24. Tutoring and Quidditch

Hermione Granger entered the library and groaned inwardly.  Sean was there again!  She nodded stiffly at him and walked to her normal table, pulling out her books and parchment and quills, and arranging them to her specifications.  Ron was overly pleased with the Ravenclaw defeat and couldn't concentrate on her notes of the match.  Fortunately, Gryffindor wouldn't play either team until February, so there was no rush.  Rather than join in the mini-celebration, Hermione headed to the library for some peace and quiet, intending to review some of her notes for NEWTs and Defense Against the Dark Arts. 

The past two months were hard for Hermione.  Dumbledore had called her and Ron to his office soon after the term began and told them that he suspended all searches for Harry, saying "he will come back when he is ready."  Well, to quote Hagrid, Codswallop!  Someone needs to find Harry and knock some sense to him.  Does the old man seriously believe Harry can train himself to face Voldemort?  Hermione suspected there was more she was not being told, but there was little she could do about that.  Additionally, Dumbledore told her and Ron the disturbing news that somehow, Bellatrix Lestrange escaped Azkaban again.  Dumbledore knew Voldemort was involved, but wasn't sure how he managed it; he assured them that the Order and the Ministry have made finding Lestrange a top priority.  Hermione's saving grace was NEWTs.  It was strange, as most of her fellow seventh years would say that NEWTs are driving them crazy, but for Hermione, studying for NEWTs kept her sane, as she didn't have to think about Harry or Lestrange.  So, the library became her sanctuary from the rest of the world, as it had been for the previous six years. 

But now, like in fourth year when Victor followed her around, her haven was tainted.  She shouldn't have been surprised to find that transfer student there as well; he seemed to spend more time in the library then Hermione did!  Simply put, there was something about the new transfer student that bothered Hermione.  It started when he wouldn't even acknowledge her at the Welcome Feast.  Then, the next day he actually sat in Harry's seat!  Ron explained that he didn't know, but it still bothered her.  Then, he became Seeker.  For some reason, she was OK with Ginny being seeker, but the idea that Sean was Seeker upset her more than it should have.  It's not that he was unpleasant or mean; in fact, he became friends with the other Gryffindors surprisingly quickly, and many of the other girls seemed interested in him (though Hermione suspected that was because he was new and unknown).  He tried so hard to be friendly with her, but there was just something about him that she couldn't put her finger on.

Hermione turned her attention to her Defense homework.  It was one of those rare times when she was having trouble in class.  Sure, she was still getting high marks (she would be at the top of the class if not for that bloody Sean Harrington!), but it was difficult for her to perform the spells, and she had to put an inordinate number of hours studying for Defense compared to her other classes.  She wondered if her problems were because the spells they were covering required more innate ability then theoretical knowledge, or whether every time she was in Defense she thought of Harry and those DA meetings.

After an hour, Hermione was ready to give up.  The spells in question wouldn't be covered for another two weeks, anyways.  She packed up her books and spotted Sean as he scribbled away.  A wave of pity washed over her as she watched him.  Hermione knew he had performed well on his OWLs (he wouldn't say how well, but well enough to get into Hogwarts), but she heard that his old schools didn't prepare him as well for NEWTs.  He was woefully behind in many of his classes, and he only excelled in Defense.  Well, except for the Patronus charm.  She was initially surprised that he couldn't cast it properly, but then she remembered that he didn't have the benefit of Harry's tutoring like the others did.  Regardless, Sean spent every night in the library, even on days when he had Quidditch practice, and he was almost always there before Hermione got to the library, and almost always stayed after she left.  Hermione sighed; even though she disliked him, she knew as Head Girl she should try to help him.  Besides, she knew there was no good reason why she disliked him so, and maybe helping him could let her overcome it.  Hermione swung her bag over her shoulder and walked to Sean's table.

"Hi there," she said.

Sean looked up, surprised.  "er, Hi Hermione.  How are you?"

"Good," she said.  "Mind if I sit for a moment?"  Sean nodded dumbly, then waved at a chair across from him.  Hermione put her bag down on the table and did her best to smile at him.  "Listen, I know you're having problems with some of your subjects," she said kindly.  "Would you like some help?"

Sean stared at her a moment before recovering.  "I, er, well," he stammered.  He paused a moment, as if choosing his words carefully.  "I thought you hated me."

Hermione blinked.  Boy, this guy was blunt.  "I don't hate you.  I was just…upset that first morning.  But that was a long time ago," she said, trying to look sincere.

Sean looked at her doubtfully.  "I'm sorry for that.  I didn't know that was Harry's old seat-"

"Don't worry about it," Hermione said quickly.  "Ron explained.  So, what do you say?"

