Courage

-20-

Book: Courage
Chapter 20
Word Count: 1630

As Layla sat in the Quidditch stands, Ron and Hermione walked up to her, sitting on either side of her.

"Hullo, Layla," greeted Ron.

"We haven't seen you around much lately," added Hermione. "Layla... we think that Malfoy might be the heir of Slytherin. I wouldn't be surprised if he was. We're going to find out the truth by using Polyjuice Potion to turn ourselves into members of Draco's gang and get him to spill his secrets. Ron's going to be Crabbe, Harry's going to be Goyle, I'm going to be Millicent Bulstrode... do you want to join?"

"Sure," shrugged Layla. "I know that Malfoy is kinda close to Pansy Parkinson. I can be her."

Hermione nodded and smiled.

As the two Quidditch teams made their way onto the pitch, a roar of noise greeted them; mainly cheers, because Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were anxious to see Slytherin beaten, but the Slytherins in the crowd made their boos and hisses heard, too. Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher, asked Flint and Wood to shake hands, which they did, giving each other threatening stares and gripping rather harder than was necessary.

"On my whistle," said Madam Hooch. "Three... two... one..."

With a roar from the crowd to speed them upward, the fourteen players rose toward the leaden sky.

Almost immediately, a heavy black Bludger came pelting toward Harry; he avoided it so narrowly that he felt it ruffle his hair as it passed.

George gave the Bludger a powerful whack in the direction of Adrian Pucey, but the Bludger changed direction in midair and shot straight for Harry again.

"Layla?" a voice called in the row behind her. Layla turned to see none other than Cedric Diggory sat there, a smile on his face. "Long time, no see."

"Yeah, hey, Cedric," Layla spoke with a smile, speaking loudly so Cedric could hear her over the loud cheers of Ron and Hermione on either side of her, their eyes glued to the Quidditch match.

"We haven't spoken much since we, you know, got into trouble that one day," Cedric chuckled. "Sorry about that again. I was hoping to be in detention with you but I had detention with McGonagall and a few other third years."

"No worries," replied Layla. "I promise I'm not bad about that. The detention was actually not bad. We saw centaurs, it was awesome. I would have spoken to you more this year but... it's been a very busy year."

"Fair enough," said Cedric with a chuckle. "So, you chose not to tryout for Quidditch after all?"

"I still think I need more practice," Layla pointed out. "I'm thinking of trying out next year when I have more experience."

"Good plan. I can help you practice more if you want," offered Cedric. "In the daytime, of course. Don't want to be getting into trouble again."

"Sounds good," Layla grinned. "Thank you. We'll arrange time to do that soon."

"Slytherin lead, sixty points to zero—" Leo Jordan spoke loudly from the commentary stand.

George then zoomed up to Wood and called a time-out.

"The Bludger's been tampered with!" cried Hermione suddenly, causing Layla to look back at the game in shock.

"What?!"

"Look!" Hermione pointed at the game, and she was right. One of the Bludgers seemed to follow Harry wherever he went.
　　
With a splattering thud, Harry hit the mud and rolled off his broom. His arm was hanging at a very strange angle; riddled with pain, he heard, as though from a distance, a good deal of whistling and shouting. He focused on the Snitch clutched in his good hand. And he fainted.