Chapter 17
Quidditch Season Begins
Harry felt well put out, feeling so exhausted, and he had to attend to his team before the upcoming match. Considering that on top of investigating the murder scene, doing their own homework, as well as some animagus training with his group of friends and, of course, in secrecy with Mark for the animagus section. He also squeezed in some for D.A. club and finally, training his Gryffindor team nearly day in and out before the match against Ravenclaws. True Harry was exhausted from all the extra activities, but he had several motivations to keep him going. One thing that was always seen the top of his head, is training for the war.
He even included some maneuvers that would deemed best for battle, and dodging flying monsters such as dementors and in such cases, Death Eaters. He drilled some of that into Ron about defending the rings with his life. Harry asked Ron to think of the hoops as if it is his only home. He had heard no complaints from Ron, which surprised Harry by a large amount. Harry gathered the chasers of Ginny, Dean and Pavarti to have the tactic of going on offensive whenever possible. He also said that they would go on defensive when they have the Quaffle and to imagine that the Quaffle was their only lifeline in their life.
He spoke to the beaters, Jack and Andrew that they were warriors on war front and that they had to defend wit their lives to protect their homeland and its people. Harry described the Bludgers as flesh-eating monsters and they had to do everything in their power to protect their people from Bludgers with their only means of defensive item, the bat. The team in turn, visualized of what Harry described vaguely for them with few particular moves he taught using the board.
'Oh, all this leadership is making me sick,' thought Harry as everyone fell quiet. Then he 'mediated to the world of Quidditch, and the only thing that mattered for Harry is the Golden Snitch. He saw the snitch as the only way to win the war with the efforts of their chasers and the protective 'nature' of the beaters. He saw that Golden Snitch was paving way to victory over the battle but not the war. Since there were other matches to do. Then at the end, he saw the Quidditch cup and the House cup and silently grinned to himself.
'Perhaps not all the happiness in this world is truly gone . . .' thought Harry, feeling as though he was first and second year all over again. He could understand how Wood and Angelina felt when they took captaincy. They had wanted to win, to push their team beyond what limits they had thought to have. Some of the players were amazed, such as Jack, who had knocked himself out with a bat last year, were doing impressively well this year. He could tell that some of them practiced over the course of the summer before his sixth year.
The eve before the match began; Pavarti went up to Harry, looking pale. Harry took one look at her and sighed, knowing what is coming. It was time to comfort the team. He unconsciously put a hand on her shoulder, and spoke first.
"Pavarti, it's is just like we have always practiced. You've seen the matches haven't you?" Her face went a little red Harry noted.
"Y-yes, I have seen the previous matches, but that doesn't comfort me in the least," said Pavarti, on the verge of panicking.
"Pavarti, take a few breaths, count from thirty and do that to yourself or even say it out loud. Do it whatever it works for you," said Harry, rubbing her back to make her feel a bit better.
"Y-yes," then she began to count backwards in some native language he did not know. He was baffled at this, Pavarti was bilingual! When she finished counting to zero and looked at Harry. "Thanks Captain, that really helped. You know, you really are a I great /I leader. All the things you do . . . ."
"Pavarti, now is not the time, I think we all should go to sleep, do you agree?"
"Yeah, I am a bit sleepy," agreed Pavarti and Harry turned to the common room.
"Hey-HEY TEAM! Let us get to sleep now! Ah now don't be so nervous or complaining and get your arse in bed!" said Harry loudly. He saw his teammates slowly getting up from their seats and made their way to the dormitories.
"Night Harry," said Pavarti.
"Yeah, night," replied Harry, muttering as he went to his dorms. He changed into his PJs and felt the butterflies in his stomach. Harry groaned, reminded of his times in his first and second year when he was nervous. 'I suppose it's because now that I'm a captain...' harry figured as he pulled over the covers and practiced the Occulemency and at once, fell asleep.
The next day, he woke up to Ron and Dean waking him up with pillows. PILLOWS! thought Harry, alerting at once and defended himself with his own.
"You guys, we can't waste our energy this way! We've got to conserve them for the match," said Harry, scolding them.
"Sorry mate, we - uh - we just thought there was a way to get rid of this... funny feeling in us," said Dean sheepishly, squirming slightly.
"Yes, and that's exactly what we need for the match! I have them too," stated Harry. The two boys nodded and Harry found that Seamus was somehow still sleeping. Harry grinned. "But there are other things to wake up with..." he grinned mischievously at Seamus and the other two caught on. Harry took his wand out and pointed at Seamus.
"Aquadis Buffitis,"said Harry and a stream of water shot out of his wand and hit Seamus' face full on and sat up spluttering. The three boys in front of the soaked Gryffindor laughed hard. "And THAT'S," breathed Harry, "how you save energy! But don't laugh so hard now," said Harry.
Seamus pouted in front of them as he heard that he was being used as an example of a prank. "What was the big idea!??"
"Oh nothing, you were sleeping through everything now, so we thought we had to wake you or you'll miss our match!"
"Awight, awight!" mumbled Seamus, as he got up from his bed. "You better win this one or you own me a few chocolate frogs," said Seamus as he went to the bathroom. Harry laughed as Ron was trying to prevent from laughing any harder while Dean was holding onto the bedpost for support.
"Okay, I'll see you all at breakfast," said Harry, taking a deep breath.
"But I don't feel like eating," said Dean.
"Oh Dean, you've got to eat something, we warriors need food to battle you know," said Harry. Dean nodded numbly and the two went down for breakfast. Harry thought back when he started training the team. They were such in a bad shape, no teamwork whatsoever. He was proud of himself for scraping up from a 'bad team' to a decent team. He had started applying battle tactics as a way to figure few things out as the real war intensify.
He also discovered that telling the other on his team about his plan, they had improved dramatically. He reasoned that some sort of motivation was needed to improve on an area they were weak in. For example, Ginny used to make a lot of sloth grip rolls, which made it easy to detect her movements for other team. He hoped that his secret of using battle tactics he found in books and applying to Quidditch practices won't be found out of his team circle and a select few such as Hermione and Mark.
He had made his team so unpredictable but with a lot of plans in mind, that he has no doubt that other team or even the audience will ever see a move repeated twice. Harry even included himself on the unpredictability so that the other seeker won't tail him so much. Harry thought all of this as he got dressed, went out of the Gryffindor tower and to Great Hall. He found his team in one area and grinned.
