When Harry had told Ron, Hermione and Ginny what McGonagall had said, they did not talk about how the Order could have gotten the information. During the last lesson, Harry could have sworn Snape wanted to tell him something. However, while Harry was in the middle of his thoughts, Snape came over to him and finally broke their undeclared peace.
                              
"Potter! Why don't you explain to the class what I just said, or perhaps you'd like to daydream through the entire class!" he spat and Harry did not say anything, because he had not heard a word that Snape had said. 
                              
Snape, of course, knew that, and his lip was curling as though he smelled fresh meat before the kill. Not even Occulmency could hide Harry's lapse in attention. 
                              
"No answer? Perhaps if I take ten points from Gryffindor it will help you pay attention more closely! Now, as I was saying, we will not be practicing these spells, but merely defending against them as best as you can," he sneered, continuing on with the lesson.
                              
They spent the rest of the class going over the curses Snape had mentioned. There was an assortment of various medical ailments and painful injuries that can be inflicted against your enemy. 
                              
Harry noticed the spell that Dolohov had used on Hermione at the Department of Mysteries was on Snape's list. It was a tricky wand movement and an incantation that would kill your opponent by causing the heart to stop. There were also spells that could cause the victim's blood to boil and ones that cause the organs to shut down one by one. 
                              
By the end of class, Harry felt that even though those other spells were painful and very messy, Avada Kedavra was so shift and sudden. Harry remembered the rush of air and blinding green light that went through your soul more than just your body. The weekend could not have come sooner. They followed Professor McGonagall's suggestion and did not go to Hogsmeade. Instead, Ron decided to throw in an extra Quidditch practice. 
                              
The battle over pitch was far from over. Open hostility had decreased somewhat, at least when they were on the pitch. The Slytherin team instead resumed their back-up strategy of coming to every practice. They watched every new play Ron came up with and loudly discussed how to counter each move, while insulting every member of the Gryffindor team. Although their rants did give Ron some insight into his strategies, it also let the Slytherin team develop an effective defensive plan. However, since it was the last Saturday before the match, Ron made an announcement as the Slytherin team laughed them off the pitch.
                              
"Alright, tomorrow we are going to get up really early. The Slytherin team cannot watch us practice if they are all sleeping in their beds, and we need to develop some plays that the Slytherin team won't anticipate before our match. We'll get in two or three hours before they can butt in on our training," he said, grinding his teeth and looking back angrily at the Slytherin team that had started to practice already. 
                              
The rest of the team nodded in agreement, though they were not very happy about getting up at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning.
                              
"That was good thinking Ron. You need to keep the Slytherin on edge," Hermione said as they walked up to Gryffindor tower.
                              
"Yeah, it's a good plan, we can go over some of the plays tonight and just practice them tomorrow," said Harry.
                              
"Sounds good. We can work on them in the common room," Ron said. 
                              
They had to wait for the rest of the team to come upstairs, because they decided to grab some food, but managed to go over all of Ron's new strategies. It was almost midnight and Ron finally said they had to go to bed. Ron's decision brought no objections, because they knew they would be getting up very early. 
                              
Ron, whose nerves were being stretched to their limits, collapsed immediately onto his bed and fell asleep. Harry, who was feeling tired, lay down on his bed and suddenly felt impatient and malicious. He sat straight up. Voldemort. He had not been using Occulmency as careful as he had been. But why was Voldemort anxious? Harry tried to dig deeper into what Voldemort was feeling, but he felt a sudden resistance, as though Voldemort knew Harry had felt him. 
                              
What could he be planning? Harry did not want to know, because whatever it was, he was not going to like it. It took a while to fell asleep with his troubled thoughts.
                              
Ron shook him awake the next morning and hissed, "Come on, get up!" 
                              
Harry groggily sat up and saw Seamus roll right out of bed and on to the floor. He mumbled and got up slowly. They moved as quickly as their groggy bodies could and pulled on their Quidditch robes, and then they went down to the common room. Jack Sloper was sleeping in one of the chairs and was clutching his broom like it would fly off by itself and Williams was dozing in the chair next to him. Ron woke them up and Ginny, Katie and Hermione came down looking slightly more awake than Sloper and Williams were.
                              
"Hermione, you didn't have to come, too!" Ron said, although he seemed grateful that she came.
                              
"It's alright, let's go down. It's after six so we can leave the common room," she said, more lively than any of them were. 
                              
They nodded in agreement and went down slowly to the pitch. Harry and Ginny lagged behind them.
                              
"I felt Voldemort last night," he said quietly enough so the others could not hear.
                              
"Oh..." she started nervously. " What happened?"
                              
"He was... anxious... as though he was planning something..." he said, gulping slightly at the thought.
                              
"Do you know what it was?" Ginny asked, trying not to sound anxious.
                              
"No... but McGonagall had said that he was planning to attack me..." he said.
                              
"Here? But Dumbledore set up those perimeter defenses, and you can't Apparate inside the grounds..." Ginny said.
                              
"I know, but I can't shake this feeling that something might happen. Even Sirius got in here, and it doesn't mean that there aren't other ways... and now we are out in the open..." Harry said, gazing out over the grounds as they followed the rest of the team out the main doors.
                              
"Harry, don't forgot nobody knows when we'll be practicing, so don't worry so much," Ginny said, confidently.
                              
"Yeah... I guess," Harry surrendered, and they did not say anything else until they got to the pitch, which was ironically almost pitch-black. 
                              
The sun was starting to rise and it was just bright enough to play, but finding the Snitch would be difficult for a while. Ron gave a few prep instructions and they set off. 
                              
The Chaser line was Ron's main objective, and by the time the sun had properly risen, Ginny, Alicia and Seamus had worked out their reverse passing plays and the Hawkshed Attack formation, a professional offensive Chaser strategy. Harry caught the Snitch about ten times and then let Sloper and Williams use him as target practice. Unfortunately, they managed to actually hit him a few times and he already felt the bruises forming.
                              
When Ron noticed that a few people were walking out of the building, he decided to end their practice. Ron wanted to end it before anyone could see anything, so he waved them down and Hermione came down from the stands to meet them. 
                              
They started toward the school and then something very strange happened. All of their brooms vibrated and started to pull away from them. They tried to keep their brooms from flying right out if their hands, and Sloper even put his full body weight on it, but to no effect. Everyone of their brooms flew from their outstretched hands and into a high arch toward figures at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. There stood seven masked Death Eaters.