save the world - we are not friends ✦°

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THE SCHOOL TALKED OF NOTHING BUT BLACK for the next few days. the theories about how he had entered the castle became wilder and wilder; hannah abbott, from hufflepuff, spent much of their next herbology class telling anyone who'd listen that black could turn into a flowering shrub.

y/n not-so-nicely told the hufflepuff that she shouldn't act as gullible as she looks. confused and scared about her encounter with the strange man in her mind, y/n had been acting pretty out of character, with no effort to cover it up. harry had become worried for the girl, but could also tell she was avoiding the subject and also being alone in a room with harry, so that he wouldn't ask her about it. which obviously he would, but he could tell the girl was just biding her time.

the fat lady's ripped canvas had been taken off the wall and replaced with the portrait of sir cadogan and his fat gray pony. nobody was very happy about this. sir cadogan spent half his time challenging people to duels, and the rest thinking up ridiculously complicated passwords, which he changed at least twice a day.

"he's a complete lunatic," said y/n angrily to percy after she was refused the entrance by the soldier because the password had changed at the end of last period. "can't we get anyone else?"

"none of the other pictures wanted the job," said percy. "frightened of what happened to the fat lady. sir cadogan was the only one brave enough to volunteer."

sir cadogan, however, was the least of harry's worries. he was now being closely watched. teachers found excuses to walk along corridors with him, and percy (acting, harry suspected, on his mother's orders) was tailing him everywhere like an extremely pompous guard dog which irritated y/n, whenever she was around. 

the weather worsened steadily as the first quidditch match drew nearer. undaunted, the gryffindor team was training harder than ever under the eye of hooch. then, at their final training session before saturday's match, wood gave his team some unwelcome news.

"we're not playing slytherin!" he told them, looking very angry. "flint's just been to see me. we're playing hufflepuff instead."

"why?" chorused the rest of the team.

"flint's excuse is that their seeker's arm's still injured," said wood, grinding his teeth furiously. "but it's obvious why they're doing it. don't want to play in this weather. think it'll damage their chances..."

there had been strong winds and heavy rain all day, and as wood spoke, they heard a distant rumble of thunder.

"there's nothing wrong with malfoy's arm!" said harry furiously. "he's faking it!"

"i know that, but we can't prove it," said wood bitterly. "and we've been practicing all those moves assuming we're playing slytherin, and instead it's hufflepuff, and their style's quite different. they've got a new captain and seeker, cedric diggory —" angelina and katie suddenly giggled.

"what?" said wood, frowning at this light-hearted behavior.

"he's that tall, good-looking one, isn't he?" said angelina.

"strong and silent," said katie, and they started to giggle again, making y/n laugh softly at their antics. sure he was attractive but not quite her type...

"he's only silent because he's too thick to string two words together," said fred impatiently. "i don't know why you're worried, oliver, hufflepuff is a pushover. last time we played them, harry caught the snitch in about five minutes, remember?"

"we were playing in completely different conditions!"wood shouted, his eyes bulging slightly. "diggory's put a very strong side together! he's an excellent seeker! i was afraid you'd take it like this! we mustn't relax! we must keep our focus! slytherin is trying to wrong-foot us! we must win!"

"oliver, calm down!" said y/n, looking slightly alarmed. "we're taking hufflepuff very seriously. seriously."

---

the day before the match, the winds reached howling point and the rain fell harder than ever. this was extra annoying for y/n, who had straightened her hair the night before. it was so dark inside the corridors and classrooms that extra lanterns were lit. hermione even gave y/n a handy muggle contraption called a 'torch' which lit up her path for her on the way to her lessons.

the slytherin team was looking very smug, and none more so than malfoy.

"ah, if only my arm was feeling a bit better!" he sighed as the gale outside pounded the windows. wood kept hurrying up to y/n and harry between classes and giving them tips. the third time this happened, wood talked for so long that harry suddenly realised he was ten minutes late for defence against the dark arts, and had to grab y/n's hand whilst she had stood to the side, slightly behind him, and was unprepared for the sudden movement, and the two set off at a run with wood shouting after them, "diggory's got a very fast swerve, harry, so you might want to try looping him —"

harry skidded to a halt, y/n bumping into him, hands still interlocked, muttering a small 'ouch', outside the classroom, pulled the door open, and dashed inside. 

