I Like You, I Love You, I Hate You
A/N: It's me again! Thanks again to all my wonderful reviewers. I have to say, before I start, that I've never been on a sport team, and especially not a Quidditch team, so I'm just kind of guessing on how all this stuff works. Don't flame me based on my ignorance!
This chapter is dedicated to my friends, with whom I've made fun of musicals on countless occasions, but still let me drag them (sometimes literally) into the Theater Guild every year. Yeah, my inspiration comes from the strangest places…
Disclaimer: All characters,
places, ideas, and everything else Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and
Warner Bros. The song belongs to me,
but I'll deny that under oath.
Chapter 3:
It was the beginning of February, and the Gryffindor Quidditch team was training hard. The entire team was on the field this day—seven players and four reserves. Only Harry, as Team Captain, was not training. He was taking notes as his teammates flew around the field. The next game was in the middle of March, and his team needed plenty of work. Harry winced as he saw Ron miss another Bludger. This made twelve in the past half hour. Nobody's perfect, Harry reminded himself. But this is bad, he thought, flipping through the notes from the past few practices. Harry shook his head. Really, really bad.
It was getting dark, so he called an end to the practice. As the other team members landed and marched into the locker room, Harry flew over to Madame Hooch to compare notes. Besides that, what he had in mind required permission from her, as the Quidditch coach and referee.
"Hey, Ron, can I talk to you for a minute?" asked Harry as the team headed back to the castle a few minutes later.
"Sure," said Ron, stopping at the locker room door.
Harry gulped, dreading what he was about to say. "Ron…do you know how many Bludgers you missed today?"
Ron shrugged. "Three…four…?"
Harry took a deep breath. "Twelve."
Ron chuckled. "Yeah, well, who's counting?"
Harry gave him a serious look, and Ron's smile faded. "Look, Ron," Harry said, staring directly at his notes, not looking up. "I know we both want Gryffindor to win the Quidditch cup—but that's not why I'm—I mean, Quidditch is supposed to be about having fun, not winning but—there are…certain…standards—and Madame Hooch agrees. Quidditch just…isn't your…forte."
Ron's face was getting more and more incredulous as Harry went. Finally, he said, "So that's it? You're cutting me from the team?"
Harry glanced at Ron's face. It was beet red, and held an expression so angry it was almost murderous. "Ron, I'm sorry, but—"
"So I'm no good, is that it? I'm slowing you down, so you toss me overboard? We're best friends! Doesn't that count for anything?" Harry was sure Ron had said the exact opposite when Ginny had made the team, but he didn't say anything. "Wasn't I good enough to get on the team last year? Are you saying I'm not as good as Fred or George?" Harry had had nothing to do with Ron getting on the team, and didn't know what Oliver Wood's standards had been for Fred and George, but he still held his tongue. "And Ginny! You let her on! You think she's better than me, don't you?"
"Hey," Harry interrupted. "She's a Chaser. You're a Beater. There's no comparison between the two." Harry had yet to learn the depth and illogic of Sibling Rivalry.
"Oh, sure," shouted Ron. "You say that! You know what I think? I think you like Ginny more than you like me! Well, fine. She can be your best friend! She's already your girlfriend!"
"She is NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!!!" Harry practically screamed.
"Oh, no, Cho Chang is," sneered Ron. "I'm sooo sure. After all, you only went to the Ball with Ginny—"
"As FRIENDS!"
"And where was Cho? Darling Cho, out there in the rain forest with all those older guys, doing 'research'!"
Harry had known that Ron would be angry, but this was too much. Harry grabbed Ron's robes, and the two of them fought. A few minutes later they broke apart, Harry with a black eye, and Ron with a bloody lip.
"Get out of here!" shouted Harry.
"Gladly!" screamed Ron, and he slammed the door on his way out.
***
Ginny had been waiting for the boys nearby. When Ron came out, he shot her a look that made her decide not to ask him what happened. Instead, she headed into the locker room.
"Harry?" she called.
