Harry had spoken to Ginny about what had happened between her and Draco the
night before his detention with Snape. They talked for hours, and Harry had
reassured her that as long as she was by his side, no harm would ever come
to her ever again. He had left for bed feeling tired, but pleased and
relieved that he had cleared the air with his girlfriend.
The next day, he spent the entire morning in detention. Again. The cauldrons did take a long time too - three and a half hours, and he had had Snape breathing down his neck the whole time, which made it doubly as bad. He had prattled on and on during the detention about Harry's shocking "maturity level" and his non-existant "self discipline". Harry had refused to retalliate and had simply rolled his eyes and continued to labour on the cauldrons. When they were finally done and Harry was free to go, he had almost run back to the Gryffindor common room, eager to see Ginny. He was sooty all over and he hadn't even noticed as he ran past a sniggering Malfoy.
As he entered the portrait hole and was about to go and change, he noticed a small figure sitting on the couch, silently reading. The fresh morning sunlight streamed in through the stained glass window panes and filled the room with a beautiful warm orange glow. The sun glinted off her hair as Ginny looked up from her book and smiled at him.
"Harry, you're filthy!"
"Yeah, well, I have been scrubbing cauldrons for the past day!" He answered with a smile.
"Well, you did deserve it."
"Deserve what?"
"The detention."
"Oh thanks for the support, Ginny. I was defending you, are there you go, jumping to Malfoy's ship ..." He grinned to show he was joking. "Nah, I probably shouldn't have bashed the shit out of him, but I was glad I did. I'd wash a million Cauldrons just to see him suffer. And it was for you, Gin, so I'm justified."
"Hey, I didn't ask you to bash him up, Harry!" Ginny giggled. "You landed that detention yourself."
"I couldn't give two shakes about the detention, or Malfoy, or the fact that I kicked his arse! All I care about is you." Harry sat down next to her, blackening the couch with soot. He took Ginny in his arms and kissed the top of her head.
"I've missed every day that you didn't talk to me. I've missed holding you in my arms like I'm doing now." He grazed his nose gently over hers.
"Why are you so good to me?" She asked softy.
"Because I love you, Ginny. No one has made me feel as though I can't breathe when you are not with me, no one has soothed me with laughter like you have. All I want to do is hold you. You and no other. Forever. I swear that nothing like this will ever happen again." He hugged her even more tightly and possessively than before- like there was no tomorrow. And when he stopped and Ginny looked up at him, she could see his eyes were glazed with tears.
****
It was only four days until it was holidays. Harry and Ginny couldn't wait as it had been a particularly difficult term. Christmas beckoned and the snow fell lightly. This meant that Harry only had two more lessons with Snape. He was rather sick of detentions now and so he thought it best to play nice for the remainder of the term. Despite his past fun, scouring another lot of cauldrons just didn't seem to be worth it anymore.
Ginny had been better since Harry had served his last detention. She was smiling again and laughing like she used to. To top off the last few days of term, Harry had also recieved letters from both Sirius and Mrs Weasley.
"Looks like I'm coming to the Burrow these holidays, Gin and Ron." Harry exclaimed to his four best friends at Dinner that morning in the Great Hall. .
"Yeah, Hermione's coming too," Ron said through his munched up toast. "Everyone's coming, except for Percy, of course, the arsehole. Fleur, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George ... they'll all be there for a Christmas bash, though!"
"Awsome, I can't wait! Sirius won't be home in Hogsmeade for Christmas, but he said in his letter that he was going to drop in at the Burrow on Christmas Day to see us all."
"Harry, thats great! Everyone together for Christmas. Could anyone ask for more?" Hermione chirped up happily.
"Yep, I could ask for more," Ron answered as he piled fried eggs onto his plate. "I want to Captain our Quidditch side tomorrow."
Hermione's attention turned to her boyfriend."Ron, will you stop getting your hopes up over that Quidditch Match? There are lots of great players at Hogwarts, as well as you! I just wouldn't hold out that much hope, that's all. Not with the competition you'll have."
Ron glared sulkily at her. "Thanks Hermione. Thanks so bloody much! I'm glad to see my girlfriend has such confidence in me!"
