor supporters in the stands.

I had possession of the Quaffle next, after intercepting a pass between the Ravenclaw Keeper and Chasers. I scored two more goals in a short span of about six minutes, and it wasn't long afterwards that Alicia and Katie managed to get in a few more to bring our lead up to eighty points.

I played my position well, concentrating on blocking, passing, and scoring. I chanced a quick look up to find Harry, and saw him trying to escape Cho Chang. She was tailing him very closely.

I cursed myself for my momentary lapse of attention, as Ravenclaw managed to sneak a goal past Wood, making it their third goal of the game.

I vowed not to become distracted again, but quickly broke that promise as I hear Harry let out a loud scream. I wasn't sure what exactly he had said, but jerked my head up to see what was wrong.

I looked up just in time to see his fingers clasp around the golden Snitch, but that isn't what surprised me most. Harry's other arm was outstretched, and from his wand an enormous, fluid silvery object was flowing.

I did a double-take to check and make sure I was seeing things right. Harry had preformed a Patronus! I looked around frantically, wondering why I hadn't felt any Dementors nearby, only to see that there weren't any around.

I spent a few moments in bewildered confusion as I scanned the grounds around the Quidditch pitch in search of the dark hooded figures, only to find none.

When my thoughts snapped back to reality I quickly noticed I was the only one still in the air.

I heard Madam Hooch sound the whistle and with lightning speed I flew back down to meet the rest of my teammates on the ground.

Everyone was on Harry in an instant. Alicia and Katie kissed him on the cheek, causing him to flush a deep red. Enjoying his embarrassment, I followed suit, planting a sloppy kiss on him as well. He was alight with excitement, and didn't even object when Fred and George decided to give him a kiss of their own. He was clearly embarrassed, but the grin on his face never faded.

As Oliver took his turn congratulating Harry I felt myself being lifted off the ground.

It didn't take me long to realize it was Fred who had grabbed hold of me, and I clutched at his shoulders joyfully.

I couldn't even hear my own laughter as the rest of the Gryffindor house filed down to the field. All comprehensible sound was lost, and all that was left was a deafening roar of celebration.

Fred spun me around, making me feel dizzy. I didn't stop laughing although I felt I may be sick if he continued.

"Alright, you can put me down now," I yelled, though I was grinning from ear to ear.

He let me go very suddenly, and I only just managed to land on my feet. George grabbed me next, enveloping me in a hug from behind. He placed a huge sloppy wet kiss on my cheek, leaving me wiping my face on my Quidditch robes.

I'm not sure exactly how long we all stayed out there, hugging and cheering and celebrating, but the party was eventually moved up to the Gryffindor common room, allowing the real festivities to begin properly.

As the traditional post-game celebration began to get started, Fred and George yanked me out of the room. I barely had enough time to change out of my sweaty Quidditch robes and into something more decent before the newly-dressed twins ambushed me on the stairs and tugged me out of the common room.

"Where are we going?" I asked them, laughing from all of the excitement.

"To pick up a few things," George answered, and I immediately understood what he meant. Of course, we were going to sneak into Hogsmeade. I wondered vaguely why we didn't just keep a supply sitting around here…

"Alright," I answered grinning. I took a running start and jumped on Fred's back. He caught me, but barely, not expecting me to be clinging onto his shoulders.

He let out a sound of surprise, and then laughed. The sound was buoyant and cheerful, and it bounced back at us off of the castle walls.

"Will you please be quiet?" George asked turning to look at us as Fred and I laughed uncontrollably. "You're going to attract attention!"

"Sorry," I said between breaths. I kissed Fred on the cheek and slid down off of his back.

Fred slipped his arm around me as George led the way through secret doorways and passageways. I was in such a good mood that it didn't even bother me how much I loved the feel of having Fred close to me. I didn't worry even a tiny bit about the third degree George was surely going to give me later.

It didn't seem to take us long to get to Hogsmeade, although I was sure we had been gone much longer than it felt. We were in a hurry, and grabbed anything and everything we thought would do before we turned to run back to the castle.

