Chapter 4

Hermione was just about to fall asleep when Mattie burst through the door, slamming it shut behind her. She leaned against it, breathing heavily, and smiled as she heard the last bell. The curfew was 11; all students had to be inside their own dormitories. She had made it in before the last stroke of 11 and was therefore not breaking any rules.

"Mattie!"

She looked up, startled to see that Hermione was still awake. "Halo, Hermione!" Hermione patted her bed, wanting Mattie to sit down next to her.

"How was your ... umm studying?" Although Hermione didn't like Malfoy at all, she was trying not to be so mean. After all, Mattie was her friend.

"It was ... okay ... I guess. But Malfoy's ..." Mattie wrinkled her nose and shook her head, unable to come up with the right word. Hermione supplied a few.

"Disgusting, ugly, mean, one of the worst human beings (if you can call him one) to ever walk this earth?" Mattie's eyes got wide and for a moment Hermione thought she was going to yell at her. But she simply started giggling, making Hermione giggle.

"Shhh!" Luna Lovegood hissed from the bed next to Hermione's.

"Sorry!" Mattie said, trying to stifle another fit of giggles.

"Well if you don't like Malfoy then why did you go? It's just causing Har- ... I mean everyone ... stress." Mattie raised her eyebrow.

"How was I causing 'Har- ... everyone' stress?" Hermione looked away.

"Well ... I just meant ..." She looked back up at Mattie; she couldn't lie to her. Besides, it would be better for everyone if Mattie knew. Then, there would be no sneaking around because she and Ron knew. "Well ... you see ... Harry ..."

"Harry what, Hermione?"

"Harry likes you!" she finally blurted out. Mattie was about to dismiss it and just call it friendly when Hermione said, "No, he likes you like half the guys in this school like you ..."

"Hermione this is nonsense!" Mattie shook her head.

"No, Mattie. He likes me as a friend ... which is good." Hermione's heart jumped thinking of her other 'friend', Ron. She hoped he didn't like her as a friend, only as a friend. "But he likes you ... as more than a friend."

"Oh ... what makes you think that?"

"He freaked out when you went to the Library with Malfoy, and on the way to Snape's he blushed every time you looked at him in class." Hermione smiled as her thoughts drifted to her Potions essay ... or rather Ron's Potion's essay. "You don't like Malfoy ... do you?"

"No! I like ..." Mattie stopped talking as an owl landed on the windowsill. "Nascha!" She got up and walked over to the window. Holding out her arm, the white owl jumped gracefully onto it. She held out her leg and Mattie removed the piece of parchment that was attached. Placing Nascha in her cage, Mattie came back to Hermione's bed and sat down.

"Who's it from?"

"I don't know ..." Mattie studying the parchment for a moment and then slipped it into her robes. "It's just some family stuff. Nothing important." Hermione was about to press the issue but noticing the troubled look in Mattie's eyes, decided against it, for now at least. "I saw you and Ron in the clock tower today." Hermione smiled and blushed.

"Yeah, he ummm ... needed help with his Potion's essay."

"I'm sure." Mattie smiled knowingly and after a pause said, "Well, come on! Spill!" Hermione laughed and started telling Mattie everything that happened.

"We were going to go to the Common Room, but Ron said it was too crowded. So we went to the clock tower and we worked on our ... essays. And then we just sat there ... Ron was telling me stories about his brothers ... I told him about some muggle stuff." Hermione smiled and blushed at Mattie grinned at her.

"This is fabulous! Oh, you and Ron make such a cute couple!"

"No! Mattie! You can't tell him, it would ruin everything!" Mattie stared at her, uncomprehendingly. "Besides ... he doesn't like me like that ... I don't think."

"But you don't know!" Hermione shook her head; she didn't know for sure.

"We should go to bed ... it's really late." Mattie yawned and shook her head. As Hermione lay back down, Mattie changed into her pajama's and climbed into her own bed.

"Harry! Harry, wait up!" Harry slowed down, reluctantly, to let Mattie catch up with him. Mattie caught up and smiled brightly at him, "Good morning. You were up early today, we missed you at breakfast." Harry and Ron had a different first hour than Mattie and Hermione, so this was the first time he had since her since last night's dinner.

