Chapter 27: Pushed to the Edge

Over the next few days, all people seemed to be able to talk about was how Black could have possibly gotten into the Castle. Jake didn't much care for their theories, as without something based in the reality he knew, and something that was reasonably logical, he saw no reason to join in on the theorizing, because he himself had nothing to add.

Another thing that annoyed him, along with every Gryffindor imaginable, was the fact that Sir Cadogan was the Fat Lady's replacement. Jake already didn't like the stout knight, and with how often he tried to duel someone or change the password along with making it complicated, Jake wanted to rip the portrait off the wall. It was unfortunate no one was as stupid as Sir Cadogan, because anyone else would've been better.

Another thing Jake noticed was an increased tail of Teachers on Harry. He could only imagine how frustrated that made him. If Jake had to suffer with being followed at all times of the day, he'd go crazy.

On the bright side, the first Quidditch Match of the season was the following Saturday. He wouldn't be able to show off his Firebolt, but at least Harry would open the season strongly with a Gryffindor victory since Slytherin was usually pretty bad compared to Gryffindor, but tended to be better than the other Houses.

It was one day after classes had ended and he and Hermione had a mountain of homework. They had both left for the Library almost immediately and got to work.

They were through Ancient Runes, Charms, and halfway through Arithmancy when Hermione spoke up, "You want to take a short break? Most of this isn't due until the start of next week, and it's only Wednesday."

He looked up at her suspiciously, "Who are you and what have you done with Hermione?"

"What?" She was caught off guard.

"You never suggest taking an extended break until it's done... is everything okay?" He asked, concerned for his best friend.

"Yeah, everything is fine," she said smiling, "why wouldn't it be?"

"I dunno... it just doesn't seem like a 'you' thing to do," he pointed out.

"Oh, well..." before Hermione could think up the next thing to say, their table in the Library was approached by a timid looking First-Year in Hufflepuff robes.

"E-E-Excuse me... b-but... a-are you Jake?" The young girl asked.

"I am..." Jake had to turn his head slightly more than usual to look at the girl, "who wants to know?"

"Th-Th-This is for y-you," the girl dropped a letter on the table and then hurried away from there.

"Does it say who it's from?" Hermione asked.

"No, but I'm pretty sure that girl was asked to bring it to me by someone," Jake said and cut the envelope, pulling out the letter. He had a bad feeling about this letter for some unknown reason. He opened it and immediately regretted doing so.

The letter had been hexed or cursed or something, because when it was opened, a nasty greenish-yellow liquid spewed out, hitting him right in the face.

Hermione was in shock for a moment, unbelieving what she was seeing. When she recovered moments later she got up and immediately went over to him, "Jake!" She yelled out. When she looked at him, his hands were covering his face. He wasn't screaming in pain, but she could see that whatever hit him was acidic in nature.

Madam Pince had popped up a little later to shush her, but when she saw the state that Jake was in, she immediately rushed over with surprising speed. Pince took him to the Hospital Wing, Hermione trailing ever so close.

When they went in, Madam Pomfrey came out and wasn't surprised to see Jake in there, but she was surprised at the reason. Pomfrey took over and let Pince return to the Library, "What happened to him?"

"He - He opened a letter... and then th-this greenish-yellow stuff shot out at his face... it must be acidic..." Hermione answered as her anxiety rose.

"Someone cursed a letter... who did you anger, Fernandes?" Pomfrey asked as she proceeded to take his hands away from his face to assess the total damage.

Hermione gasped, seeing how burned his face had become. It corroded right through his skin and had started into his facial muscles. She turned and ran over to a trash can, proceeding to empty her stomach contents into it, which at that point was mainly stomach acid.

Afterwards, she walked back to him; unable to look at him until Pomfrey fixed him up. She felt bad for not being able to control herself, but she wasn't the best at seeing a human suffer from that.

When Jake exploded the Troll's head back in their First Year, she was fine with it because the Troll attacked her, and it wasn't human. Had it been senseless slaughter, that would've been entirely different. Jake was a human, though, and her best friend at that; that made it hard to not get queasy.

