Unofficial Portkey Archive

The last game of the season was about to start. The home of the Chudley Cannons were packed with fans of all ages. The high stands were filled with orange from the people sporting their teams color. Hermione stood on the field with her V.I.P badge around her neck, letting the guards know that she was allowed on the field. She was talking with Ginny Weasley, a girl she knew since her days at Hogwarts, but today her name was Ginny Malfoy. She fell in love with the enemy. Of course, Draco changed....overnight it seemed like. It seemed that after watching the fate of his father, he chose a different path. The right path and it led him to Ginny.

"It's exciting isn't it?" Ginny asked with a beaming smile. "If the Cannons win this game, they'll win the division."

"It will be a close one...Puddlemere is quiet good, especially with Wood as Keeper," Hermione said. "How's work coming along?"

"I'm on duty now actually," she said. "The Daily Prophet will be doing a huge article on the game and I've been in charge to cover it."

Hermione chuckled. "Bet your fellow male co-workers weren't too pleased."

"Hell no, but screw them. I earn it and deserve it. I practically grew up playing Quidditch."

"Hermione! Hermione, dear there you are," a shrilling female voice rang out.

Hermione groaned as she rolled her eyes and made herself turn around to the familiar voice. "Hello, Rita."

"Hermione, darling, how are you?" she asked as she grabbed her hands. "Oh you look wonderful...have you been loosing weight?"

"Not that I know of," Hermione said with a slight smile. Since Hermione was the reason Rita was able to get her job back, she definitely kissed up to her. She told Rita that if she ever wrote any rubbish about Harry that wasn't true she would make sure Rita was fired before she had time to write her next issue. Rita bought it of course, she made the mistake of underestimating a fourteen year old girl, she was quite sure Hermione could live up to her word....or threat was the better word.

"When will I be able to speak to, Harry?" she asked. "I'm dying for an interview, just to catch up and see how he's doing."

"Well, he'll be taking six week vacation after tonight's game," Hermione told him. "The whole team will. Maybe he can sneak a quick interview with you after the game."

"Oh, that be lovely," she said with a bright smile. "Ginny...you're here I see...."

"Rita," Ginny replied stiffly. "Yes, I am. I was assigned to cover the game."

"Ah...well, I must be off, the guards only allowed me on the field to get in touch with Hermione. I'll be in the stands. Good-bye!"

"I despise that woman," Ginny muttered.

Hermione laughed. "Yes, she is annoying, but the way she kisses up to me like that....it's rather amusing don't you think?"

"Very," she said with a shake of her head. "Well, listen shall we get seats in V.I.P? Mum and Dad are already there."

"Save me one, I'm going to head to the locker room to tell Harry about Rita's interview. Might as well get it over with so he can enjoy his vacation."

She departed from Ginny and made her way towards the narrow tunnel that led under the stands and to the locker room. She slipped passed the guards, giving them a smile and headed down the tunnel. She put her ear against the door, making sure the coach wasn't speaking so she would interrupt. She heard a lot of noise and rummaging so it meant they were almost about ready to go out.

She opened the door and peaked her head in, smiling slightly at the commotion. Everyone was all scattered around doing things differently. Jenny, Kelly and Macey were doing their usual rituals on which hair-do to wear during the game. They would dye their hair orange and black with a simple spell and each do some sort of different style to it. It was always quite amazing what they came up with. She giggled at Kelly's hair, which was sticking straight up with a twist, looking like an orange and black bee hive was on top of her head. It was a tradition that everyone knew about and a lot of fans would come to the games with orange hair and funky do's to support their crazy and fun Chasers.

Jordan, who was one of the Beaters, had his earphones on, a Muggle device he could never part with. Like Macey, he was also from Texas and his favorite thing besides Quidditch was heavy metal. He even had a band back in Texas in which he played the played the drums. No doubt they had to take a break when he was given the opportunity to play for the Cannons. He had his long dusty blonde hair in a ponytail as he jammed to his metal music blaring in his ears as he banged his drumsticks on the wooden bench he was straddling. His rings and earrings, along with his silver chain necklace he always wore, were put away for safe keeping since he never wore them while playing. Hermione, shook her head in amusement. She honestly never met anyone quite goofy in all her life, which was the last thing you would think when you first met Jordan. Under all the heavy metal and jewelry....he was the nicest guy and the biggest goofball when he wanted to be. Kelly and him were perfect for one another.

Chaz, who was a bit more quiet when it came to the moments before game time, sat down on the bench as he wrote in some kind of journal. Hermione didn't really know what he wrote in there, but it was his usual procedure before a game. She saw him steal a glance over to Jenny who was giggling with delight when she looked at herself in the mirror for the first time. Her light blonde hair was now pulled up in pigtails that stuck straight up from the top of her head. She didn't have long hair so they looked like short little horns poking out of her head. Her hair was parted down the middle and one side was orange and the other was black. She watched Chaz laugh slightly at her and held his gaze for awhile, before finally turning back to his writing. Hermione sighed. She really needed to have a chat with him, so he'd stop being so shy and just ask her out. It was quite obvious he liked her.

"Hermione."

She finally turned to her two best friends who were sitting together on the bench looking up at her with wide grins. The sight warmed her heart. Oh, how she loved these boys. "Hey guys," she said as she finally walked over to him.

They both stood up to greet her. "Why aren't you sitting in V.I.P?" Ron asked before he kissed her cheek in greeting.

"I wanted to wish you two luck," she said moving to Harry and kissing him on the cheek. "And to tell you that I talked to Rita....she's expecting an interview at the end of the game."

Harry groaned in protest. "Hermioneeee...."

"Sorry, couldn't help it," she said as she held up her hands. "But at least you'll get it over with before your vacation."

