The remainder of the holidays flew by. Sirius remained in his festive mood and continued to put every effort into making the house as inviting and festive as possible. A Christmas tree stood in the drawing room, covering the Black family tapestry, and was decorated with live fairies. Piles of magical snow lay on the frayed carpets, and the chandeliers in the downstairs hallway were no longer covered in cobwebs, but instead with holly garlands and silver and gold streamers. For the first time, Ginny noticed the arms of the chandeliers were in the shape of serpents. She found she was not bothered by this; talking about her ordeal with the cursed diary out loud with Harry, Ron, and Hermione gave her the final acceptance and closure she needed, and it had been almost two weeks since she last had a bad dream about it.

Christmas morning arrived, and before Ginny even registered how many presents she had, she noticed a long, thin one at the end of her bed. She gasped; she knew immediately what it was. Unwrapping it as fast as she could, she stared down at a brand new Cleansweep Eleven broomstick, with the tag indicating it had been sent by Bill. Ron must have told him she was now on the Quidditch team. Her elation at the gift was marred only slightly by the guilty feeling she had about how much money Bill must have spent on it. Mum and Dad had sent their usual Christmas jumper and the rest of the presents were sweets.

Her good mood was dampened by a visit to Dad in St. Mungo's where, to her horror, they ran into Neville and his family, and Ginny learned the horrible truth about why he had been raised by his grandmother. The revelation that his parents had been tortured into madness by Death Eaters during the first Wizarding war was all that occupied her mind the rest of the day. Ginny remembered a conversation with Neville at the Yule Ball, where he was telling the fake Mad-Eye Moody about how his Christmas plans usually involved visiting his parents, and Ginny wondered why that seemed to make him sullen. That question had now been answered.

The post-holiday gloom set in fast as the prospect of facing another six months of Dolores Umbridge started hanging in the air like a bad odor. Sirius' mood started turning too, as he was facing more months of solitude after everyone went back to school and work. Ginny didn't have much to look forward to in the coming term apart from the D.A. and Quidditch. Harry, who had been banned from Quidditch, seemed more unhappy than anyone that the holidays were ending.

On the final night of their departure, she and Hermione were watching Ron and Harry play wizard chess (Ron was winning), and Mum poked her head into the room and called Harry down to the kitchen.

"Squash him — squash him, he's only a pawn, you idiot — sorry, Mrs. Weasley, what did you say?" said Harry.

"Professor Snape, dear. In the kitchen. He'd like a word."

Harry looked around at them in horror. Crookshanks, who had been sitting on Hermione's lap, leapt onto the board and set the pieces scattering.

"Snape?" said Harry blankly.

"Professor Snape, dear," Mum corrected him. "Now come on, quickly, he says he can't stay long."

"What's he want with you?" said Ron, looking unnerved as Mum withdrew from the room.

"You haven't done anything, have you?" said Hermione.

"No!" said Harry indignantly.

"Maybe he wants a chance to hex you outside of school!" said Ron wildly.

"Don't be ridiculous, Ron," Hermione snapped. "Just because it's outside school doesn't mean —"

"Tell him he's a slimy git and needs to wash his hair," Ginny mused. "I mean, it is outside of school, so he can't punish you, can he?"

"Watch him," said Harry glumly, though he snorted at Ginny's suggestion. Sighing, he shuffled out of the room as if walking to his death.

Mum returned a moment later.

"Dad's home!" she said brightly. "He's downstairs in the hallway."

The three of them got up and rushed down to greet him. He beamed at them as they descended the stairs, Bill standing beside him.

"Dad!" said Ron happily. "So they found an antidote to the snake venom, then?"

"Yep. It took a while, but Healer Smethwyck eventually found something that did the trick," he said, keeping his voice down to avoid setting off Mrs. Black's portrait.

"Thank you so much for the Christmas gift, Bill!" said Ginny happily.

"Don't mention it," he said with a big smile. "Ron told me all about the new Quidditch players in the family. He said Mum got him a Cleansweep Eleven, figured you'd like a matching one. How's your holiday been?"