"Alright, that's all I can do. You'll look good as new by tomorrow morning, but I'm afraid you will have to stay here overnight," she said to him and walked back to her office to get something.

Hermione looked up cautiously and saw his face was fine, but his eye-patch he'd been wearing had fallen completely apart. His left eyelids were closed together, and blood had started to run through them, "Madam Pomfrey?"

"Yes, Miss Granger?" She asked as she walked back out with a new eye-patch.

"His left... w-well, where his eye used to be is bleeding," Hermione said to the Matron.

Pomfrey hurried over and saw that it was true, "I'm sorry, Fernandes, but I'm going to have to cauterize your socket again." He said and did nothing, but his eyelids opened. She pulled her wand out and pointed it at the socket, " Adurendem ," she said and his socket was filled with a flame for a moment. He hunched forward in pain, grunting from the searing pain he felt momentarily. "This new eye-patch has been enchanted to withstand most forms of damage, so your eye-socket will be protected from most things."

Pomfrey returned to her office after putting on his new eye-patch, leaving Hermione out there with him, "Jake, I'm so sorry this happened to you."

He didn't answer. His head was hung low, and his shoulders began to shake.

"Jake?" Hermione got up from her seat and walked over to him, sitting beside him on the bed. She saw something hit the floor, and that it was wet, 'He's crying...' Hermione's heart almost broke seeing him in this state of vulnerability. She wanted to understand his pain; she couldn't understand why exactly he was in such a vulnerable state, and she wanted to ask him, but knew she couldn't without the possibility of serious repercussions.

She carefully placed a hand on his shoulder to be sure he would allow the physical contact. When he didn't flinch away, she put her arm around his shoulders. His hands had gripped the mattress tightly, and barely audible sounds of agony escaped his lips.

She sat there with him through dinner. She had no appetite, but did ask if he was hungry. He shook his head 'no', and when she asked if he was sure, he nodded.

When he was too tired to stay up, he laid down on the bed and stared at the ceiling for a little while. Hermione got in the bed off to his right so she was still in his peripheral vision. She wanted him to know she was still there without having to crane his neck to see her. She had fallen asleep not long after.

*******

The following morning, Hermione awoke to see Jake sitting on the edge of his bed, looking at her, "Morning," she said through a yawn.

"Morning," he said with no emotion in his voice.

"You doing okay after a night's sleep?" She asked him.

"Yeah, my face feels better... I don't know whose idea of a sick joke that was... but I wasn't laughing," he said, and she caught a hint of murderous intent behind his neutral tone.

"We'll figure it out, don't worry," she said, standing up and then sitting beside him. She placed her hand on his upper arm, feeling the muscles that she didn't realize were there. She felt her cheeks burning, "U-Um... d-d'you want to go d-down to breakfast?" She pulled her hand off his arm.

"Yeah," he stood up and stretched, some bones popping and his back making a cracking noise, unknowingly making Hermione internally squeal in excitement, "One thing's for sure... I'm never opening a letter with no hint of who it could be from ever again."

"I don't blame you, whoever did it should be expelled, no question," she said, a vindictive tone taking place in her voice.

He smiled at her and they went down to the Great Hall. The moment they set foot inside, Professor McGonagall hailed him over, "Fernandes, I need to speak with you for a moment."

He turned to Hermione, "I'll join you in a moment." He walked over to his Head of House, "You wanted to see me, Professor?"

"Yes, come up to the staff table, please," she turned and walked over to the staff table and stood up beside it, "Less chance of being overheard without leaving the Hall. Madam Pomfrey informed me of what happened. Are you alright?"

"Yeah... I'll be alright..." he turned his head so that McGonagall was out of his sight.

"I don't doubt you will be, however, I don't want you going to Quidditch Practices for a while, understood?" She asked him.

"I understand. I doubt I'll need to replace Harry for any reason, so I have no qualms with this arrangement."

"Glad to hear it. You may go and join Miss Granger now," she gave him a smile and turned to go to her seat at the staff table.

He went and sat with Hermione and she turned to him, "What did Professor McGonagall want?"

