Revelations and Romance

Revelations and Romance chapter 5

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5: Quidditch Chaser trials

January 10th

Monday's lessons began quietly. Draco was much quieter than in their previous Care of Magical Creatures lesson. They were still studying Crups, and Harry wasn't sure if Malfoy's failure to be annoying was due to embarrassment from their previous lesson, or Snape's telling him off.

Following that lesson, Harry and Ron had Divination. As soon as Trelawney started predicting his death, Harry closed his eyes and put his hands over his ears. After a moment, he opened his eyes again to see that she was glaring at him, while Ron had his hand covering his mouth and was trying to avoid looking at him. Seamus was making no attempt to hide his laughter. Harry put his hands down, and the lesson continued, although without any further predictions of his death.

Hermione was waiting for them in the Entrance Hall, and whispered something to Ron before they went in to lunch. Harry assumed that it involved the Prefects' bathroom again. Ginny sat next to them at lunch.

'Does Trelawney still keep predicting your death too?' he asked her.

'No, she just did it in the first few weeks of Divination. Why?'

'She's never stopped predicting mine. I just wondered if she's always like that, or if she's picking on me for some reason. I think Hermione was right. I should have done Arithmancy instead.'

'It's too late to change now,' said Hermione. 'We sit our O.W.Ls next term.'

'Oh, don't say it like that,' said Ron in horror. 'I'm beginning to dread Transfiguration. I can never quite manage what she wants.'

'Tell me again why you wanted to do Divination and copy Ron's homework, instead of doing Arithmancy and copying Hermione's,' said Ginny to Harry, grinning. Ron threw a dumpling at her, but she ducked and it hit Colin.

'Sorry Colin, I was aiming for my sarcastic little sister.'

'We've got double Transfiguration next,' commented Harry.

'I know,' groaned Ron. 'That's why I said that.'

'When I first read about the subjects I'd be taking here, I thought I was going to be the sort of witch who turned people into frogs and flew around on a broomstick,' said Hermione, smiling. She laughed at the boys' surprise. 'Well -- I was only eleven, and I didn't know anything about magic then, except what I'd read in fairy stories.'

'You could try turning Malfoy into a frog. That way, he might believe you're a witch. It would do wonders for his attractiveness, too,' said Harry.

'The ferret was good, too,' said Ron, dreamily.

'You three really don't like him, do you?' asked Ginny. 'Why not? Raine doesn't like him either.'

'For me, it goes right back to when I was getting my stuff in Diagon Alley the first time,' said Harry. 'Draco was getting his robes at the same time, and he just managed to rub me up the wrong way. Then he insulted Ron on the train, and he's never got any better.'

'I insult Ron too,' she said, pouting.

'Well, you're allowed to.'

'Oh, thanks, Harry,' said Ron drily. Ginny giggled.

'Besides, he really insulted Ron's whole family,' Harry added.

'His dad wasn't exactly nice either,' said Ginny. With Colin, the Basilisk's first recent human victim, sitting beside her, she didn't want to go into any more detail than that.

Transfiguration was as bad for Ron as he'd predicted. They were supposed to be turning sticks into snakes, but his stick just developed markings like eyes, with viper-like patterning along the stick. Harry managed to get his stick to start wriggling around in the box provided just as the bell went. Neither of them was particularly surprised to see that the bell had interrupted Hermione in the process of turning her seventh stick into a snake. The box on her desk had half-a-dozen snakes crawling over each other.

'Did you say anything to your snake?' Hermione asked Harry as they went to Herbology.

'No, I didn't really get far enough. After all that fuss in our second year, I don't want to do it often anyway,' he answered.

'I have got to get some points this year,' grumbled Ron. 'I liked Lupin's Dark Arts lessons -- five points for tackling a Boggart? That's better than this duelling.'

'You need to be able to concentrate more,' said Hermione. She'd been awarded five points for the snakes, and one of McGonagall's rare smiles when she realised Hermione had made seven different species.

'I need to not be doing Potions. At least I'd have a total of no points without Snape taking points off me.'

'You need to stop thinking of the Prefects' bathroom,' said Harry with a grin.

Ron started to argue, then gave up. 'No, you're right. I'm really not concentrating on school at the moment. It's not the bathroom itself I'm thinking about, though!' Hermione smiled at him.

'Yeah, I had worked that out. I suppose you want to borrow something of mine again this evening?' said Harry.

'Yes, please,' grinned Ron.

Harry shook his head. 'OK, but I thought you were worried about Ginny finding out how far you'd gone. She's been close to guessing a couple of times now.'

They had to stop talking then, as they'd arrived at the Herbology glasshouses. Herbology seemed to just fly by. Once again, they were cutting mistletoe, as not enough had been taken the previous week for the potions that Madam Pomfrey needed. Hannah and Ernie weren't playing about with the mistletoe this time. Harry wondered if Professor Sprout, the Hufflepuff's Head of house, had rebuked them. Ron and Hermione each managed to catch the other under a clump of mistletoe and get a kiss, though.

