The Past Meets the Future at Hogwarts: Part 3

Chapter 17: Zagan

Today was the day. Quidditch day. Unsurprisingly I didn't sleep the night before. Between Victoria earlier the day before and nerves for the match, I couldn't keep my eyes closed.

I watched as Harry walked out of the dormitory and almost followed when I remembered the essay for Snape's Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. I pulled that out and finished it before heading down to breakfast with the rest of the Gryffindors.

Wood seemed to be in a mood for lack of a better term. It was as if he had seen a ghost.

The weather outside was the worst it had been and just walking to the quidditch pitch was a struggle. There was no pregame pep-talk. There was no buzz of happiness or the crowd, although there definitely was one. No one wanted to miss this match.

All the players took to the sky, and I stayed on the sidelines underneath a giant umbrella that didn't really work. I couldn't see anyone in the stands, couldn't hear what was going on in the match, and couldn't even see the players.

There was a timeout at some point because they all came under the umbrella. "What's going on up there?" I asked Jason.

"We're up by fifty. I scored a few, but it's been hard. It's a miracle that any of them are still on their brooms," Jason answered. He was soaked to the bone and caked in mud but had a smile on his face.

They went back out to play. Suddenly there was a cold chill that ran through me. I turned around and nearly one hundred dementors came onto the field. One got so close to me, stared me down, and I fainted. There were screams and the sound of water and metal against metal in my head as I blacked out, but there was one scream above them all. Victoria.

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Coming back to consciousness was interesting to say the least. I slowly opened my eyes to hear someone sniffling from off to my side. I turned in that direction as I opened my eyes and recognized Victoria. "Oh, thank the gods!" She cried when I woke up. She hugged me quickly before shooting a soft smile at me and walking over to Harry.

I sat up groggily and spotted the rest of the team around Harry. Wood wasn't there, but that was to be expected. I doubted we won the game with that big of an attack. I also noticed that Jason wasn't there and had to turn to the bed on the other side of me to see him completely out cold. Piper was sitting there stroking a hand through his hair.

He woke up a few minutes later, and Piper crushed him in a hug. I was about to say something to him when there was a loud crash from beside me. I turned, and my heart stopped for a second.

Victoria was on the ground, a small bottle that had been on Harry's bedside table had fallen next to her. She shoved herself off the ground, shaking quite a bit. In any other state, I would have jumped up to help her, but I couldn't get out of the bed just yet.

Will seemed to have spotted her though and helped walk her out to go get some rest before Madam Pomphrey could ask what had happened. "What happened to our brooms?" Jason asked.

"I grabbed yours and Zagan's from the field," Piper said. "Tristan locked them back up for both of you."

"Harry, well... when you fell off, it got blown away," Hermione said hesitantly. I instantly knew something was wrong.　

"And?"

"And it hit -- it hit -- oh, Harry -- it hit the Whomping Willow." Hermione cried. She pulled out the remaining scraps, and I could feel the hurt rolling off of Harry. I glanced over at Jason who also seemed to be just comprehending the seriousness of the situation. I would have offered him my broom, but I knew he would need a second. He had had that broom since he had entered the wizarding world. It definitely had some sentiment to it. Everyone needed time to process stuff like this. Even famous wizards who happened to have just lost their first quidditch match and their first broom on the same day.