A/N: Alright, my updates are going to start picking up at a faster pace. I want to get the majority of this done during the summer, because I know that once school starts up again for me, I'll have little extra time. So, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, just the plot!

Forgotten

Chapter Five:

xXxXx

The sun rose leisurely, its rays traveling over the hills and various forests surrounding Hogwarts with a faint glow. The creatures who, as usual, had chosen to roam over the lands throughout the night, apprehensively made their way back into the shadows. The darkness was, after all, their home, for it was all they had ever known.

The sunlight continued exploring, passing over the stone castle walls and creeping into the cracked panes of the ancient windows. Students from all houses slept soundly, their dreams untroubled for the most part. If one were to inquire further, though, past the fantasies of winning the House Cup, past the illusions of a time where there was no war, you would see the darkness that lingered in the backs of many students' minds. There was a surprisingly large number of adolescence who dreamt of the terrors they had experienced, or feared they soon would.

The one obvious of that number was a mere boy, Harry Potter. Though, he was hardly a boy. His traumas of the past were enough to leave even an adult trembling at the multitude of painful events he'd endured. He was, at the moment, one of the few awake in Gryffindor Tower. Many nights plagued with mild insomnia, he took to spending his time in the Common Room. Today, however, this was not the reason.

As he stared into the flickering flames of the dying fire, the reflection remained dim in his emerald-green eyes. His thoughts were innocent, but only slightly concerning. They were, primarily, focused on the upcoming Quidditch match against Slytherin. He had wondered countless times if he had prepared his team well enough to play against, as rumors had it, the best team of the year. His thoughts were interrupted as he heard the stumbling of people coming down the staircases. He smiled, an amused look on his face, as he studied his team.

There was Ron, the well-known keeper, who was currently trying to smooth down his hair which had become mussed in his sleep. He had improved immensely in comparison to his time playing in their fifth year. Amidst the chants about his talents, or lack there-of, Ron had immerged over the previous two years into a stronger player.

He was willing to take criticism, and wasn't afraid of being taunted for his mistakes. His skills had also developed, and he was now accurately named the next William Freeman, a famous Keeper for Puddlemore. Their hair color was even similar; Ron's being only slightly darker than the Quidditch star's.

Next, there was Seamus Finnegan, a chaser, and a fine one at that. Though he and Harry had fought during their fifth year, they seemed to have called a truce and only fought in friendly banter these days. From behind, the two were difficult to tell apart. The main difference being that Harry's hair was messier and that Seamus was quite a few inches shorter than his. Seamus' ability to fly, though, was considered impressive in the eyes of all.

Then there was Ginny, the second chaser, but also one of the best they had. After briefly filling in for Harry in her fourth year as seeker, she found that she was much better suited for the position of chaser and preceded in trying out the next year. The team captain of the Gryffindors at the time had stated that she was, "Without a doubt, the best I've seen thus far." And with that single verbalization, she had made the team and proven her talent quite clearly.

This was probably the reason why the Slytherins deemed her the prey, or at least, that's how the Gryffindors saw it. Ever since her last spat with Blaise Zabini, it seemed whenever she ran into a Slytherin, something bad ended up happening. Most often, it was a spell to make her run into the stone walls, resulting in awful bruises but, luckily, no permanent damage.

Harry chuckled as she ruefully rubbed at the biggest bruise, which happened to be in the middle of her forehead and was starting to turn purple. She muttered something along the lines of, "evil bastards," before Harry moved on, looking over his other players.

He had trained the next chaser himself and was proud to acknowledge it. Jordan Vance, a mousy brown-haired muggle and Gryffindor's third chaser, went by his last name whether you liked him or not. This seemed to disgruntle the Slytherins the most, as they weren't sure where Vance stood. If the Gryffindors hated him, then they should immediately like him, but if all the Gryffindors liked him, then they should automatically know to hate him.

Usually, calling somebody by only their last name was either signifying that you do not know this person, or you don't hold enough respect for them to call them by their first name. It was a very complicated issue for them and was debated constantly during the Quidditch matches.

