Harry Potter and the Dreamer of Fears

Chapter 8 – Quidditch and Revelations

The weeks past by with a flurry of activity, Hagrid starting in his Care of Magical Creatures class with a few small Acromantulas, and with Aurors wandering around the halls late at night, Harry found that even someone who was caught outside of their Common Rooms was given a severe punishment of detention and points taken off from their house.  He noticed the hourglasses in the Great Hall showed that at least all of the houses in Hogwarts lost points by the end of the third week of school.

Potions class with Snape was by far worst in comparison with the points taken away by staying out too late.  It seemed that Snape particularly loathed Lupin and Sirius whenever they appeared in his line of vision, giving them stares of intense hate and malice, but surprisingly, was very cordial to both Professor Sadow and Professor Marion.  Harry figured it had to be something to do with Marion and Marius being Aurors.  Not to mention that Snape kept giving him looks of hate and points taken from him every time something went wrong in class…

Professor McGonagall assigned them mass projects for Transfiguration class and even had them take extensive notes for the O.W.Ls. that were going to be administered to the various students at the end of their fifth year.  Meanwhile, Professor Trelawney started them on their advanced crystal ball reading with their dreams that they had written down during the first day of class and they were to look at their dreams and read the crystal ball to say the outcome of their dreams…which was pretty disastrous as he and Ron read their own demise on the Quidditch fields.

But he didn’t let any of that spoil his good mood for the weekend.  Angelina Johnson, the new Gryffindor Captain of the team, had told him that their first practice would be held the morning of Saturday, before the first Hogsmeade trip of the year.  Though there was a few grumbling comments from the Weasley twins, Fred and George who complained that they were going to be exhausted, but Angelina promised that they weren’t going to be working that hard for their first practice.

Which was why Harry and Ron were standing out in the Quidditch pitch early in the morning, with Ron’s new Nimbus two-thousand that his mother brought as a surprise gift and sent it to him by post owl.  Once again, Malfoy made rude comments about the broom and the cost of scraping enough money to get him a broom, but surprisingly, Ron brushed it all off.

Hermione had come out to watch them, still a bit sleepy-eyed but excited to see their first Quidditch practice.  A few other Gryffindors had also woken up early to see their team practice, flushed with the excitement of capturing the Quidditch Cup for another year.  Unfortunately, Colin Creevey was among the Gryffindors who had woken up early and right now was sitting in the stands, clicking away in his camera, both a Muggle one and Wizard one.  Harry turned his back from the stands, even though he wanted to wave to Hermione, to avoid the snapping of the camera.

"Hey Harry!  Ron!" Angelina’s cheery voice rose from the locker room area of the Quidditch pitch and both turned to see their captain walking out, followed by Fred, George, Katie, and Alicia Spinnet; Fred and George carrying the box which contained all the balls and necessary equipment for playing.

"All right guys, I want you to do a few laps around your brooms and stretch a bit.  I’ll call you down when we’re ready," Angelina called out and Harry turned to Ron and grinned, his eyes twinkling in a challenge.

"Race you," he grinned.

"You’re on," Ron agreed then suddenly lifted off with a great spring.  Harry followed suit and glanced around for any sign of his friend as he scanned the pitch.  A sudden blur of red and black past his vision and Harry followed after it, leaning forward on his broom to catch up to Ron.

The wind rushed by his ears as he turned in circles and steadily inched up towards Ron until they were head to head.  "Tag, you’re It," he poked Ron then peeled off to his left and dove towards the ground.  Quickly glancing behind him, he saw that Ron had a smirk on his face, chasing him.

He flew a loop past a post with the Gryffindor banner and swung around then suddenly dived again, aiming for where Angelina was opening the box that held all the balls and bats.  He surfed close the ground, feeling the tickle of the grass against his hands, which were gripping his broomstick.  Behind him, he could hear Ron’s Nimbus two thousand, racing to catch up to his Firebolt.

"Release the Snitch!" he shouted at Angelina who took a quick glance, her eyes widening in surprise as she saw him barrel towards her so close to the ground.  She nodded hastily then unfastened a button and Harry saw the Golden Snitch pop out of his covering, its gossamer wings beating rapidly as it suddenly blurred out of sight.

Harry followed after it, zooming past Angelina who gave a yelp of surprise before his eyes tracked to the possibilities to where the Snitch had gone.  He looked around, stopping his broom in mid air as he rose a few feet off of the ground.  Their captain had already released the Bludgers and Fred and George were beating them back and forth with the bats.  Angelina herself and the two other chasers were already setting up shots against Ron who was doing fairly well against them, missing a few, but mostly blocking them.

