Friends Forever

Friends Forever (5/?)

by Isys

AN: This is a rather sad chapter. Lots of angst and near-tears moments, so there won't be too much to laugh about here, though I'll try to add as much humor as the plot will allow. My dear Draco had just succeeded in his *brilliant* scheme, hasn't he? This chapter will cover just how much this is affecting them...

The unfamiliar Quidditch players belong to me. The other members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team have graduated, of course, we need new players. ^^

This chapter is dedicated to a very special friend, who, after spending seven years with us, is being transferred to a new city upon appointment. ALS, wherever you are right now, this one's especially for you. Best wishes and God bless!

Chapter Five - Divide and Conquer

The next few days were one of Harry, Hermione, and Ron's worst in Hogwarts, and every student and teacher who had known them personally felt the uneasy change. Although they still sat together during meals, it would have taken the Dark Lord to materialize before them and to start hexing them for them to speak to each other. It was strange, also, to see Hogwarts' Head Boy and Girl working as though they were from opposite ends of the country.

Perhaps the incident that spoke the loudest of their crisis was the Monday morning Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. The Gryffindor team, sensing their Seeker's obvious distress, had been more sober than usual, but they couldn't help worrying when Harry's problems became clear during practice Sunday, late afternoon. Lacking his natural take-charge manner, his usually enthusiastic eyes had been blank and he had missed the Snitch twice despite the fact that it was hovering a good two inches from his Firebolt 3000.

Things hadn't been any better for Ron, either. His fifth year had garnered him a place in the Quidditch team as a Beater along with Elisabeth Wood, Quidditch captain and Oliver Wood's sister. Another one of his close friends, Dean Thomas played too, as Chaser, and, like Harry during Ron and Hermione's bickering sessions, wasn't too adept at playing mediator between Harry and Ron. So when Elisabeth had called for a ten-minute break, Dean had gone to the other members of the team who were huddled together in one corner, leaving Ron and Harry to rot on the bench, sulking.

"I don't like this one bit," Dean heard Elisabeth say as he approached. "At this point even Hufflepuff could give us a run for the money."

"Don't say that," admonished the second Chaser, Ginny Weasley. "You've got to give them time to get over this."

"But not at the expense of the Quidditch Cup!" Elisabeth argued. "We have to beat Ravenclaw by a wide margin. If Slytherin beats them - which is highly likely - the Finals are going to be rough. They can't play in that condition." She jerked her thumb over her shoulder, where Ron and Harry were sitting about a couple of meters apart. Ron was poking the end of his broomstick, a Valkyrie 007, on the ground while Harry was immensely concentrated on brushing dust from his already immaculate broomstick.

The third Chaser, reasonable and serious Leia Simmers, spoke up in her typical matter-of-fact voice that very poorly matched their situation. "We're not putting in a sub for them, if that's what you're saying," she told Elisabeth sensibly.

"Just because you fancy Potter doesn't mean we can't pull both of them out," Elisabeth disagreed.

The mention of Leia's attraction to Harry was a sore spot for her, especially knowing Harry's feelings for Hermione. Face flushed, Leia stepped forward and looked Elisabeth squarely in the eye. "This is the play-offs, Elisabeth! Harry's the best we've got for Seeker. Are you seriously considering replacing him with the reserve Seeker?"

"Seamus has less troubles with his love life, that's for sure," muttered Elisabeth to no one in particular.

The other three members felt the familiar crackle of electricity building up between their two players. Being complete opposites - Elisabeth was sharp and outspoken while Leia witty and timid - most arguments tended to spark between them. Ironically though, they were roommates and utterly inseparable outside the Quidditch field. Today wasn't anything different.

"You don't want him out just 'cause you fancy him!" accused Elisabeth.

"I do not. He's the one who's got personal problems!" Leia said defensively. "You get them, too, admit it!"

"Fine, but I don't bring them to Quidditch, do I?"

Leia folded her arms in a gesture so reminiscent of Professor McGonagall. "Yeah? What do you call nearly knocking out Chris Parkers last year during our match against Ravenclaw because you heard him saying that he was bringing Parvati to the Yule Ball? The poor guy looked like a raccoon for weeks... having dark blue circles around his eyes - "

"I did not knock him out," Elisabeth said, growing redder by the minute. "I'm a Beater, I'm supposed to hit Bludgers at everyone! Besides - " A derisive grin spread across her pouting lips. "I did hit everyone, but I just thought that Chris looked more attractive with two black eyes instead of just one."

