Was it all enough? - Year 7

Hermione started to say something but could tell immediately that something had changed. Harry almost seemed like a different person and she could just feel the magic radiating from him. His eyes seemed so focused. Harry turned to her and said, "Trust me Hermione, and get them out now!"

Harry pulled out his wand and started heading to the far entrance door. He hadn't gotten very far when it burst open and two dementors started coming through. The hall erupted in screams and Harry yelled, "Expecto Patronum!" A huge silvery stag came out and changed down the dementors, causing them to back out of the doorway. Harry passed the Headmistress and yelled, "Which teachers can cast a Patronus? There are more of them, and I bet Death Eaters are close as well."

"None can make a Patronus that I know of. I'll find the defense teacher; he may be able to help."

Harry kept walking toward the hall and heard the sound of students screaming. Pushing through the door, he saw two hooded wizards come in and start shouting spells. Harry quickly fired a couple spells back that got their attention. The wizards didn't seem to be trying to hit the students, but instead to do damage to the school. From their position, the hooded wizards could hit the students trying to get up into the school further but hadn't as of yet.

Harry was able to get close to the hall the students were using and cast a shield charm to prevent them from being hit. This was working fine, except he couldn't cast any effective offensive spells while he was holding the shield. Harry was able to quickly drop the shield and cast a couple spells to keep the death eaters from coming closer. He also had to cast another Patronus when he felt the dementors coming closer.

In another area, the Headmistress was speaking to Dumbledore through the fire. "Dumbledore. We are under attack! There are dementors and hooded wizards. I don't think our teachers can handle this. One of your students; Potter is protecting the students and trying to drive off the dementors. He can not do this alone."

Dumbledore spoke quickly but calmly, "Madame. I'm afraid I cannot leave Hogwarts undefended in case this is a distraction. Please believe me when I say that Harry can be of great help."

"But Dumbledore. He's too busy protecting the students to drive off the wizards," the Headmistress said not able to hide her panic.

Dumbledore turned to the man standing next to him, "Sirius! Go help Harry." Quickly the Headmaster turned back to the fire. "Madame. I am sending another friend to help. Now please do me a favor. If Harry asks you to do anything, please don't question him and just do it. If it is really a few death eaters and dementors, he should be able to deal with them once the students are protected. Please trust him."

Back at Beauxbatons, their defense instructor finally made it over but couldn't cast a Patronus or a strong enough shield so Harry told him to try and stun the death eaters of which there were now at least four. Harry thought he could handle the four death eaters if he didn't have to hold the shield and was really getting worried because there seemed to be a long line of students still passing, but then he suddenly heard. "Harry!" It was Sirius.

"Sirius. There's at least four Death Eaters and some dementors. Make sure the students don't get hit and I'll try to stop the attack," Harry yelled and Sirius didn't question anything, he quickly cast his own shield.

Harry moved positions and blasted the short wall two of the death eaters were hiding behind and was able to stun them quickly. The Beauxbatons defense instructor wasn't very good but did keep the death eaters occupied from time to time. The door burst open and four more dementors came in causing all the students to scream even louder. Harry quickly cast another Patronus that drove the dementors back outside and was also able to stun another death eater in the confusion.

Harry knew there was at least three more death eaters but could only tell where two of them were. Then he heard a scream from back in the ballroom. Poking his head inside, Harry saw a girl; Gabrielle; at the far end, obviously hurt and then saw a death eater cast a spell at the large chest along the wall causing it to start to fall. Harry quickly cast a summoning spell on the little girl and she flew directly into Harry causing him to fall back onto the ground. He was able to cast a spell at the death eater to drive him back to the corridor.

Harry started pulling Gabrielle with him and saw the three death eaters start to run outside. He was able to stun only one of them. The defense teacher went to the door and announced that the wizards seemed to be running off.

Harry picked up Gabrielle and told Sirius he was taking the girl to the hospital wing and for Sirius to make sure all the students got up to safety. No sooner had he passed Sirius than the doors flew open again and four wizards stepped through. Harry and Sirius both started sending stunning spells and the four wizards dropped quickly. Then they both heard, "Ministry Aurors. Don't attack us."

