The next day was pretty jam-packed, as Flitwick, McGonagall and Grubbly-Plank all assigned homework for the fifth years that Tuesday. It had usually been common practise for all of them to do their homework in the common room, but with Fred and George constantly testing their products, as well as people talking loudly, it soon became impossible to do it in there anymore.
Straight after dinner, Amelia, Ginny, Ron and Dorea went to Quidditch practise, and Harry felt forlorn as he watched them walk away down to the pitch without him. Harry decided that he was going to get his homework done in the library; so Hermione walked him there before going back to the common room to knit more hats for the house-elves.
Finding a spare table near the back of the room, he sat down and got to work. He finished off Professor Babbling's multiple choice questions before moving on to the Charm's worksheets Flitwick had assigned, which took almost an hour. His Care of Magical Creatures homework wasn't due for another week, and neither was his Transfiguration work, so he got his Arithmancy work out and decided to revise what he and Vector went over last week.
Harry got quite frustrated with himself when, after forty minutes, he still wasn't getting anything. Vector had said that number significance was pretty hard at OWL level, but he hadn't realised how hard, as nothing was making sense.
"Sorry, are any of these seats taken?" He heard someone say. Looking up, he was pleasantly surprised when he saw two people standing across from him. He recognised them from the Junior DA group; Liz Tuttle, a fourth year Slytherin, and Badeea Ali, fourth year Ravenclaw.
"No, not at all, feel free to sit there." He replied, gesturing to the empty seats across the table.
The two girls sat, smiling gratefully. "The library's packed, every other table's taken." Badeea said.
Harry smiled. "It's totally fine."
Liz Tuttle looked at him. "You look quite stressed, Potter."
"Arithmancy." Was all he had to say, as the two girls cringed.
"I would like to take it, but it's always on at the same time as Divination." Liz said.
"Oh, you take Divination?" Harry didn't know that.
"Yeah, my mum's actually a Seer. She's not batty like Trelawney, but she only gets visions ever so often." Liz explained.
Harry found that interesting, though Divination was by far his least favourite subject. He was soon forgetting his Arithmancy work, as Liz and Badeea were very easy to talk to. Liz was fascinated with magical creatures, and wanted to be a Magizoologist when she graduated, and also someone who could campaign for greater creature rights. Harry thought she'd get on great with Hermione, as they had something in common regarding creatures. Badeea, he was surprised to learn, was a very talented artist: she showed him a whole book filled with both sketches and paintings; some of the paintings were even magical. Badeea even wanted to create her own spells one day, which Harry thought was very fascinating.
At eight, the two girls had to leave, and once again Harry was confronted with his hellish Arithmancy work again which he had previously abandoned. He was halfway to giving up when another familiar face greeted him.
"Oh, hello Harry." Susan Bones smiled, and went to sit across from him.
"Hey," Harry greeted the girl. A thought came to him then. "Do you take Arithmancy?"
Susan grinned. "Yeah, I do. You take it as well, don't you?"
"Yeah," he admitted, "I'm not in the class though. I have private lessons with Vector on Wednesday's and Thursday's."
Susan eyed him knowingly. "I can tell you're finding the topic of number significance pretty tough going."
He flushed a bit, but remembered that Susan was a friend, and that there was no shame in slightly struggling. "Yeah, I'm finding it pretty hard. Nothing's sticking."
"I read up on it during the summer," Susan said, "I could give you a hand with it, if you want?"
Harry lit up. "Hallelujah! I'd love that!"
Susan sat next to him to make it easier. They spent until nine o'clock going over the information in Numerology and Grammatica about number significance, and Susan was really helpful; she explained every bullet point in her own words, which was much easier and simpler, and even told him helpful study methods, such as flashcards and mnemonics, that he was sure would definitely aid in the revision process. They were eventually ushered out of the library by Madam Pince as it was almost closing time. He said farewell to Susan as she went back to Hufflepuff common room. Almost straight after, more familiar faces came round the corner.
"Potter!" Blaise and Theo called out.
"Evening, fellas!" He grinned. He then felt a bit bad, as he hadn't been spending as much time with them or even speaking to them as much as he liked.
"You look a bit windswept," Theo pointed out, "have you been to the library?"
"Yeah, I did a bit of homework, and tried to get Arithmancy into my head. Susan helped me with it." Harry replied.
The two boys nodded. They didn't take Arithmancy as far as he knew. "We were actually wondering to ask you something."
Harry perked up. "Oh?"
