Rory, Atlas, Neville, Ginny, and Hermione were walking down the corridor for their first gathering of the Slug Club.

"It might be fun," Atlas said. "If you convince yourself it's bad, you're gonna have a bad time. If you go into it with a positive attitude, it might work out that way."

"He only had me join his club because he saw me hex someone on the train and thought it was impressive," Ginny said. "I'm a Weasley. My family has is not notable fot anything else."

"You do have two hot brothers, but I don't think Slughorn cares about that," Rory said.

"Did I meet the hot brothers?" Atlas asked.

"No," Ginny said. "You only met Ron and the twins. Bill works for Gringotts as a code breaker. He's the one marrying Fleur."

"Gotta be a hottie to bag a Veela," Atlas said.

"Half-veela," Hermione, Ginny, and Rory said in unison.

Atlas was startled by the girls' response. "No offense, but y'all sound a little bit like you're being haters right now."

"Don't worry. I'll own up to being a hater. She's obnoxious," Ginny said. "I'm only being nice because Bill likes her. And I guess she's going to be my sister."

"I'm sure your brothers like everyone you date," Atlas said, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"I don't care if they do. I think we all have that in common," Ginny said.

"They know about your newest conquest?" Atlas asked.

Rory turned to Ginny whose face reddened.

"You're dating someone?" Rory asked, a bit too eagerly. If Ginny was involved with someone else, it meant she was no longer going to be mooning over Rory's boyfriend.

"How do you even know anything?" Ginny asked.

Atlas scoffed and pointed at Ginny, "You," then he turned to Rory and pointed, "and you are constantly the topic of the hot goss round the school."

"Really?" Rory asked.

"You can't be surprised," Neville insisted. "You're a bloody seer with a cult and your boyfriend is Harry Potter. Everyone is paying attention to what you're doing."

"Everyone just thinks you're hot, but they're afraid to admit it in Slytherin," Atlas said to Ginny.

"I love that for me," Ginny said.

"But that's how I know who your new man is. Because everyone is all up in your business," Atlas said.

"Who?" Rory asked. She looked around at the group and it was obvious she was the only one not in the know. "You're not going to tell me?"

"I'm surprised Harry hasn't said anything," Ginny said.

Hermione laughed. "He pretends not to be, but he's as oblivious as Ron is most times."

"Unless it's to do with Rory," Neville said.

"Yes, yes, Harry is dumb and in love with me," Rory said. "Ginny, who is it?"

"Dean," she said simply. "And it's not really anything right now. We're just hanging out."

"And smooching," Atlas said. Neville laughed.

"Whatever, just don't mention it to Ron," Ginny said. "At least not until after Quidditch tryouts."

Rory agreed with that. Tomorrow morning were Quidditch tryouts and Ron was a nervous wreck, which meant Harry was a nervous wreck because he didn't want to cut his best friend from the team.

"How long has this been a thing?" Rory asked.

Ginny shrugged. "We talked on the train."

"Merlin, maybe I'm oblivious too," Rory admitted to herself.

"No offense, Rory, but when you aren't sleeping you've either got your face in a book or Harry's face," Hermione said.

The others laughed.

"That's uncalled for, Hermione," Rory said.

"And accurate," she countered as they reached their destination.

Atlas knocked on the door and they were greeted warmly by Slughorn.

"Come in, come in, come in," he said excitedly. They were gathered into the room where several other students were gathered around a table covered in delicious-looking treats.

Rory recognized nearly everyone around the table. All people who had family whose name you could drop that would get people talking.

"So glad you could all join us," Slughorn said looking them over as they took their seats. "I thought Harry might come along with you."

"Afraid he's got detention with Snape tonight," Rory said. "He does wish he could be here." Detention with Snape was probably the only thing less preferable to this.

"Tell him that he mustn't miss the next one," Slughorn said.

Rory couldn't help but notice the eye-rolls at this. There was clearly one person Slughorn was eager to get cozy with and he was with Snape tonight.

Atlas took a seat beside Blaise Zabini, which surprised her, but she took the open seat on the other side of her brother even though it was next to Cormac McLaggen.

"Aurora Lupin," Cormac said. "How are you this fine evening?"

"Splendid," Rory replied.

