Chapter Six:
And the captain is.
-'NOOOOOOO!!!!!' --"HARRY!"
He awoke with a jolt. Harry had once again been dreaming of Sirius, and wondered if he would ever be able to cope with losing his godfather. He rolled out of bed and looked out the window.
The sun was just peeking out from the horizon. It was probably somewhere around 6:30 a.m. Harry walked over to the windowsill and looked out over the grounds. He watched the sun rise for at least another fifteen minutes, thinking of his lost godfather, and then decided to head to the Hall for breakfast.
Harry was walking down the stairs, when he heard a noise from the common room. He sped up to investigate, but when he got there, there was no one in sight. Confused, Harry looked around the room. His gaze landed upon the fireplace. The fireplace. How many times had he communicated with Sirius via that grate? His head spun at the thought that his godfather's head had been situated there not that long ago. He stared into the back of the logs, only realizing there was nothing to see when another noise broke him from his concentration.
He spun around, looking for the culprit. But he could find no one. Incredibly annoyed, Harry started towards the portrait hole to go and eat.
Harry had been sitting at the table for over half an hour before anyone he knew entered the Great Hall. First came Neville and Dean, and then a couple of Ravenclaw first years. Finally, one of his own people came through the giant double doors.
Hermione saw him and hurried over.
"Good morning," she said. "What's for breakfast?"
"The usual," Harry replied.
Hermione looked at the spread, and after a lengthy consideration, she picked two eggs off of a plate and started to salt them.
"Well, I was talking to Ginny last night."
Harry looked up at her at once and saw that she knew. Hermione hadn't actually spoken with Ginny, and even if she had, she would have already known about the two of them.
"Yeah?" he said, "What'd she say?"
Hermione was half-glad that he was playing along, even though things would have been much easier if he just admitted his feelings.
"She really rates you, you know," said Hermione.
"Really," mumbled Harry. Of course he loved hearing that Ginny was taken with him, but didn't he already know that?
Hermione was at a loss. She had thought it would have a lot easier to talk to Harry about this.
Harry saw his friend looking slightly discouraged, and said, "I guess you know, then?"
She smiled at him. "Yes. It was pretty obvious."
At this point, Ginny entered the room.
"It's just," Harry began, "There's something different about her this year, only I can't put my finger on it."
Hermione smiled at him sweetly and said, "She grew up, Harry."
Harry looked across the room at the youngest Weasley. She was starting to make her way towards him, but was being stopped by many people along the way, most of them being boys. But, much to Harry's relief, she seemed to be blowing them off. It seemed like the only boy Ginny was interested in was Harry Potter.
She was almost at their table. Less than five seconds away. Four, Three, Two, One.
"G'morning Harry. Hermione."
Much to Harry's dismay, she sat next to Hermione instead of him. The three of them began to talk like they would have in old times, before all this had happened. Before Harry and Ginny had that strange encounter, before Lord Voldemort was admittedly at large, before Sirius had.
"Hiya, Harry!"
It was Denis Creevey, the youngest and more annoying of the two Creevey brothers.
"Hullo, Denis."
Hermione and Ginny stifled giggles as they watched Harry try to put up with this tiny person.
"When're Quidditch tryouts?"
Harry looked up at Denis with a 'you must be kidding' kind of look. Denis was entirely the wrong build for the positions that needed filling.
"What position do you play?"
Denis' smile faltered a bit, but he came back with, "Oh, I've never played before, so I guess anything will do, really. But I'd really like to be seeker, er, once you're gone, that is."
Harry's looked of mixed astonishment and disbelief grew larger. "Really?"
But just then, Ron appeared at Harry's side.
"What's happening?" he asked.
"Ah, there you are," said Denis, "When are you holding tryouts?"
Ron looked at the small boy with much the same look Harry had just given him, but when he turned to his friend for confirmation, Harry just gave a look of helplessness and nodded his head.
Ron turned to Denis and said, "Well, seeing as I haven't officially been appointed captain, I can't tell you that. Best come back to ask me at, oh I dunno, five past nine?"
Denis nodded and gave him the 'thumbs-up' sign and left.
Ron sat down next to Harry, and Hermione said scoldingly, "Ron, did it ever occur to you that there might be a slight possibility that you didn't get chosen as captain?"
But Ron wasn't listening. He was already halfway done loading his plate with breakfast food. After he had finished picking out which slices of bacon he wanted, however, he checked his wristwatch and said, "It's nearly nine o'clock!"
He reached inside his breast pocket for the letter Angelina had given him the previous year. He set it down on the table and waited.
Harry stared at the envelope, all the while thinking, 'Please let it be Ron, please let it be Ron.'