****
That afternoon, the alternate Quidditch Match was scheduled. Both Harry and Ginny and of course Ron were playing, as Ron had 'accidently' peeked at the players list on McGonagalls desk last week. Harry had particularly made note that Malfoy would definately be playing, therefore, Harry could look forward to watching someone else knock him off his poncy new broom, the Fleetwood Zap. That really would top off the last term.
This match was slightly different. It was the Gryfflepuffs against the Slytherclaws. A combined match, specially for Christmas. Nine players in each team (Hufflepuff and Gryffindor and Slytherin and Ravenclaw) Hermione could not play Quidditch and so she would be left alone to watch her best friends play instead. It was a brilliant idea, Harry admitted, although the downside to this was that no points would be awarded. It was purely for fun, as an end of term Christmas treat.
Everyone was now on their way to the Great Hall where Dumbledore would explain the rules to the game. Ron would simply not stop his chatter. "I've heard that there's still only one Captain for each team. That means I have to get it! I mean, how pathetic's McGuire and Norkin!?"
"How do you know they're even Captaincy candidates?" Hermione asked. Ron gave her a sad look."Oh, thats right, you cheated and looked at the list." She answered.
"Its not cheating!"
"Ron, I'm sure you'll get the Captaincy," Harry reassured him. "Its no big deal anyway." he murmered, although secretly, he thought that Terrence Bently, an excellent beater from Hufflepuff, may get it.
Ginny put her arms around him as they walked down the stone steps and into the Great Hall. Many students had now gatherered to their House tables and the entrance was flooded with excited students laughing and yelling and chattering.
The four of them took a seat at the Gryffindor table and waited for the other students to file in. It was then that Harry noticed Cho. She walked past him and didn't smile. Her dark eyes penetrated his. Harry could see her gaze travel to Ginny, but she didn't screw her face up in disgust, nor smile. Her expression looked rather stony towards the both of them. Cho was the Seeker for Ravenclaw. Surely she would be chosen for this match too - her, or Malfoy - or maybe both? Harry was really beginning to become edgy. Seeing as the Teams were combined, did that mean that there would be double the amount of players?
"If I can have your attention for a moment." Dumbledore's settling voice immediantly hushed everyone in the Hall, and brought Harry's thoughts back to the present. "I would like to take thie opportunity to congratulate everyone on an excellent semester of work. You have all done exceedingly well. Professor Snape also tells me that the number of detentions has declined dramatically, which is encouraging."
"Not with me it hasn't!" Harry whispered to Ginny. She bit her lip and shook with laughter. "Yeah, well, I've had my fair share too!"
"Now is the moment that you have all been waiting for." Dumbledore spoke again. "The teams are of course Gryfflepuff, which is a composed of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, and Slytherclaw, which is composed of Ravenclaw and Slytherin."
Professor McGonagall stood up then and spoke. "The new robes for this match will look like this." She clapped her hands together and two students came out of the side door, modelling the new Quidditch robes. Parvati and Malfoy walked out smugly in new the Quidditch robes. Harry would have felt like cheering along with everyone else, if it weren't for Malfoys bloody annoying smirk and the thought of how close he had come to his Ginny.
The robes were stunning, he had to admit. Parvati wore the Gryfflepuff robes - a bright gold colour with a crimson banding around the hoods and front. Two small house shields were embroidered onto each side of the top button holes. The Slytherclaw robes were a lighter green, with a blue banding. It too, had both the Ravenclaw and Slytherin house shields displayed on the breast.
"As you have all been informed of the special Quidditch Match this afternoon, it is my duty to tell you all how this match will be played. As you know, no points will be awarded to the winners, but a trophy will be presented to the winning team. There will be nine players in each team and these players have already been chosen." Ron glanced at Harry sneakily.
"When I call your name, please come forward and Professor Dumbledore will present you with your new robes, which you will be able to keep." Cheers rose from the crowd of students at once.
"We will start with Slytherclaw Team first. The Seekers are Draco Malfoy and Cho Chang." Draco, still thinking that he was pretty special because he was already up the front looking like a male Supermodel smirked knowingling to himself. He already had his robes on. That made him better than everyone else, apparently. Cho got to her feet and accepted her new robes from Dumbledore just as McGonagall read the next two from the long parchment.
