Harry Potter and the Book of Shadows

Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw

Much like the first week back at Hogwarts, Harry was surprised to find the first month was over. His advanced classes, while understandably more difficult, were also more interesting. Dropping Astronomy and Divination left plenty of time for homework and in Ron and Harry's case, procrastination. There was also ample time for quidditch practice. Katie was in fact, a decent Quidditch captain, though Harry wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or disappointed at this. He, Ron, and Ginny did agree however, that she was by far the most relaxed captain they'd had yet. While she ran the practices with the same ruthless attention to detail Wood and Angelina had, she was much easier on scheduling. Even so, with their first match fast approaching, she'd increased practice to four days a week plus an extra-long practice on Saturdays. Without the weight of OWLs to study for, at least Ron and Harry found themselves with time to relax in the common room, though Ron made the occasional worried comment about Ginny's sleepless state. Hermione, of course, urged them to use the opportunity to prepare for their upcoming NEWTs, but Ron invariably reminded her they were more than a year away and ignored her.

Harry had had several Occlumency lessons, and while he had not felt the curious lure of the shadowy darkness again, he still wondered what it had been and why Snape had been so adamant he never retreat into it again. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Harry had not improved since his final lesson the previous year and Snape took full advantage of the fact to conjure long-buried humiliations suffered at the hands of Dudley and his friends. Harry sometimes wondered if Snape was purposefully drawing memories not unlike the one Harry had seen in the Pensive that had caused him to toss Harry out of his office. Wise enough not to ask, Harry merely tried his best to block the spell and force Snape out again and again, feeling horrible and exhausted by the end of each lesson. To Harry's great surprise, however, his nightmares did not worsen on those nights as they had before. While he would not go so far as to say they improved, Harry did not suffer worse and sometimes was so worn out from trying to defend against Snape that his nights were dreamless.

Harry's moodiness seemed to have improved after the first month back at Hogwarts and Ginny sent her mother a letter saying as much. However, she did not want to include their concern over the fact that Harry refused to talk about anything other than superficial things and would still, occasionally stalk off if pressured. Knowing her mother would fuss over Harry if she found out, and not wanting to make things worse for him, Ginny volunteered to send the letter with Pig. Once she reached the Owlery, she changed Hermione's worried scribblings into a letter full of positive reports about Harry keeping up with classes and even enjoying himself during quidditch. Watching Pig fly off, Ginny hoped Harry wouldn't find out they were sending reports about him to Mrs. Weasley.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One crisp morning, as Harry, Ron and Hermione headed to Hagrid's for Care of Magical Creatures, they saw Persephone on the path just ahead of them, carrying various objects, including a long whip. She'd been present during their classes on and off since Free had arrived, usually only showing up when Hagrid wanted to demonstrate medical techniques that might have upset the horse. After the rest of the class arrived, Hagrid nodded to Persephone who had been waiting inside the paddock. She headed out the gate, Free following closely behind her as Hagrid turned to address the class.

"Well, Free needs a bit of exercise, so Persephone and I thought yeh could help out today." Hagrid motioned for the class to follow and they started walking away from Hagrid's cabin toward the Quidditch field.

Many of the students exchanged looks, wondering what they'd be doing. It was the closest thing to hands-on they'd had all year, and most of them thought it would be a welcome change. Once they arrived at the field, they arranged themselves on the benches along the edge. Persephone and Free casually strolled down the pitch, Persephone securing her hair into a proper ponytail, for once leaving her wand in the loop attached to her waistband that was designed to hold it. Free bent down to nip a few blades of grass as she paused to tie her shoe.

"Everyone 'ere? All right, so in the wild, winged horses cover a lot of ground durin' the day, stopping every now and then to graze and resting at night in places in their territory they know are safe," Hagrid began. "They move as fast as the slowest member of the herd, which is usually the babies born in the spring, though they learn right quick how to keep up. Now, Free here is just a baby himself, so-"

"Baby?" Draco exclaimed. "That's a baby?"

While he hated to admit it, Harry had to agree with Malfoy's disbelief. Hagrid had said Garinains, or any winged horse, was measured in hands, like any regular horse. Since a hand equaled four inches and Free was almost 17 hands high, Harry found it hard to believe he was still a baby. He was not small by any stretch of the imagination.

