A/N on the side is my sunshine, Ashton Irwin, who is playing new character Cole Wilde. I think you'll all love Cole like I do :)

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I jerked awake from my slumber so early the next morning that the dormitory was dark and quiet, nobody arguing over shower time or make-up. Fumbling for my alarm, I saw it was only half four in the morning, and I whined, throwing myself onto my pillows.

On the day I needed the most sleep, I wake up early. Typical.

Rolling over, I tried to sleep again, but failed. The sounds of thunder and lightning that lit up the window were distracting, but also made me home-sick.

I remembered how when Hollie was really little--two or three-she'd creep into my room with a teary face, demanding we go in to make sure Lacey was okay. The three of us would squish into Lacey's messy bed and hug each other, Lacey singing out-of-tune nursery rhymes for Hollie until she'd stop sniffling and burrow under our arms like a little mouse.

Turning away from the photo of my sisters on my bed-side table, I thought again of how it was my first Quidditch match, and how it was in such poor conditions. Feeling sick, I dressed into my Quidditch gear and grabbed my borrowed broom.

Creeping down to the common room, I found my brother sat in front of the fire, exhausted, also in his uniform. Flopping down next to him, I gave him a tired smile.

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?"

Harry rested his head on my shoulder and shook his head. "Stupid Peeves woke me up, and now I'm worrying about the match."

"You'll be fine, you idiot." I patted his messy hair. "Just make sure I don't get blown away from the wind."

The two of us giggled and then sat there talking for the next few hours, talking about childhood and pointless gossip travelling around the school (a lot about the transfer student Cole Wilde, and how he apparently was a mass-murderer).

Then the sun finally rose (barely visible through the dark foreboding clouds) and we stretched and headed to the Great Hall.

We were the only members of the team up, and pretty much some of the only people in the entire school. With shaking hands Harry helped me pour a cup of tea for myself, but I didn't touch it, simply wrapping my hands around its warmth, picking apart the muffin.

Hearing a squeak of wet trainers on the stone floor, I turned around to see an unfamiliar boy approaching us. He gave me a little wave as if I knew him, and I awkwardly waved at him back to be polite.

"Hey!" he said brightly as he reached us. "Are you Aurora Oswin, or just really friendly?"

"Both, I guess?" I smiled at the apparent new boy. "Are you Cole Wilde?"

"That's what is says on my birth ceritificate!" He said brightly, and he certainly didn't look like a mass-murderer like the rumours going around.

He looked really normal, blondish-brown hair with a long fringe that was stuck to his forehead from the rain. His eyes were a hazel-green, the brightness of them lighting up the dark hall. He was quite tall and looked out of place with his scruffy trainers and too-long ripped jeans.

"Well any who, I'm new here, and this teacher-Gonagall or something, said to find you, since you're like new as well." He said, rolling on the balls of his feet.

"What house are you in?" Harry asked.

Cole looked excited at seeing Harry. "Oh wow, you're Harry Potter! Big fan of your work... well defeating Voldemort, well you don't know how you did it, but yeah...." He coughed, looking flustered. "I'm Gryffindor."

"Us too," I smiled at the overly friendly boy. "Have you been outside? You look like a drowned puppy."

He grinned again-did the boy ever stop smiling?-and then said, "Yeah, I thought the match had started already, they started like seven in the morning. Are you two on the team?"

Harry nodded. "I'm seeker, she's chaser."

"Well I'm glad my social worker person let me start today instead of Monday, ease me into the new school and stuff."

He swung over the bench and sat next to me, grabbing a full plate of food, and began eating as if ravenous. Glancing at him, I noticed a small bruise on the side of his face. "What did you get expelled for?" I asked nervously.

He chuckled. "Bet the school thinks I'm a mass-murderer or something, right?"

"Well are you?" Harry said nervously.

Cole shook his head. "It wasn't that bad. I mean I just caught my brother being really rough with his girlfriend-my best friend, Sam-he was holding her against the wall and screaming at her.... So uh, I set him on fire."

I almost choked on my cup of tea. He said it so casually, as if he'd just saw a butterfly. I wondered if he was a bit crazy, he looked calm and collected as he drew a smiley face on his pancake in maple syrup.

