Disclaimer: I own no part of this story except for the plot and spell work. J. K. Rowling owns everything else, including dozens of hours of my life that I am dedicating to this story.

Chapter 12: The Quidditch Match

Ginny sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall eating a quick meal before the Quidditch match against Slytherin. Today had been a pretty good day, aside from the fact that Professor Dumbledore had postponed the match until late that afternoon; classes had gone well and Ginny was looking forward to the upcoming match. Ginny did get a pleasant surprise when she ran into Hermione earlier that day. Hermione had come to visit Dumbledore and Ginny was able to spend a considerable amount of time with the young witch. She had grilled Hermione about Harry, asking question after question that Hermione had patiently answered. Hermione had a knowing smile on her face throughout the interrogation and Ginny had asked more than once why Hermione was acting like that but she had refused to tell Ginny.

"Oh well, she was probably just remembering when she and Ron were in the early stages of their relationship."

Ginny grimaced as thoughts of Ron entered her mind. It hurt losing a family member, especially as it had been Ron who had been the closest to Ginny. Ginny had slowly come to terms with her grief and life was once again returning to normality—or as normal as it could get, knowing that she would never see Ron again. Ginny shook her head clearing her head of such morbid thoughts.

Hermione and Ginny had listened to Harry's speech earlier and Ginny was excited that Harry had spoken about her the way he had. Hermione had assured Ginny that Harry had matured so much since their graduation and was sure that he meant every word. Ginny sure hoped so, but refused to let herself get too excited. Ginny knew that it would likely be a while till she saw Harry again, and by then he was likely to have returned to the same conclusion that he had come to shortly before his graduation. Hermione had comforted Ginny, assuring her that she needn't worry, and the two had headed to the Great Hall to get a bite to eat before the match. Ginny was glad that Hermione was here, chatting with her over supper as they had done just one short year ago. It felt like a lifetime had passed, but Ginny supposed that war had a habit of doing that.

Ginny turned to say something to Hermione when she froze as her heart caught in her throat. Whispers echoed through the room as two figures entered the Great Hall. One was the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, who always seemed at home when around his students. The other was a recent graduate of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; a graduate with untidy black hair and piercing green eyes.

Harry walked in with Dumbledore, chatting as if the two were old friends, and looked around the Great Hall as if trying to find something. Dumbledore leaned towards Harry and whispered something in his ear. Harry's head immediately swiveled to where Ginny was sitting. His eyes locked with her own, and Ginny could read the hope and comfort in his eyes. She could see the longing and knew that she was seeing more than just lust. Harry had purposely refrained from being with Ginny for several months now and Ginny was now seeing the aftereffects of their long absence from one another.

Dumbledore whispered something else in Harry's ear and the young man nodded. The two continued up the hall and Ginny heard the excited whispering that flew between the students. Ginny snorted softly but knew that the students had a reason to be excited. They had heard about Harry since they were born and Harry had proven himself much more worthy of recognition over the past few years. It was a joke at the Prophet that Harry Potter was no longer "the boy who lived" but "the boy who lived again and again." The young man's constant defiance of Lord Voldemort had proven that the Dark Lord was not infallible and brought hope to these times where hope was rare and despair was found in abundance.

Ginny let her eyes travel over Harry's body. Harry's hair hadn't changed of course and was as unruly as ever, and the ever-present glasses were still there as well. Harry might look the same to a casual observer, but Ginny could see several noticeable changes. Hermione was right, Harry had definitely matured more since Ginny had seen him last. Harry had finally grown into his body and he no longer resembled the small, frightened kid that she had first fallen in love with. While Harry hadn't been tall and lanky like Ron, Harry's body had always been slightly out of proportion with the rest of him. Now Harry seemed to have found the perfect balance and had filled in quite nicely during their absence. Muscles that she knew hadn't been there while he was at Hogwarts were now sculpted and defined. Ginny also noticed that Harry now moved with an air of self-confidence that only leadership could supply.

As Harry drew closer, Ginny found that she could no longer look him in the eyes and looked down the table. She was shocked to see that many of her fellow Gryffindor girls staring at Harry in adoration and Ginny suddenly felt jealous as she realized Harry could have any girl that he wanted.