After Herbology, the last lesson of the day, Harry and Ron returned to their common room, while Hermione went only as far as the fifth floor, and took a different corridor. Harry wasn't surprised that Ron almost ran up the stairs to their dorm, nor that the portrait hole opened and closed without anyone seeming to be there shortly after. Ginny was doing her History of Magic homework, sitting with her back to the portrait hole, and didn't notice. Harry shrugged and got on with his Transfiguration essay. After a while, it was time for dinner, and they went down to the Great Hall together.

'Don't you think we should have woken Ron?' she asked.

'I don't think he's asleep, just busy with something,' he hedged.

Ron and Hermione were already in the Great Hall when Harry and Ginny got there. 'How did you get down here before us?' Ginny asked Ron. 'I thought you were still in your dorm.'

'Didn't you see me come back down again?' he asked. Harry shook his head, smiling.

'I must have been concentrating harder than I thought,' said Ginny.

Ron grinned, and they got on with eating their meal. When they'd finished and were returning to the common room, Ron passed Harry the folded Cloak, as he didn't want to go back up to their dorm so soon, in case it looked suspicious.

The four of them got on with their homework. Ginny finished first, and tried to persuade Crookshanks to sit on her lap instead of under the table. Harry only had a Charms essay to write, having finished the other one before dinner. Once he'd finished that, he started to read more of Quidditch through the Ages.

'I just realised why Flitwick didn't take long to check the headband,' he said, looking up from the book. 'All he had to do was check that there weren't any spells on it at all. The Firebolt's full of charms though -- flying, braking, cushioning and so on.'

'So he had to eliminate all the charms that were supposed to be on it before he could be sure nothing was there that shouldn't have been?' asked Hermione.

'I suppose so. McGonagall did say he was checking for things like Hurling Hexes, so maybe he had to check for every possible hostile charm, and couldn't eliminate what he knew was there.'

'Talking of brooms, it's Quidditch trials tomorrow,' said Ginny happily. 'Er ... Harry ...' She faltered and stopped.

'Yes?'

'Can I ... borrow your Firebolt? Please?' she asked, now blushing.

'I suppose so. I don't think Angelina will worry about what brooms people use, but if you feel more confident on it, why not?'

'Oh, thank you.' Ginny was still blushing, but also smiling.

'I was going to ask if I could borrow it,' said Ron.

'I suppose you both can,' said Harry. 'I think there'll only be one player tested at a time.'

*

When Harry got down to the common room on Tuesday morning, it was abuzz with people discussing that evening's Quidditch trials. Everyone seemed to have got up earlier than him. Ron was sitting in his usual chair, talking to Hermione. Harry joined them, and found that Hermione was reassuring him. After losing the Keeper trial in September, and not gaining any points in classes, Ron was suffering from a general feeling of insecurity. Harry began to understand why he'd doubted even Hermione, in his present mood. He thought he'd remind Ron of the love he did have.

Harry looked over to Ginny, who was excitedly talking to Fred and George, and grinned. 'While she's not near enough to hear us, do you want to tell me how many alibis you need this week for when you're in the bathroom?'

'Oh,' said Hermione. 'We won't actually need any for the next few days.'

'I thought maybe you'd be celebrating Ron getting onto the team -- well, hopefully.'

She shook her head. 'No, it's ... just not a good time.'

Harry was puzzled, but didn't press the point. 'OK.' Surely they weren't about to break up, after just making up at the weekend? He wished now he hadn't brought up the subject.

Ron seemed to have read his mind. 'It doesn't mean we're breaking up, Harry -- just giving it a rest for a few days.'

'Well, that'll keep Ginny less suspicious for a while,' said Harry, relieved his fear was unfounded.

Ginny, Fred and George came over to go down to breakfast with the trio. After that, the trio went to Care of Magical Creatures. This lesson included six puppies about seven weeks old, and Professor Grubbly-Plank explained the licensing process needed before Crups could legally be owned, and demonstrated the Severing Charm that removed the forked tail, as required by the licence. She told the class to divide into five groups of four, to take a puppy each and cast the Charm. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville formed one group, and Hermione urged Ron to cast the Charm. Harry knew that was to give him some of his confidence back. Ron did the Charm correctly, and in fact did the neatest job, and was astonished to be awarded two points by the Professor. Malfoy glared at him.

Walking back to the castle and their Potions lesson, Ron was happy about his two points and having upset Malfoy.

'She could have awarded five points, though,' said Hermione.

'It's a start, anyway,' said Ron happily.

'Malfoy didn't look too happy at the start of the lesson. I wonder ... if that's because of Snape telling him off at the weekend, Potions might be interesting.'

'Don't say "Snape",' said Ron. 'He's bound to take the two points away.'

The pupils found the Potions classroom empty, and got out their cauldrons and other things they were expecting to use. As soon as Snape entered the Potions class, Malfoy glared at him. However, Snape seemed preoccupied with something, and didn't appear to notice. He failed to shout at Neville, and didn't take any points off anyone in the class.

