Chapter 22 – Try-outs
Out of respect for Ron, we didn't talk about the things we saw down in the Chamber of Secrets. I tried hard to forget it but for some reason, I couldn't get it out of my head. Are best friends that jealous of each other?
"H, we should talk about it." I said for the nth time.
"There's no point in talking about it," H said.
"But shouldn't we at least talk about this with Ron so we can resolve whatever anguish he has in his mind?"
"He wouldn't like it if either of us brought it up."
"We are his friends. We are supposed to put him at ease. We are supposed to assure him that he is good enough and we'll not oust him our little gang."
"If he brings it up, I don't mind reassuring him but…"
"But what?"
"He has to come to terms with his own fears first. Unless he is ready to believe that all this is baseless, we will not be able to get through to him."
I sighed. She is right. She is infuriatingly right.
Since I had taken up a lot of classes, Harry and I hardly found time for each other so we decided to at least do homework together.
"Don't you think we should all just talk it out with Ron?" I asked while we were writing an essay on Aguamenti Charm.
"We all know Ron's not good with confrontations. He'd get all defensive."
"We can have like an intervention. We all hug him and tell him that we love him no matter what. That we'll always be friends."
He gave a patronising smile. "I'm sure he knows that. Best is to wait it out and let him come to us." He pecked me on my lips. "Don't worry. The four of us will be all right."
I smiled at him but I was not put at ease. He wrapped me in a hug and I relaxed into his warm embrace. He kissed the top of my head. "I want to ask you something." He almost whispered.
I pulled back a little to look at him, "What?"
"Babe, do you really want to try-out for the Quidditch team?" He asked with concern.
Trying-out for the team was part of my 'keeping-the-brain-too-occupied-to-think-about-Draco' plan. "Do you think I'm not good enough?" I frowned a bit for dramatic effect.
He panicked. "No, no, no. That's not what I meant. You have taken up nine subjects. You have lots of homework. If you do get selected in the team you'll have to put in a lot of time for practice. I thought maybe you would not have the time."
"Awww…you are actually concerned for me. This is so sweet, Harry." I kissed him. "I want to join the team because I will get some scheduled time out of studies. Because I also feel I've gained a lot of weight since the term started."
He laughed, "I don't think you've put on weight." He kissed me on my nose.
I sat on him. "Don't you think I'm heavy?" I looked up at him innocently.
"AAAARGH! You're definitely heavy." He wrapped his arms around me even tighter now. "But I still like you on my lap." He kissed me. This was one of those kisses that made me weak in the knees.
Ever since classes started and I started receiving homework, yes, I've been able to keep Draco out of my mind for a long stretch of time. I've also been able to give my relationship with Harry a real chance, and we've been great till now. But my need to have Draco around has not diminished even a little bit. I still want to talk to him. No matter how much I keep him out of my mind during the day, in the night when I am on my bed, he comes back to my mind. After my usual prayer for everyone, I send out a special prayer for Draco to all possible gods to keep him safe.
Hedwig and Pigwidgeon landed in front of Harry and Ron respectively when we were having breakfast next day. The owls brought in their new Advanced Potion-Making textbooks.
"Ah...now you can return that horrible book to Slughorn." H said rather too triumphantly.
"No, I'm not." Harry exchanged the covers of the books so the Half-Blood Prince's copy looked like the new book. I snorted at the look on H's face.
This book has become dear to Harry. I caught him reading the book in his spare time a couple of times. H was not very happy with this. Thanks to the Half-Blood Prince, Harry had become Prof. Slughorn's favourite student. H and Harry often argued about the book. H was a little jealous, heck, even I was a little jealous of Harry, so, I think it's fair even if she was jealous. Ron often supported Harry but he was a little jealous as well. Despite being jealous, I had no objection to him using the book. I didn't understand why H was so against it.
"We should go over to meet Hagrid." H said changing the subject. "We've not spoken to him for so long. We should explain why we didn't take CFMC."
"Quidditch try-outs this morning," Ron said while chewing scrambled eggs. "How are we going to explain we hated his subject?"
"I don't hate the subject." I said. The thing is Hagrid has been ignoring us for a while now. I don't know why he would ignore me I didn't leave the subject. I never told them that Prof. Grubbly-Plank has been teaching the class for a while now. I just let them wallow in their misery. Well at least H and Harry wallowed in the misery.