"Professor Snape is going to open up Dungeon Five and let students use it on the weekends for brewing and stuff. We were wondering if you'd like to join us there one day - say Saturday afternoon before DA, or Sunday?" Theo explained.
"I'd love to! It'll have to be Sunday, as there's a quidditch match Saturday and DA in the evening." He replied enthusiastically. He really needed to brew more Bruisewort Balm, as his supply was getting low. "Can I invite a few more people? I think Dorea and Amelia would like to come, maybe Ron as well."
He noticed that Blaise and Theo let out the smallest smirks when he mentioned Dorea and Amelia's respective names. "Yeah, that would be fine, there's plenty of space in there anyway." Blaise nodded. They spoke for a few minutes before the two of them had to get back to Slytherin common room, so he said farewell before he summoned Dobby to Apparate him back to Gryffindor Tower.
When he told the Fat Lady the password and clambered through, he found Amelia and Dorea, looking absolutely exhausted, flat out on the couches. "How was Quidditch practise then?" Harry asked.
"Don't even want to talk about it." Dorea replied gruffly. Her long wavy black hair was looking very windswept and almost tangled in places.
"We are so losing on Saturday." Amelia grimaced. "And if Roger Davies scores a winning goal before I can catch the Snitch, I might have to kill myself."
Angelina and Katie then appeared. "Where's Ron?" He asked.
"He went straight up to your dorm, he's not in the best mood." Angelina stated.
"Why?"
"Because a Bludger hit him square in the face and chest, plus," Katie started, but then done a quick survey of the common room before quieting her voice, "Kirke accidentally chucked his beaters bat, and it narrowly missed Ron, but it almost caused Ron to tumble off his broom."
"Plus, Alicia's been signed off for three months." Amelia added to the bad atmosphere more.
"What? Oh my god, what happened to her?" Harry was very surprised. It sounded as if Alicia got attacked by the Whomping Willow - what on earth kind of accident did she have in practise to not be allowed to play for 3 months?
"Well, you know how Parkinson and her Slytherin's who aren't in the DA are constantly picking on those who are?" Katie said. "Well, we were just doing some warm-up exercises when Alicia started jinxing everywhere - it was exactly what happened to your broom in first year, Harry - anyway, it was a lot more severe than what happened to you - and before we knew it she was zooming towards the side of the teachers stand - which is a very hard metal."
"Ouch." Harry winced. "Is she going to be okay though?"
"We hope so, but she broke her collarbone, wrist and elbow. Madam Pomfrey says that's not the worse bit - she's got quite a bad concussion. You should have heard Madam Hooch screaming at Pansy though, so satisfying." Dorea replied.
Harry felt rather deflated now. Even with Dorea playing as a substitute Chaser, they would still have to work extremely hard to win against Ravenclaw.
"When can we go see her?"
"Madam Pomfrey says tomorrow, but I don't know when I'll get the chance." Angelina sighed.
"I'm going to find Ron, I'll see you all later." Harry said, before climbing the staircase to the fifth year boy's dorm.
He heard Ron grumbling before he even opened the door. "We are so screwed for Saturday, mate." Was all Ron said. Dean and Neville looked very sympathetic, whilst for some reason the curtains around Seamus's bed were already drawn.
"Oh Ron, shut up." Harry didn't know for how much longer he could take having to put up with Ron's self disbelief. "I heard about Alicia."
"Yeah, that was all Pansy's fault, she's the one who did the jinxing. Hooch was furious." Ron replied. "I don't know why Angelina just won't let me resign."
"It's because you are good, Ron!" Harry insisted. "On Saturday, cast a silencing charm at the crowd if you have to to keep focus, but just keep calm and keep your eye on the quaffle. That Quidditch book probably shows you hints and tips about which hoop to guard depending on the Chasers body language, so read up on that and it should prepare you."
"Be thankful I'm not on the team, Ron, especially not Keeper." Neville said in an attempt to cheer Ron up.
"What's up with Seamus?" Harry whispered to Dean, motioning towards the drawn curtains.
"He's been at it all day - practising his Transfiguration work. And I think he's starting to come round - y'know, in terms of wanting to apologise to you. He also said to me that the DA looks good, and when I told him how fun it actually was it perked him up." Dean explained, also keeping his voice down.
"Suppose progress is progress," Harry said, "I'll just wait and see what he does. He can apologise whenever he wants to. I don't want this feud to go on forever, I've always wanted to be a good friend to him."
