Chapter 60

Ginny POV

A few days later, Ginny was back in the Great Hall for breakfast. It was the morning of Gryffindor's very first match of the year, and it was against Slytherin. Even as a reserve player, Ginny was nervous. It was the first time she'd officially be out on the pitch, albeit, she'd be on the bench on the side of the field, but still, she'd be out on the pitch. She, Demelza, Katie, Ritchie, and Colin all piled their plates with sausages, toast, and eggs, when they spotted Luna Lovegood walking by wearing a hat with a large lion's head on top.

"Luna?" Ginny called out.

"Yes…?" Luna answered lightly.

"What is that?"

"I'm supporting Gryffindor in today's match… Look…" Luna tapped her hat and the lion's head roared loudly, startling a group of first years nearby.

Ginny grinned widely, "That's incredible, Luna."

"Thanks," Luna returned the smile before walking away.

Ron and Harry soon joined them at the table, and Ron looked downright miserable.

"Come on, you've got to eat something," Harry said, pushing a bowl of cereal towards his friend. Ron stared at it before stirring the pieces around a bit with his spoon, but didn't eat it.

"How are you feeling, Harry?" Katie asked after glancing nervously at Ron.

"I feel great! Confident in the team, confident in our Keeper," Harry said firmly.

Ginny smiled. Harry was such a great friend and teammate. If Katie wasn't promoted to Captain next year, she hoped it would be Harry.

"Me too," Katie added, giving a warm smile to Ron. "You can do this Ron!"

Ron looked up briefly before turning his attention back to the cereal he'd stirred to mush. Everyone in their group exchanged a worried look.

Would Ron really be able to do this? Ginny wondered.

Suddenly, Parvati and Lavender appeared. Lavender draped herself over Ron's shoulders, kissing his cheek, while Parvati whispered urgently in Harry's ear. Harry raised his eyebrows, then looked at Ron worriedly, "Hey, let's get going down to the locker room. It's a bit cold today, we want to be able to check on the conditions of the pitch."

Katie and Ginny exchanged confused looks as it was far too early to be going down to the pitch, but got up with Harry and Ron anyway. Harry seemed to be rushing Ron out of the Great Hall, especially quickly past the Slytherin table. As they passed, Ginny noticed the majority of the Slytherins at the table were wearing silver crown-shaped badges. As she slowed to get a closer look, she saw that they read "Weasley is Our King".

As they finally got down to the locker room, they walked all the way through and went out to the pitch to survey the conditions. It was a chilly and overcast day, with minimal rain or wind for the time of year, which they all pointed out as a positive to Ron, who said nothing. They returned to the locker room to find Alicia, Angelina, Fred, and George had made their way down as well. They all got dressed and did their individual mental preparations, which for Ron meant putting his head fully inside his locker and standing there motionless for ten minutes, before gathering around Angelina.

"First match of the year, let's make Gryffindor proud! Myself, Alicia, and Katie as Chasers, Fred and George as Beaters, Harry as the Seeker, and Ron as the Keeper, in case anyone needed reminding…" she said giving a look to Ron. "You've got this, Ron. Believe in yourself. We've got you."

Ron gave her a weak smile and a shaky thumbs up, to the roaring approval of everyone in the locker room.

"Let's go!" shouted the twins in unison, and Angelina rose to lead the group out onto the pitch. Ginny took a deep breath before grabbing her Comet 260 and following the group out. Katie suddenly turned around.

"Ready for your first match?" she asked with a smile.

"I'm not playing… I'm just a reserve. But yes, I am." Ginny replied.

"Hey, you never know! Make sure you're prepared to come in if you need to, alright?"

Ginny felt her heart begin to race, she didn't think she'd really need to be ready to go, reserves rarely ever made appearances in games. She nodded, "Alright."

Ginny followed Katie out through the tunnel onto the pitch, and her breath was nearly taken away by the atmosphere before her. The wooden stands were packed, and nearly everyone was clapping and cheering and yelling for Gryffindor. She spotted Luna's lion's head hat up in the stands as she scanned the crowd, before she spotted who she was really looking for. Hermione was up in the stands decked out in red and gold, standing with Dean, Neville, Parvati, Lavender, and Seamus. As much as Ginny resented it, the sight of the brunette made her nerves disappear almost instantly.

Ginny walked off to the Gryffindor side with her broom and sat on the bench as the rest of the team walked out onto the pitch for the introductions. She could see that Crabbe and Goyle had apparently joined the Slytherin team this year, which she found to be interesting, as she couldn't imagine them being particularly aerodynamic.

Ginny watched from afar as Madam Hooch gave the instructions, blew her whistle, and the game began as the 14 players kicked off hard from the ground and shot upward into the air. The gameplay moved incredibly fast, and Ginny found herself fully immersed in it from her spot on the bench, so immersed, that she almost missed that the Slytherin supporters were singing…

Weasley is our King,

Weasley is our King,

He always lets the Quaffle in,

Weasley is our King.

Ginny looked up at her brother, who looked absolutely terrified. She noticed Harry as well, was looking at Ron with concern instead of searching for the Snitch. Suddenly, Slytherin had scored, and they were behind 0-10. The singing grew louder.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Ginny heard Angelina yell at Harry before he finally took off in search of the Snitch.