"Morning guys, I see that none of you are not eating," said Harry, frowning. "I know the feeling, I don't feel like eating either. But we have got to eat something or we will be weak out there. Do you want to pass out from lack of food?" asked Harry with a smile. "Tell you what, if I see who eats the most healthiest, a butterbeer's on me. Myself included," said Harry, chuckling.
"Oh Harry, not fair! But if that's the deal . . ." said Pavarti slowly.
"We'll accept it!" said Ron, piling himself with mounds of eggs, bacons and pancakes.
"And we don't want to overstuff ourselves either. I don't think puking is one of our to-do list," said Harry as he helped himself to toast, eggs and bacon. Ron shrugged and began eating.
"Uu to no datz nee arrie?" said Ron, asking.
"Ron, I don't understand you when you have food in your mouth."
"Disgusting," said Pavarti as Ginny giggled as she ate six pieces of bacon. Ron took a big swallow with a loud lump in his throat.
"You do know that I eat this much right Harry?" repeated Ron.
"Of course, of course," replied Harry mindlessly as he ate another toast and drank down the pumpkin juice. He stood up and announced that everyone had eaten healthy for their match.
"That means, butterbeer's on me, for all of you. So, we'll get together at next Hogsmeade okay?" asked Harry and everyone nodded enthusiastically.
"Great, well I think it's time to head for the lockers now, come on troopers," he said with a laugh and the others chuckled with him. After changing into their red uniform made for Quidditch, he cleared his throat, feeling the ever-increasing queasy feeling in his stomach.
"H-Hey guys, ho-how are you all feeling?" stammered Harry. Not only, he felt like nervous, he was speaking like one. How on Earth he could not lose cool when he was under extreme situations but he would under lighter circumstances? He supposed it was because this one was for more competition and fun. He knew that no risks were necessarily be taken besides the occasional injuries.
So, why was he losing his posture over something so trivial? Then he remembered the pep talk and sighed. Of course, he was the leader, the captain of the team. Others were expecting him to be great and all that. Sure he had over three hundred members in the D.A. but this group was much smaller and knew everyone. He was not exactly comfortable commanding his friends.
"Nevermind how you feel, I know we are all nervous as hell. I do not really like the leadership status so much. I think it is because I don't really like commanding my friends to do things my way. It is just, its never really happened to be before besides the D.A. of course. But that's besides the point, you are all my friends, my housemates and I'm getting to know each one of you even more than we could have achieved otherwise. Andrew, I didn't know you were into theories on different areas of magic. Jack, you have surpassed even what I thought had been possible, if you keep working, well, there's no telling of what you can do."
"Ginny, I have known you practically since my second year if you don't count the first and second meeting in my first year," he said with a chuckle. "But things about you continue to unveil. I didn't know that you would go for extreme limits in Quidditch. Dean, well, your creativity, let's just say, I've used some of your ideas in some of the moves. I'm sure you recognized some of them."
"I knew it!" exclaimed Dean, grinning. Harry grinned back and continued.
"Pavarti, you proved me wrong when you tried out for the team, I had thought you, well, didn't have what Quidditch needed, and you continue to prove me wrong in all of our practices. Finally, Ron, you have changed so much since, well, our first year, but I like to say since fourth year. You've matured, and yet you are still a funny person, easy going and well, several qualities you developed in Quidditch in past few months. You became even more determined."
"Team, I just like to say, we have something that other team don't have," said Harry. Ron frowned in thought.
"What's that?" asked Dean.
"Six years of real Quidditch experience for a captain, I don't mean to brag, but it has some advantages."
"You're right mate," said Ron, brightening.
"Hooray for the captain!" chorused the team happily. Harry grinned, feeling rush of blood to his cheeks.
"Okay troopers, are we ready to battle? Like I said, no one is not going to die today, so, let's go!" Harry turned, and his small cape twirled behind him as the team followed him out of the lockers and out into Quidditch pitch. He heard enormous cries of applause and a new voice of commentary.
"Look! Here's the Gryffindor's team making way to the center! As it comes, it's Harry Potter, Ronald We-"
"You do not say their first names Collin!" said Professor McGonagall, scolding.
"Sorry Professor, as it goes, Potter, Weasley, Patil, Weasley, Kirke, Sloper, and Thomas taking up the rear! Oh look, here comes the Ravenclaws! Chang, Smith," Harry zoned out the names as he saw her making way across the field and stopped in front of Harry. She smiled at him and Harry returned the smile back in playful-evil way. "And the match is about to begin! This is between Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw! Both captains have turned out to be both seekers for their own team and here's Madam Hooch now..."
"Captains, shake hands," she said and the two shook firmly and Harry nodded and Cho nodded back. They knew they were serious about this match and going to take to the full blast. "Mount your brooms!" Harry mounted his own broom and felt the sturdy, hard grass.
'Good take off... '
A whistle blew and the crowd went wild as fourteen brooms rose into the air as Harry literally skyrocket up above the match. Effectively losing Cho on his tail and zoomed steeply back towards the ground but stopped at the game level. He was going to throw Cho off for awhile.
She had taken the bait, but her new Nimbus 2000 was no match for the Firebolt at all. At one point, he spotted several familiar faces in the crowd with Dumbledore but shook it off as he made a swerve turn to the right towards Ravenclaw's hoop holes. He watched the game, and finally listened to the commentary.
"-OUCH! JACK JUST BLEW A BLUDGER TO SMITH ON THE BACK AND LOSES HIS QUAFFLE! GINNY WEASLEY TAKES THE QUAFFLE AND HEADS TO THE RAVENCLAW'S SCORING AREA!" Harry spotted Ginny as she made several 360 degrees around a chaser randomly and spiked up to the air and back zooming towards the scoring area. She then circled Smith and made herself what looked like that she's going to score through the hoops and instead passes the ball on to Dean. Harry saw that he entered the scoring area on a faster broom and scored through the unguarded hoop on the left where Ginny had been aiming for the right.
"GRYFFINDOR SCORES! 10-O NIL TO GRYFFINDOR! THE KEEPER SENDS THE QUAFFLE TO BROOKE WHO DOVE TOWARDS THE GROUND AND WOW! LOOK AT THE TEAMWORK! KIRKE SENT A BLUDGER DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF -" Harry saw the whole thing, Kirke sent the Bludger in front of Brooke as Dean appeared on the Ravenclaw's left. This had effectively made him lose concentration and got a blow in the chest as he lost the Quaffle. Dean chased the Quaffle but Pavarti reached first and swooped up.