"Shame your boyfriend's always getting into trouble with Snape," Cormac said. "Can't blame him. Snape's an ass isn't he?"

Rory nodded in agreement. She was just about to turn back to her brother when Cormac spoke again.

"You planning on watching tryouts tomorrow?" Cormac asked. "Heard you're taking over for Jordan."

"Yes," Rory said.

"Tell Potter to expect me then," Cormac said.

"You play Quidditch?" Rory asked.

"Keeper," he said. "I'd be a fair chaser, but let's face it, Potter's going to need a better keeper than last season."

"Ron did a fair job, and he won us the cup," Rory said.

"His brothers and his sister picked up his slack last year. Coote and Peakes are decent, but they'll have to train hard to be as good as the twins. Ginny's about half as good a seeker as Potter, but I reckon she'll make a decent chaser," Cormac said.

"Are you going to talk badly about my friends all night?" Rory asked.

"Come on," Cormac laughed, "I know you're the expert. I hear you've got all the stats for all the players for all the houses memorized. Tell me I'm wrong."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Cormac, you're a seventh year. Why are you just now going out for the team if you're so good?"

"My mates talked me into some shenanigans last year around tryouts. I ate some doxy eggs on a bet. I was in the hospital wing," he said. "But I'll be there this year, no worries."

There was now a frightening possibility that Cormac, a notorious womanizer who'd hit on Rory numerous times last year when she and Harry were broken up, might be able to push Ron, Harry's best friend, out as keeper at tryouts tomorrow.

"I guess you'll just have to prove it then," Rory said.

"I will," he said confidently. "But I have a favor to ask."

"What could I possibly do to help you?" she asked, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"There's a friend of yours I'd like to talk to," he said.

"Didn't Ara dump you?" Rory asked.

"As delightful as Ara is, I'm not talking about her," he said. He nodded across the table to where Hermione and Ginny were chatting. "Granger's unattached isn't she?"

Rory held back a laugh. "Yes, and she has a grade point average you have to meet if you want her to even give you the time of day."

He scoffed. "I can change her mind, no worries."

Rory shook her head. "I'm not going to put a word in to Hermione for you."

"I'm not so bad," Cormac said.

"I'm sure someone thinks so," Rory said. "Good luck though."

"Don't need luck," he said with a wink. Then he leaned forward in his chair, he raised his voice a bit more, "So, Atlas. Bit of a shock for you to end up in Slytherin and not with your sister?"

All the eyes in the room turned onto her brother. He was unfazed.

"I mean, I guess. But she said aside from her and Sirius no one else in the Black family has been in anything but Slytherin, so the deck was stacked against me," he said. "If you're asking if I'm disappointed I didn't end up in the lion house, I'm chill. I've heard some stories and y'all be wildin'."

"'Wildin'?" Slughorn asked for clarification.

"Sorry. Gryffindor's like to… Do some crazy stuff," Atlas said.

"Mostly your sister," Blaise said.

"Mostly her boyfriend, actually, but he's cool people," Atlas said giving Rory a condescending pat on the head. "So is she."

"Thank you for your validation," Rory replied. "You are also cool people."

"I know the Slytherin and Gryffindor rivalry runs deep; even in my youth, it was quite the big deal. But I'm glad to see this bridging of a gap," Slughorn said. "I hope beyond these two, the rest of you can manage to make friends outside your houses as well."

"This is going to be a shit show," Harry said.

The turnout for tryouts was massive. Rory had helped him come up with a sort of schedule for the tryouts: warm-up, drills, and then trials for chasers, beaters, and keepers. He hadn't expected many new people, but there were at least 50 students there.

Ron looked like he might vomit standing there with Ginny on the pitch. Cormac was looking smug and talking loudly over everyone else. There were a handful of people he didn't even recognize.

Hermione and Rory were going to sit in the stands and watch for moral support, but he was so overwhelmed that he put them to work simply to wrangle everyone and start taking names down for who was trying out for which positions.

"Don't be biased," Katie said as she was writing her name on the sign-up sheet. "Don't just choose old players or your friends. We've seen plenty of teams go sideways that way. Look at Slytherin."

Harry nodded. "Should probably be you here instead of me."

Katie scoffed. "I don't want to be in charge of the shit show."

He chuckled. Katie's confidence in him was a relief, and he knew she was a shoo-in, but he would take her words to heart and try not to be biased.