"They should know not to even think about making a move on Harry. They know how I feel about him."

As Ginny was about to explode in anger, she looked up to see Harry standing right in front of her. Professor Dumbledore had continued to the front of the room and had taken his usual chair but Harry had paused in front of Ginny.

Ginny struggled to find the words to say but Harry excused her from the need to do so. Harry slowly bent down and kissed Ginny sweetly on the forehead. The kiss, though short and seemingly nothing, spoke volumes for the two and Ginny thought that she might explode with happiness.

"Good luck at the match today," Harry said his voice barely above a whisper.

"Thanks," was all that Ginny could get out in return.

Ginny was about to pull Harry close and start snogging him in front of everyone in the Great Hall but Harry suddenly pulled back. Harry had seen the look in her eyes and knew that he had to talk to her before doing anything. Instead, he reached out and gave Ginny's hand a small squeeze before he continued up the aisle to where the teachers were sitting. Dumbledore conjured a chair so that Harry could sit down and the two sat together, eating and talking amongst themselves.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about Ginny," Hermione said with a mischievous smile.

Ginny turned to stare at Hermione. "You knew! You knew and you didn't tell me!"

Hermione smiled, "Of course I knew, I just thought you might want a pre-Quidditch surprise before the match today."

Talk of Quidditch suddenly brought Ginny's mind back from Harry. Though she longed to just sit there and think about the handsome man, she had to get her team to the locker room for her pre-game speech and warm-up. Ginny had been made the Quidditch Captain for Gryffindor this year and she knew that Harry would kill her if he found out she had blown off Quidditch for him.

Ginny gave Hermione one last smile before saying out loud, "Team, it's time to go."

The Gryffindor Quidditch team rose together and headed towards the exit of the Great Hall. Ginny looked one last time at Harry and saw him staring at her. He gave her a wink that she could only smile at and she waggled her eyebrows suggestively. Harry shook with silent laughter and the two shared a brief moment before Ginny turned and walked out of the hall. If she had been paying the least bit of attention to anything other than Harry, Ginny would have been surprised to see that there were just as many whispers floating around the hall with her exit as their had been with Harry's entrance.

"Welcome to today's match between Slytherin and Gryffindor. It looks to be an exciting and probably quite brutal match from Slytherin today."

"CREEVEY!"

Harry smiled as he heard Professor McGonagall start chewing Colin Creevey out for his slightly biased commentary. Some things in life will never change and Gryffindor Quidditch announcers were definitely one of them.

"Sorry professor, just joking you know. Anyways, here comes the Gryffindor Quidditch team! Cooper, Kirke, Sloper, Creevey, Thomas, Wood, and Weasley! Gryffindor's team this year is acknowledged as one of the youngest teams ever to play at Hogwarts. We'll just have to see what Weasley has done to get her team into shape."

A loud chorus of boos erupted from three-quarters of the stands as the Slytherin team entered the stadium. Colin looked like he wanted to ignore the Quidditch players' entrance, but a look from McGonagall spurred him into speaking.

"And here is the Slytherin Quidditch team. Bletchley, Montague, Travers, Pucey, Smith, Warrington, and Flint! Most of Slytherin's team is made up of the younger brothers of some of Slytherin's former Quidditch players. Let's just hope that they don't use the same questionable practices their older siblings did."

McGonagall was about to protest, but Colin quickly spoke again. "Weasley and Flint shake hands and the players take their positions. Madam Hooch releases the Bludgers and the Snitch. The Quaffle is up…and the game begins!"

Harry smiled as he watched the Chasers zigzag back and forth, passing the Quaffle between one another trying to get to the opposing team's goal. Harry loved watching Quidditch, almost as much as he loved playing it, and it was nice to get to experience the joy of Quidditch once more. Harry was sitting next to Albus in the teachers' section of the Quidditch Pitch. Colin Creevey was announcing right in front of Harry and Harry knew that this was likely to be an interesting match; both on the field and in the stands between McGonagall and Colin.

"Thomas passes to Wood who makes his way up the field towards the Slytherin goal. Wood ducks a Bludger and has a clear shot at the goal. Take the shot Wood!"