"Beaters, Magda Morgan and Rodney Reynolds." Two studenst got up, to cheers from the Ravenclaws and Slytherins. Harry knew that Rodney was a good Ravenclaw Beater and that Magda was a Slytherin. No one dared go near her, she was that tough.
"Now the Chasers are Jed Gangrin, Secunda Phillips and Silas Spindle." They all got up at the same time and ran to the front like a mob of try-hards, the Slytherins especially cheering them on as if they were Gladiators.
"And last of al for the Slytherclaws: the Keepers are Nigel Cleaveland and Geraldine Isaacs." As they both made their way up the front someone yelled out from the crowd. "Go get'em Cleaver!" Nigel raised both his hands as if to say 'thankyou, thankyou, I know I'm rather special!"
"I think that will be enough." McGonagall spoke once more in a slightly stern way "Now we have the Gryfflepuff Team. The Seekers are Harry Potter and Susan Bones." Cheers went up for Harry and he hated all the attention. He slowly made his way to the front of the Great Hall and accepted his new robes from Dumbledore.
Soon enough, Godrey McGuire and Terrence Bently (two third years) had joined the Gryfflepuff team as Beaters and had taken their place next to Harry. Cheers erupted for Ron, who was announced as a Chaser. He walked proudly out along with his fellow Chasers, Mandy Ricketts and Colin Creavey. As Ron had said, Ginny was called, along with Billy Norkin as the Keepers.
"As you can see, the rules have changed slightly, so please listen carefully." McGonnagal began again over the cheers of the Students at the tables. "Many of you maybe wondering why there are two seekers on both teams." Many students nodded. "There will be three Snitches released for this game. This means that a team will have to retrieve two of these snitches to end the game. Each snitch is worth seventy five points, so when two are caught, this will equal the usual one hundred and fifty points in a normal game. It is also my duty now to name the Captains for each team."
Ron began to fidget nervously. He had been waiting for this moment for the past week. Who would be captain? Harry was certain that Draco would get it for Slytherclaw, as he was a better player than Cho. Harry however didn't know who it would be for their team. Maybe he didn't want to know. But they would both have to wait a moment longer.
"Draco Malfoy for Slytherclaw and Harry Potter for Gryfflepuff." A huge roar went up and Harrys heart missed a beat. He didn't want to be Captain! He didn't need any more attention. Ron could have it all! He turned to Ron, ready to tell him they had made a mistake, but he was glaring at him jealously, and turned his face away from him sulkily.
Draco strolled to the front and collected his badge, making a big show of pinning it onto his robes in front of the whole school. Then he raised his hands above his head like a triumphant warrior and the Slytherins erupted again into cheers. Harry, slowly and reluctantly, walked out to collect his badge. He gave Dumbledore a weak smile as he took his badge and went back to stand beside his team. Ron looked devastated, although Ginny looked pleased.
"You now have just over two hours to prepare for the match. Use this time wisely," Dumbledore announced to them.
Everyone began to file out of the Great Hall, still yelling and cheering, maybe even more excited than when they went in - if that was possible. Slytherin and Ravenclaw thought that they were going to win of course, and had suddenly buddied up against Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. They yelled things such as "What a bunch of whimpy losers" at them as they walked out the Great Hall, pointing and laughing at them. And Harry had thought the Ravenclaws were a decent House. He shook his head when he saw Cho laughing amongst them and walked off up to the Common Room with Ginny and Hermione. Ron was charging ahead of them fuming. Suddenly, he turned back to them, almost knocking Ginny over.
"I can't believe that I didn't get the captaincy!" he yelled at them. Students giggled as they milled around him.
"I told you not to get your hopes up didn't I, Ron?" Hermione said reasoningly. " And I'm sure Harry doesn't feel that great when you say things like that. He IS after all, your Captain, Ron." Hermione spoke sternly.
"I didn't want it Ron. You're welcome to it." Harry replied.
Ron sighed, his anger draining. "No, you deserve it Harry, I couldn't take that away from you. I'm just disappointed thats all, I'll get over it."
"We're gonna win anyway." Ginny reassured them.
"Yeah, we will. Are you nervous?" Harry squeezed her hand.
"Yeah. You?"
"Yeah."
"Really? You who never gets nervous before a Quidditch Match anymore?!"
