Harry Potter and the Sacrifice of the Traitor

Chapter 8

As the other players took off in a swirl of red, gold and blue, Harry took up his usual position, circling high above the game. He looked round him in every direction for the small flash of light that would be the Golden Snitch, but could only see Cho, circling the pitch on the other side. Harry allowed his mind to wander briefly, thinking about their kiss last Christmas. She had seemed happier on the few occasions they had passed in the corridor, usually walking arm in arm with Michael Corner. He thought about her face as they had kissed, shining with tears, and found that he just could not cope with the idea of trying to attract her attention any more. He realised from what Hermione had said that girls could be extremely complicated when it came to relationships, but a relationship with Cho, because of the whole Cedric complication, seemed to be just far too much trouble. His mind wandered towards Luna, and how she had unexpectedly asked him to the Ball, and then to Ginny, and how she had blushed when she had suggested they go as friends. Hermione had said she was over her crush on him, but in that case, why had she seemed upset when he had accepted Luna's invitation? Harry shook his head, thinking that he would never understand girls. His mood changed, becoming darker, as he once again recalled the words of the Prophecy. Would he survive Voldemort long enough to go out with a girl? Would any girl want to go out with a murderer? Was it perhaps too dangerous to allow any girl to become close to him in any case? Sirius had died because of his closeness to Harry, and because Harry had wanted to rescue him when he thought he was a prisoner once more.

'Harry, what on earth are you doing!' shouted Ginny, zooming past him on her new Nimbus 2000. Fred and George had apparently bought it as a birthday present for her, when they had found out she was on the Gryffindor team. The new Nimbus 2004 had come out the previous year, so the 2000 and 2001 broomsticks were now cheaper. Harry shook himself with a start, and realised he had been circling gradually lower and lower, until he was nearly in the middle of the Chasers' game. A Bludger was streaking towards his head, but Andrew Kirke pursued it and whacked it away towards Bradley, one of the Ravenclaw Chasers.

'Thanks, Andrew,' shouted Harry, and hastily regained the higher position. He passed Cho, and thought he saw a smirk on her face - was she laughing at his lapse in concentration, he wondered. Harry tried to put everything but the Snitch out of his mind, and tuned in on the commentary. Colin Creevey had been chosen as the new commentator to replace Lee Jordan, and was doing a pretty good job of it so far.

'And it's Gryffindor in possession, with Ginny Weasley on her lovely new Nimbus broomstick, what a wonderful broom it is. And what a lovely girl riding it!'

'Creevey, I thought we'd had enough of that sort of comment with Jordan!' snapped Professor McGonagall.

'Sorry Professor, just some background information on the rest of the team. Right then, Weasley in possession of the Quaffle, passing to McDonald, both new additions as Chasers this year, and it looks like the intensive practice is paying off. New Captain Katie Bell takes the Quaffle, reverse passes to Weasley, but oh! She misses, and the Quaffle is caught by Chambers. She passes to Bradley, but is forced to duck to miss a Bludger from Sloper. Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper, by the way, are making good progress as Beaters since their debut as players last year. Now Ravenclaw's new Chaser, Stewart Ackerley, in possession, hurtling towards the goal, defended by Ron Weasley, and yes! He's saved it. Almost a nasty fumble there from Weasley, but he swerved back in the nick of time, and so that's another goal saved. And so the score stays at Gryffindor 20, Ravenclaw 10.'

Harry swept back down to the other end of the pitch, grinning with relief at Ron saving the goal. He certainly didn't want him to lose confidence like he had last year. As he passed Ron, he gave him a thumbs up sign, and Ron returned it, looking much happier now that he was out on the pitch and not waiting in the changing rooms. The Gryffindor Chasers managed to score twice more in the new few minutes, and Harry saw Cho shouting angrily at the Ravenclaw Keeper as she passed him. However, there was then a long period with no scores from either side, and Harry's mind started wandering again.

Hermione and Ron were still a bit concerned about him, as he had times, particularly in the evenings, when he would sit silently, staring into the fire, where last year Sirius' face had appeared to talk to him. It wasn't just that he missed Sirius, Harry thought, or that he still partly blamed himself for his death. It was the Prophecy that really preyed on his mind. The words Dumbledore had uttered last year swam through his mind again:

'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... neither can live while the other survives ...'

He had a feeling that Hermione was going to pry it out of him sooner or later, and he didn't know whether he would feel relief at sharing the secret, or worry because she might become a target as someone who knew the whole Prophecy. His Occlumency skills were probably good enough now to keep Voldemort from finding it out from him, and he certainly hadn't had any visions for a while. But he was worried about the others finding out.

'Harry, pay attention!' screamed Katie, and Harry saw, to his horror, Cho diving towards a small speck of gold - the Snitch. He pulled his broom into a steep dive, hearing the crowd's roar in his ears, but before he could catch up, the Snitch had looped round the Gryffindor goalpost and disappeared from sight, accompanied by a groan of disappointment from the crowd. Katie was glaring in Harry's direction, and he waved apologetically at her and resumed his circling. He had had a lucky escape - if the Snitch hadn't given Cho the slip, there was no way he could have caught her up before she'd reached it.