"Oh, for fucks sake," Rory groaned from across the pitch. Harry turned to her just in time to hear her shout, "These are the tryouts for the Gryffindor Quidditch team! If you're not in Gryffindor shove off or I will make you shove off. You'll have plenty of other opportunities to gawk at Harry Potter some other time."

Katie chuckled a whole swath of students started to depart. "Girlfriend and bodyguard. Lucky man, Potter."

"I think our luck is that she gets motion sick and can't play Quidditch," Harry said. "She'd be as bad as Oliver. Worse maybe."

"Not possible," Katie said handing the sheet to Harry.

"Good luck," Harry said.

She gave him a nod and went to join the others. A few minutes later Hermione and Rory joined him handing him a sheet of paper.

"You're going to have to restructure this whole thing," Rory said. She opened her mouth to go on, but he stopped her.

"I know. I've got it handled," he promised her. "Most of these people are just here to gawk at me."

"And Rory," Hermione said.

"And you," Rory said.

Hermione rolled her eyes. Cormac had found her as soon as she'd stepped onto the pitch with Rory. Harry hoped Cormac's Quidditch skills were as terrible as his personality. No way Ron was going to take it well if Cormac made the team and was going after Hermione.

Harry surveyed the group in front of him. Harry was captain. He'd wanted this.

"Let's get started," he called out to everyone.

Tryouts took two hours. Romilda and a group of her giggling friends showed up and left quickly after warm-ups. There were tantrums, broom crashes, and broken teeth. Tears.

Harry wanted to cry with relief when he finally finished his trials for chaser: Ginny was a natural, Katie was solid and reliable, and a new girl, a fifth-year girl, Demelza.

Ritchie Coote and Jimmy Peaks returned as beaters for the team. And that left keeper trials.

First, Harry had Cormac guard the rings while Ginny, easily the strongest chaser, launched the quaffle at him. Cormac managed to guard the rings four out of five times. Harry was astonished because it seemed like Cormac completely let the ball fly past him on the last pitch. He turned to meet eyes with Rory who would almost certainly have something to say about it, but when he saw her she seemed to be arguing with Hermione.

Harry had other things to deal with other than the two of them because Ron was up next.

"Don't hold back on him," Harry said to Ginny.

"As if I would," she said before flying back up to the goalposts.

He wanted to cover his eyes during the trial. Ron was nervous. But all he had to do was block pitches. His heart was in his throat the whole time.

But just barely, Ron managed to block his sister every single time. Harry was so relieved, though he didn't think the pain in his neck and shoulders from being so tense was ever going to go away.

"So who's it?"

Harry was surprised to see Cormac walking toward him.

"Ron saved them all. You missed that last shot," Harry said. He was exhausted and didn't want to deal with this.

"His sister softballed him on that last one," Cormac insisted.

"Take it up with her if you think that," Harry said motioning to Ginny who was standing a few feet away with her arms crossed. Cormac turned around to her and seemed to lose his nerve a bit. Harry wouldn't want to be on Ginny's bad side either. "I can keep you on as reserve keeper if Ron's ever ill, but he's got the spot."

Cormac was clearly angry and he shoved past Harry, nearly knocking him to the ground as he did. But Harry didn't care. He was just glad that it was over.

"Thanks, mate."

Harry looked over to Ron. "No thanks necessary. You earned it."

Ron seemed pleased but still looked like his nerves might get the better of him. Harry hoped he was making the right decision.

Harry wanted a break from everyone after the ordeal and elected to put all the spare equipment away on his own just so he could have a moment of peace.

After a shower and changing out of his uniform, he was surprised to find Rory sitting in the locker room.

"What are you still doing here?" he asked.

She looked up at him from the bench. "I was waiting for you. Wanted to make sure you didn't fall over on the way back to the castle."

"I didn't think it was going to be so exhausting," he said taking a seat beside her. He stretched, trying to alleviate the pain in his shoulders, but was only temporarily successful.

"Shoulders hurt?" she asked.

"I'll be fine," Harry insisted. Rory reached into her purse and pulled out a small jar. "What's that?"

"Don't be weird about this," she said, color staining her cheeks, "but take your shirt off."

"You're telling me not to be weird and you just asked me to take my shirt off?" he laughed.

