Chapter XIX - The Season Has Begun
Ginny had felt as if her head was going to explode after all of the information she had received from Lavender and Parvati. She hadn't realized that there were so many different things that a couple could do together without actually taking the plunge. She had lied awake in her bed most of the night just going over everything in her mind and wondering if she would ever have the nerve to actually do any of it. Then her thoughts had drifted off to the rumours about her and she realized that everyone in the school thought she had done everything she had learned and much more. When she had finally fallen asleep, her dreams had been a mix of the erotic fantasy of her and Harry, and dreams of other people accusing her of doing things that she had never done.
When she woke up the next morning, her head was spinning. She showered and got herself dressed before she headed downstairs to see the bulletin board for the new Gryffindor Quidditch team. She was delighted to see that she had made chaser as well as seeker on the reserve team. As she glanced at the names, she realized that Harry had made some pretty good choices. She smiled when she saw him come down the stairs, yawning. He was showered and dressed, but he still looked tired. "Hey, great choices for the team. This year we probably stand a much better chance." Harry grinned at her and pulled her towards him to kiss her softly, completely ignoring her comment entirely. After a couple minutes, or hours for all she knew as every time his lips touched hers she melted; he pulled away.
"I think we stand a good chance too. Morning Gin."
Ginny blinked and tried to focus on his voice. She felt like an idiot but he kissed so well that she just … she didn't know, but she was so in love with him that she couldn't breathe. She slipped her arms back around his neck and brought his mouth down to hers. It was like dynamite and she didn't care how clichéd that sounded; her head felt like it had been completely blown off its hinges as soon as his lips touched hers. As his tongue trailed along her lips she cuddled closer and took the kiss deeper as she found herself hot and … wanting.
Harry wasn't doing much better. But then again, his erotic fantasies about Ginny had been occurring for a little over a year now and he was getting used to the dreams, but not to being so close and yet not having. He wanted her, he realized, he wanted her so bad that it was like an ache that was eating at him. He wanted to just lay her down somewhere and make love to her for hours and hours. She was killing him with all of these huge passionate kisses, not that he was doing much better as he tended to start most of them, but she was killing him. He wanted to do much more than kiss. He was so hot and so hard that he thought he would burst if she touched him, so he slowly pulled back, trying to keep his breathing steady.
"We should probably head down to breakfast. I still have a bit of homework left to do."
Ginny nodded. "Alright." She kissed his lips once more, just quick, before she took his hands in hers and they walked out of the portrait hole to spend another day together.
It was the third week of October and the first Hogsmeade trip of the year had finally been posted. Harry waited in the common room for Ginny to finish getting ready. Duvessa was nuzzled up against him in the chair as he waited. Duvessa had become quite fond of Harry and tended to stick to him if Ginny wasn't around. Otherwise she hid under Ginny's bed. Harry was dressed nicely; after all he had sent for muggle clothes in his actual size. He wore black jeans, that were a little tight, but comfortably so, they fit perfectly. Hermione told him it made him look very handsome because the clothes actually fit and Ginny had commented on it showing what a cute bum he had. He remembered blushing at that comment. He then wore an emerald green button down shirt that he left untucked and partially buttoned with a black denim jacket over top. Ron had told him he looked cool. He didn't care much though, because he knew that he looked better than usual. He had, however, given up all hope on his hair, so it stood up in every which direction. Harry figured it didn't matter anyway because Ginny's fingers would mess it up at some point.
Ron and Hermione had already left and promised to meet them at the Three Broomsticks around noon for butterbeer. Harry didn't mind, it gave him a chance to spend the entire morning with Ginny. He did find that he was a little nervous though; probably because the only girl he had ever taken to Hogsmeade was Cho Chang, and she had hardly been fun at all. Harry put a hand to his nervous stomach and sighed; he had nothing to worry about, after all this was Ginny and he was perfectly comfortable with her. As long as she didn't want to go into Madam Puddifoot's he figured he could handle anything. Then he sighed; but what if she wanted to go there, he didn't want to disappoint her. He turned at the sound of his name and every thought vanished from his brain as he turned to see Ginny coming down the stairs.
