Chapter two - Wild Feelings under the Stars
A celebration was going on strong in the Gryffindor common-room that night after the new Quidditch team had been revealed. Students were honouring the new players and hoped that they would make them proud in this year's Quidditch championship. But one single person was missing - Ron Weasly. Harry thought to himself that Ron never missed a party, especially a party in his honour, but Ron had been nowhere to be found since their last afternoon lesson earlier that day. He could not possibly still be so mad at Hermione that he didn't want to be in the same room as her, could he? Ron's a ginger - he has a temper.
A few minutes later an obviously tired Ron joined the party in the common-room. The few students who had noticed his appearance started to cheer his name loudly and clap at two and four. Ron stopped up, froze, at the stairs leading up to the boys' dormitory. Ron thought that they were partying as if they'd already won the championship. Did they really trust him that much as a Keeper? Ron planted a smile on his slightly pink lips. It absolutely seemed like they did.
"Ron! Where have you been, mate?" Harry, whom had just appeared at the end of the staircase, asked. He was also smiling.
"I have been sleeping, really. First day back is a tough one, you know. But do not tell Hermione so. I want her to think I have been studying." Ron glanced around in the room as was he looking for something. "Where is she anyway?" he added, acting as if he didn't care much about her. Harry couldn't catch his gaze.
"Well, er, you see..." Harry begun, but got cut off by a smiling Hermione who appeared next to him. She placed her arm around his neck. She was all red in the face, but this time it was from blushing.
"Hi Ron. We have missed you at the party!" she said. Harry did not know what to feel about the situation. It was both awkward and funny.
"Blimey, why are you so happy? Don't tell me they doubled the exams or something," he said, already getting a worried expression on his face. Hermione was always so serious and it took quite a lot to make her this happy.
"I am simply celebrating, Ron. As should you!" Hermione took Ron's hand, and tried to pull him down the staircase and out on the dance-floor where the rest of the students were. No one was really dancing, as they were all in the phase of denying that the other gender existed.
"Wait a minute," Ron began. Harry wanted to disappear, but he couldn't think of a way to escape from the situation. "What are you celebrating? You never cared that much of who made it to the team." Ron looked suspicious. His eyes were tightening and his face more red than the velvet wallpaper.
"Oh, you haven't heard yet. I just thought Harry would have said..." The joyful smile slowly faded from Hermione's face. She looked rather disappointed and glanced at Harry for support.
"Heard what? What have you not told me, Harry?" Harry sighed. Why was it that Ron had to fuss up over such a small situation?
"Hermione made it to the team. She is our new Chaser along with Ginny and Katie," Harry hesitated. He closed his eyes because he knew exactly what was to come. He should've known from the start that this friendly encounter would end up in a fight. Again.
"Bloody hell! You let her on the team! Harry, you do know that she only did this to piss me off, right? She cannot play! If she really was any good at the try-outs she must have used some sort of potion!" Ron was yelling, and everyone in the room had noticed. Someone had even done them the favour of turning down the music so that everybody could follow along in the intriguing conversation. Harry opened his eyes and saw Hermione with tears rolling down her now completely pale cheeks.
"Why is it you never believe in me, Ronald? Just because I am smart does not mean I cannot be good at anything other than that as well! Why can you not just be happy for me? You… You bastard!" Hermione yelled. She felt as if she was just repeating herself from earlier that day where she had yelled at him at breakfast. She stormed into the girls' dormitory with a very furious expression on her face.
"Well done, Ron. I just created my team today and it's already a mess. Thank you." Harry said, walking a few steps away from the stairs.
"Your team? You might be the captain of it, but without your players you will be nothing. Nothing, I tell you!" Harry looked at Ron with a surprised look in his face. His best mate had just called him a 'nothing.' Harry walked towards the door out of the common-room and into the castle, not saying a word.
"Wait, Harry, you know I didn't mean it like that!" Ron started yelling, but Harry was so deep into the crowd of people that he could not hear him even if he wanted to.
"Ron, hi! Where were you at the try-outs? You should have seen Hermione Granger! She did really, really well! No wonder she made it to the team!" Lavender Brown spoke to Ron. Ron could feel himself exploding inside. He felt the urge to scream and kick somebody.
"She's really that good, eh?" he replied with a hint of anger in his voice. Ron couldn't believe it. All these years Hermione had gone on and on about how much she hated Quidditch and did not understand the purpose, but now she was actually on the team and apparently doing very well. Ron rolled his eyes and then went back to the boys' dormitory, leaving a still talking Lavender behind him. As soon as she realised he wasn't around anymore, she turned and continued the conversation with a random Fifth year.
September turned into October, which turned into November, and before they knew of it snow started to fall on the Hogwarts' grounds, which made Quidditch rehearsal even more complicated than it already was. Hermione and Ron still refused to talk to each other, and Ron did not speak to Harry either. They didn't play well at all. The team was full of great players, but together it all fell apart. Ron was so angry that he lost focus constantly and therefore let a lot of goals in. That distracted Harry from catching the Golden Snitch several of times. He was so furious after every single practice that he went straight to bed without speaking to anybody.
"Harry, we cannot go on like this," Ginny Weasly said to Harry after a late night Quidditch practice in the first week of November.
"I know, Ginny, but I have absolutely no idea what to do. They're behaving like kindergartners."
Ginny chuckled and Harry swore that he heard angels chuckle along with her, though they were all alone on the field.
That night's practice had been purely terrible. Katie Bell had still not returned from St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries after the entire cursed necklace episode a few weeks before, so Dean Thomas had taken her spot as Chaser. He was currently dating Ginny, so they spent way more time chatting than playing. When Harry had asked them to participate in the game, Ginny had said that it was not "worth it anyway." Hermione and Ron had not been closer to each other than 78 inches since the party in September, which also complicated things.
