I own the plot and a couple of characters. That's about it. JKR owns the rest.

Natalie, my *see lists of titles in chapters 14 and 15*, rocks.

Thanks for the reviews.

This is a slightly shorter chapter. I figured you all would be appreciative after the massive chapter 15.

That being said:

*****

"Do you know what Dumbledore wanted to see Hermione about?" Harry asked Hannah as the two made their way up to the castle.

"Nope," Hannah replied. She leaned heavily on Harry as they walked.

"How do you feel?" Harry asked.

"Pretty rotten," Hannah admitted.

"I'm sorry. Those goons should have been stopped," Harry said.

"Oh don't worry, I'm sure Danny and William will get them back when we play them during the inter-house match," Hannah said. Harry laughed. Hannah attempted to laugh also, but ended up clutching her hurt ribs with her good arm.

"Okay, no more laughing," Harry said. Hannah smiled weakly at him.

"Oh, Harry? I talked to Snape in potions the other day," Hannah said as Harry pulled open the door to the castle.

"What did he say?" Harry asked.

"He agreed to letting us interview him and we have a meeting with him on Tuesday afternoon," Hannah said, "since none of us have a class then."

"Sounds good," Harry said. He wrapped his arm tighter around her shoulder and they started up the stairs toward the hospital wing.

%%%%%

"Miss Granger, it has been brought to my attention that you helped heal Hannah Abbott after her most unfortunate accident on the Quidditch pitch earlier today," Dumbledore began.

"Well yes. I read a few books on medi-magic this summer and figured I could use some of the stuff I learned on Hannah," Hermione explained.

"How would you like to begin studying medi-magic with Madame Pomfrey a few nights a week?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well," began Hermione.

"Your times will only be scheduled on those nights Harry and Ron have Quidditch practice," Dumbledore interrupted. He answered Hermione's question before she asked it.

"But why sir?" Hermione asked. "When I was talking to Hannah on the pitch, she expressed an interest in medi-magic," Dumbledore said.

"Yes, I realize Miss Abbott's desire to study at St. Mungo's after Hogwarts and eventually become a doctor, but I believe you're the student for this specific job."

"What job?" Hermione asked.

"A stipulation of the Inner-School Quidditch league is that each team have a team trainer of sorts. This trainer needs to be trained in medi-magic. The trainer will also act as a manager of sorts, and will travel with the team. The trainer will be responsible for equipment, water bottles, and attending the majority of the practices," Dumbledore explained.

"Professor Dumbledore, with all due respect, I don't think I have time for all of that," Hermione said, "And I don't want a repeat of third year."

"Understandable," Dumbledore said.

"At the same time, I think if I could have an assistant, I would be able to at least to the medi-magic bit," Hermione bargained.

"Who would you suggest as an assistant?" Dumbledore asked. Hermione thought for a moment, quite unnecessarily though.

"Ginny Weasley," she replied.

"Excellent choice, Miss Granger. I shall inform Miss Weasley of her appointment now," Dumbledore said. He started off towards the group of still-celebrating Gryffindors gathered at the center of the pitch. Hermione smiled slightly to her self. Ginny would get to see Braeden if the team had to travel to France.

%%%%%

"Miss Weasley, may I speak with you for a moment?" Professor Dumbledore asked. Ginny stepped away from her friends and over to Dumbledore.

"The rest of you students need to head back to the castle," Professor Dumbledore told the celebrating group. The Gryffindors slowly started up towards the castle, with Fred and George running ahead of everyone else.

"I suspect they'll be terrorizing the house elves before long," Dumbledore muttered to himself.

"You needed to see me?" Ginny asked.

"Yes. I was wondering if you would like to act as the manager for the school Quidditch team," Dumbledore offered.

"What would that entail?" Ginny asked.

"Attending most of the practices and all of the matches to deal with equipment, water bottles, uniforms and the like," Dumbledore explained.

"All of the matches?" Ginny asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore replied.

"Even the ones where they travel?" Ginny asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore said.

"The one in France?" Ginny questioned.

"Of course," Dumbledore laughed.

