****I own nothing! Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling except the people from the Quidditch teams (But of course, not Harry or Ron)!

Chapter 4, The Turn Out

Rebecca flew forward in a blur of black and quickly snatched the quaffle from the air. Ginny felt herself sway dangerously and she gasped clutching to the handle of the broomstick.

Everyone seemed to have gone to the other end of pitch in only a mere couple of seconds, and several people below were laughing as Ginny remained in the same place. Ginny took a deep breath and leaned forward, she shot through the air gaining speed as she went and she shrieked as she swerved, barely missing Lola Richardson of the opposing team.

In the process of avoiding the hit Ginny did a spin in the air and gasped. 'I'm going to be sick', she thought lowering her head, which had begun to throb painfully.

She slowly looked up and across the pitch she could see Harry, Harry was looking at her as well. No one was around her now, and she could see Harry's expression… an expression of pity. Ginny moaned and felt tears prick her eyes, why did she even try? She had made an idiot out of herself!

'I have to keep trying!' Ginny thought gritting her teeth and turning so sharply she swung half way off the broom before regaining balance.

She looked at the chasers that were zooming every which way across the pitch and caught sight of the quaffle. Willis of the opposing team was in possession.

Ginny leaned forward once more and wobbled dangerously off the broomstick before clutching tightly trying to stay on. 'I can do this', she reminded herself. 'Just don't think about it!'

Ginny found herself in the midst of the action and was flying just behind the much larger players. Nathan was now in possession and a bludger shot by Luke, barely missed his head.

Ginny sped out of the way of the other players and was on the outskirts of the speeding groups when suddenly,

"Ginny!"

Nathan had thrown the quaffle her way and she squealed and let go of the handle to catch the large red ball, which she fumbled with before holding it tightly under her arm. Three players from the opposing team raced towards her.

Ginny gasped and did the only thing she could think of, she leaned forward and sped across the pitch with her eyes closed tightly.

"Ginny! Look this way Ginny!" She could hear Colin's distant voice shouting from the stands. "Gin this way!"

Ginny forced her eyes open and was shocked to find that she was across the pitch and now only Ron was waiting for her. Only inches behind were the other chasers, and she looked desperately around for her team mates, who seemed to have been left behind.

Luke swung his club powerfully at a bludger that so nearly missed Ginny's nose she was afraid she didn't have it any more for a minute.

Suddenly someone came crashing into Ginny from the side and she performed a flip in the air. In a desperate attempt, Ginny threw the quaffle with all her might at one of the three hoops and closed her eyes holding onto the broomstick.

Ginny didn't move for several seconds until she heard laughing.

"Ginny that was absolutely brilliant!" Ron guffawed.

Ginny opened her eyes wide to find that she was still twenty feet off the ground and lying completely flat on her broomstick. Her face was a pasty white and her entire body was trembling with fear Her vision was slightly blurry and their were now several people about her, two of them were Ron and Harry.

"Wh-what?" Ginny squeaked.

"That was amazing!" Nathan was nodding vigorously.

"She didn't even look to see what she was doing", Rebecca snapped bitterly from behind Ginny.

"No", Lola laughed shaking her strawberry blonde hair so it flew into her storm blue eyes. "You needed to be looking to do something like that! That was incredible Ginny!"

Ginny was staring at the people around her, absolutely dumbstruck. Had she scored? Before she could stop herself, Ginny burst into tears. She was so scared and was feeling so humiliated she didn't know if she was just going to faint or if she was going to finally throw up.

"Oh Ginny!" Ron moaned and he grabbed the tip of her broomstick and began to bring her slowly down, despite the amused look on his face, great concern was shining in his brown eyes.

Ginny was brought gently to the ground and her entire body was racking with sobs. From the stands came Hermione, who had obviously shown up in the middle of Ginny's show, and Colin looked absolutely thrilled.

"Ooh! Gin! Look up! I want a picture of this!" Colin jumped excitedly lifting his camera but Harry easily shoved him out of the way.

"Not right now Colin!"

