Hi JKR thanks for letting me play.
Chapter 23 Starting Lineup
*************************Quiddich Pitch, Hogwarts**********************
January 14, 2006.
1pm
It was a cold January afternoon, and a light, steady snow was falling over the Hogwarts grounds. The Ravenclaw team, while not the team that Cho Chang led while she was at Hogwarts; was said to be pretty good. At least by the Hufflepuffs who had already played them and lost by the Ravenclaw seeker breaking the tie with a snitch catch after almost five hours of nearly scoreless play. They were feeling a little confident with the Gryffindors having to break in a new chaser.
And anyway, surely the Slytherins were right, she had to have gotten the position because she was the Boy-Who-Lived's girlfriend and the Head Girl, didn't she? For their part, the Gryffindors were packing the stands, waiting to see what many, though not in their earshot, were calling the Potter and Potter team. The Slytherins were booing Gryffindor as usual, and the Hufflepuffs were pretty evenly split, as they had already been beaten by both of the teams playing and they all hated the Slytherins. As the team waited, Ron, Luna, Ginny and Neville watched the "Potter Duo" standing over to the side, talking to each other quietly. Hermione looked a little green, and Harry a little pale.
"I don't know who is more nervous Hermione or Harry, it was like first year with Harry only eating toast for breakfast, and I think she just had coffee." Neville mentioned, grinning and shaking his head vigorously to dislodge the snow in his hair.
"I haven't told either of them that all of the family showed up for this game either, McGonagall put them up in the Gryffindor box seats. Watch this," Ron replied, starting towards Harry and Hermione with a malicious grin.
"NO" both Ginny and Luna grabbed Ron and kept him from relaying this info. He looked at them and just grinned. "You just keep the damn ball out of the hoops Ronald." Luna went on slightly dreamily as her smaller hand ran up and down his arm slowly.
"It's a Quaffle" Ron responded in a grunt, he was disappointed that his joke had been shortstopped.
"I know Ronald," Luna replied airily. "Are they charmed by the way, like the Tornados do?"
"No dear...I'll be damned." Ron suddenly snapped as his sweeping gaze caught a familiar face in the crowd. Now that's bold of her.
"What is it Ron?" Ginny asked curiously, she hadn't seen anything too unusual in the stands. After all her blond friend next to her had her wand stuck in her hair like a large hairpin, and was wearing a two-foot tall lion's head as a hat. The hat was rapidly getting a coating of white from the falling snow.
"In the Ravenclaw stands, it's Cho. Looks like she got a day off from the academy and I guess she wanted to see the competition." Ron snarled, "damn twat."
"Ronald" Ginny replied half-heartedly, though she too wasn't too happy with the new seeker for the Tornadoes either, Harry was family after all. She tucked in to Neville to try to stay warm in this weather. Neville just smiled and absentmindedly wrapped his arms around her to share body heat.
'What?" Neville asked for his and Luna's benefits, as they were being left out of this conversation.
Ron looked at the other three and making sure both Harry and Hermione, especially, were well away out of earshot, he continued. "Ok, you all know that Harry and her went out in his 5th year. And then she basically broke up with him because she thought he was in love with Hermione."
"Well he was" interrupted Luna, a blond eyebrow crooked.
"Yes, dear I realize I was a dumbarse, now can I continue?" Ron asked with a raised eyebrow. He quickly turned to the others as he noticed Luna, wearing a tiny half smile, playing with her ring. "Anyway, that summer, you all remember how she behaved on the train back? Anyway she had sent Harry owls and owls, saying about how she was wrong and that she regretted her behavior, and that she wanted to get back together, and such. All this was happening the same summer as she got on the Tornadoes. So Harry who was pissed at the world right then and mad at everything, gets these letters from someone who he thinks likes him."
"What about Hermy?" Ginny asked, she had heard part of this story but not the entire story before.
"I bet you don't use that nickname to her face Gin, I'll get to that. Anyway she ends this campaign by sending tickets for Harry to the game against the Cannons right before his birthday. So Harry gets permission to go from Dumbledore, I guess the old guy was feeling guilty for Sirius too. So we get there, she had sent enough tickets for Harry, me and Lupin and Moody to go, and the Tornadoes win on a snitch catch, by her. And she doesn't even say anything to Harry though she had waved to him before the game; she walks over to the Tornadoes keeper and starts making out with him on the field in front of everyone. Looking back I think Hermione had known something was up, Harry actually asked her to go first before me, but she turned him down."
