Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter Universe all other claimants to anything to do with the H.P. story are simply hangers on to her glory. I thank her for allowing us mere mortals to play in her world and I promise that while I have Harry in my care nothing bad will happen to him. I will leave that to J.K.R. herself in her books.
LOVE CONQUERS ALL
Chapter 18 More Quidditch.
The day of the Hufflepuff Ravenclaw Quidditch match was dull and overcast with a very light breeze. They were making their way to the Quidditch pitch when they met Moyreg and Hesta with another young woman who was introduced to them as Gwenog Jones the captain of the Harpies, they all chatted and watched the match together.
After the first quarter of an hour Gwenog asked Harry, "Who is that young Hufflepuff Seeker, she could be very, very good?"
"Her name is Ruth Jenkins, she's a second year, only twelve and she's Muggle born. Oh, and she's Welsh."
"Is she now," said Hesta grinning, "Give her some coaching Harry, see how she gets on and that's only a Cleansweep fifty she's using we'll send her one of our brooms." Moyreg decided that they would all talk to Ruth after the match.
Harry, Ginny, Parvati, Hermione, Neville and Luna were all mumbling things like 'Oh Damnation!' and Harry thought that they weren't wrong. Suddenly he had an idea and went to talk to Bruno James, who was two rows back.
"Hi Bruno, I wonder if you could do me a favour?"
"I'll try to help if I can."
"Could you invite the Ravenclaw Seeker for a trial?"
"The pretty Chinese looking one. Yeh, sure I was half thinking about it anyway, what's the problem?"
"She's sort of an ex-girlfriend who's giving me a hard time about my coaching deal."
"Oh, thinks you should be coaching her full time, does she?" Bruno said with a big grin.
"You've got the picture. Thanks Bruno, I owe you one." He went back to his seat smiling and Ginny, Hermione, Parvati, Neville and Luna wanted to know why he was smiling, when he explained what he had done they all thought that it had been a very good idea.
Ruth was diving for the Snitch but her broom was just not fast enough, Cho overhauled her and caught it, Hufflepuff lost by ten points, Ruth was distraught she was sat on the pitch crying her eyes out. Ginny ran over to her and put her arms round her comforting her. Harry saw Bruno go over to Cho and her face lit up and he thought, 'saved', then he went on over to Ruth who was now with Moyreg, Hesta, Ginny, Hermione, Parvati, Neville, Luna and the whole Hufflepuff team.
He arrived as Moyreg started telling her what the Harpies wanted, "You are too young for a Provisional Contract but we would like you to sign an Interim Professional Quidditch Contract and before Luna bothers asking for you, that means that we will send you a new broom that really moves, you would of caught that Snitch on a half decent broom. You will be paid five hundred Galleons a month and Harry will coach you," Ruth threw herself at Harry, eyes glowing, kissing him on the cheek and Moyreg said. "Hang on a minute will you, you won't own him, I think Hermione does and a lot of other girls would like to, I have no idea how far back in the queue you would be. Where were we, yes and we also have first refusal for your next signature and that means that if someone else wants to steal you they will have to pay us for the coaching. Did I get everything Hesta?"
"Sure did boss, oh, except the bit where if she has to play for us she gets a load more money, but our chasers can explain that bit to her."
As the party were entering the Great Hall Ruth said, "Where do I sign please? Can you teach me to do the Wronski Feint Harry?"
This time there was a special table for them because there were members of three houses and two clubs all wanting to sit together. Moyreg passed Ruth the contract and she signed it.
Harry then said, "It will be a while before you will learn the Wronski Feint, you will have to learn to ride your new broom first it will be more than twice as fast as that Cleansweep and it will take practice for you to control it."
Gwenog told her, "Listen to him Ruth, I hear that he is possibly the best coach you are ever lightly to meet."
Then Moyreg said to Ruth, in a whisper the whole Hall could hear, "See there's another of the Harry fans."
The whole table erupted in laughter except for Harry who turned bright red and Gwenog who stood and walked up behind the staff table to whisper to the Headmaster, he stood and the room went silent then with a small smile he said, "There is a very attractive young lady here who would like to say a few words to you all."
Gwenog stepped forward and said, "For those of you who may not know who I am, my name is Gwenog Jones and I am the captain of the Holyhead Harpies Quidditch team." There was a huge cheer. "We would like to challenge the Gryffindor House Quidditch team to a match on the last Saturday of term, the fourteenth of December. Winners take all. For those who do not understand, that means that we usually get paid five thousand Galleons a match with a five thousand Galleon win bonus. In the unforeseen event, that Gryffindor were to win they will receive ten thousand Galleons a head."
