It was finally Quidditch season at Hogwarts, and not soon enough, thought
Harry. He had been flying around every other day recently, especially in
the mornings, to keep himself sane. Quidditch was the only thing that could
uplift his spirits so easily. The thrill of flying, feeling the cold wind,
numbing your face, the adrenaline rush of chasing after the Golden Snitch;
it was all just pure bliss to him.
The day of their final game came all to quickly for Harry; the season had gone by all too soon. Their opponents were the Slytherins, and he found himself to be nervous. Although it usually did happen between these two houses: no other competition in the school was as fierce. But for some reason, he felt extra-nervous on this game. He didn't even know what he had to worry about. He was the youngest seeker of the century, and, to put it bluntly, his house won every Quidditch Cup since he had been playing. As usual, this season had been in their favor, winning every game they played.
Still, that tiny pinprick of nervousness. . .
Ginny had, in fact, become a lot more relaxed around him. And even she herself was thankful that she still didn't look at him as an obsession any more. He was just Harry, just like any other normal boy. Well, except he had defeated the Dark Lord at the age of a few months, he was the youngest seeker Gryffindor had since his father, and he was pretty much the Hogwarts Hero. Shaking her head, she cleared her own rambling thoughts.
Seeing the boy with the emerald eyes across the field, she felt that annoying knot in her stomach returning. He was probably heading toward where he would be meeting the other Gryffindor players. She had to be there soon, too; she had joined the Quidditch team earlier that year, and was found to be quite skillful. Which was surprising, especially to Harry, because of Ron's horrible experiences with brooms. She was a wonderful rider with much skill, and probably the second-most agile on the team, save Harry.
"Harry!" she called. He didn't hear her, so she tried a second time. He finally turned around and she waved an arm, and even from that distance she could see a smile spread across his face. They jogged over to each other and she smiled, finding even more evidence that she wasn't afraid to be around him any more. She brushed a lock of her fiery red hair behind her ear. It was different than the other Weasleys'; the boys all had a more orange-blonde tint, but hers was almost a deep burgundy. It had gotten darker since Harry had first met her before she even enrolled at Hogwarts, and he never saw any lighter roots at the top of her head, so he assumed it was all natural. They reached each other, and walked side by side.
"Ready to beat some Slytherin tail?" she smirked.
"Always," He returned her look.
+ + +
Hermione, Fae and Violete sat up in the stands beside Ron. Violete, like Fae, had no house spirit whatsoever, and decided to join them on their side of the field so she'd have someone to talk to. Fred and George soon seated themselves next to Hermione, who nodded at their presence, but soon turned and did a double take. Weren't they supposed to be on the team?
"Okay, why aren't you on the field?"
Fred rolled his eyes. "Well. Apparently, mum was real mad about our re- creation of the Ton Tongue Toffees that took place over the summer. We were doing a real good job of hiding them and all, until we gave it to a random muggle."
George had been listening to what his brother had said, and did a near- perfect imitation of his mother's facial expressions. "'You two dolts could have given our family's wizarding reputation away to a bunch of muggles! Rabble, rabble, rabble!'"
Hermione was staring at them with a look of utter disapproval. She just rolled her eyes and turned back to the field, mumbling something inaudible. The twins offered each of the girls a jellybean. Fae glared as they remembered what had happened with the Pepper-flavored bean, and meekly coiled their hands back against their chests defensively. She stuck out her tongue playfully, and Violete smiled, shaking her head.
The Irish girl had the displeasure of being squished next to Ron, of all people. They were constantly snapping at each other to get off the others foot, or quit bumping them around. Of course, none of this was their fault; there were even more students in each stand this year, so it was a very tight fit indeed. That, and the wind kept blowing Ron's Gryffindor scarf into her face. She had neglected to bring any type of flag or her scarf, although she had taken a pin to add to her collection housed on her messenger bag.
The announcer shushed their bickering as they announced the Slytherin team. Applause and cheering from the opposite side of the stadium sounded. Fae took note of Draco running out ahead of the others on his team; Fae assumed that he was the captain. As the Gryffindor team ran onto the field with their brooms raised over their heads, the applause overpowered Slytherins by ten times the volume.
Of all people, Tracy slid between Fae and Ron. "Hey!" she exclaimed, completely ignoring her supposed female friend next to her. He looked shocked for a minute, but then a smile covered his face. He slung his arm around her.
"Where'd you come from?"
She winked. "I snuck over. Told Pomfrey I needed to go to the hospital wing, that I was feeling quite faint," she dramatically pretended to faint into his arms, as they both laughed.