Finally, there were the two beaters. Unfortunately, it seemed that as there were no others who had tried out in the previous years, Gryffindor still had Jack Sloper and Andrew Kirke. Though not thought much of by anyone else, their skills had proved prominent enough to keep them on the team. Well, at least, until they could find the proper replacements. But this, it seemed, was the cause for the recent downfall of Gryffindor.

Prior to that year, they had placed second, just barely beating Ravenclaw by a mere 50 points in their last match against each other. In the final match, Slytherin slaughtered Gryffindor and never let them live it down after that. Hufflepuff had placed last, as was expected to happen again this year.

"Merlin, Harry, it's too early for Quidditch!" Ginny grumbled straightening her gold and scarlet robes and causing the others in the rooms to perk up and look at her incredulously. There was an awkward moment of silence before Ron blurted out,

"Too early for- too early for Quidditch she says!" he cried, staring at Ginny with shock. "It's never too early for Quidditch, Gin!" At Ginny's annoyed roll of her eyes, he threw his hands in the air, exasperated, and walked over to talk to Jack and Andrew about the rules.

Basically, he'd told them that, when it comes to Slytherin, there are no rules. Hearing somebody laughing, Harry turned and saw a bleary-eyed Kendra coming down the stairs.

"What kind of Weasley are you?" she smirked, walking over to Ginny and nudging her in the ribs. Ginny responded by childishly sticking her tongue out at first Kendra, then at Ron when his back was turned. At Harry's confused glance, Kendra answered his unspoken question.

"You can't have Ginny awake without the whole lot in our room bright-eyed as well. I thought you'd know that by now, what with all those summers at the Burrow." She trailed off. Harry laughed, catching on that Ginny had, once again, woken up her roommates on her way to the Common Room. She at least had the decency to blush.

"Right, well, ready for breakfast then?" Seamus questioned in a cheery voice, obviously the only one completely awake in the room. Before gaining a response, he walked over to Ginny grinning and offered his arm. It was well-known that Seamus fancied Ginny, but his attempts seemed to fall on deaf ears whenever it came to her. Ginny shook her head, chuckling, but nevertheless linked arms with Seamus. Harry, noticing Ron's icy glare, hurried over to him and ushered Ron out of the portrait hole to the Great Hall before he could start up anything.

xXxXx

"From Gryffindor, our starters are," Dean Thomas began in a loud, lively voice, "Harry Potter as seeker, Seamus Finnegan, Ginny Weasley, and Jordan Vance as chasers, Andrew Kirke, and Jack Sloper as beaters, aaand Ron Weasley as keeper!" His voice was drowned out as ¾ of the stadium cheered for Gryffindor. He continued, his voice now taking on a tone of slight boredom.

"Next, for Slytherin, the starters are Draco Malfoy as seeker, Blaise Zabini, Tanith Black, and Adrian Pucey as Chasers, Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe as Beaters, and Thomas Bletchley as Keeper." There was loud response from the Slytherin section, and polite applause from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

Ginny sat, perched anxiously on her broom, waiting uneasily for Madame Hooch to let the Quaffle loose. Slytherin's team looked downright terrifying to her at the moment, as they all seemed to be glaring at her for surviving their latest spell. This one had walked her straight into the Great Hall doors, causing her nose to break with a resounding crack. But with one quick wave of Hermione's wand, Ginny had jumped up and continued on her way to the Quidditch pitch.

The Gryffindors had just finished practicing before the crowds began to gather, along with Slytherin. Harry, deciding that he didn't want to give them another chance at hurting the team, had quickly herded them into the locker rooms.

As Harry and Malfoy shook, it seemed they were both focused merely on the point of crushing the other's hand. Finally, though, they mounted their brooms and rose into the air, high above their teammates, ready to search for the Snitch as soon as it was released. Suddenly, Madame Hooch's whistle screeched loudly, and Dean Thomas' voice echoed throughout the pitch.

"Aaand, they're off!" Dean shouted, his voice getting excited at the promise of a good match between the two infamous rivals. "Finnegan dives for the Quaffle, but Black beats him to it! She races down the pitch, swerves Weasley and Vance. Whoa! Black just narrowly missed getting hit by a Bludger. Good hit, Sloper!" Professor McGonagall could be heard chastising him. "Sorry Professor," Dean continued, not sounding apologetic in the slightest.

