Chapter 23 - Conversations and a Stag
(A/N -This is one of the times when I will accelerate the canon timeline when it comes to certain events in this chapter, hopefully you will understand why as you read. Also, I am including an interlude I felt I needed to write in response to a comment that was made in an earlier review. I was asked if Harmony would intervene somehow to get Harry's broom back to him quicker. My reviewer's assessment happened to be right -although I didn't admit it in my reply - but not necessarily for the reasons I had in mind. Well, maybe I'll just let Harmony explain her thoughts on that subject…)
"Harmony, what have I done?" Hermione said, sobbing, as she lifted her head up from her teacher's desk. "Are you sure I did the right thing with Harry's broom? Now he's angry at me, and Ron…is so furious with me he doesn't even acknowledge I am around except to snap at me when I point out obvious things. Have I lost my only friends here?"
Harmony's eyes were glistening, too, as she vividly remembered the pain she had felt when she had been going through this episode in her life. But, since she also remembered why the broomstick incident was so important in helping Hermione resolve her feelings for the two boys, she was determined to keep things from changing too much. She walked over and stood beside her younger version and rubbed her back and shoulders gently, unconsciously using the same words and movements that her mother had always used on her when she was upset. "Hush…it'll be okay…I'm right here, Hermione, calm down…it's okay. I'm still your friend, too, you know!"
Hermione's sobbing seemed to slow, and she visibly relaxed. "Miss Puckle, that's just what my mum says to me! Thanks - how'd you know how to do that?"
"Oh, I had a pretty good teacher…I have a mother, too, you know! She always knew just what to do to make me feel better. Glad I could help… Now, tell me all about it. Here, have a biscuit - they're my favorite!"
"Oooh, mine too, Harmony! Where'd you get the recipe? These are just like the ones my mum makes for me when she has the time, but she said it was an old family recipe that no one else had."
<Drat it all, Hermione, why'd you forget that little detail?> Miss Puckle thought to herself. <Better think of some excuse quickly!> "Hmm…well, maybe we're related then, because my mother told me the same thing!" <Weak, Granger…but it'll have to do. Besides, it IS the truth! Now, time for a quick distraction.> "We'll talk biscuit recipes later, Hermione. I want to hear about this whole broomstick thing you said has made Mr. Potter angry at you and Mr. Weasley furious with you. How do you know that, anyway?
"W…well…", Hermione said, still sounding quite shaky, "he hasn't talked to me much, except the few times that Ron's not around to glare at me or snap at me whenever I say anything. And then, Harry just gives me this sad…look…like he's not too happy with me. I mean, it's just a broom, right? Isn't his life more important than that…to both of them?"
"Yes, Hermione, it would be, if they were capable of logical thought on the subject. They are teenage boys, you know," Harmony said, rolling her eyes and eliciting a giggle from Hermione, "and from their perspective, you've taken away a very important part of Harry's very existence. What makes it worse is that you are using the rather weak excuse, in their minds, anyway, that you're just trying to keep him alive! Don't worry, I can promise you that they do grow up…eventually - yes, even someone like Ron!"
Hermione looked appropriately shocked at this last declaration, but then she sighed, "That… boy…sometimes he can be so…well, irritating. I mean, all I wanted to do was have the broom checked out, for Harry's sake. You are still working on it, aren't you?"
"That's right; Professor Flitwick and I have finished stripping it down…" At this, Hermione let out a gasp. "Don't worry, my dear! We know what we're doing! I can promise you I, for one, am being quite careful with this particular broom, and we will make sure it is returned to perfect working order before it is done. I have a feeling it will be very important to Harry in the future…that is, if it's not jinxed or something!" she added quickly. "Then, we'll let Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall check it over in their areas of expertise. Professor Snape would have checked it over too, but since I doubt a broomstick is at risk from a bad potion, we didn't think that was necessary. Then, if it passes all of our inspections, we'll get it back to Potter as soon as possible, well before Slytherin's match against Ravenclaw a week from this coming Saturday. The more I think about it, though, maybe I should keep it a while longer!" At Hermione's scandalized look, she laughed. "Don't worry, my dear. Even though I am the assistant to the head of Ravenclaw, I assure you that I wouldn't dream of doing something like that to him…er, the Slytherin team. Now, back to the other subject we were talking about. Let me reassure you about something. If I know Mr. Potter, yes, he is angry at you, and yes, Mr. Weasley is, most likely, furious with you. Do you see the difference? Think about the two words you used now. Come on, here's a dictionary…check them for yourself!"