He was sitting on a bench, his notebook forgotten on the floor. He didn't look up, or answer her.
Meanwhile, Ron marched across the grounds and stormed into the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Ron!" gasped Hermione, pulling him to a chair and looking at his lip. "Who have you been fighting?"
"Harry," he muttered angrily.
"Harry? Why? What happened?" Hermione demanded.
"I had to cut Ron from the team," Harry finally confessed to Ginny. "And he took it…bad."
"What?" said Ginny. "Why did you…?"
"Because he's an idiot and all he wants is to win!" accused Ron to Hermione.
"Oh, be fair!" said Hermione. "Try to see his side."
"And what would that be?" demanded Ron.
"He really stinks at Quidditch," Harry said. "I mean, I can make allowances, but if he performed this way last year, I just don't see how he even made the team!"
"I worked hard to get on that team!" moaned Ron. "So maybe I was a little better at tryouts than I've been since, but I just don't perform best at practice!"
"What about the games?" asked Hermione.
"I do fine in games!" he insisted.
"We nearly lost the last game!" shouted Harry. "Two of our Chasers were injured by Bludgers he missed!" Harry picked up his notebook and began flipping through. "Two broken bones! Four injuries less serious! Eight, if you count practices. He misses half the Bludgers that come his way!"
"He just wants to win so bad, he throws me off for missing a few Bludgers," Ron insisted.
"And this is what you two fought over?" asked Ginny.
"Well…yeah," said Harry.
"Did I need a better reason?" demanded Ron.
Ginny shook her head. "Boys."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "So immature."
"He started it!" shouted Ron and Harry, at the same time.
***
"Well," said Hermione as she finished the Charm that healed Ron's lip. "You needn't be so upset—it's not the end of the world."
Ron looked at her as if she was a lunatic. "Hermione. I was just thrown off the Quidditch team."
"Really? I wasn't aware," she said dryly, as she checked him for bruises. Satisfied, she looked in his face. "There is a world beyond Quidditch. Just get another hobby."
"Like what?"
"There are lots of things! I don't think you even know any of the other activities and clubs you can join."
Ron just stared blankly. "Like. What."
"I don't know! Foreign languages club? Theater? Art? Music? Reading? And there's one for every class—"
"The Transfiguration Team?" Ron sneered.
Hermione threw her hands into the air. "Did you even know I'm a member of the Charms Club? Did you even know I've been in Charms Competitions for the last year and a half?"
"Charms Competitions?"
"We beat Slytherin in a Competition last week! Where do you think I've been earning all those points from?"
"Umm, good test scores?"
Hermione clenched her jaw and fists, squeezing her eyes shut, slowly counting to ten. Then she relaxed. "Ok. Fine. I'll get you a list of school activities. Now, I want you to sign up for one, ok?"
"Whatever," muttered Ron, dejectedly.
***
Alone in the Common Room that night, Ron looked over the list. "What kind of dragon dung is this?" he muttered to himself. He'd already scratched off the book club—he didn't like the idea of reading a book a month—the art club—he couldn't draw—and all the class-based groups—he wasn't good in any classes. He then proceeded to draw Quidditch players on broomsticks all over the parchment. There was nothing on the list that particularly interested him. In fact, there was very little at all that interested Ron, just Quidditch and chess, really. Once, in his fifth year, some teachers had tried to form a Chess Club. Ron had gone to the tryouts, but only three students (including himself) would have made it in, so the entire project was thrown out. A pity, since Ron had later played against the other two, and won both times. Still, there were a few things on the list he might consider doing: Musical Theater, School Band, Debate Team, maybe a few others, but—
"What are you doing up?" Ron turned around. Ginny stood at the bottom of the girls' staircase. He just stared at her as she walked over to him. "Ron, I heard you got cut from the team. I'm sorry—"
Ron stood up and shoved her aside. Without speaking to her, he stormed up the stairs to the boys' dormitory.
Bewildered, Ginny stared after him. "What did I say?"