"Just to see how I was doing, and that she doesn't want me going to Quidditch Practices for a while," he said and grabbed some breakfast, "and that's fine with me."

"Well, at least she is looking out for you," Hermione smiled as she ate her toast with some marmalade.

They sat in silence for a while until Harry and Ron showed up, "Where were you two last night at dinner?" Ron asked as they sat down.

"Jake had to go to the Hospital Wing... a letter he was sent by someone was hexed or cursed, and when he opened it, he was hit with some kind of acid," Hermione couldn't help the tears that started to form, she closed her eyes and calmed herself a moment, "if it weren't for Madam Pomfrey, I can only imagine how bad it would've gotten..."

"Seriously? Who would do such a thing?" Harry asked, getting himself some breakfast as well.

"I don't know, but when I find out who it was, I'm going to kill them," Jake said coldly.

His two other friends involuntarily shuddered.

By the end of the week, Jake hadn't received another letter with no known sender, or another letter at all for that matter, so he had hoped that whoever it was that sent it felt satisfied enough to not have to send another. He was in the Gryffindor Common Room, reading his Potions Book while writing an essay for Snape about the Confusing Concoction when Hermione showed up, Harry and Ron in tow. He looked up briefly before continuing to write his essay.

"Hey, you skipped Dinner, are you alright?" Hermione asked him as she sat down beside him, pulling her own work out.

"Perfectly fine, just a lot of Homework is all," he said just as he finished the Twenty-five inch Essay Snape asked for, having written Thirty-six inches.

"That doesn't mean it all has to be done immediately," Hermione said as she got to work on Arithmancy first.

"The faster I get it done, the more time I'll have later without it lingering in the back of my mind," he said, pulling out his Ancient Runes homework next.

"Jake, can I-" Ron started.

"No."

Hermione stifled a giggle.

*******

The next week passed in a blur for Jake. His routine hadn't changed much in that he was doing homework more than he was socializing with his friends. He didn't catch on to this, but Hermione noticed that he had started to become distant and stopped showing up to dinner every evening. He even skipped breakfast a couple of mornings. The only time he seemed to not do homework was during lunch, and when he slept at night.

The one thing that gave him pause was when they walked into Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Lupin was nowhere to be seen. Instead, it was a greasy haired bastard waiting for them.

"Hurry up! We haven't got all day," Snape said with his usual sneer.

Jake stared him down a moment before sitting down. Snape leered at him, but Jake wasn't fazed by anything Snape did. Class had already started, but Snape wasn't saying or doing much of anything except rummaging through Lupin's desk, looking for something. It was about ten minutes before Snape actually said anything.

"Professor Lupin hasn't left any-"

"Sorry I'm late, Professor Lupin, I-" Harry had finally walked in ten minutes late.

"This lesson began ten minutes ago, Potter, so I think we'll make it Ten Points from Gryffindor. Sit down," Snape snarled.

Harry did not sit down, however. He didn't even move his feet, "Where's Professor Lupin?"

"He says he is feeling too ill to teach today," Snape said with a twisted smile, "I believe I told you to sit down?"

"What's wrong with him?" Harry asked, staying where he was.

"Nothing life-threatening," Snape said, looking disappointed about it, "Five more points from Gryffindor and if I have to ask you again to sit down, it will be Fifty."

Jake was thankful when Harry actually did sit down without more fuss.

"As I was saying before Potter interrupted, Professor Lupin has not left any record of the topics covered so far-" Snape said but was interrupted.

"Please, sir, we've done Boggarts, Red Caps, Kappas and Grindylows," Hermione said rather quickly, "and we're just about to start-"

"Be quiet," Snape said coldly. Jake never appreciated it when anyone started to unnecessarily be hateful or something similar to Hermione, so far only Snape, Malfoy, and Ron were ever like that with her, "I did not ask for information, I was merely commenting on Lupin's lack of organization."

"He's the best Defense teacher we've ever had," Dean boldly said.

The rest of Gryffindor agreed with him, but the Slytherin, at least half of them, did not agree.

