Another chapter, another day....
For clarification, this chapter took me 2 days, whereas the first one took about 2 hours. Please include in review if you see any noticeable difference (good or bad folks, I like constructive criticism)
DISCLAIMER: I own naught the rights for HP, JKR does. Sorry for the surprise folks :)
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Chapter 2: Troubling Times
As Harry fell asleep on Friday night, he kept repeating the night's events over and over in his head. The conversation revealing all of his feelings about Sirius hadn't been nearly as bad as it could've been, he thought.
That night Harry had his first pleasant dream since Sirius' death, in which included him playing with Sirius' animagus form as a dog, out on the Hogwarts grounds. The entire dream was like this, until Harry woke up to-
"Harry! What in the bloody hell are you still doing asleep?!"
At this Harry sat straight up in bed and looked around to see where the person who had disturbed his dream was. He could make out 3 figures in the door, and he put on his glasses to see who they were, although he had a pretty good idea anyway.
"Harry come on, the game starts in 10 minutes!" said Ron in a panic from the door, accompanied by Ginny and Hermione.
"I know, I know, I overslept," Harry said through a yawn.
"And you told me him to let him sleep," snorted Ron at Hermione, who simply rolled her eyes.
"It doesn't matter now, I'm ready to go," said Harry after getting dressed in a hurry. "And we still have-" Harry looked at his watch, "six minutes before the game starts, now lets just hurry and we'll make it there in plenty of time."
The four of them set off at a run, and had exactly 1 minute to catch their breath before the start of the match. Hermione gave each of them a hug, and ran off to the stands to watch. Harry, Ginny, and Ron walked to the pitch, and got on their brooms.
"Well at least we made it!" yelled Ron to Harry from the posts he was guarding.
"Just make pay attention to the quaffle you're supposed to be blocking!" he yelled back "And Ginny, let me see some of those chaser skills that you demolished Hufflepuff with 3 weeks ago!"
Although Ginny was about 100 meters from Harry, he sworn he could've seen her blush.
Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the game was on. Seamus Finnigan, who had replaced Lee Jordan as annoucer, was yelling the game in such a frantic manner that it was even distracting Harry a little.
"Weasley wit' the quaffle, passes off to Baker (one of the new chasers), back to Weasley, excellent bludgering by Kirke there to keep it off Ginny's back, Weasley still wit' the quaffle, just the keeper to beat, she shoots she SCORES!!!!!!!" A huge roar erupted from the left side of the pitch, where the gryffindors were all cheering, and Luna with her trademark Lion's hat was roaring emphatically.
At that exact moment, Harry saw the snitch, but it had been moving so fast and at such a weird angle, he lost sight of it right after he saw it.
"Pucey is off, past Thomson and Weasley, OOH EXCELLENT BLUDGER sent from Gryffindor beater Jack Sloper, Slytherin loses possession o' the quaffle, Baker now with it, up the pitch, flies around the post, passes off to Thomson.....SCORE!!!!" Harry looked up for a moment and noted to himself that they were up 20-0.
It was when Harry looked back at the pitch that he saw Malfoy cock his head towards the bottom of the goal post that Ron was hovering above. He saw Harry looking and immediately turned away, but Harry had a feeling he knew what Malfoy had seen. As Harry turned to look for himself Malfoy flew like a bullet at the snitch, but Harry saw Malfoy move and was one step ahead of him. The snitch, however had other plans, and flew off at top speed around the outer edge of the pitch. Malfoy drew even with Harry, and slammed into him hard from his right side.
"You're not winning this time Potter." Harry ignored Malfoy and continued in pursuit of the snitch.
"Oh, not speaking, are we? Well I'm sure your father would be noble also and accept defeat." Harry and Malfoy were screaming along the outside edge of the pitch in a red and green blur. Harry was starting to get angry, but they were drawing closer to the snitch, and he had his concentration on winning.
"It's ok Potter, I'm sure your filthy mudblood girlfriend knows a spell that will cheer you up," yelled Draco through a sneer as they were both about 4 feet from the snitch.
This was too much, and 3 things came as a resulted at the same time. First, Harry caught the snitch with his left hand, second he spun in a full 360 degree turn, and last, at the end of his spin, Harry slammed Malfoy in the jaw with his right hand, causing both him and Malfoy to slip off their brooms and fall to the pitch 10 feet below.
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Harry woke in the hospital wing with the entire Gryffindor quidditch team, Hermione, and Luna at his bedside.
"What happened?" he asked making the other 8 people beside him jump.
"OH HARRY! Thank goodness you're ok," said Hermione hugging him.
"'Ermione! Gerrof!" said Harry, his voice muffled through Hermione's cloak.
"Sorry."
"So what happened?" asked Harry again.
A smile came over the quidditch team's face, none more giant than Ron's who said,
"Well we beat Slytherin 200-0. First time they've been shut out like that in over 20 years."
