Life for Harry and his friends and classmates continued uneventfully until just before Easter. Alicia and Angelina had teamed up and both were pushing Quidditch practice like crazy as their last game would be right before Easter break. Just in time to get it out of the way for the players on the teams who had O. and N.E.W.T.s to set aside their Quidditch fever and focus on revision.
Not that Harry wasn't already revising. With a grandfather and godfather to impress and a genius girlfriend to keep up with, Harry had probably already revised more for each subject this year than he had spent on all of his subjects put together for every other year at Hogwarts combined.
One thing that was annoying Harry was Ginny Weasley. The girl was attending every team practice, as she should as the understudy, but the constant commentary that something was bound to happen and leave Harry unable to play and so she needed to be ready to take her spot back was grinding away at his patience.
Ron was understanding to a point. Ginny was his sister and that meant he was obliged both to find her incredibly annoying and yet still support her. Hermione was better but she just didn't get Quidditch and as much as she supported Harry's claim on his position, it was still just a game to her. She just couldn't quite get the support right.
The worst part was the more Ginny pushed about how there was bound to be something that happened to keep Harry from playing the more Harry worried about Voldemort. There were some rumours that there was going to be a Ministry push soon to take back the Ministry of Magic underground complex. The more Harry heard the rumour the more he worried. If he, a teenager in a boarding school had heard about it, then surely Voldemort and his death eaters had heard the rumours as well and Voldemort wasn't stupid enough not to prepare for an attack. If the attack didn't go the Aurors way then Harry had very little doubt that Hogwarts would be next on Voldemort's agenda.
When Harry had told his grandfather about his worries Charlus had told him to focus on his revision. "Harry, I'm not going to lie to you. I have heard the same rumours you have. However I haven't heard anything from Sirius on the topic and if anybody was close enough to the Aurors to know what the plan was it would be him. I think the rumours are based on people knowing that the Ministry is going to need to take on moldywart and take back the Ministry if they are ever going to have a chance of stopping the death eaters. So everyone has deduced that the Ministry must be planning something. Personally I think they are hoping to thin out the death eaters' ranks more before they attempt anything."
That hadn't helped Harry much. It seemed to him that he and everyone he cared about were sitting between two over heated pressure pots and were waiting to see which one blew first and hoping they survived the explosion.
Still, whatever was going to happen hadn't yet and it held out long enough that it was Saturday the morning of the Quidditch match. It was Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw and the two houses were hyped. The ravens were backing on their seeker Cho Chang who hadn't failed to catch them the snitch once this year and the Gryffindors were excited to have Harry back in his position as seeker. It was looking to be a real seekers duel of a Quidditch game.
Harry was feeling nervous like he always did before a game but it was more a sense of nervous excitement. While he didn't eat much like always, this time it was more a choice to keep himself light and speedy. He had no trouble keeping down what he did eat. He did pocket a couple of apples in case of a long game though. Technically you couldn't eat during play but there was no such rule against eating during a time out. Well, as long as it was only food and not anything that would give you some kind of advantage.
Soon it was time and Harry and the rest of the team, including Ginny, made their way down to the Quidditch pitch. Hermione and Susan tagged along with them offering their support to Harry and Ron. Harry noticed when they were about halfway to the pitch the Ravenclaw team was following, only now walking out of the school gates.
The Quidditch pitch had two sets of changing rooms, one on the north side and one on the south. The Gryffindors were assigned to the southern one today. This could mean a slight advantage on some days putting the sun behind the one set of hoops but it was too cloudy that day for any visibility issues. The team filed into their changing rooms and just before Harry and Ron walked through the doors they were pulled aside by Hermione and Susan. Both girls pulled their boyfriend into a deep kiss for luck and before saying they were off to the stands and wishing them luck.
As they watched the two girls walk off Ron said. "I'm so glad we aren't playing Hufflepuff today."
"Just remember next time we do play the puffs that if you throw the game you will have to answer to the whole house. All of which know where you sleep and most of them have years of Fred and George's pranks to use as inspiration." Harry joked.
-ϟϟϟ-
"Welcome witches and wizards to the last Quidditch game of the year. We have treat for you all today: the Ravenclaw eagles vs the Gryffindor lions with the Triwizard champion himself Harry Potter finally taking back his rightful place as Gryffindor sleeker. For you first and second years in the crowd who haven't seen it yet let me tell you it is a privilege to see that man on a broom." Lee Jordan was doing his usual thing warming up the crowd
"For the Ravens we have Chambers, Bradley, and Captain Rodger Davies as the chasers. Macdougal as keeper. Tuttle and Tirel as beaters, and lastly Chang as seeker." Lee announced to the crowd as the Ravenclaw team walked out onto the pitch.
