Chapter 22: Griffyndor Vs. Ravenclaw

Dawn, Willow and Ron sat in the stadium as the Gryffindor Quidditch team gathered around Wood for his final instructions for tomorrow's match.

"Harry, I've just found out who Ravenclaw is playing as Seeker. It's Cho Chang. She's a fourth year, and she's pretty good… I really hoped she wouldn't be fit, she's had some problems with injuries…" Wood scowled his displeasure that Cho Chang had made a full recovery, then said, "On the other hand, she rides a Comet Two Sixty, which is going to look like a joke next to the Firebolt." He gave Harry's broom a look of fervent admiration, then said, "Okay, everyone, let's go—"

As the team mounted their brooms and kicked off, Willow leaned over to Ron. "Where is Hermione?" she asked.

"Don't know," Ron answered. "Don't care."

Willow and Dawn looked at each other and shook their heads. Just from those few words something had happened between the trio. They turned their attention back to the practice session and Harry.

"Harry, I'm letting the Snitch out!" Wood called.

Harry turned and raced a Bludger toward the goal posts; he outstripped it easily, saw the Snitch dart out from behind Wood, and within ten seconds had caught it tightly in his hand.

The team cheered madly. Harry let the Snitch go again, gave it a minute's head start, then tore after it, weaving in and out of the others; he spotted it lurking near Katie Bell's knee, looped her easily, and caught it again.

It was the best practice ever; the team, inspired by the presence of the Firebolt in their midst, performed their best moves faultlessly, and by the time they hit the ground again, Wood didn't have a single criticism to make, which, as George Weasley pointed out, was a first.

"I can't see what's going to stop us tomorrow!" said Wood. "Not unless—Harry, you've sorted out your dementor problem, haven't you?"

"Yeah," said Harry as he looked at his aunts as they came out of the stadium with Ron.

"The dementors won't turn up again, Oliver. Dumbledore'd go ballistic," said Fred confidently.

"Aunt Willow and Aunt Dawn would go ballistic as well," Harry said and everyone looked at Dawn and Willow and nodded in agreement.

"Good work, everyone," Wood said. "Let's get back to the tower… turn in early—"

"I'm staying out for a bit; Ron wants a go on the Firebolt," Harry told Wood, and while the rest of the team headed off to the locker rooms, Harry strode over to Ron, Willow and Dawn.

"Here you go," said Harry, handing Ron the Firebolt.

Ron, an expression of ecstasy on his face, mounted the broom and zoomed off into the gathering darkness while Harry, Dawn and Willow walked around the edge of the field, watching him. As night fell Willow and Dawn decided it was time to head back to the castle.

Harry shouldered the Firebolt and they walked out of the shadowy stadium, with Harry and Ron discussing the Firebolt's superbly smooth action, its phenomenal acceleration, and its pinpoint turning. They were halfway toward the castle when Harry, glancing to his left, saw something that made his heart turn over—a pair of eyes, gleaming out of the darkness.

"Aunt Willow, Aunt Dawn," Harry said.

"What's the matter?" said Ron.

"Fiat Lux!" Dawn said.

Liight fell across the grass, hit the bottom of a tree, and illuminated its branches; there, crouching among the budding leaves, was Hermione's cat, Crookshanks.

"Get out of here!" Ron roared, and he stooped down and seized a stone lying on the grass, but before he could do anything else, Crookshanks had vanished with one swish of his long ginger tail.

"See?" Ron said furiously, chucking the stone down again. "She's still letting him wander about wherever he wants—probably washing down Scabbers with a couple of birds now…"

"So that's why Hermione didn't attend the practice," Willow said with a sigh. "Don't worry, Ron. If Scabbers is still alive, Willow and I will find him."

Dawn draped her arm around Harry's shoulders. She was sure of what Harry had though he seen, the Grim. They set off for the castle once more.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The next morning Dawn and Willow sat at the teacher's table and saw Harry enter the Great Hall flanked with boys from his dormitory. They were sure that it a sort of honor guard as Harry was carrying his Firebolt.

They could see that most of the students in the room, with the exception of Slytherin, were excited about the broom. The Slytherin on the otherhand were thunderstruck. Dawn and Willow got up from their seats and made their way to Harry's side as he came upto the Gryffindor table.

"Did you see his face?" said Ron gleefully, looking at Malfoy. "He can't believe it! This is brilliant!"

"Put it here, Harry," Wood said, laying the broom in the middle of the table and carefully turning it so that its name faced upward. People from the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables were soon coming over to look. Cedric Diggory came over to congratulate Harry on having acquired such a superb replacement for his Nimbus, and Percy's Ravenclaw girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater, asked if she could actually hold the Firebolt.

"Now, now, Penny, no sabotage!" said Percy heartily as she examined the Firebolt closely "Penelope and I have got a bet on," he told the team. "Ten Galleons on the outcome of the match!"

Penelope put the Firebolt down again, thanked Harry, and went back to her table.

"Harry—make sure you win," said Percy, in an urgent whisper. "I haven't got ten Galleons. Yes, I'm coming, Penny!" And he bustled off to join her in a piece of toast.

"Sure you can manage that broom, Potter?" said a cold, drawling voice.

Draco Malfoy had arrived for a closer look, Crabbe and Goyle right behind him.

"Mr. Malfoy," Dawn said.

"Professor," Malfoy said as he glared at Dawn and Willow.

"Did your father tell you about my visit during last summer?" Dawn asked.

"No, Professor," Malfoy answered.

