Ginny saw Slughorn retrieve one more potion as she was leaving but didn't have time to ask what it was — she had exactly four minutes to get to her Care of Magical Creatures class. She knew she would be late, but also knew Hagrid would be more forgiving of tardiness than most of the other teachers, though she felt a little bad about taking advantage of him in that way.

Ginny finally got a couple hours of break after Hagrid's class. Her lunch was interrupted by Demelza Robins, a fourth-year student Ginny was friends with.

"I'm trying out for Chaser this year!" she announced happily.

"Oh — nice one!" said Ginny, who was not expecting to be presented with this moral conflict, but then she remembered Demelza telling her last year that she wanted to try out after Angelina and Alicia left. As Katie Bell was still here and highly unlikely to lose her spot, that left only two open spots between Ginny, Demelza, and Dean to fill. "Good luck!"

"Thanks!"

Ginny and Amber decided to spend their free period after lunch practicing the Vanishing Charm some more, while Lena cuddled with Jack in the corner of the common room. Ginny always resolved not to procrastinate at the beginning of each school year, but that usually lasted only one or two weeks before fatigue and laziness set in. After making a little improvement in the Vanishing Charm by the end of break, she set off for her afternoon classes. By the time her last one ended, she had received more homework on her first day than she ever had before.

"I already hate O.W.L.s," she complained to Lena after leaving their Ancient Runes class.

"They expect us to have no life," agreed Lena.

"Or sleep," said Amber.

Dreading how much more homework she'd receive in Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts the following day, they headed down to the Great Hall for dinner.

Ginny spotted Harry, Ron, and Hermione sitting at the Gryffindor table having what appeared to be a rather animated conversation about something. Hermione was looking agitated. Curiosity getting the better of her, she approached them to try and see if she could hear some of what they were saying.

"…I s'pose you think I cheated?" Harry was saying.

"Well, it wasn't exactly your own work, was it?" Hermione said stiffly.

"He only followed different instructions to ours," said Ron. "Could've been a catastrophe, couldn't it? But he took a risk and it paid off." He heaved a sigh. "Slughorn could've handed me that book, but no, I get the one no one's ever written in. Puked on, by the look of page fifty-two, but — "

Alarm bells were going off in Ginny's head as she quickly put together what was going on.

"Hang on," she said, causing the three of them to turn around suddenly. None of them had noticed her approaching. "Did I hear right? You've been taking orders from something someone wrote in a book, Harry?"

"It's nothing," he said reassuringly, lowering his voice. He knew immediately where her mind had gone. "It's not like, you know, Riddle's diary. It's just an old textbook someone's scribbled on."

"But you're doing what it says?"

"I just tried a few of the tips written in the margins, honestly, Ginny, there's nothing funny —"

"Ginny's got a point," said Hermione, perking up at once. "We ought to check that there's nothing odd about it. I mean, all these funny instructions, who knows?"

"Hey!" said Harry indignantly, as she pulled a very old, very tattered copy of Advanced Potion-Making out of his bag and raised her wand.

"Specialis Revelio!" she said, rapping it smartly on the front cover. Nothing whatsoever happened. The book simply lay there, looking old and dirty and dog-eared.

"Finished?" said Harry irritably. "Or d'you want to wait and see if it does a few backflips?"

"It seems all right," said Hermione, still staring at the book suspiciously. "I mean, it really does seem to be… just a textbook."

"Good. Then I'll have it back," said Harry, snatching it off the table, but it slipped from his hand and fell to the floor. Ginny glanced down the table at Dean, who was engaged in conversation with Seamus and hadn't seen her yet. Feeling relieved, Ginny turned her attention back to Harry, who was tucking the tattered book back into his bag. Ginny debated whether to say anything further about it, or perhaps even demand that she have a look at the book, but she deliberated too long, and the moment passed.

"So I take it you won the bottle of lucky potion?" she said finally.

"How do you know about that?" said Harry, surprised.

"He was retrieving the potions as I was leaving this morning. Said they were for his N.E.W.T. class and that he'd be giving out a bottle of lucky potion as a prize."

"Oh. Yeah, I did."

