Lessons to Learn
"Hermione, you've been doing this all day. Take a break and come hang out on the Pitch with us," Ginny bangs on the fifth year girls' dormitory door.
Hermione opens the door and lets Ginny in. Johnny is lying on the floor with parchment and quills. "We've been working very hard today, haven't we?"
"Real hard," Johnny sounds aggravated. She smiles, though. "But look! It's legible and I haven't broken any quills!"
The handwriting looks as though a four year old has been practicing the alphabet. But there are no pieces of quill to be found. Ginny smiles. "I'm proud of you. Now Zimmermann has no excuse to complain, right?"
"Too right," Hermione replies. "We even worked on her manners a bit."
Johnny's eyes narrow. "That's right. I can use the toilet like a big kid now."
Ginny giggles but Hermione looks furious. "Why do you have to be so rude and cynical? With a little tact, you could…"
"Be as uptight and arrogant as you are?" Johnny finishes in annoyance. "Thanks but no thanks. You said you're going to the Pitch? Mind if I tag along? I've been cooped up inside all day long when I should have been practicing for the preliminaries. They're in a week!"
"See what I mean? You weren't even invited and you just invite yourself along!" Hermione's exasperated.
Ginny looks at the quarreling girls. She sighs. "Um, we'll be there if either of you want to join us. See you!" she runs away from the potential fight.
Hermione and Johnny stare hard at each other. Johnny has never encountered a person who didn't blink back away from her. But Hermione's just as stubborn and determined to win this contest. Johnny's face softens as she holds out a hand. "I'm sorry."
"What?" Hermione gasps. She just looks at Johnny's outstretched hand. "For what?"
"For not being the person you want me to be, I guess," Johnny says. She shrugs. "I don't know. But it feels like I should be sorry for something."
Hermione takes Johnny's hand. They shake briefly. "I guess I'm sorry, too. For making you feel that way."
Johnny packs up her things. "I'll let you spend time with your own friends. I'm sorry I tried to intrude. And thank you so much for your help."
Hermione sighs. "Um, it was a pleasure. Really."
They gaze at each other for a few minutes. Johnny opens her mouth to say something else but she shakes her head. "See you around."
"Bye," Hermione whispers. She takes a deep breath and heads out to join her friends.
"Hermione, I just want to…" Johnny has turned to finish talking to Hermione when they bump into each other. They giggle awkwardly. "Uh, I just wanted to ask if maybe you could help me with other things. Like my magic. Or something."
"Okay," Hermione replies, untangling herself from Johnny's powerful arms. She hesitates before asking quietly: "Will you walk me to the Pitch?"
Johnny is caught off guard at Hermione's question and nods. She walks with Hermione for a few minutes before grinning stupidly. "Is your boyfriend going to get mad if I escort you there?"
"Boyfriend?" Hermione asks, startled.
"Ron, but I was mostly teasing," Johnny sees that she's struck a nerve. "Sorry. Thought it would be okay."
Hermione puts on a practiced smile. "It is okay. What would make you think that it wasn't?" they get to the castle gates. "Race you to the Pitch!"
Johnny, not to be outdone, races against Hermione as fast as she can. Hermione manages to stay in the lead. "You're fast for a bookworm!"
"I learned to wriggle quickly!" Hermione laughs. She turns to see what kind of a lead she has when she crashes into something big. She falls to the ground and looks up. "Hagrid!"
Hagrid looks at Johnny, who has just caught up. "This gal causin' yeh any trouble, Hermione?"
"No, Hagrid. We were racing. I would have won, too, if I hadn't bumped into you!" Hermione gasps when she sees Johnny take off ahead of her. "You cheater!"
Hermione chases after Johnny. She is close on her heels when she sees Ron, Harry, Ginny, Colby, and Daniel in the distance. She starts to run faster but knows she'll never catch up. She slows down enough to draw her wand. "Petrificus Totalis!"
Johnny stiffens up and falls face down onto the grass. Once she has run past, Hermione waves her wand behind her, muttering the counter curse. Johnny shakes her head and stands slowly. She doesn't take well to magic being used on her. She stumbles back over.
"Johnny?" Daniel shouts. He glares at Hermione. "If you did anything to hurt her, Granger…" he and Colby rush to Johnny's side.