"I'm nervous this time. Really nervous. Especially as Captain."
"You'll do fine, Beautiful. You always do."
The next day, he spent the entire morning in detention. Again. The cauldrons did take a long time too - three and a half hours, and he had had Snape breathing down his neck the whole time, which made it doubly as bad. He had prattled on and on during the detention about Harry's shocking "maturity level" and his non-existant "self discipline". Harry had refused to retalliate and had simply rolled his eyes and continued to labour on the cauldrons. When they were finally done and Harry was free to go, he had almost run back to the Gryffindor common room, eager to see Ginny. He was sooty all over and he hadn't even noticed as he ran past a sniggering Malfoy.
As he entered the portrait hole and was about to go and change, he noticed a small figure sitting on the couch, silently reading. The fresh morning sunlight streamed in through the stained glass window panes and filled the room with a beautiful warm orange glow. The sun glinted off her hair as Ginny looked up from her book and smiled at him.
"Harry, you're filthy!"
"Yeah, well, I have been scrubbing cauldrons for the past day!" He answered with a smile.
"Well, you did deserve it."
"Deserve what?"
"The detention."
"Oh thanks for the support, Ginny. I was defending you, are there you go, jumping to Malfoy's ship ..." He grinned to show he was joking. "Nah, I probably shouldn't have bashed the shit out of him, but I was glad I did. I'd wash a million Cauldrons just to see him suffer. And it was for you, Gin, so I'm justified."
"Hey, I didn't ask you to bash him up, Harry!" Ginny giggled. "You landed that detention yourself."
"I couldn't give two shakes about the detention, or Malfoy, or the fact that I kicked his arse! All I care about is you." Harry sat down next to her, blackening the couch with soot. He took Ginny in his arms and kissed the top of her head.
"I've missed every day that you didn't talk to me. I've missed holding you in my arms like I'm doing now." He grazed his nose gently over hers.
"Why are you so good to me?" She asked softy.
"Because I love you, Ginny. No one has made me feel as though I can't breathe when you are not with me, no one has soothed me with laughter like you have. All I want to do is hold you. You and no other. Forever. I swear that nothing like this will ever happen again." He hugged her even more tightly and possessively than before- like there was no tomorrow. And when he stopped and Ginny looked up at him, she could see his eyes were glazed with tears.
****
It was only four days until it was holidays. Harry and Ginny couldn't wait as it had been a particularly difficult term. Christmas beckoned and the snow fell lightly. This meant that Harry only had two more lessons with Snape. He was rather sick of detentions now and so he thought it best to play nice for the remainder of the term. Despite his past fun, scouring another lot of cauldrons just didn't seem to be worth it anymore.
Ginny had been better since Harry had served his last detention. She was smiling again and laughing like she used to. To top off the last few days of term, Harry had also recieved letters from both Sirius and Mrs Weasley.
"Looks like I'm coming to the Burrow these holidays, Gin and Ron." Harry exclaimed to his four best friends at Dinner that morning in the Great Hall. .
"Yeah, Hermione's coming too," Ron said through his munched up toast. "Everyone's coming, except for Percy, of course, the arsehole. Fleur, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George ... they'll all be there for a Christmas bash, though!"
"Awsome, I can't wait! Sirius won't be home in Hogsmeade for Christmas, but he said in his letter that he was going to drop in at the Burrow on Christmas Day to see us all."
"Harry, thats great! Everyone together for Christmas. Could anyone ask for more?" Hermione chirped up happily.
"Yep, I could ask for more," Ron answered as he piled fried eggs onto his plate. "I want to Captain our Quidditch side tomorrow."
Hermione's attention turned to her boyfriend."Ron, will you stop getting your hopes up over that Quidditch Match? There are lots of great players at Hogwarts, as well as you! I just wouldn't hold out that much hope, that's all. Not with the competition you'll have."
Ron glared sulkily at her. "Thanks Hermione. Thanks so bloody much! I'm glad to see my girlfriend has such confidence in me!"
****
That afternoon, the alternate Quidditch Match was scheduled. Both Harry and Ginny and of course Ron were playing, as Ron had 'accidently' peeked at the players list on McGonagalls desk last week. Harry had particularly made note that Malfoy would definately be playing, therefore, Harry could look forward to watching someone else knock him off his poncy new broom, the Fleetwood Zap. That really would top off the last term.
