The Dragon Tamed

Chapter 5.

Thursday afternoon saw Thea and Ginny making their way down to the Quidditch pitch for the first practice of the year.

'I'm so looking forward to this,' exclaimed Thea. 'I haven't been flying since I visited you, and that was ages ago.' She smiled. 'Plus, I'm properly on the team this year as well, no being reserve this time.'

'Well, after you played so well in the Ravenclaw match last year, I'm not surprised,' Ginny told her. 'I knew Harry was just going to make you first team Chaser after that.'

'We're going to be an unstoppable team this year,' Thea said.

'No doubt about it. We are going to kill Slytherin this year,' Ginny agreed as they walked up to the door of the changing rooms.

'Oh, you really think so?' drawled a voice from behind them.

Thea looked over at Ginny, who rolled her eyes. No prizes for guessing who was standing behind them, Thea supposed.

'What a lovely surprise, Malfoy,' said Ginny, fake sweetness dripping from her voice.

Malfoy hardly spared Ginny a glance, which was slightly unusual. He always took an opportunity to insult a Weasley. 'So let me guess,' he said as he pointed a finger at Thea, 'You're the new chaser this year?'

Thea nodded wordlessly, hoping that if she didn't say anything he would have less to say. It wouldn't work, probably, but you just had to look at what happened to Ron whenever he lost his temper around Malfoy to know that it was best not to provide him any added ammunition. It was never pretty.

'And you think this -' he gave Thea a once over, making her shift uncomfortably, '-addition will achieve the impossible and make the Gryffindorks a good team?

Thea resisted the urge to point out how many times Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup in the last six years; he hadn't listened before, what would make this time any different. So, instead she said, 'How long have you been using that clever play on Gryffindor? Haven't you thought of anything a little less second year yet?'

Malfoy cocked his head as if giving deep consideration to what she had said. 'Is Gryffinwhores any better?' he asked.

'Yeah, real witty, Malfoy,' Thea deadpanned.

'If you can't think of any new insults how do you expect to think of any new Quidditch tactics? Asked Ginny.

'I'm sure we'll manage,' Malfoy reassured her, his eyes narrowing.

'You'd better go, Malfoy. Harry and Ron'll go mad if they see you skulking around here like...,' Thea warned him, hoping the insult to the Malfoy name would be enough to get rid of him.

Malfoy glared at her. 'Malfoy's do not skulk,' he informed her archly.

'Of course they don't, now piss off,' Ginny told him as she moved to open the door to the changing rooms.

As Thea watched him, she thought he looked vaguely amused by Ginny's remark but it was gone so quickly she wasn't sure if she'd imagined it.

'Have a good practice, girls. I'm sure I'll be seeing you both later.' And with that rather weird statement, he left.

'That wasn't at all bizarre,' Thea told Ginny. 'I don't feel as though we're in an alternate reality at all. Honest.'

'That was stranger than usual, 'Ginny agreed with her.

'I was a bit surprised you didn't leap to my defence when he insulted me,' Thea told her as she pulled on her Quidditch robes. 'Not that I wanted you to,' she added quickly, lest Ginny got the wrong idea. 'It's just that that's what you normally do.'

'You were holding your own,' Ginny told her, smiling. 'Seemed a shame to stop you on such a roll.'

Thea laughed.

As they walked out onto the field, Ginny turned to Thea. 'But what was with the whole talking back to Malfoy thing? Not that you've ever been scared of him, but you've never really tried to confront him like that.'

'Well, I can't let Malfoy scare the crap out of me if I'm going to have three tutorials with him every week. I have to get over it, and that seemed as good a place as any to start.' Although she sounded confident, she felt anything but. Despite that, she knew that to let Malfoy know he intimidated her would only make her life worse. She had to convince him, even if she couldn't convince herself.

'Good for you,' Ginny said enthusiastically as they joined the unchanged team. Well, unchanged except for Thea and she had played in the last game of the year because Katie Bell had been far too stressed with her N.E.W.T.s.

