All right, I know I say it a lot, but reviewing really makes my day. You guys are spending about a minute to comment about something I spent a good ten to twelve working hours on. Please, if you read, just leave a review, even if it's a 'great writing', or a 'this sucks'. I don't care, just something. Anything. Thank you.
On another other note, I realised something. I find that the greatest fics out there are the ones that can continually hold my interest, because they're always leaving me wanting more. As I started writing this chapter, I noticed that I couldn't hold my own interest. Not a good sign. I'm quickly running out of filler material before all the huge plot things start. Therefore, this will be the last chapter before said stuff begins. The ECN (estimated chapter number) is back down to 22. Which means that I'll be skipping A LOT of the school year in this chapter. About three months, to be exact. So with that, I ask for your forgiveness. I hope that Part III will be much more exciting once I start to write it.
One other thing, I'm sorry for getting this out on Wednesday. I know I usually set my mark for Tuesdays, but this chapter was very hard for me to write. At least I finally managed to crank out a 20 page chapter. It's about time. Never fear, from here on out the rest should flow smoothly (though the next one may give me some trouble until the end of it).
And I'm happy to say that I've reached 25,000 hits on PK. Thanks everyone!
Nothing else this time, so enjoy!
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Chapter 18: A Champion's Farewell
Given that they had both been nearly naked when Hermione managed to wake Harry, they made considerable time getting to Dumbledore's office. Upon reaching the landing above the stone gargoyle, Harry rapped on the old oak door loudly without hesitation.
"Come in," the headmaster said. The two teens entered and Dumbledore's brow furrowed a bit at seeing them. "What problem ails you so that you must see me at this late hour?"
"I...er...had a dream," Harry said, hesitating slightly. When this was all he offered, Dumbledore put his elbows on his desk and steepled his fingers.
"What kind of dream?" he asked, his usual twinkle diminishing gradually with each passing moment.
"Well, er...I was Voldemort again," he said as Hermione put her arm around his waist. Relaxing slightly at her touch, Harry continued. "At first I was in a big empty room, and I was talking to Wormtail."
"Peter?" asked Dumbledore. Harry nodded. "Please go on."
"I...Voldemort, that is, was talking with him about business that they would be taking care of somewhere else." The headmaster nodded for Harry to continue. "Then he heard two women scream in the distance somewhere, and said that Lucius had arrived. Voldemort told Wormtail to go and get them, which he did."
"Who were they?" asked Dumbledore.
"I'm not sure," replied Harry. "The room was too dark for me to see clearly, but one of them..."
"One of them what, Harry?" asked Hermione looking at him with worry etched into her features.
"I think...you were one of them," he said, holding their gaze.
"It couldn't have been me," she said. "I've been here the entire time. Maybe Voldemort is putting images into your head again?"
"Unlikely," said the headmaster. "No, Tom would know that you were with him, Hermione. He wouldn't try to lure Harry into a trap that would be so easily figured out." Harry and Hermione nodded thoughtfully at this. "Who was the other woman?"
"I don't know," said Harry. "They both sounded like they had been hurt in the throat, their voices were scratchy and forced."
"Very well," said Dumbledore with a small sigh. "What next, then?"
"The tall one, the one who reminded me of Hermione, started talking back to Voldemort, and he slapped her twice before ordering Wormtail to force a potion down their throats. Which he did, by the way."
"Did he say what the potion was?" the headmaster asked. Harry shook his head.
"No sir, only that it was one of his, 'personal favorites'."
"What else?"
"Well after that, Wormtail and I left the women in the room," Harry said. "Then the dream changed and I think I was back in the same room, but this time all that happened was the two women were screaming in agony, like the Cruciatus Curse was being used on them or something."
"And that's it?" Dumbledore asked.
"No, it changed again after that. Next I was flying above a forest, watching a battle taking place in a castle," he replied.
"Hogwarts?" Hermione asked.
"I don't think so," Harry said. "It didn't really look like it, though with all the green and red flashes taking place, I couldn't get a real good look." Dumbledore and Hermione nodded at this. "Well that went on for a little while, when all of a sudden this white light started to shine through some of the windows on one of the lower levels. All I remember after that was an enormous explosion. Then Hermione woke me up."
"And that's all?" Dumbledore asked.
"That's all."
"Professor, do you have any ideas on what's happening?" Hermione inquired.
"Yes," the headmaster replied after some consideration. "But each is unlikely as the next."
"Care to elaborate?" asked Harry.
"I think it would be better not to," Dumbledore said. "There are quite literally hundreds of possibilities, and I don't think, what with you having classes tomorrow, that it is wise to tell you all of them. I find that most of my professors do not appreciate it when students fall asleep during their lessons."
"All right," he said dejectedly.
"Please inform me if anything else happens of this nature?" asked the headmaster.
"Of course," Harry replied as he and Hermione turned to leave. They were at the door when he stopped. "Sir?"
"Yes, Harry?"
"I suppose you'll have to tell the Order about this?" Dumbledore sighed.
