Chapter 5
"Do you think we should wait for Mattie? We'll already be late as it is." Ron shrugged his shoulders.
"She's left, Harry. She went down to the pitch about an hour ago." Hermione lowered her book slightly to smile at Ron. Harry sighed.
"Let's go, Ron." Harry grabbed Ron by the arm and they both rushed out of the Common Room. Despite the fact that they had reached the field in record time, they were still late.
"Halo, Harry!" Mattie waved down at them from her broom. Fred and George were hovering close to her and the other two Chasers on the team where flying the length of the field throwing the Quaffle back and forth.
"Hi, Harry! I see your extra beauty sleep didn't make much difference!"
"I love you too, Fred!" Harry quickly mounted his broom and kicked off. Ron followed, more reluctantly; he hated morning practices.
"Come on, Ron! I've been sitting here with no one to block me!" Mattie threw the Quaffle at Ron, hitting him in the stomach. He made a small "oof" sound, but followed her to the rings, nonetheless.
The practice went well; Mattie and Ron were a good match for each other. Mattie had to work to score and Ron had to work to block her. Fred and George had given up trying to hit Bludgers at Mattie, they concentrated on Ron and the other two Chasers, Alicia and Angelina.
They all started walking back to the locker room; Fred and George caught up with Mattie. "Hi," Mattie said through a yawn. She was very glad they didn't have any classes today; it was Saturday.
"We heard about your little run-in with Malfoy, the other day." Fred looked at Mattie with mock sympathy.
"And we've come to offer our services." Mattie shook her head, but smiled.
"I know what you're thinking, but ..."
"He'll never know it was you ... frankly he'll probably suspect," Fred stopped mid-sentence and George finished for him.
"Us! Come on! Please?!" Fred and George clasped their hands in front of them and gave Mattie puppy-dog faces.
"Oh, alright."
"Yes!"
"That'a girl."
"Hmm, yeah, I may have to go back and change my answer if you ever say that to me again." Mattie burst out laughing at Fred's hurt look. The three of them laughed loudly while the rest of the team stared on confused. George walked to the other side of Mattie, sandwiching her between him and Fred. They linked arms and happily walked back to the locker room.
"I see your brothers are taking to our new teammate, Ron." Ron turned around to see Alicia.
"Yeah, I don't think I want to know what they were planning up there." Ron laughed and nudged Harry, who had been uncharacteristically silent.
"Huh? Oh yeah, probably some prank. I'll see you later Ron." Harry jogged up to the locker room, leaving Ron confused. Harry was gone when Ron, Alicia, and Angelina reached the locker room.
"What's up with Harry?" Fred smiled innocently at Ron.
"What d'you mean?"
"Oh, come on, Ron! All of us know that something's up, but only you know what that something is!" George wiggled his eyebrows at Ron.
"He came up here and didn't say a word to anyone. He didn't even shower, just put his broom away and left," Mattie explained.
"I'm sure its nothing ... he's probably nervous for our first game."
"Earth to Ronniekins! Our first game isn't for 2 weeks." Fred punched his brother in the arm. "Games don't start until after the Halloween Ball."
"I don't think he's going to tell us, Fred."
"No, George, I think you're right."
"Oh well, I guess we'll just have to figure it out on our own!" George smiled evilly and he and Fred started for the door. They stopped next to Mattie. "Coming?"
"Nah, I'll wait for –" Before Mattie could finish her sentence, Fred threw her over his shoulder and he and George ran out of the locker room, taking Mattie with them. Ron laughed as he heard Mattie scream just before the door closed behind them. Ron headed to the showers and then went to the Great Hall for lunch.
"Ron! Over here!" Ron saw Fred standing on the table waving at him. He headed over to where they were all sitting. It wasn't that crowded that Ron couldn't see where they were sitting, but Fred always loved to make a scene.
"Sit down you git!" Hermione pulled on Fred's robes forcing him to sit back down. Ron grinned and sat down next to her. Across from Ron sat Harry, who kept shooting nervous glances at Mattie. Mattie was sitting on the other side of Hermione, laughing at one of George's jokes. George was sitting across from Mattie and Fred was sitting between George and Harry.
"I wanted to make sure Ron could see us, that's all!" Fred gave Hermione a hurt look.
"Well that would have been thoughtful, but I don't think Ron is blind, Fred." Mattie laughed and glanced at Harry, he was laughing as well.
"The teachers keep glaring at us." Hermione looked up at the Teacher's table worriedly.
"Why don't we all go up to the Common Room?" Mattie suggested. Everyone nodded in agreement and the 6 of them trudged up to the Gryffindor Common Room. When they got there, Fred, George, and Mattie went off to a corner to 'discuss plans'.
"I've got a mountain of homework. I really need to get started; be in the Library if anyone asks." Harry glanced at Mattie, unconsciously; he hoped that no one had noticed. So much for that; Ron and Hermione grinned at Harry.
"If Mattie wants to know where you are, we'll be sure and tell her, Harry." Hermione laughed as Harry blushed and hurried out of the Common Room.
"So I guess that leaves you and me, Hermione." Ron's stomach flipped at the thought. But he was immediately disappointed, figuring her intent was to stay in the Common Room with everyone else. Just as Hermione was about to say something, Mattie bounded over.
