On the morning of the Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor match, Hari went downstairs with Ron, Seamus, Dean and Neville, all of whom felt Hari’s Firebolt needed a sort of honour guard down to the Great Hall. Hari felt a twinge of guilt as he saw Draco on his own as he waited for Hermione, shoulders hanging and avoiding Hari’s eyes. He was dressed in a scarlet and gold Gryffindor jumper in support of the match, clutching a Gryffindor flag.

When he got to the Great Hall, many heads turned to look at the broomstick Hari was carrying. Oliver was basking in the attention, insisting on placing the broomstick in the middle of the table like a shrine. People from other houses came over to catch glimpses of the broom as well, Blaise coming over with one of the other Slytherin players to have a look and the Head Girl Penelope Clearwater coming to see. Cedric Diggory came over to congratulate Hari on getting such an excellent broom, blushing the whole time and making Hari drop his toast on the ground as he stammered out a thank you.

“Now, now, Oliver. Give Hari space!” said Percy teasingly as Oliver Wood tried to inspect the broom for the third time in several minutes. Oliver rolled his eyes, turning away to talk last minute strategy with Angelina and Alicia. “Good luck in the match, Hari. I’m sure you’ll do excellent with that broom, but do try to win or Oliver will never let me hear the end of it.”

At a quarter to eleven, the Gryffindor team set off for the locker rooms together. The weather was much better than their last match, no risk of slipping off the broom or being unable to see through the pouring rain and the ominous dark grey clouds. Hari waved hello to Remus through the crowd, sitting with Kingsley again, before ducking inside the changing room with the others. While Fred was chattering away to Angelina about pranking Filch the other day, Hari started getting into his scarlett Quidditch uniform, nodding along to Fred’s jokes habitually.

Oliver moved to the front of the group, dressed in his Quidditch uniform and holding his broomstick over his shoulder. “Right, you all know what to do,” he said. “Remember our drills from practice and just try to do as well as you did at the last practice. You all will do brilliantly, I know you can.”

They walked onto the field to the usual cheers from the rest of the crowd, chanting and shouting. They crossed over to the Ravenclaw team, dressed in their navy blue robes as they waited for the match to start. Hari caught sight of the Seeker, Mei Chang, much smaller than the other boys on her team. She was quite pretty, Hari noticed, with long jet black hair that fluttered in the wind, rosy pink cheeks on pale skin and delicate features. She smiled at Hari as they faced off and he looked away, cheeks burning.

Hari elbowed Fred in the side as the Captains shook hands. “Is there just something about Seekers that they all have to be attractive?” he whispered.

“Oh, most definitely,” Fred replied with a smirk, winking and slapping Hari’s back.

They kicked off to the sound of the whistle a moment later and Hari felt the familiar soaring sensation as he shot into the air with utmost ease. His broomstick moved smoothly, cutting through the air like a knife as he circled the stadium in search of the Snitch.

The commentary for this match was being done by Lee Jordan, the best friend of the Weasley twins.

“And they’re off!” shouted Lee, voice echoing magically over the stands. “Big excitement this time around as the Gryffindor Seeker Hari Potter is debuting his new Firebolt broomstick. According to Which Broomstick it’s the best broomstick in the league by miles and the England National Team is set to order one for everyone on the—”

“Jordan, would you keep your commentary to the match, please?” said Professor McGonagall’s stern voice.

Hari snorted as Lee claimed to be giving ‘background information’ as he continued to circle the pitch. He caught George’s eye as Minerva shouted at Lee again and they both burst into fits of giggles, having to fly away from each other to avoid further distraction.

“Gryffindor in possession with Katie Bell, heading for the goal…”

Hari whizzed past Katie in the opposite direction as she moved for the goal. Mei Chang was tailing him closely, clearly hoping to be able to get the upper hand. She was a great flier, Hari noticed, darting to and fro with ease, her dark hair whipping behind her.

As Katie scored for Gryffindor, Hari dove at the sight of a flash of gold at the opposite end, getting distracted by a Bludger nearly taking down a Ravenclaw player nearby.

“Look at that Firebolt go! Potter’s really got the advantage with his broom. The other brooms have got no chance against—”

“JORDAN THIS IS NOT A FIREBOLT ADVERTISEMENT!”