"I'm fine, Harper," Johnny groans. "I got what I deserved, trying to cheat Hermione out of a winning foot race."
"Foot race?" Colby asks slowly. "Like, running?"
Johnny laughs and pats Colby on the shoulder. "You crazy wizarding families have no sense of real work, you know that?"
"And you Mudbloods have no sense of what real magic is," a voice says from, behind them. Draco, with Crabbe and Goyle close behind him, are approaching them with brooms in their hands. "Step aside. We've got practicing to do."
"Afraid you're going to lose to us Gryffindors even worse because there's more of us?" Ron asks.
Draco sneers. "I don't see you in the air, Weasley. Oh, wait. You can't because you're not on the team. You let your brothers and sister follow through where your mouth can't."
Ron clenches his fists but Harry holds him back. "We've got the Pitch, Malfoy."
"What's the matter, Potter?" Draco asks. He eyes Ginny with a mean smile. "Your little girlfriend might see you take a beating facing us?"
"A wager, then?" Hermione proposes. She sees that she's struck Draco's interest. "Our three best against the three of you."
"The terms?" Draco asks.
Hermione grins. "We win, you keep your mouth shut for the rest of the year. Leave us alone. You see us coming, you go the other way."
Draco's eyes narrow. "And if you win?"
"I don't play Quidditch this season," Harry says suddenly. They all look at him in shock. "Sound like a deal, Malfoy?"
"Harry, what are you doing?" Ginny asks. "You can't do this! What if you lose?"
"Deal," Malfoy holds out his right hand. Harry takes it and they shake once, sealing the agreement. "I'll even give you five minutes to pick your team."
The Slytherin trio walks away, laughing viciously. The Gryffindors just stare at Harry. "Are you mad?" Hermione's voice is barely audible.
"You're the one who made the bet!" Ron snaps. "What were you thinking?"
Hermione's close to tears. Ginny glares at her brother. "Back off. You weren't doing anything to help the situation."
"All of you, calm down," Daniel shakes his head. "You silly Brits worry way too much. We're going to win. We have more to fight for than those clowns."
"You're going to help us?" Harry asks. "If I lose, you'll automatically get the Seeker position for the tournament."
Daniel smiles. "And I'll earn that position, thank you very much. Not going to let you ruin my chance to show off!"
"What do we do?" Johnny asks.
Daniel looks at Harry. "You mind if I take over? After all, my job is making up strategies."
"Be my guest!" Harry says, happy with how confident the Americans are.
Daniel nods. "Right. Harry, you're Seeker. You have to be, since you're defending your place. Colby, you be Keeper. We don't want Weasley getting hurt because those clumsy goons can't keep their wits on a broom. Johnny, you have to be Beater and Chaser. You can handle that after your accident?" he looks pointedly at Hermione.
"Let me at them, chief," Johnny says. She cracks her knuckles.
"Ron, you give Hermione the play by play and Hermione can play referee. Everyone here knows you won't cheat. Don't really know how to, by the looks of it," Daniel says. "Ginny, you can be a cheerleader with me."
"Ready, yet?" Draco calls. He has already gotten the Quidditch balls and is waiting to release them himself.
Colby grabs Draco by the back of the robe and lifts him up easily. Crabbe and Goyle make a move to help him but Daniel stands in their way. "Hermione releases the box. She's ref."
Draco looks at Hermione questioningly. Then, he shrugs. "It'll make your defeat that much sweeter when it's called by a member of your own house."
Harry and Draco glare at each other. They soar into the air, followed by their fellow teammates. Hermione looks nervously at the rest of them before releasing the balls.
In a flash, the Quidditch players move. Goyle and Crabbe, not being on any team and therefore having very little practice, lurch around clumsily on their brooms. But Draco more than makes up for their awkwardness as he zooms around, searching anxiously for the Golden Snitch.
Since the teams are condensed compared to an actual game, there is only one Bludger loose. One Bludger is more than a handful, nonetheless, for Johnny and Crabbe, who are trying to get the Quaffle through the goals as well as defend their Seekers.
Colby is watching anxiously from his position at the goal posts. He sees Crabbe shooting toward him, Quaffle in one hand and his bat in the other. Rather than keeping his eyes on the goal, however, he is looking around for the Bludger.
