Chapter 24

Harry sat beside his change room locker, deep in thought. He had thought about the events that had occurred briefly.

Flashback

"Answer this one question then" he said.

Hermione who was wiping her face of the tears had said "What?"

"If ever there comes a point, far out there when the structures fail us, where the rules aren't weapons anymore, where they become shackles that imprison us instead of the bad guys, and let them get ahead" Harry turned to Hermione whose eyes where dazed in his glare, and expression blank as snow, "if ever this moment of crisis comes, will you still agree to fight by my side?" he asked.

"Harry...I-I just don't know" she said before taking off.

End Flashback

Harry kept thinking about that conversation and if he perhaps went too far. Then he thought about his conversation with Luna.

Flashback

Harry moved his queen, to attack Luna's knight.

"Check" he said.

Luna attacked Harry's queen with her bishop.

"Something is bothering you" Luna, stated, staring deep into Harry's eyes.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked as he moved his pawn.

"Well, for one, you had an angry expression on your face when you walked through the hall doors and second, you were looking for a pick up game. You never play chess unless, you want to talk or ponder on something. Hence, you are bothered by something. A knut for your thoughts?" she said as she castled her king and rook.

"Keep your money" Harry said, chuckling.

"Come on, maybe I can help out?" Luna asked, pouting her face.

Harry smirked and then said "Well then if you insist" he said as he moved his knight in front of his king. He proceeded to tell Luna what happened in the common room. At this point the two teens finished playing their game, Luna had won.

"…And then she just left saying that she just didn't know" harry said.

Luna analyzed him with a very mysterious look. "Why do you think of yourself like that?" she asked him.

"Think of myself like what?" Harry asked, confused.

"Well, you seem to believe that some imminent force or being is controlling you and that everything is set in stone. Therefore, I can make the conclusion that you believe it is pointless to fight against destiny or fate. Why you think of yourself as someone who is static; as someone who cannot move the plot along? Why do you think that you cannot change the pages of destiny, write your own damn future, be who you want to be?" she asked.

Harry was rather shocked at what she asked but she couldn't understand him very well because there are just things he cannot tell Luna.

"I don't know, I guess after my parents died I just saw the world as black and white" he said, giving a white lie (my idea of a white lie is when you don't give the whole truth. So Harry told her bits of the truth, but not everything).

"Why?" Luna asked softly.

"I don't know" Harry shrugged "Perhaps it's because I am afraid. Afraid of trusting the world, afraid to rely on people" he said, serenely.

Luna laid back a little bit, "And that's why Hermione's upset, she thinks you are afraid to trust her. She thinks she isn't good enough for you" Luna said.

"'Isn't good enough'?" Harry asked.

"Well its obvious Harry, Hermione likes you. She's trying to get your attention and your affection but now that you've just said that you have a hard time trusting people. She isn't sure if she's good enough for it. Apparently, it's the one thing of yours she's trying to earn before she can get your affection…your trust" Luna said.

Harry had a blank expression but his mind was anything but blank. Was it true? Does she really like me that much? He thought to himself.

"Now the question remains Harry, how do you feel about Hermione?"

End Flashback

Harry had been spending days and weeks pondering on the answer to the million dollar question. Suddenly, he heard someone coughing. Harry snapped out of his gaze and turned to see Oliver Wood standing there, smirking at him.

"You know Harry the game against Hufflepuff doesn't start for another 3 hours" he said.

Harry nodded his head, "I wanted to get here early, and perhaps take a few laps around the pitch."

Oliver sighed "Is something bothering you Harry?" he asked.

Harry glared at Oliver, "It doesn't matter, it's not something anyone can help with" he said.

"Maybe they can help if you let them" Oliver said.

Harry looked down and remembered Luna's words, "… you have a hard time trusting people…"

"Is it about a girl or something?" Oliver asked.

Harry snapped his head back up, "What?"

"I asked if your problems involved a girl or something"

Harry chuckled and then nodded his head. Oliver sat down beside Harry.

"You know, I used to hate Quidditch", he said. Harry looked at him, confused. Oliver laughed and then said "Yeah, ever since I was 6 I was afraid of heights. My dad once took me to a Quidditch world cup game. I was afraid of the whole idea of it. Flying around stopping balls, and the bludgers, they scared me the most", Oliver laughed again.

Harry laughed with him. "So it's safe to say that I wasn't an ambitious Quidditch player. In fact I wanted to become an Auror like my father. However something strange happened one summer when I was 10 years old. My dad had bought me a broomstick for my birthday and told me to forget what my mind feared and do what my heart desired. After that I was able to ride a broom comfortably and then my love for Quidditch blossomed and ignited a hidden passion." He said as he pointed to the "C" badge on his shirt. Harry grinned.

