Broken Fate

Chapter Twenty-Four ~ Preparations

"Come on, you lot, this is the first Quidditch training this term! We play Hufflepuff in a little over a month. We have to be ready." Harry walked back and forth in front of his teammates, who were sitting on a bench in the locker room, or on the floor in front of it.

Ginny yawned and slumped over on Ron's shoulder. Ron grunted and stared at Harry through half-closed eyelids. Katie mumbled something about over-achieving lunatic Quidditch captains and gave Daniel Everard, who had dozed off on the floor, a poke in the side. Andrew Kirke sat on the corner of the bench, his chin resting on his hands. Sari Xiu stared blearily at Harry, trying to keep her eyes open so she didn't miss anything he said.

"Harry," Ron groaned. "We're ready. Really. We're ready. And it's five in the bloody morning. On a Saturday."

Harry waved a hand, as if to say that sleeping in was not as important as Quidditch practice. "Yes, well, the Ravenclaws booked the pitch starting at eight," Harry said briskly. "We need to get practice in before that, because the Slytherins booked the pitch at noon--they're playing Ravenclaw in two weeks. Hufflepuff booked the pitch this evening. This is the only chance we'll get to practice today. You can go to bed once we're finished."

"Aw, come on, Harry--your girlfriend has to stay up till horrid hours of the morning studying, and you still drag her out of bed for Quidditch practice?" Katie raised her eyebrow, a sly look on her tired face.

"Hey, now. Harry's girlfriend doesn't need special treatment when it comes to Quidditch," Ginny said, sticking her chin up. "I can..." she let out another huge yawn "...handle it. Continue, Harry." It was still somewhat of a novelty that she was actually Harry's girlfriend. It was...amazing. She had never felt so comfortable or right with anybody in her entire life. Granted, Harry had been more hesitant about hugging her or kissing her or even holding her hand, and Ginny was sure it was because he was so unused to any physical contact. Sometimes she just wanted to take her wand and let loose a few Bat-Bogey Hexes on the supposed 'family' that had raised him. She had determined long ago that they might be family by blood, but they certainly didn't deserve the title.

Harry smiled at her, a smile that made her feel warm despite the cold air, and despite her exhaustion, but then he continued with his pep talk. "Now, we know that the last few months, Summerby has been training his Beaters to round off and separate the Chasers, thanks to intelligence from Gryffindor's personal spy, Dennis Creevey. We also know that Sari'll probably be a target during the game--our tactics during our match with Slytherin used Sari a lot to slip past the bigger players. We're going to have to change tactics, but Summerby might concentrate on keeping Sari out of the way anyway--"

"Wonderful," Sari grumbled. She yawned widely, closed her eyes, and curled up like a cat at Katie's feet. "Well, if that's settled," she said without opening her eyes. "You can wake me up when it's time for breakfast."

Harry frowned. "This is serious!" he said. "This match could very well determine the rest of the year's matches! Sari--" Rolling his eyes, Harry knelt down and shook her. Sari opened one eye and peered at him. "This is important!"

"So's sleep. My mum always said sleep is one of the most important things you can have--and she's a professional Quidditch player." Sari promptly closed her eye again.

Ginny bit back a giggle. As they had discovered last term, Sari could get very cranky and stubborn when she was tired.

Sari popped open an eye again. "Besides," she told Harry, "The Hufflepuffs are different from the Slytherins. They won't do the same thing that the Slytherins did to me."

Ginny winced. Partly as revenge for Sari punching Draco at the beginning of the year, partly to try to ruin the Gryffindor team, the Slytherins had stooped to low levels before their game in December. They had shoved Sari into the vanishing cupboard (she had been found trapped in a suit of armor in a dusty corner near the Divination classroom). They had cursed her so she was temporarily blinded--and as sight was the only way she could understand what anyone was saying, it had been a particularly cruel thing to do.

"Maybe not, but they're every bit as determined to win," Harry said firmly.