***
It was day, and Ron was walking across a dark, empty room. All the light seemed to shine directly on him. There was a very faint noise, but Ron was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to really listen. "No one understands," said Ron. Though he was talking to himself, his voice came out loud and clear. "It's just Quidditch, they say. Am I the only one who doesn't see it this way? To me, Quidditch is…a way to make my name. To everyone else, it's just a sport or game."
Suddenly, the noise he'd been hearing swelled up loudly, and he realized it was music being played quite nearby. At the same time, the dark wall behind Ron suddenly rose straight into the air. The room was filled with light, and all behind Ron were rows of people in bright robes with big smiles.
"A way to make your name?
"It's your life, you claim!
"Well, you sound quite lame,
"Quidditch is just a game!"
The people sang and danced behind Ron, who tried desperately to figure out how they'd gotten there. As he turned to leave, he found his way blocked by Harry, who also began to sing:
"To be a Quidditch player,
"You've got to know your stuff!
"You hit just half the Bludgers—
"That isn't good enough!
"I'll have to let you go, then,
"This sport shouldn't be your aim…
"You're no good, Ron,
"But, hey, it's just a game!"
As the people in the back took up the chorus, Ron turned the other way, only to find Hermione, who also sang:
"I never have played Quidditch,
"It matters not to me.
"Chasing balls and flying broomsticks—
"How important can it be?
"Pick any other hobby,
"It should feel the same.
"Life is studies,
"The rest is just a game!"
Again the chorus rang in his ears, and Ron tried to run forward, but an invisible wall blocked his way. Turning back towards the other people, he saw Ginny, wearing a look of false sympathy. She, too, sang:
"You could never be a Head Boy,
"Your grades are oh-so bad.
"And now you're off the team
"It's really very sad.
"The youngest of the brothers,
"The one who gets no fame.
"Don't fret, Ronny,
"You know, it's just a game!"
As the chorus was sung yet again, Ron slowly backed towards the singers while Harry, Hermione, and Ginny walked towards him.
"More than a hundred Quidditch players
"In the Weasley family tree.
"Thirty more were Head Boys—
"But you're neither one, you see.
"You're nothing, little Ronny,
"You don't deserve your name!
"But cheer up, now…
"Quidditch is just a game!"
Ron sat up in bed with a loud gasp. He shook his head to clear away the last remnants of the dream. Then he grabbed the list and scratched off "Musical Theater."
***
"You scratched it off your list because of a bad dream?" demanded Hermione.
"Hey," said Ron defensively, "this musical stuff is scary."
"But the song wasn't even that good," she pressed.
"Yeah, that's why I scratched off 'Poetry Club,' too."
"You'll never join anything at this rate," she said worriedly.
"Well, maybe I don't want to join anything!" he shouted.
"Fine then! You can just—" Something in his face made her stop. "There was something else in your dream, wasn't there?"
"No, there wasn't!" Ron averted his eyes.
"Yes, there was." Hermione thought hard. "What was all that stuff about your name?"
"It was just a bad dream," Ron insisted.
"Hey, you just said it wasn't," Hermione pointed out.
Ron turned to leave. "Forget about it," he muttered.
Hermione jumped into his face. "Ron. You have been sulking around the Common Room for almost two days straight. You still won't talk to Harry. There is something up with you. So tell me: why are you so depressed? It's just Quidditch—"
"It's NOT 'just Quidditch'! My entire family has played Quidditch here!"
"Oh, Ron, just because your brothers—"
"No, to just my brothers. My dad, my cousins, my uncles—nearly every male Weasley to attend Hogwarts has been on the Quidditch team, even as only a reserve player. And the ones who weren't on the Quidditch team, almost all of them were Head Boy! And I—" his voice suddenly dropped to a whisper, "—I'm neither."
Hermione shook her head. "So that's it, huh? If you're not a Quidditch player, and you're not Head Boy, you're not a Weasley?" She had thought that boys could be pathetic, but this was an all time low. "Look, you always wanted to stand out beside your brothers, right? I'll tell you one thing, it's not going to happen if you try to do all the things they did. It will happed," and she pushed the list at him again, "by you doing something none of them have ever done before. Find out what you are good at."
