Just a short chapter. Thank you to everyone who reviewed including Penny, Sheep, Nzr222 and julie. Please keep reviewing. It makes my day. ENJOY!
*Sorry for the Michael Corner Gryffidnoerror there. The idea hit me, I didn't even pause to think, just got completely carried away. Thank you Dueler 312 for pointing out my mistake. :D
Harry reluctantly left Ginny outside the Room of Requirement and headed down to the dungeons. He was quite lucky he arrived on time... he hadn't exactly been keeping track of time in the Room of Requirement.
He arrived in the dungeons and had only just leant against the wall opposite Slughorn's room when the man himself came around the corner.
"Ah, Harry, you're here. You are the type to pride yourself on your punctuality. I hope you haven't been waiting too long." Slughorn said jovially.
Harry felt that Professor McGonagall would have argued that point with Slughorn but decided not to voice this theory as Slughorn's high opinion of Harry had proven itself quite useful to date.
"So Harry," Slughorn said as he unlocked the dungeon door, "Have you ever made Amortentia before?"
"No, sir. We were just about to do it when... when Dumbledore died, sir."
"Yes, yes I'm sure." Slughorn moved on hastily, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "Well, it's a bit tricky I suppose but nothing you can't handle."
The rest of the lesson passed without much excitement. Although, Harry did learn some new tricks that he felt would come in handy; ways for counting stirs, properties of the ingredients they were using, ways of getting the exact correct amount into the potion. It was the first time that a potion of Harry's had ever matched the description in the book at every step.
He left the lesson feeling that it may actually have been a good use of his time. He had a more comprehensive understanding of the function of each ingredient than he had ever had before and found that this information made potions much more interesting. He had never realised before the individual effects of each of the ingredients they were using or how they contributed towards the potion.
"So how'd it go?" Hermione asked as soon as he walked into the common room.
She and Ron had scrambled to opposite ends of the couch when Harry walked in. Both of them looking decidedly busy staring in opposite directions with matching blushed across their cheeks.
"Er, great actually." Harry said disjointly.
Ron gaped at him while Hermione grinned.
"It's actually kind of interesting." Harry said defensively, in response to Ron's expression. "But I'm wrecked now though. I'm going to head up to bed."
Harry waited a few minutes after climbing into bed to see if Ron had followed him up, but after a while decided that he and Hermione must have resumed whatever he had interrupted earlier on.
The rest of the week passed without any big events. Harry and Ginny spent stolen minutes in the Room of Requirement. Each time they returned, Ron would look at them calculatingly with narrowed eyes until one of them or, more often, Hermione distracted him with something else.
It became common to walk into a room to find Ron and Hermione scrambling hastily and staring in opposite directions. Harry didn't understand why they bothered. Everyone knew that they were together now. It was only to be expected that they would be kissing. He couldn't say he minded it though. He found their awkward guiltiness much more entertaining than the thought of evening's spent with them kissing on the other couch.
Potions grew evermore bearable with each lesson. Harry was beginning to excel, once again, in the sixth year class, only this time, it was on his own merit. He had developed a new habit of looking up the ingredients he was using in each potion in the glossary at the back of his potions book. In this way, each of the ingredients became more and more familiar to him until he was listing off why each ingredient was added to various potions.
"Agrippa; a side-effect is nausea which is why we add..." He scrolled down the list of ingredients. "The chamomile."
Students in the class often cast nervous glances at him as he muttered away to himself during lessons. Harry didn't mind though. He knew that the sooner he improved, the sooner he'd leave the class.
The highlight of the week came on Saturday. Ginny had decided that Quidditch tryouts would be held just after lunch. It was a strange though for Harry, that he would have to try out for the Quidditch team. Even in his first year, there had never been any official tryouts. On Saturday morning, Ginny found it amusing that she was dealing with a nervous Harry as well as an anxious Ron.
"Harry, it's really just a formality. Butler's not nearly as good as you. I just feel like I should give her a chance since she was on the team for a while last year. She deserves to be able to fight for her place."
"What about me then? Is my tryout just a formality too?" Ron butted in before Harry could reply.
Ginny appeared not to have heard him. Instead she stood up, casting a look at Ron's almost full plate.
"Ron, you should probably try to eat a bit more. Harry, you coming?"
As they were making their way through the grounds, Harry found out why Ginny had, rather unsubtly, separated themselves from Ron.
"I'm worried Ron's not going to get on the team."
"What do you mean? You're the captain. You make the team."
Ginny frowned.
"Yeah, but Harry, I'm not just going to let him on because he's my brother. I'll let him on if he's the best...and I'm not so sure he will be."
"Oh, I didn't realise you had someone else in mind."
"Well, Ron was a really unreliable player. I mean sure, he's made some really good saves but he's also missed some really easy ones. I also don't need him badgering me about resigning in the lead up to every match. The Keeper we had on the team last year was good and reliable. He did his job without a load of fuss. There's a lot to be said for that at the end of the day." Ginny finished somewhat defensively.
"Okay, well it sounds like you're trying to convince yourself that this other Keeper is better before tryouts even start. Why don't you just let the keeping do the talking. If this other guy saves more than Ron then take him. If he doesn't then you can look at it again if you really don't think Ron's good for the team."
Ginny looked relieved.
"You're right. If Dennis saves loads more than Ron then there won't even be a decision to make."
"Dennis?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, Dennis Creevey." Ginny replied unconcernedly.
"Uh oh, Ron really won't like losing his place on the team to Dennis Creevey."
And with that, Harry casually threw his arm around Ginny's shoulders and they continued down to he Quidditch pitch.