"OF COURSE I'LL DO IT!" Ginny squealed.

"Miss Granger seemed to think you would. You and she will actually share the position," Dumbledore explained.

"Thank you SO much professor!" Ginny cried.

"Just keep your grades up, Miss Weasley," Dumbledore instructed.

"Don't worry, I will," Ginny said.

"Now go owl Mr. Granger!" Dumbledore said with a benevolent smile.

"Of course," Ginny squealed. She turned on her heel and took off towards the castle at a full run.

%%%%%

"Congratulations," Keiran said stoically, extending his hand to his older brother. Draco, Finley, and the rest of the Slytherin team and spectators had just entered the common room.

"Thank you Keiran, why weren't you at the trial?" Draco asked.

"I was playing with some puppies I found," Keiran explained.

"Playing?" Draco asked, raising a quizzical eyebrow at his brother.

"Playing," Keiran reiterated with an evil smile. Draco closed his eyes and shook his head at his younger brother.

"Those Gryffindors didn't give you much trouble did they?" Keiran asked.

"Nothing he couldn't handle," Finley said, dragging a finger up Draco's forearm and letting her hand come to rest at his elbow. Keiran scowled at her.

"Are you pureblooded?" Keiran asked.

"Yes," Finley replied, "Would you like to see my pedigree?"

"Tact, Keiran, tact!" Draco spat, glaring at his brother.

"I have no reason to be tactful," Keiran replied.

"Yes you do," Draco replied.

"I do?" Keiran asked.

"Lucius," Draco said.

"Lucius won't find out," Keiran replied, glaring menacingly at Draco.

"Come on Draco, lets leave the snot master alone," Finley said, pulling Draco over towards a group of fourth and fifth years.

"Finley, I'd watch what you say about Keiran," Draco warned.

"Why?" Finley asked.

"Just do it," Draco commanded.

"Have you thought anymore about Hogsmeade?" Finley asked.

"Yes," Draco said.

"And?" Finley asked.

"DRACO!" Pansy cried she ran over to where he and Finley stood and grabbed his other arm.

"Pansy," Draco said, slightly less enthusiastically.

"Come on, I want to hear your side of the story!" she insisted. She pulled him towards the group. Finley trailed after them only because her arm was still linked with Draco's.

"And then five of them flew in at me at once!" Pucey exclaimed. He was in the middle of telling the story of his trial. "Five of them at once. And they hit both bludgers at me and two of the chasers came after me also, but I still managed to stop the quaffle!" Draco rolled his eyes.

"I scored while hanging from my broom by my left pinky," Casey Warrington insisted.

"What about you, Blaisey?" Karen asked. She had carefully situated herself on Blaise's lap. Taylor lounged in the floor next to the chair carefully examining her forest green nails.

"I scored 14 goals in one game," Blaise said easily.

"How did we get into a house with such a bunch of liars?" Draco asked Finley. Finley shrugged. The group looked at Bole next.

"I mashed a mudblood," Bole said dumbly.

"And that's the truth," Finley whispered to Draco.

"What about you, Draco?" Pansy cooed. She had been taking pages out of "How to Attract Guys" by Taylor Nott and Karen Moon. Blaise Zabini's permanent "single" relationship status stood as the only review the book needed.

"I kept the other team scoreless in one match," Draco said proudly.

"Like hell you did. You're a seeker, man!" Casey cried.

"Are you daft?" Pucey asked.

"Even your friends don't believe you," Keiran taunted from just behind Draco. Draco had to resist the sudden urge to stomp on Keiran.

"Don't worry about it, Draco, they're dumb if they don't believe you," Finley assured him. Pansy pulled Draco down onto a couch next to her. Finley sat on the other side of Draco.

"How did the damned Gryffindors get all of the positions?" Casey asked.

"They didn't," Finley said.

"I don't see you as a member of the Hogwarts school team," Casey spat.

"Draco is, though," Finley replied, glaring at Casey.

"Keeper," Pansy added, smiling at Draco.

"I say we need to retaliate against the Gryffindors!" Casey declared.