A sudden gold winking in the distance to where Fred and George were hitting the Bludgers in different directions, alerted him to the Snitch.  He quickly sped off towards them and ducked as one of the Bludgers came flying towards him.  Concentrating on the Snitch Harry flew low then high as the other Bludger went after him.  He was gaining the pesky and elusive ball and reached out a hand…

"Watch it Harry!" George’s warning came just in time as out of the corner of his eye he saw a black Bludger racing towards him.  He rolled to the right to avoid it and then reached a hand out to catch the Snitch, which unfortunately, had been grazed by the Bludger and was a bit disoriented.

The gold little sentient critter struggled in his grip, he glanced at it, and then was about to release it when Angelina whistled for them to bring it on in.  Harry flew down towards the others then showed George the Snitch.  "Your Bludger whacked it," he replied and George grinned.

"Maybe we can use that to our advantage, eh, Harry?" George replied then ruffled the back of Harry’s head, making his hair more mused than usual.

"Okay, I told you this was going to be a short practice," Angelina said to which everyone grinned.  "Anyway, our next real practice is Monday, before dinner.  I want everyone out as soon as classes end, don’t bother putting your books away cause Professor McGonagall wants to talk to us, got it?"

"Yes ma’am!  Sir!  I mean…" both Fred and George laughed as Angelina glared at them.

"Shut up you two," she replied angrily, but her anger didn’t reach her twinkling eyes, "all right Gryffindors, shower up and lets head to Hogsmeade!"

Cheers echoed throughout the pitch as they broke away, some heading towards the showers.  Harry went over to the Quidditch box and placed the Snitch in is compartment then glanced up to see both Fred and George wrestling with the Bludgers as they still wanted to fly around and whack people.  Ron was talking with Angelina, a big grin on his face.

He felt a slight flutter of excitement in his stomach…he couldn’t wait for the Quidditch matches to start…they were a great team, great enough to win the Quidditch Cup again.

* * * * *

Sirius quietly made his way up towards some outcropping of rocks beyond the Shrieking Shack where he and Buckbeak used to hide last year when he was still a convicted criminal.  Though he was grateful that the Ministry of Magic declared him a free man, innocent of his crimes, they didn’t explain the reason he was freed (though he already knew that) and by what information they had gotten to free him.  They wouldn’t explain anything at all, just saying to him that he was now Harry’s legal guardian in cases if anything happened to the Dursleys.

He had let Buckbeak go free, to roam the plains of the Americas, but with a warning to keep out of sight and to report any information to him if he found any.  Now he was checking to see if the hippogriff left anything for him.  He would have Apparated here from Hogwarts except not for the other Aurors who were pressing to see who was going and being very protective.

He knew that in the book Hogwarts, A History cited that the school had a bunch of different spells and charms on it, preventing any kind of apparition, but he, Remus, and the Aurors protecting the school were able to Apparate on the grounds in a specific part of Hogwarts, the Great Hall.  There was a certain password of sorts, not really a password, but something, that Dumbledore gave to them, enabling them to Apparate only in the Great Hall and no where else.

"Hurry up Sirius…we’ve been gone too long," Lupin whispered behind him, his wand out and casting wary looks around the barren landscape.  Sirius noticed that his friend’s ears were twitching, listening to the sounds of nature around him.

"All right…" he replied then ducked into the cave and took out his wand, "Lumos."  The darkened cave immediately brightened up and Sirius saw evidence that the hippogriff had been here recently.  Bones were lying strewn across the cave, some still with the hanging tendons of meat and flesh on them.  To the left of them, there was a piece of parchment, placed gently on the ground, a rock that was scraped with claw marks over them.

Picking the parchment up, Sirius scanned the contents.  Things in the south haven’t been stirring, though the ancient Mayan ruins have been a bit weird lately, and some shaman had predicted a darkness falling over.  Be wary of your surroundings my friend, for they can be deceiving.  Your friend, Telemachus.  Sirius read to himself, and then held the tip of the parchment near the point of his wand.  "Incendio," he muttered then dropped the parchment as it caught on fire, crackling and hissing as it burned away.

As soon as it was completely consumed, he stomped on it, making sure that he didn’t set fire to anything that was flammable in the cave and stepped out.  "Nox," he whispered, the light on the tip of his wand extinguished, and he put his wand away back in the folds of his black robes.  Suddenly a cold breeze blew by and Sirius stiffened, the hairs on the back of his neck rising in a warning sign.  He faintly heard the sound of laughter…something of a childish laughter…then just as suddenly his warning sense died away as did the breeze.

"Sirius?" Lupin’s quiet voice brought him out of his stupor.

"Huh?  What?" he blinked then glanced back at the cave, which looked silent and imposing.

"Any information?" Lupin asked, as they both started down back towards Hogsmeade.

"Got something from Telemachus.  Looks like the Mayans have been getting restless," Sirius replied gruffly as they blended in with the crowd that was walking along Hogsmeade, careful to avoid some of the Aurors stationed near the outskirts of the Shrieking Shack.

"Then we should probably contact Ryu, Sonya, and the rest of the gang," Lupin decided as he pushed open the door to The Three Broomsticks, a loud blast of conversation greeting them from all sides.