"Likewise, mate. It's quite hard, believing you but not wanting to cause a crack in my friendship with him. I'll drop him subtle hints every now and then." Dean spoke, before smiling and turning back to folding his robes.
Seamus must've had magical hearing, because the next day when they were lining up outside Herbology, he spoke about how sorry he was about the comments he made and stuck his hand out for Harry to shake. Harry gladly shook it, and Seamus sat with them again, instead of his old seat at the far end of the greenhouse. Dean looked very happy that they had regained the friendship - he could now talk to both easily without having to worry about setting Seamus off. Harry also explained to him where they were up to in the DA, and what he would have to catch up on, but Seamus was very eager to learn and play catch-up, so Harry gave him the Gryffindor sign-up sheet to sign. Harry then tore a spare bit of parchment out of his book (to the despair of Hermione) before writing a list of spells they had learned to do for Seamus to practise. They were talking very happily amongst themselves that Professor Sprout threatened to change the seating plan as she was telling them to be quiet every two minutes. He also mentioned to Seamus about the Room of Requirement, and how they were openly rebelling against Dolores Umbridge. He was practically in awe of the new Harry.
The next morning at breakfast, Amelia and Dorea were among the few people already down in the Great Hall. The two of them were still quite exhausted from Angelina's Quidditch practise last night; since they were Reserve's coming on to the official team, she worked them twice as hard as the others to make sure they were up to her desired standard for Ravenclaw on Saturday.
They were eventually joined by Daphne, Tracey and Astoria, who plonked themselves down at Gryffindor table. The three girls looked mirthful.
"Dorea Black," Astoria said,
"What-" Dorea looked between them.
"Blaise Zabini has the largest crush on you," Daphne carried on.
"Yeah, like, the biggest ever." Tracey finished.
Amelia smirked. She had noticed that out of all their new friends, Blaise seemed quite taken with Dorea. However, she knew that Blaise's pining would be for naught, as Dorea was in a happy relationship with Fred. She hoped Blaise would respect that.
"Oh nonsense," Dorea half-growled, "he's our friend."
"Friends don't tend to stare at you." Daphne pointed out, grinning in glee.
Dorea sighed, but smiled nonetheless. "He can fancy me all he wants, I'm taken."
Thursday classes went about as normal as ever; more homework was assigned, but not as much. Professor Burbage wanted an essay on Muggle school subjects for two weeks today, which Amelia could probably leave until the day before it was due anyway (Muggle Studies was an easy breeze for her). Everyone was quite shocked when Professor Umbridge finally assigned them work to do: One essay on the contents of chapter one to three, and another essay about chapters four to seven, regarding the dumbed-down textbook she assigned them to read every period. Everybody knew that they were two pointless essays, but most would probably do it anyway.
It was in double Potions at the end of the day that things started going pear-shaped. They started on yet another new potion (though not new to her, Dorea and Harry): The Befuddlement Draught. As usual, the three of them were very quick at getting every ingredient prepared before igniting the cauldron, and even Neville had started doing the same. In fact, you could almost call the classroom atmosphere quite serene and calm, until Professor Umbridge came knocking, and had a quiet word with Snape as they were working. Amelia got quite a fright when Crabbe came up behind Harry and threw a handful of Sneezewort into the cauldron - which was only just reaching the simmering stage - which ultimately proved disaster. As soon as Harry got his wand out to most likely perform Laxo, Snape and Umbridge both were over straight away.
"Potter, you are not meant to be using magic in this room! Ten points from Gryffindor!" Snape barked, causing everyone to look over. Malfoy was laughing, and Crabbe looked triumphant.
"Professor, Crabbe threw a bunch of Sneezewort into my cauldron." Harry explained.
Even with their whole table sticking up for Harry, Snape was having none of it. He even believed Crabbe when the boy said he hadn't done anything. "Since your potion is now ruined, you'll be getting a 0." The grubby man snarled.
They all rolled their eyes (even Snape did) when Umbridge piped up. "Hem-hem,"
"Yes?" Snape said expectantly.
"For falsely accusing Mr Crabbe of tampering with his Potion, I say the next time he does this, have him spend a week's worth of detentions with me. It's quite marvelous that Mr Potter hasn't learned his lesson about telling lies." Umbridge said. Amelia had to bite her tongue in order to not retaliate.
Just as Umbridge was about to leave, Snape left them temporarily in order to walk her to the door. However, a bezoar had now landed into Amelia's potion, and also Harry's, Dorea's and Neville's. As soon as they protested, Snape hurled back around. "What is this mess?!"