"Not bad, once we knew Dad was going to be okay," said Ginny. "Not looking forward to going back much, though, with Umbridge and all. At least I'll still have Quidditch and — well just Quidditch I guess," she finished lamely. She almost said "and the D.A." but realized that was probably something she shouldn't admit to.

"How'd you learn to fly so well?" he asked curiously.

"Oh — just natural talent I guess," she said as Fred and George joined them.

Bill gave her a slightly suspicious look but didn't question it further.

"Where's Harry?" said Dad.

"In the kitchen," replied Ginny. "Apparently Snape wanted to see him about something."

They hurried down to the kitchen so Dad could share the good news. It took a second to realize that they'd walked in on something of a standoff between Sirius and Snape, wands pointed at each other's faces.

"Merlin's beard!" said Dad. "What's going on here?"

Sirius and Snape lowered their wands, Snape pocketing his. Snape swept from the room and paused at the door and looked at Harry.

"Six o'clock Monday evening, Potter."

He left. Six o'clock Monday evening? What was that about? Ginny looked at Harry; he looked thoroughly miserable. Surely Snape hadn't given him a detention? For what?

"But what's been going on?" asked Dad again.

"Nothing, Arthur," said Sirius, who was breathing heavily as though he had just run a long distance. "Just a friendly little chat between two old school friends..."

Ginny snorted. Sirius and Snape being old school friends looked about as likely as Umbridge winning a beauty pageant.

"So... you're cured?" said Sirius to Dad with a strained smile. "That's great news, really great…"

"Yes, isn't it?" said Mum, leading Dad forward into a chair. "Healer Smethwyck worked his magic in the end, found an antidote to whatever that snake's got in its fangs, and Arthur's learned his lesson about dabbling in Muggle medicine, haven't you, dear?" she added, rather menacingly.

"Yes, Molly dear," said Dad meekly. Ginny caught Ron's eye and grinned. She still couldn't believe Dad tried to sew up his wounds with Muggle stitches.

They spent the evening packing; Ginny had made sure not to lose track of her things over break so she wouldn't be running through the house looking for anything at the last minute like she was over the summer. It was nearly midnight by the time she and Hermione finished and got ready for bed.

"What did Snape want?" Ginny asked her. "Did Harry tell you?"

"Oh — er — Dumbledore apparently wants Snape to teach him Occlumency, so he stops having the visions."

"But that vision saved Dad's life!"

"Dumbledore must think it's dangerous," said Hermione.

Even if this were true, Ginny thought, surely somebody else could teach him? Surely Dumbledore knew Snape was a piece of trash that hated Harry's guts? Ginny clambered into bed grumpily and pulled out her Quidditch book.

"You know," Hermione said, "Bill brought up something earlier I've been wondering. How did you get so good at flying?"

"Oh, I've been practicing on Fred and George's brooms since the age of six," said Ginny matter-of-factly.

"They let you do that?" said Hermione skeptically.

"Oh no," said Ginny. "No, I'd always do it when everyone was asleep. They'd have killed me if they knew I was using their brooms. Not sure they'd care much now, though, now that they're banned."

Hermione smiled and said, "Looking forward to the match against Ravenclaw?"

"I suppose, though Michael said he's not much of a Quidditch person," said Ginny.

"That's not what I meant," said Hermione sleekly. "I'm talking about Cho — she's their Seeker, right?"

"Good night, Hermione," said Ginny, putting her book away without having read any of it.


Lupin and Tonks escorted them back to Hogwarts the following morning on the Knight Bus. Tonks was not her usual chipper self at all; quite the contrary, she was cranky and irritable. She had taken on the appearance of an older woman with short gray hair. Once they had all left the premises of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, Lupin flung out his right arm.

