.⊹⁀➷ CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE!
↳ ❛weasley is our king❜

IT WAS THE MORNING of the first Quidditch game of the season. Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Everyone had been lounging for it, except for Ron, who had been dreading the day of the game.

"I must've been mental to do this", Ron whispered in a croaky whisper. His face was completely pale and he looked like he was going to be sick. "Mental", he repeated the word quietly to himself.

"Don't be thick", Harry said firmly while passing his friend a choice of cereals. "You're going to be fine. It's normal to be nervous."

"I'm rubbish- I'm lousy. I can't play to save my life. What was I thinking?"

Harry gave him a stern look, "Get a grip!- Look at that save you made with your foot the other day, even Fred and George said it was brilliant."

Ron's head snapped towards him, a tortured expression on it, "That was an accident." His voice was only above a whisper. "I didn't mean to do it- I slipped off my broom when none of you were looking and when I was trying to get back on I kicked the Quaddle by accident."

Annabeth gave him a sorrowful look before she tried to lighten him up, "Well- a few more accidents like that and the game's in the bag, isn't it?"

Suddenly Hermione and Ginny sat down on their opposite, dressed in red and gold scarves, gloves and rosettes.

Ginny's eyes immediately snapped towards her brother, "How are you feeling?"

But Ron didn't seem to hear her as he was staring into his bowl of cereal.

Annabeth gave the two girls a warm smile before she stated, "He's just nervous."

Hermione gave Ron a smile, "Well, that's a good sign, I never feel you perform as well in exams of you're not a bit nervous."

"Hello", a vague and dreamy voice addressed them from behind. Annabeth looked up and saw that Luna Lovegood had made her way over from the Ravenclaw table.

Luna had managed to procure a hat shaped like a life size lion's head which caught the attention of many students.

"I'm supporting Gryffindor!" She had a wide smile plastered on her face and Annabeth couldn't help but smile back at the girl.

Luna them suddenly tapped her wand against the hat, "Look what it does-"

The lion head immediately let out an extremely realistic roar that made everyone in the Great Hall jump in surprise.

"It's good, isn't it?" The large smile was still on her face when she beamed at them. "I wanted to have it chewing up a serpent to represent Slytherin, you know, but there wasn't time."

Her eyes then wadered off towards Ron, who was still pretty pale. "Anyway- Good luck, Ronald!" And with that the girl skipped down the hall and disappeared.

After a few more minutes it was clear that Ron wouldn't be having breakfast any time soon and they decided to join the rest of the team in the changing rooms.

When Annabeth stood up from the bench, Hermione quickly held her back, whispering, "Don't let Ron see those Slytherin badges."

Annabeth gave her a questioning look, but Hermione shook her head when Ron approached them. "Good luck, Ron!" She quickly got onto her tiptoes and placed a kiss onto his cheek.

Her eyes then wadered to her other friends and she nodded at them, "And you Harry- Annabeth!"

When the three made their way out of the Greta Hall Annabeth saw how Ron touched the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him and a small smirk made it's way onto the brunette's lips.

He seemed to be occupied with his own thoughts when Annabeth quickly glanced at the Slytherin table and spotted the badges.

Weasley is our King

Annabeth felt an unpleasant feeling spreading in her stomach and she knew that this meant trouble.

The frosty grass crunched under their feet when the three friends hurried down towards the Quidditch pitch.

Annabeth glanced up into the air and there was no wind at all and the sky was pearly white. Perfect Quidditch weather.

Everyone had already changed when they arrived in the changing rooms and Angelina was talking to the team when they grabbed their uniforms.

After Annabeth was finished she quickly settled down between the others and listened to their team captain.

"Okay, I've only just found out the final line-up for Slytherin. Last years Beaters, Derrick and Bole, have left , but it looks as though Montague's replaced them with the usual gorillas, rather thaj anyone who can fly particularly well. They're two blokes called Crabbe and Goyle, I don't know much about them-"

"We do", Harry and Ron both voiced.

"Well, they don't look bright enough to tell one end of a broom from the other - but then I was surprised Derrick and Bole managed to find their way on to the pitch without signposts", Angelina stated while she placed her hands onto her hips.

"Crabbe and Goyle are in the same mould", Harry assured her when suddenly hundreds of footsteps could be heard from over their heads.

Annabeth felt the butterflies in her stomach and she grew more nervous by the second. A glance at Ron, who was clutching his stomach and staring straight ahead, made her feel even more nervous.