There was another cheer all round the Hall and Professor McGonagall stood and said, "On behalf of Gryffindor House I accept your challenge."
Gwenog walked over and shook Professor McGonagall's hand, and then she walked back to her seat. Before she arrived Harry said to Moyreg, "Thanks for warning us."
"I didn't know if she was going to do it."
"Why shouldn't she do it, Moyreg?" asked Luna.
"Well she thinks she is going to win doesn't she but she hasn't seen you lot play and I am not so sure." Then Moyreg turned to Ruth and said, "As you are Muggle born I don't expect that you have a bank account, so we will open one for you on Monday and put your money in it."
Ruth replied, "Thank you Mme."
"I will say to you what I said to all these. My name is Moyreg, and that is what I want you all to call me, unless you are hauled up on the carpet for doing something wrong, ok."
"Yes M. Moyreg, oh and what's five hundred Galleons worth?"
Hermione answered, "About two and a half thousand pounds, Ruth ok."
Ruth's eyes were wide, "I am going to be rich."
Then Moyreg said quickly, "Five hundred Galleons is not rich Ruth, it won't even buy half the broom we are going to send you, so don't get carried away, will you. Anyway that makes the discussion as to how many people you can invite useless, now it's entirely up to the Headmaster."
Ruth seemed to calm down a little and Hermione said quietly to her, "At least you can save your parents having to pay for all of your school things."
Ruth was smiling happily as the gathering broke up.
x-x
Ruth's Mark two Firebolt arrived with Tuesday mornings post and she had gone straight over to Harry wanting to go out immediately and try it, Harry asked her for the timetable of her lessons and she showed it to him. He passed it to Hermione who took out a piece of parchment and a quill muttered a spell and copied Ruth's timetable, saying that it would be this evening before she could try the broom because lessons come first.
She started to argue but Professor Sprout who had been listening told her that if she didn't pass her exams she couldn't be a witch or a Quidditch player, Ruth slouched back to her seat.
Professor Sprout thanked them for being responsible students and awarded Gryffindor twenty house points, then said, "Well Gryffindor are going to win the House Cup anyway."
Ruth came to the Quidditch pitch directly lessons finished and it looked like half the school had followed her, they had set up the same racing circuit they had used in the summer to teach Hermione and Neville to go faster. Harry went up on his broom with Ruth on her new one and showed her how quick it was, he made her land, she was looking pale, he took her broom off her and lent her Ginny's Nimbus Flash and they went up and did the same thing again, her eyes were alight. He told her, that it was still a very fast broom, but that it was a lot easier to fly than the Firebolt, he showed her how to fly the training circuit, then left her to practice for a while. Harry went to Mme Hooch and asked her if she would mind if they left the training circuit in place between their practices, then anyone can use it. She thought it was a very good idea and proceeded to lecture the audience never to fly around it on their own and on the dangers of getting themselves ploughed.
Harry went back and stopped Ruth and told her they were going to have a race and to make it fair he would use her old broom, two laps the first clockwise then reverse direction, they asked Mme Hooch to start them. They set off and every climb Ruth pulled ahead but as they went around the top marker and dived and rounded the bottom one Harry passed her, the crowd was very excited because the race was very close and it finished a dead heat. Ginny, Hermione, Luna and Parvati rushed up to Ruth when she landed and told her how well she had done.
"But this broom's twice as fast as that one," she complained.
Harry had come over; he put his arms around her and congratulated her, then said, "You are freezing cold, we are going in for some dinner, and this lot can do what they want. The next thing for you to learn is how to turn quickly and I don't want to teach you that with all those people watching."
The group collected up all their things and started back towards the castle.
"Are you afraid that I will show myself, or you up?" said Ruth glumly.
Luna giggled and said, "No didn't you notice who was watching? Amongst others the whole of the Ravenclaw and Slytherin teams and we are not into teaching them all the tricks are we? Especially not the boys."
In a very hurt voice, Neville said, "But I'm a boy."
Luna put her arms around him and gave him a very big kiss, then said, "Do you know, I had never really noticed before I will definitely need to find a broom cupboard and check that out," they all burst out laughing.
