Disclaimer: This story includes characters and situations that are part of the Harry Potter universe, which is copyright J.K.Rowling, Scholastic, Warner Brothers, Bloomsbury, etc. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is being made in the production of this FANFICTION. Not many outside resources were needed this time, but I (as always) made extensive use of the Harry Potter Lexicon when writing this chapter.
Author's Note: So, in honor of the fact that I've finished NaNoWriMo and am still procrastinating on my math homework, here is a chapter for you all. I hope you didn't abandon me over the month, and I promise that they'll continue at approximately the same pace they were going before – one every week or two – for the forseeable future, until the end. In any case, thanks go to Fantome, Sarcasma (Wow, all the chapters! Thanks! And I'm glad that you got over your original misgivings about the story!), and Lady Lestrange.
Expectations of Grandeur: Chapter 18: The Quidditch Match
The only reason Ginny Weasley woke up as early as she did was Hedwig pecking at her madly. Harry must have sent the owl to come wake her up for the Quidditch game, although why she had to wake up two hours before it was scheduled to begin was beyond her. "Okay, okay, I'm up, you don't need to maul me, Hedwig," she whispered to the owl as she sat up, swatting the bird away. "Go and tell Harry you did your job – I found it entirely impossible to sleep this morning." Hedwig hooted proudly and flew off through the window.
In the dark, Ginny found it almost impossible to find any of the robes she had hastily thrown on the floor the night before. She searched the carpeting for the familiar bright red and yellow Quidditch robes, and pulled them unceremoniously over her head immediatley after she had found them. She tried to search through the mess on her desk for a comb, but after a few minutes Hedwig was hooting anxiously at the window and she abandoned her search, running a hand through her tousled hair and hoping it wouldn't look too much like she had just rolled out of bed.
"You're late Ginny," Harry's voice greeted her from the common room as she entered, rubbing her eyes, but he sounded much too cheerful for Ginny to take him seriously and she just shrugged him off. Ron, on the other hand, had more to say.
"You look wretched, Gin," he said, and she passed him a glare.
"This is what happens when you're attacked by a psychotic owl," she grumbled, sharing her angry glare with Harry as well. He just beamed at her, and several of her team mates laughed. Dean even reached a hand out to tousle her hair even more than it already was, but one warning look from Ron would have stopped even the bravest Gryffindor.
Seamus caught a laugh in his hand and Harry began talking.
"Just because this match is Ravenclaw doesn't mean it'll be easy – they have a much more experienced team and we need to be on our best playing. Ginny, Katie, Dennis, you know what to do – if you stick to the formations we practised you'll do fine. Most of all, don't get scared that they'll pull some amazing new strategy out of a hat – in all the years I've played against Ravenclaw, that has never happened, and I think Katie can attest to that as well." Here Katie nodded. "But watch out – Cho has always been a good seeker and she always will be, which isn't to say she's infallible. After all, even our new chasers could catch the snitch from right under her nose." He grinned at Ginny but she was too tired to respond. "But barring something really serious – an attack on the school – I'm pretty sure that none of you have to worry about who catches the snitch." Harry allowed himself a moment of glowing pride that only sickened Ginny a bit. "So just score as many points as you can.
"I want to put as much of a distance between Ravenclaw and us as I can, because it will put us in good stead when we play against Slytherin. Cho and Draco are evenly matched, and the Slytherins won't care about it enough to cheat too overtly, so Ravenclaw stands a good chance of beating Slytherin. And even if they don't, that's going to be a close game. So play your hardest – it will serve us well when it does come down to Slytherin," he smiled, proud of his speech. "Beaters – Dean and Kath – aim for their Chasers. Ron – block everything you can. You did well against Ravenclaw last year; you can do it again. Just put everything behind you."
Ginny yawned and blinked, and then something odd occurred to her. When she had tried out, Katie had most definitely been Quidditch captain, but now Harry was acting as though he had the captaincy. She yawned again and spoke up. "Umm, Harry? Isn't Katie captain?"
Everyone laughed again and this time Dean did reach over and tousle her hair, after which he was pinned with two of the patented Weasley stares. Seamus, there mostly because he would have felt left out with everyone except Neville vacating the room and partially because he was announcing the match, laughed again. Katie spoke up. "McGonagall suggested that Harry share some of the captain's duties, since he's been on the team as long as I have and he's a shoo-in for captain next year. She said it would help boost morale as well." She smiled benignly and Ginny was forced to accept it.
