Chapter 129: Rubbish

I woke up the next morning actually feeling just as great as I did before the party. I looked over to Harry's bed, and seen that he wasn't in it. The others weren't in their beds either, so I decided to write Bill a letter, letting him know the good news.

Hey Bill,

I MADE GRYFFINDOR KEEPER!

I actually made the team! I was so worried that I wouldn't get on it, but I practiced for nights and nights and did as well as I could, and I made it! I could hardly believe it when Angelina said that it was me. I almost wet my bloody self.

Don't tell Charlie that part.

Other than that, things are pretty dismal here. We got so much bloody homework now because of OWLs, and we also have this toad looking mean ass bitch for a DADA teacher. She is completely mental. She gave Harry the worst detention ever. I would tell you, but Harry doesn't want me to tell. Just know that I wouldn't even do that shit to Malfoy, and I hate his entire existence. We don't learn shit in our class, and we aren't allowed to use magic. She's the worst teacher we have ever had, and we have Snape.

Other than that, Harry seems fine. For the most part. There are days where he has a major attitude, which is understandable because of this shit with slandering his name, but sometimes he can be a real ass and go off on Hermione and I. Sometimes I don't know if I should help him or hit him.

Speaking of Hermione, she is okay. Working hard, as usual. I still haven't told her anything. I thought this feeling would just go away over time, but it hasn't. Its...gotten bigger. And sometimes I feel like I'm going to explode. I don't want to talk about that really.

The others are doing well. The twins seem to be doing well with their little business (DO NOT TELL MUM!), and Ginny is becoming quite the popular one. I think she is starting to feel more like herself again She hardly ever talks about nightmares.

Well, I've got to go. I hope everything is good with you. Oh yeah, how are those "private lessons" with Fleur going?

Love,

Ron

"Morning," Harry said brightly to Hermione and I as he joined us at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. He looked overly giddy and flushed. It was odd.

'What are you looking so pleased about?" I said, eyeing him suspiciously.

'Erm ... Quidditch later," said Harry happily, pulling a large platter of bacon and eggs towards him.

"Oh ... yeah ..." said Ron. I put down the piece of toast I was eating and took a large swig of pumpkin juice. "Listen ... you don't fancy going out a bit earlier with me, do you? Just to-er-give me some practice before training? So I can, you know, get my eye in a bit."

"Yeah, OK," said Harry.

"Look, I don't think you should," said Hermione seriously. "You're both really behind on homework as it-"

But she broke off; the morning post was arriving and, as usual, the Daily Prophet was soaring towards her in the beak of a screech owl, which landed close to the sugar bowl and held out a leg. Hermione pushed a Knut into its leather pouch, took the newspaper, and scanned the front page critically as the owl took off.

"Anything interesting?" I asked, trying to divert her from talking about homework. Harry grinned.

'No," she sighed, "just some guff about the bass player in the Weird Sisters getting married."

Hermione opened the paper and disappeared behind it. Harry continued to eat, but I was too distracted by outside to pay full attention to my food.

"Wait a moment," said Hermione suddenly. "Oh no ... Sirius!"

"What's happened?" said Harry, snatching at the paper so violently it ripped down the middle, with him and Hermione each holding one half.

" 'The Ministry of Magic has received a tip-off from a reliable source that Sirius Black, notorious mass murderer ... blah blah blah ...is currently hiding in London' " Hermione read from her half in an anguished whisper.

"Lucius Malfoy, I'll bet anything," said Harry in a low, furious voice. 'He did recognise Sirius on the platform."

"What?" I said, alarmed. "You didn't say-"

"Shh!" said the other two.

"...'Ministry warns wizarding community that Black is very dangerous ... killed thirteen people ... broke out of Azkaban ...' the usual rubbish,"Hermione said, laying down her half of the paper and looking fearfully at Harry and I.

"Well, he just won't be able to leave the house again, that's all," she whispered. "Dumbledore did warn him not to."

"Hey!" Harry said, flattening it down so Hermione and I could see it. "Look at this!"

"I've got all the robes I want," I said, looking at the Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions ad.

"No," said Harry. "Look ... this little piece here ..."

Hermione and I bent closer to read it; the item was barely an inch long and placed right at the bottom of a column. It was headlined:

TRESPASS AT MINISTRY

Sturgis Podmore, 38, of number two, Laburnum Gardens, Clapham, has appeared in front of the Wizengamot charged with trespass and attempted robbery at the Ministry of Magic on 31st August. Podmore was arrested by Ministry of Magic watch wizard Eric Munch, who found him attempting to force his way through a top-security door at one o'clock in the morning. Podmore, who refused to speak, in his own defence, was convicted on both charges and sentenced to six months in Azkaban.