"Of the things my father told me I'll never the most important one. Forget what your mind fears and do what your heart desires, Harry"

Harry smiled at Oliver's words as he had now realized his answer.

"Sorry if it's not the best advice but it's the only one I can offer, I'm not much of a relationship person" he said.

Harry cleared his throat "No, not at all. In fact I think, this motivation is what I needed…captain". Oliver smiled and Harry grinned.

Oliver had gotten up "Remember, I'm not just your captain. I can also be a friend to you, Harry and my door is open anytime you want to talk"

Harry nodded "Thanks Wood" he said.

Oliver simply smiled and then left. Harry took his nimbus and walked right into the empty pitch. He mounted his broom and flew into the skies.

"WECOME EVERYBODY TO THE FIRST MATCH BETWEEN HUFFLEPUFF AND GRYFFINDOR!"

The crowd erupted in a chorus of cheers but you could say that the Gryffindors had the edge in the loudness department.

"I AM YOUR COMMENTATOR LEE JORDON AND ALONG SIDE ME IS NONE OTHER THAN OUR FAVOURITE GRYFFINDOR IN THE WHOLE WORLD…NO IT ISN'T HARRY POTTER ITS PROFFESSOR MCGONAGALL!"

"LEE, YOU BETTER BE CAREFUL ABOUT WHAT YOU SAY HERE!"

"C'MON PROFESSOR NO NEED TO RUIN THE FUN!"

"LEE!"

"ALRIGHT, LET'S GET READY FOR WHAT SHOULD BE A FAIR MATCH UP! AND LOOK, HERE COMES THE PLAYERS RIGHT NOW!"

"You ready Harry?" Oliver asked.

Harry looked around and nodded "Yeah."

"Well then, let's gives these guys hell" Oliver said to Harry. He raised his fist towards Harry. Harry bobbed it with his own fist, then mounted his broom and flew to the center of the pitch. He noticed how tall the Hufflepuff seeker was, he must have had a good two foot advantage over Harry.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the captains for both teams come to the center. Wood glared at the other captain before shaking his hand and heading to their respective positions.

Madam Hooch brought out the chest and opened it. Immediately the snitch came whizzing out and flew around both seekers. Then Madam Hooch used her wand and threw the Quaffle high into the air where the opposing forwards fought for it.

The game was going on for a long time, the score was 150-80 for Gryffindor. Harry had circled the pitch and noticed that the Hufflepuff seeker was following him wherever he went. Harry smirked as an idea hit him, he flew in a random direction with a lot of speed and the Hufflepuff seeker followed him.

Harry flew around the pitch at full speed knowing full well that the Hufflepuff seeker was following him. Harry turned his head to confirm and saw the seeker trying to chase him down.

'Perfect' Harry thought. He then suddenly zoomed up towards the clouds, and then dropped down towards the pitch. He was zooming towards the grounds at full speed, he turned his head to see if the other seeker was still following him, and he was.

Harry increased his speed and was heading dangerously close to the ground. Suddenly Harry changed the direction of his broom and started flying normally, however the other seeker was going to fast and so he had aborted his broom and landed roughly on the ground. Harry smirked at his accomplishments and then heard a whizzing sound near his ear. He noticed the Snitch flying right beside him on his left and caught it with his left hand.

Suddenly the whole Gryffindor side of the pitch erupted in a chorus of cheers. Harry didn't make a show of his accomplishments. He went back towards the other seeker and shook his hands. His entire team followed suite, this caused a roar of applause from the crowd.

Harry looked at the place where he knew Ron was sitting and waved to him but then he felt a pang of disappointment in his heart when he saw that a certain dirty blonde-haired witch wasn't beside him.

AN: Hellooooo guys...okay and gals, sorry for my inconsistency in updating chapters. Life cannot be put on pause unfortunately though, I've had a lot more free time recently and I missed this series so much that I just had to post this chapter up. Also part of my delay is that I'm changing the story slightly from what I had originally planned, of course you Harmony fans get to see Harry and Hermione kiss as I promised but the relationship is going to be complicated and that complication with spill into the next book. Now as for the next book, I have a very dark version of that story and plan on killing someone, potentially. So I need you guys to vote for who should NOT be killed. I had a character in mind but I don't want to kill he/she off if you guys really like them. Since I am a Harmony fan myself, I think you can rule out two possibilities as to who it could be. Please rate and review.