"Retaliate!" Pucey echoed. For once, he wasn't trying to remove Casey's head from its shoulders.

"I've got a plan. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, and Malfoy, come with me," Casey insisted.

"Captain Death Eater calls, I must go," Draco whispered to Finley. Finley rolled her eyes at Draco. Keiran already was following Casey eagerly across the common room. Crabbe and Goyle lumbered lazily after Keiran and Taylor looked torn between joining the group on the other side of the common room and leaving Karen with Blaise.

"I simply must get daddy to hurry up with that damned tattoo so I can get an invite to those meetings!" Pansy said conspiratorially to Finley. Finley rolled her eyes at Pansy and sank back into the couch.

*****

"WWWWEEEEEEEEE DDDDDIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDDDDDD IIIIIITTTTTTTTTTT!" Fred Weasley screamed. He ran into the common room his arms full of sweets from the kitchens. George was right on his heels with a Gryffindor banner streaming over his head. Ron and Harry were just behind the twins with Ron's Quidditch cloak held between them, filled with food. Angelina, Katie and Alicia all jumped from their seats on the couch. Angelina dived into George's arms. Fred dropped the sweets onto a table and jumped onto Katie. Katie fell to the floor, and Alicia jumped on top of Fred. George deposited Angelina on top of Katie before hopping into the pile himself. Harry and Ron emptied the cloak onto the table before Harry propelled himself to the very top of the pile of Quidditch players.

"INCOMING!" Ron cried. He acted like he was going to jump onto the group. As the largest of the group, he was the last person they all wanted on top of them. Instantly, all three girls squealed, and Fred and George rolled out of the way. Harry, unable to get out of the way because of all of the movement below him, threw both hands over his head. The person hit him in the stomach with a lot less force than he would expect Ron to have. He uncovered his head and found Astrid sitting on his stomach smiling at him.

"Astrid Malfoy!" Harry exclaimed. Astrid smiled at him before jumping up and running over to Ron. They exchanged a high for Astrid, low for Ron five and smiled at each other.

"GUESS WHAT!" Hermione cried. She tore into the tower with Ginny on her heels.

"YOU GOT AN OWL FROM BRAEDEN!" Ron squealed in Ginny's direction.

"EVEN BETTER!" Ginny shouted.

"YOU GET TO GO TO OUR AWAY MATCH WITH US!" Fred cried.

"AND IT'S IN FRANCE!" added George.

"YES!" Hermione and Ginny shrieked at the same time.

"Ginny, that's great!" Fred said. He ran over and threw is arms around his sister.

"Hey wait, what about me?" Hermione asked, stomping her foot indignantly.

"YOU GET TO GO TOO?" Fred asked.

"Do I usually run around the common room squealing like a little girl?" Hermione countered. Fred let go of Ginny and ran over to Hermione.

"We're the trainer and manager," Hermione explained. Fred grabbed Hermione into a fierce hug culminating with a kiss on her forehead.

"AWW!" chorused Parvati and Lavender.

"We get to go to France!" Fred whispered excitedly to Hermione.

"Même je dois employer les bruits de salle de bains romantiques une fois dit en français," Hermione replied.

"I don't know what you just said, but it makes me want to do this," Fred said. He captured Hermione's lips in a kiss.

"What did she say?" Ron asked Ginny, who was trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to stifle her laughter.

"Even I need to use the bathroom sounds romantic when said in French," Ginny whispered. Ron turned bright red.

"I think you boys have been a bad influence on her," Ginny said. Ron smiled down at his sister. From somewhere in the corner, music erupted loudly. Dean and Seamus had nicked Lavender and Parvati's Wizards Wireless and set it up in the corner. Immediately, several couples, including Fred and Hermione, began dancing. Ron wandered over to the snack table and picked up an éclair.

"You and Astrid are not funny," Harry said from where he leaned against the snack table.

"We were amused," Ron replied.

"As well we should be," Astrid agreed from her perch on the arm of the couch.

"Shove it, little Malfoy," Harry laughed.

