Ok sorry this is late and there was no preview like I promised last week was really hectic and then I got the flu and several different infections but I promise to have two this week for everyone who reviews since I am on vacation and a Christmas chapter (not about Christmas for Christmas).
Now on with it!
Disclaimer: Own nothing please don't sue me Jo.
Harry had taken his conversation with Lupin to heart and was very determined to make more friends.
He figured he could already consider Neville a friend and Ginny as well, so perhaps he could move onto his other roommates.
But…Seamus would definitely be last.
Quite frankly, he scared him.
Harry also preferred to be not blown up.
Though he was lucky enough to be presented with an opportunity when he noticed an empty seat across from Ron and Hermione.
Ron was shoveling food down his throat (from both his and Hermione's plates) while Hermione had her nose in a book.
"Excellent." He muttered to himself and then quickly sat down in his seat.
"Hello." He said to them.
Both of them shot their heads and stared at him before they nodded in response.
"Trying out for Quidditch this year, Ron?" Harry asked.
Ron looked at Hermione curiously and she just nudged him to answer.
"Uh, dunno. Wasn't really planning on it." Ron said and took a piece of toast from Hermione's plate.
"I'm sure you'd be great." Harry said enthusiastically. "It's in your blood. That's already half the battle."
Hermione looked up from her book and nodded. "He's right Ron, you should try out. You're good. I've seen him play with his brothers."
"What position do you usually play?" Harry asked.
"Uh—"
"He's a keeper!" Hermione said with a smile.
"Brilliant!" Harry smiled equally. "We need a keeper this year."
"I…"
"Oh bugger, I left my books upstairs. I'll see you lot later." He said and ran out of the Great Hall.
"Hermione!" Ron whispered violently. "Why did you do that?"
She looked at him confused. "You're always talking about Quidditch Ron, and you're good, I've seen you play."
"How would you even know? Just cause you've been out with the Bulgarian Seeker." He seethed.
Her mouth dropped in shock and hurt and she stood up leaving him alone.
He sighed and muttered a curse under his breath.
Lupin paced around his office quietly. He had taken to doing that when he had nothing else to do.
He also did it when he was worried, which happened quite often.
He had always known that things where bad but he had no idea what to expect when he cracked open the day's issue of the Daily Prophet.
He heard a knock on the door and stopped in his tracks and then the door opened and a short (both in height and hair), pink-haired woman popped her head in.
"Lupin." She said.
He went over to the door and rushed her in before closing the door and locking it. "Tonks, what are you doing here?"
"I read the prophet and I thought you'd want someone to talk to."
He sighed and sat on the edge of his desk. "I'm fine. Dumbledore and I have already talked about the necessary precautions."
"Don't shut me out like Remus." She said and rubbed her forehead.
"It's not your problem." He said staring forward at the wall.
"Like hell it isn't!" She shouted.
"Nymphadora."
"Don't call me Nymphadora!" She growled her hair instantly becoming black as night.
"Go back to work Nymphadora."
"Stop intentionally trying to get me mad." She said and walked in front of him.
He always knew how to get to her and he did it on purpose. His stupid notions that they shouldn't be together.
But she knew that they were meant for each other. Despite their vast age difference, the fact that his best friend was practically her brother, house disputes and his obvious extracurricular activities on full moons, they had many things in common.
Like the fact that they both had things for the Weird Sisters, and their interest in the defense against the dark arts, hers leading to her becoming an auror and him the professor of the subject at Hogwarts (she also imagined had it not been for his condition then he would've become an auror as did his two best friends) and their amount of troublemaking at school. Those being only a few things among many.
She placed her hands on his knees and leaned her head in the crook of his neck.
"Tonks." He warned even though his head was leaning into hers.
She knew it was hard for him to deny her and she liked to take advantage of it.
Though he knew it was wrong for him to allow her to exhibit this kind of behaviour, there was only so much he could take and today was not the day that he was able to resist her charm.
