Give Us Peace

Harry looked out over the Quidditch pitch from his position on his Firebolt above the rest of the players. With Fred and George gone, and Katie not playing, they needed three Chasers and two Beaters. So far, Ginny Weasley looked like the best Chaser. During the twenty minutes of practice that had gone by so far, she had put four goals past Ron, much to his chagrin. Dean Thomas was also trying out for Chaser, and wasn't half bad.

"I'm a sports fanatic," he had told Harry at the beginning of the practice. "I used to play football, so now that I'm a part of the wizarding world, I figured that I should play the wizarding equivalent."

Harry blew a whistle, and descended towards the group. "Good job," he said, nodding to Ginny, Dean, and Juliet Tolstoy, a third year. "Let's rotate the Chasers." He pointed at Colin Creevey, Leo Cromwell, another third year, and Brigid O'Connor, a second year, and said, "You three, same exercise."

Harry flew over to Ron and asked, "Can you supervise these three while I work with the Beaters?"

"Sure," Ron said.

Harry flew over to a group of people congregated at the other end of the pitch. "We're not going to use regular Bludgers, as I don't want the people on the other side of the pitch to get hit." Harry stopped and reached down into an open box at his feet. He pulled out a Bludger, which struggled in his arms, but he managed to hold on to it.

"It will not fly beyond the halfway point of the pitch," Harry told the prospective beaters. "However, it will try and knock anyone on this side of the pitch off of their brooms. Your task," he said, throwing clubs at Dennis Creevey and a second year whose name he wasn't sure of, "Will be to prevent the Bludgers from unseating any of us." He gestured to the four remaining people. He turned to them and said, "Use any methods you wish to avoid the Bludgers, but please try not to fly beyond the halfway barrier. I won't let you get hurt." He got on his broom, and kicked off. He flew several feet above where Dennis and the second year were. A Bludger came zooming after him and Dennis flew up to hit it away.

After about thirty minutes of putting the prospective beaters through their paces, Harry blew a whistle that hung around his neck. Everyone congregated in the middle of the pitch and Harry said, "You all did very well; it will be a difficult decision. I will post the list of who made the team and the reserves on the notice board in a week." As they left, Harry turned to Ron and said, "Do you want to talk about it tonight?"

"Talk about what?" Ron asked, confused.

"Who will make the team," Harry stated. He shook his head and said, "You know mate, I'm starting to believe what Hermione was saying about you being thick."

"When did Hermione say that?" Ron asked, starting to get angry.

"Relax mate," Harry said, "That was before you two got together." He laughed as he saw Ron visibly calm down.

"Course, you're still thick," Harry said with a grin, running away from Ron to avoid retaliation. He caught up with Ginny as she was entering the castle. "You did great today Gin," he said.

"Thank you," she responded. "Why didn't you stop in the locker rooms to take a shower?"

"Aw, come on Gin," he said teasingly. "Tell me you don't find my manly sweat alluring."

Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Actually," he continued, "I forgot to bring clean clothes to change into. See you in the Great Hall for dinner?"

"Right," Ginny said, trying to drag her mind out of the gutter at the thought of Harry in the shower. "I am not that kind of girl," she thought, "I've got to stop thinking like this." She got a sudden idea, and headed off to find Professor Leon.

********

Harry walked into the Great Hall and sat down next to Ginny. "I went to talk to Professor Leon," she said.

"Why?" Harry asked, immediately concerned.

"Relax," Ginny said, seeing Harry's look. "I went to talk to her about the DA. We've got to get official permission from McGonagall, but I thought some input from her about giants and the like would be useful, as Tom-" Harry gave her a confused look, and she continued, "He isn't a Lord and he does not deserve to be called by... that name."

"That's a good idea, Ginny," Harry said slowly, thinking. "More people should call him that. For one, they won't be afraid to call him that, and it will empower them. You're a genius!"

Ginny grinned and said, "That would be Hermione. I'm just smart."

"Speaking of Hermione," Harry said, "Have you seen her or Ron? I haven't seen Ron since the tryouts."

"Hmm," Ginny said, "Broom closet, fourth floor corridor, second door on the left, I think. It's one of the more popular snogging spots, though I wouldn't know."

Harry's eyes flashed briefly at the thought of her and Michael Corner in that closet. "Oh," he said curtly, before getting up and leaving, having barely touched his dinner.

"Was it something I said?" Ginny asked herself.

Later that night, in the Common Room, Ginny tapped Hermione on the shoulder, and asked, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Ron moved after his girlfriend, but Ginny said, "Girl talk," and Ron backed away, embarrassed.

"Okay," Hermione said. "Do you want to up to your room? Lavender and Parvati are gossiping about some so-called "stud" featured in Witch Weekly." She rolled her eyes and followed Ginny up to her room.

When they got there, Ginny sat down on her bed and said, "Harry's mad at me, and I don't know why."

"Did you say anything?" Hermione asked with a concerned look on her face.

"I don't know," Ginny asked, feeling rather helpless. "To be honest," she continued, "We were talking about you and Ron. Harry wondered where you were, and I said you were probably, well, snogging in a closet somewhere." Hermione blushed, knowing that that was exactly what they had been doing, and Ginny went on. "I said that I had never been there myself, and then Harry said, 'Oh' and got up and left."

"Hmm," Hermione mused, "Maybe he thought that you didn't mean it, and that you were telling him so that he wouldn't think you were some sort of scarlet woman."

Ginny's eyes fell, and a sad looked passed over her face. "But I'm not," she said quietly. "I meant it when I said I loved him. I still do."

"I know," Hermione said. "It's just that Harry hasn't had much love, or anyone to love, his whole life, and now he has you. I think that he's jealous."

"Jealous?" Ginny asked, not quite sure that she understood.

"Yes," Hermione said. "What you said was not your fault, but it reminded him of other boyfriends you had or could have, and that maybe you don't really love him."

"Michael Corner was my only other boyfriend, and that," she said, finally admitting it softly, "That was more of a getting over Harry thing than anything else."

"Oh, Ginny," Hermione said, seeing how much pain she was in at the possibility of causing Harry pain.

"What should I do?" Ginny asked.

"Plainly show to him that you love him, but make him come back to you," Hermione said. "He's my best friend and everything, but sometimes I wish that he'd just wake up and notice things, you know what I mean? He needs to pull himself out of these sorts of problems sometimes."

"I understand," Ginny said. She hugged Hermione and said, "Thank you, you're like the sister I need with all my brothers." She smiled and said, "Though you should be my sister-in-law pretty soon anyway." She grinned at Hermione's blushing face, and stood up. Hermione walked out of the room and Ginny headed for the showers.