After a few moments of silent prayer, the letter started to move. It was slow and hardly noticeable at first, but then it started to shake violently. Harry's first impression was that it was about to explode, but instead it froze suddenly and sprung open.
Ron had been hitting his hands against the tabletop in a drum-roll fashion, trying to build suspense. He covered his eyes with one had and reached for the blue note.
He picked it up and announced, "The new Gryffindor Quidditch captain will be..what?"
His eyes flew across the parchment. A look of confusion passed briefly across Ron's face, followed by a look of embarrassment. He flung the letter down on the table in a mal-tempered mood. Harry took one look at the words and saw what had made Ron act like that.
Dear Ron,
I'm sorry to tell you this, but I just couldn't decide who to appoint. What I do know, though, is that the only players I want to remain on the team are Ginny, yourself, and Harry, (If he's allowed). I want you three to sit down and appoint a new captain yourselves. I'm sorry I couldn't give you a straightforward answer. I do believe that you're more reliable that Potter, but I still just couldn't come to what I thought was a right choice. Good luck in your new season, and if you don't win the cup for Gryffindor, I'll personally come back to school to beat you down.
Sincerely, ~Angelina
Harry finished reading Angelina's writing, and looked up at his best friend.
"Well," said Ron.
"Well," said Harry.
Ginny looked at the two of them and said, "So when're we going to talk all this over?"
Harry and Ron looked at Ginny. They had both forgotten that she was in on this as well.
"Well," started Harry, "How about tonight? We can go over all of this in the common room after dinner, see if we can make any decisions."
Ginny smiled at Harry for being so flexible with the situation, but Ron still seemed to be in shock. He merely nodded and went back to eating his food.
A little while later, they received their new schedules. "Ah," said Harry. "I've got potions this morning. But at least we get Defense Against the Dark Arts today, we can see what kind of whack-job Dumbledore found this year."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had all gotten the scores necessary to go on to the next level of Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Harry and Hermione were among the only Gryffindors to get into advanced Potions. Not that Harry was looking forward to it. Being back at school was overwhelming enough, even without Snape hassling him.
Ron looked at his schedule, and seeing that he had Divination again, had to hurry to get to his next class. Hermione looked at Harry expectantly. She was obviously waiting for him to walk with her down to the dungeons. But he had something else he wanted to do.
"I'll meet you there, Hermione."
Harry stayed at the table with Ginny as Hermione sighed and walked out of the Great Hall.
"So," she said.
"So," he said.
"What now?"
Harry looked at her. He didn't know the answer to the question, but he didn't regard that as a bad thing. He did, of course, want them to move their relationship further, but he didn't want to pressure her or anything.
"Well," he said, " Maybe we could, I dunno, eat lunch together or something."
Ginny looked at him confusedly, and then giggled. "Well," she started, "We usually do eat lunch together. Did you mean alone?"
Harry smiled at her and said, "Yeah, that was the general idea."
Ginny broke out in a grin and said, "Wonderful. Where shall I meet you?"
Harry thought a moment or two, having never pondered the idea of eating somewhere else than the Great Hall before. Finally, a small grin broke onto his face and he said, "I have an idea. You have Charms before lunch?"
She raised and eyebrow and replied, "Yes, but if you're planning anything funny, Potter, I-"
Harry laughed and said, "Me? Now why would you think that?"
Ginny laughed at him, and he laughed too. "No, seriously Gin, I'll meet you outside Flitwick's room just before noon, alright?"
She looked at him and said in a semi-serious voice, "Alright, Potter, but let me just tell you, I don't usually put out on the first date, so if you're just looking for some action."
Harry laughed loudly at this comment. Most people would have thought she was being serious about it, but Harry knew her well enough to know when she was joking.
"Don't worry about it, Weasley," he said in a soft voice, "But I really do have to get to Potions. If I'm late on my first day, well,-"
Ginny held up her hand. "No need to say more. Just hurry up, you don't want to be getting detention or anything. We still have that meeting with Ron tonight."
Harry gave her a half-smile and grabbed her hand briefly. "See you later, Ginny."
"Bye, Harry."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Did you say James Potter?" inquired Sirius. "Yes, I did. Now, there was something he had to do, and if we tell you how to get out of here, you must give us your word that you will help him accomplish his goal." Sirius stared at the old man, vaguely aware of his presence. Had he said that James was alive? Sirius looked around the dark space. The other shadow people had retreated slightly when the old man had come to speak with him. "When did James get out of here? What was he trying to do? Where is he now?" Questions were flowing out of Sirius like no other. The old man gave him a silencing look. Sirius stemmed the flow of his queries. "Time does not exist down here, so we have no record of when Mr. Potter came or left. We do not know where he has gone, but we do know what he was going to do." Sirius winced, preparing himself for the news. "Yes?" he said cautiously. The old man took a deep breath.