"I know, I know. But--" Sari was silenced when Katie patted her on the shoulder. Sari looked up at her, and Katie said, "It's no use arguing, you know. Harry's become just as fanatical about this as Oliver was. If that's possible."

Sari frowned, probably wondering who Oliver was.

"All right, all right," Harry snapped. "Let's get out on the field. Everyone grab your brooms--and someone wake Daniel up."

They dragged themselves out onto the Quidditch field. There was a biting wind in the air, and Ginny found herself wishing she'd brought a scarf. The pitch was still dark, except for the lights spelled to come on around it. To her surprise, a lone figure was seated out in the stadium. She fell into step beside Harry and nodded at the figure. "Jamie's awake."

Harry frowned and veered in the direction of the stands. "In the air, people! Start getting warmed up!"

Ginny ignored his order and walked with him over to Jamie. "Morning!" Jamie called when they approached. She was bundled up in a thick cloak and scarf, and held a steaming cup of hot chocolate in her gloved hands.

"Er...morning," Harry returned, sounding rather puzzled.

"I just...thought I'd come watch you practice," Jamie said, shrugging. "I...was having trouble sleeping." She looked distinctly uncomfortable for a moment, but then it passed, and she smiled. "Besides, I love Quidditch, and I've never seen a real match--I know this is just practice, but I'd still like to watch."

"No Quidditch?" Harry shook his head.

"Do you fly well, Jamie?" Ginny asked.

"I'm...all right. I do love it. Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron had brooms for all of us when we were little, and even Quidditch balls, and they let us play on them sometimes, when we couldn't be seen by anyone. Well, Uncle Ron did--I think we gave Aunt Hermione several anxiety attacks--it took us forever to convince Will to get on a broom, and first time on, he fell off and broke his arm and collarbone. To this day, he doesn't like flying. Then there was the time Shay smacked a bludger into my nose..." She sighed wistfully. "Will never liked flying, but I loved it. Shay did it, too--we were always competing on broomsticks. It's been a couple of years since I really rode for pleasure. Every time I was on a broom recently was because it was necessary for escaping or something."

Harry and Ginny exchanged glances. It didn't surprise Ginny that Jamie loved being on a broom--she had a lot in common with both Ginny and Harry, and Quidditch ran in both of their families. "We'll have to see about getting you in the air--I'm sure the school has a broom you can borrow, until you can buy one of your own," Harry said. "Right. Well...we're going to practice. Watch as much as you want. Gin?"

"Meet you for breakfast?" Ginny asked Jamie.

Jamie smiled and nodded, and Ginny turned to follow Harry, covering another yawn. "So...I didn't get the chance to ask you. Did you talk to Hagrid last night?" She knew Harry had wanted to talk to Hagrid all afternoon, but had been unable to do to his sign language lesson with Sari, and his Occlumency lesson with Dumbledore. He had gone down to Hagrid's hut after dinner, but Hagrid hadn't been there.

"Yup. I saw him outside during my Astronomy lesson and went down afterward to talk to him. He was crooning at Oscar." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Did he say where he's been the last few months?"

"Apparently, he was out with Grawp, convincing some of the other giants to join their cause. I couldn't believe he'd gone back to the giants, but Hagrid said Grawp was helping." Harry snorted. "At least Hagrid's not black and blue--Grawp's obviously learned something."

"Did they get any of the giants on their side?"

"Two--one is Grawp's 'lady friend,' I guess. I don't know where Grawp and the other two giants are right now, though--Hagrid said he couldn't tell me." Harry stopped in the middle of the pitch, and looked up at Katie and Sari, who were passing the Quaffle back and forth. In an instant, he snapped back into Quidditch mode, snapping out orders as he shoved off into the air. "Right. Ginny, Katie, Sari--I want you three to practice the pass we were starting to work on at the end of last term. Andrew, Daniel--warm up with hitting bludgers through the hoops--it'll help with your accuracy. We're going to win the cup this year!"

As Ginny pushed herself into the air and joined Katie and Sari, she heard Katie mutter, "Yup. Just as fanatical as Oliver."

~*~

"You should talk to him, Neville."

