Chapter Three
"What are they doing here?" Demelza said, as she flew past Harry. Harry looked down on the ground to see who she was talking about.
The Slytherin team. Of course.
Harry saw Malfoy looking quite satisfied up at the team. He and the other players shared a laugh once in a while, when Ron let a ball in, or someone dropped the Quaffle. They eve began to sing their song that they had made up years back, when Ron had started on the team.
Weasly cannot save a thing,
He cannot block a single ring,
That's why Slytherins all sing;
Weasly is our king.
Weasly was born in a bin
He always lets the Quaffle in
That's why Slytherins all sing;
Weasly is our king.
Weasly is our king
Weasly is our king
Weasly will make sure we win
Weasly is our king.
Harry wanted to yell at them, tell them to shut up, but he knew that was what they wanted him to do.
"Mudblood, you enjoy playing?" Crabbe yelled at Hermione. Harry looked at her to see if she stopped what she was doing, but she did not. She continued playing, and Harry had to admit that she was one of them who did the best.
Hermione flew around, feeling more free than ever. But she was also feeling more angry and sad, like she was torn apart. She did not like having a row with both Ron and Harry. And she hated herself for wanting to defend Ron when they were singing that terrible song. But she had not done it. She wanted Ron to be the one to apologize. It was after all him whom had made a mistake, not her. She did not know what took him so long. She knew that him and Harry were having a row too, so they were all three without friends.
She wished she could just walk up to Ron and tell him everything, but she knew that she could not do so. That would ruin it all; friendship, Quidditch, school..
Hermione loved playing Quidditch. She regretted not participating for the team earlier. If she had to say so herself, she had talent. She had, on the other hand, ripped the team completely from each other. And that she was not proud of. She did not want to be the reason that they lost the championship that year. She wanted to be one of the reasons they won. But at the moment that seemed nearly impossible to become a reality.
She gazed down that the Slytherins. Why did they have to stand there and look so ridiculous? Were they trying to scare the Gryffindor team, by showing that they found them entertaining? It helped then. Hermione was so nervous about that week ends match. She knew they had to win. She, too, wanted to beat Malfoy, and shut his mouth. But she knew if that should happen, she ought to speak to Ron. Deep inside she knew he was not going to talk to her. It always came down to her. Sigh. She felt like the glue in the friendship. And that was not always a lovely position.
Hermione glared at her players. Ginny were flying close to Harry. They looked at each other for a few seconds, then moved on. Hermione knew Ginny had always had feelings for Harry, and now she started to think that Harry finally was returning those feelings. She feared how that would go, though. Ron would get really upset if anything happened between them. She knew how he reacted each time he saw Ginny with Dean in public. He thought it was 'gross.' So how would he not be reacting if it was his best friend snogging his sister?
"Hey, mudblood, watch out!" Hermione heard some Slytherin yell. She was not sure who, because in that moment a Bludger came flying towards her face, likely to smash her. She reacted fast, and dragged her broom down, towards the grass. The Bludger flew by, just an inch over her head. Hermione, and the rest of the team whom had all been watching in horror, sighed in relief.
"Hermione, you okay?"a voice yelled, but she could not tell whom it was from. She looked around at all her team mates, but they, too, seemed to be unaware. Discreetly she took a quick glare at the still present Slytherins. One of them was looking back at her. He had been looking at her for a while before she had looked at him. Hermione all of a sudden felt very weird in her gut.
Why was Draco Malfoy sending her such a nice look?
Saturday morning the Great Hall was full of anxious Quidditch players and Quidditch fans eating breakfast. Well, neither Hermione nor Harry were eating. They were both too nervous about that days match. They were as usual seated apart. Harry was sitting with Dean and Ginny, Hermione with Neville and Luna, whom had found a way to sit with them, and Ron with Lavender Brown. She seemed to be very into Ron, but he did not pay her much attention.
"I heard Zacharias Smith is commenting the match today," Luna Lovegood said in an attempt to break the silence.
"Really? That will never be good," Neville replied. He did not worry much about Quidditch, but he still liked to see Gryffindor win. He had gotten to know Zacharias Smith the previous year when they both entered DA. Neville did not really like him. He thought he was so good at everything and so damn entertaining. Truly he was nothing but a jerk.