"You are easily satisfied. Lupin is hardly over-taxing you - I would expect First Years to be able to deal with Red Caps and Grindylows-"

"To be fair," Jake spoke up, and everyone briefly wondered what he was about to say, "Quirrell and Lockhart were both useless, and we barely learned anything from either."

Snape sighed, "While I don't disagree," Snape said, shocking both Gryffindor and Slytherin alike, "that does not change the fact you all are being coddled. Five Points from Gryffindor, now do not interrupt me again, or I will take points off of Gryffindor again," Snape sneered and began flipping through the book, missing Jake's own sneer right at him, "Today we shall discuss-" he was flipping right to the back of the book, looking for something they clearly hadn't covered, " werewolves ."

Jake scrunched his face up, 'Werewolves? Why would he choose that? There... there is no way that was random... what significance does-' he brought from his thoughts when Snape talked again.

"Which of you can tell me how we distinguish between a Werewolf and the true Wolf?" Hermione and Jake, predictably, raised their hands, "Anyone?" He said, blatantly ignoring both of them, "Are you telling me that Professor Lupin hasn't even taught you the basic distinction between-"

"We told you," Parvati said, "we haven't gotten as far as werewolves yet, we're still on-"

" Silence ," Snape snarled, "Well, well, well. I never thought I'd meet a Third-Year class who wouldn't even recognize a Werewolf when they saw one. I shall make a point of informing Professor Dumbledore about how behind you all are..."

"Please, sir," Hermione just couldn't help herself, "the Werewolf differs from the true Wolf in several small ways. The snout of the werewolf-"

"That is the second time you've spoken out of turn, Miss Granger," Snape said maliciously, "Twenty more points from Gryffindor for speaking out of turn, interrupting me while I am talking, and being an insufferable little Know-it-All."

Hermione had tears in her eyes as she looked at the floor, her self-esteem taking a nose-dive. Jake was furious.

"You asked us a question, and she knows the answer. Why ask us a question if you don't want to be told the answer to it?" Ron asked.

"Detention, Weasley," Snape said from Lupin's desk, "and if I ever hear you criticize the way I teach a class again, you will be very sorry indeed. Now-"

The windows of the classroom suddenly exploded outward, the candlelight of the classroom had been blown out, and with the overcast outside, it made the classroom very dark. Professor Snape began to gasp for air and he fell to his knees behind Lupin's desk, his vision of the class disappearing. The class went into panic mode, looking around, fearful that it could be Sirius Black, back to attack them again.

Hermione knew better and looked at Jake and saw the redness in his right-eye. He was looking down at his desk and was the cause of everything that transpired over the last twenty seconds. The power was radiating off of him in an overwhelming sense. She placed her hand on his shoulder to calm him down, "Jake, it's okay..." he didn't readily calm down, however, "Jake, please, please stop?" She asked him quietly.

Snape could be heard from behind the desk, taking in a big gasp of air, as he struggled to stand up. He was holding his throat as he looked around the classroom. His eyes stopped on Jake, who was looking down at his book. Hermione knew that Snape had to know who it was, but he said nothing.

The moment class ended, Jake stood up, grabbed his things, and immediately hurried out of the classroom, as did the rest of the Gryffindor and Slytherin Third-Years. Hermione made to follow just as quick, but her things were gathered up a bit more slowly, so she was unable to follow him for a few seconds. When she exited the classroom, he was nowhere to be seen, "Jake?" She called out, but she received no response.

She knew what everyone in class was thinking; he was the only possible cause of the events that had occurred. She should've had control over herself, but she just had to try and answer Snape anyway. She should just stop bothering with him, because it only ever brought trouble for her and for Gryffindor.

She tried to find Jake, as she had time now that classes were over. She couldn't possibly fathom where he would go, though, if he didn't want to be found. She checked the Library first, just to see if maybe he went to hide in there.

She scoured the entire Library, but she didn't see him, anywhere at all. She wasn't about to give up, though, so she went to the Common Room next, but he wasn't there either. She looked around and no one was there, so she hurried up the Boy's Staircase to the Third-Year Dorm Room. She peeked inside, but no one was in there. She sighed and went back down the stairs.