After Potions, they went up to the Great Hall for lunch. Harry said, 'Maybe Snape's ill, or something?'

'If so, I hope he never recovers. That lesson was OK, for a change,' said Ron.

'You don't think he might have got some bad news?' asked Hermione.

'What, like Dumbledore's found a better Potions teacher, and Snape's out of a job?' asked Ron, grinning. 'Yes, please!'

'Ron!' she chided him.

The three of them sat near Ginny, Fred and George. Ginny was still talking about the Quidditch trials. Harry grinned at her. 'You're very keen, aren't you?'

'It's the first real chance I've had to get into the team,' she said. 'I couldn't go for the Keeper position, because it really helps to be tall and have a long reach.'

There was an awkward silence. 'Oh, Ron, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!'

'I know,' he said.

'Fred and George agree I wouldn't make a good Beater either -- not strong enough.'

'She arm-wrestled us to prove she was,' said Fred.

'And proved she wasn't,' added George.

'You're three years older than me!' she protested.

'It was your idea,' Fred pointed out.

'Anyway, I'm going to try to become a Chaser. Being small helps there because the broom has less weight to fly, so it can fly faster.'

'That should give you an advantage over Lavender then,' Hermione said with a smile.

'What do the trials involve this time?' asked Dean, sitting with Seamus on the other side of the table.

'I'm not sure,' admitted Harry. 'I know it's some sort of timed test, but I'm not involved in the trials.'

'For Beaters,' said George, 'it'll be two candidates against us, to see if they can get to the Bludgers and hit them back again.'

'Why not singly?' Seamus asked.

'Beaters have to work together. Angelina's worked it out -- she's going to mark each candidate separately, then get the best two to face us again to make sure they can co-operate properly.'

'Colin wants to try for Beater, with Dennis,' said Ginny.

'I don't see it,' said Fred. 'Neither of them is much taller than you are, and they just don't look as if they've got the strength to hit Bludgers for an hour.'

'But the test won't last for a whole hour,' objected Ron.

'After even five minutes, they're likely to be getting tired,' said George. 'Sorry Ginny, I don't think your friend's going to be in the team -- not as a Beater.'

'He could replace Harry as Seeker after Harry's left, though,' said Ginny. 'But that would only last a year.'

'What about the Chasers? What's their test?' asked Seamus.

'I have to stop them scoring any goals,' said Dean.

'One candidate has to try to score goals against all three Chasers and Dean, and they've got five minutes like the Beaters,' said Hermione. The rest of them all looked at her. 'I was interested, so I asked Angelina. Why are you all looking at me?'

'I didn't think you liked Quidditch much,' said Harry. 'I know you always come to watch me play, but you complain when we talk about it.'

She shrugged. 'I like the game, I'm just not interested in talking about it for ages afterwards. I went to the World Cup, didn't I?'

'Oh, yes. Yes, you were enthusiastic enough then.'

'So enthusiastic, she went to the Ball with the winning player,' said Dean with a grin. Hermione blushed.

'Not the Ball again! Why does nobody stop talking about it? That's got to be the hundred and fifth time since Christmas Eve!' complained Ron.

'Ball ball ball. One hundred and eight,' said Ginny.

'Ball ball,' agreed George.

'We have a hundred and ten,' said Fred. 'Do I hear one hundred and eleven?'

Ron glared at the three of them, and they cracked up at his expression.

'The Chaser candidate starts with the Quaffle, and has to keep it, flying from the other goals, past the Chasers, and score a goal,' said Hermione, determined to finish the explanation.

'The Quaffle's a ball,' said Fred. 'One hundred and eleven!'

As the three of them went up to their History of Magic class after lunch, Ron was still frowning, while Harry thought Hermione was trying not to laugh at him. To distract him, he asked, 'Did you catch up on History reading?'

It worked; Ron brightened up immediately. 'Oh, yes! I read all about Sir Robert when I was avoiding you two -- he seems to have been a great first Minister of Magic, and the Ministers that followed had to try to live up to what he'd done. I hope we are related.'

'How are you going to find out?' Harry asked.

'Ginny said you told her about it too, and she asked Mum and Dad next time she wrote to them.'

'Why not ask the twins? They must already have learnt about him.'

'We wanted an answer we could believe, so we went with the letter,' said Ron, grinning.

'Don't you write to them?' asked Hermione.

'Well, we sort of take it in turns.'

'How many letters does Ginny write for every one of yours?' Harry asked him, grinning.

'Well ... it varies,' said Ron.

'A hundred and eleven?' asked Hermione brightly.

Harry shook his head, as she'd taken the subject right back to the Yule Ball again.

'I suppose I was complaining a bit much,' said Ron. 'Dean didn't know about what Hermione said on Christmas Eve, anyway.'

'What, she wanted another Yule Ball?' asked Dean. The trio hadn't realised he was just behind them -- although, of course, he was going to the same History of Magic class.