Jeremy Wood, Oliver's younger brother, looked like he was about to shoot when Smith came barreling into him. However, at the last second Wood dropped the Quaffle and Creevey caught it and scored the first goal of the match.

"That a way Dennis! Ten to zero Gryffindor! What a perfectly executed Porskoff Ploy! It sure looks like Weasley knows what she is doing."

Harry looked over to where Ginny was hovering high over the fields, desperately looking for any glint of gold. Ginny had done an excellent job in training all of the younger kids, but Harry knew that the match rested in Ginny's performance. Gryffindor was good, but they were inexperienced when it came to the brutality that Slytherin exhibited.

"Slytherin in possession, Pucey passes to Warrington who dodges Thomas. Wood steals the Quaffle and heads towards Bletchley. Ouch! Wood is hit by a Bludger and Slytherin regains possession. Warrington heads towards Cooper and takes the shot. Block it Cooper!"

A collective groan echoed from the Gryffindor supporters as Cooper just missed the Quaffle.

"Warrington scores and the match is tied at ten. The Gryffindor chasers are steadily making their way up the field—wait! Has Weasley seen the Snitch?"

Harry's head swiveled to where Ginny was quickly diving towards the ground, the Slytherin Seeker right on her tail. Harry looked for the telltale glitter of gold, but was surprised to see it shining near the Gryffindor goal posts, fifty feet from where Ginny was diving. Harry realized what Ginny was doing a second before she pulled out of her dive and the Slytherin Seeker plowed into the ground.

Ginny flew back up and gave Harry a wink before continuing her search for the Snitch. Harry looked to where the Snitch had been but saw that it had disappeared during the excitement.

Colin seemed to be trying to keep from laughing as he yelled, "And Flint goes down! It seems that Weasley was feinting all along. This girl definitely knows her moves."

"Yes she definitely does," Harry thought with a small smile. Throughout the time that they had been dating, Ginny knew exactly what to do to drive Harry absolutely crazy. Ginny would constantly keep Harry on his toes as she would constantly push forward and fall back during the more intimate times the two shared. Ginny had confided in Hermione that she was nervous dating Harry. Ginny had wanted to be with Harry so long that she wanted to make sure that Harry didn't simply lust for her. "And she did one hell of a job making sure."

Harry's mind was drawn back to the match as Colin shouted, "And Wood puts the shot in! Twenty-ten Gryffindor!"

Harry focused on the match once more and saw that it was getting quicker and much dirtier.

"Gryffindor in possession — no, Slytherin steals the Quaffle and Pucey heads towards the goalposts — Ouch, nice Bludger Kirke — Thomas in control of the Quaffle — he's almost there — YOU FILTHY CHEATING —"

Flint had purposely swerved into Thomas, knocking the Gryffindor player off his broom and he plummeted to the ground. Ginny had been near Flint at the time and dove quickly to catch the fallen Chaser. As Ginny pulled up from her dive, clutching a dazed Thomas, and landed on the ground, the crowd finally recovered from the surprise the sudden foul had caused and began yelling.

Colin swore loudly and Harry thought McGonagall was going to take the microphone away when he saw that McGonagall was swearing just as loudly.

Harry grinned as Colin "accidentally" put the microphone near McGonagall and the volume of her swearing was increased tenfold. McGonagall quickly stopped and looked embarrassedly at Professor Dumbledore who gave her an inquisitive look. Professor McGonagall uttered a short apology and quickly turned back to the game. Dumbledore turned and gave Harry a wink before turning back to the game himself.

Madam Hooch awarded the Gryffindor team a penalty and Thomas put the Quaffle away easily.

"Thirty-ten Gryffindor and Gryffindor is steadily pulling ahead."

It turns out that these weren't the best words to say. Not only did McGonagall get onto Colin yet again, this statement spurred the Slytherins into action as the game got more and more brutal.

Twenty minutes later, the score stood 110-120 with Slytherin up. Ginny had trained her team well, but the younger players were helpless against Slytherin's underhanded tactics. Most of the goals that Gryffindor had scored during this time had been due to penalty shots and there had still been dozens of fouls that Madam Hooch hadn't seen.