The game continued as the weather grew colder; Harry started to shiver in his Quidditch robes. Through a rush of noise and wind, he heard the whistle blow for time out. He landed and ran towards the rest of the team, who were huddled together.

'Right team, the Chasers and Beaters are doing really well,' said Katie, grinning at them. 'You wouldn't know this was our first match together, well done. Ron, you need to concentrate a bit more, you almost let that last Ravenclaw goal in. But you recovered well, so keep your level of play up. Harry, I don't know what you're up to though, but for heavens' sake pay attention to your job. You nearly lost us the game when Cho spotted the Snitch first.'

Harry glanced at Ginny, who had also called his attention back to the game, but she grinned furtively at him, obviously not wanting to give Katie another reason to shout at him.

'Right then, let's get on with the game - the sooner you catch that Snitch, Harry, the sooner we can get back in the changing rooms and get warm,' said Katie. They walked back to the centre of the pitch, ready to mount their brooms and continue.

'Thanks,' muttered Harry to Ginny.

'No problem, just pay attention from now on,' she replied.

The game continued, and the weather continued to get colder. Firmly putting all thoughts of girls and Prophecies out of his game, Harry flew around the pitch in enormous figures of eight, sternly refusing to glance in Cho's direction. Meanwhile, Colin Creevey continued with his commentary.

'And Ravenclaw takes the Quidditch after that time out, and Ackerley passes to Chambers. She reverse passes back to Ackerley, but another well placed Bludger from Sloper means that it's Katie Bell in possession now. Gryffindor take possession, and it's Weasley again, passing to McDonald, who pelts up the field towards the goal, no one but the Ravenclaw Keeper Michael Corner to stop her, and yes! She scores! So it's 50-10 to Gryffindor.'

Harry grinned happily as he swerved round the goalposts and continued on down the field. Unfortunately, the rain now started to fall; he hastily performed the Impervious Charm on his glasses, but it continued to get colder. The weather seemed to be affecting Ron's performance too, as he unfortunately let in the next two goals, and the Slytherins all cheered wildly. At least they weren't singing yet, Harry thought grimly.

Whoosh! A Bludger just missed his left ear, and he did a huge loop around to see where it had come from. Jack Sloper shot past him and whacked it back towards the rest of the game, grinning at him as he passed. The Ravenclaw Chasers were improving rapidly, and soon scored another goal. Things were getting desperate, and Harry's fingers were starting to grow numb with cold. Luckily for Ron's morale, he managed to save the next goal, and Harry did a little loop the loop to celebrate, stopping quickly as he caught Katie's glare.

And then he saw it - right at the far end of the pitch, at the Gryffindor end, a small golden ball was fluttering. Harry pulled his broomstick round sharply, and shot off at top speed towards it. Far above him, Cho was diving swiftly, but the Firebolt was too fast for her, and Harry stretched out his hand, and felt his fingers close around the small, struggling ball. He heard Colin shouting 'Yes! Gryffindor Seeker Harry Potter catches the Golden Snitch, and it's a Gryffindor victory, 200 - 40.'

Katie, Natalie and Ginny were hurtling towards him, squealing shrilly in delight. They all landed in a tumble, followed by Jack Sloper and Andrew Kirke. Ron had already landed, and Harry clapped him on the shoulder, grinning.

'Well done mate, another great catch!' said Ron.

'Well, most of those saves were pretty good too,' said Harry. Ron shrugged, and looked nervously at Katie, but she seemed perfectly happy with his performance now that they had won, and he soon cheered up. Hermione ran up to them as they came off the pitch, and hugged them both. Harry thought she hugged Ron rather more tightly than him, but he supposed he might have imagined it. They all got changed quickly, and walked back up to the castle together.

It was a rowdy evening in the Gryffindor common room. Jack and Andrew seemed to be planning on filling Fred and George's boots in more ways than one, and shortly after they reached the common room, slipped off for a while, reappearing later with bottles of butterbeer and food obviously nicked from the kitchen. At first Katie tried to keep the team together for a blow by blow recounting of the game, but soon had to give up and let them join in the uproarious singing and dancing. Hufflepuff had already beaten Ravenclaw earlier in the term, so Gryffindor were ahead and had a good chance of winning the Cup once more. Someone had smuggled in a small radio, and soon hits from the Wizarding Wireless Network were filling the room. Harry wasn't sure he really liked wizarding music, but allowed Hermione to drag him up for a dance. Ron looked rather grumpy about this, but when Hermione tried to get him to dance afterwards, his ears went red and he refused. Ginny, who was sitting next to them with Natalie McDonald, found this very amusing.

'Honestly Ron, you'd better hope you find someone who doesn't like dancing for the New Years Ball, like Harry has,' said Hermione in exasperation.

'Do you really like dancing then?' asked Ron, his ears now glowing like the setting sun.

'No Ron, I just wanted you to dance with me because I hate dancing,' said Hermione sarcastically.

Ron glanced at Harry, who nodded encouragingly at him, and said 'It's not that bad really, mate.'

