Chapter 7: Mixed Troubles(Extended)

"It's the sack you put all the balls the person caught in. There's more than ten balls in that sack. There's fourty so far, ten for four players. Switch sacks with me for fourty more balls after four people have gone through."

"Okay."

"Good."

"We're not using any of the real balls, are we, Wood?"

"Only the Bludgers. And we're using some from some of the student's personal sets, plus one bat from George's set."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Well, I got to be going." Then he left to talk to the rest of the team. Harry mounted his broom and set off with the bag of balls. He reached the spot and saw everyone heading off to their normal positions, except for Angel, who was heading off with Fred and George, and Hannah, who was flying towards Harry.

"I'm mad at you right now." Hannah said when she had finally reached him.

"Why?"

"Because this course is dangerous. Look at pour Ron." Harry looked over at Ron and at the moment he was anything but pour. He looked like he was doing pretty well. It was Hermione he was worried about.

"Let's just get this over with."

"Fine." Harry started throwing each ball into the air. He just relized that his sister could easily take his place as Seeker. Before Harry knew it, he had thrown all ten balls, and Hannah hadn't missed a single one, catching them all with ease.

"Wow, Hannah, you're really good." Harry said, amazed.

"I know. Thanks." Hannah said before flying down to Wood, waiting for the rest of the team to finish up their part of the course. Harry flew around for a while and was greeted by Angel after about two minutes.

"Hi, Harry." She said, glaring at him.

"Look, I am not cheating on Ginny with Hermione!"

"Sure your not." Angel said in a disbelieving tone. Harry open his mouth to protest but Angel cut him off. "Just throw the stupid balls, okay?"

"Fine." Harry started throwing the balls alright. He started throwing them as hard as he could, so Angel had to race to catch them. Finally, Harry had thrown all ten balls, and Angel and had only missed one. "You're good."

"I know." Angel said, still glaring at Harry. "Listen, I've got to go see Wood now. We're supposed to check in with him when we're done. Bye." Then she flew off and Harry found himself all alone again.The next person to come up was Fred.

"Hiya, Harry. You look really bored." Fred said, looking at Harry couriosly.

"I am. And I'm tired." Harry said, yawning.

"I can tell. How about this, we don't even do anything and we tell Wood that I caught all the balls, eh?"

"Nice try, Fred." Harry said, smiling. "But you have to try to do this part of the course like everyone else."

"But, Harry, I'm no good at catching things, only beating them around!"

"To bad, so sad."

Fred started glaring at Harry. "Is this for kissing Hermione, your girlfriend?"

"Hermione is not my girlfriend! Ginny is!"

"I know Ginny's your girlfriend. But you're cheating on her with Hermione!"

"I am not!" Harry yelled, charging toward Fred. Fred charged back and they started trying to make eachother fall off their brooms.

"Harry! Fred! Stop that!" George called from the Beaters' station. Harry flew away from Fred and Fred did the same. Harry picked up a ball from out of the sack and threw it as hard as he could into the air. Much to his and Fred's suprise, it flew to the other side of the feild, and Fred raced it and caught it with some difficulty.

"Nice throw, Harry." Fred said, handing him the ball.

"Thanks. Nice catch." Harry said, smiling at Fred.

"Thanks. Are we cool now?"

"I guess so. Here, see if you can catch this one." Harry said, throwing another ball that flew to the other side of the feild. Fred raced the ball and caught it, in Harry's opinion, with ease. They kept on doing this for all the balls, laughing and joking around, until, to their displeasure, they ran out of balls.

"That was the funnest I've had all day!" Fred laughed, giving Harry the tenth and final ball.

"You didn't miss a single ball! And you said you weren't good!" Harry called after him as he flew down to Wood. Fred stopped in mid - air and looked up at Harry.

"Guess I was wrong! Thanks, Harry! I did well because of you!" Fred called up.

"You caught them, not me!" Harry said as he saw George flying towards him fron where Wood stood. "Hey, George."

"You and Fred okay? You nearly knocked eachother off your brooms earlier!" George laughed.

"We were trying to. But yeah, we're okay." Harry laughed. They got straight sown to buisness after that. By the time they were done, there were only two balls on the ground that George didn't catch. The limit.

"That was close. I almost dropped that last one." George said, laughing slightly.

"Yeah. Close. Right." Harry said, distracked. Ron and Hannah were down on the ground near Wood. Flirting. Wood looked at Harry. He must've seen the fire in Harry's eyes because he called George and Harry down.

"Okay. Um . . . Harry, here's your new sack over balls." Wood said, handing Harry a new sack. "Ron - First Beater . . . " Wood read off of a sheet of paper. " . . . Hermione - Second Beater, Andrew - Third Beater, Angelina - Seeker, George - Keeper, Fred - First Chaser, Angel - Second Chaser, Hannah - Third Chaser. Okay, everyone off into their places!" Everyone left to go to their places, and Harry and Angelina left together. Harry got really bored when he was working with Angelina and then Andrew. Both of them missed one ball, it took both of them the same exsact amount of time for everything. To catch each ball, to get done with the course, and so on. And plus, Harry didn't really know them, so he couldn't talk to either of them about anything. Harry was only too happy when it was Hermione's turn to work on this part of the course.

