"Cheng, you are holding onto the Quaffle for too long, release it to Celeste earlier!" Harry shouted as he watched his players perform their drills. Hearing his instructions, Cheng nodded before retrieving the Quaffle for another try.
It was yet another training session with the team and the last one before the game against Slytherin. Thankfully for Harry, the team's chemistry haven't changed a bit since last year and they were looking strong. So strong that Harry decided to focus more on the reserve and development team for this training, allowing his starting team to have a more chill training session while still getting in some practice.
"Cheng is lacking in the teamwork department isn't she?" Katie asked, hovering next to Harry as they both watched the reserve and development team run the drill.
"She is," Harry sighed, "her raw talent is there but she has to work on her overall game."
"That's the point of the development team," Katie replied, "she should be ready to play next year if she keeps improving."
"She would be deadly on the pitch," Harry nodded, "but her playstyle is a little too similar to Ginny's, could be a little of a tactical dilemma next year."
"You have time to develop her into a more well-rounded player," Katie replied, "Demelza is probably good enough to drop back to play more defensive."
"Exactly what I was thinking," Harry replied, "though, we have to change our style quite a bit."
"You will do just fine," Katie smiled.
At that moment, Celeste got the Quaffle as she made a dash for the goal, using her agility, she managed to outfly Ginny, creating space for Dean who flew in and punched the Quaffle just pass Ron's fingertips and scored.
"Alright, that's enough for today!" Harry shouted, signalling everyone to come back down to end their training session.
"Good job today everyone," Harry said as the team took their seats in the newly renovated locker rooms, "everyone improved today and that's all that matters, to the starting team, rest well and prepare yourself mentally for the Slytherin game, that game will be a little heated but it won't be as crazy as the years before, but now, they are a much better team, don't get too arrogant because they can definitely hand us an upset, that's it for today then, rest well everyone."
Quickly cleaning his broom and washing up, Harry was ready to return to the common room in no time. Together with Ron, they both made their way back to the common room together. Walking up to the second story however, they were in for a surprise.
Opening the tapestry to take their usual short cut up to the Gryffindor Tower, both of them found Ginny and Dean fervently kissing each other, both being locked in a tight and close embrace. Instantly reacting, Harry tried to pull Ron out of the corridor to give both lovebirds their own time. When Ron stayed firmly still however, Harry finally realised that this incident would be a disaster.
"Oi!" Ron called out to both of them, "What do you think you are doing?"
Breaking apart, both Ginny and Dean looked towards the pair with very different reactions. Dean had a shifty grin on his face, clearly looking very awkward to be caught red-handed. Ginny on the other hand, looked as rebellious and fiery as she always was, like she was ready to throw hands.
"Snogging my boyfriend," Ginny said rebelliously, "do you have a problem with that?"
"Of course I do," Ron shouted, "I don't want to see my sister snogging someone in public!"
"It was a deserted corridor before you entered!" Ginny shouted back, "And this is my life! What say do you have in it!"
"I don't want anyone to think that my sister is a-" Ron said before stopping himself
"IS A WHAT!" Ginny demanded.
"Ginny, relax-" Harry said, trying to intervene.
"Shut up Harry!" Ginny replied back, "Have some balls prat, is a what!"
"Ginny, drop it," Dean pleaded with her, though he's eyes clearly had some anger and fury behind them due to what Ron said.
"No Dean," Ginny replied angrily, throwing off his hand on her arm, "I have some things to say to my brother, go back to the common room first."
Clearly not willing to anger his girlfriend even further, Dean immediately took her word and left the corridor.
"Now listen up you idiot," Ginny said, storming up to an equally livid Ron, "this is my fucking life, you have no say in it!"
"I'm your brother," Ron demanded, "it's my responsibility to ensure that you don't go around snogging whoever!"
"SNOGGING WHOEVER!" Ginny yelled, "I DON'T GO AROUND SNOGGING WHOEVER, JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE ANYONE TO SNOG DOESN'T MEAN EVERYONE HAVE TO BE LONELY LIKE YOU!"
