Thursday 17th February
Hermione walked with Harry as he made his way down to the Quidditch pitch with the rest of the team. The crisp February air bit at her nose, and she was glad that she had decided to wear her full set of periwinkle blue knitwear. It was a little awkward, as blue was Ravenclaw's colours, but it was all she had.
She considered using a charm to change the colour, but she liked the way it looked now, and she doubted anybody would really care that much anyway.
She could see the Ravenclaws in front of them as they made their way down.
Most of the Gryffindor players, and house, were in high spirits after Slytherin's win over Hufflepuff on Tuesday, which meant that Gryffindor was still in the running for the cup. Harry, however, was suffering from his normal pre-match nerves.
Hermione didn't like that he had barely eaten anything at breakfast, but had only given a token effort to get him to eat. Experience had taught her that it was a losing battle; Harry just would not eat when he was nervous.
They reached the western changing rooms that were assigned to Gryffindor today. This was where Hermione would have to leave Harry, so before he could disappear into the changing room, she pushed him up against the wall of the stadium and gave him the deepest kiss she dared, right in front of the rest of Harry's team.
The twins and chasers whistled and cheered as the couple kissed.
"For luck Harry," Hermione said as she broke the kiss.
Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson each got speculative looks on their faces as they looked at the twins. As Hermione walked away to go find a seat, she wondered if the twins would be getting their own good luck kisses shortly. The two chasers' opinions of the twins was hardly a secret, though she wondered how the two could tell them apart.
Hermione found a seat in the front row, where she would be unobstructed in casting a spell to stop Harry from falling if he came off his broom again. That it made it easy for Harry to spot her was just a happy coincidence.
One downside of sitting in the front row was that she was among the many of the hardcore Quidditch fans. Hermione didn't mind Quidditch, but she could live without it. If Harry wasn't on the team, she probably would have stopped attending the matches after her first year. She was soon joined by Ron, Ginny and Seamus, as well as other fans who she was less familiar with.
Ron was still not talking to her or Harry, and if Hermione was honest with herself, that suited her just fine.
Ronald may have been Harry's first friend, but that clearly didn't stop him from being rude and unpleasant, and more than a bit of a bully, at least to her. Honestly, the only time he was even close to nice to her was when he wanted her to help him with his homework, which usually amounted to him wanting her to tell him what to write.
She would put up with him for Harry. She couldn't ask Harry to abandon his friends, even one like Ronald.
Harry didn't have enough people in his life who liked the real Harry, instead of just 'the-boy-who-lived', even if she was sure the only reason Ronald wanted to be Harry's friend in the beginning was because of the 'the-boy-who-lived'.
Hermione was sure he and Harry would make up eventually, and she would have to accept Ronald's insincere apology to keep the peace, but she would be doing it for Harry's sake, definitely not for Ronald. Until then, she was going to enjoy the silent treatment while it lasted.
"And here it is; the third game in this year's Quidditch cup," Lee Jordan's magically enhanced voice was projected around the stadium, "First, we have a team untested this year, as the Ravenclaw's first match of the year was postponed till later this week due to an injury on the Slytherin team. They will be playing the Gryffindor team, who voluntarily forfeited their last game to Hufflepuff after the Hufflepuff Captain Cedric Diggory gave up on his chance to win the game to save the Gryffindor seeker from a horrifying dementor attack. It was an amazing show of humanity all-round."
The crowd was cheering fiercely, and Hermione could see why; Lee really was good at riling up a crowd.
"Will all the extra practice the Ravenclaw team has put in win the day? Or, will the Gryffindor thirst to prove themselves win out. It's going to be a good match today Quidditch fans, I can feel it. And here is the Gryffindor team now. We have; Bell, Johnson, Spinett, Weasley and Weasley, Potter and team Captain, Oliver Wood."
Hermione's eyes locked onto Harry's as he walked out into the pitch and she joined the rest of the crowd as they cheered for the Gryffindor team. She watched as the Ravenclaw team walked out to similar cheers from their own house.
The two teams met in the middle of the pitch, shook hands and, after a few moments of conversation with the team captains, Madam Hooch released the quaffle.
The game was on.
Hermione couldn't see it from so far away, but she knew Harry well enough to know that as soon as his feet left the floor, all the nervousness drained out of him.
