Chapter Ten: Quidditch
A week after Ron had taught Hermione how to fly, the flying lessons had begun. As predicted, Madam Hooch had them trying to summon their broomsticks from the off, but only Harry, Ron and Hermione managed to get the broomstick into their hand on the first try. They also laughed when Malfoy was told he had been mounting his broomstick incorrectly for years. The lesson went well as Harry and Ron showed off their flying skills to general applause, excluding Malfoy and the Slytherins.
The Halloween feast had been spectacular. The Great Hall had been decorated especially for the occasion. There were Jack-o-lanterns everywhere as well as fake spider webs and all things scary.
Quidditch practice was getting better and with the first game against Slytherin a few days away, Harry was nervous. But luckily he had Ron, Hermione, Neville and the rest of the team telling him he would be brilliant.
On the morning of the game, Harry awoke slightly more nervous than normal. He knew that his parents, Sirius, and everyone else would be watching him. Harry got out of bed and got ready for the day. Harry then went down to the common room where he found Ron was already up and sitting with Hermione.
'Morning, mate,' said Ron.
'Morning, Harry,' said Hermione.
'Hey, guys,' said Harry.
'Are you nervous?' asked Ron.
'A little,' replied Harry.
'Then what you need is a good breakfast, c'mon, let's go,' said Ron as he and Hermione stood up and the three of them made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast.
But when they got there, Harry didn't feel hungry. He just wasn't sure if he could keep anything down, but Hermione told him eat some dry toast and he did.
Oliver Wood approached him and told him it was time to go and change for the match, so Harry left with words of good luck from his friends.
Once Ron finally finished his enormous breakfast, he and Hermione went to the Quidditch pitch to find seats, along with Neville, who had finally woken up after oversleeping.
Harry tried to listen as Oliver gave his usual pep talk to the team but couldn't. In the end he decided he would just catch the Snitch as quickly as possible.
It was time for the match and Oliver led them out on to the pitch and as one, the entire team mounted their broomsticks and flew into the air. Once Harry was in the air all his nervousness seemed to vanish. He spotted his parents and Sirius sitting with Uncle Remus and Uncle Sev. Next to Uncle Sev was Aunt Cissy. She was wearing a special scarf. Half of the scarf was green and silver and the other half was crimson and gold. She was supporting her House Team and Harry in equal measure and as he flew past them, he gave them all a wave.
Eventually everyone flew into their positions to get the game started as Madam Hooch threw the Quaffle into the air to begin the game.
Once the Quaffle was in the air it was seized immediately by Angelina Johnson who raced towards the Slytherin goal with great speed before attempting to exchange passes with Alicia Spinnet, but her return pass was intercepted by Marcus Flint, the Slytherin Captain, who carried the Quaffle towards Wood but had his shot saved by Wood and Gryffindor reclaimed possession. Katie Bell took the Quaffle next but was hit with a Bludger and Slytherin regained possession, but they did not have it for long as Fred sent the second Bludger at Adrian Pucey, and Gryffindor regained the Quaffle as Angelina took possession and flew off in the clear as she dodged a Bludger herself before sending the Quaffle past the Slytherin Keeper, Bletchley, to score.
Loud cheers erupted from the Gryffindors as the Slytherins howled and moaned but the score was ten-nil to Gryffindor.
Harry had to keep his eyes peeled for the Snitch. As he looked and flew around he was being marked by the Slytherin Seeker, Terrence Higgs. So Harry decided to have a little fun with Higgs and acting as if he had seen the Snitch, he flew as fast as he could away from him. Higgs took the bait and followed after him but then Harry changed direction and flew higher before going into a straight dive towards the ground, but as he got close to the ground, he pulled his Nimbus 2000 upwards at the last moment to make Higgs crash into the ground hard. However, Harry paid for his perfect feint when he was hit by Flint and Gryffindor were awarded a penalty which was scored by Alicia Spinnet.
Harry dodged another Bludger before he spotted the Snitch. He immediately flew after it on his own with Higgs unable to continue and caught it quickly.
Once again the Gryffindors cheered but this time it was even louder. The game was over and Gryffindor had won by a two hundred and ten points to twenty.
Oliver Wood was beside himself. He jumped up and down like a man possessed. His Seeker had given him his second win against Slytherin in four attempts. All he could think about was getting his hands on that elusive Quidditch Cup at last. Then the whole team shared a massive group hug before going to shower and change.
When Harry emerged from the changing rooms he found his parents, his siblings, his godfather, his two uncles, his aunt and Ron and Hermione waiting for him.
'Great game, Son, you were brilliant!' said James with a huge smile on his face.
Lily pulled him into a hug and whispered her words of how proud she was of him in his ear. Sirius then ruffled his hair, before his two uncles did the same and got a hug from his Aunt Cissy.
'Right, it's party time, now. You should go and celebrate with your friends and team mates,' said James.
'He's right, mate. You just know that Fred and George will have nicked tons of food from the kitchen!' said Ron excitedly.
'Did you hear that, Professor Prince?' asked Uncle Remus.
'No, I must have gone temporarily deaf, Professor Lupin,' replied Uncle Sev with a grin as Ron stood there with a sheepish grin on his face.
Harry then thanked his parents, his siblings, and Sirius for coming to watch him play before he went with Ron and Hermione to Gryffindor tower to celebrate.
When they got there, a very loud chant of 'Potter, Potter, Potter!' began and Harry was hoisted up on the shoulders of Fred and George for a few minutes. Once he was let down, a Butterbeer was thrust into his hand and he drank it deeply before drinking another. Someone put on some music and the party truly began.
Fred began dancing with Angelina as George danced with Alicia. Oliver joined in the dancing when he took a shy Katie Bell by the hand. The dancing continued as everyone swapped partners for the next song and so on until Harry had danced with all three girls. The rest of the Gryffindors got in the action too, as they celebrated long into the night.