Harry looked at Sirius and said, "We just stunned French Ministry Aurors. I'm going to the hospital wing, you explain it." Harry picked up Gabrielle again and ran upstairs yelling at everyone to get out of the way and also yelling for directions.

In the Gryffindor common room, Professor McGonagall had just followed Ron and Hermione through the portal. The two Gryffindor's had been the last Hogwarts students to leave Beauxbatons before the portkeys were disabled. They had helped make sure all the students were back before returning themselves. "Now students. You've all been through a terrifying ordeal, but thanks to the guidance of Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley all the students got back through the portkeys without further incident. Now, Mr. Potter is still at Beauxbatons but we're sure he is fine."

Before she could continue, Neville spoke up, "But Professor. We saw Harry leave the common room just a few minutes ago. He said he was looking for Hermione." A couple other students agreed with Neville.

"Professor, there is no way that was Harry. We saw him start to carry Gabrielle up the stairs when we left," Hermione said.

"Sirius was there as well, he can back us up," Ron added.

At Beauxbatons, Harry burst in to the hospital wing and was shocked to see at least fifty students. Most of the injuries seemed minor but at least ten looked bad. "Gabrielle is hurt. At least a broken arm," Harry yelled.

The nurse looked at him and said, "Minor things must wait; lay her on one of the cots."

Harry turned and saw a line of cots with students already on them. He turned back to the nurse and said, "I can handle some of the minor things while you worry about the serious ones." The nurse looked at him like he was crazy but noticing the look in Harry's eyes, she just nodded. Harry quickly placed Gabrielle on one of the cots and pointed his wand; which he still had out and ready. He first cast a simple pain relieving charm and then went to work fixing her arm. It was a simple break and Harry was concentrating hard on his Auror training to make sure he got it right. He didn't want to pull a Lockhart on her. In a couple minutes, he could tell it had mended and he quickly healed the small cuts and scrapes on her.

Harry yelled, "Where's the chocolate? The ones exposed to the dementors will need some?" The nurse pointed to a cabinet and Harry summoned chocolate and began giving it to anyone who seemed to be bothered by exposure to the dementors. He then moved from student to student, mending any bones he could and healing all the minor cuts and bruises.

After a few hours, all the simple cases were fixed and Harry offered his help on the more serious ones. The nurse had to tell him what to do and Harry just followed instructions. After a bit more, the nurse was doing everything and Harry sat on the floor next to Gabrielle. He brushed her hair with his hand and she looked up at him. "You saved me again 'Arry."

Harry smiled and replied, "I couldn't let anything happen to my pretend date now could I?" That's where Harry fell asleep. Sirius had gone back to Hogwarts after the last of the students were accounted for but came back early the next day to find Harry asleep on the floor outside of the hospital wing. He shook Harry awake.

"What? Is everything ok?" Where Harry's first words and Sirius assured him that everything was fine. "Did Hermione and everyone get back?" Sirius again said that only two Hogwarts students had been hurt and they were minor. Hermione and Ron had directed all the students quickly back to the portkeys before any more could be hurt.

Harry stretched and groaned and just felt achy. The nurse came out and insisted on taking care of the minor cuts and bruises that Harry had received. "Thanks for coming Sirius. I didn't know what I was going to do."

"It's my job to protect you Harry," his godfather said trying to joke.

"I didn't need protecting, it was the students. I could have handled this if they hadn't been here," Harry continued the joke.

"I believe you. When did you learn to be a medi-wizard?"

"I only know a few minor things in Auror training. With the things Ron and I get into, being able to fix breaks and cuts seemed like a good idea," Harry said. "Can we go home now?"

"The Headmistress wants to see us but after that we can Apparate to Hogsmeade. They've stopped the floo and portkeys," Sirius said and started leading Harry to the Headmistress. The two spent some time with the Headmistress and other teachers going over exactly what had happened. Harry found out that only three students had any serious injuries and those were from being hit by falling debris. The teachers thanked Sirius and Harry over and over but finally let them leave.

Walking out, Harry was stunned with the total amount of damage that had been done to the hall and the entrance corridor. It was obvious the attack was meant to damage the school more than to hurt students. Once they were outside Harry said, "I can't believe their teachers couldn't do anything to protect the students."