Harry was back in the sky, where he belonged.
Hermione, who was more than a little afraid of heights, didn't particularly like it when Harry flew around at break-eck speeds, and often in terrible weather; to her, it was a shock that he wasn't seriously injured every match, as he had so many close calls. Then again, most things to her where close calls. However, she couldn't deny the air was where he belonged.
"And Gryffindor's Katie Bell takes the opening quaffle. She dives in and out of the other players; Oh! Nice dodge of that bulger, which is then sent towards the Ravenclaw captain by one of the Weasleys. Katie passes to Alicia Spinett…"
Hermione tuned out the commentary and focused on Harry, who was circling the pitch, looking avidly for the snitch. Hermione was hoping Harry would find it soon, so that he could get back on the ground before anything happened to him. Even if something didn't go wrong, or nothing attacked the game, those bludgers were dangerous. Personally, she couldn't believe that it was allowed to have flying balls that were intended to knock people off of their brooms from such heights.
The problem was, the Ravenclaw seeker Cho Chang kept cutting in front of Harry and batting her eyes at her harry. Hermione actually growled as the Ravenclaw strumpet actually tried flirting with Harry.
"Don't worry Hermione," Ginny, who was sitting between her and Ronald, said, "Cho is just trying to distract and fluster Harry. It's a tactic often used by the Holyhead Harpies. Cho is basically admitting she doesn't think she could beat Harry with skill."
"I still don't like it. And isn't a tactic like that insulting?"
"If guys are too dumb to not ignore it, why should I care if they are insulted," Ginny shrugged.
"I mean it's insulting to women," Hermione pressed, and Ginny looked at her, surprised, "How can we expect men to see us as equal if, instead of matching them at skill, women like that ," she nodded at Cho, "Try to use their looks to win. Look at Kate, Angela and Alicia; they aren't using their looks. They are giving it their all, and earning every point. But people will remember Cho doing this, and it will make it harder for us to be taken seriously."
Ginny looked thoughtful, "I never thought of it like that."
--- ϟϟϟ ---
Harry was not having the best time in the air.
He wanted to look for the snitch, but the Ravenclaw seeker Chang kept cutting him off. The strategy was obvious; Harry was a pretty good seeker. Better than Chang, and he also had the broom advantage with his nimbus 2000 being a cut above her comet two-sixty.
Chang didn't think she could beat him to the snitch, so she hoped to stop him from finding it until Ravenclaw had a 150 point lead.
Harry could respect the strategy behind that, even if it was annoying. The thing that was really annoying him was that Chang kept winking at him and flirting.
The whole school knew he was with Hermione. It had been major gossip last year. Some had thought that he was using Hermione to throw off suspicion about being the heir of Slytherin. Others had thought that Hermione was trying to carry favour with him to save herself. A few even thought that Harry had some crazy animal fetish and had changed Hermione to suit his tastes.
The point was that everyone had been talking about it, so Chang definitely knew he was taken, and yet she was still trying to flirt with him.
"Hey good-looking, why get distracted by the snitch, when it's just the two of us up here? Come on, we can talk about anything ..." Chang winked at him as she cut him off once again, causing Harry to have to turn sharply to avoid a collision.
Harry was angry now, "Get bent you dirty slapper!"*
The look on Chang's face was fantastic. It morphed first from a look of shock into one of pure fury. If Harry was honest with himself, he would admit that he was being more than a little harsh, but in that moment, he just didn't care.
"You'll pay for that Potter," She then turned and flew off, presumably to actually try looking for the snitch herself.
Harry, however, didn't care, as he had seen the snitch. It was fluttering around the center of the pitch, near to the ground. Harry dove for the golden ball, but had to dodge a bludger in the last few moments, and in the few seconds Harry took his eyes off the prize, it had disappeared.
The game was starting to drag on, with Ravenclaw twenty points up against the Gryffindors. Harry was still looking for the snitch, and was also keeping an eye on Chang incase she spotted it first.
Then, Harry saw something. It was definitely not a snitch; no, it was three dementors, slowly drifting towards the pitch.
Harry dove to the ground, as the last thing he wanted was to be in the air right now. If he fell from his broom again, Hermione very well may confiscate his broom herself and never let him fly again.
