Chapter Eight – THE QUIDDITCH GAME
"Good morning Ron," Hermione said as she entered the kitchen at 10am the following morning.
"Mione? I thought you'd be at class by now" Ron said, glancing at his watch.
"Yeah, I just couldn't get out of bed when the alarm went off. I haven't missed any classes yet, so I thought I'd just take the morning off." Hermione replied.
Ron handed her a cup of coffee, and put two pieces of bread in the toaster before clearing room for Hermione to sit.
"Ron, you're an absolute legend. Thank you so much" Hermione said, taking the coffee and sitting down.
They shared breakfast, reading the newspapers, and talking about their plans for the day.
"I have to go to class this afternoon" Hermione said. "And then after that I have an assignment to start. Contemporary Magical History. I think I'm going to write it about Harry and Voldemort. What are your plans?" she asked Ron.
"I've got a class in an hour. And Olivia gets back this afternoon, so I should probably go and see her." Ron said, not at all excited about the prospect.
"Going to talk to her about the ball?" Hermione asked, curiously.
"Yeah, suppose I should" Ron replied.
They finished breakfast, and Hermione was just about to head upstairs to her room to get dressed when there was a knock at the door. She opened the door and saw Declan standing there.
"Dec? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at class?" Hermione said as she kissed him on the cheek and let him in.
"Shouldn't YOU be in class?" Declan replied mischievously. "Actually, lucky for you Professor Kinlypotts was absent today. We got the class off. So I thought I'd come down here, get your lazy ass out of bed, and see what you were up to."
"Just kicking around here for the morning. I slept in." She confessed.
Declan stepped into the lounge room and looked around. "Is he here?" he whispered.
Hermione smiled and nodded.
Declan smiled back and whispered "So? Any interesting news?"
"We'll talk later" Hermione whispered as Ron entered the room.
Ron saw Declan and realised the imaginary world he created in his head was over.
"Morning, Ron" Declan said cheerfully, "Were you successful yesterday?" Only Hermione and Declan understood the double meaning in the question.
"Yeah, mate," Ron replied, "Hermione helped loads."
"Good to hear. We were just going to head off and have a coffee. Care to join us?" Declan offered, and Hermione internally rolled her eyes. He could be impossibly infuriating.
"Normally I would, but I have a class to get to." Ron said, genuinely disappointed that he couldn't go along.
"What about lunch then? We could all meet up and have lunch together." Declan suggested.
"You're not going to have much luck with me today, sorry. Olivia's coming back this afternoon, so I'm going to her place" Ron replied, forcing a smile.
"Hmmm, can't keep the ladies waiting, can we?" Declan replied with a wink.
"Guess not." Ron contemplated, before excusing himself, saying he needed to get dressed.
As soon as Ron was safely in his room, Declan looked at Hermione.
"I am disappointed, Granger" he said, shaking his head.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"He's still with the girlfriend. I am taking it there was no snogging or shagging in the library?" Declan asked, audaciously.
"Most certainly not, Dec." Hermione replied, shocked that he was still suggesting that. "We worked on his assignment, we had some dinner, and we came home, watched a movie, and then went to bed. Alone. In our own beds in our own rooms. Sorry to disappoint you. How did your lunch date go?" she asked, only just remembering Declan's "not-a-date" with Jack.
"Oh, that? It was pretty much perfect." Declan said with a glint in his eye that Hermione had never seen from him before.
"And?" She continued to ply him for information, "Are you going to see him again?"
"Tonight" Declan replied. "He's taking me out for dinner. And, missy, if it wasn't for the fact that I'd already asked you, I probably would have asked him to come to the ball next week."
"If you want to ask him, Dec, then ask him. It's ok. I don't mind missing out on this one. There'll be another before long." Hermione replied.
"No way. I want to be right in the action when Ron sees you in that dress. And I want to be in the thick of it when that bitch Olivia realises her boyfriend is in love with an infinitely superior woman." Declan said, and winked at Hermione. "I absolutely insist on taking you."
