Chapter Number: 24
Chapter Name: Early-morning Fun
Harry might have had thought that he needed to fake a nightmare, fortunately for him he didn't. At dinnertime it became clear that the girls were still scared to get involved with him, since the dragon transformation incident. This was a delight that he intended to savor for as long a time as he could.
The next day began early... even for him. He woke up at five thirty in the morning, which was rather early compared to his usual habit of waking up at about six thirty. Since he had a whole hour to waste, Harry headed to his room to get his Firebolt, the fastest broomstick that he knew to exist.
When Harry opened the gate to the Quidditch field he took in a deep breath of fresh air. The air was always more crisp in the morning and it made his nose tickle. Once on the field he knelt down on the field and ripped off a bit of grass. As he was standing up straight he let the grass fall from his hand, to determine which way the wind was blowing. He went to the shed with the Quidditch supplies, and took out the practice snitch. It was slightly bigger than the real thing, hence it was slower but that didn't make it any easier to catch it.
By the time he reached the field again the sun was making headway into the sky. Harry used a spell to force the snitch on to the ground. He mounted his broom and yelled, " Finite Incantem", which broke the spell holding the practice snitch down. The snitch whizzed past Harry at in incredible rate. His blood started to fill with adrenaline from the thrill of the search as he felt the first sign when the tip of his tongue became bitter for a split second.
Harry hadn't been the only one who woke up early that morning. Alicia Spinnet the head-girl also woke up from a bad dream involving a circus and a family of poodles. Whenever she woke up this early in the morning she always liked to watch the sun rise over the Quidditch field, against a silhouette of the forest. In fact it'd been happening a lot to her.
Only the other day, the had been there when Harry had put Hermione to bed. She hadn't said anything as she saw nothing wrong there. Harry did leave as quickly as he came in, and didn't even kiss Hermione on the forehead - Alicia sighed. ' This is not a romantic movie.'
Though she suspected the sun was a fair way up, Alicia decided that it was worth looking at. Small amounts of sunlight filtered through the multi-colored window when she moved the curtains to one side. It took a second for her to get accustomed to the bright light. But she could see a solitary figure on the Quidditch field even before her eyes got there focus back.
' I wonder who's that?' she thought, it was too far too even make a guess at the gender. She saw the person get on the broom and then release the silvery snitch. The person was very quick at retrieving it and she assumed it was Harry since he was the fastest snitch catcher on the field.
' This is a bit voyeuristic... isn't it?,' asked a faint voice in her mind, sniggering and giggling.
Alicia's face flushed. ' Not really... I'm the captain of the team and I'm just seeing how he's practicing.'
' Is that so?...' The voice said to her in very very intimidating way. ' Then tell me this, Why do you always blush when he looks at you?'
' Be... Because.... ,' the logical part of the brain failed to find any reason. Talk about ironic.
' You don't know the answer or is it that the answer scares you?,' asked the faint voice was becoming more clear and resonant all the time.
' If you're so smart then tell me why?' Alicia spat at her other voice in her head.
' Remember you asked... You like him.' there was a hint of mischief in that voice.
' Of course I like him. He's not malicious to me is he?,' said the logical part then tried to elaborate, ' He's polite, gentle, caring and handsome... oops.'
The logical part of her brain wanted to withdraw that last adjective, more than anything else in the world. ' You said handsome, not 'cute' like you usually say about him.. Could it be that you like him more than you let on?...' the voice was now more confident than ever before.
' I don't...' She said almost wanting it to be true. ' and...and even if I did it would never work... I'm two years older than him.'
' Is that so Ms. If-I-was-a-day-younger-I-would-be-in-sixth-year.... if you aren't interested then why do you keep talking to me... You want me to give you reasons to go out with him... well I'll give you some. Like you said, he's polite, gentle, caring and last but not least he's handsome. There's one that I'll add just to sweeten the pot... he's tall - I still don't how that happened in three months……… Err.. Even if he's younger than you he certainly is taller, so it's not going to be embarrassing for you two go out in public. BUT I highly doubt that would be a reason you wouldn't want to go out with him.'
' But I'm leaving at the end of the year...,' protested the logical part of the brain.
' so..'
' so we can't continue the relationship after Hogwarts...'
' what makes you so certain that you'll want to or even that it would last that long? How many year long relationships have you had so far?'
' None...,' replied the logical part with disappointment dripping from it.
' See. As for continuation of the relationship, if this is love, true love then it wouldn't be a problem. Even if it isn't, you'll have a good friend.'
' So you think I should...'
' Ask your heart, ... WAIT, that's me! YES OF COURSE * shouted the voice.
' What do I do? I mean I haven't tried dating since George in fifth year' Alicia shuddered. ' ... I'll be rusty.'
' At least you have, he hasn't had any. Well I don't think he has. He doesn't look it. He didn't even kiss that other girl.. Hermione whatever…'
' Granger. Hermione Granger.'
' Okay, Hermione. He didn't even kiss her goodnight , like in the movies that night. So you're in good company. I think I should give advice.'
' What makes you the expert,' Alicia asked.
' We all those movies and those romance novels under Katie's bed - that you supposedly don't know about - it all has to go somewhere.'