With a loud BANG, the purple, triple-decker Knight Bus appeared in front of them. The conductor, Stan Shunpike, ushered them on, saying, "Welcome to the —"

"Yes, yes, we know, thank you," said Tonks swiftly. "On, on, get on —"

And she shoved Harry forward toward the steps, past the conductor, who goggled at Harry as he passed.

" 'Ere — it's 'Arry — !"

"If you shout his name I will curse you into oblivion," muttered Tonks menacingly; Ginny felt her prodding her along onto the bus.

"I've always wanted to go on this thing," said Ron happily, looking around. The bus was crowded.

"Looks like we'll have to split up," said Tonks briskly, looking around for empty chairs. "Fred, George, and Ginny, if you just take those seats at the back… Remus can stay with you..."

Ginny wondered what could have put Tonks in such a bad mood, but didn't get a chance to ask her as she led Harry, Ron, and Hermione up to the top deck.

Ginny sat with Lupin in the back of the bus, while Fred and George took a couple seats a short way away from them. The bus had started to move and no sooner had Ginny sat down than the bus took off with a loud BANG which caused her to fall to the floor as her chair toppled. She righted herself and looked over at Fred and George, who were moving their chairs back together after the bus had sent them scooting across the floor. They began talking in hushed tones and Ginny was sure they were discussing the joke shop. Lupin acted like nothing happened and looked just as miserable as Tonks.

"Harry showed me the map you and your friends made while at school," Ginny informed him.

"The Marauder's Map?"

"That's it," said Ginny. "It was really cool, I've never seen anything like it!"

"Yeah, we all had loads of fun with that back in school," he said with a forced smile. Something was on his mind, Ginny could tell.

"What's wrong, Remus?" she said. "You look depressed."

Lupin frowned at her.

"I'm not depressed," he said in a harsh tone. Ginny was not convinced; she knew the signs all too well, and she decided she was not going to mince words.

"I know that's not true, because — because I'm depressed too," she said quietly.

"Why?" said Lupin curiously.

"Well," said Ginny, "my Dad almost died. I've been so worried about my family ever since You-Know-Who came back. As we sat in Grimmauld Place waiting for Mum, I was convinced he wasn't going to make it… I started imagining life without him… it was horrible… I never want to experience that again."

Lupin gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Nothing can prepare you for such a loss. You try to imagine it, but it never comes close."

"Who have you lost?" said Ginny, and no sooner did she ask the question than she realized what the answer would be.

"James Potter," he said with a somber look. "We were like brothers in many ways. He was one of the only ones who knew of my affliction and didn't look at me differently because of it. He was my best friend and his death was really hard on me. You move on eventually, but you never truly get over it."

Ginny said nothing and turned to look out the window at the passing city until another BANG dislodged them from their seats again.

"Your dad survived, though," said Lupin, getting up off the floor and sitting back in his chair, "and you seemed really down over the summer too. Is there something else?"

"Oh, no, just — stupid teenage girl stuff," said Ginny dismissively. "It's nothing."

"I see," said Lupin with a small smile. "A boy you like doesn't feel the same?"

"Well, yes," she said. "He will never like me that way. I know that now, but it still hurts. I'm not sure I'll ever fully accept it."

Ginny found this way more difficult to talk about than anything else and wished she had said nothing.

"Maybe he thinks you are too good for him," said Lupin. For some reason, he sounded defensive. "Maybe he thinks he is protecting you by not returning your feelings."

"That's rubbish," said Ginny harshly. "And besides, you don't even know who I'm talking about."

"I have a pretty good idea," he said with a significant look. Ginny blushed slightly. How could he know? Was she that obvious about it? Or did Hermione shoot her mouth off?

BANG.

"I could do with never riding on this thing again," grumbled Ginny as she picked herself up off the floor for a third time, though she was glad for a chance to get off the subject.

"Dumbledore felt it was the safest option," said Lupin. Fred and George were hastily shoving what looked like some future joke shop items back in their bag that had spilled out onto the floor after the bus had jerked again.

"So are you going to tell me what's eating you, now that I've spilled my guts?" said Ginny crossly.