"Remus, Sirius, over here!" a voice called out from the various patrons in the pub and he glanced to his right to see Marion waving them over, a mug of Butterbeer in her hand.  Her brother was also sitting with her, as was Mad-Eye Moody.

Sirius felt his stomach drop as he smiled placidly and walked over.  He would’ve liked to sit with Marion and her brother, but with Moody around…he didn’t like the man.  A twitchy Auror who jumped at everything and pounced on everything that he deemed suspicious…which happened to be Sirius’ mysterious release from being a convicted criminal.

"Alastor, Marion, Marius," Lupin greeted with a nod as the two of them sat down, Lupin next to Marius while he sat next to Marion, avoiding the suddenly shrewish look Moody was giving him.

"So where were you?" Moody asked, more liked growled in Sirius’ opinion as the twitchy man stared down at his bluish drink then back at him, his magical eye bouncing around in its socket.

"Around, checking out the shops since I haven’t been here, since my school days," Sirius replied a bit airily as two Butterbeer mugs were served to them by a waitress who smiled pleasantly.  "You know, getting our resident wolfie something to gnaw besides wooden legs…which by the way he shredded lots of them." Giving Moody a smile that was full of teeth, he glanced out of the corner of his eyes to see Lupin shaking his head in silent laughter, bowed and rubbing his eyes.  Marion was hiding a smile behind her hand while her brother cracked a full grin.

But Moody looked pale and worried, and his lips were pressed into a thin line.  "Wooden legs, eh?" he grunted and was about to continue when Marion placed a hand on his trying to ease the tension.

"Now, now boys, stop scaring each other," she said in a soothing motherly voice, "we can’t have nightmares at the moment, now can we?"

Sirius coughed out a laugh and smirked, "Yes ma’am."

"I’m going to get more blue-bell beer," Moody growled then got up and stalked away, the clunk clunk clunk of his footsteps fading into the loud noise of the crowd.  Sirius smiled slightly as he knew he hit a nerve in twitchy Alastor Moody’s brainwork, and besides, it was much quieter without him around…

"Quit smiling Snuffles, Alastor happens to be very nice and polite," Marion pitted him with a stare that had laughter in it.

"Yeah, nice if he isn’t looking at you like you did something wrong…" he muttered then covered it with a cough.

"You didn’t do anything wrong," Marion smiled warmly and Sirius frowned at her.  How did she know?  Did Fudge tell her or was it someone else?

"How do you know?" he whispered, his eyes darting around to see if anyone overheard.  He knew that many patrons in the bar, including some Hogwarts students and staff, didn’t trust him fully or not at all.  It was only a few people that knew his story and trusted him.  Even Lupin was looking at the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with a bit of suspicion in his eyes.

"Oh well…us Aurors have sources and I didn’t really hear the real story but I believe you anyway," she answered simply then took a sip of her Butterbeer.  "I mean, I figure that since you, a former Marauder and joker, wouldn’t stoop so low.  Besides, those times in Hogwarts were the best."

Sirius relaxed as he leaned back against his seat and fiddled around with his drink.  He had enjoyed his Hogwarts days, but those days were overshadowed with the death of his best friend James…

"So that’s why I recognized both of you.  Marius, you were in Ravenclaw, am I correct?" Lupin interrupted his musings and he watched Marion’s brother nod.

"Yes.  Was vying to become an Auror, but I didn’t like their rigorous training, so I set shop with my older brother, you know, the one that was in Hufflepuff?" Marius replied, grinning over his mug of Butterbeer as he took a long gulp then swallowed a bit quickly and coughed.

"Oh, him…he was your brother?!" Sirius furrowed his brow; he couldn’t believe that they had a brother who was in Hufflepuff.  He knew that Marion herself was in Gryffindor and was usually in the company of Lily, chatty and very witty.

"So, you became an Auror," Lupin stated and Sirius saw Marion’s eyes flash to a neutral expression.

"Yes," she said flatly, "I was one of Crouch’s Aurors."  She suddenly got up and left, her robe billowing around her as she made her way through the crowds in The Three Broomsticks and went outside.

"Uh…" Sirius was left speechless.

"Did I say something wrong?" Lupin was as startled as he was.

"Oh, don’t worry yourselves," Marius waved an unconcerned hand, "she just doesn’t like the fact that people knows she’s one of the Aurors that was under Crouch’s tutelage, using the Unforgivable Curses left and right.  She’s one of the best at it, and even bag some kills, but she just doesn’t like to talk about it.  Not with You-Know-Who on the rise."

Sirius blinked.  This was news to him.  He had never thought that once a chatty, witty, and shy girl who was in Gryffindor could become such a cold-hearted killer, almost like a change of personality.  "She sure has changed…" he murmured mostly to himself as he sipped the rest of his Butterbeer, not really enjoying its sweet tangy taste as it had gone a bit sour in his mouth.

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