FicWad

Chapter Seventeen: Flying High

Most of the Hogwarts students looked out into the Quidditch field with anticipation on the last weekend of October. The weather outside was nice and clear, along with being rather warm for this time of the year. It was the perfect conditions for the first Quidditch game of the year, the latest battle between the Gryffindor and Slytherin houses. Both teams had been rumored to be preparing hard to gain momentum in the first match, to set the tone for the rest of the Quidditch season off to a good start.

Harry looked out towards the Quidditch field, confident that his team was one of the best ever to play at Hogwarts, but also knew that being overconfident may cost them the Quidditch mach. As hard as the Slytherin team was training, Harry could not discount the possibility that the Gryffindor team might have been training just as hard, as they most certainly wanted their first victory in Quidditch over Slytherin in quite some time.

Harry turned to the other members of the Slytherin Quidditch team, all of whom wore equally focused looks on their face.

“I’m going to be brief and let our playing do the talking, but let me just say one thing,” said Harry after what seemed like an eternity of silence. “During practice, you all worked hard and improved a fair bit. That improvement kept up throughout all of the practices and today, we are going to play against Gryffindor. This is a pivotal game, but by playing as hard as we practiced, the victory should be in our grasp. So let’s just go out there and show all of Hogwarts what the Slytherin Quidditch Team is made of.”

Without another word, Harry made his way out towards the field, as the other six members of the Slytherin Quidditch Team followed him out. A short time later, the Gryffindor team made their way out to the field, as the crowd intensity was at a fever pitch.

“Welcome to the first Quidditch Match of the season and what a way to start off with yet another battle between Gryffindor and Slytherin,” announced Hailey, who was on commentary, replacing the former commentary Lee Jordan who had finished his seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

During tryouts for that position, Hailey had been the best of all those who tried out, even through she never really intended to try out in the first place. The truth was that all the other people who tried out for commentary were not at all very good. The reserve and regular Hufflepuff Quidditch teams had been playing a simulated game to try out the hopeful commentators and all the bad commentary had gotten on Hailey’s nerves, so mostly out of boredom she had decided to provide her commentary for the game, while playing Quidditch. While done mostly for her own amusement, it appeared that she had impressed Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall enough to gain the job to commentate when she wasn’t playing as the Seeker of the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team, with rotating commentators from the others who had tried out and had been the best of that rather shoddy group. Granted, it didn’t pay all that much, but the trauma that it saved on Hailey’s eardrums would be well worth it.

“For eleven years, the Gryffindor team has come up empty against the Slytherin team, but today they are looking to turn their fortunes around,” announced Hailey in a boisterous voice, as she looked around at the crowd, along with Professor McGonagall looming over her shoulder closely, to maintain tradition. “The Gryffindor team is composed of mostly new players, with veteran Chaser Katie Bell leading the team. Rounding out the chasers are new recruits Demelza Robins and Amanda Stampson. The beaters are Ritchie Coote and Jimmy Peakes, who have the task of living up to the reputation of the infamous Weasley Twins, who were star beaters of the Gryffindor team for years upon end, many considering them to be the greatest pair of Beaters ever to grace Hogwarts in centuries. The only other returning player is keeper Ron Weasley, who had a bit of trouble in the only other game he played last year due to what many feel is confidence issues, but obviously has overcome them after what was said to be a perfect tryout for Keeper. The seeker is Cormac McLaggen, who had tried out for Keeper but was unable to beat Ron Weasley’s performance. To shut him up, Captain Bell put him in the cursed Gryffindor seeker slot which has a higher turnover rate than the Defense Against the Dark Arts position because let’s face it, Gryffindor needs a good seeker about as badly as Snape needs to wash his hair.”

“POTTER!” yelled McGonagall in a warning voice.

