Harry Potter and the Sacrifice of the Traitor

Chapter 12

Harry danced with Ginny in a daze of uneasy pleasure - he didn't really know what Ron would think of him dancing with his little sister, and he still didn't think it was safe to have any sort of relationship anyway, as that would just put Ginny in danger. But he couldn't help but feel how warm and soft she felt in his arms, how trustingly she snuggled her head into his shoulder, and how strong and protective he felt when she smiled up at him. An eternity of sweet confusion later, the music stopped, and they reluctantly pulled apart.

'Thanks Harry, that was lovely,' said Ginny quietly.

'Erm, thanks, I enjoyed it,' Harry said, blushing again. They smiled self-consciously at each other, and then Neville and Luna appeared, looking slightly flushed and pink, and reclaimed their own partners. A more lively air was struck up by the band, but Harry suggested they have a drink and sit down for a bit. He didn't really think he could take any more dancing with girls for the moment. Over in the corner, Hagrid was dancing rather erratically with Madam Maxime, weaving to and fro through the smaller figures, and Harry suspected he had been drinking something rather stronger than butterbeer. On the other side of the hall however, Ron and Hermione had finally stopped for a rest, and Harry pulled Luna over to join them. Ron and Hermione were too out of breath to say anything much, though Harry saw Ron eyeing him curiously, and wondered nervously if he had seen him dancing with Ginny. He himself was still feeling the whirl of lovely but scary feelings Ginny had made him feel as they danced, and couldn't think of a thing to say. After the next dance, Dumbledore stood up and asked for everyone's attention.

'The next dance will be our final one, and it will end on the stroke of midnight, so everyone please find a partner and up you get!' he called, his eyes twinkling merrily.

Harry heaved himself rather reluctantly out of his chair and held his hand out to Luna. The band struck up another slow dance, and Luna moved into his arms, smiling dreamily at him. She felt very nice too, Harry thought, although not quite as soft and cuddly as Ginny. He held her close, wondering what on earth he was supposed to do at midnight. The dance continued for a while, and then the music drew to a close as the large clock in the Entrance Hall started to chime twelve. Luna's smiling face seemed to fill the whole of Harry's vision. Her eyes (not brimming with tears, he was thankful to see) seemed to draw closer and closer, until they were all he could see. As if pulled by some magnet, he felt his head slowly bend towards hers .....

BANG! An enormous crash shook the floor near Harry, and he jerked upright, glaring wildly around for signs of attack. However, it was almost immediately obvious what had caused the noise. Hagrid, apparently overcome by the drinks he had consumed, had keeled right over and was lying, unconscious, in the middle of the Hall. The dance ended in complete confusion as Harry and his friends rushed over to make sure Hagrid was unhurt, and Dumbledore hastily conjured an enormous stretcher to float him up back to his hut to sleep it off. In all the excitement, Harry completely lost track of Luna, and didn't see her again until the Hall had nearly emptied of students.

'Erm, thanks for a lovely time, Luna' he said awkwardly to her. She smiled back a bit sadly, and said, 'Perhaps it's just as well it ended like that, I don't know that it would have worked.' She turned and walked away towards the other Ravenclaws heading for their common room. Trying to work out what she had meant, Harry rejoined Ron, Hermione and the other Gryffindors, and they wearily climbed the stairs up to the common room and to bed.

The next few days before term started again passed very quickly for Harry. Luna was acting the same as always, and if anything, now seemed quite friendly with Neville. Ginny on the other hand seemed quiet and withdrawn. Harry had asked Hermione if he had done something else to annoy her, but she had just smiled mysteriously and shaken her head. Ron and Hermione were still holding hands wherever they went, and once or twice Harry had walked into the common room in time to see them leap away from each other as if they had been kissing or something. He wasn't sure how he felt about their developing relationship, but they did make an effort to include him as if things were still how they used to be. Ron challenged Harry to several games of chess, all of which Ron won easily, and Hermione kept offering to test Harry on his conjuration skills. Hagrid seemed very embarrassed about his accident at the end of the Ball, and was not inclined to chat cheerily when they went down to visit him. This made conversation quite difficult, and they soon decided to leave him alone until he felt the episode had been forgotten. In a few days, the rest of the school had returned, and term started again.

They were busier than ever, practicing difficult conjuration skills, transfiguring each other, brewing fiendishly complex potions, and of course practising Defence Against the Dark Arts. Snape seemed to have calmed down a bit after his outburst last term, and had reverted to his previous habit of ignoring Harry completely, which suited Harry very well. He had quite enough to think about, busily practising Quidditch for their next game, which would be against Hufflepuff. The day after the game, there would be another Hogsmeade visit. Remus Lupin had sent Harry an owl, suggesting that they all meet up for a drink in the Three Broomsticks. He had immediately sent Hedwig back with a note agreeing that this was a good idea. The weather was cold and damp, and Filch was prowling the corridors as usual, trying to catch people maliciously dripping on his clean floors. There were so many of them however, that he was hard-pressed to keep up.

