A training of sorts had begun at hogwarts. Harry and Malfoy practiced their spells and learned a few new ones from some older kids. Crabbe and Goyle did the same.
Jade was still taking extra classes with McGonagall like she had the year before, but when she had free time she was there with them learning new spells too.
Harry and Draco attended devenations class. They had previously been learning about prophecies and studying great wizards of the past who had been gifted in being able to tell the future.
The professor had today setup tea on each table in pairs. Everyone was drinking tea while she explained the leaves in the bottom could tell you the immediate future somewhat like a fortune cookie.
"But those cookies are often just facts because the seer who is incharge of making the predictions is getting increasingly lazy." She says. "Now once you have finished your drinks exchange cups with your partners."
Draco had sat with harry. "I don't see anything, just a bunch of wet leaves." He says twisting the cup around.
"Well I am supposed to read your cup." Harry says handing his cup to draco. "Let me see it."
They switch cups and immediately start to look up what they believe they see.
Trelawney walks over to harry. "Let's start with you two? Harry what do you see?"
"Well it appears to say." He checks again in his book. "This here I believe is a bridge. It's kind of at an angle going from the rim to the middle of the cup. I think that means it will be a long but positive journey."
She nods. "Give me the cup."
He nods and hands the cup to the professor.
She looks it over and smiles. "Malfoy, you will experience a journey when you come out the other side you will see a positive change." She hands the cup back to harry. "Very good." She turns to draco now. "What does Harry's cup say?"
Draco frowns checking the book. It was obvious he didn't have a talent for devanation. "Um I see the sun just here so happiness, but then there's this thing here. Suffering? I'm not sure. It looks like it says you will suffer but you will be happy about it."
"Give me the cup." She says.
Draco hands the cup to the professor.
She looks at the cup and ina. Sudden fit of panic nearly drops it. "Oh dear!?"
"What?" Harry asks.
"You have... the grim." She says placing the cup back on the table. She looks up as another boy starts reading off the meaning of the grim.
"To see a grim, or sorts of looks like a dog, means death is your future." The boy reads.
Harry looks at the cup.
Hermione at a table nearby huffs. "This is bogus." She stands up from her table with Ron and Neville and begins to leave the class.
"What's her problem?" Draco says.
Neville shrugs. "All I did was tell her that her cup seemed to say she was spread too thin and that she would make an unlikely friend."
"She does not have the heart for devenation." Trelawney says.
The rest of the class attempts reading their cups and then they are dismissed.
The following day the group of Harry's friends were down on the quidditch pitch practicing casting defence spells, about an hour before the team was supposed to face Ravenclaw in their first matchup of the season.
They are practicing casting spells when professor lupin strolls over to check on them.
"Evening kids." He says. "What are you up to out here?"
Harry takes a break and joins lupin nearby. "We realized Black would stop at nothing to get me. We came out here to practice casting spells."
Lupin nods and looks at the sky. It was dark and cloudy. "Looks like it may rain." He looks around. "Listen harry. I know you don't want an escort but you and your friends have to have an adult with you."
"We do." Harry says. He looks toward a nearby door where you couldn't even tell Snape was sitting in a lawn chair. "We asked Snape to come with us so we could practice."
"Has he been helping?" Lupin asks.
Harry shrugs. "He has kind of lazily been casting levitation charms on some of our targets."
"We'll I suppose you're all set then." Lupin half smiles. He wanted to be close friends with Harry as he had been with James but it seemed, just as with Lily, Severus Snape was in the way.
Snape kind of smirked as lupin walked past. He didn't think he would grow particularly close to Harry because he didn't like James at all, but Harry was much like his mum in a way that Snape just couldn't say no when he asked for something, like having an adult watch over them while they practiced spells.
Lupin chose to ignore it but he knew snape was thinking. 'I won this round.'
As lupin starts to leave he hears dementors in the distance they seem to be communicating. It made him wonder if they had found Sirius.
"Alright." Snape stands up and walks over. "You have been at this long enough. Time to get ready for quidditch."
The teens who were present were all part of the quidditch team this year. The only people not there yet was Marcus Flint, the other chaser, and the keeper who they never figured out.
Marcus and the keeper arrive a few moments later and the team gets ready for the game. As they do it begins to rain.
Draco frowns. "This is going to be rough. It's just started pouring."
Jade looks worried. "It's a bad sign." She kind of hides a little behind crabbe. "We should cancel."
Marcus grabs her by the arm and pulls her from behind crabbe. "There is no forfeit, how dare you even think that?"
"Marcus!" Draco and Harry both intervene.
He glares at them. "What?"
Harry pushes between Jade and Marcus. "She isn't afraid of the game, she is afraid of water."
Marcus lets go of her arm but is still upset. "Water?" He says. "Why would anyone be afraid of water?"
