Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They all
belong to the gifted Joanne Kathleen Rowling so don't sue me! All I have are my
plot and my computer =).
A/N: I'm flattered by your comments but I'd love it if more
of you r/r.
Lessons…and…Quidditch
Tryouts
With the sun streaking through the windows, Harry felt
somebody prodding him awake. He tried to ignore it but that person just
wouldn't stop. Finally, he opened his eyes to the face of an excited Dudley. He
rolled over to shade himself from the bright sunlight but Dudley kept
disturbing him. Dudley was really nervous yet happy to start his first day at
school. He had been awake for ages and now wanted both Harry and Ron to bask
together with him in his newfound happiness. He just kept bugging Harry and Ron
until they finally left their beds.
Reaching the Grand Hall, the saw quite a number of students
already up and awake. They took their places at the Gryffindor table just as
the horde of owls came soaring in. Harry looked up instinctively but there was
no sign of Hedwig. He had thought that Sirius might send him a letter but it's
alright if there wasn't any letter. He was in the middle of his breakfast when
Professor Dumbledore came in with a rather beautiful girl beside him. Everyone
in the hall immediately stared at the duo while waiting for Professor
Dumbledore to explain her presence.
"I wonder who that girl is," Harry muttered.
"Well, she sure is beautiful," said Ron dreamily.
"Yeah…simply divine." Dudley added sarcastically.
"Quit it you two. She seems to be rather old for a new
student though." Hermione continued.
"Sheesh…Dumbledore is starting to speak." Harry said to
them.
"I would like to present to you Jessica Russell. She is a
new student who had only arrived this morning and will be in the fifth-year.
And she was sorted to Gryffindor. She was initially from Drumstrang but
transferred here due to some personal reasons." Professor Dumbledore announced.
At the word Drumstrang, some Gryffindors were shocked as
they thought that students from Drumstrang were usually into the Dark Arts.
"She's probably You-Know-Who's spy. Be careful Harry." Ron
commented.
"I can't believe you Ron. First you thought that she was beautiful
and now you hear that she's from Drumstrang, you change your tone completely."
Hermione was miffed.
"Well, since she's sorted to Gryffindor, shouldn't we give
her a chance?" Harry asked.
"It is both of you that is unbelievable. She could be dangerous."
Ron argued.
"We'll just give her a chance okay," Harry replied.
"Fine, but if she's a You-Know-Who supported, don't come
crying." Ron said grudgingly.
Just then, the girl walked up to the Gryffindor table. Harry
made way for her to seat and she gave him a grateful smile.
"Hi," she said.
"You're Jessica right? Well, I'm Harry, this is Ron on my
right, Hermione is sitting beside him and that is my cousin Dudley." Harry
introduced himself.
"You can call me Jess." She replied.
The rest also introduced themselves as the Gryffindors got
over their earlier shock. They all found Jess to be fun loving and a
mischief-maker, which made Fred and George happy. Soon, they were all chatting
like long-lost friends, except for perhaps Ron, who remained mostly silent.
Meanwhile, Harry remembered that Professor McGonagall wanted
to see him and left to find her. He slowly made his way to her office.
"I was expecting you." Professor McGonagall said as Harry
entered.
"Uh… What did you want to talk to me about? It isn't
anything bad, is it? Harry asked.
"Nothing bad. It's just some information that you should
know." Professor McGonagall even smiled at him.
"Okay," Harry replied rather dubiously.
"Yesterday, Professor Dumbledore spoke to you of your powers
right?" said Professor McGonagall. At Harry's nod of his head, she continued,
"We decided that training you in Defense Against the Dark Arts and
Transfiguration was more important so you'll tackle them first. We know that
you have your OWLs this year but You-Know-Who's return is much more important."
"I understand the need to study Defense Against the Dark
Arts but why Transfiguration too?" Harry asked.
"Well, it would give you an advantage to be Animagi of which
I'm going to guide you in." Professor McGonagall replied.
"Wouldn't that take years?" Harry questioned.
"With someone to guide you and your father also being an
Animagi can even make it that the transformation will only take three months."
Professor McGonagall smiled.
"So when do we start the lessons?" Harry was now excited.
"It will take place every night that you don't have prefect
duties or Quidditch practice." Professor McGonagall replied.
"Harry, defeating Voldemort is the most important thing now and
only you can do it." Professor McGonagall consoled when she saw his crestfallen
face.
"Yeah. Well, I think I better get to class now," Harry
started to say before he continued, "But I don't have my schedule yet."
