Revelations and Romance

Revelations and Romance chapter 24/25

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24: The Quidditch Cup

Jun 5th

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny carried on revising on Sunday morning. The three fifth-years had their Charms and Transfiguration O.W.L. exams the next day. Ginny's exams weren't for another week, but she was keeping them company.

After a while, Fred and George came over and sat beside them. 'You're all very keen,' said Fred. 'Ginny, you've got a whole year to revise!' Ginny stuck her tongue out at him.

Harry stretched. 'What did you two do in Diagon Alley yesterday?'

George gave him a thumbs-up sign. 'We've signed the lease for the shop. Remember the number -- ninety-three, Diagon Alley.'

Ron asked, 'What are you going to tell Mum when she wants to know where you got the money?'

'Saved it, didn't we?' said Fred. 'Sold some of the things here at school, too.' The twins had been quietly making and selling some of their simpler products, making sure not to attract any attention from the teachers.

'But Bagman got all your savings. She won't believe that.'

'She doesn't know about that, does she? Dad can't tell her he let us bet all that money with Bagman.'

'Mum won't approve of the shop, but I'm sure she won't worry about where we got the money,' said George.

'She'll think you're wasting it, though,' said Ginny.

'I think she'll want to know. Diagon Alley's not cheap, is it?' Ron asked. 'How much is it costing you a month? You can't have saved that much, and I don't believe you can have sold that much.'

'Never mind where we got it.' Fred shrugged. 'We're not going to wind up like Percy, measuring cauldrons and worshipping his boss.'

'No, I can understand that,' said Ron.

'The joke-shop's our big chance to get away from being poor Weasleys,' said George, uncharacteristically serious. 'Think about it. If Percy makes a mess of his work, he still gets paid ...'

'Unless he gets fired for it,' Fred interjected.

'... if he does a really good job, he gets paid the same. We're not going to be like that.'

'No, what we want is something where the effort we put in matters,' said Fred. 'If this works, we should get more money for more effort.'

'We just have to hope that people notice us -- and Diagon Alley's the best place for that,' said George.

'I think this is the most serious conversation with you that I've ever had,' said Harry. 'You're really determined to make this work, aren't you?'

'We can't let down our investor,' said Fred, avoiding looking at Harry. 'If someone has that much faith in us, how can we not try our best?'

'Oh, it's not just your money, then?' asked Ginny. 'Did this investor actually give you the money willingly, or is it a matter of blackmail?'

'Oh, not that again,' said Hermione.

'Well,' said George, looking at Fred, 'I don't think we need to dignify that with an incriminating answer.' He grinned.

'Oh, that's very reassuring,' said Ron. 'You'd look more innocent with a knife in your hand, with blood dripping from it.'

'Oh!' said Ginny, taking a paper bag from her bag of books and parchment. She took out a red lollipop and started licking it, then giggled.

'What's it like?' Harry asked her.

'It's quite nice, actually. Do you want to try a bit?'

'No, thanks.'

'Tell me it's strawberry, really,' said Hermione.

'It isn't,' said Harry. 'I saw her buy it.'

'You didn't really get a blood-flavoured one, did you?'

Ginny grinned and nodded.

'Good,' said Fred. 'She's taking after us.'

'Oh, no!' said Ron in horror.

'I meant to ask you something,' Ginny said to the twins. She explained how Snape had tried to blame Harry for the twins' trick on Malfoy and his friends, until Hannah and Ernie had spoken in Harry's defense.

'Oh, sorry Harry,' said Fred. 'It didn't occur to us that might happen. When we planted the toffees, we didn't know you were nearby.'

'So,' continued Ginny, 'I wondered if you'd offer those two a discount.'

'We could do,' said George. 'OK, we will.'

The twins went back over to where Lee and Angelina were sitting, leaving the trio and Ginny revising.

*

Following lunch, Ron and Hermione went to their 'secret' room to make love. As Hermione had no less than three evening exams in the next five days, she'd told Ron she might not have enough time or energy to make love during the week.

Harry and Ginny returned to the common room. After a couple of minutes of revising, Harry felt as if he was being watched, and looked up to see that Ginny was watching him.

'Am I that interesting when I revise?' he asked her, grinning.

'It's not that. You told them yesterday you weren't bothered about them being in love and spending less time with you, and you said you weren't just saying it to avoid upsetting them.'

'Yes, I remember that.'

'But you told me that you didn't want to tell them how you felt, in case it upset them.'

Harry sighed, and put the sheaf of notes he'd been reading on the table. 'All right, you caught me. But if I tell them I don't want to upset them, it probably would upset them. Can you think of any way round that?'

'No,' she admitted. 'I just wanted to check.'

'For what it's worth, you got the true version.'

'Wouldn't you also say that to them?' she teased.

'I suppose I'd have to. But what else can I do? They're my friends, and I miss not being with them as much. But ... they are my friends, and I don't want to stop them being in love.'

'Even though you can't admit to anyone you even like me -- or any other girl?'

'That's one thing I am jealous about. It's not their fault, of course, but I'd like to have that freedom.'

'I know,' she said softly. 'We haven't even kissed since Valentine's Day.'

'Maybe we need a secret room we could go into, just to kiss. But if anyone saw us coming out ... they wouldn't think we were only kissing.'

'How about your Cloak? Is there a room you ought to check on, being a Prefect? I could follow you in there invisibly.'

'That's not a bad idea. I didn't even kiss you when you visited Godric's Hollow -- though I suppose we would have had to find somewhere away from Ron and Hermione.'

Ginny was silent for a short while, then asked, 'What do you think the chances really are that we can ever tell people how we feel? You-Know-Who would have to die, go to Azkaban, or give up on you.'

'I hope one of those happens, and soon. He's tried to kill me five times.' He closed his eyes. 'I'm fifteen, I can't face a future of murder attempts.'

Ginny leant over to hug him, then stopped herself before anyone noticed. 'This is horrible. Your life shouldn't have to be like this. You ought to be as happy as Ron.'

Harry opened his eyes again. 'You-Know-Who will have to give up eventually. I hope. Either that, or he'll win, and then I won't have to worry ever again,' he ended glumly.

'Harry, no! Don't ever say that!' She recovered and asked, 'Is it the O.W.Ls making you think like that? Do you think you need a Calming Draught?'

'No, I don't need that. What I need is a dead Vo ... You-Know-Who. The O.W.Ls are just making me think about my future -- and whether I've even got one.'

'Oh. If you're sure. I could go with you to see Madam Pomfrey, otherwise.'

'No, the exams aren't worrying me that much.'

'I'm not surprised. In your place, I don't suppose I'd care about them much.'

'Oh, I care. I need to get good results to be able to do what I want after Hogwarts. Assuming that there is any "after".'

'Harry, please -- don't keep adding that condition!'

'Sorry. I don't want to upset you, either.'

Harry looked around the common room for something less upsetting. 'Looks as if the twins are raising more money.'

'It's probably something a Prefect should investigate,' Ginny suggested. 'Oh, never mind.'

'It could be. They don't seem to be causing any trouble, anyway. I won't bother them.'

Ron and Hermione returned to the common room in time to get some revising done before dinner. Ginny looked around the room. 'People can get used to anything, can't they? They don't even notice you going off by yourselves any more.'

'Good,' said Ron. 'I can do with not being noticed by everyone.'

'Except for your O.W.L. results.'