"Being miserable is simply an occupational hazard of being a werewolf, I'm afraid," said Lupin. "And now that the holidays are over, I will be continuing my missions for the Order, which is something I'm most certainly not looking forward to…"

Ginny wasn't sure if he was being completely honest, but she privately thought being a werewolf was depressing enough by itself that the explanation was certainly reasonable.

Four loud BANGs later and at last they reached the gates outside Hogwarts. Lupin and Tonks helped them off the bus with their luggage and then got off to say good-bye. Lupin shook Ginny's hand and Tonks gave her and Hermione a half-hearted hug.

"Have a good term," she told them. "Stay safe."

The six of them struggled up the slippery drive toward the castle dragging their trunks.

"What's up with Tonks, do you think?" said Ginny to Hermione.

"I don't know, she did seem rather upset, didn't she? Guess it's just post-holiday gloom. Oh, I wished we arrived sooner, I've got so much to do…"

"How is that possible?" said Ron in disbelief. "I know you don't have unfinished homework…"

"No, but I still have a bunch of house elf hats to knit before bedtime."

Ginny glanced at Ron, who rolled his eyes. The sky was overcast, and the cold breeze blew uncomfortably on their faces. As the castle grew nearer, she thought about her conversation with Lupin and became more and more flabbergasted that she actually said what she said out loud to him with each step she took. Why had she done that? What was she thinking? Her face grew hot with embarrassment. At least she hadn't admitted who it was she was pining over, but he seemed to know anyway…

Determined to get these thoughts out of her head, she wondered if Michael would be waiting for her in the entrance hall, but then realized he probably wouldn't be back yet, as the train would not arrive until the evening. She had not given Michael much thought over the break. She anticipated him asking about her holiday, and Ginny wondered how much she should tell him about what happened. She could tell him her dad had been in the hospital, but figured it would probably be best if she wasn't honest about the circumstances that led him there.

And indeed, when they caught up during dinner, Ginny realized just how little of her holiday she could actually talk about with him. She couldn't say where she had spent it, because Sirius was still a wanted felon; she couldn't talk about the Order of the Phoenix; she couldn't even mention "Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place" because it was protected by the Fidelius Charm, and she didn't want to mention how much time she'd spent in Harry's company either as that would not go over well. She completely fabricated a story about enjoying a nice, relaxing holiday back at the Burrow, and that she was "just happy to be away from Umbridge" while mentioning that her brother Bill gave her a broomstick for Christmas. Michael told her about his holiday trip to Svalbard with his family, where they got to see the northern lights and polar bears.

"It's actually pretty insane up there," he was telling her enthusiastically. "It's really, really cold and it's pitch dark at noon this time of year."

"I don't know if that sounds like much fun to me!" said Ginny.

Michael shrugged.

"You have to go in with the right mindset," he said. "It's weird the first time, but I've been there lots of times now, I've gotten used to it."

"Hello, Ginny," said a dreamy voice behind her. Ginny turned around; it was Luna Lovegood.

"Oh, hi Luna! Good holiday?"

"Oh — yes. Daddy and I went to France to look for Blibbering Humdingers."

Michael snorted and tried to play it off as a cough. Luna looked at the back of his head with her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Did you find any?" said Ginny, trying to keep her voice even.

"No, but Daddy swears he heard a few when we went hiking in the Alps. He says he wants to look for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks over the summer."

She walked further down the table and took a seat next to some of her fellow fourth-year Ravenclaws. None of them seemed to acknowledge her, and she promptly pulled out The Quibbler and hid her face behind it.

"A Crumpled what?" said Michael incredulously.

"Don't ask," said Ginny, shaking her head.


The new term got off to an inauspicious start as there was a big story Tuesday morning about a mass breakout from Azkaban. The Ministry, being the useless, brainless prats that they were, blamed the breakout on Sirius Black. There was a lot of anxious muttering among both the students and the professors, and Umbridge quickly posted another decree that prohibited teachers from giving students information that wasn't related to the subjects that they teach.