"Yes, I'm afraid I will," the aged wizard said. "The more sources of information one uses, the easier it is to sort out a problem." Harry nodded.
"Just don't let Snape criticise me too much."
"Actually, Harry, Professor Snape hasn't spoken ill of you since before the Christmas holiday," Dumbledore said. Harry and Hermione turned around to face him at this.
"You jest," said Harry with a chuckle playing at his lips. Some of Dumbledore's twinkle returned at this.
"Not in the least," he said. "I take it you apologised to him?"
"Yeah," Harry said. "But he didn't even acknowledge me."
"Give Severus some time," the headmaster said. "It wont be easy for him to relieve himself of a hatred that has consumed his being for over 25 years." With that, Harry nodded and he and Hermione left Dumbledore's office to return to their rooms.
Once they were back in bed snuggled next to each other, Harry voiced the thought that had been bothering him for some time.
"How come you've been so silent?" he asked.
"I asked Professor Dumbledore questions," she retorted, looking up at him.
"You know that's not what I meant."
It was true; ever since they had rushed to the headmaster's office, their mental connection seemed to have faded slightly, as if they were each too caught up in their own thoughts to pay attention to the other's.
"I don't know..." she said shaking her head slightly. "It just seems..."
"Dodgy?" finished Harry for her. She gave him a bleak smile.
"I was going to say 'strange,' but I suppose your way is more accurate." Harry returned the smile as he ran his hand through her chestnut brown hair. "Be truthful with me, Harry. What do you think it means?" He sighed at this.
"In all honesty?" he asked with a shrug. "I have no idea what it means. It seemed real enough to be a vision..."
"But?" Hermione asked when he didn't continue.
"I swear you were one of the women there," he said shaking his head. "But that means that I have at least one thing wrong. Either it wasn't a vision, or the woman wasn't you."
"So it's basically back to the drawing board, but with no new ideas," she said. Harry nodded. "What about the other girl?"
"She seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn't make out who it was," he said.
"Well whatever happens, we'll come to it together," Hermione said giving him a kiss on the cheek before draping her arm across his toned chest and closing her eyes.
"Yeah...together..."
=====
Fortunately for Harry, there were no more recurrences of questionable dreams after that night. However, in their haste, he and Hermione had not noticed that there were some late night studiers in the common room when they made their sprint for Dumbledore's office. The result was an onslaught of rumors which couldn't have been farther from the truth.
"I heard that Potter was attacked by You-Know-Who through his scar and had to run for it to the hospital wing before the pain killed him," Harry overheard a person in a group of Hufflepuffs talking about it two days after the incident.
"Nah, he and Granger got called off on some important Head duties."
"You're both daft," said a third from within the crowd and he and Hermione passed them. "Potter got Granger pregnant, and when she told him he tried to make a break for it."
"Oh, honestly!" shouted Harry who couldn't stop himself at this one. "Ten points from Hufflepuff for making false accusations about the Head Boy and Girl. Now get off to your classes now!" The group immediately scattered and as Harry watched the last one disappear around a corner, Ron came floating down the hall clutching his sides.
"That last one was the best one yet," he said laughing so hard, tears were starting to roll down his cheeks.
"It was certainly original," Hermione said thoughtfully. "We really do need to figure out who it was that was studying and have a nice talk to them about all these rumors."
"Wipe that damn smirk off your face, Ron," Harry said as they continued down the hall to Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"Sorry," he said grinning.
The three of them entered the classroom and found that they were the first ones there, the only other person in the room being Krum.
"Ah," he said seeing them take their seats. "You are early today. Class does not start for another five minutes."
"Well I couldn't stand the continuing barrage of fictional drivel out there," Harry said nodding at the door to the hall.
"Ahh yes," said Krum. "No doubt, the students haff taken an interest in vat happened two nights ago?"
"More or less," said Harry grumbling.
"So tell me, vat really did happen?" he asked.
"Dumbledore hasn't informed the Order yet?" Hermione asked. Krum shook his head.
"He said he vould explain effrything at the next meeting. But it is sometimes better to hear the information from the source, rather than from somevone else."
"I had a dream," Harry said, looking around to make sure that no one had entered the classroom unnoticed. "About two women being tortured by Voldemort." A pained expression appeared on Krum's face at hearing the Dark Lord's name. "Then I saw a battle taking place in a castle."
"Hogvarts?"
"I don't think so, it certainly seemed like a different castle," Harry said.
"Vat did Dumbledore say about all of this?" their teacher asked.
"He said -" but what Dumbledore said remained unspoken, for at that moment, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle waltzed into the room. "He said that we're going to win the Qudditch Cup this year." Malfoy eyed Harry carefully as he made his way to the back of the classroom, but said nothing. Krum gave a knowing smile and nodded.
"Ven is your next game?" he asked, playing along.
"Not for another three months," Ron replied, finally glad to talk about something he knew the answers to. "There's a match against Ravenclaw and Slytherin, then another against Hufflepuff and Slytherin, then the last match of the season before the finals is us versus Hufflepuff."