Neville sighed and looked at Jamie. "I've tried. He's..." he trailed off, searching for the right word.

"Stubborn. Pig-headed. Aggressive. Forceful. Belligerent. Need I continue?" Jamie grinned at the expression on Neville's face. "You have to understand, he's been through a lot."

"I know he has. I've heard about it--not all of it, I'm sure, but enough to see an inkling of what his life must have been like," Neville replied. "But...I mean, I can't do anything about it. I haven't ever had the chance!"

"I know. And Shay knows."

"I don't understand why he hates me--or rather, his father in the future--so much," Neville sighed.

"Because Shay blames him for his mother's death." Jamie brushed her hair out of her eyes--she preferred to have long hair, but she was beginning to realize that short hair had its advantages--and looked down at the Astronomy paper she was supposed to be working on with Neville, to complete their homework from last night's class. It was still mid-morning on Saturday, but they had decided they should get it done so they wouldn't have to worry about it the rest of the week. Jamie still wasn't sure how the conversation had changed to the topic of Shay, but she was determined to make the best of it. If Shay wasn't going to take initiative to talk to Neville...well, she was going to her best to help him. "Neville...he's pushing you away because that's what Shay does. He doesn't get close to people. You just have to be persistent and learn to ignore all of the..." She stopped, unsure of how to phrase it, and had the sudden image of a porcupine. "All of the prickles."

"The prickles?"

"Yes. All of the things that Shay tries to jab you with when you get too close. I know it's not an easy thing...it takes a lot of practice. I've had a lifetime of it."

Neville sighed. "I'll keep trying if you think it will help, Jamie."

"I do. Maybe not right away, but eventually..." Besides, Shay had said he would try to work things out with Neville. He just needed...a push in the right direction. And focusing on Shay's relationship with Neville helped distract her from Shay's relationship with...other people. Not much, but she was trying.

"I'll do my best," Neville said. "I don't know how much it will help, but...that's all I can do. I can't--" But whatever Neville was going to say was cut off when Hermione entered the common room, beaming.

"I got it!" she exclaimed triumphantly, waving a piece of parchment in the air. She set it in front of Jamie with flourish.

Jamie automatically looked around the common room, but there were only a couple of fifth years doing homework in a corner. "The Veritaserum recipe?" she murmured quietly.

Hermione nodded and sat down next to Neville, who tended to be included in all of the planning they did now. "I didn't even have to sneak into the Restricted Section--I just asked Tonks if she could sign me a note to get the book, so I could do some advanced studying. And--well, you know Tonks." She shrugged. "I just copied the recipe down, though."

Jamie picked up the paper and unfolded it, carefully scanning the ingredients. "Moonstone...Puffer-fish eyes...powdered asphodel root--those shouldn't be too hard to get a hold of--"

"Actually, I have them in my potions kit," Hermione put in.

"Oh, good. Let's see...ashwinder eggs and jobberknoll feathers...those are going to be trickier. Virish root? I remember learning about that; it makes a potion undetectable--but it's really rare--where are we supposed to get it?"

Hermione smiled. "Well... you're forgetting that Snape makes Veritaserum. He might have some stored--but he might have an alarm on his potions cupboard; he's had ingredients stolen from him twice in the last few years." She frowned. "Actually, it might just be easier to find it ourselves. Virish root only grows in three known places in the entire world--one of those places is the Forbidden Forest."

Jamie blinked. "The..." She repressed a shudder. She didn't want to go back in the forest. Ever. In fact, the centaurs had told her not to come back at all--they'd probably kill her if she went back in. And besides that... "I don't know what virish root looks like."

"I have pictures of the plant; I think I'd be able to find it," Hermione said.

Neville cleared his throat. "Um...I know exactly what it looks like. In fact, I know where some of it is; I saw a virish plant when we were in the forest looking at thestrals last year."

Hermione looked surprised for a moment. "I should have thought of that--Neville's great at Herbology," she told Jamie. She looked at Neville. "Would you be willing to go into the forest and get it?"