Even Muggle Studies was quite hard at times - much of the time, Professor Biddle had just brought various muggle items such as hairdryers and safety pins in, to explain how they worked. She had clearly enchanted the electrical items to approximate their normal functions of course, because normally electricity did not work in Hogwarts, as Hermione reminded them all when Ron commented on this. However, she had started hinting at giving them more practical experience of the muggle world, possibly even visiting the muggle world at some point. The class was very excited by this possibility of an outing, and the Professor had to threaten dire consequences to anyone who broke the wizarding Secrecy Act.

A couple of weeks into the new term, Harry came downstairs into the common room to find Ron and Hermione sitting together, squashed into one of the armchairs by the fire. Ginny Weasley was with them, and they were talking animatedly about something. Harry went over and joined them, and was struck by how they immediately went silent.

'What's up?' he asked them curiously.

'Nothing, mate,' said Ron, with a very bad attempt at being casual.

Harry looked at him, slightly irritated. 'I'm not that daft, Ron. What's going on?'

Hermione sighed. 'Well, it's this new notice on the board - look!' She led him over to the notice board, where a new piece of parchment had been pinned.

Students Please Note: A new Defence Against the Dark Arts duelling club is being set up. All those interested, please come to a meeting in the Great Hall on Friday evening at 8pm.

Professor S Snape

'Well, that's not too bad,' said Harry, trying to work out why they were looking so alarmed. 'We want to go along and help, I suppose?'

'The thing is, Harry,' said Ginny, 'We thought Professor Dumbledore was going to put you in charge again, like with the DA last year. Aren't you angry that Snape's taken over?'

Harry thought about it. It was rather annoying that Snape would probably take all the credit for the prowess of the students Harry had trained last year, but he really had enough to worry about as it was. Luna and Hermione had been spending a lot of time in the library, but had not come up with any plans for getting rid of Voldemort without Harry having to murder him. He had all his regular classes, and Quidditch practice as well. So perhaps it was just as well he didn't have to take charge of anything else. He said this, and the others relaxed and agreed.

That Friday evening, they were among the first into the Great Hall. The house tables had been cleared away, and a dais was set in the middle of the room. By 8pm, there was a large group of students looking excited and whispering among themselves. On the dot of 8 o'clock, Snape swept into the hall, black robes billowing out behind him. He got up on the dais, and looked out over the sea of faces.

'Well, well, so all of you think you have what it takes to fight evil and destroy the Death Eaters?' he asked, a slightly malicious gleam in his eyes. 'This will not be a regular group, but we will start by seeing if any of you have any skills at all.' The students shifted uneasily, but did not respond. Most of the evening went off very smoothly - Snape sorted them into groups, suggested curses and counter curses that might be helpful, and re-arranged the groups every so often. Harry was pleased to find he was able to counter or at least partly shield nearly all the curses thrown at him by various people. At the end of the evening, Snape called for silence.

'We will finish this evening with a demonstration duel, I think. Let's have Potter and Malfoy up on the dais, to see what they can do.'

Harry's heart sank. He was sure that Malfoy would know a lot more dark curses than the last time they had duelled, and he was also sure he would not be sticking to the instructions not to cast damaging curses. However, there was no other option, so he climbed onto the dais to face Malfoy's sneering face. They bowed to each other, then lifted their wands. Malfoy was first. 'Petrificus Totalus!' he shouted.

Harry barely got his own wand up in time, and shouted 'Protego!' Malfoy's spell rebounded and hit him - his arms and legs snapped together, but as he was falling, he shouted 'Finite Incantatem!' and staggered back to his feet. His sleek blond hair was in disarray, and his face was flushed angrily. He glared at Harry and cried out 'Impedimenta!'

Harry found himself moving very slowly, as if through treacle. He could see Malfoy looking round at his friends and gloating as he slowly brought his arm up. Luckily he was already facing Malfoy, and as soon as he'd got his arm up, he shouted 'Reducto!' and then 'Finite Incantatem!'. He returned to normal, and glared across at Malfoy, who had been knocked off his feet by the Reductor Curse. They traded several more spells without a clear victor emerging. Then Malfoy hit Harry with a curse that conjuring ropes flying out to bind his wrists together. Harry was unable to use his wand. As Malfoy approached, swaggering over to take Harry's wand, Harry felt an unbelievably strong surge of rage. He refused to be beaten by Malfoy, he would not let this happen. The crowd gasped, as a flash of bright light filled the room. Malfoy leapt backwards, and Harry found the ropes had fallen from his wrists to the ground, where they lay, smouldering. He pointed his wand at Malfoy and snarled 'Expelliarmus!' Malfoy's wand flew out of his hand and landed in Harry's, and the force of Harry's curse knocked him off his feet again. Before he could get up, Snape stepped between them. He held out his hand, and Harry gave him Malfoy's wand.