Forgetting the utter absurdity of the situation, their Keeper Sky Peterson jumped in, putting an arm around Leia's stiff shoulders as she was saying, "Oh? He'd probably look better if you broke both of his arms - "

"Or his head - " added Sky helpfully.

"Or you should have kicked him somewhere else lower - "

A wicked gleam in his light brown eyes, Sky delivered the final touch home. "It is Quidditch - and his broomstick is getting a little rusty - "

"YOU SICK SON-OF-A-" shrieked Elisabeth, who was positively redder than an overheating fire engine, loudly enough for Ron and Harry to glance up and stare in confusion. Before she could complete hurling the expletive at Sky and launching herself at his throat, Ginny sharply intervened, holding back her clenched fists.

"Bastard," Elisabeth muttered darkly under her breath before lowering her hands.

Sighing, Ginny stepped forward and put an arm around each of their shoulders - Elisabeth's trembling, furious ones and Leia's, which were shaking with suppressed laughter at Sky's "broomstick" comment. "All right, why don't we take it this way," she suggested optimistically. "We still have a good chance at the Quidditch Cup even if we lose tomorrow's game. Allow Harry and Ron to play, but if their - er - funny business makes us lose - "

" - then we're going to McGonagall," finished Dean. He nodded. "Sounds like a good plan to me."

"Yeah, me too, I guess," agreed Leia reluctantly.

"Lis?" Ginny turned to Elisabeth, who, if looks could kill, could have reduced Sky to a puddle of glop on the ground.

"Only if you can get this git out with them as well," she said grumpily.

"Hey, I haven't said I'm taking them out already," said Ginny, resisting the urge to laugh at the very childish sneer on Elisabeth's lips. "Come on, Lis, please?" She fluttered her eyelashes for added measure, as it had been Elisabeth herself who'd told her that she looked extra pretty and convincing while batting her eyelashes. Ginny didn't know for sure if it was working right now - everyone seemed to fall for it, yet Elisabeth was strangely immune, glaring at Sky with all the ferocity of an angry Hungarian Horntail.

Whether Sky was dense or just extremely stupid to be standing up to Elisabeth's volatile temper, Ginny had no idea.

When Elisabeth didn't answer, Ginny wheedled, "Please? I'll give you a cookie..."

Elisabeth sighed. "Then it had better be a big one," she grumbled, tearing her lethal stare from Sky for the first time in minutes. "Fine, have it your way, then. But don't blame me if Harry starts crying or something in the middle of the match." With one last glare for Sky, she stalked off, her nose in the air.

Had Ginny known what would happen the next day, she would've have been strongly inclined to take Elisabeth's side. Monday morning greeted them with a clear, cloudless blue sky which fitted perfectly with the noisy enthusiasm of the crowd. Across the Quidditch field, their blue-and-bronze-clad opponents were murmuring among themselves. And while Elisabeth was giving her team last-minute pep talk, Harry and Ron's eyes were flickering blankly over the stands, as if searching for someone.

"Hey!" said Elisabeth sharply, gesticulating wildly in front of their faces with a manic, frenzied look she could have only inherited from her brother, Oliver. "Have you two listened to a word I said?"

"Wha-?"

"Did you say something?"

"Obviously not," Elisabeth grumbled, throwing her hands up in defeat. She turned her scarlet-cloaked back on Harry and Ron's mute forms to face the rest of the team. "All right, guys, listen up," she said, narrowing her eyes at her Seeker and Beater over her shoulder. "I have a feeling those two won't be much help. So you three - " she pointed a stern finger at her Chasers Leia, Dean, and Ginny. " - just - I don't know - score as often as you can. We need those points if we can't get the bloody Snitch. Knock the Keeper off his broom if you have to." Out of the corner of her eye, she was flinging poisonous looks at the Ravenclaw Keeper, who was none other than -

"Chris Parkers?" Leia asked innocently.

Elisabeth glared at her. "Yeah. Him. And no, you don't have to blackmail him into asking me to the graduation ball," she added hastily, noticing Leia's mischievous expression.