'No, we were just talking about the one during the Tournament,' said Hermione.

'She kept going back to the subject -- was it three times? So she promised she wouldn't mention it again. Now everybody else is!' complained Ron.

'Ah. Ron, are you really related to that Minister then?'

'I don't know until Ginny gets an answer to her letter,' said Ron. 'That's assuming Dad knows. He probably would.'

'He works for the Ministry, doesn't he?' Dean asked.

'Yes, so does Percy.' Ron stopped talking at that point, as they'd reached the classroom. Professor Binns didn't ask any more questions about the sixteenth century, to Ron's disappointment, just continued on from the end of their reading to the seventeenth century.

Following History of Magic, the Gryffindors went back to their common room for a period of free study. Nobody really felt like doing homework, as the Quidditch trials were less than an hour away, so they mostly sat and talked about Quidditch. Lavender was excitedly talking to Parvati about how proud her parents would be when she got on the team.

'She's very sure of herself,' said Harry.

'She wasn't that good in our Flying lessons,' said Ron.

'You know, Hermione, I've only seen you fly once -- in first year, when we were trying to catch those winged keys. You seemed pretty good then -- it's not easy to fly inside a room. Do you practise flying now?'

'No,' she said. 'I can't do it at home, of course -- and I don't have a broomstick.'

'You could fly with us at the Burrow,' said Ron, 'but you never seem to want to. Are you self-conscious about it? You came top in our Flying lessons in first year, after all. You shouldn't just stop.'

Harry laughed. 'Of course you did. I should have guessed.' Ron grinned at him, while Hermione didn't look as if she was quite sure whether Harry was teasing her.

'I'm not really that self-conscious about it. Lavender seems to think I'm scared of heights, but that's not it either. I just don't really get time here at school any more, I can't fly at home, and at the Burrow it's always mixed up with Quidditch talk.'

'You could practise playing with us,' said Harry.

'She's had a lot of practice playing with me,' said Ron with a grin. Hermione laughed.

'Can't we keep the subject on brooms for ten minutes?' Harry asked wearily.

'Sorry, Harry,' Ron replied.

'Trials in twenty minutes,' said Hermione, checking her watch.

'It's a bit early to be getting down there,' said Harry. 'I'll go and get my broom and headband from my dorm though.'

He returned a few minutes later, carrying his Firebolt and wearing the headband.

'I forgot you said Ron and Ginny could borrow the broom,' said Hermione. 'I was just going to ask why you needed it -- you're not involved in this at all, are you?'

'Only watching,' said Harry. 'Ron's flown on the Firebolt, but don't you want to try it sometime?'

'Maybe one day,' she answered. She looked at her watch again. 'Twelve minutes. Still too early?'

'No, let's go and get some good seats,' said Harry.

All the other fifth-years followed them down to the pitch, but there were still plenty of seats, as most of the other years were still in classes, and Parvati had gone to do her detention. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in the lowest row of seats, as did Lavender, to save time getting onto the pitch when it was her turn. Pupils from other years soon started turning up and filling the seats.

'These aren't all Gryffindors, are they?' asked Ron.

'Hannah and Ernie definitely aren't,' said Hermione, pointing to them. 'Were the trials meant to be a secret? Maybe Angelina wants to scare the other Houses by letting them see the new players.'

Harry was looking around for Malfoy or other Slytherins. He soon saw one -- Ginny arrived with Fen, Shona and Raine.

'I haven't missed anything, have I?' she asked, sitting next to Ron. The other three sat beside or behind her.

'No,' Ron replied. 'Should Raine be here? I don't want to be rude about her, but ... well, you know.'

'I'm a secret Slytherin spy, here to learn all your secrets of Quidditch, and report back to the Dark Lord,' Raine said cheerfully. 'Also to cheer on Fen, Ginny and Shona.'

Harry laughed. 'Well, as long as you're admitting it, I suppose it's OK.'

Raine pointed to a figure Harry didn't recognise. 'That's Grocyn Balfour, Flint's replacement as the Slytherin team captain. He's probably the real spy.'

'Where's Malfoy? It's not like him to miss a chance to sneer,' said Ron.

'Well, he is missing it. Snape gave him detention for this afternoon, and he's doing something gruesome in the Potions dungeon,' said Raine.

'Oh, wonderful,' said Ron, happily. 'I got points in Herbology, Snape didn't take any away, Malfoy's got detention, and I'm about to get my chance at the Quidditch team. It's a perfect day!'

'Where's the rest of the team?' asked Fen. 'They're not going to have enough time to give all the candidates a chance.'

'I'm sure they'll be here soon,' said Harry. 'We didn't have to get changed into Quidditch stuff -- and Angelina probably wants to give them last-minute instructions.'

They waited a bit longer. Raine looked at Harry. 'That headband looks good on you. You ought to wear it more often.'

'Yeah, well ...' said Harry, embarrassed by her compliment.

'Really. Don't you think so, Ginny?'

Ginny looked, and nodded.

