Disclaimer: I don't own HP.
Authors Note: Here is chappie 5…
Chapter 5 – Tryouts"Come on, Gin. Let's go inside. I think it's going to rain." I said and we went into the robes shop.
"Hello, dearies. What can I get you? New robes? Travelling Cloak?" The shopkeeper asked with a kind face.
"Umm, just some new robes for me thanks." And the shopkeeper came around in front of her counter; lead me to a mirror and started measuring.
"What size are you, dear?"
"14 to 16."
She gave me some robes, I tried them on and they fitted perfectly.
"That will be 14 Galleons and 4 Sickles." I handed her the money and we decided to head back to school without Draco and Blaise.
"Don't worry. He's probably just as ashamed as you are."
"Neveah! Ginny!" Draco was calling us and we whipped around.
"What? Haven't you screwed this day up enough without chasing us once you have?" I asked with a sour look on my face.
"Look, it was Ginny, too. She kissed me. I didn't kiss her." He said and I agreed to myself that that was true.
"Who kissed who?" Came Potter's voice and I turned around yet again to see him, Ron and Hermione. God!
"None of your business, Potter. Leave…now!" I said.
"It may not be Harry's business but it definitely is mine if it's my little sister kissing a Slytherin. I was already steamed that you came to Hogsmeade with these pieces of filth but now my little sister is kissing one of them! Outrageous!" Ron said and he grabbed Ginny's wrist.
"Ron, let go of me! Ouch, Ron! Stop it! You're hurting me!" Ginny was screaming at her brother but obviously he was deaf to her cries and next thing he knew he had been hit in the face by Blaise.
"You bastard!" Ron shouted (now just about the whole street was listening and watching). Ron tackled Blaise and I started comforting Ginny and Hermione joined in on her other side.
"Thanks, you two." She said quietly and we didn't even look back at what might be left of those four boys.
In the castle, we lead Ginny up to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey looked down at Ginny's wrist, which now had hand shaped bruises imprinted on it.
"Who did this?" She asked in a shocked voice.
"My brother, Ron Weasley."
"He didn't! Come on, into bed, dear." She led Ginny to a bed near her office and put the curtains round so she could get into some pyjamas. In Madam Pomfrey's office, I asked her a question.
"Do you think we could stay with her? You don't have to if you don't want to." I said to Hermione. She nodded and left.
"Well, OK. She won't have to stay very long. Just tonight. Lucky it's the weekend." She said and I congratulated myself mentally.
All through the rest of that day and the next morning, no one but messengers and sick people entered the Hospital Wing. The next day, Ginny got changed and we headed for the common room. Only a few paces away from there, we bumped into Draco and Blaise. Draco had a bruised lip and Blaise had a knuckle-bruise on his right eyebrow.
"Watch out." Draco sneered and Blaise mouthed the word 'sorry' behind his back as they walked off.
"See how the attitude changes, Gin. You can't go kissing Slytherin's and thing you'll get away with it." I said, choosing my words carefully.
"I know. But…I just keep going over Ron's words in my head. 'It's definitely my business if my little sister is kissing Slytherin's' and 'But now my little sister is kissing them'. I'm not little anymore and obviously Ron doesn't see that. He still sees me as the little girl who was in love with his best friend. I don't love his best friend anymore and I'm definitely not a little girl anymore." I looked at her thoughtfully, thinking over those words as she lunged in for a hug so I opened my arms.
"Oh, Nev! I've done—the worst thing! We've—done the worst—thing. Accepting the—Slytherin's invitation to make a fool—of ourselves." She said through sobs.
"No, Ginny. We haven't. We've done a good thing."
"How do you figure? You called making out with a Slytherin good?"
"No. We said we would go and we did. And we had a good time. Well, right until the fight anyway."
"You know what, Nev? You're right! We need to make a stand. And right now is the time." She let go from the hug and we walked the last flight of stairs to the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Password?"
"Pumpkin Head." I said. The portrait swung forward and we stepped in.
"Ron and Harry, we need—I need to talk to you." She said and she nodded that I could come with her.
"Where are we going?" Potter asked with that annoying voice that was always nagging at the back of my head at inappropriate times.
"In here." She walked into an empty classroom. We all sat down and Ginny took a deep breath.
"You know how yesterday you said you don't want your little sister kissing Slytherin's?" She asked Ron and he nodded nervously.
"Well. I'm not little anymore, Ron. I'm 15 and I'm sick of you and him," she pointed and Harry," treating me like I'm five! I'm not five, Ron! You don't know what it's like to be the youngest! It's always the same. 'You can't do that' or 'you can't do this'. Who are you to say I can't go out with Draco or Dean or even Neville? I wouldn't blame you if I were going out with every Tom, Dick and Harry but I'm not, OK? So, why don't you and Harry just leave me and my life alone?" She stormed out and I ran after her.