"This is more of an artistic school," Sirius added. "They only do very basic defense and teach almost no offensive spells. They didn't think they would ever need much protection. Only the anti-apparation barriers are in place and they don't extend very far. I think the French Ministry will be adding extra security after last night."

"What kind of Ministry Security people were they? Who barges into the middle of a fight like that?" Harry asked. "Did they give you much trouble for stunning four of them?"

Sirius laughed. "No trouble at all. They were more embarrassed that you and I took them out so easily. We made a pretty good team last night."

"Definitely. Maybe we should work for the Unspeakables together," Harry joked before they both apparated back to Hogsmeade.

Professor McGonagall was waiting as soon as Harry and Sirius got to the castle and led them straight to the Headmaster's office. Some of the students who had witnessed what happened were pointing and mumbling about them. Finally looking at his robes, Harry understood why. The robes were torn in many places and had dried blood all over them. Not all of it was Harry's blood but it still looked bad. When they entered Dumbledore's office, Professor Snape and Professor Figg were already there. The two instructors gave Harry a strange look and Sirius gave Snape an evil glare. "You don't look the best Harry, are you sure you're alright?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes Professor. Most of the blood isn't mine and the nurse took care of my cuts this morning," Harry replied.

"I understand from the reports that you disobeyed the rule about returning immediately if anything strange happened," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye. Before Harry could object the Headmaster continued. "We may have to revise that rule. I also heard the reports of how you protected the students."

Before Dumbledore could continue Harry interrupted, "Hermione and Ron made sure they were out. And, I couldn't have done it without Sirius."

Dumbledore raised his hands. "Yes, yes. I'm well aware of all of their contributions. In fact for once, the Daily Prophet seemed to get the story quite accurately from the version Sirius has told. What is your opinion of the attack?"

"I don't think they were really trying to hurt the students," Harry started but was interrupted.

"Oh, is that so? They why may I ask were you helping to heal injuries in their hospital wing most of the night? You don't call that hurting students?" Snape spat out.

"Sir. The Death Eaters were casting spells against the school, not aiming at individual students. They only directly attacked Sirius and me when I started stunning them. The students were injured by falling debris, not by spells. It was very strange."

"Indeed. Did you know that there were at least ten students who will swear they saw you leave your common room last night?" Dumbledore said causing Harry and Sirius to look shocked.

"Professor, I can assure you he was there with me. How do you think those monsters were stopped? Their teachers couldn't protect anything." Sirius was saying before Dumbledore stopped him.

"I know you and Harry were at Beauxbatons, but nevertheless students did see Harry leave the common room. Once Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley heard this, they checked your belongings and it seems your trunk had been searched."

Harry went white. "Um... Was anything taken sir?" he asked immediately worried about the orb.

"Mr. Weasley didn't think so; however Miss Granger came to me later and mentioned that she thought something was missing and you would know what that was. Do you know what she was talking about?"

Harry started to squirm. He could tell Dumbledore had and idea so he decided to come clean. "Maybe sir. I had a strange amber colored orb in my trunk."

"And what exactly did this orb do Potter?" Snape asked with a smirk.

"I'm not sure. When I was working with the Unspeakables we started looking at some artifacts they had gotten in a raid. I could hear this orb making noise but none of the others could hear anything. When I picked it up it changed colors but wouldn't to anything for any of the other people. It was very strange."

"That's very nice but why do you have this artifact in the school?" Snape again asked.

"After overhearing Gallah and Malfoy talk, I warned the Unspeakables that they were going to be raided. The day after the raid, I received a package with a note that just said 'keep it safe. Trust no one.' The orb was in the package. So, I've had it since the summer."

"You had this at home the whole time and didn't tell me?" Sirius asked sounding upset.

"I knew it came from the Unspeakables and they said not to tell anyone. I expected them to ask for it back and I would have just sent it to them. I really want to work for that department, they have to know they can trust me," Harry pleaded.

"Did you ever find out what it did?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"No sir. I worked with it over the summer and did get it to where I was sure it was voices, or at least one voice trying to talk to me but I couldn't understand it. I've been so busy with other things here that I haven't done much with it since school started," Harry said.

"Would this object have anything to do with the incident you and Miss Granger had over the summer?" Dumbledore asked and Harry looked at him with shock and confusion. "The incident where she found out more details than you had originally given her?"