"Sturgis Podmore?" I said slowly. "He's that bloke who looks like his head's been thatched, isn't he? He's one of the Ord-"

"Ron, shh!' said Hermione, casting a terrified look around us.

"Six months in Azkaban!" whispered Harry, shocked. "Just for trying to get through a door!"

"Don't be silly, it wasn't just for trying to get through a door. What on earth was he doing at the Ministry of Magic at one o'clock in the morning?" breathed Hermione.

"D'you reckon he was doing something for the Order?" I whispered.

"Wait a moment ..." said Harry slowly. "Sturgis was supposed to come and see us off, remember?"

"Yeah, he was supposed to be part of our guard going to King's Cross, remember? And Moody was all annoyed because he didn't turn up; so he couldn't have been on a job for them, could he?" I said.

'Well, maybe they didn't expect him to get caught," said Hermione.

"It could be a frame-up!" I exclaimed excitedly. "No-listen! The Ministry suspects he's one of Dumbledore's lot so-I dunno-they lured him to the Ministry, and he wasn't trying to get through a door at all! Maybe they've just made something up to get him!"

There was a pause while Harry and Hermione considered this. Harry looked like the notion was barmy, while Hermione looked rather impressed.

"Do you know, I wouldn't be at all surprised if that were true."

I felt rather proud of myself.

She folded up her half of the newspaper thoughtfully. As Harry laid down his knife and fork, she seemed to come out of a reverie.

"Right, well, I think we should tackle that essay for Sprout on self-fertilising shrubs first and if we're lucky we'll be able to start McGonagall's Inanimatus Conjurus Spell before lunch."

"I mean, we can do it tonight," I said, as Harry and I walked down the sloping lawns towards the Quidditch pitch, our broomsticks over our shoulders, and with Hermione's over the top warnings that we would fail all our OWLs still ringing in my ear. 'And we've got tomorrow. She gets too worked up about work, that's her trouble. D'you think she meant it when she said we weren't copying from her?"

"Yeah, I do," said Harry, sighing. "Still, this is important, too, we've got to practice if we want to stay on the Quidditch team."

"Yeah, that's right. And we have got plenty of time to do it all."

As we approached the Quidditch pitch, I couldn't help but start to feel nervous again. Especially since Harry was going to see me keep for the first time. I didn't fancy looking like a prat in front of my best mate.

We collected balls from the cupboard in the changing room and set to work, with me guarding the three tall goalposts, Harry playing Chaser and trying to get the Quaffle past me. I managed to block three-quarters of the goals Harry attempted to put past me and played better the longer we practiced. After a couple of hours we returned to the castle for lunch (during which Hermione made it quite clear she thought they were irresponsible), then returned to the Quidditch pitch for the real training session. All our teammates but Angelina were already in the changing room when we entered.

"All right, Ron?" said George, winking at me.

"Yeah," I said, getting even more nervous again.

"Ready to show us all up, Ickle Prefect?" said Fred, with a slightly malicious grin on his face.

"Shut up," I said, putting on my team robes for the first time. They fit very well, and I was beginning to feel like a new person.

A still very nervous new person.

"OK, everyone," said Angelina, entering from the Captain's office, already changed. "Let's get to it; Alicia and Fred, if you can just bring out the ball crate for us. Oh, and there are a couple of people out there watching but I want you to just ignore them, all right?"

"Shit," said Harry, which made me realize exactly who he was thinking.

Sure enough, when we left the changing room for the bright sunlight of the pitch it was to a storm of catcalls and jeers from the Slytherin Quidditch team and assorted hangers-on, who were grouped halfway up the empty stands and whose voices echoed loudly around the stadium.

"What's that Weasley's riding?" Malfoy called. "Why would anyone put a flying charm on a mouldy old log like that?"

Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy guffawed and shrieked with laughter. I tried my best to ignore them as I mounted my broom and took to the air. Suddenly everything felt like it was going to go downhill.

"Ignore them," Harry said, catching up with me. "we'll see who's laughing after we play them."

"Exactly the attitude I want, Harry," said Angelina approvingly soaring around us with the Quaffle under her arm and slowing to hover on the spot in front of her airborne team. "OK, everyone, we're going to start with some passes just to warm up, the whole team please-"

"Hey, Johnson, what's with that hairstyle, anyway?" shrieked Pansy from below. "Why would anyone want to look like they've got worms coming out of their head?"

Angelina rolled her eyes, swept her long braided hair out of her face, and continued calmly, "Spread out, then, and let's see what we can do."

Harry reversed away from the others to the far side of the pitch. I fell back towards the opposite goal. Angelina raised the Quaffle with one hand and threw it hard to Fred, who passed to George, who passed to Harry, who passed to me, and I fucking dropped it.