"Just do it," she said, "and keep in mind nothing of a sexual nature is about to happen."

"If you say so," he said, complying. He pulled the t-shirt over his head. Rory got to her feet and stood behind him. She opened the jar and there was a clear gel inside that smelled faintly of peppermint. She rubbed some into the palm of her hands and then began to rub it into his shoulders.

At first, he thought she was just massaging his shoulders, which he appreciated, but the gel started to tingle and warm. The pain started to ease.

"Wow," he said.

"Thought it might be useful," she said.

"Thank you," he said. "Thought my shoulders might never relax." Rory kissed his neck and his skin tingled for reasons entirely unrelated to whatever salve Rory was putting on his shoulders.

"I have to tell you something," Rory said, still massaging his shoulders. "You're not going to like it."

"What is it?" he asked. He was pretty positive that she couldn't say anything to him right now that would have him as tightly wound as he'd been during tryouts.

"Hermione confundussed Cormac during his trial with Ginny. That's why he missed the last shot," she said.

Harry turned to her quickly and got to his feet. "What?"

"Cormac didn't blow the last shot. Hermione did it," she said.

Harry groaned and grabbed his shirt. "Tell me you're joking."

"She heard Cormac saying all this really shitty stuff about Ron, plus he was just being irritating and hitting on her in general," Rory said. "Which I completely understand, to be fair but—"

"It doesn't matter," Harry said. "I wanted the tryouts to be fair. I gave it to Ron because—"

"I know," Rory said.

Harry buried his face in his shirt and took a deep breath.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I just have to hope Ron pulls through," Harry said. He pulled the shirt on. "If he chokes everyone's going to think I only put him on the team because he's my friend. And then I'll have to cut him and he'll probably hate me."

"Let's cross that bridge when we get to it," Rory said. She kissed him. "Just really make him put in work for it. He'll get there."

"I hope you're right," Harry said. She kissed him again. "Do me a favor. If your inner eye has any insights about this, don't tell me. I'd like to be surprised if this isn't going to go well, and I'll be relieved if it does."

He pulled Rory into a hug and squeezed her tightly.

"Should I not have told you?" Rory asked.

"I'm glad you did, though I'm positive the guilt will probably eat Hermione alive, and she'll tell me eventually anyway," Harry said. "I'm sure she'll find a way to justify it in her head. The bright side is that now I have something to hold over her head for once."

Rory chuckled and Harry let her go. He kissed her again and she dropped the jar of salve back into her bag.

"Could probably use that after every practice," Harry said.

"You can keep it in your locker if you like," Rory offered.

"Sure, but then I wouldn't have an excuse for you to put it on for me," he said. Rory rolled her eyes as he pulled her into a kiss.

"I guess I can tell you that nothing inappropriate will happen about a thousand times and you'll never ever believe me," she said.

"It's not that I don't believe you. It's just hard to remember some of the things you say if you put your hands all over me," he said.

"Excuses, excuses," she said. She kissed him.

He took her hands "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," she said.

"On the first day of class, when we were in my room," he started, "before Kreacher and Dobby showed up—."

Rory grimaced. "I'm still trying to pretend that didn't happen."

"I know," he said. It was almost as embarrassing as when Ron had walked in on them, except the house elves seemed to have no concept of what they'd interrupted. "But do you think we'd have actually done it?"

Rory nodded without hesitation, which surprised Harry, but then again she was generally confident about most things.

"But if this is your way of trying to steer things in that direction right now, I gotta say that the idea of my first time being in the locker room of the Quidditch stadium is not my favorite," she said.

Harry laughed. "No, no, it wasn't that." If she had been interested, Harry probably would've considered it. "It was in my head, what with you rubbing your hands all over me."

"A shoulder massage is hardly the same thing as feeling you up," Rory said.

"It still got me thinking," he went on. "My head keeps going back there. All the time. Any time we're together really."

"Every time we're making out, in the back of your head you keep thinking 'is this the moment?'" Rory asked.

Harry nodded. "You too then?"

"Yeah," Rory said. "But I also don't want to rush into it or just do it to get it over with. It felt right before. We both felt it. I don't think either of us will be in our head about it when it's actually right."

"Unless house elves show up in my room again," Harry said.

Rory groaned. "Don't even put that out into your universe."