Erased and Replaced

Part 5~Quiddict

Scratching could be heard echoing around the room. Harry gritted his teeth as he bared the pain. Elijah looked like he wanted to snap the horrid quill. Sweat was dripping off their brows and blood was flowing out from their hands. Harry looked like he was about to fall over but he was continuing anyway.

"That's enough for tonight, Potter, Snape. Let's see that hand." Umbridge walked towards the two while speaking.

Harry brought his hand to his chest, fearing the pain Umbridge would bring. Elijah- wanting to help- offered out his own. Umbridge pressed down on the wound which made Elijah jump back, holding his hand. Agony raced through him, he stumbled back looking like he had just been electrocuted. He clutched his hand close to his chest, staring at Umbridge in horror.

She grinned evilly before waving them off.

The second they got out of the room, they found themselves struggling. Harry stumbled, almost falling over. Elijah grabbed him, noticing how close Harry was about to collapse. Blood dripped on the floor as Elijah led the other teen down the halls, stumbling as if drunk. When he finally saw the portrait, Elijah whispered the password.

"Elijah, you missed Quidditch trails- bloody hell! What happened to you two?!" Fred- or George- jumped up, caughting Elijah as he collapsed. The other twin took the barely conscious Harry and laid him on the ground.

Neville came over, worriedly checking over Elijah. His busy movements eventually found the bloody hand, holding it and wrapping his yellow tie around it. "They got to be taken to the hospital wing!"

"No..." Harry groaned, trying to get out of the strong grip George- or possibly Fred- was imposing on him. "Can't give... Umbridge the satisfaction..."

"Umbridge did this?" Fred looked horrified, watching his brother remove his own tie to wrap the Gryffindor's hand.

"You said she was making you do lines," Neville exclaimed, panicking fully now. If Elijah was hiding things from him again, he wouldn't know what to do. It took him months- years to get Elijah to open up to him, he can't be hiding things now!

Harry forced himself up, George helping him into a sitting position. "She is."

"But the quill has some sort of spell on it. It uses blood for ink," Elijah explained tiredly.

"That old hag! She's sick!"

Harry jumped at the voice. He starred up at Malfoy who looked just as horrified as the others. "Elijah, you've got to go to Sev! You can't keep this up and he could help heal you!"

"No! I'm not telling anyone," Harry said definitely, making the Slytherins- and one Hufflepuff- stare at him.

"Potter, right? Listen, you've only been here a few days. You should tell Sev before this gets even worse."

"No!" Harry pushed himself to his feet, stumbling slightly. "I don't need his help! I don't need anyone's help! You've never cared before why should you care now!" Harry pushed past them and out of the common room, missing the confused looks he got.

"But... we're never met before."

Harry groaned at his headache. Goyle was shaking him awake, glancing at the bandaged hand but not saying anything. "Come on Harry, time to get up."

Harry didn't want to get up, blood lost, nightmares and studying was taking a toll on him. It was too early to be this drained. Harry pushed himself off his bed and onto his feet. He got dressed and left the room, spotting Seamus waiting for him.

"Come on Harry, we'll be late." Seamus started to lead Harry down to the hall, glancing across the hall. He snickered as one of the Hufflepuffs walked in. Harry looked over to see what the fuss was about when he noticed Dean walking in with multi-coloured hair.

"I'm guessing that was you?"

"Yeah! Got to get him back for last year."

Harry raised his eyebrow. "Your attacks don't seem very... aggressive."

"Why would they be?"

Harry had to take a few seconds for that one. "Because they are attacks? They are meant to hurt."

"Don't you dare hurt him!"

Harry couldn't help but laugh. So it was that kind of attack.

"What's so funny?"

"You could just talk to him. It would probably do more than attack him would."

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

Harry couldn't stop the grin on his face. It was almost like being back at home. Almost.

Harry jumped when Angelina slumped down and interrupted his thoughts. "I can't believe no new people tried out! We are still three players down!" Seamus gave a sympathetic look to the girl who groaned before noticing Harry. "Hey, you're Harry right? You play Quidditch?"

Harry smiled, he had meant to try out but Umbridge had kept him busy and he had been unable to try. "Yeah. I used to play Seeker but my old Captain used to say I would make a good beater as well."

Angelina seemed to beam at that. "Great! Come to the field later and we'll see how good you are." Angelina didn't give Harry time to fight as she jumped up and left, the two other Gryffindors watching her go.

"Don't worry Harry, you'll do great."

Both Gryffindors jumped at Luna's entracance, the blond girl smiling sweetly. "Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all Luna. I was wondering if you had seen the latest addition of the Quibbler. I personally found the article on the Gingobels a bit biased. They aren't so bad if you don't step on their homes."

"I have to agree with you. We used to have a nest of Gingobels in my backyard and we would talk a lot when I was a child."

Seamus groaned making the two teens look at him. "I can't believe you read that stuff Harry! It is a bunch of nonsense!"

Harry looked offended while Luna didn't care. Harry would have lectured Seamus on why the Quibbler was completely true and he was just too closed minded to understand it, but his thoughts were interrupted by Elijah entering the hall. The Slytherins gave him a worried look but Harry glared at them and turned back to his conversation with Luna.

He was not going to talk about this- he wasn't going to stay longer than he had to anyway.