Harry pulled his wand out of his robes, where he had moved it when he changed for the game. It was hard to draw a wand from a wrist holster when flying; one of the basics of flying was that you needed to keep at least one hand on the broom at all times.
"Expecto patronum!" Harry's spell formed and shot off towards the dementors. It was joined along the way by another that Harry thought was Hermione's, only he didn't have time to really look.
When Harry dived, Chang, thinking he had seen the snitch, had followed him, her eyes searching for the golden ball.
The problem was, she actually had found it.
Harry hesitated for a second, but he didn't feel the effects of the dementors, so he chased after the Raven-haired Ravenclaw. He was right on her tail; his faster broom was quickly gaining on the other seeker's.
They were neck and neck; the snitch was just out of their reach. The two chasers were both reaching, trying to take ahold of the fluttering snitch, but it remained right outside their grasp.
The snitch was closing on the edge of the pitch; it would have to change direction soon, or it would go out of bounds.
It would go either left or right. It looked like it would go left, but some instinct was yelling at Harry to go down, underneath Chang, and to the right.
Harry didn't understand it, but he gambled on his instinct, and he turned first, just as the snitch turned down and to the right, exactly like Harry's instinct had told him, leaving him in the perfect spot to pluck the fluttering gold ball from the air.
Suddenly the stadium was filled with noise. There were cheers of delight from the Gryffindors and disappointed groans from the Ravenclaws. Harry dove straight to the pitch. He wasn't high up anymore, but he wanted to have his feet on the ground before his patronus failed and the dementors were free to come after them.
--- ϟϟϟ ---
Hermione was feeling a little smug; she didn't know what Harry had said to the Ravenclaw seeker, but he had definitely said something which had stopped her flirting with Harry, and instead of flying around him while batting her eyes, she was now keeping her distance from him, while shooting dark looks at him every few minutes.
Hermione's heart leapt into her throat as Harry dived towards the pitch for the second time this match. She hated it when he did this; she always had visions of him crashing into the ground at full speed. No magic, no matter how strong, would bring Harry back from something like that.
Then she saw what Harry had seen.
Harry wasn't diving for the snitch, he was trying to get out of the sky before the dementors were able to make him fall. She whipped her wand out from her wrist holster and, concentrating on that memory of New Years, she called on her magic and shouted at the top of her voice, "Expecto patronum!".
She didn't wait to see what her patronus did, she was out of her seat and rushing down the stairs almost as soon as she had cast the spell. She took the steps two or three at a time, her head filled with images of Harry, lying broken on the pitch, leaving her too worried about getting to Harry to be concerned about little things, like falling down the stairs.
The stadium erupted in noise but she was in a stairwell and couldn't see what had caused it.
She took the last stairs in a full sprint. Then she was pitch side, and Harry was there, standing in the grassy field that was the Quidditch grounds. Her mind flooded with relief; he was standing, he had landed, instead of falling. thank magic for that.
She didn't stop or slow down, she just ran to him and threw herself around him for a second, before she started trying to pull him off the pitch. Before she could move him though, they were suddenly swamped by the rest of the Quidditch team, who were happily cheering and congratulating Harry for his catch.
Hermione was confused, even if Harry had the snitch, there was no way everyone could be this happy in the presence of dementors. It took almost a minute, but Hermione developed a suspicion about the so-called dementors.
While Hermione was dealing with her confusion, Harry was trying to get her, himself, and the rest of the team off the pitch, but his protests against celebrating and his worries about the soul-sucking creatures were being drowned out by the team's loud cheers.
Katie had even thrown her arms around Harry as she jumped up and down in excitement. Hermione might have gotten a little jealous, if it wasn't for the fact that Katie had trapped her along with Harry in the same hug.
Professor Lupin was the one to break up the Gryffindor Quidditch team, "Ok you lot; congratulations on the win, but let poor Harry breathe ," The huddle of Quidditch players broke up with their grins and high spirits intact.
Finally able to breathe, Harry turned to Professor Lupin with alarm, "Sir! There are dementors; I just saw them before I caught the snitch. I sent out my patronus, but it won't keep them back long."
"Harry, Hermione, it's ok. Those...weren't dementors," Harry and Hermione both looked at the Defence against the Dark Arts Professor for an explanation, Harry with a disbelieving look, and Hermione with one of understanding.