"And you." She whirled to face Sky. "Stay off my turf and just do your job. For every time the Quaffle gets through - " Elisabeth made a slashing motion at her neck.

Fighting a strong urge to salute, Sky nodded. "Yes, Lissy."

"That's Captain Elisabeth to you," she snapped before snatching up her broom just as Seamus Finnigan's magically amplified voice rang across the field.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" came his voice over the vivacious shouting of the crowd. "WELCOME TO THE HOGWARTS QUIDDITCH PLAY-OFFS!"

Cheers, encouraging shouts, and thunderous applause and foot stamping came in reply.

"Let me give a recap of how the houses stand." An enormous billboard was conjured to hover just above the center of the field where Madame Hooch was waiting to release the balls. In black curving letters, the houses and their corresponding points looped into view: in first place, Gryffindor, followed by Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Ravenclaw.

"I can't believe Ravenclaw still has a chance to beat us," hissed Leia at Dean.

Dean motioned to the other side of the field, where a tall, intimidating seventh year stood, staring around impressively in a manner so reminiscent of Percy Weasley. "That's 'cause they played last time with their reserve Seeker... and now that their first is back - "

"That's not Jim Edymeire," Ginny suddenly cut in. "It's Chris Parkers."

"That's him?" Dean said disbelievingly. Elisabeth looked strangely small and timid next to Chris' imposing figure that it was impossible to think of her inflicting even a scratch on him. "The one who Lis killed last year?"

"Yeah," came Elisabeth's crisp reply, her dark eyes promising something like glittering, threatening revenge that it was almost terrifying. Her grip on her broomstick tightened visibly, as though it was Chris's own neck. "And, by golly, will I do it again if I ever have the chance."

"Whoa," Dean whispered back at Leia, gesturing at Elisabeth, who was practically itching to fly into the field. "This Chris must be senselessly brave or just plain stupid to go against Lis like that."

"Stupid is more like it," Leia muttered.

Finally, Seamus signaled the players to take their positions. Elisabeth, who was tapping her foot impatiently, whizzed out into the field so suddenly that her body seemed to blur for an instant. The four other players flew out after her until only Harry and Ron were left, still staring vacantly over the stands and fiddling with their broomsticks.

"Potter! Weasley!" Elisabeth yelled from an estimate of thirty feet above them, almost falling out of her broom. "What the hell do you think you're waiting for?!"

After they hurriedly made it outside, the match proceeded as it always did, except that two of the Gryffindor team were strangely inert. Still, despite their inactiveness, the three Chasers did their job remarkably well, distracting the Keeper long enough to put in the Quaffle again and again. While Elisabeth aimed every Bludger that flew her way straight at the Ravenclaw Chasers, forcing their close formations to scatter at every turn, Leia, who was part-veela and had the charisma and beauty of a pure one, was busy keeping Chris Parkers at bay.

However, Ron was having as much difficulty doing his job as a Beater as Neville would have had holding his wand at the right end. More than twice, he'd hit a Bludger right at his own teammates, knocking the Quaffle from their grasps, earning venomous looks from Elisabeth.

"Weasley! Are you playing for this team or what?" shrieked Elisabeth as his Bludger smashed into Chris' mid-section, granting a penalty to Ravenclaw.

Ron didn't seem to hear her.

Harry wasn't fairing any better. Already the Snitch grazed his elbow and ear, but his gloomy green eyes were seeking something outside the field. For a while, Ginny studied him and tried to follow his gaze until it came to rest upon - Ginny squinted in the sunlight, trying to make out the chestnut-colored head bowed discreetly amidst the scarlet crowd.

It was Hermione. She was unusually subdued, her eyes carefully averted. Before she could ruminate on this further, Dean hurled the Quaffle at her, and she zoomed off for the Ravenclaw side.

Seamus was commentating, oblivious to his house team's apparent strange behavior.

"Thomas passes to Weasley Number Two - off she goes - right past Ravenclaw Beater André - Parkers, here she comes - Weasley scores! Seventy-ten to Gryffindor!"

Cursing Leia while she winked at him, Chris returned to his position, flying so close to the hoops that he could have hugged it if he wanted to.

