Chapter Twenty Nine: Gryffindor Versus Hufflepuff
"Could I ask one favour from you, in exchange for letting the class out early today, Harry?" Talisien asked him just before he made it out the door to the classroom.
"Yes?"
"Could you not leap from your broom in today's match? It was painful enough the first time that I really would rather not have to go through it a second time around."
Harry didn't really have the heart to tell the elf that he wasn't going to be playing in the game against Hufflepuff, so he just nodded his head and stepped out the door to find that Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Colin, and Lavender had all waited for him.
"They'll figure it out, Harry," Lavender said, determination shining in her voice. "I'm sure of it."
"See anything about today's game, Lavender?" Harry asked in a groan. He had hoped that no one would bring up the state of his broomstick - current fastest paperweight in the world. "You were right about our last game, after all..."
She shook her head, but said nothing in response. Apparently she figured out that he didn't really want to talk that much about it. He only wished that Ginny had caught the same hint. "Couldn't we get the broom back from McGonagall and Flitwick and have Hermione have a look at it? Surely she could..."
"I don't know much about broomsticks, Ginny," Hermione cut her off. "I mean, I've read all about them, but with these two going on about them for the past five years, I've sort of lost any interest I might have had in thinking about them for prolonged periods."
"But this is for Harry! Can't you just..."
"She said no, Gin," Harry interrupted her this time. "And I respect that. You're seeker today. Can you handle that?"
"Of course I can!" she replied with a smile. That smile broadened when Colin linked one of his arms with hers. "I might not be as skilled as you, but I'll catch that snitch, don't worry."
"You're lucky that we need you in the game today, Creevey," Ron muttered under his breath, hitting the fifth year in the back of the head anyway. "Take your arm away from my sister there."
"Grow up, Ron," Ginny replied, sticking her tongue out at him as she held onto Colin a little closer. "Besides, we never complain when Luna is hanging off your arm, now do we?"
"That's completely different and you know it."
"Yeah, we leave you alone. I thought we just covered that!"
"Colin?" Harry said suddenly, bringing the argument between the siblings to a stall. "Could you go find your brother? Ron, I want you to get Kirke and Sloper. Have them all meet us in the locker room by the pitch, understand?"
"We're not getting a snack first?"
"Why do you think I told everyone to eat a lot at lunch today?"
"I thought... well, I guess I didn't think about it like that," he admitted as Colin ran off. With a quick nod to Harry and Hermione, he took off in the other direction, having found out that the two beaters had potions that afternoon. Although he didn't really want to get too close to the Potion's dungeons - and, hence, to Snape - he did want to fetch the rest of the team.
When Harry looked to Ginny, it looked like the younger red head was about to say something. He suspected it had to do with his broom, so he started talking first. "Hey Gin, any chance you could give me a moment with Hermione here?"
"But... oh, yeah. Sure thing," she said after realising what he was talking about. He had never told Ron what he had seen in the common room, and she was thankful for that, without question. "I'll meet everyone else down there, then?"
"That would work." He paused to wave to Nearly-Headless Nick before going on. "Make sure your broom is in perfect condition. Talisien asked me to make sure not to jump off my broom today - apparently, he's in no more of a mood to repeat last game's performance than I am."
He didn't have much of a chance to say anything else before Ginny took off in a run and Hermione had pulled him into an empty classroom and shut the door behind them. The next thing he knew were Hermione's soft lips against his own, and her arms wrapped around the back of his neck.
He responded the only way he knew how, and felt her purr her approval in the back of her throat as his tongue danced with her own. She pulled back far sooner than he would have liked, only to look carefully into his eyes. "Are you sure you're going to be okay with sitting back on the sidelines today?"
"Right now, I'd rather skip the game altogether and explore our bed for the next couple of hours..." he replied with a grin to her. "But don't worry, I'll be fine."
"You really should know by now that it's pointless asking me not to worry about you..." she whispered as she leaned into his embrace. "I'll be worrying about you until the day that I die."
"In that case, I hope you keep worrying forever - I'll start asking you to worry instead of not to worry," he said with a grin as he tickled the back of her ear with his tongue. He had found out quite by accident a few nights ago that it drove her completely wild, and was suddenly feeling a bit daring himself. Being dragged into an empty classroom for a quick, passionate snog would do that to most people, though, he figured.
