Later that evening, Harry sat in one of the scarlet and gold armchairs in the Gryffindor common room, staring at the fireplace.
"Well, Harry, what do you think?" Angelina asked, interrupting Harry's thoughts. Angelina and the other members of the Quidditch team had been arguing for nearly an hour about who the new Keeper should be.
"Er-what did you say, Angelina?" Harry said. He hadn't been paying attention.
"Do you think we should hold open try-outs for a Keeper?" Angelina repeated her question.
"I don't know-but what about Ron?" Harry said, remembering what Ron had told him earlier that day.
"Ron?" Katie Bell asked doubtfully.
"Ron Weasley?" Alicia Spinnet echoed uncertainly.
Katie and Alicia were both seventh-year Chasers for the Quidditch team.
"He's-he's...good," Harry said lamely. The truth was, he didn't really know if Ron was a good Keeper or not. He'd only played Quidditch with him a few times, and Ron had never been Keeper.
"Our brother?" George cried.
"Not Ron!" Fred said. "He'd destroy the Weasley name."
"I still think we should have open try-outs," Angelina said.
"I agree," Katie said.
"What about the rest of you?" Angelina asked.
Everyone nodded.
"Fine, then." She pushed away her chair and stood up.
"For all students who are in their second year and above and would like to play Keeper on the Quidditch team, there will be open try-outs tomorrow night at seven o'clock on the Quidditch field."
An excited buzz went through the room.
Harry looked down, avoiding Ron's questioning gaze.
Later, in the dorm, Seamus and Dean were talking anxiously about try-outs.
"I've wanted to be Keeper ever since I learned to play Quidditch," Dean said.
"I just want to be on the team," Seamus said.
"What happened at the meeting?" Ron asked Harry quietly.
"I brought your name up, Ron," Harry said honestly. "But..." he trailed off, not wanting to tell Ron what had happened.
"Whatever," Ron said bitterly. "It doesn't matter." With that, he blew out the light at the tip of his wand and went under the covers of his bed. Harry did the same, frowning. He felt like he'd let Ron down, and now Ron was mad at him. Frustrated, he tried to concentrate on a happier thought. He just hoped that Ron would have a great try-out tomorrow for the Quidditch team. Then Ron couldn't possibly be mad at him.
* * *
The next morning, all anyone could talk about were the Quidditch try-outs that were being held that evening. Even students from other houses were speculating about who the new Keeper would be.
"I hear Longbottom wants to try out," Draco Malfoy said loudly as Neville walked passed the Slytherin table. "As if that clod could even stay on a broomstick for more than a few seconds!" Neville's cheeks flushed as laughter erupted from the Slytherins.
"Oh, shut up, Malfoy!" Ron shouted. "The only reason you're on the Slytherin team is because your father paid for it!"
"At least my father can afford to, Weasley!" Malfoy retorted. Harry and Hermione had to hold Ron back to keep him from hitting Malfoy.
"He's not worth it," Hermione reminded Ron. They kept walking and sat down at the Gryffindor table.
"I've decided to try out for Keeper," Parvati Patil announced.
"Ha! You haven't got a chance," Lavender Brown scoffed.
"What do you mean, I haven't got a chance?" Parvati squealed.
"I just mean, you aren't much of a Quidditch player. I think that Seamus is going to be the new Keeper," she gushed, smiling brightly at Seamus.
"Nah, I think it's going to be Dean," Seamus said, ignoring Lavender.
"But it could be anyone, couldn't it?" Ginny Weasley put in, seeing her brother's face going red.
"You're right, Ginny," Harry said quickly. "It could be anyone."
The day passed slowly. First was double Potions, which was always unbearable. The class was working with dragon blood, and Malfoy purposely spilled some onto Neville's hands. Ugly red welts suddenly sprang up on Neville's hands, and Snape disgustedly sent him to Madam Pomfrey.
"Now, who can tell me the person responsible for discovering the twelve uses of dragon blood?" Snape asked the class.
Hermione was the only person who raised her hand.
"Finnigan? Thomas? Patil? Brown?" Snape looked at each one reprovingly. "What about you, Weasley?" he asked, obviously expecting Ron not to know the answer, either.
"Professor Dumbledore, sir," Ron said, looking him straight in the eye.
Snape was taken aback.
"But can you recite them, Weasley?" he asked once he had regained his composure. Ron shook his head.
"Very well. Five points from Gryffindor; you should know them all by now."
Class continued that way until the last few minutes of the second half, when Professor Welsh came in.
"Severus, I have something to ask you," she said, smiling brightly at him. Professor Snape hurried over to her, and they began discussing something quietly. Suddenly, sparks from someone's wand misfired and landed on Professor Snape's desk, causing some spare parchment to light on fire. As smoke filled the dungeon, Snape muttered a quick spell, and water shot out of his wand and onto the fire, extinguishing it in less than a minute.
"All right, who is responsible for this?" Snape demanded once the smoke began to clear up. No one said a word. Snape's glaring eyes passed over each student slowly until they came to a rest on Harry.
"It was you, Potter! Don't try to deny it-I know it was you!" Snape cried, glaring at Harry.
"It wasn't Harry, sir, I was right here the whole time," Hermione said.
"Quiet!" Snape screamed. "Potter, I-"
"Professor Snape," Professor Welsh interrupted him, "Please don't blame Harry for this. I'm sure it was just an accident. There's no need for anyone to be punished," she said gently. Snape's angry expression softened a little.
"Well-fine, then. Class is dismissed!" he said, shocking the class. Snape had never dismissed class early before. Snape just wanted to make a good impression on Professor Welsh, Harry realized as he followed the other fifth-years out the door. He was positively beaming as he explained to her how to concoct some sort of potion. Harry had never seen that sort of expression on Snape's face before. It was rather amusing.
"Hey, Ron!" Harry called, spotting a flash of red hair. "Wait up!" But Ron kept on walking to their next class of the day, double Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. Harry took his seat and opened his Transfiguration book. He looked over the previous night's homework and thought about what would happen that night if Ron didn't become Keeper. He'll probably never speak to me again, Harry thought miserably.
As soon as the bell rang, Professor McGonagall announced that the class would be taking practice O.W.L. examinations. Everyone groaned except for Hermione.
"The O.W.L.s are an exceptionally important part of your magical career," Professor McGonagall said disapprovingly. "You are all to take them very seriously. The exam we will be taking today is about sixty minutes long and will prepare you for the written portion of the O.W.L.s."
She passed out the tests, quills, and inkbottles and told them to begin.
Harry read the first and second questions.