Hari continued to circle the pitch, listening to Lee’s commentary. It allowed him to follow the score, seeing how far ahead Gryffindor was compared to Ravenclaw. Hari was still being followed by Mei for the most part and even when he changed course randomly, she still was able to follow behind him quite easily. Even with her slower broom, it was clear that she was an excellent flier.

Gryffindor were only up by fifty points as he started to get sick of his incessant circling of the pitch. Lee was getting told off by McGonagall again for getting off topic again, unabashed by the threats of detention for a month.

“And another penalty for Gryffindor after a ruthless hit from Roger Davies of Ravenclaw. Alicia Spinnet takes the penalty shot! And…. GRYFFINDOR SCORES!”

Mei was still following Hari. She was obviously going to try to get the Snitch before him instead of actually searching for it herself. If she wanted to play dirty, Hari would, too.

As Gryffindor scored another goal, Hari took advantage of the chaos, checking over to see Mei still following him. And then, he dove straight towards the ground, to the opposite end of the field. Of course, Mei followed after him, close on his tail, leaned forwards on her broom with an intense look of concentration. Finally, as he neared the ground, Hari suddenly pulled up and away, shooting off in the opposite direction. Mei, who had been so focused on following Hari, narrowly avoided crashing into the side wall of the stands, rolling over in the air to keep from hitting the grass a couple feet away.

Hari grinned and continued flying away from her as the crowd cheered for his maneuver.

“An excellent fake out from Potter of Gryffindor!” shouted Lee. “I knew Chang’s Comet would have nothing on that Firebolt! Sorry, Professor!”

Not a minute later, as Mei was still making her way across the field to catch up with Hari again, he saw the familiar flash of gold only a few metres away. Without hesitating, Hari shot in that direction, lying flat on his Firebolt, stretching one of his hands. He could feel the crowd holding their breath as he moved through the air and then, just behind, he heard Mei yelp in surprise.

“Oh! Hari, look out!” she screamed, pointing. Hari glanced over his shoulder and saw three black cloaked figures crossing the field.

Without thinking, he pulled his wand from inside his robes, pointing in the direction of the three dementors and shouted, “Expecto Patronum!” He didn’t pay much attention to the rather large, silver light that erupted from the end of his wand, still crossing the field towards the glittering gold by the Ravenclaw hoop.

Hari’s fingers closed around the golden Snitch seconds later, triumph settling in his chest as the crowd exploded with cheers from almost all sides. Just in time, Hari turned around, almost falling off his broom as six scarlet-clad people came pelting towards him, hugging him and shrieking with delight.

“That’s my boy!” shouted Wood over and over again. Angelina, Alicia and Katie all gave him tight hugs and kisses on the cheek and Fred refused to stop hugging him tightly around the middle, giving him a sloppy wet kiss on the cheek as they landed on the ground. Moments later, the rest of the crowd came to greet them, pouring down the steps and over the sides of the stands and running to meet them.

Ron was at the front of the crowd, along with Neville, sprinting over to congratulate Hari on catching the Snitch. “Wicked, Hari! Absolutely fantastic!” Ron yelled, nearly tackling Hari to the floor in a hug as Neville told him it was ‘ace.’

“Well done, Hari! Knew you could do it!” shouted Percy, patting Hari on the back as he pushed over towards Oliver in the centre of the massive crowd. Fred and George both pretended to vomit as Oliver was swept into a kiss by Percy, several wolf whistles and ‘aww’s going through the crowd.

“Ruddy brilliant, Hari!” shouted Hagrid over the many heads of Gryffindors.

“Good on you, mate!” shouted Seamus Finnigan, beaming.

“Yeah, that was great, Hari!” added Dean Thomas, beside Seamus.

Even some of the Slytherins came to join in the celebration, Pansy and Millicent joining the growing list of cheek-kissers and Blaise saying, “Great catch, mate. But enjoy it while it lasts when I beat you!”

“That was quite an impressive Patronus,” said a voice directly in Hari’s ear.

He startled, turning to look up at Remus. He looked slightly shaken, but beamed at him as he patted him on the shoulder.