When they reached the Great Hall they dragged Ruth to the far end of the Gryffindor table, so they could keep talking for another hour and a half while they were eating their dinner. Harry borrowed a quill, ink and parchment off one of the third year girls who was sat nearby and wrote a letter to Moyreg asking her to buy them winter weight training robes and that he would pay for them. What only Hermione knew was that he had also asked if they should play Ruth as Seeker against the Harpies.
Ginny had started giggling and Harry asked her what was up so she told him, "That third year you borrowed the quill off will never use it again, she's wrapping it up in tissue and putting it away."
"Don't be stupid." He said, but when he looked the third year turned the colour of beetroot.
When they had finished eating Harry, Hermione and Ginny went up to the Owlery to send the letter with Hedwig, Ginny took the opportunity to send Circe with a note to her mum telling her about their upcoming Quidditch match.
The next morning at breakfast, six pairs of Eagle owls arrived carrying large packages which they delivered to Harry, Parvati, Ginny, Hermione, Luna and Ruth, they were winter weight Holyhead Harpies training robes, Harry's were Gold with a Dark Green Talon front and back, the reverse colours to all the girls ones.
Harry also had a letter being delivered by Hedwig, he and Hermione read it together, it said, "What a good idea, I will try to get her to double her offer – TTFN– Moyreg."
Ginny asked them what the letter was about, Harry showed it to her and Hermione told her what they had asked Moyreg last night. Ginny thought for a minute then agreed that it was a very good idea and then she asked, "What does TTFN mean?"
"Ta ta for now," and seeing Ginny's still puzzled expression added, "ta ta, goodbye, you know?"
Light flooded Ginny's face and she said, "Of course. Bye for now."
In the meantime they kept training very hard and Ruth was improving very rapidly.
x-x
The day of the big Quidditch match was here, it was cloudy with squally showers, first they told Ruth that she would be playing as guest Seeker for Gryffindor in today's match against the Holyhead Harpies and then it was announced at breakfast.
All things considered Ruth took the news reasonably calmly, they probably heard her squeal of delight in Hogsmeade.
As they made their way to the Quidditch pitch they realised that the stands had been extended overnight, the stadium would now hold about three times as many people as it normally did. The owners and coaches of all the league teams were there, as well as the parents of a lot of the students.
Harry was sitting with Professor McGonagall to his left and Moyreg, Hesta and Grizz to his right and what seemed to be the whole Weasley clan behind him, he noticed that Tonks was sitting next to Charlie.
The match wasn't very old when it became apparent that the Gryffindor Chasers were nearly as lethal against league opposition as they had been against Slytherin. Gryffindor were ahead by one hundred and eighty to forty and gaining. Ruth had gone for the Snitch twice and only fouls by Gwenog had stopped her getting it, the Harpies hierarchy were getting annoyed as was Professor McGonagall and all for the same reason.
After another half an hour it was academic the Harpies score was up to fifty but Gryffindor had reached two hundred and forty, now it didn't matter who caught the Snitch Gryffindor were going to win, sure enough after another fifteen minutes Ruth caught the Snitch.
The crowd went wild, the parents, the coaches, everyone, the final score was Harpies sixty Gryffindor four hundred and seventy. Ruth had ridden the Nimbus Flash in the match she believed that overall she was quicker on it and there was less probability of her killing herself.
Professor McGonagall kissed Harry, Moyreg kissed Harry, Hesta Kissed Harry and all the girls from both teams kissed Harry, as did Molly Weasley and Tonks, then Hermione claimed him.
Moyreg said with a cheeky grin, "That's the last time that I ever want to see my team kiss the opposition coach." So she kissed him again despite Hermione's feigned objections. Then she continued. "Well Harry I guess you get the coaches bonus which is normally fifty Galleons for every point we win by and I make that twenty thousand five hundred Galleons."
They were making their way back to the castle when Harry discovered that Ruth's parents had been sitting with Professor Sprout along with the Evans's, Marks parents, Cho Chang the Head Girl, had been looking after them as well, they had had the game explained to them as it progressed.
Ruth's mother said to her, "Mind you mustn't keep wasting your time playing games, you must keep up with your studies."
Ruth smiled and nodded but Hermione laughed and told her, "Today we were on a special rate but if it had been a normal match we would each of won ten thousand Galleons or about fifty thousand pounds, so if she became a professional Quidditch player she would not exactly be poor."
