Ginny hopped onto her hand-me-down broomstick and kicked off. As the wind rushed through her hair, she let out a squeal of delight- it was her first time on the quidditch pitch since Hogwarts had resumed for her fifth year.
Her shouts and hollers of enthusiasm echoed throughout the empty stadium. Ginny had arrived a few minutes early for tryouts to get reacquainted with her broom.
"Having fun?" A voice said from the bottom of the stadium. It startled Ginny so much she almost fell off her broom, but she flipped around with skill to look at the offender. As her eyes caught site of the boy, the new captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team, a smile spread across her face. She flew down to the bottom of the pitch, stopped right in front of him, and dismounted her broom.
"Now, as captain of the quidditch team, I think that I'm supposed to be the first one in the pitch," Harry said, smiling once again.
"Well, I guess I beat you too it then," Ginny said enthusiastically, "and anyway, I want to be in top shape for the tryouts." With that she jumped back on her broom.
"I don't think you'll have a problem with that," Ginny heard Harry mumble to himself. Knowing that he was still watching her, Ginny began to fly faster, adding in sharper turns. It could never hurt to impress the captain, now could it?, she thought to herself, grinning.
"So…" Ginny began, but was interrupted by another female voice.
"Hello, Harry," Katie Bell said as she strolled onto to pitch, broom in hand.
Ginny watched in awe as Katie wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and lightly tapped her lips to his. She flew lower to the ground and tried to dismount. In an ungraceful attempt to move swiftly, she tripped on her robes and tumbled to the ground.
"Oh my goodness, Ginny," Katie shouted, throwing her hand over her mouth and running towards the pile of school robes on the ground.
Ginny rolled onto her back and looked up into the sky. What did I just see? Ginny thought. She couldn't have cared less whether all her limbs were still attached to her body, she just couldn't believe her eyes. Harry is dating Katie Bell? Why didn't Ron tell me?! Why didn't anybody tell me? Wait, why do you care so much? This last notion came from another part of Ginny's mind.
But Ginny's train of thought was interrupted as two pairs hands reached for her arms, Katie took her right side and Harry took the left.
"Are you alright Ginny?" Harry asked, his voice full of concern.
"Fine," Ginny replied, "just fine. I suppose I just got a little dizzy. A few to many turns on the broom." Ginny gave a half-hearted smile towards Harry.
The awkward moment was stifled as a group of Gryffindor students came running onto the pitch for the tryouts; the stadium began to flood. Both Harry and Katie quickly let go of Ginny to organize the haphazardly arranged students.
In a trance, Ginny headed for the large group of students. She shook her head, trying to concentrate on the tryouts, but reminding herself to find Ron later.
"Alright," Ginny heard Harry say in the back of her mind, "everybody get on your brooms and kick off." Suddenly Ginny felt a jab in the side. She looked up to see her older brother Ron giving her a hard look.
"You're going to have to move if you want to make the team, you know." Ron said sarcastically.
"And you're going to need to know how to fly to tryout," Ginny retorted as she jabbed Ron in the shoulder.
"Oh, very funny," Ron replied as he mounted his broom and kicked off, heading towards Harry.
"Boys," Ginny mumbled while shaking her head and mounting her broom. She kicked off with ease, still hurting from her awkward fall, and flew to the middle of the pitch.
"All right, everyone," Harry called, motioning the pack of Gryffindor students towards the center of the arena, "We're going to split you up. Everyone trying out for chaser, follow Katie to the south end of the pitch, and the rest of you, follow me." Harry flew to the north end of the stadium with a half of the pack following.
Ginny grudgingly flew behind Katie, trying not to focus on the arms that were just wrapped around one of her best friends.
"Ginny? Ginny." Ginny snapped her head around to focus on Katie. "Ginny, are you all right? You look a little pale. Are you sure you can tryout today?"
"Oh," Ginny replied, not quite sure of what she should say, "I'm fine. I just thought I saw… um… a … bird."
Katie gave her a funny look and tilted her head. "Oh, er," now Katie was the one who seemed lost for words, "okay. Back to the tryouts. We'll go in alphabetical order. Elizabeth, you're up first."
A tall girl with dirty blonde hair flew to the front of the group with a determined face. One after another the students tried to impress Katie, while Ginny sat on her uncomfortable broom, Harry's kiss with Katie still lingering on her mind.
"Ginny!" A voice shouted. "You're next." Ginny flew swiftly trying to focus on the quaffle, but her mind didn't want to stay put. She was doing spectacular, making every pass and every shot. She seemed to be at the top of her game and after making yet another goal, she rejoiced with a grin and turned around only to be met by a bludger to the forehead.
