The Eternal

chapter 5

It was a very rainy afternoon when the Quidditch game took place. Harry was flying in midair trying to look for the snitch, while the other teammates tried to play in the hard rain and see at the same time. Harry looked down at the crowd and looked for Hermione, Ron and Alice, but all he could see was rain. As he heard the snitch right next to his ear, he followed it up into the sky with the other team's seeker. Meanwhile, Alice was standing at the bottom of the stadium, where no one was able to catch a glimpse of her, watching the game in amazement. She was impressed by how fast all of them were able to fly on their brooms, without bumping into each other. A couple of minutes had passed now, and Alice realized that Harry hadn't returned out of the air yet.

As she looked up into the rainy sky, she suddenly saw something in front of her, that wasn't actually happening. She gasped as she saw her vision and then stumbled backwards onto the ground, trying to figure out what had just happened. As she stood back up, she suddenly heard screaming from outside and looked up into the sky. There she saw what was shown to her a couple seconds earlier. It was Harry falling from the sky, unconscious. She quickly looked to Dumbledore, who, like in her vision, wanted to save Harry but had tripped and fallen to the ground of his spot. Now all were watching Harry fall to his death.
Alice then quickly ran out to the side of the field in the rain and fixated on Harry. She then held her hands up towards him and shortly before he would've hit the ground, he started floating inches above the ground. Alice was breathing heavily, looking at Harry, and then letting her hands sink to her side as Harry plopped onto the ground. Everyone looked shocked down at Harry, but Alice noticed someone had seen her. She looked up into the crowd and locked eyes with Draco, who was gazing from the crowd down at her. She stood still for a couple of seconds, before swinging her hood over her head again and walking out the peephole she came from.

That night, Harry was still laying in the Hospital Wing, recovering from the fall out of the sky. There was too much in his head, so he wasn't able to fall asleep. At the end of the giant room, he was still able to see the light out in the corridor through the open door. He then suddenly saw a shadow on the wall outside, vanishing as soon as it got in front of the door of the Hospital wing. "Alice, I know you're there. I saw your shadow," Harry said into the distance. Alice appeared in front of his bed and looked at him. "You're getting better at recognizing when I'm there. I'm impressed," she said jokingly.

"How are you?" Harry looked at the bottle on the nightstand next to his hospital bed. "Well, despite the medicine for my head being disgusting, I feel normal again," Harry answered. "Thank you for saving me," he added and looked up at Alice. "No need to thank me, it's obvious that I would have saved you," Alice answered. "Did anyone actually see you?" Harry eventually asked. "Not that I know of. Didn't feel like anyone was able to see me," Alice lied. Harry nodded and then laid back down again. "I'm going to let you rest, Harry. Just wanted to see how you were after the fall," Alice said and walked away. "Good night, Alice," Harry added as she walked away, but Alice had already vanished.

For the next two weeks, Harry, Ron and Hermione hadn't seen a single glimpse of Alice. Even Hagrid didn't know where she had always gone during the day and didn't want to ask her why she got back to his hut so late in the evening. Eventually, the three Gryffindors had a free period in the afternoon and were able to go down to Hagrid's hut and see if Alice had shown up again. "Can we go to the bathroom first? I have been holding it in since first period," Ron said, walking after the others uncomfortably. "You could have gone after second period, Ron," Hermione said annoyed. "Not with Snape watching the halls," Ron snapped back. "Stop guys. Ron let's go to the bathroom and Hermione, you hold off Alice before she disappears again," Harry said and so the three parted ways.

As Hermione made her way down the hill, she saw Alice leave the hut. She was about to yell after her, but then decided to watch her and see where she was going. Alice made her way behind the hut and Hermione quietly followed her. As Alice vanished behind the small hill on the other side, Hermione quickly walked up the hill so she wouldn't lose her trail, but as she got up onto the hill, Alice was nowhere to be found. All Hermione saw in front of her was the Whomping Willow shaking off its leaves for the wintertime. "Why would she go here?" Hermione mumbled to herself and then walked back towards Hagrid's hut, where Ron and Harry were waiting for her.