'I don't think they're going to be worth noticing. I just want to get more than the twins did. As many as Percy got would be nice, but that's not likely.'

'If you go into the exams with that thought, you won't get as many as he did,' said Harry. 'Think positively. What was the record, Hermione?' Harry had worked out that, as most subjects had standard and 'with Merit' passes, which counted as separate O.W.Ls, his absolute maximum was sixteen O.W.Ls, though only if he passed every subject with very high marks -- hardly likely, with Divination, History of Magic and Potions accounting for five of the total.

'Riddle got sixteen,' she reminded them. 'Hogwarts, a History doesn't say what grades he got in them, though.'

'Sixteen's not very likely,' said Harry resignedly. 'I'll just have to do the best I can. I think nine would be OK, and twelve would be good.'

'You missed him worrying about You-Know-Who earlier,' said Ginny.

'Do you need a Calming ...' began Ron.

Harry snapped, 'No! I don't need a Calming Draught, what I need is Voldemort in a coffin!'

'Oh,' said Hermione.

'Sorry,' said Harry. 'I was just telling Ginny, here we are all thinking about O.W.L. results and what we're going to do in the future, and I don't even know if I've got one. A future, I mean. I didn't mean to snap at you, though.'

'That's OK, we understand,' said Hermione.

'I told him he should be as happy as Ron,' said Ginny.

'Just what do you mean by that?' Ron demanded. 'I don't care how sorry you feel for Harry, you can't ...'

'I know, shut up! Just this once, shut up about it!'

'You could be as happy as a chaste Ron,' Hermione suggested to Harry.

Ginny giggled. 'I volunteer to chase Harry, if he wants to be chased.' Ron frowned at her. She told him, 'And you shouldn't set me such a bad example, if you're not happy about this.'

Dean came over, frowning. 'How are you three doing with revision panicking? You don't sound very happy.'

'Ginny's cheering us up,' Harry told him.

'I could do with that. My parents don't know anything about O.W.Ls, they just tell me they got nine and eight O-levels and I should do my best.'

'What are O-levels?' asked Ginny.

Harry, Hermione and Dean chorused, 'Muggle exams.'

'That's the old system,' added Harry. 'My Uncle Vernon keeps telling Dudley he's got to try his best but it doesn't matter if he doesn't get many O-levels, because he doesn't want a swot for a son. He won't listen when anyone tells him there's a new system now.'

'You don't have to listen to him ever again, do you?' Ginny asked. 'You stayed with Sirius at Easter and Christmas, and you're going to be there for the summer, aren't you?'

'Oh, yes,' he said, relishing that happy thought. 'Good-bye for ever, Privet Drive. I'll never have to go back there.'

'I'm glad I don't have your problems, Harry,' said Dean. He groaned. 'Charms and Transfiguration tomorrow. I think I can manage Charms, but I don't know about Transfiguration.'

'I'm trying to avoid thinking about what I can "manage",' said Ron. 'I've revised everything I can, now I've just got to turn up and see what happens.'

'Ah, that's what I like to see,' said Dean sarcastically. 'Optimism. Or, if you can't manage that, someone who's got lower expectations than me.'

'So you're not going to talk to Hermione?' Ginny asked, grinning.

Dean jokingly held up his hands, making a cross with two fingers, and backed away. 'No! Don't do that to me!'

'I ought to get a Calming Draught,' said Hermione nervously. 'Everyone assumes I'm going to do well -- suppose I don't?'

'Suppose you do?' asked Ron. 'Do you think you're going to do worse than me?' Hermione made a face at him.

'If you've all stopped panicking to be silly,' said Ginny, 'it's just about dinner time now.'

They went down to dinner, which was disturbed slightly when a group of elderly wizards and witches arrived at the castle.

'That ...' said Hermione nervously. She swallowed and tried again. 'Is that ... are those the examiners?'

'I recognise Professor Marchbanks,' said Neville quietly. 'She's in charge of the examiners, so that must be them.'

Dumbledore was greeting the wizards. Harry thought he looked younger, standing beside them. He wondered how old they were. For the first time, he wondered if Dumbledore's great age might be normal for wizards -- at least, for wizards who avoided being killed by Voldemort.

Hermione put down the knife and fork she'd been using, and took a few deep breaths.

'Hermione,' said Harry, trying to reassure her, 'when have you ever failed an exam? You're not going to have a problem.' He thought it best not to praise her too much, as she had been worrying about living up to teachers' expectations.

Ron had been looking at the examiners too, but turned to look at Hermione. 'Are you really that worried? You're bound to get better marks than all of the rest of us.'

'I'll bet you ten Galleons a grade that your marks are higher than mine,' said Ginny. 'And I don't even have ten Galleons.'

'That gives you a year to get saving, then,' said Ron.

'I won't need to, though.'

'Hermione, stop worrying,' said Harry. 'Do you want to go and get a Calming Draught?'

'I don't know. Do I? I never expected to need one,' she said.

Harry squeezed her hand. 'Relax. Wow, even your hand feels tense.'

'Does it? Maybe I ought to go and have a nap after dinner, and then see how I feel.'

Harry nodded. 'Good idea.'

'Just by myself, this time, Ron,' she told him. 'Sorry.'

'No, it's fine,' Ron reassured her. 'This afternoon was good.' He grinned. 'Very relaxing.'

To Harry's surprise, when they reached the portrait hole, Hermione went along to the room he referred to as her and Ron's lovenest, as it was more private.

'That makes sense,' said Ginny, when she, Harry and Ron sat down in their usual chairs. 'Can you still get in there, Ron?'

'I could, but I won't. She's been worried about exams since our first year, but never this bad.'

'We have to get her not to discuss the exams we've just taken,' said Harry.

'Yeah,' agreed Ron. 'That gets us worried and tense.'

Hermione rejoined them almost two hours later, telling them she was relaxed enough now not to need a Calming Draught. She, Ron and Harry all went up to their dorms early, to get a good night's sleep before the start of their most important exams so far.

*

At Monday's breakfast, Hermione was rereading parts of a Charms book, while the two boys were trying to avoid thinking about the subject completely.

'Have you got Charms first, then?' Ginny asked.

'Yes. I don't know if there's some sort of order in this list,' Harry replied.

'The first four are the subjects taught by the Heads of house, in alphabetical order by their surnames,' said Hermione absently, turning pages of her book. 'I don't know if it's accidental, though.'

'Huh? Flitwick, McGonagall, Snape and Sprout ... so they are,' said Harry in surprise.

'Silly Harry,' said Ginny. 'Did you need to check?'

He laughed. 'No. Bad habit, I suppose.'

After breakfast, the fifth- and seventh-years were told to wait in the Entrance Hall, and then called back in. The house tables had been replaced by lots of small tables, and a large area in one corner had been screened off. Where the teachers' table usually was, one of the examiners was sitting at a desk with a large hourglass on it, and talking to one of the other examiners. The pupils all took their seats, after which the standing examiner walked behind the screens. The seated examiner introduced himself as Professor Norren and explained that during the exam, pupils would be chosen to go and do a practical test one row at a time. Harry wasn't sure he liked the sound of that, as it would interrupt the flow of his thoughts. After a moment, he realised that there wouldn't be much flow between questions anyway, as long as the examiners didn't interrupt a question. Norren continued to explain that the exam papers would glow to indicate their row had been chosen, and the pupils could then finish their question if they wanted to, and then just walk forward to his desk and be directed to an examiner. He added that the time for the practical exam had been included in the time limit, and nobody should be concerned.

