Harry couldn't get the sight of Angelina and Umbridge out of his head the whole class. Although the lesson was pretty cool; they were learning the opposite of the Summoning charm—instead Banishing an object flying away from them at a target across the room. Still he couldn't focus and as a result he almost hit Professor Flitwik several times with his quill. Finally, he actually did, and the poor little wizard let out a sharp "ouch!" as the quill tip stuck him in the forehead.
Harry winced. "Sorry Professor."
Flitwik pulled the quill out of his flesh and glared over at Harry. "Mr. Potter, will you please pay attention!" he squeaked, sending the quill back to Harry effortlessly with his wand. "The target is that way!"
"Yes sir. Sorry." Harry apologized again and took in a deep breath, trying to concentrate.
By the end of the lesson, he'd managed to hit the target a few times, which redeemed him in Flitwik's eyes. As they were gathering their things, Hermione gave Harry a pointed look. "What was all that about? You usually do pretty well in Charms."
"I saw Angelina talking to Umbridge after breakfast," Harry told her as the three of them left the classroom. "I dunno about the plan we came up with last night, Hermione. I keep getting the feeling it's not going to work. Umbridge is ruthless. You should've seen the look on her face when Angelina went up to her…" He frowned into space, his eyes unfocused, thinking bitterly of his detentions with Umbridge. His hand ached slightly and he flexed it absentmindedly.
"Of course it will work, Harry." Hermione reassured him. "I told you, none of the teachers will stand for it. I'll bet she got loads of complaints. She'll give you guys permission to play," the bushy-haired girl frowned somewhat empathetically and added: "though she'll probably have her fun listening to Angelina plead our case."
"Yell I'll bet she will," Harry grumbled as they walked along side-by-side.
"I'm not that fussed to be honest," Ron muttered, shrugging his shoulders. "If it'll save me another stinking turd of a practice drill, then let her hold out on us all she wants. I dunno why I tried out in the first place…"
"Shut up Ron," Harry retorted. "You tried out because you're good."
Hermione rolled her eyes and ignored Ron. "Look, Angelina knows what she's doing. It'll be fine."
"Well, I guess we're about to find out." Ron gestured ahead of them. Harry saw that Angelina was walking towards them, her eyes fixed on his. He swallowed, expecting her to start yelling at him for not keeping his big mouth shut and his temper in check. "What's the verdict?" Ron asked timidly, his attitude from mere seconds before now vanished and replaced by hopefulness.
To Harry's surprise, Angelina beamed at them. "She said yes. She said she didn't see any reason why the team shouldn't play. She's already reinstated the others!"
"See? I told you!" Hermione exclaimed, laughing. Harry could only grin at Angelina, rather enjoying the look on her pretty face. Ron looked happy, but kind of pale, and though Harry knew that his friend was still worried about being able to carry his weight on the team, he was sure that everything would turn out in Ron's favor soon.
To express this, he reached over and punched Ron in the arm. "Stop fretting, you git. This is good news."
Ron looked embarrassed that Harry had said something in front of Angelina, but smiled and rolled his eyes. "Stuff it, Harry."
"Harry's right, Ron," Angelina said seriously. "It's time to step up your game, mate. We're resuming practices immediately. I just have to talk to the others, but I think I can get the field early tomorrow morning. We need to work on your focus, your reflexes, and…"
She continued talking and Harry could only watch her, feeling an attraction to her stirring within him warmly. She was down to business already, and the ink hadn't even dried on the list of groups that had been approved to reform. Harry could see Filch posting it on a bulletin board in the hall, and was satisfied at the look of irritation on his ragged face.
They were on their free period, and Hermione suggested that the boys use the time to practice for their Transfiguration quiz, but Angelina piped up after she'd headed for Ancient Runes and asked to speak to Harry alone. The feeling of attraction to her grew in intensity as he answered, "Sure." Harry caught the look of puzzlement on Ron's face, but ignored it. "Can I meet you back in the common room?"
"Yeah. I'll go and start, then." Ron hesitated a second, but turned and left them, climbing the marble stairs amid a throng of other students.