Fae and Violete exchanged glances and gagged.
"She might as well just have him on a damn leash." Violete muttered. She was with the Gryffindor side because she had no 'house spirit' for Hufflepuff whatsoever, so she just sat with Fae the entire time.
Fred leaned on George. "Hold me!" he breathed, batting his eyelashes. The three girls exploded into laughter and the twins soon joined in, and Ron and Tracy gave them strange looks.
Within a few minutes, the game had started. Even after every game she had been to, it was still unlike anything Fae had ever seen. She had grown up around soccer, being from Ireland, and wasn't used to such a rapid speed. She eventually figured out the concept of the game, as the Quaffle was thrown into the Slytherin goal.
"Ginny Weasley scores! Ten points for Gryffindor!"
Ron clapped and hooted loudly as a triumphant smile covered Ginny's face for a few seconds, before she turned right back to the game. Harry and Draco were facing each other on their brooms, circling around menacingly and shouting things at one another. But as soon as the game continued, they looked around for the golden Snitch like two vultures.
Soon, the score was twenty-forty, in favor of Gryffindor. Fae took note that the Slytherins lived up to their rumors, and they were in fact notorious for playing dirty. They would do things that were just bordering 'against the rules', just enough so they could get away with it. Twice Ginny was almost thrown down from her broom, which sent Ron to yelling obscenities, although he was unheard by anyone other than Tracy, as she tried sweetly to soothe him.
Suddenly, Harry shot off on his broom like a rocket. Draco was quick to follow, close behind and gaining speed.
"They've seen the Snitch!" Hermione explained excitedly to Fae, without tearing her eyes away from the game. "If he catches this, we win!" Fae knew this, but Hermione was too excited to realize Fae had been to every game so far.
Draco and Harry were racing around, taking wild turns and loops; Hermione almost covered her eyes once when they came within a hair of crashing into one of the stands. Ron was whispering encouraging words to Harry as the two chased the tiny winged ball around in a game of cat and mouse; or, cats and mouse, in this case.
They disappeared under the stands, coming out from underneath seconds later, still in hot pursuit. Harry was holding lead, but Draco was getting faster. Suddenly, the Snitch took a ninety-degree flight upward from their low position on the ground. Harry, being the first to think, jerked his broom handle to the same degree and followed it right up. Draco was still close behind, but not as close as before.
The Snitch steadied itself, and continued flying on sharp turns at their higher level. Harry didn't even have to look down to know that this was the highest that his chase had ever taken him; he was well over the stands, maybe twice their height. He still kept focused on the Snitch.
Draco sped up, and they were now flying almost right beside each other. Harry's arm was reaching out further. . .further. . .
He glanced over at the Gryffindor stands long enough just to catch a glimpse of his friends, particularly Fae, and his scar started burning again. He gasped, and almost dropped off his broom. The crowd gasped as the Snitch escaped from his grasp, but he was quick to steady himself.
Below them, Ginny was scoring more goals herself. She had been responsible for most of them so far, and took the opportunity of the Slytherin goalie looking up at the two seekers in shock. She had awarded them another good thirty points. But it would all be for nothing if Draco caught the Snitch before Harry.
Draco sped up, and they were now flying almost right beside each other. Sensing that this wasn't a normal height to be chasing after the tiny golden sphere, Harry flicked his eyes in his direction for the slightest moment. Their eyes met for a split second before Harry dropped straight down, still managing to fly ahead. He felt his stomach twist and turn and the adrenaline rush; it felt quite similar to the roller coaster he and Ron had ridden so many times the summer before. He stopped a good five or six yards under Malfoy, and the overly aggressive half of the crowd erupted into angry shouting; they had no idea why he had seemingly abandoned the Snitch.
Only moments later, it suddenly plummeted back down, right in front of his broom. Draco let out a cry, thrusting his broom down after him in a mad attempt to stay behind the golden ball, but it was too late.
"HARRY POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH! GAME, GRIFFINDOR!"
The stands erupted in applause, minus the Slytherins. Hermione, Violete and Fae jumped up and down, hugging and squealing like two little schoolgirls. The twins leaped up in glee, spilling their precious jellybeans all over the stands. Ron was shouting and cheering, but Tracy silenced him with a quick kiss and a hug, then turned and starting bouncing up and down.
Fae would have said something about Tracy only being so excited to appeal to Ron, but she was jumping up and down and carrying on, herself.