"Yeah ..." Harry said, and he and Mattie started walking; they had their next class together.

"Oh, Harry! You're not still mad about last night are you?"

Harry blushed, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I'm sure. Well if it makes you feel any better, it was horrible. Draco was a total jerk; he tried to ..." Harry stopped walking and looked at Mattie.

"What did he try to do?"

Mattie avoided his eyes. "Nothing, Harry. Please don't worry about it."

"Mattie –"

"Harry, it's okay. But that's not the real reason I wanted to talk to you." Harry stared at her for a moment and then started walking again. He was happy that she had had a bad time with Malfoy, but thoughts of that git doing anything to her were making his blood boil.

"What did you want to talk about?" Harry asked, hopefully.

"Well, you know that Ron and Hermione ..." Mattie stopped for a moment, searching for the words.

"Don't tell me ... she likes him too?!" Mattie smiled and nodded.

"She went on and on about it last night before we went to bed. But she doesn't think that Ron feels the same way. I figured he would have confided as much ... in you." Harry grinned.

"As a matter of fact, he did. Last night. Ironically he doesn't think Hermione likes him as more than a friend." Mattie and Harry laughed loudly. "I'm assuming by that look you have something in mind?"

Mattie smiled mischievously. "Well, the Halloween Ball. What do you think if I ask Ron and you ask Hermione? Then while we were all dancing, you could ask Ron to cut in, forcing Ron and Hermione to dance together." Harry tried to stop himself from blushing at the thought of dancing with Mattie.

"It's brilliant. But, do you think they'll suspect anything?"

"No, of course not. Hermione's got this crazy idea that we like each other ... totally preposterous," Mattie said, unconvincingly.

"Yeah, preposterous. Good, then. We have about a month before the ball." Suddenly, Harry remembered that he had left his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook in his dormitory. "Oh, no. I left my bloody book in my dormitory. I'll have to catch up with you guys there." Harry started down the hall when Mattie caught his arm.

"One more thing. I heard you were the captain of the Quidditch team this year?" Harry nodded. "Well I was wondering if I could try out."

"Sure, tryouts start next week Thursday and run for 3 days." He started walking again, but stopped, remembering that they only had one position open this year. "What do you play?"

"Chaser, of course!" Mattie smiled and, seeing Hermione down the hallway, ran to catch up with her. Harry grinned; they had lost two players last year, the keeper and the chaser. Ron had tried out at the end of last year and been chosen for keeper. Remembering his textbook, Harry sprinted back to his dormitory.

The next few days went by quickly; the teachers were piling on the homework and no one really had time to think about anything but food, sleep, and homework. Finally, Thursday came; all the classes were cancelled that day for faculty meetings. Harry was getting more and more worried about the tryouts. Five other people, besides Mattie, had signed up. Harry knew he would be able to choose on talent alone, but he really wanted Mattie to be on the team. He hoped that she was good ... really good.

Harry, Ron, Fred, and George, who would be conducting tryouts, showed up at the pitch an hour before tryouts were supposed to start. The sun was just starting to come up.

Ron yawned, "Harry, why do we have to be here so early? It's not like anyone's going to be here." Not a second after Ron said that, they saw someone streak past them on a broom.

"Who was that?" Fred and George asked in unison. The figure on the broom stopped, apparently noticing them for the first time, high in the air. He or she (they couldn't tell) was holding a Quaffle and staring down at them. As they started to descend, a Bludger rocketed right towards his or her head. Tilting their broom slightly, the bludger missed by only inches. The rider looked as if they had barely noticed the bludger; as if it were no more than a small annoyance, easily avoided and quickly forgotten

"You should be careful, you'll get hit. It's hard to see in the dark," warned Fred.

"Oh, the Bludgers? You can see them coming a mile away!" Harry immediately recognized the voice: Mattie. She descended quickly and lightly touched down on the ground. As she reached the ground, she dismounted her broom and stood it up next to her, all in one fluid, graceful movement.

Noticing that Harry, Fred, and George were all staring at Mattie in amazement, Ron cleared his throat loudly. Harry brought himself back to reality and said, "Where did you learn Quidditch? I thought you had never been to a real school before?"

Mattie smiled, "I haven't. I learned everything from my ... legal guardian. He's bloody brilliant on a broom, but his leg was injured and he can't play anymore. So, he decided to teach me. I've never played in an organized game before, either."

