Destiny Trilogy: The War

Chapter 4: Getting under a dragon's skin

"I'm not using it," Ron said flatly, his face turning red.

Harry sighed. Ron could be so infuriatingly stubborn sometimes. "It's not like I'm giving you my Firebolt."

"I don't want your charity," Ron said mulishly.

"Just use it during the try-outs. I won't be needing it anyway," Harry said, ignoring what Ron had just said.

"So you're saying I don't stand a chance without your Firebolt, is that it?" Ron accused, avoiding Harry's eyes. He was being stupid, of course. He knew Harry better than that.

"Urgh...come on Hermione, help me with him, won't you?" Harry groaned, exasperated.

"We've got O.W.L.s this year you know. Think of all the time you'll have to put in for Quidditch practice, on top of all our Prefect duties," Hermione said without glancing up from her book (Your Essential Guide To Getting As Many O.W.L.s As Humanly Possible). "I really think you shouldn't--"

Ron exploded. "Fine, I suck at everything, happy?" He stormed out of the room, too mortified by his unreasonable outburst to face them. Harry sighed.

"That wasn't exactly the kind of help I had in mind, Hermione."

*~*~~*~**~*~*~~*

The morning chill made Harry grateful for the thick jumper he had under his scarlet team robes as he jogged across the dewy field to Ron. The freckles in Ron's face stood out against his sheet-white face, his hands gripping Harry's Firebolt. From the stands, he caught Ginny waving at Ron and calling out encouragements to Ron. She had even made Hermione come along, albeit reluctantly, muttering something about insanely dangerous games and wasting time. However, something other than the musty history book in her hand had diverted her attention--Kera had joined the group of hopeful Gryffindors eager to make the team.

"You'll be fine," Harry said, patting Ron's shoulder. "Just play like you usually do."

Harry and the twins had been drilling Ron on Chaser techniques, and Ron had managed to get past their defences pretty well, both by merit of pure skill and the additional booster of speed from the Firebolt. Besides, Ron's talent at chess had made him a rather good strategist and his attacks on the goal posts were as ruthless as his chess moves. And sometimes almost as reckless.

Angelina made her way towards them, frowning a little. "This is Harry's, isn't it?" she said indicating the Firebolt. Ron gulped and nodded. Harry felt his stomach plummet down.

"I'm sorry Ron, but you have to use the broom you'll be playing with," Angelina said gently. "It wouldn't be fair otherwise."

Ron paled even more, his freckles standing out unnaturally. He had been practicing using the Firebolt for the past two weeks. Only because you insisted, a pesky little voice in Harry's head reminded him. But Ron got up without arguing to retrieve his own broom, another hand-me-down from Charlie.

"Is it okay if I use this? I borrowed it from a friend but I've got a similar one at home," Kera said as she came up to Angelina.

She was holding a Nimbus 2001.

"Three guesses which friend lent her that," Ron muttered, his face pale but determined as he came up behind Harry, clutching a worn-out Cleansweep Five.

"It's okay," Ron said before Harry could apologise. "I'm not going to let myself lose out to someone on a Slytherin broom."

After many impatient assurances from Ron, Harry kicked off to join the twins hovering above the pitch. Harry savoured the wondrous feeling of freedom as the wind rushed in his ears, blowing his untidy black hair into an even unrulier mess. He waved at the tiny speck below him that was his best friend and actually managed to forget Cedric for a while as he zoomed around the pitch just for the hell of it. Below him, Angelina had separated the people who had come to try out for the different positions, with Kera joining the group of hopeful Keepers. As it turned out, they had two Keepers and six Chasers, just nice for a friendly match. Harry saw Hermione's face twist into a scowl when Ron and Kera were put in the same team, together with a couple of third years he didn't know.

The moment the game started, it was clear Kera would make the team. It wasn't that the other Keeper was inadequate, but Kera had the uncanny ability of knowing where an opposing Chaser would aim the Quaffle, intercepting every shot almost lazily. But what impressed Harry most was the way she flew. Although her broom was definitely the best out of those trying out, she had perfect control of it, and her movements were confident and smooth. Watching her zoom through the hoops or swerving to escape a bludger sent her way by the Weasley twins was like watching an otter dive in and out of the seaweeds, like it was second nature to her.

Despite having to contend with an old broom and two extremely nervous team-mates, Harry had to admit Ron was doing pretty well himself--almost every other shot he took got through the opposing team's defence. A fourth-year girl from the other team was doing quite well too, except Kera was really too good to let in any goals. But what really amazed Harry was the way the game consumed Ron and Kera, the way they managed to work together almost seamlessly despite any past differences, leading a fierce line of attack immediately after the other team had tried to score.

Angelina began picking out the weaker players, substituting the Gryffindor team Chasers for them. Tensions rose as the more experienced players wove their way through defences with a series of onslaughts, but the new-bloods were no push-overs. When Angelina finally called a time-out an hour later, the score was a very healthy 50 to 0.

She called the team together for a quick discussion. It was an easy decision to make.

"Francis, I'm so sorry. But you're on the reserves," Angelina told the other Keeper-hopeful. "And Kera...welcome to the team."

