A/N: Thanks for all the follows, favorites and reviews guys it really means a lot! Updates will be coming weekly so I can ensure the story is going where I want it, so don't worry that i've abandoned it! Also I wanted to explain one thing that was brought up to me in one of the reviews. Yes Harry's behavior is relatively normal despite the physical and emotional abuse he's been through, and that's because he is choosing to repress those memories and forget about that time in his life as best he can (not healthy I know this will come up) so he can be "normal" like the rest of the kids. I'll try to do a better job of showing that in the future but just remember one of Harry's biggest strengths is his ability to love and see the best in people and to always try and do the right thing. His traumatic past will definitely come up in some big ways throughout the story and drive his actions in those situations. Also I want to give a MASSIVE shout out to my beta GinnyPotter6891, who really helped me clean up a lot of the formating/grammar issues and clarifying some confusing bits. Thanks so much GP! And thank you to everyone reading this, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 3

The next few weeks flew by faster than a golden snitch. Harry loved flying; it was by far his favorite part of being a wizard, but Quidditch practice had the unfortunate side effect of bringing up some of his past that he would rather forget. When the twins flew by Harry with their beaters bats raised, chasing a bludger, Harry froze and almost fell off his broom as images of uncle Vernon coming at him with his baseball bat overwhelmed him. This happened enough that Wood came up to him after practice and asked if he was alright. Harry explained he was just very jumpy and that he'd get over it. But as the rest of the team was leaving the locker room he pulled Fred and George aside. "Hey guys can I, erm, ask you for a favor?"

"Sure how can we-"

"-Help the mighty Harry Potter?" they chimed with brilliant smiles, being sure to tease him. He didn't mind, though; they had been very nice to him so far.

"Well, first you guys have to promise this won't leave the three of us."

They became more interested. "We accept your terms." the replied simultaneously.

"I need to get over my fear of people flying around me with the beaters bats, so can you guys meet me down here on the nights we don't have practice and just fly around me and at me while waving your bats? And at practice could you make sure to fly around me a bunch?"

"Why would you be afraid of the bats?"

"Yeah, it's a massive foul if someone accidentally hits someone with one."

"It's not a big deal and I'd rather not talk about, ok? Can you guys help me or not?"

"Sure we can-"

"-No big deal."

"Alright thanks guys - see ya tomorrow."

Harry turned and left the locker room, missing the looks of confusion and concern on the twins' faces, but thankfully they didn't press the issue. After a week or so Harry still flinched internally at the bats but was able to put it out of his mind during practice and was confident that he'd be fine during the games.

Ginny was so excited for him when he told her that he got picked to be the new seeker she was even trying to get her mum to bring her to the first game. During their letters they talked about everything under all those stars Harry was constantly filling out charts on. It was honestly surprising how easy it was. Ginny somehow always managed to make Harry laugh or smile with her letters, even when Malfoy was being extra cruel to Harry, not that anything he said could bother Harry after what he'd heard his whole life. Harry even found himself opening up and talking to her about how stressful it was, having to always be "The Great Harry Potter" and having people stare and whisper about him.

But once again Ginny was there for him and promised that it'd die down after a while once people got used to it, and of course she was right. As the Halloween feast approached he was settling into a nice routine. Harry had a massive grin on his face as he wrote his next letter to Ginny the night of the Halloween feast.

Dear Ginny,

So the craziest thing happened tonight it was the Halloween feast but the crazy thing was that a Troll got into the school! I dragged Ron with me to find our classmate and warn her since Ron's big mouth was the reason she was crying in the bathroom anyway, plus I couldn't imagine something happening to someone if I had the chance to stop it. Well when Ron and i found her she was being attacked by a three meter tall troll! So I jumped on it's back to distract it while Ron lifted its club up with a spell and dropped it on its head and knocked it out! It was crazy and the most intense thing i've ever done but it was such a rush.

And I guess fighting a troll is one of those things that makes you friends with someone instantly, because now Hermione is one of our friends too. She's kind of like a bossy older sister which is great for Ron because she has taken over helping him with his studies since I've been so busy with practice. Not only is Wood having us do flying practice two nights a week, he is having us doing physical training three nights a week! I'm sore in places I didn't know I could be! But I'm enjoying getting into better shape and I actually like running. It's quite relaxing and gives me time to clear my head. Sorry for the short letter - I just had to tell you about that. I look forward to hearing from you and I hope you had a Spooktacular Halloween.

Your Friend,

Harry

Dear Harry,

Harry Jonathan Potter! (I'm sure that's not your real middle name but it sounded good.) How could you run around looking for someone when there was a troll loose? You could've been hurt! I mean, it was incredibly brave of you (and also really dumb). But I guess I shouldn't be surprised too much - you do catch me as the kind of guy who would think of everyone else before even considering the danger to himself. But do me a favor and try to be at least somewhat careful ok? Anyway, enough being a worry wart - what was the troll like? I assumed it smelled really bad? You have to be the only person in the world to get a piggy back ride from a troll, hahaha!

