Author's Note: Yeah, I know, long time no write. I've been incredibly busy with all these summer assignments and stuff. Well anyway, this is the shortest author's note I've ever written. Enjoy the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything associated
with him, it all belongs to JK Rowling.
Hermione sighed as she
carefully chose the words for her letter to Viktor. She lay on her bed crouched
over a piece of parchment. It was a particularly hard letter to write. No
boyfriend liked to get a letter from his long distance girlfriend asking if she
could go to a ball with another guy.
She finished the letter and
satisfactorily sealed it inside an envelope. Taking the envelope in her hand,
she made her way down the stairs from the girls' dormitory. As she entered the
common room, she considered asking Ron to borrow Pigwidgeon. She thought the
better of it, reminding herself that if Ron were to find out the letter was
addressed to Viktor, he'd probably rip it to pieces. Instead, she asked Harry
to borrow Hedwig, only to be reminded that she was off delivering a letter to
Sirius.
Hermione went to the owlery
anyway. She tied the letter to the claw of one of the school owls and sent it
off. Watching it fly off into the starry sky, she wondered who she would choose
even if Viktor said yes. She contemplated this question all the way back to the
Gryffindor tower. Ron was one of her best friends, but he could so dumb
sometimes. Seamus, on the other hand, had always been nice to her. It doesn't
matter, she thought to herself, as she settled into bed, I'll figure it out; I
always do.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The days passed and Ron and
Seamus's rivalry continued to grow. Quidditch tryouts were drawing nearer and
both Ron and Seamus planned to try out for the Gryffindor team. With Harry
replacing Wood as captain, the selection would affect many different
relationships.
The day of try-outs came and
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Seamus, Dean, and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch
team were all outside on the Quidditch field. Ron and Seamus were busy making
low threats and bragging in undertone about who would fill the one available
spot that Oliver Wood left behind.
"OK," Harry said, clapping
his hands to get everyone's attention. "After five years, there is finally an
open position on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, as well as several reserve
places. Now, those of you that are trying out for Keeper, please come down to
the field."
Ron and Seamus, along with
most of the crowd, made their way down to the field, broomsticks in hand. Ron
had been given Charlie's old Cleansweep for his birthday and clutched it in his
hand as he walked towards the field. Seamus too, was holding a Cleansweep.
"Is that everyone?" Harry
asked. "All right, let's start with some warm up exercises. This won't count
much towards the final judgment, but I want to time your sprints. Everyone line
up over at this end of the field, on my mark, fly to the other end of the field
and back."
Ron, Seamus, and Dean lined
up with the rest of the candidates. Fred and George Weasley went along the
line, spacing everyone evenly.
"Ready to lose, Weasley?"
Seamus asked as he mounted the broom.
"Against a git like you?
Yeah, and Hermione would kiss Malfoy," Ron replied.
"The only person she'll be
kissing is me, the new Keeper on the Gryffindor Quidditch team," Seamus shot
back.
Before Ron could come up
with a scathing reply. Harry gave the signal. "On your marks!" Harry yelled.
"Get set! Go!"
Ron and Seamus shot off like
two speeding bullets toward the other end of the field. Within a few
milliseconds, they had left all the competition far behind.
"Looking a little slow
there, Weasley," Seamus taunted as they rounded a goal post. "What, isn't the
lighter weight of having no gold in your pockets enough to help you?"
"Better no gold than no
skill, Finnigan," Ron replied, gritting his teeth as he inched past Seamus,
just as they reached the finish line.
"Excellent!" Harry yelled,
after shouting out their times. "Now the team and I have decided to watch you
fly to see your maneuvering abilities. After that, we'll do some practice runs,
see how well you can block shots."
"Go Ron!" Hermione yelled
from stands, watching him win the race.
Ron grinned and waved up at
the stands, but suddenly tripped over a mysterious, yet familiar looking foot.
Seamus, putting on an innocent look, smiled brightly at Hermione and waved
jovially. Hermione watched suspiciously as Seamus fell over as a large shoe
struck his shin. Now, on the ground, he tried to discreetly strangle Ron
without drawing Hermione's attention.
"Mount your brooms," giggled
Alicia Spinnet as she passed them.
Ron and Seamus reluctantly followed her orders, and prepared to engage in aerial combat.
"Please weave in and out of the goal post until we tell you to stop," said George Weasley. "Go!"
They were off. Before long, Ron swerved into Seamus and caused to veer to the other side of the goal post through the loop. To retaliate, Seamus pulled up and tried to dive bomb Ron, only to have him move out of range at last moment. Ron laughed as Seamus barely managed to pull out of the dive before he hit the ground.
"Ok that's enough! Come back down!" yelled Fred Weasley, snickering at Seamus and silently commending his brother.
"Good everyone," said Harry, pretending not to notice Ron and Seamus. "Now partner up and take turns trying to score goals on each other. We'll be watching you closely at the last exercise, to see if any of you have the makings of a reserve chaser."
"Partners, Seamus?" asked Dean.
"Actually, I was thinking that I could humiliate Weasley by being his partner. You know, amaze Hermione with how I can obviously score points and block shots better than he does. You don't mind do you?"
"Whatever Seamus," Dean said, shaking his head and trying to hide his smirk.
"Ready to go down Weasley?" Seamus said, already making his way towards Ron.
"In you dreams Finnigan," Ron replied.
"You two are up first," Katie Bell told them as she passed them.
Ron and Seamus mounted their brooms and promptly flew to the set of goal posts nearest them. The Gryffindor Quidditch team followed them to get a closer view. Fred Weasley threw Ron the Quaffle.