Harry looked over at the other side of the hall, and saw Fred and George nodding impatiently. Obviously they knew this already from when they'd sat their O.W.Ls.

Harry's paper glowed just as he'd finished a question on Cheering Charms, and was reading the next question, which was about Summoning Charms. He gulped and walked forward with others to the desk, where Norren directed him to go into a small numbered area with an examiner, who he referred to as Professor Tofty. Harry did the best he could in his practical, and was reassured that everything seemed to go right.

When he returned to his desk to finish the paper, he noticed that Hermione wasn't there, and assumed she must be in her practical. When she reappeared a few moments later, she looked worried. Ron went forward to do his practical a bit later, and looked relieved when he returned.

At the end of the exam, all the pupils were sent out into the Entrance Hall while the Great Hall was restored to its usual appearance for lunch.

Ginny joined them as they were still waiting. 'Am I allowed to ask how your exam went?'

'No,' said Ron grumpily. 'It was terrible.'

Hermione nodded. 'I'm sure I didn't do well enough on the practical part.'

'Well, I thought it went OK,' said Harry.

'Really? I thought Hermione would get better marks than you,' she said with a grin. 'Hermione, I don't believe you.'

'I saw how relieved you looked after the practical bit,' Harry told Ron. 'Why are you saying it was terrible?'

'I was relieved because that bit was over!' Ron said impatiently. 'Not because I did well.'

'Oh. Well, here's one bit you can get right -- they're going back in now, for lunch.'

'Good, that's my favourite subject. I'd get an "O" in that with no trouble.'

'We had double Transfiguration just before lunch,' Ginny told the others as they were eating lunch. 'We were just revising anyway, but it was obvious McGonagall wasn't paying attention to us.'

Harry looked at Ginny in surprise. 'I can't imagine her being worried about our results. Though I suppose she might be.'

'Well, it was either that or she's in trouble with Madam Pince for taking a book out for too long.'

Harry grinned. 'Now that's something I can imagine.'

'McGonagall would be teaching us this afternoon,' said Hermione. 'Since she doesn't have any lessons for the first twenty minutes of the exam, I wonder if she'll watch us start.'

'Oh, I hope not,' said Ron in horror. 'I'll fail for certain if she's there.'

They had an hour after lunch before the exam, which they used for last-minute revision. When they reentered the Great Hall for the exam, they saw Professor McGonagall talking to Professor Norren.

'I'm doomed. Definitely,' said Ron.

'You don't know that she's staying,' said Hermione reasonably.

'I'm doomed. Probably,' amended Ron.

McGonagall went to stand by the doors during the exam. Harry glanced at Ron, and saw him shaking his head in dismay. The exam was conducted similarly to the Charms exam. Hermione was the first of the three of them to do the practical, then Harry shortly after. He thought it had gone quite well. McGonagall was called forward into the screened area shortly after, and then left the Hall, to Ron's obvious relief.

Following the exam, the pupils went into the Entrance Hall. Ernie was reassuring Hannah. 'At least when you accidentally produced bats, it was a Transfiguration effect; it might not count against you.'

'I've failed, I must have done,' she said glumly. 'I shouldn't have been fooling myself.'

Hermione bit her lip as if uncertain whether to join Ernie in his reassurances, but seemed to decide against it. They reentered the Great Hall for dinner, along with the pupils who hadn't had exams.

'How did this one go?' asked Ginny when they sat down.

'McGonagall watched us to begin with, and it completely put me off,' said Ron glumly.

'I think mine went better than Charms did,' said Hermione. 'What about you, Harry?'

'It wasn't too bad. Poor Hannah, though.'

They explained to Ginny about Hannah's accident in the practical exam, making her laugh. 'I suppose I shouldn't laugh. It was my telling Justin what I did that made her feel so bad, wasn't it? It might be why she made her mistake.'

'I'd forgotten that,' said Harry.

Ginny changed the subject. 'I wonder how Malfoy's doing? I hope Matteo wins his bet.'

'Yeah, I'll side with Matteo there,' said Ron. 'Even a Slytherin, if he doesn't like Malfoy, is my sort of person.'

Ginny giggled. 'I bet you never thought you'd agree with a Slytherin.'

'No, not usually. Life's just one surprise after another, like Hermione telling me how she felt. I don't think anything's ever going to beat that for surprise value.'

Hermione smiled. 'I'm glad you said that.'

'Make the most of this evening,' said Harry. 'We've got our Duelling exam tomorrow after dinner.'

'If that's another three-hour exam, you'll be busy until ten,' said Ron. 'Three exams in one day's just too much, even for you two.'

'You'll be too tired to attack,' sad Ginny. A thought occurred to her. 'At least, I hope you can block as well as attack! It would be awful if you couldn't block the attacks.'

'I hope we aren't that tired,' said Harry. 'What about you, Hermione? You're being quiet.'

She shrugged.

'Still quiet,' said Ron, hugging her with one arm.

After dinner, the three fifth-years did some revision for their Potions and Herbology exams the next day. Harry and Hermione were trusting to their memories for Duelling, feeling that it wasn't a subject they could revise, only practise. Neither of them wanted to take time away from their revision of the other subjects to practise, though.

Ginny played quietly with Crookshanks, away from the other three. She looked up occasionally to look at the others, but didn't interrupt them.

*

'I really hope Snape's not going to be watching us in this exam,' said Ron at breakfast on Tuesday. Potions was their first exam of the day.

'Oh,' said Harry. 'He'd be teaching us after break if this was a normal day.'

'Oh, no!' groaned Ron. 'I hope he finds something else to do.'

When the students reentered the Great Hall for their exam, they found a different setup. Instead of the tables, the room was filled with small benches with a stone firepit inlaid in each, a pestle and mortar, a box which looked as if it contained potion ingredients, and three empty flasks. There was enough space now, with no ingredients laid out ready for use, to sit and do the written exam at one side of the bench. Professor Norren explained that there would be two hours to start with, during which the pupils would have a written paper, and another hour in which they would make the three potions named on a list. Harry understood now why they'd been told to bring their cauldrons and scales to this exam.

He found the written paper difficult, but felt much more confident about the practical exam. Despite Ron's fears, Snape didn't turn up to watch. Harry completed his third potion with five minutes to spare, and filled the third flask with some of the potion.

Even Ron looked happy afterwards. 'That was a lot easier than I expected,' he said.

Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Ron interrupted her, 'Please don't tell us you put the beetle eyes in one second too late!'

'I wasn't going to,' she said defiantly.

Other pupils were coming down the staircase for lunch, including Ginny. 'Hi. Did your anti-Snape revision work?'

'Yeah, it did,' said Ron. 'That was a really good idea of Hermione's.'

'Does she have any bad ones?' Ginny asked. 'I mean, apart from telling Ron how she felt.' Hermione smiled at Ginny, then glanced at Ron, who was frowning.

'Lunch!' said Ron, heading for the Great Hall, as the doors had just been opened again.

After lunch there was another free hour for revision, after which they had a two-hour theory exam in the Great Hall, and then went out to the Herbology greenhouses for a one-hour practical exam. As normal classes had finished for the day, the greenhouses weren't being used for classes, and Professor Sprout kept a watchful eye on the students and her precious plants. Fortunately, she wasn't as off-putting as McGonagall had been. Neville even smiled at her occasionally as he did his exam.