"We don't hate the subject!" H said.
"Speak for yourself!" Ron said. "I won't forget the kind of creatures he had us deal with."
"We'll go see him after the try-outs." Harry said. "There are so many people trying out this year. I don't understand why this sudden interest."
"Oh Harry! Everyone is trying out for you. You're the 'Chosen One' or so they are calling you, so everybody is curious."
"Oh my God! So, everybody is trying out to get a piece of my boyfriend!" I turned to him and said. "I didn't know fighting off unwanted attention from people was a part of the job when I agreed to be your girlfriend."
Harry chuckled. "I thought it was given since I am the 'Harry Potter'." He said haughtily and winked at me. He put his hand around me and touched his forehead to mine. "I'm sure you will be good at fighting them off."
"Sometimes, I just don't get the two of you." Ron said.
I stuck my tongue out at him and Harry just shrugged at him.
"So are you nervous?" He asked kindly. His green eyes bore into my dark brown ones.
"A little." I admitted. Honestly, I was terrified.
"Don't be. I'm sure you'll be fine."
I smiled at him. "I hope so."
"I know so. Best of luck." He said comfortingly.
After breakfast, we all made our way to the Quidditch pitch. Lavender and Parvati passed by. Lavender looked at Ron and said, "Good luck, Ron. I know you'll be great." They both giggled and went away. H looked like she was in a bad mood. She absent-mindedly wished us luck and went to sit behind the goal posts.
Harry divided everybody into groups and made each group fly around the pitch once. I thought it was a brilliant move. The first few groups could barely stay on their brooms for a few seconds. Then there was a group that had Hufflepuff students. I could tell this pissed Harry off.
"Everyone who is not from Gryffindor please leave the pitch right now. This is Gryffindor try-out!" Harry bellowed.
There was no movement for a few moments then a group of Ravenclaw students left the pitch.
Soon, it was my turn. I was happy that I was able to fly around the pitch without falling off. Step one – completed. Harry decided to select the chasers first. I was nervous. Once I got on my Nimbus 2000, I was more relaxed. The prospective chasers were further divided into smaller groups and they flew together. Harry was looking for goal scoring ability and also the chasers to have good communication amongst them. Finally it was down to Katie Bell, Dean, Ginny, two fourth years girls I didn't know and me. Harry chose Katie Bell, Ginny and one of the fourth year girls, Demelza Robins.
I felt bad. I was really close but I lost out. Then Harry went on to select Beaters and I went and sat next to H.
"You were good." H said trying to cheer me up.
"Ya, but not good enough."
"He was here you know." H whispered.
"Draco?"
She nodded. "He watched you fly. He left after Harry selected Katie, Ginny and Demelza."
I felt happy and sad that he was here. Happy because he was here which means he still cares for me. Sad because I didn't see him here cheering for me. I was also angry because he left before we had a chance to talk.
Harry selected Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote as beaters. They seemed to play well but they were not as brilliant as Fred and George. Now, it was the Keeper's try-outs.
"Looks like Harry purposely decided to keep the Keeper selection at the very end." I said.
"He knows Ron is trying for the spot so I guess he was giving Ron a chance to get hold of his nerves." H said.
"I hope Ron does well."
We watched people try out for the spot. Then Cormac McLaggen flew towards the goal posts.
"I don't think anyone will be as good as Oliver Wood though." I said when McLaggen saved his first goal.
"I don't think so either." H said.
"Oliver is so cute. I watched him play with Puddlemore United. I just couldn't take my eyes off him."
She giggled, "I think Oliver is hot. I've always had a crush on him."
"Why didn't I notice him when I was still in school with us?" I asked as McLaggen saved his second goal.
"Maybe because you were too busy noticing Harry." She wriggled her eyebrows at me.
I thought about it. "I guess, you are right."
He saved the third and the fourth goals in quick succession. McLaggen was bad-mouthing Ginny and Ron. This didn't go down well with H. She looked angry. Just when the Quaffle was about to come towards him, H took out her wand and whispered, "Confundo!"
I stared at H in shock. McLaggen moved to the wrong direction and the goal was scored.