0-20. Louder.

0-30. Louder.

0-40. Almost deafeningly loud now was the singing from the Slytherin section.

Finally, it was 10-40 as Angelina was able to get a shot in past the Slytherin Keeper. Katie had a great assist on the play as well. Angelina quickly stole back the Quaffle from Slytherin, passed it to Katie who was attacking the Slytherin side aggressively, before she was hit with a Bludger. Ginny winced at the impact, hoping Katie was alright, when she saw Harry and Malfoy streaking down towards the Slytherin end of the pitch. A sudden change in direction, they were neck and neck, when Ginny saw Harry shoot his right arm out, grabbing for the Snitch, and –

"YES!" Ginny screamed as she jumped to her feet, seeing that Harry had gotten the Snitch first. The game was over, they had beaten Slytherin.

As he flew down towards the pitch, Harry was hit hard in the back with a Bludger from Crabbe, who was immediately reprimanded by Madam Hooch. Harry fell a few feet to the ground, and everyone from the Gryffindor team (except Ron, who was already trudging off towards the locker room) landed and gathered around him.

"Are you alright?" Angelina asked.

Harry nodded as she pulled him up, showing her the Snitch in his hand before grinning. The Gryffindors whooped and celebrated and Ginny was able to hug Harry tight and congratulate him before Malfoy landed beside them, his face whiter than usual with fury.

"Liked my lyrics, did you Potter?" Malfoy asked nastily.

Harry ignored Malfoy, turning his back to him, starting to walk towards the locker room with the rest of the team.

"We wanted to write a couple more verses!" Malfoy called. "But we couldn't find anything that rhymed with fat and ugly – we wanted to sing about his mum, see –"

Ginny knew it was the wrong thing to do, but she couldn't help it. No sooner did the words leave Malfoy's mouth, did she have him on his back, pinned to the ground, her wand pointed directly at his nose.

"Ginny, no!" she heard Katie shout from behind her, but she didn't care.

"Sing me a verse, Malfoy," Ginny snarled between gritted teeth.

The pathetic boy trembled below her, clearly terrified of what he knew she was capable of doing. Suddenly, Ginny felt two pairs of strong hands lifting her swiftly off of the Slytherin Seeker.

"Come on Gin, he's certainly not worth it…" George said as he struggled to keep hold of Ginny as she fought to get back to Malfoy.

"You heard what he said about Mum, I can't just – "

"Not worth it, baby sis, not worth it at all…" Fred said as he worked with George to drag her back to the locker room.

Once the entire team was in the locker room, Fred and George plopped Ginny on the bench in front of her locker right beside Katie. Angelina immediately rounded on her, giving her a serious look. Ginny held her breath as she waited to be reprimanded. Instead, Angelina smiled.

"I do love that Ginny Weasley passion, but make sure to be a bit smarter about it from now on, alright?"

"I – Yes, I promise," Ginny stammered.

"Alright then, let's CELEBRATE!" Angelina shouted and the locker room erupted as everyone but Ron and Ginny jumped to their feet. Ginny was still in shock, and Ron appeared to be mourning something. Suddenly, Ginny felt herself lifted off of her feet by Katie who pulled her into a tight hug.

"We beat Slytherin! One down, two to go!" she cheered, grinning widely at Ginny. Ginny watched as her brothers and Harry lifted Ron up, despite his clear displeasure in the act, until he eventually cracked a smile at the ridiculousness of the whole thing. Ginny laughed, glad to see that Ron might actually come around. She celebrated with the rest of the team before they quickly changed and headed up to the Gryffindor Common Room to celebrate with the rest of their house, and celebrate they did.

Hermione POV

Of course Hermione was glad that Gryffindor had beat Slytherin, especially after the horrible song they'd made up for Ron. She was proud of her friends, proud of her house team, proud of everyone, but she just couldn't get herself into the celebrating mood like the rest of Gryffindor Tower. She watched from a table off in the corner as Ginny, Katie, and Demelza celebrated together. Hermione found it to be pretty incredible that Demelza had the maturity to still hang out with Katie and Ginny while the two of them were so clearly together. Surely Hermione wouldn't be mature enough to be the third wheel with her ex and her new girlfriend.

As Katie pulled Ginny into what felt to be the hundredth particularly close hug, Hermione decided that enough was enough, and headed off to bed. As she began to climb the stairs, she took one look back at the raucous party, and saw that Ginny was watching her leave.

Focus on your girlfriend, Ginny. Clearly, there's nothing that you really care about here. Hermione thought angrily as she ascended the stairs leading to the girls' dormitory. Once inside her room, she changed quickly, got into bed, pulled the curtains around her, and settled in with Crookshanks.

Why was she looking at me though? Today at the game, and tonight just now… Why?


AN: I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who was stuck with this story this far. I know it's been a total slow-burn, and all I'm going to say is that there is considerable forward movement in the next few chapters, so hang in there! Thanks again to everyone who has read this story and has followed along as I write it. I'm loving the journey it's taken me on as I get back into writing and embrace my love for the Harry Potter franchise.

Also, happy Pride! :)