He had already had an extremely stressful week. The full moon was in a couple of days and he had yet to be able to attain a potion for him and would have to call Lily to make it for him but she would ask him how Harry was doing and he knew that he wouldn't be able to lie to her about the fact that her son was increasingly lonely. Then the Prophet's announcement of new werewolf registration acts being employed soon was enough to give him a heart attack.
Hogwarts was the only job he was able to secure and keep for years with his condition. If he were forced to register himself it would a matter of hours before he would have to resign when parents learned the truth. Then what would he do?
Live on Lily and Jame's sofa?
Merlin forbid Sirius' flat? With all the women he had parading through there day and night? He'd surely die of shame.
He couldn't even imagine what would happen to Tonks.
Though he had always refused to be in an outright relationship with her for his condition, he knew it was no secret about them.
There was only so much he could do to stay away from her and try not to initiate a relationship with her. To do both was unbearable.
Working at the Auror's office would be impossible for her if everyone knew he was a werewolf. It wouldn't shock him if she was even sacked.
"Please talk to me." She whispered; her lips brushing against his neck.
He groaned quietly at the feeling and then looked down at her.
Their lips were instantly attracted to each other as if each were the others magnet and could not help but be drawn to each other.
Remus' arm wrapped around her and pulled her up supporting her against his desk and she gripped the side of his head with her hand.
"Remus." She whispered quietly and moved her lips below his ears.
"Nymphadora." He said suddenly attaining his wits about him.
She sighed and stood up away from him and crossed her arms. "I hate it when you do that."
"Things are even worse now and it is simply not—"
"Possible. Remus, I know you say that all the time. And simply I am tired of your excuses!" Tonks couldn't help her anger. She had heard this several times and she couldn't take it anymore.
"Tonks please calm down. You just don't understand! You haven't had to deal with this your whole life! And now! You don't know what it will be like! You think its all sunshine and rainbows Tonks but it's not! Things here in Hogwarts are sheltered from the world not everyone is as accepting as Albus Dumbledore!" Remus said angrily.
"Stop talking to me like I'm a stupid little girl!" She groaned. "I've been out of Hogwarts for almost five years now and I am perfectly aware of how things work in the outside world and even more so than you are considering you've been locked up here all summer! Know what your problem is Remus? You refuse to look past your condition. You refuse to look past the fact that you aren't just a werewolf. You refuse to see the fact that you have people who love you and couldn't give a damn if you were a werewolf or a grindylow!"
"You don't think I know that! It doesn't matter; I don't deserve to have their love! I'm a monster! And you're too caught up in a fantasy of what we could be to see what is right in front of you."
She scoffed and shook her head walking towards the door. "Maybe you're right."
"You're not angry are you?" Ron asked Hermione as they walked the halls for their rounds that night.
She shook her head. "No Ronald, I'm not angry. I just don't understand you. I will never understand why you sell yourself so short."
He shrugged. It was hard for him. And she knew it. Living under the shadows of his brothers always gave him the idea that he was inferior to everyone else.
"You just don't get it Hermione. You're the brightest witch of our age—don't deny it everyone says so and you know it—so it's hard for you to understand what it's like to be so simple and average." He spat the word angrily.
"Ron, you are anything but average!" She shouted.
Now she was angry. "I don't understand how mad it makes me when you undersell yourself. I just wish you could see yourself the way I see you."
"Hermione you tend to see the more wonderful things in people but I'm just not like that. I'm realistic."
"Realistic, more like pessimistic." She said sadly.
"Hermione, I'm not good at Quidditch, despite what you say, I'm not smart and I'm just an alright wizard."
"Just alright, Ronald you're great."
"Please if I could make things blow up I'd be Seamus."
She shook her head and stopped walking and looked at him. "Ronald Weasley, you are a good wizard and you know all that stuff in second year was only because you had someone else's wand, and a broken wand at that! It wasn't because you were a bad wizard!"
"And now?"
"Magic has to do with your confidence and by then it was already too late for you to gain it."
"Fine, I'm an alright wizard but that's it."
"No you're more than that, you're a great friend, an amazing brother, and one of the best chess players that I've ever met." He said.
"You haven't met many." He muttered.
"And you're hilarious when I need it; you take of me and make sure that I don't overwork myself when it comes to school or anything." She said and stepped closer to him.
