Later that evening, Ron took Harry along to Quidditch practice to get him to take the Captain badge back. Professor McGonagall was adamant when she had given it to Ron: it was on loan. Harry Potter was the Quidditch Captain, and until his return there would only be stand-ins.

The best part about it was that she'd told this in front of her entire Transfiguration class today. So when Harry and Ron arrived, Cormack McLaggen had the badge ready for him.

"Don't forget this," he added acidly, shoving over his broom and uniform as well.

But Harry didn't take it. In fact, he pushed the items back at him. "You're staying Seeker, McLaggen. I'm on backup."

The whole team – who had been standing around with relieved smiles – lost their grins and started to protest.

"You're a working team," Harry declared to them all, "and I'm out of shape and out of practice to compete against the other House teams, who have been going strong all year. It stays this way. McLaggen," he looked the boy over with a stern glare – making him uncomfortable.

"Yeah?" McLaggen asked.

"Gear up."

Practice was over a few hours later. It was nice, actually, staying down on the ground with his voice blaring orders at the others. It made him feel strong again, and after the day he had, he really needed to feel strong about something.

Ron and Dean had stayed behind with him after the others had gone in, and they were jogging circles around the Quidditch Pitch. The idea to run was Harry's, and he was just going to do it alone, but Ron insisted, and then Dean had overheard and said he'd fancy doing that, considering it'd been ages since he ran anywhere; McLaggen never had them do ground-work.

On their second lap around, jogging shoulder to shoulder, Dean said breathlessly, "You're lucky you told McGonagall to have Ron as stand-in captain."

"I didn't," Harry confessed. "I told her to make him the real Captain."

"Really?" Ron asked, also breathlessly on Harry's right.

"Are you surprised?!" Dean wondered, leaning forward to look around Harry to Ron.

"The reason – I wanted Ron to be Captain – was because of his strategy. We'd never lose with that." Harry was probably more out of breath than the other two, but he kept his body moving. He took Muggle track and field for two months, for crying out loud.

"We did lose," Ron said miserably.

"You lost by a hundred points?"

"Yeah. To Hufflepuff," Dean said.

"Where was your Seeker in all this?" Harry asked, looking right at Ron as he did. Ron didn't have anything to say, though. "Really?" Harry asked in wonder. "You're telling me that – McLaggen was the best Seeker at tryouts – and he kept the team afloat while he was Captain – and the first game he was in – you guys lost?"

"Holy fucking mother!" Dean exclaimed.

Ron pulled them all to a halting stop and held his hands out, palms forward. "Don't say it, Harry. You're telling me he scammed me?"

"It makes sense," Harry said, leaning far back, arching his spine and taking a few deep breaths of the cold winter air. At Smeltings, they'd be jogging through the halls of the school; it was just too cold to do this without risking pneumonia.

"McLaggen's not exactly the nicest guy in the school," Dean advised.

"That little twerp!" Ron said fiercely, pounding his fist into his other hand.

"Will you do me a favor, Ron?" Harry asked, leaning side to side as best he could. He was exhausted; sweat soaked his forehead and plastered his black hair down; the tips had crystallized in the cold January air.

"Yeah. What is it?"

Harry looked Ron over, and then – now suddenly quite a bit calmer – he reached into his pocket and pulled out his silver Captain's badge, and he handed it over.

"Will you be the Captain?"

Ron was speechless, and he only stared at the badge in Harry's open hand.

"Please?" Harry asked, reaching for Ron's hand and plopping the badge into it. He continued to hold onto Ron's wrist and press the badge into his hand, because Ron's arm was lax with shock and he might have just dropped the badge otherwise.

Dean stared on at the transaction with shock and awe.

"Why are you doing this, Harry?" Dean asked.

Harry looked at their tall friend, and said, "Because I'm no fool. I won't be flying this year, and you need to be in the air to be the Captain. You need to be up there –" he looked up at the sky between the goal posts, and then back into Ron's anguished blue eyes – "to see everything, to help everyone, and I can't do that."

"Why not?" Ron whispered. His eyes were squinted – as if Harry was across the other side of the Quidditch Pitch and not standing right in front of him.

Harry finally fully pushed Ron to hold the badge on his own, and Ron gripped it tightly in his hand.

Harry licked his lips and swallowed thickly. His body was becoming stiff again, as if Draco Malfoy were standing before him instead of Ron. It still felt like he was, at least. "I just can't. There are other things I have to do. I'm not really…focused these days on school things. I've got other things on my mind."

Ron's eyes dropped to the badge and he studied it. At long last, he put it in his pocket.

Harry smiled. "Thanks."

Ron shook his head. "Thank you."

Dean smiled broadly and wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders, and turned them towards the castle across the pitch. Harry wasn't fully comfortable with it, but he knew the difference between a kind touch and a venomous one. "Well, this is going to be a surprise to the rest of the team!"

"No kidding!" Ron breathed, still shaking his head with the excessive awe he was experiencing.

They were nearly to the castle when Dean caught sight of Seamus through the window and took off ahead of them. Ron stared at him running away.

"Do you think Dean and Seamus have ever wanted to try things with each other?"

Harry about glared at Ron in disbelief. Ron shrugged, smiling a little, and took that moment to say, "Harry, I just want to know…do you want to know who did it to you? Why they did it?"

"I do," Harry said, nodding his head.

"Well…I don't know who did it, but I know why. That's obvious," Ron said, and Harry looked startled up at him. Ron raised his eyebrow, as if it wasn't completely apparent. "You Know Who told them to."

That might be right.

"We'll get him, but meanwhile –" Ron stated with a morbid sort of glee, obvious of Harry's inner demons but not willing to let them destroy his best friend, "– I can get McLaggen back for stealing the Captain's badge from me, because you left him on the team!"

Harry smiled at that. "I didn't know what else to do. I want Gryffindor to win."