"You can expect to be playing us in the finals, Weaselby," Malfoy said with a smirk as Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned to face him. "That is, if your team has enough skill to get there in the first place."
"Don't you think that you should keep the insults to a minimum, Malfoy?" asked Hermione with a glare. "After all, we don't want to let anything slip by accident, now do we?" Malfoy looked ready to retort, but more students started filling the classroom, thus ending the argument.
"You don't think Crabbe and Goyle know about him and Ginny, do you?" asked Ron in a whisper.
"I don't know," said Harry. "Their fathers are death eaters, so I doubt he would tell them. On the other hand though, they may be so stupid that Malfoy could count on them to listen to him instead of their own parents."
"If effryone vill please open your texts to page four-hundred and tventy nine, ve can began discussing the effects of the Andromedus Curse," Krum said, the class now having filled. With a wary look, Harry, Ron, and Hermione gave one last glance back at Malfoy and his cronies before joining the conversation.
Thursday and Friday passed without incident, though the rumor craze of what had actually happened to Harry that night earlier in the week wasn't losing any steam. Fortunately for the trio, they had the upcoming Order meeting to look forward to (though Harry wasn't really sure whether to be happy about this or not), in which Dumbledore had said that Hermione would be formally inducted.
Since about half of the members in the Order were at Hogwarts for one reason or another, the meeting was being held in the antechamber of the Great Hall. Because there was to be an induction, all the members were present, so when Harry, Ron, and Hermione arrived, they were each greeted with a large hug from Molly Weasley (or in Ron's case, a pair of arms being wrapped around his spectral figure as best they could).
"It's wonderful to see you all again," she said. "What with Arthur and I going away for the holiday, we didn't think we'd get to see you again until your graduation."
"It's good to see you too, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said. "I trust you don't have any problems with Hermione joining the Order?" Molly sighed slightly at this.
"Of course I do. Prophecy or not, you're still all too young to be involved in this," she said. "But they're your choices to make, not mine. So all I'll do is sit back and hope that no ill comes to you."
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," said Hermione. "It means a lot to me."
"I know it does, dear," she said. "And maybe some of our problems will go away now that we have the smartest witch to ever grace Hogwarts grounds in our midst." A pink tinge crept up into Hermione's cheeks at this.
'I told you there was nothing to worry about,' Harry said silently as Molly went over to talk to Remus.
'Yes, well...'
"Is everyone here?" asked Dumbledore, clapping his hand to get the room's attention.
"Er....I think Tonks is late again," said Remus checking his wristwatch. A second later the door to the room burst open and a hyperventilating Tonks came through it, her raspberry blue hair all askew from what Harry would've guessed was a extremely fast and windy broom ride.
"You could've just apparated to Hogsmeade, you know," Professor McGonagal said as everyone took their seats. Tonks' face turned redder than it already was from her flight.
"Oh....right."
"Now then," said Dumbledore silencing the small chuckles of laughter at this. "We have an induction to do before we discuss new business. Hermione, if you would give your speech?" She nodded and stood from her seat next to Harry, fidgeting slightly with her blouse as she walked up to the front of the room.
'You'll be fine,' Harry said silently as she faced the assembled group. She seemed to relax at hearing his voice and gave him a small wink before beginning.
"You'll forgive me," she began with a shy smile. "But I can't compare to the speeches that Viktor, Ron, and Harry gave over the summer." This earned a small laugh from some of those in the room. "I haven't gone out hunting death eaters, I haven't had the love of my life die in my arms -" Ron bowed his head at this. "- and I certainly don't have a prophecy hanging over my head telling me I have to kill possibly the greatest dark wizard of all time."
'You just had to bring that up, didn't you?' Harry asked in his mind with a grin, earning a reproving glare from Hermione before she continued on.
"What I can offer you is my knowledge and research skills. Though I'm quite positive that most of you far surpass my intellect, I'm quite proud of my researching and discovery methods. You may ask Ron or Harry about that, if you have a doubt."
"She's telling the truth," Ron said as a few heads turned to look at him and Harry.
"I don't like bragging about anything, but there really isn't much else for me to offer, so forgive me for playing that fact up a bit," she said with a sheepish grin. Harry distinctly saw Snape roll his eyes at this, but could only smile when a few of the other members chuckled. "That's all I have to say...I guess."
"Well now, all in favor of Hermione Granger's acceptance into the Order of the Phoenix?" Dumbledore asked. Every single wand in the room went up. "Good!" he exclaimed with a brighter-than-usual twinkle. "And I daresay you're much more intellegent than even I," he whispered as Hermione headed back to her seat, causing her cheeks to turn the color of Molly's hair.
"See, I told you you'd be fine," Harry said as she slumped in the chair next to him. "'Most of you surpass my intellect'..." he added with a derisive laugh.
"Well honestly," she said putting her head on his shoulder. "I'm only 17. There's no way I can know as much as some of the people in this room."