"I think the tide is turning," Amber told Ginny in the common room that night. "I heard students talking during Charms — a lot of them who didn't believe Dumbledore and Harry before are now skeptical of the Ministry's version of events."

"Umbridge is finished," said Ginny with satisfaction. "No way she's back next year. If she is, there will be a revolt! And I doubt it will just be the students. She'll be lucky if she makes it through this year!"

"I think it's taking McGonagall everything in her power not to turn her into a maggot every time she sees her," said Lena, smiling.

"What do you think the chances are that Umbridge actually takes Defense Against the Dark Arts seriously now that the Ministry can't pretend there aren't Dark wizards at large anymore?" said Amber.

"Less than zero," said Ginny glumly.

She was quite right. Umbridge's classes were as useless as ever, but Ginny still had the D.A. meetings, where she and the rest of the group now were practicing extra hard in light of the news of the Azkaban breakout. Neville was particularly focused, and Harry was visibly impressed with how well he was doing. He said hello to Ginny at the beginning of their first meeting coming off of break, but made no mention of their encounter in the hospital. It was clear, however, that the Azkaban breakout had lit a fire in him and he was determined to be the best he could be, and not to let what happened to his parents happen to him too.

"Oi!" came a familiar voice at the end of the end of the lesson. Ginny turned and saw Angelina approaching her. "First Quidditch practice of the year is tomorrow. We'll need to train extra hard to get the new Beaters up to scratch."

"Right. Thanks, Angelina."

So, the next evening, Ginny bundled up and headed to the Quidditch pitch with Ron. The practice went very badly. The new Beaters were Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper, and they were beyond awful. They were lucky when their bats even connected with the Bludger at all, and when they did, they had no idea where it was going. Twice Jack tried to hit one toward the Chaser in possession of the Quaffle but hit Andrew instead.

"You should have seen some of the other idiots that showed up, half of them didn't know one end of the bat from the other," muttered Angelina, as she and Ginny watched the fiasco unfold from the other end of the pitch.

Ron wasn't much better. He was only able to save the easiest of shots and let in sixteen goals in the first twenty minutes of practice, meaning that if it were an actual game and Ginny caught the Snitch, they still would have lost. This hardly mattered, though; Ginny did not see the Snitch one time during the practice. After a little over an hour Angelina called a halt, looking like she would like nothing better than to go drown herself in the bathtub.

"I'm resigning," Ron croaked as the team huddled around Angelina at the end. "I'm terrible. I can't play Quidditch."

"Don't be a prat," said Angelina scathingly. "We're already down three players, we can't lose another!"

"There were loads better Keepers than me at tryouts," said Ron.

"They had other commitments!" Angelina shot back. "You're the Keeper, Ron, you'll improve, we've got lots more time for practice before the match against Hufflepuff…"

Ginny privately thought Angelina was hoping for a miracle, but she gave Ron words of encouragement nonetheless, and he eventually agreed to stay on the team.

Demelza Robins caught up with Ginny at the Gryffindor table the next morning as she was finishing breakfast, asking about the practice.

"It was pretty bad, but we still have good Chasers on the team, at least. Of course, that won't be the case next year… I'm hoping that once Harry's back I can take Angelina's or Alicia's spot."

"But Harry has a lifetime ban," said Demelza.

"Only as long as Umbridge is here," Ginny corrected her.

"Right," said Demelza. She looked ever so slightly disappointed at the idea of Harry returning for some reason.

"You don't want him back on the team?" said Ginny, a little more aggressively than she intended.

"No, it's just… with you trying out for Chaser next year, that will make it harder for me to make the team. I was hoping to be a Chaser too. If you're still the Seeker, then, well… that's less competition for me, isn't it?"

"Oh," said Ginny, slightly started by this news, "well, there will be two vacancies, you know. Angelina and Alicia are both leaving after this year."

"I know, it's just… there's less pressure if there's two open spots."