Checking to make sure Brooke was okay and continued to follow the game as he unconsciously made several round the loops in the pitch. Then he saw it, the snitch was down at the end of Gryffindor hoops and Cho was close. Much too close and decided to go for a drastic measures. He did the spectacular Wronski Feint. He was only about hundred feet off the ground and felt something was on his tail and grinned to himself. Cho took the bait.
""LOOK! POTTER HAS FOUND THE SNITCH! CHANG IS FOLLOWING AND -"
Just inches before he swerved up, and heard several screams and groans as if they were wincing. He heard a sickening crash behind him and found Cho lying there.
"OUCH, THAT HAS TO HURT! SOMEONE CALL FOR HELP! THIS DOESN'T LOOK GOOD!" said Collin, panicking for his D.A. member who had just made a crash.
His skin grew cold and yelled to Madam Hooch for a time out. Then he flew to Cho to see if she was okay. There had been a lot of blood spilled from her head. How had he been so reckless? "C-Cho?" choked Harry.
"Move out of the way Potter, Ms. Chang, can you hear me?" He had turned around, not willing to face his shame. But as he would have it, he heard a few words, felt a hand on his shoulder, looked around, and saw Cho standing there, however bloody.
"Great move Harry," laughed Cho. "That was great, let's finish the game!" she said, mounting her broom. Harry nodded numbly and mounted his.
"LOOKS LIKE CHANG IS BACK ON HER FEET AND READY TO PLAY AGAIN AFTER FOR FALLING SUCH A TRICK! THAT MOVE WAS USED AT WORL-"
"DO THE COMMENTARY WOULD YOU COLLIN? DON'T TURN INTO JORDAN ON ME!" said Professor McGonagall. "ARE YOU PAID TO TELL ABOUT THE HISTORY OF EACH MOVES?"
"NO PROFESSOR I WAS JUST-" Then the microphone was cut off for the moment and Harry had to laugh and pushed off the ground.
'Well, of course, girls really ARE tough . . . first Hermione, then Ginny . . . Pavarti and now Cho . . . What's up with girls anyways?' wondered Harry as he flew into the air aimlessly as the game continued in motion. He saw that Smith now has the Quaffle and was too dangerously near the hoops at the end. "Come on Ron!" he whispered to himself as he shot the goal and Ron dove for the Quaffle and caught it with both hands. Harry grinned and did a few loops the loops as Gryffindor crowd cheered as Slytherin and Ravenclaw groaned and hissed. Ron sent the Quaffle to Dean and did several series of movements of using sloth grip roll, circling players, skyrocketing and diving at different magnitude. It was so hard to tell what move he was going to do next that baffled the Ravenclaw keeper as Dean neared him and shot through the middle hoop when the keeper went to the right.
"GRYFFINDOR SCORES AGAIN! 20-O TO GRYFFINDOR!"
Then the keeper became more desperate and sent the Quaffle to Brooke again who dove up into the sky and zoomed over the game while trying to avoid the chasers and Bludgers being sent by Andrew and Jack. Harry had to admit it, they were doing so well, and they haven't even cheated. Ginny flew from behind, gave a burst of speed in her broom, and punched the Quaffle out of his grasps and into Pavarti's arms who was there the entire time. She dove down and did a barrel roll while diving back towards Ravenclaw's end. She did series of rolling and diving up and down at different times, and again, Keeper could not know what they were going to do next. Pavarti zoomed by the keeper from the side and before he could even noticed anything. The commentary screamed again for another point.
"ANOTHER TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR! 30-0 TO GRYFFINDOR! I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE! IT IS AS IF THEY ARE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING THAT CROSSES THEIR PATH! THESE FLIERS ARE AMAZING! THE TEAMWORK WORKS SO FLAWLESSLY, I FAIL TO SEE ANY INFACTIONS IN THEM! NOW KEEPR CORNER SENDS THE QUAFFLE TO SMITH-"
Harry saw the snitch again and decided that they had enough and saw that Cho wasn't tailing him at all and found that she most certainly learned her lesson and grinned. 'That would be her downfall in this game...' thought Harry as he zoomed towards Ginny, the snitch was only behind her tail on the broom. He added the burst of energy, and zooming in and out of the players and Bludgers who were desperately trying to hit him. He was faster than that, Harry knew. And saw the surprise look on Ginny's face and Harry grinned and lurched forward and the snitch flew straight up. Harry made nearly 90 degree angle turn upwards towards the snitch. Some how, the Snitch wouldn't come closer as Harry flew further and further away from the ground.
He told his Firebolt to give everything its got and still won't get closer to the snitch. His skin grew colder and colder as his breathing grew harder to breathe. His fingers danced around the Snitch and felt something tightly grasped in his palms as the wings fluttered trying to get away. Harry felt lightheaded and his Firebolt was shaking badly now. He looked down to the ground and saw his vision not in doubles but five times. He could faintly see Hogwarts, the mountains, Forbidden Forest seemed so small from here and he lost the grasp of his broom.
Wind was whistling rapidly in his ears, his hair whipping his face like leashes as his eyes screwed up against the plowing wind. As he neared, he distinctly could see Quidditch pitch and saw fliers coming up after him but saw the shock on their faces as Harry continued to fall. He could feel the warmth of the atmosphere, began to feel hot, and knew that nothing was going to slow his fall from so high up. Sometime in the past, at primary school, when he was in fifth grade. They had talked about velocity and were only going to go faster the further they fell. He couldn't die now, no, not with the war coming. He couldn't and never would give into this!
"NO! I WILL NOT COLLIDE!" screamed Harry, as he neared the ground no further than fifty feet. He had so much to live for, as much as he hates to admit it. People out there look to him as a role model. He remembered his mother and the sacrifice it took for all of this stuff. He couldn't die now and let her efforts be in vain. He saw the white light again and knew no more. 'Typ... ic...al...' thought Harry slowly as darkness took his mind.
Sometime later, in the dark, Harry wondered if he was dead or not. But he had remembered the light, then the screams, his own screams, the fall, the flier's horror on their faces. The Snitch and everything came all back to him. Of course, he wasn't dead, if he wasn't; he wouldn't be in this pain he was in now. The light in past events seemed to have saved his life and became more restless than ever. 'What was the damn light anyways?' thought Harry. He tried moving his body but felt so heavy and too weak to do anything at all except for thinking. He could not even tell if it was light or dark outside and wondered if he was bandaged again.