Ron felt his stomach do funny somersaults as Angelina approached them. He knew he had been good, but now that his feet were back on the ground he wasn't so sure anymore. After all, he'd made a couple of mistakes at the start and missed a couple of rather easy shots...

"Ron, Gayle...welcome on board," Ron let out an excited whoop of joy as Harry slapped him hard on his back.

"Congratulations, I knew you could do it!" Ginny squealed as she rushed forward. Behind her, Hermione was just smiling, too happy to do or say anything other than to throw her arms around him. For the first time, Ron didn't turn as red as his hair and, much to Harry's surprise, hugged Hermione back. Harry grinned as his two best friends lost themselves in each other's arms.

"Sorry to break this celebration party little brother, but we've got to borrow your best friend for a while," Fred said as they came up.

"For what?" Harry asked, mystified.

"Target practice," George explained, grinning wickedly. "Gotta try out those Beaters now, haven't we?"

"So first one to put me in the hospital wing for the rest of the week gets the position?"

"The first two actually," Fred replied brightly.

"Or you could ask Kera to help," Ron suggested, all pretence of not liking the new girl gone. "Did you see the way she flew?"

At that Hermione let go of Ron and scowled.

Harry winced. There they go again.

"Honestly," Hermione fumed. "Is Quidditch the only thing that matters?"

Harry sighed and hurried off with the twins, unwilling to witness another free-for-all shouting match between the two of them. He wondered how long it would take for Hermione to finally knock something into Ron's thick skull.

*~*~~*~**~*~*~~*

"So you got in?"

Kera nodded as she handed him back his broom. His Nimbus 2001. As much as he hated to admit it, it wasn't in the same league as bloody Potter's Firebolt. But it would do until he managed to convince Father to buy him something as good, or better.

"Thank you."

He had been surprised to find her rather easy to talk to, and even more surprised that she actually treated him as a friend. After he'd done some thinking however, he had of course realised why she was trying to get close to him. He was a Malfoy after all, and she was smart enough to realise what that meant even if Potter and his Weasel didn't. And that Granger. Besides, Father had said the Dark Lord was rising, and she would want to be on the stronger side, Gryffindor or not. After all, isn't that the only reason why anyone wants to hang out with me? Draco thought bitterly. That and all the money he spent blindly on sweets and other treats for his "friends". Crabbe and Goyle, on the other hand, were probably just too stupid to serve any other purpose other than to tag along behind him. One of the many problems with that meant they couldn't carry out a proper conversation. He might as well have bewitched two large rocks to follow him around.

"No problem."

Why he had even bothered with Kera was another matter altogether. After all, he already had an enormous fan club consisting of almost all the Slytherin girls below sixth-year. Granted, Kera was prettier than all of them put together. And she probably had more brains than them as well since she had even managed to outshine that know-it-all mudblood Granger in Ancient Runes. But she was also a filthy Gryffindor. He didn't even know if Kera was a pure-blood for that matter. But Professor Snape... Anyway he didn't know why he had even lent her his broomstick, since he hadn't even let Pansy Parkinson touch it. But she was...different. Maybe it was the way she didn't flatter or fawn over him. Or maybe it was the way she would nail him with her pale green eyes, unblinking and unflinching, making him feel like she could see into the very core of his being. She was a bit like Granger in that way, except Granger had warm brown eyes. Well, they weren't warm when they were looking at him.

"See you in Care of Magical Creatures tomorrow then."

As he watched her leave, Draco shook himself mentally and scowled. I was just hoping she'd wreck this lousy broom for me, so I'd get a new one, Draco convinced himself. That and nothing more.

*~*~~*~**~*~*~~*

Dear Harry,

Don't worry, me and Moony are doing well. Thanks to your warning, we got some Aurors to secure Azkaban before Voldemort could get all his Death Eaters out. We've got a whole lot of animals guarding them round the clock now like Hagrid's Blast-ended Skrewts, and we've even got a Norwegian Ridgeback here, courtesy of Charlie. The Dementors got away though.

Say hi to Ron and Hermione for me.

Snuffles

Harry breathed a sigh of both relief and sorrow. Since Sirius hadn't mentioned anything about the Muggles, they must have been administered the Kiss and were worse than dead now. Sirius had also totally ignored Harry's questions about any Death Eater activity and Snape's success in rejoining the ranks of the Death Eaters.

He stroked Hedwig's feathers absent-mindedly, her soft hooting echoing in the empty common room. He had written to Sirius immediately after he had his dream and she had returned with an answer in less than a day. It gave him some comfort to know Sirius and Professor Lupin were near. But if Snape hadn't known beforehand...if he wasn't trusted enough to know... Harry forced himself to take a deep breath and stop worrying for a while. Professor Dumbledore will know what to do. But if they didn't have any way to find out what Voldemort was getting up to...

Harry re-read the letter. Before he could get all his Death Eaters out. Sirius would never lie to Harry but he was also a rather over-protective godfather. If Harry knew Sirius well enough, it meant some of them had managed to escape Azkaban. And it wouldn't be some ordinary greed-driven follower either if Sirius minded telling him so much.

But who...Harry went through the list of Death Eaters in his head. An exchange, Voldemort had said.

"The Lestranges," Harry said aloud to the dying embers in the fireplace. Two of Voldemort's most faithful Death Eaters were loose.