"Let me see," she said, flipping through the pages, "…well, angry means a strong displeasure… and furious is an extreme anger, usually more uncontrolled. So…does that mean…?" Hermione pondered what she had just read.
"Go on, Hermione…I think you're seeing what I'm getting at", Harmony grinned.
"So…Harry's not too happy with me, not that I really blame him - I would have been upset if he had Professor McGonagall take…oh, let's say Crookshanks, away from me 'for my own good', too. But, you're saying that Ron…is more upset with me than Harry is? But, that's just silly! It's not even his broom!"
Harmony smiled wisely, "Yes, well, just as I said, sometimes boys at this age can be rather foolish about things like that, especially when it's a GIRL who is 'interfering' in their fun. Boys and their sports, you know! Ron's just got it worse than some. Never fear, Hermione, they'll get over it. I'm sure this will all be forgotten soon enough. Now, is that all you wanted to talk about? I get the feeling you had something else you wanted to ask me."
"H…how'd you know? N…no, it's nothing, really; it's just silly, you being a teacher and all, now that I think about it," Hermione stammered.
"Never mind how I know. Just come out with it, Hermione! Nothing you can say will surprise me!" she said, confidently. But, she found that she was wrong as the next words from Hermione were these:
"Harmony…do you have a crush on Harry?" she said quietly.
*****
That same evening, Professor Lupin was describing to Harry how to cast a Patronus charm in the History of Magic classroom.
"What does a Patronus look like?" said Harry curiously.
"Each one is unique to the wizard who conjures it."
"And how do you conjure it?"
"With an incantation - which will work only if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, very happy memory."
Harry cast his mind about for a happy memory. Certainly, nothing that had happened to him at the Dursley's, or in the Slytherin Common Room, for that matter, was going to do. Finally, he settled on the moment when he had first ridden a broomstick.
"The incantation is this -" Lupin cleared his throat. "Expecto Patronum!"
Harry repeated it a few times under his breath, but he forgot to concentrate on his happy memory until Lupin reminded him. Something whooshed suddenly out of the end of his wand; it looked like a wisp of silvery gas. Lupin seemed pleased, and Harry was excited.
But, when they tried it on the boggart/dementor, Harry found himself waking up slowly, knowing immediately what had happened. After a moment to collect his thoughts and eat a Chocolate Frog, Harry indicated to Lupin that he was ready to try again. "I have to, Professor. I can't afford to fall off my broom like that again, especially now! You know that Malfoy kept his arm in that fake sling so much last term that he can hardly move it at all, now. So, he won't be ready to use it until the next match, at the earliest. Flint told me that I could still be Seeker against Ravenclaw, that is, if I get my Firebolt in time. 'No Firebolt, no playing', were his exact words. He also said if I fall off this time, he'll personally take me down to the dementors…so, I've got to do this!
Lupin sighed, but gave Harry some important advice. "You might want to select another memory, a happier memory, I mean, to concentrate on…That one doesn't seem to have been strong enough…"
Harry thought hard and decided that his feelings when he saw Lucius Malfoy bound in ropes, Snape 'accidentally' bouncing his head on the ground now and then, had definitely qualified as happy. He gripped his wand tightly again and took up his position in the middle of the classroom.
***
"You heard James?" said Lupin in a strange voice.
"Yeah…" Face dry, Harry looked up. "Why - you didn't know my dad, did you?"