"sorry we're late, professor lupin, i —"

y/n nudged harry in the ribs, causing him to pause mid sentence; it wasn't professor lupin who looked up at him from the teacher's desk, it was snape.

"this lesson began ten minutes ago, potter, l/n, so I think we'll make it ten points from gryffindor. no questions asked... sit down."

unfortunately, harry didn't move. "where's professor lupin?" he said.

"he says he is feeling too ill to teach today," said snape with a twisted smile. "i believe i told the two of you to sit down?"

just as y/n was about to retreat and go to her seat, thinking harry would give up too, he spoke again, stopping y/n from moving with a subtle hand to her belly.

"what's wrong with him?"

though it was a valid question, y/n slowly shook her head in disappointment. way to get yourself in trouble!

snape's black eyes glittered. "nothing life-threatening," he said, looking as though he wished it were. "five more points from gryffindor, and if i have to ask you to sit down again, it will be fifty." 

harry looked reluctant to move but one pointed look from y/n was enough to make him start walking slowly to his seat and sit down, y/n tucking in next to him. snape looked around at the class.

"as I was saying before potter and l/n interrupted us , professor lupin has not left any record of the topics you have covered so far —"

"please, sir, we've done boggarts, red caps, kappas, and grindylows," said hermione quickly, much to y/n's dislike, because she had told the girl so many times that she would be better off not engaging with snape, as his hate for the quartet was so deep he wouldn't want to listen to anything hermione had to say. hermione was currently proving her correct by the way. "and we're just about to start —"

"be quiet," said snape coldly. damn. "i did not ask for information. i was merely commenting on professor lupin's lack of organisation."

"he's the best defense against the dark arts teacher we've ever had," said dean thomas boldly, and there was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the class.

"yeah exactly." said y/n, nodding at dean. "and sir, hermione was just trying to help, there's no need to be rude."

snape looked more menacing than ever but didn't address y/n's comment.

"you are easily satisfied. lupin is hardly overtaxing you —i would expect first years to be able to deal with red caps and grindylows. today we shall discuss —" 

"well, our learnings been pretty interrupted hasn't it?" y/n murmured. 

y/n watched him flick through the textbook, to the very back chapter, which he must know they hadn't covered.

"— werewolves," said snape. 

"but, sir," said hermione, seemingly unable to restrain herself, "we're not supposed to do werewolves yet, we're due to start hinkypunks —"

"miss granger," said snape in a voice of deadly calm, "i was under the impression that i am teaching this lesson, not you. and i am telling you all to turn to page 394." he glanced around again. "all of you! now!"

with many bitter sidelong looks and some sullen muttering, the class opened their books.

"which of you can tell me how we distinguish between the werewolf and the true wolf?" said snape. everyone sat in motionless silence; everyone except hermione, whose hand, as it so often did, had shot straight into the air.

"anyone?" snape said, ignoring hermione. his twisted smile was back. "are you telling me that professor lupin hasn't even taught you the basic distinction between —"

"we told you," said parvati suddenly, "we haven't got as far as werewolves yet, we're still on —"

"silence!" snarled snape. "well, well, well, i never thought i'd meet a third-year class who wouldn't even recognise a werewolf when they saw one. i shall make a point of informing professor dumbledore how very behind you all are..."

"please, sir," said hermione, whose hand was still in the air, "the werewolf differs from the true wolf in several small ways. the snout of the werewolf —"

"that is the second time you have spoken out of turn, miss granger," said snape coolly. "five more points from gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all."

hermione went very red, put down her hand, and stared at the floor with her eyes full of tears. it was a mark of how much the class loathed snape that they were all glaring at him, because every one of them had called hermione a know-it-all at least once.

before y/n could open her mouth and get herself in more trouble with snape, ron, who told hermione she was a know-it-all at least twice a week, said loudly, "you asked us a question and she knows the answer! why ask if you don't want to be told?"

the class might've thought he'd gone too far, but y/n wore a proud smile on her face. snape advanced on ron slowly, and the room held its breath.