Ginny didn't dare ask him to share it with her.

"Well lucky you," she said wryly. "Any idea what you'll use it for?"

"No, not yet."

She almost made a joke about needing it for his final showdown with Voldemort, but couldn't quite get it out, so she merely bade him goodbye and went to sit with Dean, who was discussing his classes with Seamus when she took a seat next to him.

"Hey," she said, rubbing his back affectionately.

"Hey, babe," said Dean, leaning in for a kiss, which Ginny obliged him.

"How were your classes today?"

"Oh, same first day BS, you know. Harry got a detention from Snape already," Dean added, laughing.

"He did? Why?"

"Some cheek he made during class. It was pretty satisfying, Snape's such an ass."

"Yeah, I have him tomorrow," said Ginny gloomily.

"Wish Harry was still teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Dean.

"Yeah."

"I guess you had to hear about O.W.L.s all day?"

"Yep. This year's gonna be a nightmare."

"Yeah, it was a lot of work, but you get through it. I'll always be willing to help you this year if you need it."

"Thanks, Dean. That's sweet of you."

She imagined herself still being with Dean in April of the following year, and the thought gave her a bit of anxiety. Their relationship was going well so far, but Harry was still in the back of her mind, and committing long term to someone else scared her.

As she expected, Professor Snape gave them a nasty essay on hex-deflection after their first lesson, and Professor Flitwick had them practice Summoning Charms, which Ginny at least had moderate success with during class (at least compared to most of the other students). Fortunately, she received very little homework for Arithmancy and Astronomy, for which she was exceptionally thankful. Still, by the end of the week, her workload had already become positively alarming.

"How are we supposed to keep up!" ranted Lena after their last class on Friday.

"Well, for starters," said Ginny, "less snog time."

"That's not happening," said Lena firmly.

When they arrived back at Gryffindor Tower, it was to find Harry pinning a piece of parchment on the notice board.

"Oh, hey Ginny," he said. "Good timing. I've scheduled tryouts for Quidditch for next Saturday, I'm just putting a notice up for it now."

"Great, can't wait!"

With Quidditch now on the mind, Ginny decided to grab her broom and head down to the pitch to get some practice in after a stressful week. She ran into Demelza on the way down, who, upon seeing Ginny's broomstick in her hand, deduced where she was going and said she would come down to the pitch as well to practice.

It was the first time she got to see Demelza fly in person. She wasn't the greatest flyer, but she was far from terrible. The same was true for her aim: she got it through the hoops plenty of times, but there were a lot of misses and Ginny privately thought that she was a better player than her.

"Good job," Ginny told her as they began heading back to the castle. "You did well!"

"Thanks," said Demelza, smiling. "I think you're a lock for the team. You flew great, much better than me."

"At least all that time practicing with Harry and Ron this summer wasn't a complete waste," said Ginny with a smile.

The following day she watched Dean practice and thought, in the most unbiased manner she could, that he was at least as good as Demelza if not better. But it was one thing to play well in a low-stakes practice with no one watching; it was another to do so at a make-or-break tryout.

After another overbearing week of classwork, Ginny awoke early on the day of Quidditch trials so she could have time to eat a quick breakfast before heading out to the pitch. She drank an extra cup of coffee to give her more focus and energy that morning, as she needed to be at her best. She saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione sitting further down the table reading a newspaper while Dean was telling her about the muggle sport, football.

"It's more boring than Quidditch, honestly; much less scoring. But it's fun to play. Oh, check this out."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gotten up and were now heading towards the doors, presumably to head down to the Quidditch pitch. Dean nodded towards Parvati and Lavender, who were sitting across from them and down a few yards. As Ron approached, Parvati nudged Lavender, who looked around and gave Ron a wide smile. Ron blinked at her, then returned the smile uncertainly. His walk instantly became something more like a strut.

"Oh my God," Ginny muttered, while Dean stifled a laugh. It seemed Lavender had a thing for Ron, and he actually seemed to like it. She could just imagine how incensed Hermione must be right now. "What a prat."

"What do you mean?" said Dean.