'That went OK,' said Ron afterwards, as they returned to the castle. Hermione nodded, but refrained from saying anything.

Harry smiled at them both. 'Now we just have to try to kill each other again, and then we're finished for today.'

Ron said, 'I'm still surprised at how far you two got with that. Dumbledore must think you can do the exam, though.'

They sat beside Ginny in the Great Hall. 'Grocyn and Matteo told me something,' Ginny told them.

'I don't want to know anything they said,' said Ron, filling his plate with food.

'You want to know this. Malfoy and his two big friends got two detentions each for blaming you for what those toffees did. They've got to do them next week, once their exams are over.'

'Yes!' crowed Ron. 'OK, that was good news.'

Ginny looked around for her other brothers. 'I'm going to tell Fred and George after dinner,' she said, spotting them talking to Angelina and Alicia. 'After all, it was their toffees that started it.'

Following dinner, Ron and Ginny wished the other two luck, and then Professor McGonagall took Harry and Hermione to an unfamiliar classroom on the ground floor.

Professor Marchbanks was already in the classroom, as was Madam Pomfrey. Harry and Hermione looked at each other in concern; they'd never had her with them in their Duelling classes.

'It's just a precaution,' Marchbanks said loudly, correctly interpreting their expressions. 'Dumbledore tells me that you are both excellent duellists, beyond the standard expected for your age group.'

Apart from Dumbledore's absence, and the presence of Marchbanks, McGonagall and Pomfrey, the Duelling exam wasn't that different from a normal lesson. To begin with, they were tested separately -- McGonagall took Hermione out of the classroom while Harry used a list of curses against a target dummy, then Hermione returned and went through the same list of curses. Finally, Professor Marchbanks fired curses at them, choosing Harry or Hermione unpredictably, proving that they could block each one without reacting to a curse fired at each other. When the exam ended, Madam Pomfrey breathed a deep sigh of relief, McGonagall smiled at them and Marchbanks said a loud 'Well done, both of you!' to them.

McGonagall took Marchbanks along the corridor, possibly to wherever she and the other examiners were staying, while Madam Pomfrey walked with Harry and Hermione back to the Entrance Hall and up the stairs. She told them, 'You both had me worried once I'd seen how the target dummy reacted to your curses. I couldn't believe that you would be able to block all of them, not at your age. The Headmaster wasn't exaggerating your skills.'

'Thank you,' said Hermione.

'I just don't want to be around if you ever need to use them.'

Harry said, 'I hope neither of us ever do need to. But I don't think that's a realistic hope for me.'

Madam Pomfrey nodded and sighed. They left her on the second floor, and continued up towards the seventh floor.

'I wonder how many of those target dummies there are,' Hermione commented. 'We haven't seen that Vespasian one before.'

'No, we haven't. But it didn't work.'

'The dummy? It worked just like the others.'

'No, your attempt to change the subject. But thanks, anyway.'

She sighed. 'You can't keep dwelling on it, Harry. What did you think about Professor Marchbanks' curses?'

'She was good at them. But I can't ignore Voldemort.'

'If you keep thinking about it, you'll go mad, won't you?'

'Probably. Maybe I am mad. I think Voldemort's after me, you know.'

'That's not paranoia -- not in your case.'

'All right, so I'm sane and doomed.'

'Now you sound like Ron,' she told him with a smile.

'Good, I'll disguise myself as Ron, and then I'll be safe. Yeah! Then there's also the fringe benefits of being Ron -- that'd be good!'

'Harry!' she chided him.

'It's no good. Joking about him isn't going to stop him attacking, is it?'

'No, it isn't,' she said gently. 'Ginny might be right, though. His plan to attack you was activated too early by Malfoy telling you to drop dead. He probably doesn't have another plan yet.'

'Oh, wonderful,' he said sarcastically. 'So I've got extra time before he kills me. I can think hard about my will, then.'

'No, that means more time for the Aurors to catch him.'

'They've never caught him before, have they?'

'No. All right, then it means more time for Lucius Malfoy to get up the courage to overthrow him. Getting the Cruciatus Curse for telling him about Ginny isn't going to make him like Voldemort better, is it?'

They started up the last staircase to the common room. 'That might be more likely. I'm sorry I called you a fringe benefit, too,' Harry apologised.

'I didn't really mind, that was funny.'

'I do get jealous sometimes,' he said. Suddenly realising how that sounded, he added, 'Even when Ginny's older ...'

'I know, you won't do anything to endanger her.' She turned to look at him, and he saw tears in her eyes. 'Mare's eggs,' said Hermione to the Fat Lady, who nodded sleepily and opened the portrait hole for them. 'I'm sorry, we're not helping by having fun, are we?' she asked Harry.

'I don't want you to stop having fun. I want to be able to start.'

'How did you do?' Ginny asked them as they sat down.

'The exam itself was all right,' Hermione told her. 'I think we did quite well with it.'

'But I'm still worried about You-Know-Who,' said Harry.

Hermione said, 'We've just been upsetting you for almost six months, as well.'

'I'm sorry, I've made you feel bad about it, and I really didn't mean to.'

'Raine's dad wants to get him,' said Ginny, 'and he really wants to show Fudge he's wrong, and You-Know-Who is back. So the Aurors really want to get him.'

'Haven't they always wanted to?' Harry asked. 'They've never managed to.'

'Now they've got more incentive. You've got to believe they'll manage it -- it makes as much sense as thinking that You-Know-Who will kill you soon.'

'Well, if you insist,' said Harry. He wasn't convinced, but he wanted his friends to think he was.

*

Wednesday's first exam was to be Defence Against the Dark Arts. Despite the subject's obvious connection with the previous evening's conversation, nobody mentioned Harry's worries again.

The Great Hall was again set up with a screened-off area. As with Monday's subjects, the pupils were called forward at random to demonstrate various counter-jinxes, in between written questions about werewolves and other monsters that they'd studied over the years. Harry felt that he'd done quite well.

After lunch, they had their History of Magic exam. This was the first one they'd had with no practical part to it. Harry struggled with it, but managed some sort of answer to every question.

'Thanks for letting me look through your notes, Hermione,' he said during dinner. 'Whatever I managed to answer is thanks to you.'

'Same here,' said Ron. 'Do you think you'll pass?'

'Well ... I don't know,' he said, unwilling to admit to Hermione that even with her notes he might have failed.

'Same here,' said Ron again. 'Oh well, there's just Astronomy, Divination and Magical Creatures left.'

'I've still got Muggle Studies after dinner,' said Hermione, 'and Ancient Runes on Friday morning, as well as those ones.'

Later that evening, after Harry and Ron had been revising Astronomy and Divination, Hermione returned to the common room, looking very tired. She slumped into her chair and sat back with her eyes closed. Ron put an arm around her, and she leant into him.

'Poor Hermione,' sympathised Ginny. 'It didn't go well, then?'

'It was OK,' Hermione replied, eyes still closed. 'I'd have been more relaxed if there were others there, though.'

'The real exam's tomorrow afternoon,' Harry explained to Ginny.

'I had to promise not to tell anyone any of the questions.'

'That's good,' said Ginny. 'Not only did you do an extra exam, but the examiners trust you not to tell anyone about it.'

'I wish I'd thought harder about what taking this extra O.W.L. would mean. I've had three exams a day two days running, and it's tiring.'

