The Battle Standard
by Jardyn39
Chapter 13 - Quidditch
Harry arrived back at Grimmauld Place at one o'clock Saturday morning, having finally been released by Moody.
"Hi, Kreacher," he said, feeling happier than he had for ages.
"Would Master like something to drink?" replied the house elf, picking up the cleaned cups from the draining board. "Miss Hermione has just gone up."
"No, thanks. I think I'll just go up to bed. Do you fancy coming with us to watch the Quidditch tomorrow?"
"Kreacher did not see very much of the games when Master played."
"Where did you watch from?"
"The house elves usually sneaked up to the North Tower provided no-one was there."
"You can't have seen very much from that far away! Why not come? A few hours away from this place might be good for you."
"That's what Miss Hermione said."
"You'll come then?"
"Kreacher will think about it."
"Okay. Goodnight, Kreacher. Don't stay up too late, will you?"
"Miss Hermione left a message for Master."
"Yes?"
"She said, don't bother trying because I've locked the door. See you in the morning."
Harry laughed and said, "She didn't really mean that."
*
Harry spent ten minutes scratching at Hermione's door and making meowing noises before she finally responded.
"Hermione, I know you're still awake. I can hear you giggling," he said, sitting with his back to her door. He was fairly sure she was doing the same on the other side of the door.
"Go to bed, Harry," she said at last.
"No kiss goodnight?"
"You can have two kisses in the morning."
"I've missed you."
"Me too, Harry. You still can't come in, though."
Harry snorted and said, "I promise not to tell Mrs Longbottom."
"I'm glad you're back, Harry. Now, go to bed," Hermione replied again, but her voice sounded fainter.
Knowing, as he had when he sat down, he was wasting his time, he crawled over to his bedroom. Still, he mused tiredly, it was nice to hear her voice again.
*
Harry woke to find himself being shaken awake by Hermione.
"Wake up, Harry! It's just gone nine o'clock and if you don't get up soon we'll be late," she added, crossing the room to open the curtains.
"What about my kisses?" he asked, yawning widely.
"You had two at your eight o'clock call and another three at eight-thirty."
"It shouldn't count if I'm asleep, Hermione!"
"Hurry up and wash, will you? Ron's downstairs waiting. I promised Ginny we wouldn't be late."
"Five more minutes, Hermione. It is Saturday, after all," he said, turning over.
Harry smiled as he felt the mattress shift slightly. Hermione leaned over and gently kissed his neck. He was about to reach out for her when she roughly pulled away his pillow and threw off his sheets.
"Hermione!"
"Don't say I didn't give you a chance to get up on your own, Harry," she said in an amused tone.
Harry reached for his glasses just in time to see her flick her wand at him. Instantly his warm, comfortable mattress became as stiff as a board and felt as cold as ice.
"That's really not fair, Hermione."
"You are the one who wanted to go, remember?"
*
Harry, Ron and Hermione used the Floo network to travel from Grimmauld Place to the Room of Requirement and from there to the Gryffindor common room.
Neville was waiting for them.
"Hi, Neville," said Ron brightly. "Sorry we're a bit late only Harry was late getting up."
"No problem," said Neville getting to his feet. "Ginny has already gone down to the changing rooms. I think the rest of her team may be a bit nervous as this will be their first competitive match."
They followed Neville down to the Entrance Hall, and then out across the grounds towards the Quidditch Stadium.
"Harry Potter!"
Harry turned and grinned seeing Dobby hurrying to catch them up.
"Dobby!"
"Is Harry Potter staying to watch the match?"
"Absolutely!"
"The guest seats are up here, Harry," said Neville.
"Oh, okay Neville. We'll see you later Dobby."
Dobby waved and hurried off to one of the other staircases where a number of elves were queuing.
"Dobby?" called Harry. "Have you seen Kreacher?"
"Dobby has not, Harry Potter!"