"If you're sure. Maybe you can go see him afterwards?" Hermione suggested.
"We'll see, love." Declan replied, pulling Hermione in for a hug and planting a kiss on her cheek.
Ron returned to the lounge room to see Declan holding Hermione close in an embrace and kissing her cheek.
"See you two later, hey?" Ron said as he crossed the lounge room and out the front door.
Declan crossed to the window and made sure Ron was well out of sight before speaking.
"Well?" he asked, hoping Hermione would divulge more interesting information.
"Well, what?" Hermione replied, coquettishly.
"Come on, Hermione, haven't you got ANYTHING juicy to tell me about your evening with him?" Declan asked.
Hermione took a deep breath before replying "Nothing. We worked in the library till dinner time, and then we went and got pizza and when we came home, Harry was out, and so we watched a movie. Nothing to tell, sorry."
Declan looked disappointed. "Oh well," he said, "we'll see how true that is after the ball."
Declan left about half an hour afterward and Hermione sat down at the kitchen table to do some work. She was a little distracted, but got some good work done. She did a bit of light reading, and even managed to get some housework done.
Eventually, giving up all hope of being productive at home, Hermione headed off to campus. She ran into a few old friends from Hogwarts, and a few of the newer friends she had made in her first year at Hogford, but before long, Hermione found herself in her familiar window seat in the library. She had always gone there to clear her mind. Sitting down, Hermione pulled her knees up to her chest. The familiar surrounding didn't afford her the comfort it usually did. Getting up, Hermione wandered the shelves that she had grown so familiar with. She picked up a novel that she had read at least half a dozen times, and settled into her window seat and began reading.
Hermione only noticed how much time she had spent there when the light made reading difficult. She had missed another class. Damn it Hermione thought to herself, you're really losing it this time. She shoved the book haphazardly back onto the shelf and made her way out of the library.
Walking through the campus, Hermione wondered how she had grown so distracted. She hadn't missed any classes, not even when she was unwell, but that day she had missed two of them. Luckily, the first one had been cancelled, but her afternoon class was a different story. Hoping that she wouldn't have missed out on too much, Hermione made a mental note to contact Declan first thing in the morning to ask what work she had missed.
Hermione crawled into bed that evening, much earlier than she had done in a while, and fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Saturday morning, Hermione woke early. She tip-toed past Harry and Ron's doors, and decided that she would spoil they boys with a pre-game breakfast fit for any Qudditch champion. She made bacon & eggs, as well as frying up some sausages, tomatoes and mushrooms, and even made some pancakes to top it all off. She squeezed some fresh apple juice and had just put on some coffee when she turned around and saw Ron standing in the doorway, wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts.
"Ron? I didn't know anyone was awake." Hermione said, her breath caught in her throat at the sight of a practically naked Ron. His chest and stomach were chiselled, no doubt from all the quidditch training, and Hermione stood back, enjoying the view, as Ron rubbed his eyes.
"I could smell this from upstairs. Declan coming over this morning, is he?" He asked, not knowing any other reason she may have put on such a spread.
"No. Why would Declan come here? It's for you and Harry. To give you energy for your game." Hermione said, smiling as Ron ran his fingers through his bed hair.
"For us? You did this for us?" Ron said, in almost stunned disbelief.
"Of course. You make it sound like I never do anything nice for you guys." Hermione said, suddenly a little dejected.
"That came out the wrong way. I'm not awake properly yet, Mione. I'm sorry. Thank you for this." Ron said, hoarsely.
Within seconds Harry arrived in the kitchen. "Something smells good in here" he said, as he poured himself a glass of apple juice.
"Mione made us breakfast. Again." Ron said, smiling at Hermione.
"Thanks, Mum" Harry said, joking as he always did about Hermione looking after him and Ron like they were her kids.
"She is SO not our mum, Harry" Ron argued as he put a fork full of scrambled eggs into his mouth.