"How could she?" Harry thought. "Yes sir it did. I was holding the orb when she tripped and when she touched my other hand, she fainted."

"You told Hermione about this and not me?" Sirius said sounding hurt.

"Sirius. When you were in school, would you have gone to your parents or to a teacher with this? Or, would you, Remus and my dad have just tried to figure it out yourselves?"

Sirius kind of mumbled but McGonagall spoke up, "We all know the answer to that Mr. Potter. He would have done anything to keep it from an adult."

It was quiet for a minute until Sirius spoke. "I bet it was the relic the Egyptian man was using to try and steal the rest of Voldemort's powers."

"That would be my guess as well," Dumbledore said.

"You've had something that dangerous in this school all year? How could you be so stupid Potter?" Snape spat and Sirius stood up.

Harry stopped Sirius from saying anything. "If I didn't get the thing in the first place, they would have gotten it over the summer. The homes of all the Unspeakables were searched. I'm sorry I didn't tell anyone but I would do it the same way next time. I wasn't going to betray their trust," Harry yelled.

"What's done is done," Dumbledore said stopping the argument. "Harry's right that at least he was able to keep the relic safe for some time. My theory is that the attack on Beauxbatons was nothing more than a diversion so that someone could steal the relic from Harry. They had to assume he had it since they thought it was with the Unspeakables and they didn't find it during their searches."

"What will the orb do for them?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore looked very tired and said, "That orb is rumored to contain the essence of many evil witches and wizards. With the right spells, it can absorb the evil essence of dark wizards. This Egyptian man had planned on taking Voldemort's power and then using the combined power stored in the relic, he would be nearly invincible. It was pure luck when he was raided and the Unspeakables obtained the orb. If that hadn't happened, we would be facing an evil potentially worse than Voldemort. Now, we have to assume that Voldemort has the relic and will quickly regain his power. If he is able to draw out the additional power from the relic he will be many times more powerful than he has ever been."

Everyone sat there in silence until Harry asked, "Do we know who the person was who stole it last night?"

"Obviously someone with polyjuice potion. We found no trace of them when we realized something was wrong," McGonagall said. "Do you have any idea who could have impersonated you?"

Harry's obvious thought was Malfoy but didn't know how he could have gotten a part of him to use in the potion. Suddenly, Harry remembered the ball and being knocked down by Pansy Parkinson. She was lying on top of Harry for a few seconds and Harry remembered his head being sore. She could have easily taken some hair at this point, but Harry knew there would be now way to prove it. Harry was brought out of his thoughts by hearing, "I asked you if you had any idea who could have impersonated you?" McGonagall was saying in a harsh tone.

"I would bet money on Malfoy," Harry said turning to Snape. "However, I can't prove it."

Snape started to say something but was interrupted. "May I speak to Harry alone please?" Dumbledore asked and the others left. The Headmaster looked at Harry for a bit and Harry felt like the man was reading him like a book. "I don't blame you for any of this Harry. You delayed the inevitable of this happening. Sooner or later, Voldemort would have gotten this power." The Headmaster hesitated and went on. "You are old enough to make your own decisions on these things and upholding someone's trust in you is a hard thing to do sometimes but you managed it. Don't be upset. We may not have been able to protect the relic much better. Remember the Sorcerer's Stone? The brightest minds in the school were protecting it and yet Voldemort nearly got it. Nothing is perfect."

Harry sat there thinking for a minute and asked, "Sir. What did Hermione tell you?"

"The same as she told you Harry. She told me she was worried about you and never knew the true pain you had been through. She's a good friend Harry, you are fortunate to have friends like that."

"Yes Sir," was all Harry said before starting to leave.

"Oh Harry. I can't tell you enough how proud I am of how you handled things at Beauxbatons. Even if the Death Eaters weren't attacking the students directly, with dementors there it could have been a disaster. I'm sure they will never forget what you did for them."

At the bottom of the stairs, Harry didn't really feel like talking to his friends right now. There would be all kinds of questions and he was still too angry with Hermione to go into anything. He focused hard and turned himself invisible and quickly snuck up to the secret tower room. He hadn't been up there very long when he heard people coming up. Since only Hermione and Ginny knew of this place, he knew who it was.