Pansy, as well as Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, were now holding back laughter. "They chucked a bezoar into our potions!" Dorea pointed.
Snape just wouldn't hear them out. Even though the people guilty of throwing the ingredients in themselves were laughing vigorously, the Potions Master was turning a blind eye. As soon as Snape said to her, Dorea and Neville that their Befuddlement Draughts were also getting zero's, Professor Umbridge said, "That'll be another weeks worth of detentions for you three. My office, usual time, Monday next week."
Defeated and angry, Amelia gave up as she watched her potion vanish. Neville looked utterly gutted. "It was going so well…" Hermione and Ron looked angry on their behalf, as did Seamus and Dean. Just before the bell rang, Professor Snape called out from the front of the classroom. "As soon as your Befuddlement Draught's are cooled, bottled and labelled, bring them up to the front for marking. Those delinquents whose potions failed miserably, your homework is to write an essay on what a proper Befuddlement Draught should look like, including its ingredients, brewing instructions, appearance, properties and uses, for Monday. No less than 20 inches."
To put it fairly, Harry, Amelia and Dorea were not in a good mood as they walked to the Great Hall for dinner. Another week's worth of detentions… Amelia was cursing Umbridge in her head; of course she just had to be in Potions that period. Amelia had half-thought that they could possibly be let off if they went to Professor McGonagall, if they told their side of the story… But then remembered that Professor Umbridge held supreme authority over all punishments, so quickly dropped that idea. Asking Dolores Umbridge to let them off detention would be akin to asking Dumbledore to shave his beard off. She looked with remorse over at Slytherin table, where the tamperers in question were holding court, looking victorious.
The only consolation was that Angelina and Katie sat down near them and explained that Alicia was awake - quite sore, obviously, but conscious and responsive. That was great news to hear, as she had gone crashing into the metal that was on the side of the teachers stand and received hefty injuries because of it. Amelia still cringed every time she heard the noise replay in her head of Alicia crashing into the stands. However, Angelina also said that Alicia was still not allowed to play Quidditch for three months.
It was simply quite odd when, about halfway during dinner, did Katie Bell run from the hall all of a sudden, hands clamped over her mouth as if she was holding in vomit. Angelina went running after her straight away. "What on earth's wrong with her?" Ron said as he swallowed some pie.
Dorea pointed over at the Slytherin table all of a sudden. "Pansy."
Pansy Parkinson, and a group of Slytherin girls, were all sat stifling laughter, and one of them had their wand out. They didn't even notice Professor McGonagall striding from the staff table, but they felt satisfaction when she ordered the group of girls out of the hall; clearly she thought them involved too.
When Angelina came back almost fifteen minutes later, she looked furious. "Katie's somehow swallowed Armadillo Bile."
"Eh? How's that gotten into her food?" Dean piped up, suddenly not wanting to eat his supper.
"Pansy." Amelia told him. "They clearly put it in when she wasn't looking."
Their answer was confirmed when Professor McGonagall strolled back in, and came towards them. "Miss Parkinson and her friends did put the bile into Miss Bell's drink by using the Levitation Charm, which has caused her to become very sick indeed. They will be punished, I can assure you. God only knows how they got a hold of the Armadillo Bile... I am afraid that Miss Bell won't be able to play Quidditch this Saturday."
Ginny perked up. "I guess that means I'm on the team now."
"Yes." McGonagall said, before looking to the team Captain. "I do hope your Reserve's have been practising as well, Miss Johnson, as we're going to have a tough time against Ravenclaw if not."
Angelina nodded. Satisfied, McGonagall went back up to the staff table.
Back in the common room, the five of them (though they soon invited Neville over, as he had to do it as well) occupied a table near the window, as Hermione and Ron helped them write the essay Snape had assigned: seeming as they probably weren't going to get another opportunity to do it over the weekend. It took quite a while, as Snape wanted it at least twenty inches long, which was quite annoying as there was only a page of information on it in the textbook. In fact, it was almost eleven when they reached the conclusion, which they somehow had to make three inches long in order to meet the length. They got there in the end though, and by that time the common room was deserted. Neville thanked them lots before retiring to his dormitory for the evening.
"I've been thinking," Ron said as they were packing up.
"About what?" Dorea wondered.
"I'm going to be so lousy against Ravenclaw at the weekend, I just know it. I'll make a total fool of myself…" Ron said.
