Gryffindor Princess and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Chapter Eleven: Breath

Harry had spent the weekend in the hospital wing after the accident at the quidditch pitch. She'd gone to see him along with Ron, Hermione and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They'd told him that Hufflepuff had won the game, but that they weren't out of the running quite yet. Hermione and Ron had also revealed that Harrys Nimbus Two Thousand had hit the whomping willow when he'd fallen off. Harry had stared at the broken pieces for what felt like hours.

On the Saturday she'd gone down alone to visit him, while Ron and Hermione caught up on homework. He'd been awake when she arrived, sitting up, working on some homework. Madam Pomfrey had been unimpressed that Hope was already visiting. 

"You just saw him yesterday, he's been through a terrible ordeal and he needs rest!" 

However, reluctantly, she'd let Hope stay and talk with Harry. 

"What happened", Harry asked her, "when the Dementors came to the pitch." 

"We told you yesterday Harry." 

"No", he said, "I meant what happened to you. On the train, you said you heard people screaming as well... But I heard more this time... I think I'm hearing my moms voice..." 

"Harry..." 

"But if I'm hearing my moms voice, then who are you hearing?" He asked. 

"I don't know...", She trailed off, "are you sure it's your mom." 

Harry nodded. 

"Maybe your dad will know?", Harry suggested, "you said it was a man and a woman?" 

"They were begging... Screaming as if... As if they were in pain..." 

"Maybe - erm - maybe your mom... hurt someone, when you were there?", He said. 

It was possible. She'd lived with her mother in Malfoy Manor for a year before Voldemort's demise. It was possible they'd brought someone to the manor to gain information... Could the Dementors be forcing her to listen to the sounds of people being tortured. 

"There's something else", Harry said, his hands shifting in his lap uncomfortably, "at the match... Right before the Death Eaters got there... I think I saw a - erm - a grim, I guess." 

"You saw the Grim?", Hope asked, "you saw a big black dog up in the sky?" 

"Not exactly... I only saw it for a second... It was in the stands", Harry said, "but... Every time I've seen it I've nearly died. The first time I was almost run over by the night bus. And, the second time I fell fifty feet from my broom." 

Hope pursed her lips. 

"I don't know Harry", she said, "you know I don't really believe in Divination or fortune telling... Perhaps theirs another explanation for it... Maybe Hagrid was there and he brought fang?" 

"Fangs tiny", said Harry, "It was this great big black dog..." 

"Okay", Hope said, "lets say - for a second - that you are seeing a Grim. Maybe we should look into how to get rid of it?" 

"Yeah", Harry said, "Yeah, maybe..." 

On Monday Harry returned to classes and on the same day Draco Malfoy had decided to finally take off his bandages. He celebrated use of his limbs by imitating Harry falling off his broom during the quidditch match.  During one Potions lesson Malfoy was doing another Dementor imitation across the dungeon, which had caused Ron to finally snap and fling a crocodile heart at Malfoy, hitting him in the face, and costing Gryffindor fifty points. 

After their Potions lesson they made their way to Defense-Against-the-Dark-Arts. 

"If Snape's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again, I'm skiving off", said Ron, "check who'd in there Hermione."