Harry waved again and was ushered up the stairs. They emerged in the Staff seating area and Harry went straight up to the front where Professor McGonagall was sitting.
"Hello, Professor. Thanks again for inviting us."
"Not at all, Harry. Welcome, Hermione. Please, make yourselves comfortable."
Harry turned and followed Hermione back to some unoccupied seats by the entrance.
"Where's Ron?" asked Harry. "He was here a moment ago."
"He's over there, Harry. See?" she replied, waving across to the opposite stand.
"Where?" said Harry, but smiled and waved seeing Ron and Luna waving back at them from the middle of a particularly rowdy group of house elves, all plastered with rosettes and cheering madly.
Harry grinned and then looked around. Their own stand was almost full now, although none of the other guests invited looked like they were in the mood to yell themselves hoarse. Indeed, most were looking around with looks of disapproval as the students in the adjacent stands chatted and laughed happily.
He realised that apart from Professor McGonagall and a few teachers grouped together in the far corner, he knew nobody else there.
Harry turned back with a longing look over to the stand where Dobby was unfurling a long banner in support of Ginny's team. He was surprised to see Kreacher there helping too. Hermione laughed and waved back.
Neville leaned forward from his seat just behind them and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. He didn't say a word, but nodded over to the opposite stand. Harry and Hermione exchanged a look before nodding their agreement.
The three of them rose quickly and hurried down the stairs to they could join the others before the match commenced.
*
"Here, Kreacher," shouted Harry. "I brought my old Omnioculars for you. You went before I could give them to you this morning."
Kreacher took the brass device and Harry placed the leather strap over his head before explaining how to operate the instrument as best he could over the incredible noise the other house elves were making.
"Alright, 'Arry?" shouted Hagrid from the next stand, sitting amongst a group of First Years. As usual he was plastered with Gryffindor rosettes, even though there were no School Houses any more.
"Hi, Hagrid!" Harry shouted back with a wave, rather glad he hadn't seen him before as he'd have been torn between sitting there or with Hagrid.
"WELCOME!" said the magically amplified voice of the match commentator. "Welcome to the first game of the New Quidditch Cup!"
The entire audience yelled and cheered as the two teams walked onto the pitch.
"Why aren't you commentating, Luna?" asked Harry.
"Yeah," agreed Ron. "That's what I want to know."
Luna smiled and said, "Professor McGonagall did offer it to me again, but I decided that as this is a brand new competition, we should have a brand new commentator. Besides, she was very keen to have a go."
Harry grinned and nodded.
They clapped sportingly as the commentator introduced the opposing team, but positively roared their approval as Ginny's team was introduced.
Seeing Kreacher looking confused at the Omnioculars, Harry took advantage of the relative quiet after that to explain the function of a couple more dials.
"Good luck, Ginny!" shouted Hermione as Ginny and two of her team-mates flew low around the stadium, waving nervously as they spotted friends in the crowds below.
"You okay, Ron?" asked Harry, having expected him to yell some encouragement to his sister as well.
"Look at those outfits!" he said disapprovingly.
"Well, she wanted something aerodynamic," explained Hermione.
"Aero-what?" exclaimed Ron. "If that means not using enough material to cover herself up then-"
"Don't be such a kill-joy, Ron," said Luna. "The rest of the boys in the audience don't seem to mind."
This, Harry realised at once, was very true. Indeed, most of the male contingent on the opposing team was also looking on in a trance like state as well.
"Yeah, well I'll teach them," began Ron before Luna took his wand away and pulled him back down.
A loud whistle blew and the red Quaffle was thrown high into the air.
*
Harry was quite delighted to learn that there would be a second Quidditch match that followed on from Ginny's rather comprehensive victory.
"Well done, Ginny!" called Hermione as a grinning Ginny joined them and sat down next to Neville. The teams had changed quickly so they could watch the second game as well.
Plates of sandwiches were passed down long the lines of seats and they all tucked in as they chatted about the match.
