A/N I apologize for the delay. I could have sworn that I sent this in! You all know the drill. This belongs to JKR.
"Ministry Fears Attack!," "YOU-KNOW-WHO STRONGER!" "Could The End Be Near?"
The headlines over the next few days displayed the widespread panic consuming the wizarding world. Harry had long ago, discontinued the DA meetings as Krum had informed him that the classes were all caught up. Even Ron could know longer deny that Krum knew his stuff, though he wouldn't admit it to anyone.
After a painful lesson on Bruising Hexes, Ron had to skip out to the hospital wing. He hadn't cast a strong enough deflector jinx to block Harry's spell. As a result, he had been hit squarely on the face. Harry and Hermione met up with Ginny before going to lunch.
"Ready for Quidditch tomorrow?" he asked her, before stuffing a ham sandwich into his mouth.
"Of course," Ginny said, sipping her juice. "We're going to pummel Slytherin."
"McGonagall would probably kill you if she lost that Quidditch cup," Hermione said. "I hope Ron's feeling up to it."
"He should be fine," Kyla Thomas said, coming from behind and settling on the other side of Harry. "Krum didn't seem to think it was that serious when he was explaining to Flitwick. By the way, Ginny, did you write down how long our Charms assignment was?"
As Ginny told her, Harry went over in his head the strategy for tomorrow's game. He finally had a perfectly matched team. His Chasers were phenomenal, Colin had proved to be a formidable Beater, along with Kyla and her deadly precision in aim. Ron hadn't let a goal in at practice unless it was Ginny who threw the Quaffle and Harry had never missed catching the Snitch. . .Well, almost never, he reminded himself. With a team that strong, losing just wasn't an option.
"Pass the word around," he said to Ginny and Kyla. "We're going to practice tonight against Ravenclaw."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry walked to the pitch that night in high spirits. Ron was beside him, the only remnants of the hex being two black eyes that clashed horrible with his hair.
"Okay," Harry said to Cho as they waited for their teams to come out. "We want to keep this as clean as possible. I don't want my team members out of commission for tomorrow's game."
"Well," she said teasingly. "If you weren't against Slytherin, you might have to worry but we all want you to smash them in the dirt." She grinned. "It's alright, we'll go easy on you."
"Not too easy, mind!" he called as she flew off.
Hermione stood under them after they lined up the throw the Quaffle into the air.
Ginny swerved under the Ravenclaw Chasers and snatched the Quaffle away, dodging a Bludger, tossing the Quaffle to Alicia who threw to Katie who hurled it back to Ginny as she made a goal.
Harry and Cho stayed floating above the game, chatting every now and then, each with an eye out for the Snitch.
"You realize," she said, "If you were to do this tomorrow, a Bludger would probably be sent up here to kill you?"
"More likely, Crabbe or Goyle would be sent up here to do it with their bare hands," Harry laughed. "But it's not likely I'd be up here chatting with Malfoy. Threatening him, maybe, but not chatting."
"Well, I have to admit, you've got a great team."
Down below, Kyla was zooming up to a Bludger, swinging her bat in a wide arc, with a resound clack! when it connected.
The Bludger spun off as Alicia passed to Katie and a Ravenclaw attempted to intercept. Rather than hitting the opposing Chaser, it hit the Quaffle, knocking the large red ball into Ginny's arms so she could score once more.
"Impressive," Cho said, drily.
"Thank you, we've- Excuse me!" Harry dove for the Snitch and Cho was quick to follow. They were between the other players, gaining on the Snitch inch by inch when suddenly, it changed direction and reversed between the two Seekers, zooming away from them. Harry pulled his broom in a loop, stopping just short of the Snitch when it collided with his outstretched hand.
"Final score," Cho said, "170-0. Good luck tomorrow, Harry."
"Thanks," he said, wiping his sweating brow. She grinned.
"Next time, we won't be so forgiving."
As they out of the locker rooms, Harry praised his team.
"Ginny, Alicia, Katie, that was brilliant! On your own, you're good, but as a team, wow!"