“Right and on the other end of the fence, we have the Slytherin Quidditch Team, who have won the Quidditch Cup for the past eleven years,” continued Hailey. “Lead by their star Seeker, Captain Harry Potter, who has quite the lovely and charming younger sister I might add, the Slytherin team has a solid lineup that worked well in the only game they played against the Gryffindor team last year. Their trio of Chasers are Ginny Weasley, Victoria Knox, and Isabelle Martinez are nicely complicated by Keeper Blaise Zabini. Rounded out the team are the beaters, Jack Maff and Rob Turner. There isn’t really too much to say about this team, other than their teamwork may very well be on par with many professional teams but it looks like Madam Hooch and both teams are ready to start the game.”

“Captains, shake hands!” declared Madam Hooch and seconds later, Katie and Harry did so, before Madam Hooch blew the whistle and the balls went up into the air, along with fifteen broomsticks.

“And we are off and Victoria Knox is not wasting any time, as she swipes the Quaffle, before she makes a quick dash towards the Gryffindor goal posts and she positions to shoot but Coote is over and blasts a Bludger towards her, which causes her to drop the Quaffle to dodge it,” said Hailey as she craned her neck upwards. “The Quaffle bounces high into the air and Ginny Weasley and Katie Bell both make a mad dash towards the Quaffle and Ginny grabs it, before spiraling around and shooting it in. Can she make it?”

The Quaffle just barely missed its destination, landing right in between Ron’s fingers, who then promptly threw it back into the game. The ball bounced into the air, with several of the Chasers making a mad dash.

“It’s really anyone’s Quaffle, but Bell manages to grab it past Chasers Weasley and Martinez, and here comes the Bludger ready to decapitate her but Bell manages to avoid contact by dodging the demon Bludger but Turner is on the other end, and shoots a Bludger but Katie swerves underneath it and she shoots towards the Slytherin goals and….she scores the first goal of the game as it narrowly slipped through Keeper Zabini’s fingers and into the center goal!” exclaimed Hailey as the Quaffle bounced back into the center field. “The score is now ten-zero, in favor of Gryffindor, who now have a psychological advantage over the Slytherin team now that they’ve scored the first goal of the game.”

Harry hovered over the game, searching for the snitch, as McLaggen seemed rather bored as he circled the field, not bothering to look for the Snitch on his own, but rather to copy Harry. From below, he watched the Quaffle get passed around for a bit, with the Quaffle eventually in the possession of the new Gryffindor Chaser, Demelza Robins.

“Now, Gryffindor looks ready to widen the gap in scoring, but the Slytherin Beaters are in position on either side of Chaser Demelza Robins, with Bludgers and they swing their bats, causing the Bludgers to blast at Robins on either side,” remarked Hailey. “The Quaffle slips out of her grasp as she avoids a Bludger sandwich, right into the grasp of Ginny, who eventually shoots forward, ducking a Bludger, and passes right to Isabelle, back to Victoria, who fakes a pass to Ginny, before she passes it back to Isabelle and she shoots it and Ron Weasley reaches forward and once again manages to show off his noticeable improvement by blocking the Quaffle and throws it back into play!”

“Pathetic!” grumbled McLaggen as he flew around. “He almost let that one get through, he got lucky if I would have blocked it in a second.”

“That’s not as pathetic as the fact that the snitch is hovering right over your head and you haven’t noticed,” muttered Harry, but only loud enough for McLaggen to hear it and spin around.

“I don’t see any Snitch…” muttered McLaggen but Harry, who had really seen the Snitch on the ground had shot straight to the ground quickly.

“The Quaffle is now in the possession of Ginny…wait a minute, it looks like Harry has seen the Snitch and McLaggen has fallen for perhaps the most obvious ploy in the Seeker playbook!” announced Hailey. “The Slytherin Seeker speeds to the ground but the Gryffindor Beaters are in position and with Bludgers on either side and they smack them towards Harry.”

Harry dodged out of the way of the first Bludger but the second Bludger crashed right into his right shoulder and the Snitch had disappeared. That was the least of Harry’s worries, as his shoulder hurt like hell and he would not have been surprised if it had been separated on impact.

