As Always these are not my characters, thank you JKR.
"And Gryffindor scores!" Lee Jordan's voice bellowed across the pitch as the crowd roared for the goal "Ginny Weasley is certainly on a roll today! Not to mention the whole team is flying the best I have seen this season"
"Nice shot Gin!" Demelza called as Ginny flew past on her broom.
The red head gave her a nod and continued to circle the pitch, keeping an eye out for Harry and the snitch, no sign of either though. Ginny thought it would be best for Gryffindor to continue to try and take a further lead while they were on a roll and not rely on the snitch.
Ginny shot another look around the pitch, this time looking for Katie Bell "Katie!" Ginny called across the pitch catching her fellow players attention, immediately Katie deviated from her path and made her way towards the Youngest Weasley.
"Gin, you ready then?" Katie asked looking about nervous but still a touch excited
"Yeah I think now is a good time, Ravenclaw's Defence is sluggish at the moment and I think we can put a few more goals away and pull out in front with a strong lead" As she spoke a bludger narrowly missed Katie's head and the two shot up above the pitch.
"Whoa!" Katie yelled "Maybe not as sluggish as we thought!"
"Lucky shot I think! Alright where is Demelza?" Ginny questioned, but within a few seconds she could see Demelza rocketing in towards them, she could see the girls were ready.
"Ready?" Ginny called towards Demelza as she flew in to meet them both.
"Yep! Let's go" Demelza replied tailing the other two who had already started to head towards the goals.
Ginny was hunting for the Quaffle and spotted in the hands of Ravenclaw, she could see a pair of their chasers heading towards the goal posts. She was now eyeing off the Gryffindor beater who sent a hefty bludger rocketing at the Ravenclaw chaser who was holding tight to the Quaffle. As Ginny predicted the chaser off loaded the Quaffle to his teammate, the high lob soaring slowly through the air between the two. This was a perfect pass for Ginny to dive in and intercept, the red head took off with haste and seized the Quaffle, continuing on towards the goals. She scanned the pitch and as she had hoped the beaters from Ravenclaw were suddenly giving chase, Ginny slowed and as she did she was flanked by the chasers.
"Weasley's got herself in quite a jam here" Lee Jordan bellowed excitedly "Can she get herself out of this one?" The crowd roared again, encouraging the red head and the rest of the team.
Ginny had is all under control though and as the chasers were occupied with steering her away from the posts Ginny let the Quaffle fall toward the ground.
"Weasley has dropped the Quaffle! I don't think I've ever seen Gin- Oh Wait! Katie Bell is right there to grab it and Carry on" Lee Jordan bellowed, taking the crowd along for the ride.
But as fast as Katie had taken the Quaffle it was released again, this time off to the left, and sure enough Demelza was there to scoop it up. The three girls had Ravenclaw in a spin, if there was one thing they were all fantastic at it was passing between themselves and not missing a beat, well almost.
Demelza knew she had the most pivotal pass to finish off the play, to quick and she would miss her pass back to Katie, to slow and it would surely be intercepted. 'Here goes' she thought and released the Quaffle but as she had feared it fell a little too slowly to the ground, as she looked back she could see a Ravenclaw hurtling towards the Quaffle stealing it out of mid air, "Argh!" Demelza grumbled as dropped her head and shut her eyes tight, she just gave the Quaffle away 'Merlin' she thought. A moment later though she could hear the crowd roar!
"Quick thinking on Gryffindor's part! Ravenclaw will definitely have a headache after that bludger" Lee Jordan explained, trying not to laugh at the bulger that was sent tearing back toward the chaser and the Quaffle was knocked clean, it shot up just enough for Katie to continue through and she gracefully pulled it from mid air.
"Yeah!" Demelza cheered and got back into the game following both Katie and Ginny just in case she wasn't the only one in error today.
There wasn't too much else for her to do through, Ginny and Katie were blazing down the pitch, and with a flick of the Quaffle from Katie right at the last minute Ginny was able to scoop in behind her and seize the Quaffle building speed back into the play. Ginny didn't have far to go and she covered the pitch with ease finishing the play and scoring the last goal of the match, as fate would have it Harry had done his job .