Hagrid smiled. "Yeh, he looks big, but I'd guess he isn't more than three or four. I'd guess he's got another hand or two left to grow. Now, Granians will fly over their territory lookin' for nice, open places to graze, but once they find a good stretch, they'll graze most of the day, movin' on foot. This is important since the pressure of their steps helps pump blood back up their legs and also helps wear their hooves down. If they spend too much time in the air lookin', and not enough on the ground movin', they can develop nutritional and joint problems. Free hasn't been flyin' too much, but bein' cooped up in the pen eatin' grain isn't great for 'im either. So today, yeh'll help Persephone keep him movin'."

"And how, exactly, are we supposed to do that?" Malfoy sneered.

Persephone had walked back toward the class as Hagrid talked and she smiled coolly at Malfoy. "By running, of course."

"You mean you expect us to just run all over the field?" Malfoy said incredulously.

Many of the other students didn't look too thrilled at the prospect, either. Persephone didn't notice, still smiling mockingly at Malfoy. "Afraid you won't be able to keep up? That's okay, there are enough of you to go in turns. You'll get rests in between."

Harry and Ron snickered at Malfoy's squeak of outrage.

Hagrid divided the class into three groups. "Granians are herd animals, so their natural instinct is to follow a group. Free knows yeh well enough by now so he should want to stay with yeh." At that moment the horse grabbed Persephone's sleeve and tugged on it, to which she laughed and swatted him away. "And it looks like he's feelin' rather playful, so this should go jus' fine. Group one, jus' start a nice even jog, follow Persephone and we'll go from there."

Persephone slapped Free on the rump and started a steady jog. Free tossed his head and picked up a trot. Group one, comprised mostly of Slytherins, reluctantly began to jog as well, trying to keep up with Persephone while avoiding Free's back end. By the time they'd made a complete circuit of the large field, half the students were panting and red-faced, though Free and Persephone had barely broken a sweat.

As they approached the rest of the class, Hagrid called out, "Group two, ready?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione took deep breaths and prepared to join the run. Persephone held out one arm and turned Free in a small half-circle, changing direction. As group two caught up, Persephone asked, "Any sprinters in this group?"

Looking behind her, she caught sight of one raised hand. Harry saw it belonged to Dean Thomas.

"Feel up to a sprint down the long side?" Persephone asked. Dean nodded. "Great. The rest of you keep this pace. We'll circle back and rejoin you before we pick up group three. Ready Dean? Fast as you can go."

As they turned the corner Dean and Persephone took off in a burst of speed. Free whinnied and surged ahead, easily outdistancing them. The rest of the group saw Persephone motion for Dean to head back to where the rest of the class and Hagrid waited, the short-lived race over. Free was turning the corner, still surging in the other direction, when they heard a loud whistle. Free wheeled around to chase Persephone, who was headed back toward the group.

Ron, Harry, and Hermione were out of breath as they switched with group three, which included Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. Persephone kept pace, not stopping to rest.

"Man, this is almost as tiring as quidditch practice," Ron panted. "This would be so much easier on brooms."

Hermione's eyebrows shot up. "Hagrid, why don't we use brooms? We could go faster-"

Hagrid smiled. "Yeah, I asked, too. Seems they tried that, and to get 'im to follow some of the other winged horses, but Persephone said seein' other stuff flying when he couldn't seemed to upset him. Best to stay on the ground."

Each group had to go around once more, much to everyone's dismay, though Free seemed to be having a good time. Occasionally he would canter or gallop ahead, then circle back around to rejoin whichever group was wheezing its way around the field. Several students noted the fact that Persephone didn't stop once the whole class, though by the time they walked back to the paddock, she was as sweaty and out of breath as the rest of them.

"Man, that's so much easier with a horse," she breathed out as she closed the gate behind Free. At the students surprised looks, she raised an eyebrow. "What, you didn't think that's how we usually did it, did you?"

"You mean you had us run for no good reason?" Malfoy looked ready to kill, his face a rather unbecoming shade of red.

Persephone wasn't fazed in the least. "No, I had you run for a very good reason, which I believe Hagrid explained at the beginning of the lesson." Malfoy glared, but didn't answer.

Hermione piped up, "But Hagrid said Free got upset when you used brooms or tried to get him to follow other winged horses."

"Yes, that's why I used Night Mare." At the confused looks she elaborated, "Night Mare, two words. She was a beautiful Friesian mare boarded at the ranch." More blank looks prompted another explanation. "Big black horse, no wings. Her owners couldn't deal with her so they hardly ever came by. I'd take her out for exercise and found out Free would follow her anywhere. She kept him in shape. Still, this was a nice change from lunging him in the ring. All those circles make me dizzy."