“The Gryffindor Beaters have sent a Bludger straight at Harry’s right arm, the arm that he normally catches the Snitch with I might add,” said Hailey, who sounded a bit worried at her brother’s injury, but tried to maintain her composure. “He’s hurt but the game goes on from above and Ginny drops the Quaffle when she sees that Harry has been injured, which the Quaffle is now in the position of Katie Bell, who manages to shoot it from halfway across the field! Can Zabini block it…yes he can and he throws the Quaffle back into play, right to Chaser Isabelle Martinez.”

Harry was towards the ground, his arm crooked from where the Bludger hit it.

“Harry!” yelled Ginny in a horrified voice. “Your arm…”

“I know,” replied Harry through gritted teeth, who seemed to be biting his tongue as well to avoid yelling out in agony.

“We need a timeout!” yelled Ginny.

“No we don’t!” replied Harry. “Stick with the plan, I’ll be fine, it’s just my shoulder.”

The Gryffindor side of the crowd cheered as new Chaser Amanda Stampson managed to shoot a goal past Zabini.

“Slytherin might want to get it together as they are now down two goals as Stampson just shot a goal through,” announced Hailey. “The Slytherin team dynamic might be a bit off now, since Ginny is more worried about Harry’s injury than playing this game. As admirable as that is, the Slytherin team is suffering for it, as Katie now has the Quaffle, with Isabelle just missing it. She passes it to Amanda, who just barely avoids getting plowed with a Quaffle before she bounces it right to Demelza who fakes throwing it through the goals, causing Zabini to swerve over and she passes it back to Amanda who manages to shoot it towards the goal posts and Gryffindor manages to score yet another goal Gryffindor now leads thirty to zero, as Slytherin continues to fall behind.”

“Okay, Ginny, I’m fine, really,” muttered Harry as he got up, holding his arm at a crooked angle. “We are already down by three goals and I need all three of you Chasers, along with both Beaters in position to do the maneuver we tried yesterday in practice. Tell the others of the plan, we are closing the gap.”

Ginny nodded reluctantly before flying upwards and Harry managed to also fly upwards to continue his pursuit for the Snitch.

“And now Harry looks to be fighting through his injury, as he rejoins the game along with Chaser Ginny Weasley, obviously wanting to maintain Slytherin’s winning streak in Quidditch over Gryffindor,” declared Hailey. “And sure enough, Ginny manages to spiral underneath a Bludger, before she takes the Quaffle after Zabini throws it back into the game after blocking Katie Bell’s attempt for a goal. Ginny makes her way towards the Gryffindor Goal Posts but Gryffindor Beater Peakes is in position and he prepares to blast the Bludger towards Ginny but she aims to pass it towards Isabelle Martinez. No wait it’s a fake out but Peaks saw that one coming and turns but Ginny darts forward and pass to Victoria Knox, no wait that’s a fake out as well, but this time Peakes falls for that one and Ginny aims towards the goal posts and Ron Weasley dives for the Quaffle but it passes his grasp and right through the hoop, to give Slytherin it’s first goal. Gryffindor is still up thirty to ten, but at least Slytherin is finally on the board!”

“Look at that, Weasley, you let your sister get that one past to, that’s why I should be the Keeper!” bellowed McLaggen.

“McLaggen is critiquing the performance of the other players when he should be looking for the Snitch, perhaps a fatal flaw but just maybe this is some strategy to lure the Slytherin team into a false sense of security. Nevertheless it is lost to me!” announced Hailey. “Meanwhile Ron is distracted by the Seeker’s loud mouth antics, and it’s effecting the play of the other team, and Isabelle slips a goal in the confusion, closing the gap between Gryffindor and Slytherin even further!”

“Look at that, Weasley, you fouled up again, and where were you two when she had the Quaffle!” yelled McLaggen as he turned his attention to Coote and Peaks as the Quaffle bounced around, with Gryffindor gaining possession of the Quaffle but not for long.