"detention, weasley," snape said silkily, his face very close to ron's. "and if i ever hear you criticize the way I teach a class again, you will be very sorry indeed."

no one made a sound throughout the rest of the lesson. they sat and made notes on werewolves from the textbook, while snape prowled up and down the rows of desks, examining the work they had been doing with lupin. 

"very poorly explained ... that is incorrect, the kappa is more commonly found in mongolia. ... professor lupin gave this eight out of ten? i wouldn't have given it three. ..."

when the bell rang at last, snape held them back. "you will each write an essay, to be handed in to me, on the ways you recognise and kill werewolves. i want two rolls of parchment on the subject, and i want them by monday morning. it is time somebody took this class in hand. weasley, stay behind, we need to arrange your detention."

harry, y/n and hermione left the room with the rest of the class, who waited until they were well out of earshot, then burst into a furious tirade about snape.

"snape's never been like this with any of our other defense against the dark arts teachers, even if he did want the job," harry said to the two girls. "why's he got it in for lupin? d'you think this is all because of the boggart?"

y/n knew briefly of the reason, seeing as to remus lupin was her godfather, but it wasn't her story to tell, nor did she know the entire picture.

"i don't know," said hermione pensively. "but i really hope professor lupin gets better soon. ..."

ron caught up with them five minutes later, in a towering rage.

"d'you know what that greasy, slime faced dickhead—" (the insult made hermione say "ron!") "— is making me do? i've got to scrub out the bedpans in the hospital wing. without magic!" he was breathing deeply, his fists clenched. "why couldn't black have hidden in snape's office, eh? he could have finished him off for us!"

---

harry woke extremely early the next morning; so early that it was still dark. for a moment he thought the roaring of the wind had woken him. then he felt a cold breeze on the back of his neck and sat bolt upright — peeves had been floating next to him, blowing hard in his ear.

"what did you do that for?" said harry furiously. waste of sleep honestly. peeves puffed out his cheeks, blew hard, and zoomed backward out of the room, cackling. harry fumbled for his alarm clock and looked at it. it was half past four. when he finally decided he could absolutely not go back to sleep because everything was now keeping him wide awake, he gave up any thought of more sleep, got up, dressed, picked up his nimbus, and walked quietly out of the dormitory to the common room.

walking down the steps, he noticed the fire lit, as usual, and a figure on the coach in front of it. sighing, as he made out who it was, harry trotted the rest of the way down and spoke up.

"again, y/n, really?"

the girl in question's head snapped around, seemingly in shock to anyone else being there so early in the morning. clutching her chest in shock, y/n heaved a sigh.

"you scared me harry! merlin." she gasped.

"we've talked about you pulling all nighters! stop dodging!" harry exclaims.

"i can't fucking help it." y/n grumbles, turning back around to the fire, leaning against the arm of the sofa as harry walked over and sat next to her.

"you've been acting pretty strange this week you know."

alas, here came the moment y/n had been dreading the past week. her dream had left her mouth with a bitter taste of confusion, that she hadn't even thought about hiding, too absorbed in her head.

"y/n, baby, just tell me what's wrong." harry said gently, taking her hands into his. y/n smiled at him (the nickname was very new), his affection washing over her as she indulged, and started speaking.

"about a week ago, i had another really strange dream, of this man- don't look at me like that! he was much too old anyways and i don't even know him - anyways, he was sat on this bench by the beach, and when i asked who he was, he told me i already knew. now obviously i don't know, but i feel like i do, you know? har, it's literally eating me alive that i can't tell who he is, and now, i can barely even remember what he looks like!"