"Thanks, Harry," Alicia said.
"And Kyla, where did that hit come from?"
She shrugged modestly.
"Well, don't hold back! Guys, if we play this way tomorrow, there's no way we can lose!"
"Big words, Potter."
"Shove off, Malfoy," Ron said as the Slytherin team came onto the pitch, clutching their Quidditch gear.
"I saw your little match. Rather pathetic if you ask me. It wasn't that much of a win. We finished off Ravenclaw in about ten minutes, last time."
"Yeah," Cho said, vehemently. "Because we didn't play dirty, Malfoy."
"Well, why don't you cry about it, Chang? Seems to be all you can do." Harry lunged towards Malfoy but Cho stopped him.
"This isn't the time," she said.
"Right, let a girl fight for you," Malfoy smirked. "What do you think, Potter? Should we have another little game right now? See who the best team really is?"
"Don't," Ginny whispered.
"No, Malfoy. We'll find that out tomorrow." Harry turned away and Malfoy grinned.
"I look forward to it."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Alright team," Harry said at breakfast the following morning. "Eat up. I need you to be strong today."
"You too, Harry," Hermione said, handing him a slice of toast. The windows rattled as rain was hurled against them. Lightning flashed and thunder made the dishes shake on the tables.
"Whew," Alicia said. "This is worse than that one time against Hufflepuff."
"Okay everyone," Harry said. "Let's get down to the pitch."
As the Gryffindor team headed out, all the other from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff cheered while the Slytherins hissed and booed.
"This is it," Harry said in the locker room. "We have fought hard this year and have overcome many obstacles. You are the strongest team that Hogwarts has ever seen. I don't care if we win or lose, I'm proud of you."
"Oh please, Harry," Katie said. "You do care if we win or lose. We're not goig to let those rotten, dirty Slytherins walk away with our Quidditch cup!"
The team cheered and Harry raised his hand smiling. "Alright if that's how you feel about it, let's get out there and kick some Slytherin-"
"Mr. Potter!"
"Er-I mean, sorry Professor McGonagall."
"Mr. Potter, I have some unfortunate news."
"What is it?" Ron asked. Beside him, Ginny's eyes were huge.
"The match has been cancelled."
"But-but Professor!"
"We've been working so hard!"
"It's the Quidditch cup!"
"Yes, Miss Thomas, I am aware of that. Sadly, something has come up which no longer makes it safe."
"Oh no, my vision!" Ginny whispered, but only Harry heard her.
"What happened, Professor?" Colin asked.
"All will be explained in your common room. Please await me there."
As the team filed out, Professor McGonagall reached out to stop Ginny and Ron. Harry hung back.
"Mr. Potter please go with the rest of your classmates. The Weasley's and I have some family business to discuss."
Harry nodded and moved to leave, but Ginny stopped him.
"Harry is family," she said and Ron nodded.
"Very well. Children, there's been an attack on the Ministry. Death Eaters forced entrance and many people were wounded and. . .killed."
"Oh no! Not Dad!" Harry could see fear in Ron's eyes and he remembered the same look there when Mr. Weasley had been attacked by the giant snake the year before.
"No, it's not your father. He was one of the lucky ones."
Tears filled Ginny's eyes. "Percy," she whispered.
McGonagall nodded slowly. "He died. . blocking a curse that was meant for your father. I'm so sorry."
Ginny fell into Harry's arms, shaking with uncontrollably while Ron stared at the floor. Lightning lit the sky and the thunder crashed while ran fell from the sky morosely.
Whoo. That was intense. So now you all know who died. I've always said that I want Percy to come back, and I want him to die for his family. Even if JKR never does it, it'll be here in my fanfic!
As if that weren't bad enough, here's a spoiler!
"Why fight for a future that we're not prepared for?" she asked. "It may be all that we can do. And if that's all I can do, I'm going to make sure that I do the best job I can at it."
Enjoy and leave me a lovely review that will make me really happy!