Chapter 17: The Final Quidditch Match - May/June 1993

Ron and Harry were eager for the last game of the quidditch season, which would be against Ravenclaw and take place in late May. Since Ravenclaw had crushed Hufflepuff in a drawn-out match, the former was way ahead on points.

The Gryffindor team needed to win by a margin of 180 points to claim the Cup. Oliver's continual reminder of this and many other facts, plays, and strategy didn't dampen their determination.

Once Harry was up in the air, he looked over at the Gryffindor stands. Hermione was over by Lavender and Parvati, learning some sort of dance and chant. Luna stood next to Ron with a stuffed eagle atop her hat. Or perhaps it was a live eagle? Either way, she appeared to be splitting her support between the two teams.

Harry smiled and waved at his friends when they looked his way. Then, he turned his attention towards the game.

The whistle blew to signal the start. He looped around the perimeter of the stadium slowly for something to do. Chang was a good seeker, so he'd have to stay alert. He wouldn't grab the snitch until they were 30 points up, unless she seemed likely to get to it first.

Five minutes later, a mass of players converged on him unexpectedly. The Gryffindor chasers were passing the quaffle quickly between themselves. The Hufflepuff chasers and beaters were trying to trip up their flow. The Weasley twins were swinging their bats just cautiously enough not to earn fouls.

Harry panicked and attempted to fly up out of the fray.

That was the last moment Harry would remember of the 1993 Gryffindor-Ravenclaw quidditch match.

Ron saw a Ravenclaw beater shoot a bludger wide, hitting Harry accidentally. Harry was knocked out immediately.

Thankfully, the protective enhancements on the pitch slowed Harry's fall. Ron didn't dare attempt to help since he had a slight warning of Professor Dumbledore's assistance from his magic-sensing glasses.

Ron encouraged Luna to go to the hospital wing with Harry. He knew Harry would appreciate a friendly face but would be mad if it was at the expense of Ron's chance to play as a reserve.

The redhead was on the field as the keeper moments later. (He took off his magic-warning glasses because they wouldn't be sporting.) Captain Wood took over as seeker.

The Gryffindor chasers continued to be stellar. Ron made 3 great and 8 easy saves. Fred gave Ron a thumbs-up after the first few.

As the game wore on, Ron's nerves were making him more tired than the effort of playing was. At least the Ravenclaws didn't really do trash-talk.

Wood was able to keep Chang from catching the snitch until Gryffindor was up 200 to 10. Gryffindor won the game but lost the Quidditch Cup.

Everyone repeated endlessly that evening that if Harry had been able to play, they could have won the Cup too. But Wood was full of complements for Ron and the rest of the team anyway.

"It wasn't the Cup-winning victory we wanted, but we all won today. I'm so proud of us." He shed a few tears, and the team surrounded him in a group hug.

Harry was deeply disappointed to have missed the last match of the season. He was happy for Ron, though.

Harry stayed in the hospital wing overnight. Ron came by for an hour to sit with him and tell him about the match.

In a low undertone, he started by saying that he didn't think Harry getting hurt was planned.

Then, the redhead recapped the game exuberantly. He smiled through his explanations of each save, even as he recounted how sweaty and anxious he felt for the duration.

Luna spent the entire evening with Harry. For some reason, Madam Pomfrey didn't kick her out despite usually encouraging only short visits.

Even though he dozed on and off, Harry was grateful for the company. He told Luna as much.

She replied, "I'm glad you're going to be okay. That was… very scary."

"I think I might be done playing quidditch."

She looked him with an uncharacteristic intensity. "I'd like that very much."

Harry thought he was caught up on what he missed, but Hermione had something to share with him and Ron when he made it back to the common room the following day: Lockhart had apparently tried to help Madam Pomfrey with Harry while he was unconscious and laying on the field.

"He didn't do anything though, right?" Harry's voice came out higher pitched than normal.

"No, Madam Pomfrey put herself between you and him. Professor Snape additionally threatened Lockhart with 'A thousand times any harm you inflict on any student.'"

Harry expressed appreciation for the dour professor's defense while he was unconscious.

Hermione continued, "Lockhart shrunk back. I watched him as Madam Pomfrey took you up to the school. A few minutes later, I think a few of the students said something near or to him? I couldn't hear anything or make any sense of it, but his emotional state a minute later was much harder to clock."

"Should we do anything?" Ron asked.

Harry said, "I don't know what we can do."

Hermione offered, "I'll go ask a question during office hours and see if I can get any clues."

When Hermione arrived at Lockhart's office later that day, there was a short queue. Hermione took out her journal and started writing homework questions on top of some notes about the Crouch father and son.

Ginny Weasley and Colin Creevey were at the front of the line. As Hermione listened to them disparage Lockhart's class, she got a bad feeling.

When a sixth-year Ravenclaw left, she grabbed her stuff and followed them into the professor's office.

Ginny challenged Hermione in a whisper, "Why are you here?"

Hermione jumped in on a whim, without a suitable lie. "Just go with it," the curly-haired witch muttered back. She hung back by the door and cast a subtle attention-diverting charm on herself.

Lockhart greeted Colin and Ginny coldly.

Undaunted, Colin said, "Sir, can you expand on what the test material from Gadding with Ghouls will encompass? We haven't gone over that one in class, and… ."

