The next few weeks were positively grueling as Harry prepared for the first Quiditch match of the year. He didn't see much of Ron and Hermione outside of class. He was busy with homework and Quiditch and had little time for anything else. If it can be imagined, he even saw less of Renata. In addition to homework and Quiditch she was working closely with the Gryffindor cheerleaders and even giving advice to the squads from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Cheerleading was held before or after Quiditch and so when this was the case and she was needed, Renata gave Ginny the task of keeping Harry in the Gryffindor house. Ginny was more than happy to oblige.
Finally it was the night before the big game. Harry stayed in the Common Room trying to calm his nerves and finish his work. He only saw one other person in the common room. What was Renata still doing down here?
Harry went over to go see her. "You really should get some re-" He looked at her and saw that she'd fallen asleep in the chair where she'd been working.
Harry conjured some blankets and tucked them around her before returning to his work. It wasn't long after that Harry went back to his dorm. He paused on the stairs as he heard Renata mumble something in her sleep, "Harry, where are you?" She fluttered an eyelid. "Harry, I wanted to be down here to talk to you. I know you're always worried before a match and need somebody to talk to." She struggled to sit up.
"Go back to sleep, Ren. I'm fine." He smiled at her.
She gave a sleepy nod and snuggled back under her blankets. She was asleep again almost instantly and Harry wandered back upstairs.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