"well listen, if you can remember what he looks like, or if he comes back, you let me know yeah, i'll help you find out who he is."

and with that, y/n curled into harry's side, head on his shoulder, and drifted into a dreamless sleep, which she had been struggling to do all night anyways. even if it were only for a couple hours, she could sleep, because he was there to help her.

harry listened to the storm as his best friend slept, and he knew better than to think the match would be canceled; quidditch matches weren't called off for silly matters like thunderstorms. nevertheless, he was starting to feel very apprehensive, for more than one reason. wood had pointed out cedric diggory to him in the corridor; diggory was a fifth year and a lot bigger than harry. seekers were usually light and speedy, but diggory's weight would be an advantage in this weather because he was less likely to be blown off course. aside, from quidditch, harry was particularly worried about the girl next to him. y/n had always been different. stronger in a sense, not just physically but she was so mentally smart, that harry feared she would not be able to handle herself (even though he knew she could, he just cared for her deeply).

at long last harry thought it must be time for breakfast, so he, gently shook y/n awake, telling her to go get dressed, out of her pjs (which she was absolutely devoted to), waited for her to return and then the two headed through the portrait hole together.

"stand and fight, you mangy cur!" yelled sir cadogan.

"oh, shut up," harry yawned, to which y/n laughed softly, making him grin at her.

harry revived a bit over a large bowl of porridge (y/n gagged at this because porridge is gross(she was eating a stack of waffles, she said to harry, "they'll keep my energy levels up, you know.")), and by the time he'd started on toast, the rest of the team had turned up.

"it's going to be a tough one," said wood, who wasn't eating anything.

"stop worrying, oliver," said angelina soothingly, "we don't mind a bit of rain."

y/n snickered; it was considerably more than a bit of rain. such was the popularity of quidditch that the whole school turned out to watch the match as usual, but they ran down the lawns toward the quidditch field, heads bowed against the ferocious wind, umbrellas being whipped out of their hands as they went. just before he entered the locker room, harry saw malfoy, crabbe, and goyle, laughing and pointing at him from under an enormous umbrella on their way to the stadium. however, their laughter didn't last long as they umbrella closed in on itself, trapping the three idiots inside. harry turned to y/n who winked at him before heading into the changing rooms. the team changed into their scarlet robes and waited for wood's usual pre-match pep talk, but it didn't come. he tried to speak several times, made an odd gulping noise, then shook his head hopelessly and beckoned them to follow him.

"er- hang on a sec, oliver what on earth was that!" y/n said, brows furrowed. "you are the captain of this team, and you know that this will be just as good as any match. guys we have got this."

for once, even she didn't sound convinced.

the wind was so strong that they staggered sideways as they walked out onto the field. if the crowd was cheering, they couldn't hear it over the fresh rolls of thunder. rain was fogging up y/n's vision. how on earth was she supposed to see what was going on, or where to shoot in this?the hufflepuffs were approaching from the opposite side of the field, wearing canary-yellow robes. the captains walked up to each other and shook hands; diggory smiled at wood but wood now looked as though he had lockjaw and merely nodded.

 they saw madam hooch's mouth form the words, "mount your brooms." 

y/n pulled her foot out of the mud with a squelch and swung it over her broom. madam hooch put her whistle to her lips and gave it a blast that sounded shrill and distant — they were off.

y/n rose quickly into the air, not able to see much but trying her best. she narrowly shot past a hufflepuff, quaffle in hand, heading towards a post. the huffelpuff keeper seemed to be at a different post, having not noticed y/n with the quaffle through the rain. y/n didn't blame him; it was difficult for her to see as well. she threw the quaffle through the post in front of her, earning gryffindor an additional 10 points.

she couldn't hear the commentary over the wind, which was unfortunate because lee was extra funny when commentating. the crowd was hidden beneath a sea of cloaks and battered umbrellas. 

y/n quickly lost track of time, between scoring goals and trying not to bump into anyone. it was getting harder and harder to hold the broom straight. the sky was getting darker, as though night had decided to come early. with the first flash of lightning came the sound of hooch's whistle, making y/n sigh in relief and lower herself to the ground where they waited for harry to come down. the whole team splashed down into the mud.

"i called for time-out!" wood roared at his team. "come on, under here —"

they huddled at the edge of the field under a large umbrella; harry took off his glasses and wiped them hurriedly on his robes.

"what's the score?" asked y/n.

"we're fifty points up," said wood, "but unless we get the snitch soon, we'll be playing into the night."

"i've got no chance with these on," harry said exasperatedly, waving his glasses. at that very moment, hermione appeared at y/n's shoulder; she was holding her cloak over her head and was, inexplicably, beaming.

"i've had an idea, harry! give me your glasses, quick!"

"hey mione?" said y/n confusedly.

he handed them to her, and as the team watched in amazement, hermione tapped them with her wand and said, "impervius!"

"there!" she said, handing them back to harry. "they'll repel water!"

wood looked as though he could have kissed her. "brilliant!" he called hoarsely after her as she disappeared into the crowd. y/n laughed at the strangeness of the situation.

"okay, team, let's go for it!"

full of fresh determination, y/n urged her broom through the turbulent air, staring in every direction, avoiding multiple bludgers. there was another clap of thunder, followed immediately by forked lightning. this was getting more and more dangerous. harry needed to get the snitch quickly —y/n shot another goal in the mean time, keeping gryffindor's score high. 

she lifted the front of the broom to turn in around, going the opposite way to try and intercept the quaffle which was now in the hands of a hufflepuff chaser. diving in front of the player, she caught him off guard, his eyes going wide as he lifted upwards, but left just enough time for katie to swoop in and steal the quaffle. she makes her way to the other end of the pitch, y/n tailing her for support - which came in handy; a hufflepuff beater sends a bludger at katie, making her pass the quaffle to y/n and dive out the way, y/n continued through the rain, till she spotted the post...and another goal for gryffindor!

"harry!" came wood's anguished yell from the gryffindor goal posts. "harry, behind you!"

y/n could see harry looking wildly around him. cedric diggory was pelting up the field, and a tiny speck of gold was shimmering in the rain-filled air between them — harry threw himself flat to the broom handle and zoomed toward the snitch.

but something odd was happening. an eerie silence was falling across the stadium. something y/n had felt before. her stomach dropped, and her guts churned; this couldn't be anything good, especially not for harry. the wind, though as strong as ever, was forgetting to roar. it was as though someone had turned off the sound. a swarm of dementors surround harry's figure, miles aboves. y/n stares in horror; this couldn't be happening. that wasn't the worst of it though. after what felt like years, when harry was seemingly out of sight, he fell. straight from the sky. y/n could tell he was unconscious by the fact he made no noise, nor was he flailing in the air. and that was, by far, the worst possible situation in y/n's eyes.

she screamed out for him; though she was safely on the ground, he was not going to be. but just as she thought all was lost, sheen of silver light appeared at her finger tips, much like her fire, but silvery. the world seemed to slow down, and all she could focus on was the boy she was to save. she outstretched her hand sending a beam of silver light towards harry, engulfing him and bringing him down to the ground in safety. y/n stared at her hands, once again, not understanding what was going on. albus dumbledore now stood close - by, watching her in wonder.

all y/n could think about now was how she had to get out of there.

---

"i thought he was dead for sure."

"but he didn't even break his glasses."

harry could hear the voices whispering, but they made no sense whatsoever. he didn't have a clue where he was, or how he'd got there, or what he'd been doing before he got there. all he knew was that every inch of him was aching as though it had been beaten.

"that was the scariest thing i've ever seen in my life."

scariest ... the scariest thing ... hooded black figures...cold... screaming...harry's eyes snapped open. he was lying in the hospital wing. the gryffindor quidditch team, spattered with mud from head to foot, was gathered around his bed. 

ron and hermione were also there, looking as though they'd just climbed out of a swimming pool. but no y/n.

"harry!" said fred, who looked extremely white underneath the mud. "how're you feeling?"

it was as though harry's memory was on fast forward. the lightning — the grim — the snitch — and the dementors...

"what happened?" he said, sitting up so suddenly they all gasped.

"you fell off," said fred. "must've been — what — fifty feet?"

"we thought you'd died," said katie, who was shaking. hermione made a small, squeaky noise. her eyes were extremely bloodshot.

"but the match," said harry. "what happened? are we doing a replay?"

no one said anything. the horrible truth sank into harry like a stone. "we didn't — lose?"

"diggory got the snitch," said george. "just after you fell. he didn't realise what had happened. when he looked back and saw you on the ground, with all y/n's weird silvery stuff, he tried to call it off. wanted a rematch. but they won fair and square... even wood admits it."

"where is y/n? and wood." said harry, suddenly realising he wasn't there.

"he's still in the showers," said fred. "we think he's trying to drown himself."

"we aren't sure where y/n took off to. lord knows she needs a break." hermione sighs.

harry put his face to his knees, his hands gripping his hair. fred grabbed his shoulder and shook it roughly.

"c'mon, harry, you've never missed the snitch before."

"there had to be one time you didn't get it," said george.

"it's not over yet," said fred. "we lost by a hundred points, right? so if hufflepuff loses to ravenclaw and we beat ravenclaw and slytherin ..."

"hufflepuff'll have to lose by at least two hundred points,"said george. "but if they beat ravenclaw ..."

"no way, ravenclaw is too good. but if slytherin loses against hufflepuff ..."

"it all depends on the points — a margin of a hundred either way —"

harry lay there, not saying a word. they had lost ... for the first time ever, he had lost a quidditch match. after ten minutes or so, madam pomfrey came over to tell the team to leave him in peace.

"we'll come and see you later," fred told him. "don't beat yourself up, harry, you're still the best seeker we've ever had."

the team trooped out, trailing mud behind them. madam pomfrey shut the door behind them, looking disapproving. ron and hermione moved nearer to harry's bed.

"dumbledore was really angry," hermione said in a quaking voice."but he's not the one that saved you. i've never seen her like that before. y/n screamed really loudly when she could see you falling, and she made this silvery stuff from her hands and you sort of slowed down in this cradle of light so you barely touched the groud. then dumbledore came onto the pitch and whirled his wand at the dementors. shot silky stuff at them. they left the stadium right away. ... he was furious they'd come onto the grounds. we heard him —"

"then he magicked you onto a stretcher, and tried looking around for y/n, because obviously nobody knew what she'd done, but she was gone so he walked up to school with you floating on the stretcher. everyone thought you were ..." ron trailed off but harry hardly noticed.

he was thinking about what the dementors had done to him ...about the screaming voice. and y/n. 

suddenly, the door to the hospital wing burst open, revealing a dishevelled looking y/n. she was out of her quidditch uniform, now sporting a pair of joggers and a tank top with ugg slippers. her hair was dripping wet but she was clean from the dirt of the match, and she carried a large bag over her shoulder.

she smiled with relief as she spotted the three of them.

"hey guys, i just went to professor flitwick." she says as she approached them. "after having a shower and getting something to eat." she added as an afterthought. she reached into the bag and pulled out a box, seemingly filled with lemon cheesecake. 

"here- sugar's good for energy and dementors." she passes the box to harry, along with a spoon. "now before any of you say anything, or ask me any questions; i do not want to talk about whatever the hell i did tonight. ok? also harry this is what flitwick could salvage." 

she held up the bag.

ron and hermione looked quickly at each other. "er —"

"hang on- you guys didn't tell him! must i do everything!"

"what?" said harry, looking from one to the other.

"well ... when you fell off, your broom got blown away," said hermione hesitantly.

"and?"

"and it hit — it hit — oh, harry — it hit the whomping willow."

"and?" he said, dreading the answer. 

"well, you know the whomping willow," said ron. "it — it doesn't like being hit."

"that's why i went to go see flitwick." y/n sighed quietly. hermione took the bag from y/n's grasp,  turned it upside down, and tipped a dozen bits of splintered wood and twig onto the bed, the only remains of harry's faithful,finally beaten broomstick.

"there was no need to make such a mess mione." y/n huffed.

a/n - im back! (you won't be hearing for a while now.)

by 'a while', i actually mean it. exam season is in a month and I AM LOCKING IN!!

so take care and enjoy this chapter because it's the last one till summer.

kisses, -p

word count: 4980