Meanwhile, Harry was hovering motionlessly in mid-air, shooting the Ravenclaw Seeker irate looks as he circled him like a vulture upon its prey. Eager to get away from his snickering eyes, Harry plunged downwards sharply, hurtling at an alarmingly fast rate towards where Hermione was sitting. The ground was getting nearer - closer... closer... For a split second, Harry took his eyes off the end of his broom to glance at Hermione's appalled expression.

It was all the time needed for him to crash headlong into Dean, who was flying from side to side with the Quaffle trying to throw Chris off-course. While Harry tried to recover his bearings, the ball flew out of Dean's hand, and Dean, uttering a strangled cry, plummeted to the ground about twenty feet below...

"Impedimenta!"

Elisabeth's spell hit Dean's descending body, slowing him down until she flew under him and guided him to the ground. A time-out was called after Dean was safely back on his feet and broom.

"What the hell - ouch!" Stunned, Seamus had to be slapped hard by McGonagall for him to continue. "All right - sorry, Professor, but that hurt - okay - time-out called by Gryffindor captain Wood as Potter tackles Thomas off his broom - "

Elisabeth's enraged voice drowned out Seamus' before she could contain herself.

"Pot-ter!" she screeched, jabbing her forefinger on his chest. "Just what the bleeding hell were you thinking?! If you're going to show off or something by diving like Dumbo you should at least know where the ground is! Do you know what this can earn you? You've been a zombie for more than half the game - I can suspend you for this!"

"Harry didn't mean it," put in Ron blandly. Harry's head jerked up in surprise - it was the first time that Ron had mentioned his name in over twenty-four hours.

"Didn't mean it, my arse!" hollered Elisabeth, virtually shaking with anger and scowling at Ron. "Don't you try and get on my bad side, carrot-top, I've got half a mind to suspend you, too."

"What did I do?"

"NOTHING!" Elisabeth bellowed. "And that's the reason why!"

Leia grabbed her arm, restraining her from pounding Ron to the ground, and whispered urgently, "Lis, calm down. People are beginning to stare." Behind them, the several hundred gathered watching were gawking, hushed, at Elisabeth's outburst.

She gave them nothing more than a snort. "THEN LET THEM!" Elisabeth said angrily, wrenching herself from Leia's grip.

"Edymeire's about to catch the Snitch," Leia continued, her hold tightening on Elisabeth's forearm. "Ravenclaw's going to win by almost a hundred points, Lis - we can't have that - "

All the color seemed to drain from Elisabeth's flushed face as the truth seemed to dawn on her slowly, and she sighed wearily. "All right," she said, raising her hands in surrender. "Just let go, Leia, we've got a game to play - " She was almost ready to signal the end of their time-out when she suddenly faced Ron and Harry fiercely. "And you two had better shape up - or else."

"Right, captain," Ron and Harry mumbled under their breaths and prepared to mount their brooms.

It was rapidly turning to be one of the most desperate games Gryffindor had to play. By nature, none of them ever had to resort to violent measures to win a Quidditch match, and they weren't eager to change that. And, difficult as it was for Elisabeth to admit, Sky was doing an incredible job defending the Gryffindor side - no Quaffle seemed to dare to approach it. The one person whom Elisabeth kept a particularly close watch on was Ravenclaw Seeker, hitting every Bludger that flew past towards him.

The release of her pent-up fury seemed to have struck everyone on the team - Harry was squinting for the Snitch a lot more, Ron's fiery, forceful Beater nature was back, and Dean was recovering quickly from the disorientation he got from the crash. Elisabeth grinned as Gryffindor pulled forward another thirty points, making the score one hundred-ten in favor of Gryffindor. She was beginning to relax when the Ravenclaw Seeker soared upward unexpectedly. Harry, who was flying at the opposite end of the field, didn't notice him.

"Harry!" Ginny was screaming, waving wildly at the little speck in the sky that was Jim.

Muttering what was unmistakably a swear word, Harry shot upward after him. Elisabeth bit her lip. It was nearly impossible for Harry to overtake him, even with his Firebolt, as Jim was way ahead of him. Ron, in a desperate attempt to distract him, whacked a Bludger at their direction as hard as he could -

To Elisabeth's horror, the Bludger caught Harry's broomstick instead of Jim's. Harry's broom was thrown off-course, and, in a matter of seconds, Jim let out a victorious cheer and flew back down, waving the Snitch triumphantly in the air.