"She has a nightmare about drowning." Draco explains. "She just can't handle it." He turns to jade. "Look, it's just a little rain. You can't drown in a little bit of rain."
Jade wants to believe that. "It's really more about the puddles then the actual rain."
Draco nods. "So then just don't look at the ground then." He turns to harry. "Tell her."
Harry nods. "We all understand your fear, but the team needs you." He glances at flint and then at jade. "You are the smallest member of the team you can fly faster than anyone else. You can get us a few easy points until I catch the snitch."
Jade nods. "I suppose as long as I did not look down I could be ok."
Marcus nods. "Don't fail us." He turns and leads them to the field. He leads his team to the quidditch pitch.
The game had started and right away slytherin gained the upper hand. Jade scored a few points, Marcus and Draco scored a few points, but due to low visibility Harry could not see the snitch anywhere.
Eventually it flew in front of his face, taunting him with its quick movements. He reached for it and missed. It darted away. He gave chase. The ravenclaw seeker saw harry go for it and she too gave chase.
They kept going flying through the game nearly neck and neck when suddenly the snitch took a sharp turn and started going straight up.
They were again neck and neck going up as they tried to catch the snitch. They climbed higher and higher flying into the rain storm.
The ravenclaw seeker falls behind trying to decide if it's worth it to keep going so dangerously high.
Harry looks down and sees that due to the storm he couldn't even tell if they were still above the quidditch pitch. He looked back up as lightning rolled through the clouds. It was dangerous to be up in the sky during a storm.
"We should turn back!" He yells. "i'm sure it'll come back down."
The ravenclaw nods as they stop to turn around. She is struck by lightning and falls off her broom. He would have dove to help her but something in the clouds caught his attention.
The cloud was shaped like the same shape he had seen in his tea cup, The grim. And then he felt cold. Cold as ice. Dementors flew around him. He dove for the ground figuring maybe he could outrun them. Why were they chasing him?
He felt them pulling his energy as they had caught up to him. He didn't know what to do, and then he fell off his broom unconscious.
Nobody down below could see what was happening but the ravenclaw seeker plunged like the dead from the air. Of course her team was ready and when the professors fired their spell to slow her down her friends caught her and she landed safely on the ground.
At about that time jade was trying to outrun the other teams chaser. She had the quaffle and was determined to make another point. Another person from ravenclaw had come from the front so she dove down to weave away. She was barely skimming the ground as she headed toward the gold post. It was then that the ravenclaw seeker plummeted out of the sky.
Jade had just passed the quaffle to flint when the two chasers left to catch their friend.
Jade watched Marcus go for the point while she waited to see if the other team's player was going to be ok. Then she looked up and to her horror saw Harry falling out of the sky as well. She pointed up and called out. "Harry!"
Of course the professors once again slowed the teen down with their spells. It would have felt like landing on a cloud if he had been conscious.
"The game isn't over yet!?" Flint calls.
Draco and Jade had both wanted to check on Harry but they knew the game isn't over yet."
Harry and the other teams seeker are both rushed to the hospital wing for their injuries. Lupin goes with them.
The game continues, as it is now up to the teams themselves to score the necessary points. Slytherin manages to pull ahead after the Ravenclaw keeper is knocked out by a bludger.
Jade was about to score the final point of the game all of the chasers were following her. She looked down and saw how much water had built up on the ground and panicked. Immediately she was overwhelmed and felt as if she was drowning.
Draco swoops in. "Pass!" He yells. He could tell something was wrong. "Pass it!"
Jade couldn't hear him. It was all drowned out by the sound of rushing water. She stopped flying as her legs and arms locked up fear had gripped her.
"Give me the ball!" Draco yells as the ravenclaws descend.
She lets go and the ball falls.
Draco catches it and tosses it to flint who was waiting.
Jade gasps.
Draco pulls her aside and they go toward the door. Flint would score the final point and they could go see harry. Once they get to a dry spot she seems better. "Are you ok?"
Jade snaps out of it. "I was drowning."
"You weren't even in the water." Draco says. "You had me scared for a minute."
She nods. "I'm sorry I blew it."
"It's fine." Draco says.
The crowd erupts with cheers as flint makes the final score to end the game.
"He is going to be so upset with me." Jade frets.
"It's ok really." Draco says. "He can't blame you for being afraid of water."
Jade nods. She knew something was off about that dream she kept having. It weighed on her mind every day. Maybe she should try talking to trelawney again.
The game was over and Slytherin had won. Draco, crabbe, goyle, and jade head towards the hospital wing. They pass close to the whomping willow and by chance they notice a broom laying on the ground splintered into a billion tiny pieces. They scoop up what they can and wrap it in a towel. "it's harry's broom."