And the captain is.
-'NOOOOOOO!!!!!' --"HARRY!"
He awoke with a jolt. Harry had once again been dreaming of Sirius, and wondered if he would ever be able to cope with losing his godfather. He rolled out of bed and looked out the window.
The sun was just peeking out from the horizon. It was probably somewhere around 6:30 a.m. Harry walked over to the windowsill and looked out over the grounds. He watched the sun rise for at least another fifteen minutes, thinking of his lost godfather, and then decided to head to the Hall for breakfast.
Harry was walking down the stairs, when he heard a noise from the common room. He sped up to investigate, but when he got there, there was no one in sight. Confused, Harry looked around the room. His gaze landed upon the fireplace. The fireplace. How many times had he communicated with Sirius via that grate? His head spun at the thought that his godfather's head had been situated there not that long ago. He stared into the back of the logs, only realizing there was nothing to see when another noise broke him from his concentration.
He spun around, looking for the culprit. But he could find no one. Incredibly annoyed, Harry started towards the portrait hole to go and eat.
Harry had been sitting at the table for over half an hour before anyone he knew entered the Great Hall. First came Neville and Dean, and then a couple of Ravenclaw first years. Finally, one of his own people came through the giant double doors.
Hermione saw him and hurried over.
"Good morning," she said. "What's for breakfast?"
"The usual," Harry replied.
Hermione looked at the spread, and after a lengthy consideration, she picked two eggs off of a plate and started to salt them.
"Well, I was talking to Ginny last night."
Harry looked up at her at once and saw that she knew. Hermione hadn't actually spoken with Ginny, and even if she had, she would have already known about the two of them.
"Yeah?" he said, "What'd she say?"
Hermione was half-glad that he was playing along, even though things would have been much easier if he just admitted his feelings.
"She really rates you, you know," said Hermione.
"Really," mumbled Harry. Of course he loved hearing that Ginny was taken with him, but didn't he already know that?
Hermione was at a loss. She had thought it would have a lot easier to talk to Harry about this.
Harry saw his friend looking slightly discouraged, and said, "I guess you know, then?"
She smiled at him. "Yes. It was pretty obvious."
At this point, Ginny entered the room.
"It's just," Harry began, "There's something different about her this year, only I can't put my finger on it."
Hermione smiled at him sweetly and said, "She grew up, Harry."
Harry looked across the room at the youngest Weasley. She was starting to make her way towards him, but was being stopped by many people along the way, most of them being boys. But, much to Harry's relief, she seemed to be blowing them off. It seemed like the only boy Ginny was interested in was Harry Potter.
She was almost at their table. Less than five seconds away. Four, Three, Two, One.
"G'morning Harry. Hermione."
Much to Harry's dismay, she sat next to Hermione instead of him. The three of them began to talk like they would have in old times, before all this had happened. Before Harry and Ginny had that strange encounter, before Lord Voldemort was admittedly at large, before Sirius had.
"Hiya, Harry!"
It was Denis Creevey, the youngest and more annoying of the two Creevey brothers.
"Hullo, Denis."
Hermione and Ginny stifled giggles as they watched Harry try to put up with this tiny person.
"When're Quidditch tryouts?"
Harry looked up at Denis with a 'you must be kidding' kind of look. Denis was entirely the wrong build for the positions that needed filling.
"What position do you play?"
Denis' smile faltered a bit, but he came back with, "Oh, I've never played before, so I guess anything will do, really. But I'd really like to be seeker, er, once you're gone, that is."
Harry's looked of mixed astonishment and disbelief grew larger. "Really?"
But just then, Ron appeared at Harry's side.
"What's happening?" he asked.
"Ah, there you are," said Denis, "When are you holding tryouts?"
Ron looked at the small boy with much the same look Harry had just given him, but when he turned to his friend for confirmation, Harry just gave a look of helplessness and nodded his head.
Ron turned to Denis and said, "Well, seeing as I haven't officially been appointed captain, I can't tell you that. Best come back to ask me at, oh I dunno, five past nine?"
Denis nodded and gave him the 'thumbs-up' sign and left.
Ron sat down next to Harry, and Hermione said scoldingly, "Ron, did it ever occur to you that there might be a slight possibility that you didn't get chosen as captain?"
But Ron wasn't listening. He was already halfway done loading his plate with breakfast food. After he had finished picking out which slices of bacon he wanted, however, he checked his wristwatch and said, "It's nearly nine o'clock!"
He reached inside his breast pocket for the letter Angelina had given him the previous year. He set it down on the table and waited.
Harry stared at the envelope, all the while thinking, 'Please let it be Ron, please let it be Ron.'
