Sigh of Relief
"Dean, what's that for? Ginny?" Seamus asked as he saw Dean holding a nicely wrapped package.
"Shh! The others haven't waken up yet!" whispered Dean. Seamus threatened to wake the whole castle up if he wouldn't give him the answer.
Dean made a gesture of surrender, and sighed, "Ok, ok. You know it's mothers' day today. It's the present for Mum." Then he reached for the door knob. He was about to shut the door when he halted, "Please don't tell Harry." He said.
Seamus sat on his bed, confused. Why on earth couldn't he tell Harry? Well, Harry won't be interested anyways, he decided. Relaxing, he lay flat on his bed, and made up his mind to sleep all morning. Merlin, sixth year had been even more stressing than fifth year.
Behind his curtain, Harry blinked. He could tell that someone was saying not to let him know something, but what was it? He would have known if he'd waken up a minute earlier. He sat up and prepared himself for the day. The sky was blue and clear, an excellent day for quidditch.
After breakfast, the Griffindor quidditch team went to the pitch for practice. To their surprise, a huge sea of green and silver - colour of the Slytherin house – was sitting at the audience, throwing jibes at the sight of them. The team boiled with anger, except Harry, who acted as if nothing happened, and urged the team to take off.
The cloaked Slytherin supporters booed once they were up in the air. Ignoring them, Harry released the balls, waited till the snitch had flown away, before motioning the team to gather round.
"I dare say you have all noticed these people down there," immediately, he was floored by his teammates' complaints.
"Can't we drive them out? I think we have booked the pitch, right?" yelled Alicia the chaser. Her comment was agreed by most of her fellow teammates.
"She's right, Harry! How can we let all our tactics known by Slytherins?"
"Mate, you do realize the match is only a week away?"
"Harry, you can't-"
"Listen!" bellowed Harry, "Look at them. Don't you see any familiar faces?" They all did as told. Soon, they found their classmates, even dormmates howling along with the crowd. They eyed him questioningly, and fell quiet.
"Now that you will listen to me, I'm going to explain our new training scheme. Everyone here knows how much taunting we receive from our dear Slytherin schoolmates. I don't want to see your performance affected because of that. From now on until the match against Slytherin, our guests down there will act as Slytherins in matches."
"Phew, I knew you wouldn't let the enemies in, mate." sighed Ron.
"Oh yes, yet who's the loudest one to protest?" challenged Ginny.
"Stop that, you two. We don't need another fight in practice sessions." Said Harry, the peace maker, "As I have said, they will be the Slytherins for the time being. Actually, some of their words are even dirtier that them. Brace yourselves." He chuckled.
Meanwhile, among the "Slytherins", Hermione was talking to Lavender and Parvati, who sat beside her.
"Drop the quaffle, drop the quaffle!"
"Hey, Hermione, what did you prepare for mother's day?" asked Lavender, entering her gossip mode.
"Missed again! That's three times in a row!"
"Pardon?" Hermione couldn't hear her because of the noise around. Lavender then repeated her question.
"What? Today's mother's day? I forgot!" she smacked her forehead. Then she ran back to the castle.
"Miss Granger, as the captain of the Griffindor quidditch team, may I ask you why you have left the pitch during practice?" inquired Harry.
"Mr. Potter, may I know the reason why I cannot leave the quidditch pitch?" replied Hermione, raising an eyebrow.
"Because, you have agreed to assist in your house's quiditch team practice."
"Perhaps you are mistaken, Mr. Potter. I have never consented to stay for the whole session. I have the freedom to go any moment I wish to."
"And pray tell, what is so significant that you, a Griffindor student, must leave in the middle of a practice, which is so important?"
"I believe I have the duty to point out that, quidditch is certainly not the most important thing in the world. Also, I left when you almost ended, not in the middle."
"When did you two start bickering?" Ron came out of nowhere, startling the two, "I thought it was always me and 'Mione doing this!"
"Fine, 'Mione, where did you go after you left?" Harry was determined to find out the answer.
"I'll tell you tonight." And that was all Harry could get out of Hermione all day.
Why was everyone hiding things from him? First Dean, now Hermione, his best friend. What's going on?
In the afternoon, when Harry headed for detention (Snape had given him one for scratching his parchment too noisily), Ron asked Hermione why she was being so secretive in the morning.
"I was about to tell you that, you know." And promptly she told him all about the mother's day. Ron was surprised at such muggle traditions.
"So you give mothers gifts on that day? Aren't you supposed to love your mother every day?" Hermione had nothing to say in reply.
Night fell before anyone knew. The Griffindor sixth years worked in the common room until nearly midnight. Harry and Ron stayed up the latest, with Hermione patiently sitting at their opposite. She solved their problems, answered their questions – they had tons of questions.
"'Mione, you remember what I asked you in the morning, don't you?" Harry seemed to be really interested in the topic.
Hermione was rubbing her eyes tiredly when Harry raised the question. She was so sleepy that she couldn't help but stifle a yawn before answering the question, the one that she dreaded.
"Well...Harry, today's mothers day." Harry simply nodded, "um, so I sent Mum a photo album."
"Does that album contain any embarrassing pictures of me?" Harry didn't understand. So what? Though she shouldn't leave in the middle of a quidditch practice, she didn't need to be so secret about sending her mother a gift.
"Not exactly." Then what was the problem? He was even more confused now.
"Spit it out, Mione."
"Well..." Hermione's voice was smaller than a mosquito, "Since... your mother is ..."
"Dead, I know. But it doesn't stop you from sending presents to your Mum, does it?" said Harry, "It's a fact and it's out of my control. How did you think I would react? Scream at you?"
Hermione gave him a weak smile, and said, "Well, then proceed to your essay, since you don't want to scream at me. I'm extremely exhausted."
Harry sighed in relief. So that was what everyone hiding from him. What's the big deal, anyway?
So this is my first one-shot, though not the first fanfic.
Thanks for reading till the end.
You may leave comments if you like, of course, non-compulsory!
Basil Leaves