“Turner smashes a Bludger towards Amanda’s broomstick, causing the Quaffle to slip out of her hands and Ginny has the Quaffle, and she passes it over to Isabelle who manages to backwards shoot it past the Keeper who is now yelling back at McLaggen!” announced Hailey.

“Why don’t you go and look for the Snitch, instead of distracting me!” snapped Ron angrily, as Katie called a timeout, halting play.

“McLaggen, you are way out of line, and very lucky that you got on the team in the first place,” said Katie. “If I feel there is a problem, I will handle it, I am the Captain…”

“Not a very good one, because it’s obvious you didn’t see my talent as Keeper over this oaf!” yelled McLaggen back. “Plus, I don’t know what you’re worrying about. Potter’s got a broken arm, he isn’t going to get to the Snitch any time soon.”

“Harry Potter with a broken arm is a better Seeker than most are with two arms, so I am ordering you to get out there and play!” shouted Katie.

“Fine, if you want to lose…” muttered McLaggen as he flew as far away from Ron as possible to attempt to search for the Snitch.

“Bell orders McLaggen to stop pestering the other players and look for the Snitch, while most likely wishing that a trained monkey was the seeker, as it would be a better choice that McLaggen,” said Hailey.

“Potter, please keep your opinions to yourself and call the action!” ordered McGonagall.

“Sorry Professor, but I just call them as I see them,” answered Hailey before nodding her head. “Anyway, back to the game, as they are now resuming play, with Isabelle having possession of the Quaffle but not for long as a Bludger comes her way but she manages to avoid that and remains in possession of the Quaffle as Jack Maff dodges to the side, to hammer a Bludger towards the Beaters to block them from accessing the other Bludger, allowing Isabelle to swerve to the side, before passing it to Victoria, who manages to shot it but Ron, now that he isn’t being distracted, manages to block it, before throwing it back into play but Ginny swerves in front of Katie as she tried to gain possession of the Quaffle. Here come the Beaters and there goes the Quaffle as it gets passed off to Isabelle who manages to pass it off to Victoria who swerves to the left, before shooting it towards the right hoop. Ron darts over but it is too late, as Slytherin scores and now pushes ahead to a forty to thirty lead after a rather shaky beginning!”

Harry looked around for the Snitch and after intense searching; he saw it hovering just a few feet above him. Adjusting his broomstick, Harry went right for the Snitch, but McLaggen seemed to have noticed his attempt at the Snitch and adjusted his course to tail Harry, who was just a bit away from the Snitch but unfortunately just before Harry could grab the Snitch, Demelza swerved in front of him, causing Harry to come to a quick stop just before he would have grabbed the Snitch.

“Demelza manages to save the day for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, as her actions allowed the Snitch to disappear and now once again, it’s anyone’s Quidditch Match, but Ginny has the Quaffle but this time Gryffindor Beater Ritchie Coote is in perfect position and the Bludger is hit at a precise angle to knock the Quaffle out of Ginny’s hands and Katie swerves in, before she passes it to Amanda but Rob Turner fires a Bludger towards her,” said Hailey quickly, in an attempt to keep up with all the action. “The Quaffle is passed in a hurry back towards Katie but Ginny manages to sneak in and grab the Quaffle for herself and she throws it as hard as she can. It goes through no way Ron blocks it in the nick of time!”

The Gryffindor supporters cheered loudly as the Slytherin end let out a collective sigh, as they really thought Ginny was going to score a goal. Normally quick thinking and Ron Weasley didn’t go together but that time it did and that particular combination just managed to prevent Ginny from scoring the goal.

“The Quaffle is back into play as Demelza passes the Quaffle to Katie, who aims it towards the hoop, but Zabini catches it before it could go through before he bounces it right back and Ginny swoops in another attempt to score a goal and she aims but a Bludger aimed by Peakes causes that goal to not quite pan out as planned,” said Hailey. “Nice recovery by Isabelle, who aims and shoots, before scoring another goal for Slytherin which bumps the score up to fifty to thirty in favor of the Slytherins!”