"It's time- C'mon everyone- good luck", Angelina stated while everyone shouldered their brooms and matched in single file out of the changing rooms and out into the dazzling sunlight.

The crowd was roaring and Annabeth thought that she could hear singing, but it was muffled by the cheers and whistles.

The Slytherin team was standing waiting for them and Annabeth noticed that they were also wearing the crown-shaped badges.

The new Captain Montague was standing at the front, Crabbe and Goyle lurking behind him, their eyes narrowed because of the sun.

To their right stood Malfoy, the sunlight gleaming on his white-blond hair. Annabeth made eye contact with the boy, who smirked and tapped against the crown-shaped badge.

"Captains, shake hands!", Madam Hooch ordered and Angelina and Montague reached each other.

Annabeth could tell that Montague was crushing Angelina's fingers, but Angelina remained stone faced.

"Mount your brooms-"

Madam Hooch placed her whistle in her mouth and blew.

The balls were released and the fourteen players shot upwards.

As soon as Angelina got her hands on the Quaffle, Annabeth could hear Lee Jordan commenting the game, "And it's Johnson- Johnson with the Quaffle, what a player that girl is, I've been saying it for years but she still won't go out with me-"

McGonagalls voice could be heard, "Jordan!"

Annabeth followed after Katie and Angelina while she watched how her team captain passed Montague and was then suddenly hit by a Bludger.

Angelina dropped the Quaffle and Montague caught it and made his way towards the other end of the pitch when George suddenly hit a Bludger against Montague's head.

Montague dropped the Quaffle and Katie caught it and then passed it on to Annabeth, who immediately approached the Slytherin goal.

She dodged Warrington and avoided a Bludger and then passed back to Angelina.

It seemed like the wind had turned when suddenly the singing from earlier reached Annabeth's ears, "Weasley cannot save a thing, he cannot block a single ring. That's why Slytherins all sing: Weasley is our King!"

Annabeth immediately felt the rage boiling inside of her when she heard those words.

Angelina had missed the goal and the singing grew louder and louder by the second.

Warrington had caught the Quaffle and was making his way over to Ron and Annabeth could hear Jordan. "And it's Warrington with the Quaffle, Warrington heading for goal, he's out of Bludger range with just the Keeper ahead-"

"Weasley cannot save a thing- he cannot block a single ring-"

"- so it's the first test for the new Gryffindor Keeper Weasley, brother of Beaters Fred and George and a promising new talent on the team- come on, Ron!"

But to their dismay Ron had dived wildly, his arms wide and the Quaffle had soared between them straight through Ron's central hoop.

"Slytherin scores! - so that's ten-nil to Slytherin- bad luck, Ron."

Now the Slytherins sang their son even louder, she even heard their Quidditch team singing along while they flew past her.

After a couple of minutes, Pucey had scored another goal for Slytherin and only a few moments later Ron let in two more goals.

Annabeth hated herself but in that moment she really wanted to strangle Ron.

The brunette quickly snatched the Quaffle from Warrington and dodged Pucey and Montague. She then passed the Quaffle over to Angelina, who was heading towards the goal and scored.

The crowd was cheering and now it was forty-ten for Slytherin.

Annabeth's attention was suddenly caught by Harry and Malfoy who were both diving for a the Snitch. There was a moment of silence before Harry held up his hand with the snitch in it.

The crowd erupted in cheers and whistles when Harry was hit by a Bludger.

The boy immediately flew forwards off his broom. Luckily he was already near above the ground, so he didn't hurt himself when he collided eith the ground.

Madam Hooch's whistle and a loud uproar in the stands could be heard.

Annabeth immediately flew down towards her brother, throwing her broom to the side while she crouched down besides him, "Are you all right?"

Harry took her hand and got onto his feet, a grim look on his face, "Course I am."

Angelina had landed besides them an large smile on her face, "It was that thug Crabbe- he wacked the Bludger at you the moment he saw you'd got the Snitch- but we won Harry! We won!"

Annabeth heard a snort coming from behind them and turned around. Draco had landed behind them his face filled with fury. "Saved Weasley's neck, haven't you? I've never seen a worse Keeper- but then he was born in a bin- did you like my lyrics, Potter?"

His eyes were plastered on Harry while he raised his eyebrow at him in arrogance.

Annabeth grabbed Harry by his arm and they both turned back towards their team, which has landed besides them.

