Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters and blah blah blah lol

Now that Quidditch had started, Harry and Ron's weeks flew by faster than anyone could imagine. Each and every day, they practiced on their broomsticks every spare moment they had. It was exhilarating to be back on the field for Harry and he enjoyed being able to play with his best friend Ron.

The only problem in Harry's life was that the Gryffindor quidditch team had no captain because Oliver Wood had graduated. For the first week they had tried to battle it out with each other for the spot of the team Captain, but they soon discovered that it was causing more problems then resolving the one they had. After a couple weeks of bickering and competing for the spot, everyone on the team decided to have a vote. The only rules were that you couldn't vote for yourself, and you couldn't tell any body else whom you were voting for.

Harry thought that this was fair enough, he didn't really mind if he was the captain or not. He just wanted to play, and if he could be playing Quidditch as captain, that would be fantastic, but if not, Harry was perfectly fine with just playing Quidditch. Other team mates, though were desperate to be captain.

One day when practice was finished early (which never happens) some people stayed behind to talk with the other members of the team. Harry wanted to get back to the common room so that he could actually get his homework done before midnight for once. So Harry said his goodbyes, but Ron stayed back and was getting into a deep conversation with a new player on the team named Declan Limerick, when they started to talk about team captains.

"Er… and you think that there's an actual chance that you will be team captain?" scoffed the oversized second year. This left Ron furious. The nerve of that pitiful second year, who hadn't even been playing quidditch for Gryffindor for more then a couple weeks! Declan remained smiling smugly at Ron, until Ron struck back with his own sharp tongue.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Ron cried sarcastically, while getting redder by the second with anger, "I should have known that a second year, with absolutely no talent would have a better chance than me at being team captain." Declan's jaw clenched as Ron spat the mocking words back at him. The team members that were still remaining on the field, were all looking at the scene that was unwinding before them.

"Of course I stand a better chance then you at making it! You are as dumb as a rock," while Declan seethed these words maliciously, Ron could have ripped that kid apart. It was one thing to call him poor, or poke fun at his family, because Ron knew that half the things they said were true, but to call him dumb, hell, his brains were all he had. Ron wasn't going to let some little boy insult him and get away with it. As Ron lunged for Declan, it took everyone that was there, to hold him back. And even that was difficult for them. When Ron was angry, his Irish temper made it almost impossible for anyone to stop him, but somehow they managed.

When everyone was calming Ron down, they didn't notice how scared Declan was as he scurried away from the horrendous scene. As the boy was sprinting across the long path to the Hogwarts castle, Harry and a few others were still on their way back from the field. They all saw Declan running towards the castle with a terrified look on his face, like he had just witnessed the most traumatic event of his life. Everyone sort of just stopped as Declan passed them and when he finally dashed his way into the castle, everyone raised their eyebrows at each other.

They all started shaking their heads at each other while they turned around to go see what was going on. They couldn't just go into the castle now; they had to know what made Declan run away with fright. When they finally reached the field and heard the story, Harry couldn't help but laugh at Ron's easy anger at the cocky little second year. After their laughs about the argument had ceased, the entire team (besides Declan since he wasn't there) thought it would be best if talks about team captains be postponed until everyone could handle it maturely. Everyone also promised not to say anything about Ron trying to rip Declan's head off because Ron had already gotten into a fight this year, just a couple weeks ago.

Harry was glad that they made this pact to not talk about team captains because he didn't want to get either Ron or him in any more trouble than they already were. Their troubles, as they had thought, were definitely not over. The five detentions that they had served along with Draco, Goyle and Crab, hadn't been pleasant at all, but they could definitely been worse. Harry was grateful that the detentions were over with, but he was starting to feel the teachers' wrath on him. In McGonagall's class, Ron and him were both required to do multiple extra assignments, mostly extremely long essays though. In Snape's class, he enjoyed mocking Harry continuously and making Harry's short time inside the dungeon with him, his most dreaded part of the week. Luckily, Harry's Charms teacher, didn't really punish him much and even whispered to Harry and Ron, "If I wasn't a teacher, I would be tempted to do the same thing!" It was nice that one teacher ignored Dumbledore's permission to extend a small punishment of their own for Harry, Ron, Draco, Goyle, and Crab's disturbance.

Even though Harry's fight with Malfoy made his school life infinitely more difficult, Harry didn't regret it one bit. It was what he needed to feel like him and Draco were even; to feel like he finally showed Malfoy that he wouldn't stand for his shit anymore. Now Harry didn't feel so bottled up, like he did before; he felt like he let out what he needed to and now he was ready to focus on what needed to be done.

This feeling lasted for Harry, about five weeks. It was short lived, but after five weeks of not feeling guilty or constantly having to hold everything inside, it all came to an end.

Because Clara was back….

The sun was lighting up the boys' dormitory with exubrance as Harry watched the sun rise. He had had another nightmare about Voldemort, Sirius and the green flashing light. Harry hated having these dreams because he knew that he couldn't believe them, but he also could never forget them. They always felt so real that he didn't know that he was dreaming until he found himself sitting up in a cold sweat. When these times came, Harry had to repeatedly tell himself that it wasn't true, even though in the back of his mind he dreaded that they were. A year ago, Harry would have definitely told Ron, Hermoine, and Dumbledore about these vivid dreams, but that was exactly the problem. Last year, that was what caused Sirius' death and he wasn't going to do something stupid like that again.

Every time Harry had his regularly reoccurring nightmare, he simply just laid in his bed peacefully, thinking about all the things in his life. Usually when the first ray of light peaked through the broad window in the dormitory, Harry would spring up from bed and get ready early. Today however, he was content with just lying in bed and pondering his life quietly. Maybe today was different because Sirius and Voldemort weren't the only people that Harry was thinking about.

"Harry?" Harry was quickly snapped out of his deep thoughts as Ron whispered for his attention.

"Hmm?" Harry answered lazily, still trying to remember what he was last thinking about. Ron had never really woken up and interrupted Harry's "thinking" time, but Harry wasn't annoyed. He knew that the more he thought of the past, the harder it was for him.

"Why do you do that?" Ron asked seriously.

"Er…do what?" Harry replied, now turning to face Ron. As Harry had guessed, Ron's hair was a mess, just like every other morning. What surprised Harry was how concerned Ron's face was while he gave Harry a searching gaze.

"Almost every morning, I wake up to see you staring at the ceiling. You just stare blankly, with no emotion on your face except..." Ron paused, while avoiding Harry's eyes a little before his finished, "remorse." Ron looked up as if expecting to see the answer written across Harry's face, but it wasn't. To be honest, Harry didn't know why he spent hours lost in thought; it was just something he ended up doing without any intention to. Harry didn't know why he could so easily find himself absorbed within his mind, but he did and there was no explanation as for why.

Harry tried to answer Ron's question in a way where Ron would understand. "You remember how I would have those nightmares, reliving my parents' death?" Harry questioned while looking Ron in the eyes as he uncomfortably nodded. Harry continued, "When I have dreams like that, I can't go back to sleep, but I try to anyways. I will just stare at the ceiling and remember how things used to be or wish that things were different. I don't really decide to start thinking about that stuff, it just happens while I am lying there. I guess I have a lot to think about though…" Harry remained keeping eye contact with Ron for a few more moments, but soon turned his head back at the ceiling.

After a long moment of silence, Ron replied, "Yeah, it's easy to get lost in memories." At this moment, Harry discovered that he was not the only one wishing that things were simpler.

Dont worry! Clara will definitely be in the next chapter ;-)

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