"I - I did, as a matter of fact," said Lupin. "We were friends at Hogwarts. Listen, Harry - perhaps we should leave it here for tonight. This charm is ridiculously advanced…I shouldn't have suggested putting you through this…"
"No!" said Harry. He got up again. "I'll have one more go! I'm not thinking of happy enough things, that's what it is…Hang on…"
He racked his brains. A really, really happy memory…one that he could turn into a good, strong, Patronus…
The happiest he had EVER been, that he could remember…was being in a broom closet, an accidental slip, and…Hermione in his arms, laying on top of him, and then telling him afterwards that she liked it too…followed by the memory of Hermione riding a Hippogriff with him, her arms tightly around him. If that wasn't a happy set of memories, he didn't know what was…Concentrating very hard on how he had felt both times with her so close to him, Harry got to his feet and faced the packing case once more.
"Ready?" said Lupin, who looked as thought he were doing this against his better judgment. "Concentrating hard? All right - go!"
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry bellowed. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
The screaming inside Harry's head had only started for a brief moment this time, until it was silent. He could still see the dementor - it had halted immediately, and then something silver-white, something enormous, erupted from the end of Harry's wand, to hover between him and the dementor. Harry, for once, felt almost no weakness, and he thought that he could hold the dementor off for quite some time.
"Riddikulus!" roared Lupin, springing forward.
There was a loud crack, and Harry's semi-solid Patronus vanished along with the dementor. He still felt…well, not great, but not really weak, either as he watched Professor Lupin forcing the boggart back into the packing case with his wand; it had turned into a silvery orb again.
"Excellent!" Lupin said, staring in amazement at Harry. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you had to have done that before! You came close to making a corporeal Patronus on your third attempt! Whatever your happy memory was just now, keep it in mind if you ever have to face a dementor again! In fact, that's something you can work on from now until our next lesson. Whenever you have a spare moment, concentrate on that memory - it will make it stronger each time."
"Can we have another go? Just one more go?"
"Not now," said Lupin firmly. "You've done quite well enough as it is. The next time we do this, we'll have to do it somewhere with more room. If you practice like I just told you, I think it's possible for you to create a full Patronus next week, which should be just in time for your next match!"
He handed Harry a large bar of Honeyduke's best chocolate.
"Eat the lot, or Madam Pomfrey will be after my blood. See you next Thursday?"
"Okay," said Harry. He took a bite of the chocolate and watched Lupin extinguishing the lamps that had rekindled with the disappearance of the dementor. A thought had just occurred to him.
"Professor Lupin?" he said. "If you knew my dad, you must've known Sirius Black as well."
Lupin turned very quickly.
"What gives you that idea?" he said sharply.
"Nothing - I mean, I just knew they were friends at Hogwarts, too…"
Lupin's face relaxed.
"Yes, I knew him," he said shortly. "Or, I thought I did. "You'd better be off, Harry, it's getting late."
Harry left the classroom, continuing to work on the chocolate as he walked back towards the Slytherin common room. He wasn't feeling all that weak, because his Patronus had been so powerful he wasn't drained too much, but since he liked chocolate anyway he finished the rest quickly. "Wonder why Lupin wasn't too keen on the subject of Sirius Black?" he thought. "I probably shouldn't bring that up again. But, Lupin knew my dad…I'll have to see if he can tell me something about him!"
***
"Harmony…do you have a crush on Harry?" she said quietly.
Harmony's jaw dropped. <Well, I definitely wasn't expecting that to come up…> she thought quickly as to how she could answer this question as truthfully as possible without making things worse. Finally, she took a deep breath and said, seriously, "What are you talking about, Hermione? Whatever gave you that idea?"
"Probably …well, the looks you give him when you think no one's watching during meals, the smile on your face when you see him in the halls, and, oh, yes…there was that little thing at the Quidditch match when you did something to his glasses…Impervius, right? That's what I would have used…Besides, I've heard some …talk, you know, from the girls that take Charms with Harry. They say you can't keep your eyes off of him sometimes."
"No, Hermione, I can promise you I don't have anything that you would call a crush on him. But, if I didn't know better, Hermione, reading between the lines on what you just said, I'm beginning to think that you may just be a little jealous about Harry…you must be watching him pretty closely to notice all that!"