"I was going to pass it to you. It includes your night
schedule. If you are unable to attend class on a certain day, let the teacher
in charge know." Professor McGonagall said as she passed him the schedule.
Harry scanned his schedule and realized that he did not have
Divination this year. Instead he had more free time. He looked questioningly at
Professor McGonagall who answered, "We think that with all the night classes,
you need some rest during the day and Divination wasn't that useful anyway. Oh
and before I forget, Quidditch tryouts for Gryffindor would be two weekends
from now."
Harry knew Professor McGonagall's opinion of Divination and
decided to leave. "Well, I better go to my class before I'm late." Harry
glanced at his schedule and saw that the first period was Potions with
Slytherins. If he did not reach on time, Snape was definitely going to take
points from him.
"Be careful this year alright, Mr Potter." Professor
McGonagall said.
Harry nodded his head and made his exit.
******************************
Harry entered Potions just before Snape and was greeted by
the sight of Draco mocking Jess and Dudley and Ron about to fight him.
"Harry, help me tackle them," Ron yelled across.
Just then, Draco caught Harry's eye and signaled that he was
only pretending for the sake of deceiving the other Slytherins. Harry tried to
stop Ron from doing anything severe but Snape entered just in time. He
immediately took twenty points from Gryffindor for provoking a student. Ron was
about retort but Harry stopped him just in time. The rest of Potions was just
as horrible as ever with Snape siding the Slytherins as usual. Jess was good at
Potions but Snape thought otherwise and Dudley was almost as bad as Neville.
******************************
During Potions, Draco signaled to Harry that he wanted to
talk to him after class.
"What did you want to say?" Harry asked after he asked Ron
and Hermione to go ahead first.
"Sorry for making Gryffindor lose twenty points." Draco
apologized.
"Wow, a Malfoy apologizing," remarked Harry good-naturedly.
Draco grinned before replying, "I shouldn't have mocked you
Gryffindors but then if I did not, the Slytherins would be suspicious."
"What did you say to cause Ron to be so angry?" Harry asked.
"I just said Dudley was a mudblood like Hermione and Jess
should have been in Slytherin since she's well-versed in the Dark Arts." Draco
even looked embarrassed.
"That's harsh but I'll try to convince them that you didn't
mean it. Anyway, I thought you wanted to build inter-house relations." Harry
grinned.
"Well, it'd be so stark if I changed suddenly." Draco
replied.
"Oh shoot, I've got Defense in five minutes. See you later."
Harry said before rushing off.
"Well, Lupin wouldn't take points from you." Draco shouted
to Harry before leaving himself.
As he walked, he kept seeing Hermione's face in his mind.
The fury on her face when he said mudblood to her earlier was engraved in his
mind. He can't deny that he likes her and even shocks himself at his admission.
Smiling to himself, he made his way to the Transfiguration classroom, thinking
of how best to win her heart.
******************************
Harry dashed to the Defense classroom and was shocked to see
a black dog with Professor Lupin. He made his way to his seat after apologizing
for being late. Looking at his friends, he said that he'd tell them later where
he'd been earlier. He thoroughly enjoyed the class during which Professor Lupin
taught some more advanced hexes that could be used against many curses. Though
Harry had learnt most of them last year while preparing for the Third Task of
the Triwizard Tournament, he still enjoyed doing them all over again.
******************************
After that, they all went back to the Gryffindor common room
where Harry explained Draco's earlier insults and they discussed Sirius'
presence. Though Ron was still pretty angry, he was willing to believe Draco
until proven wrong.
"What did McGonagall want to see you about this morning?"
Hermione asked.
"Oh, just Quidditch and some extra classes as I had to be
prepared for Voldemort." Harry half-lied. He did not want them all to be
worried.
******************************
That night in the middle dinner, Professor Dumbledore stood
up to make an announcement. Everybody expected it to be something bad as Professor
Dumbledore seldom makes announcements in the middle of a meal and quietened
down.
"I have a piece of good news to share. The school has
decided to hold two balls in the coming year. One will be a mid-autumn ball
while the other will be held to celebrate Valentine's Day." Professor
Dumbledore started saying.
But before he could continue, all the students were already
cheering loudly. Harry scanned the Ravenclaws' table to see how Cho was taking
it. He saw a sad look on her face and jealously thought that she was thinking
of Cedric.
"Another thing is that the Quidditch tournament will
recommence this year. The champion team will be facing a team from America that
has agreed to make a stop at Hogwarts during their Britain tour." Professor
Dumbledore continued after the cheering had quietened.