The Gryffindor team was stunned almost to the brink of paralysis, hovering motionless on their brooms and staring at the celebrating Ravenclaw team with something akin to shock. They barely heard Seamus' defeated voice as he announced the scores: one-hundred to one-hundred-sixty.

It was when they were safely back on the ground did all their frustrations come out. "We... lost?" Leia said impassively, raising her trembling hands to her lips.

"Tell me I'm dreaming," begged Ginny to herself, desperately pinching her arm to see if she was truly awake.

Elisabeth was aghast, the twisted expression on her face unreadable. The makings of a bomb explosion was slowly revealing itself on her shaking, stiff figure. She seemed at loss for words, trying to rein in the jumble of emotions struggling inside her.

"Well," sighed Sky, slipping an arm around Ginny. "I guess every team has an off-day once in a while..."

Dean nodded dejectedly. "We did our best." Leia couldn't help noticing that his voice wavered slightly over the word "we".

Scowling, Elisabeth finally spun around to face them. It was terribly likely of Sky to find a stupid, annoyingly practical excuse for their defeat, but to hear someone as usually positive as Dean joining him was too much for her to take. She couldn't believe how little was getting through their thick heads. They had lost! Lost, for the first time in her damned life, an incredibly crucial Quidditch match, and they were passing it off as an off-day. Elisabeth, for once, didn't know who to put the blame on - her teammates for having such lousy team spirit, or Ron and Harry for practically giving away their victory.

"'We did out best,'" she said mockingly. "Save it for your mother, Thomas! We lost. That's not our best."

And she ran off without another word, and, to Leia's dismay, headed to where an astounded Professor McGonagall stood.

The rest of the Gryffindor team stood there noiselessly, the scathing atmosphere of defeat lingering in the air among them, for ten grueling minutes until Elisabeth returned, her hair disheveled and the expression in her eyes unfathomable.

Everything became painfully clear to the team - except Harry and Ron - when Professor McGonagall approached quietly and Elisabeth motioned for Leia to come over. After comprehending what Elisabeth and their House Head had whispered into her ear, Leia, her face growing paler than it usually was, nodded mutely as they left, leaving her to face her team's expectant looks.

"You can all go," she finally managed to say. "Harry, Ron - please stay."

Giving their Seeker and Beater sympathetic looks, the other players wordlessly slipped away.

"None of them must've told you guys," she began when they were alone. "What Lis was planning to do with you two, seeing what happened yesterday and during the game."

Harry was the first to speak for them both. "Leia, look, we're sorry," he said. "We never meant for anything like this to happen - this is the first time - "

"That's right," she interrupted gently. "This is the first time you've ever let the team down, and that's why it was worrying Lis a lot. You know her, she has the tendency to go overboard sometimes, quite a lot like her brother, but she generally means well."

"So - what's she going to do?" Ron asked anxiously, his knuckles going very white as he gripped his broomstick tightly. "What was McGonagall doing there?"

Leia took a deep breath. It wasn't easy letting them down - they were talented players and a valuable asset to the team. However, significant as they were, they wouldn't be any help if a replay of that day's match ever took place. And Harry - she would miss him terribly. But, as Elisabeth had told her, it was for their own good. For the good of the team. Yet, more than anything, Leia wished that none of this had ever happened.

"I wish I could do something to change their minds, but it's not in my hands anymore," she told them, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible. "But Elisabeth and McGonagall was firm about it. You guys screwed up. And in a very important game, too, might I add."

"You're not saying - Leia - oh, no - " Ron looked at her desperately. "Please don't say they're - "

Struggling to fight back her tears, Leia bit her lip, drowning helplessly under their urgent gazes. "I don't know any other way to break this to you guys, but there's nothing I can do. The most I can hope for that this will all blow over soon enough before the finals."

"What exactly - do you mean by 'blow over'?" Harry asked, fearing the worst, especially he had the sinking feeling that he already knew the answer.

"Exactly what you're probably thinking," Leia said quietly. "I'm sorry, guys, but it's been done. You have to be temporarily replaced."

