Chapter fifteen – Quitting

"Hermione, glad you could make it," Harry said, clearly irritated by Hermione's late arrival.

She quickly changed into her red and golden Quidditch robes. "Just so you know, Ron's awake," Hermione explained to Harry. Harry's face lit up a bit.

"Good to hear. We can visit him when we've won."

The team walked up to the wooden door, which led them out on the Quidditch field where the Hufflepuff team were awaiting. They all took a deep breath - inhale, exhale.

"Let's do this," Harry whispered, mostly to himself.

"The round thing escapes Ginny, but -" Luna's voice sounded through the speakers.

"It's called a Quaffle, Lovegood!" Professor McGonagall corrected her.

"Oh, thank you, professor," said Luna, but Hermione was sure she still didn't understand.

It wasn't as if listening to Luna's comments wasn't entertaining, but she didn't have a clue as to what was going on. She barely mentioned Hufflepuff and called people by their nicknames. Her attention was mainly on the shapes of the few clouds dancing on the light-blue sky.

Hermione gave up on following Luna's comment stream and instead tried to see for herself what was going on in the game.

Ginny had the Quaffle again; she aimed it towards Cormac who got it past Hufflepuff's keeper.

The Gryffindor supporters broke into loud cheering. Hermione formed a smile, but it quickly faded as she found the Quaffle coming towards her.

Her reflexes made her swing the bat in her hand hard and fast. She was afraid to see what happened, so she closed her eyes. For seconds no sound was made at all. Hermione began to wonder if she indeed was deaf. But then a loud cheering filled up her ears. She opened her eyes, only to realise that she had just scored.

"Hermione scores ten points to Gryffindor - but they're still behind. Oh, the sun looks so square today. That indeed is strange," commented Luna. Hermione couldn't help but smile. She had never believed that moment to occur. She found herself wishing Ron had been there to see it. …. And Draco.

Gryffindor were still behind after another thirty minutes. 60-170, if Hermione wasn't mistaken. Their only hope now was that Harry would catch the snitch.

And in that same moment it looked as if something had caught Harry's attention. He flew up and down, trying to catch it.

Then, out of nowhere, Ginny yelled "WATCH OUT, HARRY!" But it was too late. The Bludger that nearly attacked Cormac, and he in reflexion hit, made its way straight into Harry's gut.

Everyone around held their breath - well except for the Slytherin's. They needed for Gryffindor in order to still be eligible for the cup.

Hermione watched as Harry fell of his broomstick and hit the ground. She, Madam Pomfrey, Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall rushed up to his side. They fell on knees next to him and began checking if he was all right. Madam Pomfrey could quickly declare that Harry was unconscious and needed rest. She, with help from Professor McGonagall, carried him up to the Hospital Wing, while the match continued.

"How is he?" asked Hermione. She had just entered the Hospital Wing for the second time that day, this time only to find two of her friends as patients.

"Mr. Potter is doing fine, he just needs rest. Mr. Weasly should be back to normal within a few days," Madam Pomfrey told. Hermione nodded as a thank you. She dragged a chair into the midst of the two beds, and sat down.

"You really need to be more careful, boys," she said, well aware that Ron was only faking his sleep and Harry could wake up any minute. And so he did.

"What happened? Did we win?" he immediately asked.

Ron had seated himself up just like earlier. He already knew the results, as the commentators' voices echoed into the Hospital Wing.

"Well," Hermione began. She hated being the bearer of bad news. "Hufflepuff's Seeker Summerby caught the snitch just after you left. We lost 320-60."

Ron and Harry's eyes widened. "320-60? But we 've been practising madly," complained Harry.

"I know. But considering all the changes we've had to make due to illness it isn't difficult to understand."

"Wait, who hit me with that bloody thing any way?" asked Harry.

"C-Cormac. Cormac McLaggen, Ron's replacement," Hermione shared. If possible Harry looked even angrier than before. "Don't worry, 'Arry. Pomfrey said I'd be out at least by Tuesday," Ron comforted. "Bloody hell, Luna was brilliant!" Ron exclaimed.

Hermione and Harry both burst into laughter. "She was quite entertaining, yes," said Hermione. She hoped Luna would continue commenting. It had been nice for an exchange – she didn't point out whenever someone made a mistake.

"I hope she will keep on commenting for the rest of the season. She's really grown on me," Ron explained. He had previously had problems with Luna's way of being.

"Yeah, she's nice. She is." Harry looked lost in his own thoughts as he spoke.

Harry was quickly released from the Hospital Wing. Already a few days later he was up and standing. Ron followed him along. Lavender was mad at him - really mad. She didn't even talk to him; pretended he wasn't around.