'So, is everyone here?' asked Harry, looking around. 'Yes? Excellent.' Once again Harry was captain but this year he has asked Ron to be his co-captain with him. Ron had rather enthusiastically accepted.

'Right then,' started Ron, 'for our first practice, Harry managed to convince me that perhaps we should have a bit of fun.'

The rest of the team cheered.

Thea and Ginny swapped grins. No doubt it had killed Ron to make that concession. All through the summer holidays, Ron had been making plans for how the Quidditch practices should go...and that was before he had found out he was to be joint captain.

'Of course, I think it's just because he can't get that idiot grin off his face the first time he flies every year,' concluded Ron.

'Hey!' said Harry indignantly but Ron just grinned unrepentantly at him.

'OK, then,' called Ron. 'Everyone in the air.'

As Thea climbed onto her Nimbus 2001 she thought back to her last birthday when she had got it and the surprise it had been. It had been a present from her dad. Her birthday had been just a few days after the end of school and since she had been at her dad's funeral just a few weeks before, the day had not been overly happy. However, when opening her presents (her stepfather had managed to buy her some really rare books on the history of magic) she had spied one that looked suspiciously broomstick shaped. Naturally she had opened that one straight away, and found a Nimbus 2001 staring out at her. That in itself had been shocking but then she had read the card and just burst into tears. Her mother hadn't known what to do, but her stepfather had been brilliant, shame the same couldn't be said for her stepbrother though. The boy hadn't a magical bone in his body and yet he had been insanely jealous. Honestly, what was he going to do with a broomstick? Thea, though hadn't really cared too much about his sulk, she'd been too involved in thinking about her dad. She had no idea how he had managed it, but she was so happy he had. Whenever she went flying she remembered him, but it was impossible for her to be sad because flying always made her happy. She had a feeling her dad had known that when he'd bought it.

Thea was jolted out of her daydream by Demelza yelling, 'Hey, Thea, catch,' before throwing the Quaffle at her. Luckily she had reacted instinctively; bringing her hands up to catch it, before throwing it on to Ron.

Ginny flew up to her, looking worried. 'Hey, Thea, are you ok?'

'I'm fine. I was just thinking about my dad, you know. It threw me for a second.'

'Do you want to go down to the ground for a moment?' Ginny asked.

Thea grinned at her, thanking her friend silently for caring so much about her. 'Not at all. This is probably going to be the only practice where Ron and Harry aren't drilling us, so we should enjoy every minute of it. Anyway, my dad would want me to enjoy the broom, not go all misty eyed every time I fly.'

'Are you sure?'

'Positive. So lets get going.'

Ginny didn't look entirely convinced but didn't say anything as they flew off to rejoin the game.

It seemed as though everyone had improved over the summer, although how that worked with Harry, Thea had no idea.

Finally it was getting too dark too see, and after a couple of near misses with the Bludgers, Harry called it a night.

'Thank God for that,' said Ginny as they flew towards the ground. 'That last Bludger Jimmy sent my way nearly took my head off.'

'Yeah, sorry about that, Ginny,' Jimmy called out. 'Didn't mean to hit it quite that hard.'

'Well, next time you do, make sure you're aiming at Malfoy's head,' Ginny told him, grinning. 'Shouldn't be too hard to hit, his head's plenty big enough.'

As they landed Thea could see that Harry was grinning broadly, and had obviously enjoyed himself. Standing next to him, Ron was also grinning like a maniac.

'Well done, everyone. That was fantastic,' said Harry.

'Good to see no one has forgotten how to play,' added Ron. 'Now then, on to the important stuff. I reckon you've all guessed that our practices are on Thursdays. Because of the timetables that us seventh and sixth years have it's going to be pretty hard to cram in any extra practices.'

'But that doesn't mean we're not going to,' butted in Harry.

'Exactly. So me and Harry were thinking that we should book the pitch for practice every Sunday afternoon. That way we'll immediately gain an advantage.'

'So, is everyone prepared to do that?' asked Harry, looking hard at everyone, as if daring them to say no.

'Of course we're all ready to do that, Harry,' Jimmy told him.