This match was slightly different. It was the Gryfflepuffs against the Slytherclaws. A combined match, specially for Christmas. Nine players in each team (Hufflepuff and Gryffindor and Slytherin and Ravenclaw) Hermione could not play Quidditch and so she would be left alone to watch her best friends play instead. It was a brilliant idea, Harry admitted, although the downside to this was that no points would be awarded. It was purely for fun, as an end of term Christmas treat.
Everyone was now on their way to the Great Hall where Dumbledore would explain the rules to the game. Ron would simply not stop his chatter. "I've heard that there's still only one Captain for each team. That means I have to get it! I mean, how pathetic's McGuire and Norkin!?"
"How do you know they're even Captaincy candidates?" Hermione asked. Ron gave her a sad look."Oh, thats right, you cheated and looked at the list." She answered.
"Its not cheating!"
"Ron, I'm sure you'll get the Captaincy," Harry reassured him. "Its no big deal anyway." he murmered, although secretly, he thought that Terrence Bently, an excellent beater from Hufflepuff, may get it.
Ginny put her arms around him as they walked down the stone steps and into the Great Hall. Many students had now gatherered to their House tables and the entrance was flooded with excited students laughing and yelling and chattering.
The four of them took a seat at the Gryffindor table and waited for the other students to file in. It was then that Harry noticed Cho. She walked past him and didn't smile. Her dark eyes penetrated his. Harry could see her gaze travel to Ginny, but she didn't screw her face up in disgust, nor smile. Her expression looked rather stony towards the both of them. Cho was the Seeker for Ravenclaw. Surely she would be chosen for this match too - her, or Malfoy - or maybe both? Harry was really beginning to become edgy. Seeing as the Teams were combined, did that mean that there would be double the amount of players?
"If I can have your attention for a moment." Dumbledore's settling voice immediantly hushed everyone in the Hall, and brought Harry's thoughts back to the present. "I would like to take thie opportunity to congratulate everyone on an excellent semester of work. You have all done exceedingly well. Professor Snape also tells me that the number of detentions has declined dramatically, which is encouraging."
"Not with me it hasn't!" Harry whispered to Ginny. She bit her lip and shook with laughter. "Yeah, well, I've had my fair share too!"
"Now is the moment that you have all been waiting for." Dumbledore spoke again. "The teams are of course Gryfflepuff, which is a composed of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, and Slytherclaw, which is composed of Ravenclaw and Slytherin."
Professor McGonagall stood up then and spoke. "The new robes for this match will look like this." She clapped her hands together and two students came out of the side door, modelling the new Quidditch robes. Parvati and Malfoy walked out smugly in new the Quidditch robes. Harry would have felt like cheering along with everyone else, if it weren't for Malfoys bloody annoying smirk and the thought of how close he had come to his Ginny.
The robes were stunning, he had to admit. Parvati wore the Gryfflepuff robes - a bright gold colour with a crimson banding around the hoods and front. Two small house shields were embroidered onto each side of the top button holes. The Slytherclaw robes were a lighter green, with a blue banding. It too, had both the Ravenclaw and Slytherin house shields displayed on the breast.
"As you have all been informed of the special Quidditch Match this afternoon, it is my duty to tell you all how this match will be played. As you know, no points will be awarded to the winners, but a trophy will be presented to the winning team. There will be nine players in each team and these players have already been chosen." Ron glanced at Harry sneakily.
"When I call your name, please come forward and Professor Dumbledore will present you with your new robes, which you will be able to keep." Cheers rose from the crowd of students at once.
"We will start with Slytherclaw Team first. The Seekers are Draco Malfoy and Cho Chang." Draco, still thinking that he was pretty special because he was already up the front looking like a male Supermodel smirked knowingling to himself. He already had his robes on. That made him better than everyone else, apparently. Cho got to her feet and accepted her new robes from Dumbledore just as McGonagall read the next two from the long parchment.
"Beaters, Magda Morgan and Rodney Reynolds." Two studenst got up, to cheers from the Ravenclaws and Slytherins. Harry knew that Rodney was a good Ravenclaw Beater and that Magda was a Slytherin. No one dared go near her, she was that tough.
