* * *

             HERMIONE AND ELARA WERE SEARCHING FOR HARRY AND RON. no matter how pissed the two girls were at them, harry and ron deserved to know. after finding out they weren't in their dorm, the two girls came to the conclusion that harry had in fact gone to hogsmeade again. 

            they had just walked out the portrait hole when they ran into harry and ron, both of whom were looking slightly disheveled and panicked.

            "come to have a good gloat?" said ron savagely as hermoine and elara stopped in front of them. "or have you just been to tell on us?"

            "no," said hermione. she was holding the letter in her hands and her lip was trembling. "we just thought you ought to know... hagrid lost his case. buckbeak is going to be executed."

            "he sent me this," hermione said, holding out the letter.

            dear hermione, 

            we lost. i'm allowed to bring him back to hogwarts. execution date to be fixed. beaky has enjoyed london. 

             i won't forget all the help you gave us. 

             hagrid

            "they can't do this," said harry. "they can't. buckbeak isn't dangerous."

            "uncle lucius frightened the committee into it," said elara. "you know what he's like. they're a bunch of doddery old fools, and they were scared. there'll be an appeal, though, there always is. only i don't think it'll do much, they've already made up their minds."

            "yeah, it will," said ron fiercely. "you won't have to do all the work alone this time, hermione. i'll help."

             "oh, ron!"

            hermione flung her arms around ron's neck and broke down completely. ron, looking quite terrified, patted her very awkwardly on the top of the head. finally, hermione drew away.

            "ron, i'm really, really sorry about scabbers..." she sobbed.

            "oh — well — he was old," said ron, looking thoroughly relieved that she had let go of him."and he was a bit useless. you never know, mum and dad might get me an owl now."

            "only about goddamn time they made up." elara whispered to harry, who cracked a crooked smile.

             the safety measures imposed on the students since black's second break-in made it impossible for elara, harry, ron, and hermione to go and visit hagrid in the evenings. their only chance of talking to him was during care of magical creatures lessons.

             he seemed numb with shock at the verdict.

            "s'all my fault. got all tongue-tied. they was all sittin' there in black robes an' i kep' droppin' me notes and forgettin' all them dates yeh looked up fer me, hermione. an' then Lucius malfoy stood up an' said his bit, and the committee jus' did exac'ly what he told 'em..."

            "hagrid, my uncle's an arsehole. and, i think ron would rather barf slugs again than let draco's dad win." elara said reassuringly.

            "yeah, there's still the appeal!" said ron fiercely. "don't give up yet, we're working on it!"

            they were walking back up to the castle with the rest of the class. ahead they could see draco,who was walking with crabbe and goyle, and kept looking back, laughing derisively.

             "s'no good, ron," said hagrid sadly as they reached the castle steps. "that committee's in lucius malfoy's pocket. i'm jus' gonna make sure the rest o' beaky's time is the happiest he'sever had. i owe him that..."

            hagrid turned around and hurried back toward his cabin, his face buried in his handkerchief.

            "look at him blubber!"

            draco, crabbe, and goyle had been standing just inside the castle doors, listening.

            "have you ever seen anything quite as pathetic?" said draco. "and he's supposed to be our teacher!"

             in an instant, elara and hermoine lunged at draco. harry was lucky enough to catch elara and hold her back, but ron was too late. hermoine raised her fist and delivered a powerful punch right to draco's nose. harry's grip on elara slackened in surprise.

            hermione raised her hand again.

            "don't you dare call hagrid pathetic, you foul — you evil —"

            "hermione!" said ron weakly, and he tried to grab her hand as she swung it back.

            "no, ron! let her!" elara cried, her face in an unmistakable smile of glee.

            hermione pulled out her wand. draco stepped backward. crabbe and goyle looked at him for instructions, thoroughly bewildered.

            "c'mon." draco muttered, and in a moment, all three of them had disappeared into the passageway to the dungeons.

            "bloody hell, hermoine!" said elara, astounded. "where'd you learn to punch like that?"

            "corrine may have taught me a few things." hermoine answered looking quite proud with herself.