"Hermione turned Harry down for a date?" Ginny queried, confused at the idea.
"No Gin this was before either was admitting that they were in love with the other, even to themselves. I figure that she knew somewhere inside that Cho was going pull something and she didn't want to get her wand snapped when she jinxed her in front of fifty thousand wizards." Ron answered with a little shrug.
"I thought they didn't know?" Luna asked now, also confused at this turn in the story.
"Like I said this was looking back, at the time I was just grateful that Hermione let me go in her place, I may have even thought that she let me go instead of her because she liked me. Of course I was wrong, but it wasn't the first time." Ron carefully looked at the stands so as not to see the slight, matching nods from his sister and girlfriend. "Anyway looking at it now I think that somewhere inside Harry knew he loved Hermione, but he thought that if he got together with Cho, it would be ok. He may have thought that he could have survived if something happened to her, if Hermione got hurt or killed, I don't think he would have survived the night. Of course this is all looking back, I was probably a git at the time, trying to get Harry to get into Cho's pants." Ron finished with a pained smile and looked at his fiancée, just like I would die if something happened to you.
Harry glanced at the group of their friends and teammates; "You know they are talking about us right?" He asked Hermione resignedly.
"Of course, what else would they do?" She replied with a blazing smile. "By the way have I told you how much your Quiddich uniform suits you?"
"Not as much as yours" He replied with a quick kiss to her forehead to the accompaniment of good-natured jeers from the Gryffindor stands above.
"I do think I prefer the Potter on the back though," she teased.
"You never know" Harry laughed and nodded up at the Gryffindor stands, "Since they came for a show should we give them one?"
"Why not." Suiting action to her words, Hermione grabbed the front of his robes, and with the accompaniment of the cheers of the Gryffindor fans, including a certain head of House, and the complement of flashing bulbs from the Creevey brothers, pulled Harry into a kiss the like of which few in the crowd have ever experienced, and most never would. After a couple of minutes, they came up for air to find Ron grinning at them.
"Ok break it up you two, Potter, Granger we do have a game you know, Hermione get over there with Ginny and Pavarti we'll start with a wedge if we get the quaffle straight off. Harry let's do this."
"Aye Captain" Hermione responded and headed off, a slight swagger in her step.
Ron and Harry headed to the center circle and found Madame Hooch and the Ravenclaw Captain and Seeker, Sarah Franklin there already waiting. "Ok Sarah call it" Hooch asked as she pulled a galleon from a pocket and flipped it in the air.
"Tails"
"You got it, which one." Hooch inquired, not really wondering.
"The south one" Franklin replied, nobody wanted to defend the North goal next to the Gryffindor stands. Slytherin had tried once, once.
"OK Ladies and Gentlemen, To the Air." As one, the teams mounted their brooms and kicked off. The players started circling the pitch, as the teams waited for the game to start.
"WELCOME TO ANOTHER QUIDDICH MATCH HERE AT HOGWARTS." Leslie Jordan called out from her announcers stand, McGonagall was next to her to attempt to keep the commentary at least somewhat fair. "Ravenclaw has won the toss and has elected to defend the south goal." This comment was met with jeers from the Gryffindor stands and a loud ROAR until McGonagall turned and glared at them.
As the Ravenclaw team passed the Gryffindor stands and the commentators booth, "Here comes the Ravenclaw Eagles, led by their seeker and Captain Susan Franklin, followed by Patil, Quantum and Hepburn as Chasers, Jones and Neal as beaters and Sampson as keeper. The Ravenclaws passed out of range and the Gryffindors replaced them...NOW GREET YOUR GRYFFINDOR LIONS LED BY HARRY POTTER AT SEEKER... RONALD, THE KING, WEASLEY AT KEEPER...NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM AND SEAMUS, THE MAD IRISHMAN, FINNEGAN AT BEATERS AND THE ATTACK LINE OF GINNY, THE ALLEY CAT, WEASLEY, PAVARTI PATIL AND MAKING HER FIRST START FOR GRYFFINDOR HOUSE, HERMIONE PO..GRANGER" with this announcement the Gryffindor stands went ballistic and Jordan earned herself identical glares from the assistant Headmistress next to her and a certain witch wearing red and gold passing in front of the stand.