He had fallen after all; it was a similar occurrence as it was on the first day of school. This time, he didn't mean to fly so high, or fall from higher elevation. Harry sighed, at least in his mind since he couldn't tell if he was sighing or not. He wondered how long before he would actually move a single muscle. An eyelid would be fine by him. He suddenly felt something cool against his arms or something in that location since he couldn't tell and it was moving rather fast. He could not tell what was going on or if he was in Hospital Wing for that matter. He distinctly heard voices and began to strain his ears.
"I'm sor...ut he's st...l in co....a, ho... you e....ect to v...sit so....one w...o ...ad such a n...ty fall ye...erday!" said one voice. His hearing wasn't all that well either but he could assume that someone was trying to visit him and that he was in a coma. I Coma. /I He sighed mentally again and reasoned that it must be why he couldn't move at all. He strained his hearing again.
"Hi ...Rry, I do..t kno... if yo... can year me. Mut ...Rry, that was som... fly..ng you di... just to...k a nas..y fall is all."
Harry wished he could speak, that he was hearing him, but he couldn't move his mouth. He tried but came with nothing. Then he had an idea and forced his throat the need to cough. It worked, and began to send messages through his coughing.
"CoROgNh, coIugh, CoANugh cough, couHEgARh coYOuUgh." He layed there, resting himself. He felt exhausted.
"Mate? You can hear me?" asked Ron, exclaimed. Harry blinked mentally. He could hear him now, clearly too! He reasoned that his coughs must have neutralized something in his ears, enabling him to hear even better.
"So you can hear me, but you can't do anything but force cough?"
"CoYEuSgh," replied Harry, starting to sound as if he was wheezing.
"Damn mate, I thought you had it bad, but this is worse!" said Ron, laughing. Harry had to agree, this was the far much worse condition to end up. His amnesia didn't even compare to this. "Well, you bored?"
"CoYEuSgh," replied Harry.
"I think you want to know what happened you were knocked out. Turns out Sirius, Remus and my mum was there watching. My mum fainted when she saw you falling...."
'What, they came!?'
"We were wondering why you took off but Cho had said she spotted the snitch but didn't go after Harry. She had said that Snitch was to be confined to Quidditch pitch and nowhere else, and not more than five-hundred feet in the air. I'm wondering why you went after it, when you clearly knew it wasn't right? I suppose I'll get straight answer later... anyways, me, Ginny, some of the Ravenclaw teammates, and few others like Madam Hooch and some others went to get you. You were nothing more than a speck in the sky. Like a... like a black star in daylight. It was good thing that clouds cleared otherwise you'd be soaked and with pneumonia."
"Everyone's fretting over you Harry, mum's crying, Sirius thinks you have died, and Remus was... well comforting Sirius. I think they failed to see the white light just before you actually crashed.... Damn Harry, how many times did that happen? The white light?"
"CoTHREugEh," replied Harry.
"And we still don't know anything about it yet, we need to look into it..." Harry mentally groaned. He had too much stuff going on as it is. Perhaps he would do it during the holidays or something. Not right now, as long it doesn't harm him, why bother researching?
"Mr. Weasley! It is time for you to leave, no point of keeping you here when he lies there-"
"Actually Madam Pomfrey," interrupted Ron. "Harry's awake, the only way he can communicate is by coughing with some messages in them. Go on Harry, say hi," said Ron, smirking. Harry laughed in his head and responded.
"CouHIgh, cough, coMADAugMh, coPOMuFghREY."
"Oh my goodness, he is awake! Potter, are you hurt anywhere?"
"CoNOugh, coIugh, CAouN'Tgh coFEugELh."
"I see..." there was a concerned hinted in his voice. "Potter, I'm sure you'll be please that you now have your own bed, I'm tired of it as it is," said Madam Pomfrey. Harry felt a shock of Horror going through his body. Then he felt intensity of pain.
"AARRUGGHH!" groaned Harry. He now wished he didn't have to feel a single thing. The pain was unbearable.
"Potter! Ron, oh, watch him," there were sounds of hurried footsteps and back and shoved something down his throat. He didn't spit the contents out. He could care less what it tasted like. Then the pain slowly receded away from him and slowed his breathing. "Potter?"
"Arugh, I should have not wished to move. I would've liked to stay the way I was. The pain, damn...." Said Harry, rubbing his eyes and opened them. Ron gave him glasses, and gratefully accepted them and put them on. He saw the two-worried look on their faces of Ron and Pomfrey.
"Potter, I think you should rest now...."
"Yeah, I'll just do that, I'm so tired now..." said Harry, feeling sleepy but not before he did Occulemency did he fall asleep.
For the next few, but hard recovering days, Harry was finally walking but only for a short distance and as long didn't include climbing stairs. While he had been in the Wing, many of his friends visited him and gave him tokens of candy and cards of get well soon ones. Cho came privately and gave him a pot of tulip flowers, which Harry thanked her for. Soon Pavarti came as well, and she gave him miniatures of Quidditch balls. If he wasn't careful, he would lose Snitch forever since it was so tiny but cute nonetheless.
Ron gave him the usual candies and Ginny gave him some books on Dark Arts but Harry later saw that it was a 'Kid's Version' type of book. But intrigued nonetheless. It would tell what parents would be most likely to teach their child at an early age. He thanked her and said that it was most invaluable.
After lugging all of the stuff from Wing to his rooms. Before he could even make his way through the common room. He found himself in a surprise party. Needless to say, Harry was surprised yet overwhelmed. He chuckled and spoke few greetings to few people as he made way through the common room and finally reached his trunk. 'Apparently a few girls in my life, that I'm important to them. . . ' thought Harry. He approached Cho last year so it was out of the question. They would remain friends for now, and Ginny, well is Ginny. He could only see him as a younger sister of his best friend and Ron did show some hostility towards boys who date her.
So he was left to Pavarti, but he wasn't all that attracted to her anyways. He thought about the original D.A. members, there was Susan Bones, she's nice. Then there's Lavender and well, the odd Luna too. He stopped himself, he hadn't spoke to Luna in ages and this is how he treats her after giving the opportunity to have his voice heard in the Quibbler last year. He made himself a promise to talk to her in next D.A. meeting to catch up with the I 'times' /I or so the two would call it.
His mind scrambled for more girls that was in the original D.A. and remembered Hannah from Hufflepuff, she wasn't too bad. She has a great attitude when being taught a new spell and had something interesting to talk about. He sighed and still felt tired from his accident, and one question that didn't fade since he caught the Snitch. Why did the Snitch leave the pitch and why the urge to go after it when even he knew was wrong?