"Harry, we went over this. Little Malfoy is Keiran for all purposes this year," Astrid said.

"And we'll have to amend that again next year won't we?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Astrid laughed.

"Hey Harry, want to dance?" Jae Lucas asked from just behind Harry.

"Um," Harry began.

"Go Harry," Astrid urged.

"Alright," Harry agreed. Jae pulled him towards the dance floor.

"So who wins the award for the worst-dancing couple?" Astrid asked, jumping off of the couch and walking over to where Ron stood. She and Ron thoughtfully surveyed the dance floor.

"Why is Karey Finnegan dancing with Dean?" Ron asked. Astrid looked over to where Seamus's little sister and best friend were dancing a rather ungainly fast dance standing quite a ways away from each other.

"They're dancing together?" Astrid asked.

"I think so."

"Probably so Hailey can dance with Seamus," Astrid replied.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Hailey likes Seamus, so she and Karey hatched some sort of plan so that she could dance with him if there was a party tonight last night after we were supposed to be in bed," Astrid explained.

"Well if Seamus is dancing with Hailey and Dean is dancing with Karey, what's saying I can't dance with you?" Ron asked with a laugh.

"Three things," Astrid replied.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Lucius, Draco, and Keiran," Astrid said.

"Do you see any of them?" Ron asked.

"Nope," Astrid replied.

"Then lets dance, chica," Ron said. He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the other fifth year boy/first year girl couples.

She looked at him quizzically. "When did you learn Spanish?"

He grinned, "Picked up a bit from Angelina at practice. She spent the summer there." Astrid nodded and then they concentrated on dancing.

*****

"No Keiran, we're not putting any plans into action that involve eating spleens!" Draco snapped at his little brother. Keiran glared at Draco.

"Any other ideas?" Casey asked. The group of Slytherins had been holding council in the corner for the past forty-five minutes and had gotten absolutely nowhere in their planned revenge on the Gryffindors. Keiran opened his mouth to say something.

"No Keiran, releasing rabid gophers to gnaw on the Gryffindor team's man parts will not work," Draco said before Keiran could speak.

"Especially since half of the team is girls," Taylor said, glaring down at Keiran, "Why is he here anyway?"

"I'm special!" Keiran said with a half cute, half menacing smile.

"None of us got to come to these meetings until this year," Taylor complained.

"Taylor, don't ask questions. Know your role," Casey spat. Taylor glared at him. The look on Keiran's face became smug as he looked over at Taylor. Draco again had to resist the urge to step on his brother.

"Why couldn't you have been an identical twin?" Draco asked Keiran.

"Why?" Keiran asked, turning a glare to Draco.

"You could sneak into Gryffindor tower any time you liked if you and the traitor actually looked alike," Draco spat.

"Wait," Keiran insisted. He pulled out his wand and pointed it as head. He muttered a charm and quickly enough, his hair was mid-back length and fluffy.

"Hi, I'm Astrid," he lisped. "I'm a Gryffindor! I love Potter and Weasel!"

"You do look like her when you do that," Draco laughed. Keiran changed his hair back to normal.

"Do you have a death wish, Draco?" he asked.

"No," Draco said.

"Well then don't say I look like the traitor," Keiran commanded. Draco glared at him but didn't say a word.

"Can this meeting be adjourned?" Taylor suggested, "We're not getting anywhere."

"And we're definitely making their stereotypes true," Draco agreed.

"How so?" Casey asked.

"Well were sitting in our dungeon plotting the demise of the Gryffindors aren't we?" Taylor replied.

"Just their Quidditch team," Casey reasoned. Taylor and Draco both glared at him.

"Keiran, what do you think?" Casey asked.

"Spleen," began Keiran.

"No spleens. About whether or not we should stop for the night," Casey amended.

"NEVER!" Keiran cried.

"Casey, Kei is being unreasonable," Draco said, glaring again at Casey. Keiran turned to Draco.

"Draco, dahling, do I need to tell these lovely people about that wonderful stuffed," began Keiran. Draco reached over and clamped his hand over his little brother's mouth.

"I say mutiny. Who is with me?" Taylor asked.