Hermione ran over and hugged him. "I'm so glad to see you. We were all so scared."

He only lightly hugged her before pulling back. "No reason to be scared," Harry said.

"No reason? There were dementors and death eaters. I'd say that's plenty reason enough," Ron added. "Now, why didn't you tell me about this room?"

Harry gave him a look trying to say there are more important things but just replied. "I didn't want you and Parvati getting it all messy if you know what I mean." Ron went bright red but Harry continued. "How did you guys know I was here?"

Ginny held out the Marauder's Map. "So, you guys raided my trunk as well?" They started to apologize but Harry stopped them. "I don't mind. I heard you two did really good getting everybody back through the portkeys. Dumbledore said the Daily Prophet got the story right."

Ron and Hermione both blushed but Hermione said, "But you held them all off. If you hadn't stopped them, we wouldn't have been able to get the students through."

"Were you really healing people in their hospital?" Ginny asked.

"Only minor things. Broken bones and cuts. Nothing major," Harry said.

"What do you think they were looking for? Nothing seemed to be missing from your trunk," Ron asked.

Harry glanced at Hermione who looked guilty. "Who knows? Maybe they thought I had something I didn't. At least nothing was gone."

"Come down, it's about time for supper. Everyone wants to see that you're ok," Ron said.

"Nah. You guys go ahead. It's just been a bad week for me. I want to stay a bit longer. I'll ask Dobby to bring me something here," Harry said. "Go on Ron, I know Parvati can't stand for you to be away for long," Harry said and smiled at his friend. Ginny hugged Harry and told him how proud she was of him and left with Ron.

Hermione told Ginny she would be down in a couple minutes. Hermione sat there in silence with Harry for a bit. "They took the orb didn't they?"

"Yes," was all that Harry said.

There was silence again and Hermione asked, "What else is wrong?"

Harry looked at her and she knew he wasn't happy. "You told Dumbledore about poking around in my head. You promised you wouldn't say anything."

Hermione felt guilty. "You only told me not to tell Ron."

"I never thought you would go running to anyone else about it. That was very personal. I can't believe you did that."

"I'm sorry. I was just so worried about you. Please don't be mad," Hermione said sitting next to him.

"Why don't you go on down to supper. I'm going to skip our practice tonight. I'll make it up," Harry said calmly.

"I'd rather stay here. I don't mind skipping tonight," Hermione said looking very sad.

Harry didn't answer but got up and sent Dobby a message spell asking for some food to be brought up. They ate in silence but then Hermione asked for details about everything that happened at Beauxbatons. After that, Harry told her everything that Dumbledore has said.

"So we've been handling the evil essence of who knows how many dark wizards?" Hermione asked in amazement. Harry just nodded. "Why do you think it was trying to talk to you?"

"Maybe it thinks I'm evil and it wanted me to use the power."

"No, you couldn't understand it. That should show you're not evil."

"Then why could I hear anything and no one else could?" Harry asked still sounding distant.

Hermione sat for a second and said, "I think it's because you're so much more powerful than most wizards."

"Get real Hermione," Harry snapped back.

"Harry I'm serious. Sometimes when you get serious about magic, I can almost feel it coming off of you. The only other time I feel anything like that is when Dumbledore gets angry."

"I think you've had too much stress Hermione."

"When you realized dementors were near, you seemed so different, so confident. It's the same thing. You just knew what to do. I think the orb could sense the power and tried to communicate with you. The only reason it couldn't is because you're not evil."

"I'm not buying it. There has to be another reason. If I'm so powerful, why do I struggle with everything?"

"You haven't struggled at all this year. Think about it. Even you said that things were getting to be fun and you liked learning. Everything has been easy for you this year."

"I'm getting too tired to think Hermione. Let's go back to the common room." They both stood up. He turned to her and said, "Thank you for staying with me. It helped my mood a lot," then he hugged her tight.

She felt so warm and protected when hugging him. "No problem. That's what I'm here for."

It was now very late and there carefully snuck down and back to the common room. Hermione was pulling Harry by the hand and they were going to go to bed when they heard. "I thought you said you'd be down in a few minutes Hermione." They both turned to see Ginny sitting on the couch.

"Ginny! You scared me," Hermione said. "We ended up talking longer than I thought."