Everyone headed back to the castle, hoping they had time for a drink and a change of clothes before their next class.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ginny had launched into questions as soon as they had sat to eat. "You got to run with him? How was it? We've only gotten to watch Hagrid and Persephone demonstrate stuff. I hope our next class we get to exercise him."

Ron shook his head as he filled his plate. "After you've been running after him for half a class, you won't think it's so fun."

"Just because you're out of shape," Ginny countered.

"Ready for tomorrow's game?" Harry broke in. The first quidditch game of the season was the next day, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. With the new members finding their rhythm, Katie was confident they'd do well. Harry had a feeling that now that the twins were gone, Ron would be able to focus and play the way he had in practice. He only hoped Slytherin had long ago lost interest in their taunting song. Or in Crabbe and Goyle's case, forgotten the words.

"I can't wait!" Ginny beamed. "I think I'll do loads better as a Beater than as a Seeker."

Ron frowned at his food. "You need to be careful, Ginny. Beater is a very dangerous position..."

"Seeker's more dangerous," Ginny argued. Then flushed, realizing she might have deflected the concerned nagging onto Harry, and hoped Hermione wouldn't take the opportunity to start in on him.

"I don't think you need to worry, Ginny's done really well in practice," Harry added. Ginny smiled her thanks from across the table. Ron grumbled something in response and turned back to his food.

"Besides, it's not like you're playing Slytherin," Hermione interjected.

Ron grudgingly agreed.

"Oh, I do hope the Slytherins have forgotten-" Hermione stopped herself when Ron looked up. "Oh, um, nothing. You'll do fabulously, tomorrow, I'm sure. Harry's said you've really improved since last year."

Ron's cold stare lasted a moment longer, then he turned back to his heaping plate of Shepard's pie. The uncomfortable silence lasted until Neville joined them, chattering about how they would crush Ravenclaw the following day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday dawned cool and crisp for their first Quidditch game. Harry, Ron, and Ginny stood on the pitch, lined up with the rest of the team. Taking a deep breath, Katie looked up and down the line, nodding. There were still some things they needed to work on as a team, but overall, she was confident they would do well. Ginny looked a little nervous, now that the game was about to start, but grinned at Harry when she caught his eye. Katie shook hands with the Ravenclaw captain, Madame Hooch blew the whistle, and they kicked off.

Harry felt some of his tension melt away as soon as the cool wind whipped past him. He'd had a restless night, full of half-remembered dreams and strange feelings he couldn't quite identify or place. Though his usual dreaded nightmare had not plagued him for once, the odd slur of dream images he'd had all night left him feeling unsettled and claustrophobic. The openness of the clear blue sky offered welcome relief and Harry sped upwards, for a moment forgetting the game below him.

Lee Jordan's magically amplified voice shattered the morning air. "Welcome to the first quidditch match of the year, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw! Gryffindor's new captain Katie Bell has made several changes to the team this year. Two new Chasers, Taylor Wells and Zoie Fox were added to the lineup, and let's not forget reinstating Gryffindor's celebrated Seeker, Harry Potter."

The stands cheered at Harry's name. Harry smirked to see the Slytherin section's boos lost in the enthusiasm of the other three-quarters of the stands.

"Fifth year Julian Gosse is another new addition," Lee went on. "But perhaps most surprising of all is the change of Ginny Weasley from replacement Seeker to the unlikely position of Beater. Well, she may be small, but she is a redhead-"

"Jordan!" Professor McGonagall warned.

"Anyway, Ravenclaw managed to keep its roster from last year and Gryffindor is almost completely new. Fresh blood versus experience, this should prove to be an interesting match!" Lee finished.

Soaring above the game, Harry watched as Taylor and Katie passed the quaffle between them, headed for the Ravenclaw goal. Two black blurs whizzed past them, causing Taylor to drop the quaffle as he pulled up short to avoid being hit.

"Welles drops the quaffle and it's recovered by Ravenclaw. Passes to Bradley, and there's some quick thinking by new Gryffindor Beater Julian Gosse! Bradley's going to feel that one tomorrow. Gryffindor recovers and it's Bell to Welles. Welles to Fox back to Welles. They're headed for the Ravenclaw goal. Welles, Bell, Welles, Fox, back to Bell. They've obviously worked on their passing game. Bell shoots-"

The stands erupted. "SCORE! Ten points for Gryffindor! Fox has the quaffle and- ooh! That was some nasty bludger work by Ravenclaw. Quaffle recovered by Hart, passed to Bradley. They're headed for the Gryffindor goal and Keeper Ron Weasley."

Harry was soaring above the action, squinting to see the Snitch. His heart sank when he heard the Slytherin stands start singing, "Weasley cannot save a thing, he cannot block a single ring..."