"Wow… I'd love to play against a professional team. Think of
the experience I'd get." Harry said dreamily, echoing the thoughts of other
Quidditch players.
"Harry, do you think I'd be able to make the team this year
now that Wood has left," Ron asked seriously.
"Sure…I think you'll be able to do it." Harry said
confidently.
"Hey, I play Quidditch too." Jess cut in.
"What position do you play? We need a keeper." Harry eagerly
asked.
"I'm mainly a chaser but I can be a keeper as well, though
not as good." Jess replied.
"Well, you can try next year or if we need a reserve this
year. You can also try for the keeper's position, though you have to fight with
Ron for it." Harry grinned mischievously.
"Harry, aren't you supposed to teach me how to fly?" Dudley
asked.
"Yeah, but now that I've lessons at night too, it'd be more
difficult. You can come during Quidditch practice where I can help you at times
or you can ask someone else to teach you." Harry said apologetically.
"Well, I don't mind if both you and someone else teach me. I
want to learn as fast as possible." Dudley said with a grin.
******************************
The days passed quickly and Quidditch tryouts approached.
Ron and Jess were still at odds but they had a talk one day and Jess assured
him that she was not a spy of Voldemort nor was she going to harm anyone in
anyway. (A/N: Then why was she here? You'll find out soon.)
Harry visited Sirius who has been put up in one of those
long forgotten rooms frequently. He was happy to know that his godfather was
here with him at Hogwarts and felt safer. After a while, he also told Jess
about Sirius as she had become very close to their group of friends and proved
to be trustworthy.
Cho and Harry also spent more time together, studying in the
library or just having a chat along the corridors. Harry was still working up
the courage to ask her to the ball but he was afraid of being rejected again.
Harry also conversed more with Draco and they are slowly showing the school
that they are not as opposed to each other as before. Some Slytherins now
ignore Draco as they think that he's switched to the good side while the others
think he's just helping Voldemort spy on Harry, so in other words, Harry became
his best friend. He shared his misery over his family with Harry while Harry
shared his also unhappy childhood and through that, they realized how they had
misunderstood each other.
Hermione now has a new challenger for best pupil in Jess. Jess
is not a bookworm like Hermione but grasps each subject very fast. Jess is also
a joker and often plans new jokes and tricks with Fred and George. Draco has
still not expressed how he felt for Hermione though Harry could guess his
feelings by seeing how he looks at her.
Dudley is getting along fine. He has caught up quickly even
though he missed four years of training and is nearly on par with the rest of
the fifth years. Harry had only had time to teach him the basics of flying once
but he has already shown that he can be quite good at it if he practices
frequently. He was eager to fly well and some other Gryffindors had also been
giving him some pointers on flying.
Harry has been pretty tired with classes around the clock
and other duties. So far, there had been no danger so there was no need for
night patrol and he could at least get a few hours rest each night. His friends
have seen him rather stressed up with his training to face Voldemort but knew
better than to ask him what was actually going on. Harry found training for
Animagi was not easy and moreover the advance Defense of the Dark Arts classes
took their toll on him. With Snape, Lupin, Sirius and Dumbledore all training
him for Defense, he felt that he couldn't let them down (except Snape) and
complied with all they asked.
******************************
On the morning of the Quidditch tryouts, all the Gryffindors
woke up in anticipation of who would be their new captain and keeper. Those who
were taking part in the tryouts were excited and hopeful of garnering a spot on
the team. Ron even woke up his whole dormitory in excitement.
The Gryffindor team members made it to the Quidditch pitch
an hour before the rest to discuss how to hold the tryouts and who should be
the captain.
"Harry, what happened to your Firebolt?" Alicia asked as he
came in carrying his Laser.
"It's still working. Think I'll use it as a spare now that
I've got a new broom." Harry grinned in reply.
"Lucky you," Fred said as he walked in together with
Angelina.
Slowly, the rest of the team appeared and they started
discussing.
"So how are we holding the tryouts? Put them in the keepers
position as you chasers try to score against him or her, or do we have a mock
game?" Harry asked.
"Why don't we chasers try to score against them first and
then we take the best two and have a mock game?" Angelina commented.
"Good idea," Fred said.
"Of course you have to say it's a good idea. Your girlfriend
suggested it." George joked before continuing, "Though seriously, I think we
should do that too."
"So all agreed?" Katie asked.
"Yes," they all said in accord.
