Harry Potter and the Golden Labyrinth

Book Seven Fanfic

Disclaimer – Anything that you recognise belongs to J K Rowling.

A/N: Now we have a chapter involving quidditch; it didn't take me long, did it?

Chapter 3 – Quidditch

Harry carried on searching through the phone book as the sunlight faded. He could hear voices and laughter from in the garden, but made no move to join the others. He refused to think about what had happened, but remained solely focussed on the task at hand. Every time he found someone with a first name beginning with R, or even better R A, he noted them down on the parchment. Soon he had a long list of possible RAB people.

Harry marked his page in the current telephone book and stretched, rubbing his eyes. He had a headache from straining his eyes over the small print. The list of names was long already, and he was only halfway through the second phone book. He had noted down where each person lived, so that Ron and Hermione could say which ones were places wizards may live. But this was going to be a long job, and impossible without his friends.

Trying not to think of that, Harry got ready for bed. The twins were back down in their own room now, so Harry had the only mattress and Ron his own bed. Harry lay down and tried to sleep, not wanting to be awake still when Ron came up. His mind kept on turning back to what had happened. How had they all fallen out? More importantly, how on earth were they going to make up?

Ron came up some time later, and Harry pretended to be asleep as Ron moved around the room. The bed creaked as Ron slid under the covers, then the room fell silent except for their breathing. Harry could tell that his friend was still awake, and realise the Ron was probably equally aware that he was awake too. They were both lying there, waiting for the other to speak.

Harry couldn't bear the icy tension in the room. He had realised that afternoon that he would need his friends if he were to have a change of defeating Voldemort. His mind turned back to the year before last, at Sirius' house, when he had shouted at his friends and refused to talk to them. He had said some unjust things then, but Ron and Hermione had understood and forgiven him. He had much less reason to be angry this time, but he thought that they would probably forgive him if he found it in himself to apologise.

Harry took a deep breath, trying to swallow his pride and work out what to say. He though of how they had helped him get to the Philosopher's stone in first year, and to find the Basilisk in the second year. In the third year it was Hermione who had understood the difficulties of time travel and both friends had been hugely helpful in the tri-wizard tournament in the fourth year. He couldn't leave them out of his hardest and most important challenge yet.

'Ron.' He started awkwardly, then paused.

'What?' Ron asked, not inviting an answer but not all together rudely.

Harry took another steadying breath. 'I…I'm sorry, for earlier.' There, it was out. 'I was out of line. I'm not going to make excuses, because there is no excuse for snapping at a friend like that when they are only trying to be nice. Do you think Hermione will forgive me?'

There was a pause, then the mattress groaned as Ron sat up. 'If you say to her what you said to me.' His tone wasn't altogether forgiving.

'Was she…upset?' Harry asked hesitantly.

'She was sobbing for hours.' Ron replied, making Harry cringe with guilt. There was a long silence, then Ron muttered goodnight and lay back down, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts.

When Harry woke in the morning, Ron's bed was empty. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was nine o'clock. Hermione would be up, and most of the rest of the Weasley's as well. Now was as good a time as any to apologise, so he dragged himself out of bed and dressed before heading downstairs.

When he entered the kitchen, he found only Mrs Weasley there, standing by the sink. She looked around at his footsteps, but didn't smile in greeting. The smile on Harry's face faded as he realised she must know about last night. Rather then stopping to have breakfast, he asked where Hermione was.

'In the field out the back watching the others play quidditch.'

Harry nodded and went outside, not bothering to collect his broom as he had no intention of playing. He could hear the shouts as the Weasley's as they played their game. He walked around the house and squeezed through a gap in the hedge. He looked up and could see an unusually large amount of people flying around in the air. With yellow headbands to show their team colours were Bill's friend Sam, Fred, Ginny and Ron. Wearing blue headbands were Bill, Charlie, George and surprisingly, Gabriel. Harry paused to watch for a minute, observing that Gabriel was a good flyer; guiding her broom with ease.

Remembering his task, Harry looked around for Hermione. He saw her standing on the edge of the field next to Fleur, who unsurprisingly didn't play quidditch. Feeling awkward due to the tall girl's presence, Harry headed over. As soon as Hermione saw him she stiffened, muttered something to Fleur and then turned to go.

'No, Hermione, wait.' Harry called out, breaking into a run. A cheer sounded from above as someone scored a goal to Ron's loud complaints.

Hermione hesitated, obviously unsure. Harry hurried up beside her and spun her around. He could feel Fleur's eyes scorching into his back, but tried to ignore her.

'Hermione, I want to say that I'm sorry.' He paused, looking into her unhappy eyes. She opened her mouth to speak but he rushed on. 'I shouldn't have snapped at you. I know you were only joking, and being nice. I'm really sorry, I just forgot that you guys are my friends.'

He waited nervously as Hermione studied the ground wordlessly. Then she suddenly grabbed him in a hug and started sobbing onto his shoulder. Somewhat surprised by her reaction, Harry tried to comfort her. He heard someone land untidily behind him and Ron came running up.

'Are you alright Hermione?' He asked, taking her into a hug. She nodded, sniffing slightly. Fleur handed her a handkerchief as Ron looked questioningly at Harry. Harry just shrugged.

'Oh Harry.' Said Hermione at last, still sniffing. 'I'm really sorry too, I should have thought…'

Harry interrupted her forcefully. 'No. I don't want my friends tip-toeing around me. Say what you would normally, and I'll remember not to get too stressed.'

Hermione smiled tentatively, and Ron nodded. After a short pause he looked at Harry. 'Want to join in?' He asked.

'That'll make uneven numbers.' Harry said, looking around at everyone else standing or floating nearby.