            "she's going to be ecstatic you decked my lovely cousin!"

            "harry, you'd better beat malfoy in the quidditch final!" hermione said shrilly. "you just betterhad, because i can't stand it if slytherin wins!"

            the four set out to charms, but when they crossed the threshold of the classroom, hermoine wasn't with them anymore. she didn't show up to lunch, either. the three began to grow worried that draco had gotten back at her already. they passed the security trolls, gave the fat lady the password ("flibbertigibbet"), and scrambled through the portrait hole into the common room.

            hermione was sitting at a table, fast asleep, her head resting on an open arithmancy book. they went to sit down on either side of her. elara prodded her awake. 

           after some arguing, and now with hermoine, the four went to divination. they were finally finished palmistry, and were heading onto crystal ball gazing. elara, much to her surprise, was able to see quite a bit, whereas her friends weren't having so much luck.

            at her wits end, hermoine left the class after a sort spat with professor trelawney after she claimed to see the grim in harry's crystal ball.

            the easter holidays were not exactly relaxing. the third years had never had so much homework. neville longbottom seemed close to a nervous collapse, and he wasn't the only one.

            "call this a holiday!" seamus finnigan roared at the common room one afternoon. "the examsare ages away, what're they playing at?"

            aspen was able to calm him down.

            but nobody had as much to do as hermione. even without divination, she was taking more subjects than anybody else. she was usually last to leave the common room at night, first to arrive at the library the next morning; she had shadows like lupin's under her eyes, and seemed constantly close to tears.

            no matter how hard elara tried, hermoine refused to drink coffee.

            ron had taken over responsibility for buckbeak's appeal. when he wasn't doing his own work,he was poring over enormously thick volumes with names like the handbook of hippogriff psychology and fowl or foul? a study of hippogriff brutality. he was so absorbed, he even forgot to be horrible to crookshanks.

            harry had to fit in his homework around quidditch practice every day, not to mention endless discussions of tactics with wood. the gryffindor-slytherin match would take place on the first saturday after the easter holidays. slytherin was leading the tournament by exactly two hundred points. this meant that they needed to win the match by more than that amount to win the cup. it also meant that the burden of winning fell largely on harry, because capturing the snitch was worth one hundred and fifty points.

             elara wasn't much worried with homework. she was becoming increasingly obsessed with finding a connection between her dreams. it was driving her mad. not even divination books, which always had a lot to say on dreams, were able to help.

           there was a great deal of noise the night before the big match. fred and george weasley were dealing with the pressure by being louder and more exuberant than ever. oliver wood was crouched over a model of a quidditch field in the corner, prodding little figures across it with his wand and muttering to himself. 

            angelina, aurora, and katie were laughing at fred's and george's jokes. elara was sitting with harry, ron and hermione, removed from the center of things. harry was clearly incredibly stressed out and no matter what anyone said.

           there was a tidal wave of noise as the gryffindor team walked out onto the pitch. three quarters of the crowd was wearing scarlet rosettes, waving scarlet flags with the gryffindor lion upon them, or brandishing banners with slogans like "GO GRYFFINDOR!" and "LIONS FOR THE CUP." behind the slytherin goal posts, however, two hundred people were wearing green; the silver serpent of slytherin glittered on their flags, and professor snape sat in the very front row, wearing green like everyone else, and a very grim smile.

           "and here are the gryffindors!" yelled lee jordan, who was acting as commentator as usual."potter, bell, johnson, brightwind, weasley, weasley, and wood. widely acknowledged as the best team hogwarts has seen in a good few years —"

           lee's comments were drowned by a tide of 'boos' from the slytherin end.

           "and here come the slytherin team, led by captain flint. he's made some changes in the lineup and seems to be going for size rather than skill —"

            more boos from the slytherin crowd. elara, however, thought Lee had a point. draco was easily the smallest person on the slytherin team; the rest of them were enormous.

           "captains, shake hands!" said madam hooch.

           flint and wood approached each other and grasped each other's hand very tightly; it looked as though each was trying to break the other's fingers.

            "oliver's been in a right state." whispered corrine, "he only lightened up when he heard hermoine decked malfoy."

             corrine was wearing a jumper with oliver's last name and number on the back. 