Ginny was surrounded by several people who were now gazing at her with deep concern, Ginny couldn't help but notice Rebecca being the only one who looked amused. Ginny covered her face with her hands and wept. She wanted the earth to open up and swallow her, or to run back to the dorm and throw herself on her bed and scream, but she knew no one would let her get past them.

Two strong hands were on her shoulders, and she knew they both belonged to Ron who pulled her into a brotherly hug.

"Come on Ginny", he said gently, though his face was red with embarrassment.

He brought her into the shadows of the pitch and tried to take her hands off her face, but she pulled away shivering.

"Ginny", Ron said unable to stop himself from laughing. "Why are you crying?"

"Be-because!" She gasped through her tears. "I-I made an i-idiot out of myself!"

Ron snorted. "You really do suck at flying Gin, but that goal was pretty cool. I doubt even Angelina Johnson could have pulled that one off".

"I d-didn't even mean t-to do that though!"

Ron draped a comforting arm around his little sister's shoulder.

"Oh Ginny, you never know. You might still make the team! You actually got a goal, some of the other people didn't even do that! But you did almost fall of your broomstick the entire time", Ron was thoughtful and then blinked. "Where'd you get a broomstick anyway?"

"Borrowed it", she sniffled.

"Oh, it's really nice, who'd you borrow it off of?"

"Ron!" Ginny moaned.

Ginny lay face down on her bed late that night, she was now beyond tears and was simply feeling miserable and sick. Hermione had a hand on Ginny's back and was gently rubbing it.

"Ginny, you didn't do that bad", Hermione coaxed. "Your flying just needs to be improved a bit! Other then that, you did excellently!"

Ginny sat up and stared at Hermione. "Hermione be realistic, you always are. No point stopping now for me".

"Well you can score, we know that", Hermione pointed out. "Besides that's what practices are for! Ron or Harry"- Hermione suddenly cut off and her face was thoughtful before she gazed down at Ginny. "Ginny… were you trying out for the team because of Harry?"

Ginny felt her face become as scarlet as her hair, her ears were burning. Hermione slowly nodded and sighed.

"Ginny"… she began.

"I can do it though! If they give me a chance! I can do it! I could learn to fly properly and I bet you Harry would be really impressed".

"But Harry likes you just the way you are Ginny".

"Harry likes Cho", Ginny said miserably and pressed her face into her pillow. "And Cho is captain of the Ravenclaw team, and a seeker!"

"Oh Ginny", Hermione said with a sudden frown. "Be reasonable. Harry enjoys your company whether or not you're on the Quidditch team!"

"But he'd enjoy my company even more if I was on the team! It's all Ron and Harry talk about anyway! If I was on the team, I'd have a reason to talk to them about it, and it wouldn't sound like I was just trying to have conversations with him".

"But that's what you're trying to do", Hermione stated simply. "If you want to talk to him so bad, just strike something up with him".

"But he'd get bored", Ginny said feeling her face burn brighter with colour.

Hermione sighed and bit her lip irritably. "Look, I'm not very good in these areas Ginny. Maybe you should try talking to Leikela?" She suggested.

Ginny snorted into her pillow. "No".

Draco Malfoy was seated in the Slytherin Common Room with his friends and Pansy. They were all laughing quite hard.

"That little weasel?" Pansy laughed coldly. "She'd be knocked right out the air, but from the sounds of it, she'd simply fall off before anyone got the chance".

Draco stretched out in his seat and sighed closing his eyes. With what he had seen, Gryffindor would not have as good a team as they had once had before. Crabbe and Goyle returned to their Potions homework, which they had absolutely no idea what to do they were so thick-headed.

Pansy leaned over Draco and began to simper. Draco opened one eye and smirked lightly before closing it once again.

His thoughts were however not on Pansy, or his schoolwork, but on the Slytherin Quidditch try outs the next day. He wondered who would be trying out this year, he didn't think anyone would be very good. He on the other hand was an excellent seeker, the best, in his own personal opinion, in years.