"We wanted to write another couple of verses!-", Malfoy's voice could still be heard.

Annabeth glanced at him with a death glare and hissed, "Shut up, Malfoy!"

Katie hugged Harry and congratulated him to catching the snitch, while Malfoy still continued. "- but we couldn't find rhymes for fat and ugly- we wanted to sing about his mother, see-"

"Talk about sour grapes", Angelina shot Malfoy a disgusted look.

"- we couldn't fit in useless loser either- for his father, you know-"

Fred and George suddenly seemed to realize what Malfoy was talking about and halfway through shaking Harry's hand they stiffened and looked over at the Slytherin.

"Leave it!", Angelina quickly grabbed Fred's arm. "Leave it, Fred! Let him yell, he's just sore he lost, the jumped-up little-"

"But you like the Weasley's don't you, Potter?- Spend holidays there and everything, don't you? Can't see how you stand the stink, but I suppose when you've been dragged up by muggles, even the Weasley's hovel smells okay-"

Harry grabbed hold of George while it took Annabeth, Katie and Angelina to stop Fred from leaping on Malfoy, who was laughing.

Annabeth was looking around for help, but Madam Hooch was still preoccupied with Crabbe and his illegal Bludger attack.

"Or perhaps - you can remember what your mother's house stank like, Potter, and Weasley's pigsty reminds you of it-"

In that moment Annabeth blood was boiling once more and she would've gladly punched him herself but she remained in her position.

After that everything happened fast, suddenly Harry had let go fo George and the two were sprinting towards Malfoy.

As soon as they had reached him the two started sinking their fist into the boy while the girls all screamed for them to stop.

Madam Hooch had finally taken notice of what was happening and separated the three boys from each other with a spell. She screamed at them furiously, "What do you think you're doing?"

Malfoy was curled up on the ground, whimpering and moaning in pain, his nose bloody.

George only had a swollen lip and Fred was still being forcibly restrained by the three Chasers.

"I've never seen behavior like it- back up to the castle, both of you, and straight to your Head of House's office!"

Harry and George turned on their heels and immediately matched off towards the castle. While Annabeth looked after them, she knew that this wouldn't mean any good for their team.

IT WAS THE LATE afternoon when the Quidditch team sat on the couch by the fire place. They had been waiting for Harry and George to return. And when they finally did, they were bearing bad news.

Harry, George and Fred had all received a lifetime ban from playing Quidditch at Hogwarts.

Annabeth didn't feel like celebrating at all after hearing those news, even though they had actually won the match against Slytherin.

Angelina seemed to be completely helpless, "Banned- Banned. No seeker- no beaters- what on earth are we going to do?"

"It's just so unfair-", Annabeth stated while she exchanged a look with the other's. "I mean, what about Crabbe and that Bludger he hit after the whistle had been blown? Has she banned him?"

"No- He's just got lines. I heard Montague laughing about it at dinner", Ginny stated, a dark expression on her face.

"And banning Fred when he didn't even do anything!", Katie argued furiously while she glanced at the fire.

Fred had a displeased look on his face, "It's not my fault I didn't - I would've pounded the little scumbag to a pulp if you three hadn't been holding me back."

Angelina was the first who rose from her seat, "I'm going to bed- maybe this will all turn out to be a bad dream- maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and find we haven't played yet-"

She was soon followed by Katie and Ginny and Fred and George sloped off to bed some time later. Only Harry, Hermione and Annabeth were left.

"Have you seen Ron?", Hermione questioned them curiously.

The twins both shook their head, before Harry said quietly, "I think he's avoiding us-"

In that moment the portrait of the fat lady swung forwards and Ron came through. At first he didn't seem to perceive them but when his eyes finally took notice of them he stopped in his track.

Hermione gave him a sceptical glance, "Where have you been?"

The boy just shrugged with his shoulders, "Walking." Annabeth frowned at him, "You look frozen."

Ron made his way over towards them and slowly sat down besides his friends, mumbling, "I'm sorry- for thinking I can play Quidditch- I'm going to resign first thing tomorrow."

"If you resign there'll only be three players left on the team", Harry told him and Ron gave him a confused look. "I've been giving a lifetime ban. So've Fred and George."

Ron's eyes widened and he let out a yell, "What?" His voice was now quiet, "This is all my fault."

Harry frowned at his friend and shook his head at him, "You didn't make me punch Malfoy."