"For the Lions we have Bell, Johnson, and Captain Spinnet as chasers. The terrible twosome, the Weasley twins, taking their positions as beaters. Their younger brother Ronald Weasley as keeper and the legend himself Harry Potter!"
Hermione watched from the stands, Susan on her one side and Ginny in her full kit with her broom on the other. Hermione knew Ginny was eager to get out on the pitch and play but as that would mean one of the Gryffindor players was hurt Hermione hoped that the girl would remain right where she was for the entire game.
"Don't worry too much Ginny." Susan said. "This is Angelina and Alicia's last year. Hell, it's their last game at Hogwarts. Next year you will be an official starter."
"It just blows. I have been on the team playing every game we had for two years at this point and they just throw me aside for someone else." Ginny sulked.
Hermione sighed. "It isn't like that and you know it Gin. Harry never left the team and he is a brilliant seeker. Hell, he was a major reason why you even had Quidditch to play last year because he wanted to play yet you were the one who got to benefit. It wasn't his fault he got dragged into that tournament and it wasn't his fault he got injured twice this year keeping him from playing. Honestly Gin, you have benefited a lot from Harry's bad luck, isn't it time he finally gets a win?" Hermione laid it on thick, rephrasing it as Ginny wanting to once again give Harry the short end of the stick.
It was clear that Hermione's words got to Ginny. "You're right. It's just I have put in so much work and I'm stuck here warming the bench."
"Gin you're first in line to be one of the replacement chasers next year, and if you look at it long term you're the best candidate to be Quidditch captain in your seventh year. You hardly have nothing to show for it." Susan pointed out
Ginny didn't like it but had to admit the two girls were right. No matter how much she felt she deserved the position Harry had worked his arse off for it as well.
A few minutes later Professor Potter took one of the seats directly behind them giving the girls a warm greeting. It was obvious to Hermione that he was there more as uncle Charlus, Harry's grandfather than as a professor but her two friends quickly started acting like there was a professor there with them. Hermione supposed she couldn't blame them; they never really had the opportunity to meet the man before he became a professor. Well Ginny had met him a few times but she hadn't had the chance to actually get to know him. Not like she had when he tutored Harry, Ron, and herself over the summer.
"And here they go! Hootch releases the quaffle and it's Chambers in possession." Lee Jordan's commentary really began. "He dodges a bludger from one of the Weasley twins, no way to tell which one from here. And there is the second bludger from the other twin. Chambers passes off to Bradley. And Bradley is immediately tackled by Johnson, who passes to Spinnet but it's intercepted by Davies. Johnson doesn't seem to like that and she immediately charges him down for a tackle but he passes to Bradley. Pass to Chambers, pass to Davies."
It's only the first few minutes of the match and it's really shaping up to be a good one. Davies dodges a tackle from Bell only to not see Johnson who takes the quaffle. She passes to Spinnet, to Bell, back to Spinnet. Chambers tries to tackle but she evades. Spinnet sees an opportunity and sprints down the field, she dodges one bludger, two bludgers and she takes her shot, goal! It's ten-zero to Gryffindor!
Hermione and Ginny cheered while Susan clapped politely. The Hufflepuff may be supporting Gryffindor in this match but she was only really invested in Ron and Harry. Mainly Ron but Harry was her friend as well.
The reset is taken by Johnson, who passes to Spinnet, who is tackled by Davies, but she keeps it and throws it to Johnson, but it's intercepted by Chambers, pass to Davies, dodges a bludger aimed by one of the twins, Davies takes a shot at the goal but Ron Weasley boots the ball back down the pitch were it is caught once again by Davies. He is really pushing his broom today folks. Looks like he is trying to leave the scouts with a good impression in his last game.
"Oh has Potter seen the snitch?" Lee called out, drawing everyone's attention to the Gryffindor seeker who was currently diving towards the ground at a dangerous speed. Cho Chang was following close behind him.
"He hasn't seen it." Said Ginny. "It's a feint."
"How can you tell?" Asked Susan.
"Harry is flying too slow." Answered Hermione. "If he had seen the snitch he wouldn't be holding back so Cho could keep up with him. Right?" She added the question at the end because she wasn't overly confident in her analysis.
"Yep." Agreed Ginny. "Harry is fearless on a broom; he would be pushing it as fast as he could if he was chasing something. That he is going slow enough for Chang to keep up with him means that is his goal." Just as Ginny was saying that, Harry pulled up hard and Cho narrowly avoided eating the pitch. "Harry will probably do that a few more times if he gets the opportunity before he spots the snitch. Make Chang second guess, following him into a dive when he does see the snitch."
Lee Jordan's commentary continued, "Okay after that bit of excitement back to the quaffle and it's Bell in possession, she passes to Johnson, who pops it to Spinnet, who dodges a bludger from ? before passing to Bell, who is tackled by Bradley, but not before she drops the quaffle to Spinnet, who passes back to Bell, Bell takes a shot at the hoops but MacDougal saves."