"The two of you should probably come and see this for yourselves," The Professor led the couple, and a curious Fred and George, to the spot below where Hermione and Harry had seen the three flouting figures clad in dark robes they had thought were dementors.
In place of soul-sucking horrors, they found Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, in a heap on the floor, each of them wearing black robes and carrying brooms.
With their hoods up, and with brooms concealed under their robes, each of them could do a passable imitation of a dementor from a distance. The part that brought a smile to each of the Gryffindors was that the three Slytherins were not alone.
Professor McGonagall was laying in to the three of them with an expression of the utmost fury etched into her face, "A low down, dirty, unworthy trick!" she was shouting, "A cowardly attempt to sabotage Mr Potter. Seven nights in detention for all of you, and fifty points from Slytherin! Each! And I am banning you, Mr Malfoy, from playing Quidditch for the rest of the year. And if you two are thinking of trying out for the team, forget it!"
Crabbe and Goyle looked suitably chastised, but Malfoy looked furious, "You can't ban me from Quidditch! I'm the Slytherin seeker, my father donated the brooms to the Slytherin team, just wait until he hears about this, he won't let it stand!"
Professor McGonagall clearly didn't like the way Malfoy was talking to her, if the expression on her face was any indicator, "That will be another 30 points from Slytherin, for talking back to a Professor, and another seven nights in detention, Mr Malfoy; I suggest you go back up to the castle, before you land yourself in detention until Easter break," The professor didn't shout, but the Scottish accent that was creeping into her words the more she spoke showed just how angry she was.
Malfoy turned and stormed back up to the castle, with his two lackeys following behind. Hermione felt that all it needed was for Malfoy to stamp his foot, and then he would be the perfect little drama queen.
--- ϟϟϟ ---
Hermione went to the post game party for a change; for once she didn't have any homework left that needed doing, and without any classes the next day to prepare for, she was letting her hair down, so to speak.
The twins had procured food from the kitchen, and Hermione had brought down her gramophone. She may only have muggle music, but as far as most Gryffindors were concerned, music was music.
Harry was talking through his point of view of the match with a couple of excited Gryffindors, while doing his best to match Ron at the buffet. In Harry's defence, he had skipped on most of breakfast due to match nerves, and was now actually hungry, where as Ron was just filling his face because there was food.
Hermione noticed Harry looking over at the buffet longingly, but he was cornered by Colin Creevey and Demelza Robins, who wanted a minute by minute reply of the match. As Hermione fancied a pumpkin pasty herself, she decided to get Harry something at the same time.
The buffet was mostly full of sweets and cakes, but the house elves had added some real food as well. Hermione grabbed a plate for Harry and added a few cheese sandwiches, a couple of sausage rolls and a chicken leg. Harry had been mostly eating cakes and sweets, so it wasn't a wonder he was still hungry. She grabbed herself a pumpkin pasty and turned to go back to Harry and bring him his food.
She was making her way across the common room when a hand reached out and took one of the sausage rolls off the plate.
"Hey!" She turned and found Ron standing there, biting into the puff pastry wrapped sausage which he'd just nicked from the plate. Without bothering to swallow, Ron said, "This food is for real Gryffindors," He tried to take the other sausage roll off the plate, but Hermione moved it out of his reach.
Hermione was annoyed and more than a little confused, "Ok... first ; this plate is for Harry, so get your greedy hands off it, and second; what the fuck is that supposed to mean, 'real gryffindors'. I am a real gryffindor!"
" Real Gryffindors don't act like complete swots. Real Gryffindors don't attack other Gryffindors. Real Gryffindors actually cheer when the Gryffindor quidditch team scored a goal, and most of all; real Gryffindors don't wear Ravenclaw colours to the Gryffindor Ravenclaw match.
Why don't you and that bloody cat of yours get your furry ases out of Gryffindor tower and go to Ravenclaw, where you belong, traitor!" Ron was shouting at the top of his voice by the time he was finished.
Hermione was still as a statue.
Everyone was looking at her and whispering. Ron's loud voice had drawn everyone's attention, and they were all staring at her.
Hermione tried to hold it together, what he'd said really did hurt her. Before Hogwarts, she hadn't really fit in, she was too bookish for the other kids, and here at Hogwarts, she had always wondered if she would fit in better in Ravenclaw.