Lee tried to cover the beginning of the song. "Hart makes a beeline for the goal, aims, shoots and-"

There was a collective gasp and Harry snapped around to see.

"DID YOU SEE THAT?" Lee yelled. "Weasley, I mean Ginny Weasley, managed to hit the bludger and knock the quaffle out of midair straight into the hands of Fox! Fox streaks down the pitch! Bell and well, everyone else, trying to catch up."

Harry saw Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw Seeker, perk up and fly off toward the professors' stands. Afraid she'd caught first sight of the Snitch, Harry followed, hearing Lee's commentary instantly following the crowd's disappointed groan. "Oh, nice catch there by the Ravenclaw Keeper."

Following behind Cho, Harry tried to see if she was indeed chasing the Snitch. Unable to see around her, Harry dropped down below her and sped up. Just as he figured she'd been faking, Cho flipped around and headed the other way.

Cursing, Harry followed, still not sure she wasn't just leading him on. Lee's commentary continued as Harry and Cho raced above the match. Harry thought he caught sight of a glint of gold when the Slytherin stands broke into song once again. Trying to tune it out, Harry felt a surge of anger when the crowd cheered as Hart scored a goal for Ravenclaw. Suddenly possessed by a burst of pent-up anger and frustration, Harry leaned forward and blasted past Cho, nearly knocking her off her broom.

"Has Harry spotted the Snitch?" Lee asked.

He hadn't, but Harry felt the sudden and intense desire to go as fast and far as possible. It was the first time during a quidditch game he had ever had a thought aside from catching the small golden ball and winning. Diving down, weaving in and out of players and bludgers, Harry felt a sort of thrill replace the burst of angry frustration. Every narrow miss and subsequent gasp from the crowd seemed to soothe whatever nit had lodged itself in his brain. Cho had given up trying to follow and merely circled above him, trying to figure out what he was doing. Feeling some of his lunacy start to fade, and worrying Cho might have spotted the Snitch while he was off on his mad dash, Harry chanced a glance upward.

A flash of black made him pull up short, his heart in his throat. A second later, a blaze of blue robes from the other direction almost blinded him as one of the Ravenclaw Chasers streaked past.

The entire stadium gasped in unison at the near miss.

"Weasley aims a bludger at her own Seeker in a somehow miraculously effective attempt to avert a near collision with a Ravenclaw Chaser!" Lee said breathlessly. "I swear I have never seen- Bradley is headed for the Gryffindor goal once again!"

Harry, afraid Ron would miss again, forced himself to focus on finding the Snitch and ending the game. It had been foolish to give in to his urge to take off. Seeing Cho lean low on her broom and increase her speed, Harry immediately urged his Firebolt to follow. Hearing the stands cheer, Harry hoped it had been because Ron had blocked the goal. Catching sight of the small golden ball zipping along in front of Cho, everything else faded into the background.

Cho was closer, but Harry was gaining fast. Just as he was coming up from beside and below her, Cho reached out for the Snitch. In a moment of inspiration, or possibly insanity, Harry drew his feet under him and balanced precariously on his broom. The Snitch suddenly stopped and changed directions, passing over Cho's head, just out of her reach. From his crouch on his broom handle, Harry leapt up and grabbed the Snitch out of midair, forgetting for a moment there was only a very narrow piece of moving wood beneath him to land on. Cho tried to speed out of the way as Harry did a clumsy half-flip to avoid landing on top of her. Just as he saw the ground, far, far below, his left hand somehow caught the handle of his broom. Dangling for a moment, Harry managed to swing himself back onto his Firebolt, triumphantly holding the Snitch aloft.

The stands exploded.

"DID YOU SEE THAT?" Lee screamed, quickly followed by a magically amplified expletive. "That had to be the most intense quidditch game I have ever seen!"

If McGonagall told Lee off for his language or issued punishment, it was lost in the ecstatic cheers echoing out of the stands. Touching down on the pitch, Harry was immediately swallowed by his exhilarated teammates.

"How did you do that?"

"That was amazing!"

"Bloody brilliant, Harry!"

Laughing along with them, Harry didn't know who was saying what, when suddenly a hand grabbed the back of his robes and dragged him toward the locker room. Not knowing what was going on, Harry was stunned when he was suddenly thrown backwards into the lockers. A very irate Ginny Weasley grabbed the front of his robes.

"What the bloody hell were you thinking?" she screamed at him

The rest of the team, who had followed, stopped in their tracks, their laughter and smiles frozen in place.