She got back in the Common Room to see Fred and George with their best friend, Lee, sitting on some couches, probably concocting some nefarious prank. They looked over at her when the staircase's bottom step creaked, "Looking for Jake?" Fred asked her.

"Yes... I'm worried about him... none of you three happen to know where he is, do you?" She asked hopefully.

"As a matter of fact, we actually do know where he is," George said with a smirk.

"Where?" She asked almost too quickly.

"Seeing as we are feeling generous-" Lee said, looking at the Twins.

"-we'll tell you-" George continued.

"-for Free," Fred finished.

"He's at the Quidditch Pitch," Lee said, smirking at how well they managed to be in sync with that.

"Thank you so much!" Hermione said gratefully and hurried out of the Common Room. She briskly walked out of the Castle into the cold November air and down to the Stands of the Quidditch Pitch. She walked up to the top and saw him out in the middle of the air, hovering. He hadn't noticed her yet.

She was about to call his name, but ducked down to make herself less obvious when she saw someone approaching on a broomstick. Hermione squinted and saw that it was Katie. Her heart sank. She saw Katie pull up beside Jake and they both began to talk, not frequently, but she waited for him to speak before talking again. Hermione obviously couldn't make out what they were saying, and that bothered her, but Katie clearly knew how to approach the situation because he was talking to her. 'They've got more in common anyway... she'll be able to get him to open up more easily if he wants to...' Demoralized, Hermione returned to the Gryffindor Common Room, and went up to her dorm room, pulling the curtains on her bed.

Jake was hovering above the Quidditch Field with Katie still and was enjoying her company. There were simply some things he couldn't talk to her about, because he didn't know how much he could trust her to keep a secret.

He had initially come out here to clear his head, given what almost happened in his Defense class. He was on his Nimbus Two-Thousand, so he didn't have to explain his new broom to her, yet.

"You ready to see Gryffindor beat Hufflepuff tomorrow?" She asked him.

"Hufflepuff? I thought it was Slytherin?" He asked her, confusion on his face.

"Oh... that's right you weren't there because McGonagall didn't want you at Quidditch Practices... I'm sorry I forgot... she didn't tell us why, though," Katie said with a curious look.

He was quiet for a moment, but he decided to tell her what happened, "I got a letter... I don't know who it was from... but it was-" he stopped unexpectedly before continuing, "when I opened it... I was hit with some kind of acid that started eating away at my face, and I started bleeding," he pointed to his eye-patch, "and McGonagall said that I was to not participate in Quidditch Practices for a little while."

Katie was tearing up, "How could someone be so cruel?"

"I don't know," he looked down at the grass far below them.

It was a moment before either of them spoke again. Katie had been trying to stop her tears, and was eventually successful, "So you came out here on your broom, not to practice... but to clear your head about something?"

"Yeah... it was because of Snape..."

"What did he do to make this happen?" She asked, moving a bit closer.

"He brought Hermione to tears... the windows blew outward... because of me, the candlelight went out, and because of the overcast, it was incredibly dark in Defense Class... I lost control for a bit and started to strangle the life out of him," he said, but he didn't feel remorse for his action.

"Really?" Katie gasped. He nodded, "Is it bad that a part of me wished you had?"

Jake gave a hollow, but grim laugh. He looked up to the sky as it started to rain before looking back at Katie, "We should probably go back in... good luck tomorrow, not that Gryffindor needs it," he smiled at her.

"Thanks," she said. By now her broom had hovered to be right next to his, "I hope you feel better," she gave a sincere smile and a subtle wink that he almost missed before going down to the ground.

"Thanks," he said quietly, feeling honestly better after talking with her. He looked back up to the sky, 'I've got a bad feeling about tomorrow...'