The rest of the team nodded their agreement.

'But what about our O.W.L.s?' asked Demelza suddenly.

'We have our N.E.W.T.s,' pointed out Harry.

'Don't think that's a valid argument,' muttered Ginny. 'Harry and Ron only work when Hermione nags them.'

Thea stifled a laugh as Ron carried on talking.

'And Harry also has tutorials to teach,' added Ron. 'If Harry can manage it, so can everyone else.'

'What about you girls?' Harry asked Thea and Ginny. 'You also have tutorials. Will you have enough time to fit it all in?'

'Of course we will, Harry,' Thea told him. 'We all want to beat Slytherin as much as you two.' There was no point pretending this was anything other than getting one up on Slytherin, they were Gryffindors only real competition that year.

Jimmy grinned suddenly. 'I bet the Slytherin captain will be hopping mad when he finds out.'

'Are you going to go and talk to McGonagall straight away?' asked Richie.

Both Ron and Harry suddenly looked a little guilty. 'Ah, yes. You see the thing is...' stammered Ron.

'You scheming little bastards,' exclaimed Ginny. 'You've already booked the pitch, haven't you? The moment you both thought of it, I bet you were straight off to see McGonagall.'

Thea laughed. How typical. But she didn't blame them. She'd have done the same thing, as would have Ginny.

'Well, yeah,' admitted Harry. 'But come on, it was far too good an opportunity to pass up. And anyway, you all agreed.'

'So who is the Slytherin captain who is going to be spitting blood when he finds out?' asked Jimmy.

Harry grinned wickedly at them. 'Malfoy.'

The team started to laugh, and after a few moments Harry and Ron joined in.

'Oh, my. He is going to be so mad,' gasped Ginny, her eyes wide.

'And don't we know it,' Harry told her. 'Although, he can't complain...much McGonagall would only book every other Sunday for us. You know, to give the others a sporting chance.'

'Of course, that means we'll be talking tactics on the Sundays we can't practice,' Ron added, suddenly looking serious.

'Well, of course we will be,' said Ginny. 'What else would we be doing?' she asked sarcastically. However, Thea could tell that, although she was teasing her brother, there would be no other place Ginny would rather be than at Quidditch training.

'And Malfoy looks like he might be a decent captain,' said Harry, getting as serious as Ron. 'From what I've heard, he's going to be changing the team a bit.'

'In what way?' asked Demelza.

'Well, he might actually be looking for talent, and not just brute strength,' said Ron gloomily. Thea could see his point. Brute strength, while painfully, was easy to fly circles around. Actual talent made it that much harder.

'But as long as we play like we did last year, we'll be fine,' Harry reassured them. 'And now onto better things, possibly. Order of play.'

At that everyone perked up.

'First match is Slytherin/Hufflepuff,' Ron told them.

Thea and Ginny swapped grins. By the sounds of things Ron already had it all memorised: he wasn't even holding a piece of parchment, like Harry was.

'Slytherin'll win that,' predicted Ritchie.

'Probably,' agreed Harry. 'Our first match is after that, against Ravenclaw.'

'We should win that, easy,' Ron told them. 'It's a relatively new team who won't have been playing long with each other before we meet them.'

'Then it's Slytherin/Ravenclaw, which Slytherin will more than likely win,' Harry told them.

'Our match against Hufflepuff is after that. Again it'll be a walk over,' Ron said. 'Although that is no reason to slack off the practice,' he added quickly. 'It's all practice, making us unbeatable by the end of the year.'

Harry smiled at his best friend's seriousness. 'First match of the summer is Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff, but hopefully we'll be so far ahead that the outcome won't be important to us.'

'And then it's the big one,' Ron said, rather dramatically in Thea's opinion. 'Us versus Slytherin. It'll be a tough one, but in the end good will prevail and we'll beat them down.'

'Ok, Ron, we'll beat them,' said Ginny, looking at her brother as though he had cracked, although it could just be that she objected to his overly dramatic overtones.