Madame Hooch walked out into the middle of the field as the players lowered their brooms, all except for Draco. He was hovering where he had been, cursing loudly. Harry got to his feet and she handed him the Quidditch Cup, then turned to shake Ginny's hand; she had played quite a game. The applause erupted even more, if it was possible. This meant at least a hundred points to Gryffindor, and put them in the lead for the House Cup again (Due to Fae's constant detentions, they had been put behind Ravenclaw.). The Gryffindor Quidditch team ran over, all cheering and hooting. They slapped hands and backs, exchanged hugs, and Harry was in his own bliss.
Hermione looked around to make sure no professors were looking, and then raised her wand. She aimed at the field and muttered something as red and gold sparks flew out of its tip, forming Harry and Ginny's names.
The seeker pointed it out to Ginny, who laughed and nodded happily. Tears were almost forming in her eyes as he handed her the Cup and bent down onto his knees. A second later he stood up, and she was on his shoulders waving the trophy around, soaking up all of Gryffindor's glory. Still, after they had gone back into their locker rooms, Harry couldn't forget that just glancing at Fae had nearly caused his loss against Malfoy.
+ + +
Since it was a Friday, eight Gryffindors headed down to Hogsmeade later that day. It was Fae's first time, and the twins were very excited to show her their joke shop. In all her victory, Ginny's thoughts about Fae had changed for the better, and they got along fine now. The only thing that bothered anyone was the fact that Tracy was there, but they were able to ignore her. She was always off with Ron somewhere any way, the only person who seemed to be enjoying her company.
As they entered the joke shop, the twins suddenly came to a halt. Before them, there was a massive display case full of candies.
"Bloody hell!" they exclaimed in unison. Fae and Hermione exchanged confused glances as they grabbed a box in disbelief. "What a rip off! Blimey!" George exclaimed, shoving the box in their faces.
"Ton Tongue Toffees," Hermione read out loud. She sighed. "Oh, Fred, it's just a candy," she rolled her eyes irritably and flipped her hair
"Yes," George said for him. "But our candy," he then gasped and grabbed another box off of the shelf. "Exploding Wands too! Our bloody idea! Our hard work, and time, and consideration, and blood, and sweat. . ." he sobbed dramatically into his hands and Fred grabbed him in a hug, being just as facetious.
They were joking about it, but they still felt resentment toward a certain fat, short little wizard that they hadn't seen for quite some time.
Fae was completely clueless, so Ginny explained. Just a year before, the twins had been trying to sell their jokes to Cornelius Fudge, a wizard that worked for the Ministry, and found their jokes hilarious. He had offered to sponsor them and get them their own practical joke business opportunity, in fact. He owed them money from a bet they made at the Quidditch game two summers ago, but he had been in so much debt with the Goblins and Gringott's that he ignored the twins' blackmail. So basically, he never paid them, and they never got their business offer. And now he had stolen their ideas, patented them, and sold them as his own, leaving the twins high and dry.
"I say we beat his ass!" was Fae's immediate reply.
The twins' ears seemed to perk up. "Yeah!" George exclaimed, balling up his fists. "We can take him!" Fred nodded, doing the same.
After a while of browsing, they all left, the twins with some newly acquired Nose-Biting Teacups. They were anxious to try them out on Professor Flitwick, who always seemed to be drinking tea in his class.
They went to the Three Broomsticks, where Fae had her first Butterbeer. It was non-alcoholic, because they served it to minors, yet if you drank too many it would give you the effect of being drunk, so she assumed. Because of this reason, they were sure to keep the twins off of them as much as possible.
Tracy and Ron were sipping some carbonated blue liquid through the same straw, oblivious to everyone else there. Every now and then she'd lean across the table and kiss his cheek, or put her hand on his. She was so. . .perfect that it made everyone sick. Even the twins and Harry couldn't deny that she was a very attractive girl. Didn't have much going for a personality, so they decided that maybe Ron was mainly intrigued by her looks.
"She's probably one of those Veela whores, and she's got him under some kind of spell," Ginny spat, and Hermione gasped with shock.
"Ginny!"
Fae, however, was laughing contently. That did seem like what was happening, and she did resemble a Veela: deep blue, almond shaped eyes, long blonde hair-although hers was very curly-and a perfectly shaped face and a curvaceous body. The only thing that made her look human was her skin; it always seemed to be nicely tanned. She had long, thick lashes, a few light freckles across her nose and a perfect half-moon smile. Fae would admit that she was a little jealous of Tracy; she was a very pretty girl indeed.
After a good hour or so, they finally decided to head back to Hogwarts. Fae, Hermione and the twins all walked together, leaving Ron and Tracy hand in hand, and Harry and Ginny ahead of them. Fae looked over her shoulder at the two Quidditch stars and smiled.