"It seems the Bludger caught Black off guard, though, as she's dropped the Quaffle. Vance is there in time to catch it and he's off, speeding toward the hoops. He passes to Weasley, who fakes to Finnegan before attempting a shot and…SHE SCORES! Ginny Weasley has the first shot of the game. The score is 10-0, Gryffindor!" Dean shouted, with a hint of pride in his voice.

By the middle of the match, things had started going downhill for Gryffindor. The score was 240-110 Slytherin. The game had, so far, been going on two hours and the players were starting to tire. Slytherin, it seemed, was still trying in vain to knock Ginny out of the game and were currently hitting Bludger after Bludger towards her. She could barely pass the Quaffle, let alone attempt to score with it.

Meanwhile, the seekers' pursue for the Snitch proved fruitless. The only spotting of it had been in the beginning of the match, before it had eventually flown too high to be caught. This had angered the two seekers as their patience was stretched to a max and they were now shouting angrily at each other, their attention on the game distracted.

"Bletchley blocks a shot by Vance and passes the Quaffle to Pucey. Pucey seems to be signaling to his team about something. They're flying in some sort of arrow formation…yes, that's it! They're trying out the famous move, the Hawkshead Attacking Formation! It appears to be working, as the Gryffindors have backed off somewhat. COME ON, GRYFFINDOR! GET BACK IN THE GAME! Sorry Professor, I guess I got caught up in the moment there." Dean said laughing nervously.

"Weasley, female that is, flies to intercept the shot, and…she's got it! Weasley passes to Finnegan, who ducks a Bludger, and flies upward. I think he's trying to score, and it looks like the Slytherins have caught on and are following him up. Oh, and he's done it! He's pulled off the Porskoff Ploy. Basically, for all you non-Quidditch fanatics, this is where the Chaser flies upward, leading opposing Chasers to believe that he or she is trying to escape to score, in this case it was Finnegan, before throwing the Quaffle downwards to a fellow chaser, as in this instance, it was Vance. Way to go Seamus!" The crowd roared their approval. Dean continued.

"Vance passes to Weasley, who passes back to Vance after feinting to the right. Vance easily catches the quaffle and heads towards the hoops. He shoots…and he…misses. Awful luck you seem to be having, Vance. It's blocked by Bletchley, who throws it to Zabini. Weasley sets up to steal the quaffle, but, OI! THAT'S A FOUL! Zabini's deliberately flown right into Weasley, almost knocking her off her broom! She seems alright though and Madame Hooch has called for a Penalty Shot. Nice call, ref!"

Ginny trembled slightly, still trying to shake off her fear of the intimidating Slytherins now openly taunting her from the stands. She heard her teammates encouraging her in the distance, but tried desperately to push all the voices to the back of her mind, focusing only on making the shot. 'I'm so tired,' she thought, as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

Already, she had been driven into the stands twice, resulting in more awful bruises. Her teammates hadn't fared much better. Seamus had actually been knocked off his broom by an opposing Slytherin, but he had been close enough to the ground that no damage was done.

Jack and Andrew had blocked numerous Bludgers from hitting their fellow Gryffindors, but had missed a couple, resulting in Vance getting a bit bloodied up. He'd also seen his fair share of elbows, and had actually gotten the air knocked out of him once or twice.

Ginny shook her head, trying to concentrate. She waited for Madame Hooch's whistle, and, upon hearing it, hurriedly grasped the Quaffle. The Slytherin Keeper seemed to be contemplating her, watching her closely as he weaved around the three hoops.

Ginny took the opportunity to drive towards the left hoop, catching the Keeper off guard, before quickly throwing the Quaffle to the middle hoop. She succeeded in confusing Bletchley, who missed the block, and scored 10 more points for Gryffindor. As she swerved around to return to her team, she was met with a shout from Vance.