The Snitch hovered a bit off to the left from Harry’s current position. Shutting the pain of his injured shoulder out of his mind, Harry blasted up in the air like a cork coming out of the bottle but McLaggen was right on his tail. With one completely healthy arm, Harry swerved slightly to the right to attempt to shake his pursuer off but the Snitch had once again vanished from view. Harry cradled his right arm, before he craned his neck upwards to view for the Snitch.

“Once again the Golden Snitch eludes the Slytherin Seeker, but so much is happening that we can’t dwell on that for too long as Katie swerves to the right, allowing her room to pass the Quaffle to Demelza who passes it to Amanda and she dodges a Bludger, before she passes it back to Demelza who is in position!” yelled Hailey as she looked around wildly, as the action was fast and furious. “She shoots the Quaffle but Zabini manages to quickly fly over and catch it for an expert block and now the Quaffle is back into play, with Victoria gaining the Quaffle and flies towards the Gryffindor goal posts but her course is redirected by a Bludger. The Quaffle slips from her grip but Ginny spirals around and manages to gain possession of the Quaffle on the rebound and she dodges the second Bludger fired by Coote, along with an attempt from Demelza to gain possession of the Quaffle before she aims and shoots. Ron Weasley reaches forward but the Quaffle passes through his arms and passes right through the center goal hoop as well, which bumps the score up to Slytherin pushing themselves ahead Gryffindor sixty to thirty!”

The match continued with mostly the Quaffle changing possession several times without anyone coming close to scoring a goal.

“Ginny has the Quaffle, but a Bludger moves her way and knocks her backwards slightly, with the Quaffle taking the majority of the impact!” announced Hailey. “The Quaffle slips out of her hands but Victoria swoops in to catch the Quaffle before the Gryffindor Team Chasers could gain possession of it. Passing to Isabelle who swerves around before passing it back to Ginny, as she spins around, avoiding an attempt by Coote to disarm her before shooting but this time Ron Weasley blocks his sister’s shot and throws it back into the mix, where Katie Bell gains possession of the Quaffle and she throws it to Demelza! No, Isabelle swoops in and takes it from underneath her nose! Taking aim, she throws it towards the hoop and Ron Weasley manages to block another attempted goal!”

The Quaffle made its way back into play as Amanda made it towards the Slytherin goal side but a Bludger sailed right towards her, knocking the Quaffle out of her hands and enabling Ginny to gain possession of the Quaffle.

“Ginny has the Quaffle, she shoots the Quaffle, it spins wildly through the air, nearly taking out Beater Jack Maff in the process and right through the left side hoop to push Slytherin further in the lead, with a seventy to forty advantage!” announced Hailey loudly. “And now the Quaffle is in the possession of…HARRY HAS SEEN THE SNITCH!”

Sure enough Harry darted forward towards the Golden Snitch. The Boy-Who-Lived flew towards his goal on pure adrenaline and McLaggen had pushed himself behind Harry with all of his might.

“Harry is just inches away from grabbing the Golden Snitch. He reaches forward with his good arm and THAT NO GOOD BASTARD JUST NEARLY PULLED HARRY’S BROOMSTICK OUT FROM UNDERNEATH HIM!” yelled Hailey who had sprang up in indignation as McLaggen had managed to grab the end of Harry’s broomstick and nearly yanked it out from underneath him with all of his might. Harry lurched to the side and had to grab onto the broomstick, resisting the urge to “inadvertently” elbow McLaggen right in the face.

“Miss Potter, I’m going to remind you to mind your language, it’s very unbecoming of a young lady,” replied McGonagall in a stern voice. “What would your mother say about this?”

“I’ve heard worse from her but that’s another story as it appears that Madam Hooch has called a foul on the Gryffindor team and they will receive one penalty shot, which is apparently going to be taken by Ginny Weasley, as McLaggen is being chastised by Captain Katie Bell for his conduct,” said Hailey, the irritation in her voice rather evident. “After this foul, Ginny aims the Quaffle but she appears a bit shaken up. She makes an attempt at it, but the Quaffle doesn’t even make it far enough for Ron to even bother to block it.”