"- If I wasn't so terrible at Quidditch-"

Harry shot the boy a glare while he snapped at him, "Ron, drop it! It's bad enough without blaming yourself!"

After a moment of silence Ron spoke in a dull voice, "This is the worst I've ever felt in my entired life!"

Harry nodded, his voice bitter, "Join the club." Annabeth nodded, "Yeah."

"Well- I can think of something that might cheer you all up", Hermione suddenly smiled at them, standing by the window.

Annabeth gave her a questioning look, "Oh yeah?"

The brunette smiled at them widely, "Yeah- Hagrid's back."

It didn't took Harry long to jump up from his seat. He hurried up into the boys dormitory to fetch his Invisibility cloak and the Marauders Map from his trunk.

Everyone quickly got into cloths that would keep them warm before they all hurried outside. The snow that had fallen in the afternoon was crunching under their feet and Annabeth prayed that no one could hear them.

It was cold and when they had reached Hagrid's hut, Annabeth was glad that she had decided to wear a scarf and gloves.

Harry knocked three times before he quietly called out, "Hagrid! It's us!"

The half-giant immediately opened the door for them, "Shoulda known!- been home three seconds-"

He let the four inside his hut and quickly closed the door behind them. As soon as the light fell onto his face a scream escaped Hermione's mouth.

His eye was swollen shut and bloody as well as his nose and cheek. He looked horrible.

Hagrid immediately motioned for her to calm down, "Merlin's beard, keep it down!"

Hermione gave him an apologetic look, "Oh, I'm sorry- it's just, oh Hagrid!"

Hagrid waved her off, "It's nothing-"

Annabeth sat down on one of the chairs while she glanced at him, worry in her eyes, "What happened to you?"

Hagrid tried to wiggle his way out of their questios but the four wouldn't let the topic go and in the end Hagrid sighed and finally gave in.

"This is top-secret, right?", he gave them a warning look and ahis voice was only above a whisper.

The four all nodded at him before Hagrid slowly continued, "Dumbeldor sent me to parley with the giants."

Hermione's eyes grew wide, her voice loud while she exclaimed, "Giants!" Hagrid immediately shushed her.

Hermione now tamed her voice, and whispered, "You found them?"

Hagrid grabbed a piece of raw meet and placed it onto his heavily swollen eye, "Well, they're not that hard to find, to be perfect honest. They're so big, see? I tried to convince the to join the cause. But I wasn't the only one that was trying to win them over."

Ron's voice was only above a whisper when he spoke, "Death Eaters?"

Hagrid nodded before he continued, "Yes- they were trying to persuade them to join You-know-who."

Harry raised his eyebrows, "Did they?" Hagrid didn't really answer that question, "I gave them Dumbeldor's message. Suppose some of them remember he was friendly to them."

Harry then pointed towards Hagrid's messed up face, "And- they did this to you?"

The half-giant hesitant before he slowly answered, "Not exactly, no."

Fang was barking at Hagrid, who was growing annoyed by the dog and threw the raw meat at him. "Oh, go on! You have it, then you dozy dog!"

There was a moment of silence between them and Annabeth could feel a cold wind passing by, before Hagrid stood up from his chair and gazed out of his broken window.

His voice was showing his worry, "It's changing out there- just like last time. There's a storm coming- we'd all best be prepared when she does."

The group stood there in silence when Annabeth suddenly patted Hagrid's arm and gave him a small smile, "I'm glad you're back Hagrid."

The half giant gave her a smile before Hermione interrupted them, "Hagrid, look, Professor Umbridge won't be happy if you bring anything to class that's dangerous."

"Don't be silly- I wouldn't-"

"Hagrid, you have to pass Umbridge's inspection, and to do that it would really be better if she saw you teaching us how to look after Porlocks, how to tell tye difference between Knarls and hedgehogs, stuff like that", Hermione continued while interrupting Hagrid.

Hagrid yawned widely before he gave them a small smile, "Listen it's been a long day and it's late- don't worry about me I promise I've got really good stuff planned for the lessons now that I'm back. - Now you lot better get back up to the castle and don't forget to whipe your footprints out behind you!"

With that he lead the teenagers out of his hut and closed the door behind them.

Ron gave Hermione a sceptical look, "I don't know if you got through to him."

Hermione wrapped her coat closer around her body while she nodded, "Then I'll come back tomorrow - I don't care if she throws out Trelawney- but she's not getting rid of Hagrid."