"You!"
"I'm not wrong am I!" Ginny yelled, "Harry have Cho! Hermione had Krum! EVEN NEVILLE HAVE DAPHNE! All you have is that kiss from Aunt Muriel!"
"YOU!" Ron shouted, pulling out his wand.
"Perhaps if you went out and experienced a bit of snogging, you won't be so jealous!"
"I have plenty of experience!"
"WITH WHO?" Ginny laughed hysterically, "WITH PIG? OR DO YOU HAVE A PICTURE OF AUNT MURIEL UNDER YOUR PILLOW!"
Reacting instantly, Harry placed a shield separating both Ginny and Ron just as an orange flash exited from Ron's wand, hitting the shield which absorbed it. Before Ron could do anything stupid, Harry immediately pinned him against the wall.
"Don't be an idiot Ron!" Harry shouted at him.
"Everyone in the family has someone, Bill has Fleur, Fred has Angelina, George has Alicia, I have Dean and Charlie is happy with his dragons, WHAT ABOUT YOU! You lonely-"
"Shut it Ginny!" Harry shouted across, channelling his captain voice, "Leave it! Go back to the common room!"
Giving Ron one more condescending look, Ginny turned and stormed out of the corridor.
"I'm going to kill her-" Ron snarled.
"Shut it Ron!" Harry interrupted, "Do you not realise how immature you sound?"
"You are on her side," Ron protested, attempting to push off Harry who did not budge, "let me go!"
"No!" Harry replied harshly, "Follow me."
Pulling an unwilling Ron along, Harry dragged him back to the Quidditch pitch, going into the stands, Harry finally let go of Ron's hand.
"Why the fuck are we back here!" Ron shouted before kicking the seat which surprisingly gave way.
"Destroying the environment won't help," Harry replied as he repaired the seat before sitting down, "it will only cause me more headaches if you break your foot, take a seat."
Ignoring Ron's glare, Harry continued to look into the horizon where the sun was setting, turning the sky golden. Realising that Harry wasn't going to budge, Ron finally took his seat, though rather unhappily.
"Why were you so mad at Ginny," Harry asked.
"I said the reason just now," Ron said shortly.
"That's not the real reason," Harry replied, "you wouldn't attack her if that was the case."
"I attacked her because she was acting like an immature bitch," Ron protested.
"Who's the immature one now," Harry said, "you attacked your sister Ron, nothing can justify it."
"What do you even know about siblings," Ron snarled.
"I had a cousin who abused me for years," Harry replied darkly, "I think I know enough about having a shit family."
Silence ensued as Ron's expression drastically changed from anger to shame and guilt.
"I… I'm sorry, I got carried away."
"No matter," Harry replied calmly, "you don't have to lie to me about the reason Ron, I have a pretty good idea why, it's because you are jealous."
"I'm not-"
"You don't have to deny it Ron," Harry sighed, "remember the Yule Ball? The way to lashed out on Hermione because she went to the Ball with Krum?"
"That was because she went with the enemy!"
"I did not see you bashing on him before the Ball," Harry replied.
"I did! When his scores came out and I protested the unfair treatment!"
"You were bashing on Karkaroff," Harry corrected, "you don't have to deny it Ron, you were jealous of Krum, it's way too obvious, why else won't you dance with Padma, she is a wonderful woman too."
"Because I wasn't in the mood to dance anymore after seeing Hermione and Krum."
"But I told you that I had no problem with it," Harry replied, "and as you can see by the results, Hermione did not help Krum at all."
"Fine fine," Ron replied annoyedly, "I was wrong, I was wrong."
"But I've never seen you apologise to Hermione about it," Harry replied, turning Ron's guilty face even guilter, "matter of fact, have you ever apologised to her."
Judging by Ron's silence, Harry could tell that he didn't have an answer to that question which wouldn't incriminate him.
