Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

Original A/N: Thanks to MaeSilverpaws1, who is beta-ing this story.

Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Three

Tryouts

The first week back had been hard, there was a lot of homework in every class and Harry was barely able to keep up with it all. He was even starting to worry how he was going to manage once he started having 'lessons' with McGonagall and Quidditch practice.

"You could give up Quidditch," Hermione said to him when he had expressed his feelings out loud. She just laughed at the glare that he and Ron gave her. "You two are so easy."

"Hmph," Ron huffed in annoyance. Angelina, who was now the Quidditch captain, had informed them earlier that week that they were going to have tryouts for Keepers on Friday, which just happened to be that day. "Why did she have to have a bloody tryout, I've been the reserve Keeper for years."

"Ron, she told you why she wanted to hold tryouts," Harry said patiently, he understood why his friend was so upset but honestly he didn't think Ron had anything to worry about. "She wants to make sure she has the best people and best team possible. It's not just for your spot, she's also holding it for the Chasers too, you know."

"I don't see why she bothers with that either," Ron grumbled. "They already have Ginny in reserve and she might be better than the others at that. And if she was going to do that why not have it for the Seeker and Beaters, too."

"If someone shows up for those positions I'm sure she'll give them a chance," Harry shrugged, really not concern that anyone could be better than him at his job, and the teamwork with the twins was unstoppable, even if someone was a better Beater individually than them (and Harry doubted there was anyone like that) there was no way they could compete against the pair of them.

"Don't get too cocky, Potter," Ron grumbled though he was trying to hold back a smile so Harry thought it was okay for him to laugh.

"I'll try not to," Harry replied.

"Would you mind going down to the pitch?" Ron asked an edge of nerves in his voice. "You know after lunch … we don't have any other classes …"

"Sure mate, we can put in a few extra hours practice," Harry said.

"Does that face mean that you think I should finish my homework before we play?" Ron asked, turning on Hermione, who had been scowling at them though clearly trying not to say something.

"The thought might have crossed my mind," she admitted, a ghost of a smile on her lips.

"You know it's the weekend tomorrow," Ron pointed out.

"As if you ever want to work on the weekend," Hermione countered.

"True," Ron chuckled in agreement.

"I wasn't actually going to tell you to work," Hermione pointed out. "I was just going to tell you I'll be in the library …"

"In some hidden spot," Ron interrupted her with a big grin and waggled his eyebrows, "… hm … I just might have to find you there."

"Ron," Hermione rolled her eyes, "That's not what I meant at all. I was just trying to tell you that I'm going to the library while you practice but I'll be there for the tryouts."

"You don't have," Ron said his grin faltering slightly.

"But I want to," Hermione said, "I want to be the first one to congratulate your win when you make the team."

Ron looked at her with mixture of worry and confidence. She moved forward and stood on her tip toes and kissed him on the cheek. Before she could back away, Ron wrapped his arms around her and turned his head to give her a real kiss.

"Ron," she complained several seconds later, pushing him away, "we're in the middle of the corridor."

"That didn't seem to stop you from kissing me back," Ron pointed out, not fazed by the glare she was giving him now. He knew she wasn't really angry with him, but he did let her go.

O

After talking with Hermione, Ron felt much better and the practice he had with Harry went brilliantly. What made it even better was when Ginny had showed up a half an hour early and warmed up against him. Harry might have been the best Seeker, but his Chaser skills were nowhere near as good. Now, having to watch out for Ginny's shot or worry about her passing it to Harry for an easy shot put Ron into the right rhythm.

"Thanks Gin," Ron said when they landed on the pitch, Angelina, Alicia, Fred and George arrived and Harry flew down to join them just as Katie walked up. Ron and Ginny hung back not really sure what to do. They had been on the reserve team two years ago but that didn't mean they should stand next to the rest of the people actually on the team.

"Sure," Ginny answered the comment that Ron had made.

"Do you think you'll make the team?" Ron asked her.

"I think I'll be reserve again," Ginny said. "The other Chasers are still better than I am."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Ron said, "your shot has improved …"

"I only scored two goals against you," Ginny argued.

"Well I've improved too," Ron said puffing out his chest.

"Sure you have," Ginny snorted elbowing him in the stomach good naturedly as he grinned at her.

He then looked up at the stands where he saw Hermione, and when she noticed him looking at her she smiled and waved at him.