Then Ruth's dad asked, "You said that today was a special rate, um what, why was that?"
"We are only school kids so they didn't think we stood a chance." Hermione answered, "We were on double money, about one hundred thousand pounds, not a bad days work. Do you know about the training day on the twenty eighth at the Harpies Ground?"
"Yes Ruth has told us about it but we don't know how to get there." Hermione asked the Jenkins where they lived and it turned out to only be about a quarter of a mile from her home, so they arranged to meet there and Floo to the Harpies ground.
Professor Dumbledore had arranged an impromptu banquet, with a special table for the teams their families and the coaches, the other students families were sat at the house tables the meal became more of a party as all the examinations had finished the previous day.
Hermione and Harry were going over to the Gryffindor table when Cho intercepted them and for a change laughing said, "I thoroughly enjoyed that match until I remembered that we have to play you next."
Ginny had joined them just in case Harry needed rescuing and smiling sweetly she said, "We were thinking that maybe we could pull off another whitewash."
Cho looked horrified, "You wouldn't do that to me would you Harry, please say that you wouldn't do that."
Hermione's eyes were twinkling as she said, "Well, if we get six hundred points up I will ask Harry to let you catch the Snitch."
The Head Girl still looked dismayed as the couple went over to the Gryffindor table, Harry wanted to talk to Mark's parents especially his dad. Mark's dad was called Ian and he told Harry to call him that and they talked a long time about Harry's mum who Ian had known very well, apparently Harry's mum had introduced him to Clare his wife who was actually a squib and knew a fair bit about the Wizard World. Ian told Harry that Petunia had wanted to marry a wizard but none of the ones that Lilly had known had fancied her; apparently she was just as obnoxious then as she still is now.
They had talked for a long time then Hermione and Harry took them over to meet the Weasleys, which made Arthur particularly excited. Harry discovered that the Chudley Cannons had signed Ron with a deal similar to the Gryffindor girls, however Neville had refused all offers of a professional Quidditch contract, he only wanted to be with Luna.
x-x
The arrangements for the up-coming Christmas holidays had been disjointed to say the least, they had all lost count of how many times their plans had altered, however they could all remember the major changes.
Originally Hermione had intended going home to see her parents but they had decided to go on a cruise up the Orinoco, so she couldn't go home ergo she was going to the flat with Harry.
One thing that was certain was that they didn't want to stay at Hogwarts, because Ron and Lavender Brown had started discussing what they would be getting up to in Gryffindor Tower over Christmas.
Neville was still not on speaking terms with his Grandmother so he had nowhere else to go other than the flat in Chudley Salterton and he still didn't have any intension of making peace with his Grandmother. So Harry had decided that the best bet was for the three of them to go and stay in the flat together. Parvati was going home to spend Christmas with her sister and parents, also because Harry was going to the flat Tonks and Dobby were going to be there as well to look after Harry, this they didn't mind at all.
With Harry, Hermione, Tonks and Neville going to the flat it was a forgone conclusion that Ginny and Luna wanted to spend Christmas there as well. Ginny's debate with her mother had eventually been settled when her mum agreed she could stay in the flat provided that everyone there came to the Burrow after Breakfast on Christmas Day. Of course none of the others objected to this arrangement either.
At first Luna had been worried because she didn't want her dad to be on his own over the festive season, but three weeks before the holiday she received an owl from him asking her if she could arrange her own Christmas with her friends? He was going on a trip to Patagonia to look for Argentinean Short Backed Quables, apparently some had been sighted near Gastre, even Hermione had never heard of the place. So when Luna had finished whooping with joy she sent her dad an owl wishing him Merry Christmas and good luck in his search.
So eventually everything had been sorted out for their Christmas.
Harry had asked Mark Evans if it would be alright to owl him over the holiday, Mark had told him that of course it would, his parents would not mind at all, but he also gave Harry his telephone number and told Harry that it might be easier.
Ten o'clock on the twenty-first of December was when they all caught the train from Hogsmeade station, it was a Saturday and they had two full weeks before they would be coming back to school. When they arrived at Kings Cross, Harry and Hermione were the first of the group to go through the barrier from platform nine and three-quarters and then a little old lady accosted them and she said, "Watcher! Harry." he shook her hand to prove that, as he suspected, it was Tonks, when the others came through the barrier the six of them went in a Ministry car to the Leaky Cauldron and from there Flooed to the flat in Chudley Salterton, two minutes after arriving in the flat, Tonks came out of her room looking like herself, with Purple spiky hair, faded blue jeans and her Dylan is God T-shirt.