"But all of that is in the past," Harry continued, "what matters more is now and the incident just now, just admit it Ron, you are jealous, jealous that you are the only one without a partner, that's why you lashed out at Ginny, you were unhappy that your younger sister could get with someone and you can't, it doesn't take a genius to find out Ron."
"Fine fine," Ron relented, "I was jealous, that's why I lashed out, I let my feelings get the better of me, I'm a fucking idiot."
"You aren't an idiot, you just have areas that you have to work on," Harry replied, "you are a good person Ron, a caring person, a loyal friend and so much more, there is no doubt about that since I met you, remember when Draco first called Hermione a mudblood, the way you cursed him only for it to backfire."
"How can I ever forget," Ron said with a small smile, "that was the most miserable day of my life."
"Especially with Riddle's plate later that day," Harry added on, making both boys share a small laugh together.
"You are a good person Ron," Harry continued, "you really are, but more often than not, you let your insecurities get the better of you, whether it's your insecurity about your financial situation, whether it's about feeling inferior and now, when it comes to love, you have always struggled with it."
"What can I do," Ron said helplessly, "I didn't choose to be born into a huge family who is poor, to be compared to you."
"You can do so much Ron," Harry pleaded, "look at your siblings, I have never seen them complain about your financial situation, have I seen Fred and George get feisty when someone insults them for it, yes, but otherwise, they choose to not let it affect them, they relished in being the school trolls, Bill aimed to be the best possible student, Charlie focused on Quidditch and his dragons, Percy aimed to be the best at his studies and the star-student, Ginny just placed it aside and used her own charms to become this popular."
"I don't have the talents that any of them have," Ron replied softly, "I don't have Bill's smarts or looks, I don't have Charlie's Quidditch talent, I don't have Percy's smarts, don't have Fred and George's humour and don't have Ginny's looks or talent, I'm worthless."
"You aren't," Harry protested, "you might not think much about yourself but trust me, you've been through more than them, you got us past the chess section in our first year, you solved the mystery with me in the second, you stood up against an accused mass murder in your third, on a broken leg as well, don't you see, you have so much more than you think you have."
"But I will always just be your sidekick," Ron said in defeat, "always Harry Potter and his dumb sidekick."
"It's not that great to be me Ron," Harry sighed, "you might see all the glory and praise that comes from being someone like me but you don't see the pain in it, I might be famous yes, but it will always be because of something my mom did when I was a baby, and you know how often people turn on me, in the second year people thought I was the heir of Slytherin, even I did honestly, I was so worried that I went to talk to Dumbledore and his Sorting Hat."
"You talked to the Sorting Hat?" Ron said, puzzled.
"That was how desperate I was," Harry smiled, "and then in our fourth year, the school hated me so much that I hid from the public eye, then last year Umbridge beefed with me the whole time while the Ministry destroyed my name, I might have all the fame and love when I save the day but it's the price to have that is way too much, that's why I don't want to be a professional Quidditch player you know, to stay out of the limelight."
"Really?" Ron asked, shocked.
"Yes Ron, you might not really understand yet and I don't blame you, but it's not as amazing as you think."
"But not only that, you are so powerful at magic," Ron continued, "and your talent at Quidditch as well, why can't I have that."
"You are better at Quidditch then you think," Harry smiled, "our defence might be brilliant, but you are a crucial part of it as well, do not short change yourself."
"I guess we will see tomorrow then," Ron sighed.
"You will do amazingly as you always do," Harry replied confidently, "having you on my team genuinely makes me so much more relaxed for tomorrow, I mean just look at your save percentage from last season, it's outrageous."
"It kinda is," Ron hesitantly admitted.
"And your crucial chance denial rate, bloody hell no keeper came close to you," Harry said, thankful that Ron was smiling now, "you are bloody brilliant Ron, you just don't know it."
"I know that you feel miserable because you are the only one without a partner among your friends," Harry continued, "you don't have to deny it, I can see it, I can also see that you like someone as well but is too afraid to make a move."