The game continued with Gryffindor scoring on average twice for every time Ravenclaw scored.
-ϟϟϟ-
Harry circled the pitch on his broom looking for the glint of gold that would find him the snitch. Chang had tried to do some of her usual tricks such as flirting with him and following him ready to interfere if he saw the snitch first. However Harry had completely ignored the flirting. A cheap hotdog wasn't that interesting when you had steak at home. Besides Hermione was in the crowd watching, that woman did things with a passion. Often that was amazing but he really didn't want to experience her really pissed off at him.
As to Chang's attempt to play interference that had been solved with a few feints that put the Ravenclaw way too close to crashing into the ground for her comfort. Now she was hesitating before following him.
The score was currently one-hundred to fifty in Gryffindors favour. If the points kept going the way they had been so far then Harry wasn't going to need to catch the snitch before long as Gryffindor had won every match so far this year and Ravenclaw needed to win the match by at least seventy points if they wanted to push Gryffindor into second place.
Harry wasn't going to give up on catching the snitch himself though. This was his first opportunity in way too long to impress the Quidditch scouts. Despite everything that had happened over the last year and a half since his grandfather came back into his life Harry wasn't going to give up on his dream of becoming a professional Quidditch star.
More goals trickled in as Harry and Cho searched for the snitch, it was currently one-hundred-thirty to sixty. Ravenclaw was starting to get desperate and while there had been more shots at the Gryffindor goals Ron was doing brilliantly as keeper more than keeping up with them.
Harry was just thinking about how he would love an epic chase of the snitch so that he could really show off when he saw it, a glint of gold over the Gryffindor stands. Harry even had the advantage of being closer. He swung his broom around and flattened himself against the handle so that he could push as much speed as possible from his broom. He sped towards the snitch dodging both bludgers as he went, the Ravenclaw beaters desperately trying to keep him from ending the game.
As Harry's hand closed on the golden ball he briefly thought that it was the most boring catch he had ever done, Chang wasn't even close to putting any pressure on him. A little disappointing considering Harry wanted to show off for the scouts. But he knew forcing drama to make himself look good wouldn't work. The scouts would spot it immediately and nobody wanted a teammate who gave up a sure thing for their own glory. However the thoughts of the scouts all faded from his mind as he looked up at the Gryffindor crowd and realised he had caught the snitch right in front of Hermione.
Hermione was jumping up and down cheering for him. Harry didn't know where the impulse came from because it was a little out of character for him, he chalked it up to post-win euphoria but he pointed at Hermione and drew a heart with his fingers and blew her a kiss. Hermione laughed, mimed catching the kiss and hugged it close to her chest.
Maybe Harry would have gotten embarrassed if he had stayed there and thought about it for a few seconds but almost immediately he felt one body collide with him and wrap her arms around him, quickly followed by more as the entire Quidditch team came huddling in for a post match group hug.
The final score was Ravenclaw seventy points Gryffindor two hundred-and-ninety, giving Gryffindor the match and the Quidditch Cup. Harry and Ron found Hermione and Susan waiting for them when they walked out of the changing rooms. Harry and Ron were the last to leave because Ron was insisting on giving Harry a blow by blow rundown of every save he made during the match. As they walked out they both immediately had their hands full of a congratulatory witch.
They spent a few minutes like that just enjoying the victory and being teenagers. When they were walking back up to the castle Ron turned to Susan and asked. "Want to come to the Gryffindor common room for the evening? I'm sure Fred and George will have arranged a party for our victory before we get there."
"Sounds good." She agreed.
Hermione spoke up then. "If Susan is joining us we should pop by the Hufflepuff common room first."
"Why?" Asked Ron genuinely confused.
Hermione rolled her eyes and you could see the thought go through her mind even if she didn't say it. 'Boys.' Then she said, "Because Susan is dressed for being outside and if she is going to be inside with a crowd of people in a confined space then she is going to be very uncomfortable if she doesn't change."
That was very much true. It was almost Easter but it was still Scotland and while you could get away without a scarf, hat, and gloves it was still chilly enough that most of the school, especially those from farther South, wore a few extra layers to be outside. Susan was no exception. Harry suspected that Hermione was also giving Susan an opportunity to change into something more flattering as Harry knew from experience most of the Gryffindor girls did change out of their robes and into something nicer for most of their party's. She probably didn't want to leave Susan standing out because of her clothes.
So their first stop was the Hufflepuff common room. Susan let the three Gryffindors in and she and Hermione disappeared down a corridor leaving Harry and Ron in the care of one of their year mates Justin Finch-Fletchley so that no one would wonder why two random Gryffindors were stood in the Hufflepuff common room.