"I've got a name for you now," she said after they separated again. She reached up to run a finger along his slightly swollen lips and couldn't keep the smile off her face. "Remember? I said that since you came up with Willow, then..."
"So what is it?" he asked, rocking slowly back and forth with her. If there was any music playing, it was all in his head, but they were basically slow dancing to the silence.
*Not telling,* she purred as she tucked her head in under his neck, tickling him with her bushy brown hair. "Not until you have perfected your change," she added in English again.
"C'mon now, that's not really fair," he said, stopping suddenly and holding them still for a moment. "What is it?"
"I told you," she said with a laugh as she pulled away from him. Giving him a quick kiss on the nose, she pulled open the door to the classroom, feeling a little giddy thanks to their quick aside with one another. "Not until you figure it out."
"Great, another reason to stress over it," he muttered to himself as he waved to her disappearing down the corridor. She was going to grab her green cloak before heading out to sit in the stands - she had taken to not wearing it unless they were going to go outside, as she didn't want to stand out too much. Harry had the same issues with standing out, but he figured that if he didn't wear the cloak, then both his wands and his dagger would be obvious to anyone who so much as glanced at him. "Right, then. Time to go torture myself."
As he started to jog down to the pitch and the locker rooms where he would find the rest of his team, he couldn't help but curse at his misfortune. Why was it that, after a ban which made him miss two games last year, his broom would fail him right away this year? Was it something that cow did to his broom, or was it something else entirely? He liked to think that she couldn't have done it - not enough upstairs to come up with something that McGonagall and Flitwick couldn't fix - but he had no real alternative as of yet.
At least they weren't playing Slytherin today. He'd play against them if he had to use a school broom. Beating Malfoy so desperately badly would be all the more sweet that way.
He stopped just outside the locker room door to listen inside. As expected, he heard people moving around, which said the others had already arrived. Rather than just barge in, however, he knocked first. "Right, Ron, I'm only going to warn you once, mate. I'm not in the mood today, got it?"
"Bugger, everyone stop what you're doing!" he heard Ron say quickly. "Go on then, get getting changed again!"
Harry grinned to himself before wiping his face clear of expression again and opening the door slowly to find Ron as the only one still standing in the middle of the room - everyone else was in one of the two changing rooms (boys and girls). Ron, on the other hand, was already ready to go, complete with broom in hand.
"Sorry, mate," Ron said with a shrug. "I figured that today, of all days, you'd need a touch of cheering up."
"Next time, try the cheering charm," Harry said, shaking his head as he took a seat on one of the benches.
"Gimme a break, Harry," Ron said quickly. "I grew up with Fred and George, remember? Every time anyone was feeling down, their idea of cheering them up again was to make them laugh. And you can't deny that I can make you laugh it I want to."
"Not today, you can't."
"That a bet?"
"Don't push it, Ron."
"How far do you think I could get my broomstick up Malfoy's arse before his voice changes to that of a six year old girl?"
"Ron..."
"Actually, come to think of it, there's no need for that, is there? His voice already sounds like that..."
Harry couldn't help the grin that came to his face at that, and ended up shaking his head as he stood up again. "Sometimes, Ron, I don't know why you bother..."
"Someone has to," he countered. "These are dark times, Harry Potter. Dark times." He said the last bit in the unmistakable voice of Dobby the house elf, which caused Harry to actually chuckle instead of just smile.
"Fine, you win."
"Oh, what did he win?" Ginny asked as she came out of the girls' side of the changing rooms. "And what did he do to win it?"
"He ate your broomstick in one bite, Gin," Harry replied.
"I always said he had a big mouth," came the immediate reply, which set Harry into fullfledged laughter at last.
"You Weasley's never miss a beat, do you?"
"I won't miss the snitch, either," she promised.
He simply nodded as everyone else came into the main locker room as well. "Right," he said slowly, taking a deep breath. "You all know that I'd love to be out there playing right alongside you. But, since my life seems cursed sometimes, here we are. Mind you, that's no reason not to win - Gin is a great seeker, as you all saw last year. And, let's face it, Ron's still the king, and Kirke and Sloper can beat a flea six miles by now, right guys?"
"Never tried that one, have we?"
"And let's not forget our chasers - Colin and Denis have trained together for years, and Lavender... let's just say, you are going to clean up out there. They won't know what hit them."
"What's their line up this year, Harry?" she asked. "Who are we against?"