"Woah, that's.... intense." I shook my head in disbelief, and noticed how sad and dejected he looked as he shrugged, trying to force a smile. I felt bad, he had his reasons, and people were probably saying enough about him. "But... I can't judge. I set a muggle girl's hair on fire before."

"Amazing," Cole smiled. "I think we'll be friends, Aurora."

"Please, call me Rory. I much prefer it." I said, extending my hand.

Cole shook it. "Yeah, we're like best friends now, no take backs."

Soon enough, Cole realised he knew nothing about Hogwarts-except for the fact that it was the school he'd be attending-and Harry and I told him the scructure, the timetables, which now I knew off by heart.

Eventually the team arrived for breakfast, looking so solemn only Fred and George noticed that a stranger was sat with us. Of course, Fred and George being Fred and George, they started off a conversation with Cole-he looked comfortable already.

"It's going to be a tough match." Wood said solemly. He wasn't eating anything.

"Oliver, don't worry." Katie said soothingly, putting a hand on his arm. "We don't mind some rain."

"Well what's a lot of rain to you British?" Cole snorted. Everybody raised an eyebrow. "What? I'm Bulgarian. But good luck anyway!"

He clapped Harry on the back, shook hands with Fred and George, and even gave me a high-five. I gave him a smile. There was something about him that seemed so kind and genuine, you couldn't help like him.

"Ah," Cole exclaimed, looking around. "I've got nobody to watch the match with now."

"My boyfriend is in the stands, just ask around for Seamus." Gennie said with a brief, faux-friendly smile at Cole.

Alia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's help to the guy who's only just arrived at the school. Just follow me, new guy, you look like a pathetic puppy that got kicked."

"Ew no, I'm a cat person. Cats are so much better-!" Cole started to rant, and knowing that Alia would take care of him, we all left, trying to stay motivated.

We ended up running through the rain with our brooms above us all as a weird mutated umbrella, ducking into the changing rooms for a final pep talk. Wood tried to give a pep-talk, but everytime he tried, he just made a weird gulping noise.

Instead, he just shook his head, defeated, making a motion for us to follow him. Ducking out of the changing room doors into the stadium, we were almost blown away with a single step. The roar of the crowd was a quiet buzz in comparison to the thunder and lightning that kept forking the sky in intervals.

Glad that I'd opted for contacts today, I still found myself squinting. How was Harry going to manage with his glasses?

We waited for Wood's 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.

The Hufflepuffs were barely visible, their canary yellow robes looking like glints of light in the distance.

The captains shook hands, and I barely made out Madam Hooch telling us to mount our brooms. Struggling to get my foot out of the squelching mud, I finally got it, swinging my leg over the broom. I took a deep calming breath, pushing my sopping wet hair from my eyes.

I could do this.

A shrill whistle went off in the distance, and now, it had begun.

Within five minutes I was soaked through to my internal organs, hardly able to see my teammates, my knuckles white from gripping on the broom to stop myself flying off.

Somehow I managed to score a goal, but that was more of a happy accident, but it did give us ten points. Gennie and Katie had scored two goals each, somehow much more capable in the rain, leaving us fifty points up.

Things were getting scary though-twice I was nearly thrown off by a bludger that missed me by inches. I lost track of time too, the sky was so dark I felt like I was flying in the dark.

A flash of lightning lit up the sky like a Christmas tree, and I heard the sound of the whistle faintly, seeing the outlines of players heading for the ground. Relieved that the match might be over, I flew the fastest I could to land ankle deep in the mud.

"I called for time-out!" Wood roared at us. "Come on, under here -"

We huddled at the edge of the field under a large umbrella; I tried to help Harry wipe his glasses, which were smeary and wet.

"Harry, you need to get the snitch, otherwise we'll be playing into the night!" Wood shouted, sounding desperate.

"I've got no chance with these on," Harry said exasperatedly, waving his glasses.

As if she was some sort of angel, Hermione appeared, holding a jacket over her head, beaming. "Give me your glasses, Harry quick!"

He handed them to her, and Hermione tapped them with her wand, saying, "Impervius!" We all stared at them in amazement. "They repel water now!"