Harry looked at Ginny blankly. "I-"

Ginny gripped his robes harder and shoved him into the lockers again. "I swear if you ever try a stunt like that again, I'll kill you myself!"

Harry stared at her openmouthed as she stalked off. Turning to the rest of the team, he raised his eyebrows in hopes of some kind of explanation.

Bewildered, Ron shook his head. "No idea, mate. No idea."

Katie looked Harry over. "Well, for a minute it did look like you had suddenly decided to commit suicide by just leaping off your broom. But," she couldn't help but grin, "that had to be one of the most amazing things I've ever seen."

The excited congratulations started up again. Harry glanced in the direction Ginny had gone, but didn't see her. The team chattered happily as they put away their brooms, guards, and outer robes. As they left the lockers, Harry looked for Ginny but didn't see her anywhere.

Walking alongside Ron, Harry asked, "So did you save that last goal? I kind of missed it."

"Yeah," Ron said with a shrug. Harry wondered why he didn't seem happier about it.

Taylor pointed to the small group of professors walking just ahead of them. "Did Snape just grab-"

Ron yanked Harry sideways by the sleeve as a bright flash of light whizzed by, leaving a long scorch mark on the ground behind them.

"What was that?" Harry asked.

Staring at the burnt grass, Ron replied, "I don't know."

Seeing Persephone rubbing the back of her head and sending a death glare Snape's way then look over her shoulder, Taylor guessed it had been a misfired spell. "Maybe someone was trying to set off some Filibuster's Fireworks up front."

Eyeing Harry worriedly, Ron mumbled, "Yeah, maybe."

Still watching the group in front of them, Taylor shook his head. "You think she'd be happy he pulled her out of the way."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Gryffindor Quidditch team entered the common room to a rousing chorus of cheers. Gryffindors crowed close, exclaiming over Harry's daring catch.

"Brilliant, Harry!"

"That was the coolest thing I've ever seen!"

"They didn't even do anything like that at the last World Cup!"

"I can't wait to get these developed!" The last was from a wound-up Colin Creevey, who was hastily removing the film from his ever-present camera. "I hope they come out all right."

Harry smiled at him, but scanned the crowd for Ginny. Finally, he caught a glimpse of bright red hair by the windows. As he was about to walk over and talk to her, Julian broke away from the crowd surrounding them and headed toward her. Feeling a twinge of irritation she greeted Julian with a bright smile, Harry mumbled something to the person congratulating him and forced his way out of the crowd. As he approached, he overheard part of their conversation.

"Thanks, but I can't hit the bludger nearly as hard as you." Ginny flushed and smiled up at Julian.

"Who needs to hit it hard when you can aim it like that?" Julian grinned back. "If I had your accuracy, I wouldn't have to spend nearly so much energy hitting the damn thing. I saw that move where you used the bludger to get the quaffle to Fox. That was spectacular!"

"Thanks," Ginny said.

Looking up, Julian saw Harry headed their way. "Speaking of spectacular, that was incredible, Harry!"

Harry grunted something in response, seeing Ginny's expression darken.

"Something wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked, coming up from behind and startling him.

"No, nothing. Enjoy the game?" Harry forced a smile.

Julian waved at someone behind Harry and excused himself. "Brilliant game, guys. I think we're solid for the Cup this year!"

Turning back to Harry, Hermione said, "Yes, it was quite thrilling." Catching sight of Ginny's frown, Hermione said hesitantly, "That catch. It was..."

Harry raised his eyebrows waiting for her to finish, knowing it wasn't going to be the enthusiastic response everyone else had given him.

"Stupid and reckless," Ginny interjected.

"What's your problem, anyway?" Ron asked as he joined them, his mouth full of cake. "We won, didn't we?"

Her lips pursed, Ginny didn't reply. Smirking Ron said, "You look just like Mum when you do that."

Outraged, Ginny landed a hard punch on Ron's upper arm. "Don't you ever say that again!"

Hermione raised her eyebrows, "You should be happy. That look is the only thing I've ever seen keep your brothers in line."

There was a tense moment and then, allowing Hermione's comment to lighten the mood, Ginny smiled. "Hmm, you have a point." Pointing to Ron's hand, she asked, "Where'd you get the cake?"

Ron gestured toward the portrait hole, flinging an arc of pumpkin juice droplets from the glass in his hand. "Dean and Lee nicked it."

Harry and Ginny headed over to help themselves. On the way, Harry lowered his voice, "What's wrong?"

