A Different Kind of Scar

"Blew weaves in and out of the Chinese team with ease as he rides his broom up the pitch," the announcer's voice filled the air in and around the stadium. "Blew shoots and he scores! France is now up by a score of 70 to 20. Zao Chi takes the quaffle for China. He soars down the pitch and passes to Sai Ming. Ming around a bludger and shoots... saved by Ron Weasley! He is putting out an outstanding effort today. Gregory Hicks with the quaffle. He passes to Fisher. Fisher scores to put France up by 60! France is playing their best game of the year by my book."

"Wow," gasped Angelina, "this is so exciting she told Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell. She had asked those two to come along on her rode trip. She asked them to come on the trip with her and they we more than eager to come. Her eyes were on Harry most of the time. She watched as the wind made his hair more messed up than it usually was, brining out his eyes more than usual. She noticed he had a natural instinct for the game, he'd help his team in anyway he could while still keeping an eye out for the snitch. He truly was the best seeker in the game already.

"Ouch! Chi is pelted with a bludger. And Cho Chang picks up the quaffle. Chang, a rookie, like Potter, is helping her team out greatly this year. She is their leading scorer as she just put another one in. The score is now 100 to 50. Cho, another Hogwarts product, is close behind Potter for the Rookie of the Year award. Hogwarts just has a knack for producing great quidditch player like Potter and herself. It is Hicks with the quaffle as he passes to Blew. Blew shoots and scores! Chi passes but gets it intercepted by Fisher. Fisher up the pitch in no time... score! She steals it again; and she scores again! Chang passes to Ming, Ming to Chang, and Chang with the shot. Score for China! Hicks scores! That is followed up by a score from Blew! And after the steal, its Hicks again with another goal for the French team. There goes Potter! He is in a dive straight towards the ground. Fri Ling still hasn't seen him. The crowd is going wild as Potter picks up speed. He's thirty feet up... twenty... fifteen... ten... five... he pulls out of the dive just before he hits the ground with the snitch in his hand. That's one hundred and fifty points to the French. They've won again, and are now three and zero on the season. It was a great effort by the French team today as they dominated-" The announcer's voice was suddenly drowned out by an explosion just outside the stadium.

The fans yelled in great horror as they pushed and shoved to get out of the stadium as quickly as possible. Security guards were surrounding both teams very closely. Harry noticed he had more guard near him than anyone else. As they reached the locker room Harry realized that Angelina was in the stands. He looked at Ron who, without asking, knew what he was thinking. Simultaneously they pulled out their wands and headed out of the locker rooms towards the exit.

"I'm sorry guys but you can't go out there until the situation is taken care of," a security guard told them blocking the doors.

"Get out of the way, we need to help! We can help!" Harry shouted at the man.

"I'm sorry, but-" the guard was cut off by Harry's spell. He knew he didn't have time to waste. He and Ron were outside in the middle of 200,000 people. They were all screaming and yelling. The one thing that they both noticed was they were all running the same direction. Harry and Ron ran the opposite way into the middle of the stampede. They ran along the outside of the stadium until they reached its far end. That's when they both stopped dead in their tracks. They saw a dozen or so Dementors and a half a dozen Death Eaters. That wasn't the worst part of it, behind them stood Lord Voldemort, alive and breathing.

"Expecto Patronum!" yelled Harry waving his wand. As it did so many times before, the stag from Harry's wand and defeated three of the Dementors. Harry heard Ron repeat the spell taking out two more of them. The rest of the group of dementors swooped through a portal behind them.

"Idiots!" Voldemort cursed. "Get them," he told the small group of Death Eaters that he had with him. The Death Eaters charged under his command.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled as two of the Death Eaters froze in the tracks. This caused the rest of the group to stop in their tracks. They looked as if they were going to attack, but instead they turned around and ran toward the portal.

"You shall not retreat!" yelled Voldemort. "Avada Kedavra!" A jet of green light darted out of his wand at one of the Death Eaters. It hit one of the Death Eaters square in the chest and he fell to the ground life less. The other quickly followed the first because they did not stop their retreat. After everyone Death Eater was on the ground, Voldemort turned to Harry and smiled. "Well, Harry Potter, know it is your turn to join them. You don't even have you little friend to help you know. Not that it would matter; he is useless with a wand anyway. Farewell, Harry! Avada Kedavra!" The same jet of green light whizzed at Harry. Harry was ready for this though and quickly used a counter spell.

"Protego!" Harry yelled, and a protective shield came up around him, deflecting the deadly curse. Harry noticed Voldemort was right. Ron must have fainted before, because he lay motionless on the ground. Harry thought it was because of the Avada Kedavra curse.