             "mount your brooms!" said madam hooch. "three... two... one..."

             the sound of her whistle was lost in the roar from the crowd as fourteen brooms rose into the air. hermine clasped onto elara, looking quite worried.

            "and it's gryffindor in possession, aurora tuatha of gryffindor with the quaffle, heading straight for the slytherin goal posts, looking good, rory! argh, no — quaffle intercepted by warrington, warrington of slytherin tearing UP the field — WHAM! — nice bludger workthere by george weasley, warrington drops the quaffle, it's caught by — johnson, gryffindor back in possession, come on, angelina — nice swerve around montague — duck, angelina,that's a bludger! – SHE SCORES! TEN-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

            angelina punched the air as she soared around the end of the field; the sea of scarlet below was screaming its delight. corrine was jumping crazily up and down, hermoine was shaking elara so vigorously that elara thought she might have gotten whiplash. 

          angelina was nearly thrown from her broom as marcus flint went smashing into her. the crowd of scarlet booed. a moment later, fred weasley chucked his beater's club at the back of flint's head. flint's nose smashed into the handle of his broom and began to bleed.

           "that will do!" shrieked madam hooch, zooming between then. "penalty shot to gryffindor for an unprovoked attack on their chaser! penalty shot to slytherin for deliberate damage to their chaser!"

           "serves flint right," corrine grumbled.

            madam hooch blew her whistle and aurora flew forward to take the penalty.

            "come on, rori!" yelled lee into the silence that had descended on the crowd. "YES! SHE'S BEATEN THE KEEPER! TWENTY-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

            eyes turned to flint, who was approaching the gryffindor goalposts. corrine's hand curled around the railing in front of her. 

            "'course, wood's a superb keeper!" lee jordan told the crowd as flint waited for madam hooch's whistle. "superb! very difficult to pass — very difficult indeed — YES! I DON'T BELIEVE IT! HE'S SAVED IT!"

            corrine's face broke into a wide smile. elara, hermoine and ron cheered loudly along with the crowd of scarlet loudly.

           "gryffindor in possession, no, slytherin in possession — no! gryffindor back in possession and it's katie bell, katie bell for gryffindor with the quaffle, she's streaking up the field — THAT WAS DELIBERATE!"

           montague, a slytherin chaser, had swerved in front of katie, and instead of seizing the quaffle had grabbed her head. katie cart-wheeled in the air, managed to stay on her broom, but dropped the quaffle.

            madam hooch's whistle rang out again as she soared over to montague and began shouting at him. a minute later, katie had put another penalty past the slytherin keeper.

           "THIRTY-ZERO! TAKE THAT, YOU DIRTY, CHEATING —"

          "jordan, if you can't commentate in an unbiased way —"

           "i'm telling it like it is, professor!"

            harry pulled his firebolt around and sped off toward the slytherin end. draco went haring after him. one of the bludgers came streaking past harry's right ear, hit by the gigantic slytherin beater, derrick. then again...

            the second bludger grazed harry's elbow. the other beater, bole, was closing in. the sea of scarlet watched, almost silent. harry turned the firebolt upward at the last second, and bole and derrick collided with a sickening crunch.

            "ha haaa!" yelled lee jordan as the slytherin beaters lurched away from each other, clutching their heads. "too bad, boys! you'll need to get up earlier than that to beat a firebolt! and it's gryffindor in possession again, as johnson takes the quaffle — flint alongside her — poke him in the eye, angelina! — it was a joke, professor, it was a joke — oh no — flint in possession, flint flying toward the gryffindor goal posts, come on now, wood, save —!"

            but flint had scored; there was an eruption of cheers from the slytherin end, and lee swore so badly that professor mcgonagall tried to tug the magical megaphone away from him. corrine fell silent, glaring so magnificently in the direction of marcus flint.