Ron sighed and looked at the list once again. "Debate team? School band? School newspaper?" He shook his head. "I'm not good at anything."
***
A month passed, and still Ron found nothing. He couldn't draw. He couldn't carry a tune. In the Debate Team tryouts, he ran out of words and wound up in a wizard's duel with his opponent. At Dueling Club auditions, he threw aside his wand and got into a fistfight with his partner. He even broke down and dropped in on a Charms Competition, but left when he discovered that many of the Charms were performed on spiders. And the newspaper was out as soon as he discovered Colin Creevey was the paper's photographer. Eventually, a line was drawn through everything on the list.
The next Quidditch game was now two weeks away, and the closer it got, the more depressed Ron became. He refused to talk to Harry or Ginny (much to Ginny's continued bewilderment) and got into several fights with Hermione, though they always managed to make up again. Ron tried to return to the way life had been before Quidditch, but he could hardly remember how. There was a gaping hole in his life where Quidditch had been, and nothing could quite fill it.
On the first Saturday of March, there was a trip to Hogsmeade. Ginny came into the Common Room that morning to find Ron staring blankly at the wall. "Ron?" He barely moved. "Ron?" She stood in front of him waving her arms. "Ro-on? Hey, Ron!" she finally shouted. With a jerk, Ron sat up. "Aren't you coming to Hogsmeade?" she asked.
"Oh, leave me alone!" he muttered.
"Come on, it'll do you some good." He just glared at her. "Please? We can get Butterbeer, buy a whole lot of sweets, and get totally sick! And Quality Quidditch Supplies opened a branch store here, so we can go check out—"
"GO AWAY!" he shouted. "Can't you take a hint? I don't want to talk to you! Leave! Scram! Get lost! And don't talk to me again! Ever!" And he turned back to the wall.
Ginny ran across the Common Room and collapsed behind a chair, nearly in tears. She and her brothers fought all the time, and she probably fought with Ron more than any of the others, but it was always for a reason. Like the time Ron accidentally transfigured her favorite shoes into frogs, or the time Ginny lost the Weasley family Quaffle while playing Quidditch. Now, for no apparent reason, Ron hated her, didn't even want to talk to her. As Ginny sobbed, she heard someone move in the chair behind her.
Great, she thought. Just my luck—not even an empty chair.
"Ginny? Are you alright?" asked a familiar voice.
Perfect, thought Ginny. Of all the chairs in the Common Room, I hide behind the one Harry's in. Now she would really look pathetic.
Harry walked around and sat next to her. "What's wrong?"
"Ron hates me." She tried to say it matter-of-factly, but her voice was a squeak, and she sobbed again. "And I don't know why."
This was too much for Harry. First, Ron gets mad at him because Ron can't play Quidditch. Then, he insults Harry's girlfriend, and now he was taking it out on Ginny. Harry fought the urge to give Ron another bloody lip. Instead, he said to Ginny, "He's probably just still upset about Quidditch. He'll get over it." Ginny still looked miserable. "Come on, let's go to Hogsmeade. Butterbeer's on me."
She gave him what she was sure was a pretty pathetic smile. "Sure. Why not?"
Meanwhile, Ron was still sitting on the other side of the room. If there was any kind of award for sulking, Ron seemed quite determined to earn it.
Hermione came into the room and sat next to him. "Hey. What are you doing today?"
"I plan to sit here. I'm quite comfortable," he huffed.
"Well, I'm going to a meeting of the Charms Club—" she started.
"Don't even think of it. I'm not going anywhere near that club again."
Hermione scowled. "Did you sign up for anything yet?"
"No, and I'm not going to. There's nothing left on the list."
Her scowl deepened. "Are you going to Hogsmeade?"
"I already told you, I'm staying here!"
Hermione stood up. "Ron, you are pathetic! As your Head Girl, your girlfriend, and a bossy know-it-all, I'm ordering you to go to Hogsmeade today, and GET A LIFE!" Ron just sat there staring at her. "Well? Get going!"