It's great to hear that Hermione will keep Ron at least somewhat focused on his studies while you're busy preparing for the game. How are the practices going? Had issues with anything so far? I'm sure the bludgers would be scary having them fly all over the place, but at least you got the twins as your beaters - they are the best in the school. I never thought about working out as being part of Quidditch but I guess it makes sense to be in good shape and have lots of stamina for the long games; maybe I'll start running, too. It does sound nice having some alone time from Mum. Being the only one left at home is quite tiring. She is always hovering over me; but on the positive side, I've talked her into teaching me some simple easy charms and spells. But unfortunately they've been kind of boring so far, like a dish cleaning charm and one to do laundry. I think she's trying to bore me with them so i'll stop asking but that's not going to happen, hahaha.

Yours,

Ginny

PS: A spooktacular Halloween? Who says that? But you actually had me laughing at that, but yeah I did have a good Halloween thankfully not as exciting as yours. It sounds like you did, too. Talk to you later Harry.

He smiled the whole time he read the letter, he'd have to remember to tell her his real middle name so she wouldn't keep making up ones for him. But every time he reread it, he could see she was worried he could've gotten hurt. She cared about him. It made him feel warm inside to know someone cared enough about him to worry; he'd never had someone care about him that much and it felt great. He almost told her that but chickened out as he was writing his next letter, He did go into his first Quidditch game with a spring in his step and planning on winning so he could tell Ginny all about it.

After they kicked off at the start of the game he soared straight up, loving the power and responsiveness of his brand new Nimbus 2000. Somehow Professor McGonagall had gotten it for him shortly after he made the team, and he loved it. Harry was circling high above the match following Wood's plan to stay out of the intense play as long as he could, which was working; he only had to dodge two bludgers sent his way, and the beaters bats didn't even faze him anymore. While he was scanning for the snitch he spotted something that made his heart leap, and it wasn't gold. It was a rich, dark red and flowing in the wind - Ginny had made it to the game! She was with her Mum in the parents' section holding a sign with "GO HARRY!" on it. Harry couldn't help it he gave her a quick wave and a flip on his broom. Harry smiled as he seen her wave back and then scolded himself and started searching for the snitch again, he was not going to look like a fool in front of Ginny, he was going to catch the golden snitch. A second later all hell broke loose.

His broom gave a few wild bucks and started trying to shake him off, while it slowly started to climb higher and higher. After fighting to stay on for a while, the broom gave a great shake and Harry slipped and was left hanging below it. The crowd gasped in fright. While hanging the under his broom high above the field a few thoughts crossed Harry's mind: first, he wished he had told Ginny how much her letters meant to him and how much he enjoyed talking to her. Second, he hoped she would look away. He didn't want her to see him fall to his death. And third, damn,there's the snitch, too bad his broom's freaking out. Then as suddenly as it started it stopped Harry gave a great heave, hauled himself back onto the broom, and shot straight down as fast as his Nimbus would carry him, one thought on his mind - get the snitch. And he did; as he yanked his broom up inches from the grass and reached, out his grip slipped and he tumbled to the ground. The stadium went silent, waiting to see if he was ok. He stood up coughed twice into his hands and raised the snitch high for everyone to see. The crowd went wild and people swarmed the pitch. He was patted on the back and punched in the arm. So many people were jostling and congratulating him but none of that mattered. A red blur collided with him and almost knocked him over.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER, don't ever scare me like that again!" It was a sweet and beautiful voice filled with fear. It was also the longest sentence he had ever heard from that voice. He hugged her back.

"I'm sorry, Ginny. I never wanted to scare you. I just wanted to catch the snitch since you were watching." he replied softly, knowing she'd hear him over the crowd.

"OI, get off him!" Ron called. This snapped both of them back to reality and they stepped away from each other awkwardly, both blushing. Ginny's blush was quite pretty as her cheeks flushed a bright pink crimson which highlighted the light dusting of freckles on her cheeks. Ron and Hermione had finally fought their way to them. Harry caught Hermione giving himself and Ginny a strange look but he ignored it. Ron seemed to just seen his baby sister annoying his mate nothing more Harry had never been happier how oblivious his friend was sometimes. They whispered quietly about how it had been Snape who had been cursing Harry's broom. They brought Ginny up to speed after Harry's insistence about what they suspected was going on with Fluffy and the trap door. After they revealed this all this to Ginny, Mrs. Weasley was calling from the back of the crowed that it was time to go to. She blushed and gave Harry a quick hug

"Bye Harry."