"What the hell was that?" I asked H in shocked.
"He deserved it." H said.
"Did you do it for Ron?" I asked her playfully.
She blushed, "Shut up! Ron's up now."
"But isn't that against the rules?" I asked her.
"I think I did Harry a favour. Do you think he would have liked to have someone like McLaggen on the team?"
That shut me up.
We watched in silence. Ron saved his first goal and we cheered for him. Ron seemed to be doing really well. Maybe watching McLaggen miss the last one made Ron more confident. Then just like that Ron saved each and every goal. H and I hugged each other and ran towards the pitch. I could see that McLaggen was not very happy with Harry's decision. A vein was popping out of his head as he glared at Harry for not choosing him. Harry held his ground and cool, McLaggen walked off. Harry announced the first practice time and the team left the ground talking.
The four of us made our way towards Hagrid's hut. Now Ron was in over his head. He recounted each of his saves on the way like we didn't watch him. That's the thing about Ron, when he's good he's too good but when he's bad he's too bad. Harry and I walked a little behind Ron and H. He put an arm around my waist and pulled me closer.
"I'm sorry you didn't make the team but you were really good." Harry said.
"I know. Maybe, I can try-out next year. Katie will be gone so I can take her place." I said hopefully.
"How about we go flying tonight, just you and me?" He asked expectantly.
"Sounds tempting!"
"It is tempting! You and me, on my Firebolt, under the stars. It'll be fun."
"Hate to burst your bubble. How about we finish off our pending homework?"
He groaned. "Why is there so much homework!"
We saw Buckbeak at the pumpkin patch. Harry bowed in front of the Hippogriff without blinking, when Buckbeak bowed down as well, Harry patted the creature and whispered something to it. We heard Fang's bark but Hagrid took him in and closed the door on us.
"Looks like he is really angry." H said.
"Don't worry, I'll get him to open the door." Harry said coolly. "Hagrid, I will burst the door open if you don't open the door."
Hagrid open the door but he looked really angry. He let us in without saying anything. For a while no one said anything. He smiled at me.
"Hagrid, we are sorry we couldn't fit CFMC in our time-tables." H broke the silence.
From there the conversation began. I just kept quiet and listened to them. Hagrid told us about Grawp. Out of nowhere, Hagrid started wailing.
"What's wrong Hagrid?"
"It's Aragog." Hagrid cried.
Aragog is the giant talking spider that Hagrid once kept as a pet. Harry, Ron and I had the displeasure of meeting him and his family in the second year.
"What about him?" H asked.
"He is not well. I think he might be dying. I've been thinking about him all this time."
H patted his arm affectionately and said, "Is there anything we could do?"
I'm so not doing anything for the spider that almost killed us.
"No, it's not very safe for anybody to go there right now." He said.
Even if it was safe, I'm not going back there.
"I'm sure, Aragog will be fine." I said.
He nodded. "How has Grubbly-Plank been teaching?" He asked.
"She's okay." I felt three pairs of eyes on us. I grinned at them. "The lessons are more fun when you're around, Hagrid." He seemed pleased by my answer.
After talking to Hagrid we made our way back to the castle, Harry pulled H back to ask her something. So, I walked with Ron. We walked in silence for a while.
"Ron…about what happened in the chamber of secrets…"
"Nat, I don't want to talk about it." He said quietly.
"No, hear me out. I don't know why you feel you're not good enough or that you're lesser than anyone else. Ron, for me you are good enough. We might have our differences but you're still one of my best friends and you always will be. But if something is bothering you, I wish you'd talk to us about it. So, we can sort it out."
He breathed out, "There's nothing bothering me. If something bothers me I know I can count you guys." He looked at me. I'm not sure what he saw but he relaxed and smiled at me. "Thanks. I'm fine." He hugged me.
"What's going on here?" Harry asked playfully.
Ron smirked and said, "I'm stealing your girlfriend."
We laughed and walked back to the castle.
I'm so sorry for the long gap. My mom was in the hospital so I was not able to write till now! My mom's fine now so, I was finally able to write a new chapter!
Please read and review! You know your reviews will force me to write faster! :-) Thanks for reading!
Enjoy! Neepa :-)