“Resume play!” shouted Madam Hooch and the Quaffle went back up into the air.

“Amanda takes advantage of the confusion by grabbing to the Quaffle, as Demelza swoops into position and the Quaffle is passed to her, and then Katie has the Quaffle and darts forward,” remarked Hailey. “Two Bludgers come her way from the Slytherin Beaters but she drops down slightly to avoid them before she aims the Quaffle. No wait, that was a fake out and she passes it back to Demelza, who then passes it to Amanda, who passes it back to Katie, who throws the Quaffle forward. Zabini has his hands on the ball, no wait he fumbles it slightly, enough for it to slip out of his grip and Gryffindor score for the first time in nearly a half of an hour, closing the gap to seventy to forty, still in favor of Slytherin!”

Harry moved up slightly out of the way, in an attempt to get a fix on the Snitch’s location, managing to catch Demelza Robins nearly scoring yet another goal but it was blocked at the last possible second. After a couple of minutes of intense searching, Harry spotted the Golden Snitch, which hovered slightly above McLaggen’s head, with a brilliant inspiration hitting Harry.

“Hey, McLaggen is that the Golden Snitch floating above your head?” asked Harry with a shrewd smirk that one might misinterpret that he was misleading McLaggen.

“Nice try Potter, but I’m not falling for that old trick again,” replied McLaggen in a slightly pompous voice. “I’d get new material if I was…WAH!”

Harry zoomed forward in the blink of the light catching McLaggen completely off guard.

“And Harry has seen the Golden Snitch and Harry reaches forward with his good arm!” yelled Hailey, nearly leaping up in excitement at her brother’s brilliant strategy, but somehow managing to maintain some semblance of professionalism. “McLaggen seems to have realized the location of the Snitch but it is too late for him as Harry has the Snitch. Slytherin beats Gryffindor for the Twelfth year in a row with a score of two hundred and twenty to forty!”

The Slytherin supporters cheered loudly and even the Gryffindor supporters applauded at Harry’s courageous performance, managing to gut it out for close to forty minutes with a separated shoulder and no medical attention. The Boy-Who-Lived drop to the ground and not a moment too soon, as he collapsed to his knees in agony, with Ginny and the rest of the Slytherin team rushing towards his side as McLaggen looked very sour as the Gryffindor team shot him irritated looks for missing such an obvious catch of the Golden Snitch.

“Excellent, we won,” said Harry in a strained voice, as he was on his knees, the pain in his arm nearly unbearable.

“Harry, we need to get you to the hospital wing,” replied Ginny.

Harry looked at his arm, it was bent slightly awkward. The angle that the Bludger hit the arm to cause such a break would have been a one in a million fluke and from all indications it looked as Harry had the misfortune of being that rare odd. Daphne and Theodore arrived to check on Harry, with Hailey arriving shortly after, before Harry walked up to the hospital wing to get his injury tended to.

As it turned out, Harry’s arm was healed by Madam Pomfrey, but she insisted that Harry spend the night to make sure he didn’t have a negative reaction to the spell that she had to use to break his arm in the proper direction before she used a potion to heal the arm.

“Looks like, I’m not going to be able to teach the supplemental sixth and seventh Defense classes tonight,” remarked Harry in a resigned voice, as Daphne, Theodore, Ginny, and Hailey crowded around his bed. His mother had already been by to visit, but there was a staff meeting in the early evening that she needed to attend.

“Don’t worry about it, Harry,” answered Daphne.

“Yeah, Daphne and I will take over the classes, I know you don’t want them to fall behind,” answered Theodore. “Anything specific you want us to go over?”

“I was planning more work on the Patronus Charm,” said Harry.

“Good plan Harry, four people were found in their homes kissed and three of them were Aurors,” replied Daphne.