"Potter has caught the Snitch! Gryffindor wins the match!" Lee was celebrating, jumping to his feet and throwing his fist into the air, for a commentator he was a little bias towards his own house.
Ginny looked around, the crowd was roaring and she could see that most eyes were on Harry, his team following along congratulating him and patting him on the back. Harry however was making his way toward Ginny.
"Amazing play mate, I caught the end of it, If I hadn't been looking in your direction I wouldn't have seen the snitch, thanks Gin!" Harry gave her a slight nudge in the ribs and flew off to circle the pitch again. Ginny smiled to herself, at least Harry was always humble about a win.
She continued to fly around the pitch, taking in the noise of the crowd and the seas of Red and yellow scarves and flags now flying high above the students heads, as she approached the main Gryffindor stand she could see the faces cheering and clapping for Harry, a few of the younger 3rdyears looking like the might explode at any moment with excitement, Ginny giggled to herself thinking back to herself in third year and feeling a little the same about Harry.
She was looking over the crowd still cheering madly and fell on a familiar smile. Hermione was staring straight at the younger girl with a huge smile on her face her hands clapping enthusiastically. Ginny actually looked around behind her, convinced the Brunette was looking past her to someone else, but there wasn't anyone else near Ginny and Harry was now at the other end of the Pitch. The older witch gestured for Ginny to fly over, and Ginny quickly obliged, her heart skipping a little.
'Gin! You did wonderfully!" Hermione said her voice breaking slightly with her excitement, she threw her arms around the red head and Ginny Quickly grabbed tight to her broom.
"Careful Hermione I'm not tied to this thing" Ginny teased and Hermione let her go but kept aone hand resting on her shoulder.
"You did so well Ginny! Keep playing like that and you will surely have a few scouts at your games in no time" Hermione said a little eagerly
"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves Hermione, but I appreciate you kinds words" Ginny smiled and for a moment the girls locked eyes both lost in the moment. Ginny was very aware of Hermione's hand still resting on her arm, but she did not want to move, she didn't want to break Hermione's gaze or the feeling of her touch.
"Well, I, uh, I should let you get back to the change rooms" Hermione said with a slight stutter, clearly confirming she had been as lost in the moment as Ginny.
"Uh yeah, thanks, I'm sure Harry will have a few things to run us through from the match. I'll meet you in the common room after though ok" Ginny assured the older witch.
"Sure Gin" Hermione agreed and waved at the red head now trailing off on her broom.
"Quite a lovely girl, isn't she?" Luna's airy voice gave Hermione the fright of her life; she really didn't think that moment had been seen or felt by anyone but her and Ginny.
"Merlin Luna! You scared the day lights from me!" Hermione said tightening up a little at Luna's comment "Of course Ginny is a lovely girl, whatever do you mean?"
"Oh nothing really, she just played a super game I think and she sure was happy to see you after the match" Luna explained with a smile as she rose to her feet "I'll see you later Hermione"
"Oh yes, right, bye Luna" Hermione knew there was more behind it than that, this was Luna, there was always something more to it.
Hermione never really understood Luna, and at times struggled with their friendship. She has a confidence and an assurance in things that Hermione didn't always understand, and in a way Hermione was envious of the blond witch. Hermione was highly logical and at times Luna's beliefs and theory's about certain happenings in the Wizarding world just plain got to Hermione. Intuition was a very rare thing and most of the time Hermione didn't know how to trust hers, mainly due to the lack of supporting facts, but Luna seemed to have full faith in hers. Alas that is what makes intuition, intuition your belief is fundamental to it working. Maybe she did have a thing or two to learn off Luna.
Before Hermione returned to the Gryffindor common room she did her daily check of the "found" posters she has placed about the grounds for the lost book in the Great Lake. The Brunette had enchanted them to reveal the name of any student who correctly described the book, all they were required to do was jot down a description of the book on a few lines Hermione had enchanted added to the poster. If the description fit the book correctly it would keep the students details and once Hermione requested, the information would reveal itself. Hermione combined a few spells and potions to make one, very logical solution, "Aparecium" she whispered as she flicked her wand toward the poster, it's image of the great lake shimmering under the nights sky, but nothing. Hermione wondered if she added a little too much Veritaserum to the posters. 'I'll reprint them later' she thought to herself. She started off towards the common room; she didn't want to miss Harry or Ginny arriving.