Quidditch Season Begins
Harry felt well put out, feeling so exhausted, and he had to attend to his team before the upcoming match. Considering that on top of investigating the murder scene, doing their own homework, as well as some animagus training with his group of friends and, of course, in secrecy with Mark for the animagus section. He also squeezed in some for D.A. club and finally, training his Gryffindor team nearly day in and out before the match against Ravenclaws. True Harry was exhausted from all the extra activities, but he had several motivations to keep him going. One thing that was always seen the top of his head, is training for the war.
He even included some maneuvers that would deemed best for battle, and dodging flying monsters such as dementors and in such cases, Death Eaters. He drilled some of that into Ron about defending the rings with his life. Harry asked Ron to think of the hoops as if it is his only home. He had heard no complaints from Ron, which surprised Harry by a large amount. Harry gathered the chasers of Ginny, Dean and Pavarti to have the tactic of going on offensive whenever possible. He also said that they would go on defensive when they have the Quaffle and to imagine that the Quaffle was their only lifeline in their life.
He spoke to the beaters, Jack and Andrew that they were warriors on war front and that they had to defend wit their lives to protect their homeland and its people. Harry described the Bludgers as flesh-eating monsters and they had to do everything in their power to protect their people from Bludgers with their only means of defensive item, the bat. The team in turn, visualized of what Harry described vaguely for them with few particular moves he taught using the board.
'Oh, all this leadership is making me sick,' thought Harry as everyone fell quiet. Then he 'mediated to the world of Quidditch, and the only thing that mattered for Harry is the Golden Snitch. He saw the snitch as the only way to win the war with the efforts of their chasers and the protective 'nature' of the beaters. He saw that Golden Snitch was paving way to victory over the battle but not the war. Since there were other matches to do. Then at the end, he saw the Quidditch cup and the House cup and silently grinned to himself.
'Perhaps not all the happiness in this world is truly gone . . .' thought Harry, feeling as though he was first and second year all over again. He could understand how Wood and Angelina felt when they took captaincy. They had wanted to win, to push their team beyond what limits they had thought to have. Some of the players were amazed, such as Jack, who had knocked himself out with a bat last year, were doing impressively well this year. He could tell that some of them practiced over the course of the summer before his sixth year.
The eve before the match began; Pavarti went up to Harry, looking pale. Harry took one look at her and sighed, knowing what is coming. It was time to comfort the team. He unconsciously put a hand on her shoulder, and spoke first.
"Pavarti, it's is just like we have always practiced. You've seen the matches haven't you?" Her face went a little red Harry noted.
"Y-yes, I have seen the previous matches, but that doesn't comfort me in the least," said Pavarti, on the verge of panicking.
"Pavarti, take a few breaths, count from thirty and do that to yourself or even say it out loud. Do it whatever it works for you," said Harry, rubbing her back to make her feel a bit better.
"Y-yes," then she began to count backwards in some native language he did not know. He was baffled at this, Pavarti was bilingual! When she finished counting to zero and looked at Harry. "Thanks Captain, that really helped. You know, you really are a I great /I leader. All the things you do . . . ."
"Pavarti, now is not the time, I think we all should go to sleep, do you agree?"
"Yeah, I am a bit sleepy," agreed Pavarti and Harry turned to the common room.
"Hey-HEY TEAM! Let us get to sleep now! Ah now don't be so nervous or complaining and get your arse in bed!" said Harry loudly. He saw his teammates slowly getting up from their seats and made their way to the dormitories.
"Night Harry," said Pavarti.
"Yeah, night," replied Harry, muttering as he went to his dorms. He changed into his PJs and felt the butterflies in his stomach. Harry groaned, reminded of his times in his first and second year when he was nervous. 'I suppose it's because now that I'm a captain...' harry figured as he pulled over the covers and practiced the Occulemency and at once, fell asleep.
The next day, he woke up to Ron and Dean waking him up with pillows. PILLOWS! thought Harry, alerting at once and defended himself with his own.
"You guys, we can't waste our energy this way! We've got to conserve them for the match," said Harry, scolding them.
"Sorry mate, we - uh - we just thought there was a way to get rid of this... funny feeling in us," said Dean sheepishly, squirming slightly.
"Yes, and that's exactly what we need for the match! I have them too," stated Harry. The two boys nodded and Harry found that Seamus was somehow still sleeping. Harry grinned. "But there are other things to wake up with..." he grinned mischievously at Seamus and the other two caught on. Harry took his wand out and pointed at Seamus.
"Aquadis Buffitis,"said Harry and a stream of water shot out of his wand and hit Seamus' face full on and sat up spluttering. The three boys in front of the soaked Gryffindor laughed hard. "And THAT'S," breathed Harry, "how you save energy! But don't laugh so hard now," said Harry.
Seamus pouted in front of them as he heard that he was being used as an example of a prank. "What was the big idea!??"
"Oh nothing, you were sleeping through everything now, so we thought we had to wake you or you'll miss our match!"
"Awight, awight!" mumbled Seamus, as he got up from his bed. "You better win this one or you own me a few chocolate frogs," said Seamus as he went to the bathroom. Harry laughed as Ron was trying to prevent from laughing any harder while Dean was holding onto the bedpost for support.
"Okay, I'll see you all at breakfast," said Harry, taking a deep breath.
"But I don't feel like eating," said Dean.
"Oh Dean, you've got to eat something, we warriors need food to battle you know," said Harry. Dean nodded numbly and the two went down for breakfast. Harry thought back when he started training the team. They were such in a bad shape, no teamwork whatsoever. He was proud of himself for scraping up from a 'bad team' to a decent team. He had started applying battle tactics as a way to figure few things out as the real war intensify.
He also discovered that telling the other on his team about his plan, they had improved dramatically. He reasoned that some sort of motivation was needed to improve on an area they were weak in. For example, Ginny used to make a lot of sloth grip rolls, which made it easy to detect her movements for other team. He hoped that his secret of using battle tactics he found in books and applying to Quidditch practices won't be found out of his team circle and a select few such as Hermione and Mark.
He had made his team so unpredictable but with a lot of plans in mind, that he has no doubt that other team or even the audience will ever see a move repeated twice. Harry even included himself on the unpredictability so that the other seeker won't tail him so much. Harry thought all of this as he got dressed, went out of the Gryffindor tower and to Great Hall. He found his team in one area and grinned.