***

While her two best friends - or the people who had once been her best friends - were at the Quidditch field, Hermione was in the library, drowning her sorrows in what she did best - study. Books on just about every field of magic she could think about were piled high on her both sides like two crumbling walls, where Ron and Harry usually sat when the three of them studied together - Hermione diligently poring over her pages and pages of notes while the other two decided which hex would be best to hit Snape with if he ever gave detention again for breaking Potion bottles. (A/N: Ron broke one, remember?)

Instead, she was stuck between silent stacks of teetering books which looked nothing like Ron and Harry, sitting in the very desk where she and Ron had talked before going over to the Three Broomsticks.

Despite her anger at them - Harry for being so overbearing and Ron for taking her by surprise - she couldn't help missing them both, for obvious reasons. She had her girlfriends - but it just wasn't the same. It was only with Harry and Ron could she lower her guard completely.

Funny that it's when you lose someone do you realize how important they are...

The one bright spot about everything was that, without her two best friends "studying" with her, she got more work done. Study sessions with Ron and Harry generally meant joking, teacher-bashing, and petty exchanges of insults back and forth. Not to mention Ron's constant pestering for her to teach him animal Transfiguration, and Hermione could almost see him itching to repeat history and turn Malfoy into a ferret and bounce him across the Quidditch field.

"Please, pretty please, Herms, just help me, I can't get the wand thing right," he was wheedling after accidentally turning Harry's ears to three-foot horns.

"You should have listened to McGonagall," Hermione had snapped back, waving her wand sharply to return Harry's ears to normal. Then would come Ron's usual banters and complaints about their House Head, and before you know it, the library would soon close, forcing Hermione to bring her unfinished work back to the zoo which was the Gryffindor common room.

She smiled briefly, before her lips tightened to the grim line it had adopted for the past few days. With her quill poised over a fresh piece of parchment, she flipped through the pages of one of the books she'd selected, opening it to the page bearing the copyright date.

There it said, in fading blue letters: Copyright © 1897

Mumbling unintelligibly, Hermione closed it, wondering what in the world possessed her to take a book published during a time when wizards were probably still researching what a cauldron was for. She stood up grudgingly to return it to the shelf, just beside the volume Ron himself had taken out days before: Famous Figures in Potion-Making History by Sir Marthon Stewars. She squeezed her book in, but it wouldn't agree with the tight spot.

"There's - something - in here," she grunted, digging into the shelf to remove the object wedged into the enclosure. When she finally yanked it out and replaced it with the 1897 book, she let out a sharp gasp as her eyes fell on the title printed on its front cover.

It was a very old, very battered portfolio, with the pieces of parchment inside yellow with age and poorly bound together, in a surprising contrast to the other books on the shelf, which were in relatively good condition. What was more surprising was what was written in the center in bold cursive.

The Unforgivable Curses

A few lines below that was printed: A Thesis Written In Partial Fulfillment of the Seventh Year Course by Tom Marvolo Riddle

Despite the suspicious, nagging feeling prickling at her spine, Hermione returned to her seat and cautiously opened the portfolio, watching in horrifying fascination as the cracked pieces of parchment slid out, filling the air with an ancient, musty smell. As she saw the first page, Hermione figured out at once why the soon-to-be Dark Lord's thesis was kept in the library - a grade of one-hundred-seventeen per cent was stamped on the old paper. In spite of the unexplainable hatred she felt towards Tom Riddle, she was impressed by his work. The thesis was lengthy and detailed to perfection, hence the well-deserved grade and the display in the library.

With growing interest, she scanned the next page, a two-page long table of contents. The completion was impeccable, containing painstakingly researched information about each of the Unforgivable curses, including their history and effects, plus unknown effects he had theorized.

And in the bottom of the page was the topic she'd looked so far to find, titled "Imperio: Knowing Between the Cursed and the Uncursed".

"This is it," she whispered joyfully, her trembling hands reaching for her quill and parchment. She was eagerly skimming the paragraphs when her roommates Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil poked their heads around the shelves.

"Mione!" Parvati called. "The Quidditch match is starting in five minutes! You coming or what?" Uncertainty tinged her voice as she knew about Hermione, Harry, and Ron's recent situation.