The Slytherins, led by Malfoy, roared and screamed with laughter. I pelted towards the ground to catch the Quaffle before it landed, but I pulled out of the dive sloppy, and ended up slipping sideways on my broom. I got back into position to play, feeling like a complete asshole.

"Pass it on, Ron," called Angelina, as though nothing had happened.

I threw the Quaffle to Alicia, who passed back to Harry, who passed to George.

"Hey, Potter, how's your scar feeling?" called Ferret Dick. "Sure you don't need a lie down? It must be, what, a whole week since you were in the hospital wing, that's a record for you, isn't it?"

George passed to Angelina; she reverse-passed to Harry, who had not been expecting it, but caught it in the very tips of his fingers and passed it quickly to me. One again, I missed it, a easy fucking pass.

"Come on now, Ron," said Angelina crossly, as I dived for the ground again, chasing the Quaffle. "Pay attention."

She was right. I needed to concentrate and block out the ferret and his hoard so I could concentrate on what I was doing. Besides, it could have been even worse. Hermione could have been out here seeing me play like an incompetent tosser.

On my third attempt, I caught the Quaffle. Unfortunately, I passed it on so enthusiastically that it soared straight though Katie's outstretched hands and hit her hard in the face.

"Oh shit! Sorry!" I said, zooming forwards to see whether I had done any damage.

"Get back in position, she's fine!" barked Angelina. "But as you're passing to a teammate, do try not to knock her off her broom, won't you? We've got Bludgers for that!"

Katie's nose was bleeding. Down below, the Slytherins were stamping their feet and jeering. Fred and George went over to Katie.

"Here, take this," Fred told her, handing her something small and purple from out of his pocket, "it'll clear it up in no time."

"All right," called Angelina, "Fred, George, go and get your bats and a Bludger. Ron, get up to the goalposts. Harry, release the Snitch when I say so. We're going to aim for Ron's goal, obviously."

Harry zoomed off after the twins to fetch the Snitch. I flew over to the goal posts and tried to channel Oliver Wood.

They returned to the air. When Angelina blew her whistle, Harry released the Snitch and Fred and George let fly the Bludger. Alicia, Angelina, and Katie were passing the quaffle back and forth to each other, and then Alicia took aim at what appeared to be the left hoop, so I soared over to the left.

Angelina blew her whistle.

"Stop-stop- STOP!" screamed Angelina. "Ron, you're not covering your middle post!"

"Oh ... sorry ..." I said shamefully

'You keep shifting around while you're watching the Chasers!" said Angelina. "Either stay in center position until you have to move to defend a hoop, or else circle the hoops, but don't drift vaguely off to one side, that's how you let in the last three goals!"

"Sorry ..." I said, feeling more and more like flying off into the horizon and not coming back.

"And Katie, can't you do something about that nosebleed?"

"It's just getting worse!' said Katie in a scared voice as she attempted to stop the flow with her sleeve.

Fred was looking anxious and checking his pockets. He pulled out something purple, examined it for a second and then looked round at Katie, evidently horror-struck.

"Well, let's try again," said Angelina. She was ignoring the Slytherins, who had now set up a chant of 'Gryffindor are losers, Gryffindor are losers,' but she looked as if she was ready to slug them all.

This time we had been flying for barely three minutes when Angelina's whistle sounded. Angelina, Fred and George were flying as fast as they could towards Katie. Harry and Alicia sped towards her, too. Katie was now chalk white and covered in blood.

"She needs the hospital wing," said Angelina.

"We'll take her," said Fred. "She-er-might have swallowed a Blood Blister Pod by mistake-"

"Well, there's no point continuing with no Beaters and a Chaser gone," said Angelina glumly as Fred and George zoomed off towards the castle supporting Katie between them. 'Come on, let's go and get changed."

The Slytherins continued to chant as we made our way back into the changing rooms.

"How was practice?" asked Hermione with an attitude when Harry and I returned to the common room.

"It was-" Harry began.

"Complete bullshit," I said in a hollow voice, sinking into a chair beside Hermione.

"Well, it was only your first one," she said, trying to console me, "it's bound to take time to-"

"Who said it was me who made it lousy?" I snapped at her. Of course she would think I was the lousy one.

"No one," said Hermione, looking taken aback, "I thought-"

"You thought I was bound to be rubbish?"

"No, of course I didn't! Look, you said it was lousy so I just-"

"I'm going to get started on some homework," I said angrily, storming off to the boys dorm.

She would think I was lousy. And it was a fact, I was, and I shouldn't have been mad at her, but it was the fact that she thought of me straight away.

I was beginning to question if I should have tried out. Maybe I should have just stayed in the stands and not embarrassed myself.