"I thought that we were only up by 20?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, well your entire chase with Malfoy took a good few minutes, and we scored three more times during it. You caught the snitch right after Ginny scored the fifth goal," said Ron with a smirk on his face. Ginny's face turned a scarlet red.
"What about Malfoy?"
"Well you did manage to break his jaw, but he didn't hit the ground as nearly as hard as you did," replied Ginny. "So unfortunately he ended up being fine."
"How'd I hit the ground?" asked Harry.
"You uh.... you landed on the back of your head mate," answered Ron hesitantly. At this a tear formed in Hermione's eye and rolled down her face. "Everyone was pretty worried because you kinda rolled backwards over your head afterwards, we kinda all thought you had broken your neck," the smile now fading from Ron's face. "Or your back at that...." said Ron drifting into thought. After Ron's most recent comment Hermione burst into tears.
"What's wrong Hermione?" said Harry.
"Oh nothing, it's just, it's just-" she threw herself into Harry's arms. "When you landed like that I was so sure you were going to be, well, you know..." her voice trailed off.
"Dead?" asked Harry. She nodded.
"Oh I'm just so relieved that you're ok," said Hermione standing up, wiping the tears off her face with her cloak.
At this point, each of the other quidditch players stood up, nodded their heads, and shook Harry's hand in congratualtions on an excellent game. After Luna had expressed her relief (which was fairly short, considering it WAS Luna who was talking), she gave Ron a quick kiss.
"I'll see you later," she said with a grin on her face. Harry and Hermione looked at each other but said nothing. As soon as Luna had gone, Professor McGonagal walked in.
"Professor?" said Hermione in surprise, her face still damp from the tears. "What are you doing here?"
"I am here for two reasons Miss Granger. The first of course, is to make sure Harry is ok. Are you?"
"Yes, I'm fine Professor," replied Harry.
"Good. The second is to let Harry know that Monday night he will have detention with Professor Snape, as punishment for hitting Draco."
"WHAT?!?" yelled Hermione and Ron at the same time, but Harry waved them off.
"It's fine," he said. "I've needed to do that for a while now, and it was worth a week of detentions with Snape," he looked up at Professor McGonagal. "That's fine Professor, tell him I'll be there Monday after classes." McGonagal looked taken aback by the accepting tone of Harry's voice, but nodded and turned to leave nonetheless. As she turned to leave though, Harry was quite sure she had winked at him.
"You're ok with detention with Snape?" Ron asked looking startled.
"I never said I was ok with it, I just said that I'd serve a week of detentions with him just to punch Malfoy like that again," replied Harry and Ron chuckled. Hermione sighed.
"Well at least you're taking responsibility for your actions. What did you hit him for anyway?" Harry looked at Ron, and then at Hermione, and then back at Ron. "He actually had the ego to call me a mudblood while you two were chasing after the snitch?" Hermione looked astonished. Harry smiled.
"How'd you know?"
"Oh come on it was really quite obvious the way you looked at me after looking at Ron."
"Yeah, he did. He was trying to unnerve me during the entire chase really, going on about how 'I'm not winning this time,' and 'my father would nobly accept defeat too'. I really put it in his face didn't I?" The three of them enjoyed a chuckle from this.
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Sunday and all of Monday's classes passed without any major incidents. Monday evening Harry arrived in the dungeons for his detention with Snape. A thin smile appeared on Snape's lips as Harry entered.
"Ah, Mister Potter. The last class of Hufflepuffs had a fairly large accident earlier today whilst brewing a Switching Potion. I could've cleaned it up with a wave of my wand, but I thought, 'No, I think Potter would love to clean this up for me'. There's a rag on the desk near you. Get to it." Harry scowled at Snape and got to cleaning.
About half an hour into the detention Snape let out a chuckle.
"What's funny?" asked Harry.
"Not that it's any of your business Potter, but I am simply reading the list of casualties in the Daily Prophet that was printed after a certain day last year."Harry knew Snape was trying to torment him with the death of Sirius. "Been practicing your Occlumency lately?" laughed Snape.
"You know Professor, I don't really understand why you feel the need to make fun of the death of the only person I truly had as family." Snape's eyes narrowed at this.
"Potter, my personal feelings toward you aside, your godfather was not the person I was referring to."
"THEN WHO?" yelled Harry.
"Temper Potter, 10 points from Gryffindor. If you don't calm yourself the Dark Lord will be able to come for you sooner than we all think." Harry's head shot up, and saw that Snape had a smile on his face.
"What did you say?"
"Oh, nothing." Snape's smile widended.
"He's coming for me?"
"Your incompetence will result in you not being mentally prepared at all times, so I'm simply putting the idea in the back of your head, that a certain Dark Lord may come for you soon. Just letting you know"
"Why? Why do you care if I live or die?"
"Potter once again you think it's all about you. I could care less if the Dark Lord smote you down tomorrow morning over breakfast, but then I would have to think about all the other students in this school. And all the other people in this world. After all with you dead, the prophecy would be fulfilled, and the Dark Lord would triumph over all. And I'm sure the great Harry Potter doesn't want that of all things." A look of triumph came over Snape's face. A look of horror came over Harry's.