“They didn’t even affect me this time, the dementors! I didn’t even notice them until Mei Chang pointed them out!” said Hari, grinning.

“That’s because they weren’t real dementors,” said Remus, frowning slightly. “Follow me.” He clasped his hand on Hari’s shoulder and led him through the crowd of people until they reached the outer edge. “Gave these idiots quite a fright, I’d say,” Remus whispered.

Professor McGonagall was shouting at four very pale looking Slytherins. Nott, Crabbe, Goyle and Marcus Flint, the Slytherin Captain, were getting a proper berating from McGonagall, all struggling to get out of long black robes.

“Cowardly, low attempts at sabotage!” she was shouting, almost hoarse, face scarlet and hat crooked on her head. “Detention for all four of you and sixty points from Slytherin! How dare you! I will be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this!”

Nothing could ever beat the sight of Nott getting stuck in a pile of black robes as he tried to get off of Goyle’s shoulders and Professor McGonagall shouted herself hoarse at them. Ron fought his way through the crowd, hooking his arm with Hari as they both laughed at Nott’s failed attempts to get up.

Fred fought his way through the crowd as well, draping his arm around Hari’s shoulders. “Come on! Party in Gryffindor common room in five to celebrate the victory at the hands of our most attractive Seeker!” he shouted, grinning.

“Excuse me?” said Ron.

“I think Mr. Potter here has a thing for Seekers,” said Fred as he led the way off the field. “First Diggory and now Chang. What next, Zabini?” Ron and Fred both laughed at Hari’s flushed face.

Hari felt zero regrets after shoving Fred into a bush a moment later.

¤¤¤

Hari had never seen a party quite like it. If this was what it was like when they hadn’t even won the Cup, Hari wondered just how insane it would be then.

Someone had a magically amplified radio blasting a strange mixture of Muggle and Wizard music over the shouting teenagers, moving the couches off to the side for a makeshift dance floor of sorts. There were older students huddled together in the corners, snogging, as well as gaggles of laughing people trying strange dance moves. Someone managed to talk the house elves in the kitchen into giving them trays full of food, which people quickly took advantage of. A group of boys were smoking something out the window and one of the sixth year girls was dancing on one of the tables.

A couple hours into the party, Fred, George and Lee returned carrying bags of butterbeer, pumpkin fizz, Firewhiskey and several other alcohols Hari didn’t recognise, along with bags of Honeydukes sweets.

As people started gorging themselves on sweets and the older students drank their weight in alcohol within minutes, Hari went over to Fred, who was handing out some of the bottles to other students. “Am I to assume we have a certain group of map-makers to thank for all this?” he asked in a low voice, standing on tiptoe to reach Fred’s ear.

“That it is, my dearest marauder, that it is,” he replied, whispering in Hari’s ear. He winked as he made his way over to join George and Lee sitting close together in the corner.

“How did they manage all this? It should be impossible to get to Hogsmeade so easily without getting in trouble!” said Ron, coming over to Hari with a bottle of butterbeer and handing him one as well.

“Come here, I’ll show you,” Hari whispered, grabbing Ron’s sleeve and pulling him over to one of the few corners not occupied by kissing students. With his back turned to the rest of the common room, he pulled the Marauders Map out his pocket, tapping it with his wand and saying the usual phrase to reveal its contents.

Ron’s eyes bulged at the sight, taking it from his grasp to look it over. “Blimey, Hari! Where’d you get it?” he asked, gaping.

“Found it in Filch’s office. Fred and George had their hands on it for a while and they showed me how to use it,” explained Hari. “It shows a bunch of secret tunnels going right out of the school. One of them is in Honeydukes, so my guess is they went through that one.”

“And it shows everyone in the school as well! That’s so—”

“What is that?” Hari and Ron both jumped, turning to find Hermione standing in front of them, hands on her hips and scowling. “That looks like bad news, Hari. Imagine if Sirius Black got his hands on that! He could use it to know exactly where you are and…” She shivered. “You’ve got to report that, Hari. It’s dangerous.”

“Are you mad?” retorted Ron. “This is a miracle maker, Hermione! Just because you don’t think people should ever have fun doesn’t mean everyone else agrees. Sirius Black couldn’t possibly get in through bloody Hogsmeade with all those dementors about, anyway!”