To change the subject, Harry said, 'Oh, I remembered to bring my Firebolt for you two to borrow.'

'I saw it,' said Ginny.

'I just remembered something I thought of earlier,' said Harry. 'Raine, I don't even know what your surname is.'

'It's Dunsmuir,' she said, smiling. 'I suppose Ginny just calls me Raine.'

'I just call Harry, Harry,' Ginny pointed out. 'Oh! The team's coming out now.'

The other six members of the team emerged from the changing room area, and walked out carrying their brooms. Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were carrying the chest with the game balls. Lee Jordan and a young girl Harry didn't know accompanied the team out, carrying two brooms each.

'Why does Lee need two brooms?' wondered Ron.

'They must be the school brooms, for candidates who don't have their own,' said Hermione.

'I suppose the trials really aren't secret, if McGonagall doesn't object to Flitwick being here watching. Who is that girl though? She's not on the team.'

The school brooms were placed on the ground near the chest, and Fred and George sat down beside them. The three Chasers and Dean rose into the air. Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Lee and the unknown girl had reached the box where Lee usually did the commentary. Flitwick piled some cushions on a seat, so that he could see over the edge of the box.

Lee lifted the megaphone and made the first announcement. 'Ladies, gentlemen and Slytherins!'

Harry could see McGonagall frowning at Lee.

'We present the grand turnover Quidditch trials! The first candidates will be the Chasers, and if there are as many as Angelina's expecting, the Beaters will have to be tested tomorrow.'

Harry now understood why Fred and George were just sitting by the chest.

'Oh,' said Fen. 'I thought they were all today.'

'First, though, the most important of the new replacements!'

A ripple of puzzled talk ran through the crowd. How could there already be a replacement, when the trials hadn't started?

'We present the new Quidditch commentator, ORLA QUIRKE of Ravenclaw!'

'Oh, so that's who she is!' said Ron. 'I didn't realise they'd already decided on Lee's replacement.'

Lee handed the megaphone to Orla, who looked nervous. She glanced down at Flitwick, who gave her a reassuring nod, and raised the megaphone to her mouth.

'The first candidate for Chaser -- LAVENDER BROWN!' Orla had a soft Irish accent.

Lavender grinned, and went down to the pitch, where Fred looked at the broom she'd brought and said something, pointing to the goal hoops not being guarded by Dean. She rose hesitantly into the air, reached the hoops and turned to face the other players. George had opened the chest, and threw the Quaffle up into the air.

'And Lavender dives for the -- she missed it! But turns and tries again -- yes, she's got it! Er ...'

Lee whispered something to Orla.

'... Katie Bell intercepts, and takes the Quaffle!'

At the end of Lavender's allotted time, she hadn't once got the Quaffle past the Chasers, let alone Dean. However, Orla was now getting all the Chasers' names right. Lavender landed and stormed out of the stadium.

'She missed a Hogsmeade weekend just for that,' said Hermione softly, with a smile. Ron kissed her.

Harry didn't know either of the next two candidates, Darren Noble and Ian Rowan. Both did better than Lavender, with Darren scoring three goals and Ian five.

'The fourth candidate -- SHONA REITH!'

Ginny's friend Shona also scored three goals, and returned to sit next to Ginny, who had been cheering for her, along with Raine.

'Well, I'm equal second,' Shona said with a grin.

'I wish I knew when it was my turn,' said Ginny, frowning.

'The fifth candidate -- RON WEASLEY!'

'Good luck, Ron!' she said.

Ron swallowed nervously, and took Harry's broom down to the pitch. He went through the same routine as the others, scoring five goals, to Harry, Hermione and Ginny's cheers.

He returned with a wide grin.

'Oh well,' said Shona. 'Congratulations.'

Hermione hugged him as he sat down.

The next candidate was Delamare Smethley, a boy from Ginny's year. He managed to score four goals, and returned to his seat looking disappointed.

Ginny was anxiously checking her watch. 'This is taking longer than five minutes each!' She looked up at the darkening sky.

'I'm sure they'll get through all the Chaser candidates today, though,' said Hermione reassuringly. She'd been checking her watch as often as Ginny.

'The seventh candidate -- GINNY WEASLEY!'

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Shona, Fen and Raine all clapped, as did the twins. Ginny grinned, took the Firebolt, and went down to the pitch to go through the same routine.

'She's got the Quaffle -- and I don't believe that! She fooled Katie and Alicia, and put it straight through the goal!'

Ginny, being smaller and lighter than Harry, was able to get more speed out of his broom than Ron had managed.

'She tries again -- dived under all three Chasers, and -- it's another GOAL! Third attempt, and she's flying away from Angelina? No, she's looped back over her -- that's the third goal!'

Ginny flew back closely enough to Harry and the others that they could see her smiling.

'She's certainly got her confidence,' said Hermione.

Orla continued. 'Can she manage four? She heads straight for the Chasers -- where are they going? She went straight through, while they were trying to block a loop -- Dean saved it!'