"So, if you don't have a crush on him," Hermione pressed on, trying to ignore her teacher's last comment but determined to get a straight answer now that she had drummed up the courage to ask, "could you tell me what you do feel about him?"
"Well, Miss Granger, I guess I could say that my personal feelings along those lines are really none of your business," she said, her face impassive except for a slight crinkle around her eyes, "but under the circumstances, I suppose I can tell you. No, Hermione, I don't have a crush on him. I do, however, care for him quite a lot, much as I do all of my students individually. To be completely honest with you, there is another very personal reason. I probably smile at him differently because he reminds me so much of a young man I knew when I was your age, attending my wizarding school. I assume that's what you and those girls are seeing - that young man was my first real love, and I suppose that some of those old feelings show up when I look at Harry now. I can see how it could cause someone to get the wrong idea if they saw me like that. I promise I'll try to do better - I surely don't want to raise the Headmaster's suspicions unnecessarily, you know. Wouldn't look good on my record and all that! Now, does that make you feel better?"
"Well, I suppose so," Hermione said, slowly. "But, I'll have you know, I'm not jealous…No, that's silly…I mean, he IS a boy, you know!" she said, somewhat unconvincingly since her face was starting to redden.
"Yes, well, whatever you say, Hermione," she said with a twinkle. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, just as I'd appreciate you not telling anyone about my old friend at school, okay? And, in case you're wondering, I think Harry is a fine young man for you to feel that way about…whatever your feelings are, that is."
*****
After his great success with the Patronus, Harry found that he was no longer upset with Hermione about the Firebolt. He realized, as he considered the memories of her that had helped him against the dementors, that she was doing it for his own welfare, and he also knew, somehow, that things would work out fine. Ron, however, seemed to still hold a grudge against her, and that, along with her heavy class load, seemed to be getting to her. She looked extremely tired the few times he saw her at meals and on the weekend.
The following Thursday, Harry was looking forward to continuing his Patronus lessons with Professor Lupin. They had found a much larger classroom this time to practice in, since Lupin had a suspicion something special was going to happen this time. At Lupin's suggestion, Harry had been working on remembering just exactly how he felt with his happy memory and he had never found a homework assignment so easy to work on. As a result, on his second attempt of the night, Harry was amazed to see a fully corporeal Patronus in the shape of a …stag…canter in a circle around the two of them.
"And that, Harry, concludes these after-hours lessons!" Professor Lupin said, stunned. "If any of my advanced students ever needs a demonstration of the Patronus charm from now on, I'll just send them to you! Are you SURE you've never done this before I started teaching you last week?"
"N…no, sir…!" Harry was still quite surprised at what he had just done. "So, that was okay, then?"
"Not just okay, Potter, superb! Most wizards and witches, even ones that can successfully chase away a dementor, are not able to create a corporeal Patronus. Even fewer are able to make one as impressive in size and strength as yours is." Lupin was barely successful in keeping a knowing smile to himself, as he had immediately recognized the implications of the particular form Harry's Patronus had assumed. "Harry, I'm serious. There is no need for you to receive any more training from me. I have complete confidence in you. Here - you've earned a drink - something from the Three Broomsticks. You won't have tried it before -"
He pulled two bottles out of his briefcase.
"Butterbeer!" said Harry without thinking. "Yeah, I like that stuff!"
Lupin chuckled to himself, knowing full well why Harry knew about butterbeer, but raised an eyebrow at Harry.
"Oh - Ron and Hermione brought me some back from Hogsmeade," Harry lied quickly.
"I see," said Lupin, though he tried hard to look suspicious. "Well, even though you do play for the despised Slytherin team, I suppose I can drink to a Slytherin victory against Ravenclaw this weekend! - Not that I'm supposed to take sides, as a teacher …," he added hastily.