"Hello. Where did Harry rush off to already?" Hermione and Ron laughed and Mattie looked confused.
"He's in the Library ..."
"Oh, will you umm ...." Hermione could see Mattie calculating in her head, she was planning something. "Do me a favor? I left my Quidditch gloves in the locker room ... I would go get them myself, but we're really busy planning ... well planning things. Please Hermione? Ron? Pretty please?" Hermione glared at Mattie; she knew she didn't really need her gloves, but just wanted her and Ron to 'take a walk'.
"Sure." Hermione was startled to hear Ron answer.
"Thanks a bunch!" Mattie bounded back to Fred and George after quickly winking at Hermione.
"Coming Hermione?" Ron was standing at the door of the Common Room, waiting for Hermione.
"Oh ... yeah, sorry." Hermione smiled at Ron and they started for Quidditch field. "What's up with Harry? I mean, besides the fact that he's totally whipped."
"Yeah, I don't know. I think it's because Mattie ... I shouldn't say anymore."
"Oh please Ron! As if the whole world didn't know! Practically everyone in Gryffindor knows! Except Mattie, of course." Hermione smiled and inconspicuously walked a little bit closer to Ron.
"I don't know what's wrong with him ... but I do know that no one was supposed to find out that he ... you know."
"Well then he shouldn't have made it so ... obvious." Ron swallowed hard, was he making it obvious as well?
"Hey, Mattie won't be missing her glove anytime soon, let's go down to the lake." Ron smiled hopefully.
"Sure." Hermione laughed internally; Mattie won't be missing her glove at all! "Remember when we came here and that Hippogriff was going to attack Mattie."
Ron laughed loudly, "How could I forget? You were white as a sheet." Hermione was happily surprised at what Ron had said, because instead of holding a teasing implication, it held only an affectionate tone.
"Well you know, after that whole flying thing last year ... Hippogriffs are definitely not my favorite animal." Hermione smiled sheepishly and Ron laughed.
"Well I have to say that after what Buckbeak did to Malfoy, I don't technically hate them." Hermione laughed and Ron smiled, blushing a little bit.
"So I haven't seen Mattie play yet, Harry seemed pretty excited about her being on the team."
"Well, we all know his reasons. But she is bloody brilliant, she says her 'legal guardian' taught her. I'd give my wand to know who he is." Ron shook his head thoughtfully. "You don't know do you? I mean you're better friends with her than Harry and I."
"No, you know she doesn't talk about her family. I figure she'll open up eventually and we shouldn't press it until she does." They had reached the lake and Hermione climbed up on one of the huge boulders. Ron watched her from the base of the boulder.
"We have our first game in two weeks, if you come you'll get to see her play then. We should win, its just Ravenclaw and they haven't got anything like Mattie or Harry."
"What are you talking about Ron?" Hermione smiled down at him from the top of the boulder. She climbed down a little bit and said, "Of course I'm coming to the game." As she started to sit down, her foot slipped and she started to fall off the boulder. She slid down too fast for her to realize what was happening, but Ron, still standing at the base, scooped her up before she hit the ground. She had thrown her arms around his neck and was holding him very tightly, shaking.
"Are you alright?" Hermione pulled back slightly, realizing what had happened. She was breathing very quickly; her face was only inches from Ron's.
"Y – yeah, I'm fine." She pulled out of his hold and stood up. Ron felt like the bottom of his stomach had dropped out; they had been very close for those few seconds, which were now, regretfully, gone.
"We should umm ... get Mattie's ... Mattie's glove," Ron stammered.
"Oh, right." They had not yet broken eye contact since Hermione fell; it was several moments before they actually started walking towards the pitch. "So are you going to Hogsmeade? It's the day after the Halloween Ball this year."
"Yeah, most likely. You?"
"Yeah."
When they were about half way to the Quidditch field, the thunder got very loud. A few seconds later the sky opened up and it started pouring rain. They were drenched before they even knew what was going on. Ron grabbed Hermione's hand tightly and pulled her towards the front doors of the school.
"Come on!" They reached it within seconds and were, gratefully, inside. Drenched and shivering, they ran into the lobby area of Hogwarts. Mattie, who was just reaching the bottom of the stairs, looked at them wide-eyed. Ron was still holding Hermione's hand and they were both laughing.
"I'm assuming it's raining outside." Mattie's statement sent Ron and Hermione into another fit of laughter. Hermione was leaning on Ron's shoulder, trying to stop laughing. "My glove?" Mattie asked, holding out her hand.
"We ... didn't get ... that far!" Ron stammered between laughs.
"Thanks a lot!" Mattie smiled and wiggled her eyebrows at Hermione, who tried, unsuccessfully, to glare at her. A few moments later, Ron and Hermione finally regained their composure. "That was interesting."
"We were walking towards the pitch when it started raining," Ron explained. "Sorry."
"That's okay. Let's go back up to the Common Room; you're both dripping all over the floor." Mattie turned around and started back up the stairs, Ron and Hermione followed behind.
Disclaimer: The only thing I own is Mattie.
A/N: I know the Gryffindor Quidditch Team wouldn't really be in need of a chaser during the trio's fourth year ... but humor me here! Drop me a review ... purty purty please?!