Picking up a small tea cake, Ginny stared at it for a moment before looking Harry in the eye. "What would have happened if you missed?"

Harry knew she didn't mean the Snitch. He couldn't come up with a good answer and so, looked away and said nothing.

"Be more careful, Harry," Ginny moved to catch his gaze again. "Please?"

Harry didn't say anything as another group came over to praise his and Ginny's performance during the game. By the time the party had wound down, Harry thought Ginny's mood was back to normal since she no longer shot him angry looks or frowned whenever someone mentioned his daring midair snag.

That night after dinner, everyone settled into the common room, rehashing the game or trying to get a jump start on the homework due Monday. Hermione had left for the library due to her annoyance at the constant babble of quidditch talk. Ginny sat hunched over, surrounded by stacks of texts and an unruly pile of parchments, attempting to stay ahead of her OWL studies. Harry and Ron sat on the couch nearest the fire, talking about quidditch and their new teammates.

"He's all right, I suppose, Julian. Gets some real spin on the bludger, so when it connects, does real damage. His trouble is aim. Ginny, on the other hand," Ron lowered his voice, "and not to say I approve of her doing this in the first place, being Seeker was bad enough, but this...anyway, she's got some real skills. I know you were busy chasing the Snitch and all, but did you see her shots? Especially that one that knocked the quaffle to Zoie?"

Harry shook his head. "I was looking the other way, at Cho."

Neither boy saw Ginny's head snap up from her furious scribbling.

"Well, Julian had tried to aim that bludger for Hart, but totally missed and Ginny somehow nailed the quaffle with it," Ron said, a bit of admiration in his voice. "I almost wish Fred and George had seen. They never managed anything like that. Ginny and Julian seem to be working out pretty well. Loads better than Sloper and Kirke."

Harry forced a laugh. "Yeah, they're pretty good together. I mean, as a team...as part of the team." He stopped himself. "When's next practice?"

Ron leaned back to stretch his legs. "Monday. Next game's not till end of October, Katie's giving us a lighter schedule for the next week. Only three nights and no more Saturdays until the next match gets closer."

Harry frowned. Without quidditch practice to tire him out, he was worried his nightmares might come back. "You have anything due Monday?"

Ron shrugged. "Probably. Why?"

Harry sighed. "Thought we might head to the field tomorrow, maybe."

"Sure. It can wait," Ron agreed, happy Harry was showing interest in getting out. "Hmmm, I should get that book from the library now, then."

Harry glanced at the clock on the wall. "It's almost curfew. Will you make it?"

Ron grinned. "I'm a prefect. Wanna come? I'll probably need someone to help me pry Hermione away."

They met Hermione on their way to the library and were not surprised at her admonishment to hurry lest they be caught out after hours.

"Hermione, we're prefects," Ron reminded her.

"And we have to set an example. You'd better make it back in time," she warned.

Knowing Ron was about to say something he might regret, Harry pulled him toward the library. "We'll be quick. We promise."

Madame Pince made sure Ron found what he was looking for and was out before the library closed, not that her stern demeanor ever invited idle chitchat while checking out books. Ron and Harry figured they'd only be a few minutes late getting back. That was, until they turned the corner to see Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, headed their way.

"Well, well, out for a romantic stroll, are we?" Malfoy sneered.

Ron flushed, but Harry managed a smirk, looking past Malfoy to Crabbe and Goyle. "Looks like you would know, Malfoy."

Draco glared. "You better watch what you say or I might do something you'll regret."

"Like what? You're barely holding onto prefect as it is," Ron retorted.

Malfoy drew out his wand. "I've had just about enough of you, Weasley. You need to be taught some manners."

There was a bright flash of red light. It whizzed past Ron's ear, careening into the suit of armor behind them, smashing it into the wall. As bits of metal clattered down the hall, Harry laughed, acting braver than he felt. "Looks like you need to be taught some aim."

"What is going on here?" a voice demanded from down the corridor.

No one responded, continuing to glare at one another as Persephone marched toward them. "Well? Do you need me to get you started? Magic in the corridors, out after hours, destroying school property..."

Ron and Harry were trying to come up with something quickly that would lay most of the blame on Malfoy, where it belonged.

Malfoy looked at her disdainfully, saving them the trouble of saying anything at all. "Prefect duties, you know. Rounding up housemates to get back before curfew-"

"Right," she cut him off, glancing down at the spell-blackened bits on the floor. "I'm sure it required attacking a perfectly harmless suit of armor. Ten points from Slytherin."

"That's it?" Persephone had turned to go back the way she had come, but stopped at Malfoy's incredulous tone.