'Maybe Hermione would join in…' Ron suggested, remembering that she had joined in many games last year.

Hermione almost refused, but she finally caved into their encouragement. 'If you have a spare broom.'

Ron conjured up an old broom from their shed, and then summoned Harry's Firebolt for him. They reshuffled the teams a bit, ending up with Fred, Charlie, Ron, Harry and Hermione on the blue team and George, Bill, Gabriel, Sam and Ginny on yellow. Harry was impressed by Gabriel's flying skills. Even though she was on an old broom, she was fast and light in her movements, well able to dodge most of the others. She played seeker on the other team to Harry. Fred and George were beaters on their respective teams, with one bludger to keep an eye on. Ron was keeper on the blue team, and Sam was on the yellow team. That left Charlie and Hermione as blue chasers Bill and Ginny as yellow chasers.

The games were surprisingly close. Charlie out-flew Bill, and Hermione had improved her flying skills greatly during the last summer. In the first game Harry caught the snitch quickly, bringing the game to an early conclusion of 160 points to 20. The second game, Gabriel managed to snatch the snitch from just behind Harry, where it had been hovering un-noticed behind his head, helping her team to win by 230 points to 80. In the third and final game, Ginny and Bill excelled themselves in shooting, and even though Harry managed to grab the snitch they managed a draw of 160 points each. This meant that, all together, the yellow team had won by ten points.

Ron and Harry landed as Gabriel and Ginny were carried shoulder high by the other team. Harry smiled as he saw Gabriel and Ginny both grinning and relaxed, happy and easy with each other after the game. Who said there was no point to quidditch?

That evening they enjoyed a meal outside in the fading sunlight, making use of the summer evenings. Mr Weasley, unusually, was home in time to join them, and Remus Lupin had come as well. The conversation was relaxed as everyone enjoyed Molly's good cooking. Fleur, Ginny, Hermione and Gabriel were sitting at one end, all getting on well together and giggling almost constantly. Harry and Ron were chatting to the twins about their joke shop, trying to avoid volunteering to test some product.

'It's no problem, really.' George was saying. 'We've already tried it several times, and it worked fine. But 'cos we're twins it works the same on both of us. We just need someone different to check it out.'

Ron looked dubiously at Harry. 'That's all very well, but what if it does work differently?'

'Yeah.' Agreed Harry around a mouthful of roasted potatoes. 'What if we're stuck with pink elephant ears or something for a month?'

Remus, who was sitting and listening beside them, burst out laughing. 'That's a good one, I'd love to see Ron with pink elephant ears.'

The image conjured up made everyone within hearing, excluding Ron, burst out laughing. Ron scowled, muttering something to himself.

'What was that Ron?' Fred asked innocently, cradling his wand. 'Pink would clash with your hair? How about green then?'

Ron ducked beneath the table in case Fred decided to actually try out the spell, calling furiously to Harry. 'What do you think you're doing, giving them ideas like elephant ears?'

Once their laughter had subsided, Fred took up the attack once again. 'We would be paying you, you know.'

'How much?' Asked Ron, suddenly forgetting his indignation.

George winked at Fred before answering. 'How about a galleon per product you test?'

'With compensation in the unlikely case of nasty or lasting side-effects.'

Ron turned to look at Harry, eyebrows raised questioningly. 'We could do with the money…'

Harry laughed and shook his head. 'I like my ears just the way they are thanks. Still, you go ahead. I'll be there to watch the fun.'

Ron finally consented to test some of the twin's products the next day, provided they brought them to the Burrow, and he got free samples of anything he tested for his own use. The deal was struck and Harry spent the rest of the meal wondering what torture Ron was going to suffer when the twins bought the products.

After eating they all helped to clear up, and then headed inside to relax. Fleur's family were heading back to France the next day, so she was spending her last evening enjoying their company. Molly and Arthur Weasley were chatting together in low voices, catching up after the many last nights and early mornings Arthur had been working in these last months. Fred and George were discussing business in the corner, working together with many rolls of parchment. Bill, Charlie and Sam were playing with their wands. They would all charm a small object to fly around and smash into the others; the winner was the last person to have their object still in the air. Their game was accompanied by many loud cheers, boo's and much laughter.

Ron glanced over at his oldest brothers. 'You wouldn't guess that one of them had just married.' He commented.

Hermione laughed, nodding her agreement. The three were playing exploding snap, and using all the noise in the cramped living room to discuss their findings.

'But the list is already long and I'm not really sure how to narrow it down.' Harry finished, explaining his work so far with the phone books.

Hermione thought for a second. Ron laid down a card and the whole pile exploded, scorching his arm. Once Ron had finished cursing the cards and the game they continued playing, Harry laughing repeatedly at Ron's expression.

'Well I think that we could try going through the list and picking off all the names that are in areas with lots of wizards…' Hermione mused, obviously still thinking about the problem. 'But the problem is that wizards can live anywhere really, so that won't really guarantee us finding them.'

'What we really need is another clue.' Said Harry wistfully.

They continued their game in silence, all following their own thoughts. Harry was feeling frustrated about the elusiveness of RAB, whoever he was. It was vital that they knew if he had managed to destroy the Horcruxe before he died or Voldemort re-claimed it. But it looked like this was going to be an impossible task. All they could do was try and discover the other Horcruxes and wait for some inspiration on how to find their mystery accomplice.

A/N: What is going to happen to Ron when he tries out the Twins' products? Find out in Chapter Four - Tricks.

Please review! I love reviews! Thank you to Pippinwitch for reviewing even though she has already read the chapter, and to Starsword for eventually getting around to reading this.