Ron nodded. 'Tomorrow's my only three-exam day.'

Hermione groaned. 'Nine exams in three days. I must be mad.'

'It's that saying about the thin line between genius and insanity,' said Harry. 'You just have to decide which side of the line you're on.'

'The insane side, definitely.'

'I think you're just a very tired genius,' Harry reassured her.

'I'm too tired to argue. I'll be insane tomorrow, when I've had a night's sleep.'

*

Hermione was feeling happier after Thursday morning's Astronomy exam. 'That went OK,' she said when they were waiting for lunch. 'What did you put for question three?'

'We are not doing this!' said Ron impatiently. 'It's bad enough having to do the exams once, there's no way I'm going to do any of them twice.'

Harry grinned at them. 'Are you still insane, Hermione?'

'I'm thinking about it. I've still got Arithmancy, and finally Ron has an exam in the evening.'

'Oh yes, I have to go up to the top of the Astronomy Tower with you at midnight,' said Ron, grinning at her.

'It might not be as romantic as you think,' Harry commented. 'Even if Hermione's not insane by then.'

'You're having too much fun with that,' Hermione told him as the pupils started to move back into the Great Hall for lunch.

'I told you yesterday that you were a tired genius.' Harry sat down and poured himself a goblet of pumpkin juice. He stared into it and said, 'I predict ... there will be another exam this afternoon ... it will be Divination ... I will fail it.'

'You can't fail,' said Ron. 'You just made a true prediction.'

'I have to fail -- if I pass, my prediction isn't true.'

'Maybe I am the sane one,' mused Hermione.

The Great Hall again had a screened-off area for the afternoon exams. The fifth-years were divided into different sections for Divination, Arithmancy and Muggle Studies. Arithmancy didn't have a practical component to the exam, but the other two groups were called forward as in other exams. Harry had to read Professor Tofty's future in a crystal ball, then tell him what the lines on his hand meant, and finally drink a cup of tea. Tofty exchanged the cup with another examiner's pupil, and Harry had to explain the meanings of the tea-leaves in the cup. He didn't think he'd done very well in any of the three, but at least he'd had a cup of tea to refresh him during the exam. He hoped his written paper would be enough to earn him a pass, so that he'd have something to show for three years of lessons and death predictions.

After the exam, Ron paused in eating and told Hermione, 'You can ask us about any question you want this time.'

'Ha ha,' she replied. 'Actually, I think I did all right on mine. How about you two?'

'Well, we got a cup of tea each,' said Harry. 'What's the practical bit of Muggle Studies, anyway?'

'Oh, I had to identify eight objects. It was easy. There were a hand whisk, a photo of an escalator, a TV remote, a water bill -- can you imagine that in an exam? Uh, and ... no, I said the remote ... a video cassette, a battery, a plug and a telephone receiver without the body.'

'I know what a battery and a plug are,' said Ron. 'And I used a whatdoyoucallit to talk to Harry's uncle once, but it just annoyed him.'

'If that's as difficult as Muggle Studies gets, I should have done that instead of Divination,' said Harry regretfully.

'Let's talk about something else,' pleaded Ron.

Ginny grinned. 'Should I tell you I've just had a Wizard Studies lesson, then?'

'Oh, not you too.'

'Sorry. If you get too rude about it, I'll tell Dad.'

Ron groaned. 'I wonder how many of those things he'd have known.'

Ginny said, 'I don't think we've learnt all of those yet, but I suppose we'll do the rest next year.'

'I suppose they don't have the same objects in every year's O.W.L. exam, anyway,' said Harry. 'You could ask the twins.'

'I suppose so. They failed it, anyway. Percy's the only other brother to take Muggle Studies.'

'He passed,' said Ron in disgust. 'Obviously.'

Harry laughed. 'Never mind, he might have been Head Boy and got buckets of O.W.Ls, but he can't stay engaged to Penelope, while you and Hermione can hardly keep your hands off each other.'

Ron's face fell. 'Yeah.' He looked at Hermione. 'But you don't want to be engaged to me, do you?' he asked quietly, so the other Gryffindors couldn't hear.

She looked startled and answered him as quietly. 'Oh, Ron, I just think we're too young for commitment like that. I told you my parents didn't stay with their first loves, though I hope we do. It's nothing personal, nothing about you. I'm just not sure yet.'

'Sorry,' said Harry. 'I still think that you're better off than Percy, romantically, though.'

'Yes, you are,' agreed Ginny.

'Well, I suppose so,' admitted Ron. 'Even if we're not engaged, we're still ... close.'

'Good, that's settled,' said Ginny, going back to the piece of cake she was eating.

The atmosphere was still strained when they went up to the Astronomy Tower just before midnight. Ron didn't try to make another joke about going there with Hermione.

Once they reached the open top of the tower, the pupils all set up their telescopes ready to look at the stars. They were each given a blank star chart by the examiners, who walked around in between the pupils, looking at their progress. Harry marked the positions of the planets and moons on his chart. When he finished filling in his chart, he straightened up and looked around. A couple of the other pupils also seemed to have finished. Hermione, unsurprisingly, had packed her telescope back into its case, handed her star chart to one of the examiners and left the top of the tower. Harry handed his own chart to Professor Norren, and packed away his own telescope. Then he sighed with relief and went down to the floor below to wait for Ron. He smiled at Hermione, leaning tiredly against the wall waiting for them both, and she smiled weakly back. Ron finished shortly after.

Going down the stairs after the exam had finished, Harry asked, 'Are you all right, Hermione? You looked tired, even if you did finish in plenty of time.'

She nodded. 'I'm not over the last two days yet. I don't know about you two, but I'm going straight to bed.'

'At least you've only got your Ancient Runes and then Magical Creatures tomorrow.'

Ron grinned as they climbed through the portrait hole. 'I wonder if we'll get bonus points for attacking Malfoy with another Hippogriff?'

'We could try,' said Harry with a grin.

'Goodnight,' Hermione said, kissing Ron goodnight before opening the door and going back upstairs to her dorm.

'Bedtime for me, too,' said Harry. 'Ginny didn't wait up for us, and I'm not surprised.'

'Yeah, one more exam and that's it.' Ron followed Harry up to their dorm.

*

'How are you this morning?' Harry asked Hermione as the trio went downstairs for Friday's breakfast.

'Still really tired,' she told him. 'I think I'm awake enough to cope with Ancient Runes. I hope there's a cool breeze for Magical Creatures, it'll keep me awake.'

'At least today's the end of it,' said Ron.

'How are you feeling, Harry? You've got to win the Quidditch Cup for us tomorrow,' she asked.

'That isn't tomorrow, it's not until Saturday.' He paused, realising. 'Saturday is tomorrow, isn't it?'

'You'd better have an early night tonight, too.'

'Yes. I don't even know what day today is.'

Harry and Ron returned to the common room for a last desperate read of their books for Care of Magical Creatures while Hermione took the Ancient Runes exam.

'Poor Hermione,' said Ron. 'She's got too many exams.'

Harry agreed. 'We'll have to talk her out of doing so many subjects next year. Otherwise, this'll just happen again in two years' time.'

They met her again at lunch. She still looked tired. 'You don't want to hear about the mistake I made, do you?'

'No chance,' said Ron.

'No, we want to talk you out of next year's mistake,' said Harry. He explained about their concern that she'd be going through the same exhausting process with her N.E.W.Ts.