Hermione huffed, still looking unconvinced as she stalked over to join Draco in the corner, currently nursing a bottle of butterbeer by himself, looking positively miserable. Hari dragged Ron over to join their other two friends, stuffing the map in his pocket again. He was sick and tired of all these grudges.

“Did you even go to the match?” said Ron scathingly, sitting as far from Hermione as possible, arms crossed.

“Of course I did! It was an excellent catch, Hari,” replied Hermione snippily. “But I’ve got work to do. I don’t have time for parties or drinking until I’m sick out the window.” She was already pulling out work from her bag and setting it out on the table, pushing away empty bottles and glasses.

“You know, I bet Scabbers would have enjoyed this party!” Ron said suddenly, clearly trying to rile Hermione up further. “You know, if he hadn’t been eaten?”

Hermione gaped at Ron, looking horrified. She burst into tears and grabbed all of her things, running up the stairs to her dormitory. Draco was on his feet in an instant, looking hopelessly after her.

“Can’t you just leave her alone?” he snarled at Ron, pointing in the direction Hermione had gone. Hari was thankful to see Lavender and Parvati slipping away up the stairs after her, both looking slightly worried.

“No. Not until she apologises and admits her cat ate my pet rat!” Ron snapped. “I’m getting another drink. Anyone else?” Hari and Draco both shook their heads and Ron stalked away over to the table, leaving Hari and Draco alone. Hari realised this too late.

He couldn’t come up with an excuse to leave, however, dropping into the seat Hermione had just vacated. He hoped Lavender and Parvati were being helpful.

“How’s your, uh, butterbeer?” Hari asked Draco warily, pointing at the drink in the other boy’s pale hands.

Draco looked down at it. “The usual, I guess. Delicious,” he said, looking as though it was anything but.

They fell into silence again, sipping their drinks and glancing around the room at the rest of their chaotic classmates. Part of Hari felt compelled to join the others as they sang along to ‘What is Love’, but he felt bad for leaving Draco behind. Trying to come up with something to say, he opened his mouth until Draco suddenly blurted, “I’m really sorry, Hari.”

Hari turned abruptly at his apology, eyebrows raised high into his fringe. “Come again?”

Draco put the bottle down on the table and scooted closer, looking incredibly serious. “I know you’re probably still mad at me and I know you probably won’t want to forgive me ever again, but I just—I’m sorry, okay? I… Those things I suggested about Remus were wrong. You were right to be mad at me. I was prejudiced and mean and I do trust Remus,” he babbled, tripping over his words as though he worried he wouldn’t say everything unless he spoke a mile a minute. “I… I’ve only met one other werewolf. Greyback, his name was. Let’s just say he was really fucking creepy. And that doesn’t excuse me at all, but I just thought you should know.” When he finished, he looked exhausted, letting out a heavy exhale and looking at the floor.

Hari didn’t know what to say at first. Draco had just revealed a lot of information he had never even heard before. After knowing Draco for so long, he was surprised to find there were things he didn’t know.

“It’s okay if you don’t forgive me right now,” Draco continued, grabbing his half full butterbeer and getting to his feet. “You probably still want some space.”

Draco started to walk away, head hanging, but Hari reached out and grabbed his wrist. He blinked in surprise, but before he could ask, Hari stood up and tugged him into a hug.

“I can never stay mad at you, you bloody eejit,” Hari muttered in Draco’s ear, squeezing him tightly. He pulled mostly out of the hug, keeping his arms loosely over the blond’s shoulders. “I get that you have your reasons, but I am glad you apologised.”

“Don’t get used to it,” said Draco, eyes glinting as the happiness returned after being so downcast the last few days. “I’m just not stupid enough to stay on the bad side of Hari Potter.”

Hari snorted, keeping one arm draped around Draco’s shoulders as they wandered over to get snacks at the table. Hari was glad to be talking to Draco again, giggling as they passed Percy and Oliver snogging in a dark alcove and talking about the match earlier in the day.

