Amour

THE MATCH

"It's the season's first Quidditch match and its Griffindor versus Hufflepuff!"came Lee Jordan's voice from the magical microphone,followed by the roar of the audience as the players of the two teams rose up in the air on their broomsticks.Hermione kicked off on the first whistle in search of the snitch,all the time keeping an ear out for the commentry for the happenings of the match."Griffindor in possession,no Hufflepuff in possession,no Griffindor back in possession and Katie Bell scores!Quaffle taken by Jasper,Hufflepuff in possession and they score.Thats a foul...Griffindor's Angelina Johnson going to take it.."went on Lee.As soon as Griffindor were leading,Hermione quit distracting the Hufflepuff seeker and went looking for the snitch across the field.She finally spotted a speck of gold far far above the stadium and went haring after it but as she flew upwards it flew further away from her.Suddenly she saw something in her peripheral vision that made her gasp;the silhouette of a shaggy black dog clearly marked in the clouds as it was momentarily visible standing on the highest stands of the gallery.The Grim!Is it going to haunt me forever?Then as she heard a shriek from the Hufflepuff seeker,close at her heels,she looked down,completely forgetting about the snitch or the match,to see atleast a hundred dementors swarming about the pitch and some came so close to them that she could feel her hands and feet freezing through her gloves and shoes.She again felt herself growing weak and morose as the dementors closed in on her sucking out all happiness with her consciousness.Then she heard a familiar but long forgotten voice in her head;Not her,not my baby.Kill me (sob..sob),kill me you monster.Hermione tried to grasp at her broom handle but her hands groped empty air.No.I have to help her.She heard a blood curdling scream and then she realised she was falling into cold blackness.................................
Snape sat at the stands with the other teachers,not really following the match.He clapped unenthusiasticaly whenever there was a score but followed Hermione as she rose up and up dissappearing into the clouds.She has definitely seen the snitch,the match will be over soon with another one of her beautiful catches.But then something happened that made the whole crowd awfully quite.A freezing cold spread across the area as a number of dementors came out of nowhere.Snape looked towards Dumbledoor who looked equally confused."What the...?"began McGonagall but stopped as she heard screams and gasps from everyone around and all eyes pointed upwards as someone came falling out of the skies.Snape's heart stopped.Hermione!She's falling!From fifty feet.Her body was totally limp and she kept falling with an unstoppable force nothing in between to break her fall.Snape readied himself to mutter some incantations but he fumbled because he was so shocked and worried.But Dumbledoor raised his hands,"Aresto momentum!",and Hermione stopped a few feet from the ground and the stadium let out a collective breath.Then it was all a blur for Snape as some teachers and prefects went to stop the curious ones to huddle closer to her body,while he and the other teachers tore after Dumbledoor,who produced stretchers out of thin air and magicked her body back to the hospital wing.
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Snape dreaded the worst as Madam Pomfrey examined Hermione;but was relieved when he saw her chest heaving as she breathed.The teachers,Dumbledoor,her teammates and Harry,Ron were only allowed in.After some time Hermione stirred and slowly opened her eyes and Snape exhaled,visibly relieved.She was awake now but looked so pale that she could've easily been mistaken for a corpse."Wha..what happened?"she asked feebly."You fell."Harry said simply."Oh...I mean,the match.Who won?"she looked around at all the faces expectantly.And Snape could'nt help but let out an exasperated sigh.She fell unconscious falling off her broom in mid-air...she could've died!And all she can think of is the match!Dumbledoor cleared his throat to take the attention away from Snape's sudden outburst of emotion,"The match was cancelled after the dementors arrived uninvited.""Yes...it was the dementors.Because of them I....I don't know..they do something to me..."Hermione could'nt continue and looked sheepishly up at Snape.After that her friends took over her."No one blames you Hermione.""Damn those dementors!""You look a bit peaky,pal-""Peaky?She looks as if she hasn't eaten in days.""Well,let's throw you off a tower and see how you look then,mate."Snape had enough.They are blabbering away at her.She needs to sleep."Should'nt Ms.Granger take rest now?Madam Pomfrey,see to it that she gets some chocolate to bring back the colour to her face.And all of you,out!"he said firmly.Madame Pomfrey went to get the chocolate and all of them turned to go when Hermione suddenly remembered,"And what happened to my Nimbus?"They stopped and her teammates looked as if they were dreading this question."When you fell,your broom..sort of..blew away-to the Whoming willow."Ron looked troubled as he was the one giving out the bad news."And well,you know...the willow-"Oh no.She's gonna be so upset.Ron took up the bag lying at the foot of her bed and emptied it's contents onto her lap.There were only a thousand wooden splinters and broken twigs left of her favourite possession.Her eyes remained transfixed at this sight for some time and no one could utter a word.Snape half raised his hand so as to go and console her when Hermione wiped away a single tear from her cheek,clutched the wooden remains to her chest and lay back in bed turning away from them and they all left the hospital wing not making another sound.