"Why is it that every time they are fighting it has to ruin everything around them?" Ginny said. Harry shook his head. He had noticed so, too. "We must put them back together. Even though it seems impossible. They just cannot live without each other, and we cannot live without them being together."
"You mean, we have to pair them up?" Harry asked in disgust. He did not know how he would feel about that.
"No, that was not what I meant!" Ginny chuckled. She, too, had a hard time imagining Hermione and Ron going out. They were probably more unlikely to date than Draco Malfoy and Luna Lovegood.
"Good, because I'm a million per cent positive that will never happen." They shared a laugh. Harry was sure he felt something in his gut that was not supposed to be there, at least not when he was with Ron's younger sister. Harry instantly stopped laughing. The silence became awkward. Had Ginny felt the same as Harry?
"I will try to talk some sense into them," Harry promised, breaking the silence as it got too much.
"That would be great, Harry. Goodnight, sleep tight," Ginny spoke and walked back to the castle. That left Harry all alone in the pitch dark.
"Goodnight," he whispered to himself, too insecure to say it out loud.
"You came in late last night," Hermione noticed at breakfast the morning after Harry and Ginny's conversation. Harry kept quiet. His talk with Ginny was none of Hermione's business, though Harry had her suspected for knowing what had happened.
Ron was seated a little away, next to Neville Longbottom. They didn't speak, just ate bacon like it was a competition.
"You should really talk to him, Hermione. He might not show it, but I think he's missing you," Harry said, bringing up the topic they'd all been avoiding for months. His gaze was planted on his plate. He didn't have any appetite. He was thinking strategy for their first Quidditch match that weekend against Slytherin. Harry knew that Slytherin's team had gotten stronger since last year where they were already difficult enough to beat. With Urquhart, Vaisey and Blaise Zabini as Chasers, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle as Beaters, and last, but not least, Draco Malfoy as Seeker, they could become tough competition.
"Me? If anyone should talk it ought be him. He is the one who made a mistake," Hermione cried silently. She, too, was looking at her plate. It was empty.
"Just do something, please! The match is on Saturday and we cannot afford to lose!"
"The championship just started, Harry! We can afford to lose at least one game, if we win the rest!" Harry could easily sense that it was Hermione's first match. She had no idea how important winning was - and especially winning against Slytherin.
"This is Slytherin. Don't you want to see Malfoy's face when we beat the crap out of them?" he asked. He imagined Draco's angry and disappointed face, throwing his broomstick to the ground. Harry would like to see that just once more.
"Of course I do, but..."
"No buts, Hermione! Blimey!" Harry walked out of the Great Hall alone and found his way to his first lessons of the day.
Harry hated it when Ron and Hermione were fighting, when he and Ron were fighting. He never felt more alone than when that happened. And sadly, it happened all too often.
Due to the match Harry had arranged Quidditch practice every night throughout the week. Of course the Slytherin captain had pulled some strings and done the same thing, which meant that Gryffindor had to practice very late every night.
"I don't get it! Have they ever been fighting for this long before?" Ginny asked Harry as they walked together to practice one night.
"Yeah, probably. You know, when they fight, they do it well and for months," Harry explained. He was glad that he at least had someone to talk to, but why Ginny? And why Ginny Weasly? Why did she have to be the younger sister of his best mate? Ron had been so angry when Harry put Hermione on the team. He could not even imagine if he found out that Harry had a crush on his little sister. He would turn into a monster, most likely. That wouldn't make anything better at all. Especially since Ginny didn't feel the same way about him, so she would stop talking to him, too. He'd have to leave Hogwarts with all that hate coming at him.
"The stars are very beautiful tonight," Ginny whispered. Harry had been too deep into his thoughts to realize that they already were at the Quidditch field. Ginny stood still, just looking up at the dark sky that was so full of shiny stars. Harry knew that Ginny loved astronomy.
"Yes, indeed," Harry agreed, looking up at the sky, too. He had placed himself very close to Ginny, so that he was sure they were looking at the exact same stars.
"I want to become one in my next life," Ginny all of a sudden said, breaking the comfortable silence. Harry glanced at her. Her eyes were watering. "It must be lovely to be admired so much and be called beautiful of everyone. You know what I mean?" she added.
"You are beautiful," Harry said without a thought. He froze. He had not seen that one coming and neither had Ginny. She slowly turned her face, which was all red and blushing, and looked directly at Harry.
"Really, you think so?" Harry had blushed, too, and that was a rare occasion. He had no idea why he had said so. It was true, of course. Ginny was very beautiful with her long, flaming hair and beautiful, shiny eyes. Shiny as the stars. Blue as the sky.
"Sorry to ruin your lovely moment, but I have some homework to do, so can we just get this over with?" It was Hermione whom had arrived; ruining what seemed like the perfect moment for Harry. He got very angry with her, but knew he should not start to yell at her now when he was trying to make the team play a bit better than well.
"Indeed we should, but we need some more players," Harry answered in a calmed voice, ignoring that Hermione had nearly yelled at him.
"Oh that is just typical." She looked like she rather wanted to be in the library than playing Quidditch.
Only a few minutes later Ron and the rest of the team arrived. They apologized, said they had had such a nice time at dinner. Harry forgave them, though he knew Ron had had dinner on his own, looking quite angry with the rest of the world. Presumably only showing up late to piss off Harry.
"We have our first match this Saturday, against Slytherin, and we cannot lose it! I hate losing to Slytherin," Harry admitted. He heard Ginny and Dean laugh. They were still dating and Harry hated that fact very much. He hated that Katie Bell was stuck in St. Mungo's and that Dean was her replacement. "Let's just play. Do your best."
They all flew into air, and started practicing.