Harry held Kreacher's plate and waited patiently for the elf to finish watching the rest of the match as a slow motion replay through the Omnioculars.
He lowered the glasses and seemed genuinely surprised that the match had been over some time.
Harry grinned down at him and said, "Hungry yet?"
Kreacher nodded and absently took a sandwich, still fascinated with the Omnioculars.
"How's your Gran, Neville?" asked Harry.
"Oh, fine, thanks. She's still staying here at Hogwarts, but she isn't too keen on Quidditch."
"Shame really," added Ginny with a grin. "I was so looking forward to showing her my outfit."
Harry laughed as Neville rolled his eyes and Ron piped up, "She'll probably approve almost as much as Mum will when she finds out."
"Shut up, Ron!" said Ginny automatically.
Neville, Harry noted, had the good sense not to pass comment, at least in public.
The second Quidditch game lasted much longer than the first, although Harry thought the quality of play hadn't been quite so good.
"Dobby has invited Kreacher to stay and help with the evening meal, Harry Potter, Sir."
"That's fine, Dobby. Stay as long as you want, Kreacher," replied Harry at once.
"Will Harry Potter be staying?" asked Dobby hopefully.
"I'm not sure, Dobby."
"Oh, do stay," said Luna, getting up to allow several excited elves through.
Harry looked over to Hermione who considered for a moment and then nodded.
"Good, that's settled then," said Ginny. "Now, Madam Hooch has let us borrow some brooms to practise with and I've sorted out some half decent ones. I think we should rotate, so we each get a chance to fly fast and slow brooms. We might not have the luxury of always having our own broom to fly."
"Good idea, Ginny," agreed Harry.
They spent the afternoon chasing each other in the skies above Hogwarts and finished with a competition to see how long they could evade Harry on his Firebolt and firing sparks.
Harry landed again having just caught Ginny. She had lasted longer than any of the others, although Harry was pleased to see that they had all shown marked improvements. Even Neville was flying with more confidence.
Last to go was Hermione using Ron's treasured Cleansweep 11. She took off a little nervously, but when she was safely away Harry launched himself in the opposite direction to give her a good head start.
Harry flew fairly slowly until he approached the castle and then sped up as he rounded the towers and accelerated back towards the Quidditch stadium.
He now had no idea where Hermione had flown to, although they had all agreed not to venture over the Forbidden Forest or outside of the Hogwarts grounds.
Harry climbed steeply, hoping to use the same technique that had shown him where Ron was. He had been hovering behind one of the Quidditch stands, obviously hoping to stay out of sight. Harry had dived down and caught him completely unawares.
It then occurred to him that Hermione wouldn't make the same mistake, but she would expect him to try the same thing again.
He immediately reversed course and flew back towards the castle, intending to circle the towers in the opposite direction.
Harry had got as far as the Astronomy Tower when he spotted her flying back towards the Quidditch Stadium far below him.
He turned and dived at once, laughing out loud with delight that she'd been able to keep herself hidden for so long.
Just as he was about to intercept her, Hermione dived off to her left and then immediately right. She climbed at a steep incline and just cleared the Quidditch stand.
Harry then followed her along a dizzying course around the goal posts as the other cheered her on from below.
He managed, just, to catch her as she was about to climb out of the Stadium.
They slowly returned to the ground side-by-side.
"That was great, Hermione," said Harry, who was still grinning at her antics.
"I was hoping you'd spend more time looking for me, actually. You surprised me when I was flying over the greenhouses. I thought you'd fly on to the North Tower, at least."
"You still won, Hermione," said Ron. "You lasted the longer than any of us!"
They spent the rest of the afternoon practising quick take-offs, both running to the brooms and summoning them towards them.
Having missed dinner, they all joined Dobby and Kreacher down in the kitchens for an enjoyable late meal.
Even being told off by Winky for flying so close to the Castle couldn't take the shine off what Harry considered to be one of the best days he'd had recently.