At first he had been wondering. He'd asked both Harry and Hermione why Lavender was mad at him, and Hermione had lied to him - yes, but she felt like she had to - and said that he'd been clear for a moment during his unconsciousness and had broken up with her. Ron blindly believed in her. Now he was only glad to be rid of her.

Harry, obsessed about winning the next match against Ravenclaw in late May, once again ordered Quidditch practise every other evening just before supper. And with the exams coming up, Hermione felt more stressed than ever. She barely had any time to relax - always something to do.

"Hermione, you're the cleverest witch at our age. You'll make it!" Harry comforted her one day on the way to practise. He had had to drag her out of the library.

Hermione had let all of her concerns out on Harry. She couldn't bare it all in her head alone anymore.

"Well, thanks, Harry. But, you're better at Potions than me! I'm not the brightest," she replied.

Harry could only agree with her that he was better at Potions, but it was only due to his Half-Blood Prince book.

"Harry... I want off the team," Hermione finally spoke as they reached the locker room.

"Wait, what?" Harry asked, astounded. They had stopped just outside the doors.

"I can't deal with the pressure of it! And I'm not enjoying it as much as you do. Somebody else deserves my spot," she admitted. The idea had been with her for a while – she had to get her priorities straight.

Harry looked terrified, but still as if he had been expecting it to happen.

"You saw how terrible it went with two new people on the team. Don't make it three!"

"Harry, I'm sorry. I know I should have said something earlier and not just before the match versus Ravenclaw, but I needed to think it through. You know how I over-analyse everything! I wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing."

"But you're not!"

It had begun to rain. Both Hermione and Harry wanted to go inside, but they felt as if they had to finish their little discussion outside in the moment.

"You don't know what's best for me!" Hermione yelled. She was glad she and Harry had walked down before everybody else. She didn't want them to hear.

"I know what's best for the team!" he yelled back.

"Me too," said Hermione, this time more in a whisper. "And it's not me."

Hermione walked away, leaving Harry behind with a concerned expression on his face.

Hermione couldn't tell raindrops apart from tears as she entered the Gryffindor common-room. She appreciated the weather - none of the other students in the common-room would believe her to be crying. She just looked like she had spent a bit of time outdoors.

Hermione went up to her dormitory and continued her homework due the next morning, while quietly sobbing.

"She has what?" Ron yelled as Harry revealed the reassignment of Hermione to the rest of the team. Most of them dropped their jaws.

"She quit the team. I'm sorry, I tried to convince her, but-"

"I'll go talk to her," Ginny said, and left her boyfriend Dean's arms. "No, Ginny. I think it's best if we leave her alone. At least for the day," advised Harry. Ginny sat back into Dean's arms to Harry's big regret.

"We need a replacement. I was thinking Demelza Robins. She tried out and actually did quite well. I'll talk to her tomorrow," said Harry. The team members nodded in agreement. Not eagerly, though. "Now, let's get to work."

The flames from the fireplace warmed up Hermione's body. She was seated with her back towards it, doing more homework; a paper for Defence Against the Dark Arts to be precise. She wasn't concentrating much though; she knew that no matter how good it was, Professor Snape would dump her. Nothing she did was ever good enough. But luckily Hermione didn't need excellent grades in DADA. Her ambitions weren't quite to become an Auror, leader of the Magical World or any thing in that line of work. She'd be satisfied with an office job at the Ministry – making a small change in the world.

Footsteps neared the common-room, which was empty asides from Hermione herself.

She jumped in surprise of movement. It was way past curfew and she thought she was the only one with eyes still open at this time of night. A boy with the same hair colour as the flames behind her entered the room.

"Hermione!" he yelled in shock at the sight of the pair of amber coloured eyes looking at him

"Ron, where have you been?" she asked, sounding worried.

"Er - Quidditch practice," Ron explained, "word's out you've quit."

"Liar," Hermione said, not moving her gaze. "Harry came in hours ago!"

"Tell me, why would you quit? I thought you liked it!"

"Don't change the subject, Ronald!" Hermione minded not to yell – she didn't want to wake up anybody. Both her and Ron would get in trouble if the Head Boy or Girl came running. Not that they were around since they shared their own dormitory further down the corridor.

"All right, I was out and about. Both you and Harry take midnight strolls around the castle, and I wanted to see if it really was exciting! Satisfied, eh?"

Something in Ron's voice sounded convincing, but Hermione still didn't really believe him.

Ron had attended midnight strolls earlier with both Hermione and Harry, and it was far too late to be a "short midnight stroll" as the clock had stroke three.

"Goodnight," Hermione gave in. Ron looked rather relieved and left for his dormitory in a rush.