UGH! My italics won't work. Sorry.

I meant to mention this last time, read Dumbledore's Journey, and Kamikaze, stories by my very good friend, multi guy. (If anyone else has a story they'd like me to advertise, it's three million dollars. (I will accept cookies!) :)

Thanks for reviewing: multi guy, The Crazy Evil Akatsuki Neko, kina lupi, Shashuko the Paisley Maiden, Shrimps of Mass Destruction, Evelyn627, Shukoru, Fire Girl, and Haku's No. 1 Girl.

Did I mention how incredibly happy I am about having Chet, my flash drive? Well, allow me to explain: We have 3 computers at my house, but only 2 have Internet. I have to work on the one without Internet, so I can't save it on My Documents—that's not easy to carry. I needed a drive, and look! CHET, my flash drive was born!

Anyway, the votes say: DracoXSakura. Only one person was like: that's creepy. I hope none of you were reading this strictly for SasuSaku, and if you were, I hope you'll keep reading. My friend has suggested that I incorporate Karin into the story, so Sasuke won't be dateless. But if that happens, Sai will be there, cuz he's one of my new favorite characters—still not better than Gaara, Haku, or even Juugo. Haha! Anyway, I'm having another poll, but this is getting long. So when you review, be sure to read the bottom AN, okay?

It was time for Quidditch tryouts.

Ginny was standing at the side of the field, clipboard in hand, and broomstick at side. The hopefuls stood in front of her.

Among them were Harry, Ron, Naruto, Hinata, and Meg. She smiled at them.

(Naruto had told Sakura his reason for trying out was to make sure that Harry and Ron were safe—two shinobi were better than one, after all. Sakura, however, knew that he just wanted to be on the team. He'd been so excited the first time he'd ridden Harry's Firebolt.)

"Let's do…seeker tryouts first," Ginny said, looking at her list. "Well, Harry, you're the only one…Go ahead."

Harry grinned—he'd been the first to sign up, and when others had seen his name, they'd decided not to try out. He grabbed his Firebolt, and jumped on, waiting for Ginny's signal.

She released the snitch, and he waited a few seconds before zooming after it. He caught it without breaking a sweat. Smiling he landed, and a few people gave appreciative claps.

Not Naruto, though—he and Ron cheered loudly.

"Keeper next, and by the way, great job, Harry." She glanced at her list after putting the snitch away. "Patricia Edwards, and then you, Ron."

Ginny and Patricia leapt onto their brooms, Ginny preparing to throw the Quaffle. Patricia hovered uncertainly, and Ginny threw it with all her might.

Patricia failed to block it, and the next two throws. She sank back to the ground, depressed.

"All right, Ron, you're up."

Ron succeeded swimmingly, as we could have guessed.

"Chasers. Go ahead, Renee. Ron, you'll be keeper?" There were many chasers trying out, and by the end, Naruto was the only one who was acceptable. "Patricia why don't you try out?"

"Okay…" She did, and Ginny found that Patricia was a much better chaser than keeper.

"Great job!" Ginny said with a wide smile.

Patricia looked incredibly pleased with herself. She must not have ever played as a chaser before.

"All right, beaters. Meg and Hinata, you first."

Hesitantly, Hinata and Meg picked up the large bats and got onto the broomsticks.

When they were in the air, and a bludger came soaring towards them, they relaxed, getting into 'the zone'.

Meg hit it towards Ron, still in the air by the goal post, and Hinata was there instantly, hitting the ball back towards Meg. Meg grinned, and hit the ball towards Ginny. Still, Hinata blocked it and sent it towards Ron, and this time, Meg blocked it and sent it back towards her. After a few minutes of what one might call Ping Pong, minus the table, they landed.

Naruto ran over to Hinata and gave her this huge bear hug. "That was great, Hinata!"

She blushed, and mumbled a muffled "Thanks."

Naruto seemed to realize exactly how close they were, and jumped back, also blushing profusely.

They stared at each other briefly, but Hinata lost her nerve and looked away.

Harry nudged Naruto. He smirked at him.

Naruto turned redder than a homegrown tomato.

"N-no! It's not like that! I already told you, I like Sakura!"

Harry remained skeptical. "Your head knows that…but does your heart? Take it from me. Sometimes we fall in love with the last person we'd expect." Harry's eyes were on Ginny.

"Stop ogling my sister!" Ron snapped, slapping Harry on the back of the head.

Harry winced, and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, mate."

They went through the rest of the tryouts. "The results will be posted after the Hogsmeade trip," Ginny announced, and everyone left.