'Oh,' she said, dismayed. 'I didn't think of that when I was picking subjects. It's too late to change them, isn't it? Unless I fail some exams, of course.'

'Too late, then,' said Ron. 'You're not likely to fail anything.'

'I wish you wouldn't say things like that.'

'Worried we'll jinx you?' Harry asked. 'But you blocked all those jinxes on Tuesday.'

Hermione smiled tiredly and ate some more of her lunch. Ron put one arm around her and hugged her. 'Just one more, then you can relax and watch Harry win the Cup.' She nodded, and smiled again. This time, she looked less tired.

That afternoon, they went out to the edge of the Forbidden Forest for their Care of Magical Creatures exam. For an exam with no written paper, it turned out to be surprisingly theoretical. Professor McCardle kept the pupils back behind a fence, letting them through to take one of four tests only when an examiner indicated that he or she was ready. Professor Norren took each pupil in turn to a table of food items, where they had to select the food that would suit a list of seven creatures. Professor Marchbanks had a model of a Crup puppy, and the pupils had to use the Severing Charm they would use on a real one. Harry supposed she must be using Reparo after each pupil. Professor Tofty watched as pupils rode an Aethonan in a circle, and a fourth examiner whose name Harry didn't know watched as they handled a Bowtruckle, fed a sugar cube to one of a group of unicorn foals and, to Harry's surprise, greeted a Hippogriff.

'I think that was our most entertaining exam,' said Harry to the others as they returned to the castle. 'You even got your cool breeze to stay awake, Hermione.'

'Yeah,' laughed Ron. 'Can you believe that Goyle fell off the horse again?'

'I liked Malfoy with that other examiner best. From the way he ran out, he must have refused to try greeting the Hippogriff,' Hermione said.

'I didn't notice,' said Harry. 'You mean I missed it?'

'Oh, you were flying the horse then,' said Ron. 'That was really bad timing.'

'Right, I want a Time-Turner so I can go back just to watch that!'

'It'd be worth it,' said Hermione.

'That's it, you know. We've done it, we've finished. There's just the Quidditch Cup, and I don't have to revise for that,' said Harry with a grin.

Ginny greeted them when they sat down for dinner. 'Now how are you feeling?'

'Great,' said Ron, stretching out his arm to put some food on his plate.

'Still tired,' said Hermione.

'Thinking about Quidditch,' Harry told Ginny.

'Good,' she said, 'that's all that matters now, you getting the Snitch before Cho can.'

'I'll try. I hadn't thought of this before, but she's in the sixth year.'

'That's a news item,' said Hermione drily.

'No, I mean that she hasn't been coping with O.W.Ls or N.E.W.Ts. She's not going to be tired like me.'

'Are you making an excuse for losing before you've even played?' Ginny asked. 'Shouldn't you wait until after the game?'

'It's not an excuse, I'm just worrying about it. She does have that advantage.'

'Are any of the Ravenclaw team in the fifth or seventh years?' Hermione asked. 'I only know that Cho Chang isn't.'

'I don't think so, unless Davies is a seventh-year,' said Ron.

They went up to their common room after dinner, to relax for a while. Heather Kelly, a first-year, came into the common room a short time later. She looked around nervously and came over to where Harry and the others were sitting. She blushed and said, 'Err ... excuse me ...'

'What is it, Heather?' asked Hermione kindly.

Harry wondered if she was embarrassed to be talking to so many older pupils. Perhaps it was Ron and Hermione's obvious closeness that she was embarrassed to interrupt.

'Angelina asked me to get all of the Quidditch team. She's in the hospital wing, and er, the Weasley twins are there. I don't know who all the team are, though.'

Ron looked at Ginny in alarm. Harry said, 'All right, thank you Heather. We'll tell the others.'

Ron and Ginny left the common room, worried about their brothers, while Harry called out, 'Quidditch team over here, please!' A procession of team members went down to the hospital wing.

'This is bad,' said Hermione as they walked. 'We've got the game tomorrow, we can't have any of them too ill to play. I thought it was the Slytherins that did things like this, not the Ravenclaws.'

'We don't even know who was hurt,' said Harry. 'I thought Heather meant Angelina was hurt, but Ron and Ginny thought it was the twins. I suppose we should have asked her.'

'We'll know soon enough, anyway.'

Once they reached the hospital wing, they saw that Angelina was lying in a bed, looking furious, with the four Weasleys around her. Ron and Ginny looked relieved that it wasn't the twins.

'Come on, Prefects,' said Ginny. 'Make them tell us what happened -- they've been waiting until you all got here.'

'It was an accident,' said Fred.

'Accident?' snapped Angelina, glaring at Fred. 'What sort of "accident" involves a firework disguised as a Quaffle?'

'Fred, you didn't!' said his sister, shocked.

'We were playing catch with it in the corridor, that's all!' said Fred.

'With a firework?' asked Katie. 'Why did you even have a firework disguised as a Quaffle?'

'We didn't have a real Quaffle handy, and we didn't think it was going to go off,' said George apologetically. 'It's one of our new Wheezes that we've been working on. Eight Sickles, great for giving to Slytherins.'

'This isn't an advertising opportunity!' snapped Katie.

'How bad is it, Angelina?' Hermione asked her.

'It blew up when I caught it.' She held up her bandaged hands. 'Both hands badly burnt. I'll be better tomorrow, but not well enough to be able to play, thanks to these two idiots. Even with the charms on the Quaffle, I won't be able to grab it.'

'You've got to play!' said Alicia. She slapped the nearest twin across the face with the back of her hand. 'What are you, a Ravenclaw spy, George?'

'That's Fred,' said Ron, 'but he's still an idiot.'

'Hermione, thanks for lending me your broom,' said Angelina, ignoring the twins. 'It's been fun flying it -- it's probably the only time I'll get a chance to fly a Firebolt. I need two favours from you.'

Hermione nodded.

'First, you know you're our best reserve Chaser. You'll have to play in the game tomorrow instead of me.'

'Oh. OK -- my parents are visiting anyway, and now they can watch me play in a game. I'll like that -- I hope I play well, though.'

'They'll like the game better with you in it, anyway,' said Ron.

'Good,' said Angelina. 'Secondly, if I let these two live until tomorrow, and we lose -- I don't know that curse to Petrify them, and you do. We saw that with Peeves.'

'That's not funny!' said Fred in alarm.

'I thought it was,' said Ginny, grinning. 'Can we vote?'

'I vote no!' said George quickly.

'I vote yes,' said Alicia.

'I decree yes. This is a team, and I'm Captain. We aren't a democracy unless I say so,' said Angelina.

'And Prefects do have to do what the Head Girl tells them,' said Hermione innocently.

'I think that's the quietest threat I've ever heard,' said Alicia. 'So tomorrow, we'll either have the Quidditch Cup, or a pair of matching statues.'

'Good, Mum'll like having two free statues for the garden for a week, and she won't even have to feed them,' said Ginny.

'Can you stop saying that?' asked Fred, irritated.

Angelina was looking happier. 'Your own sister thinks you're idiots.'

'I do too,' said Ron hastily.

'Of course we do,' said Ginny. 'We've had to put up with them a lot longer than you have.'

'We could be a democracy for a couple of minutes,' said Dean. 'Just to make sure they get the point.'

