Harry Potter and the Sorceress Queen

"Ronald Weasley."

His face pale and nervous, Ron clutched his new Nimbus 2001 and marched onto the Quidditch field. He kicked off from the ground and flew up in the air, hovering in front of the goal posts, looking determined.

After breakfast, Harry, Ron and Hermione walked down to the Quidditch field, which they had booked for the tryout. The rest of the team were already there, and a large group of Gryffindors were sitting on the stands. With the possibility of playing against a foreign team in Holland, nearly thirty Gryffindors had signed up to tryout for the vacant position of the Keeper.

Madam Hooch had brought ten bewitched Quaffles to the field. She pointed her wand to them and the ten red balls rose in the air and formed in a neat line. When she blew her whistle, the Quaffles shot out one by one, each trying to zoom through the large golden hoops.

Most of the tryout players were able to save three to six balls. Dean was trembling slightly and saved four. Ron did fairly well with a score of eight. Harry and Hermione cheered loudly when he walked back to them, grinning. However, Harry had to admit that Edward Burke, a tall broad-shouldered sixth year was the best; Burke caught all ten perfectly, and Harry could judge from the way he flew, Burke was a superb flyer.

The other members on the team obviously had the same thought. Fred and George conjured up a black top hat, and the Gryffindor team dropped their votes into it. If there was a tie, Madam Hooch was to put in her judgement. But there was no need of it. Soon Madam Hooch read the votes out loud and proclaimed Edward Burke as the new Gryffindor Keeper. Ron was looking disappointed; he had practiced hard during the summer, but he admitted that Burke was the best man for the job.

"After all, you did really well," said Hermione reassuringly, as she and Ron stood a few yards away from the Gryffindor team, for they had gathered up to discuss further problems. "There's so many people after the job, at least you were better than most of them."

"Yeah......" said Ron listlessly, staring at his feet. Suddenly he brightened up. "Hey Hermione, maybe I could be Burke's understudy! Then I can still go to Holland!"

Hermione looked severe. "Honestly, you just want to go to Holland, don't you? We don't even know if we'll win this year!" Now that wasn't true, as Ron had started preparing before Dumbledore mentioned about the trip, but she was too heated up to remember it, for Hermione was secretly vexed about the fact that she couldn't go.

"Oh yeah?" shot back Ron, firing up now. "Don't make that kind of prediction, or you'll sound like dear old Trelawney!"

He got no comeback, for Hermione simply turned on her heel and stormed back to the castle.

Hagrid returned to Hogwarts on Monday morning. He wouldn't tell anyone where he had been, "Jus' on some business", but Harry strongly suspected it had something to do with Voldemort, as Dumbledore had given Hagrid (and possibly Madame Maxime) something to do over the summer.

On their Care of Magical Creatures lesson, Hagrid had brought a dozen of queer-looking creatures--monkeys about Harry's size, with large white wings sprouting from their backs. Most of them were looking innocently and curiously at the students. Harry was thinking hopefully that they wouldn't be dangerous or poisonous. He had enough of the Blast-Ended Skrewts.

"Winged monkeys!" called Hagrid happily, untying the ropes that bound them together. "C' mon, two or three people beside one......"

Hermione moved toward a smaller one that looked pretty cute. Harry and Ron followed her.

When everyone was ready, Hagrid called their attention on the front, where he was standing with the biggest one.

"Winged monkeys are one o' the smartest kind o' magical creatures living," said Hagrid."They imitate humans, whatever they do. Yeh' can teach them to do all sorts o' tricks. Only, could be dangerous if they fall in wrong hands......bad training migh' make them evil......okay, watch this."

Hagrid put his huge hand behind his ear and scratched, then beckoned to his winged monkey. It raised its hand (or paw?) and did the same. Hagrid took several apples from his pocket and juggled them. He handed the apples to the winged monkey and it juggled quite well, though it missed one at first.

