A/N: Okay, so you're all probably going to kill me, if there are any of you left (*snort*) but it's not my fault I haven't gotten to write or update or write or – err… just don't kill me, okay? Oy, and who else thought that the whole scene of Snape's childhood with Lily and James and Sirius and all in it was just a tad bit too fic-y? It seriously freaked me out… it was a lot like fics I'd read (sadly not like anything I've written…*tear*) which made me think that either all the fanfic writers here are abnormally good at writing and guessing, or J.K. is losing her touch… By the way, I meant in OoP. No, I am not going crazy…

*

"So how'd the detention go?" Aurora asked, looking up at her best friend as she walked through the door.

"Don't ask… Or if you do, let me ask you something first… can I ask you something?" Ginny asked, looking about her a bit unsurely as she shut the door behind her.

"Assuming that that wasn't the only question you had in mind, I'm guessing I haven't got much of a choice, eh?" the girl asked with a sigh as she shut the book she had been reading.

Ginny shot Aurora a glare before jumping onto her friend's bed, making Aurora sit up with a squeal to avoid being squashed.

"I'll take that as a yes. What do you think about the Halloween dance Ron and Hermione were going to suggest at their next prefect meeting?" she asked in one breath, trying to sound as indifferent as possible.

"What dance…?"

"The dance!" she repeated, "Halloween – Masquerade – thingy!"

Aurora grinned, saying, "Oh, and why do you care so much, eh?"

"I don't," Ginny answered calmly, though a bit too quickly. "I just wanted to know what you thought.

"What do I think? I don't really care. I'll probably just go with…" she trailed off.

"Colin Creevey!" Ginny shrieked, and burst into a childish fit of giggles at the look of repulsion on her friend's face.

"Hell, no! Ugh, that's disgusting… You know, for a tomboy, you certainly have a very girlish way of laughing, at times. Either way, who would you go with? No one's ever asked you anything like that except Neville."

Ginny turned red, whether from embarrassment or anger Aurora couldn't tell. She nodded at her, refraining from commenting on how her face was very nearly the color of her hair.

"I am NOT going with Neville. Duh. I'm just… not going."

"Oh, honey…" Aurora soothed, ignoring Ginny's disgust at the word, "just because you don't think you can get Harry?"

"THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HARRY, DAMN IT!" Ginny yelled, jumping off the bed.

"Erm… Ginny, what is this about?"

Ginny took a deep breath to calm down, before collapsing on her own bed with a groan.

"I really don't know. I'm sure there was something I had in mind. I've only just forgotten it." She sighed. "Maybe I really would be a good match for Neville…"

"Ginny, really now…"

"Really now what –"

"Ginny, I don't think you ever quite said exactly what and how you… err… feel for Harry?" she asked cautiously.

"Shut up about him already…" Ginny said with yet another groan as she hid under the covers, burying her face in the pillow.

Aurora shrugged, putting away her book as she too slipped into bed, hearing a much muffled 'Good Night' as she switched off her reading lamp.

*

Ron was pacing the Gryffindor Common Room in front of the fireplace. The hem of his robes twitched every time he turned, making Hermione finally reprimand him.

"Really, Ron, your robes are going to catch any second1 Please stop pacing like that. You'll wear a hole in the carpet in a moment."

Ron scowled at her, nevertheless doing as he was told. If he didn't know any better, he'd say being made prefect had made Hermione bossier than ever. Then again, maybe he did know better, and she still was bossier. He wouldn't put it past her.

"Yeah, yeah… Damn it, where's Harry? He should have finished practice by now…"

"He probably stayed after. You know him. Or else maybe he's in the library or some such thing…" Hermione suggested with a shrug.

"Wishful thinking," Ron snorted. "But sure, any reason's better than none."

"Are you – worried…?" Hermione asked as Ron started pacing again.

"No… maybe… not really… Oh, I suppose so." He mumbled with a shrug.

Hermione raised an eyebrow as her nose twitched in annoyance. It was rather a thing of hers lately, as Ron had now noticed. At least now he had a warning if he was crossing into the danger zone.

"So that's a yes, then?"

"Eh, sure, whatever you want it to be… Can we just get back to History of Magic already?" he asked, sighing exasperatedly as he finally sat down in the great red armchair, much to Hermione's relief.

"I thought I'd never see the day…" she said with a smile as she rolled her eyes.

At that moment, the portrait hole opened. Ron instinctively looked up, expecting to see Harry emerge any second. Instead, it was the twins.

"Hallo, what are you two doing?" Fred asked, running a hand through his wet, red hair.

"You two are soaked through!" Hermione observed.

"Thanks, we noticed," George said shortly.