She had missed them arriving however, she could hear the cheers from the common room already and she was only just approaching the fat lady, "Password" the fat lady commanded as Hermione Approached.
"Triumph" Hermione said, a timely password is they had ever had one.
As the portrait swung open she was hit with the wall of noise that was previously being held back by the painting, she was welcomed by Neville who was clearly as excited about the win as any of the Gryffindor team, "Hermione" he bellowed her way, "where've you been! Lucky you didn't miss the party"
"Of course not Neville" Hermione yelled a little louder, raising her voice over the excitement "It was a fantastic match don't you agree? Oh and have you seen Gin?"
"Ah, yeah! I did see her over there with Katie and Demelza, maybe keep an eye on her Hermione, I think Fred and George managed to smuggle her some fire whisky after the game!" Neville said with a slight smirk as he gestured over towards the fireplace.
"Really?" Hermione responded, raising her eyebrow slightly she could see the three girls huddled up on the couch laughing a little too hysterically "Thanks Neville, I'll go and congratulate her on her win"
Hermione had no such intention though; she was not impressed with the younger witch and her fire whiskey at that moment. She strode over towards the fire, building a huge storm of scorn for Ginny and her Fire Whisky, but before she could reach the red head she felt a hand on her arm and another around her shoulder pulling her in and slowing her pace "Hermione Hi!" Harry said as he rounded on the slightly agitated witch. He had managed to escape from the center of the celebrations for a moment, as the crowd was distracted by Lee's brilliant recollection of the match "...I was sure the girls were going to mess it up..." Lee was explaining to the younger members of the audience, Hermione could hear his yelling fade in the background as she refocussed on Harry.
"Hi Harry, congratulations on the win! You did superbly in the match" Hermione shot him the biggest smile she could muster in the moment "But if you will excuse me I have a Weasley to attend to, and surprisingly it's not Ron"
"Ah yeah about the Hermione, maybe ah" Harry could feel himself shrinking under the brunettes glare but before he could get the rest of his words out Hermione chimed in.
"Maybe what Harry?" Hermione repeated with a slight iciness to her tone.
"Maybe just go easy on her Hermione, she's just being, well, Ginny. It was a bloody good game she's just celebrating" Harry tried to reason with The Brunette but he knew his efforts were in vein.
"Celebrating? Celebrating?" Hermione said with a sarcastic tone creeping in to her last word, Harry could feel Hermione's retort building "Celebrating is not drinking practically all the Fire Whisky that your brothers decided to give you as a sign of their fondness for Gryffindor's win!"
Hermione's voice reached a level that caught the attention of the first years congregating around waiting for Harry's attention and she shot them a look of disapproval, sending them scattering across the common room in fear.
"Now Harry if you'll excuse me" Hermione requested again as she stepped away from their conversation, leaving Harry with the pack of first years. She turned on her heel and began to approach Ginny still sitting on the coach, but before she could start her scalding Ginny saw the brunette coming and clumsily rose to her feet throwing out her arms "'Miowone! Wher'v been yew, I mean Where are you?!" The red her spoke her words finding it hard to work out the logical order and decided to just spill out where they fell.
"Where have I been do you mean to say? Well let's see, I watched you play a fantastic game of Quidditch today" Hermione started with a sarcastic kindness to her voice, clearly being lost on Ginny as she took the compliment with a nod "I then checked the posters that I placed up for any responses"
"yanythik?" Ginny responded with a mock seriousness as she rocked slightly, trying to maintain her footing.
"No Ginny, nothing. I then ventured on, into the common room to join the Gryffindor celebration, but unfortunately someone had finished all the Fire Whisky" The brunette conclude cleverly, she eyed Ginny knowingly and the red head stopped dead in her tracks. She could see the disappointment growing on the Older Witches face and suddenly felt a sobering mood fall on the conversation.
"'Mione, I" Ginny didn't know what to say, she knew how upset Hermione was with her and to make matters worse both Katie and Demelza were calling after her now.
"Gin!" Katie said grabbing her by the hand and pulling her towards the stairs to the girls' dorms "Come on! A few of us are heading upstairs, leave her be Granger she's only having fun, you should too" Katie teased.