'Better then stupid Harry Potter and his stupid scar', Draco thought darkly. 'He only wins because he somehow managed to get his grubby little paws on a Firebolt. If father bought me one I'd beat him to the snitch for sure!'

Draco scowled, but this was noticed by no one. He pushed these thoughts out of his head and began to think of Ginny Weasley.

If they did allow that disgrace to be on their Quidditch team, it would of course be easy enough to knock her off her broomstick. But for inside school… that was still a problem.

Draco thought seriously about this for a minute or so.

'Curses might work', he thought. 'But she'd get over that sure enough, the only thing that could get her really angry would be to punch Potter in the face', Draco's eyes then sparkled. 'Then again, humiliating her in front of Potter would be nice, and rather interesting'.

Draco thought about this for a moment. These were all good ideas… but they just didn't seem good enough. Ginny was someone he didn't know in the least, besides knowing that she couldn't fly and that she still went very red whenever Potter was around.

Draco frowned thoughtfully once again. Finally he stood up and walked towards the sixth year dorms.

Maybe by the next day he'd have a good plan… perhaps his father might have some good advice on getting a Weasley.

'The again', Draco cringed at the thought. 'I've been getting father rather angry lately, and I don't know if he'll want me bothering him about such petty things… in his mind anyway', Draco paused half way up the dark staircase. 'Mother would be of no help though and she'd be angry with me even at the thought'.

Ginny woke the next morning feeling content and warm. She snuggled down farther into her thick scarlet blankets wondering why her eyes felt so puffy and sore.

"Hey Gin".

Ginny opened one eye rather sleepily and peered towards the doorway. Dinah was standing dressed in her long blue nightgown, a toothbrush hanging out of her mouth.

"Hm?"

"Harry is waiting outside, he said he wanted to walk you down the Great Hall or something", Dinah grinned.

Ginny felt her face become red, as it did so many times a day, but nodded anyway.

She slowly crawled out of bed wondering why Harry would want to walk her to the Great Hall, when the previous days events came crashing back into her mind in a jumble. Ginny nearly fell over and she groaned becoming quite pale. Had she even thrown up yesterday? If she hadn't she would today, she was sure of it.

Ginny dressed quickly, stumbling, and then pulled a brush through her long hair. She placed her hair in pigtails and gathered up her school books, bag, and wand.

She bounded out of the fifth year girls dorm and down the stairs and into the Common Room. Harry was standing fully dressed in his school robes. He was looking into the Common Room fire, his eyes serious and worried at the same time.

Ginny jumped the last step making a soft thud, which to her delight, caught Harry's attention. He looked up and smiled at her, his brilliant green eyes soft.

"Come on Ginny", Harry said brightly and she nodded, her cheeks turning pink.

They left through the portrait hole and Harry was looking forward, Ginny looked up at him. She couldn't help but notice they were by themselves walking side by side down the hall.

"What was it you wanted to say to me Harry?" She asked quietly, fearing what it might be.

"Oh! Yeah"… Harry sighed. "Ginny, I wanted to say that you did really good yesterday, at the try outs I mean. But"…

"Oh"… Her fears were suddenly confirmed.

"Yeah. You just weren't what we were looking for", he said quietly and smiled weakly at her, his eyes full of sympathy. "I'm sorry", he added quickly. "It was good for a first time though, and I promise you if one of our chasers gets injured we'll substitute you in!"

"Yeah, alright", Ginny mumbled her stomach turning over, her face red with embarrassment. How many times a week could she possibly be humiliated? "So… wh-who did make the team?"

"The chasers were Lola, Nathan, and Rebecca", he informed her. "And our new beaters are Lewis and Craig".

Ginny couldn't help but notice they were all either in seventh year or fourth year. Lewis was however in Ginny's year, one of Colin's friends.

"That's great Harry!" Ginny beamed up at him and Harry smiled at her. "I noticed Seamus and Dean didn't show up", she added quickly, hoping he wouldn't say anything more about her.

Harry laughed. "Yeah, they realised they were no good before coming", he paused and then looked down at Ginny with an impressed grin. "I'm glad you're taking this so well Ginny, I knew you would. Ron wasn't so sure though", Harry told her cheerfully, all worry and concern disappearing from his face.