'I suppose I could try one dance,' he said, and held out a hand to Hermione, who looked amazed. Harry watched cheerfully as Hermione steered Ron forcefully around the common room, and looked round at Ginny. To his surprise, she wasn't laughing at Ron's efforts to regain control of his arms, but was looking rather wistfully back at him. Natalie had been asked to dance by Dennis Creevey, although he was so much taller than him it looked rather silly. In the corner, Seamus and Lavender seemed to be dancing very closely together.

'What's wrong?' Harry asked Ginny quietly. 'Listen, I haven't had a chance to talk to you since Luna invited me to the Ball. I hope you'll be ok.'

'Don't worry about me,' Ginny said with a small laugh. 'Like I said before, there's no one I particularly wanted to go with, but I'm sure I'll find someone. Colin Creevey asked me earlier, I might see if he still wants to go with me. Excuse me.'

She got up and walked away. Harry watched her retreating back, but was distracted by the return of Ron and Hermione. They seemed to have enjoyed the dance, although they were now bickering quietly about whether Ron should have been allowed to lead, at least some of the time. Harry yawned widely and got up from his comfy chair.

'I'm off to bed then,' he said to the others. 'Are you coming, Ron?'

'Yeah, in a minute, mate,' said Ron. 'I just wanted to ask Hermione something.' His ears were going pink again, and Harry thought he might know what he wanted to ask her.

'Right then, I'll see you later,' he said quickly, and left the room to give Ron some privacy for his question. When Ron came upstairs ten minutes later, however, he was looking very put out.

'What's wrong with you now?' said Harry. 'Didn't you ask Hermione to the Ball?'

Ron glared at Harry, who looked innocently back, then he reluctantly said, 'No, I, well, I would have liked to, I suppose, but somehow I ended up asking her for help with my Transfiguration lesson instead. So now I've got to do extra practice with her tomorrow afternoon, after her meeting with McGonagall.'

Harry sniggered. 'You'd better get a move on before someone else asks her,' he pointed out. He thought it best not to say anything else, as Ron was looking distinctly miffed. They silently pulled off their robes, put on their pyjamas, and got into bed. Dean and Neville were already asleep, but Harry fell asleep himself before Seamus came in.

*

Harry tried to get hold of Ginny several times over the next few weeks, but she seemed either to be very busy, or she was avoiding him. He did find out from Hermione that Colin Creevey was indeed taking her to the Ball. Ron also heard this, and spent some time glaring at Colin in the common room, before Hermione spoke sharply to him, and he subsided into a sullen silence. Luna sought him out several times though, apparently just to sit near him and read the Quibbler at break times. He tried to talk to her, but wasn't really sure what to say, so his conversations were much like those with Cho last year - short, and rather one-sided..

'Hi Luna, how are you?' he would say.

'Alright Harry. I see there was a possible sighting of the Snorkack in Bulgaria last month,' she would reply.

Harry couldn't think of anything much to say in response to this, and would usually smile self-consciously at her before lapsing into silence. She never seemed to mind though.

It was now nearly Christmas time, and the usual twelve enormous pine trees were being decorated in the Great Hall. Holly, mistletoe and tinsel were strung everywhere, hanging down in great loops and bundles from all the candle brackets and rafters. Snow was falling thickly outside, and every chance they got, Harry and the others were outside having huge snowball fights. This wasn't as frequently as they would have liked, as Hermione was very strict about keeping their homework up to date. She was already talking about the N.E.W.T. exams next year, and Harry had a nasty feeling he and Ron might be getting new revision planners for Christmas.

Hufflepuff played Slytherin two weeks before Christmas, and were narrowly beaten, meaning that Gryffindor were still in with a good chance of winning the Cup.

A few weeks before, Ron had received an owl from his parents, saying that they were having a huge Christmas party at the Burrow, which would also be an engagement party for Percy Weasley. It seemed he had finally proposed to his long time girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater. Harry was rather glum about the prospect of Christmas at Hogwarts without Ron for some days, before Hermione realised what was bothering him. At that point, they found out that Ron had been told to invite them both as well, and had forgotten to tell them this. Hermione and Ron had one of their biggest fights over this, and didn't speak for several days. It looked like Ron would be going to the Ball alone, thought Harry, glumly. However, two days before they left for the Burrow, another fight blew up over nothing. Harry walked into the common room after an Occlumency lesson, to find Ron and Hermione standing in the middle of the room shouting at each other at the tops of their voices.

'I don't know why I even bother with you, Ron Weasley!' shrieked Hermione, her eyes screwed up with rage, and her hair almost crackling with fury.

'Fine then, don't bother, see if I care. I was going to ask you something before you started nagging me about my stupid Charms homework, but I don't think I can be bothered either!' Ron shouted back, his fists clenched in anger.

'Well then, why can't you just ask me whatever it is and get it over with, then I can do something useful for a change!' cried Hermione.

'Right, I will. Are you going to go to the New Years Ball with me or not!' shouted Ron. Then his brain caught up with his mouth and he went scarlet at what he had just said.

Hermione was speechless. She stared at him for several minutes, her mouth opening and shutting soundlessly. Harry (and the rest of the common room) were staring at them, all waiting for the answer.