"That's so cute. They'd be such a great couple if they were ever together."
Fred looked weird. "That's my sister. I'd prefer not to think about it," he said, scrunching up his face.
George nodded. "Yeah, you sick bastard, because you get jealous easily," he teased. Fred made an angry noise and chased him down toward the path that would eventually lead them back to Hogwarts.
"You know, I believe they're the only seventh years that hang around with younger students as much as they do," Fae said. Hermione smirked.
"It's because they used to fancy you."
"Used to," Fae emphasized before Hermione could carry on. She actually had no idea the twins both used to have a. . . a crush on her, but didn't want to talk about it. It was a bit of an awkward conversation. They heard the boys' shouting in the distance, and they shook their heads and laughed after them.
Hermione put her hand on Fae's arm. Peering over her shoulder to see if anyone was listening, she leaned in. "You know, Harry and Ginny like each other," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
She looked surprised. "Oh, so they're together?" she tilted her head inquisitively.
Hermione sighed. "No, actually, they have no idea. It's strange, really, everyone in the school knows about it, except them."
"Really?" Fae looked over her shoulder, and saw that Harry was now giving the younger girl a piggyback ride. She chuckled to herself and sighed. "Ah, love. Makes me sick," she said, and Hermione shoved her lightly.
"Fae!" she giggled.
+ + +
There was a celebration in the Gryffindor common room that night. Professor McGonagall was staying to 'supervise', until a Nose-Biting Teacup angered her and she just decided to leave the room. As soon as this happened, the twins brought out an empty Butterbeer bottle. They waved in the air menacingly, and a crowd of Gryffindors instantly created a circle around them.
As soon as the game of Spin the Bottle had started, Fae and Hermione instantly found their way out of the circle. As soon as they did this, they were bombarded a series of begs and chants to get them to play. Hermione made up an excuse about having to do some of her homework, and ran off into the girls' dormitories. Only she really did have some extra credit that she wanted to look in to, so it wasn't a total lie.
"Yeah so do I!" Fae exclaimed loudly, which wasn't true. She started her way up the stairs, but George pounced on her, pinning her to the ground.
He put her hands behind her back and sat on them. She shrieked, laughing and kicking her feet. "Lemme go!" she squealed.
"Only if you play!" he shouted back.
After some more kicking, and the tickling of her feet-they found that she's ticklish pretty much everywhere on her body, but her feet and sides were most sensitive-she was forced to play. It was blackmail, really: tickled to death if she didn't play. She mumbled something about hormonally challenged people, and if they wanted to kiss people so bad why didn't they just do it without having to spin a bottle around ("Because it's more fun this way!" Dean Thomas had shouted instantly, and there was an automatic agreement amongst the other students.)
She crossly sat down, folding her arms and continually mumbling. Games such as this always made her feel so self-conscious. Probably because her first experience, when she spun the bottle, the boy it landed on was thoroughly disgusted by her, and didn't even try to hide it.
Fred eagerly took the bottle, and spun. It landed on Parvati Patil, a Gryffindor fifth year. She bounded across the circle and kissed Fred, who was grinning ear to ear. Parvati and her younger sister were considered to be the two prettiest girls at Hogwarts. After she had left, George punched him in the arm and mumbled "Lucky bastard."
Parvati spun and it landed on a Hufflepuff girl. There was laughter among the circle and she quickly spun again. It landed on another boy Fae didn't know, probably from Hufflepuff. The spinning went on, Fae barely paying attention, and bored out of her mind. Tracy and Ron had been kissing quite a few times, although the bottle had neglected to even land on either of them.
Ginny and Harry had been glancing at each other constantly, but when their eyes finally met, they'd quickly look away. Fae had been watching them, completely oblivious to the bottle that had rolled to a stop, pointing at her.
She looked up and saw Ron looking at her with a look of horror on his face. Fae did the same, praying that it wasn't his spin. Unfortunately, it was. She saw Tracy glare daggers at her, and she pushed her hair behind her ear. For a second, he squirmed in his seat, as if deciding whether or not he was going to do it or not.
Fae cleared her throat. "Well! Look at the clock; way past my bedtime!" she exclaimed.
Fred checked his watch. "It's nine-thirty on a Saturday night," he retorted, and she paused, and then laughed nervously.
"Ah! Aye! Well, it's um-it's Irish tradition! To go to bed early one Friday of every month!" she made up the lamest lie she ever had. Neville Longbottom, who was also Irish, shook his head.
"No it's not," he said slowly.