Angelina walked along side him out into the back courtyard, not really saying anything. Harry didn't speak either—he assumed she must've been working out what she had to say before she said it, and that was fine by him. He knew that she was probably going to tell him that she shouldn't have kissed him; that he was a kid in his fifth year and she was about to graduate…He imagined her telling him that she thought he and Cho would make a cute couple if he could ever manage the courage to ask her to be his girlfriend. All of this swirled around in his head as they found an empty stone bench under a tree and sat down. The bench was cold, but he ignored it. Angelina still hadn't spoken after several minutes, and Harry used the time to think over his retort. Yeah, he fancied Cho still, but she'd gone out with Cedric, and Cedric was…Harry didn't let the word materialize in his head. Sure, he was only fifteen, and she was seventeen, but he didn't think her being older than him was that big a deal.
He thought back to his various encounters with her in the past, before the night of the Yule Ball.
She had only been his teammate, and a good friend of Fred and George's. He supposed that he may have thought fleetingly once or twice how beautiful she was. He always thought she was funny, and a damn good player, and an all around cool person. But she had seemed kind of unattainable to him…meaning the possibility of her actually wanting to kiss him had never, ever occurred to him. Yet here they were…
"Harry?"
She startled him out of his thoughts, and he looked over at her. Apparently she'd been talking to him and he'd been so engrossed in his own mind that he hadn't even noticed. "What? Sorry. What were you saying?"
"Um..." Angelina frowned; he assumed out of annoyance; and cleared her throat. "I said that I think I might fancy you."
Harry had not actually expected to hear it. He hadn't prepared himself for that to come out of her mouth. There was an awkward moment in which he was simply at a loss for words. He felt his cheeks growing hot, and saw to his astonishment that she was looking rather flushed herself; her smooth dark skin was glowing slightly. "Oh…" he managed first, and when she raised her eyebrows at him he hastily offered: "I mean I-I, um…" Harry stammered, mentally kicking himself for always being so damned inarticulate at precisely the wrong moments.
"You don't have to say anything." Angelina took a breath and her face became serious again, like a Quidditch captain giving a speech to her team. He waited. "I've decided that telling you was probably the best thing to do, especially with everything that's going on. I don't want you to be confused about my…er…feelings."
"So," Harry couldn't suppress a nervous grin. "You fancy me?"
"Why d'you think I kissed you twice?"
Harry again remembered last year, and the triumph he'd felt at having his first kiss from someone as damned cool as Angelina Johnson. His grin grew wider and he shrugged. "Well, you were kind of rat-arsed drunk on fire whiskey the first time…"
She swatted at him with her notebook and he laughed. "So were you! I handled my drink way better than you did anyway; I seem to recall you giggling like a little girl at some point."
"That's done it." Harry grabbed her and she yelped. They swatted at each other and when he pulled her hair the way he'd seen Fred do it the night before, she chased him around the bench until she caught up with him and began trying to kick him in the shins. Harry grabbed her again and they struggled at arms at bit before their proximity grew tight and his eyes happened to land on her full, soft lips. He felt a spark light in his stomach somewhere and her laughter died off as they stared at each other. He really wanted to kiss her. Angelina's eyes also flickered down to his mouth, but she only poked him in the stomach, right in his most ticklish spot. Harry laughed so loud in surprise that several students studying or hanging out looked over their way. The two quickly regained their composure and sat down again.
"Hot out here, innit?" Angelina asked, catching her breath. Harry shook his head, though he was a bit warm himself. They both knew it wasn't from the weather, though. "Well…" she continued. "I guess you'd better go practice for your quiz. Ron's waiting."
"Where are you going?"
Angelina shrugged. "I'll probably sit here and draw up some diagrams or something. Maybe come up with some stuff to practice at the drill tomorrow?" He knew that by 'probably' she meant that was exactly what she intended to do. He stood up and grabbed his bag, running a hand through his unruly hair as he backed away from the bench. "See you around?"
"Sure—hey."
She looked up from her already open notebook and smiled. "Yeah?"
Harry felt that spark ignite again as he backed away slowly. "Well…I do too," he said quietly. "Fancy you, I mean."
Angelina looked around to see if anyone heard, and her smile grew wider. "I know."