"Oh nothing, it's just — it's nothing," said Ginny lamely, thinking it was best to keep the Ron-Hermione thing to herself. "Come on, let's head down."

And so they set off. It was a cool, breezy morning, but overall pleasant and ideal for Quidditch.

"Good luck," said Ginny.

"You too, Ginny," he replied, and they shared a kiss. "I really hope we're on the team together! That would be so amazing!"

"Me too. Don't be nervous, you'll do fine."

Dean had a nervous swagger but stopped dead when he saw just how many people were trying out. It looked like almost a quarter of the entire House had shown up already, and there were still fifteen minutes before trials were supposed to start. Ginny saw Katie Bell, Demelza Robins, Jimmy Peakes, and a bunch of other students from just about every age group, including, to Ginny's displeasure, Cormac McLaggen, one of the boys from the 'Slug Club'.

"Wow," said Dean quietly.

"Don't worry," Ginny reassured him. "Most are just here because of Harry. Everyone needs to see 'The Chosen One' up close."

It seemed her theory was on the money. She watched as many of the students tried to get last-minute practice in, and it seemed like the first time many of them had even gotten on a broom. Some couldn't get off the ground at all. By the time eight o'clock arrived, no less than half of Gryffindor House had shown up, including Jack Sloper (after he extracted himself from Lena's face), and Dean's friend, Seamus.

"Right then," said Harry, a little nervously. "So, er — welcome everybody. Thanks for coming to tryouts. Let's start off by forming groups of ten and taking a lap around the pitch."

This easily eliminated about half of the participants. One group consisted of the students that had trouble even getting off the ground; they looked like first-years. The one that remained airborne for more than a few seconds crashed into a goalpost. Another group ended in a pile-up halfway around the pitch. Some had, incredibly, shown up without broomsticks. There was another group of what looked like fourth-year girls that merely went into giggling fits when Harry blew the whistle. One group were Hufflepuffs.

"If there's anyone else here who's not from Gryffindor," roared Harry, clearly annoyed now, "leave now, please!"

There was a pause, then a couple of little Ravenclaws went sprinting off the pitch, snorting with laughter.

At last, they now had a reasonable number of people and were able to have a proper tryout. Ginny had a great day — she scored seventeen goals and had even outflown Katie Bell, who had been on the team for years. She watched Dean's trial and thought he had performed really well. He scored eight goals and seemed comfortable on a broomstick, but did get hit with a couple of Bludgers. Demelza, on the other hand, only scored six goals but deftly avoided all the Bludgers hit in her direction. Seamus wasn't terrible, but he was clearly outflown by both Dean and Demelza.

Ginny thought Harry would pick Dean as the third Chaser as she thought he had performed best despite being hit by a Bludger a couple of times, plus he was his dormmate and they were on good terms whereas Demelza was someone who, as far as Ginny knew, Harry had never interacted with at all. But he ended up choosing her over Dean.

"I thought that was really unfair," Ginny told an unhappy Dean consolingly as the Beater tryouts began. "You flew better than Demelza."

"All because of those damn Bludgers!" Dean huffed.

"She was lucky only a few were hit towards her," said Ginny.

"Well, maybe Harry didn't want to be seen playing favorites or something. Or maybe he fancies her. Who knows. Oh well. I'll see you back in the common room I guess."

"Okay. I'm really sorry Dean. I was really looking forward to us playing together."

She kissed him on the cheek, which cheered him up slightly and he made his way back to the castle. She considered asking Harry why he chose Demelza, but thought that, being Dean's girlfriend, it would come off as rather pathetic. One thing was for sure, though, it couldn't be because he fancied her. Soon the two Beaters were selected: Jimmy Peakes, and a third-year black boy named Ritchie Coote.

Once it was time for Keeper tryouts, she got back in the air and flew towards the end of the pitch where a third-year boy was tending the goals. Katie went first, who got her shot past him rather easily. Ginny was next, who did the same. He managed to block Demelza's shot, but that ended up being the only one he saved.