"To answer your question, we're studying, believe it or not."

"Why?" the twins asked in unison.

"I mean, haven't you anything better to do?" Fred continued with a wink.

"Hermione glared and chucked her copy of A History of Magic at him as she got to her feet .She mumbled a quick goodnight to Ron, and muttering something about how sleazy seventeen-year-old boys could be, she climbed up the stairs to her dorm. Downstairs, the three boys heard the final slam of the door. Immediately, George took her vacated seat and leaned forward to speak.

"Okay, now that she's gone, why aren't you –"

"Or why weren't you rather –" Fred cut in.

"Down at the pitch, like, an hour ago?" George continued.

Ron simply blinked at the two of them. Fred waved a hand in front of his face, making him flinch.

"Pitch? The Quidditch Pitch? Err, maybe because – well, news flash! – I'm not on the team! And I never have been. What's wrong with you two?"

"You are now," Fred stated with a shrug, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Well, probably. We need a Keeper. It's either you or, well…"

"ME? On the team? You're joking, right?"

 George shook his head. "Nope, no joke. Not this time, anyhow. You're not necessarily on the team, though. You or Ginny, anyway…"

"Right, something about Weasleys having it in their blood to play Quidditch, according to Angelina…" Fred said with a hint of skepticism.

Ron blinked again, this time accompanying it with a scratch of his head. He opened his mouth to speak, and then shut it again.

"Hurry up and say what it is you have to say and then we're dragging you down there whether you like it or not."

"I'm the one who got hit in the face with the broomstick on my first attempt at flying, first year. And you want me to be your Keeper."

"We don't, you git. Angelina does. She's captain. She calls the shots." George said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Well, unless Harry does instead… He's pretty much the co-captain…" Fred added, not without a mild note of disapproval in his voice.

"And I didn't know all this – why, exactly?"

"Harry was meant to tell you right before practice. No one else was meant to know. And Ginny was to come down next practice. Y'know, to see who was better. Harry didn't really want you both there together. In fact I don't think –" Fred paused, glancing at George.

"No, he wasn't meant to know about Ginny. No matter – he would have eventually… it's not like he's got any talent. It's only because of Angel –"

"I think I'm experiencing a brain overload," Ron interrupted with a groan. "My brain certainly hurts…"

"Well if that's all you've got to say…"

"I'm not going, George," Ron said sharply.

Both pairs of twin blue eyes widened. Fred grabbed Ron's arm, yanking him to his feet. George stood too, smacking his younger brother upside the head as he did so, smirking in satisfaction at the volume of Ron's yelp of surprise.

"Are you crazy?" George exclaimed.

Ron merely shrugged. He began gathering together his books, walking past the twins to pick up Hermione's textbook from where it lay on the floor. By now, there was no one else left in the room. All three Weasleys were secretly thankful.

"Maybe, or maybe I'm just tired. It's too late to practice out in the rain… and the dark…" he said blankly. That and I don't much want to join the team, he thought.

"I think you're spending too much time with Hermione. You're starting to sound creepily like her."

"Shut it, Fred."

"Why is everything my fault?" he asked scowling.

"What's your fault?"

The three redheads turned towards the voice at the portrait hole.

"Harry, what took you so long?" George questioned.

"Angelina…" Harry grumbled in reply. "And waiting for you, too, by the way... I had half a mind to come up and get Ginny instead of waiting for you, and so I wouldn't have to listen to Angelina taking it all out on me."

"Look, Harry, I can't be on the team," Ron began, before either of the twins could cut in. "I'll – I'll – I'll ruin your chances of a winning streak as far as the Cup goes."

"Ron, give it a rest. I don't have time to discuss this now… sorry. Angelina's taken care of that."

And with that, Harry ran up the stairs, going two at a time as was a new thing of his, to the fifth year boys' dorm. Ron shook his head, shrugging at the twins before following his friend up.

"Fifth years have problems," Fred said, shaking his head.

"Dolt, we were fifth years too, just a couple of years ago," George said, smirking.

"Yeah, I know," Fred said with a grin. "We had problems too. Only, we still have them."

*

"Ginny! Honestly, don't do this to me again!" Rory yelled at her neighbor.

"Five more minutes, Mum… Ginny needs sleep."

Rory's nose twitched. It was a habit of hers whenever she was annoyed, and it often reminded Ginny of a rabbit. Now, though, since the latter was asleep, no snide comments were made.

"Ginny," tried Aurora again, "don't you want to wake up and say hi to Harry, here?" she cooed.

One of Ginny's eyes flickered open. Her lips were curled into a thoughtful frown as she sat up.