“Yeah, with numbers like that, you would think that knowing a good Patronus Charm would be a prerequisite for joining the Auror department,” commented Theodore, before he consulted his watch. “The classes start it about ten minutes, so we better get going.”

Daphne nodded before following Theodore out of the Hospital Wing. Hailey yawned.

“I better get going too, I have to write a Potions Essay,” announced Hailey. “I swear, Snape wants to kill me before I’m fifteen. Good night, Harry, Ginny.”

“Night Hailey,” replied Ginny and Harry in unison. Ginny was staying with Harry through the night, something that Madam Pomfrey was rather reluctant to allow, but both her and Harry together could be rather insistent. So as a result, Pomfrey had caved in to their request.

Harry reached over to read a copy of the Daily Prophet that was on the table.

“Oh no,” muttered Harry in a horrified voice.

“What is it Harry?” asked Ginny.

“Eight Death Eaters, along with notorious werewolf Fenrir Greyback have escaped Azkaban Prison just this past Monday,” said Harry as he read the paper for further information. “The worst part is that one second they were in the cells and the next second they were gone, without any struggle and no one walked in to spring them. The thing is Azkaban is warded against Apparation…”

“Which means someone snuck Portkeys into Azkaban,” suggested Ginny.

“That’s exactly what I thought as well,” said Harry with a frown. “I can’t be certain whether or not the Imperius Curse was used through.”

Harry resisted the urge to get up and curse as he read the names of all the Death Eaters, each that his resistance group had a hand in personally placing into Azkaban.

“There are more Death Eaters into Azkaban that Voldemort had broken out, so why not break them all out?” asked Harry, more to himself than anyone else. “Greyback I can understand, because he leads most of werewolves and from what I’ve heard, Voldemort has been having a lot of problems with the werewolves with Greyback in Azkaban. The other eight names, I don’t get, a couple of them were fairly high up in the Death Eaters, but others aren’t.”

Ginny shrugged, she was just as confused as Harry. Harry just sat back, rereading the entirety of the article many times; attempting to figure out a motive of those particular eight Death Eaters being sprang from Azkaban.

Harry yawned, it was getting rather late and if Ginny wasn’t here with him, it would have been a very boring night.

Ron Weasley walked down the hallways to the Gryffindor Common Room in slightly good spirits. While the Quidditch game against Slytherin had been a bust, Ron had come close to achieving a corporeal patronus in the extra Defense class after a couple of weeks of intense and quite frustrating work. There were still a few struggling with the spell, but most had gotten close to corporeal or a completely corporeal patronus.

Entering the Gryffindor Common Room, one of the last people to come back from the class, Ron yawned as the Common Room seemed to be mostly empty, except for Hermione Granger, who sat towards the back of the room with a focused expression on her face, as she read a book. In a second, she noticed Ron and quickly shoved the book out of sight.

“What do you want?” asked Hermione as she narrowed her eyes dangerously.

“Nothing,” replied Ron quickly. “It’s just…”

“Spit it out, Weasley,” said Hermione.

“It’s just I’m surprised you haven’t been coming to the Defense classes at night, if anyone would want to have extra practice, it would be you, wouldn’t it?” asked Ron nervously.

“So you think you know me like a book Weasley, you think you can figure me out,” suggested Hermione sarcastically causing Ron to cringe slightly. “Harry thought he could figure me out, thought he could shove me to the side like all his other friends, while he is the only one who gets to risk his life with his crusade against Death Eaters. He arrogantly thought that I would accept his word as gospel, thinking that he would stop me from making Bellatrix Lestrange pay! He thinks just because I nearly got killed twice against Bellatrix, I can’t handle her, I’m weak and someone in need of protection!”

“Hermione, Harry doesn’t think that…” started Ron but it was evident this was the wrong thing to say.

“DAMN YOU, RON, DON’T EVEN BEGIN TO THINK YOU KNOW WHAT HARRY THINKS!” yelled Hermione as she got up to her feet. “I’ve been his best friend or I thought he was for six years, while you spent most of your time either branding him as the epitome of evil or being jealous because of fame that Harry doesn’t even want.”