Harry, hovered next to Ron for a second, planning further strategy, "Harry unless we look like we are going to loose, don't grab the snitch for a while, we need to run up points to be sure for the point standings, Slytherin beat the shyte out of Hufflepuff right before Christmas." Ron said to Harry and then took up his preferred figure eight pattern around and through the rings. Harry nodded and took up his place hovering over the center pitch, and with a whistle the game was on.
"And there they go. The snitch is gone and Potter and Franklin are in pursuit. The Quaffle is up and caught by the other Patil" McGonagall glared, "and she charges the goal and shoots... and it's intercepted by the KING!"
Ron grabbed the Quaffle and ducking a bludger, snapped a pass to Ginny cross-court, who flipped the Quaffle to Hermione who shot a pass straight back to Pavarti, who nailed the center of the center hoop, totally fooling the Ravenclaw keeper, Tom Sampson.
"Gryffindor takes the lead 10-0 on a incredible attack by the Gryffindor Chasers."
"Leslie."
Meanwhile... Harry had been tracking the snitch while at the same time making sure that Sarah either didn't see it or didn't get it. The snitch flew in front of his face to taunt him and he automatically gave it chase, just making sure that he staid ahead of Franklin as the snitch did one of its favorite tricks and headed to its "Death Star Run" as the sextet locked up at Grimmauld place had named this familiar move it after watching the movie this summer at Harry's new home. The snitch promptly lost them, though Harry knew that it had probably pulled up and hid behind the 8th timber from the south rings, it was an old trick, one that the Ravenclaw seeker evidentially hadn't noticed.
The action above was still going full bore, the Ravenclaw chasers were trying the same tactic that the Gryffindors had been successful with, but on this day the match was like a pack of lions playing with housecats. As Hepburn tried to pass to Padma Patil, her sister shot up from below their formation intercepting the quaffle and shot it on a long pass to Hermione who pulled up suddenly in front of the right most goal, caught and shot with the same motion.
"OH MY GOD GRYFFINDOR 20-0 on an AWSOME interception and assist by Patil and a shot on goal by Granger, her first of her career "
"Leslie" McGonagall tried half-heartedly but the warning went unnoticed under the explosion of the Gryffindor stands, and quite incidentally most of the Professors.
Harry was now chasing the snitch as it had decided that the stands would be a great place for it, but it gave up and pulled straight up into the clouds. Great, at least there are no Dementors today, I hope, flashed across his mind but this day the sky was clear of them. The snitch however had vanished once again into the snow, which was now blowing across the field.
Harry flashed past the Gryffindor stands noticing for the first time, the entire Weasley herd was sitting with McGonagall and Jordan in the Gryffindor box. Molly was sitting next to Arthur beaming. She had never been able to make a school game of Ron's before and now she was seeing 4 of her kids playing at once and brilliantly. As Harry flashed by a thought passed Molly's mind, well ok I only gave birth to two of them, but the other two are mine as well, or might as well be.
Ron defended against six more shots on goal and beat them all off, The Ravenclaw keeper wasn't as lucky, with Pavarti scoring another goal, Ginny two in a row and another goal by Hermione to the delight of the Gryffindor fans. The 2nd goal by Hermione had been particularly sweet as Ginny had the Quaffle and was shooting right to left across the goal hoops followed closely by Sampson, who was determined, not to be burned three times in a row by the same witch. Hermione had been shooting in a reciprocal course to Ginny and catching a flip pass from a laughing Ginny; with an accompanying "here sis" she shot the Quaffle behind Sampson's back to the right most goal.
"OH LORD HAVE MERCY WHAT A SHOT. 80-0 GRYFFINDOR"
A dangerous silence from McGonagall. A ROAR from the Gryffindor stands. And a "WAY T' GO 'ERMONE" from Hagrid, who jumped up and down in the Professor's box until Dumbledore made him stop, Dumbledore was afraid for the structural integrity of the box.