"WATCH OUT!" he cried desperately, as a Bludger raced towards Ginny's face. It was too late, though, and the impact of the Bludger was heard echoing throughout the pitch. The audience watched in stunned silence as she began falling to the ground, some 15 meters (about 50 feet) below. The last thing Ginny remembered before blacking out as she landed harshly on the ground was Harry calling a time-out and her brother rushing over to her, a look of sincere concern etched onto his face.

xXxXx

Ginny awoke feeling like someone was hitting her repeatedly on the back of her head with a beater's club. Her eyes scrunched in pain as she heard voices.

"You think she'll be alright, mate?" she heard Seamus say. "I was planning on asking her to Hogsmeade."

"Oh, shut it!" Ron retorted quickly, "Look, she's waking up."

Slowly, she opened one eye, before eventually opening the other. Briefly, the enchanted light of the Hospital Wing blinded her, until the curious looks from the Gryffindors surrounding her flooded into her vision.

"Oi, Gin, you alright?" a voice sounding very much like Vance asked. She groaned in response and closed her eyes again. Madame Pomfrey bustled over to the bed, pushing aside the onlookers. Ginny heard her casting a few spells, most likely checking her temperature, before being gently lifted up into a sitting position.

She opened her eyes again, looking alarmed as she saw Madame Pomfrey about to give her a foul looking potion. She opened her mouth to protest, but the nurse knew better and the medicine was shoved into her open mouth with a swish of the wand. Coughing as the potion slid down her throat, leaving her feeling like her mouth was on fire, Ginny looked around.

The entire Gryffindor Quidditch team stood around her, along with Colin, Kendra, and Hermione. She waited until the feeling in her mouth passed before asking the question that had been on the edge of her mind since waking up.

"What happened?" she winced as her voice sounded strained. Colin immediately stepped forward, looking eager to explain as he sat beside her on the hospital bed, gently patting her hand.

"Well, apparently, the Slytherins decided they'd had enough of you scoring," he started with a smirk, causing the others in the room to snicker. "So, Zabini and Black had told Crabbe to send a Bludger at you while you were attempting the penalty shot. Unfortunately for them, Crabbe is a little slow, so he didn't understand what they wanted him to do until after you had already scored. Then, I guess you know what happened next…" he trailed off, suddenly focusing on a spot on top her head. Ginny reached up with her left hand and felt the result of a magical-binding spell, sort of like muggle stitches.

"Right, well after you conked out, Harry called a time-out for regrouping. You were sent to the Hospital Wing along with," he stopped and moved so she could see the person sleeping in the bed beside her. "Malfoy," he finished somewhat gleefully.

"What happened to him?" she asked incredulously.

After looking him over from her position, she could tell that he had hurt his arm somewhat as it was wrapped rather tightly, and his face was dreadfully marred up. While sleeping, his appearance no longer held the impassive mask it usually did when she saw him, but a content expression instead. The Gryffindors laughed, snapping her out of her thoughts. Harry decided to take over answering her questions.

"I guess he didn't hear Madame Hooch's call for a time-out, because he kept chasing the Snitch…right into the teacher's stand. Broke his arm, I hope." He said chuckling. "They declared Slytherin disqualified and we won the match!" Ginny glanced around, and noticed that Kendra had a cut above her right eyebrow.

"Ken! What happened to your eye?" she asked confused. Kendra shrugged.

"The Slytherins aren't too happy with any Gryffindors right now, and I just happened to get in their way while I was heading to the pitch to help you."

The group then started rambunctiously telling her about the party that was to occur in the Common Room that night. It seemed Fred and George were planning on sneaking in not only Butterbeer, but Firewhiskey as well.

Madame Pomfrey chose that moment to interrupt their conversation before a celebration party broke out among the Gryffindors present. Within the minute, the Hospital Wing was empty again, and all was quiet except for the light breathing of the few sleeping, injured students.

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy, I see you're awake now. Sit up and I'll check you over." She said in a kind voice to him as he opened his eyes and looked around, seemingly surprised at waking up in the Hospital Wing. Ginny laughed at his obvious discomposure, and Malfoy quickly turned at the sound. Upon seeing her, he sneered with distaste, his mask quickly coming back into place.

"Thought you could win the match all by yourself, Malfoy?" Ginny questioned smiling. He crossed his arms as Madame Pomfrey forced a dose of Skelegrow potion down his throat. He grimaced at the taste before replying.