'But we do want to beat Slytherin into the ground,' Harry told the team. 'We've never lost to them yet, and we're not about to start now.'

'That goes without saying, Harry,' Demelza told him, as Jimmy and Richie cheered.

Thea grinned at Ginny. There really was nothing like resoundingly beating Slytherin and wiping that damn smirk off Malfoy's face.

'Right then, off to the changing rooms with the lot of you. I'm starving.' Ron hurried off to get changed.

Harry called out to him. 'Relax, Ron. I don't think the food is going to disappear on you. You've never missed dinner yet.'

Ron shot Harry a disbelieving look before disappearing through the door. Laughing, Harry hung back until Ginny and Thea were next to him. 'That was some good flying today girls. You keep that up, practice lots with Demelza, and no one will be able to touch you this year.'

'Thanks, Harry,' said Ginny, smiling at the praise.

'So, are you two looking forward to our first meeting of the DA?'

'Of course we are,' Thea told him.

'What are we doing tonight?' asked Ginny.

He grinned at them. 'Ah, sorry girls, that's for me to know and you to find out.'

-------------------

After dinner Thea and Ginny made their way to the Room of Requirement with Colin and Benji. When they got there they saw most of the other members were already there. Most of them were either sixth or seventh years but there were a fair few fourth and fifth years as well as a couple of third years. The younger ones looked quite awed to be in the presence of the 'Boy-Who-Lived.'

Thea nudged Ginny and nodded over to the third years who were all staring at Harry.

'You'd think they'd have got over it by now,' she commented.

'Obviously not,' said Colin.

'Hey, look. There are Abi and Lauren,' said Thea, seeing her friends on the other side of the room.

'Where?' asked Colin, looking around.

'Over there, idiot, where Thea is pointing,' Benji told him.

'And Alicia and Luna are with them,' added Ginny. 'I've hardly seen Alicia yet this year.'

'It's only been four days,' Benji pointed out to her.

'So not the point,' Ginny retorted as she sat down next to her friends. 'Hey Luna, Alicia.'

'Hey guys, how you doing?' Thea asked her friends as she said down.

Before they could start talking, Harry turned to the front of the room, getting everyone's attention. Of course, Ron yelling for everyone to shut up helped as well.

Thea looked around the room and marvelled at how many people the Room of Requirement could fit comfortably. Since the fourth year, the group had at least doubled. Most had joined last year, after hearing the story of Harry's fight against the Death Eaters. What had interested most people though, had been that Luna and Neville had gone with them, and, more importantly, returned in one piece. Once Neville had started telling people how it was only Harry's patient teaching that had enabled him to survive, everyone had wanted to sign up. So now the group had most of the seventh and sixth years, a good portion of the fourth and fifth years and the odd third year. However, there were still no Slytherins in the group. As Seamus had pointed out, there wasn't much point learning a whole batch of curses and hexes the Death Eaters wouldn't expect a load of sixteen year old kids to know, and then have the very same curses reported back to said Death Eaters by their dutiful sons and daughters. Apparently the Slytherins had then created there own equivalent to the DA, but since the Slytherins were notoriously tight-lipped, no-one really knew if it was true or not. To that Colin had snorted and retorted that since all the Slytherins had been taught the Dark Arts since they were born, would they really need an after school club?

'Ok, everyone. It's good to see you all here,' began Harry, looking earnestly around the room. 'Since this is the first day back, I thought we could just recap what we have already done. Practice makes perfect and we should make sure we are all ready to go onto more challenging things. Get into your pairs and practice what you want.'

'Well, I guess we'd best get to it,' said Alica, standing up. 'Thea, you with me?'

'As always,' Thea responded.

As Ginny and Luna discussed what they wanted to practice, Thea noticed Benji and Colin weren't pairing up with each other like every time last year. Benji had paired up with Lauren and Colin was with Abi.

'Hey, Gin,' she called softly. As Ginny looked at her she pointed over to the boys. Ginny looked over and smiled wickedly.

'We'll have to ask them about that tonight,' Ginny told her. 'Bet they get all flustered.'

