raised by dementor

chapter 10

Draco Malfoy smirked to himself as he saw the team captains walk out to shake hands, he was standing just towards the edge of the Slytherin stand which was close enough to the Ravenclaw one to talk to Hermione but also where the sixth and seventh years sat. He had chosen this position carefully, the Slytherin Quidditch captain was sitting behind and was bragging about how his team would beat both in the next game, arrogant git Draco thought. After Harry's incident at flying class the first years tried to tell people about what happened but older students dismissed the idea saying that it was impossible and denying the very idea that any first year could no such magic. Draco knew better than them all it seemed and he had sat here just so he could see the older boy's face
"Excited" Hermione stated from the other side
"Let's just say I have been waiting for some time to see this" Draco answered smugly as the players began walking onto the pitch, Crabbe and Goyle were stood behind him and Draco eyes widened slightly as he saw Harry. A slight murmur went through the crowd as they saw he did not have a broom
"Dumb kid, probably forgot his broom this is why you don't let first years play" the Slytherin captain remarked causing his idiot friends to laugh, then as each of the player ascended into the air Draco's anticipation built, the seeker and keeper went up first followed by the beaters. Knowing his Harry would go last Draco turned to see the face of his captain turn from arrogance to shock, Harry was lazily rising in the air and Draco took a lot of delight in seeing the arrogant older kids look at his friend in amazement and shock
"What the hell" the captain announced loudly, Draco sighed lazily as a collective gasp went through the students as they realised they should of listened to the first years who witnessed him fly the first time
"Wow he can fly, who'd known?" he proclaimed making Hermione giggle softly. Draco saw even some of the teachers were shocked and saw the normally sneering face of Severus Snape frozen in amazement, Flitwick having seen this all before was chuckling at his colleagues reactions as Harry soared into the air
"Ladies and Gentleman Harry Potter flying with no broom, what will the Gryffindor team make of this?" Lee Jordan was roaring over the crowd. Oliver Wood was looking like he had been hit by several dungbombs and been punched in the face for good measure, his usual cool demeanour went out the window and all of his team looked nervous
"Let the game begin".
Twenty Minutes later
Harry was having a great time, he was soaring and flying like never before and now knew what it was like to take part in a real Quidditch match, he saw the quaffle in the air being thrown towards Katie Bell and launched himself up and literally took it out of her hands
"Thank you" he smiled nodding to her as he dove down towards the hoops
"And Harry Potter makes another amazing move this time he has snatched the quaffle quiet literally from a chaser's hands; how he is doing all this we don't know but I think..." Lee Jordan commented as Harry launched the ball towards the goal, it bypassed Oliver Wood with ease and while Lee Jordan was still ranting his theories he heard McGonagall snatch the voice piece
"Seven Hundred to a hundred" she barked as Lee muttered something in apology, A lone bludger was propelled towards him and with great effort he caught it in his hands and threw it towards a Gryffindor who dodged in time for another Ravenclaw chaser to grab the Quaffle. Then he heard a cry, he froze and looked around to see Cho trying to grasp her broom tighter as if she was struggling, she looked fine but Harry couldn't help but feel as if something was deeply wrong. Then it hit him, his lie about the Troll had included all his friends overpowering it, he cursed himself. Someone had let the troll in for some reason and he didn't think about it at all, only a staff member could smuggle a troll in and the idea they would allow the students to get away with foiling their plans, no something was wrong but he had no clue as to what.
Meanwhile
"Draco" Hermione whispered, the blond boy was paying close attention to the game and she leaned over and shook his arm
"Oh Sorry, what is it?" he stammered turning to her,
"And another ten points to Ravenclaw as Harry Potter scores again" Lee Jordan announced
"Look at Cho, she seems like she's having trouble with her broom" Hermione pointed out seeing the girl once again clutch her broom tightly as it moved sharply in the other direction
"Nerves" Draco suggested wanting to refocus on the game, Hermione shook her head
"No you see...Look" she shouted pointing to Cho whose broom had suddenly began shaking with intensity
"Now that is not nerves" Draco stated seeing she was in real trouble, he quickly scanned his memory for something his father had once said
"It's a verbal curse" he announced " it requires eye contact with the target at all times and I doubt any student would know it..." he trailed off wondering who the perpetrator would be, a nudge on his shoulder pulled him away from his thoughts
"What?" he asked to Goyle who was looking towards the staff box
"Look at Professor stutter" the boy murmured using his pet name for Quirrel. Both Draco and Hermione looked to see the turbaned man muttering fiercely while looking at Cho
"Well come on then" Draco urged helping Hermione over the low wall that separated the stands
"Why do we always end up going to save the girls" Crabbe wondered as he followed his friends behind the stands
On the Pitch
Harry was now very worried, not about the game no he had scored a lot of points and they were in the lead but he could tell someone was cursing Cho. He would of swooped over and grabbed the scared girl who was taking deep breaths as she struggled to hold on, but if he did he might get hit by the curse and if he fell so would Cho. No he was hovering around her while the uncaring Gryffindor's played around him trying to claim as many possible points he was here in case the broom managed to kick her off. Knowing if she fell he would grab her but he risked doing damage to himself and her plus if he did fall then the injury might call upon his Dementor side to heal and that would be very bad. Then he saw Draco, Hermione, Crabbe and Goyle climbing under the teacher's viewing area, obviously they knew who was behind the curse and he hoped they acted soon.