"Taylor, I'm too tired to mutiny," Goyle said lazily from the spot he had been in for the entire meeting. Draco suspected he'd been asleep. Draco and Crabbe both raised their hands.

"Okay, Casey. You can end this now, or we'll bind you," Taylor said, pulling out her wand.

"Meeting adjourned," Casey quickly replied.

*****

"Hey Astrid, how's it going?" George asked, sinking onto the window seat next to the little girl. For the past fifteen minutes, Astrid had been curled into a ball staring out the window. In fact, she had taken her seat right after Fred and George had managed to single-handedly turn more than half of the occupants of Gryffindor tower into canaries.

"Alright," Astrid replied.

"Why haven't you been dancing?" George asked.

"Don't feel like it," Astrid replied.

"Why not?" George queried.

"Just don't," Astrid said.

"Okay, that's a good reason I suppose," George said.

"What did you need?" Astrid asked George.

"Nothing" George admitted.

"Then why are you talking to me?" Astrid spat. For one of the first times since arriving in Gryffindor Tower, Astrid's Malfoy side showed.

"Sorry," George said. He started to stand up.

"Do you ever wish you weren't a twin?" Astrid asked suddenly before he could leave.

"Never," George admitted.

"Never?" asked Astrid. She turned to look at George.

"Never," George said, "Fred is my other half. I wouldn't be complete without him."

"Must be nice," Astrid muttered.

"Is that what this is about?" George asked.

"What?" Astrid replied.

"You've been being a real arse to me and Fred lately," George said. Astrid raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well you have," George said, "ever since you decided you needed other friends, you're still really nice to Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny"

"But I'm an arse to you guys," Astrid finished.

"Something to that effect," George said.

"How would you feel if you wanted nothing more in the world than a twin and you were forced to live in close proximity to the poster children for perfect twins?" Astrid asked.

"You have a twin," George said slowly, trying to process what Astrid was implying.

"Only in that my brother was born 15 minutes before me," Astrid spat.

"I'm sorry," George said, looking down at the ground. He wasn't sure of what else to say.

"It's not really your fault that you and Fred have such an enviable relationship," Astrid said.

"You should talk to Parvati. She's in Ron, Harry and Hermione's year," George suggested, "Her twin, Padma, is in Ravenclaw." Astrid's face clouded over when George hoped it would have brightened.

"It's not just that," she said. Before he could question her anymore, she jumped up and tore off to her dorm.

"What did you figure out?" Ron asked. He, Harry, Fred, and Hermione had run over to George as soon as they saw Astrid run off.

"Fred, she doesn't like us because we're us," George said.

"She's jealous!" Ron and Hermione said at the same time. Harry looked from one of his best friends to the other.

"Right in one, kids," George said.

"Her twin must be a real bastard," Harry commented. He, Ron and Hermione all exchanged worried glances.

"I think there's a little more to it than she's telling us," George replied.

"I need to go write a letter to Sn-," Harry began, then stopped abruptly. George and Fred both looked at him quizzically.

"Snape, about his project," Hermione covered for him. Fred and George believed Hermione's unsteady lie.

"Where is Ginny?" George asked.

"In her room composing a letter to Braeden," Ron said. All three Weasley brothers rolled their eyes. Harry started off towards his dorm to begin a letter to Sirius.

"Maybe I should go after Astrid," Hermione suggested.

"Not a smart idea. Give her some time to cool off," Ron said. Hermione nodded and turned towards Fred. He looked more than slightly puzzled by the little girl's outburst.

"You're probably right," Hermione said. Ron sank down into the seat Astrid had just been occupying.

"GEORGE!" Angelina yelled from across the common room. She waved wildly at him.

"I'm being summoned," George said, and with that he started off towards Angelina. Fred looked at Hermione and held out his hand.

"May I have this dance?" He asked.

"Of course,' Hermione replied, "Provided you're nice to my toes." She placed her hand in his and allowed him to lead her to the dance floor. Ron turned to look out the window, ignoring the still-raging party behind him. Partying was the last of his worries at the moment.