"You wish to duel me?" Voldemort laughed at Harry. "Do you really think you can beat the greatest wizard ever?"

"You're not the greatest wizard ever," Harry spat. "Dumbledore is! And you're right, I don't want to duel you, I want to KILL you! Avada Kedavra!" The words shocked Voldemort. He must have thought Harry didn't know the Dark Arts that well. Voldemort, clearly afraid, vanished into thin air before the jet of green light reached him.

"H-H-Harry!" Ron was wide awake on the ground next to him. "You used an Unforgivable Curse! Where did you learn that?" He sounded half afraid, half amazed.

"None of your business," Harry replied a little angry. "It was in self defense that I used it. It meant no harm to anyone but him." Harry helped Ron up who looked like he understood what Harry meant.

"Sorry, Harry didn't meant to be rude," he said getting up as security and other wizarding enforcement officers came running towards them.

"Are you ok?" an officer asked them as he escorted them back to their hotel. The hotel was under very tight security. Five officers in the lounge, five more on each floor, two in each elevator and stair way, and two by each room of his teammates except Harry and Ron's. Their room had three outside and two who would watch the room from the inside. Many people in the wizarding world already knew Harry and Voldemort had dueled. When Angelina found out, she came rushing up to him and asked if he was ok. He just told her he didn't want to talk about it to anyone now and walked away. He knew she was a little upset with him for that but for right now, he didn't care. Dueling with Lord Voldemort would surely take a person's mind off SOME of the things important to them in life. He just couldn't help but think if Hermione knew and if she was safe right now.

As if Hedwig read his mind, Hedwig came swooping in from the window. Harry was about to grab the letter when his hand was stopped. One of the guards took the letter and left the room. Harry called after him but the other guard stepped in.

"Don't worry; it is only for safety reasons that we took it. If it is ok, then we will have it back to you in no time," the officer said before going back to his post outside the door. The officer was right. In a matter of minutes the officer who had taken the letter from Harry returned. He said sorry and handed the letter back to Harry. Harry who was calmed down now took the letter and opened. He felt Ron staining his neck to see it as well.

Dear Harry and Ron,

I just heard the news! I've been worrying since I've heard. I hope you two are alright! So did Voldemort really kill his own Death Eaters? Did he really try to kill you two? I heard you defeated the dementors, I'm proud of you. You, too, Ron, I heard you helped. Did you really use the Curse of Death, Harry? Where did you learn such a thing? That is a terrible thing to learn. I'm sorry if that was out of order... but it just isn't right, killing someone, even if it is Lord Voldemort.

Well, I know you probably don't want to talk about it so, how was the game. I heard you won again. I've been trying my hardest to see you games so far, but I've only managed to see a part of one. It is hard with my busy schedule. The fact that there are tons of muggles around doesn't help either. Skye and I have been researching ancient curses in the Sphinx for the Ministry of Magic. They've kept us busy constantly. Anyway I hope you are ok and I wish you the best of luck in your upcoming matches. Oh, and be very careful you guys. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you. I'll write soon.

Love,

Hermione

Harry handed the letter to Ron, who read it. "Man she finds out about stuff quicker than anyone," he laughed. "I didn't know she had a friend staying with her in Egypt." Harry knew where this was going.

"Let me guess you want to meet hurt," he joked.

"Wouldn't hurt."

The two of them went to bed under the watchful eyes of security that night. Harry wondered if Angelina was mad or if she even wanted to talk to him for the way he treated her. He wouldn't blame her if she didn't. They talked about the game, mostly trying to avoid the subject of Voldemort. Once, Ron tried to bring up where Harry learned the Curse of Death, but Harry deliberately avoided the question. Ron finally fell asleep, leaving Harry to ponder over his own thoughts. He turned on the TV and fell asleep a little while after.

The next morning, security woke them up and helped the whole team pack their belongings. Their bus left for Mongolia in ten minutes. As Harry and Ron loaded their stuff onto the bus, Angelina came over to Harry.

"Angelina, I'm sor-" he was cut off by her raising her finger to his lips.

"We will talk over dinner," she said and walked away.

"What was that about," Ron asked looking a little confused, which Harry thought was usual for him. Once Harry boarded the bus, the team glared at him for a little while but as the ride went on, they were asking him how to defend themselves and complimenting him on his great sorcery skills. The bus ride was very lengthy. The arrived at their hotel near dinner time, Harry was getting hungry. He went up to his room and put on some nice clothes.