"I don't like anyone," Ron said with fake bravado.
"Really…" Harry said, "So if I told you Hermione likes you you won't chase her?"
Harry watched on with amusement as Ron's facial expressions changed from one of confusion to embarrassment in seconds.
"It's an assumption that Cho and I had come to, I can't confirm that that's really the truth, but I reckon that Hermione really has a thing for you, just that you haven't made things easy for her, from Scabbers and the Firebolt in the third year to the Yule Ball in the fourth and so many more, you haven't really been nice to Hermione at times you know?"
"I- I."
"You don't have to apologise to me Ron," Harry cut him off, "go and apologise to Hermione and start treating her better, and maybe, just maybe, she will finally decide that you are really the one, understood?"
Looking intently at Ron, Ron slowly nodded, a small smile appearing on his face now that the truth he had been hiding for years in out of the bag.
"Let's go back shall we," Harry said as he got up, "you got someone to apologise to."
"WELCOME ALL BACK TO THE INTERHOUSE CHAMPIONSHIP!" Lee Jordan shouted with excitement to the roaring crowd of green and red. Despite him already graduating from Hogwarts, Lee had gotten the green light from McGonagall to "intern" at Hogwarts in his bid to become a professional commentator for the professional leagues.
"To kick start this year's league, I present to you, GRYFFINDOR VS SLYTHERIN, THE GREATEST RIVALRY HOGWARTS HAVE EVER SEEN," Lee continued as the crowd roared louder, all hyped up for the continuation of the legendary rivalry.
"This rivalry however, has been relatively one-sided in recent times," Lee continued, "Gryffindor have won in the last five encounters against Slytherin (the crowd erupted into a mix of cheers and boos), with last year being rather embarrassing with Gryffindor destroying Slytherin in both games with the aggregate score of 540 to 20, Slytherin will be hoping to change that today while the reigning champions will be aiming to continue their dominant streak, so let's introduce the team shall we?"
"WEARING THE MIGHTY RED, THE REIGNING CHAMPIONS, GRYFFINDORRRRR!" Lee roared, "THEIR CHASERS, DEMELZA ROBINS, GINNY WEASLEY AND KATIE BELL!"
"THEIR BEATERS, JIMMY PEAKES AND RITCHIE COOTE!"
"THEIR KEEPER, RON WEASLEY!"
"AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THE SEEKER AND CAPTAIN, THE STAR BOY, HARRY POTTER!"
Taking into the sky the last, the crowd erupted into mad cheering and the stadium boomed like a battleground, Harry could even hear some fireworks exploding as he took to the skies and towards the centre where Madam Hooch stood. Watching the Slytherins take to the skies as well, Harry was impressed by how comfortable they looked, they didn't have the unshakable confidence that his players had, but they certainly did not look nervous at all. Of their players, their Chaser lineup was definitely the biggest threat, with Sadie, Elisabeth and Blaise, all three in the school team and Blaise in particular, arguably the best Chaser in the school alongside Katie and Ginny. Their Beater lineup of Ignatius Stripes and Rain Fenrin were decent and their Keeper, Heath Fenrin was respectable, their biggest weakness however, was their Seeker, Dahlia Slughorn, while she was small and agile, she wasn't exactly the fastest and in a physical battle, would simply get dominated. The win condition of this game was just for his players to match Slytherin's Chasers and try to keep the game even until Harry could catch the snitch and win the game.
"Your team don't look nervous," Harry commented as Blaise flew into the circle.
"If that was your winning strategy, you are going to have a tough time," Blaise smiled.
"Oh come on Blaise," Harry replied, "you definitely know that that isn't my strategy, I bet you yourself know how we are going to play."
"I do," he smiled smugly.
"Then you should know you don't stand a chance," Harry smirked as he shook Blaise's hand.
"We shall see."
"May the best team win," they both said before leaving the circle and getting into their position.