The next morning Harry got up early. He was confident that the match against Ravenclaw would go well. He dressed and came down to the common room; Renata was still asleep in the chair.
"Renata, Ren, wake up. Rise and shine." Very few Gryffindors were awake yet but Harry thought it best to wake her. He gently shook her shoulder. "Wake up, Ren. We've got a Quiditch match in a few hours."
"Nnnnnng," she groaned. She obviously didn't want to wake up.
"Ren, you've got to get up. Look! Malfoy just fell off his broom."
"What? Where? Stupid Malfoy." She sat up and slowly opened her eyes. She saw her surroundings and then stared at Harry, "Liar."
He grinned. "Unless you're planning on wearing that to the game I suggest you go get dressed." "That" was the sweat pants and t-shirt she'd been wearing when she was helping the cheerleaders the night before.
"Yeah, yeah." She got up and stretched. "I suppose you're right. I can't march onto the field wearing this. Thanks." She punched his arm and went up to the girls' dormitories to get dressed. Harry was waiting for her but Ron came down first. "Hey, Ron."'
"Hey." Ron was obviously very distracted.
"What's the matter? You nervous?"
"A little. I'm part of the bottom of the pyramid."
"You'll be fine."
"Thanks." Ron didn't sound too confident.
"What are you going to wear anyway?"
"Oh, my pants and my shirt are the same colors as what the girls are wearing but obviously they're wearing skirts. Supposed to get to the field early to get dressed in the locker rooms. I've got to go scarf down some breakfast, Harry. Best of luck in the match."
"Thanks. Good luck to you too."
Hermione was the next to come down the stairs.
"Oh, hello, Harry! Have you seen Ron? I want to make sure he knows the routine for today. I'm so nervous!"
"You'll do fine," Harry assured her.
"Oh, I don't know. What if somebody forgets the routine? Or somebody doesn't catch somebody and they break their neck? Or what if-"
"Hermione, you'll do fine. Ron is downstairs getting something to eat before he heads to the locker room to get dressed. If you hurry I'm sure you can catch him."
"Thanks, Harry. Good luck with game. We'll be cheering for you." She vanished through the portal out into the hall.
Harry had perhaps another half an hour so gone from his life by the time Renata came down. "I'm ready."
"Finally. I've been waiting nearly an hour," he complained.
"Well, I'm sorry but I had to help Hermione with her hair."
"She came down half an hour ago."
"Picky, picky, picky. Let's go grab something to eat. I'm starved."
"All right." When they sat at the Gryffindor table Harry asked, "Are you nervous about the game?"
"No. But you are."
"How'd you know?"
"Because you always are. But that's a good thing. After all, 'If you're feeling cocky, it's because there's something you don't know.' " She grinned and squeezed his hand. "It'll be okay. Don't worry about it."
He felt better. Renata always made him feel better, that's why he talked to her at night before the games. "Thanks," he said, and meant it.
They went out to the locker room and the cheerleaders were all coming out. "Knock'em dead!" said one girl, a hyper little first year, as she punched her fist in the air.
Harry looked at the uniforms. They were scarlet and gold. Short scarlet colored skirts with gold trim and cute scarlet tops with gold trim and a big G on the front (in gold of course). Harry quickly spotted Ron among all the girls. Ron's scarlet colored pants were rather like nylon warm-up pants with gold trim. His t-shirt was also scarlet and rather than bearing a large G it had a picture of the Gryffindor lion.
"Good luck, Ron."
Ron tried to smile, "I just hope I don't drop anybody. You'll do great, Harry." Ron clapped him on the shoulder briefly before hurrying along to follow the girls.
Harry glanced around. He saw Hermione ordering the other cheerleaders into their positions like a war officer ordering troops for battle. Harry had to admit it: she didn't look half-bad. Harry could see why Ron liked her.
He heard a voice whisper to him, "Stop that. Ron likes her for her personality."
Harry looked to find Renata standing beside him. "Reading my mind?"
"Yeah. And it's a good thing I did. You get rid of that sort of thinking. Ron's a good, decent guy. Unlike some people."
"Who? Me? I'm as decent as Ron!"
"Shallow."
"I'm not shallow. I'd still feel the same way about you as I do now even if you were bald, and fat, and ugly and that the honest truth. I swear it."
"And how do you feel about me?" She paused but instead of answering, Harry just turned red and muttered incoherently. "Never mind. Time for a pep talk." She led him back to the locker room. "Okay team! We all know we're the best. Now let's go prove it. again. Remember, Chasers, talk it up out there and score those points like we've been practicing. Beaters, only clobber the fliers in blue. As far blocking the rings and getting the Snitch, leave that Harry an' me. Alright, like I said we know we're the best now it's time to prove it again!" She punched her fist into the air and gave what sounded something like a war cry.
The other's seemed positively pumped with energy. Harry muttered, "Great speech."
"Thanks." She smiled and they stepped outside to the cheers of the stadium.
Harry hesitated, thinking Renata would go and shake hands with the Ravenclaw captain. Instead she nudged him forward, "Go on, this is your show."
Harry stumbled forward, shook hands, and Madam Hooch blew the whistle. They were off.
Harry watched, circling above all the other players, rather like a vulture. He kept an eye on the game, an eye out for the Snitch, and an eye on the cheerleaders; this was figuratively speaking of course, Harry still only had two eyes.
The cheerleaders for Ravenclaw were attired much like those from Gryffindor, but wearing their own house colors instead. They also all had R written on their shirts rather than having the Ravenclaw eagle. They did a cheer something to the effect of "Go, Ravenclaw! Fly, fight, win!" and threw their pompoms in the air. They did some spins and kicks too, not bad, for amateurs.