The party was finally broken up a good few hours later, not long after the clock struck 1 am, Minerva appearing in the common room in her tartan dressing gown. She insisted they all went to bed, telling off the people that were completely incapacitated from drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Hari, Ron and Draco wandered up the stairs with Dean, Seamus and Neville, all laughing about McGonagall shouting at George for trying to stuff someone up the chimney after far too many firewhiskies.

Hari was only just falling asleep, having stayed up late with Seamus and Draco, giggling in the darkness while looking over a Quidditch magazine to decide which players were the most attractive, when he was startled out of his dream by a horrifying scream.

“AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH! GET OFF ME! NOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Hari jolted upright, almost tumbling out of bed and fumbling around the dark for his glasses. He heard Seamus’ voice saying, “What’s going on?” Hari managed to cram his glasses on and stumbled out of bed to find Dean with his wand lit up and Ron sitting up in bed, looking incredibly pale and hyperventilating. Hari thought he heard a door slamming downstairs.

The hangings of Ron’s bed were slashed open, hanging by only a thread. Ron was close to tears as the other boys gaped at him in tired confusion and concern. Hari went over to Ron’s side, grabbing his shoulders and trying to get him to stop breathing like he was drowning.

“Black! Sirius Black! With a dagger!” Ron yelped as Hari rubbed his back.

“What?”

“Llook what he did to my curtains! He—he slashed them!”

“Are you sure it wasn’t a dream?” asked Dean.

“Look at my bloody curtains! I didn’t do that in a fucking dream! He was here!”

Hari helped the now trembling Ron out of bed and Draco, who reached the door first, led the way as they all hurried down the stairs. Doors opened along the stairs on both sides, tired voices asking what was going on.

The common room was in a disarray, empty bottles and cans and sweets wrappers lying here and there on the floors and chairs. There was nobody else there.

“I know I saw him! It wasn’t a dream!” Ron continued to insist as he stood in the centre of the disastrous common room

“Saw who?” asked a fifth year boy dressed in Doctor Who pyjamas.

Several girls were appearing down the stairs in their dressing gowns, looking confused. The common room quickly filled up with the majority of Gryffindor house again.

“What are you all doing out of bed? McGonagall told you all to go to bed, so do so!” Percy Weasley appeared down the steps, pinning his Head Boy badge onto his pajamas as Oliver half fell asleep on his shoulder.

“Perce!” Ron exclaimed, pulling from Hari’s grasp. “Sirius Black! In our dormitory with a knife!”

The common room silenced immediately.

“You were just having a bad dream, Ron. Probably drank illegally, I’d expect and it’s having bad aftereffects,” said Percy stubbornly.

“I’m telling you—”

“I thought I told you all to get to bed!”

Everyone turned to find Professor McGonagall had returned, looking furious. “As delighted as I am about winning the match, this is absolutely ridiculous! It is almost three in the morning! I expected better of you, Percy!”

“I didn’t authorise this, Professor!” said Percy, pushing Oliver off his shoulder and standing up proudly. “My brother Ron had a nightmare and thought—”

“IT WASN’T A NIGHTMARE!” Ron bellowed. “Professor, I woke up and Sirius Black was standing at the foot of my bed, holding a knife! He slashed up my curtains and everything! I can show you them!”

Professor McGonagall gaped.

“And how on earth would Sirius Black get in here?” she asked skeptically.

“Why don’t you ask Sir Cadogan then?” he asked, pointing a shaking finger at the portrait hole.

Minerva huffed but moved outside to the portrait hole, speaking to Sir Cadogan. Ron gripped Hari’s arm tightly, anxiously.

“Sir Cadogan, did anyone just enter this common room? Sirius Black, perhaps?”

“Certainly, Professor! He had all the passwords on a piece of paper, right up to the next month!” replied Sir Cadogan brightly. The air inside Gryffindor was palpable with tension after Sir Cadogan’s admission.

Professor McGonagall stiffened, nodded her head, straightened her dressing gown and walked primly into the common room once again. She looked abnormally calm for the news she just learned.

“Which person,” she asked tightly, “which absolute, blithering imbecile was foolish enough to have a list of passwords written down and lying around for anyone to see them?”

The room gasped collectively as poor Neville Longbottom raised a trembling hand in the air.