"Yeah well"… Ginny forced a smile.

They entered the Great Hall together but Ginny for once didn't follow Harry and sit with him, Ron and Hermione. She'd rather not have people telling her how sorry they felt for her, all of breakfast. She made her way towards Colin who was edging his way away from Dinah who had taken a seat rather close to him.

As she was walking someone stepped almost deliberately in front of her. Ginny stumbled over their feet and nearly fell to the ground, but she caught herself just in time.

"Watch yourself Weasley", said a cold drawling voice. "You nearly fell on my feet… then again, there's nothing really wrong with that, is there?"

Ginny scowled up at Draco Malfoy and his two stupid, cackling friends.

"Slime-ball", she muttered hurrying away with a red face, she could feel his eyes on her all the way to the Gryffindor table.

She sank miserably down into a seat next to Colin. She didn't even have any more tears to cry with, she had humiliated herself for nothing.

"Hey Ginny!" Colin said brightly, neither noticing the nasty looks Dinah, Katherine, and Leikela were giving them.

Breakfast went fairly well, besides the sympathetic looks she couldn't help but notice coming from Ron, Harry, and Hermione, even from Lola who was seated near Ginny. She tried not to look towards them, but she was so used to glancing up over to Harry, that it was not possible.

"Oh cheer up Gin", Colin said suddenly near the end of breakfast. "It's not that bad that you didn't make the team! You've got a lot of other things going for you!"

Ginny stared at him thunderstruck. "Like what?"

Colin grinned in a childlike manner. "Everything!" He answered simply and Ginny felt her face burn with colour once again. "I had some of my pictures developed! Want to see them?" He said changing the subject to his photographs as he always did.

Without waiting for an answer Colin opened his bag and dumped at least twenty photographs onto to the table, some of them falling into Ginny's bowl of porridge.

Most of them were of Ginny, or Ginny and other people. The first one Ginny picked up was one of her posing in her new school robes. Colin had taken them when they had gotten back to the Common Room the first night back. The next few made Ginny smile brightly, forgetting for the moment that things weren't turning out for her.

They were all of Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The final picture was of one with both Ginny and Colin together. He had let Hermione take the picture and the two were smiling brightly and Colin had his arm about her shoulder. Ginny hadn't noticed how close of friends the two had become over the last couple of years. There were so many things in fact, that she didn't notice, or forgot to notice.

Maybe Colin and Hermione was right. Being on the Quidditch team didn't matter all that much, and she did have a lot more going for her. What, She still had to figure out. Colin's answer, she had to admit to herself, had confused her.

"They're brilliant Colin", Ginny whispered.

"Brilliant!" He said in return. "You can have some of them you want!"

Ginny lifted a picture of herself and Harry together, Ginny was blushing as usual but Harry was simply beaming, not noticing Ginny's red face in the least.

From behind her, she heard a familiar snigger that belonged to Malfoy. She turned and glared darkly at him, Colin had turned in his seat and was then doing the same. Malfoy, and his goons were standing over her looking highly amused. Malfoy sporting his trademark smirk.

"In your dreams Weasley", he hissed before turning on his heels and walking away, quickly followed by Crabbe and Goyle.

'Why is it everyone just thinks they can barge into my personal life?' She thought angrily placing the picture down. 'Why is it, that Malfoy thinks he can say who I'm allowed to like and who I'm not allowed to? Harry could like me! And I'm going to prove it! Not by being someone else, but by being myself! Let's see Malfoy saying 'in your dreams' when Harry and I are holding hands down the hall!'

****A/N My fourth chapter complete. I really didn't like the way this one turned out. I was kind of working on it on and off today, and I couldn't make the scenes work. But the next chapters 'should' be better.

I just finished watching 'The Patriot' on t.v.! It's so good! I really, really like Jason Issacs! Does anyone else think he's an awesome actor?!?

Anyway… please read and review!!! I' d appreciate it! Thanks!!!