"Smith is the seeker now instead of a chaser, so you won't have to worry about him," Harry said. "Otherwise, as chasers, you'll need to worry about Whitby, Cauldwell, and... uh, that blonde, what's her name... Madley!"
"Madley? Laura Madley?" Colin asked in surprise.
"I think so," Harry replied. "I can't think of any other Madleys, anyway."
"Is that bad, Colin?"
"She's small as a snitch and twice as fast," he said. "I'm surprised they didn't stick her as seeker... maybe Zach is just being as ornery as he was last year."
"Ornery?"
"I'm hanging around Hermione too much, alright?" Colin asked with a shrug. "Talks to Gin a lot whenever you aren't around in the common room, which means I pick things up like that."
Harry nodded before turning to Jack Sloper and Andrew Kirke. "You've got to beat Jones and Hopkins. That's Megan Jones and..."
"Wayne Hopkins," Kirke finished. "Yeah, we know. I used to play against him when we were younger, actually. Bet I'll beat the robes off him today - he'll still think I'm rubbish."
Harry looked up at the sound of the gong from outside. "Alright everyone. Looks like it's time to play." He looked back to each of them individually, and then nodded. "Play to win, everyone."
Hermione was right - it was very difficult to sit at the sidelines alone to watch the game as a coach. He couldn't help but think it would be so much nicer to sit up in the bleachers with her, come to think of it. Even though he wasn't playing, he could still hear her screams for Gryffindor loud and clear through the crowd's shouting and hollering.
He was actually so caught up in listening for her voice each time anything happened that Dean's voice cutting through everyone with a loud curse caught him completely off guard, and he pulled out his omnioculars to look up to find out what was going on.
Ginny was weaving between players, hoops, and stands, running from a bludger. A sickening sense of deja vu past through him suddenly, but before he could move or try anything to help her, he caught sight of both Gryffindor beaters moving in to surround her, to try and ward off the rogue bludger.
It came completely without warning. Just after Sloper had cracked one of the bludgers across the field to strike Owen Cauldwell in the arm, Kirke struck another back at Hopkins, apparently catching the boy off guard. The third bludger caught all of them unprepared, and struck Ginny hard in the chest, lifting her clean off her broom.
Harry found himself running as fast as his legs could carry him across the sand pit field, trying to cross almost the entire distance in the amount of time it would take her to fall. He doubted he stood a chance at all, but then he saw Smith shooting down, neck and neck with Lavender and Colin.
Collectively, all three made a grab to try and catch her, but it was only the other seeker who managed to grab hold of a single arm. The limp way she was hanging told him without question that the youngest Weasley was knocked out cold by the brutal strike, which left Gryffindor without a seeker.
Breathing harder than he had at almost any other non-life-threatening point in his life, Harry managed to get under the duo as they descended, and took Ginny from Smith gingerly. "Thanks," he said softly.
"Anytime," came the reply. "Just because I'm not on board the DA anymore doesn't mean I'm gonna let a girl fall to a possible death in a Quidditch match..."
"Thanks," Harry repeated as he turned towards Madame Hooch, Madame Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall, and a crowd of other Gryffindor students behind them. He was aware that a time out had been called, and suspected Ron was organizing everyone in the air to capture all the bludgers to figure out what was going on. He was sure that his friend would rather be on the ground with his sister, but knew that he couldn't just abandon the game. He probably would have if Harry wasn't with her already.
"She'll be alright, Potter," Madame Pomfrey said kindly as she conjured up a stretcher for her. "You know that as well as I do - you've taken harder hits in this game than that one."
"Just take care of her. Ron'll have my head if you don't."
"Are you sure that can't happen, Madame Hooch?" Harry turned quickly to find Zacharias arguing with the referee and flying instructor. "They can't sub in halfway through?"
"And you know it!"
"And I don't suppose that you would..."
"Smith!" Harry called to him, cutting him off. "Thanks for what you're trying to do, but just play the game. I can't take her place, and you can't postpone it until later. They didn't do it for dementors three years ago, they certainly aren't going to do it for someone's idea of a joke."
"It's a pretty sick joke, if you ask me."
Harry wrapped an arm around Hermione almost subconsciously as he stepped back into the small space provided for coaches at Hogwarts. Usually such a position didn't really exist for any team. "I didn't know you could run that fast," Hermione said to him, drawing him out of his reverie. "Fairly impressive, really."
"I'd have run faster if it was you falling," he said with a grin. Part of him wondered just when she had moved down to the field from the bleachers, but it didn't really matter to him just then.