None of the other applicants before the last two saved more than two goals apiece. Now it was McLaggen's turn, who looked more like a Beater than a Keeper in Ginny's view, but he saved four out of the five. Ginny's was the one he missed, but it wasn't because of her skill; he just inexplicably flew off in the wrong direction. Ginny found this odd but chalked it up to nerves. Now it was Ron's turn.

"Good luck!" called a girl from the stands. Ginny thought it was Hermione, but after looking down towards the stands, she saw Lavender Brown. Ron seemed to appreciate her support and looked more confident. Ginny looked at Hermione, and though it was a great distance, she could still make out the cold look she was giving Lavender, but Lavender, who had her eyes fixed on Ron, took no notice.

As much as Ginny didn't want McLaggen on the team, she wasn't going to make it easy for Ron either after he upset Hermione by being receptive to Lavender's flirting. Plus, at the end of the day, she wanted the best team possible for Harry, and if that meant Ron wasn't on the team, so be it. Ron was in top form though; he saved her first shot without too much of a problem, and the same held true for Katie and Demelza's attempts. Ginny had the last attempt, and this time she almost snuck it by him, but he managed to deflect the Quaffle with his foot and prevent the goal.

When she returned to the ground, it was to find Harry face-to-face with McLaggen.

"Give me another go."

"No," said Harry. "You've had your go. You saved four. Ron saved five. Ron's Keeper, he won it fair and square. Get out of my way."

She thought for a moment that McLaggen might punch him, and she had her wand ready just in case, but he contented himself with an ugly grimace and stormed away, growling what sounded like threats to thin air. Harry turned back to his team. His eyes met Ginny's, and Ginny gave him an encouraging smile, which he returned.

"Well done," he said to his team. "You flew really well —"

"You did brilliantly, Ron!"

This time it really was Hermione running toward them from the stands; Ginny saw Lavender walking off the pitch, arm in arm with Parvati, a rather grumpy expression on her face. Ron looked extremely pleased with himself and even taller than usual as he grinned at the team and at Hermione.

After fixing the time of their first full practice for the following Thursday, Harry, Ron, and Hermione bade good-bye to the rest of the team and left the pitch. Demelza came hurrying towards Ginny.

"Can you believe it? I'm on the team! I'm so excited!"

"You flew really well, Demelza," said Ginny, giving her a hug. "I'm so happy for you!"

"It's a shame Dean couldn't make it though, he seemed like a good bloke."

"Yeah. It's okay though, maybe next year. I'm glad that it was you if it couldn't be him."

"Thanks, Ginny."

They walked back to the castle together and ran into Luna Lovegood, who was standing along the path looking at seemingly nothing in particular.

"Hi, Luna," said Ginny.

"Oh, hello Ginny," said Luna, looking around.

"Good term so far?"

"Oh yes, quite busy though. I wish we still had the D.A. I don't like Professor Snape much, he's very unpleasant."

"Yeah, I'd Bat-Bogey him, but I don't know if it would have much effect, seeing as he's already two-thirds bat already…"

Luna gave her unique, high-pitched laugh.

"This is Demelza, she and I are the new Gryffindor Chasers," said Ginny. Luna and Demelza shook hands awkwardly.

"I applied for the commentator position," Luna announced. Ginny really hoped she'd get it, as it would be incredibly entertaining, but thought the chances were slim.

Ginny took a lengthy shower when she got back to the common room and spent most of the remaining afternoon trying to cheer Dean up while practicing Transfiguration. They went down to dinner early, as they were both starving, and by the time they were finished, most students had not even arrived yet.

On the way back to Gryffindor Tower, they passed Cormac McLaggen at the bottom of a second-floor staircase, and he missed the last couple of steps, almost tripping. Dean snorted. McLaggen appeared to take no notice.

Dean went up to his dorm shortly after they got back, still feeling unhappy about Quidditch trials, leaving Ginny to sit in the corner by herself while the common room gradually became more crowded as people returned from dinner. Ginny retrieved her Pygmy Puff, Arnold, and played with him to pass the time.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were among the last students back from dinner, and they found an empty table to have their usual hushed discussions. Hermione, Ginny could see, had a copy of the Evening Prophet and was reading from it. She went back to playing with Arnold for awhile until Lena interrupted her.