Persephone followed Malfoy's glare and caught sight of Harry and Ron.

"You're right," she admitted. When Draco aimed a superior smile at the two Gryffindors, she continued, "Twenty points. And detention. I'll let you know when."

Malfoy's smile vanished as Ron and Harry tried valiantly not to snicker. "You can't-"

"I can make it more." Persephone's tone assured him she would.

Draco shot a hate-filled glare at her as he, Crabbe, and Goyle stalked down the hallway. Ron and Harry gave into their laughter when Malfoy was gone.

"That was priceless! Did you see his face?" Ron laughed.

They both stopped snickering when they saw Persephone was not smiling. "Ten points, Harry."

"What?" they said in unison.

"You should not be out after hours. The last thing you need to do is go looking for trouble, especially not when it already finds you far too easily." With that she turned and left.

They were almost back to the common room before either one said anything.

"Ten points? We didn't even do anything!" Ron exclaimed as they turned the corner.

"Just be glad we didn't get detention, too. Besides, she take any points off for you," Harry said. As they came up to the portrait hole, they ran into Ginny.

"Ginny! Weren't you just in the common room? What are you doing out?" Ron demanded to know. "It's past curfew."

"You should talk," Ginny retorted.

"I'm a prefect," Ron replied hotly.

"You're a pain in the a-"

"Password?" The Fat Lady cut into the exchange, much to Harry's relief.

Ron mumbled it and they all went inside. "What were you doing out anyway?"

"None of your business," Ginny replied loftily.

Noting her lack of books or parchments, Ron narrowed his eyes. "You weren't meeting anyone were you?"

"Like who?" Ginny stopped walking, now thoroughly annoyed with her brother.

"Like Julian?" Ron accused.

Ginny turned to face her brother slowly and Harry saw real fire in her eyes. "Ronald Weasley, how dare you. After ignoring me for four years, what makes you think you can just barge into everything all of a sudden? I don't need you hovering like some mother hen. I can take care of myself." She stormed off, not waiting for a reply.

"Well, it's just...I mean..." Ron floundered. Chasing a first year out of the armchair closest to the fire, Ron plopped down with a huff. Pinning Harry with a glare he said, "You agree with me, right?"

Since Harry had no idea what Ron was referring to, he merely shrugged.

Ron caught sight of Hermione casually glancing through a moldy old spell book, Crookshanks draped across her lap like a furry ginger blanket. "Well, how about you, Mione?"

Hermione glanced up, looking for all the world as if it was the first she'd noticed they'd sat down. "Hmm? I'm sorry, what were you talking about, Ron?"

Ron merely grumbled incoherently. Harry and Hermione exchanged eye rolls.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not surprisingly, Hermione did not approve of their impromptu quidditch practice when Ron announced their plans the following morning at breakfast.

"Really, Ron, you should study now while you have the time. Next year we'll have much more work to do, and you'll wish you'd gotten a head start," Hermione reasoned.

"We'll have plenty of time later. We should enjoy our free time while we can," Ron argued.

Harry was about to come to Ron's defense and promise they'd get right to work when it was over when Hermione gave a huff, crossing her arms.

"Well I'm going to take this opportunity to get some studying done. If you two seriously want to be Aurors, I would suggest you do the same," Hermione said.

"We're going to practice. Our next match is with Slytherin and there's no way we're going to let them win. Right, Harry?" Ron replied. "Besides, we'll do work afterwards."

Hermione seemed somewhat placated but still gave them a disapproving look when they split up in the entryway.

As they walked to the field, Harry turned to Ron. "Should we have invited Ginny? I bet she would have come out to practice."

"No, don't want to 'butt into her life', after all," Ron muttered. "Besides, she's probably busy with OWL stuff."

Harry dropped the subject, seeing Ron was still upset about his argument with Ginny. Luckily, he seemed to get over his mood as soon as they kicked off. They'd only gotten in a half hour of practice when the entire Slytherin team showed up.

"All right there, Scarhead?" Malfoy mocked, "Why don't you get off and let a real team practice." He was still seething over the punishment he'd gotten the previous night, especially since Persephone had informed him only moments before that he'd be spending the evening polishing all the armor in the long corridor to the library. Without magic.

"You certainly need it more than we do," Harry said scathingly. He and Ron turned, leaving Malfoy fuming behind them.

Ron caught sight of movement out of the corner of his eye and guessed what Malfoy was about to do. "Better watch your wand, Malfoy. I see Persephone coming."