Ron, for once honestly afraid of her, got up and ran to the door.
***
He really didn't want to be in Hogsmeade. Ron tried to avoid Harry and Ginny while staying away from the Quidditch store, his brothers' store, or pretty much anything else that reminded him of Quidditch. This left him very few places he could go, but after some wandering, Ron found a small, almost Muggle-style park. On one side was a Quidditch pitch (though, thankfully, Ron saw no one playing there) and there were trees and grass, toy brooms tethered to a pole for little kids to play on, and self-moving swings, as well as a slide and seesaw which (as far as Ron could tell) used no magic at all.
As Ron was wandering around, he saw a little boy, about nine, sitting under a tree with a chessboard in front of him. Something made Ron slow down to get a closer look. The boy was playing chess, but no one was moving the black pieces. Chess pieces, Ron knew, could only move when told to, but the boy didn't seem to be controlling both colors.
Trying to be discreet, Ron walked up to the boy. He couldn't see anyone on the other side of the board. Maybe an invisible person? Ron walked casually past, stepping where the other person should be. There was definitely no one else there. Ron watched in amazement as the boy ordered the white pieces to move, and then watched the others move on their own.
The boy must have noticed Ron watching, because he looked up with a grin. "Hello. I'm Marvin. Who're you?"
"Uh, I'm Ron. Who…who are you playing against?"
"My brother, Patrick," Marvin explained as if it were perfectly normal. "He works for the Ministry, but he plays with me during his lunch hour."
Ron continued to stare at the pieced. "Um…how…?"
Marvin grinned again. "It's called the Correspondence Charm. So when I move my pieces, the ones in front of Pat move, and when Pat moves, these guys do."
"I've never heard of the Correspondence Charm."
"It's a really hard one. Can only do it if you're real good at Charms." Marvin sighed. "I'll never be as good or smart as Pat."
Ron was only half listening. "You just gave me an idea," Ron said slowly. Then he grinned and shook Marvin's hand hard. "Thank you! You're a genius!"
Ron ran off without looking back. Slowly, Marvin's grin grew until he was positively beaming. "Wow, wait till Pat hears this! I'm a genius!"
***
Back in Hogsmeade, Harry and Ginny were drinking Butterbeer. Ginny had cheered up a little, but Harry had grown very thoughtful.
"What's the matter?" Ginny asked. "Worried about Quidditch?"
"Not really," Harry said. He looked at Ginny, trying to decide what to say. "You sure you want to hear this?"
Ginny grinned and gulped some Butterbeer. "I'm ready for anything you want to throw at me."
Harry lowered his voice. "I'm worried because it's already March and nothing's…happened."
Ginny raised her eyebrows. "Lots has happened," she countered.
"Well, yeah, but…I mean…."
"No subtle yet complex plans involving You-Know-Who taking over the world for you to discover, interfere with, and nearly get killed stopping? Or just no attempts on your life?"
Harry grinned incredulously. "Well, both, really. How'd you guess?"
Ginny smiled sadly. "I'm a little worried about the same thing, to tell the truth."
"So, I'm not crazy?"
"No, you're crazy," Ginny assured him. "But I am, too."
Harry sighed and raised his glass. "To complete insanity."
Ginny toasted him. "To complete insanity!"
He sighed. "I'm just worried that…the longer something takes to happen, the worse it'll be when it does. I mean something big usually happens by Halloween!" He shook his head slowly. "I'll never have a normal life."
Ginny touched his shoulder and tried to look encouraging. "Well, who wants normal, anyway?"
Harry looked at her and gave a little chuckle. "Maybe…I don't know…Cho used to say that at some point I would run out of bad things to happen to me, and then my life would start being somewhat normal."
Ginny sighed. "Do you want me to be perfectly honest with you?"
Harry hesitated, and then gave her a small ironic smile. "I'm ready for anything you want to throw at me."
"I don't think that's ever going to happen. You are Harry Potter, after all. Bad stuff just follows you around."