'Boo!' yelled Ron.

'Another try for four, and she starts off straight at the Chasers -- Angelina's not fooled -- Ginny spins the broom -- Angelina doesn't know which way to go, but here comes Katie -- too late!'

'She's equal third,' said Hermione quietly. Harry was having trouble keeping track of the scores, and was glad Hermione wasn't.

'Time for a fifth goal? She's trying for it -- and this time she does loop! But she'll never get the Quaffle through the goal from that -- she did it. She did it! Five goals!'

'Now she's level with Ron and Ian,' said Hermione.

'How do you do that?' asked Ron.

'Just imagine a blackboard in your head with the scores on.'

'Can Ginny be the first one to six? Where did -- that was a big loop, I lost sight of her! And she ...'

Orla asked Lee something the megaphone didn't pick up.

'... she scored from above and behind the goal! But Lee says that doesn't count, because she went outside the boundary! Sorry, Ginny!'

'Shame,' said Ron.

'She's still got time though! And she's using it -- that broom is moving like lightning! But she seems to be having trouble staying up!'

'What?' exclaimed Harry. Orla was right -- the Firebolt was barely skimming above the ground. 'What's wrong?'

'Incredible -- I didn't know a broom could soar that fast -- and that's the sixth goal! Ginny is in the lead!'

'You're still equal second, Ron,' said Hermione.

'I'd like that. Ginny and me being the two new Chasers,' said Ron, smiling. Hermione bit her lip.

'She's still got more time -- and she's going for it, zig-zagging past Alicia -- and Katie -- and Dean (what's Dean doing that far out?) and Angelina -- YES! Seven goals! And you're just about to run out of time, Ginny.'

Ginny flew back to the others, hovered over her seat, got off the broom in mid-air, and dropped vertically and gently into the seat, still holding the Firebolt.

'Show-off,' said Ron affectionately. Ginny giggled and gave Harry the Firebolt back.

Harry didn't know the next two candidates either. Orlando Beed and Lucian Mills each scored four, which was better than three of the candidates, but not good enough to affect the top scorers.

Orla announced, 'And we just have time for one more candidate, and the Beater trials will definitely have to wait until tomorrow. Sorry to all the Beater candidates! But you can have some more practice!'

'I think she's going to be a good replacement for Lee,' said Harry.

Orla continued, 'And now for the most patient of all the candidates -- I hope -- are you still here, HERMIONE GRANGER?'

'What?' Harry, Ron, Ginny, Shona, Fen and Raine had all spoken at once. They looked at Hermione, who grinned sheepishly. 'I thought I'd try. Now you can see me fly a second time, Harry.' She went down to the pitch.

'She hasn't got the Firebolt!' exclaimed Harry, realising as she walked up to the twins and the school brooms. Fred handed Hermione one of those brooms, and she flew up to the goal area, much more confidently than Lavender had done.

'That's why she was checking her watch to see how much time was left,' said Ron in realisation. 'She said she was interested, and asked Angelina about what the trials involved -- we just didn't guess she was this interested.'

'I've never seen Hermione fly. I suppose I didn't really know she could,' said Ginny. 'Did she say you've only seen her fly once, Harry?'

'Yes. I only had one Flying lesson in first year, and then McGonagall put me on the team.'

'Right, Ron told me. But I thought only three of you flew in that lesson?'

'She had to fly to help get the Philosopher's Stone at the end of that year,' Harry told her. 'That meant flying inside a dungeon in the castle, which isn't easy!'

'You're missing this!' said Ron sharply. Hermione already had the Quaffle, and the broom seemed to be spinning about an axis running along the handle.

'... she must be getting dizzy doing that,' said Orla, 'but she's confused the defenders enough to get the Quaffle through the goal! One!'

Her friends cheered loudly.

'She's not bad at all,' said Harry admiringly. 'And she says she hasn't practised since our first year? Do you think that's true?'

'Since she said it, yes,' said Ron. 'But I don't know how she does it.'

Orla was still commentating. 'She's got the Quaffle -- is she crashing?' Hermione's broom was diving straight for the ground. 'Oh, she's doing what Ginny did! But the Chasers -- oh, that was a good loop, and it's a second goal!'

Hermione continued to score goals without Dean stopping any. Harry looked over at Balfour, and saw a very unhappy captain. He looked at Raine, who seemed to be enjoying Hermione's performance as much as the Gryffindors, and marvelled again at the existence of a nice Slytherin.

'... and goal number SIX! Can she equal Ginny?'

Ginny looked at her watch. 'She's only been out there for three minutes! At this rate, she'll beat me!'

'She's diving -- soaring -- spiralling inward -- why isn't she dizzy? But it's worked! And Hermione's equal first with Ginny -- seven goals!'

'Oh,' said Ron as the rest of her friends cheered.

'You can still try for Beater tomorrow,' said Harry.

Hermione hadn't finished. She swooped to pick up the Quaffle that Dean had thrown back toward the centre of the pitch, spiralled up, and headed for the goals.