"Hermione was nice enough to pull me out of my bad mood," Harry said.

"I bet she did," Ginny said. "This showed you two pretty close most of the time." The redhead held up the map.

"May I have my map please?" Harry said taking the Marauder's Map and wiping it. He turned to Hermione and said, "Thanks again. I'm going to bed. Goodnight Ginny. Thanks for coming to see me earlier."

Harry left the girls to work things out. He couldn't figure out one girl at a time so if two of them were involved he would be hopeless. He had just got into bed when he heard Ron come up. "Are the girls still talking?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, they don't seem too happy. What's up?"

"Who knows? So, was Parvati glad to see you back?"

"She wanted to properly thank me for helping all the students get back," Ron said with a smile.

Harry was kind of envious of Ron right now. Ron had a girlfriend and they were getting along really well. Harry wished he were able to feel like that now.

Harry headed down to breakfast a bit late and was lucky to only have to talk about what happened at the ball a couple times before landing in a seat between Ron and Hermione. Neither Ginny nor Hermione were smiling much so Harry was eating in quiet when he was suddenly hugged from behind. "'Arry! You saved her again. I can't thank you enough." Fleur had him in a death grip.

All of his friends were now laughing at him. "Fleur. C'mon you're a teacher."

"Oh 'Arry. You really saved her. I heard exactly what happened. She means everything to me." Fleur was saying with tears in her eyes.

"No problem Fleur. I wouldn't let anything happen to her," Harry said.

"You healed her broken arm as well. She can't believe all you've done for her," Fleur said.

Harry was blushing and said, "Tell her I'm glad she's ok and I'm sorry I didn't see her before I had to leave."

Fleur hugged him tightly again and said, "My parents are so grateful to you. You'll come see us so they can show you."

Harry nodded and went back trying to eat. Everyone started teasing him after that. Even Ginny and Hermione were laughing now. Harry read the Daily Prophet article about the attack and was fairly happy with it. There was more about what Harry had done but there was also quite a bit about Ron, Hermione and Sirius and the roles they played. Harry also liked that both Ron and Hermione were getting many congratulations from other students and teachers. Ron liked this because it gave Parvati an extra excuse to reward him. Everyone was blaming it on Voldemort and Harry could tell that people were a little uneasier about things.

The trainer made Harry take it easy at Quidditch practice the next week. Harry felt fine and had wanted to try some feints but the trainer told him not to. Everyone was in a good mood after the victory over Bulgaria and they all made Harry feel very good.

Harry saw Kristi before leaving. "Hey. I just wanted to thank you again for staying with me in the hospital. I hate waking up and no one being around," Harry said.

"No problem at all," Kristi said and then looked at him closely. "Do me a favor though. Stop throwing yourself in the middle of trouble." Harry looked shocked because Kristi seemed so serious. "You should have just gotten out of that school." Harry couldn't quite make out the expression on Kristi's face.

"I couldn't do that. The students would have gotten hurt."

"I wish you'd worry a bit more about yourself. That's all," the chaser said with a strange look in her eye.

"I didn't get hurt. I'm not trying to get hurt or anything. Don't worry; I'll still be able to play Quidditch," Harry said trying to smile.

"I don't give a damn about Quidditch," Kristi said sharply causing Harry to jump. "I'd just rather not read about you dying in some attack. We both went through the same things with our parents."

Harry moved closer and said, "There were just a few dementors and Death Eaters. I can handle that."

"That's your problem. You think you're invincible. I read the articles. You couldn't even stun the wizards since you were too busy protecting the students."

"I had help and everything was fine. C'mon get back to treating me like a stupid schoolboy. Too many other people worry about me all the time." Harry hesitated and added, "And I don't want to hear you say you don't give a damn about Quidditch. That's all we should be thinking. We beat Bulgaria!"

Harry sat with her for a while and got her to tell him about the big party they had gone to after the match. Harry promised that next year he would be going to these parties since he would be out on his own.

When he got back to the school, Sirius greeted him and they went straight to Dumbledore's office. "There's been another attack on muggles. At least ten families in a small community outside of London," Sirius said.

"So he's back," Harry said sounding dejected.