"What's up?" she said.

"Just relaxing," said Ginny. "Where's Jack?"

"Sulking," said Lena. "He's still pissed about not making the Quidditch team. Where's Dean?"

"In his dorm, doing the same thing I suspect."

"Boys and their sports," said Lena, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, don't be badmouthing Quidditch. Some of us girls like it too, you know. You should try it sometime, it's so much fun."

"It takes me way too long getting these curls just right only to have the wind mess it all up," Lena retorted.

"You look good with straight hair like mine," said Ginny. "Much less fuss too." Lena merely shrugged.

"Your Pygmy Puff is really cute! Can I pet him?"

"Sure!"

"What's his name?"

"Arnold."

"Hello, Arnold!" said Lena, giggling. She stuck out her finger and the Puffskein moved forward to sniff it. Lena stroked it with her finger gently.

"Well, I'll see you, Ginny."

She left, only to be replaced by Demelza a moment later, whom Ginny had just seen talking to Harry.

"Hey, Ginny," she said brightly.

"Hey."

"I can't wait for our first practice!"

"Me neither," she said, smiling. "What are you up to? I saw you over there with Harry."

"I just gave him a letter from Snape. Poor fellow has detention with him tonight. Sorting flobberworms."

"Oh, yeah. Dean told me about that. He got it on the first day back."

"And he's just now serving it? That's weird."

Now that Ginny thought about it, that did seem weird. Why had he not served it last Saturday?

It was Demelza's turn to play with Arnold for a few moments before telling Ginny that she was going to spend the rest of the night in her dorm as she was exhausted.

"Just wait 'til next year. I'm already sick of O.W.L.s and it's only been two weeks."

"Can't wait," she said sarcastically. "Well, good night, Ginny. Still can't believe I'm on the team!"

"Good night."

Ginny put Arnold back in his cage and walked over to where Harry and Hermione were sitting. Ron was no longer with them.

"Good team you put together today, Captain," she said. Harry looked up. "I like our chances."

"Thanks, Ginny," he said, smiling. "Not going to the Slug Club dinner?"

"I didn't know there was one," said Ginny truthfully.

"Slughorn cornered me at dinner, but I told him I couldn't go because I had detention."

"Oh yeah, Demelza told me. Just imagine slapping Snape across the face with each flobberworm you have to sort. That should make it easier."

"That's good advice," said Harry, smiling again.

"Where'd Ron go?"

"To bed, apparently," said Hermione. "He was a bit miffed about Slughorn not inviting him."

Ginny rolled her eyes.

"You'd better get going," said Hermione to Harry. "Snape will probably give you another detention if you're late."

"What? Oh yeah…"

Harry gathered his things, said goodbye, and headed to out the portrait hole.

"How come you didn't go?" said Ginny. "To Slughorn's dinner?"

"Slughorn said McLaggen and Zabini would be there, so I wasn't keen on going," said Hermione tartly.

"Don't blame you. Still can't believe how badly McLaggen missed that last save at trials, did you see that? That wasn't even my best shot."

"What? Oh… yeah," said Hermione in a small voice, looking back down at her newspaper.

"You Confunded him, didn't you?" said Ginny exasperatedly. It was all making sense now. Hermione was bad at covering when she engaged in mischief.

"Oh fine, yes, but don't tell Ron. It's better if he believes he earned the job fair and square."

"I won't, I still want to win," said Ginny dryly. The competitive and objective part of Ginny thought that McLaggen would have been a safer bet for Keeper, but he was such an insufferable, arrogant wanker that she didn't care.

When September bled into October, notice of the first Hogsmeade trip went up on the community board in the common room.

"Excellent!" said Dean excitedly. "You'll go with me, right Ginny?"

"Of course!" she said.

"Can't wait! We're gonna have a great time! I'll make sure of that."

They were heading down to lunch, and Ginny followed him out the portrait hole. Dean offered his hand to help her over the ledge.

"Thanks, Dean," she said, though for some reason this annoyed her. She has never needed help getting through the portrait hole and certainly didn't need it now, but she knew Dean was just trying to be gentlemanly, so she bit her tongue.