"Three shots Ron," said Harry.
Ron smirked easily and hurled the Quaffle through the air at the furthest goal post. Seamus dived for it but didn't come close; it was moving too fast. The Quaffle zoomed through the left goal post.
"One," said Ron, smiling.
He summoned the Quaffle back into his had with his wand. Once again, he leaned towards the left, Seamus flew left to block it, only to watch the Quaffle fly through the right hoop.
"Two," continued Ron confidently.
Again he summoned the Quaffle. Seamus decided to be more offensive and flew out to meet Ron. Before he could see what was happening, Ron had dived down and around Seamus to score a goal through the center hoop.
"Three," Ron said, holding up three fingers and grinning.
"My turn Weasley," Seamus said, not at all daunted. "You may be a good chaser, but you're a rotten Keeper."
Ron said nothing, but switched positions with Seamus. Seamus took the Quaffle, and found that Ron had employed the Starfish and Stick defense, trying to show off.
"You can't fly like that Weasley," he said, swerving right and putting the Quaffle through the right hoop. Ron, still hanging on his broomstick in front of the center post, scowled and pulled himself upright.
Seamus took the Quaffle, pulled back, and swerved around Ron to put the Quaffle through the center post.
"Two," he mimicked, scrunching up his nose to make it look like Ron's particularly long one.
Ron looked ready to blow. The tips of his ears were so red that they almost looked rusted. He faced Seamus determinedly. Seamus faked right, but Ron stayed, he released the Quaffle, sending it flying to the left. Ron flew for it, his hand out stretched. For an instant, it looked like he was going to stop it. Suddenly, he saw something in his peripheral vision, a dark, hooded figure standing behind Hermione on the stands.
"Hermione!" he yelled in warning, his hand stopping a millimeter away from the Quaffle.
Everyone on or above the field turned to the stands where Hermione was sitting. Instead of a mysterious hooded figure. Hermione was talking to a student, wearing black Hogwarts robes.
"What about Hermione, Ron?" Harry asked.
"I thought," Ron stammered. "I thought I saw a hooded person behind her."
"Wasn't aware that Professor Trelawney was your role model Ron," Seamus said, snickering.
Ron like he was about to beat Seamus with his broomstick, whether or not that would cause him to fall out of the air.
"Come on Ron," Harry said, flying between him and Seamus and guiding him away. "You're done anyway. Go sit in the stands with Hermione until we announce the results."
Ron landed next to Hermione but still looked livid at Seamus.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You're being stupid, Ron," Hermione protested. "There is no 'hooded figure', she gave me a fright but it was just a first year who wanted to know more about me." She blushed at this.
"I know what I saw!" Ron argued.
Hermione no longer looked patient. Her face was screwed up in anger.
"Look Ron," she said. "This has nothing to do with Divination. That old bat is full of crap. If you ask me, she got tired of predicting Harry's death and put an Illusion Charm on your fire to get you all worried. There is NO ONE after me!" she finished vehemently.
"I absolutely agree, darling," said Seamus from Hermione's other side. "Such rubbish."
"And you!" she screeched, turning on Seamus. "You don't think that I know you don't normally act like this? Stop agreeing with all my beliefs and hanging around like a sycophant! You have no idea how annoying that is!" She glared at both at them both. "If you both keep this up, I'll go to the ball with Neville!"
With that, she stormed off and left them flabbergasted on the stands. They stared after her in amazement.
"Well," muttered Ron at length, "that was not the idea, entirely missed the point again." He turned back to the field to watch Dean block all three shots attempted by Colin Creevey.
Ron and Seamus watched everyone else try out and waited for the results to be announced. They had both been aiming for Keeper but wouldn't say know to one of the two reserve chaser positions offered.
Finally, their wait was over and they joined the crowd around Harry on the field.
"Calm down!" Harry yelled at the rowdy crowd. "I have the results but you won't hear them if you keep acting like this." With that, the crowded settled down a little, but everyone still looked incredibly anxious.
Harry cleared his throat. "Our two new reserve chasers for this coming season will be… Seamus Finnigan and Ron Weasley."
Seamus and Ron stared at each other, utterly appalled that they had not secured the position of Keeper.
"And the new Keeper for Gryffindor, is Dean Thomas," Harry finished.
The rest of the angry crowd closed in on Harry and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team until they had to fly up on their broomsticks to avoid the threatening glares and occasional curse thrown up at them. Ron and Seamus were in the angry crowd, both thinking that they deserved Keeper and trying to curse whatever Quidditch player flew by overhead. A few enraged candidates even mounted their own broomsticks and tried to follow the team.
After this was all over, Harry and the other members of the team, including Dean Thomas, had been hit with various curses.
"Never thought they would react like that," Harry puffed, as he caught up with Ron on his way back to the castle. He had barely been hit, having been able to avoid almost all the curses.
"They were quite right to," replied Ron coldly. "Most of us were much more deserving of that position."
Harry, taken by surprise at his icy tone, stopped short. "Why are you so mad? You didn't block any of Seamus's shots but you made all of you own. Dean blocked all his shots. It's to be expected!"
Ron quickened his pace and left Harry behind. Muttering about people with no sense of reason, Harry trudged up to the castle behind him, reminding himself to have a long talk with Hermione about controlling her admirers. It really wouldn't hurt her to look a little uglier, he thought to himself.
A/N: All done! Another exceptionally long chapter for me :) it's not as funny as some of the other chapters or stories is it? Sorry if it got boring. Don't forget to R&R!