The hat even had considered sending her there.
Ron's words hit her right in her insecurity, and tears started to leak from her eyes.
Before she could do anything, Harry grabbed Ron by his shoulder, spun him around, and punched him right in the face. Ron crashed into the floor as Harry loomed over him, " Never speak to Hermione like that ever again! "
Percy called over the crowd, "Ok, everyone, the party is over. Start making your way to your dorms," Some people looked like they wanted to argue, but one look at Percy was enough to dissuade them.
Ron climbed to his feet and started towards the dormitory stairs, but was interrupted, "Not you Ron; we are going to talk," Percy pulled his youngest brother over to one side of the common room and started talking in harsh, whispered tones.
Harry led Hermione over to the comfortable chairs next to the fire and sat her down, before joining her and curling up with her while she cried out the tears from Ron's attack.
--- ϟϟϟ ---
Friday 18th February
The next morning, things were oddly quiet at the Gryffindor breakfast tablet.
Harry had awoken in the common room on one of the sofas, near the fireplace, with Hermione curled up half on top of him. Hermione had wanted to stay with Harry after what happened, but she hadn't wanted to join him in the boys' dorm with Ron, and as Harry couldn't enter her dorm, they had decided to remain in the common room.
The pair had been awoken by a Seventh year, who was working on a herbology project and had to be up before dawn to tend his plants.
After a shower and a change of clothes, they had met up again, before heading down to breakfast.
Ron had joined the throng of Gryffindors heading to breakfast, and everyone had gotten strangely quiet. Ron had a massive purple bruise on the right side of his face. He hadn't gone to the hospital wing the night before; after speaking with his older brother he had stormed off straight up to the dorm.
"What happened to your face Mr Weasley?" Professor McGonagall had noticed the unusual behaviour of her lions, and had come down to investigate, seeing the state of Ron's face.
"I bumped it partying last night. It was my own fault," Ron half-lied. Ron was technically right; something did bump against his face, namely Harry's fist, and it most definitely was Ron's fault, so Harry felt no need to correct him.
Professor McGonagall looked at Ron, and it was obvious that she didn't believe him, "Mr Weasley, I have seen a lot of 'bumps' in my years of teaching, and I believe that something else happened here; do you want to try again?"
"I bumped it partying last night. My own fault," Ron repeated verbatim.
"Very well, Mr Weasley. Go up to the hospital wing after breakfast and have Madame Pomfrey have a look."
"Yes Professor."
Harry relaxed, as it seemed Ron wasn't going to tell McGonagall the truth. He would have done the same thing, even if professor McGonagall was standing right there, but he didn't exactly want to spend the rest of the term in detention every night.
Hermione let out a breath as well; she had obviously be worried about the fallout. Especially since Professor McGonagall had taken to scheduling detention during the most inconvenient times.
The two of them returned to their breakfast of toast and eggs, until the mail came in and distracted them. Harry hadn't sent Hedwig to anyone since she had taken her weekly trip to the Granger's, and she had returned Monday evening with Dan and Emma's reply.
So, Harry was surprised to see her winging it in with a package to deliver.
Hedwige landed on Harry's empty plate and held out her leg for Harry to remove the familiar brown paper cylinder that most likely contained a muggle newspaper.
Dan or Emma must have asked Hedwig to pop back to them in the week when she delivered Harry and Hermione's weekly letters. Harry untied the paper from her leg as Hermione got herself a couple of rashers of bacon from a platter in the center of the table.
As soon as her leg was free of her burden, Hedwig shuffled over to Hermione and the bacon.
"Oh, I see how it is...It's not me you love; it's just the bacon," Harry teased.
Hedwig leaned back to Harry and gave his finger a friendly nip, before turning to Hermione, who was breaking up the bacon and feeding it to the snowy owl.
--- ϟϟϟ ---
Harry was reluctant to read the paper; even though his aunt had been found guilty, there was a slim chance that she wouldn't be sent to prison, and just the idea of that was stressing Harry.
In the end, Hermione, exasperated with Harry's indecision, dragged Harry up to the Room of Requirement and pushed the paper into his hands for him to open.