"Morning guys, I see that none of you are not eating," said Harry, frowning. "I know the feeling, I don't feel like eating either. But we have got to eat something or we will be weak out there. Do you want to pass out from lack of food?" asked Harry with a smile. "Tell you what, if I see who eats the most healthiest, a butterbeer's on me. Myself included," said Harry, chuckling.
"Oh Harry, not fair! But if that's the deal . . ." said Pavarti slowly.
"We'll accept it!" said Ron, piling himself with mounds of eggs, bacons and pancakes.
"And we don't want to overstuff ourselves either. I don't think puking is one of our to-do list," said Harry as he helped himself to toast, eggs and bacon. Ron shrugged and began eating.
"Uu to no datz nee arrie?" said Ron, asking.
"Ron, I don't understand you when you have food in your mouth."
"Disgusting," said Pavarti as Ginny giggled as she ate six pieces of bacon. Ron took a big swallow with a loud lump in his throat.
"You do know that I eat this much right Harry?" repeated Ron.
"Of course, of course," replied Harry mindlessly as he ate another toast and drank down the pumpkin juice. He stood up and announced that everyone had eaten healthy for their match.
"That means, butterbeer's on me, for all of you. So, we'll get together at next Hogsmeade okay?" asked Harry and everyone nodded enthusiastically.
"Great, well I think it's time to head for the lockers now, come on troopers," he said with a laugh and the others chuckled with him. After changing into their red uniform made for Quidditch, he cleared his throat, feeling the ever-increasing queasy feeling in his stomach.
"H-Hey guys, ho-how are you all feeling?" stammered Harry. Not only, he felt like nervous, he was speaking like one. How on Earth he could not lose cool when he was under extreme situations but he would under lighter circumstances? He supposed it was because this one was for more competition and fun. He knew that no risks were necessarily be taken besides the occasional injuries.
So, why was he losing his posture over something so trivial? Then he remembered the pep talk and sighed. Of course, he was the leader, the captain of the team. Others were expecting him to be great and all that. Sure he had over three hundred members in the D.A. but this group was much smaller and knew everyone. He was not exactly comfortable commanding his friends.
"Nevermind how you feel, I know we are all nervous as hell. I do not really like the leadership status so much. I think it is because I don't really like commanding my friends to do things my way. It is just, its never really happened to be before besides the D.A. of course. But that's besides the point, you are all my friends, my housemates and I'm getting to know each one of you even more than we could have achieved otherwise. Andrew, I didn't know you were into theories on different areas of magic. Jack, you have surpassed even what I thought had been possible, if you keep working, well, there's no telling of what you can do."
"Ginny, I have known you practically since my second year if you don't count the first and second meeting in my first year," he said with a chuckle. "But things about you continue to unveil. I didn't know that you would go for extreme limits in Quidditch. Dean, well, your creativity, let's just say, I've used some of your ideas in some of the moves. I'm sure you recognized some of them."
"I knew it!" exclaimed Dean, grinning. Harry grinned back and continued.
"Pavarti, you proved me wrong when you tried out for the team, I had thought you, well, didn't have what Quidditch needed, and you continue to prove me wrong in all of our practices. Finally, Ron, you have changed so much since, well, our first year, but I like to say since fourth year. You've matured, and yet you are still a funny person, easy going and well, several qualities you developed in Quidditch in past few months. You became even more determined."
"Team, I just like to say, we have something that other team don't have," said Harry. Ron frowned in thought.
"What's that?" asked Dean.
"Six years of real Quidditch experience for a captain, I don't mean to brag, but it has some advantages."
"You're right mate," said Ron, brightening.
"Hooray for the captain!" chorused the team happily. Harry grinned, feeling rush of blood to his cheeks.
"Okay troopers, are we ready to battle? Like I said, no one is not going to die today, so, let's go!" Harry turned, and his small cape twirled behind him as the team followed him out of the lockers and out into Quidditch pitch. He heard enormous cries of applause and a new voice of commentary.
"Look! Here's the Gryffindor's team making way to the center! As it comes, it's Harry Potter, Ronald We-"
"You do not say their first names Collin!" said Professor McGonagall, scolding.
"Sorry Professor, as it goes, Potter, Weasley, Patil, Weasley, Kirke, Sloper, and Thomas taking up the rear! Oh look, here comes the Ravenclaws! Chang, Smith," Harry zoned out the names as he saw her making way across the field and stopped in front of Harry. She smiled at him and Harry returned the smile back in playful-evil way. "And the match is about to begin! This is between Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw! Both captains have turned out to be both seekers for their own team and here's Madam Hooch now..."
"Captains, shake hands," she said and the two shook firmly and Harry nodded and Cho nodded back. They knew they were serious about this match and going to take to the full blast. "Mount your brooms!" Harry mounted his own broom and felt the sturdy, hard grass.
'Good take off... '
A whistle blew and the crowd went wild as fourteen brooms rose into the air as Harry literally skyrocket up above the match. Effectively losing Cho on his tail and zoomed steeply back towards the ground but stopped at the game level. He was going to throw Cho off for awhile.
She had taken the bait, but her new Nimbus 2000 was no match for the Firebolt at all. At one point, he spotted several familiar faces in the crowd with Dumbledore but shook it off as he made a swerve turn to the right towards Ravenclaw's hoop holes. He watched the game, and finally listened to the commentary.
"-OUCH! JACK JUST BLEW A BLUDGER TO SMITH ON THE BACK AND LOSES HIS QUAFFLE! GINNY WEASLEY TAKES THE QUAFFLE AND HEADS TO THE RAVENCLAW'S SCORING AREA!" Harry spotted Ginny as she made several 360 degrees around a chaser randomly and spiked up to the air and back zooming towards the scoring area. She then circled Smith and made herself what looked like that she's going to score through the hoops and instead passes the ball on to Dean. Harry saw that he entered the scoring area on a faster broom and scored through the unguarded hoop on the left where Ginny had been aiming for the right.
"GRYFFINDOR SCORES! 10-O NIL TO GRYFFINDOR! THE KEEPER SENDS THE QUAFFLE TO BROOKE WHO DOVE TOWARDS THE GROUND AND WOW! LOOK AT THE TEAMWORK! KIRKE SENT A BLUDGER DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF -" Harry saw the whole thing, Kirke sent the Bludger in front of Brooke as Dean appeared on the Ravenclaw's left. This had effectively made him lose concentration and got a blow in the chest as he lost the Quaffle. Dean chased the Quaffle but Pavarti reached first and swooped up.
