Chapter Four  ::  The Day of Quidditch

"Oh, come on, Hermione…"

"No way! You always spend more time with him!"       

"Maybe it's because she likes me better…
"Pssht. Yeah right. You wish…"

Hermione woke up.  She was really starting to wonder why these same types of dreams kept reoccurring.  This was the first time however that the two people were arguing over her.  She glanced at the clock on her nightstand. Five forty-five.  Well, I might as well just get up. No use sleeping for only an hour more. Maybe I could surprise everyone and make breakfast…

Hermione quietly got out of bed.  Everyone else was still asleep.  She glanced in Harry and Ron's room and could see both of the boys sprawled out in each of their beds.  Ron looked like he was about to fall off.  They were both only wearing boxers. Hermione laughed. Harry's boxers had little snitches and brooms on them, and Ron's were, of course, orange Chudley Cannons [MM1] shorts, she thought. Hermione felt sort of weird looking in on them when they were half-naked, so she walked away and pretended not to have seen them.   When she got downstairs, she immediately started to cook breakfast.  She made eggs, waffles, pancakes, sausage, bacon, and biscuits.  She even made a fresh fruit salad, though probably only my parents and I will eat it.  After everything was cooked, people started to slowly come down into the kitchen, looking content that their noses woke them up with such a wonderful smell. Hermione's parents were the first to eat. They were happy Hermione made a fruit salad, and left after kissing Hermione goodbye.  When Fred and George came down, they were so overjoyed to see so much food on the table that they started to eat right away. 

"Doesn't your mom always cook this much for your family?" Hermione asked.

"Well, yeah, but we just love food…" replied George.

"And lots of it!" Fred said.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny were the last to come down.  Harry and Ron had put t-shirts on, but were still in their boxers.  They started to eat immediately when they realized that if they didn't start soon, Fred and George would make sure that there would be no leftovers. 

"So Hermione, when are we going to play Quidditch?" asked Ron.

"What? Hermione is going to play Quidditch? How did you get her to play without using magic, Ron?" George said sarcastically.

"Hey!" Hermione butt in.  "Just because I have never played Quidditch doesn't mean that I wouldn't want to.  I just have always been too embarrassed to play. I'm not very good you know…"

"Well, you just happen to have half of the Gryffindor House Quidditch team here!  You are in good hands, Hermione." Fred replied assuringly. 

"There might even be an soon-to-be player too," Harry said, "Are you going to try out for the team this year Ron? We do have an empty position…"

"You bet I am!"

"Hey, Hermione, do you have a broom? I mean, it could be a problem, because we only have extras for Ron and Ginny…" Fred seemed as if he would be really disappointed if Hermione didn't have a broom.

"Actually, I found one on sale in Quality Quidditch Supplies last year.  I didn't tell you guys because I thought you would make fun of me."

"What kind is it? I never knew they were having a sale…" Ron said.

"Its only a Cleansweep Seven.  But it is a broom." Hermione replied.

"Well, it's definitely a start! Let's go play!" said Ron. 

Everyone ran upstairs to get his or her brooms.  Hermione couldn't believe she was about to play Quidditch with some of the best players that she knew.   What was even better was that they wanted her to play with them.  What they didn't know was that Hermione knew a thing or two more about Quidditch and flying than she had ever told them.  Over the past few summers, Hermione had been practicing.  In truth, she bought her broom right after her 1st year in Hogwarts. She actually was becoming a very good player.  Her favorite and best position was chaser.  She didn't want to be on the house team just yet…obviously, Katie, Angelina, and Alicia, were very good and already on the team. Hermione's skills came nowhere near matching theirs. But at least it's something to do instead of reading, Hermione thought.  She couldn't help but smile as she was walking into the forest with everyone.  Ginny noticed the wide grin spread across her face, but thought nothing of it. 

As they approached the clearing, Harry jumped onto his Firebolt and zoomed ahead, dodging all the trees. 

"Oy! Harry!" Fred called. "Before you go zooming off…how is this going to work? There aren't enough people to fill the positions we need."

"Well, the keeper and chaser will just have to be the same position…"

"Or you could have two extra players."

Everyone jumped.  They looked over and saw Bill and Charlie Weasley standing a few feet away with their brooms in hand. 

"Errol got to both of you on time!" Ron yelled happily, "I was afraid he'd collapse from exhaustion half-way to Egypt!"

"Well, he did collapse once he reached my house.  But I was able to apparate over to Charlie and we couldn't find a better reason to use our vacation time than to spend it playing Quidditch with you guys."

"Hey, Hermione, are you really going to play with us?" asked Charlie. "I remember you hiding behind a bush last year when we played Quidditch after the World Cup…"

"Eh, I decided to give it a try."

Ron ran over and gave Hermione a hug. "That's the spirit, Hermione!"

Wait 'till they get a load of me…Hermione thought to herself.

            Everyone walked into the middle of the clearing.  Harry finally decided to come down and join everyone in choosing teams.  George decided to take charge.

"How about if me, Hermione, Harry and Bill are on one team, and Ron, Charlie, Fred and Ginny are on the other team?"

"Sounds good to me," said Hermione, "But do you mind if I be the chaser?"

"I have no problem with that." said Bill.