“Hermione, I did some stupid things in the past, but I’ve moved on, grew up maybe, but…” started Ron, before shaking his head.

“But what, Weasley?” demanded Hermione but Ron leaned forward before lunging for the book that Hermione was reading. Ron looked at the title.

“Magic Most Sinister?” asked Ron as he looked over the title of the book.

“GIVE THAT BACK, WEASLEY!” yelled Hermione, as she raised her wand and green sparks began to shoot up from it briefly.

“Hermione, this is a dark arts book,” answered Ron in a sickened voice, as he had the misfortune to look at some of the illustrations to depicted the after effects of the spells.

“Yes,” replied Hermione coldly with what appeared to be a slight red glint in her eyes for a brief second that caused Ron to step back in fear. “Is that a problem?”

“Well because they’ll illegal and….they…well...you might get expelled or thrown into Azkaban if you get caught with this book,” said Ron, choosing his words carefully.

“Well then I guess you won’t be telling anyone,” said Hermione briskly before looking at the worried look on Ron’s face. “Now are you going to just stand there or am I going to have to make you move?”

“Hermione I…” started Ron but he just turned his back slowly at the deadly glare in Hermione’s eyes and walked off. Hermione was the last person that he suspected would study the dark arts, breaking the rules that badly but yet the proof was staring him in the face. The murder of her parents and her near death experience had changed Hermione, perhaps even slightly warping her personality.
The rest of the weekend passed without much incident, until Monday Morning at Hogwarts. Daphne had received her copy of the Daily Prophet and had nearly spat out her morning pumpkin juice, as a horrified look at appeared on her face.

“What’s up, Daphne?” asked Ginny.

“Yeah, did Voldemort strike with an attack?” asked Harry.

“Oh, I’d say he struck all right,” answered Daphne with a slow nod of her head as Theodore, Ginny, and Harry leaned forward to get a better look at the paper.

Ministry of Magic Thrown into Chaos: Scrimgeour Vanishes

On the heels of the escape of eight Death Eaters and one werewolf, another scandal has rocked the Wizarding World and the Ministry of Magic in particular. Despite their best efforts to cover his disappearance up as a vacation, word has reached the Dailey Prophet that Head of the Auror Department Rufus Scrimgeour has disappeared. Scrimgeour was last seen exiting the Ministry of Magic through the Floo Network. No one has seen or heard from the Head of the Auror office since then.

Perhaps the most perplexing fact of this case is that Scrimgeour appears to have never reached his home after leaving the Ministry. Extensive magical testing on his fireplace indicated that someone had last left the Scrimgeour residence early Thursday morning, at approximately seven in the morning. This piece of evidence raises more questions than gives answers. The Floo Regulation Department insists that the Floo Network has not been tampered with but the disappearance of yet another mystery official has the fingerprints of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named all over it. The Dailey Prophet will bring you more information as it comes to place but as of press time, the Auror Department is in a state of chaos.

“Harry, I think I know why those particular eight Death Eaters were broken out of Azkaban,” declared Theodore.

“That’s great, Theodore, because quite frankly Ginny and I are at a loss,” replied Harry.

“I just thought of something when they mentioned the Floo Network,” replied Theodore. “Aberton, Rockforth, and Thaddeus, three of the Death Eaters that were broken out worked for the Floo Regulation Department in the Ministry before.”

“You know, you might just be on to something,” said Daphne thoughtfully. “Voldemort must have found a way to tamper with the Floo Network and kidnap people mid travel, but he needed the help of people who worked for the Floo Regulation Department to make it work.”

Harry got up to his feet.

“I need to get to the Ministry right now, the entire Wizarding World might be in danger if Voldemort’s found someway to abduct people in the midst of Floo travel,” said Harry quickly and without another word, he activated his Portus-Amulet to take him straight to the Ministry.