The stands
"Ok what do we do?" Draco questioned as they reached their destination, they were underneath they stand and could see the snarling face of Quirrel as he muttered above
"What kind of curse is it?" Hermione asked taking control of the situation, Draco looked up and tried to read the man's lips
"I can't understand umm... scopee or something" he sighed now knowing the man was speaking in a different language
"What does that mean?" Hermione asked desperately completely bewildered
"Umm I know" Goyle piped up, surprised the group turned on him
"scopae is Latin for broom, remember your dad gave us lessons" he pointed out, Draco did not. His father had many ideas on what a true pureblood should know and after a while just tuned them out
"Broom, that means Harry could help her" Hermione worked out, Draco taking the hint leaned out of the stands and waved his arms to catch Harry's attention. Hermione however took a much different approached and was trying to aim a spell between the Defence Professors legs
The pitch
What the... Harry was even more confused now. Not only was someone trying to curse his friend Draco seemed to be doing a very good chicken impersonation from the stands, his mouth was moving and Harry could not work out what he was saying.
"Room?" he queried "No broom". Working out that Draco was trying to tell him the curse only affected brooms he took action, he launched himself at Cho whose broom was trying to buck her off and grabbed her by the waist.
"Strange tactic grabbing your seeker around the waist" Lee Jordan pointed out loudly, Cho made a noise of protest but Harry lifted her off the broom
"What are you...?" she began frantically before seeing the broom dive-bomb towards the ground, some kind of commotion was going on around the teachers but she was a bit preoccupied
"I guess the curse stopped" Harry sighed, Cho didn't know how to feel. Relived she wasn't on the broom, thankful that Harry had saved her on terrified that she was being held fifty foot in the air. Before she could say anything she could see a glint of gold
"The snitch" she realised pointing
"Is now really the time?" Harry demanded amazed Quidditch was still on the girl's mind
"Yes now forward" Cho ordered demandingly, Harry seeing no reason to argue propelled the girl forward as the Gryffindor seeker soared towards them as he to saw the snitch. Cho suddenly outstretched her hand and pushed Harry's chest aiming him upwards.
"I'm not a broom" Harry protested at being forced around in this way. Ignoring him Cho outstretched her hand and reached for the tiny fluttering golden ball, Cho grabbed it and leaned to the left causing Harry to veer of course.
"And... And Harry Potter stroke Cho Chang just caught the snitch, Ravenclaw win nine hundred and fifty to four hundred" Lee Jordan announced stunned as Harry landed the two on the ground
"You're a lot easier than a broom" Cho decided grinning innocently with the snitch in hand, and despite everything Harry laughed with her as the rest of the team swooped down to congratulate them.
Later
"So in summary our Hermione hit Professor Quirrel between the legs with a simple incendio, remind me never to annoy you" Harry remarked as Hermione blushed. They were all walking in the grounds of Hogwarts discussing the match and in particular the member of staff that had tried this
"See after we saved her from a troll using.. you know what and to repay you she saved you from a teacher by setting his balls on fire" Draco summarised causing the girls to laugh and the Harry, Crabbe and Goyle to groan in imagined pain.
"But yes in all seriousness Quirrel is up to something" Harry told them quietly making sure they weren't being followed
"I think we worked that one out" Draco pointed out dryly
"But what?" Hermione wondered "and why take it out on us?"
"Because we stopped the troll, he must of been using it to cause a distraction and we put a stop to that, I think it might have something to do with whatever's on the third floor corridor" Harry explained,
"Probably" Crabbe agreed "But what is it, a weapon or something?".
"Dumbledore wouldn't be stupid enough to keep some kind of dangerous magical artefact that someone like Quirrel would want in a school is he?" Cho asked. Harry had explained he knew something was wrong with the old man and Hermione recounted her experience in Flourish and Blotts which convinced all of them Albus Dumbledore was not a man to be trusted
"Maybe" Harry sighed "I think we should take a look tonight".
"What is it with the possibility of death that excites you?, first a troll and now the promise of a slow and painful death" Draco sighed but knowing he was in
"Not sure let's see what it is first" Harry suggested calmly,
"Good idea, if Quirrel is out to get us then it might be an idea to see what he's up to" Cho agreed.
"I suppose" Hermione sighed not too happy about breaking the rules
"Do we ever get a say in these things?" Goyle asked
"Umm... No" Draco responded warmly