Checking to make sure Brooke was okay and continued to follow the game as he unconsciously made several round the loops in the pitch. Then he saw it, the snitch was down at the end of Gryffindor hoops and Cho was close. Much too close and decided to go for a drastic measures. He did the spectacular Wronski Feint. He was only about hundred feet off the ground and felt something was on his tail and grinned to himself. Cho took the bait.
""LOOK! POTTER HAS FOUND THE SNITCH! CHANG IS FOLLOWING AND -"
Just inches before he swerved up, and heard several screams and groans as if they were wincing. He heard a sickening crash behind him and found Cho lying there.
"OUCH, THAT HAS TO HURT! SOMEONE CALL FOR HELP! THIS DOESN'T LOOK GOOD!" said Collin, panicking for his D.A. member who had just made a crash.
His skin grew cold and yelled to Madam Hooch for a time out. Then he flew to Cho to see if she was okay. There had been a lot of blood spilled from her head. How had he been so reckless? "C-Cho?" choked Harry.
"Move out of the way Potter, Ms. Chang, can you hear me?" He had turned around, not willing to face his shame. But as he would have it, he heard a few words, felt a hand on his shoulder, looked around, and saw Cho standing there, however bloody.
"Great move Harry," laughed Cho. "That was great, let's finish the game!" she said, mounting her broom. Harry nodded numbly and mounted his.
"LOOKS LIKE CHANG IS BACK ON HER FEET AND READY TO PLAY AGAIN AFTER FOR FALLING SUCH A TRICK! THAT MOVE WAS USED AT WORL-"
"DO THE COMMENTARY WOULD YOU COLLIN? DON'T TURN INTO JORDAN ON ME!" said Professor McGonagall. "ARE YOU PAID TO TELL ABOUT THE HISTORY OF EACH MOVES?"
"NO PROFESSOR I WAS JUST-" Then the microphone was cut off for the moment and Harry had to laugh and pushed off the ground.
'Well, of course, girls really ARE tough . . . first Hermione, then Ginny . . . Pavarti and now Cho . . . What's up with girls anyways?' wondered Harry as he flew into the air aimlessly as the game continued in motion. He saw that Smith now has the Quaffle and was too dangerously near the hoops at the end. "Come on Ron!" he whispered to himself as he shot the goal and Ron dove for the Quaffle and caught it with both hands. Harry grinned and did a few loops the loops as Gryffindor crowd cheered as Slytherin and Ravenclaw groaned and hissed. Ron sent the Quaffle to Dean and did several series of movements of using sloth grip roll, circling players, skyrocketing and diving at different magnitude. It was so hard to tell what move he was going to do next that baffled the Ravenclaw keeper as Dean neared him and shot through the middle hoop when the keeper went to the right.
"GRYFFINDOR SCORES AGAIN! 20-O TO GRYFFINDOR!"
Then the keeper became more desperate and sent the Quaffle to Brooke again who dove up into the sky and zoomed over the game while trying to avoid the chasers and Bludgers being sent by Andrew and Jack. Harry had to admit it, they were doing so well, and they haven't even cheated. Ginny flew from behind, gave a burst of speed in her broom, and punched the Quaffle out of his grasps and into Pavarti's arms who was there the entire time. She dove down and did a barrel roll while diving back towards Ravenclaw's end. She did series of rolling and diving up and down at different times, and again, Keeper could not know what they were going to do next. Pavarti zoomed by the keeper from the side and before he could even noticed anything. The commentary screamed again for another point.
"ANOTHER TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR! 30-0 TO GRYFFINDOR! I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE! IT IS AS IF THEY ARE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING THAT CROSSES THEIR PATH! THESE FLIERS ARE AMAZING! THE TEAMWORK WORKS SO FLAWLESSLY, I FAIL TO SEE ANY INFACTIONS IN THEM! NOW KEEPR CORNER SENDS THE QUAFFLE TO SMITH-"
Harry saw the snitch again and decided that they had enough and saw that Cho wasn't tailing him at all and found that she most certainly learned her lesson and grinned. 'That would be her downfall in this game...' thought Harry as he zoomed towards Ginny, the snitch was only behind her tail on the broom. He added the burst of energy, and zooming in and out of the players and Bludgers who were desperately trying to hit him. He was faster than that, Harry knew. And saw the surprise look on Ginny's face and Harry grinned and lurched forward and the snitch flew straight up. Harry made nearly 90 degree angle turn upwards towards the snitch. Some how, the Snitch wouldn't come closer as Harry flew further and further away from the ground.
He told his Firebolt to give everything its got and still won't get closer to the snitch. His skin grew colder and colder as his breathing grew harder to breathe. His fingers danced around the Snitch and felt something tightly grasped in his palms as the wings fluttered trying to get away. Harry felt lightheaded and his Firebolt was shaking badly now. He looked down to the ground and saw his vision not in doubles but five times. He could faintly see Hogwarts, the mountains, Forbidden Forest seemed so small from here and he lost the grasp of his broom.
Wind was whistling rapidly in his ears, his hair whipping his face like leashes as his eyes screwed up against the plowing wind. As he neared, he distinctly could see Quidditch pitch and saw fliers coming up after him but saw the shock on their faces as Harry continued to fall. He could feel the warmth of the atmosphere, began to feel hot, and knew that nothing was going to slow his fall from so high up. Sometime in the past, at primary school, when he was in fifth grade. They had talked about velocity and were only going to go faster the further they fell. He couldn't die now, no, not with the war coming. He couldn't and never would give into this!
"NO! I WILL NOT COLLIDE!" screamed Harry, as he neared the ground no further than fifty feet. He had so much to live for, as much as he hates to admit it. People out there look to him as a role model. He remembered his mother and the sacrifice it took for all of this stuff. He couldn't die now and let her efforts be in vain. He saw the white light again and knew no more. 'Typ... ic...al...' thought Harry slowly as darkness took his mind.
Sometime later, in the dark, Harry wondered if he was dead or not. But he had remembered the light, then the screams, his own screams, the fall, the flier's horror on their faces. The Snitch and everything came all back to him. Of course, he wasn't dead, if he wasn't; he wouldn't be in this pain he was in now. The light in past events seemed to have saved his life and became more restless than ever. 'What was the damn light anyways?' thought Harry. He tried moving his body but felt so heavy and too weak to do anything at all except for thinking. He could not even tell if it was light or dark outside and wondered if he was bandaged again.