"Like I always say, Weasley, there's no 'I' in team. There's a 'me' though, if you jumble it up a bit." He responded, rolling his eyes. Ginny startled him by snorting. He was about to say something else when Madame Pomfrey once again shoved a mouthful of medicine in his mouth, giving Ginny a mischievous smile as she continued examining him. "Can I at least change out of these ridiculous hospital gowns?" he complained to the medi-witch, his voice taking on a tone of whining.

"No," she said firmly, "I need you to wear the gown."

"And I need two days of outrageous shagging with somebody obscenely younger than you. We all need something." He declared with a smirk, which quickly faded as Madame Pomfrey rewrapped his arm much tighter than necessary.

"Keep talking and I'll finish your exam with a prostrate test." She said threateningly to him, her face incredibly serious. Ginny was shaking with mirth, trying unsuccessfully to smother her laughter. "I want you both to stay here for the night." She continued, oblivious to Malfoy's pain at having the blood supply in his arm cut-off. "We'll decide in the morning whether or not you two are fit to leave." She then walked back to her office and loudly closed the door, obviously still miffed about Malfoy's comment, leaving the two students alone. There was an uncomfortable silence before he spoke to her again.

"So what exactly did Blaise say to you that got your knickers in such a twist yesterday?" he asked, his face void of any expression. Ginny looked straight into his eyes, wondering is he was intending to be cruel. She was met with pure curiosity.

"How did you hear about that? You weren't even there." She said, suddenly on the defensive. He sighed.

"It's Hogwarts, Weasley. I'm sure that by the end of the dinner, even Dumbledore knew." He sounded annoyed at having to explain himself to her.

"Oh," she said, slightly jolted that the Headmaster might have heard about what happened. "He mentioned something about my brother is all." To her surprise, he snorted.

"Which one?" he asked, shaking his head. Ginny's eyes narrowed.

"The one who was murdered, of course," she said angrily, before turning her head, and studiously looking anywhere but at him. She could feel his eyes boring through her, almost as if he could read her thoughts even while her body was turned. 'This is going to be one long night,' she decided.

"Right," he said, slightly abashed. "Well, how soon do you think it will be until that hag Madame Pomfrey lets us out?" Clearly, he was trying to change the subject. Ginny felt the corner her mouth quirk slightly. She had never witnessed Draco Malfoy attempting to make polite conversation. And he wasn't even insulting her!

'Maybe this won't be so bad after all.'

"Then again," she heard him say in a drawl, "If she bases it on superiority and looks, we all know who'll be out first."

'Once again, I'm proven wrong.'

xXxXx

A/N: Was that really long, or was it just me? 3,533 words! That's definitely a record for me.

Oh, and I'm sure some of you are wondering about the Hawkshead Attacking Formation. Basically, chasers form an arrowhead pattern and fly together toward the goalposts. Supposedly, it's high intimidating to the opposing team and effective in forcing the other players aside.

Thanks, once again, for all the reviews.

Jade Summers : Did I update in time? I hope by now you've gotten used to your hair. I actually really like your new quote. "Her Royal Mad Hatter…" Honestly, I'd have to say I liked your old one slightly better, but that might just be because I'm in love with the movie Sleepless in Seattle. Yeah, that could explain a couple of other things too…

.spitxfire. : This story certainly has taken some unexpected turns, and I really hope it all works out in the end! Haha, usually the author is supposed to know exactly where their story is going, but I really have no clue! I have a vague idea, but there's no way of telling whether it'll work out or not. Thanks for the review!

moony's number 1 : That's funny that you and your cousins are the Marauders. I only see mine once a year, so you're lucky it's 2/3 times a year instead. Glad you liked that chapter, but their relationship does seem to be moving slow. I don't want things to move too fast, but maybe I can pick up the pace a bit?

Lithui : Haha, the sweater vest line was taken from one of my favorite shows, The O.C. Not sure if you've seen that one, if you haven't, you'll definitely have to look for it, it's positively addicting. Well, if you may love me, then I may just love you too!

I'll be blue if you don't review! Haha, wow, I'm going to have to work on my rhymes.