Harry Potter and the Lighting Lord

Chapter 33

"What do you mean we're playing Gryffindor?" asked Roger Davies. "I thought they were playing against Slytherin!"

"I'm not sure" replied Abigail Turner, the Captain of the Ravenclaw team. "All I know is that Slytherin isn't playing, so we'll be playing against Gryffindor this Saturday."

Harry frowned. He knew that the Gryffindor team had a new seeker – Ginny Weasley. He didn't know how good she was, but Wood was making them practice like crazy, while the Ravenclaw team hadn't practiced as much, since their match wasn't scheduled this soon.

"Any chance we could book the pitch?" asked Harry.

"Already done" said Turner. "We only have a few days, so let's make the most of it."

The weather was quite bad, but while others were struggling due to the bad weather, Harry loved every second of it. Flying in a storm was second nature to him and he couldn't wait for the match.

Saturday morning, Harry got ready and frowned when he saw the weather didn't look natural; something was wrong.

He extended his mental link with his familiar and asked, "Aquila, what's wrong buddy?"

"I sense you might be in danger little one" replied the thunderbird. "I don't like those bad demons around the school. There are too many of them. Be careful."

Harry's frown deepened. He knew that Dumbledore too hated the dementors, and resented the fact that the Ministry had placed them around the school. Harry had always been worried that they would attack when they got the chance – it looked like today was their day of celebration.

Harry went down to the Great Hall and sat next to Daphne who was already seated at the Ravenclaw table, talking to Luna Lovegood.

"Be alert" he whispered to Daphne. "There might be an attack on the students today."

Daphne looked confused for a few seconds until realization dawned on her. "Dementors?" she whispered back.

Harry nodded and helped himself to breakfast. Once done, they all headed to the Quidditch pitch.

The rest of the team looked apprehensive playing in the weather conditions, so Harry spoke up. "Okay listen" he said firmly. "I know the weather conditions aren't ideal, so we'll make a deal. Leave the stealing of the Quaffle to me. I can handle it, but when I pass it on to you, score. With any luck, we'll be ahead of Gryffindor soon. And use warming and water repelling charms on yourselves; it may not be of much use in such heavy rain, but it might still be effective; chances are that Gryffindor hasn't thought of using them."

The others nodded and cast the charms on themselves. Once done, they took off. Once Madam Hooch released the Quaffle, the Gryffindors took control at once. Harry immediately used the low cloud cover to his advantage. This weather was where he thrived, and he was going to use it well. He dived when he spotted Angelina Johnson having the Quaffle, stole it and passed it on to Abigail Turner who scored, taking advantage of Oliver Wood's shock of Harry's sudden appearance.

This continued for more than an hour, with Ravenclaw leading 90-20. Finally, Harry saw the snitch. He went higher, with Ginny Weasley hot on his tail. The snitch went higher in the sky with both seekers after it. The snitch was at Harry's fingertips when suddenly, Ginny Weasley screamed.

The air was cold, very cold. Dozens and dozens of dementors surrounded them. "Weasley, try to get to the ground, now!" shouted Harry. They both tried to return, only to be blocked by several of the dementors. Harry could feel the oppressive darkness and negative emotions overwhelm him, so he flicked his wand to his hand, thought of all the happy moments he had with Daphne and how much he loved her and shouted "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"