She shot him her best I'll-kill-you-in-your-sleep look and headed up the stairs. She was not about to kiss the boy who had been trying to make her life a living hell, especially in front of his almost-girlfriend.
The day of their final game came all to quickly for Harry; the season had gone by all too soon. Their opponents were the Slytherins, and he found himself to be nervous. Although it usually did happen between these two houses: no other competition in the school was as fierce. But for some reason, he felt extra-nervous on this game. He didn't even know what he had to worry about. He was the youngest seeker of the century, and, to put it bluntly, his house won every Quidditch Cup since he had been playing. As usual, this season had been in their favor, winning every game they played.
Still, that tiny pinprick of nervousness. . .
Ginny had, in fact, become a lot more relaxed around him. And even she herself was thankful that she still didn't look at him as an obsession any more. He was just Harry, just like any other normal boy. Well, except he had defeated the Dark Lord at the age of a few months, he was the youngest seeker Gryffindor had since his father, and he was pretty much the Hogwarts Hero. Shaking her head, she cleared her own rambling thoughts.
Seeing the boy with the emerald eyes across the field, she felt that annoying knot in her stomach returning. He was probably heading toward where he would be meeting the other Gryffindor players. She had to be there soon, too; she had joined the Quidditch team earlier that year, and was found to be quite skillful. Which was surprising, especially to Harry, because of Ron's horrible experiences with brooms. She was a wonderful rider with much skill, and probably the second-most agile on the team, save Harry.
"Harry!" she called. He didn't hear her, so she tried a second time. He finally turned around and she waved an arm, and even from that distance she could see a smile spread across his face. They jogged over to each other and she smiled, finding even more evidence that she wasn't afraid to be around him any more. She brushed a lock of her fiery red hair behind her ear. It was different than the other Weasleys'; the boys all had a more orange-blonde tint, but hers was almost a deep burgundy. It had gotten darker since Harry had first met her before she even enrolled at Hogwarts, and he never saw any lighter roots at the top of her head, so he assumed it was all natural. They reached each other, and walked side by side.
"Ready to beat some Slytherin tail?" she smirked.
"Always," He returned her look.
+ + +
Hermione, Fae and Violete sat up in the stands beside Ron. Violete, like Fae, had no house spirit whatsoever, and decided to join them on their side of the field so she'd have someone to talk to. Fred and George soon seated themselves next to Hermione, who nodded at their presence, but soon turned and did a double take. Weren't they supposed to be on the team?
"Okay, why aren't you on the field?"
Fred rolled his eyes. "Well. Apparently, mum was real mad about our re- creation of the Ton Tongue Toffees that took place over the summer. We were doing a real good job of hiding them and all, until we gave it to a random muggle."
George had been listening to what his brother had said, and did a near- perfect imitation of his mother's facial expressions. "'You two dolts could have given our family's wizarding reputation away to a bunch of muggles! Rabble, rabble, rabble!'"
Hermione was staring at them with a look of utter disapproval. She just rolled her eyes and turned back to the field, mumbling something inaudible. The twins offered each of the girls a jellybean. Fae glared as they remembered what had happened with the Pepper-flavored bean, and meekly coiled their hands back against their chests defensively. She stuck out her tongue playfully, and Violete smiled, shaking her head.
The Irish girl had the displeasure of being squished next to Ron, of all people. They were constantly snapping at each other to get off the others foot, or quit bumping them around. Of course, none of this was their fault; there were even more students in each stand this year, so it was a very tight fit indeed. That, and the wind kept blowing Ron's Gryffindor scarf into her face. She had neglected to bring any type of flag or her scarf, although she had taken a pin to add to her collection housed on her messenger bag.
The announcer shushed their bickering as they announced the Slytherin team. Applause and cheering from the opposite side of the stadium sounded. Fae took note of Draco running out ahead of the others on his team; Fae assumed that he was the captain. As the Gryffindor team ran onto the field with their brooms raised over their heads, the applause overpowered Slytherins by ten times the volume.
Of all people, Tracy slid between Fae and Ron. "Hey!" she exclaimed, completely ignoring her supposed female friend next to her. He looked shocked for a minute, but then a smile covered his face. He slung his arm around her.
"Where'd you come from?"
She winked. "I snuck over. Told Pomfrey I needed to go to the hospital wing, that I was feeling quite faint," she dramatically pretended to faint into his arms, as they both laughed.
Fae and Violete exchanged glances and gagged.
"She might as well just have him on a damn leash." Violete muttered. She was with the Gryffindor side because she had no 'house spirit' for Hufflepuff whatsoever, so she just sat with Fae the entire time.