"Ginny! That was brilliant!"
"Shhh, they're talking!" We put our ears to the door.
"Well, that was overwhelming and unexpected." Came Harry's voice.
"You know what, Harry?"
"What?"
"I totally disagree with her." I saw Ginny's eyes flash from satisfaction to fury.
"Why? I don't. I think she's right."
"It's just the fact that she is 15. That's no age to go dating a 16-year-old Slytherin. I wouldn't mind if she was dating you, Harry. You're the perfect candidate."
"Yeah, but there's just one problem."
"I know, I know. We can't force her to date you but—just get you on a few dates and she'll be straight into you."
"No, I'm already dating someone." My eyes widened, Ginny's mouth dropped and by the sound of it, Ron had come over with jealousy.
"Who? Don't tell me, it's not Hermione is it?"
"No. It's Luna Lovegood." We stepped away from the door as though it was about to burst into flames.
"That was—" I started.
"—Wrong. We shouldn't have heard that, Neveah. Now we'll have to pretend we don't know. I'm not saying I care for him but that's information that Harry does prefer not to disclose."
We started off for the common room again. As we stepped in for the second time there was a commotion around the notice board.
"What is it?" I asked as we walked over to the crowd.
"Quidditch. Harry's Captain. He'll be having try-outs tomorrow." Colin Creevey told us and we sat down in the seats next to the empty fire grate.
"Going to try out?" I asked.
"Yeah, I suppose. I think Ron's already Keeper and it's only him and Harry. We'll have to."
We sat there for at least an hour until we were hungry and we went downstairs to the Great Hall for lunch.
"There isn't really anyone that's brilliant at Quidditch in Gryffindor since last year. Who is there?" I said as we walked into the Great Hall, "I mean you played last year as Seeker (no offence) but that was only because Harry couldn't and Ron was Keeper but now that Katie and them are gone there's no one for Chasers or Beaters."
We started eating (I chose some roast lamb, Ginny potato salad) as the rest of the school filed in.
"Wa' ar we gunna doo' vis afta'noon?" I asked through a mouthful of roast potatoes.
"We could get Snape's essay done on what happens when you mix essence of Belladonna and ground Shrivelfigs? Looks as though it's going to rain soon and we need to make use of the last summer weather…if you could call it that." I looked out the huge windows of the Great Hall and sure enough, far away was dark, grey clouds.
"Yeah why not. That's the only homework we have left to finish and that's amazing. Obviously this is going to come up in the OWL's." So after lunch we hurried up to the common room grabbed our bags and made our way to the lake. The rest of the day went slowly and miserably. Writing essays for Snape isn't an entertaining task. I went to sleep straight away after dinner, drowsy and nervous about the tryouts next day. But surprisingly, they started off fine.
"OK, Neveah, what are you trying out for?" Potter asked as I walked up to him with the Nimbus Two Thousand my Grandad (he's a wizard) had sent me for my 12th birthday over my shoulder.
"Beater."
"OK, in the air and I'll let a Bludger out." I zoomed off nervously and saw him letting the Bludger out of the case. It zoomed straight for me and I hit it hard back towards him. He beckoned me down.
"Brilliant. Absolutely fabulous. OK, I'm going to let both out now and I'll send Ron up as the opposition." I sped back up again and Ron (on Potter's Firebolt) zoomed back and forth over the field. I saw the Bludgers go pelting towards me and Ron and I hit the one to Ron: it hit him square in the stomach. I saw him fall, I heard myself and Ginny scream and I flew quickly to meet Potter holding him.
"Very good. You're on the team. Don't worry about Ron he'll be fine. You can stay and watch Ginny if you want." I sat down in the stands five minutes later by myself. Ginny was trying out for Chaser. Potter let the Quaffle go and he and Ron flew up as Keeper and another Chaser. I hate to say this but Ginny was no good. She had butterfingers. She kept dropping the Quaffle and she couldn't score. I watched as they landed and Potter said something to Ginny. They flew up again and instead of the Quaffle, Potter released a Bludger and Ginny was fantastic. She had great aim and good, strong arms.
"I never knew!" I said one hour later at dinner.
"Neither!" She replied and we ate happily.
"He said that I'm on the team, you're on the team. That only leaves the Chasers. Who are they? We didn't stay long enough to watch."
"Never mind, Gin. Try some of this mud cake, it's delicious!"
Authors Note: Another chapter, done. The next chapter will be up soon.