"Bye Ginny," he managed as she pulled away and slipped through the crowd. Ron was too busy going on and on about the match to notice, but Harry saw Hermione giving him a look again. He figured she was going to be pestering him with questions sooner or later so he nodded at Ron and shook his head 'no'. She seemed to understand and nodded. The next night while Harry was helping Ron finish the assignments for Transfiguration, Hermione sat down at their table and handed Harry a small notebook.

"Here are those notes you asked for Harry," she said as she sat down across from him. Seeing his confused look, she looked pointedly at the notebook again. He took the notebook slowly and opened it to the first page, seeing it blank he was about to say something when suddenly words started to appear.

Hermione-I enchanted these notebooks to act kind of like a walkie-talkie, what you write in one appears for a short while in the other. They only work or short distances though.

Harry-This is so cool, it's like instant mail!

Hermione-Instant Mail, I like that but anyway. I figured this way I can grill you in front of Ron, and he'll get less flustered with his homework if he thinks we're still doing some ourselves.

Harry-Good thinking and whatever would you like to grill me about? He gave her an innocent smile.

She looked at him with a 'you know what you did' look.

Hermione-You know exactly what I'm talking about. Care to explain Ginny's reaction at the Quidditch game?

Harry sighed knowing this was going to be a long conversation.

Harry-She was really concerned about her brother's best friend?

Hermione-Hahaha no, I was really concerned about you and I didn't almost knock over half the school in a rush to hug you.

Harry stared at his notebook for a while. This was a more in-depth question than she realized. She was asking him to define their relationship, which was something he wasn't sure he wanted to or could do.

Harry-Well, you know how I've been getting letters pretty much this whole year?

Hermione-Well yeah, we all have.

Harry-Hermione, my "family" would never write to me.

She winced at that. Harry didn't blame her that she forgot how horrible his family was. He never talked about them and no one knew exactly how bad it was, since he did everything to forget about all of that while he was at Hogwarts. He wanted to be normal here. He had even asked Professor McGonagall how to perform a silencing spell after his nightmares had woken up his roommates a few too many times. She seemed to pity him so she had taught it to him under the strict agreement that he only use it for that.

Hermione-So that still doesn't answer my question about why she behaved like she did.

Harry-Well she's been the one writing me letters this whole time.

She looked quite surprised at that bit of information.

Hermione-How did that start?

Harry-She kind of freaked out on the platform when we were getting on the Hogwarts express, when she found out who I was. Then once Ron and I became such good friends, she decided that she needed to get over her shyness of talking to me since I'd be around for awhile.

Hermione-And?

Harry-And what?

Hermione-That seemed like she was WELL past shyness.

Harry-Well, yeah, we've been talking for almost three months now a letter or two a week, so we've gotten kind of close, I guess.

Hermione-Kind of close, you guess?

Harry-I'm not sure what you're hinting at here. We haven't labeled this or talked about anything serious so if that's what you're looking for I don't have the answers. Hell, Hermione, before this year I'd never even had friends before. I'm not ready to dig too deep into this. I don't want to ruin it. Reading her letters is one of the best parts of my week. Do I think she is beautiful? I sure do. Did that hug make my stomach flutter? Yes it did, ten times more than the dive. Am I scared to death to tell her any of this or ask her if she feels the same way? Oh, God, yes.

He sighed with a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. She raised an eyebrow at him.

Hermione-Kind of close, you guess? They both broke into big smiles.

Hermione-It's ok, Harry, you don't need to explain it to me. I was just making sure you had realized your feelings for her and realized that she has feelings for you, too. I get you wanting to take it slow and I honestly think that that is a really good idea. She's a great, sweet girl and is/will be really good for you someday. Whenever the conversation comes up about what you are, just explain how new you are to all of this and that you don't want to mess anything up but that you definitely feel something for her.

Harry-Thanks, Hermione, I will. Oh, and, for the love of God, let's keep this between you and me ok?

She snorted.

Hermione-Yeah, that's probably a good idea.

Harry-That felt surprisingly good to get off my chest.

Hermione-I'm sure seemed like you had a lot bottled up there.

She smiled at him.

Harry-Sooo, ummm?

It was at this moment when Harry realized he had never had a one on one real talk with Hermione. Ron and he had had tons of "guy time". And Harry felt bad that Hermione was one of his best friends, and there was so much about her that he didn't know. So for the next forty-five minutes while Ron finished his assignment they talked, really talked, and got to know each other a lot better than they had ever had before and it felt good. So from then on when they were done with their homework and helping Ron with his, they would spend a little bit chatting with each other. She grilled him about Ginny after every letter. he got. She seemed to think they was "super cute."

A/N: Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it, i'd love to hear what you thought so shoot me a quick review! See you next time.