Ginny realized there was some truth to this, but said, "It's not like I'm guaranteed a spot next year, you know…"

Demelza looked at her feet.

"I'm sorry, Ginny, I know I'm acting selfish. Everything will work out how it's supposed to, I guess…"

Ginny focused on a fly moving around on the table.

"How it's supposed to…" Ginny repeated absentmindedly. "Yeah… I guess so…"

Demelza looked at her curiously, but a voice interrupted them.

"Hey," said Michael Corner.

Ginny looked around.

"Hey yourself," said Ginny, grinning.

"Right, well, see you Ginny," said Demelza, a little awkwardly, and she departed.

"I guess you saw the notice about the next Hogsmeade trip?" said Michael. "It's on Valentine's Day."

"Oh, you know, I didn't see it, actually."

"You'll go with me, right?" he said hopefully.

"Yeah, of course!"

"Great!"

He made like he was going to kiss her, but Ginny pulled back and said quietly, "Ron."

Michael looked confused for a second, but following Ginny's gaze, he turned around and saw Ron marching towards them, a rather ugly look on his face.

"See you later, Ginny," said Michael hurriedly, and he walked off as fast as he could without appearing intimidated. Ron glared after him.

"When are you going to dump that git?" he snarled.

"When you figure out how to block a Quaffle," said Ginny waspishly.

"You watch yourself," Ron hissed, flushing a deep crimson. "I'm a prefect, don't forget. I could put an end to this nonsense right now if I really wanted to."

"I'd love to see you try," said Ginny, her face reddening in anger. Whatever her feelings were towards Michael, she wasn't going to let her nosy, meddling brother tell her what she could or couldn't do. They glowered at each other for a moment.

"You can do better," said Ron finally.

"Right, I'll keep that in mind," she said nastily. Ron shot her a malevolent look and marched off.

The next Quidditch practice was almost as bad as the first one. Andrew and Jack had improved marginally from the first practice, but were still dreadful. Ron saved a few goal attempts at the beginning, but as the stands filled with onlookers, he lost his nerve and soon started missing everything. The only good thing was Ginny was finally able to spot and catch the Snitch after a very painful two hours, and as the team assembled on the ground, everyone was grumbling about how late they were going to have to stay up that night to catch up with their homework.

It was much the same story the following two practices after that. Angelina decided that the only thing to do about the dreadful Quidditch practices was to schedule more practices, including a full day's worth on Valentine's Day.

"Come on Angelina, I'm supposed to meet Michael in Hogsmeade!" said Ginny angrily. She looked around at the rest of the team for support. Surely she was not the only one with a date on Valentine's Day?

To her misfortune, her remark had the opposite effect of what she intended. Ron, who had been grumbling about the prospect of a full day's worth of practice just two minutes prior, warmed up to the idea considerably.

"Actually, now that I think on it, I think a full day of practice will get this team back on track," he said confidently, and he glared around at the rest of team, as if daring them to disagree. Ginny shot him a filthy look which he returned.

"I don't want to do it," said Angelina, "but the match is rapidly approaching, and we haven't got a prayer if we don't work our asses off."

And so Ginny went to break the news to Michael that evening, kicking herself for not trying to persuade Angelina in private.

"I'm sorry, Michael, I really am," she said sincerely.

"It's all right. I'm disappointed, of course, but it's not your fault. It is what it is."

Ginny awoke bright and early on Valentine's Day and headed to the Quidditch pitch with the rest of the team. It was a cold but sunny morning, and Angelina announced that it was a great day for flying. This was met with grumbles as most of the team was still half-asleep.

"Right then," said Angelina. "Off we go…"

They were in the air, the cold breeze in her face becoming more pronounced as she climbed higher, looking around for the Snitch. She watched the Chasers flying down the field with the Quaffle, passing it several times between them, and finally ending up in Katie Bell's hands, who launched it towards the hoops, and Ron lunged and made the save.