Harry met Angelina in the lobby. She was wearing a most elegant dress. It brought out her eyes nicely. Harry was stunned. He took her by the arm and led her to their limo. As the limo neared the restaurant the door opened and they stepped out. Harry noticed it was a very fancy restaurant. He liked Angelina's taste. They walked into the restaurant and were seated immediately. The waitress came over to take their order of drinks and came back for dinner. Once the food came was when Harry made his apologies.

"Angelina, listen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be angry at you. I had no right to be. I was just angry that Voldemort was back. I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me," he said in a voice that she couldn't help but make her love him.

"No, I shouldn't have been so selfish. I should have been there for you and I wasn't. You had every reason to be mad... I'm sorry," she said looking crushed.

"Hey, let's just forget about it ok," Harry suggested and it worked. They spent the rest of the night talking about the game and anything that came up. They went back to the hotel happy that everything was ok.

Two days after their arrival in Mongolia, the French International Quidditch team played the Mongolia. Mongolia went up on an early lead, but the French team fought back to tie the score. The game was ended quickly though, as Harry caught the snitch after just sixteen minutes of play! The French team stayed in the hotel and left for India the next morning.

They had a few days before the match to the coach gave the team one of them off. Harry and the rest of the team, including Angelina, went seeing sight and had a night on the town. The next couple of days the team practiced hard. All the practice paid off during the match for Harry. His teammates didn't need to do anything as he tied the record for the fastest snitch catch in the history of quidditch. He caught it in three and a half seconds!

The quick catch of the snitch made head line news the next morning. Harry didn't think it was such a big deal but everyone else seemed to.

"Great job, Harry," his team would say to him all day long. He was getting tired of it and thought it was really getting bad when coach said something to him about it.

"Amazing, Potter," he stated. "When we drafted you, we thought you'd be good and would be come great, but we didn't think you be great and become the best ever. We are undefeated because of this great team but also because of you superior talent and leadership abilities." The coach walked away with a smile on.

Harry was amazed. He didn't think he was as good as coach said. He knew France had spent millions on not just him but getting the whole team together. They had paid Harry 100,000,000 galleons for just a five year contract. That alone was more than most team's whole pay role.

He flipped through the paper and his eye caught something. It was an article on him. It said he was in the lead for MVP of the season voting by double the second place votes. It said the he was in the lead for the Rookie of the Year award by ten times the second place vote. He noticed Cho Chang was second and Ron was third. It said he was probably going to be the first rookie ever to win the MVP. It also said he would win the Best Seeker Award. That was when it hit him. He was truly as good as people said, if not better. He thought to himself silently... this isn't mortal to be this good. He thought again... I am immortal. Harry Potter smiled an evil grin as Angelina sat down next to him.

The road trip was over, and the team took a flight home. They had off for two weeks before their next match. The coach gave his undefeated team, the first week off, so, many of Harry's teammates made plans for the week as soon as they got home. So did Harry and Ron...

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"Dale! Come in! What a pleasant surprise," Hermione heard her best friend Skye say from the dinning room. A few moments later Skye walked into the room, quickly followed by Dale. Dale went up to Hermione and kissed her as he said 'hello'.

Dale, Skye, and Hermione spent the rest of the day talking, playing games, and just hanging out. Hermione had such a good time that that night she didn't think once about Harry. All she thought about was Dale and how good of a time she had with him. She kept wondering if she should tell Harry about Dale. She couldn't see why she shouldn't, but something told her that he wouldn't be happy to hear about him. It was probably from the very last time she say him.

It was right after graduation on the way home. Hermione said goodbye to everyone, except Harry. She gave him a hug and said she'd miss him. He didn't say anything back, but he just stood there looking slightly angry, slightly pleased, and slightly disappointed. As she walked to leave for her ride to Egypt, she heard him say something, but she did not bother to ask what he said. She only thinks about Harry when she wants to figure out why he looked at her like that, but she has had no such luck in figuring it out.

Skye who was very funny, outgoing, and quite pretty was standing across the room. "You still like him you know. I can see it in your eyes. You wonder what would be the right decision would be, to stay with Dale and forget Harry even though you can't or tell Harry how you still love him. But you won't do the second one because you are afraid of getting hurt again." She said after Dale had left.

Hermione was astonished. Did she really make it that obvious? She wouldn't let Skye win that easily though. "Why would you say that? I don't think about Harry at all anymore. I am finally having a good time with someone else."

Skye laughed. "Whatever you say, but you don't just want a good time with Dale; you want a great time with Harry. Good night," she said as she walked out of the room to her own bedroom.

Hermione lay awake that night thinking about what Skye had told her. Was Skye right? Did she really want Harry back or is Dale what she wants? For the first time in her life, Hermione Granger did not know they answer.