Harry signalled for them to move out and catch a quick breakfast before heading to the pitch to warm up. "Katie worked incredibly hard to get this practice time for us – we've had to open it to Ravenclaw as well, but they mostly value sleep too much to take it. I want you all on the pitch in half an hour for an extended warm-up."
Ginny yawned again and stumbled out to the Great Hall for breakfast, falling into step beside Kath, a fourth year and the only female beater Ginny had ever heard of. Kath held out a comb and Ginny tried to smile as she took it. "You need this more than I do," the younger girl said.
Grateful, Ginny pulled the comb through her tangled hair and pulled her hair back so it wouldn't get in her eyes during the game. She handed Kath back the comb and smiled. "I don't think that was a very tasteful joke Harry made about You-know-who," Kath said. "I mean, an attack during a Quidditch match?"
Ginny shrugged and tried to wake up. "You never know," Ginny said, "who says he was joking?"
Kath looked nonplussed. "As though there's going to be an attack during a Quidditch game."
"There was a Dementor attack your first year during a Quidditch game," Ginny answered promptly. "And You-Know-Who kidnapped Harry during the final task in the Triwizard tournament your second year. What's to say there won't be an attack this year?"
Kath just shook her head. "The Dementors were already around the school, and this is a much smaller event than the Triwizard Tournament. It's all under Dumbledore. There's no danger."
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "What's to say that some of the students aren't Death Eaters? Draco Malfoy? Dumbledore can't refuse them entrance. And my first year someone enchanted a Bludger to chase Harry and no one else. Admittedly not You-Know-Who," she added after a pause, "but none the less."
"Who was it?" Kath asked, curious.
"I think it was a house elf. I'm not sure though."
Kath just blinked for a moment, and then was silent until they reached the Great Hall. "That was the year Voldemort got into the school, though," she insisted, "it won't happen again this year."
Ginny smiled sadly. "And what do you think that message on the wall on Halloween meant? I assure you, if Voldemort was in the school my first year, he's in the school now."
Katie leaned over toward Kath's frightened face and interrupted. "Is Ginny scaring you? Don't worry about her – I think she's obsessed with attacks on the school. She was almost killed in the Chamber her first year, her brothers told me that ever since she's been a bit off."
Ginny glared at Katie and said nothing. Kath spoke up. "Is that true?" she asked Ginny. "You were almost killed? Were you petrified?"
"Of course I wasn't petrified." Ginny answered, "I never saw the Basilisk until it was dead."
Kath frowned and asked Ginny a question she had hoped she would never have to answer. "Then why were you in danger of being killed?"
"It's complicated," Ginny said, meeting Harry's eyes from down the table. "But the person who had been leaving the messages kidnapped me and was going to kill me in the chamber – some sort of dark magic to get more power from my death, basically."
Kath nodded very slowly and shivered. "That must have been awful," she said.
"It was the most frightening experience of my life," Ginny answered truthfully, but Harry was waving his hands frantically for them to make their way to the pitch and Ginny trudged off with the rest of the team, Seamus staying behind and laughing heartily at their glum faces.
They filed on to the Quidditch pitch and picked up their brooms from the closet, Ginny's ratty old Cleansweep an embarrassment compared to Harry's Firebolt or even Katie's older Nimbus. She sighed heavily and hoped that her ability would make up for it, mounting the broom and doing a couple practice laps before she fell into formation in the middle of the pitch and Harry threw the Quaffle to Katie. She hardly noticed how tightly she was gripping the broomstick until she had to let go to catch the Quaffle and the splintering wood left an imprint on her hand. She reminded herself that, at least now, she had nothing to worry about.
An hour had passed when the Ravenclaw team filed onto the pitch and Harry motioned for them to finish up, heading towards the locker room for one final pep talk. "Beaters – good job," he said, smiling. "Kath – they won't be expecting power from you, surprise them. Dean – keep your eyes open at all times; since you're bigger you're not quite as agile. Ron, you're doing well but you just need to calm down. We have Chasers that can do their job amazingly if you do yours. Remember the last time you played against Ravenclaw."
Harry smiled at his best friend before letting Katie continue to the Chasers. "Ginny – don't be so nervous; you're playing well but your hold on that broomstick is like a death grip. Relax. Dennis, remember the drills we've done, and you'll be fine." Katie and Harry looked at each other and laughed, suddenly realising that they had nothing much to say. Katie concluded. "Let Harry do his job – and we'll win. If you all do your jobs as well, we'll smash them."