"Not as much?" Ron asked, a look of incredulity plastered on his ghostly face. "Dung. That's a load of dung and you know it. I bet you know more than half this room combined. Hell, I'd wager you could outperform Snape in a potion-brewing contest, if it came to that."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Mr. Weasley," came a cold voice from beside them. They turned to see Snape sneering at them.
"Yeah...well..." Ron said as he trailed off.
"All right," said Dumbledore, seeing the tension in the room beginning to increase at this. "Let's move on to new business, shall we?"
"Nothing new on the dragon front," Charlie said from the back of the room. "Looks like You-Know-Who finally gave up on trying to get them as creatures to ride into battle on."
"And thank god for that," mumbled Harry, causing a few people to look at him. "Come on, you try evading a fifty foot tall Horntail and see if you want to do it again." The few people who had turned around shrugging, and he distinctly saw Dumbledore give him a wink before continuing.
"Death eater movements?" he asked.
"The same as always," Kingsley said getting up. "There'll be an attack every few days, but they're not adhering to patterns. Though from what we can tell, it looks as if You-Know-Who's planning something big. They're being kind of conservative from what we can tell."
"Any ideas why?" Fred asked from next to his twin.
"Well he's probably got most of them looking for something or another," Kingsley said. "You-Know-Who's a nut, you know that. He goes looking for religious wizarding artifacts of importance and doesn't stop until he gets 'em. Almost as bad as that...what was he called? Hitmer?"
"Hitler," corrected Harry.
"Right, him," the black man continued. "Anyways we've got a couple aurors following some death eaters trying to figure out what he's going for now, but Tonks can tell you more on that subject than I can. She's been researching some possibilities." At this Tonks stood and Kingsley sat down.
"Well, based on the information provided to us from our trackers, we can assume that whatever he's looking for is on the Scandinavian Penninsula," she said, taking a piece of parchment from her robes and reading from it. "The most likely cases are that he's either looking for the key to Tromhund Crypt, or he's simply setting up a base and it's a big one."
"Tromhund Crypt?" asked Harry, having no idea what that was.
"I'll explain later," said Hermione, earning a shrug from him.
"Which do you think is more likely?" Snape asked. Tonks sighed at this.
"To be fair, the key is something that everyone's believed to be lost for over five millennia," she said. "I bet he's just setting up base."
"Let us not forget that doubts have never stopped Tom from trying to fulfill his ambitions in the past,' Dumbledore noted. "Is that all?"
"That's about it, yeah," Tonks said sitting back down.
"Well then, if there is no more news?" he looked around the room to see if anyone needed to speak of anything. "Then I must bring attention to something that happened recently." There were murmurs from the Order at this. "As some of you already know, Harry here had a slightly disconcerting dream earlier this week."
"What of?" asked Remus. Dumbledore looked at Harry as if to say, 'It's your job to tell them.'
"I was Voldemort," he said, causing some of the people in the room to flinch. "In a nutshell, I watched two women be force-fed a potion. Then it shifted to who I believe were the same two women, only this time they were screaming bloody murder, then after that I was on a broom high above a forest, watching a battle take place in a castle."
"Hogwarts?" asked George.
'Why does everyone keep asking me that?' he asked Hermione silently, causing her to smile. "No I'm pretty sure it wasn't Hogwarts."
"So you watched these two women get tortured," Arthur said.
"Well, I didn't actually see them get tortured, per se," Harry repied. "But I watched Peter Pettigrew force a potion into their mouths. Then the scene changed and all I remember is the screaming of two women."
"Did you experience the dream from the view of the Dark Lord the entire time, Potter?" asked Snape, much to everyone's surprise. He usually didn't speak at Order meetings unless he was giving a report, or disagreed with something or someone.
"Er..." said Harry, slightly taken aback by his potions teacher's professionalism. "Now that you mention it...I don't think so." Dumbledore looked over to Snape at this. "Only during the first part."
"The part where you watched Peter and the women?" asked Molly.
"Yeah," said Harry. "I was talking about how, 'Blood can be cleaned, or used for better things...'" This seemed to trouble the room.
"Well, what about after that part?" asked McGonagal. "Whom were you seeing it through the eyes of then?"
"The second part...the one with the screaming," Harry said trying to cast his mind back. "I don't think I saw it through anyone's eyes. More like I was watching it happen, without being there." Again, murmurs and disconcerted looks.
"And the third time?"
"I...I was on my Firebolt," he said pinching the bridge of his nose. "I think I saw it through my own eyes." This time, every adult except Snape and the headmaster seemed to let out a breath at this.
"Well...is it safe to assume that he was simply dreaming then?" Remus asked Dumbledore.
"It's possible," he replied. "But there are other theories I will need to discuss with Severus first, he knows a bit more about this subject than I,"
"Vat subject?" asked Krum.
"Divination, of course," replied Dumbledore. "Now then, if we're all on agreement that this is nothing serious?" The room nodded. "Then the meeting is adjourned. Ron, perhaps I could see you after everyone has left?" The people in the room slowly filed out, discussing what had happened during the meeting. Finally, only Dumbledore, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were left.