Snape gave a twisted smile. '5 points from Gryffindor for letting your temper get the better of you once more, Potter,' he said. 'Just because it gave you the victory is not a good reason for always letting your emotions rule your actions. You are all dismissed.'

He turned away to help Malfoy up. Harry gave him one furious look, then stalked from the dais and rejoined his friends. They were looking quite shocked.

'What's up?' he asked.

'Harry, that was very strong wandless magic you did, to burn away those ropes binding you,' said Hermione. 'Did you know you could do wandless magic?'

'Well, I think my wand lit up last year when it was next to my hand, in the alleyway,' said Harry. 'But doesn't everyone do wandless magic sometimes?'

'Not usually once they have a wand and have started studying magic properly,' said Neville, looking awed.

'Harry, I wonder if your wandless magic could help you defeat Voldemort,' said Hermione, looking excited. 'Where's Luna? I need to go to the library!' and without another word, she rushed off.

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Neville walked back to the common room without speaking. Harry ached all over from the times he had been thrown to the floor, but his mind was buzzing with this new development. He wasn't sure how it would help, but against Voldemort he would need every skill he could possibly develop. However, he did wish that if he had developed a new useful skill, he had not done it where he had then shown Malfoy and all the other Slytherins what he could do. That night, he had another strange dream - his Occlumency seemed to be keeping Voldemort out of his thoughts most of the time, but occasionally, like at Christmas, he seemed to have weaker defences than at other times. He dreamed again about the Ball, but this time it was Ginny Weasley he was dancing with when the clock struck midnight. It seemed perfectly natural in the dream to brush her long red hair back from her face, and to bend towards her and kiss her. Suddenly, however, he seemed to hear that high pitched laughter again, and woke up fighting furiously with his sheets, which had wrapped themselves around his legs. He crossly straightened the sheets and went straight back to sleep.

Another thing that was bothering Harry was that Ron now also seemed to know about Hermione's secret project. He had stopped asking her what she was doing with McGonagall, and when Harry asked why, he looked rather furtive, and replied that he didn't think it was very fair to keep nagging her. Harry supposed this might be true, especially if Ron wanted to keep going out with Hermione, but he rather suspected that she had let him into the secret. This made him feel rather left out, as both Ron and Ginny seemed to know what was going on. He started to become rather grumpy again, and it was only Dumbledore congratulating him on successfully conjuring a large squashy armchair, exactly how he had pictured it, that really cheered him up again.

The next few days sped by, and before Harry knew it, he was walking into the Great Hall for breakfast before the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff. It was very cold outside, but the sun was shining, and Harry squinted towards it as they walked down to the changing rooms. Hermione gave Ron a kiss for luck, then went to the stands, where Hagrid was sitting with Neville, Dean and Seamus. Harry, Ron and Ginny changed into their robes, and then Katie Bell called the team together.

'Right then, team,' she said. 'We did well against Ravenclaw last term, but we can't relax yet. If we win this game we'll be in the lead, so everyone do your best.'

They filed out onto the grounds, and the crowd around the pitch applauded. Madam Hooch took the balls out of their box, the two captains shook hands, and the team kicked off from the ground. Harry's teeth were chattering and his fingers were already starting to go numb, but he swooped and circled, trying to keep his eyes darting in all directions, searching for the elusive glint of gold that could be the Snitch. A good half hour went by without any sign of it, and only one goal was scored by Gryffindor. The Hufflepuff Keeper was extremely good, and no matter how Katie, Ginny and Natalie passed the Quaffle to each other, they could not seem to get pass him. Luckily the Hufflepuff Chasers and Beaters were not as good as the Keeper, so Ron didn't have very much to do. After a long time, when Harry's fingers felt like they were starting to drop off, he heard the whistle blow for time out. He landed and trotted over to the others.

'Right, team,' said Katie, her teeth chattering violently. 'We're doing alright so far, but we need to try more desperate tactics to get past the Keeper, he's really good. Andrew, Jack, you keep trying to distract him and the other team's Chasers with the Bludgers, and we'll see if we can slip anything through. Harry, just keep looking for the Snitch, and catch it before we all freeze out here!'

They got back on their brooms and play started again. Almost immediately the new tactics paid off, and Gryffindor scored several times. Harry caught a glimpse of Hermione, Hagrid and the others jumping up and down cheering wildly, and felt warmer. Ron however must also have seen the crowd, as he suffered a sudden lapse of concentration and let two Hufflepuff goals in. Harry, soaring near the Gryffindor goalposts, heard Katie shout 'Ron, keep your eyes off your girlfriend and on the goalposts!' and saw Ron's ears turn bright red. At that moment however, he heard a great shout coming from the Hufflepuff stands. Turning, he saw a flash of gold at the other end of the pitch, and saw the Hufflepuff Seeker diving towards it. With a jolt of panic, Harry urged his Firebolt faster and faster towards the speck of gold.