Wood looked as though he could have kissed her. "Brilliant!" he called hoarsely after her as she disappeared into the crowd. "Okay, team, let's go for it!"

Even though I was still soaked through, Hermione fixing Harry's glasses had given me a fiery determination, allowing me to tackle players off their brooms, spin under two players (who then collided) and then score two goals.

Hearing horase screams, I looked up to see Harry streaking towards something-the snitch?-and Cedric Diggory flying closely behind him. My heart soared. We were going to win, surely?

Another flash of lightning illuminated the stands, and with a single glance at the white hot light, I almost slipped off my broom. There was an enormous black shaggy dog sat on the top row of seats, silhouetted against the light.

I blinked, and the dog vanished. Shaking, my hands slipped off the handle, and I dropped several feet in the air, screaming.

Feeling as if I was trapped inside a fish bowl, an eerie, trapping silence fell across the stadium. The wind, still with the strength of a body builder was still raging, though silent. All sound was turned off, and I felt isolated and alone.

A horribly familiar cold feeling swept over me, and I gasped, grabbing my chest as my heart felt ready to fall through my chest. Feeling like I was about to throw up, I looked to the ground and let out a shriek.

Dementors, with their hidden faces were swooping up towards me, roaring with their rattling breaths, and water was filling up my lungs, filling every crevice in my bones. And then I heard it again.... Again, the woman was screaming in my head.

"Not Harry or Aurora! Please, no! Take me, kill me instead!"

Mist was filling my brain, and the world turned sideways, colour and rain swiping past me like abnormally long fingers, prodding and probing my insides.

"Please, have mercy! Have mercy! Not my children! Anything but them! I'll do anything!"

I was falling, I was numb, I was falling away from the woman who needed my help, who was going to killed.... A cold high laugh responded to the pleas, a final piercing scream went through my head-and then, everything went silent.

*****

"Lucky the ground was so soft."

"I thought she was dead for sure."

"He didn't even break his glasses!"

My brain was like paint water, muggy and dirty, and confusing. Where was I? How did I get here, and what was going on? I wiggled my fingers, and pain radiated my body, I was aching like I'd lost a prize fight.

Peeling my eyelids open, I found that I was in the hospital wing. Clenching my eyes shut and opening them again, I wasn't surprised to see the Quidditch team circled around my bed. The rest of my friends-Cole Wilde as well-were there, all looking like they'd climbed from a swimming pool.

"Rory!" said Fred, who looked extremely white underneath the layer of mud splattering his freckles. "How're you feeling?"

I was like a video-recorder, on fast forward. The match, the rain, the dog, the lightning, the dementors, the scream....

"I-what happened to me?" I said, sitting up so quickly to grab my glasses that Gennie gasped and pushed me back down into my pillows, looking disapproving.

"You fell off your broom, like forty odd feet." George said.

"Well Harry beat you in those stakes; it had to be almost sixty feet." Cole said, looking stunned. A fun first day for him, I bet.

"What? Harry? Is he okay-I, where is he?" I mumbled, my words jumbling and crossing together.

"Hey, calm down." Gennie sniffed. She looked like she'd been crying and I only just noticed that Cole had a comforting hand on her shoulder, rubbing little patterns on it with his thumb. "He's in the bed next to you, with the curtain across. He's asleep."

"We thought you'd died, it was pretty mental." Alia said after a pause in conversation.

"I knew you wouldn't, we'd only just met, you couldn't abandon little o'le lost me." Cole snorted.

"Ha," I said sarcastically. "Did we win?"

Everybody was silent. "Oh, so he didn't catch the snitch?"

"Diggory got the Snitch," said George. "Just after you both fell. He didn't realize what had happened. He wanted a rematch, but Wood says he won fair and square."

"Where is he?" I looked around, failing to see my Captain.

"Still in the showers," said Fred. "We think he's trying to drown himself."

"It's not over yet, we only lost by a hundred points." Gennie pointed out.

"Yes!" George exclaimed. "If Hufflepuff lose to Ravenclaw, and we beat them and Slytherin..."