*******

The following morning, Jake had awoken at the crack of dawn, or what he thought was dawn to find Crookshanks in the room, sitting at the door. He stared at the cat a moment, "Crookshanks, what're you doing in here?" He got out of bed and knelt down in front of him, "What's up?" He asked, but all the cat did was look at him. Crookshanks was incredibly smart, but he couldn't fathom why the cat was in here. He saw Crookshanks tilt his head and look past him. He turned to see Chloe in her cage, sleeping away the minutes. He looked back at Crookshanks and the cat got up to leave.

Needless to say, he was rightly confused. He got ready for the day as normal, dressing in some Gryffindor Colors to show support for the team, not that it'd matter that much since with the rain, everyone was to be given ponchos to wear. His gear was tucked away nicely in his nearly bottomless pouch, as was his Firebolt, in the event he needed them.

He met Hermione in the Common Room and they walked to Breakfast together in silence, yesterday still fresh in their minds. They made it to the Great Hall, saw Harry already there, and sat down at an isolated part of the table so they could talk, "I'm sorry about yesterday," he said before she had the chance to say anything first. He had yet to look at her upon sitting down.

"Don't be sorry... just... please... I don't want you to do something and get expelled for it..." Hermione said with tears in her eyes.

He looked at her finally, and was trying to hold his composure. Hermione saw a tear slip out from underneath his eye-patch. She wanted to just grab hold of him and never let go, telling him it would be alright, that she'd take care of him, but she couldn't do or say any of that.

The rest of the team showed up and sat next to Harry. Katie looked over at him and smiled before turning her attention back to the team.

"What did you and Katie talk about yesterday?" She asked and he looked at her, "Sorry, I went to the Quidditch Pitch after the twins and Lee told me you were there and before I could say anything to you, I saw her fly up next to you... and then I went back to the Tower... it didn't look like you needed me," Hermione managed to keep her voice from breaking, but barely.

"I always need you, Hermione..." he looked down at his breakfast, "you're the only one who can keep me from completely losing myself... you're-"

He was interrupted by the commotion over at the Hufflepuff table. Several Third, Fourth, and Fifth Year Hufflepuff girls were giggling and swooning over Cedric Diggory, the new Captain of Hufflepuff's Quidditch team.

"Can't they keep it down?" Hermione asked rhetorically.

"Gryffindor would be doing the same thing probably if they found Oliver as attractive," Jake commented humorlessly. He sighed and continued eating breakfast. Both of them forgot the conversation they were just having.

When breakfast ended, everyone in the Great Hall began to migrate over to the Quidditch Stadium, most of them with ponchos or umbrellas. Jake accepted a poncho, but didn't put the hood of it up, so it proved almost ineffective for him. He was ignorant of the rain. Hermione was walking beside him, wearing a poncho as well, but she had the sense to have her hood up.

They found their way up to the stands with Ron, Neville, Seamus, and Dean. Lavender and Parvati were there as well, but they were still upset with Jake after what happened in mid-October, so they didn't say anything to him. "Why haven't you got your hood up, Jake?" He had heard Dean ask him, but he only shrugged as he looked down towards the field, seeing the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams approach one another.

Soon, they were all flying high into the air, and Jake didn't know how Harry was going to fare in this rain. It was relentless in its raindrop assault on the poor Quidditch players and spectators alike. Jake did his best to keep an eye on Harry while also seeing if he himself could see the Snitch in this weather. He was able to find it a few times, but because of low visibility, he lost it whenever it went to the other side of the field. Harry kept going back and forth over the field in an effort to find the Snitch, to little effect.

An hour had passed and little progress had been made overall for both teams. They were about evenly matched in skill given the terrible conditions, and Gryffindor's training against an entirely different play style.

Before many people realized, it was closing in on the afternoon almost evening hours. Still little Progress had been made given how long the game had gone on for; each team stood at about Eighty Points each.

The Rain had turned into a Storm and lightning had flashed once, and the team suddenly went towards the ground, 'Wood must've called for a timeout...' Jake thought to himself. He looked over and saw that Hermione had disappeared. He looked around briefly before he saw her down with the team. She waved her wand and then made to come back into the stands. When she arrived, she explained what she did, "I helped Harry out by having his glasses repel water."