With a smile, they waited to enter the pitch. Seamus was in the box announcing, calling out the Ravenclaw team's names. "… Connolly, Bradley, MacIntire and Chang!" he shouted and then called out to the Gryffindor team.
Katie took the traditional role of captain and shook hands with Cho warmly, before everyone got on their brooms and Madame Hooch threw the Quaffle into the air, signalling the beginning of the game. Katie caught the Quaffle handily and began to race towards the Ravenclaw hoops, Dennis, and Ginny not far behind her. Bradley blocked her and she passed back to Ginny, who swerved past Connolly to get a clear shot at the goals – but the Keeper saw her too. What the Keeper missed was Katie, well positioned and next to the third hoop. Ginny passed to Katie and Gryffindor scored. Ginny relaxed her grip on the broom enough to clap her hands while the Ravenclaw Keeper retrieved the ball, but as soon as he passed it to MacIntire Ginny was back in game mode and choking her poor Cleansweep.
MacIntire barrelled towards her, supposing perhaps that since she was smaller she wasn't as brave as some Gryffindors, but he swerved to the right before she did and she reached out to pluck the Quaffle from his hand, tossing it over to Dennis as she raced towards the goal, and allowing the younger boy to shoot and score. She grinned madly and was going to make a funny face at MacIntire, but she decided it wouldn't be very sportsmanlike when Gryffindor was ahead twenty to nothing.
"What's this?" came Seamus' voice, "It looks like Harry's found the Snitch! There he goes!" the game momentarily stopped as everyone watched Harry flying at a breakneck speed towards the ground, Cho following right behind. Just as he was about to hit the ground he turned up, slowing to a snail's pace to see if Cho was still behind him, but she had lost control of her broomstick and rolled to a stop on the ground. Brushing it off and laughing at herself, she got back on her broom and flew up to where Harry sat waiting and smiling, glowing with anger. Ginny couldn't help but laugh until she noticed Michael Corner's eye trained straight on her. He was a beater this year.
The game began again and Ginny realised that while she had been watching Harry, Bradley had slipped by her and scored a goal, bringing the score to twenty-ten in Gryffindor's favour. Ron passed Dennis the ball and he swerved down the field towards Ginny and Katie, avoiding MacIntire and Bradley but looking desperate to find someone to pass to. Ginny flew around to an open spot and he passed the Quaffle to her, but just as she caught it she heard a crack and had to swerve out of the way of a Bludger hit straight at her. From high above her came Kath's voice, apologising, but Ginny realised that it certainly wasn't Kath's fault if Michael had personal grievances against her. She swerved back towards the goals and picked up speed as she flew straight for the centre hoop, waiting until the very last moment to throw the Quaffle to the right for a goal and swerve to the left so as not to run into the Keeper. The score was thirty-ten and the Gryffindor spectators erupted in cheer.
The Keeper passed to Bradley who feinted past Ginny and then passed to Connolly who swerved around Katie and Dennis, leaving a straight path to Ron and a goal, but Ron caught the Quaffle easily and the crowd grew even louder as he preened and grinned, passing the Quaffle idly to Katie.
The game went on very much the same for almost two hours. Gryffindor was up seventy to twenty and Ginny had the Quaffle when Seamus called out in shock that Harry had seen the Snitch again. Remembering what had happened last time, Ginny ignored Seamus' announcing and flew towards the Ravenclaw goals, dodging a stray Bludger, Bradley, and MacIntire easily. Only Conolly was between her and the Keeper, and she squeezed the handle of her broom even tighter as she feinted left and then flew right to dodge around him. She threw the Quaffle towards the goal and the crowd erupted into cheer even before she had scored another ten points.
It took her several minutes to realize that the reason for the cheer wasn't because of her play but rather because Harry had, finally, caught the Snitch.
The Ravenclaw Keeper, surprisingly, smiled supportively at her and tossed her the Quaffle. "That was impressive, Miss Weasley," he said. "But no one looks at the Chasers when the Seeker is doing something interesting." He laughed, and Ginny was forced to laugh with him.
Katie spoke up. "The people who really know Quidditch though," she said thoughtfully, "Can find excitement even in a Chaser's play."
"Or a Keeper's," Ron said from behind her. "That was amazing, Gin," he grinned. "Good job."
And even if the rest of the world lauded Harry Potter for his amazing game-winning play, Ginny floated down to the ground with a huge grin on her face because, after all, some one was noticing.