"Well, I'd love to have the help, but I'd feel bad.  I'm really behind in a lot of these classes, and I'm sure you have other things to do, especially since you're Head Girl."

Hermione thought a moment.  "How about we make a deal?  I'll help you with your subjects, and you help me with Defense?"

Sean laughed.  "Defense?  Hermione, you get top marks in that class.  You don't need any help, especially from someone who can't produce a Patronus."

Hermione couldn't help but smile at his self-deprecating humor.  "True, but I spend an awful lot of time studying to get those marks.  If you can help me with Defense and save me some time, I can spend that time with you, and we'll be even."

Sean visibly considered her offer.  Then he smiled at her, "it's a deal."

"Great!" she said, then looked thoughtful.  All of sudden, something about Sean seemed very familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it.  She voiced the question in her mind.  "I know this may sound strange, but have we met before?  You seem awfully familiar.

Sean looked very uncomfortable, and he seemed lost in thought for a moment.  Then his face brightened.  "Yeah, I think so.  I was in Diagon Alley one day last winter, and I think I ran into you outside of Flourish & Blott's."

Hermione thought hard, then remembered.  He was the one that she thought was Harry.  She blushed in embarrassment at the memory.  "Oh, right. Sure, I remember now," she said quickly.  "Anyways, what are you working?" she asked, indicating the pile of books in front of him.

"Potions," he said, and then moved his Potions textbook closer so Hermione could read it.  "It's this chapter.  I just can't get how burning the scales causes the potion to change to a yellow color," he said in obvious frustration.

Hermione looked at the text.  "Oh, it doesn't explain it well here, that's why.  We covered that last year, and I guess the book expects you to know it already."

Sean groaned.  "No wonder I can't understand half the things Snape says!"

Hermione placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.  "Don't worry Sean, we'll work it out together," she said with a genuine smile.  Sean smiled back, and together they began tackling Potions.

******************************

Two weeks later, Hermione met Sean in an unused classroom to study for Defense Against the Dark Arts.  They had been meeting twice a week - once for Hermione to help Sean, and the other time for Sean to help Hermione.  Today, they were working on a new spell taught in Defense class.  They quickly set the room up, conjuring tarps to protect the furniture from the spell they were working on.

Sean smiled at Hermione.  "Ok, we're doing the freezing spell.  Watch me," he said.  Then, pointing his wand at the far end of the classroom, he cried, "Glaciacio!"  A stream of white shot out of his wand and covered the wall in ice.  He looked at Hermione with a smile.  "Now you."

Hermione was nervous.  For some reason, she just couldn't master this spell.  She raised her wand at the wall and said "Glaciacio!"  But instead of a stream of ice, Hermione produced a shower of snowflakes that gently arced high into the air before falling gently to the floor.  She felt her cheeks blush.

Sean looked at the miniature snowfall and chuckled.  "Hermione, Christmas isn't for another month," he teased gently.

Hermione giggled, then turned on him in mock anger.  "Oh Yeah, Mr. Smarty-Pants?" she said, brandishing her wand at him.

Sean looked at her in alarm.  "Whoa, easy there, Head Girl.  No one has to get hurt.  Just put the wand down, slowly," he said with mock seriousness, a smile dancing in his eyes.

"Take that!" Hermione yelled.  "Glaciacio!" 

Sean ran from her, but in the closed classroom, all he could do is run around her.  Hermione directed a spray of snow in his direction as ran, and soon a circle of snow appeared around her.  Hermione finally stopped, collapsing in a fit of giggles.  She looked up at Sean, who was covered in a thick layer of flakes, preparing to apologize, when all of a sudden a handful of snow was thrust down her back. She shrieked and jumped up, shaking her robes a vain effort to get the snow out of her back while Sean sat at a desk and laughed.  After jumping around for a minute, Hermione settled down and fixed Sean with an eye.  He cringed under her glare, until she broke out laughing and he happily joined in.

As Hermione sat on the floor laughing, surrounded by snow, her back cold and wet, she realized this was her first real laugh in a long time; it felt good to laugh.  She looked at Sean fondly.  Over the past two weeks, they have grown much closer.  In addition to one-on-one tutoring sessions twice a week, they spent time together almost every day at Ron's daily Quidditch practices.  Although Hermione spent a lot of time research and developing plays with Ron, her role during the practices was limited to note taking, analysis, and post-practice critique.  That didn't keep her very busy during practices.  Likewise, as a Seeker, Sean didn't have to pay attention as much as the other members.  While the Chasers and Beaters practices the intricate plays that Ron and Hermione developed, all Sean had to do was find the Snitch and generally keep out of the way.  He had a few plays designed for him, distraction plays mostly, but otherwise he had some free time as the Ron would run the Chasers and Beaters through their paces.  During those free times, Sean often kept Hermione company, and their friendship grew.