"Well I had to or else you'd never stop to eat." He said. She could hear his voice shaking slightly.
"You—"
"Well, well, well, isn't this cozy?"
Ron's nostrils flared as he heard Malfoy's voice.
"What do you want?" Ron seethed and turned to see Malfoy and his normal two lackeys, Crabbe and Goyle, standing next to him.
"Nothing continue, this disgusting display of emotion is actually quite touching." His face turned to a sneer. "You take care of me." He said in a bad imitation of Hermione's voice.
"It's past midnight go to your dormitories." Hermione said in a angry voice and placed her hands on her hips.
"You can't tell me what to do," He smirked. "Mudblood."
Ron growled angrily, reminding Hermione of a dog before he pounces.
"Ron—"
"What you going to do me Weasley? Poor me to death."
Crabbe and Goyle laughed vehemently.
"Is something wrong?" Professor McGonagall asked as she stepped into the hallway in her nightgown, having heard the racket from her quarters.
"No Professor." Malfoy sneered.
"It is past bedtime, Mr. Malfoy, and you are not on prefect duty tonight. Ten points each and get to bed. Now."
"Yes, mam." Malfoy said and he and the rest of them left to the dungeons.
"Next time." Ron muttered to himself.
Harry was finding it hard to concentrate on his Quidditch plays.
He was sitting in the common room and hadn't had a problem at all until she walked in.
She being Ginny Weasley of course.
He didn't know what it was about her this year but he just couldn't seem to get her off of his mind. It could've been the fact that she was off in a corner with Dean Thomas, his roommate.
And lately whenever he would come to his room all her could hear was Seamus and Dean snickering over Ginny. It made him absolutely sick.
He just wanted to choke him with his bare hands.
He tapped his quill and sighed instantly as he had a brilliant idea.
He just needed to execute it properly.
Luckily it seemed that they hadn't noticed him sulking in the corner.
He went over to the bookshelf obnoxiously close to the couple. He shuddered at the thought of the word couple.
He looked over his shoulder and feigned surprise at seeing them. Dean had his nose in their current Charms textbook and Ginny was doodling on the paper though it seemed to Harry she was trying to attract his attention and he was ignoring her.
Harry smirked to himself. Wrong move.
"Ginny, I didn't see you there." He quickly sat down at the chair next to her. "It has to be fate. Listen, I was going over some of the things I wanted to do for Quidditch tryouts and I actually needed some help. Who else better than the future captain?"
"What?" She said with shocked eyes. Dean looked up at Harry with suspicious eyes.
Harry widened his eyes and gave her a guilty look. "Oops. I wasn't supposed to say that. But since the owl's out of the cage, I may as well." He scooted his chair closer to her and whispered lowly, enough that others couldn't hear but that Dean could definitely hear. "Professor McGonagall and I have already discussed it and we had already decided that once I leave next year you would be the new captain."
She smiled at him and bit her lip.
"Anyway," He said shaking his head and made sure to leave his charming smile. "I thought that you'd want to help with tryouts start getting you ready for the duties."
"Definitely." She said and began picking up her things. "I'll see you Dean." She said and kissed him on the cheek.
Harry's smile faded for a second but made sure to cover it up before she could see.
She stood up and walked over to Harry's original corner.
He stood placing his chair back and couldn't help the smirk that formed on his face when Dean glared at him.
Harry knew Ginny, he wouldn't deny that.
And she would never put her love of Quidditch below anything else.
Ok so I'm trying to end all the chapters at Harry and start them there as well so sorry if there's a little repetition with Ron and Hermione. Also I imagine that Harry would be more like his father with the pompousness but he really is a Harry deep down. Also I decided to keep the wand breaking for the reasons explained earlier in the chapter.
Also double previews this week for those who reviewed last chapter and this chapter so don't worry and a chapter up on Christmas eve for all my loyal readers and reviewers.
So tell me what you think and I promise also to have Harry Potter and the Aftermath updated by Wednesday as well I am writing a Neville and Luna one-shot about them during the war at Hogwarts!
Alright so remember double reviews!