She was wearing tight fitting blue jeans that looked worn and comfortable along with a baby blue turtleneck sweater in a fuzzy cashmere material. He knew that Bill had bought it for her on his honeymoon. Her hair was in wavy curls that cascaded down her back and he grinned; she looked beautiful. He stood up with Duvessa in his arms.
"You're beautiful."
Ginny smiled and took Duvessa from him. "Thanks, you look pretty good yourself. Very sexy." Then she kissed him softly. "I'm just going to bring Duvessa back upstairs, I'll be right back." A minute later, her hand was in his and they were walking towards Hogsmeade.
"So where do you want to go first?" Harry asked; keeping his fingers crossed that it wasn't Madam Puddifoot's.
Ginny shrugged. "No where in particular really. You?"
"No where. You want to just browse the stores?"
Ginny smiled. "That sounds fun."
Harry nodded. "Alright."
As the morning went on, their browsing turned to buying and they soon had bags full of stuff. Ginny had bought herself a couple of nice sweaters and two new pairs of jeans. Harry had bought her a sea-shell and topaz bracelet that she was lusting after; even though she had protested at the gift, he bought it anyway because it made her smile. Ginny had convinced Harry to buy himself this nice sweater as well in a royal blue. The colour looked fantastic on him, and after much coaxing, he had bought it for himself. He also grabbed Ginny three romantic muggle novels at the bookstore.
In Honeydukes they each bought a bunch of sweets and snacks and then headed down to the Three Broomsticks to meet Ron and Hermione. Ginny went to find a booth in the back as Harry went to buy the butterbeers. When he sat down next to her and slid a butterbeer towards her she reached up and yanked his mouth down to hers. Harry let out a small moan of pleasure as her lips conquered his. He was aching for her and he didn't know what to do about it because he didn't want to push her into doing anything that she wasn't ready for … but Merlin, he wanted her badly! He slid his fingers into her hair as they kissed and just as he began to move down towards her throat a loud "Bloody hell! They're at it again!" interrupted them.
Harry pulled away and looked across the table to see Ron and Hermione take a seat, each with a butterbeer in their hand. "Always interrupting."
Ron grinned. "Yeah, I try. Did you guys just get here?"
Harry nodded as he shifted in his seat, trying to ignore his discomfort. "Yeah, about five or ten minutes ago. So what have you two been up to all morning?"
Hermione shrugged. "Oh you know, a little of this, a little of that. We spent some time in the bookstore, Harry, and they really have some fascinating books on —"
"Don't get her started." Ron interrupted. "We spent over an hour in there and I can't stand to listen to it all again."
Hermione glared at Ron. "You know, Ron, you should learn to appreciate that I love to read. How many hours did we spend in that Quidditch store and you didn't even buy anything!"
Ron's ears turned pink. "Well, that's different, I was looking for something in particular and they didn't have it."
"Yeah, well maybe I was too." Hermione declared.
Harry leaned towards Ginny as he watched his two best friends bicker. "I thought maybe this would have stopped."
Ginny laughed. "Yeah right, now it's just causing tension that they can get rid of. See, here they go." She replied as Ron and Hermione began to snog like crazy.
Harry grinned. "Well, since their busy, why don't we pick up where we left off?"
Ginny smiled and slipped her arms around his neck. "Why don't we?"
Harry's lessons continued throughout the month of October and his learning increased fast. His animagus transformations had become spectacular and by the end of October Harry could become sixteen different animals, three of them magical. McGonagall was extremely impressed. His animals were: wolf, dog, cat, bear, squirrel, hawk, eagle, owl, phoenix, unicorn, snake, rabbit, stag, tiger, lion, and a sphinx. Even Dumbledore was impressed when Harry demonstrated his skills to the previous Headmaster's portrait.
"Excellent, Harry. You're skills are just as great as I imagined if not more so. And you have registered one animal form?" Dumbledore asked one evening after Harry's lesson with McGonagall.
Harry nodded. "Yes sir, the wolf."
Dumbledore nodded. "Good, you're other forms can be extremely useful in the final fight as well as your job as an Auror if you decide that you still want to be one. Now, this is what I was thinking, Minerva, and tell me what you think. Tonks mentioned that Harry is a natural metamorphmagus; all he had to do was concentrate and he could change any part of his appearance at will, am I right?"