"Well then, see you later mate," Harry said as he and Hermione turned to leave.
"See you," Ron said as he drifted over to Dumbledore.
"Good luck Ron," Hermione called from the doorway.
"Thanks," he said as Dumbledore sat down. Harry closed the door behind him and the two of them walked back to the Head rooms in silence.
A few minutes later once Hermione had joined Harry in his room, they sat down on the bed lost in thought.
"You didn't tell me that it wasn't all through Voldemort's view," she said after a few minutes.
"I didn't even think of it until tonight," Harry replied. "Why does it matter so much?"
"Well, if Dumbledore is really talking to Snape about Divination..." he stared at her for a moment until he realised what she was talking about.
"Oh you can't be serious," he said, straight out laughing. "Me? Having a vision of the future? After all of those wasted classes with Trelawny?" Hermione shrugged at this. "Ron was right all those years ago. You are mental."
"Stop it," she said with a slight smile as she hit him on the arm.
"What do you reckon Dumbledore wanted to talk to Ron about?" She sighed at this.
"I don't know, but knowing Ron, he'll probably tell us, right?"
"Right," Harry replied as he pulled her close to him. "I think there's a problem here," he said in a low voice.
"What's that?" she asked, looking up into his emerald-colored eyes.
"We have on entirely too much clothing," he said drawing his wand from his robes. Hermione smiled at him.
"I couldn't agree more." And with one flick of the wand, the lights were off. Just like their clothes.
=====
After the initial wave of rumors died down, people stopped talking about 'Harry's episode,' as it had come to be called. He wasn't constantly having to deduct points from houses anymore, but there would still be an occasional stare as he was making his way to classes.
Finally, as the last match of the quidditch season rolled around three months later, people stopped staring at him and concentrated their discussions on who was going to win the cup that year. Slytherin had beaten both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff in convincing fashion, earning them a spot in the finals. Although the Gryffindor team had managed to squeak out wins in their first two games, they still needed a win of at least two hundred points to play for the cup.
So it was to groans of everyone except Ron that Harry announced practise would be taking place for two and a half hours a day, six days a week. Fortunately, no one had complained, and with the constant time on the field, Harry and Ron had managed to turn the replacement keeper and chaser into decent players. Harry made sure he voiced this to everyone at the last practise before the game.
"All right!" he shouted, motioning for everyone to fly over to him. "Listen, you've all done excellent work. I have no doubt, that if we play at the top of our game that we can win two-fifty to zero tomorrow. Because we've made such good progress, I'm ending practise early." There were sighs of relief and 'thank you's' at this. "Make sure to get all the bludgers before we leave the field, then go change and get some rest."
The team did as they were told and went off in search of the two balls they were using (they were practising aggresive defense this time, and had no need for the quaffle or snitch), while Harry landed on the ground next as Ron floated down next to him.
"We've got a good team this year," Ron said. "We should do well."
"I hope so," Harry replied as Hermione came down from the stands to meet him on the field. "Miss me?" he asked as she drew closer.
"Not really," she said with a fake sigh. Harry grinned and pulled her to him in a hug.
"We're going to win this year, Hermione. I can feel it," she said.
"Good," she replied. "I'll be glad when the season is over and I don't have to worry about you being hurt anymore." Harry chuckled at this.
"You know that even if I do get hurt, I always get better," he replied.
"That doesn't make it any easier to swallow," she said.
'Maybe this would help,' Harry said silently as he leaned in to kiss her.
"Ugh, guys I'm right here you know," Ron said groaning. Harry pulled away with a smile but didn't break his eye contact with Hermione.
"Party pooper," he said smiling. Ron simply crossed his arms and grunted at this.
"Ah, crap, it got away...HARRY! BLUDGER!"came the shout of Sloper behind him. He saw Hermione's eyes widen and he turned around to see what was going on, but it would have been better not to. The last thing he saw was the black ball flying straight into his face.
=====
'Harry...please answer me...' Hermione's voice sounded in his head.
'Hermione?' he managed to think clearly through their connection.
"Oh, thank god you're okay!" he heard her shout audibly before she threw her body next to his, her soft arms enveloping him.
"Ugh...what happened?" he managed to groan. There was an incredible ache in his forehead, which prevented him from thinking well.
"Sloper had one of the bludgers but it got away from him," he heard Ron's voice say. "And you turned around to see what was going on and it hit you full in the face."
'Oh great,' Harry thought.
"Harry?" He peeked an eye open to figure out whose voice had said that. His vision slid into focus and he realised that the entire team was standing around his bed.
'Sloper?' he asked Hermione in his thoughts.
"Yes, it's him," she answered. "Tell him what you want to," she said speaking to the beater.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to let it get away from me, but it had been up in the clouds and was kind of slippery and I just -"
'Tell him to be quiet please,' Harry thought.
"Jack, please be quiet for a minute," Hermione said. "Harry has a really bad headache right now."