"Guess not." Harry replied, as he filled his plate full of food, knowing that if Ginny were there, she would have LOVED watching the interplay Ron and Hermione as much as he did, possibly even more. She particularly would have loved this morning's episode.
Hermione sat down at the table with 'her boys', with a cup of black coffee sans sugar, and two pieces of wholemeal toast, and a small bowl of fruit. She looked over at Ron who had raised an eyebrow at her. "What?" she asked.
"Is that all you're eating? You're not turning into one of 'those' girls, are you?" Ron asked.
Hermione giggled and said "The dress I bought for the ball only JUST fits, and if I even think of eating bacon, eggs and pancakes, then it just won't fit. And the dress is so beautiful, and it's going to be such an amazing night, that I don't want to ruin any of it. So to answer your questions, yes, Ron, for the next week I'm afraid I AM going to be one of THOSE girls."
"But you'll come out for a drink with us when we win today, won't you?" Ron asked.
"Of course I will. That's part of the reason I'm being especially good this morning. I'm so confident that you guys are going to win, I've left room for a beer or two." Hermione said, sinking her teeth into her toast.
"It would want to be one hell of a dress," Ron said, "to miss a breakfast like this one." Ron said, smiling at his enigmatic friend.
"It is." Hermione replied, rather cockily.
Hermione sat in the grandstand, along with about 1000 other supporters, eagerly anticipating the game. From her position in the player's 'friends' area, she could see, in the row in front of her, the official looking men and women with notebooks and cameras and made an accurate assumption that they were the men and women from league teams. Suddenly nervous, Hermione looked around and spotted a few familiar faces in the crowd. The only one she expected to see was Olivia, and Hermione realised that the face was evidently absent.
The announcement over the loud speaker heralded the arrival of the players from Northbridge University. A few loyal fans had followed them to Hogford, but their cheers were nothing compared to the roar that welcomed the home team merely moments later. Hermione cheered as loudly as anyone in the ground when they announced 'Seeker – Harry Potter', and louder than anyone when they announced 'Keeper – Ron Weasley'.
One of the league men turned to the woman sitting next to him, and said "Weasley. I wonder if he's any relation to Bill. He used to be quite a handy player in his day." It took everything Hermione had in her not to lean forwards and let the man know that Ron was Charlie's younger brother. Instead, she would use her position to listen carefully to what all of the talent scouts were saying about both of her best friends.
With the game underway, Hermione found herself even more interested in the game than usual. Admittedly, she was never a fanatic, but her interest in the sport had been slowly growing since she attended the Quidditch world cup before her 4th year at Hogwarts. And from what she knew, this game had been one of the most hotly contested games she had ever seen. After an hour, the score was only 20 – 0 in Hogford's favour. While Hogford had had only a few attempts at goal, it was their defence that had been most impressive. The Northbridge teams attacking game was probably the best in the competition, but for their many attempts at goal, they had so far been denied the joys of scoring thanks in large part to some brilliant keeping courtesy of Ron.
With each save Ron made, Hermione noticed the crowd's reaction increasing, and the talent scouts getting more and more interested in Ron's playing. She joined in the chants of "Weasley! Weasley! Weasley!" as loudly as anyone in the stands, and couldn't have been prouder of her friend.
Within 3 hours of playing, the score was 110 – 20 with Hogford retaining the lead. The Northbridge keeper was visibly tired, and had started to slip in her attention to the game. Ron, on the other hand, looked as fresh as he had at the start of the game. His natural shyness all but gone, Ron had been encouraging the crowd, and had revelled in their praise of him. No sooner had Hermione begun enjoying this new, confident Ron, the crowd had taken to their feet and had begun cheering in a way that could only mean one thing: they had seen the Golden Snitch.
Apparently, Harry had seen it, too, because within a split second, he was holding the Snitch above his head in victory, and the rest of his team were flying to him to celebrate. Hermione noticed one of the talent scouts lean to his associate and say "Potter. Add Potter's name to Weasley's." Knowing full well what this had meant, Hermione joined the euphoria of the Hogford supporter's and screamed her heart out.