Professor McGonagall nodded. "That's right; she only had him for two lessons, and then said that he didn't need them."
Dumbledore turned to Harry and smiled. "Harry, what is your distinguishing mark on all of your animagus transformations?"
"My eyes, sir, and on some animals where my scar is located it is sometimes seen as a different colour, but not always." Harry explained.
Dumbledore nodded. "Alright, well this is what I want you to do. Try to change you're eye colour and get rid of any marks on the animal form that shows it is you. If you can do this, Harry, your transformations will be even a bigger help when it comes down to the final fight. Think about that and on you're next lesson with Minerva, that's what you'll be working on."
Harry grinned. "Cool, thanks, sir."
He thought that was a great idea. All of his animal forms were down-pat he just had to work on using the skills of his three magical animals: phoenix, unicorn, and sphinx. The thought made him grin; he had come a long way.
As the first week of November swept through the castle, the Quidditch season began. The first match of the season would be held that afternoon, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. Harry hoped that the team was ready to play and he felt a bit nervous as he dressed in his robes in the change room.
When he was done, he whistled as his team turned towards him. "Alright, listen up you guys. I know that this is a fairly new team, but Gryffindor has had a great team in the past and I know that we can keep up that honour. Just play you're best and we'll see what happens. Also remember that this is Ravenclaw, not Slytherin, so save any violent anger that you may have for that match." When the team laughed, Harry grinned. "Okay, let's go."
The Gryffindor team filed out of the changing room and into the pitch to a mass of cheers from the Gryffindors and half of the Hufflepuffs. Harry shook hands with the Ravenclaw captain, Michael Corner, before they mounted their brooms and waited for Madam Hooch.
Luna Lovegood was commemorating the game, as she had taken over the post from Lee Jordan and Harry grinned when he heard her dreamy somewhat distant voice float over the stands. "The Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws are ready to begin as Madam Hooch releases the bludgers, followed by the golden snitch. Now she throws up the quaffle, I wonder what team will catch it first. Okay, the game has started." Luna replied as she watched the game in front of her. "Ravenclaw chaser Michael Corner grabs the quaffle from Demelza Robins and he shoots and what a miraculous save from Gryffindor Keeper Ron Weasley. He is rather good looking, you know. Seamus Finnigan has the quaffle now and he shoots … he scores. Ten points to Gryffindor. Padma Patil has the quaffle now, she's heading to the goal and ouch, she was hit by a bludger from Colin Creevey, those things must be painful. I wonder why they would put those in a game anyway, are they trying to hurt people? Ginny Weasley in possession."
Harry listened to the commentary with half an ear; he was searching for the snitch. He was looking hard for it but he was also hoping to beat Ravenclaw by a large amount to keep Gryffindor at the top. He brought his attention back to Luna's voice as he continued to search.
"Mandy Brocklehurst is in possession of the quaffle now, she shoots … and oh, another save from the Gryffindor Keeper. Ginny Weasley manages to snag the quaffle and once again she gets it past Boot, making the score thirty nothing, Gryffindor. Corner is in possession, he skirts past Weasley as she tries to block him and he … scores, ten points to Ravenclaw. Whoo whoo, go Ravenclaw, after all that is my house, who else did you think I would be cheering for?"
The game was picking up, Harry didn't know how much time had gone by but when he managed to tune in, the score was one hundred eighty to one hundred ten, Gryffindor. Then he saw it, a small golden winged ball floating just next to Ginny's ear. He raced down, ignoring Anthony Goldstein, the Ravenclaw seeker who was flying around at the opposite end of the field. He narrowed his firebolt and dived, grabbing the snitch in his hand and managing to kiss Ginny's ear as he passed.
"Harry Potter has caught the snitch. Gryffindor wins three hundred thirty to one hundred ten." Luna cried out as the roar of the crowd was deafening.
Harry landed on the ground as the rest of the team ran towards him for a hug. He grinned, they had won their first match … nothing could have gone better. He reached around for Ginny until he managed to pull her into his arms and he brought his lips down to hers for a long kiss and sighed … nope, nothing was better than this.