She just shook her head and gave him a quick squeeze before mostly letting go of him, just keeping hold of one hand in the end. "She'll be alright. I had a quick look as she went passed... probably a broken rib or two, but nothing that won't be as good as new in the morning."
"We'll all go visit her after the game's over."
"We all who? The DA or the Quidditch team?"
"Why not both, Quidditch first, then the DA?"
It was an amazing match to watch in the end, if a little painful for the Hufflepuffs. It was only due to the lack of a seeker on the Gryffindor team that they ended up winning, and it was a close game. Stebbins had gotten very sloppy around the hoops for Hufflepuff, and had let through fifteen goals to Ron's one. Unfortunately, that left the end score at one hundred sixty to one hundred fifty, with Hufflepuff still winning.
Later that evening, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Luna, and Colin were just getting ready to leave the hospital wing when a knock at the door stopped them. Before anyone could move to get it, Zacharias Smith came in, holding the fighting snitch in his hand.
"She's not awake yet, is she?" he asked in a hushed tone.
"Not yet," Harry replied. He had told Ron what had happened on the ground with Smith, which was probably the only thing keeping him from getting mad at the seeker that had cost Gryffindor the win. "Pomfrey said in the morning."
"Right," he said a little uncomfortably. "Look, you're the captain, right Harry?" Apparently he knew the answer already, because he was already going on. "I didn't want to win like this, and I'd be happier giving this to her directly, but..." he stopped and held out the snitch to Harry, who took it without really thinking about it. "It's the school snitch, so that'll have to go back in a couple of days..."
"Thanks. That means a lot... it'll mean a lot to her, too."
"Yeah... anyway, sorry about the way the game ended up. Too bad your chasers aren't a little faster... could have at least tied it up that way," he said with a grin as he started to leave. "That, or Ron should get better. I mean really... letting one shot passed in a three hour game... what were you thinking?"
"I think Ronald played handsomely well," Luna pointed out right away. "He had eighty nine attempts against him, and only one got past, which is an average of..."
"I think he was being sarcastic, Luna," Colin pointed out as she paused to think for a quick moment.
"One point one two three six percent shots getting past, or a block percent of ninety eight point eight seven six four," she concluded as though she wasn't interrupted at all.
"I still say she's a little loony," Ron said affectionately. "But she's mine, too, right love?"
"Of course, Ronald. Just as you are mine," she added, giving him a quick kiss on the chin and moving to give him a hug from behind, despite being so much shorter than he was.
"I think I'm gonna go take a bit of a walk," Harry suggested, motioning to the doorway. Hermione nodded and took one of his hands. "See you in the common room later, Ron."
"Maybe," Ron replied with a grin as Colin sat down next to Ginny's bed. "But we'll see."
Harry and Hermione managed to make it to the bottom of the steps of the hospital wing before running into Hagrid - literally. After he picked them both up and put them on their feet again - again, literally - he froze for a moment instead of actually greeting them.
"What's up, Hagrid?"
"Yeah, Hagrid," Hermione said. "What's wrong? Honestly, you seem frozen suddenly."
He stopped any further questions by lifting one of his ham sized hands into the air as though asking for silence. He then wrinkled his nose as though smelling something particularly foul in the air. "Now... t'ere's a smell I'll ne'er forget..."
"What smell is that?"
"Manticore," he said gruffly, looking up the staircase and back behind them. "None too sure wher's it's comin from, t'ough. Ain't none round t'ese `ere parts, eh, `Ermione?"
"Well, no, not usually," she replied after a quick thought. "But you say you can smell one now?"
"Yeah... and ya know why t'at's odd, right?"
"Harry," Hermione said tentatively, turning towards him. For his part, he was mostly lost in the conversation thus far. "Could you give the snitch to Hagrid?"
"Uh, sure, but I'll need it back later, Hagrid, alright?" he said, handing the tiny golden snitch over to the half giant. "It's not mine - it belongs to the school."
"To `Ogwarts... this?" When Harry nodded, something seemed to click in Hagrid's massive head, because he grabbed Harry by an arm and pointed down the hallway. "W'ere's yer broom, `Arry?"
"I think Professor McGonagall has it right now, Hagrid."
"Right, ta Minvera's office, then!" he bellowed, taking off booming down the hall, leaving both Harry and Hermione in his wake.