They returned to the end of the pitch and tried again, and Ron was able to snare the Quaffle once more. Ginny scanned around, looking for the bright glint of gold that would give away the location of the Snitch. Off in the distance Ginny saw students ambling down the path to Hogsmeade; she caught sight of a boy with untidy black hair walking with a girl with a long, black ponytail. As Ginny predicted, Harry and Cho got over whatever awkwardness they had before the holidays. What a silly girl Hermione was for thinking otherwise and having the nerve to try and get my hopes up, Ginny thought savagely. She felt a cold satisfaction at being right about something that Hermione wasn't.

Ron missed his next attempt. Angelina successfully feinted him in the opposite direction before sneaking the Quaffle through the left-most hoop. Ginny stopped paying attention to Ron and kept her eyes peeled for the Snitch while simultaneously watching for an errant Bludger. She circled high above the pitch, which is what Harry always did, and almost an hour later she was able to capture the Snitch after two failed attempts. The Snitch they were using today was faster than the one Angelina used during tryouts, which made it harder to catch. After a short break they resumed until Ginny caught the Snitch again, at which point it was now lunchtime. The warmth of the castle came as a huge relief, thawing her frozen face.

"How'd Ron do?" said Ginny to Angelina in an undertone, so Ron wouldn't hear. "I didn't watch him much since I was focused on finding the Snitch."

"He was much better; I think everyone being in Hogsmeade today instead of watching in the bleachers helped him. He's good when he thinks no one is watching, which isn't much comfort since the stands will be packed on game day…"

Upon entering the Great Hall, Ginny looked to the Ravenclaw table for Michael, thinking the least she could do was eat lunch with him since she had ruined his Valentine's Day, but he was not there. She did, however, spot Cho sitting by herself, looking unhappy. This was odd; she was certain she had seen her walking with Harry to Hogsmeade earlier. Harry was nowhere to be found either. It seemed their date had gone badly. Ginny knew that whatever had happened, two things were true: it was Cho's fault and they would make up later.

Angelina's assessment of Ron turned out to be right on the money. After lunch was over and people started returning from Hogsmeade, many went to watch the Gryffindor practice and Ron's performance suffered. This lasted into the following practice on Monday, where his Keeping ability went from bad to abysmal. He lucked into a couple of saves, but the vast majority he let through with ease. Jack and Andrew were still nowhere near resembling competent Beaters, much less Fred and George standards, and by the end of practice, it looked like Angelina was actually fighting back tears.

The week began flying by as Ginny started getting nervous about the match, but expectations were so low that she didn't feel that much pressure. The worst part was hearing the Slytherin jeers and taunts.

"The only question is whether you lose by three hundred or four hundred," said Warrington maliciously, who was a Slytherin Chaser, as they passed each other in the corridors the day before the match.

It turned out this would have absolutely been the case if Hufflepuff's Seeker Summerby hadn't sneezed right as he was about to catch the Snitch, which allowed Ginny to swoop in and nab it from under him. They still lost, as Ron allowed twenty-four goals in twenty-two minutes, which Ginny thought had to be some kind of record.

"I was lucky," she told Harry in the common room that night, after he praised her for managing to catch the Snitch and limiting their loss to only ten points. "It wasn't a very fast Snitch and Summerby's got a cold, he sneezed and closed his eyes at exactly the wrong moment. Anyway, once you're back on the team —"

"Ginny, I've got a lifelong ban."

"You're banned as long as Umbridge is in the school," Ginny corrected him, just as she had corrected Demelza before. "There's a difference. Anyway," she continued, making sure Harry knew she was not after his job, "once you're back, I think I'll try out for Chaser. Angelina and Alicia are both leaving next year and I prefer goal-scoring to Seeking anyway."

Harry looked over at Ron, who was hunched in a corner, staring at his knees, a bottle of butterbeer clutched in his hand.

"Angelina still won't let him resign," Ginny said. "She says she knows he's got it in him."

She wasn't sure if she believed that herself, but she was too tired to worry about Ron right now and went to bed shortly after with mixed feelings about how her first-ever Quidditch match went.