"Ok, so here's how it's going to work. Fred and I are beaters.  Harry and Charlie are the seekers.  Ron and Bill are the keepers, and that leaves chaser to Ginny and Hermione.  Now, as you can tell, this field isn't our normal Quidditch field.  But the set of balls I have here are made especially for playing in conditions like this.  As long as no one leaves this clearing, the snitch and bludgers will stay in the clearing.  Our goal posts are also going to be a little different.  It is going to resemble the muggle game football [MM2] a tad bit. We will only have one goalpost—and that will be the space between the trees on each side of the clearing. Any questions?"

"Yeah, how about if you could shut-up so we can play?!" Fred said sarcastically.

After everyone except George had mounted their brooms, George released the bludgers and snitch, and then threw the quaffle into the air.

Hermione was quick, and grabbed it right away. Ginny sensed that Hermione was better than she said she was, so she turned the heat up a little bit between them.  Ginny is good…she must play with her brothers a lot…but she has never played with me… Hermione was still holding onto the quaffle and she was speeding quickly towards Ron.  Ron had a very confused look on his face.  He was expecting Hermione to be having trouble staying on her broom, not flying almost better than himself.  Hermione was within scoring range…and she scored! She flew around and gave Harry a high-five.  He also had a confused look on his face, but just guessed that Hermione did some extra reading of "Tips on Flying a Broomstick in Quidditch" or something like that. 

            Ginny was quick to realize that Hermione had tricked the group by lying about her Quidditch skills, so Ginny found it to be the perfect opportunity to show off some of her skills.  She saw Hermione coming towards her, so she quickly dove and pulled out of it two inches before she was about to hit the ground.  Fred and George oohed and aahed. They were getting a kick out of how the girls were so much better than they seemed.  They were also a little bored, since they decided not to really hit the bludgers until the game was a little longer in play. 

            Hermione, however, was not about to let Ginny show her off. A dive…ha! That's easy.  Better watch out Ginny! Hermione put on a burst of speed and caught up with Ginny.  Hermione then swept around the front of Ginny, throwing her off guard and making her drop the quaffle.  Hermione went into her own dive and caught the quaffle and sped off at Ron again.  This time, Ron pulled off a spectacular save and stopped Hermione from scoring. 

"Whoa!" shouted Ron, pointing behind her.

"What?" asked Hermione.

            She looked behind her and saw Harry and Charlie, neck and neck, with each other, diving for a glittering gold snitch in the middle of the field.  George took full advantage of the situation and aimed one of the bludgers directly at both of the seekers.  Harry and Charlie pulled up, and the snitch disappeared out of sight. 

"George, what did you do that for? I'm on your team!" shouted Harry.

"I didn't feel like we should stop playing yet! And if you try to catch the snitch again in the next five minutes, I'll aim BOTH bludgers at ya!"

Harry laughed and then looked like he had a brilliant idea.

"Hey! Time-out! Everyone come down to the middle of the field!"

After everyone had landed, looking quite confused, Harry started to explain what was on his mind.

"Alright, if George is so demanding on having a longer game, how about if Charlie and I play chaser too? We will still look for the snitch, but it will give us something to do in the meantime. And yes Fred, that means you can start to hit the bludgers around at us."

Fred and George smiled mischievously.

"Alright…If you say so…" said Fred.

"That's a great idea! It will make the game a little more interesting, even though I have to admit…Hermione is an amazing flier!" said Bill.

"No kidding! Where in the world did that come from Hermione!?" questioned Ron.

Hermione just grinned.  She knew Ron couldn't stand it that she wasn't going to tell him.

"Alright, let's play!" shouted Ginny.

            George threw up the quaffle and Charlie caught it.  He tried to pass it to Ginny, but Harry put on a bit of speed and intercepted the quaffle and passed it to Hermione.  Hermione passed it back to Harry and he threw it, just as a bludgers came speeding towards him.  Ron saved again, and Harry was able to dodge the bludgers, but Fred wasn't so content. 

"Man! That was so close too!" he shouted. "Better watch out, Potter!"

            Ginny retrieved the quaffle and sped off towards Bill.  Ginny threw the quaffle over her shoulder to Charlie and Charlie threw the quaffle through the goalposts.

"SCORE!" yelled Ron "That's my bro!"

"Well, the majority of us are your brothers, Ron! It's sort of silly to yell that, isn't it?" shouted Fred.

Hermione got the quaffle back, and began to motion to Harry that she wanted to try and score.  Harry got the message and nodded.  Hermione threw the quaffle and Harry did a loop around the back of the goal posts and threw it back to Hermione. Before Ron knew what had happened, Hermione had heaved the quaffle in between the two trees. But as Hermione turned around to praise Harry, all she saw was a black ball speeding towards her, and then all went black.

A/N: I love Quidditch, and can't wait to write more Q-chapters. As always, R/R….Merci beaucoup!

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'"  [MM1] The Chuddley Cannons is a British Quidditch team, Ron's favorite.  While they used to be very good (unstoppable in the League), they have not won a championship since 1892.  Their old motto used to be "We shall conquer" but now it's "Let's just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best."

[MM2] Remember: Football in Britain equals soccer in the U.S.!