"Hi, Harry." Hermione said tonelessly, like she didn't even realize that it was Harry she was talking to and not same brainless git. That was weird. She never acted that way around him before.

"Hermione, is something wrong?" Harry asked, confused. Hermione looked at him in shock.

"Of course there's something wrong! You agreed to kick people off the team, Harry! Everyone knows that Wood's crazy when it comes to Gryffindor winning!" Hermione yelled, her eyes wide with anger.

"Shesh, Mione. Don't have a cow." Harry said, laughing.

"Don't 'Mione' me, you worthless bastard!" Hermione screamed. Harry flew backwards at Hermione's words. She had never talked to him like that before. What was up with her? "What? You don't think I don't know what you're saying about us? That I'm helping you cheat on Ginny?"

"I didn't start that rumor! I've been trying to stop it! I love Ginny! I would never do anything to hurt her! I thought you knew that!" Harry yelled, his eyes growing teary.

"I do. I'm sorry, Harry. I don't know what came over me." Hermione said, starting to cry.

"Mione, don't cry!" Harry said, flying over to her and hugging her. "It's okay. I was upset when I heard the rumor too."

"I'm okay. Just throw the balls." Harry threw a ball and Hermione caught it with ease. She stopped in front of him before giving him the ball. "Are you mad at me for being with Fred, Harry?"

"No. Why would I be?"

"I don't know. Because he's Ron's older brother and he's two years older than us."

"First of all, I think Ron would be mad because of that first statement, not me." They both laughed at this statement. Harry was still laughing when he spoke next. "And second of all, if you truely love someone, the age difference shouldn't matter."

"Yeah. You're right , Harry. Like always." Hermione smiled.

"Do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Truely love Fred?"

"Throw a few more balls and I might just tell you the answer to that!" Hermione laughed. Harry threw three more balls and again. Hermione caught them with ease.

"Are you going to tell me now?"

"Fine. Yes, I love Fred. He's wonderful. He's funny. He has great style. He -"

"I think I got the point."

"Okay. Sorry. But just throw some more balls! Okay?" Hermione laughed.

"Okay." Harry laughed. Before they knew it, all ten of Hermione's balls were thrown. Harry was kind of sad that he couldn't hang out with her anymore but was still looking forward to hanging out with Ron. He was the next person to go through the Seeker course and also the last one.

"I only missed one." Hermione said, giving Harry the last ball. "Wow. But I bet if you went through this course, that you wouldn't miss any balls."

"You're probably right." Harry said, laughing. Hermione shook her head while laughing, then flew off. Harry looked down at Wood and saw Ron smiling up at him. Harry smiled back and looked over at Wood. He didn't look happy. He was yelling at Andrew for some reason. Intresting. Andrew looked really upset. Maybe he didn't pass a course? He was just doing the Keeper part of the course. Maybe he let the Chasers score too much? It was a possibility. Harry looked over at Hogwarts and saw Lupin and Snuffles heading towards the feild. He looked down at Wood again and saw he was alone.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Came a voice from his left. Harry turned around and saw Ron smirking at him.

"Um . . . ." Harry traileed off. Ron shook his head and looked over at Hannah. She was doing her last Beater part of the course. She didn't look like she was having fun. Harry looked back at Ron and saw that he was bleeding. "Ron, what happened?"

"Oh." Ron said, touching a cut on his head. "I was beating off a Bludger that was heading towards Hannah and I didn't see a different one that was heading my way." Ron laughed.

"I ment your ear." Harry said, laughing at Ron.

"Oh. I got hit with a Buldger that Hermione hit my way two courses ago. You should have seen her after that. It was really funny." Ron put on a high voice that was most likely supposed to be Hermione's. " 'Oh, Ron! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! I'm so sorry!' Hannah was laughing her head off, though!" Ron and Harry started laughing.

"Are you okay, Ron?" Harry asked, still laughing but truely and deeply concerned.

"I'm fine. Just throw some of those balls around." Harry laughed and threw a ball that went a lot farther than any other that day. Ron raced to catch it. Ron caught it, but, oh no, he dropped it. Ron raced the ball down and caught it just before it hit the ground.

"Ron!" Harry yelled as Ron flew back up to him. Ron stopped in front of him and handed Harry the ball. "I'm so sorry!"

"Sorry? That was a wicked throw!" Ron laughed but Harry still wasn't happy. Ron could of gotten seriously hurt. "I'm okay, Harry, don't worry. Just throw another ball, just not as hard." They laughed and Harry threw another ball. It didn't go very far and it seemed like Ron wasn't very happy about that. "You can throw harder than that!" Harry threw the next ball harder than the last but softer than the one before that. "That was perfect, Harry!" Ron called as he flew up to him. "Throw all the balls like that!"

"Okay!" Harry laughed.

Ron gave him the ball and stared at Harry. "Is something bugging you, mate? You look kind of distant."

"What? Oh. N - no. I'm fine."

"Sure you are . . ." Ron smiled at Harry. "C'mon, Harry. I'm supposed to be your best friend! Tell me what's wrong!"