Neville looked at her with slight trepidation, but nodded. "I wouldn't have offered, otherwise."

Hermione beamed at him. "Wonderful! Jamie and I will work to gather these other ingredients... hopefully we can get a hold of them soon." She plucked the Veritaserum recipe out of Jamie's hands and perused it again. "Some of these instructions are really complicated. We'll have our work cut out for us."

"Erm...Hermione, exactly where are we going to brew this?" Jamie asked.

"The same place we brewed Polyjuice Potion--Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. No one ever goes in there."

"Isn't that the bathroom that has the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets?" Jamie asked carefully.

"Yes, but it was sealed after our second year. Besides, the basilisk is dead. It'll be fine," Hermione assured. "Aside from Moaning Myrtle's...er..."

"Moaning?" Neville offered.

Hermione smiled. "Exactly."

~*~

"What are you two still doing awake?" Hermione slipped off one of the invisibility cloaks and tucked it into her robes. It was past midnight on Sunday, and Jamie and Ginny were the only ones still in the common room. "I thought you were finished with your homework, Gin."

"I am," Ginny said, tucking her legs up and wrapping her arms around them. "What are you doing up? And out of the Tower?"

"I was setting up one of our ingredients for Veritaserum. The moonstone and powdered asphodel root had to be mixed and placed in armadillo bile under the light of a full moon. And since tonight's a full moon..." Hermione shrugged. "I figured I'd get that out of the way, since we're still working out how we're going to get the rest of the ingredients."

"I see," Ginny said, yawning.

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "You should go to bed. We have classes in the morning."

"I know," Ginny said, wincing. "And Harry's promised to drag the Quidditch team out of bed early..."

"I didn't know that!" Jamie exclaimed. "You should go to bed! It's my fault you're awake--I kept you up talking."

Ginny waved her hand. "I'd much rather talk with you than get sleep. I can sleep when fifth year is over." She winked. "Besides, I was just getting around to asking you what's bothering you." Something had been bugging Jamie for the last two days, but this was the first chance Ginny had had to sit down with her and talk about it.

"Bothering me? N-nothing."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh. Hermione?"

Hermione plopped down on the couch next to Ginny. "Actually, Jamie--you've been really quiet. And distracted."

"I haven't been distracted...have I?"

"Jamie, you poured salt into your pumpkin juice at dinner," Ginny told her.

"And you threw your socks in the trash instead of in the laundry when you took a shower this morning," Hermione pointed out.

"And--"

"All right, all right...I'm just..." Jamie stopped and shook her head.

"Jamie, if you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to," Ginny said. "But we're worried about you. So's Harry. And Ron, though he won't ever admit it. And Will wanted to talk to you, but we convinced him to let us do it first. Neville says you've been distracted since Astronomy class."

Jamie buried her face in her hands. "Am I that obvious...that everybody's noticed?"

"Um...it's kind of hard not to notice, Jamie," Ginny said, hiding a smile.

Jamie sighed. "I get it. I just...don't know how to talk about it. It's not something I've ever..."

"Try," Hermione urged. "Start from the beginning. What got you so upset in the first place?"

Jamie looked down at her hands. "Shay," she muttered, almost inaudibly.

Ginny exchanged amused glances with Hermione. She shut her Transfiguration book and set it aside. "That's not surprising...but this isn't how you usually act when the two of you have had an argument. At least not from what I saw over Christmas." She looked at Jamie shrewdly. She had her suspicions about what, exactly, might be wrong, but she needed Jamie to say it.

"Well...oh, I can't. It sounds so stupid," Jamie muttered, sounding half desperate and half angry.

Hermione and Ginny just looked at her.

"Do you know how many girls Shay has dated at Hogwarts?" Jamie asked quickly.

Ginny bit back a laugh. I thought it was something about Shay... "I don't know, Jamie. Why don't you ask Shay?"

Jamie looked up. "I...was going to. I haven't had the chance yet. The only time I've seen him this weekend was earlier this afternoon, at the Hogwarts Coalition meeting, and I couldn't get him alone, and I just..." she broke off, looked back at her hands, and finished, "I just need to know."