"Alright everyone, why don't you gather around," Angelina's voice called out as she walked towards the group of people that Ron was now looking through. There were about twenty people there, including him. Ginny and Ron were positive most were trying out as keeper. "Why doesn't everyone break up into groups? Each group will be the different positions that you would like to try out for. Though honestly we are actually only looking for a Keeper right now," her eyes landed on Ron and he knew without her saying anything that he already had a leg up on that competition. "We are allowed to have up to four reserve players so up to five of you will be added to the team."

There was a commotion going on now as everyone found the other people trying out for their position. Ginny walked over to a group of five people as Ron stayed where he was as the other Keeper contenders move toward him. He supposed that being on the team before made him recognizable. There were only four other people there all Beaters.

"Okay, good," Angelina said once they had finished moving. "We're going to do our normal warm ups. Keepers come with me, the rest go with Harry."

"Why does Harry get to be in charge of our group," Fred pouted.

"Because no one in their right mind would let either you or George be in charge," Angelina answered back cheekily and Fred tried to look hurt. It didn't help him at all when George started to laugh.

"Traitor," Fred grumbled at his twin, though clearly not perturbed at all.

Angelina turned and walked away while Ron and the rest of his group followed her. Ron noticed that Alicia and Katie were going with them too. He supposed that after they warmed up, the three girls were going to start the actual tryout process. He wondered if Angelina was going to look at the other Chasers at all, but figured she knew what she was doing.

The warm up didn't take long, and seeing as he was already plenty warm he spent most of that time looking at the others trying out. Most of them did have skills catching the ball, which he could only tell because the majority of them couldn't throw straight.

"You might want to pay attention Ron," Katie said to him as he almost dropped the Quaffle she threw at him. "Angie won't like it if you drop the ball because you're checking out the competition."

"Yeah," Ron said, turning slightly red as he passed the ball back to her. "I'll remember that."

"Alright, gather around again," Angelina said, "we're going to have shoot outs now, Alicia and Katie are going to take two direct shots apiece at you and one more as they work as a team to get by you. You're up first," she added to the boy that was closest to the goal post, he seemed to be a second year and was definitely very nervous.

He wasn't bad, though he did need a lot of flying practice; he just wasn't quick enough to cover all the post. Next there was a girl that was an excellent flier, but didn't anticipate very well and so missed a few of the shots. It ran just like that, most of the people were strong at one point in a Keeper's job but weren't all around players. When it was Ron's turn he was sure he was going to do okay. Despite the fact that one of the other players, a sixth year that was big, had saved all of the goals, it helped that he had a long reach and seemed impressive, Ron was still sure that he would save the goals.

Ron wasn't really sure where this confidence was coming from; maybe it was because Hermione was cheering him on in the stands. Or that he could see his brothers and Ginny watching him despite the fact that they were trying to practice themselves. Or his training before hand, with Ginny and Harry, but he was positive he could do this. Perhaps it was all of them put together.

"You ready Ron?" Alicia asked and he nodded his head.

It wasn't too hard to save the first four shots. Ron had practiced, after all, with these girls for a long time and without the normal distraction of the game or even normal practice, he could predict their shots by watching closely. The last one was more challenging for sure. The girls passed well together, much better than Ginny and Harry had, and when Katie had finally taken the shot she had done an effective fake that had him flinching the wrong way, but luckily he was able to correct himself in time to get to the far right ring to tip the Quaffle away from the goal.

"Well done Ron," Katie said, "I really thought I had you there for a moment."

"Me too," Ron admitted as they flew down to land on the pitch.

"Okay, that was well done everyone, you can now join the others on the other end of the pitch," Angelina said. "Ron … a word."

"Yeah," Ron said walking over to her, Alicia and Katie going with him.

"Well done Ron, you're our Keeper," Angelina smiled at him and he grinned broadly, trying to keep himself from whooping. He figured she had a reason to tell him that in private instead of in front of the others. "Now," she started, all serious. "The last few seasons having you in reserve for Wood has shown me that it's a good idea having an extra Keeper on the team. It helps our practice and it will help our team be better and stronger in the future too. I might be leaving this year, but I still want Gryffindor to win for as long as possible."

"I can't argue with that," Ron said.

"I just wanted you involved on the discussion about who the reserve Keeper should be," Angelina said. "You know the position better than the rest of us."

"Well obviously McLaggen was good," Ron answered immediately. "He pretty much has all the skills you need to be a good Keeper. But he's a bit full of himself. I imagine if someone tried to tell him what to do, he wouldn't listen."

"He's also a major jerk," Katie added.

"I was trying not to say that part," Ron agreed.