The Bludger is chasing Harry around. Johnny is chasing after the Bludger and finally knocks it away from him. It soars through the air and hits Crabbe, who drops the Quaffle.
"Foul!" Draco snarls.
"Keep your eye out for the Snitch, Malfoy!" Daniel calls from the ground. "There are no fouls in this little game."
A twisted smile forms on Draco's face as he continues to scan the sky for the Snitch. He sees that Harry is doing his best to help his team as well as look for the Snitch. That gives him an advantage since he doesn't care whether Crabbe or Goyle get hurt or not.
Crabbe gets the Quaffle and makes another move for the goal. Harry sees him and, still watching for the Snitch, moves to ram him off course. They collide and start to fall, tangled up in each other.
"Harry!" the ground crowd shouts, afraid that Crabbe's going to hurt Harry by holding on to him until the very end.
Johnny flies to the rescue, grabbing Harry by the back of his robe and yanking him out of Crabbe's grip. Harry readjusts his broom and heads for the sky again. "Thanks!"
"My pleasure, partner!" Johnny shouts. She takes the abandoned Quaffle and scores an easy goal. Goyle is nowhere near fast enough to defend it.
"Blast it, Goyle!" Draco screams. "Open your eyes!"
Ginny gasps and points up. Daniel follows her gaze and grins. "That jerk should heed his own advice. The Snitch just shot by his head and he didn't notice!"
Crabbe has gotten up again and is slowly mounting his broom. He grabs his bat and looks for the Bludger, which is heading for Goyle this time. He gets up and looks around, smiling maliciously. He flies after the Bludger and hits it as hard as he can toward the ground.
"Hermione, look out!" Ron shouts. He leaps for Hermione and knocks her out of the way. The Bludger hits him in the nose and he shouts out in pain.
"Ron!" Hermione and Ginny cry. They rush to his side as the Bludger takes to the air again.
Ron gets up and wipes the blood away from his nose. "No need to worry about me. I'm fine."
"Ginny, get him to Madame Pomfrey," Daniel says. "No use making any more targets for those rascals than we need to."
Ginny nods reluctantly, hating to leave the most exciting non-game of Quidditch she's ever seen. She starts to walk away when she sees Hagrid storming toward them with Mr. Filch at his heels. "A' right, a' right! Tha's enough! Get down from those brooms this instant!"
Hagrid seldom raises his voice so when they hear him shout, each and every player, including the Slytherins who claim to be afraid of nothing, immediately land and stand by their brooms.
"You're all in big trouble now, mark my words. You'll all be expelled!" Mr. Filch says gleefully.
"Tha's enough outta you, too, Filch," Hagrid barks. He glares at the students. "What is goin' on here? What happened the Ron's nose?"
"Caught in the crossfire, Hagrid. Nothing to worry about," Ron says through the gushing blood.
Hagrid shakes his heads. "Ten points from each o' yer houses. An' yer lucky I don't report yeh ter Dumbledore! Times are dangerous enough as it is without yeh kids tryin' ter break yer necks without a teacher here ter make sure yer safe!"
"Dangerous?" Daniel asks. "What's going on?"
"Nothing that should be troubling you kids," Filch says quickly, shooting Hagrid an angry look. "Put those brooms away and get back to the castle, immediately!" he glances toward the Forbidden Forest to the east of them uneasily before hobbling back toward the school himself.
The Slytherins and Gryffindors stare hard at each other. They dare not say anything with Hagrid there so they all start heading toward the broom shed. There, they get into the battle. "Since Johnny scored a goal, we obviously win," Daniel was saying.
"Not bloody likely," Draco counters. "No one caught the Snitch. The game isn't over."
"The game is over," Hermione says hotly. "I will not risk our privilege to attend this school over a Quidditch match."
"Then no one won," Colby says tentatively. The others look at him. "This was stupid anyway. We could've gotten hurt and for what? For Draco to stop being a lousy person and for Harry to stop playing Quidditch? I don't go to this school and I know it wouldn't feel right if either of those things happened."
Colby walks away from them all. They are all silent. Finally, Ron says: "Maybe he catches on a lot better than any of us want to think."