Meg and Hinata were strolling back to the castle.

Meg poked her. "You look happy."

Hinata blushed. "We did a good job, that's all."

"Uh-huh. As told to you by a certain blondie."

"…yeah…"

Meg giggled. "He gave you a hug! And did you see how much he blushed? Almost more than you!"

"Shut up."

"Hina's in looooooooooooove, Hina's in looooooove!"

Meg started skipping, and turned around to look at Hinata, still trying to skip, so of course, she ran into what she thought was a tree, but was in fact, Gaara.

He looked down at her, and she looked up and waved. "Hey, Gaara."

He rolled his eyes. "Hi. Hinata, Usagi wants to talk to you."

"Okay. Bye, Meg." She walked a little faster back to the castle.

Meg sighed, and stood up. She started to walk back to the castle, still at a leisurely pace.

To her surprise, Gaara walked alongside her. "You shouldn't make fun of Hinata like that."

"We're just having fun. You should try it sometime."

"…hn."

"I could go back to being depressed. Maybe that would be better for everyone. All I have to do is think about Mum. I guess you wouldn't know about that, though."

"Wrong—I lost both of my parents, and my uncle."

"You don't seem upset."

"None of them loved me. I…was a troubled child. Meeting Naruto changed that…"

She wrinkled her nose. "You aren't gay, are you?"

"WHAT?! No. That's not what I meant—"

"Not that there's anything wrong with that, I just…"

"Just what?"

Her cheeks tinged pink. She thanked the darkness that made her blush invisible. "Nothing. What did you mean?"

"Naruto was my first friend…he changed me."

"Just like Hinata with me."

"Yeah. So don't ruin it."

She was silent for a moment. "…I won't."

They didn't speak again, silently walking to the castle.

"Everyone who has permission to go, line up here!" McGonnagal called.

It was finally time for the Hogsmeade trip. Ginny and Harry stood apart, far from Ron's eyes. (He could still be a little protective, especially after Harry had broken it off with Ginny, only to kiss her upon arriving at his house...Which makes sense.)

"Where do you want to meet?" Ginny asked, breathless with excitement.

Harry shrugged. "I dunno. Your choice." He gave her a smile.

She smiled. "Why not just the Three Broomsticks? Then if Hermione and 'Wonny' find us, we can just say we were cold…or something."

"Okay. See you there." Harry and Ginny split, as Hermione and Ron approached them. "Naruto!" Harry called, "Over here."

The blonde boy, who was talking to his pink haired friend, Sakura, turned to look at them. "Oh, HEY!"

He and Sakura walked over to them.

Harry's attention was suddenly brought to her hair—in fact, he didn't understand why he hadn't noticed it before. "Sakura, is that your natural hair color?"

"Yeah. It's not that strange where I come from. All our hair colors are a little zany."

He cringed. "I noticed." The hair reminded him of Tonks…Oh, poor Tonks…

He brushed it aside, determined to have a good time.

Meg and Hinata linked arms as they walked through the streets. Gaara walked alongside them, and Hinata noticed that Meg was strangely not teasing him. She was, in fact, avoiding looking in his general direction at all. Well, Hinata would talk to her about it later.

Hinata was otherwise occupied, anyway. She was looking around in standard amazement at the village. "Let's go in there!" she said, pointing at the Three Broomsticks.

"Okay," Meg said.

Meg opened and held the door open, and as Gaara passed, she sucked in a breath. I'm such a freak, she thought. Why can't I get myself together around him, anymore? She brushed it off, and closed the door behind him, as they walked towards a table in the back.

Madam Rosmerta walked over to their table. "What'll it be?"

"Three butterbeers, please."

"Alright."

Gaara glanced at Meg. "What are 'butterbeers'?"

"Drinks."

He raised the area of skin where there should have been an eyebrow. "Obviously."

"You'll just have to see." She stared down at her hands, clutched in her lap, still unable to shake the vague feeling that was uncomfortable, but at the same time made her feel on top of the world.

"Here you go!" Madam Rosmerta placed their drinks on the table. "3 Galleons." Meg handed her the money, and she bustled off.

Meg took a grateful swig from her butterbeer, and Hinata and Gaara watched, perhaps waiting for her to start vomiting.

"Well? Are you going to drink it? You should before IT drinks YOU!" She cackled, remembering what the shrunken head on the Knight Bus had told her about the pea soup served at the Leaky Cauldron.

They looked even less excited to drink it.

Finally, Hinata took a tentative sip from it. A surprised look came over her face, and she smiled. "It's delicious!"