Colin seemed near the edge of hysterics as he began commentating once more. "Gryffindor and Slytherin are neck and neck in this excellent exhibition of Quidditch. Smith is heading towards the goal — passes to Pucey who throws it back to Warrington — Creevey attempts to steal but is knocked away by Flint — Warrington takes the shot — BLOCK IT COOPER! — DAMN! — Uh…sorry Professor. Won't happen again."

McGonagall didn't seem to want to give Creevey another chance and there was a quick struggle for microphone. McGonagall wrenched the microphone from Colin's grasp and turned it off.

Colin looked downtrodden at McGonagall's "lack of humor" and shoved his hands in his pockets, staring straight forward at the game. Harry reached forward and tapped Colin on the shoulder with his wand.

"Allow me?"

Collin gave Harry a funny look but nodded all the same.

"Sonorus Maximus!" Harry said while pointing his wand at Colin's throat.

McGonagall gave Harry a withering stare as Colin realized that he could begin commenting once again, but Dumbledore just smiled at Harry. McGonagall shook her head, muttering something about kids these days and Harry couldn't help but smile too.

"And back to the game, Cooper was hit by a well placed Bludger from Travers and was unable to block the Quaffle. The score now stands at 110-130 Slytherin."

"Gryffindor once again in possession — Creevey advances the Quaffle up the pitch — evades Pucey and tosses the Quaffle to Wood — Wood approaches the Slytherin goals — Oh! Wood is forced to do a Sloth Roll to avoid a Bludger sent at him by Montague but drops the Quaffle in the process. Slytherin now has possession and Smith flies up the field — Smith passes to Warrington who throws the Quaffle to Pucey — who takes the — wait — it's intercepted by Weasley who tosses the Quaffle to Wood. What the bloody blazes is Weasley doing?"

McGonagall nearly erupted at Colin's colorful commentary but let out a small gasp as she saw Flint suddenly dive towards the ground.

Harry looked forward to see a shiny, gold ball hovering just off the ground near the middle of the pitch. Ginny turned in pursuit of Flint but was miles behind the green blur streaking towards the ground. Flint reached out to grab the Snitch and almost had the tiny ball in his grasp when a Bludger from Sloper smashed through the end of his broom. The broom shattered in half and Flint tumbled 5 meters to the ground where he lay unmoving.

Harry's gaze returned to where the Snitch had been, but he could no longer see the golden orb. Harry was shocked to see that Ginny had landed next to Flint and was checking if he was okay. Harry couldn't understand why Ginny hadn't gone after the Snitch when he saw the tiny, struggling ball in her hand.

"GINNY WEASLEY HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! THE GAME IS OVER! GRYFFINDOR WINS 260-130!"

Colin seemed near hysterics as he rejoiced in his little brother's first victory. A wave of maroon was heading out to the field and Dumbledore turned to where Harry was sitting.

"Harry, would you like to —"

Dumbledore stopped as he realized that Harry was no longer there. Dumbledore looked down on the field where he saw Madam Pomfrey tending to Flint and saw to figures standing alone on the middle of the pitch. As the two figures' heads slowly came together, a collective cheer erupted from the crowd as the two lovers returned their lives to the way they were supposed to be.

Author's Note: Ah love sweet love. Well, hope that you enjoyed these chapters as much as I enjoyed writing them. The Quidditch scene was fun yet difficult to write because I tried to be as accurate as possible. If you happen to see any mistakes please let me know. Also, in case you were wondering why I didn't put any girls on the Slytherin Quidditch team, I don't view Slytherin as being a house that puts much equality into either magical ability or gender. I have and will likely always view Slytherins as such so I am sorry if you had any qualms about my decision. None the less, not all Slytherins are irredeemable as you will find out sooner or later…Sorry I just had to let that last bit slip it makes the writing just that much more enjoyable. Thanks again and until next week adios!

Hermy – thanks for your review and compliments on the story. I am really enjoying writing and I can only hope that the story will just get better.

Phoebs – Also thank you for the story and my most sincere apologies for not putting this comment in last chapter. I was a little busy and just wanted to update as quickly as I could. Thanks again and enjoy the chaps.

Munchkin – thanks for the review sis. I know that reading isn't your favorite thing in the world and I am glad that you find the story interesting. I'll see you in a week when I get back from Cancun!