She handed off the Quaffle to Madame Hooch and grinned as Harry handed her the Snitch. "Good job," she said to Harry, smiling as widely as she could.
And really, the look on his face was enough to cheer her up. "You too. Some of those plays were really amazing."
"You have no idea," added Ron from beside her. "You, Harry, have no idea."
Ginny dropped her broom off with some reticence, her hands now aching with the feeling that she should be holding a broom, her palms raw and tender from her tight grip. She rubbed them together to search for calluses, but could only find blisters. Wincing, she headed slowly back up to her room.
The dormitory in daylight was very different from the dormitory in darkness, and the house-elves had tidied everything up for her, leaving her clothes neatly folded on the foot of her bed and the carpet showing where before there had only been a pile of papers. On the top of her desk, however, was a piece of yellowing parchment about the size of a page in a book, something that would have formed part of a scroll had it been connected on each side to a few more metres of parchment, but as it was would be easy to carry around in a pants pocket. She was unaccustomed to cutting pieces of parchment that small and stranger still were the words that were written.
"Hello Ginny Weasley," an all too familiar hand spelled out.
As she read them, the three words disappeared into the parchment. More were appearing after them, but she didn't read it. She folded it abruptly and raced down to the common room to find her housemates. Gwen and Jeannette were sitting in a circle with several other Gryffindors, applauding Harry's performance. Ginny pulled them aside and showed them the parchment. "Does this look familiar to you?" she asked, terrified.
They shook their heads and Jeannette spoke up. "That's just a piece of parchment, Ginny, it's nothing special. Why would I remember it?"
"You would if you had delivered it to me."
"It's not yours?" Gwen asked.
"It is; but it was given to me by someone who couldn't possibly come into our room. So one of you had to have delivered it for him."
"Or Elisa or Amelia." Jeannette insisted
"Right. Where are they?"
"I'd check the library."
Ginny nodded and ran to the library, trying to tear the parchment in two on her way but failing and only breaking the tender skin on her hands, causing a spurt of blood to sink into the page. Elisa and Amelia were no where to be found, but Luna was quietly studying and Ginny showed her the parchment.
Luna read everything and it disappeared. Finally, she looked at Ginny. "So? It's a note from Ophicus."
"Not quite," Ginny answered, and wrote on the parchment. "Wait a moment, Tom." It disappeared after a moment and more words came up.
"Why should I do that?"
Luna gasped and looked at Ginny. "It's two-way communication?"
Ginny nodded. "I had a diary like this my first year. It's what caused all the trouble."
Luna slowly nodded. "I guess you have to destroy it then," she said sadly. "It's such a nice spell too."
Ginny nodded slowly and sighed. She tried to light the parchment on fire in the library's fireplace, but no flame would catch. She couldn't tear it or burn it, and even when she grabbed a pair of scissors from Luna and tried cutting the parchment in half it simply bent and folded rather than being sliced apart. She supposed Basilisk Venom would probably work, but she wasn't about to try it.
And honestly, the more people agreed that she had to destroy it for her own safety, the less she wanted to destroy it herself. What harm could a few conversations do, anyway? And at base, this wasn't the diary, it wasn't evil, it was just a way to talk to Tom and get more help with Potions. She sat on her bed, pulled closed the curtains, and began to write.
"I'm sorry Tom, but why did you do this? You should have known what my reaction would be."
"Had you read what I wrote, you would have known that this isn't the diary." He responded.
"Well, I didn't. So why don't you tell me?"
She could almost sense that he sighed in frustration. "All I've done is to enchant two parchments to say the same thing, and to erase once they've been read. No soul spilling, nothing will pop out, nothing dark or evil. It's quite simple."
Ginny paused and answered "Okay. So it doesn't have a brain."
"No, of course not. It's just a piece of paper."
And the closer she looked at the words appearing on the page, the more she realised they weren't growing out of the page itself but rather being written by an invisible quill. She smiled and laughed to herself. This wasn't so frightening after all.
"So now that I have your attention," she wrote, "I've been having trouble with Emotive Elixirs. What's the difference between Emotoactive and Emotorevelative?"
The words disappeared and more were written. "Emotive Elixirs are draughts that change your emotions. Emotoactive means it actually changes your emotions while--"
Before Tom could write anything more Ginny began to scrawl a note on the bottom of the page. "I know all that," she said. "But how do the ingredients affect that difference?"
Slowly all the words faded from the page and Tom's precise hand came through. "You, Ginevra Weasley, are learning quickly."