******
Ravenclaw was scheduled to play Slytherin in two days. As a result, Miss Puckle had made it a priority to finish her inspection of Harry's broomstick in record time, as had McGonagall and Madam Hooch. As Harry returned from his successful Patronus lesson where he had heard about the dementor's kiss from Remus, he was surprised to hear a familiar voice behind him.
"Potter, a word with you if you please!" his head of house said briskly. As Harry stopped and waited, Snape continued. "I've been looking for you in the house common room, and I was told you were elsewhere. Well, here it is, and as I suspected all along, the self-appointed experts at this school have been unable to find anything wrong with it at all. You've got a very good friend somewhere, Potter…"
Harry's jaw dropped. He was holding out his Firebolt, and it looked as magnificent as ever.
"I can have it back?" Harry said weakly. "Seriously?"
"Seriously," said Professor Snape, and he was almost smiling. "I daresay you will need to get the feel of it before Saturday's match, won't you? And Potter - do try to win, won't you? Or, I'm afraid I will have to let Flint kick you off the team, which I was only able to prevent when I pointed out to him the inherent…advantages… of you riding this Firebolt as it is! We can still win the house cup, assuming we suffer no more losses this season, and I'd hate to have to relinquish that trophy to Professor McGonagall. It has been in my office for so many years now - I'm quite accustomed to it!"
Speechless, Harry carried the Firebolt back to the Slytherin Common Room. There was a slight murmur as every head turned and the next moment, Harry was surrounded by people wanting to see the famous broom. He noticed, however, that the Gruesome Threesome did not join the curious throng, but Draco had a murderous look on his face as he started to whisper to his comrades.
After a while, he grew tired of the repeated requests for a chance to ride the broom, not to mention the serious offers to take it off his hands to keep him from making a fool of himself by falling off of it, and he realized immediately who he'd rather be sharing the news with. He excused himself, went to his room to get an old piece of parchment, and then left through the hidden entryway to the Slytherin common room.
In a deserted corridor, Harry took out his map, tapped it as before, and started his search. "Hmm, now where would she be…Gryffindor common room? No…Miss Puckle's office? No, not there, either. Ah…there she is, I should have guessed!" and he immediately headed for their private table in the library.
"Can I sit down, then?" Harry asked Hermione as he came up behind her, carrying his Firebolt so she could see it.
"I suppose so, said Hermione, moving a great stack of parchment off a chair. "I see you got your broom back," she said, guiltily. "I saw Miss Puckle when I came in. She told me that there wasn't anything wrong with it and she was taking it to Snape. Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry I put you through all that! Can you forgive me?"
"Sure, Hermione…I know you were probably just worried about me for some reason. No worries, though. I have it back, and I'm still going to be Seeker on Saturday, so there's really nothing to forgive."
Harry looked around at the cluttered table, at the long Arithmancy essay on which the ink was still glistening, at the even longer Muggle Studies essay, and at the rune translation Hermione was now poring over.
"Why aren't you studying in your common room, Hermione?" Harry asked her. "Wouldn't it be easier to not have to haul all of this stuff down here when you want to study?"
Hermione looked over at Harry with a pained look on her face. "If only it was that easy, Harry. If you must know, Ron's been quite insufferable lately, and I've found that this is the best place for me to escape his not-so-subtle insults and snide remarks. Just this evening he accused Crookshanks…well, never mind…a few cat hairs and some bloody sheets don't mean… well, he doesn't venture into the scary depths of the library all that much, you know! Between the ongoing Crookshanks vs. Scabbers war, and the… thing with your Firebolt, well, let's just say things haven't been too pleasant for me in my house lately. After what happened tonight, I think our friendship may just be at an end. Sometimes I wish I had a referee to step between us, just to keep us from going at each other all the time."
Harry froze for almost a minute this time, and Hermione knew immediately what was happening so she didn't interrupt. Finally, when his eyes focused on her again, she said, "Don't tell me…another memory? Am I allowed to ask about it this time, Harry?" she said with a sad grin. "You still haven't told me about the last one, you know!"