Fred leaned on George. "Hold me!" he breathed, batting his eyelashes. The three girls exploded into laughter and the twins soon joined in, and Ron and Tracy gave them strange looks.
Within a few minutes, the game had started. Even after every game she had been to, it was still unlike anything Fae had ever seen. She had grown up around soccer, being from Ireland, and wasn't used to such a rapid speed. She eventually figured out the concept of the game, as the Quaffle was thrown into the Slytherin goal.
"Ginny Weasley scores! Ten points for Gryffindor!"
Ron clapped and hooted loudly as a triumphant smile covered Ginny's face for a few seconds, before she turned right back to the game. Harry and Draco were facing each other on their brooms, circling around menacingly and shouting things at one another. But as soon as the game continued, they looked around for the golden Snitch like two vultures.
Soon, the score was twenty-forty, in favor of Gryffindor. Fae took note that the Slytherins lived up to their rumors, and they were in fact notorious for playing dirty. They would do things that were just bordering 'against the rules', just enough so they could get away with it. Twice Ginny was almost thrown down from her broom, which sent Ron to yelling obscenities, although he was unheard by anyone other than Tracy, as she tried sweetly to soothe him.
Suddenly, Harry shot off on his broom like a rocket. Draco was quick to follow, close behind and gaining speed.
"They've seen the Snitch!" Hermione explained excitedly to Fae, without tearing her eyes away from the game. "If he catches this, we win!" Fae knew this, but Hermione was too excited to realize Fae had been to every game so far.
Draco and Harry were racing around, taking wild turns and loops; Hermione almost covered her eyes once when they came within a hair of crashing into one of the stands. Ron was whispering encouraging words to Harry as the two chased the tiny winged ball around in a game of cat and mouse; or, cats and mouse, in this case.
They disappeared under the stands, coming out from underneath seconds later, still in hot pursuit. Harry was holding lead, but Draco was getting faster. Suddenly, the Snitch took a ninety-degree flight upward from their low position on the ground. Harry, being the first to think, jerked his broom handle to the same degree and followed it right up. Draco was still close behind, but not as close as before.
The Snitch steadied itself, and continued flying on sharp turns at their higher level. Harry didn't even have to look down to know that this was the highest that his chase had ever taken him; he was well over the stands, maybe twice their height. He still kept focused on the Snitch.
Draco sped up, and they were now flying almost right beside each other. Harry's arm was reaching out further. . .further. . .
He glanced over at the Gryffindor stands long enough just to catch a glimpse of his friends, particularly Fae, and his scar started burning again. He gasped, and almost dropped off his broom. The crowd gasped as the Snitch escaped from his grasp, but he was quick to steady himself.
Below them, Ginny was scoring more goals herself. She had been responsible for most of them so far, and took the opportunity of the Slytherin goalie looking up at the two seekers in shock. She had awarded them another good thirty points. But it would all be for nothing if Draco caught the Snitch before Harry.
Draco sped up, and they were now flying almost right beside each other. Sensing that this wasn't a normal height to be chasing after the tiny golden sphere, Harry flicked his eyes in his direction for the slightest moment. Their eyes met for a split second before Harry dropped straight down, still managing to fly ahead. He felt his stomach twist and turn and the adrenaline rush; it felt quite similar to the roller coaster he and Ron had ridden so many times the summer before. He stopped a good five or six yards under Malfoy, and the overly aggressive half of the crowd erupted into angry shouting; they had no idea why he had seemingly abandoned the Snitch.
Only moments later, it suddenly plummeted back down, right in front of his broom. Draco let out a cry, thrusting his broom down after him in a mad attempt to stay behind the golden ball, but it was too late.
"HARRY POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH! GAME, GRIFFINDOR!"
The stands erupted in applause, minus the Slytherins. Hermione, Violete and Fae jumped up and down, hugging and squealing like two little schoolgirls. The twins leaped up in glee, spilling their precious jellybeans all over the stands. Ron was shouting and cheering, but Tracy silenced him with a quick kiss and a hug, then turned and starting bouncing up and down.
Fae would have said something about Tracy only being so excited to appeal to Ron, but she was jumping up and down and carrying on, herself.
Madame Hooch walked out into the middle of the field as the players lowered their brooms, all except for Draco. He was hovering where he had been, cursing loudly. Harry got to his feet and she handed him the Quidditch Cup, then turned to shake Ginny's hand; she had played quite a game. The applause erupted even more, if it was possible. This meant at least a hundred points to Gryffindor, and put them in the lead for the House Cup again (Due to Fae's constant detentions, they had been put behind Ravenclaw.). The Gryffindor Quidditch team ran over, all cheering and hooting. They slapped hands and backs, exchanged hugs, and Harry was in his own bliss.