"I know it was you," Lockhart directed at Colin.

"What?"

"The curse! I can't do magic anymore, and it's ALL YOUR FAULT."

Ginny got up to leave, but Lockhart waved his wand at the door and it locked.

"At least I can still do that!" Lockhart turned back to Colin. "No one is leaving this room until you FIX ME!"

"Incarcerous." Hermione had heard enough, and Colin looked genuinely frightened.

Bound head to foot, Lockhart toppled over behind the desk. He sputtered, "Release me! Of all the indignities…."

After unlocking the door, Hermione turned to Colin and Ginny. "Can you two go together to get a professor from the Great Hall or the staffroom? I'll stand guard here."

They fled the room quickly. Hermione debated telling Lockhart to shut up because his angry mutterings were so boring.

Ten minutes later, the pair of first-years returned with Professors McGonagall and Flitwick in tow.

"What is the meaning of this?" The deputy headmistress addressed the Defense professor.

Hermione released Lockhart from the ropes, confident that the other professors could get the better of him if he proved dangerous.

The deputy headmistress looked less and less impressed with Lockhart as he explained.

She declared, "Albus is very sure that you haven't been cursed! Much less by a first-year student. And attempting to trap them here…."

Lockhart shouted, "You're LYING! It happened again! I attempted to confound Snape and it took me several hours to realize it!" He paused, realizing that he had incriminated himself. "Well, I'm still right about the curse. I don't understand why all of the teachers are in this little conspiracy with Dumbledore to deny it, but it's the truth." Lockhart stomped with both feet for emphasis.

"This is a matter for the headmaster," Professor McGonagall announced. Professor Flitwick had also drawn his wand and the pair frog-marched the man to the stone gargoyle. Hermione believed to be their latest former Defense professor.

To Hermione's eyes, the pair of first-years looked a little shaken, so she walked them to the hospital wing.

As they went, Ginny and Colin told Hermione more about their recent interactions with an increasingly irate Professor Lockhart.

Colin admitted, "We were taunting him in class, since we heard the rumour about the curse."

"We thought it was funny. My dad pointed out that Lockhart had likely used memory charms on people to steal their ideas. Like, this curse would give him a taste of his own medicine," Ginny explained.

Colin was defensive. "But somehow, he got it in his head that I was behind it. I'm just a first year! How would I even know how to cast it? And it's super illegal. We looked it up."

Ginny said, "I'm really glad you were there, Hermione. I don't know how to cast those ropes or unlock the door."

Hermione thought, I'm glad I was there, too. In their other timeline, Lockhart's threat to Ron and Harry before he attempted to memory charm still could made her shudder.

When they arrived at the hospital wing, the older student explained the situation to Madam Pomfrey, then sat to wait.

The biggest remaining questions on Hermione's mind were about the curse. In the privacy of her thoughts, Hermione thought it sounded like the sort of thing Snape might do: protect the students with dramatic, vindictive flair.

But the question wasn't just who was the perpetrator: Hermione wasn't actually sure what their offense actually was. Is Lockhart actually affected by a retribution curse? And if not, why does he think he is?

An hour later, Ron and Harry appeared at the hospital wing. Ron went directly to Ginny, whereas Harry walked up to Hermione.

"Rumour mill," he said by way of explanation.

Ginny, Colin, and Hermione filled the other two in on the evening's drama.

Ron rubbed his chin for a while before asking, "Colin, did you have something to do with the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff bludger incident?"

Colin grimaced but didn't respond, which Ron took take as a sign of guilt.

"How about Lockhart's collapse at that same game?"

"No way!"

Ron let the topic drop. A few minutes later, a red-robed auror entered the hospital wing. Ginny and Colin's faces both paled.

The headmaster, deputy headmistress, Professor Flitwick, and Lucius Malfoy followed.

Madam Pomfrey immediately scolded them, "You'd better be careful with my patients!"

Ron, Harry, and Hermione were allowed to stay as Ginny and Colin recounted their story for a third time at Dumbledore's prompting.

The auror investigator asked Colin the same things that Ron did about the bludger incident.

Then he turned to Ron and said, "We believe that Professor Lockhart overheard your comment to Mr. Potter," he gestured to Harry.

Ron wasn't surprised that the investigator would know their identities without introduction. Harry was Harry, and Ron was Arthur Weasley's son.

But Ron had to think before he understood what the auror was referring to. "Oh, I made a comment about Colin being behind 'it' to Harry as we left a quidditch game. I was talking about the bludger." Harry made the same leap in logic, Ron recalled.

The auror said pointedly to Dumbledore that the bludger-fixing was a matter for school discipline, then led the adults out of the hospital wing.

As a parting shot, Lucius Malfoy said, "Next, the aurors will talk to Arthur Weasley." He grinned maliciously at Ron and Ginny.

Ron was shocked. "Wait, what?!"

Hermione shushed them until the adults were long gone. Since Ginny and Colin were there, the trio were all careful with their speculations. Not much of substance was said.

However, Harry brought up a good point. "You did say that your dad hates Lockhart."

"I didn't think he'd go after him though." Ron's heart was in his shoes.

No one said what they were probably all thinking: If Arthur Weasley really did cast a retribution curse, he might be headed for Azkaban.