"Oh pack it in," Harry said sternly, "you're not bad at all, Ron, we've had this discussion. Just ignore the crowd and you'll be golden."
"Easier said than done," Ron countered, "it's hard enough to simply ignore them, they just seem to get louder whenever I do that, and it ends up distracting me."
They spent a good few minutes convincing Ron that he wasn't a bad Keeper in the slightest, and he eventually found heart again.
"Oh my gosh!" Hermione gasped all of a sudden.
"What?" They all parroted.
"Hagrid's back!"
They immediately scrambled towards the window that Hermione was standing at, and low and behold, Rubeus Hagrid was indeed making his way towards his hut with Fang in tow.
With a moment of inspiration, Harry went up to the boys dorm and quietly got his Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map out from his trunk. He had no clue how all five of them were going to fit under the Cloak, but he was sure they'd give it a good try. Within two minutes they were all under it; though they did have to reposition the cloak a few times to cover them all perfectly, but Harry did have the Map to hand as well - so long as they weren't spotted, they'd be fine.
When they eventually got out onto the castle grounds, Harry felt his heart leap when he finally saw light coming out of the windows of Hagrid's Hut and smoke emitting from his chimney. He was sure the man would have an interesting tale to tell them. When they reached the front door at last, they gladly straightened up after being in a crouching position for the last ten minutes. Harry raised his hand and knocked on the door three times, to which Fang started barking frantically. "Hagrid, it's us!"
"Shoulda known," He heard Hagrid say gruffly.
They all grinned at each other when the bolt on the door was drawn back, and the door creaked open, Hagrid's face soon appearing, though they were very concerned when they saw it.
Hagrid's thick hair was almost matted with congealed blood, and his left eye was almost swollen; all around it was purple, and it looked as narrow as an arrow slit. He had multiple cuts and semi-fresh wounds all over his arms and body, and to top it all off he had a limp.
"What on earth happened to you?" Amelia asked, as soon as the Cloak came off them.
"It's nuthin'! What are you five doing up so late anyway? T'is almost midnight!" Hagrid insisted firmly.
"Your face looks half-minced." Dorea added.
"And where on earth were you for two months?" Ron concluded the questioning.
"It's all been dealt wi', alright? Now, who wants a cuppa?" Hagrid said, brushing off all concerns for his welfare as he slapped a bloody steak right over his left eye. The five of them suddenly felt very uncomfortable as the blood from the meat started dripping down Hagrid's face and into his beard.
"So are you going to tell us what happened to you, and where you went?" Hermione demanded.
"Can't, top secret." Was Hagrid's response. However, despite himself, Hagrid was soon telling them all about his adventure. He had gone to the mountains of France with Madame Maxime, the Headmistress of Beauxbatons, with the objective being to recruit the Giants to fight against the Death Eaters. He explained how they had to give the Gurg - chief giant - gifts in order to be accepted into the camp, and how the giants initially liked them, but that all changed when the Gurg was killed by another giant, and that one took over as Gurg. The new Gurg: Golgomath, had hung Hagrid upside down by his feet, and would have done more had Madame Maxime not cast the Conjunctivitis Curse. However, the giants hated it when wizards used magic against them, so they had to run from the camp and basically admit defeat. It had all been for naught anyway, sadly, as they had sighted a Death Eater known as Macnair visiting Golgomath, and the giant seemed to accept him.
"So the giants are going to fight for Voldemort instead of our side?" Dorea asked.
Hagrid shuddered slightly at the use of that name. "Aye, think so."
Harry was just about to tell Hagrid about his Dementor incident with Dudley when there was a rapping sound on the door. They could see the shadow, and knew instantly who it was. "It's Umbridge!" Ron whispered frantically.
Harry whipped the cloak back out and ushered them under again, whilst telling Hagrid to hide the mugs of tea. He hurried to do just that - putting them beside Fang's basket and under a blanket. Then he opened the door, whilst they were crouched in a corner under the Invisibility Cloak.
"So, you're Rubeus Hagrid, correct?" Umbridge said, as she immediately wandered into the cabin.
"Er, yeah," Hagid replied, "who are you?"
"I'm Dolores Umbridge." their Defence teacher replied.
"Aren't yeh from the Ministry?"
"I am, however, I am now employed as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and Hogwarts High Inquisitor." Umbridge's eyes were sweeping all around the hut, and she twice looked over to the corner where they were tucked under the protection of the Invisibility Cloak.