"Now the Chasers are Jed Gangrin, Secunda Phillips and Silas Spindle." They all got up at the same time and ran to the front like a mob of try-hards, the Slytherins especially cheering them on as if they were Gladiators.
"And last of al for the Slytherclaws: the Keepers are Nigel Cleaveland and Geraldine Isaacs." As they both made their way up the front someone yelled out from the crowd. "Go get'em Cleaver!" Nigel raised both his hands as if to say 'thankyou, thankyou, I know I'm rather special!"
"I think that will be enough." McGonagall spoke once more in a slightly stern way "Now we have the Gryfflepuff Team. The Seekers are Harry Potter and Susan Bones." Cheers went up for Harry and he hated all the attention. He slowly made his way to the front of the Great Hall and accepted his new robes from Dumbledore.
Soon enough, Godrey McGuire and Terrence Bently (two third years) had joined the Gryfflepuff team as Beaters and had taken their place next to Harry. Cheers erupted for Ron, who was announced as a Chaser. He walked proudly out along with his fellow Chasers, Mandy Ricketts and Colin Creavey. As Ron had said, Ginny was called, along with Billy Norkin as the Keepers.
"As you can see, the rules have changed slightly, so please listen carefully." McGonnagal began again over the cheers of the Students at the tables. "Many of you maybe wondering why there are two seekers on both teams." Many students nodded. "There will be three Snitches released for this game. This means that a team will have to retrieve two of these snitches to end the game. Each snitch is worth seventy five points, so when two are caught, this will equal the usual one hundred and fifty points in a normal game. It is also my duty now to name the Captains for each team."
Ron began to fidget nervously. He had been waiting for this moment for the past week. Who would be captain? Harry was certain that Draco would get it for Slytherclaw, as he was a better player than Cho. Harry however didn't know who it would be for their team. Maybe he didn't want to know. But they would both have to wait a moment longer.
"Draco Malfoy for Slytherclaw and Harry Potter for Gryfflepuff." A huge roar went up and Harrys heart missed a beat. He didn't want to be Captain! He didn't need any more attention. Ron could have it all! He turned to Ron, ready to tell him they had made a mistake, but he was glaring at him jealously, and turned his face away from him sulkily.
Draco strolled to the front and collected his badge, making a big show of pinning it onto his robes in front of the whole school. Then he raised his hands above his head like a triumphant warrior and the Slytherins erupted again into cheers. Harry, slowly and reluctantly, walked out to collect his badge. He gave Dumbledore a weak smile as he took his badge and went back to stand beside his team. Ron looked devastated, although Ginny looked pleased.
"You now have just over two hours to prepare for the match. Use this time wisely," Dumbledore announced to them.
Everyone began to file out of the Great Hall, still yelling and cheering, maybe even more excited than when they went in - if that was possible. Slytherin and Ravenclaw thought that they were going to win of course, and had suddenly buddied up against Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. They yelled things such as "What a bunch of whimpy losers" at them as they walked out the Great Hall, pointing and laughing at them. And Harry had thought the Ravenclaws were a decent House. He shook his head when he saw Cho laughing amongst them and walked off up to the Common Room with Ginny and Hermione. Ron was charging ahead of them fuming. Suddenly, he turned back to them, almost knocking Ginny over.
"I can't believe that I didn't get the captaincy!" he yelled at them. Students giggled as they milled around him.
"I told you not to get your hopes up didn't I, Ron?" Hermione said reasoningly. " And I'm sure Harry doesn't feel that great when you say things like that. He IS after all, your Captain, Ron." Hermione spoke sternly.
"I didn't want it Ron. You're welcome to it." Harry replied.
Ron sighed, his anger draining. "No, you deserve it Harry, I couldn't take that away from you. I'm just disappointed thats all, I'll get over it."
"We're gonna win anyway." Ginny reassured them.
"Yeah, we will. Are you nervous?" Harry squeezed her hand.
"Yeah. You?"
"Yeah."
"Really? You who never gets nervous before a Quidditch Match anymore?!"
"I'm nervous this time. Really nervous. Especially as Captain."
"You'll do fine, Beautiful. You always do."