Title: I don't like Quidditch
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter universe.
Challenge: It's a competition... don't ditch it! (round 2)
Beta-read by: WickedTorchwoodFan (thank you for doing that! ^^)
beta-read version online since: 05/20/2010 (1:00 a.m., CET)
He had read the invitation to the Yule Ball on the Ravenclaw black board so often that he knew it by heart. All year he had been looking for opportunities to ask her out – or even just to talk to her for a few seconds, but rarely had he been lucky. This time, he wouldn't take flight as soon as he saw her. This time, he would wait for her to sit alone in the library and then he would ask her.
She was intelligent, pretty (in his opinion the most beautiful girl in their year), kind and, unlike him, she was a Gryffindor. That made it even more difficult to catch her alone. They had most of the classes with their houses, their house tables in the Great Hall were separated by the Hufflepuff's and she usually was with her friends – one of them none other than Harry Potter. Everyone was staring at Harry wherever he went these days, even more than they had during the past three years because he became the youngest Triwizard Champion three months ago. Despite this, he always found his gaze resting on her instead of the hero, hoping for the chance to find her alone.
Luckily, Terry Boot soon discovered, Hermione Granger had developed the habit to stay in the library until late night, doing some research, and filling parchment after parchment with notes. This was his chance!
Down on the second floor, he checked his reflection in a window panewhen a giggle pulled him out of his thoughts.
"About to ask a girl out to the ball?" Terry turned to the young woman in the painting. Dressed in a long light blue fairy-like gown, she leaned on the frame of her portrait, arms crossed in front of her chest and eyeing the 4th-year curiously. "I hope she's pretty." The boy nodded shyly. "Good luck, then!" With another giggle she vanished from the portrait leaving Terry alone with his nerves and wondering where she had disappeared to. The painted witches and wizards often vanished from their pictures to talk to others somewhere else in the castle he reasoned with himself, it was not only the students who were excited about the forthcoming Yule Ball.
As he finally reached the entrance to the school library, he saw Harry Potter and Ron Weasley leaving in the other direction. "... piled it as high as three of McGonagall's hats again! Honestly, she's wasting a whole year's stock of parchment on one subject, can you believe that?" he heard the red-headed boy say, just before they turned the corner.
So she was there! Encouraging himself, Terry entered the large room and glanced around, trying to find the girl he was looking for. He spotted Hermione at a table in a corner butas Terry walked towards her, another boy got there first and asked hersomething in a low voice, Terry couldn't hear – but he saw Hermioneblushing and slightly giggling. From her reaction he could tell, what the question had been.
He stopped dead and hid behind a shelf close to them. The following seconds seemed to pass in slow motion. After an incredible long time, she nodded. Slowly, but clearly noticeable.
Terry's heart sank. No! She couldn't have... she wouldn't... but deep inside he knew she would. The girl of his sleepless nights had just agreed to accompany a famous Quidditch player to the Hogwarts Yule Ball. Viktor Krum.
He knew it was over. His dream of asking the smart Gryffindor out – popped like a soap bubble.. Who was he, compared to Viktor Krum? A complete nobody. She would never notice him. Sure, she knew his name but that was probably more due to her desire to know everything. She simply had to know everyone and everything. How could he ever have been positive about her wanting to go with him to the ball? She was beyond his reach and she always would be. She was close friends with Harry Potter and now she was with Viktor Krum as well.
Hermione looked up from her book at which she had been smiling before. "Is something bothering you?" She asked in a sweet voice; Terry hadn't noticed that he had left his safe position behind the shelf. His face had shown an expression of angriness and sadness at the same time, while he had been staring after the Bulgarian who had left the library to escape his fan club; He blushed.
"Nothing in particular – it's just... I just don't like Quidditch". He blurted out.
After that, his nerve left him so he left. Stepping into the corridor, he stopped for a moment. Then, he started running, heading back to Ravenclaw Tower. As he stormed into the common room, he collided with someone. Looking at the person, he recognised his classmate Lisa Turpin. Before he could think about what he was saying, he had already asked: "Do you... do you want to go to the ball with me?"
Lisa looked at him, giggling. Why were girls frequently giggling? "Erm... okay. See you tomorrow night, then. I'll wait for you in the common room." And she went up the stairs to her dormitory.
Terry sighed. At least he had a date now. It wasn't what he had expected when he had gone down to the library, but he had to get over Hermione, hadn't he? There was no chance whatsoever for them to be together one day, not with Viktor Krum and Harry Potter in the picture.
inspiration:
'You can do a Protean Charm?' said Terry Boot.
'Yes,' said Hermione.
'But that's… that's NEWT standard, that is,' he said weakly.
'Oh,' said Hermione, trying to look modest. 'Oh… well… yes, I suppose it is.'
'How come you're not in Ravenclaw?' he demanded, staring at Hermione with something close to wonder. 'With brains like yours?'
'Well, the Sorting Hat did seriously consider putting me in Ravenclaw during my Sorting,' said Hermione brightly, 'but it decided on Gryffindor in the end. So, does that mean we're using the Galleons?'
- OotP, "The Lion and the Serpent"
o ~ o ~ o
"I s'pose he asked you to come with him while you were both in the library?"
"Yes, he did," said Hermione, the pink patches on her cheeks glowing more brightly. "So what?"
- GoF, "The Yule Ball"
o ~ o ~ o
note: Lisa Turpin is not an OC! She is one of the students who get sorted along with Harry in PS; she is (like Terry) a Rawenclaw. So she is Terry's classmate.
I know, Terry doesn't really get rejected. But how many things happen only in your imagination? How many things you think to be true but which had never been spoken out loud?