"I don't think it would help the team very much to have a sixth year anyways," Alicia pointed out.

"I agree," Angelina said. "And he doesn't really seem like a very good team player. He was laughing at some of the younger kids trying out when they missed."

"Jerk," Katie said again.

"Anyone else?" Angelina asked Ron.

"The girl that went second," Ron said. "She was a natural flyer; she just doesn't know how to read the other players well yet. The more experience she'll get the better she'll be. Then there was the guy that went sixth. He's almost the opposite of the girl … he read the play well, but he wasn't quite quick enough with his reactions. Plus he had a pretty good arm on him. He did throw the Quaffle nearly all the way to the other group when we were waiting for the others Keepers to be tested."

"Hm," Angelina said thoughtfully. "What do you think?" she added looking at the other two.

"I do think they had the most potential," Alicia said. "Though, I thought Robins might have done better as a Chaser to be honest."

"She might," Katie said looking pensive. "Maybe we should ask if she would try out for that position, too."

"Maybe," Angelina said. "That'd probably be good … but let's see how she plays first. We better join the others, I'll tell the other Keepers that I decided who I wanted and I'll see you guys in a minute."

It actually took Angelina ten minutes, and the help of Fred and George who had flown down to join her, to get McLaggen to leave. He had demanded that it was unfair that two people that had only saved four goals should be asked to stay longer when he had saved all of the shoots.

"It actually seems like a really bloody brilliant choice to me not having you anywhere near our team," George informed him, glaring. "Now get out of here!"

McLaggen turned a purple color but he turned around stomping off.

"So why do you want to be a Keeper?" Ron asked the girl that had tried out while this commotion was going on.

"My brothers always made me play Keeper," she answered.

"Mine two," Ron chuckled. "Is that really the position you want to play though?"

"I'm not sure," she answered shrugging. "It was the position that I know best."

"You might want to try out being a Chaser," Ron suggested.

"Is that you're way of saying I won't make it as a Keeper," she asked.

"It one way for me to say, with your flying silks, you might do well as a Chaser too. I'm not sure what Angelina thinks, but Alicia thought you would do a good job and it wouldn't hurt you at all in making the reserves if you're good at both positions."

"Okay," she agreed.

"Um, Demelza, are you joining us?" Harry called down.

Demelza nodded her head, gave Ron a smile and flew up to join the other people trying out for Chasers. Minutes later Ron found himself at one of the goal post with Eric Summer at the other end. They were playing three on three Chasers, with two Beaters on each team as well. Ron actually was impressed by one of the Beaters that were on his team, he had provided a decent amount of help on the defense, and seemed to do well on the other side of the pitch too. In fact, he seemed to be the only decent Beater on the whole pitch, though nowhere near as good as Fred and George, for the other three didn't seem to be able to even swing the bat the right way, let alone hit the bludger.

In half an hour Ron had only let one ball get past him, and seeing as Ginny and Demelza, the two best chasers on the pitch at the moment were playing against him, he didn't mind so much. He was also pleased that his side had scored five goals, making them the winners. He knew it wasn't the point to win today, but he still was happy about that.

"… Call on Robins, Katie," Angelina was saying as he landed next to the rest of the team.

"It seems like you've lived up to our name, little brother," Fred said when he had landed, grabbing Ron around the neck and pulling him down.

"Hey," Ron complained, trying to get out of his brother's hold.

"I can't even congratulate you for a good show without you snapping at me," Fred sighed, still holding Ron's head.

"This isn't congratulations," Ron grumbled, finally breaking away from his brother, but despite his words, he knew Fred really was happy that he made the team and he was glad his brother was there.

"Angie said we can go," George informed them, "she's going to make Gin and that Robins girl reserve Chasers, Summer as the Keeper and Peaks as the Beater."

"She said there wasn't really any other Chaser that looked good and we didn't really need three anyways," Fred added. "Besides, I think we can show that kid a thing or two in this next year that will help him out."

"Cool," was all Ron could say to that.

"Ron!" he heard his name being called and he turned around smiling, his brothers and the rest of the team continued on as they made their way to the dressing room.

"Hey Hermione."

"You were brilliant," she exclaimed as she jogged towards him, not stopping when she reached him and hugged him.

"Yeah," he agreed and then leaned down to kiss her. Moments later when he pulled away he smirked at her, "what, not going to say anything about snogging in public?"

"I wasn't thinking about it," she replied. "But if you want …"

She didn't get to finish because Ron was kissing her again. All he could think was that this really had been a bloody brilliant day.