The party was still going strong when we got back, and everyone seemed to get even louder when we handed out candy and drinks to everyone inside the crowded common room.

Although I was elated that Gryffindor won the match, and although the party went on late into the night, I opted to bow out of the festivities early to do some of my homework. Normally it's totally unlike me to let homework win over fun and excitement, but I think the OWL prospect had me just a little bit on edge. Even though the twins weren't worried about schoolwork, I had to admit I was a bit worried about mine.

So, while the party was still in full swing, I pulled a chair into a corner of the common room to finish an essay about the moons of Jupiter. I wasn't the only one doing so, either. Hermione was also huddled over a stack of books. She had been doing that a lot this year. In fact, she looked even more stressed out than all of the other students. It was kind of stupid to be working while everyone else in the room was being rowdy and loud, but fun-loving Juliet inside of me didn't want to leave for fear I'd miss something exciting.

My Jupiter moon essay for Astronomy was proving to be near impossible, and my irritation level was skyrocketing when I was interrupted.

"What are you doing?"

I looked up and saw Fred hovering over me with a look of confusion and amusement on his face. I wasn't really surprised. How often do you find someone who is not Hermione Granger doing homework during a party?

"Finishing homework," I answered blandly.

Fred snorted and conjured a chair on the other side of the small table I was working on.

"Why?" he asked incredulously.

I shrugged, looking back down at the progress I'd made so far. "With all of Wood's practices I haven't had much time to do my work," I told him.

"So?" he said.

I scoffed. "You may not care if you flunk out of school," I said, "but I'd prefer to graduate thank you very much."

Fred rolled his eyes at me. "Well I have no idea why you're worrying about it now. You've got all day tomorrow to do school work, and even if you didn't, you'd still pass the OWLs without a problem."

"Even if that were true, I'd still prefer to not have to worry about this anymore. At this rate I'll fail Astronomy, and I've already got Snape on my case about missed schoolwork or my deteriorating Potions grade," I said.

"But you've got to do it now while we're all celebrating?" he questioned. His voice was pleading—almost pouting in an attempt to sway me.

I shut my Astronomy book loudly and placed my assignment back in my book bag.

"That's my girl," Fred said happily.

I shook my head. "No. I'm just packing up because McGonagall is going to be up here any minute telling us all to go to bed," I told him.

"How do you know?" he challenged.

"I can sense it," I told him. "So I'm heading up to bed. Would you mind giving me a hand with the Potions assignment tomorrow?"

I gave him the sweetest pleading smile I could muster and batted my eyelashes at him.

He rolled his eyes at me, but he was smiling widely as he did it.

"Yeah, I'll give it a shot," he said. "From my experience you usually need more help than anyone can give."

I glared at him, giving him a shove as I headed for the girls' staircase.

"I'll see you in the morning," I called over my shoulder.

I headed up the stairs to my dormitory, intent on sleeping now that it was well past midnight. I reached my room and pushed the door open just as the unmistakeable sound of Professor McGonagall's voice travelled up the stairs, demanding that everyone go to bed.

I woke up with a start in the middle of the night, sitting upright in my bed so suddenly that my head spun when I opened my eyes. My heart was pounding in fear at what I had just heard. It sounded like someone was screaming.

"What was that?" I hissed into the darkness. I could hear the other girls stirring in their beds. They must have heard the scream too.

"A scream?" Alicia said groggily as Katie's wand tip illuminated.

"One of the boys," Katie said. "It didn't come from this side of the tower."

I threw the covers off of my legs and slid off the bed and onto the cold tile floor.

"Where are you going?" Alicia asked, peering at me through the dim lighting from both her and Katie's wands.

"To find out what's going on," I said, hurriedly grabbing my wand and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

I heard rustling as the two of them pulled themselves out of their beds. I could hear yelling coming from the common room now, and was certain something was wrong.

I pushed my way out of the dormitory with the two girls following me close behind. We made our way down to the common room to see Harry and Ron yelling at each other over something.

I lowered my wand. I assumed neither of the boys was going to hex us.

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming Ron?" Harry asked.