Hermione looked around to make sure no professors were looking, and then raised her wand. She aimed at the field and muttered something as red and gold sparks flew out of its tip, forming Harry and Ginny's names.
The seeker pointed it out to Ginny, who laughed and nodded happily. Tears were almost forming in her eyes as he handed her the Cup and bent down onto his knees. A second later he stood up, and she was on his shoulders waving the trophy around, soaking up all of Gryffindor's glory. Still, after they had gone back into their locker rooms, Harry couldn't forget that just glancing at Fae had nearly caused his loss against Malfoy.
+ + +
Since it was a Friday, eight Gryffindors headed down to Hogsmeade later that day. It was Fae's first time, and the twins were very excited to show her their joke shop. In all her victory, Ginny's thoughts about Fae had changed for the better, and they got along fine now. The only thing that bothered anyone was the fact that Tracy was there, but they were able to ignore her. She was always off with Ron somewhere any way, the only person who seemed to be enjoying her company.
As they entered the joke shop, the twins suddenly came to a halt. Before them, there was a massive display case full of candies.
"Bloody hell!" they exclaimed in unison. Fae and Hermione exchanged confused glances as they grabbed a box in disbelief. "What a rip off! Blimey!" George exclaimed, shoving the box in their faces.
"Ton Tongue Toffees," Hermione read out loud. She sighed. "Oh, Fred, it's just a candy," she rolled her eyes irritably and flipped her hair
"Yes," George said for him. "But our candy," he then gasped and grabbed another box off of the shelf. "Exploding Wands too! Our bloody idea! Our hard work, and time, and consideration, and blood, and sweat. . ." he sobbed dramatically into his hands and Fred grabbed him in a hug, being just as facetious.
They were joking about it, but they still felt resentment toward a certain fat, short little wizard that they hadn't seen for quite some time.
Fae was completely clueless, so Ginny explained. Just a year before, the twins had been trying to sell their jokes to Cornelius Fudge, a wizard that worked for the Ministry, and found their jokes hilarious. He had offered to sponsor them and get them their own practical joke business opportunity, in fact. He owed them money from a bet they made at the Quidditch game two summers ago, but he had been in so much debt with the Goblins and Gringott's that he ignored the twins' blackmail. So basically, he never paid them, and they never got their business offer. And now he had stolen their ideas, patented them, and sold them as his own, leaving the twins high and dry.
"I say we beat his ass!" was Fae's immediate reply.
The twins' ears seemed to perk up. "Yeah!" George exclaimed, balling up his fists. "We can take him!" Fred nodded, doing the same.
After a while of browsing, they all left, the twins with some newly acquired Nose-Biting Teacups. They were anxious to try them out on Professor Flitwick, who always seemed to be drinking tea in his class.
They went to the Three Broomsticks, where Fae had her first Butterbeer. It was non-alcoholic, because they served it to minors, yet if you drank too many it would give you the effect of being drunk, so she assumed. Because of this reason, they were sure to keep the twins off of them as much as possible.
Tracy and Ron were sipping some carbonated blue liquid through the same straw, oblivious to everyone else there. Every now and then she'd lean across the table and kiss his cheek, or put her hand on his. She was so. . .perfect that it made everyone sick. Even the twins and Harry couldn't deny that she was a very attractive girl. Didn't have much going for a personality, so they decided that maybe Ron was mainly intrigued by her looks.
"She's probably one of those Veela whores, and she's got him under some kind of spell," Ginny spat, and Hermione gasped with shock.
"Ginny!"
Fae, however, was laughing contently. That did seem like what was happening, and she did resemble a Veela: deep blue, almond shaped eyes, long blonde hair-although hers was very curly-and a perfectly shaped face and a curvaceous body. The only thing that made her look human was her skin; it always seemed to be nicely tanned. She had long, thick lashes, a few light freckles across her nose and a perfect half-moon smile. Fae would admit that she was a little jealous of Tracy; she was a very pretty girl indeed.
After a good hour or so, they finally decided to head back to Hogwarts. Fae, Hermione and the twins all walked together, leaving Ron and Tracy hand in hand, and Harry and Ginny ahead of them. Fae looked over her shoulder at the two Quidditch stars and smiled.
"That's so cute. They'd be such a great couple if they were ever together."
Fred looked weird. "That's my sister. I'd prefer not to think about it," he said, scrunching up his face.