Harry started to blush as he knew exactly why he wasn't ready to talk about that memory yet, but he recovered quickly. "Yes…well, uh…this one was just weird…yeah, I guess I can tell you this one. It must have been something to do with what you were saying about a referee for you and Ron just now, because I just saw…well, it was more complicated…first, I was yelling at you and Ron, telling you to shut up and to stop having a go at each other all the time, and I stormed off…and then, I was in Divination, and …this is where it gets really strange…Ron came in, sat down, and told me that you and he had stopped arguing and that you said it would be nice if I stopped taking out my temper on the two of you. What was a Gryffindor like Ron doing in a Slytherin Divination class? I don't have that bad of a temper, do I? The whole thing doesn't make any sense at all."
"Tell me more, Harry…quickly, before you forget any details! Were we older, the same age as now…what were we wearing? Anything at all that stands out?" Hermione, faced with a mystery, was in full fact-gathering mode.
"Hold on, Granger!" he said, "and let me think…well, yes, Ron was quite a bit taller than he is now, and I was, too, like I had grown quite a bit, very quickly. Hmmm…and now that I think about it, you looked older, too, and …different, besides. Your…well, you know…" and he began to blush.
"My what, Potter? Surely you're not talking about…well, those being bigger, are you?" Hermione said with a sly grin while glancing down quickly. "Of course, if I was older, that would make sense…"
Harry had turned even redder at this. "Hermione Granger! NO…that isn't what I was going to say at all…not that I didn't notice that, too…", he stammered, blushing even deeper, "but…I mean…well, I know you're sort of sensitive about it and all…"
"Spit it out, Potter! What was so different about me?" Hermione was torn between being embarrassed at misunderstanding what she thought he was referring to and being extremely amused at his discomfort.
"It was your teeth!" he finally said, ducking his head quickly. "They…well, they weren't so…"
"…huge? Rather large…prominent…horse-like? What is the exact description you were trying to find, Potter!" she said, her voice quickly turning cold. "I'm sure I've heard them all, most of them in the last few weeks, come to think of it!"
"Hermione, I…I really didn't mean to…upset you like that." Harry truly sounded apologetic, so Hermione calmed down quickly. "Besides, about your teeth …well, they never bother me any. They're just …you, you know. In fact, I wish you wouldn't worry so much about them. I like seeing you smile, and I suppose you don't do it all that often because you think everyone will laugh at you or something."
"You…you like my smile, Harry?"
"Of course, Hermione. Like I said, it's just you to see you smile like that. It's just so…familiar. Weird, huh?"
Hermione looked at him intently for a second, shook her head, and then went back to thinking about Harry's memory flash. "Well, Harry, much as you might like my smile, I've always wanted to change it, and that fact may help us figure out your 'vision'. My parents are both dentists, you know, and although I've told them we could have Madam Pomfrey fix my teeth with magic very quickly, they are holding out for the more traditional Muggle methods. Daddy said that I would be old enough to start sometime next year. So, in your memory, did you see any brackets… or wires… or headgear or anything like that on my teeth?" she said with obvious distaste.
"Nope, just your teeth. They were…well, normal sized, and I'd say just right for your face. They must be really good dentists if they'll be able to do that so well."
She beamed at the implied compliment for her parents. "Yes, well, they do have a lot of experience with cosmetic dentistry. But, back to the memory. Daddy said it would take over two years to get that done, so that would mean…you're seeing something from our sixth or seventh years, Harry, if I'm still not being treated. Hmm… that's interesting…" and she trailed off in her own thoughts for a second.
Harry, thinking that there was not much else to be gained by reviewing his "vision", interrupted her with a question he had been considering for a long time. "How are you getting through all this stuff?" he asked.
"Oh, well - you know - working hard," said Hermione. Close-up, Harry saw that she looked almost as tired as Lupin.
"Why don't you just drop a couple of subjects?" Harry asked, watching her lifting books as she searched for her rune dictionary.
"I couldn't do that!" said Hermione, looking scandalized.
"Arithmancy looks terrible," said Harry, picking up a very complicated-looking number chart.
