Chapter five
When Harry finally pried his fingers off the wall he was leaning on and headed off to bed, he tripped over many things on the way down, and almost forgot his precious invisibility cloak while in his strange state of mind.
I never did get that nightgown. Oh, bloody hell, you got a kiss! And you're worrying about the nightgown? To hell with the nightgown! Yes, but it was my dare, after all. But wasn't it much more satisfying seeing Ginny wearing your lucky boxers?
Yes, it definitely was more satisfying. He smiled faintly as he slid under the covers, trying to remember exactly the way that they had kissed, but dozed off before he had more time to think of it.
Ginny's way back to her room was indeed much shorter, but much more traumatizing. She walked into three walls, tripped on her own feet, and stumbled into bed, sighing and giggling quietly to herself at what had just happened. Ginny put a finger to her lips and remembered the way Harry was looking down at her. She was sure she looked stupid, wide eyed, and scared out of her pants, but apparently he hadn't cared. Harry's eyes, on the other hand, had looked wild and eager, alive and awake, yet caring and gentle. And always, she yawned, that bright green, Ginny noted, and drifted to sleep.
* * * *
Harry woke up the next morning, a Saturday. He checked his watch. It was 7:40 - he was to be at the Quidditch field by 8:00. Harry scrambled out of bed, smacking his head on one of the four posters, threw on his Quidditch uniform, and mentally prepared himself for the match as he walked down to the field.
Rule number one, he began to himself. There will be not one thought of Ginny Weasley on that field once you're up in there air. Even if she's yelling my name in the stands? NO EXCEPTIONS.
Rule number two. Keep your eyes on the snitch, and attempt to knock Malfoy off his broom as many times as possible. That was a given.
Harry walked into the locker room and tried to think of more rules, but none came to mind. Usually there was only one. Attempt to knock Malfoy off his broom as many times as possible. But since last night, things had changed in Harry's mind. He blushed in spite of himself as he remembered the previous night.
* *
Harry took off, shooting up into the air, now completely awake by the feel of the morning's air on his cheeks. It was a clear day with very few clouds, and Harry was sure that finding the snitch would be easy in this type of weather.
However, with two brutal Slytherin Beaters pegging the Bludgers straight at his face, Harry found it was hardly possible to see. And, just as he thought it could get no worse, Harry turned his head to see a Bludger zooming straight for his eye, and going to fast to give Harry any more than a split second to move. Unfortunately, he didn't get out of the way.
Harry let himself fall to the ground, because he wouldn't be able to see anyway. His glasses had broken and the lenses were now in little bits, gashed into his cheek. He reached up a hand and felt the huge lump just under his left eye. Harry tried opening it, but failed. He just felt as if he were trying desperately to squint rather than open his eye.
"Harry! Oh my-" Fred kneeled down next to him and searched Harry's face. Harry could faintly see him out of his right eye, which would open a bit more than the left.
"Is it bad?" He managed out.
Fred's expression looked as though he were going to tell him that it wasn't, but thought better of it. "You've got shards of glass in your cheek. It's pretty bad...no use trying to deny that." He looked at him apologetically.
"My...my back..." Harry mumbled, trying to roll over and scratch the small of his back, which was itching insanely. But the second he turned his head the slightest bit, Harry's head felt like it were being twirled around, and he rolled back over.
"What'd he say?" Harry heard one of the twins say.
"Something about his back...Harry, hold on, we're rolling you over." And they forcefully pushed him on his side. Harry slid a hand up the back of his shirt and pulled out the thing that had been itching him.
The golden snitch.
Harry barely had time to gasp in astonishment before the crowd suddenly wasn't quiet anymore, and were now all screaming in excitement and surprise. Fred and George heaved him up and held him over themselves. Harry's head was spinning, and he tried to tell them to put him down, but it was no use trying to scream any louder than the whole of Gryffindor was.
Harry's trip to the Common Room was a dazed one, as he hardly remembered any of it from being so dizzy. There were so many people screaming in his ear, especially Ron, who, Harry guessed, felt the need to remind him numerous times that they had won.
"But, really, Harry! We've WON! Won! And you caught the snitch in your SHIRT!" Ron kept saying on the way up to the Tower.
Every now and then Harry would murmur a "Yes, I know." or something along those lines. The only voice he found comforting out of any of them was Ginny's. She seemed to be the only person who wasn't too excited over the win, and more concerned about the giant lump growing under Harry's left eye. Hermione was running along next to the crowd of people, very annoyed at Ron for screaming so loud, and trying to use some numbing spells on Harry's face, none of which worked.
The next thing Harry remembered was a squashy couch underneath him and feeling his cheek go cold. Hermione had used a charm on Harry's cheek that laid a thin sheet of ice over it until the lump had gone done a considerable amount.
"Don't touch it!" Hermione said, smacking his hand down when Harry tried to feel this bizarre sheet of ice on his face. And then, more gentley, "Otherwise, it'll ruin it and melt all over the place. Just go to sleep."
However, Harry found that a bit hard when he opened his right eye enough to see that there was a huge party going on around him. He looked around as far as he could with one eye, searching for someone to sit with him. Ron was out of the question - He had apparently already had too much butterbeer and playing with the ottomans, hopping from one to another.
"You see," he shouted. "The floor is lava and you can't touch it! So you have to do-" he made a leap. "THIS!"
Hermione was giving him a look that sort of said, "I'll remember this tomorrow, you prat." Harry tried smiling, but failed, as his cheek was too big and bunched to even move it.
Just then, Ginny came over, lifted up his legs, sat down, and put them back onto her lap. "You okay?" She asked him. "That was rough."
Harry nodded. "Does it look any better?" He said, motioning to his cheek.
"Oh, no...Harry, hold that thought, wait a second-" and Ginny lifted up his legs again and practically sprinted off the couch. Harry couldn't turn around to see what was going on, but he heard Ginny, loud and clear.
"RONALD ARTHUR WEASLEY, Get down from that chandelier, RIGHT NOW!"
Harry raised his eye brows. What on earth-?
There was much hooting and cheering, and Harry heard a loud thud next to him, and saw Ron's face a minute later.
"Harry," he said, panting. "You...have got...to TRY that sometime!"
From then on, the party just got worse. Ginny was trying to have conversations with Harry, but they were constantly interrupted by the twins' explosions or Hermione's loud scolds she was screaming to Ron.
At some point Harry fell asleep when the party was dieing down a bit. He was pretty sure, though, that he had heard a soft voice tell him "Goodnight," a few hours later.
(A/N- Okay, yes, I will understand if none of you ever review again :( It's been a horrible long time, I know! I've just been busy with school and, ah, everything else. Hope this was worth the wait though...even though I know it wasn't...oh well. I had actually written half of this as soon as I had finished Chapter four, but forgot about it. I just read it again when I wrote the second half, and I was like, "Whoa, I forgot about that, it's not half bad!" So I remembered what I was going to do and just finished it up. There won't be TOO much more to this story. I'm not really positive what I'm doing yet, so give me time.
Thanks to everyone who reviews, And I'm glad you all caught the Amelie reference! Isn't that movie awesome? That kiss worked well in here, so I stole it. Yay!)