"There's something else," Sirius said. "Written on the wall of one of the homes was 'Thanks for the gift'"

This hurt Harry bad. He knew that Voldemort was talking about the orb. He sat in the office hearing them keep saying it wasn't his fault and things like that but Harry didn't want to listen. Harry had resigned himself to the fact of having to face Voldemort again. He just wished that all those innocent people weren't being hurt. The Ministry and the papers were openly talking about Voldemort being back at least. Harry heard Sirius mention that he thought the community was handling the news pretty well.

Most of the students seemed to be walking on eggshells around Harry. His friends still acted the same but he could tell they were more worried. Voldemort hadn't done anything at all in almost two years and everyone kind of got used to things being like that. Harry and Hermione continued practicing and they were making good progress.

Sirius had started coming to Quidditch practices with him, making the excuse about wanting to watch Kristi but Harry knew better.

The next big muggle attack came on the week of Harry's next Quidditch match. Harry was eating when Hermione showed him the article. Fifteen homes were destroyed and there was a picture of the home left standing. In big letters was written. 'I'm coming Potter'.

His friends looked very pale but Harry just shrugged his shoulders. "It's not like I'm surprised or anything. I'd understand if you guys want to stay further away from me," Harry said softly.

They all hit him and started yelling that they would never do that. "Ok, Ok! Man you're hurting me more than he would," Harry tried to joke.

"Don't joke about stuff like that," Hermione said sounding very angry.

Harry and Hermione were practicing the night before the match when Harry said, "Why don't you skip coming to the match."

"Why? Don't you want me there?" Hermione asked sounding hurt.

"That's not it. You've just seen us play Poland before and it probably won't be very exciting anyway," Harry said trying to seem up beat.

"You just don't want me to go in case something happens don't you?"

"So, what's wrong with that?" Harry replied.

"What's wrong is that I want to be there. You said I could go to every game this year and I'm holding you to it. Who else are you taking?"

"McGonagall, Sirius and Lupin," Harry said. "Bodyguards I guess."

"Do you think anything would happen?" Hermione asked.

"I don't think so. He's getting arrogant so I think he'll do something at the school to show that he can. A sneak attack while I'm playing doesn't quite fit."

They got to the match and Harry could see everyone looking at him a bit differently. He went to the locker room and changed quickly. The coach came over. "Are you sure you're up to playing today? We could put in Smith."

Harry stood up angrily. "I'm fine to play coach. This is no different than any other match. The only thing now is that you realize he's after me. He has been for years, nothing has changed."

The coach backed off and Harry saw Kristi come up to the coach. "Don't ever screw with him like that again. He could be asleep and play better than Smith." She went straight back to her locker and tried to get focused again.

There wasn't as much clapping for Harry this time but he quickly ignored that once the match started. It was a very anti-climactic game. France walked all over Poland and Harry got the snitch the first time it came out.

After showering, he was dreading the interview but he went up to the reporter as normal.

"Good game again Harry."

"Thank you. Ms. Mishmas."

"I have to ask if you're taking any extra precautions because of You-Know-Who?"

"Not at all. I would be very surprised if he did something at a match. He would probably want to do something less cowardly than attacking during a match. I doubt he would sneak up while I'm playing. If so, it would just show he's afraid to come straight at me."

"You seem to have recovered fine from the last match."

"I had to play all out to have a chance against Viktor. All it takes is one mistake or hesitation and he will win every time. When we meet again in the playoffs, I hope to get lucky again."

Harry made his way to his friends who congratulated him. They were starting to walk away. "Schoolboy. I guess you showed the coach today."

"Hey Kristi," Harry said before giving her a big hug, which caused the photographers to go crazy. "Thanks for sticking up for me in there."

"No problem. I didn't have any doubts. I liked your comments to the reporter. Now there's no way he would do something during a match without confirming that he's just a coward," Kristi said.

"That's what I hope. See you in a couple weeks," Harry said and hit her fist before leaving.

"Well, you seem a bit friendlier with her than I remembered," Lupin said nodding toward Kristi.

"He stayed with her in Paris over the holiday," Sirius added trying to embarrass Harry.

"Potter. Don't you let her drag you into her lifestyle," McGonagall added and Harry heard Hermione laugh.

"I think it's time to go home," Harry said and they went back to the school.