"I'm not a prat. You can shut up now…" Ginny stated shortly. Yet there was something about the look in her eye that Aurora felt like starting on an endless rant of questions. The girl kept her head, though, and slung her book bag over her shoulder and walked out.

Something had come to Ginny in the few nose-twitching moments between Aurora's attempts at waking her. Something that Ginny thought she could use… Something that would help her – and hopefully, everyone else…

And yet it was something dreadful. As soon as the door shut behind her friend, Ginny's frown grew more worried and pronounced than ever. Ginny had a hunch, yet to share it with Ron, Hermione, and Harry – because of course that would be the only thing to do about it – would be difficult. Yet she had to try.

This thought haunted her as she joined Aurora, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and – to her slight annoyance – Neville for breakfast. She couldn't say anything in front of him. And yet, the silence that morning was so unbearable, that Ginny could hardly restrain herself from shouting out to everyone in the Great Hall.

"So," she said, taking a stab at conversation, though noticing that Aurora, who kept shooting curious glances her way, seemed to be the only one who had noticed her presence, "how 's the whole – erm – prefect thing going?"

Hermione looked up at her, and Ginny let out a sigh of relief. At least now she knew she wasn't invisible. She had had doubts as to whether or not Aurora had been looking straight through her to Neville, and silly as the thought was, it was rather disturbing.

"Alright, I suppose," Hermione said blandly. "We haven't had anything very important to do, though. Just attending meetings…"

"It sucks," Ron said, "such a waste of time. Now I'm actually expected to behave…" he grumbled, stabbing his toast with the butter knife.

All eyes turned automatically to Harry. His eyes met Ginny's and he blinked at her.

"What? I'm not a prefect. Why're you all looking at me?"

Ginny blushed embarrassedly, now staring at her half-eaten sausage as the silence ensued. It would take some getting used to, the fact that Ron was a prefect and Harry wasn't.

"Sorry for trying to make conversation…" she muttered.

Harry sighed and put down his fork. He glanced from Ron to Ginny, and muttered a quick, "Eh, don't worry about it. It's not your fault I had no sleep last night; it's Ron's." All eyes were back on Harry in a flash. "It's true," he went on, now turning to face his friend. "If you had showed up last night, Angelina wouldn't have –"

"Me?" Ron broke in. "You're blaming me for your stupid Quidditch issues?"

Harry ignored him, turning back to Ginny. "Do you want to be our new Keeper? Wood's gone, so we're a player short. It was going to be either you or Ron. And since your brother is being incompetent…"

"I am NOT incompetent!" Ron yelled, standing up.

Ginny eyes grew wide. "Keeper?" she squeaked. "Me?" She looked from Harry to Ron, chewing her lip. Ginny knew Ron well, better than Harry or Hermione did. Hell, he was her brother, just a year older than her. And she knew for a fact that being on the Quidditch team had been a dream of his ever since Fred and George got on as Beaters. He had experienced having his ego crushed several times before, and it had made him very much unconfident. Yet Ginny knew that if she was to accept Harry's offer, and be the new Gryffindor Keeper, it would break Ron forever. Ron had already broken once, last year, when Harry became the fourth champion. Ginny hated to see what it would be like a second time.

And so, she answered, "Do I have to be Keeper? Next year, you'll need recruits for all the positions – except for Keeper and Seeker, I mean. Can't I try out for another? I could be a – a reserve. Wasn't Katie one some four or five years ago? That way you can have Ron and me. And you won't have to thieve out a bunch of new players next year."

Ron looked at Ginny, who looked back. His mouth twitched briefly into a smile for his sister, before he sat down and resumed breakfast where he had left off. Harry, on the other hand, was deep in thought.

"Put both of you on the team? I don't know. Angelina only wanted one of you for now. But her reason was because she said it was Weasley blood that the team needed. Did your dad or mom ever play Quidditch?" Harry asked.

"No," brother and sister answered together.

"But there was that uncle… or was he a cousin?" Ginny continued.

"I think it was Dad's second cousin. Y'know, the one Uncle Bill always made fun of," Ron clarified.

"Yeah, well him – he was a Gryffindor something or other… I mean he played on the team, but I'm not sure which position."

"I was just asking. I don't really need a full family tree of Quidditch players, here…" Harry said.

"Well, if we're done with the Quidditch talk, can we please go to class?" Hermione broke in finally.

Ron looked up at her with a grin. "You will never understand the importance of sports, will you?"

*

A/N: Probably the most pointless chapter I've ever written. But r/r and then I guess I'll find out what you think.

Anyone have suggestions for how to continue this? I have an eventual plan, but 'eventual plans' usually only happen 'eventually' which tends to refer to 'much later'. And much later usually doesn't mean now. Usually, anyway…

If you have ideas, include them in your review.