By nine in the evening, their dinner was finished and they were all sat in the lounge talking, they had a lot of catching up to do they had not seen a lot of Tonks at Hogwarts. Unexpectedly she asked them if they needed to go Christmas shopping, not surprisingly they all wanted to go. Then she asked them whether they had enough money, or did they need to go to Gringotts first, so they all checked how much they had, the only one of them that had a large amount of cash, was Harry and that was mainly the remaining Muggle money from the summer. Ginny and Hermione said that they would like to go to Harrods again, Tonks smiled and told them that she had guessed they would so she had a Portkey to take them to and from the Ministry entrance to the store it will leave at ten in the morning and come back at three in the afternoon.
When Harry counted his Muggle money, he still had over fifteen thousand pounds and he asked them how much they would like, they settled on two thousand pounds each. He told them that they could get the galleons anytime they were in Gringotts and to just put it straight back into his account, they all agreed that this was a good idea. Then they arranged the groupings for the next day, Neville, Harry and Tonks would be together for the first hour and a half, then Neville would swap with Ginny after another hour and a half Hermione would change with Tonks, this would give them all time to buy each other presents, without the recipient being there at the time.
x-x
A few minutes before ten they were all gathered in the lounge waiting for their Portkey to activate, when Tonks told them that the room they would land in, was on the lower ground floor of the store and they were to memorise its location as they left it. At ten exactly the Portkey activated and they were all deposited in a room about fifteen feet square with just a door, there was a notice on the door it read;
"Today's Password is "PRIMROSE". – Ministry of Magic."
Of course, they had to remember it.
As they went out of the door and closed it, there was a blank wall behind them, Luna tried the password, the entrance reappeared and opened they closed it again and it disappeared, again. Now they were in a short narrow corridor, which they walked out of, it was obvious that the Muggles couldn't see the opening; the feeling was that it must have similar Muggle repellent charms on it as were on the Leaky Cauldron, the store department they were in was Designer gentleman's suits.
The girls set off in one direction and Neville, Tonks and Harry went in the other. All in all they had a very comfortable and successful day, they had bought all the presents they needed. The day had been made only artificially hectic by what seemed like thousands of people around them, none of who appeared to know what they wanted to buy.
When they arrived back at the flat they were tired and very hungry, so they all put their bags into their rooms, had a quick wash and headed for the dining room where Dobby rapidly served them a big meal and they were soon tucking in to it. As their hunger was satisfied they started discussing what remained to do prior to Christmas, two things, decorate the lounge and Harry was insisting they visit Diagon Alley.
Neville asked him, "Why do you want to go to Diagon Alley?"
"Because I want to buy some new Party Robes."
Ginny said, "But your Party Robes are practically brand new, you've only worn them once."
"I know I have, it's all you girls I want to buy new robes for," there was a series of exclamations from each of them telling him that they didn't need new Party Robes.
Then he said, "You see! That's what I mean, none of you think that you need new robes and I do, so none of you should spend your money on new robes. It's me who wants you to have them, so I will pay for them and I am not into arguing so I am going to bed and I love you all, goodnight."
Then he went to bed, within five minutes Hermione came and sat on their bed. "What's all this about then?" she asked. He ticked items on his fingers.
"Ginny, she has been wearing that Silvery dress for four parties in the summer, she really needs something new.
Luna's clothes look like they were chosen by her dad who still thinks she's about ten, don't try to tell me that even one of you doesn't think that she needs something new, her hair has improved out of all recognition since she has been with us, now lets sort the rest of her out.
You've worn that new robe I bought you to the last three parties at the Burrow, Hermione you are the fiancé of probably the richest student in the school and you are not wearing it to four in a row.
Tonks, we all love Tonks, she has done masses for all of us and if you three are having new dresses then so is she. So now you can go and tell the committee for the enslavement of Harry Potter what is going to happen." Hermione didn't say a word, she bent over and kissed him deeply then went back into the lounge.
A quarter of an hour later Hermione climbed into bed beside him, she leant over and gave him another loving kiss.
He said, "Who won?"
"You did of course," he gave her another kiss that matched the one she had given him.
"Good, I love you. Goodnight angel."
"I love you to, goodnight darling."
In three minutes they were lulled asleep by their personal heavenly choir.
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