             "sorry, professor, sorry! won't happen again! so, gryffindor in the lead, thirty points to ten, and gryffindor in possession —"

             it was turning was the dirtiest game elara had ever watched. enraged that gryffindor had taken such an early lead, the slytherins were rapidly resorting to any means to take the quaffle. bolehit aurora with his club and tried to say he'd thought she was a bludger. george weasley elbowed bole in the face in retaliation. madam hooch awarded both teams penalties, and wood pulled off another spectacular save, making the score forty-ten to gryffindor.

            katie scored. fifty-ten. fred and george weasley were swooping around her, clubs raised, incase any of the slytherins were thinking of revenge. bole and derrick took advantage of fred's and george's absence to aim both bludgers at oliver; they caught him in the stomach, one after the other, and he rolled over in the air, clutching his broom, completely winded.

            corrine was beside herself. she seized the microphone from lee jordan and began shouting into it. "THAT WAS THE DIRTIEST, MOST PATHETIC ATTEMPT OF TRYING TO GET AHEAD! THAT WAS MY BOYFRIEND, YOU -- " professor mcgonagall gasped at her use of colorful language, " -- TWATS. I WON'T HESITATE TO DECK YOU INTO NEXT TUESDAY LIKE I DID SECOND YEAR, BOLE!"

            "miss sharpe!" professor mcgonagall had finally wrenched the microphone out of corrine's grasp. lee jordan was roaring with laughter, clutching onto a pale-faced first year as he was doubled over.

            a gryffindor penalty was awarded, and angelina scored. sixty-ten. moments later, fred weasley pelted a bludger at warrington,knocking the quaffle out of his hands; aurora seized it and put it through the slytherin goal —seventy-ten.

             the gryffindor crowd below was screaming itself hoarse — gryffindor was sixty points in the lead, and if harry caught the snitch now, the cup was theirs. a hundred pairs of eyes were following harry as he soared around the field, high above the rest of the game, withdraco speeding along behind him.

            harry put on a huge burst of speed; the wind was roaring in his ears; he stretched out his hand,but suddenly, the firebolt was slowing down. draco had thrown himself forward, grabbed hold of the firebolt's tail, and was pulling it back.

            the sea of scarlet was in an uproar.

            "penalty! penalty to gryffindor! i've never seen such tactics." madam hooch screeched,shooting up to where malfoy was sliding back onto his broom.

            "YOU CHEATING SCUM!" lee jordan was howling into the megaphone, dancing out of professor mcgonagall's reach. "YOU FILTHY, CHEATING B —"

             professor mcgonagall didn't even bother to tell him off. she was actually shaking her finger in malfoy's direction, her hat had fallen off, and she too was shouting furiously.

             aurora took gryffindor's penalty, but she was so angry she missed by several feet. the gryffindor team was losing concentration and the slytherins, delighted by draco's foul on harry, were being spurred on to greater heights.

            "slytherin in possession, slytherin heading for goal — montague scores —" lee groaned."seventy-twenty to gryffindor..."

            "angelina johnson gets the quaffle for gryffindor, come on, angelina, COME ON!"

            every single slytherin player apart from draco was streaking up the pitch toward angelina, including the slytherin keeper — they were all going to block her — harrywheeled the firebolt around, bent so low he was lying flat along the handle, and kicked it forward. like a bullet, he shot toward the slytherins.

            they scattered as the firebolt zoomed toward them; angelina's way was clear.

             "SHE SCORES! SHE SCORES! gryffindor leads by eighty points to twenty!"

             harry pulled out of his dive, his hand in the air, and the stadium exploded. the tiny golden ball was held tight in his fist, beating its wings hopelessly against his fingers.

           the screaming around elara made her ears ring. everyone began pouring over the barriers, towards the gryffindor team. elara, ron and hermoine pushed their way through the crowd to harry and enveloped him with a hug. corrine had kissed a sobbing oliver with a huge smile on her face.

            there was percy, jumping up and down like a maniac, all dignity forgotten. professor mcgonagall was sobbing harder even than oliver, wiping her eyes with an enormous gryffindor flag. ron and hermoine were eventually pulled away from harry by the crowd. harry clasped his hands around elara's as not to lose her.

           a sobbing oliver passed harry the cup, and harry hoisted it high.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE

-- THEY HELD HANDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!