"Well, honestly, Jamie, I don't know," Hermione said. "There was only one girl I ever remember seeing him with, and it wasn't for very long. Every time I saw Shay after that, he kept his distance from everybody." She frowned. "Her name is Rowan--she's a Ravenclaw."

Jamie nodded. "I met her. On top of the Astronomy Tower. She and some other girls were talking about Shay--I guess one of them has a crush on him or something."

She looked fairly indignant, which made Ginny want to laugh even more--not at Jamie's expense, but just because Jamie could be so oblivious to the facts sometimes. At least, it seemed, when it came to Shay. "Oh, Jamie." Ginny shook her head sympathetically. "A lot of the girls near our age had a crush on Shay when he first came to Hogwarts--and I'm sure some still do. You have to admit he's unusually good-looking--due to the veela part of him. But those crushes are superficial, and it's obvious that Shay's ignoring them--if he's even aware of them."

"But he went out with Rowan!" Jamie exclaimed hotly.

"And this bothers you," Hermione stated.

"Yes!"

"Why?" Ginny asked. She was sure now that she knew the answer, but was still waiting for Jamie to say it.

"I don't...I just don't like the idea of it!" Jamie replied, sitting tensely still on the couch. "He's my best friend; the least he could have done was tell me he was interested in someone. We've always shared everything, and...and...what if he kissed her? What if he--" Jamie's eyes widened, and her face flushed. She put her head in her hands again. "I didn't mean to say that," she mumbled miserably.

Ginny stood up and moved to sit beside Jamie, laying her hand on her back. "It's good that you said it. We're finally getting somewhere."

"But...Shay..."

"Shay might have gone out with Rowan for a short time, Jamie, but that doesn't mean anything. I mean, Harry and I both dated other people."

"Wait...what...no, I wasn't talking about that!" Jamie's face went from flushed to beet red in a second.

"Then what were you talking about?" Ginny asked.

"I don't...I...nothing."

Ginny and Hermione looked at each other knowingly for a moment. Ginny allowed for a few moments of silence, rubbing her hand comfortingly on Jamie's back. "Shay is in love with you, Jamie," she finally said quietly.

Jamie froze, and she stared up at Ginny, a look of shock on her face. "No. No, he...no!" She looked at Hermione for help, but Hermione only smiled sympathetically.

"I'm surprised you haven't--well, never mind. You can be as clueless about some things as Harry," Ginny said. "Jamie, I'm sure it's true. You should have seen him that night you were missing, when you ended up in the Forbidden Forest..."

"Ginny..." Jamie said pleadingly. "It can't be...I mean...how...how do you know?"

"Because I have eyes, daughter mine," Ginny said with a wink. "And I'm not as close to the situation as you are."

Hermione nodded in agreement.

Jamie opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, then stopped and shook her head wordlessly.

"You know what else?" Ginny lowered her voice to a whisper. "I think you're in love with him, too."

"I...can't..." Jamie pressed her fingers against her temples. "This is too complicated."

"Love often is," Hermione replied.

"I'm..." Jamie sighed heavily and leaned into Ginny's shoulder. "I am," she whispered. "I love him. Damn."

Ginny and Hermione both laughed. "Isn't loving someone typically a good thing?" Ginny asked.

"Well, yes...it's amazing, and...but...oh, this is complicated. This is...Shay. How am I supposed to talk to him about this? Don't answer that; it was a rhetorical question." Jamie buried her face in Ginny's shoulder. "I just...I don't feel ready for this! I need time! I need to think! I need to--"

"You need to calm down and breathe," Ginny said. "Realizing--or admitting--you love someone is a big step. You don't have to rush into anything, Jamie. You can take time to sort things out."

Jamie nodded into Ginny's shoulder. "I think I need to. I'm just...I'm not ready to talk to Shay about this yet. I need time," she repeated.

"Then take it," Ginny said simply.

Jamie was quiet for a long moment, and then she burst out desperately, "But...I'm only sixteen!"

"So am I," