On the next Hogsmeade weekend two weeks later, Harry was wandering about the castle looking for Hedwig.  The snake had been missing for two days and Harry was worried she had been eaten by one of the owls or someone’s cat.

He rounded a corner and something leapt at his ankles, latching onto them.  Looking down, he smiled.

“Hello, Norri.”

Mrs. Norris meowed and Harry knelt down to pet her, rubbing his fingers in hard along her spine.  She arched her back and purred loudly, eyes half-closed in content.

“You’re very good with animals, I see.”

Harry looked up and saw Professor Lupin standing not five feet away.  Mrs. Norris arched her back and hissed at him before turning and sprinting off down the corridor Harry had just come down.  The boy looked after her sadly then turned to face his professor.

“Hello, professor.”

“Hello, Harry.  Perhaps you would like to try something else?  I was just going down to see Hagrid’s hippogriffs.”

Harry eyes lit up at the word ‘hippogriffs’ and Lupin smiled.

“Let’s go then, shall we?”

Lupin began to walk and Harry strode swiftly after him, smirking slightly when his robes billowed out behind him in a way not unlike his father’s.  So that’s how he does that, thought the young Snape with a mental chuckle.

The two of them walked in silence until Lupin asked Harry a question.

“Why aren’t you down in Hogsmeade with your friends?”

Harry sullenly replied, “Did’na get the form signed.  Me relatives hate magic.”

Lupin arched an eyebrow.  He swore Albus had told him that Harry had stayed at Hogwarts over the summer until he went to the Burrow two weeks before term began.  Something fishy was going on…

“So you were wandering the halls with Mrs. Norris?”

“Na.  I was looking fer Hedwig.”

“Hedwig?” said Lupin.

“Me snake.”

“Ah!  Oh, bright, isn’t it?”

The two of them had stepped out into the bright sunlight spreading over the grounds, both lifting their hands to shield their eyes.  They turned towards Hagrid’s hut as they stepped down from the last of the stairs leading down from the castle doors and were greeted warmly by the giant of a man when they arrived there.

“Professor!  ‘Arry!  Come ter see the hippogriffs?”

Lupin nodded and replied, “I did.  Harry was wandering about the halls and I asked him to join me.”

Hagrid looked down at Harry and asked, “What were yeh lokin’ fer?”

“Hedwig.”

“Tha’ snake o’ yours?”

“Yeh,” sighed Harry.

Hagrid look thoughtful for a moment then reached into a pocket of his moleskin coat and drew out something.  He held his large hand out to Harry and asked, “Would this be ‘er?”

Hagrid opened his hand and Harry heard a voice snap, “Stupid human!  Can’t even take me home, correctly!”

“Hedwig!”  Lupin and Hagrid both gave a little twitch as Harry spoke in Parseltongue.  The black snake in Hagrid’s palm jumped and swung her head around.

“Harry?”

Harry took the snake from Hagrid and let her coil about his wrist.  Smiling, he said, “I’m glad ye found her, Hagrid.  I thought she might’ve been eaten.”

Hagrid chuckled and said, “No pro’lem, Harry.  Mrs. Norris brought ‘er to me, by the way.  Always does that, that cat.  Anyway!  Le’s go see the hippogriffs!”

“I want to go home,” complained Hedwig.

“Hush,” muttered Harry to the snake.  “We’ll go after we see the ‘ippogriffs.”

“Alright,” said Hedwig sullenly.

“C’mon around ‘ere,” said Hagrid.  “I’ve goh ‘em tied up in the back.

The three of them tromped around the tiny hut to the back where several hippogriffs were tied up in a fenced in area.  Hagrid’s eyes lit up as he saw them and so did Harry’s, causing Lupin to chuckle.

The hippogriffs were almost as beautiful as the Darcorn.  But not quite, thought Harry, eying the gray hippogriff, which tossed its regal head, amber eyes flashing.  He took a step forward, entranced by the creature.

“Careful there, ‘Arry,” warned Hagrid.  “Ye’ve got ter bow…”

“I know, Hagrid,” said Harry, walking to the fence.  “I’ve read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them at least ten times, na ter mention several other books on magical creatures.”

Hagrid looked a bit flustered and Lupin let out a hearty guffaw.

“He has you there, Hagrid.”

“Ar, hush, ye.”

Harry chuckled mentally at the two men, eying the gray hippogriff.  He then tilted his head slightly back towards Hagrid and asked, “What’s ‘is name?”

“Eh?  Oh, Buckbeak.”

“Buckbeak,” repeated Harry, turning to the hippogriff again.  “Hello, Buckbeak.”

Buckbeak snorted in response and Hedwig suddenly hissed, “AWAY!  AWAY!”

Harry’s hands flew to his ears, causing him to fall off the fence onto his rear with an expelled whuff of air.  Hedwig shrieked an outcry from his wrist and Harry snarled at her, “Oh, sod the bloody heck off you.  Yer not the one who just fell on their arse.”

“HIPPOGRIFFS!  I HATE HIPPOGRIFFS!”

Harry pulled up his sleeve to glare coldly at the snake.

“Ye could have told me that, y’know.”

“Sorry.”

“Gods, Hed…”

“Harry, are you alright?”

Harry looked up at Lupin and Hagrid and nodded, standing up and brushing himself off.

“Fine, professor, Hagrid.  Hedwig has a problem wi’ hippogriffs apparently.  I guess I should take ‘er inside.  Good day.”

With that Harry strode towards the castle, muttering insults to Hedwig in first Parseltongue then Elven.

Lupin stared after the boy for a moment then turned to Hagrid.

“Hagrid, can I ask you a question?”