Sean had quickly grown on her.  It was that same feeling that she had when they first talked in the library – he just seemed so familiar, so easy to talk too.  Although she and Ron were still best friends, it wasn't the same as when Harry was with them.  They both had their other friends and interests (Ron had his Quidditch, Hermione had her friends that she made late last year), and they simply didn't spend as much time together.  But Sean was a bridge between them; he was on the Quidditch team, and he was becoming closer to Hermione.  The two of them started spending more time with Sean and each other.  They weren't as close as they were with Harry though; Sean spent too much time in the library catching up.  But she often wondered how it would be if he didn't have to be in the library all the time.

Hermione felt all kinds of guilt about Sean, and she knew deep inside why: he reminded her of Harry.  She felt like she was betraying him.  What if Harry walked in the door right now?  Would he feel like they replaced him with Sean, not only on the Quidditch pitch but also as part of their friendship?  Would he be angry?  Would he resent them and hate Sean?  But she also felt bad for Sean.  Although, they've gotten to know each other better over the weeks, Hermione knew that if Harry appeared tomorrow and demanded that she completely ignore Sean, she would do so without a second thought.  And that made her a bad friend to Sean.  She shook her head of those thoughts as Sean walked to her and helped her to her feet.  They continued their lesson until Hermione was able to produce a steady stream of ice from her wand.

******************************

Sean's first Quidditch match arrived at the end of November.  They were playing Slytherin, and the stands were packed as usual for the heated rivalry.  Hermione was worried for Sean; she would have preferred that his first match be in a less hostile environment, where he could ease into the Hogwarts Quidditch season.  Instead, he was thrown into the crucible of a Gryffindor-Slytherin match.  Surprisingly, he seemed quite calm and was even able to eat breakfast the day of the match, something not even Ron could always accomplish.

"Oy! Sean, Hermione, let's go," Ron called out. The rest of the team was arrayed behind him.  Hermione nodded and collected her notes and playbook while Sean shoveled down last-minute bacon.  They followed Ron out to the Quidditch pitch and into the team locker room.  As the team sat, Hermione went over her scouting report (limited as Slytherin hasn't played yet, but still useful based on last year's performance), and then Ron went over the plays.  He gave a final, rousing pep talk, and the team was ready to go.  Hermione thought that Sean looked incredibly focused and very excited.  He had that same look in his eye that she'd seen countless times in Harry.

Hermione retreated to the stands as the teams were introduced, flying about the stadium.  She was close enough that she could see Sean's face, and it seemed to glow from pure exhilaration.  As they faced off with the Slytherin team, she was surprised to see a look of intense disgust as he faced opposite of the Slytherin Seeker, Draco Malfoy.  While Draco often inspired looks of disgust, Hermione didn't expect to see such loathing in Sean's face; she wouldn't have thought he had enough time to hate the Slytherin yet.  But one shouldn't underestimate Malfoy's ability to inspire hatred and disgust.

With a blow of a whistle, the Quaffle was released and play began in earnest. 

[A/N: blah blah, Quidditch stuff happens here]

All of a sudden, Hermione let out a loud gasp and clasped her hand over her mouth.  From high above the stadium, Sean suddenly fell into a steep, almost vertical dive, heading directly for the ground.  Malfoy was nearby, and immediately followed him, his superior broom covering the ground quickly.  But Sean somehow managed to squeeze every 28.3 grams (A/N: an ounce to us Americans) of speed from his broom and maintained a small lead.  Too quickly, they were approaching the ground at breathtaking speed.  Seconds later, Malfoy pulled up and hovered, waiting to see which direction the Snitch would take.  Sean, however, continued his dive, picking up more speed if possible.  Hermione silently pleaded for him to pull up, but he didn't.  Every eye in the stadium turned to watch in that split second, as Sean tried to pull up before slamming into the ground.  He partially succeeded, but the tail of his broom hit the ground, and he went flying in one direction while his broom flipped end-over-end in another.  Sean hit the ground hard and rolled, until his limp body finally skidded to a stop, unmoving.  However, the game played on while Madams Pomfrey and Hooch rushed in his direction.  Before they reached him though, Sean raised his right arm slowly, the Snitch firmly clasped in his hand.  The stands erupted in a thunderous cheer, and Madam Hooch blew the whistle, ending the game with a Gryffindor victory.  Hermione let out a deep breath that she didn't even remember holding, and then rushed to the pitch to make sure Sean was OK.  As she ran, she suddenly felt like she'd done this before.