But the Gryffindor squad was something else; then again they'd also had something of a squad last year so they weren't completely new to this. There were seven members on the Gryffindor squad (counting the captain) but Ravenclaw only had about 5. Two Gryffindor girls, with Ron between them, were on their hands and knees making up the base of the pyramid. Two more girls stood on top of them to make the next level of the pyramid. The top level was just one girl, that hyper little first year who'd told Harry to knock the other team dead. Harry remember something about her position being called "flyer" because both of the girls on the second level held one of her feet. Hermione stood behind the pyramid obviously ready to make a rescue attempt if it was needed. Her voice magically amplified Harry heard her words clearly, "READY? OKAY! LIONS, LIONS, WE'RE ON THE PROWL, BE AFRAID OF OUR BITE, NOT OUR GROWL! WE'RE GONNA WIN, YOU CAN BET YOUR OWL! GO. GRYFFINDOR!" On the word "go" the two girls in the middle level actually through that spunky little first year into the air. Harry was surprised at how long she stayed airborne before descending. While airborne she managed a triple toe-touch. Very limber. The pyramid disasmbled and Harry worried about the girl who was starting to descend and wondered if he should dive after her. But the rest of the squad formed a sort of net with there arms and caught the girl flat on her back before helping her to her feet. As the girl landed Hermione shot red and gold sparks into the air with her wand. The Gryffindors screamed happily. These girls (and Ron) were pretty good.
Harry pulled his eyes away to concentrate on the game again. It had all but suspended during this cheer, except for Renata who kept diligently to her task in case the Ravenclaw Chasers decided to use the Gryffindor distraction as a chance to score, and the Beaters who really couldn't rest because otherwise people would get hurt.
Colin Creevy was doing the commentary and announced, "Wow, those cheerleaders were phenomenal. An excellent idea, really. But I suppose we must concentrate on the game, the score still stands Ravenclaw 10 and Gryffindor 30."
The pressure was back on. Harry still hadn't caught sight of the Snitch. Harry watched and the teams were fairly evenly matched. Neither Harry nor Renata had anticipated their competition being this good. But Gryffindor was still better. Ginny scored another 10 points. Harry watched and every time Gryffindor scored, Ron did a cartwheel and all the girls threw their pompoms in the air.
Harry saw the new Ravenclaw Seeker. He couldn't fly very well, he was rather unsteady on his broom as though he was new to it all. But he was the perfect build for a Seeker, he was light and even though he appeared unsteady he was fast. His eyes seemed to scan everywhere at once.
Harry saw the Snitch. It was hovering just a feet from Renata's ear. He saw that the other Seeker was distracted and he made a beeline for the Gryffindor hoops. The Snitch tried to evade him by moving closer to Renata but Harry stretched as far as he could and caught it anyway. "I've got the Snitch!" he shouted in triumph.
Renata grimaced, "Ow! Don't scream in my ear like that." They landed on the ground.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scream like that."
"That's okay, we won." She gave Harry a hug and he nearly forgot that almost the whole school was there coming out of the stands.
Colin Creevy finished up his commentary, "What a game! Gryffindor wins 200 to 30. Spectacular. Most of the Gryffindor goals were scored by Ginny Weasley. As for the Ravenclaw team.." Colin kept talking but Harry didn't bother to listen. He and Renata went off to find Ron and Hermione.
Harry asked, "You guys were great. How'd you get that one girl to stay in the air so long?"
"Well, Bessie and Hilary, they were the two on the middle level, threw her in the air and while she was still in the air I used the levitation charm to make her stay a little longer."
"That was good thinking," said Renata.
"Thanks," said Hermione. "Ron, you did so great with those cartwheels."
He blushed. "Anybody can do a cartwheel."
"I can't," said Renata.
"Me neither," added Harry.
Ron hastily changed the subject, "You guys! Harry just zoomed in out of nowhere and got the Snitch. And Renata, the number of times you stopped that Quaffle!"
"Hey, let's go back to the common room and celebrate," said Hermione. "I heard Ginny's throwing another party."
"Oh no. I got sick after the last party," said Harry with mild alarm.
"But that's because you were running yourself ragged beforehand," said Renata.
"And who's fault was that?" retorted Harry. It was true, after the last Quiditch match of last year, Harry had gotten sick after the party because with homework, Quiditch, and spending so much time with Renata he hardly had any energy left and so his immune system was down. It was while he was in the hospital wing that Renata had dumped him. Told him it was for his own good. Harry looked at Renata now and was surprised to find her near tears. "What's the matter?" It wrenched his heart to see her this upset: Renata just didn't cry.
"Nothing. I'm fine. I'll see you later." She walked away quickly.
Harry tried to go after but Hermione blocked his way. "I need to go find out what's wrong," he said angrily.
"No, Harry. She needs to be by herself right now."
"What's wrong with her?"
Hermione shook her head. "She never wanted to break up with you."
"Then why did she?"
Hermione just shook her head, sadly.
Harry bit his lip but didn't follow after Renata, even though he wanted to.

* * ^ * * ^ * * ^ * * ^ * * * * ***********************

Author's Note: Okay, my cheers are lame but gimme a break, I don't go to any of the sports games at my school and at the rallies the cheer squad's more like a dance team. I've got a couple things to say about Renata.

For anybody who hates or dislikes Renata, I don't blame you. I wrote her that way.

In matters of the Heart, the Mind doesn't get much say. You can't really help how you feel about someone. Harry does have legitimate reasons for liking Renata: Renata is smart, funny, kind (most of the time), he admires her ability at sports, and he thinks she's pretty. He's drawn to her strong personality; if Renata's anything at all she's strong. Sure she's stubborn, that's what makes her so much like Harry and why they fight so much. But she's also kind of crazy which is why she was fun to write and it's one of the reasons that Harry was so drawn to her. Renata is as mean as she is to Harry because she's afraid of getting hurt. To put it plainly, she's kind of a tough guy and she's not willing to put her heart on the line unless she knows she's not going to make an idiot out of herself. Before I joined FanFiction.net I was with another site that posted fan fiction online. I put up a diary by Renata that kind of helps to explain why she's how she is. But that site crashed and I never saved the diary on my computer.