Chapter 23
During lunch, Professor McGonnagall came up to Harry and handed him an envelope. There was a twinkle in her eye as she walked back to the staff table. Harry opened the envelope and a crimson and gold badge fell out with a "C" on it. "OOOH Harry!" Lavender exclaimed. "You're the new Quidditch Captain! Congratulations." She jumped up and hugged him much to everyone's surprise. Realizing what she'd done, she excused herself to go find Parvati.
"Um, way to go, mate!" Ron said with a snicker at Lavender's retreating frame. "Yes, Harry, great job!" gushed Ginny. Draco got a knot in his stomach that he realized was jealousy. Why was Ginny gushing over Potter like some lovesick puppy?
"Yeah, well, I think we'll start practice day after tomorrow," said Harry. "That way, we can see if everyone has practiced over the summer or not. I'll tell Katie and those idiot beaters."
After lunch, Ginny had a free period due to the rain, so she went to the common room while the rest of the group all went to Defense Against the Dark Arts. They were shocked by who their new teacher was. It was Bill Weasley! Ron ran up to his oldest brother and shook his hand saying, "Why didn't you say something about this?"
"Dumbledore wanted it kept quiet, so I made Mum promise not to tell you."
"This is great! We finally have a teacher who knows something." Said Ron as he made his way to the back of class where his friends were sitting. The class went very well and the members of the DA were very advanced. After class, Harry asked Bill about the DA. "Well, Harry, I think you should still be in charge. After all, it is your group. I would be more than happy to give you private lessons to teach you new spells that you can pass on to them, however. This sounded like a brilliant idea to Harry, so he agreed at once.
At dinner that night, everyone asked Ginny why she hadn't told them about Bill. "Well, he asked me not to because he wanted to surprise you". "Well, it worked. We were definitely surprised." Ron said.
That evening, everyone decided to play a game of Exploding Snap, boys verses girls. Lavender, Parvati, Ginny and Hermione beat the 4 boys; badly. Hermione noticed Lavenders' glances at Harry and when the game ended, the friends made their way over to sit by the fire. Ron and Hermione were sharing a chair. So were Ginny and Draco. Harry sat on the couch and Lavender sat very close to him. Neville and Parvati sat together on the floor. It seemed that Neville's new found self-confidence went beyond facing the Slytherins. Parvati was very impressed with the "new" Neville. The friends all chatted happily until the fire burned itself out.
Ok. Here's another one. Please review!