He had fallen after all; it was a similar occurrence as it was on the first day of school. This time, he didn't mean to fly so high, or fall from higher elevation. Harry sighed, at least in his mind since he couldn't tell if he was sighing or not. He wondered how long before he would actually move a single muscle. An eyelid would be fine by him. He suddenly felt something cool against his arms or something in that location since he couldn't tell and it was moving rather fast. He could not tell what was going on or if he was in Hospital Wing for that matter. He distinctly heard voices and began to strain his ears.
"I'm sor...ut he's st...l in co....a, ho... you e....ect to v...sit so....one w...o ...ad such a n...ty fall ye...erday!" said one voice. His hearing wasn't all that well either but he could assume that someone was trying to visit him and that he was in a coma. I Coma. /I He sighed mentally again and reasoned that it must be why he couldn't move at all. He strained his hearing again.
"Hi ...Rry, I do..t kno... if yo... can year me. Mut ...Rry, that was som... fly..ng you di... just to...k a nas..y fall is all."
Harry wished he could speak, that he was hearing him, but he couldn't move his mouth. He tried but came with nothing. Then he had an idea and forced his throat the need to cough. It worked, and began to send messages through his coughing.
"CoROgNh, coIugh, CoANugh cough, couHEgARh coYOuUgh." He layed there, resting himself. He felt exhausted.
"Mate? You can hear me?" asked Ron, exclaimed. Harry blinked mentally. He could hear him now, clearly too! He reasoned that his coughs must have neutralized something in his ears, enabling him to hear even better.
"So you can hear me, but you can't do anything but force cough?"
"CoYEuSgh," replied Harry, starting to sound as if he was wheezing.
"Damn mate, I thought you had it bad, but this is worse!" said Ron, laughing. Harry had to agree, this was the far much worse condition to end up. His amnesia didn't even compare to this. "Well, you bored?"
"CoYEuSgh," replied Harry.
"I think you want to know what happened you were knocked out. Turns out Sirius, Remus and my mum was there watching. My mum fainted when she saw you falling...."
'What, they came!?'
"We were wondering why you took off but Cho had said she spotted the snitch but didn't go after Harry. She had said that Snitch was to be confined to Quidditch pitch and nowhere else, and not more than five-hundred feet in the air. I'm wondering why you went after it, when you clearly knew it wasn't right? I suppose I'll get straight answer later... anyways, me, Ginny, some of the Ravenclaw teammates, and few others like Madam Hooch and some others went to get you. You were nothing more than a speck in the sky. Like a... like a black star in daylight. It was good thing that clouds cleared otherwise you'd be soaked and with pneumonia."
"Everyone's fretting over you Harry, mum's crying, Sirius thinks you have died, and Remus was... well comforting Sirius. I think they failed to see the white light just before you actually crashed.... Damn Harry, how many times did that happen? The white light?"
"CoTHREugEh," replied Harry.
"And we still don't know anything about it yet, we need to look into it..." Harry mentally groaned. He had too much stuff going on as it is. Perhaps he would do it during the holidays or something. Not right now, as long it doesn't harm him, why bother researching?
"Mr. Weasley! It is time for you to leave, no point of keeping you here when he lies there-"
"Actually Madam Pomfrey," interrupted Ron. "Harry's awake, the only way he can communicate is by coughing with some messages in them. Go on Harry, say hi," said Ron, smirking. Harry laughed in his head and responded.
"CouHIgh, cough, coMADAugMh, coPOMuFghREY."
"Oh my goodness, he is awake! Potter, are you hurt anywhere?"
"CoNOugh, coIugh, CAouN'Tgh coFEugELh."
"I see..." there was a concerned hinted in his voice. "Potter, I'm sure you'll be please that you now have your own bed, I'm tired of it as it is," said Madam Pomfrey. Harry felt a shock of Horror going through his body. Then he felt intensity of pain.
"AARRUGGHH!" groaned Harry. He now wished he didn't have to feel a single thing. The pain was unbearable.
"Potter! Ron, oh, watch him," there were sounds of hurried footsteps and back and shoved something down his throat. He didn't spit the contents out. He could care less what it tasted like. Then the pain slowly receded away from him and slowed his breathing. "Potter?"
"Arugh, I should have not wished to move. I would've liked to stay the way I was. The pain, damn...." Said Harry, rubbing his eyes and opened them. Ron gave him glasses, and gratefully accepted them and put them on. He saw the two-worried look on their faces of Ron and Pomfrey.
"Potter, I think you should rest now...."
"Yeah, I'll just do that, I'm so tired now..." said Harry, feeling sleepy but not before he did Occulemency did he fall asleep.
For the next few, but hard recovering days, Harry was finally walking but only for a short distance and as long didn't include climbing stairs. While he had been in the Wing, many of his friends visited him and gave him tokens of candy and cards of get well soon ones. Cho came privately and gave him a pot of tulip flowers, which Harry thanked her for. Soon Pavarti came as well, and she gave him miniatures of Quidditch balls. If he wasn't careful, he would lose Snitch forever since it was so tiny but cute nonetheless.
Ron gave him the usual candies and Ginny gave him some books on Dark Arts but Harry later saw that it was a 'Kid's Version' type of book. But intrigued nonetheless. It would tell what parents would be most likely to teach their child at an early age. He thanked her and said that it was most invaluable.
After lugging all of the stuff from Wing to his rooms. Before he could even make his way through the common room. He found himself in a surprise party. Needless to say, Harry was surprised yet overwhelmed. He chuckled and spoke few greetings to few people as he made way through the common room and finally reached his trunk. 'Apparently a few girls in my life, that I'm important to them. . . ' thought Harry. He approached Cho last year so it was out of the question. They would remain friends for now, and Ginny, well is Ginny. He could only see him as a younger sister of his best friend and Ron did show some hostility towards boys who date her.
So he was left to Pavarti, but he wasn't all that attracted to her anyways. He thought about the original D.A. members, there was Susan Bones, she's nice. Then there's Lavender and well, the odd Luna too. He stopped himself, he hadn't spoke to Luna in ages and this is how he treats her after giving the opportunity to have his voice heard in the Quibbler last year. He made himself a promise to talk to her in next D.A. meeting to catch up with the I 'times' /I or so the two would call it.
His mind scrambled for more girls that was in the original D.A. and remembered Hannah from Hufflepuff, she wasn't too bad. She has a great attitude when being taught a new spell and had something interesting to talk about. He sighed and still felt tired from his accident, and one question that didn't fade since he caught the Snitch. Why did the Snitch leave the pitch and why the urge to go after it when even he knew was wrong?