Jake smiled, "You know... I'd wager you're much smarter than I am, Hermione," he said as the team flew back into the air.

"Oh, honestly... I'm not," she insisted, looking at him, "you're much more intelligent than I am, Jake, that's indisputable. You've just had a lot going on recently, and that's perfectly alright," she put a hand on his soaking wet shoulder and sighed.

They returned focus to the match, which Harry proved to be doing slightly better during. The thunder was getting more dangerous, however, and if Harry didn't end this soon, someone could get seriously hurt from the lightning. During one flash of lightning, Jake saw something in the sky that shook him to his core. Dementors everywhere, flooding the sky above the Quidditch Match. He wasn't really afraid of what they caused for him after he faced his worst fear, but it was the effect they had on him that scared him. His adoptive father's words echoed in his head, but this time, he also heard his mother, pleading with him to calm down, before a gunshot was heard. He was shaking with rage.

Jake looked up and the next thing he saw was Harry, plummeting to the ground. Out of fear for his friend's safety, he brought his hand up, aimed right at the Gryffindor Seeker. As Harry continued to fall, Jake turned his hand palm up, and his friend began to slow in his descent. When Harry was safely on the ground, he turned his rage towards the Dementors, his mothers screams and his fathers anger still echoing in his mind. Before he had a chance to do anything, though, a light of silvery mist came from somewhere to his right. He turned and saw Dumbledore with his wand out. He had driven the Dementors off, then went down to check on Harry, as did Jake, Ron, Hermione, and pretty much every Gryffindor. Dumbledore had conjured up a stretcher and Harry was taken to the Hospital Wing.

*******

Harry had woken up a half hour later, much to Jake's relief that he was okay. The Gryffindor team had been huddled around him and Jake, Hermione, and Ron were off to the side, waiting for the space to clear. "That was incredible," he heard Hermione whisper to him, "that spell you used to save him... it's a Fifth Year Spell... if that isn't a testament to your current power... then nothing will be," she said with a smile.

If Hermione had known about his blocking of the Killing Curse last year, he wondered what she'd have said. He couldn't tell her, not right now at least. Dumbledore had promised him that only he and the Headmaster knew, and he was willing to trust him on that, despite his attempts to prod Jake's mind with no success. With everything he'd thought about, he was relieved more than ever to know that his thoughts were safe with him, literally.

"All the times you've lost control over your magic in a rage doesn't count, by the way," she quickly added.

"Oh, does it not?" He smirked when Madam Pomfrey came over and told the team to leave, tracking mud out as they did. Katie smiled at him as she left and he smiled back.

After they'd left, the three of them moved closer to Harry and Hermione spoke first, "Dumbledore was really angry," she said in a slightly quaking voice, "I've never seen him like that before. Jake stopped your plummet towards the Earth, but Dumbledore is the one who drove off the Dementors... he shot some sort of Silvery Mist out of his Wand. He was furious they'd come onto the grounds because he specifically barred them from doing so; they are only meant to guard the entrances to the grounds."

"Then when he ran onto the field, he magicked you onto a stretcher and carried you up here to the Hospital Wing," Ron said next.

"Thanks... Jake, for what you did," Harry said, looking at him.

"If it wasn't me, it'd have just been Dumbledore, don't mention it..." Jake said a little awkwardly.

"Did someone get my Nimbus?" Harry asked, quickly changing the subject.

Ron and Hermione exchanged looks while Jake looked down at the bag at his feet, containing the Nimbus.

"Er-" Ron was hesitant.

"What?" Harry asked, looking between all three of them.

"Well... when you fell off, it got blown away..." Hermione said hesitantly.

"And?" Harry persisted.

"And it hit - it hit..." Hermione lost her voice.

"It hit the Whomping Willow," Jake finished for her.

"A-And?" Harry stuttered out.

Jake reached down to his feet, bringing the bag up, and he dumped out the Nimbus Two-Thousand. Instead of a whole broom, it was a dozen or so bits of splintered wood and twig onto the bed at Harry's feet. They all looked at his face as the color drained from it, in shock about the state of his broomstick.