"What's all that about, `Mione?" Harry asked as he helped her up off the ground and they dusted each other off quickly. "Why did he need the snitch, and what's he going to do to my broom?"
"I can't say for certain," she said quickly, pulling on his hand to get him to start running down the hall as well, despite the rules. "But I think... if I'm right anyway... well, let's just catch up to Hagrid and see, alright?"
"I really wish you'd stop doing that," Harry said with a grin as they came to a stop just next to their Transfiguration Professor's office and heard Hagrid's booming voice inside.
"Just this once, you won't care," Hermione promised him, knocking on the door as hard as she could. Her efforts were rewarded, because all sound inside ceased completely without warning and the door opened a second or two later.
"'Arry! `Ermione! We've dun it!"
"Done what, Hagrid?" Harry asked as they were both pulled into the rather cramped space. It wasn't usually so cramped, but then, it didn't usually hold the abnormally massive Hagrid, either.
"Hagrid has managed to fix your broom, Harry," McGonagall said before either Hagrid or Hermione - who seemed to have figured it out in already - could say anything.
"He did?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"Yup," Hagrid replied with a broad grin. "Jus' as well I was goin up ta see tha lit'lest Weasley when I did, er else yer broom might ne'er a been fixed, too. Ain't many round `ere who've seen a single manticore, let alone more'n one!"
"What does a manticore have to do with anything?" Harry asked as he took his broom back gently. "And you're sure this works now?"
"'Ow bout you `xplain it ta `im, `Ermione? T'ere's twenty points ta Gryffindor in't if ya can!"
"Hermione? You know what's going on, too?"
"I just figured it out when Hagrid said he smelled manticore, Harry. Giants have very distinct noses, you know - they can distinguish almost any smell, however faint. Honestly, you didn't know that?" she asked in shock when he looked surprised. "Anyway, that's important because I bet someone wrapped a manticore whisker around that snitch and bound it in place with a sticking charm - one of the few charms that will work for repairing a snitch's wings, if I remember correctly."
"Alright, so there was a manticore whisker on the snitch. What does that mean?"
"It means, Harry, that if someone stuck a single hair from another male manticore in your broomstick - say, in the end with all the twigs, where it would go unnoticed - the two couldn't get anywhere close to each other. Doesn't everyone know that two male manticores who have picked out their lifemate can not get close to each other, even if they want to?"
"So... it wasn't magics at all, but a magical creature that did it?"
"T'at's right, `Arry," Hagrid said. "And that's yer points t'ere, `Ermione! And next time, ya wanna bring t'at broom ta me firs' ta check it out?"
"Hagrid, if I could reach, I'd kiss you!" Harry said happily. Instead, he turned to Hermione and kissed her cleanly on the lips before she could start to pull away. She hadn't wanted to do anything like that in front of McGonagall, and started to blush bright red before she heard the soft laughter of their teacher and the loud, booming laughter of Hagrid.
"Alri't, Minerva, you win, you win," he said happily, wiping a tear away from his eye. "I'll treat ya next time we're at `Ogsmeade, t'at alri't?"
"Certainly, Hagrid. That will be fine."
"What did you win, Professor?" Harry asked, lost again.
"I told him when you found out your broom was working that you would end up kissing Miss Granger in my office," she replied with a soft smile. "He thought you would wait until you were out of our sight."
"We'll do that too," Harry said, surprising himself with his bold reply. Hermione appeared to want to say something, but was giggling too hard to actually come up with anything at all.
True to his word, once they were both out of sight of the office, Harry pulled Hermione aside and pressed her against the stone wall, letting his broomstick lean casually against the wall next to her. When he leaned if for a kiss, however, she surprised him by pulling away and twisting hard. The end result was that he was the one pinned to the wall, and she was the one kissing him hard, swirling their tongues together.
"We probably won't get much sleep tonight," Harry said into her mouth as they pulled apart for a brief pause before going on again.
"I know," Hermione said in return during the next several breaks. "Ron won't shut up, now that you've got your broom back."
"I mean because I'm not going to stop kissing you," he replied. To that, Hermione did the only thing she could think of, and pressed harder into him to continue their impromptu snogfest.
Ron and the rest of the team could wait an extra hour or so, right?
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And, for fun, a touch more of the quote - though this will be the most I reveal here.
On the honour of the fallen, until the sun sets upon a broken world, I'll be here - watching from within…
The Shadows
I will not fail her again. Once was more than enough…
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