'Ron, I wish you and Fen had been better in our recent practices. If you were, you two would be playing tomorrow.'

'It's our last chance to play for Gryffindor!' exclaimed George, outraged.

Angelina glared at him. 'Do you seriously expect any sympathy from me? It was my last chance too, and now I can't play, thanks to you two!'

'Stop going on about it,' pleaded Fred. 'We can still win.'

'Hermione, can you wait until we've force-fed them a Canary Cream, and then Petrify them like that?' Alicia asked. 'Oh, and can you make sure they're in the same pose, or a mirror image?'

'And a Ton-Tongue Toffee each,' said Ginny, giggling as she imagined how the statues would look.

'Look, we really want the team to win!' Fred insisted.

'Of course we do!' said George.

'Well, obviously,' said Ginny. 'It's the only way to avoid becoming a pair of statues.'

Angelina said, 'I've just realised, you have to win this -- if I'm not playing, I'll be sitting with Jon and Dumbledore, as I'm Head Girl. I want to be the one that gloats.'

Madam Pomfrey came over. 'I think you've had quite enough time for a last will and testament, given that you'll be up and out of here tomorrow.'

'All right,' said Angelina. 'Do you have something you can give the twins to torture them before they go?'

The players went back to the common room, talking about the next day's game. Fred said glumly, 'I don't think she likes us any more.'

'She's not the only one,' said Katie.

Once in the common room, Hermione said, 'You're not the only one who'll need an early night, Harry. It's a shame it happened just before her last possible game, but I'm glad my parents will be able to watch me play. I hope they don't watch me making a fool of myself, though.'

The portrait hole opened again, and Professor McGonagall entered, causing an almost immediate quietening of the room. She came over to Hermione. 'Miss Granger, you may have forgotten this in the stress of your O.W.Ls.' She handed her a metal rod.

Hermione looked at it for a moment, and then gasped. 'Oh, no! I forgot I was meant to go and get that!'

'The Headmaster understands that you were busy. You have, after all, had more exams this week than most to think about.'

'I should have remembered though. I'm sorry.'

McGonagall smiled at her and left the common room. The noise of conversation returned.

'What's that?' Ginny asked.

'It's the Portkey to take me home to collect my parents and bring them back here to see the game,' she explained. 'After this, I'm sleeping until breakfast.'

'But tomorrow afternoon you won't have to sleep alone,' said Ron with a slight leer.

'Don't forget, my parents will still be here tomorrow afternoon,' she pointed out.

'Oh. Right. Oh, well.'

'I have got to wake up on time tomorrow, or I'll end up outside the French windows in my pyjamas.'

'Do you usually take Portkeys to bed?' Harry asked.

'Never, that I've noticed,' said Ron, putting an arm around Hermione.

'All right, I was exaggerating, but I don't want to miss the Portkey time.'

'I don't think you need to worry about making a fool of yourself,' said Harry, going back to her earlier comment. 'Angelina didn't choose you just for your duelling skills.'

'No, you beat me in the trials, and I beat everyone else,' Ginny reminded her.

Hermione said, 'I'm going to bed now. Goodnight, see you tomorrow.' She kissed Ron goodnight and went up the stairs to her dorm.

'I'm going to see how tired I am,' said Harry. 'So I'll see you tomorrow too -- or I'll see Ron when he comes upstairs, if I'm not that tired.'

Harry was asleep before Ron came up to bed. He dreamt that he won the Quidditch Cup, grabbing the Snitch before Voldemort even saw it. Voldemort was so disgusted that he surrendered to the Aurors in the watching crowd, leaving Harry to hug Ginny, after which they went to bed together and the dream got even better.

*

When Ron and Ginny arrived in the common room on Saturday morning, they found Harry and Hermione, both dressed in Quidditch robes over T-shirts and jeans, feeling tense and trying to keep their conversation away from Quidditch. They weren't having much luck. Harry had told Hermione his dream about Voldemort being the Ravenclaw Seeker and surrendering, up to the part where he hugged Ginny. From her suspicious look, she'd guessed roughly how the dream had continued, but he changed the subject to their Duelling exam.

'About time,' said Hermione to the two Weasleys, as she stood up. 'Did you set alarm charms to the same time, or something?'

'Probably,' said Ginny. 'I checked you weren't still asleep before I came down, too.'

'Oh, thank you. I've got the Portkey and my broom, so I'm all ready to go and have my breakfast.'

After a quick breakfast, they went outside to the Quidditch stadium. Hermione gave Harry her Firebolt to hold, took the Portkey in her hand, and waited for the right time.

'Are you going to reappear here?' Ron asked.

'No, it'll be on the path again, like last time.'

'Mum and Dad are supposed to be Apparating to Hogsmeade soon,' said Ginny, checking her watch.

'Well, they've met before,' said Ron glumly. 'But Mum and Dad didn't know we'd been sleeping together then.'

'If they spend all that time talking about that instead of watching the game, I'll be offended,' said Harry, smiling.

'So will I,' agreed Hermione, just as she vanished.

Harry, Ron and Ginny walked slowly up the path to wait for her to return. While waiting, they talked about the Ravenclaw team.

Hermione reappeared with her parents. They looked around to recognise where they were. 'Oh, I can see the castle without magic,' said Mr Granger.

'I didn't take the spell off you, the one that lets you see it. I hoped you'd want to come here again.' Hermione guided them towards the others. 'Oh, and Ron told his family about us, so there's no secret now.'

'Yes, eventually,' said Ginny. 'Hello.'

'What are you complaining about? You knew before the twins did, or Mum and Dad,' grumbled Ron.

'I wonder where Mum and Dad are? They got here about now, the last time.'

Ron shrugged. 'Hello, Mr and Mrs Granger.'

'Hello Ron,' said Mrs Granger. 'Are we allowed to call you Hermione's lover this time?'

Ginny giggled as Ron blushed. 'I don't think he could stand it,' she said. 'It's really because of Hermione that everyone knows now.'

'I did agree,' Ron pointed out.

'I didn't know she gave you a choice.'

Mr Granger looked at his wife with a grin, then at Hermione. His wife protested, 'It doesn't mean she takes after me!'

Hermione looked curiously at her parents. Harry told Ginny, 'I think this is something we shouldn't be hearing.'

'Yeah.' She looked at her watch. 'You two had better get to the stadium. I'm going to wait for Mum and Dad.'

Harry, Ron and Hermione took Mr and Mrs Granger down to the stadium. Ron went up into the stands with Hermione's parents, while Harry and Hermione joined the other team members.

'Good, that's all of us,' said Angelina. She sighed and glared at the twins. 'All of you, I mean.'

'We apologised!' said Fred desperately.

'You were joking about cursing us, weren't you?' asked George, glancing at Hermione, who chose that moment to take out her wand and examine it.

'Win this game, get the cup, and you won't need to find out, will you?' Angelina said sweetly. 'Anyway, I've got to go and sit with Dumbledore and Jon. Well, I'll keep the pep talk short. Win! Oh, and you two -- win ... or else!'

'Short and sweet,' said Harry with a grin.

'You call that sweet?' demanded Fred.

'As extra incentive for the Beaters, I've got hold of a chisel and a book about sculpting stone. So you want to win for me, don't you?'

Angelina left them, and the team walked out onto the pitch to the cheers of the Gryffindors and some Hufflepuffs, and the boos of the Ravenclaws and Slytherins.