"Well I told him that I would turn him into a toad," Dawn said. "If he tried to harm Harry or any of his friends. While you are a student, I can't do that to you. I promised Dumbledore. I can however make the rest of your school year miserable. I highly suggest you return to your table."

The Gryffindor team laughed loudly. Malfoy's pale eyes narrowed, and he stalked away. They watched him rejoin the rest of the Slytherin team, who put their heads together, no doubt asking Malfoy whether Harry's broom really was a Firebolt.

At a quarter to eleven, the Gryffindor team, Dawn and Willow set off for the locker rooms.

"Before we join everyone else," Willow said. "I just want you to promise me you will keep your wand handy. Dawn and I will also be watching just in case."

"I promise, Aunt Willow," Harry said.

Dawn and Willow walked out of the locker rooms. Dawn would sit in the teacher's box while Willow remained on the ground. That way they had their bases covered. First out was the Ravenclaw team, dressed in blue, walked out into the middle of the field. When the Gryffindow team walked out onto the field it was to tumultuous applause.

"Wood, Davies, shake hands," Madam Hooch said briskly, and Wood shook hands with the Ravenclaw Captain.

"Mount your brooms… on my whistle… three—two—one—"

Harry kicked off into the air and the Firebolt zoomed higher and faster than any other broom; he soared around the stadium and began squinting around for the Snitch.

"They're off, and the big excitement this match is the Firebolt that Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor. According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship—" Lee Jordan said.

"Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" interrupted Professor McGonagall.

"Right you are, Professor—just giving a bit of background information—the Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake and—"

"Jordan!"

"Okay, okay, Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor heading for goal…"

Harry streaked past Katie in the opposite direction, gazing around for a glint of gold and noticing that Cho Chang was tailing him closely.

"Show her your acceleration, Harry!" Fred yelled as he whooshed past in pursuit of a Bludger that was aiming for Alicia.

Harry urged the Firebolt forward as they rounded the Ravenclaw goal posts and Cho fell behind. Just as Katie succeeded in scoring the first goal of the match, and the Gryffindor end of the field went wild, he saw it—the Snitch was close to the ground, flitting near one of the barriers.

Harry dived; Cho saw what he was doing and tore after him—Harry was speeding up, excitement flooding him; dives were his speciality, he was ten feet away—

Then a Bludger, hit by one of the Ravenclaw Beaters, came pelting out of nowhere; Harry veered off course, avoiding it by an inch, and in those few, crucial seconds, the Snitch had vanished.

"Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go! Potter's really putting it through its paces now, see it turn—Chang's Comet is just no match for it, the Firebolt's precision-balance is really noticeable in these long—"

"JORDAN! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!"

Ravenclaw was pulling back; they had now scored three goals, which put Gryffindor only fifty points ahead. Harry dropped lower, narrowly avoiding a Ravenclaw Chaser, scanning the field frantically—a glint of gold, a flutter of tiny wings—the Snitch was circling the Gryffindor goal post—

Harry accelerated, eyes fixed on the speck of gold ahead—but just then, Cho appeared out of thin air, blocking him—

"HARRY, THIS IS NO TIME TO BE A GENTLEMAN!" Wood roared as Harry swerved to avoid a collision. "KNOCK HER OFF HER BROOM IF YOU HAVE TO!"

Harry turned and caught sight of Cho; she was grinning. The Snitch had vanished again. Harry turned his Firebolt upward and was soon twenty feet above the game. He dived again, and Cho, thinking he'd seen the Snitch, tried to follow; Harry pulled out of the dive very sharply; she hurtled downward; he rose fast as a bullet once more, and then saw it, for the third time—the Snitch was glittering way above the field at the Ravenclaw end.

He accelerated; so, many feet below, did Cho. He was winning, gaining on the Snitch with every second—then—

"Oh!" screamed Cho, pointing.

That was when both Willow and Dawn saw them. On the far side of the stadium stood three dementors.

Willow opened a portal and in a flash, she was on the otherside of the field.

What Willow saw was noth three dementors but three students that looked exactly as dementors. She waved to let Harry and Dawn know that they were no threat. Above Willow she heard the roar of the stadium as Madam Hooch's whistle sounded. She didn't know who had caught the Snitch but as she took the cloaks off the three students, she was too mad in that instance to care.

Willow heard Dawn, Ron and Harry followed by the large crowd come up behind her.

"Malfoy," Willow spat without looking back. "Detention and fifty points from Slytherin!"

Coming up becide them was Professor McGonagall who was just as furious as Willow. "An unworthy trick!" she was shouting. "A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention …"

"Willow beat you to it," Dawn said.

"Ah," Professor McGonagall said, "good. I suspect we'll be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this?" Willow and Dawn nodded. "Ah, here he comes now!"

"Come on, Harry!" said George, fighting his way over. "Party! Gryffindor common room, now!"

"Go on, Harry," Dawn said, "you deserve it."

"Right," said Harry, he and the rest of the team led the way, still in their scarlet robes, out of the stadium and back up to the castle.

Dumbledore shook his head. "I assume you gave them detention and took house points?" he asked

"Yes," Willow said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

That night Dawn and Willow patrolled the castle. They knew this was the night that Sirius Black was supposed to make his way into Gryffindor tower. They had of course made sure Neville had never written down the passwords and had laid false passwords for Sirius to find. They had no luck in managing to capture him. Either he had not fallen for the bait or something else was amiss. Then Dawn began to wonder if Sirius Black could also be the black dog., the Grim.