Laughing, Thea turned back to Alicia to find Harry standing next to them.

'Don't be so hard on them, Thea,' he said, looking over at Colin and Benji.

'As if we would,' Thea protested.

'You forget, I know you and Ginny. You'll give them hell over it.'

'Maybe, but you didn't come over here to offer protection to Coll and Ben...did you?' she asked hesitantly. Surely he didn't think she and Ginny were that bad.

Harry laughed. 'No, I didn't. I just wanted to check that you weren't going to practice you're Patronus, that's all.'

Thea grinned at him. 'What? You don't fancy having to duck out of the way of a flying dragon?'

'Been there, done that,' he responded, deadpan. 'The only thing I didn't get was the tee-shirt.'

'Did it get set on fire?' asked Thea cheekily.

'Shut up and get on with it,' Harry told her good naturedly as he walked over to Ginny and Luna.

'A dragon?' asked Alicia.

'What? Oh yeah. While I was staying at the Weasley's, I asked Harry to keep helping me with my patronus. He found a Boggart and Mrs Weasley allowed him to use it. One day, we were in the day room and my patronus worked, it became corporeal. And when it did, it was a dragon. A BIG dragon. Mrs Weasley dropped the pan she was carrying when she walked into the room.'

Alicia laughed. 'Really?'

'Yep. After that, I had to practice in the garden. It had more space.'

'Can't imagine why,' said Alicia dryly.

'Oi, Thea, Alicia, less talking, more practicing,' Harry called to them across the room.

Thea stuck her tongue out at him, before pulling out her wand.

'You're impossible,' Alicia told her. 'I don't know how Harry puts up with it.'

'Oh, but he's so much fun to wind up, and anyway, I reckon he enjoys it. Better than all those idiots who fawn over him,' Thea said as she pointed her wand at Alicia. 'OK, what do you want to practice first?'

------------------

'See you tomorrow,' Thea said to Alicia, Abi and Lauren as they left the Room of Requirement.

'Yeah, you looking forward to it?' asked Abi.

'Of course,' Thea told her. 'How could I not?'

'I don't think I've ever been this excited about a class before,' said Lauren. 'You don't think I'm ill, do you?'

'There is nothing wrong with enjoying your classes, Lauren,' said Hermione as she walked past them with Ron, Harry and Seamus following slightly behind them.

'Oh, I dunno,' said Seamus quietly, so Hermione couldn't hear him. 'Perhaps it means you're turning into a scholar, like our dear Hermione. That's a truly scary thought.'

'Shut up, Seamus,' said Harry. 'There is nothing wrong with looking forward to class.' He cocked his head thoughtfully. 'Well, only if it's Potions. Then you are seriously sick.'

'Yeah, but Hermione looks forward to all her lessons. That's not normal,' said Ginny, agreeing with Seamus.

'See?' Seamus said, pointing at Ginny. 'Thank you.'

'But it's Elemental, that's different. You're ill if you don't look forward to it,' Harry persisted.

'Whatever,' said Seamus. 'I have never looked forward to a lesson in my life...'

'You were looking forward to Apparation last year,' Harry reminded him, a grin plastered to his face.

Seamus glared at Harry before carrying on, 'As I was saying, I have never looked forward to a lesson, and I don't intend to start now.'

Harry rolled his eyes but laughed at Seamus' theatrics. 'Come on, we've got to catch Ron and Hermione up.' As he and Seamus walked off, Harry called over his shoulder, 'Don't be too long. You don't want to get caught out after curfew.'

'And he should know,' added Seamus.

'Right then, see you tomorrow, Thea,' said Alicia as she and Luna made off towards the Ravenclaw common room.

As Abi walked off she called behind her, 'Night, Colin.'

Colin just about managed to stammer his reply.

Thea was biting her lip to stop herself from laughing and she could see Ginny doing the same.

Lauren then called out, 'Night, Benji,' before she and Abi disappeared around the corner.

As they walked towards the common room, Thea noticed Colin and Benji nudging and shoving each other. 'What's up with you two?' she asked, having a pretty good idea but not wanting to let on.