Roger Davies led the Ravenclaws out onto the pitch to the cheers of the Ravenclaws, Slytherins and some of the Hufflepuffs, and the boos of the Gryffindors.

In Harry's third year, the team had defeated Slytherin's team for the Cup, and the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had been cheering as much against Slytherin as for Gryffindor. It was hardly surprising that the Ravenclaws weren't cheering this time, or that the Hufflepuffs were divided -- after all, Gryffindor were the current holders of the Cup, after a long run of Slytherin successes, and Ravenclaw hadn't won in years.

Harry glanced over at Cho, but felt no emotion. He looked up at the stands, and saw Ginny sitting with Ron and both sets of parents. He smiled up at them, mainly at her.

Madam Hooch called for the players' attention, and the fifteen people mounted their brooms and rose up into the air. She blew her whistle, and the game started.

Bradley, one of the Ravenclaw Chasers, grabbed the Quaffle before any of the Gryffindors could, soared up, then plummeted towards the ground, pulling out of his dive in time to catch Paloma off-guard and score a goal.

'The first goal goes to Ravenclaw! Ten points to none!' announced Lee. Harry could see Orla beside him, grinning widely. Katie took the Quaffle, and Hermione flew past her, one arm outstretched, and then dived straight for Ravenclaw's hoops, her right hand curled in front of her as if hugging the Quaffle to her body. The trick worked, as she looped the loop and drew the Ravenclaws' attention away from Katie, who scored.

'And that's ten points each!' Harry zoomed around, searching for any sign of the Snitch. While he wasn't looking at the others, Chambers scored two more for Ravenclaw.

He looked down to see Orla dancing up and down beside Lee, who seemed to be snapping at her. Looking around, he saw Hermione spinning her Firebolt fast, and throwing the Quaffle through a hoop.

'Thirty to twenty in Ravenclaw's favour! Come on Gryffindors! The only good birds are owls! Show the Ravens what you can do!'

Harry grinned, and saw Alicia take the Quaffle from Davies. She threw it to where Katie and Hermione were flying together, and both girls swooped, each towards a different hoop. Both were spinning their brooms, making it hard to see which of them had the Quaffle. Harry took his attention away to scan the pitch for the Snitch again, then looked back in time to see Katie score again.

'Thirty each! Yeesss! That showed the blue mob!' McGonagall looked as enthusiastic as Lee, and wasn't stopping him. It was, after all, too late to make him behave next time.

Hermione scored the next goal before the Ravenclaws had recovered from Katie's, then flew interference for the other two, allowing Alicia to score for the first time.

Davies got the Quaffle next, and flew straight at Paloma, until Hermione and Katie swooped to intercept him, when he looped the loop, spun his broom coming out of the loop, and Paloma only just prevented him scoring a goal. Davies avoided hitting the ground, but flew shakily and slowly back towards his team. Harry thought he'd probably fly straight for the rest of the game.

Harry still couldn't see the Snitch, but he could see Cho searching for it as fruitlessly as he was. He flew close to Dumbledore, Angelina and Jon, and saw that Angelina was looking much happier now. Alicia scored her second goal.

'That's sixty to thirty! Good work! Rub Davies' nose in your skill!'

Davies scored again, though, reducing Gryffindor's lead to a mere twenty. Harry and Cho were both circling, but neither had seen the Snitch yet. Suddenly, Harry saw it and dived for it, but had to swerve to avoid a Bludger hit towards him, and the Snitch had gone when he looked again.

A cheer made him realise he'd missed another goal, and Lee credited Hermione with it. Alicia took the Quaffle away from Chambers when he ducked to miss a Bludger, but Ravenclaw's Keeper saved it. Harry frowned, and flew a wide circle, searching for the Snitch.

Hermione swooped down, grabbed the Quaffle away from Bradley, and soared again, her broom spinning as she flew up and then down again in an arc. Harry, further from the action of the Chasers, saw that as she reached the top of the arc she dropped the Quaffle. The other two Ravenclaw Chasers were following her, but her spinning confused them enough that one almost collided with Fred, and the other, distracted, didn't see the Quaffle drop towards Katie, who scored.

'Eighty points for the mighty Gryffindor, against someone else's forty!' announced Lee. 'Can anyone remember who the other team are?' The Ravenclaws were booing, and Orla was hitting Lee, though he didn't seem to have noticed her. Harry grinned, and looked round to see where the Snitch or Cho might be. He saw Cho, who seemed to be still searching for the Snitch, and Hermione, who was miming something and pointing at her own back. Suddenly, he realised, twisted around, and found the Snitch hiding behind him. He held it up and dropped down towards Lee, waving the Snitch in the air above his head triumphantly.

'And as Harry Potter catches the Snitch, the undefeated Gryffindor wins with two hundred and thirty points to forty! We keep the Cup, and nobody else is getting near it!'

The Gryffindor team all landed in front of the stand where Dumbledore, Angelina and Jon had been sitting. Angelina and Dumbledore were coming down to ground level as the team landed. Dumbledore offered the Quidditch Cup to Angelina, who smiled, took it, and held it out to Katie.

Gryffindor cheers filled the stadium, and some of the watching Gryffindors threw flowers towards the team -- Harry grinned as one particularly well-aimed garland of flowers landed on his head, and thought they'd have to find out who threw it, and get them to try for a reserve Chaser's position next year.

Katie was holding the cup above her head. Harry thought that they'd have to try to continue this new tradition -- winning it again for Katie again next year, and the next captain in the year after that.

'Your first game went well, didn't it?' he asked Hermione. She smiled and adjusted the garland so that the flowers were around his neck properly, instead of being perched on his head, and ...

The familiar feeling of a Portkey, the feeling of being pulled by the area of his navel, gave Harry only time to say 'Not again!' before he and Hermione vanished.

'No!' shouted Ron -- like many of the Gryffindors, he had joined the rush from the stands down onto the pitch. He fell to his knees, just a few feet from where his best friends had vanished. Ginny knelt beside him.

'Harry was OK last year,' she said reassuringly. 'They both know a lot more than he did then. They will be all right, Ron. Really, they will.' Her voice was trembling, indicating that this was her hope, not her belief.

Ron shook his head, and looked up at the twins. 'One of you,' he started, his voice cracking, 'get her parents over to Dumbledore. Don't let them think about it, don't tell them what happened to her.' Fred frowned, but did as his brother asked.

George knelt beside Ron. 'Ginny's right. Both of them know more about duelling and blocking than I do. They'll be OK, Ron.'

Ron gave way to tears. 'You can't block the Killing Curse!' he sobbed. 'Harry might be all right -- You-Know-Who might want him alive for something again. But he got Hermione by accident. Last year, Cedric was the accident ...' He couldn't continue.

'She won't be as surprised as Cedric was,' Ginny said, trying to keep her own tears from affecting her voice.

'It doesn't matter, don't you see? There's no chance! She might already be dead! She's gone ... I'll never see her alive again ...' He collapsed on the ground, weeping inconsolably.

Ginny and George's eyes met. Neither could think of anything to say to make Ron feel better. They saw in each other's eyes the tears that meant they agreed with Ron. They both believed that they wouldn't see Hermione alive again.

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Next chapter: Curses are thrown, someone dies, the Dark Mark appears in the sky. There are O.W.L. results and a long talk about how things have changed now. Two Malfoys' lives change, one getting worse, one getting better. The last chapter of this story.

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