All a Dream

Chapter 23

November was cold and dry after the first snowfall. Hagrid had indeed grown his beard back, and between classes could be seen playing with his son (the latter always dressed in a teddy bear snowsuit) on the grounds, Olympe occasionally joining them when there was a lull in the population of the library.

The overload of homework continued, and Potions became gradually more difficult. Transfiguration became easier for Harry than Defence class. This was a bit unnerving to him, and though he thought it had something to do with his former subconscious thought, he didn't know exactly. All this became more stressful with the oncoming Quidditch season.

Bobby Cruickshank still hadn't told Harry if he wanted to re-try out for the Seeker position, and the first Gryffindor game was in two and a half weeks. And so, Harry sighed with relief when, after a Thursday practice, Bobby was walking towards him from across the field. Harry waved in acknowledgement and walked towards Bobby, a little faster.

"I've decided. About trying out for Seeker," said Bobby, sounding kind of on edge. "I'll give it a try."

"Excellent. We'll have to talk to the team about it now."

"What?" Bobby exclaimed. "You didn't tell them?"

"No, I figured the rest of the team would want both of us there to explain," said Harry, smiling. Smirking, really.

Upon entering the change rooms, everyone looked up, confused by Bobby's presence. Ginny was standing by the lockers, replacing her Quidditch robes. "Hey Harry. Hi Bobby, what's up?" The ruder version of the question was "what are you doing here?" but Ginny had always had more sense than that. Harry mentally chuckled to himself.

"Harry and I need to talk to Eric. Where is he?"

"He's putting away the equipment," Ginny replied.

"No he's not." Eric stepped into view from the doorway opposite. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Harry thinks that I'm better at Seeking than him, and that I'd be better for the team," Bobby said in a rush.

"We think that we should make him try out for Seeking," Harry supplemented.

Eric was pondering even before Harry was finished speaking. "...Have you seen Bobby play Seeker before?"

"Yeah," chorused the Chasers and Harry. "He's pretty good," Mae added.

"I concur!" yelled Stew in a judgelike fashion. Everyone stared at him ludicrously. "I've always wanted to say that."

"Okay, we need to set a date for this," said Eric, all business. "Would tomorrow at lunch be fine? Considering it's only Bobby in this, it shouldn't take too long. And we want as little attention drawn to this as possible, right? So everyone'll be at lunch while this extra thing is going on, unable to watch, and we may just have a new Seeker."

General mumbling of the rest of the team.

"Good. Now has everyone packed up all nice? Stew, any more life long goals you want to fulfill here and now? Right, then. Meeting adjourned!"

.:. :.: .:.

"Bobby? Bobby, are you alright?" William, the Beater, was alternately tapping Bobby on the side of the face and shaking him by the shoulders. For some reason, Bobby had fainted. Suddenly his eyelids fluttered. "Did someone just say that I was Seeker?"

.:. :.: .:.

Gryffindor won their first game, with the team consisting of Chasers, Ginny Weasley and Mae and Stew Potter; Beaters, William LeBlanc and Kenneth Malcolm; Keeper, Eric Sanderson; Seeker, Bobby Cruickshank. When the names were announced, a ripple of chatter went through the stadium. Where had Harry gone? Amazingly enough, no-one seemed to want to press the point after the game. It was a relief for the Gryffindor team, no matter how uncharacteristic it was for the school not to immediately start rumours.

Soon enough, Christmas holidays were looming and owls regularly could be seen swooping in and out of the common room windows and Great Hall at meals. Harry and his siblings were going to go home for the holidays, and Drew was going to come with them. Harry was positive that "pure insanity!" (as Haggis had once been dared by Dave to scream across the Great Hall during dinner) would ensue, considering the community feeling he got whenever anyone had visited during the summer holidays. Harry's instinct told him that Christmas would most likely involve at least five other families. This instinct proved correct when Stew, Mae and Erin got going once on the topic of the holiday dinners.

.:. :.: .:.

It was the classic Christmas holidays scene as Harry and company walked to the Hogsmead train station, baggage in tow. Christmas was in three days, as Erin had reminded those around her many times over. She was bubbling over with excitement, and even though Stew seemed to want to set a good example for once, Harry could tell that Stew was just as excited as his youngest sister. Mae was a bit less composed as she practically skipped onto the train, Erin following not far behind. Harry followed Stew into one of the compartments and took one last glance towards the scene behind as the train began to move.

A/N: This story is now on a one and a half month hiatus. I really need to work on my other stories, and I'd like to post the Christmas chapters closer to Christmas.

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