"How do you know what he's saying?" asked Kirke out of curiosity.
"We have a telepathic link," Hermione said as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Just then she saw Madam Pomfrey bustle by the bed. "Madam Pomfrey? He's awake." The nurse nodded and summoned a potion from her room.
"Here, try to swallow," she said as Hermione opened Harry's mouth and the nurse poured the potion in it. With a great deal of effort, he swallowed and felt a burning sensation before feeling his strength come to him, along with a bigger headache.
"Pepper-up potion?" he asked opening his eyes. She nodded as Hermione handed him his glasses.
"You were very lucky, Potter," she said. "I managed to fix the dent in that skull of yours, how it takes so much punishment I'll never know. Lucky for you the bludger hit your forehead, and didn't cause any brain damage or make your glasses shatter back into your eyes."
"There was a dent in my skull?" he asked.
"A small one, but yes," she said. "Honestly, how you get yourself injured so much is beyond me."
"Will I be able to play tomorrow?" he asked. The rest of the team and Ron looked on with anxious expressions waiting for Madam Pomfrey to give her verdict.
"I suppose," she said, causing a sigh of relief to be heard from seven of the other nine people in the room. "But I want you to take this potion every hour until you go back to sleep tonight. You're sleeping here, by the way." She handed him a bottle of brown looking potion. "That's to make sure that your brain doesn't swell up. Take a gobletful each time." Harry nodded and the nurse walked back off to her office.
"Well, we're glad you're feeling better Harry," Ginny said. "Now that we know you're okay, we're going to go and get that rest you told us to get."
"Yeah, sure," Harry said. "And Sloper, don't feel bad about it. These things happen." The beater nodded solemnly and walked off with the rest of the team, visibly glad that there was no lasting damage done to Harry.
"Well I'm going to get going too," Ron said. "My bed is calling to me. Besides, I think you two could do with some privacy."
"Thanks Ron," Harry said. The ghost nodded and floated out of the wind. Harry turned to Hermione and could see silent tears running down her cheek. "Listen, Hermione, I'm so sorry.."
"Why?" she asked. "You know I told you how much I hate quidditch, and look at what happened."
"I know...I'm sorry."
"And you weren't even flying! You were just standing there with me!" she cried.
"Hermione -"
"I was holding you in my arms and watched a metal ball slam into your forehead!" she shouted, now banging her fist on his chest, causing him to wince slightly each time she did it. "I thought you were dead..." at this she dissolved into a sobbing mess, and Harry lifted his arm up and brought it around her, pulling her closer to him.
"Listen," he said in a soft voice. "I'm not going anywhere." She looked up at him curiously. "I will not allow myself to be killed while I have you to live for. Not by a bludger. Not by Voldemort."
"I know," she said as silver tears continued to make their way down her face. "I just don't know what I would do if something happened to you, Harry. That's why I get so scared every time you get on that damn broom." He sighed at this, and making a decision, lifted her chin up so he could look into her eyes.
"If it scares you that much," he said. "Then I'll quit."
"Don't be silly," she replied, putting her head back down on his chest.
"I'm not," Harry said. "I don't want to see you scared, or hurt, or anything other than happy. So I'll quit."
"You would give up quidditch, for me?" she asked feebly.
"If it meant your happiness, then I'd do it in a heartbeat," he answered. "But you need to understand something."
"Yes?" she asked, looking up at him.
"I did promise to play tomorrow, and I can't let the team play without a trained seeker," he said. "So with your permission, may I play my last game tomorrow?"
"You don't need my permission to do anything," she said.
"It's a decision we're making together," Harry replied. "Therefore, even if I don't need your permission, I would like it." They stared at each other for a while before Hermione spoke.
"What did I ever do to deserve you?" she whispered.
"You were willing to give your life to me for what I believed in," he said. "Just as I would do for you." At this, she broke down into more sobs and held Harry as close as she could.
"You know..." she said, once the sniffles had died down a little bit. "I think I'm the luckiest girl in the world."
"Just like I think I'm the luckiest guy in the world," he replied.
"This coming from the Boy-Who-Lived," she said, with a grin.
"I wouldn't change a damn thing if it meant I could be with you," Harry said, his own tears starting to form.
"Do you really mean that?" she asked.
"Of course," he said wiping the tears away from his eyes. "Now, are you going to let me play in that quidditch game or not?" Hermione smiled at him.
"I'd have to be a witch to take that away from you," she said.
"You are a witch," he pointed out. Hermione rolled her eyes at him.
"An evil witch then."
'I don't know,' he said in his head. 'You can do some pretty evil things when you want to...' At this she laughed and closed her eyes.
'You're incorrigible,' she replied. 'But I love it when you play cute.'
'I love it when I can do this,' Harry said in his mind, and pulled her into a soft kiss. A few minutes later, they broke apart and Hermione rested her forehead on Harry's, causing him to wince slightly.
"You make a strong argument," she said, earning a smile from him. "Come on, time to take your potion." Harry sighed and nodded as Hermione conjured a flask and filled it with the brown liquid. He took it from her once it was full and groaned.