'Nothing's up,' said Benji, far too quickly.

'Nope, nothing at all,' agreed Colin.

Thea swapped a look with Ginny. Yeah, that was convincing.

'You two coming back to the common room?' asked Ginny innocently.

'Ummm, n...not at the moment,' stammered Benji, glancing down the corridor Abi and Lauren had just disappeared down.

'But we'll be back real soon. No need to come with us,' rushed Colin.

'We're going nowhere interesting,' added Benji.

'Ok,' said Thea. Could they be more obviously suspicious?

'We'll see you back there, then,' said Ginny, trying not to smile.

'Cool,' said Colin, sounding relieved that she and Ginny hadn't questioned them further obviously not thinking that they might just be saving it up for later.

'See you later,' added Benji.

With that they both turned and rushed off in the opposite direction.

'Ah, bless' said Ginny, as they watched their rapidly retreating friends. 'That was so obvious.' She started to laugh. 'I can't believe they thought we actually bought that.'

Thea joined in. 'They were just so...cute,' she agreed.

'Dear God, please tell me all Gryffindors aren't that pathetic about sex.'

Thea groaned as she and Ginny turned around.

'What does it matter to you, Malfoy?' shot back Ginny.

'It doesn't,' he told her. 'It was just painful to watch. No wonder all you Gryffindors are virgins.'

'What makes you think we're all virgins?' asked Ginny, sounding more bemused that angry.

Malfoy looked pointedly at Thea. 'You have to ask? Then of course there is the sweet innocence of the Boy-Who-Lived...'

'You know, Malfoy, I'm really worried that you're actually spending valuable time thinking about the sex lives of us Gryffindors,' Ginny told him.

Thea took one look at the expression of horror on Malfoy's face and burst out laughing. She quickly shut up though when he turned his rather scary glare her way.

'This conversation bores me,' he announced as if they should care.

'So? Go away and leave us alone then,' suggested Thea.

'Actually, I have a better idea. Why don't you tell me how the first meeting of Dumbledore's Army...well, drabble of school children, went? Did you learn how to fight off the nasty Death Eaters?'

'It was wonderful, Malfoy,' said Ginny sweetly. 'Next time your dad or aunt try to kill us, we'll be ready.'

Malfoy's face darkened momentarily. 'Do you honestly think that a few tips and pointers from The-Boy-Who-Never-Dies is going to help you against witches and wizards who have been practising the Dark Arts for longer than you've been alive?'

'Well, we've done alright so far, Malfoy. We certainly survived the Ministry of Magic. Perhaps you should join. Maybe you could pass some tips and pointers onto your dad,' said Ginny pointedly.

'My father needs no help from me,' Malfoy hissed.

'No?' Ginny frowned, as if in deep thought. 'Well, the funny thing is, I think he does. I mean, he did get beaten by a bunch of fourteen and fifteen year olds. How humiliating. Especially for a Malfoy.'

'Weaselette, you don't know what you are talking about. I suggest you shut up before I hex you,' Malfoy ground out from behind gritted teeth.

'Is that the best you can do, Malfoy?' mocked Ginny.

Thea looked between the two of them. She had to get Ginny out of there. So far it had been amazing that a bunch of hexes hadn't already been thrown around and she really wanted to keep it that way. Plus, she really didn't want to be hit by any strays.

'Gin, I think we'd better be getting back to the common room,' Thea told her best friend quietly.

'What's the matter, Maggi? Scared of me?' said Malfoy, scathingly.

'Scared of you, Malfoy? Not likely,' she told him, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach that were trying to tell her differently.

'Leave her alone, Malfoy,' Ginny warned.

Thea closed her eyes. Why did Ginny have to do that? Now Malfoy was going to be convinced that she really was afraid of him.

'Awwww, does Maggi need her little blood traitor friend to stick up for her?' he mocked.

'Malfoy, why don't you quit while you're ahead, huh? There is only one of you but two of us. Not the best of odds.' As she said it, she casually pulled out her wand. At least she hoped it was casual. She was actually quite scared.