After another ten goals by Gryffindor went unanswered, Harry flashed by Ron and ducking a Bludger, stopped abruptly behind the hoops so as to stay out of Ron's way just in case he needed to defend suddenly. That problem was soon taken away, however as Hermione stole a quaffle downfield and passed to Ginny who rolled inverted, because she could and snapped a shot on goal. And the crowd went wild.
"190-0 Gryffindor" Leslie crowed.
"Ok Ron, I'm embarrassed for Ravenclaw, I'm going to end this now." Harry yelled over to Ron.
"I was just about to say the same thing mate, go for it." Ron replied, never taking his eyes off the field. He almost absently blocked a shot on goal by Hepburn and flung the Quaffle out of the zone.
Harry likewise had continued to scan the field and as he spotted the snitch flying down the center of the field he took off after it, his firebolt almost causing him to loose his breath as it accelerated to full throttle. Franklin who had been at the opposite end saw Harry in an obvious snitch run and took off as well. The snitch pulled up and ran straight at the Gryffindor chaser line with Harry gaining on its tail.
Franklin was coming from behind the Gryffindor girls, she looked at the snitch and then at Potter, Even he's not insane, he'll pull out of a head on with Granger, I assume even hero-boy would like to get laid, and if he pancakes with her, he's gonna have a long month or six she thought with a grin.
But unfortunately for her, Susan didn't understand two vital facts, first Hermione probably would forgive him long before one month passed much less six if he somehow ran into her and second, Harry's skill on a broom was parsecs beyond hers.
Getting closer to the three Gryffindor chasers by the second, Harry looked up, Hermione on three pull straight up...1...2...3 with this mental command, Harry snapped though the gap in the Gryffindor chaser line where Hermione had been, rolling inverted and snatching the snitch in one motion.
"POTTER DOES IT AGAIN...WHAT A GRAB.... GRYFFINDOR WINS 340-0" Jordan screamed, jumping up and down and slapping the hand of her brother Lee who had come to the game with Fred and George, they had closed down the shop for the day.
Harry just smiled at Jordan's remarks and pulled up to Hermione who was hovering about thirty feet above the center of the pitch. "Have fun?"
"Yep, can we play again?" She responded her eyes alight.
Chuckling Harry leaned over to her, "Not today dear." He kissed her, as they both hovered on their brooms to the accompaniment of many, many flash bulbs from wizard cameras in the crowd. This picture would eventually end up in both the yearbook and in the school's brochures. And if they survived to have them, haunt their children for years to come.
That evening's victory party was also one for the record books. Ron, Seamus and Dean, through Ron's familial contacts on the outside, had acquired copious amounts of butterbeer and firewhiskey and smuggled them in. It's amazing what one could do with the Weasley twins helping, adequate funding, a borrowed invisibility cloak and the active inattention of the Head Boy and Head Girl. Who for their part had disappeared soon after the game and had not yet emerged to the main common room. Ron had looked for them, but after running into a rather strong impervious charm on their stairs had he had just smiled and turned around. Muggle music pumped from a bewitched CD player that had somehow gotten installed in the Gryffindor common room last year as he took a sip of his drink.
About ten Harry and Hermione emerged from their stairs, to a chorus of BOO's and thrown snacks, which they promptly jinxed in mid-air to fly backwards, just like the snowballs at Christmas. They wandered over to Ron and Luna who were watching Ginny drink some 5th year boys under the table, shot for shot.
"What's up with that?" Harry asked nodding towards the table where the tiny fire-haired witch had just slammed another shot.
"OHHH, Greg Thomas and his buddy Edgar there challenged her to a drinking contest." Luna replied absently.
"They're like twice her size," Hermione objected with a slight frown as she pulled a small piece of parchment and a quill from her robe pocket. She scribbled something on it, folded it into an airplane, and blew on its tail. The little note obediently flew to the Head's staircase and up to her desk in the rooms above.
"Yeah they're screwed, " Ron replied grinning. "What was that, Herm?"
"A reminder to brew handover cure in the morning." While they were watching, Edgar picked up his shot and promptly fell over, off his chair to the floor. Harry, who felt that he should do something as Head Boy, waved his wand at the unconscious Gryffindor and levitated him to a couch out of the way. "What are the stakes?"