"I'm telling you, I saw him!"

"What's all the noise?" I asked them, squinting into the darkness. The fire was still going, but it had died down substantially. The room was quite dark.

"Professor McGonagall told us to go to bed!" someone else yelled, and I could hear footsteps coming down the stairs from the boys dormitories.

"Excellent, are we carrying on?" I recognized this voice as Fred's…although it could have been George. It was hard to tell when I couldn't see them.

"No," I called over to them. "Your brother and his boyfriend are fighting over something."

"Everyone back upstairs!" This time it was Percy yelling as he hurried into the room. In the dim light I could see him pin his Head Boy badge to his pyjamas.

The common room was bustling with noise as people entered the room from the staircases. Wand tips illuminated everywhere, and the room was lit up very suddenly.

"Perce- Sirius Black!" said Ron faintly. "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!"

Everyone froze. The common room went completely silent. I cast a nervous look at Katie and Alicia, who returned it, looking sceptical.

"Nonsense!" Percy said. "You had too much to eat, Ron—had a nightmare, that's all—"

"I'm telling you!"

"Now, really, that's enough!"

Professor McGonagall was back. She slammed the portrait behind her as she entered the common room and stared furiously around at the lot of us.

"I am delighted that Gryffindor won the match, but this is getting ridiculous! Percy, I expected better of you!" she yelled, causing several of the younger students to cower.

"I certainly didn't authorize this, Professor!" Percy said. "I was just telling them all to get back to bed! My brother Ron here had a nightmare—"

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron yelled, making me jump. "PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"

Professor McGonagall stared at him, so did everyone else in the room. He was clearly terrified…but it couldn't have been Black…how would he get in?

"Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he possibly have got through the portrait hole?" Professor McGonagall said calmly, though I thought I heard a slight quiver of fear in her voice.

I could feel the intensity in the room as Fred crept up behind me. I turned to look at him, but he was still staring at his possibly delusional brother.

"Ask him!" said Ron, pointing a shaking finger at the back of Sir Cadogan's picture. "Ask him if he saw—"

Professor McGonagall immediately pushed the portrait back open and went outside. There was silence again in the common room, as all of its occupants held their breath, listening for Sir Cadogan's reply.

"Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?"

"Certainly good lady!" cried Sir Cadogan.

There was a stunned silence from everyone in the common room, as well as from Professor McGonagall. I could almost sense the tingles running up everyone's spine at that exact moment. It was an unpleasant and eerie sensation.

"You—you did?" said Professor McGonagall finally. "But—but the password!"

"He had 'em!" answered Sir Cadogan. "He had the whole week's my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!"

"Oh my god," I whispered, shocked.

Several murmurs ran through the room, and I instinctively reached out and took Fred's hand. He gripped mine back firmly, and we waited for Professor McGonagall's next words.

"Which person," Professor McGonagall started, her voice shaking with fear and anger, "which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?"

There was utter silence, broken by the smallest of terrified squeaks. Neville Longbottom, trembling from head to toe, raised his hand slowly into the air.

None of the Gryffindors slept that night. We all knew that the castle was being searched again. No one was feeling brave enough to head back up to their dormitory. Instead, every single person stayed in the common room, nearly everyone remaining wide awake and silent.

I cuddled myself up next to Fred in the corner of the room. George, Katie, Alicia, and Lee were huddled there too, just like the last time Black had been seen at the school.

"You can sleep if you want," Fred said, holding me tightly, "I'll wake you."

I shook my head slowly. There was no way in hell I would be able to sleep right now. My mind was working a mile a minute, bringing me back to the beginning of the year once more. Peter Pettigrew's name had been on the Marauder's Map, I'm sure of it. And now Sirius was attacking Ron. Was he looking for Harry? Is Pettigrew still alive? What the hell was going on?

That night I swore to myself that I would investigate what was going on. I needed to get my hands on the Marauder's Map again. Something strange was happening at Hogwarts, and I needed to find out what.

Professor McGonagall returned at dawn, to tell the students that Sirius Black had, yet again, escaped.