Intrigued, the class began to teach their winged monkeys whatever they could think of. Harry watched, amused, as Ron tried to make their winged monkey stand upside down. Suddenly Hermione nudged them. "Look!"

Bang! Malfoy had stuck out his leg and tripped Neville. He, Crabbe, and Goyle doubled up with laughter when their winged monkey copied Malfoy, tripping Neville for a second time. Neville got up, his face red with anger, but when his eyes met the muscular arms of Crabbe and Goyle, he bit his lip and turned away.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were furious. Hagrid was busy helping Parvati and Lavender with a rather wild one, which had pulled Parvati's long braid. The rest of the students were having fun with their winged monkeys, and didn't notice.

"Hermione, why don't you take points from Slytherin?" hissed Ron. "You're a prefect, remember?"

But Hermione seemed to have other ideas. She bent down and picked up two stones from the ground. Pulling out her wand, she Transfigured the stones into two eggs. Before Harry and Ron had time to realize what she ahd on her mind, Hermione beckoned to their small winged monkey and threw an egg at Malfoy. It burst on his head and the yolk and whites were dripping down Malfoy's slivery blond hair. He spluttered in anger and whirled around, only to be hit square by a second egg, which, of course was sent by Hermione's winged monkey.

Malfoy was livid. He spotted Hermione giggling behind Ron, and both Ron and Harry were trying to stifle their grins. However, he didn't dare tell Hagrid, for that would lead to the confession of his tripping up Neville, and Hagrid certainly wasn't going to side with him like Snape. He threw a nasty look at the three and turned around to wipe off the contents of the broken eggs. Crabbe and Goyle noticed him but they were to slow to see who did it.

"Wish I had a camera with me," said Ron, sniggering in a satisfied way.

As the weeks whizzed by, Harry was getting busier and busier. Lessons were as hard as ever, but now with Fleur in the place of Snape, and Jenna's fairly good teaching on Defense Against Dark Arts, Harry admitted this was the best year he'd had with his studies.

As for Quidditch, they had elected Edward Burke as team captain. Burke was a different type of leader. He usually was very serious, only speaking if necessary. But he was strict and smart, which gained even Fred and George's respect. Although Burke's enthusiasm for Quidditch wasn't clearly expressed outside, he trained the Gryffindor team thorough and hard, never forgetting to book the Quidditch field whenever possible.

Harry sometimes would get up early to talk with Cho. She treated him as much as a good friend, and Harry enjoyed discussing about lessons, experiences and Quidditch with her, for Cho was a good listener and voiced her own point of view of things. She occasionally would be stubborn and sass him back relentlessly but Harry didn't mind. Sometimes, though, Harry would wonder whether Cho still had feelings for him, but of course, he never asked. The truth was, Cho had sensed Harry still liked her and wanted to return it, but the guilt of Cedric kept haunting her conscience. How could she go out with Harry when Cedric was so nice to her? So whenever she found Harry looking at her with something more than friendship in his eyes, she would force herself to think of Cedric and her manner would turn cold. It was painful to do so, but Cho kept resolute.

At the end of September, everyone were delighted to hear that there was to be a Hogsmeade trip on the weekend. After all his hard work on lessons and Quidditch, Harry was especially glad to get a break. He walked a little ahead of Hermione and Ron, for they were quarreling again. Hermione had received a letter from Viktor Krum, and she refused point-blank to tell Ron what Krum had written.

After a tour in Zonko's, Honeydukes, and Gladrags Wizardwear, they headed back to the direction of the Three Broomsticks. Suddenly, Harry gave a small yelp. A small, furry thing came scurrying out of nowhere, skidded to a halt at Harry's feet and climbed nimbly onto his head.

"What......" Harry made a grab for the creature--which turned out to be a reddish brown squirrel--but it scooted down his head and clung onto his back. Hermione giggled. "It likes you, Harry, that's obvious."

"Chipper!" A female's voice rang out, and Harry, Ron and Hermione saw Cho dashing toward them, her gaze fixed on the squirrel, which had dived into Harry's pocket and poked its head out cheekily, nibbling on a piece of chocolate that he had bought in Honeydukes.

