Abruptly he was plunged into dreams of taking photos for the Daily Prophet, of passing his exams and, Harry just managed to avoid laughing, of writing an exposé on Umbridge. There was little else beyond the dream, even when Harry tried to concentrate on the feelings of hatred for the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, he only found a scatter of images, her office, a horrible, pink-draped room, with china-decorated walls, a glimpse of a black-feathered quill, and the recollection of a sharp, burning pain across the back of his hand.
The pain startled him and broke the connection, and though Colin remained asleep, he stirred and shifted, as if his dreams had suddenly turned unpleasant.
Harry cast the charm several times more, but saw nothing more than he already had even if he did get a slightly better grasp of how strong the connection would be if he put a certain amount of focus and magic into the spell. His attempt to cast it wordlessly failed all but completely as he received nothing but the faintest tickle of pain across his hand again.
It did concern him that Creevey was associating physical pain, and quite a severe one if Harry was any judge, with Umbridge, but it was possibly the product of his dream, and there wasn't anyone Harry could go to anyway, even if she had done something. Umbridge was in full control of the sanctions scheme at Hogwarts now.
'Harry,' Katie bounced across the common room floor, 'it's tryouts time!' 'Then why aren't you in your quidditch gear?'
'We're only trying out for a keeper, Angelina is keeping the old guard together, so we don't have to compete, just help judge.' She pulled him from his chair across from Colin. 'Let's go, we can watch from the stands with everyone else.'
'I don't actually get to fly if I come, though, do I?'
'No,' she admitted, 'but I want you to come and you aren't doing anything here.'
'Fine.' Katie wasn't looking like she was about to relinquish her grip on his arm anyway.
They walked quickly down the marble stairs, and out towards the pitch, not even stopping to let Katie scare any of the first years who were moving back towards the common room. That was a bit of a shame in Harry's opinion, she was getting rather good at it, and it was quite funny. The group of potential Gryffindor players had gathered at the edge of the stands around Alicia and Angelina who were wearing their team robes and the Weasley twins who were knocking a bludger back and forth between them.
At the other end a handful of Slytherin players were playing a half-game in practice with one bludger and no snitch.
'Harry, Katie,' Angelina waved them over. 'You're a little late, but we're still waiting for Ron Weasley anyway.'
'Where is he?' Alicia asked.
'He has detention with Umbridge,' Harry recognised Ginny's voice from within the huddle.
'Well we'll start with chaser trials then,' Angelina decided. 'Ginny, since you're the only one who wants to try out for seeker and chaser,' Harry laughed quietly at her audacity, 'you can join this first. You'll be reserve seeker either way, as Harry's first and there's nobody else who wants to play there for some reason.'
'They probably think Harry will murder them for trying to steal his spot on the team,' Katie beamed, unhelpfully.
'If anyone wants Katie's place I'll happily murder her,' Harry offered. Katie pouted playfully.
'Get in the sky,' Angelina ordered, producing a whistle, 'murder is only acceptable if you're the captain.'
The five potential chasers kicked off and began to swerve through a series of drills. Harry took a seat on the edge of the stands with Katie and the other members of last year's team. 'What do you think?' Angelina asked after they had made it through the first few.
'Weasley's good,' Alicia decided, 'the other's are reserve material, nobody's losing their spot today.'
'I agree,' Katie voiced.
'Kirke, Sloper,' Angelina called, 'grab that bludger off those two idiots,' she gestured at her boyfriend and his twin, 'and show us what you can do. Ten shots, as many hits on the edge of the ring as possible while your partner hits the bludger back at you.'
They nodded and took off, shouting down at the Weasley twins who knocked the bludger up into the sky and tossed them the bats.
'They're not bad,' Fred grinned. Harry assumed it was Fred since he was sitting next to Alicia and not Angelina.
'Almost as good as us,' George decided.
'Not as handsome though,' Fred added, 'what do you think Angelina?'
'Shouldn't you be asking Alicia?' The Quidditch Captain remarked acidly.
'Can't you tell us apart?!' George gasped, faking horror.
'Yes,' Alicia and Angelina answered together.
'Oh.' They looked a little crestfallen about that and Katie laughed.
Ron came running across the pitch to join them. 'Sorry,' he gasped. 'Umbridge's detention ran on longer than I thought and she wouldn't let me leave until I was done.' 'Get in the air Weasley,' Angelina told him kindly. 'You're not late yet, we haven't started tryouts for keeper yet.' Ron grinned, relieved, and swapped hands on his broom to take off. Harry glimpsed a gleam of crimson smeared across the back of his hand and along the underside of his forearm as his robes shifted.
Umbridge.
There was no coincidence. Colin's dream and Ron's bleeding were both clearly the work of their little Pink Professor. A spot of ice flared to life in his chest at such a disgusting, obviously immoral act. She was doing whatever that was to children like Colin. He wasn't going to let that stand, she needed to learn a lesson about what was acceptable and what was not. Dumbledore and the staff wouldn't be able to do anything, their hands were tied by the Ministry. I'll find another way to dissuade her, he smiled coldly.
The Slytherin game had drifted near to the tryouts, sweeping through the chaser drills.
'Oi,' Angelina yelled, 'get out of our half of the pitch.'
One of the beaters, Harry recognised the distinctive profile of one of Crabbe or Goyle, just spun and hammered the bludger down at them.
It Katie in the side and there was an audible snap as something broke.
Her face went white, and she clenched her jaw tightly shut.
Fred and George had their wands out, banishing the bludger back twice as fast to knock Crabbe off his broom as the Slytherin team flew down to get a better look at what they'd achieved. Malfoy's henchman bounced twice across the grass, his broom snapping underneath him, before coming to stop and curling up into himself.
The other two members of Slytherin's trio of bullies landed in front of the Gryffindor team.
'You'll pay for that Weasley's,' Malfoy snapped.
'You'll pay for hitting that bludger at Katie,' Angelina retorted, furious.
'That was an accident,' Malfoy shrugged, 'what those two blood-traitors did was deliberate, Professor Snape will see you in detention for the rest of the year at the very least. Personally I'm hoping you'll just be expelled.'
'Shut up and disappear, Malfoy,' Harry snapped. He'd been angry with Umbridge before Crabbe had hurt Katie; he was furious now, all the rage he'd suppressed whenever the Pink Professor said something about Fleur resurfacing.
'Is that a threat, Potter?' Malfoy sneered, his hand flashing to his wand. 'Are you going to kill me as well as Krum?'
'What is going on here?' Umbridge's high, girlish voice carried across the pitch. 'I have never seen such a display of aggression over anything at this school. Mr Weasley and Mr Weasley, you will serve two weeks detention for your unprovoked attack on a fellow student, and,' her smug, smile spread wider, 'since you cannot be trusted to play this sport I'm afraid I will have to ban you both from playing.'
'You can't do that,' Angelina cried. 'He attacked Katie.'
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