Ron sighed. "Think...a whole six weeks with nothing to do."

"That's what you think," Hermione huffed. "I still have a lot of paperwork to do and so much to get ready before next season like...."

"Oooh, no you don't," Harry cut her off before she could ramble. "It's fine if you want to work every once in awhile, but you are not working yourself to the bone."

"Right," Ron said with a nod. "It's our vacation, you have to entertain us."

She eyed him. "Entertain?"

"Well yeah, we can't have any fun without YOU Hermione," Harry said as he poked her playfully in the side. "When we go on vacation, you will be coming with us."

"And where, prey tell, will we be vacationing?"

"Er...haven't quite figured that out yet," Ron said. "But we will."

"So start packing," Harry said and then reached down and grabbed her broom. "Now, get your cute little butt up to V.I.P."

Hermione yelped when Harry playfully slapped her on her rear end with the end of his broom. "Harry James Potter!" she shrieked.

"Hey, I just hate for you to miss me play for the first time ever....now git."

Hermione avoided his broom when he tried to slap her again. "I will GIT on my own thank you very much.....no more ass slappin!"

Harry sighed wistfully as he watched her angrily flaunt out the door. "Don't you just love that woman?" he said to Ron with a chuckle.

"How could you not," he said and then held up his broom. "Let's go win a championship."

Harry tapped the handle of his broom to Ron's, something they did before every game. "Let's."

Hermione's heart dropped to her stomach, like Harry when he dove down dangerously after the Snitch. I hate it when he does that, she thought as her pulse raced when Harry got closer and closer to the ground. Pull up...come on Harry, pull up....don't be so damn heroic. Even if he could hear her thoughts, she knew it was useless. Telling Harry not to be heroic was like telling a dog to stop being so loyal or a cat to stop being so proud. The crowd gasped in unison when he finally pulled up and cheers erupted seconds later when Harry held up the Snitch in triumph.

"Hermione! He did it!" Ginny squealed. "He caught the Snitch, we won!"

Hermione sighed with relief when Harry finally touched back down and laughed when his teammates all started to run towards him.

"Come on, let's go down to the field!" Ginny said as she tugged her arm.

Harry and Ron yelled with excitement as they engulfed each other in a bear hug. The girls squealed with delight as they all took their turns kissing him on the cheek. Harry wanted to see one person though and that was Hermione. He stood on his tiptoes, looking for her familiar face as his teammates or fans patted him on the back and ruffled his hair. The fans had bombarded the field to join the celebration and so it would be near impossible to find her. He was about to give up, when he saw her face flash in the crowd. "HERMIONE!" he yelled and made his way through the crowd.

"Harry!" she yelled as she elbowed a fan out of her way.

"Hermione....I can't...dammit, screw this," he said getting angry. "Brutus! Brutus get over here!"

A very large black bald man towered over the crowd as he walked over to Harry. "Yeah boss?" the man said, who was one of the team's many bodyguards. Each member had one bodyguard for emergencies, but Brutus had a lot more responsibility guarding the famous Harry Potter.

"Brutus, I can't get to Hermioine....work your magic, will ya?"

The dark man flashed his pearly whites. "You got it."

Harry stayed put as Brutus slid easily through the crowd. No one was dumb enough to stand in his way...he was almost as big as Hagrid.

Hermione yelped when a powerful force yanked her forward. "Brutus! You scared me!"

"Stay close, Hermione," he said as he led her towards Harry. They then stopped for a second as he pulled out his wand. Suddenly, everyone around them were being pushed back. Not forcefully, because Brutus didn't want to harm anyone, but slowly Hermione had more space and noticed that they were in some kind of invisible shield.

"Thanks, Brutus," Harry said with a grin. "I'll be sure to give you a raise."

"I'll remind you of that,' he said with a nod.

"Harry!" Hermione shrieked as she ran towards him.

Harry let out a hearty laugh as he caught her in a full embrace. He buried his face in her hair as he lifted her off her feet, spinning her in circles. "We did it! We won!" he celebrated and Hermione just laughed in sheer bliss.

"Hey, Brutus let us in!" Ron said who was standing with Macey. Brutus walked over to them and reached through the invisible barrier, pulling them inside. Ron ran straight for his best friends. "Don't forget about me!" he said as he wrapped his arms around them. The trio laughed as they collapsed on the ground together, with Hermione falling on top of Harry.

"Dog pile!" Macey yelled and fell on top of Ron, causing all of them to laugh. "Ron! You were brilliant! A shutout! I can't believe it!"

And Ron couldn't believe it when she leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He couldn't respond to that, because more orange robed bodies came collapsing on top of them.

"Oh!" Hermione gasped as she was pressed more firmly against Harry.

"Are you okay?" Harry laughed, while a very small part of him....the hormonal part...couldn't help but enjoy the feel of her against him. He silently hoped she couldn't feel just how much he enjoyed it.

"Yeah, it's like Twister again, except two bodies turned to about six."

Harry chuckled. "It should be over soon."

"You were wonderful, Harry," she said and tried not to wince when a sharp elbow jabbed her in the back. "Scared me to death with that dive though."

"Now, did you actually look or did you have your eyes closed the whole time."

She laughed. "It was hard, but I managed to keep them open."

"Good. Now...Lay one on me," he said as he tapped his cheek with his finger.

Hermione smiled as she leaned down and Harry lifted his head until her lips touched the corner of his mouth. She hugged him as she tucked her head under his chin. Harry placed a hand on her head as he felt himself blush. Her lips had touched only inches away from my own....she's never done that before..

"Party tonight at Moonlight Lounge!" Macey called out with a giggle. "We're getting drunk tonight!"