Change the Future

OOTP 14

Rory walked out of yet another detention heading towards the Gryffindor tower to find the twins waiting for her when she returns to the common room.

"Come on" George says putting an arm around her shoulder and directing her to their dorm. He pushes her towards his bed and places her hand in a bowl of a solution of strained and pickled murtlap tentacles. It had become a new routine for them with how many detentions Umbridge was giving Rory.

"How many detentions did you have" Charlie looks at her.

"Not that many. Just a minimum of one a week"

"Thank you Georgie" She rests her head on his shoulder as he sits beside her whilst Fred sits on his bed before getting up and grabbing a bar of chocolate from his trunk and handing it to her. "Thank's Freddie" He smiles at her before sitting back down.

"Rory we think you need to tell an adult about these detentions" Fred says looking at her.

"What's the point Freddie, Dumbledore clearly knows and he's not doing anything about it so what chance do the others stand" 

Everyone turns to glare at Dumbledore.

As the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, drew nearer, their D.A. meetings were put on hold because Angelina insisted on almost daily practices. The fact that the Quidditch Cup had not been held for so long added considerably to the interest and excitement surrounding the forthcoming game. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were taking a lively interest in the outcome, for they, of course, would be playing both teams over the coming year and the Heads of House of the competing teams, though they attempted to disguise it under a decent pretence of sportsmanship, were determined to see their side's victory. McGonagall even abstained from giving out homework in the week leading up to the match.

"I think you've got enough to be getting on with at the moment," she said loftily. Nobody could quite believe their ears until she looked directly at the twins and Angelina and said grimly, "I've become accustomed to seeing the Quidditch Cup in my study and I really don't want to have to hand it over to Professor Snape, so use the extra time to practice, won't you?" Snape was no less obviously partisan: He had booked the Quidditch pitch for Slytherin practice so often that the Gryffindors had difficulty getting on it to play. He was also turning a deaf ear to the many reports of Slytherin attempts to hex Gryffindor players in the corridors. When Alicia turned up in the hospital wing with her eyebrows growing so thick and fast that they obscured her vision and obstructed her mouth, Snape insisted that she must have attempted a Hair-Thickening Charm on herself and refused to listen to the fourteen eyewitnesses who insisted that they had seen the Slytherin Keeper, Miles Bletchley, hit her from behind with a jinx while she worked in the library. Angelina was constantly on edge as we walked between classes.

October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy drafts that bit at exposed hands and faces. The skies and the ceiling of the Great Hall turned a pale, pearly grey, the mountains around Hogwarts became snow capped, and the temperature in the castle dropped so far that many students wore their thick protective dragon skin gloves in the corridors between lessons. The morning of the match dawned bright and cold. Rory made her way to the Great Hall with the twins, the talk louder and the mood more exuberant than usual. As any members of the team passed the Slytherin table there was an upsurge of noise, nearly everyone there was wearing, in addition to the usual green-and-silver scarves and hats, silver badges in the shape of what seemed to be crowns. For some reason many of them waved at Ron, laughing uproariously as he walked past with Harry. They received a rousing welcome at the Gryffindor table, where everyone was wearing red and gold, but far from raising Ron's spirits the cheers seemed to sap the last of his morale; he collapsed onto the nearest bench looking as though he were facing his final meal.