"AND WITH THAT, THE 1996 INTERHOUSE CHAMPION BEGINS!"
The moment the whistle blew, Ginny exploded straight down the middle towards the Quaffle alongside Demelza, a new strategy that Harry cooked up now that Angelina was gone. Going up against Blaise, Ginny continued forward straight into Blaise who had to dodge and get out of the way, leaving the Quaffle to Demelza who took it and made her dash forward. With an accurate bludger, Jimmy managed to give Demelza some cover before she was eventually stopped by Sadie who tried to intercept. Demelza however, managed to pass the Quaffle back to Katie who with a brilliant pass, picked out Ginny who immediately shot, sending the Quaffle hard and fast into the far post, scoring their first goal.
"EXCELLENT DISPLAY FROM GRYFFINDOR, BRILLIANT PASS FROM BELL TO PLACE GRYFFINDOR 10 TO NIL UP!"
Responding quickly, Heath picked up the Quaffle and threw it towards the far left where Blaise was waiting. Dodging a bludger, Blaise made his run down the wing before being stopped by Katie who successfully snatched the Quaffle from his hands. Making a quick counterattack, Katie made a reverse throw towards Ginny who dropped Elisabeth before passing the Quaffle to Demelza. To their surprise however, Sadie swopped in and intercepted the Quaffle in mid-air, playing a quick pass over Ginny and Katie to Blaise who was now one-on-one with Ron, sneaking the Quaffle just past Ron, Blaise levelled the score.
"ZABINI SCORES! 10 ALL!" Lee announced as the green section of the crowd erupted into cheers and applause.
Picking up the Quaffle again, Ron played an easy pass to Katie who slowed down the tempo of the game, playing simple passes between Ginny and Demelza, waiting for an opportunity to appear. The Slytherin Chasers however, were surprisingly disciplined, not breaking formation and letting their Beaters do their work. Realising this, Katie gave Harry a nod before dashing down the middle towards Elisabeth, recognising the play, Harry quickly followed, flying straight in front of Katie and towards Elisabeth while Demelza and Jimmy covered her left and right. Attempting to break this formation, Rain tried to send a Bludger towards them which was intercepted by Ritchie who instead, sent it back at Blaise who was coming in to support Elisabeth, buying them some time. With the formation, Gryffindor broke through the Slytherin formation, with each player covering one of the Slytherin defenders and buying time for Katie who was now one-on-one with Heath. With a feint, Katie simply chipped the inexperienced Keeper to get Gryffindor another point.
"BRILLIANT SHOT FROM BELL, 20 TO 10."
As the game progressed, Harry watched from afar as both sides traded goals with the game being relatively even. While Gryffindor was still finding success on the attack, they really had to dig deep and pull out the playbook to get around the surprisingly strong Slytherin defence. Sadie in particular, was proving to be a bit of a problem with a strong defence, often winning the duel against Demelza and managing to pull off a counter-attack which if not for Katie's excellent tracking back and Ron's brilliant saves, would put Gryffindor quite some amount behind. Attempting to fix this issue, Harry tried shifting the attack lines to put Ginny up against Sadie who would definitely beat her, Sadie however, was seemingly glued to Demelza throughout the game, something that Blaise definitely cooked up. Blaise must have realised that the weakness in Gryffindor's attack was Demelza with her being more of a jack of all trades and master of none, being very versatile but against strong defenders, will struggle a ton. Blaise must have also somehow picked up on the fact that Demelza's decision-making was slower and under pressure, would make more mistakes. With the score now 80 to 60 for Slytherin, Harry decided that it was time to pull out his wildcard.
Calling a timeout, Harry landed with his team, immediately making his changes.
"Celeste, swap with Demelza," Harry immediately said, "their strategy is for Sadie to mark Demelza throughout the entire game, I reckon it's time to give Sadie a bigger challenge."
"That will work," Katie agreed.
"Celeste, I want you to focus on making runs down the wing, if Sadie continues to mark you, I want you to tire her out and take her out of the game, focus on your flying, leave the scoring to Ginny," Harry ordered.