"Wha's a High Inquisitor?" Hagrid asked, his eyes flickering towards them.
"There are five sets of footprints leading from the castle entrance down to your cabin," Umbridge said slyly, ignoring Hagrid's question entirely. Hermione let out a muffled gasp.
"Oh, really? Somebody must've came ter call earlier an' I missed 'em." said Hagrid.
"Yet there are no footsteps walking in the other direction to suggest that they left."
"Well, I… I don't know 'bout that… I'm only just back, ye see."
Umbridge did an inspection of the cabin then; everywhere from looking under the bed, table and in the cupboards. She shooed Fang away with a look of distaste as the ginormous dog walked circles around her, sniffing and trying to lick.
"Where have you been anyway? Another teacher has had to cover your classes. None of your colleagues have been informed of your whereabouts." Umbridge asked cooly.
"I've been away for me health."
"For your health," Umbridge replied slowly, as if she didn't believe it in the slightest.
"Bit o' fresh air, yeh know,"
"Yes, as a gamekeeper, fresh air must be difficult to come by." Umbridge said sweetly. Hagrid flushed a bit.
"You ought to know that as High Inquisitor it is my necessary duty to inspect my fellow teachers to make sure they're up to standard. So I daresay we shall meet again soon enough." Umbridge hoisted her handbag a bit higher into the crook of her arm as she marched to the door.
"Inspecting?"
"Yes, the Ministry of Magic is determined to weed out unsatisfactory teachers. Goodnight, Hagrid."
With that, the door closed behind the High Inquisitor. They waited a few moments to make sure she wasn't sticking around before coming out from the Cloak when Hagrid confirmed she was indeed walking back up to the castle.
"Blimey, she's inspecting people.." Hagrid said in a low voice.
"Yeah, Trelawney's been put on probation already. Reckon it'll be any day now she'll get the sack." Ron said.
"Has Sirius been inspected yet?" Hermione asked Dorea.
Before Dorea could even answer, Hagrid almost spat his tea out. "Eh? Sirius? Why would Sirius be 'ere…" then it clicked, "Is Sirius a teacher?"
They realised that Hagrid had been gone since the end of August, so would probably have had no clue. "Yeah, he's the Astronomy teacher. Professor Sinistra is on a sabbatical." Amelia answered.
"Blinkin' nora…" Hagrid then chuckled. "I can imagine him being a good one, mind you.."
Harry got the Marauder's Map back out, and waited until Umbridge was safely in her office before they left Hagrid's cabin with farewells. As soon as they were safely back inside the common room, Hermione was adamant that she was going to draw up safe lesson plans for Hagrid, as Hagrid's idea of a normal lesson with 'fun' (slightly dangerous) creatures would most likely end up with him getting put on probation as well. However, it appeared not to have worked, for in Care of Magical Creatures next day (with Hagrid now back teaching) whilst they were studying the Thestrals (the winged skeletal horses that only Harry had been able to see pulling the carriages at the start of the year), Umbridge turned up to inspect, with both Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson taking great delight in telling the Defence teacher how incompetent Hagrid was, to Harry's immense frustration.
On Saturday was the third Quidditch match of the season, and it was Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. Harry felt weird, for he was finally spectating his own house's match in the stands, whereas before it would always be him out there playing. In fact, force of habit meant that he'd almost gone into the changing rooms to get ready for the match, until Madam Hooch reminded him of his lifetime ban. Now he was up in the stands, with Hermione, Fred and George, and instead he'd be watching his own twin sister be Seeker, whilst his godsister was playing Chaser. It was quite chilly, even with a hoodie, jacket, scarf and gloves on, and more snow had fallen overnight.
"Go on Gryffindor!" He shouted out as the players walked out onto the pitch. The Gryffindor team consisted of Angelina, Dorea, Ginny, Amelia, Ron, and the two Beater's Sloper and Kirke. He didn't quite know how good the latter two were; he knew they were sixth years but not much else. The Ravenclaw team looked very strong. As always, Roger Davis was Captain, and Cho was the usual Seeker. He couldn't wait to see how Cho and Amelia played. One of the Ravenclaw Chasers was Skye Parkin: from none other than the famous Parkin family, who was a sixth year. Their Keeper was new this year: Andre Egwu, fourth year. He wasn't a DA member, but Harry secretly wished he was, for he knew that Andre knew a lot of people that were in the club.