"Well, let's see what you've got then!" Ron smiled as he mounted his broom. Harry, Fred, and George followed a little more slowly. "I'm keeper, so Fred and George will try and hit you with the Bludgers while you try to score. Okay?" Mattie mounted her broom swiftly and was level with Ron in seconds.

"Fine." She soared high into the air and waited for them all to get situated. Mattie was still holding the Quaffle.

"Fred, George, whenever you're ready." Harry positioned himself in a place where he could see the whole field. He looked at Mattie; she looked so comfortable on the broom.

Seeing a Bludger fly towards him, Fred hit it as hard as he could towards Mattie. Harry watched nervously as it seemed to go in slow motion, inching its way towards Mattie. Just as he was about to shout for her to duck (he couldn't have someone getting hurt on the first day of tryouts, McGonagall would have a fit), she tilted her head slightly and the Bludger whizzed past her.

Mattie was concentrating on Ron; he had been able to anticipate her moves so far. She shot up into the air suddenly and chucked the Quaffle towards the goal, just a little too slowly. Ron caught it and threw it to the other side of the field. Frustrated, Mattie turned her broom and streaked after it. She slowed down as she reached the other end of the field and the Quaffle dropped lightly into her outstretched hand.

Smiling briefly at Harry, who was floating on his broom a few feet away, she soared high up into the clouds. Ron, Fred, George, and Harry looked up, expecting her to emerge from the clouds within seconds. But she didn't.

"Where'd she go?"

"I'm right here!" Mattie shouted as she flew behind Ron and dropped the Quaffle through the middle ring.

Flying to the other side of the ring and retrieving the Quaffle, Ron said, "Try it again, this time without hiding in the clouds." Upon hearing his condescending tone, Mattie got red. She shook her head and flew to the other side of the field. Fred and George had nearly given up on the Bludgers; she always just simply ducked or turned slightly to avoid them. It seemed as if she barely even noticed them at all.

"Ready, Ron?" Mattie shouted from the other side of the pitch. Without waiting for him to answer, she started off. In a matter of seconds, she had ducked two Bludgers and scored. Ron stared at her, open-mouthed.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Fred shouted from the center of the field. Harry flew over and started explaining some drills that they did during practices. Before the hour was over it was apparent; Mattie was their new Chaser. She was the best that the twins had ever seen, and they had been to every single Quidditch game played at Hogwarts and a couple professional games. A few more people showed up, wanting to try out, but George turned them away.

After almost two hours of drills, Ron's stomach was growling so loud that he could no longer ignore it. "Come on, Harry! I'm hungry!"

"Alright ... I suppose we should stop for today anyways. Practice the day after tomorrow with the whole team, get here early." Ron, Fred, and George didn't even bother dismounting; they simply flew to the Great Hall. Harry and Mattie touched down simultaneously.

"That was amazing! A real pitch and everything!" Mattie's face was red from the cold wind, but she was smiling wider than ever.

"I've never seen anyone play like that! Who taught you?!" Harry immediately wanted to take back his question, seeing the pained expression on Mattie's face. "Oh, I'm sorry ... I didn't mean –"

"No, it's okay, Harry. I'm just upset because I won't be seeing him for a long time. There's been some ... family issues, so I'm staying here for the holidays and probably for the summer as well." Mattie commanded her broom to follow; it immediately began levitating and trailed along behind her and Harry.

"I didn't know students could stay here during the summer." Harry watched as Mattie pulled out her hair tie, letting her long hair fall down her back.

"Technically we can't, but Dumbledore knows what's going on with my family and he decided that it would be better for me if I stayed here." Just as Harry was about to ask more about Mattie's "legal guardian" they reached the Great Hall and he had to drop the subject. Hermione and Ron were already seated at the Gryffindor table, across from each other. Mattie sat down next to Hermione and Harry next to Ron.

"Well?" Hermione looked expectantly at Harry.

With a flash of understanding, Harry said, "Oh, Quidditch! Bloody hell, Mattie's the best Chaser I've ever seen. Of course she made the team. It's not official yet though; I still have to tell McGonagall so don't go blabbing." Mattie smiled at Harry, who blushed.