"Katie, I want you to shift up a little, be the secondary attack, Jimmy, keep an eye on Blaise, he is always waiting for the counter-attack, be ready to take him out when possession changes, I will try to help whenever possible and Katie, I know this is a lot but you have to be all over the pitch for this game, you up for it?"
"Always," Katie nodded firmly.
"Then this is it," Harry nodded, "don't be disheartened Demelza, it's just that Blaise came in with an excellent strategy for his lineup, I might put you back in later if Sadie is too tired."
"Understood Captain," Demelza replied with some disappointment, but still enthusiastic.
"Alright, together," Harry said as he placed in hand into the circle, "three, two, one, GRYFFINDOR!"
"We are back after the timeout and Gryffindor have made a curious change, swapping out Robins for Corals, we will see how this change works for them," Lee announced.
The change thankfully, worked absolute wonders. The moment the game resumed, the Quaffle fell into the arms of Celeste who with a magnificent feint, took Sadie completely out of the game. Dashing forward with astonishing pace, Celeste similarly evaded Elisabeth. With an admittedly less-than-ideal pass which went behind Katie, Katie still managed to grab hold of the Quaffle before curving it just past Blaise and to Ginny who finished the move with a stunning shot.
"BRILLIANT GOAL FROM WEASLEY," Lee exclaimed with amazement, "the adaptation from Gryffindor immediately pay dividends with Corals instantly making an impact with an impressive run."
This continued as Harry continued to use Celeste to punish Blaise for his man-marking strategy, netting Gryffindor another 50 points, bringing the score to 120 to 100 for Gryffindor. Having enough of this, Blaise changed his strategy, getting Sadie to stop the marking and instead, return to a typical defensive formation.
At this moment however, Harry continuous search for the snitch finally paid off. Spotting a streak of gold in the sky, Harry immediately pounced, making the jump on Dahalia who was now considerably behind. Following the snitch which perfect precision, Harry skillfully manipulated the snitch's trajectory, getting it more and more cornered against the walls and making it's evading choices decrease. With a final push, Harry's fingertips managed to grasp onto the snitch, winning them the game, 290 to 120.
"GRYFFINDOR WINS THE GAME!" Lee announced as the reds in the crowd erupted into a thunderous roar, "GRYFFINDOR MAKES IT SIX VICTORIES IN A ROW AGAINST THEIR ARCH-RIVALS, WHAT A GAME THIS WAS!"
Finally back on his feet, he was swarmed by his team, celebrating yet another catch and win.
"Six in a row!" Jimmy shouted in celebration, "We are the fucking best!"
"Catch number fourteen," Ron commented before giving Harry a huge hug, "you are fucking flying."
"Couldn't do it without the whole team," Harry smiled, "amazing job guys, every one of you, that performance was sublime, good debut too Celeste."
"Thanks," Celeste shyly smiled, her face turning slightly pink under the praise.
"Let's go and get this press conference over and done with," Harry said, "afterwards, butterbeers on me!"
Author's note
Hey guys, Infinitesalts here, I just want to thank everyone for the support once again, seeing you guys enjoy the story is really heartwarming for me. I however, have some slightly bad news. At the moment, I am writing chapter 53 which is almost complete. This means that for the first time, the upload schedule have finally caught up with me. I have been busy with school and personal life which is why my writing pace have dropped so much. I'm also facing some writer blocks bcus the story is in a dull state at the moment and I'm trying to think about new things to write and new ways to make Harry and Cho spend more time and have more convos together. So with this, there is a decent chance that the updates is no longer weekly. I'm gonna double my efforts to write as much as possible but I can't really promise anything at the moment. The only thing that I can promise is that this story will go on and I will still be updating it. Just that it might be less often. I hope that you guys can understand this and keep following this story bcus I never thought that it would make it as far as it have.
I will continue to try my best!
Infinitesalt