The match was soon underway, and Dorea had already caught the Quaffle. Angelina and Ginny stayed close near her, and the three of them went soaring towards Ravenclaw's end. Skye Parkin was about to perform a tackle on her, but Dorea ducked at the last moment and passed the Quaffle to Ginny as she was dodging. Ginny caught it, and soon tore away whilst Parkin was still distracted and the stands practically shook when Ginny launched the Quaffle through the one hoop Egwu wasn't guarding, immediately putting Gryffindor in the lead.
"Beautiful broom and teamwork from Black and Weasley there! Superb! Gryffindor 10, Ravenclaw nill!" Lee Jordan declared ecstatically. Harry knew that Sirius, over in the teachers stand, would be immensely proud and cheering the loudest. Harry was immediately cheering, as were Fred and George stood in the row behind him, still taking bets for people. Fred seemed very invested in his girlfriend's play, and barely took his eyes off her.
Amelia was already engaged in a race with Cho, with his twins Firebolt proving the quickest - Cho was still riding a Comet Two Ninety. His eagle-eyed vision could already see the Snitch dangling below Ron. But it soon was darting off, nowhere to be seen. Ravenclaw Chasers soon managed to steal the Quaffle, but not before Roger performed a foul on Angelina. A penalty was soon given to Gryffindor as well, as one of the Ravenclaw Beater's was stupid enough to try and charm the Bludger to attack Dorea. Angelina took the shot, and soon it was 20-0 to Gryffindor.
It was barely ten minutes later that Ravenclaw drew level with them, as Skye Parkin pulled off some incredible broomwork to score two goals in the space of four minutes, leaving Ron flustered. Unfortunately, some of the Slytherin's started taking up the song "Weasley is our King", which Harry grimaced at, but hoped that Ron wouldn't lose focus. This was, after all, a critical game in terms of the Quidditch Cup standings, and the last game before Christmas break.
Yet more carnage ensued, as Sloper managed to hit a Bludger; which hit the third Ravenclaw Chaser - Bradley, - right on his shoulder, which caused the Chaser to be in pain. Bradley had to get subbed off, and there was a short interval before the Reserve Chaser was ready to come on. However, the game quickly got going again. Dorea, Angelina and Ginny soon performed a Thimblerig Shuffle; which worked very well, as Davis went to tackle Ginny thinking she had the Quaffle, but really Dorea had it, and whilst he was still distracted, tore away towards Ravenclaw's hoops, putting yet another goal in to the delight of Gryffindor and half of Hufflepuff. Harry was sure his throat was going to be raw with the amount of cheers and whoops he let out, but didn't care; spectating Quidditch was very very fun.
After almost an hour and a half, the game was only getting more and more intense. It seemed that for every goal Gryffindor scored, Ravenclaw scored another two before anyone could even blink. The score was currently level between the two teams, and it could literally go to the wire or either way. Amelia was once again engaged in a race towards the Snitch with Cho hot on her heels. Both of them dived downwards, and had to dodge the Chasers as the Snitch eventually stopped diving downwards ten feet below the others. Amelia's Firebolt proved the swiftest, as it was already straightening out whilst Cho was still pulling her Comet upwards with every strength she had. The match ended with a roar when Amelia effortlessly stuck her arm out, and caught the Golden Snitch in her hands, meaning that Gryffindor had narrowly won.
"Amelia Potter has caught the Snitch, meaning that Gryffindor now have a perfect two out of two winning streak for this year! What a girl, unbelievable! Chang is in disbelief! Final score: Gryffindor 340, Ravenclaw 300!" Lee Jordan bellowed down the magical megaphone. The stands were practically moving back and forth with the amount of people celebrating and jumping around. Hermione whirled him around in a celebratory hug, whilst Fred and George were taking up some sort of chant; Harry couldn't hear it with the amount of students buzzing around him.
When they finally got down to the pitch, they ran towards the team. Harry began profusely congratulating and praising them on their efforts, and did the same for the Ravenclaws. Though Ron looked delighted, he was probably still feeling let down with the amount of goals he let in, but Harry thought today had been his best day nonetheless. He finally got close enough to pull Dorea, Amelia and Ginny into a group hug. "Well done you lot, you were brilliant!" Harry said, barely able to hear himself speak.