"Ron, I'm fine. Really." Harry added at the unconvinced look on Ron's face.

"I don't believe you . . . " Ron said, staring uncertainly at Harry.

"I said I'm fine, okay? Back off!" Harry yelled. Why couldn't Ron keep out of things that didn't invovle him? He didn't usually act this way.

"Fine!" Ron yelled back. "Just throw the stupid balls!"

"Fine!" Harry threw a ball and suprisingly, he didn't throw it hard. He threw the perfect throw. Even if he was mad at Ron. When got mad at Angel and Fred, he threw the ball as hard as he could. Wonder what's different with Ron? 'He's my best friend.' Harry thought. 'And he's just trying to look out for me.'

"Great." Harry muttered to himself as Ron was flying back towards him. "Now Ron's mad at me for the second time this year! And it's not even December yet!"

"Harry . . . " Ron trailed off. Harry noticed Ron was going to appoligize for butting in. Oh no. He can't. 'Not when it was my fault.'

"Ron -"

"No, Harry. Let me speak first."

"So, Ron. Let me speak first." Ron opened his mouth in protest, but Harry cut him off. "Ron, I'm the one who should be apoligizing here, not you. I didn't mean to snap at you. I just have a lot of things on my mind right now."

"And I'm here to help with that. Harry, I'm your best friend, you can come to me with stuff."

"Not with this. You'd freak."

"Try me."

"I heard something about Ginny." Harry could feel tears stinging his eyes.

"What'd you hear, Harry? You can tell me."

"I heard that she . . . that she . . ." Harry felt a tear trinkle down his cheek. He couldn't say it. If he told Ron, Harry would for sure burst out crying.

"Harry, tell me what's wrong." Ron said, flying over to him.

"Later." Harry said, picking out another ball from the sack and throwing it.

"Okay." Ron said, racing after the ball. They went through their last balls in silence. Although Ron kept looking at Harry uncertainly, like he was going to start crying at any moment.

Finally, to Harry's great pleasure, they were done and got to fly back down to Wood.

"Harry, I need to talk to you." Wood said, leading Harry away from the rest of the group. "It's about Ron."

"What is it?"

"He didn't pass the Beater section. It's up to you if you want to kick him off, because I know he's your best friend."

"Why didn't he pass?"

"He had a Bludger hit him on the side of his head on in the face."

"Those weren't his fault! He got hit in the face because he was saving my sister from a Bludger! You know they're dating! And for the one on the side of his head, Hermione hit that towards him! Not on purpose, of course . . . "

"See? You're sticking up for him! That's why I'm leaving this decision to you! As for Andrew, he has to go. I already told him he was getting kicked of . . . "

"Why?"

"He didn't save enough Quaffles in the Keeper course."

"Oh. What about the Chaser section?"

"Fred kept on saving his goals."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Let's go back now." They walked over to the group and Ron immediatly ran up to Harry. He was going to say something, but Wood cut him off. "You all have made it exsept for Andrew, who is getting kicked off the team, and someone that Potter has to choose if they're getting kicked off."

"Who?" George asked, panicked.

"It's not you, George. Though it is one of your brothers." Fred started panicking at this. "And, George, he doesn't look like you."

"Me?" Ron asked. George and Fred stepped up to Wood with anger on their faces.

"Yes, it's you, Ron. Harry gets to decide if you are to get kicked off because you're his best friend. So it's all up to Potter if you're playing Keeper in the next game, or sitting in the stands cheering your team on." Wood left at this statement. Ron stared at Harry, and Harry stared at his feet. This was too much presure. How was he going to decide? Ron was his best friend, but he also told Wood that anyone who didn't pass the course was going to get kicked off the team.

"Harry?" Hannah asked, walking over to Harry. "What are you going to do?"

Harry's knee's gave away and he fell on the ground. He tried to sit up, but he felt too dizzy.

"Harry!" Ron said, trying to help him up. "Are you okay?"

Harry finally made it up with the help of Ron, but his stomach was doing flip - flops, and he felt horrible.

"Harry! You don't look so good!" Ron panicked. Harry turned around so that his back was facing eaveryone and threw - up. "Harry!" Ron yelled, grossed out and still panicking.

"Let's get him to Madam Pomfrey." Hermione said, helping Harry walk.

"What's wrong with him?" Hannah asked, concern in her voice.

"I'm guessing it's the presure of deciding whether his best friend is going to stay on the team or not."

"And he was going to tell me something that's been making him upset lately." Ron said. He looked Harry in the face.

"What was he going to tell you?" Hannah asked, confused. She acted like a blonde, even though her hair was black.

"I don't know! He never told me!" Ron yelled, annoyed.

"Sor - ry!" Hannah yelled.

"Stop fighting!" Hermione yelled at them. "Can't you two see that Harry is sick?"

Harry nudged Hermione's arm off and fell to the ground. Hermione tried to pick him back up, but he nudged her off again. "I'm fine."

"No you're not, Harry." Hermione said, going to pick him up again.

"Yes, I am! I'm fine!" Harry yelled, helping himself up. He walked up to the steps of the school and sat down. He wasn't fine. He felt horrible. It was either Ron, or the team.