Unity & Perseverance

Assailant Revealed

Angelina was not that impressed that they had gotten a lifetime ban from Quidditch. However, the only consolation seemed to be that she was more angry at Umbridge than them. "I bet Draco will only get a slap on the wrist," she had said.

"He won't get in any sort of trouble, he'll call himself a victim." Amelia said reproachfully.

"Hey, at least it means you'll get a few games in now." Harry looked on the bright side momentarily. Amelia was the Reserve Seeker, so it now meant she'd play games full-time.

"It's just so unfair," Alicia Spinnet had said, "your ban. I mean, Crabbe almost took me out the game completely with that Bludger! I don't see him getting banned for that."

Harry then realised that he hadn't seen Ron since the incident. "Where's Ron?"

"In his dorm," Katie said, "I think he's sulking over the goals that he missed."

Harry nodded, and went up to the boy's dormitory, where low and behold Ron was. "Did you hear? Me, Fred and George have been banned from Quidditch after what we did to Malfoy." He said.

"What?" Ron yelped.

"Umbridge." Was all he had to say.

"How dare she!" Ron rambled. "She's an utter scumbag!"

Harry avidly agreed. Then he realised something. "She's really not going to let the DA reform now, with me involved and everything."

Ron's eyes widened. "Oh no, you're right! Oh Harry, this is all my fault.."

" Your fault?" Harry was confused. "You didn't force me to punch Malfoy."

"It was that stupid song that wound me up," Ron said, "it made me miss that penalty shot, did you not hear them singing it during the game? After that, it all went terrible, and they would have catched us up on the goals if you hadn't caught the Snitch."

"But Ron, that's besides the point, we won!" Harry exclaimed, "and you are not a terrible Keeper. You did really well for your first game. The only terrible Keeper on the pitch was Bletchley."

"Nah, he was better than me." Ron said, then continued, "I might hand in my resignation to Angelina first thing tomorrow morning."

Harry sighed, he knew Ron could get like this. "If you resign, that'll just add fuel to the Slytherin teams fire," he replied testly, "and the team will still be down a Keeper."

"That Vicky girl can have it," Ron grumbled.

"The same girl who wouldn't prioritise Quidditch over Charms Club?" Harry said tersely, "That Quidditch book I got you will all be for naught."

Ron said nothing, but gazed miserably at his bed covers. After a while he decided. "I'll keep at it then."

Harry was about to get himself ready for bed, when Dean came into the dorm. "Harry, Professor Black's wanting to speak to you."

"Oh, really?" Harry perked up, but then realised it was probably not going to be about his latest Astronomy homework, but that it was going to be about his incident earlier - for he could still see the furious look on his godfathers face whenever he blinked. "Is he downstairs?"

"He's outside the portrait hole." Dean replied. Harry, taking a deep breath, went down the stairs back into the common room. As expected, Sirius was standing halfway in the common room. He only smiled slightly at him and gestured for him to come outside.

Harry followed, and Sirius led him to an unused classroom. Harry perched himself on the nearest desk, for he knew this was probably going to be a lengthy talk.