The Quidditch game - Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor - oh, right. Hermione sighed and closed the portfolio. Harry and Ron had been talking about nothing else for the past few days, as the match would be deciding the upcoming championships, and Hermione had promised she would come at all costs. But under their present circumstances, what could possibly happen? What would her presence in the game cause?

Nothing drastic, she hoped. She nodded her head enthusiastically at Parvati. "Of course I'm coming, just let me get this thing checked out. Go ahead without me."

Parvati and Lavender's nervous faces broke into relaxed smiles. "'Kay, Mione, we'll save you a seat," Lavender said before they flounced out of the library.

The Quidditch field was full to bursting when Hermione got to her seat. She'd left her school bag inside her next class, but she was hugging Riddle's thesis to her chest. She didn't know why the tingling feeling inside her insisted to carry along the portfolio when the rest of her things she left behind, but she'd felt an unknown attraction to it the second she laid her eyes on the title, a strange power beckoning to her silently.

The reasonable, logical side of her was frantically warning her that there was something terribly wrong with the thesis, that there was dark magic embedded in it, but the innate power of the book easily overcame it. Her hands felt odd and cold whenever she released it.

She was examining it when Seamus' voice carried over. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO THE HOGWARTS QUIDDITCH PLAY-OFFS!"

She was feeling strangely distant as the opposing sides flew into the field. She strained to look up and watch, but her eyes seemed to be drawn right back to the crackling pages of the portfolio. A warm surge of release flowed through her body at every word she read. She didn't even look up when Gryffindor scored their first goal.

Minutes later, a whooshing sound caught her ears and her head snapped up for the first time since the game began.

Harry had gone into a steep dive, hurtling alarmingly fast towards where she sat. A terrified expression replaced the glazed look in her eyes as he drew nearer...

... and crashed into Dean Thomas, unseating the Chaser, as the field erupted into oh's and ah's of surprise. Hermione, however, was undisturbed. She merely returned to reading, while somewhere in the field she could hear Elisabeth Wood's outraged yells. Normally, she would have looked on curiously, but the portfolio before her caught her eyes in a mysterious, unearthly spider web.

Throw it away! her mind was screaming. It's obviously stuffed full of Dark Magic - tear it - destroy it - chew it up if you have to -

Finally, she managed to slam it shut and sit on it, her body shaking with mixed fright and desire. With wide, dilated eyes, she stared blankly as the game resumed and Gryffindor scored three more goals.

Then Ravenclaw got the Snitch - and won the game. Cheers erupted from the Ravenclaw side, mingling with the groans from the Gryffindors. Grabbing the portfolio from under her, Hermione stood up mechanically and pushed her way past towards where the defeated Gryffindor team was standing. She didn't know why she was heading there, but she always joined Ron and Harry and the rest of them after Quidditch matches - fight or no fight. Just as she was about to reach them, Leia Simmers was having a grave conversation with Ron and Harry.

Instinctively, she remained where she was, listening to every word in the serious exchange.

"I wish I could do something to change their minds, but it's not in my hands anymore," Leia was saying sadly. "But Elisabeth and McGonagall was firm about it. You guys screwed up. And in a very important game, too, might I add."

Hermione heard Ron bristle slightly, and she felt her insides knot into bunches and her hands tightened reflexively over the portfolio she was clutching. This didn't sound good at all. She had to admit that neither Ron nor Harry played very well during the game, but -

"You're not saying - Leia - oh, no - " Ron said, his voice breaking. "Please don't say they're - "

She saw Leia nod helplessly. "I don't know any other way to break this to you guys, but there's nothing I can do. The most I can hope for that this will end soon enough before the finals."

"What exactly - do you mean by 'will end'?" Harry's nervous voice came in, and Hermione could see that his face had gone a chalky white. She squeezed her eyes shut, holding her breath to wait for the obvious bad news.

"Exactly what you're probably thinking," Leia replied quietly. "I'm sorry, guys, but it's been done. You have to be temporarily replaced."

Oh, my God. Hermione's mouth dropped open as Harry and Ron nodded mutely and left, their shoulders drooping and their brooms trailing sadly after them. She bit her lip, wishing she could go and comfort them, like they always did for her. But then she remembered - they probably wouldn't want to go anywhere near her after what had happened. A hot tear slid down her cheek, staining the front cover of the portfolio. Being on the outs with her friends always made it feel like something was missing.

***