After a few moments of silent prayer, the letter started to move. It was slow and hardly noticeable at first, but then it started to shake violently. Harry's first impression was that it was about to explode, but instead it froze suddenly and sprung open.
Ron had been hitting his hands against the tabletop in a drum-roll fashion, trying to build suspense. He covered his eyes with one had and reached for the blue note.
He picked it up and announced, "The new Gryffindor Quidditch captain will be..what?"
His eyes flew across the parchment. A look of confusion passed briefly across Ron's face, followed by a look of embarrassment. He flung the letter down on the table in a mal-tempered mood. Harry took one look at the words and saw what had made Ron act like that.
Dear Ron,
I'm sorry to tell you this, but I just couldn't decide who to appoint. What I do know, though, is that the only players I want to remain on the team are Ginny, yourself, and Harry, (If he's allowed). I want you three to sit down and appoint a new captain yourselves. I'm sorry I couldn't give you a straightforward answer. I do believe that you're more reliable that Potter, but I still just couldn't come to what I thought was a right choice. Good luck in your new season, and if you don't win the cup for Gryffindor, I'll personally come back to school to beat you down.
Sincerely, ~Angelina
Harry finished reading Angelina's writing, and looked up at his best friend.
"Well," said Ron.
"Well," said Harry.
Ginny looked at the two of them and said, "So when're we going to talk all this over?"
Harry and Ron looked at Ginny. They had both forgotten that she was in on this as well.
"Well," started Harry, "How about tonight? We can go over all of this in the common room after dinner, see if we can make any decisions."
Ginny smiled at Harry for being so flexible with the situation, but Ron still seemed to be in shock. He merely nodded and went back to eating his food.
A little while later, they received their new schedules. "Ah," said Harry. "I've got potions this morning. But at least we get Defense Against the Dark Arts today, we can see what kind of whack-job Dumbledore found this year."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had all gotten the scores necessary to go on to the next level of Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Harry and Hermione were among the only Gryffindors to get into advanced Potions. Not that Harry was looking forward to it. Being back at school was overwhelming enough, even without Snape hassling him.
Ron looked at his schedule, and seeing that he had Divination again, had to hurry to get to his next class. Hermione looked at Harry expectantly. She was obviously waiting for him to walk with her down to the dungeons. But he had something else he wanted to do.
"I'll meet you there, Hermione."
Harry stayed at the table with Ginny as Hermione sighed and walked out of the Great Hall.
"So," she said.
"So," he said.
"What now?"
Harry looked at her. He didn't know the answer to the question, but he didn't regard that as a bad thing. He did, of course, want them to move their relationship further, but he didn't want to pressure her or anything.
"Well," he said, " Maybe we could, I dunno, eat lunch together or something."
Ginny looked at him confusedly, and then giggled. "Well," she started, "We usually do eat lunch together. Did you mean alone?"
Harry smiled at her and said, "Yeah, that was the general idea."
Ginny broke out in a grin and said, "Wonderful. Where shall I meet you?"
Harry thought a moment or two, having never pondered the idea of eating somewhere else than the Great Hall before. Finally, a small grin broke onto his face and he said, "I have an idea. You have Charms before lunch?"
She raised and eyebrow and replied, "Yes, but if you're planning anything funny, Potter, I-"
Harry laughed and said, "Me? Now why would you think that?"
Ginny laughed at him, and he laughed too. "No, seriously Gin, I'll meet you outside Flitwick's room just before noon, alright?"
She looked at him and said in a semi-serious voice, "Alright, Potter, but let me just tell you, I don't usually put out on the first date, so if you're just looking for some action."
Harry laughed loudly at this comment. Most people would have thought she was being serious about it, but Harry knew her well enough to know when she was joking.
"Don't worry about it, Weasley," he said in a soft voice, "But I really do have to get to Potions. If I'm late on my first day, well,-"
Ginny held up her hand. "No need to say more. Just hurry up, you don't want to be getting detention or anything. We still have that meeting with Ron tonight."
Harry gave her a half-smile and grabbed her hand briefly. "See you later, Ginny."
"Bye, Harry."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Did you say James Potter?" inquired Sirius. "Yes, I did. Now, there was something he had to do, and if we tell you how to get out of here, you must give us your word that you will help him accomplish his goal." Sirius stared at the old man, vaguely aware of his presence. Had he said that James was alive? Sirius looked around the dark space. The other shadow people had retreated slightly when the old man had come to speak with him. "When did James get out of here? What was he trying to do? Where is he now?" Questions were flowing out of Sirius like no other. The old man gave him a silencing look. Sirius stemmed the flow of his queries. "Time does not exist down here, so we have no record of when Mr. Potter came or left. We do not know where he has gone, but we do know what he was going to do." Sirius winced, preparing himself for the news. "Yes?" he said cautiously. The old man took a deep breath.