"Harry? Oh, sorry about Chipper, he's really naughty sometimes." An amused look passed Cho's face when she noticed Chipper's invasion of Harry's pocket, but she tried to look severe and scolded gently, "Chipper, you come down here right now! Harry, I'm sorry he ate your chocolate, hang on, I'll go buy you another......"

"No, don't bother......" said Harry, as he and Cho tried to catch Chipper, which was dodging skillfully, running up and down Harry's cloak. Finally, the squirrel gave up, with two Seekers after him, and scampered resignedly onto Cho's shoulder. By this time, two girls appeared beside Cho; Harry recognized them as Julie Anne and Nicole.

"Hi Harry," said Julie Anne, smiling at him. "Hi Hermione, how're you getting on?" She was referring to Hermione's prefect duties.

Introductions were quickly exchanged. Hermione and Julie Anne were talking together, as they had much in common. Besides being a prefect, Julie Anne also was a big book lover. Nicole was a bit shy, she didn't say much as Cho and Harry, Ron engaged in an animated conversation. However, Julie Anne, who evidently had been formulating a plan, gave Hermione a wink and called the others' attention, "Hey, how about splitting up for a while? Hermione, why don't you come over to Nicole's house for a while? She's got some wonderful books there. Oh, I forget to tell you, Nicole lives in Hogsmeade." Hermione and Ron cast Harry a meaningful look and Hermione said, "Why not?"

"Harry, Cho, suppose we'll meet you up at the Three Broomsticks in an hour. Madam Rosmerta will be glad to give us free drinks, 'cause she's Nicole's aunt. Okay with you, Cho?"

"I......" But Cho got no further, for Julie Anne had taken hold of Hermione's hand and walked swiftly away, Ron and Nicole following them closely. Ron looked back once at Harry and mouthed the words, "Good luck!"

"Those two......" Cho scowled after their backs. She turned around and caught Harry's eye, making both of them blush.

"Er......" Harry said awkwardly. He gritted his teeth, determined not to get tongue-tied. "Would you like to......er......walk around?"

"What?" Cho was a little flustered, avoiding his gaze. "I mean, okay."

They took a fork that led toward the Shrieking Shack, not wanting to be on the High Street, where their walking together would arouse many suspicious stares from students. Neither of them felt like talking at the moment, so they just meandered on, in the countryside around Hogesmeade. Cho was skipping lightly ahead of Harry, playing with Chipper. Harry was so intent in watching her that he didn't notice what he was walking on and tripped on a tree root, falling flat on his face.

"Are you all right?" Cho was by his side in an instant.

"No...... 's nothing." Embarrassed and furious with himself, Harry got up, brushing away the dirt on his face and robes. Cho picked up his glasses, which had fallen from his face, and handed them to him. When Harry took his glasses, he saw Cho's concerned expression written on her face. Unconsciously, he leaned closer to her.

But Cho backed away almost immediately, and said, "You'd better put on your glasses."

"Oh yeah, ......sorry." Harry quickly adjusted the glasses and tried to say something to ease the tension.

"Where did you get that thing......I mean, Chipper?"

"Nicole gave him to me last summer. She said Chipper was a headache in Hogsmeade, always sneaking into the shops to steal food," Cho grinned and continued, "Nicole meant to adopt him, but after......after last years' events, she gave him to me. To keep me company."

"I see," said Harry. He decided to change the subject. "Cho, how're you getting on with Quidditch?"

"Fine. I got a new broom yesterday, a Windspeeder Seven. Not as good as your Firebolt, but I guess it's enough to beat Slytherin." Cho smiled, the competitive spirit in her coming out.

Suddenly, Chipper, which was perched on her shoulder, gave a high piercing squeak and scampered down into Cho's pocket. Harry saw something behind her, and before she could turn around, Harry, who was quick to react to danger now, grabbed Cho's arm and pulled her behind him.