Harry opened the brown paper and found another copy of the Daily Mirror, dated from yesterday;
'Most evil woman in Britain' Locked up for good
Yesterday, the right honourable Judge, John Deed QC*, passed sentence on Miss Margery Eveline Dursley. The forty-two-year old spinster was found guilty of numerous crimes, including but not limited to, sixteen counts of child endangerment, sixteen counts of unlawful imprisonment, multiple breathes of child labour laws and multiple charges of animal cruelty.
The right honourable Judge Deed had this to say at her sentencing, "You are a vile and disgusting person, who, with full knowledge of the harmful effects of your actions, and the illegality of those actions, undertook them anyway, merely for your own profit.
While in this courtroom you have shown some small measures of remorse, it is my firm belief that you are only repentful because you are here in court, and I believe that if you could, you would have no problem continuing to exploit the weak and the powerless for your own gain.
It is with this in mind that I pass sentence; in summary, you will be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure for a period of one hundred and twelve years. You will be eligible for parole in fifty six years."
That's right readers; a minimum of 56 years. That means that inmate Dursley, who is currently 42, will be at least 98 by the time she has the opportunity to walk free, and only then if she spends her time at HM Prison Holloway as a model prisoner.
Our reporter though, after having had the privilege of interviewing two of the older survivors of Miss Dursley's 'care', is hoping that the now lifelong spinster never sets foot outside of a prison again for the rest of her life.
The two who were interviewed, who will remain unnamed due to their age, both said that they couldn't have hoped for a better result, and wished to express their thanks to the British legal system and the people who work in it, for everything that they did in bringing this vile woman to justice.
The Prime Minister has spoken with the Department of immigration, and although the families of the victims came to the UK illegally, they are talking about granting the victims of this horrendous crime permission to live and work in the UK indefinitely.
This reporter would like to end this report by wishing the victims and their families good luck on a brighter future.
Harry handed the paper to Hermione, who took it and started reading.
It was over; one of the monsters who haunted his dreams was dealt with. It was strange, Harry thought, he thought he would be jumping for joy at this news, but he wasn't.
That aunt Marge had gotten what she deserved, only underscored everyone who hadn't. Uncle Vernon, aunt Patina, the Death Eaters and Voldemort. They were all still running around free.
He felt arms reach around from behind him, as Hermione pulled him close and rested her head on his shoulder, "How are you doing Harry? Are you Ok?"
"Yeah, I'll be okay; it's just, Aunt Marge was the smaller of my problems. Yes, she was horrible, but she wasn't around a lot, you know?" Harry tried to explain how he was feeling.
Hermione tightened her arms around him, holding him closer, offering what comfort she could, "At least she is out of your life for good. You can start putting her behind you now."
Harry knew she was right; he needed to focus on the positive. Marge was gone, and maybe, just maybe, the other Dursleys would see it as a wake-up call.
--- ϟϟϟ ---
Saturday 19th February
The last Quidditch match for this term was Slytherin Vs Ravenclaw.
All of Slytherin was furious with Malfoy after he got himself banned from quidditch. Flint, the Slytherin Quidditch captain, had been left with only one day to find a replacement seeker before the Ravenclaw game.
According to Daphne and Tracy, the rumor in the Slytherin common room was that Malfoy had tried to get his father involved to reverse the ban. But, Malfoy had already spent a lot of his influence with the school governors last year, when he had pushed them to remove Dumbledore from the school.
This meant that warlock Malfoy unable to get a meeting with the governors scheduled before the Slytherin Ravenclaw game.
There was also a lot of resentment among the good seekers in Slytherin. A number of them had tried out for the Slytherin spot at the start of the year, only for them to snubbed because Malfoy had bought his place on the team with a full set of new Nimbus 2001's. As they all knew that they wouldn't be welcome on the team once the ban was lifted, they were refusing to play for the team now.
Flint had pressed Zabini into playing in the end.
Slytherin had been humiliated by Ravenclaw.
Zabini, who was a bit of a player, and not in a relationship, had fallen for Chang's flirting without any second thoughts, and Flint hadn't been able to leave his anger at Malfoy off the pitch, and as such was so distracted he kept fumbling the quaffle.
The final score was forty to two-hundred for Ravenclaw, and all of Slytherin was blaming Malfoy and his two lackeys for making them look bad.
Harry hadn't enjoyed the result of a Quidditch match he hadn't played in this much before.