When Harry glanced back, clutching the wand in his pocket, he saw Malfoy cast an evil look at Ron's back, but turn to the rest of the Slytherin team instead. He and Ron left the field at a deliberately casual pace, though they expected an attack at any second.

"Good one, making that up about Persephone coming," Harry said.

"I wasn't making it up." Ron pointed. Persephone waved and started to jog toward them.

When she caught up, she smiled. "Hey, are you done? I wanted to take Free for a run on the field."

"Slytherins have practice," Ron muttered angrily.

"Ah, I see. I suppose I can wait until later." She smiled as they headed toward the castle. "That was some quidditch game yesterday. Never been a big fan, but I can definitely see the appeal."

"Thanks," Harry said.

"Usually the games go longer but," Ron paused as Harry bent to tie his shoe.

Before he could finish his sentence, a blast of light hit Persephone in the back and sent her flying. She hit the ground face first, rolling over several times before coming to a stop in front of Hagrid's cabin. Ron and Harry looked at one another in stunned surprise then ran, wands out, to where she had landed. Hagrid barreled out his door, grabbed Ron and Harry and tossed them inside his cabin.

"What about-"

Hagrid cut Harry off. "You two stay there." He rushed over to Persephone who was slowly getting to her knees.

"Yeh all righ'?" Hagrid asked worriedly.

Swiping at the blood dripping out of her nose, Persephone stood and looked around quickly. "Where's Harry?"

"Threw 'em inside." Hagrid pointed toward his cabin. "They're all right."

With a nod Persephone turned and headed toward the castle. Hagrid asked if she was all right again, but she didn't respond. Searching the sky and ground in the direction the spell had come from, Hagrid seemed to assure himself whoever had cast the spell was long gone. Using himself as a shield, Hagrid hustled Ron and Harry to the front door.

Once inside, Hagrid told them, "Yeh two should go straight to your dormitory. I'll be tellin' Dumbledore about this."

"Why do we have to-" Ron started.

"Because if Harry hadn't been tyin' his shoe, I'm pretty certain that spell woulda hit him," Hagrid said sternly. "Now get to yer common room."

"It was probably just Malfoy," Ron grumbled. "It wouldn't be the first time he tried to hit Harry in the back."

"That may be," Hagrid agreed. "But still, I think yeh should just stay in Gryffindor fer the time bein'."

As Hagrid hurried off to the Headmaster's office, Ron and Harry grudgingly turned to go back to Gryffindor Tower. Voices coming from just inside the dungeon staircase made Harry stop.

"Did someone attack you?" Harry and Ron exchanged glances and moved closer to the stairwell, recognizing Snape's voice.

"Not me, Potter. And they missed," came Persephone's angry reply. "That's twice in the last two days."

There was a pause. Harry took a chance and peeked around the corner, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was going on without getting caught. Ron whispered a fierce warning, standing just behind Harry, but Harry shushed him.

Persephone stood two steps above Snape, for once putting her at eye level with him. The expression on her face was what Harry could only describe as pure exasperation. "What?"

"You already know what I think," Snape replied icily.

"Oh, I do not for one second delude myself able to fathom the way your mind works," came the scathing reply. "However, it's pretty clear what's going on."

Snape took a step up and glared down at her. "What are you implying?"

Standing her ground, Persephone hissed, "I'm not implying anything. It's disgustingly obvious you have let some of your students run unchecked for far too long."

"Do not make assumptions about things you do not understand," Snape said in a low, dangerous voice.

"What I do understand is-" She stopped when Snape's angry glare shifted to something behind her.

Harry scrambled backwards as she turned to look, hoping Snape hadn't actually caught sight of him. Ignoring his inquiring look, Harry grabbed Ron's shirt and dragged him toward the staircase. They ran up the main stairs as fast as they could, Harry resisting the urge to look back.

Once they had made it in the long corridor leading to the Fat Lady's portrait without getting caught, Ron asked, "What was that all about?"

"I have no idea," Harry said. "Sounds like she thinks it was Malfoy, too. Maybe that's what that flash was yesterday."

Ron made a face as they climbed through the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. "I don't know, I didn't see Malfoy in front of us after the game. I wonder what Snape meant."

Shrugging, Harry said, "Probably just doesn't like her accusing his favorite student."

Settling down by the fire, Ron grinned. "Malfoy must be really worried if he's already trying to make it so you can't play."

Harry frowned into the fire, his thoughts far from quidditch. "Yeah."

It wasn't long before Hermione found them and made sure they were indeed going to study as they had promised. Though Ron needed a bit of prodding to get started, Harry welcomed the distraction.