Ginny slowly opened her burning eyes to reveal a set of green ones staring into them. A silly grin spread across her bruised face at the site of Harry.
"Ginny!" Harry exclaimed, a smile spreading across his face. "I'm so glad you're all right!" Harry leaned forward and draped his arms around Ginny. She sat there, stunned, while a strange but protective warmth spread through her.
"Oh, good!" Ginny heard a female voice say. With these words, Harry practically leaped away from Ginny, bringing the warmth with him.
"Hi, Katie," Ginny said, trying to keep all traces of annoyance from spilling into her voice.
"I'm so happy you're awake! You took quite a fall you know, I thought you'd never wake up! Then we'd be missing one of our new chasers. That's right, you made the team. I thought you deserved to know that after you took such a beating." Katie said, smiling.
"Great," Ginny said with a half-hearted smile. Really great, now I get to spend even more time with the two of you, Ginny thought, her grin becoming tighter.
"Out! Out!" Madame Pomfrey screamed pointing to the door, eyes blazing. Katie and Harry just about jumped out of the hospital wing before saying a quick goodbye.
Madame Pomfrey gave Ginny some fowl smelling potion before letting her go to dinner, reminding her that it may make her a bit drowsy.
The Great Hall smelled fantastic as Ginny wandered in near the end of dinner. She plopped herself down next to Hermione, who inquired about the strange happenings of the day.
"I'll tell you when we get back up to the common room. I've lost my appetite anyway." Ginny sighed, pushing her plate away.
When dessert was finished, Hermione and Ginny, along with most of the Great Hall, stood up and went to their common rooms. When they arrived, Hermione walked right over to a couch near the fire, sat down, and patted the other side of the couch. Ginny walked over and took a seat.
"Now, start from the beginning," Hermione said.
Ginny told her the whole story from the surprise greeting at the quidditch tryouts to the awkward situation in the hospital wing.
"… and the worst part is, I really don't know how I feel about Harry dating Katie." Ginny sighed and looked at Hermione for a response.
"Well…" Ginny knew there was something Hermione wasn't telling her.
"What?" Ginny asked, perplex. "Wait, you knew," Ginny said, her eyes getting wider, "and you didn't tell me?"
"Look, Ginny, I wasn't sure if you were over Harry yet. I didn't want you find out this way, but I thought that I could tell you sometime later. Katie asked Harry out just a month ago. Ron told me." Hermione explained.
"Hold on," Ginny said, trying to digest all the information at once, "why… who… what do you mean I'm not over Harry? I haven't liked him since my second year. I've told you tons of times Harry is just my friend, nothing more, just a friend. It's just… Katie Bell? He's dating Katie Bell of all people? They just don't seem right for each other!"
"Now really, Ginny. Listen to yourself. You sound like a jealous girlfriend." Hermione said knowingly.
"Look, Hermione, I do not like Harry again!" Ginny said, bringing her fist onto the couch. Hermione raised her eyebrows at her.
"Oh, all right," Ginny sighed, "maybe I like him a little." Hermione raised her eyebrows even farther. "Okay, so a little more than a little. A lot! What am I going to do?" Ginny shoved her face into the sofa cushion behind her and wanted to scream.
"Look, you're just going to have to tell him." Ginny lifter her head out of the pillow and Hermione gave her a knowing look, but didn't push the point any further.
"I don't want to think about it any more." Ginny yawned. "I need to focus. I've had no time to do any work because of my little trip to the infirmary, and now I have to go to the library."
"Do you need any help?" Hermione asked sympathetically.
"No. Thanks for the talk." Ginny said.
"Any time." Hermione responded. Ginny began to walk away. "Oh, and Ginny?"
"Yes?" Ginny replied.
"You really should confront him." Hermione said.
"I know. G'night" Ginny said, and she walked out of the common room.
Ginny had just finished the scrolls sprawled across her desk in the library, but still felt as if the work was not finished. She still had the long hike through the library to put all her textbooks away.
As she was putting away Creatures of the Deep for her Defense Against the Dark Arts class, a book caught her eye. She wandered over to a shelf that revealed a mysterious looking book with dark red lettering. Ginny dug her hand deep into the bookshelf and pulled out an unfamiliar title: Scheming and the Art of Sabotage. The book seemed well worn and out of place.
Ginny flipped through it, finding a few ideas to be quite useful. She suddenly lifted her head as a thought came to her.
"This book could come in handy," she said aloud. A devious smile crept across her face. Ginny grabbed her bag, stuffed the new book into it, and walked out of the library. "Maybe even for my present predicament."