"Sometimes," Harry sighed, "I can't even understand why people would want to be around me. Even sitting at the same table as me is putting your life at risk." He looked at Ginny as if he expected her to get up and leave.
"Oh, Harry, you never learn! In seven years, Hermione and Ron have never once complained about that! They care about some other things, but not that you're a walking magnet for evil conspiracies." Ginny chuckled. "Certainly never bothered me."
Harry looked thoughtful. "Cho minded. Not a lot, but I could tell it made her nervous."
"Well, that's understandable, after what happened to Cedric. But Cho will just have to get used to it. I mean it's not exactly something you can change!"
"I wish I could change it."
Ginny couldn't think of anything to say to that.
***
Ron breathlessly ran through Hogwarts to the Gryffindor Common Room. It was empty. After catching his breath, he headed, a little more slowly, towards the room where the Charms Club was practicing.
He rushed in the door, took one look around, and stepped back out.
"Ron?" Hermione called. "Is that you?"
"Yeah," he called back. "Can you come here for a minute?"
"Ron, I'm a little busy, can't you come in here?"
"No, I am not going in back in there!" Whatever Charm they were working on had involved five-foot-long spiders. No way was he going through that door.
"Ron!"
"No! Either come out here, or at least hide those darn spiders!"
A minute later, "Alright, you can come in. They're gone."
Ron went into the room to see the Gryffindor Charms Club, all of whom were glaring at him like he'd cancelled Christmas.
"Hermione! I just got a wonderful idea for another club!"
"Ron, you came all the way up here, interrupted the meeting, ruined our Charm, just to—"
"Hang on!" Ron looked at the entire club, grinning. "Have you guys ever heard of the Correspondence Charm?"
***
By the end of the week, all the major Witchcraft and Wizardry schools in Europe, and a few outside, had agreed with Ron's plan. After a very complex series of Correspondence Charms (which the Gryffindor Charms Club was happy to perform), the Ron Weasley International Chess Club was set up. Tryouts were held, and the Hogwarts Chess Team formed (there were only four members from the entire school). Letters were sent out, and schedules arranged. Ron played the first game of the Competition, against a chess player from Beauxbatons. Ron started by losing nearly all his pieces to his unseen opponent before an astonishing recovery and a checkmate involving his three remaining pieces.
The next day was the big Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw Quidditch match. Hermione convinced Ron to come and watch. At first, he refused to respond to anything, and sat as still as stone. But when a Ravenclaw Beater nearly unseated Ginny with a Bludger, no one in the crowed screamed as many insults as Ron. Hermione had to take his wand away to keep him from cursing the entire Ravenclaw team. And, of course, Ron cheered the loudest when Harry caught the Snitch in a 200 to 30 point Gryffindor victory.
After the game, Ron caught up with Harry and Ginny to congratulate them.
"I thought you didn't want to talk to us again," Ginny pointed out.
"Aw, I was just mad," Ron said. "I really didn't mean it!"
"So you're not still mad at me over cutting you from the team?" Harry asked, almost afraid to mention it.
"Why would I be?" Ron demanded cheerfully. "After all, it's just a game!"
Walking behind them, Hermione just rolled her eyes. "Boys!"
A/N: Wow,
that's three chapters! This is farther
than I ever planned to get. If anyone
else has a story like this…yours is probably better. Thanks again to reviewers. Still ahead, Cho returns and we find out more about Hermione and Krum…yeah,
it's all pretty sappy, too. Please
don't make fun of my song, it was very late at night and I was feeling
insomniac. I never would have written
that fully conscious. I now command you
all to forget it. "Obliviate!"
Snickers:
Oh, keep reading! There's more to come
about all that.
Starfishy:
Je t'adore means, "I'm crazy about you," though a few online dictionaries have
translated it "I adore you."
Reviews
encourage the author to write more, which encourages the readers to review
more. It's just the Circle of Fan
Fiction, and I have no effect over it, so I won't bother saying, "Please
review!" Oops, I said it.