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

About a week later was the first game of the new Quidditch season.  The first match; Slytherin against Ravenclaw.  As game time neared, Flint was continually yelling at the team, most particularly Harry.

“Look, Potter, they’ve got a new Seeker this year.  Cho Chang.  She’s good.  Really good.  You’d better be paying attention when you fly against her.  THIS ISN’T CEDRIC DIGGORY!!”

Harry pulled on his right glove, lacing it tightly.  He had learned to tune out Flint’s rants and now turned to the older boy with a bland expression.

“’O course, Marcus.”

Flint glared at him and growled, “You’d better get the Snitch, Potter.”

“What else am I going ter do?” asked Harry as he picked up his Nimbus 2001 and walked out of the changing room.  Flint glared after him then cursed.

“Damn him!  Come on!  Game time!”

The Slytherin team followed Flint out, waiting at the entrance that led onto the pitch until they were called.  Lee Jordan’s amplified voice filled their ears suddenly and Harry tightened his grip on his Nimbus.

“And now, the Slytherin team!”

Harry leapt onto the Nimbus and kicked off hard, flying up to the Seeker position.  He had to fight to keep in his place as there was a fierce wind blowing.  His sharp eyes scanned the Slytherin stands and picked out Niamh, Mika, and Ginny sitting there.  He also noticed Ron and Hermione sitting on the Ravenclaw side, the bushy haired girl looking to be yelling at the ginger-haired boy.

“So…you’re the star of Slytherin I’ve heard so much about.”

Harry looked at the girl across from him, her dark hair pulled back from her face in a ponytail.

“Depends on what ye’ve heard.”

Cho Chang laughed and said, “Oh, I like you.”

Harry smiled tightly and said, “Quidditch, Chang.  We c’n talk later.”

“Well, aren’t you single-minded?”

“Na, single-minded.  I just want ter win.”

“How very Slytherin.”

“Tha’s what I am.”

“I know.”

“Heh,” said Harry, jerking his Nimbus upwards as Madam Hooch’s whistle blew.  He noted that Cho was tailing him and smirked.  Her broom was a Comet Two-Sixty and she was trying to tail him?  Oh, he was going to show her a time!

Smirking, Harry pushed the nose of the broom down, leaning close to the handle as though he were diving for the Snitch.  Cho followed and he nearly laughed.  This was too easy!

Bare inches from the ground he pulled up, his feet brushing the grass as he flew in a half-circle before heading back upwards.  Just as he had seen a gleam of gold at the other end of the pitch, a cold like nothing he had ever felt seeped into his bones.  He looked down and saw a hundred dementors standing below him.  The white mist seeped into his brain and the screaming began.  But instead of his own this time, it was the woman’s.  And there was more.

“Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!”

“Stand aside, you silly girl…stand aside, now…”

“Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead –”

His grip on his broom slackened and he couldn’t tell where he was.  Why was he flying?  Where was that woman?  He had to help her!

“Not Harry!  Please…have mercy...have mercy…”

The white mist clouded his mind and he fell, plummeting to the ground.  As he did, he heard a voice scream his name in pure horror.

“HARRY!!!”

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“He’s was lucky.”

“Luck?  Pah, luck.  Luck would’ve won us the game!”

“Sod off, Flint!  Just be happy you still have your Seeker!”

Flint glared at Niamh, who scowled furiously at the older boy before turning back to Harry, whose eyelids were fluttering.  She leaned over him and asked, “Harry?”

Harry’s eyes flew open and he sat up with a gasp.  Midway up, his head and Niamh’s connected with a crack, sending the girl sprawling and him back to the bed.

“IDIOT GOOSE!” bellowed Niamh as she got to her feet, clutching her forehead.  “What in the SOD did you hit me for?”

“Sorry, Ni.  Did’na know ye were there.”

“Well, LOOK NEXT TIME FOR SLYTHERIN’S SAKE!!”

“Miss O’Feir, if you don’t stop that ruckus right now, I will kick you out of here.”

Niamh winced and gave Madam Pomfrey an apologetic grin.  “Sorry, Madam Pomfrey.”

The mediwitch snorted and disappeared.  Niamh shook her head then turned back to Harry, who asked, “What happened?”

“Plum scary,” said Mika, who was standing at the end of the bed with Ginny.  “Those dementors came onto the field and it was so bloody cold!  Like on the train all over again.  And then you just – FELL!”

Niamh nodded and said, “Dumbledore charged out onto the field and waved his wand at you and you sort of – slowed – in your fall.  He started firing silvery stuff at the dementors while Snape came on the field and carried you off.”

“That seem ter be a reoccurring situation,” muttered Harry.

< How true, > said Jardin from his perch at the end of the bed.

Harry glared at the raven then asked, “When’s the rematch?”

The three Slytherins looked at each other then away from him.  Harry blinked and breathed, “No…  We did’n…”

“Chang caught the Snitch after you fell.  Fair win, she said.”

Niamh muttered something unflattering, causing Ginny to give a little squeek.

“What about me Nimbus?”

The three looked away from him again and Harry snarled, “NOW STOP THAT!”

Niamh frowned and said, “Well, after you fell…its sort of…”

“Got blown away…” added Mika.

“Uh-huh,” said Harry, not following them.

“It flew over to the Whomping Willow…” breathed Ginny.

No!

“And y’know how the Willow is,” said Niamh softly.

Hermione suddenly entered the Hospital Wing, carrying a bag.  She looked sadly at Harry then tipped the bag, spilling the dark splinters that were all left of his Nimbus on the bed.  Harry looked hopelessly down at the broken pieces of his beaten broom.