Ginny immediately pulled out her wand as well, and like Thea, didn't actually point it at Malfoy so he couldn't try and say that they had threatened him.

Thea looked back at Malfoy and was disappointed to see he didn't look even the slightest bit intimidated. In fact he could possibly be looking slightly impressed. 'You surprise me, Maggi. I never thought you had it in you.' As he said that, he walked began to walk off. 'See you tomorrow, Maggi,' he called back.

Thea turned around and looked at Ginny. 'What just happened there?'

Ginny looked equally confused. 'I honestly haven't a clue. Why did he just walk off like that? I mean, we weren't done.'

'I know. He didn't even insult your family, well not much anyway.'

'You know, he unnerves me. More than ever. It's like something is off with him,' Ginny told her as they walked slowly back to the common room. 'I think the Slytherins have noticed it too. Some of them seem really uncomfortable around Malfoy.'

'You don't think that just Malfoy's winning personality, do you?' asked Thea.

'It could be, but I'm not sure.' Ginny shrugged. After a pause she added, 'So, do you think Coll and Ben'll say anything about Abi and Lauren if we ask them?'

Looking at her friend, Thea laughed. 'We nearly end up in a duel with Malfoy and all you want to talk about is Coll and Ben?'

'Well, it's certainly more interesting than Malfoy,' Ginny told her. 'And speaking of the near duel, can we not talk about it in front of my dear brother. Ron'll have a fit if he hears about it and then he'll do something stupid about it.'

'You don't think he'll do anything rash, do you?' Thea asked Ginny in mock shock.

Ginny just looked at her sceptically.

'Oh, please, I'm not that stupid. I know not to talk about anything in front of Ron. It's like not talking about anything in front of my mum. Are we going to tell Coll and Ben, though?'

'Yeah, but not until tomorrow. I don't want Ron to overhear any of it.' Ginny shuddered. 'His big brother routine is fast getting old.'

'It is kind of sweet though,' Thea told her as they approached the Fat Lady, wishing she had someone looking out for her like that.

Once in the common room Thea and Ginny looked around.

'Where are the boys?' Ginny asked her. 'I can't see them anywhere.'

'I arrived at exactly the same time as you, Ginny. I have no idea,' Thea told her as her eyes scanned the room looking for them.

At that moment, Dennis walked past them. 'Are you looking for Colin?'

They nodded.

'He and Ben went up to bed as soon as they got back,' he informed them. 'They said something about not wanting to be grilled.'

Ginny and Thea swapped grins.

'Grilled about what?' asked Dennis. 'Coll wouldn't tell me.'

'Well, if Coll won't tell you we can't say a thing,' said Ginny solemnly.

Dennis looked crestfallen.

'However,' added Thea, 'just ask him what he thinks of Hufflepuff at the moment, and you might find is reaction rather interesting.'

'So, it's a girl then?' he asked, grinning.

'Did we say that?' scoffed Ginny.

Dennis grinned at them before walking off to join his friends.

'You know, we could just go up and see them,' suggested Ginny, a mischievous glint entering her eye. 'It's not like they can keep us out.'

'Well, there is the classic, chair under the door handle,' Thea told her.

'You honestly think they would have thought of that?' Ginny asked sceptically. She nodded her head across the room. 'And I don't think Chris would appreciate being locked out of his room.

Thea laughed but shook her head. 'Come on, let's give them tonight. We can quiz them tomorrow.'

'But I want to do it now. Go on, it'll be fun.'

'Yeah, but if we leave them until tomorrow we'll either have lulled them into a false sense of security, or they will have been expecting us to attack them in their dorm and the fact that we don't will confuse them, and probably have them dead jumpy tomorrow.'

'All ready for the grand inquisition,' finished Ginny.

'I think you mean the Spanish Inquisition,' muttered Thea as they climbed the stairs.

'What?' asked Ginny. 'The Spanish what?'

'Nothing, it doesn't matter,' Thea told her.

'Muggle thing?' asked Ginny.

Thea nodded. 'Oh yeah.'