"Oh I think Greg wanted a date with Ginny, or Ginny gets twenty galleons. Which she owes me by the way." Ron replied as Greg very shakily took his 7th or 8th shot.
Harry took a gulp of the butterbeer in his free hand, the other was around Hermione's waist, his fingers idly drumming in time with the music on her hip, "And Neville allowed this?" Neville was over playing a game of muggle poker with two 4th years, Harry noticed that the vast majority of the knuts and sickles were in front of Neville."
"I don't think he was concerned" And as with many of Ron's statements this was prophetic, as Greg promptly slid out of his chair to sprawl on the floor. Ginny got up with a little wobble saluted the fallen, with her shot, slammed it, and took twenty galleons out of Greg's pocket. With a muttered, "Wingardeum Leviosa" Ron sent him over to join his friend.
Harry and Hermione only butted in once the party had well and truly gone over the edge. After all they were enjoying the party too, but the attempt by the 4th year girls to get the 1st year boys to funnel firewhiskey was a bit much. Hermione grabbed the leader of the offending girls and dragged her over to a corner, her guilty co-offenders following along morosely. Ron looked over at Hermione's McGonagall impression and winced, and muttered to Harry out of the side of his mouth, "I'm soo glad that not me, mate."
"Yep me too" Harry replied, absently looking at the obvious attempts of the 4th year boys to pick up some half-sotted 3rd year girls; he ambled over to "mediate" this, glancing at his watch as he went. He caught Hermione's eye from across the room, Mione, it's like 3am we probably should shut this down. As he got over to the 4th years, Harry instructed, "Let it go boys, not tonight."
Yeah you are probably right Hermione responded from across the room with a thought and she started to pace about, sending the girls to bed. From past experience if she could get the girls to retire, the party would usually die off on it's own. She motioned with her head to Pavarti and Lavender, who were enjoying the attentions of Ginny's male year mates. Lavender pouted, but at a raised eyebrow, she grabbed her roommate and headed for the spiral steps. Only to slide back down, along with a drunken Eddie Cats who had just reached the 6th stair and set off the stair protections. "Harry" she yelled across the room nodding at the new slide in the corner.
Harry looked over and seeing the problem, waved with his wand in the general direction of the stairs, which reset itself. As if this act were a signal the portrait opened and McGonagall stepped through the portrait hole, looking annoyed in her tartan robe. Witnessing that her Head's were already breaking up the party she was slightly mollified, though when she noticed that at least one of her prefects, Ginny, was passed out snoring over a table, her lips grew thin. She motioned over Harry and Ron. "Potter, Weasley do you know what time it is?" She said in a growl, her Scottish burr thick.
Save me Mione, Harry's thoughts flashed across the room to the accompaniment of silent laughter. "Yes, ma'am, that why's why we were sending them to bed." Harry responded honestly.
McGonagall motioned to the now-unconscious Cats on the floor by the girls stairs, "And that, do you know that the alarm goes off in my quarters when those bloody stairs go off?"
No but that's good to know, Harry remained outwardly silent as Hermione came over having finally gotten all of the still standing girls to bed. The boys had gotten the hint and were all gone with the exception of a few unconscious ones that their friends had not dragged to bed.
Seeing that all of the Gryffindor staff was now present, she glared at them, "I ought to sack all of you for this, but seeing as I have no decent replacements and Dumbledore has nobody else remotely suitable for the Head's jobs, your punishment will be to drag the rest of these miscreants to bed, and brew all of the hangover potion that this house will need for tomorrow, if I see a single hangover there will be hell to pay."
Harry winced a little, but he knew that she really didn't mean the sacking thing; she was just pissed about the stair alarm getting her up. He answered for them all, "Yes ma'am. "
With a final nod, she headed back off through the portrait hole. "And Ronald, wake up your sister." And she left, the portrait closing behind her.
The survivors looked at each other and broke out laughing. After a minute, Harry forced himself to stop laughing long enough to draw his father's wand and with a wand pointing at both the girls and boys stairs he muttered "locomotor dumbarses" and the remaining unconscious students started to levitate to their respective dorms.
A/N Next Chapter, a little good morning wake up, and another falls.