1. What is the spell for lighting the tip of a wand?
2. What is the spell for making the light go out?

This isn't so bad, Harry thought, scribbling down "Lumos" and "Nox" for 1 & 2. Then he read questions 3-14.

3-14. List the 12 uses of dragon's blood.

Although Snape had just taught an entire lesson on the uses of dragon's blood, Harry couldn't seem to remember more than four of them. He decided to skip ahead to number 15 and go back to the dragon's blood question later.

15. What is the spell that will repel a dementor?

Expecto Patronum, Harry wrote quickly, remembering the spell all too well.

16. From where does the Acromantula originate?

Harry shuddered as he wrote "Borneo" on the exam, recalling his own meeting with an Acromantula in the Hogwarts forest. He and Ron had come across one of the eight-eyed spiders, who told them he was a friend of Hagrid's, in their second year at Hogwarts. The things Hagrid befriended…

17-19. What are the three most famous accomplishments of
Paracelsus?

The name sounded familiar to Harry, but he couldn't think of any accomplishments.

The test went on like that, some questions easy, others rather difficult, until the final question (50. What is the name of the dark wizard Albus Dumbledore defeated in 1945?), to which he wrote "Grindelwald."
Harry sighed, happy to be finished with the exam, and turned his parchment over. Much to his dismay, he saw that there were more questions on the back. Muttering, he picked his quill up again and read questions 51-54.

51-54. List at least 4 types of dragons.

Harry was confident that he could name more than 4 dragons, having had first-hand experience with a Norwegian Ridgeback (51) and a Hungarian Horntail (52). He also wrote Common Welsh Green (53) and Swedish Short Snout (54).

55. What potion can transfigure the maker into another person or
creature?

Harry knew that one, Polyjuice Potion, but not the next two, which were about other potions he wasn't familiar with. And when he got to number 58, he groaned loudly, earning himself a stern look from Professor McGonagall.

58. Compose an essay describing the differences between human and
object transfiguration.

Reluctantly, Harry dipped his quill into his inkbottle and began to write his essay. He knew he had better do a good job on it because McGonagall would surely look at it, Transfiguration being her own subject. After a little while, he was satisfied with it and moved on to the next set of questions, which were about various witches and wizards from history. He didn't have much difficulty until number 74 (Name three magical plants, where they originated, and their uses). Harry spent nearly five minutes trying to decide whether asphodel was originally from Scotland or Ireland. It took him even longer to recall the uses of monksbane. When he finished his essay, jotting down a few sentences about gillyweed, he realized that he only had about ten minutes left. The next ten questions concerned magical beasts including grindylows, boggarts, and Kappas. Harry remembered learning about them in Lupin's class. The last set of questions on the test were fairly easy; they tested knowledge of simple charms, spells, and incantations. Harry finished just a few seconds before Professor McGonagall told the students to pass their papers in. Neville was still writing furiously with his quill when Dean tried to pass his parchment up, and ink splattered everywhere. Dean glared at Neville until Hermione performed a spell to clean up the ink. Once Professor McGonagall had collected all of the tests, she took them to her desk and began grading them while the class squirmed.
"Hmmm...nice essay on plants, Miss Patil. I wish I could say the same for your piece on Transfiguration," she said reproachfully as Parvati winced and fidgeted in her seat.
"It might interest you, Mr. Finnegan, to know that there is no such thing as the Norwegian Hunchback Dragon; rather, it's the Norwegian Ridgeback," she said a little while later as Seamus nervously fiddled with the Irish charm he wore around his neck. Draco Malfoy choked back laughter.
"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you, Mr. Malfoy, someone who can't even name three plants and their uses correctly," McGonagall said, shutting Malfoy up.
"Mr. Weasley, I suggest you study up on historical witches and wizards…Miss Brown, you could do with a bit of extra work with magical beasts…Goyle, essay questions cannot be answered with 'yes' and 'no'…" And she went on this way until she had insulted nearly everyone in the class.
"Well, well, well. I must say these scores are not where they should be. But I also must give the appropriate credit to Miss Granger and Mr. Potter. Miss Granger received nearly a perfect paper and Mr. Potter wasn't far behind," she said, a slight smile on her lips. "Therefore, I award ten points to Gryffindor for Miss Granger and five points for Mr. Potter." Hermione beamed and Harry looked down, embarrassed. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ron and Malfoy giving him identical glares. Just then, the bell rang.
* * *