My guard duty was the talk of the great hall for a few days. The Slytherins swore that I'd looked hungrily in their direction. That got some laughter from the other houses as I'd only looked at the door. Inwardly I scoffed at that. As if I'd hurt or kill them! I've restrained myself from lashing out at them so far. I'm pretty sure that I can continue until I graduate. Of course, considering the Slytherins, that would be a challenge. Was there a 'Who can be the biggest jerk' competition every year? Or was it just this year? We were going to play against the Hufflepuffs in Quidditch next, and it was looking like it would be a torrential November rainstorm. The Slytherins had been posting pictures of me getting electrocuted, and Snape had one on his chalkboard. Fantastic.

The game came, as expected, on a day of heavy rain. Dumbledore had requested for a delay until the weather got better but apparently Cornelius Fudge wanted to watch the game. Fantastic. Hermione had cast some sort of charm that kept the water off of my glasses, but that and the warming spell only did so much. The lightning didn't help either. My instincts were screaming at me to get low, game be damned. I ignored this. The Hufflepuff seeker, a 6th year named Cedric Diggory, was just a bit ahead of me. I was distracted by a scream from Katie as a lightning bolt set her broom on fire. Honestly, why?! Why were we playing in this godforsaken Weather!? Oh yeah, for the Minister. Shaking that out of my head, I quickly got closer to Cedric. The Snitch turned sharply upwards, straight into the thunderstorm. "Well this is going to blow!" Cedric shouted to me as he climbed upwards. One good thing about Hufflepuffs is that they're good sports and good natured. I quickly followed him up, ignoring the pleas of my instincts to stay on the nice, safe, ground. We flew higher and higher. "Hey Cedric, ever hear of Lightning rods? I think they'd be useful!" I shouted. "Yes I've heard of them! Very clever and damned useful, especially now!" he called back. 30 seconds later he shouted "After I catch this, hot cocoa is on m-uhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuh" That last bit was because lightning had jumped from the snitch to his fingers. His hair was sticking up very oddly as he slumped back onto his broom. I would've cast a sticking charm if I had my wand. Of course, the Snitch was soon to be mine! I urged my Nimbus forward. However, my thoughts began to slow. Looking down, I saw that ice was beginning to form on my broom! Looking around I saw black shapes flying towards me. Dementors! That was a very bad thing. I abandoned the snitch in favor of my life. Wood would not be pleased. I flipped by broom around and started to get low. If the rest of the staff saw them maybe they'd chase them off! However, as I was flying down, one of them opened a hole in it's head- it could barely considered a mouth- and then came the screams. "Harry!"

I came to in the Hospital Wing. "Harry? Are you alright?" Hermione asked as I fought the desire to open my eyes. "Glasses?" I asked. "Here, mate." Ron handed them to me as I put them on. I didn't was to kill any of my friends. "Are you alright Harry?" Hermione repeated. "What happened?" I groggily asked. "Dumbledore cast a spell that slowed your fall and then drove the dementors off. He was furious. I've never seen him so angry." "And Fudge?"I asked. "Him? He's been punished by the cruelest torture imaginable- locked in a room with an angry McGonagall." Ron chuckled. "And the game?" I asked as I noticed the rest of the team around me. "It was considered a draw." "Good." I responded. Then I noticed that the Twins were carrying something. "What's that?" I asked. "Well, umm, after you fell down, your broom was carried by the wind, and it… well… it hit the whomping Willow." Fred (I could tell due to scent) stated. "And you know the temper it has." George said as he unwrapped the bundle of wood that was all that was left of my broomstick.

The reaction of the rest of the school population was predictable. My fellow Gryffindors were distraught for the destruction of their Seeker's broom. The Hufflepuffs were distressed that they had led to such an unfair handicap, and offered to buy me a new one. I respectfully declined. The ravenclaws didn't care in the slightest, as it had nothing to do with books or studying. The Slytherins, if the rumors I heard were correct, threw a party that lasted until midnight praising the dementors. And for the next few days they put up posters calling them 'agents of justice' and such. It was sickening. "Ten Galleons that if it had been Draco who was almost Kissed by a dementor they'd be demanding their extinction." Ron snarled. "Kissed?" I asked. "They suck your soul out of your mouth." he explained. "And they're here WHY?!" Hermione yelled. "To 'keep us safe'" Ron said, using air quotes. "Well they're not doing a good job." Hermione huffed. "You can say that again." Ron grumbled. "Apparently the dementors that were Joe's relatives were sent back on the second day of classes, due to a certain blonde student" Ron growled. Of course.

The next day was odd to say the least. When we went into DADA class professor Lupin wasn't there, but Professor Snape! "Good afternoon" he sneered. "Where's professor Lupin?" I asked. "Five points from Gryffindor Potter. To answer your foolish question, Professor" he spat the word out like a curse "Lupin will be… out for today and the day after." Well wasn't that ominous. Two additional classes with Snape! "Now sit down and turn to page three hundred and ninety four." That was at the end of the book. Confused, we turned our pages and then it turned out to be… "Werewolves? But sir that's not until the end of the-" Hermione questioned before the greasy potions master scowled in her direction. "Do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all Mrs. Granger? Five more points from Gryffindor." No one argued after that. When we had all turned our books to that page, he continued. "Now then, does anybody besides Ms. Bookworm know how to identify a werewolf?" Stunned silence filled the room. I had never seen any teacher ever be so disrespectful of a student! Hermione looked depressed. "No one?" he sneered. The urge to hiss was strong but I held it in. "Very well. I shall have to explain to you idiots, dunderheads, and one idiotic dunderhead" he said the last part glaring at me "How to spot such a vile creature. Now then, a werewolf is a witch or wizard affected by a dark curse. When not under the effects of a full moon they are practically indistinguishable from humans. However, there are a few key noticeable features. We shall go over them... in detail." The rest of the class was him lecturing us on how to spot werewolves, and that, contrary to popular belief, they were just as vulnerable to non-silver materials as they were to silver. So we actually learned things. "Your homework is two feet of parchment on how to identify werewolves outside of the full moon." he sounded quite eager about it for some reason.

"Why do you think he sounded so bloody eager about that?" Ron asked. "I don't know." I stated. Hermione had disappeared again. "Where'd she go?" Ron asked. And then she appeared next to us. "Why? How!?" Ron sputtered out. "Oh relax Ronald." she grumbled. And there was that tollbooth smell again, and why was she wearing a fez? "Hermione? Why are you…?" I pointed to her head. She felt up, and there it was. "Sorry." she took it off. "Where'd it come from?" Ron asked. "I don't know!" she groaned.

AN: DONE! Sorry this took so frickin long. Motivation issues led me to leaving this blank for a while. Only in the last few weeks did I really begin expanding on this *Bows head in shame*