' Smartaleck.'
' No name calling... I'll give you one final advice... take it slow. He's been through an awful lot lately. Become good friends first, then if you want to be more than that tell him. If you do it this way... you'll get to know the real him.'
' Thanks... I'll see what I can do - maybe.'
' Ohh, you'll do more than that, if you want to stay sane.'
Once the conversation with her heart or is it the less logical part of her brain was finished she rushed through the morning rituals and headed to the Quidditch field with her very own Nimbus Two Thousand and One in her left hand. She ran all the way to the field, coming to full stop a few meters from the field. Harry was too deep in his search for the snitch to realize that someone was watching from the sidelines. He came to a full stop right in front of her when she caught the snitch that he was going for.
" Nice catch," he said smiling broadly at her.
She smiled one of her own. " It really was nothing..." said Alicia, as she handed Harry the snitch that had quite by chance had appeared right in front of her nose. " Can I play with you...," she blurted out. " I mean room for one more." - ' Mind out of gutter Spinnet!'
' She blushes an awful lot,' thought Harry as he nodded a yes.
" Brilliant!" Alicia said giving a whoop. " Erm, Well then... what are the rules?"
" We both search for the snitch - whoever catches it most out of ten releases wins?"
" That's hardly fair, I'm not a seeker."
" Well, that's why I'm giving you 2 capture handicap."
" Only two?... let me use your broom and I'll take one capture handicap... how about that" asked Alicia, fairly certain Harry would not give his broom.
" Erm okay." said Harry rather reluctantly, "... just don't crash it."
" Wow.. I really didn't expect you to agree, but...." she snatched Harry's broom as she dropped hers from her hand and took off into the air. " ...since you did, I'm going to make you regret this."
" We'll see" Harry took off after her on her Nimbus 2001.
Her Nimbus 2001 though slower, it was a lot easier to handle since the broom didn't twist and turn at the slightest movement of her grip. She also wasn't required to react so fast all the time. She understood where the phrase 'seeker reflex' came from as well as how Harry had reacted so fast when she collided with him.
Several times during their search for the snitch she was really impressed how fast Harry seemed to move on her Nimbus 2001 and stop dead when it looked as though they might collide. ' He's really a born flyer isn't he... No wonder he's got dragon animagus ability.' thought Alicia in total amazement.
She had only started to notice Harry the year before when he went to the Yule ball. She remembered how uncomfortable he looked being moved on the dance floor like a show dog by his date. She wanted to go and have a dance with him but by the time George Weasley had let go of her he had gone off to somewhere.
" Hey...what's the score?" asked Alicia when she saw Harry catch the snitch. The game went on...
Even with one handicap and the faster broom Alicia still lost. There were two reasons for this. Number one Harry was the seeker for the Gryffindor house and as such used to looking for the snitch, whereas she was the chaser a position that emphasis more on passing and intercepting. The second reason was that Alicia had never handled a Firebolt before and quite frankly looked, for the first few minutes, to be a first year broom student.
On the way back from the Quidditch field Alicia apologized to Harry for her behavior the morning before. Harry told her that she didn't need to since she was defending the honor of the house with the knowledge that she had. When the entered the common room there was only two people waiting for them there.
Ron and Hermione.
" Where the hell have you beeeeeennn?" the last part of the question got elongated when he saw his companion was none other than the head-girl. They were both covered in mud and Harry had a small cut on his elbow that had a small amount of blood leaking from it.
" Playing a Quidditch mini game." answered Harry cheerily to a shocked Ron's face.
" With her..." asked Ron pointing at the head-girl.
" Yes." answered Alicia, " ... we have been playing catch the snitch. Harry won. Maybe next time you two would like to join us." there was genuine friendliness in her voice.
Hermione quickly dismissed the idea though. " Thanks, but no thanks." she said, as she tied her hair in a ponytail. " Brooms have a tendency to run away from me and I really don't care for Quidditch much anyway- " then she pointed at Ron and said, " -feel free to take him with you whenever you like."
Ron turned red at this comment, though Alicia saw no reason for him to do so. She politely smiled at him, before things could get too uncomfortable in the silence that hung in there. She quickly left after that saying she had to get ready for her class and headed for the showers. Harry did the same as well and when he came downstairs he found out that Alicia had left for her first class a few minutes before.
The trio agreed that they didn't have enough time for breakfast and so they went to their first class of the day. Potions with Professor Snape, but when they entered the class five minutes late, something unlike all the other times they had entered late happened....
(VERY BIG AND IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sometimes I show what a character is thinking. I wanted to do that for Ron, but all things I thought of, made him seem worse than my portrayal of him is supposed be. He's not supposed to be bad... Not yet… Maybe ;)
About Alicia: I know some of you will find the Harry/Alicia aspect to be 'unreal' or rather like a teen male fantasy - but you should know that - you're right. It is the teen male fantasy. However, I don't think Harry's first girlfriend should be Hermione. It makes things all too complicated in the beginning. His first girlfriend if I had to choose would be like Hermione. Mature, and able to think past one date frame of mind. )
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END OF CHAPTER
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