With that the red head was pulled away from their conversation, but she couldn't miss the tears welling in Hermione's eyes. Ginny tried to pull away from Katie's grip but it was no use, the Brunette was already gone, making her way toward the fat lady, away from Ginny and the rest of the party.
Hermione climbed the stairs to the astronomy tower, putting on the extra coat and scarf she had placed in the bag for the Quidditch match that day, you could never predict the weather or the length of a match and so she always packed extra. She reached the landing and paced over towards her favourite spot in the tower where she could see the entire night sky but was sheltered enough from any direct gusts of wind which around this time of night could send shivers down the warmest of wizards or witches.
She placed bag on the ground and pulled her wand from her pocket conjuring up a few small bluebell flames and surrounded herself with the soft light and warmth they gave off. She wiped the tears from her face and as she sat down she wondered exactly why Ginny Weasley's silly actions tonight had conjured that type of reaction from her. She had seen that type of behaviour from the Young witch before and although she had been disappointed with Ginny in the past, something was different tonight. As she sat and thought it over, her head was not clearing, nor were her tears slowing. She reached into her bag to pull a quill and parchment out, but for some reason she could not find the ones she was sure she had packed. 'They were in here I swear' Hermione thought to herself and she continued to riffle through her bag, pulling out text book after text book and even a few copies of the Quibbler, but no parchment.
A few moments later she finally found a quill, its nib sitting neatly between the pages of the book from the great lake, and in a panic she quickly pulled out both the quill and book absolutely petrified that a drop of ink had leaked into the book. She opened its pages but thankfully the quill was dry and not a trace of ink had met the beautiful parchment. She sighed with relief, she knew how precious this book was and she would have been so upset had she tainted its fresh pages, she couldn't believe how careless she had been, she was sure she had put her quill and parchment in a separate compartment on her bag. She made a mental not to make sure it was definitely separate next time.
This did not solve her problem though, she had a quill but she was also without ink and parchment, and she was feeling more and more annoyed that she couldn't write her thoughts out. She opened the book again, looking down at its clean and beautiful pages; she could feel the thickness of the books parchment in her hand and thought about where she could possibly find another book like this for herself. With her quill in the other hand she absentmindedly scribbled her name on the blank page, pretending to sign the top of the page, and to Hermione's amazement, there before her 'Hermione Granger' in the most perfect ink occupied the page, shining a little in the light.
Her breath caught in her throat, she felt the nib of her quill, but it was completely dry, she couldn't understand, there was absolutely no ink on the quill, in a panic she checked the back of her hand, for some obscure reason she thought it might be a blood quill from Umbriges office, but nothing no words on her hand.
She turned back to the book, its cover now closed and its 'H' staring up towards Hermione like a desperate sign. She opened it up and flicked through the pages to try and find the page she had carelessly signed, but as the pages fluttered by her, there was no sign of her penmanship. She flicked from front to back thinking maybe she signed on the other side of the page, still nothing. 'Odd' she thought to herself, she had absolutely seen the ink on the page, one more time she flicked through, and this time she found it, but it was not Hermione's name, it was a full page; it was in fact a letter. Hermione was even more confused with what she was witnessing and began to read the page hoping it would give her some idea about what was happening on the pages of this little leather book, but as she read on it became apparent that she was finding out about something entirely different, Hermione had found a confession addressed only to her:
Hermione,
Where to start, this of course is unexpected for me and so I'm not quite sure how far to take it. I'm surrounded by so many beautiful novels right now, full of so many courageous people, loving against the odds, defying what they thought was their path and eventually finding their way to their fate.
Maybe part of me, is thinking I have found my own path to my own fate. Even in Hogwarts with all the magic trapped in these walls the coincidence and the lengths of the events I have experienced tonight are uncanny. Traditionally I don't believe that fate is so finite and sealed, but I may believe just a little tonight that it could be.
As typical and cliché as it sounds, it has taken me this long to finally see exactly who has been standing in front of me, this whole time. I adore you Hermione, your wonderful mind, your kindness, your selflessness and sometimes even your more critical words. Above all though, I love how oblivious you are to all your natural charisma and beauty. I'm not going to write you a poem, I'm not even entirely sure if this is a love letter. What I am sure of is that someone or something is telling me that you should know. I'm not really sure where I want this letter to lead, but something has told me to just start and so I have.
