The Game That Vanished

The students and staff in the stands were waiting, sitting on pins and needles. What was coming up was the most exciting thing to happen in months!

Harry, as he had for years now, stood in his Quidditch gear at the end of the Gryffindor line up, waiting for Lee Jordan to start announcing.

"All right folks, we have the Hufflepuff team captain leading onto the field... Wait a minute, I may as well call this team one, as this team is made up of both Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw players. Facing them, we have the Gryffindor Quidditch team, except that apparently this is team two, because last I checked Harry Potter is in Slytherin as of this September, and the keeper is the Slytherin one. All right folks, apparently we've got a mixed up match today, though I guess no one's complaining."

The two captains walked over to Lee, and shook hands.

"Game on!"

The two teams took into the air.

"Folks, we have the Gryfferins and the Huffleclaws facing against each other today. I wonder if it's because of the rule 24 that just came out? I wouldn't be surprised."

Once one side had 20 points, the Head Boy, Gillian, released the snitch. The little golden ball headed through the air on its tiny wings.

"Releasing the Snitch!"

All of a sudden, things in the air started going wonky.

"Wait a second, are my eyes seeing things? Last I checked there were more bludgers up there. No, I'm not seeing things; the balls seem to be disappearing every so often."

The students and staff watched wide-eyed as the number of balls in the air quickly diminished in number, until it seemed there were only a couple that the beaters were batting back and forth. The chasers were basically flying around in circles. The only people it seemed still playing were the seekers, flying all over, and chasing the Snitch.

"It looks like the Seekers are still going at it. What are the rest doing? Wait a second, one Gryffindor Beater and the Hufflepuff chaser just disappeared."

It wasn't just Lee; everyone was staring.

"Now all the beaters are gone. We still have both seekers going, but it seems like the rest are playing a game of tag with the last bludger?

"Now the other chaser and one keeper is gone. It wasn't the tagged person, folks.

"Harry Potter catches the Snitch for team 2!

"The other keeper is gone as well as the hoops, folks. No, we aren't seeing things. It looks like the teams have put something special on for us.

"What's Potter doing? He's flying toward the other seeker. He's handing him the Snitch... No, they're pulling it apart. There's a banner! They're flying lower and circling the stadium. It reads 'Don't give up, folks'."

Harry and the Hufflepuff seeker flew slowly around the pitch, holding the sign between them. They circled the pitch twice, and then attached the banner to the pole the hoops were once on. Once done, they shook hands and disappeared as well.

Umbridge came out to the Quidditch Pitch, set to apprehend the mischief makers. Her problem was, once she got there, there was no game, no player on the pitch, and most of the students and the rest of the staff sitting in the bleachers and talking. Lee Jordan was talking with Madam Hooch over disappearing teams and Quidditch equipment. This couldn't technically be a student led gathering, as the audience were with their houses and Heads of House. The rest of the teachers were together. Then she saw the banner.

"Who put this up? Will someone come and take it down?"

She finally pressured someone to go and get a broom to take it down. However, the person came back empty handed.

"Madam Umbridge, all the brooms have disappeared."

"What do you mean the brooms have disappeared?"

"I mean that there is not a single broom or multiple brooms left inside the broom closets or in the change rooms. They're gone."

"Hmmpf."

She stormed off into the castle.

.

The Quidditch teams were huddled around a mirror, watching wat was happening. Sirius Black was in the crowd, and had been using his mirror to send Harry, and that way all the players, just what was going on.

"The Pink Queen has been paused by the Quidditch Rook. Well done, folks, well done."

The Quidditch teams cheered, but quickly hushed as they waited to hear what he would say next.

"When do you think that it would be safe to come back?" one of them asked.

"I would wait another five minutes. How about we get a couple of seventh years on brooms down to Hogsmeade to get some treats for a small celebration?"

"Small?" someone laughed.

"All four Quidditch teams, it'll be school wide," said Harry, "I don't believe it would be considered 'small', Padfoot."

"Either way, I'll need help. Do you guys have plans for continuing Quidditch?"

"You could bet on that," said Ron Weasley.

"Good on you. Now, I'd better go, and whoever's helping me needs to get going soon."

"Alright. Thanks again."

When the students got to their common rooms, they found their Quidditch teams there handing out little baggies of candy. It alleviated fears of them being kidnapped, and put a cap onto the performance that just made some people giddy.

.

Umbridge scowled as she sat at her spot at the teacher's table. The kids, the irritating little brats, had come up with a move that both allowed some sort of Quidditch game to be played, yet was over by the time she had gotten to the pitch. The only reminder that the little buggers had been there was that there was a sign stuck to the pole. It was apparently a keyed sticking charm or permanent, as nothing she did could take it down. The fact that the student body was happy because of that move of theirs was something that made that minor defeat just that much sickening. It was like getting rancid grease onto her skin. It stuck and stank, and would require a lot of effort to wash off.

.

Exactly how did Sirius Black, assumed murderer and Azkaban escapee, get involved? Books, lots and lots of books, would be an answer. An even better answer would be because he owned the Black Library and was happy that someone could get some use out of them. Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys in the school had all sent him letters asking if he could allow them to read and study the books in his shelves, particularly any that had rituals.

He hadn't been happy about that. No way was he going to allow his Bambi to get anywhere near a good deal of them. However, he was eventually worn down, that the Grey or lighter Dark Arts books might have ways of doing rituals that had been altered to make them darker. When Hermione pointed out that stories of "fair folk" having multiple of them charming the Muggles in one obvious spell, other than Puck and other powerful ones, Moony wanted to check and see. His researching brain had gotten hooked on an idea challenged to him in the form of a thesis by another researcher, and he wanted to prove it one way or another. So for now, despite what Padfoot was thinking, the library was staying put.

One of the fairy tales brought up was the tale of the fairies that danced, yet disappeared as the man watched. That tickled Padfoot's funny bone, and sparked a whole discussion over the mirrors of how that would happen. Moony and Padfoot started talking about various ways and parts, portkey, distraction, the not-as-good-as-James'-cloak dissolution spell that worked when someone was a certain distance away or distracted but did make the person look like a shadow when that happened, etc. Harry got writing them down, and brought it to the eye of the Head Boy, who called a last minute meeting, using potion vials he had been in the process of handing out with the books.

Of course, they needed a way to contact them once they had all gone, so that was when the idea of having Sirius hanging out by the stands came into play.

They took that evening to practice it, as they didn't have much time because the next day was the game. It took a few tries, but they got it. Harry was amazed that the whole group was wanting to do this, but the fact that they got to have fun while making Umbridge fume and not have her able to fit it under decree 24 was a bonus.