'Oh, no,' said Orla. 'She's not -- it won't count against her in this trial like a real game, but it won't count for her either!'

Harry could see Angelina just hovering, watching Hermione as she headed for the wrong set of goals. He started to grin. 'She can't think they're the right goals, there's nobody in front of them.'

Harry was right. Just before reaching the goals, Hermione pulled the broom up, soared up to a dizzying height, and swooped back down again, flying upside down. She threw the Quaffle from some distance, and the broom's momentum saw to it that the Quaffle went through a hoop.

'And she fooled us all -- goal number EIGHT! You can have a rest now!'

If Hermione heard, she gave no sign of it as she flew again from the starting position, caught the Quaffle again, and headed straight for the goals.

'And the defending Chasers are undecided what manoeuvre Hermione's about to use next -- they're all moving in different directions -- she's straight through all three, and -- don't do that, I get dizzy just watching!'

Hermione's broom was again spinning about its handle. Harry didn't understand how she could fly like that; spinning the broom that way should be easy enough, but how did she manage to keep control? Dean looked as if he was getting dizzy too.

'She's scored again! That's NINE GOALS! Can we please go and have our dinner now? You've WON, you know!'

Flitwick had disappeared below the edge of the commentary box. Harry suspected he was doubled over laughing, as the megaphone was picking up faint laughter. McGonagall didn't look too happy, but Orla wasn't in her house, as Lee was.

'Thank you, Hermione! The winner returns her school broom to the patient Beaters, and it's dinner time!'

Hermione was sitting beside Fred, her head resting in her hands. The Chasers and Dean were coming in to land near them.

'Do you think she's OK?' asked Ron, concerned.

'She must be dizzy. I'm not surprised, either! That ...' Harry paused, unable to think of anything to say for a moment. 'That was just incredible.'

Hermione had lifted her head and was talking to Fred and George. Angelina was looking at the broom Hermione had been using, and shaking her head. The other three had now landed -- Dean put the Quaffle back in the chest and closed it. Hermione stood up slowly, with George reaching out to steady her, and then she came over to where the others were sitting.

'Sorry, Ron. I got carried away, didn't I?'

'Just tell me you're not going to try for Beater tomorrow.'

'No, I won't bother you there,' she said, smiling.

'It's not a perfect day after all, Ron,' said Harry. Hermione frowned at him, but he continued. 'Just imagine if Malfoy had been here, and saw Hermione fly like that!'

'Yes, Slytherin would need a new Seeker while he recovered from the shock! If he ever did. Oh, well. Gruesome over there can tell him all about it,' said Ron.

'His name's Grocyn!' chided Raine, but she was smiling. 'Hermione, I didn't think anyone would beat Ginny! You were amazing!'

'Angelina's got to make some corrections to the results, she says, so the results aren't definite yet, whatever Orla said,' Hermione said.

'I like Orla,' said Ginny. 'I mean, I've never met her, but I liked her commentary.'

*

Everyone who'd been watching the Quidditch drifted back to the Great Hall and waited for dinner to be served. Raine left them to go and sit at the Slytherin table, while the others discussed the trials.

Shortly after the food appeared on the plates, Fred, George, Alicia, Katie and Dean came in, having changed back out of their Quidditch robes. When the Gryffindors saw them, they grew quiet, expecting to hear the results, but then started talking again, wondering where Angelina was.

Katie was carrying a box, and started putting food into it, while the other four players sat down close to Harry and started to eat. She then took the box out of the Great Hall.

'Where's she going?' asked Ginny.

'Angelina's got to work out the real results, correcting for the brooms people used,' explained Fred. 'And she doesn't want everyone bothering her until she's done that, so Katie's taking food up for both of them. They're going to hide in Angelina's dorm with a Locking Charm on the door.'

'I thought you were in the same year as Angelina,' Ron said to Alicia.

'I am, but I won't be captain next year, and Katie will,' she replied.

'I don't know how you can fly like that without crashing,' Fred said to Hermione. 'Was it some sort of charm?'

'No,' she said. 'I just concentrated on one thing and flew towards it when I was spiralling, and just tried to spiral in opposite directions to cancel out the previous spiral.'

'We'll have to try that,' said Fred.

'So will I. But I don't understand!' said Harry. 'How can you manage to do all this without any practice? Was that really the first time you've flown since we stopped Quirrell getting the Philosopher's Stone?'

'I suppose it was,' she said. 'It must be like riding a bicycle -- once you've learnt, you don't forget. And you didn't have any practice before you chased after Malfoy, did you?'

'What do you mean about correcting for the brooms we used?' Ginny asked Fred.

'Well, you borrowed Harry's Firebolt, which is faster than any of the school brooms. So someone like Shona had a disadvantage, and Angelina's going to correct for that,' answered Fred.

'Oh,' said Ginny, disappointed. 'So I might not be second after all?'

'We don't know. Angelina will tell us when she knows,' replied George. 'She checked Hermione's broom twice -- she just couldn't believe it was a school broom that she did all that on.'