The room was decorated in a similar way to the Gryffindor common room. It was all soft seats and warm fires mixed with desks and chairs where you could work on your homework. The two biggest differences between the two common rooms were of course colour scheme and that the room was a large rectangle with long corridors that led to dorms rather than round with stairs leading to the dorms. That wasn't too surprising, the two rooms were built and furnished with the same purpose in mind, a place for the house to relax and spend their free time.
The girls were gone for longer than a minute and the game had gone on long enough that they missed lunch so naturally Ron started moaning a little about being hungry. That was enough to remind Harry of the two apples he had in his pockets, he handed one off to Ron while quickly munching the other himself.
The two Gryffindors got a few strange looks sitting in the Hufflepuff common room with Justin but nobody said anything. It was almost ten minutes later when Susan and Hermione reappeared and Susan was dressed up for a party in a dress that there was no way any of the professors would approve of. Ron's eyes went wide seeing her and to Harry and Hermione's amusement he actually got tongue tied as he tried to say how good she looked. Susan seemed to realise exactly why Ron was having trouble and took it as a compliment and even gave him a quick peck in appreciation.
As they made their way back up to the Gryffindor common room Ron couldn't take his eyes off his girlfriend. He was so busy paying attention to her that Susan had to turn him around and point him in the correct direction a couple of times.
Harry and Hermione who were holding hands as they walked a few metres behind were also having a conversation quietly enough so that the couple ahead wouldn't overhear them. "So I told Susan your reasoning about what you said the other day. You know in regards to what name she and Ron should use."
Harry shrugged. It wasn't really a secret. Well, except maybe from Ron but that was only because Ron would do the opposite out of spite at being tricked in such a Slytherin manner. Besides, if it was a secret then Harry trusted Hermione to only tell anyone if she thought it was the right thing to do. Mostly though the reason Harry didn't mind was because he had a hunch. "Had she worked it out for herself?"
Hermione nodded. "Yeah, how did you know?"
Harry smirked "Susan wants to be an Auror. With her aunt being the head of the D.M.L.E. you just know she has learned how to think things like motives through. She knows me well enough to know I'm not a traditionalist, she knows Ron well enough to know how being lost in a crowd affects him and knows I know him well enough to know that as well. I didn't put all that together when I said it but thinking about it later I thought there was a good chance she would put it together."
"You know you're quite sexy when you use that brain of yours." Hermione cooed. "But yeah she put it together and wanted me to pass on her thanks. Do you actually think their relationship will last long enough for them to get married?"
"Well you know what grandfather told me about magic pushing people apart if they aren't compatible. Their relationship seems to be holding up strong so I would say there is a good chance." Harry said.
"But I thought that wasn't a guarantee." Hermione was speaking in the same tone she used when trying to work out a difficult problem in their homework. "The way you described it was more that if there was no chance a relationship would work it pushes you to act more hostile to that person."
"Like how you and Ron bicker sometimes?" Harry smirked. "You and he are pretty good friends. But I don't think you'd ever be compatible for a relationship. I think it's still up to us to put the work in to develop and work on our feelings for each other. They seem to be doing that just like we are. Unless someone does something completely stupid at this point I think there is a good chance the only question will be who will get married first, us or them." at least if they all survived Voldemort but Harry left that last part unsaid.
They made it to the Gryffindor common room and after Ron opened the portrait hole the four teens were hit by a wall of sound. It was so loud that Hermione whipped out her wand and cast a spell on them and the volume fell by half, only Harry could still hear Hermione clearly as she was casting the spell on Ron and Susan.
When he gave Hermione a questioning look she explained. "A spell I found in an old book on odd charms. It reduces the volume of everything where the source of the sound is more than six feet from you. So we can lower the volume of the music and everyone shouting over it but still have a conversation without shouting over the music.
The Gryffindors were in full party mode with the win of the Quidditch Cup. The twins had once again managed to somehow in only minutes organise food and drink. There was music coming from someone's gramophone and all the furniture had been moved from one half of the room to create a dance floor. Hermione pushed Harry and Ron towards the buffet knowing that they would be hungry, and she pulled Susan with her to disappear up the girls stairs to keep her company as she changed.
Ron was on his second plate of sausage rolls and sandwiches when the girls came back down. Hermione wasn't wearing anything as revealing as Susan but to Harry's eye she was no less stunning. Hermione immediately pulled Harry onto the dance floor and the two of them danced for most of the night only taking breaks to cool down, or have something to eat and drink.
The party went on until late, Professor McGonagall didn't come to break up the party until gone one in the morning. It was way too late for Susan to sneak back down to the Hufflepuff common room so she ended up bunking with Hermione and the other fifth-year girls.