"By the way, now that Wood has left, who's going to be our
captain?" Harry asked.
They all looked at him as if they had already voted and he
was it.
"But you guys are more experienced. Like Angelina for
example, she can devise tactics better than me." Harry protested.
"Thanks but no thanks. I already have my duties as Head
Girl. Anyway, you have never failed to lose a match for us except that one
which was negligible." Angelina replied.
"And we'll all be leaving after this year. So you can take
the mantle of captain now and gain some experience." Alicia added.
"But then…" Harry started to say.
"No more buts. We all say you're captain so you are." Katie
interjected.
"Yeah…Potter is captain." Fred and George chimed.
"I'll be captain but you guys got to help me out. I'm pretty
clueless about what the captain does." Harry finally agreed while the others
rolled their eyes at him.
"Well, that's settled. I think the pupils trying out are
already there. We better get going." Katie said.
******************************
They all emerged from the dressing room to see a small crowd
gathered on the pitch. Harry saw Ron and Jess and gave them thumbs-up. He was about
to walk over to wish them luck when he saw the other team members looking at
him expectantly.
"What?" Harry asked.
"You're supposed to give instructions and such." Angelina
prodded.
"But I don't know what to say," Harry replied.
"Just tell them what to do," Angelina answered.
"Alright, I'll try." Harry mumbled.
"Everyone listen. We're holding tryouts for the keeper's
position today. First, we want you all to take turns at facing our chasers who
will try to put the Quaffle past you. The two best performers will proceed to a
mock game from which we will choose the best keeper. The better one will
obviously be on the Gryffindor team while the other will be our reserve." Harry
announced.
"That wasn't bad for a first attempt," Alicia gave him a
winning grin.
"Yeah…but I was trembling inside," Harry replied.
"You did fine. Now let's put them into order and then let
the tryouts begin." Katie said.
After a while, you could see the difference between the
better ones and those who did not really make an effort. By the end, Ron and
Jess performed the best. Though Jess looked more comfortable as a chaser, she
was a hell of a keeper too and Ron, well, no Quaffle got past him and he
performed outstanding dives one after another.
It was not easy to choose between the two as they both put
up impeccable performances in the mock game. The chasers all found it difficult
to score against them. Jess was more agile and flew exceptionally well, keeping
out most of the shots easily, and as she also played chaser, she could guess
most of the opposing chasers moves. Ron performed spectacularly well; only
letting in one Quaffle and that was after some excellent play by the chasers.
Finally, they had to resort to a vote to choose who the new keeper was.
Unbelievably, the vote was also a tie. After some debate, they finally resulted
in an outcome. Emerging from the dressing room, the Gryffindor team was rushed
at by the two keeper hopefuls who were eager to see if they had qualified for
the team. (A/N: I was going to stop here but I decided to be kind for once and
not leave a cliffhanger.)
"You all took so long. So who's it going to be?" Hermione
who was also there asked.
Harry joked, "Actually we found it so difficult to choose
between you two that we're going to discuss more and let you guys know later."
"Harry!" Jess and Ron both yelled at him while the rest of
the Gryffindor team just sat around grinning.
"Alright. After much consideration, we decided to choose Ron
as we felt that Jess would always be more comfortable in the chaser position.
And not to worry Jess, you might have a chance this season if Ron or one of the
chasers gets injured." Harry teased.
"Being captain does not give you the prerogative to curse
your team members," Katie teased in return.
"Harry's captain?" Ron inquired.
"He was the one who gave all the announcements and took
charge of the tryouts. Who else could it be?" George said.
"Congrats Harry," Hermione and Jess said while Ron looked a
little jealous, though he got over it quickly enough and even gave Harry a
friendly punch.
******************************
The school heard the news and many congratulated Harry and
Ron except all the Slytherins other than Draco. That night, Harry was with Cho in
the library. She was studying while helping him with his Potions homework at
the same time. They had spent plenty of time together over the past two weeks
and had really become good friends, though Harry wished to be more than a
friend to her. Tonight was the night he was going to ask her to the ball, he
thought to himself. As usual, he walked her back to the Ravenclaw common room.
Before she could enter, he tried to gather his courage to
ask, "Uh, Cho…"
Spinning around, she said, "Yes…"
Though she subconsciously already knew what he was going to
ask, she was still taken aback when he asked with uncertainty plain in his
tone, "Cho, would you…um…like to go to the ball with me?"
At his words, her heart pounded and her mind kept singing
yes. She looked into his eyes and was mesmerized by the glowing hope in it…