'We did make sure we picked the best of the school brooms for the trials, but you were still amazing,' said Fred. 'Charlie should have seen you!'

Hermione blushed, and went back to eating her dinner.

'When did you learn to fly while spinning, though?' asked Ron. 'You didn't do it in our Flying lessons.'

'I asked Madam Hooch if I could do some extra practice, since I'm not from a wizarding family,' she admitted. 'It just occurred to me to try flying upside down, and then spiralling. I think that was before the troll, when I didn't have anybody to spend time with.'

'Why didn't you borrow my Firebolt?' Harry asked her.

'I don't know, it just didn't seem quite fair. I didn't know Angelina was going to correct for the brooms used.'

'So Hermione's score is going to be corrected because of her disadvantage? Nobody else stands a chance!' said Ginny.

Dean shook his head. 'I hate to imagine what your results will be after correction!'

'Should we count your nine goals as mentioning the Ball? One hundred and twenty!' said Ginny, grinning at Ron.

'No, Ginny, you can't do that,' said Hermione, also grinning at Ron. 'Not unless you count your seven too. One hundred and twenty-seven!'

'I should never have mentioned it,' said Ron.

'One thing I did wonder about, Hermione,' said Harry, 'was your pattern of goals. Do you think it's a good idea to use a predictable left-centre-right pattern and then repeat it?'

'What?' asked Dean. 'You mean I could have known which goal she was going to aim for each time?'

'See, it worked,' said Hermione, smiling.

After dinner, the Gryffindors collected in the common room. Usually, some people would go and do their homework in the quiet of their dormitories, but nobody wanted to miss the results, so it was very crowded. The twins sat next to Ron and Ginny.

'I didn't think you would want to play Quidditch, because it would cut into your homework time,' Ron said to Hermione. 'How are you going to cope?'

'I didn't want to, when Oliver was the captain, but Angelina doesn't have nearly as many training sessions as he did. I think I can keep up.'

'You don't seem to need many training sessions,' said Harry.

'You won't be on the team until after Angelina's gone, though,' objected Ginny.

'The new players are going to be training with the existing team for the rest of the year,' Harry told her. 'Didn't you know that?'

'I suppose I should have found out. I bet Hermione knew that, too.' Hermione nodded, smiling.

A hush descended over the common room a couple of hours after dinner. Angelina and Katie had just come down the stairs from the girls' dormitories. Angelina smiled at all the expectant faces turned to her.

'We've corrected the results for the brooms used by each candidate, and then added marks for the candidates' use of different manoeuvres. We've also allowed some marks for goals that Dean blocked after the candidate got past all the Chasers.'

'There are two Chaser positions available, as you probably know, but we've chosen the four best candidates, so that we can start to build up a reserve team again.'

'In fourth place is Ron Weasley.'

Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George all cheered along with some others.

'At least I've got a reserve place,' said Ron glumly.

'In third place is Ian Rowan.'

A cheer went up from a group of third-years.

'You won't be surprised to hear that in second place is Ginny Weasley, who therefore wins one of the main team places.'

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred and George all cheered her, and she smiled through her blushes.

'And I think that's it for the results. Thank you all for taking part, or coming along to cheer.'

There was a puzzled murmur among the Gryffindors. Harry grinned at Hermione.

'Stop messing her about, Ange!' called Fred.

'Did I miss somebody? Oh, yes. Well, this isn't any surprise. Not one goal saved, flying on a school broom instead of Harry's Firebolt -- the nine-goal wonder herself, Hermione Granger wins the other main team place! Who didn't already guess that?'

Lavender and Parvati didn't cheer, but many of the other Gryffindors did, including Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George. Hermione blushed at the reaction. Angelina, grinning came over to them.

'So you two are on the team now. You know that means you'll be reserve players for the rest of the year, and you'll be training on Thursdays with us?'

'Harry just told me,' said Ginny.

'You didn't mind the way I did the results, I hope?' Angelina asked Hermione. 'It's not as though there was much doubt.'

'I didn't mind, no,' Hermione said, smiling at her.

'Beater trials are at the same time tomorrow, then?' asked Ron.

'Yes, they are,' Angelina confirmed.

'You'll be up against us,' said Fred.

'The Terrible Two,' said George.

'The Unbeatable Beaters,' said Fred.

'The Human Bludgers,' said George.

'The Talkative Twins,' said Ginny. 'Also, the Wizard Wheezers and the Boastful Beaters.'

'Of course, you've had your whole life to get used to being rude to them. I could use some lessons in that,' said Angelina, smiling at them.

She went back into the crowd, which was now beginning to thin out as people went to get their homework done without the chatter of Quidditch conversations breaking out all over. Fred and George headed back to their usual place, which was now vacant.

'Why does she need lessons in being rude to the twins?' asked Harry. 'She's not often rude to the players.'

Ginny giggled. 'I'm going to bed now. I'm tired after all the excitement.'