I ignored them as they went on and on about Quiddich and point margins, because I'd realised something. The voice, the screaming woman, was my mother, Lily Potter. It had to be her, I had to have heard her last moments, trying to defend us with her last breath....

Madam Pomfrey came over to tell the team to leave, since overcrowding was bad for my recovery.

"We'll be back later, right?" Alia said, patting my arm. "Don't beat yourself up around it, okay?" And then she headed off with the twins, who were still on about point margins.

Ron, Hermione and Gennie moved closer to the bed, Cole looking hesitant. Gennie rolled her eyes and pulled him closer to the bed.

"Dumbledore was really angry," Hermione said in a shaking voice. "I've never seen him like that before. He's furious the dementors got onto the grounds."

"Hey, where's that broom I borrowed?" I asked, looking around for it, expecting it to be at the foot of my bed.

"Ha, about that...." Gennie said, laughing nervously, grabbing a thick blanket from the floor. "It kind of flew into that mental tree... You know, the Whomping Willow? And it likes to hit things..."

Cole whipped off the blanket, "Ta da, you just won a broken broom."

I glanced at the broken twigs. "Oh." Then something came to mind. "Wood will kill me! That was the only decent school broom!"

"Of course that's what you're worried about." Hermione shook her head, muttering 'Quidditch Fanatics' under her breath'.

"Oh." I said. Then I groaned. "Wood will kill me! That's the only decent school broom, and it's broken!"

Rubbing at my head, I could feel a headache coming on. "Do you guys mind leaving? Like no offence, but I'm tired and my head is like split in half."

"Alright, we'll see you and Harry tomorrow." Ron said. "We've got babysitting duties anyway."

"Hey!" Cole exclaimed. "We worked it out, I'm like four days older than you, you idiot!"

Ron rolled his eyes, and the four of them left, and I highly suspected that I'd be seeing Cole around a lot more from now on.

I managed to get to sleep for an hour or so, but when I lay there with my eyes shut, I had the feeling I was being watched. Grabbing my wand from under the pillow and peeking out of one eye, I almost screamed.

Draco Malfoy was sat in a chair next to my bed. He swore and almost fell of the chair when he saw I was awake.

"What the hell Malfoy?" I shouted, pulling my covers over me. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, I was leaving." He said, and stumbled over the leg of his chair, trying to sramble out of the hospital wing.

"Oh, you, stop, right now." I said in a loud commanding voice you'd use on a puppy. "Sit there, now."

Somehow, he listened to me, and sheepishly sat next to me, picking at his nails.

I giggled. "Why did you listen to me?"

"You sounded like you'd kill me if I didn't listen, and well, you killed the Dark Lord already..." he chuckled.

"Like I said, what are you doing here?"

"Well you looked pretty messed up on the pitch, I thought I'd make sure you weren't in like five pieces." He snorted, trying to look aloof, but I saw past that. Why did he want to make sure I was okay?

"What to tell the Slytherins the bad news, that I'm not dead?" I huffed.

Malfoy looked horrified. "No actually. We're not that bad!" He paused. "You looked as if you were dead, and I didn't want you dead."

I smirked at him. "Aww, is that emotion coming from the mighty Draco Malfoy?"

He turned pink. "So your broom is broken, eh?"

"Stop changing the subject!" I laughed, covering my smile with my hand. "And it's not mine, I'm borrowing it. And now I have nothing-I'll have to like hover for the next match. You'll get a laugh out of that, rght?"

"That'd be amusing." Malfoy chuckled. "Maybe Genesis Lupin will buy you one."

I shook my head. "Gennie loves me and all, but she couldn't buy a broomstick for me even if she wanted. Do you know how much they generally are?"

"Well I could afford one." Malfoy blurted out.

I laughed, and shook my head in disbelief. "Are you offering to buy me a broom Malfoy? I know you have a lot of money to throw about, but we're not even friends!"

"I'd say we're frenemies," Malfoy said with a smirk, getting to his feet. "I'll see you around, Rory."

I stared after him. "Malfoy! Malfoy! Why do you call me Rory? I'm not even important to you! Draco!"

I'm sure I saw a smirk on his face as he left the hospital wing.