American Royalty II

Part 21: The Quidditch Final

"I won't say 'I told you so,'" said Hermione, an hour later in the common room.

"Leave it, Hermione," said Ron angrily. Harry had never made it to dinner; he had no appetite at all. He had just finished telling Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Nico, and Percy what had happened. Percy already knew most of it, but Harry went over the details again for everyone else. Not that there seemed to have been much need to tell them; the news had traveled fast. Apparently, Moaning Myrtle had taken it upon herself to pop up in every bathroom in the castle, spreading the story. Malfoy had already been visited in the hospital wing by Pansy Parkinson, who lost no time in vilifying Harry, and Snape had informed the staff of the incident.

Harry had already been called out of the common room to endure fifteen highly unpleasant minutes with Professor McGonagall, who had told him he was lucky not to have been expelled and that she supported Snape's punishment of detention every Saturday until the end of the term.

"I told you there was something wrong with that Prince person," Hermione said, evidently unable to stop herself. "And I was right, wasn't I?"

"No, I don't think you were," said Harry stubbornly. He was having a bad enough time without Hermione lecturing him; the looks on the Gryffindor team's faces when he had told them he would not be able to play on Saturday had been the worst punishment of all. He could feel Ginny's eyes on him but did not meet them; he did not want to see disappointment or anger there. He had just told her that she would be playing Seeker on Saturday and that Dean would be joining the team as Chaser in her place. Percy and Nico would still be playing, thank goodness. Without them, we'd have no shot.

"Harry," said Hermione, "how can you still stick up for that book when that spell —"

"Will you stop harping on about the book!" snapped Harry. "The Prince only copied it out! It's not like he was advising anyone to use it! For all we know, he was making a note of something that had been used against him!"

"I don't believe this," said Hermione. "You're actually defending —"

"I'm not defending what I did!" said Harry quickly. "I wish I hadn't done it, and not just because I've got about a dozen detentions. You know I wouldn't have used a spell like that, not even on Malfoy. But you can't blame the Prince; he hadn't written 'try this out, it's really good' — he was just making notes for himself, wasn't he, not for anyone else. . . ."

"Are you telling me," said Hermione, "that you're going to go back — ?"

"And get the book? Yeah, I am," said Harry forcefully. "Listen, without the Prince, I'd never have won the Felix Felicis. I'd never have known how to save Ron from poisoning, I'd never have —"

"— got a reputation for Potions brilliance you don't deserve," said Hermione nastily.

Ginny, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly spoke up. "Give it a rest, Hermione!" she said, and Harry was so amazed, so grateful, he looked up. "By the sound of it, Malfoy was trying to use an Unforgivable Curse. You should be glad Harry had something good up his sleeve!"

"Well, of course I'm glad Harry wasn't cursed!" said Hermione, clearly stung. "But you can't call that Sectumsempra spell good, Ginny; look where it's landed him! And I'd have thought, seeing what this has done to your chances in the match —"

"Oh, don't start acting as though you understand Quidditch," snapped Ginny. "You'll only embarrass yourself."

Harry and Ron stared: Hermione and Ginny, who had always gotten along very well, were now sitting with their arms folded, glaring in opposite directions.

Percy cleared his throat, his calming demeanor breaking the tension. "We can't change what happened, but we can make sure it doesn't affect us more than it already has. We need to be focused for Saturday. We still have a strong team, and we can win this."