Chosen
Chapter Three
Harry poked at his sausage and eggs with the end of his fork. He just wasn't very hungry this morning. He'd managed a few forkfuls of eggs and two sausages. Not much, but he felt perfectly fine. Harry managed a third sausage before passing his plate to Ron.
"Yur shed sev jur inrge fur Kivvitch." Ron said with his mouth full.
"Don't speak with your mouth full Ronald!" Mrs. Weasley scolded. Ron swallowed what he had in his mouth and repeated himself.
"I said that you should save your energy for Quidditch. This afternoon in the orchard, remember?" Ron said. Harry vaguely remembered a promise of Quidditch in the near future, but he didn't remember if they'd agreed on a specific time.
"Right. Personally, I feel fine. But how are we going to play? Even if Hermione plays, we won't be able to manage fourteen people." Harry pointed out.
"We're doing without beaters. And we'll go down to two chasers a team. That'll bring us down to eight." Ron replied, skewering a sausage with his fork.
"Ok… So who do we have playing?" Harry asked. "And what are we using for the quaffle and the snitch?"
"We have me, you, Fred, George, Ginny, Bill, Charlie and Hermione. You and Charlie will be seekers. Fred, George, Hermione and Ginny will be chasers and Bill and I will be keepers. We'll have a couple apples as bludgers. They don't hurt much and will only distract you. Won't knock you off for sure. We've got an actual quaffle to use. Fred picked it up at a discount store. It's got a crack in it but it'll do. And we've got a walnut to use as a snitch." Ron explained. He was waving his fork about and taking occasional bites from the skewered sausage.
"Ok… I'm going to work a bit on my summer homework. Call me when the game's about to start." Harry replied.
Ron seemed tied between the objections he was going to use. Half of his face said "It's a beautiful day and you're doing homework?" while the other half said "But I thought we weren't coming back to Hogwarts?" His face contorted with indecision. He ended up not speaking at all.
"Done eating already Harry? Here, have some more kippers…" Mrs. Weasley called after his retreating back. Harry pretended he hadn't heard her.
'What's happening to me?' Harry asked himself. "How did I suddenly become an anti-social potions whiz?" He didn't have an answer for himself, so he pulled out his Charms homework.
An essay he needed to write. About Shield charms and when to use a shield charm in combat as opposed to dodging.
Harry dug out his quill and ink and just started writing. He let his mind drift as his quill scratched across the page. Like some sort of robot, he worked through the assignment and moved on to the next. Another essay. History of Magic this time. Goblin rebellions in the seventeenth century. Harry just mentally tuned out the homework like he was doing nothing more than idly scribbling on paper. The names of historical figures, and the dates of historical events came to him automatically. He didn't even need to look through his book to double-check. He just… remembered.
"HARRY!"
Harry nearly knocked over his ink bottle. He was startled by Ron's voice. "We've been calling for ten minutes. Quidditch time. Let's go!"
"Excellent!" Harry said with a grin. He put a lid on his ink bottle and changed into his Quidditch Robes. He was outside in five minutes flat. Ron and Bill had already been selected as Quidditch captains when he'd arrived.
"Ron, call it in the air." Ginny commanded as she flipped a Knut.
"Heads!" Ron called. The coin landed tails and Bill picked first.
"Charlie." Bill picked.
"Harry." Ron countered.
"Fred."
"Ginny"
"George."
"Hermione."
The lines were drawn and the teams had been selected. Bill, Charlie, Fred and George made up one team, while Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny made up the other.
"Now, I want a nice clean game." Mr. Weasley admonished. He was home from the Ministry for the next few days because of the upcoming wedding. He had agreed to referee for the match.
"Of course you do." Fred said with a smirk. The eight players took off and Mr. Weasley tossed up the Quaffle.
George caught it, but Ginny snatched it away almost instantly. She tore off like a rocket towards Bill, who was keeper for the other team. The twins raced after her at top speed. They both went after Ginny, assuming that she wouldn't pass the Quaffle to Hermione, who was struggling to fly in a straight line.
Ginny was a little ahead of them, but they were gaining on her. Fred pulled ahead of her and she was forced into changing her course and giving up a shot on goal.
Harry and Charlie circled above, watching the game in a way that was somewhat akin to sharks.
Ginny pulled into a steep ascent. Fred and George followed her but they didn't ascend as steeply. It was obvious that ascending was very uncomfortable for them. Ginny suddenly "dropped" the ball. Right into Hermione's arms. Who was un-watched, floating near the lowest goalpost. Even if Bill had jumped off his broom, he'd have had a hard time reaching her before she scored. Hermione tossed the ball through the hoop with a satisfied smirk on her lips. The Twins exchanged a wary look. Things didn't look good for them.
Things got even better from there as Ginny and Hermione scored point after point. Ron actually landed to go get a sandwich at one point. By the time he'd eaten it, Ginny and Hermione had scored three more goals. Fred and George were still scoreless.
The twins scored their first goal later. But it barely mattered. The score was 160-10.
That's where things got complicated. Harry spotted the Snitch. Or rather the Walnut. Charlie spotted it as well, but he was farther away. They both dove for it, but Harry was doing far better.
Then Hermione got hit in the stomach by an apple-bludger and she lost her balance, falling from her broom.
Harry changed his course, aiming for Hermione instead of the snitch. There was no way he should have made it in time, but apparently Harry just had a way with brooms. Harry ended up directly in the path of Hermione and the ground. He didn't exactly "catch" Hermione, but he made a beautiful cushion. The two of them hit the ground and all went black.
A/n: Before you ask, there will be no Harry/Hermione shipping in this fic. I'm not even sure I'll have any ships at all. I've found that romance has a tendency to detract from the plot and make the story much more boring than it should be.