"Really I do not care who is commenting, I do care what they say," Hermione interrupted their conversation, but she was not looking at any of them. She was looking at her plate full of food that she in no way could eat.
"You will do great, Hermione, don't worry! If what Harry said about your try-out is true then there is no doubt we will win," Luna cheered. She coughed a bit as she realised she had said 'we.' Luna was a Ravenclaw, but a true supporter of Gryffindor. She usually wore a lion head as a hat at Gryffindor's matches. Very smart.
"Well, what has he been saying about practices?" she asked. For what she knew Harry never even mentioned Quidditch any more. Not that he had so many people to talk to.
"Not much. Always something about how great you are, and how he wish Ginny and Dean would break up or at least stop talking," Luna spit out. Hermione widened her eyes.
"He said he wanted them to break up?" asked she in surprise.
"Yes, indeed. Something about them constantly talking during practice. Unfocused."
"Oh, I am not sure that is the only reason why," Hermione smirked, talking in nearly a whisper.
"Really? You don't reckon...? But do you think he dares? I mean, with Ron and all that?" Neville asked, sounding very curious. It was obvious he did not dare to take such a risk if he had been in Harry's shoes.
"I do not know. He won't admit it. Well, actually we have not been talking for a while, but I can just feel it."
Luna cuckled.
"Oh, I have forgotten my hat! I will see you at the match, Neville. And Hermione, good luck!" And then she left the table in a hurry. Only a few minutes later Professor McGonagall came down to them to wish them good luck. Hermione thought to herself that Luna had seen McGonagall come, and had ran off because she did not want to be seen by a teacher at the Gryffindor table. Hermione knew, though, that McGonagall would not kick off Luna. She surely liked her.
"Are you ready?" Neville asked. He looked more nervous than Hermione.
"As ready as I can be." Hermione got up, left the Great Hall all by herself, and walked down to the changing room by the Quidditch field. She was shaking.
"Let's do this, okay? Do your best, no matter how hard they are playing. Er.." Harry walked around in front of his team, not really aware of what to say. "Just.. Try your best to win. If we do not win it is too bad. That does not make us losers, and does not assure that we will not win the cup. Give it all you have got."
They walked out on the field, one by one, meeting the Slytherin team, and hundreds of screaming students watching them. Over half of them were dressed in red and gold robes to cheer for Gryffindor. A few, though, were in green and silver. Hermione easily spotted Luna and her big lion hat. Hermione giggled.
Harry greeted the Slytherin Captain, both with disgust in their eyes, and the match begun.
Hermione had no idea what was going on. She did not know who was ahead, she did not know who was cheering the loudest, and she had no idea what Zacharias Smith was talking about. She felt so lost that she wanted to cry. She did not want to show that she was weak, though, so she did not let a tear escape.
Her fellow team members were flying around her in a high speed, and she constantly had Bludgers after her. One had bruised her left arm, but not left any damage.
"Gryffindor scores," Hermione heard Zacharias sigh. He had been going on non-stop about how Ron, Ginny and Hermione only were on the team because they knew the Captain, so Hermione had shut him out of her system.
She had lost track of time, too. They could have been playing for hours. The sun was still shining,, but it was very windy. Hermione did not even dare to imagine how her hair looked like.
After what seemed like another hour Hermione was a bit back on track. No Bludgers were after her any longer than a few seconds, and she had realised that the point score was pretty even. Gryffindor did everything in their power to change that. Hermione saw Harry constantly search the air and ground for the Golden Snitch. And then, all of a sudden, his eyes went wild. He had found it. He started to race towards the ground. Unfortunately Malfoy had seen it too, and was now going to the ground faster than Harry.
Hermione watched with widened eyes. She was so used to be in the audience, that she even screamed "Come on, Harry, you can catch it!" That made Malfoy look up from the Snitch, and look directly at Hermione. She saw his eyes widen too. He stopped his action, and lost track of what he was doing. It was like the earth stood still for a little while to Hermione. She could for some strange reason not take her eyes off him.
Then everything around her went crazy. Harry had caught the Snitch because Malfoy had stopped paying attention.
Where she the reason they had won?
And why had Malfoy looked at her like that? Why had she been looking that strongly back at him?
She broke the eye contact off, and went celebrating with her team, with her mind so full of thoughts that she felt her head would explode.