"Bottoms up," he said closing his eyes and downing it as quick as he could. "Ugh!" he said, a repulsed expression on his face. "That's almost as bad as Skele-Gro."
"And you get to take it every hour until you fall asleep," Hermione said, causing Harry to groan again.
"I'm going to sleep then," he said, pulling the sheets up around him. To his surprise, Hermione didn't argue, she simply got underneath the sheets with him.
"I'll join you," she said. "After all that crying I'm a little tired."
"I'm sorry about all of this," Harry said.
"There was nothing you could've done," she replied. "Let's just go to sleep."
"Okay."
"Goodnight, Harry."
"Goodnight."
"Hermione?" he asked a minute later.
"Yes?" she responded in a sleepy voice.
"I love you."
"You too," she mumbled and she pulled him closer and the two of them drifted off to sleep.
Around two in the morning Madam Pomfrey finally exited her office after writing a nasty report to St. Mungo's on which potions she preferred to use for younger cases. The first thing she saw was Harry asleep with Hermione tucked under his arm next to him. Finding she had neither the heart nor the mind to break them apart, she sighed.
"Young love," she whispered to herself as she walked over to the bedside table, picked up the potion and went back into her office.
=====
"Harry."
"Mmm?" he mumbled.
"Harry!" shouted the voice.
"Go way," he said as he rolled over to face Hermione. "Too early."
"Okay, I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice." Harry inwardly thought that he didn't care what this person was going to do, but that was the only thing he thought before a bucket of ice cold water was dumped onto his head. Or at least that's what it felt like.
"Bloody hell, Ron!" he shouted, getting up as the ghost withdrew his hand from Harry's head. "Don't do that!"
"How else was I supposed to wake you up?" he asked. "You two were too comfortable anyway."
"And that's a crime?" Hermione asked, sitting up in bed groggily. "What time is it?"
"Time for a game of quidditch!" Ron said, obviously in high spirits. "You ready, Harry?"
"Yeah, lemme just go get changed..."
"No need, Ginny's bringing your stuff down in a minute, you can change here and then we can head out to the pitch," Ron said.
"Listen, Ron, I need to talk to you about something," Harry said.
"And we're going to crush Hufflepuff today...I know it -"
"Ron!"
"What?" the ghost asked, being torn away from his rambling.
"I'm quitting after this game," Harry said.
"That's great," he said. "Anyways, I think - YOU WHAT?!"
"I'm quitting," Harry repeated. "I don't want to go around getting hurt like yesterday again."
"But...but Harry, it's only one more game in the season, and that's only if we win by a two hundred today -"
"I'm not just talking about the season, Ron," he said. "I mean forever. No more pickup games with you and the guys at the Burrow, no professional quidditch career if it were to be offered to me, no anything." Ron just stood there with his mouth agape, and then suddenly he turned on Hermione.
"You..." he said in a deadly whisper. "You did this...didn't you?"
"What?" she asked, slightly surprised.
"Hermione had nothing to do with this," Harry said, trying to stop the row before it even started.
"How could you do this?!" Ron shouted. "Harry loves quidditch, it's one of the only things left that he loves, and you're just taking it away from him!"
"ENOUGH!" bellowed Harry, seeing tears form in Hermione's eyes. "Ron, I love Hermione more than quidditch, and this was my decision, not hers." The ghost seemed taken aback at this revelation. "How would you feel if Luna had gotten injured on one of her missions to find a Pimple-Corned Snorkack, or whatever they're called."
"...I wouldn't have wanted her to go again," a defeated Ron said after hesitation.
"Exactly," said Harry. "So Hermione and I talked about, and after today, I'm done." Ron only nodded as Ginny walked through the doors with Harry's quidditch robes and broom in hand.
"How're you feeling Harry?" she asked in a chipper tone as she set his gear down on the bed next to him. "What's wrong?" she asked, noticing the solemn atmosphere in the room.
"I'll tell the entire team when we're in the locker room," he said. "Let's get going."
After Harry changed and endured a short checkup by Madam Pomfrey to make sure everything was in order, the four teens made their way down to the quidditch pitch, where Hermione departed to her seat in the stands after giving Harry a quick kiss.
"Please be careful today," she said, in almost a begging tone.
"I will," said Harry. None of the three spoke as they walked to the locker room. When they got there, the team was already assembled and waiting.
"Hey guys," said Harry as Ginny took her seat alongside the team. "Listen, there's something I need to say." The ears of everyone on the team perked up at this; usually pre-game speeches started off on a more upbeat note.
"Well?" asked Thompson after Harry didn't continue. Harry smiled and nodded.
"Today will be the last time I play quidditch," he said. There was a murmur from the team at this.
"What do you mean?" asked Ginny.
"I mean that this will be my last game, regardless on whether or not we make the finals." The murmurs quickly turned into an uproar.
"WHAT?!"
"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"
"WHO'LL BE CAPTAIN?!"