Thinking of you more each day,
G x
Hermione was absolutely robbed of words, she had read and re-read over the letter, and it had not yet vanished off her page. She began to realize that this book wasn't lost, this book wasn't misplaced, and this book was meant for Hermione Granger. The older Witch could not believe what she was reading, who in their right mind would be feeling this type of emotion for Hermione? And on top of that who would publish it in book that she had found. The question become less rhetorical for Hermione. 'Who?' she through to herself 'Who indeed'. The letter was signed G, she was guessing this was the initial of the confessor. She thought for a moment on the letter and all she could come up with was "Goyle! Ah, eek" she spoke his name aloud with an unpleasant taste in her mouth, clearly it was not him. There was no one else to Hermione's recollection. Perhaps it simply stood for their house, or was it there last name? Or even middle name?, She did not know, nor was she really in the mood to continue the guessing game. She was tired and was fast reaching the end of her tether. She decided to head back to the common room, knowing by now that the party would have been dismissed by McGonagall.
She climbed back through the portrait and just as she thought the common room was empty, except for one lone set of shoes by the fire. Hermione could see that they were attached to a body waiting under Harry's invisibility cloak. Hermione had a feeling it wasn't Harry though, He knew better than to leave such an obvious clue. As she got a little closer she recognized the shoes, the belonged to Ginny Weasley. She thought it strange that Ginny hadn't moved, but as The brunette leaned closer again she could hear a heavy breath and she knew the younger girl was sleeping. Hermione contemplated for a minute leaving the redhead there, she might deserve an uncomfortable sleep after her actions tonight but the it got the better of hermione and she slowly pulled the invisibility cloak from Ginny. She saw the younger witches eyes flutter open at the change in her environment.
"Gin, whatever are you doing?" Hermione asked, she just didn't have it in her to mad at the girl any longer.
"Hermione, you back, finally. I was so worried" Ginny said still looking a little dazed from her nap.
"Why would you worry? it's just Hogwarts, and I do know the place rather well"
"I wasn't worried about you running into another Troll, I think you are a bit smarter now" the red head smiled at Hermione but it was fleeting "I was worried because you left so quickly and I know that I really up-"
Hermione cut her off "Gin it's fine, I overreacted but you could have gotten yourself into a lot of trouble! It was probably best you went upstairs McGonagall would not have spared you"
"You're right, 'Mione I don't know what came over me" The older girl look toward the ground, shuffling her feet. Hermione was right, another stunt like that and Ginny could almost kiss Hogwarts goodbye "I won't let it happen again. Anyway where did you get to?"
"I went to the astronomy tower, just for a little bit to clear my head. The strangest thing happened while I was up there" Hermione explained suddenly remembering the book.
She explained what had happened to Ginny and once she was finished she pulled the book from her bag and opened it to the page where Ginny's letter lay in all its honesty.
"Who could it be Gin?" Hermione asked, still looking puzzled as ever.
Ginny could not believe how close she was to being found out, her stomach was doing back flips and her face was on fire, she knew it must have been a similar share to her hair right now, 'thank Merlin for the fire light' she thought.
"Uh I really don't know 'Mione it could be anyone. There is that new kid in Hufflepuff, Uh Gary Golchward? maybe it's him?" Ginny said hurriedly, doing her best to sound coy about the situation.
"Hmm maybe, but I really don't know him at all and the letter, it just sounds like someone that knows me well" Hermione wondered
"Well I might be off to bed, I'm glad your back, but I'm pretty worn out" The younger girl rose to her feet doing her best to avoid the conversation.
"Oh ok Gin, well I'll see you in the morning" Hermione conceded "Might be best to take a shower before breakfast too"
"Uh yeah ok thanks" Ginny said a little embarrassed.
Hi Everyone, sorry this has taken a bit of time to get up. Hopefully you like it, still a little slow but trust me, it will be worth it. A bit of Quidditch in this one! Those scenes are definitely a challenge to write! Let me know what you think as always feedback is welcomed! Thanks again to everyone who has given feedback, I am overwhelmed by your kindness! This is a longer chapter as some of you asked for that and I will try and keep them at this longer length from now on.