Gaara, just as cautiously, drank a little, and then set it back down. "It's okay."

Meg looked at him in exasperation, for once the shy feeling gone. "You say that about everything you eat!"

He looked at her skeptically. "Because everything I eat is 'okay'."

She couldn't help it—she burst out laughing.

Hinata joined her laughter. Heck--even Gaara cracked a smile.

Naruto and Sakura, followed by Harry and Co. (Including Ginny, who looked quite disgruntled, due to the fact that everyone was tagging along on her date with Harry.) entered the room. Naruto waved, and ran over, sitting down next to Gaara. "HEY GAARA!"

"Ah. Naruto."

Sakura sat down across from them, and then Hermione and Ron sat down as well.

"Oh, no more room. We'll sit here." Ginny dragged Harry to a table behind them. Ron started to rise, but Hermione shook her head and pulled him back down.

He frowned and pouted.

Then he smiled. "I'll get drinks."

He jumped up and ran off.

Meg, had she been an anime character, would have sweatdropped. "Does he STILL fancy Madam Rosmerta?"

Hermione sighed. "Unfortunately. Luckily, it's like a celebrity crush—it won't go anywhere."

Meg chuckled, but inwardly, she was in turmoil. Maybe that's it—I like Gaara, she thought. I'll talk to Hinata later—she'll know.

They all left the Three Broomsticks together. Hermione said, "Let's go to the Shrieking Shack."

"Okay." Meg and Hinata linked arms and walked a little ahead, so no one would comment on how Hinata was still looking around in wonder.

Gaara, on the other hand, hung back with Naruto. Naruto was asking about Hinata.

"Why do you care?" was Gaara's response.

Naruto flushed, and scuffed his shoes on the cobblestone pavement. "I don't know…I think I…I might like her."

Inwardly, Gaara laughed. So, he thought, he's finally realized that she's perfect for him.

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't know…do you think I have a chance with her?"

Definitely. But he said, "Probably. You'd have to talk to her."

Naruto paused. "Ummm…is she like sick, or something? Her face is always red when I talk to her."

If Gaara had been better at expressing his emotions, he'd have smacked his forehead in exasperation. "No, baka. If you haven't figured it out, I'm not going to tell you."

"WHAT? Please?"

Gaara rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'll make this simple. You know when you get embarrassed, and your face gets hot?"

"Yeah…"

"When that happens, your face turns red."

"SO SHE'S EMBARRASSED TO TALK TO ME? She must really hate me. Crap."

"Umm, not what I meant." But Naruto wasn't listening, so he blew it off.

"Hinata? Can I talk to you?"

Hinata turned, and was surprised to see a nervous Naruto standing there.

She flushed, but nodded.

He looked up and noticed the red on her face. "Never mind…I don't want to embarrass you."

"Wh-what?"

He paused. "Your face is all red."

"Umm, Naruto-kun, you aren't embarrassing me. I'm…embarrassing myself." Her voice grew quieter as she spoke.

Naruto scratched his head in confusion. "I guess…that makes sense."

She smiled. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I dunno… I just wanted to talk. About…stuff. Like Quidditch."

"It's fun."

"Yeah…"

The silence stretched out, and Hinata lost her nerve. "Bye," she blurted out, and tried to dash by him, but he grabbed her wrist. She looked back at him.

"Thanks for talking, anyway, Hinata."

Her heart overflowed with compassion—how could anyone hate him? Surprising Naruto, but herself most of all, she wrapped her arms around him. (The feminine urge to comfort was too strong to resist.)

Tentatively, he hugged her back.

And for both of them, everything was right.

I hope no one found that OoC, because, trust me, that's not what I wanted.

Man, I'm such a dork—I just burned a CD with all the Naruto openings and closings, when I can't even understand them! Please kill me. Whitney:–Shakes head- Not really—then she couldn't write for you guys. (Whitney is the inner me!)

Me: And it's really cool. Heehee.

Wait! Sai can't be alone, either! Who will he get? Need help, please! Vote for one of these:
1 Sasuke will just live a life of solitude (no Sai/Karin)
2 SasuKarin, no Sai
3 SasuKarin, Sai all alone
4 SasuKarin, SaiOC (OC from Naruto)
5 SasuKarin, SaiOC (OC from HP)
6 SasuKarin, SaiIno

Personally, I like 4 or 5. I hate Ino, and Sai needs someone. This won't be important for quite a few chapters, but that's okay. You guys can vote now.

Now a non-story related question: Evanescence or Three Days Grace (these are bands). I don't know. I like both.

Review your choices!

IBG out!