George nodded. "Yeah, you sick bastard, because you get jealous easily," he teased. Fred made an angry noise and chased him down toward the path that would eventually lead them back to Hogwarts.
"You know, I believe they're the only seventh years that hang around with younger students as much as they do," Fae said. Hermione smirked.
"It's because they used to fancy you."
"Used to," Fae emphasized before Hermione could carry on. She actually had no idea the twins both used to have a. . . a crush on her, but didn't want to talk about it. It was a bit of an awkward conversation. They heard the boys' shouting in the distance, and they shook their heads and laughed after them.
Hermione put her hand on Fae's arm. Peering over her shoulder to see if anyone was listening, she leaned in. "You know, Harry and Ginny like each other," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
She looked surprised. "Oh, so they're together?" she tilted her head inquisitively.
Hermione sighed. "No, actually, they have no idea. It's strange, really, everyone in the school knows about it, except them."
"Really?" Fae looked over her shoulder, and saw that Harry was now giving the younger girl a piggyback ride. She chuckled to herself and sighed. "Ah, love. Makes me sick," she said, and Hermione shoved her lightly.
"Fae!" she giggled.
+ + +
There was a celebration in the Gryffindor common room that night. Professor McGonagall was staying to 'supervise', until a Nose-Biting Teacup angered her and she just decided to leave the room. As soon as this happened, the twins brought out an empty Butterbeer bottle. They waved in the air menacingly, and a crowd of Gryffindors instantly created a circle around them.
As soon as the game of Spin the Bottle had started, Fae and Hermione instantly found their way out of the circle. As soon as they did this, they were bombarded a series of begs and chants to get them to play. Hermione made up an excuse about having to do some of her homework, and ran off into the girls' dormitories. Only she really did have some extra credit that she wanted to look in to, so it wasn't a total lie.
"Yeah so do I!" Fae exclaimed loudly, which wasn't true. She started her way up the stairs, but George pounced on her, pinning her to the ground.
He put her hands behind her back and sat on them. She shrieked, laughing and kicking her feet. "Lemme go!" she squealed.
"Only if you play!" he shouted back.
After some more kicking, and the tickling of her feet-they found that she's ticklish pretty much everywhere on her body, but her feet and sides were most sensitive-she was forced to play. It was blackmail, really: tickled to death if she didn't play. She mumbled something about hormonally challenged people, and if they wanted to kiss people so bad why didn't they just do it without having to spin a bottle around ("Because it's more fun this way!" Dean Thomas had shouted instantly, and there was an automatic agreement amongst the other students.)
She crossly sat down, folding her arms and continually mumbling. Games such as this always made her feel so self-conscious. Probably because her first experience, when she spun the bottle, the boy it landed on was thoroughly disgusted by her, and didn't even try to hide it.
Fred eagerly took the bottle, and spun. It landed on Parvati Patil, a Gryffindor fifth year. She bounded across the circle and kissed Fred, who was grinning ear to ear. Parvati and her younger sister were considered to be the two prettiest girls at Hogwarts. After she had left, George punched him in the arm and mumbled "Lucky bastard."
Parvati spun and it landed on a Hufflepuff girl. There was laughter among the circle and she quickly spun again. It landed on another boy Fae didn't know, probably from Hufflepuff. The spinning went on, Fae barely paying attention, and bored out of her mind. Tracy and Ron had been kissing quite a few times, although the bottle had neglected to even land on either of them.
Ginny and Harry had been glancing at each other constantly, but when their eyes finally met, they'd quickly look away. Fae had been watching them, completely oblivious to the bottle that had rolled to a stop, pointing at her.
She looked up and saw Ron looking at her with a look of horror on his face. Fae did the same, praying that it wasn't his spin. Unfortunately, it was. She saw Tracy glare daggers at her, and she pushed her hair behind her ear. For a second, he squirmed in his seat, as if deciding whether or not he was going to do it or not.
Fae cleared her throat. "Well! Look at the clock; way past my bedtime!" she exclaimed.
Fred checked his watch. "It's nine-thirty on a Saturday night," he retorted, and she paused, and then laughed nervously.
"Ah! Aye! Well, it's um-it's Irish tradition! To go to bed early one Friday of every month!" she made up the lamest lie she ever had. Neville Longbottom, who was also Irish, shook his head.
"No it's not," he said slowly.
She shot him her best I'll-kill-you-in-your-sleep look and headed up the stairs. She was not about to kiss the boy who had been trying to make her life a living hell, especially in front of his almost-girlfriend.