Strangely enough, the person most people wanted to dance with, despite not having played any part in the game, was Ron. It appeared that Lavender and Parvati are somewhat gossips. Ron shared dances with Angelina, Alicia and Katie before a line seemed to have formed. Fred and George could not help but laugh at their brother as he looked shocked and a little scared of all the girls wanting to dance with him. So, Harry, being the great mate that he was, stepped up to the plate and danced with them so they weren't disappointed when Ron politely declined as he was dancing with Hermione.
Harry, Fred and George were suddenly the life and soul of the party as they made jokes keeping everyone laughing. Fred and George even danced together which had everyone laughing too. As the Butterbeer flowed, people were loosening up. Fred and Angelina shared a snog as George and Alicia did the same. But the twins did a little switcheroo but only Percy, Ron and Harry could tell as Fred snogged Alicia and George snogged Angelina. By the time the girls figured out the switch, it was too late and the twins were laughing their arses off at them.
Harry spotted Percy looking on in disapproval and went over to him.
'Cheer up, Percy,' said Harry.
'I'm fine, Harry, but if mum ever found out what they just did …' replied Percy.
'She's not going to find out from Ron or me, so that just leaves you …' Harry told him.
'They can be so irresponsible sometimes …' said Percy.
Harry then thrust a Butterbeer into his hands and said, 'You need to relax, you'll live longer.'
Percy chuckled and said, 'Your dad said the same thing to me this summer when I was fretting over the possibility of becoming a Prefect.'
'I know, and I still can't believe he was ever Head Boy, can you?' said Harry.
Percy opened the Butterbeer and took a long gulp of it before saying, 'No, but he's right though. I don't want to be some stick-in-the-mud with his head up his own arse.'
'Then don't. Have some more Butterbeer and go and find a fifth year girl to share a friendly snog,' said Harry grinning at him.
Percy choked on and spat out his Butterbeer in shock as Harry chuckled at him before slapping him on the back and going over to Parvati Patil for a dance.
Ron and Hermione were taking a break from the dancing to sit and eat. Hermione was sitting on Ron's lap with a plate of food on her lap that they were sharing.
'Are you enjoying yourself?' he asked.
'Yes, I am. Are you?' she replied.
'Absolutely, I have food, Butterbeer, and a pretty girl sitting on my lap sharing it with me,' said Ron smiling at her.
Hermione blushed before saying, 'Ron, I'm not pretty – not like Lavender or Parvati are …'
'No, you're not like them at all. You're even prettier and smarter than they are,' he said.
Hermione looked over at them and saw Lavender share a snog and a giggle with Seamus and Parvati was still dancing with Harry before she turned back to look at Ron once more.
'Thank you for saying that, Ron,' she said as she leaned her head on his shoulder.
'Anytime, Hermione,' he said as he fed her a sausage roll.
Again Hermione blushed as she and Ron shared such an intimate moment and could not look at him. Ron then put his finger under her chin to look into her eyes before he gently brushed her lips with his own. When he pulled away he said, 'Was that okay?'
Hermione nodded before she took the plate off of her lap before she and Ron sat there and held each other for the rest of the night.
When Hermione awoke the next morning she remembered Ron giving her a kiss on the lips. She touched her lips with her fingertips as if she could not believe it before smiling to herself. She continued to lie there and think about Ron. She still could not believe that he liked her as a friend. She could not believe he kissed her on the lips. As she had watched Lavender and Seamus kissing she could not help but want Ron to kiss her. The kiss she and Ron shared may have been short and sweet, but it was perfect. It was not a declaration by any means but she liked it very much. But then she came up with several questions. Did she fancy Ron? Yes. Did she want to have a boyfriend at twelve? Maybe. Did she want it to be Ron? Yes, definitely. What would her parents say? She knew that her father would have a coronary but he would be happy if she was, and her mother would be pleased for her and give her loads of free boy advice too.
After lying there for too long in her opinion, she got up and wrote a letter to her mother.
Ron and Harry were awake before anyone else and talking about the previous night.
'So, did you snog Parvati?' asked Ron.
Harry shook his head and said, 'She snogged me.'
Ron chuckled at him and said, 'With tongue?'
'No, but we kissed for a while,' replied Harry.
'What was it like?' asked Ron curiously.
'It was all right, I suppose, I mean she's pretty but I don't fancy her or anything,' said Harry.
'I kissed Hermione,' said Ron boldly.
'Yeah, then what?' asked Harry.
'Then nothing, we just held each other. It was just a gentle kiss on the lips nothing more,' Ron told him.
'But you like her though,' said Harry.
'Yeah,' whispered Ron.
'Are you gonna ask her out?' asked Harry.
'Dunno. Not yet. I wanna get to know her better first, I think, but I will at some point,' replied Ron.
'Are you worried she'll say no?' Harry asked.
'Yeah, a bit, I mean she's twelve and I'm eleven and she might not want to be my girlfriend yet or at all,' said Ron.
'True, you're an odd looking git,' said Harry chuckling at him.
'You git!' said Ron before hitting him with a pillow which made Harry laugh even more. This woke up the rest of the boys and when they saw what was going on, they joined in for a laugh before Ron's stomach rumbled to tell them all it was time for breakfast. Once they were dressed they went downstairs to the common room. Ron spotted Hermione and went over to her. She gave him a smile as he took her hand before they all went to the Great Hall for breakfast. After breakfast their Sunday was spent doing as little as possible. Harry and Ron had a few games of chess as Hermione watched on and did some studying at the same time. Neville played Explosive Snap with Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Parvati.
The following day classes started to get more demanding with the excitement of Quidditch behind them.