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That night in the Gryffindor common room, Harry told Ron and Hermione everything. After the story was over, they both looked at him in shock.
"So....you think that the Order knows that you-know-who's coming for you, and Snape just went ahead and told you?" gulped Ron.
"Yeah, and I don't think he was lying either." The three of them sat there in silence for several hours, long after everyone had left the common room, until Hermione spoke up.
"Maybe we should go to bed, it's getting late." As a response Harry shook his head.
"No, I know what I need to do right now." Hermione and Ron looked up at him. "I'm going to Dumbledore and finding out the truth, once and for all."
"I'm coming too," said Ron immediately. Ron and Harry looked at Hermione, who looked more scared than Harry had ever seen her before.
"I'll come too, I need to hear it with my own ears..." she said, her voice breaking as she said it. Ron and Harry were shocked to hear Hermione agree to break rules without putting up a fight, but said nothing.
Ten minutes later Harry pulled the invisibility cloak off of them in front of the stone gargoyle.
"Any ideas?" said Ron.
"Not a clue. Let's just start guessing," replied Harry. "Fizzing Whizbee."
"Chocolate Frog."
"Drooble's Best Blowing Gum."
"Blood-Flavored Lollipops."
"Shebert Lemon."
"Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans," said Hermione and the gargoyle sprang to life. Ron and Harry looked at her incredulously.
"But....Dumblebore hates those," said Ron.
"It was just a lucky guess," said Hermione humbly. The three of them headed up to the landing where upon reaching it, Harry knocked on the door.
"Come in," said a familiar misty voice. "Ah, I knew I could expect hearing from you three before tonight was over," said Dumbledore as the three of them walked into his office. "I'm assuming it has something to do with what Professor Snape told you Harry?"
"It's true then?" asked Harry as he Ron and Hermione sat down.
"Yes I'm afraid it is Harry. I would have told you myself, but Severus told you before I had a chance to talk to you."
"Figures," said Harry. Hermione was shaking. Dumbledore noticed this.
"Ms. Granger you have absolutely no reason to be scared, for you know, as well as any of us, that you cannot apparate inside of Hogwarts, and surely you must believe that not even Voldemort and his army of death eaters could storm this school successfully without suffering heavy, heavy casualties." Hermione lifted her head a little and smiled. "No, we are guessing that Voldemort will try to attack Harry the next time he goes to Hogsmeade.."
"Great," Harry said. "No Hogsmeade for the rest of the year then right?" At this, Dumbledore did something that Harry had never seen him do. He let out a gigantic sigh, and ran his fingers through his long white hair.
"Harry, the next Hogsmeade visit is in a month, but only you, myself, and a number of other teachers will be going." The jaws of Harry, Ron and Hermione all dropped at this.
"But Professor-" Hermione began.
"All three of you need to listen to me right now. If I were to keep Harry at Hogwarts during the Hogsmeade visits, then Voldemort would attack him after he left the grounds to go home this summer, or worse, while all of you were on the train with no teachers to help you. That is why, after a discussion with the other members of the Order, we have agreed that it would be best if this battle took place where we can at least protect Harry while he is fighting. I will be there, along with several of the other teachers to prevent any of the Death Eaters from harming anyone, but the battle between Harry and Lord Voldemort needs to be between them. And Harry will need our help, without doubt."
"What do you expect us to do, just sit around while this is going on and do nothing?!" yelled Ron.
"Yes, Mr. Weasley, I expect just that. Now, it's getting late. I advise all of you go to bed, and we can discuss this topic later. Rest assured Harry, that I personally will help you between now and the next Hogsmeade visit to ready yourself." Dumbledore smiled a little. "Harry, I have faith in you, I know what you can do. Just believe in yourself for the time being, you're not as un-powerful as you think you are." Harry could tell the conversation was over, so he turned to leave, and instructed Ron and Hermione to follow.
When they got back to the common room, the three of them stood there in silence for about 10 minutes. All of a sudden Hermione burst into tears and threw herself into Harry's arms.
"Harry-" she began, sobbing into his robes. Harry put his hand on the back of her head, and embraced her.
"Its ok, I'm going to have to face him eventually, at least I have fair warning so I can be prepared."
"Yeah, but blimey, I never thought Dumbledore would just tell it to your face like that. I mean, we're your best friends and he won't even let us come and fight for you!" exclaimed Ron.
"Maybe it's better like this, I mean Hermione was almost killed along with....Sirius...last year." Harry's voice broke as he thought of Sirius.
"But I didn't die and we want to be with you when you go and fight Voldemort!" cried Hermione into Harry's cloak.
"We'll worry about that later," said Harry. "Let's just all get some sleep right now." Ron agreed to this and Harry finally convinced Hermione to stop crying. As Ron and Harry walked up to the dorms to sleep though, Harry had a distinct feeling that he wasn't going to get to sleep that night.
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