"Oh, no, it's wonderful!" said Hermione earnestly. "It's my favorite subject! It's -"
But exactly what was wonderful about Arithmancy, Harry never found out. At that precise moment, he heard the unmistakable voice of Madam Pince. "MR POTTER…AND MISS GRANGER! BRINGING A BROOMSTICK…INTO MY LIBRARY? MISS GRANGER, I'M ESPECIALLY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU! OUT! OUT BOTH OF YOU!
****
At a quarter to eleven that Saturday, the Slytherin team set off for the locker rooms. The weather couldn't have been more different from their last match against Gryffindor. It was a clear, cool day with a very light breeze, there would be no visibility problems this time, and Harry, though nervous, was starting to feel the excitement only a Quidditch match could bring. They could hear the rest of the school moving into the stadium beyond. Harry took off his black school robes, removed his wand from his pocket, and stuck it inside the T-shirt he was going to wear under his Quidditch robes. He only hoped he wouldn't need it. He wondered suddenly whether Professor Lupin was in the crowd, watching.
"You know what we've got to do," said Flint as they prepared to leave the locker rooms. "If we lose this match, Potter, we're out of the running. Just - just fly like you did in practice yesterday, and we'll be okay! But, I don't have to remind you what I promised I'd do if you fall off again. You've sorted out your dementor problem, have you?" Harry didn't bother to reply.
They walked out onto the field to muted applause. The Ravenclaw team, dressed in blue, was already standing in the middle of the field. Their Seeker, someone named Cho Chang if Harry remembered Flint's rundown of their opponents during practice, was the only girl on their team. She was shorter than Harry by about a head, and Harry couldn't help noticing, nervous as he was, that she was extremely pretty. At that thought, he saw clearly another quick flash…this time, of a not-so-pretty Cho, face shining with tears, shrilly telling him that he'd talk to Hermione Granger but not her. <Well, of course I'd talk to Hermione instead of her…I don't even know her! Strange…I'll have to let Hermione know about that one after the match, that's for certain!>
"Flint, Davies, shake hands," Madam Hooch said briskly, and Flint glared at the Ravenclaw captain as he barely touched fingers before turning away."
"Mount your brooms… on my whistle…three - two - one -"
****
Harry accelerated; so, many feet below, did Cho. He was winning, gaining on the Snitch with every second - then -
"Oh!" screamed Cho, pointing.
Distracted, Harry looked down.
Three dementors, three tall, black, hooded dementors, were looking up at him.
He didn't stop to think. Plunging a hand down the neck of his robes, he whipped out his wand and roared, "Expecto Patronum!"
Again, something silver-white and enormous shot directly at the dementors below. He was surprised that his mind was still unaffected, but he looked up and saw the Snitch right ahead of him. He stretched out the hand still grasping his wand and just managed to close his fingers over the small, struggling Snitch.
****
"The dementors didn't affect me at all! Harry said excitedly to Professor Lupin. "I didn't feel a thing!"
That would be because they - er - weren't dementors," Lupin said. "Come and see - You gave Mr. Malfoy quite a fright!"
Harry stared. Lying in a crumpled heap on the ground were Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and another boy that Harry thought was named Nott, all struggling to remove themselves from long, black, hooded robes. It looked as though Malfoy had been standing on Goyle's shoulders. Standing over them, with an expression of the utmost disgust on his face, was Professor Snape.
"Malfoy…so, it's come to this, has it?" he said with contempt. "Trying to assure your place as the permanent Slytherin Seeker, are you? Well, under the circumstances, I think a different outcome is in order. You are hereby banned from the Slytherin Quidditch team for at least the rest of this year. I will re-evaluate your status the next time we re-form the team. Flint, you'd better hold a tryout right away. It looks like we'll need another Chaser before our next match. Now, the lot of you, report to my office immediately so we can arrange the appropriate detention. Finally, I really hate to have to do this, but …fifty points…" and he grimaced as he said this, "…from Slytherin!"
(A/N - Well, that chapter ended up being a little longer than I had planned, but I still got to where I needed to be.)