Sirius was another person soon charging through the crowd. Harry felt his heart warm as Sirius pulled Dorea into the world's biggest hug, and he could see that his godfather was also teary eyed. The DA members were also rushing through the crowd; Daphne, Astoria and Tracey grinned at him as they went to engulf Dorea and Amelia in hugs, as were Hannah, Susan and Megan. Blaise and Theo were congratulating Ron and trying to get closer to give praise to the girls. Even Ravenclaw's such as Padma, Tulip, Sue, Badeea and Lisa were looking happy. However, Cho did not appear to be in a good mood as she strode down the hill towards the changing rooms, gripping her broom so hard it looked like the wood was bound to snap.
The party in Gryffindor common room lasted a good few hours, as usual, with Butterbeer galore and plenty of sweets provided by Fred and George. Usually, the parties were held in the evening, but the Senior Group of the DA would be meeting in the Room of Requirement that night, but everyone was content nonetheless.
The DA session in question went very smoothly, with everyone able to enter the Room without any problems. In order for them all to catch up, as it was their first session since Umbridge banned all clubs and meetings two weeks ago, Harry set the time delay clock for two hours (whilst for everyone outside the room, only an hour would pass), but didn't feel like explaining the clocks, so he hid them. That session, they worked on the Impediment Jinx, which Harry really wanted them to have on their arsenal as it was a handy spell to use if you needed a few seconds to get away. They couldn't risk having Flitwick as a referee, so in his place Harry cast a Cushioning Charm around the floor in case somebody cast it a little too hard. Neville only managed to mess up once - accidentally making Terry topple over backwards, but apart from that no other incidents occurred. It was Seamus's first ever session, and within ten minutes Harry seen him already making friends; from Justin to Michael and Terry.
He walked past Cho, who was working with Mandy Brocklehurst. He didn't quite know what her mood was after her team's defeat earlier, but she managed to smile at him. "Hullo, Harry." Cho said.
"I know your team lost earlier, but you played really well." He said, a tad awkwardly, as Mandy was clearly a bit annoyed she had to wait for them to finish speaking.
"Oh, thanks." Cho answered, "your sister is really good, she done rings around me."
"Yeah, she's pretty quick." He said, but then got back to the task. "Let's see you cast the Impediment Jinx, then."
Cho straightened up quickly, and Mandy was no longer looking bored. She held her arm out straight, gripped her wand, and said, "Impedimenta!"
The spell only half-worked, as Cho had pronounced it "ImpedAmenta" instead of "ImpedImenta", which meant that only the bottom half of Mandy's body was frozen. Cho managed to get it on the second try though, which he was satisfied with. He couldn't help but feel like Mandy had tried to aim at him when it was her turn.
The rest of the session, the magical dummies got wheeled out, and everyone had a chance to work individually at their own pace, rather than in a pair. Observing, Harry found it an effective method, as some people really thrived on the opportunity to focus on themselves rather than perform against another person. Seamus also used it as an opportunity to learn the spells that he had missed out on, which worked quite well, and by the end of the session the boy had perfected most of the spells he had to catch up on, which was quite impressive.
Just before Harry called an end to the session, Hermione turned to him. "Harry, I've been working on something that all the DA can use in order to communicate."
He raised his brows. "Oh?"
She produced what looked to be a money bag. When she opened it up, it looked to be on first inspection filled with Galleons. However, they were actually fake. "You see the numerals around the outside edge of the coin?" Hermione pointed to the rim, where there was some writing. "On real Galleons it's just a serial number which refers to the goblin that made the coin. On these fake coins, though, I've charmed the numbers to change to reflect the date and time of the next DA meeting, but it can also change to anything; for example, a reminder of what spells to practise and learn. The coins grow hot when the writing changes or updates, so that the person will be able to feel them. All the coins will mimic your main one, as I've put a Protean Charm on them."
Harry was very impressed. "That's epic!" Another thought came to him. "If Umbridge ever forces us to empty our pockets, she'll find nothing suspicious about a Galleon being in there, and I doubt she'll inspect it."
"Yeah, exactly, that's why I used them." Hermione agreed brightly.
When Hermione told the group about her idea, she was initially met with silence, but then Anthony Goldstein spoke up. "You can do a Protean Charm?"
"Yes," Hermione replied.
"That's quite advanced stuff." Anthony was impressed.
"Yeah, that's a NEWT level spell, Granger." Blaise said, in a tone of praise. When everyone had received their fake Galleon, the session concluded. Harry went to find the Marauder's Map; everything seemed in order, as Umbridge was in her quarters, and Filch was in his office. Mrs Norris was patrolling the ground floor. Dobby and a few of the house elves soon arrived to Apparate people back to their dormitories, another session completed without a single teacher aware of what they were doing.