"Quiet....QUIET!" Harry shouted, causing everyone to stop yelling. "First of all, it's my decision to make, so yes, I can do it. Second, Ginny will take over as captain once I'm gone. Third, I will be joining Ron as coach for the remainder of the year, although I won't be coming into the air during practices with you anymore. Now, does anyone still have a dispute?"
There was silence until Ginny looked up and smiled.
"We'll miss you," she said.
"And I'll miss playing," Harry replied. "But it's for the best." The team nodded sadly at this. "Hey!" he shouted, getting all of them to jump. "That doesn't mean we get to play like a bunch of bums today. Just because I won't be playing in the finals, doesn't mean I won't be playing in this game." There were nods at this. "So what I say, is that we go out there, and give me a reason to stay on as coach. Let's go out there, and make my last game one that Hogwarts will remember forever." This last sentence was met with cheers and Harry couldn't help but smile at them. "Now everyone up! On three, lion pride! One, two, three!"
"LION PRIDE!" the team roared as Seamus could be heard with his 'Sonorous' enhanced voice, shouting out the pre-game annoucements.
"C'mon," said Ron, causing the seven players to look at him. "We do have a game to play, or would you prefer to just sit around all day like a bunch of lazy bums?"
"That's my coach," Harry said with a grin, and they made their way out onto the pitch to tumultuous applause from the Gryffindor section. Sadly, Ravenclaw was supporting Hufflepuff today, they would be the ones in the finals if Gryffindor didn't overcome the 200-point margin.
'Co-coach?' Hermione asked in his brain as Harry mounted his broom.
'You don't mind, do you?' he asked.
'As long as I'm there with you to keep you out of trouble,' she replied. Harry turned and waved to her in the crowds as Seamus announced the players. He had just finished when he suddenly cleared his throat.
"I've...er...just been informed...' he began, holding the pause to create suspense. 'That this will be Harry Potter's last quidditch game.' The noise in the stadium immediately died down and Harry buried his face in his hands. Only the mocking jeers of some Slytherins could be heard in the distance.
'It wasn't me,' said Hermione's voice.
"In that case, let us give Harry a big round of applause for all the incredible quidditch that he has given to us for the past seven years!" shouted Seamus, trying to get the crowd back into it. Immediately the entire Gryffindor section burst into screams and applause, while the other three sections remained fairly quiet. However, when the cheering didn't die down, the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs gave up and joined in too. Smiling, Harry looked around him and gave the crowd a salute before Madam Hooch finally kicked open the chest of balls.
"All right everyone," she said as the bludgers and snitch flew away. "Captains, shake hands." Harry stepped forward and shook hands with Justin Finch-Fletchley. "Mount your brooms!" she shouted as the two returned to their respective sides. "On my whistle, three, two, one..." she gave a shrill blast and fifteen brooms rose into the air, the quaffle right behind them.
All in all, it was the fastest game anyone had ever seen. The Gryffindor team was so full of drive, that Hufflepuff didn't know what hit them (besides bludgers). Within thirty seconds it was 20-0, within a minute it was 40-0, and by the time they were two minutes in Gryffindor was leading 70-0 and Harry had already spotted the snitch and was bolting after it. The game ended ten seconds later to deafening applause from the Gryffindor section.
As Harry sat on his broom above the pitch, he couldn't help but remember all the wonderful memories he had playing the game. First year, when Quirrell had jinxed his broom, resulting in him nearly swallowing the snitch. Second year, the first time he ever beat Malfoy. Third year, winning the cup, then fifth and sixth year where he got to deck Malfoy in at least one game each of those years. A sad smile on his face, Harry rose the hand that was still holding onto the snitch into the air like he had done for the first time all those years ago and did a lap of victory around the field to applause from everyone except the Slytherins this time.
Landing back on the ground, he couldn't help the tears that came from his eyes as he realised that would be the last time he would ever play the game. Dumbledore and Hermione were walking towards him through the crowd of Gryffindors that had jumped the barrier and stormed onto the field.
Pulling Hermione into a hug without saying a word, he looked up at the headmaster and smiled.
"You were the one who told Seamus, weren't you?" he asked. Dumbledore smiled and nodded.
"I do try to -"
"Keep watch of everything that happens in the school," Harry finished for him. "I know."
"You played marvelously, Harry," he said, an old smile showing through his waist-long beard.
"Here sir," Harry said handing him the snitch. "I think Madam Hooch went back to the locker rooms already." Dumbledore looked at the golden ball resting in the palm of his hand, and reaching out, curled Harry's fingers back around it.
"I believe," he said. "That this one may be yours to keep." Harry shed one last tear of thanks and nodded to the headmaster before the crowd finally broke through the professors and swamped Harry in a tide of congratulations.
---------------
I hope you all liked that one. I stayed up until 5:30 this morning writing it. I think it may be one of my personal
favorites, so please let me know how you feel in regard to that. I'm too tired to post another phrase in a
different language this time, so sorry to those of you who were looking forward to that. So from Framingham, MA, until
next time.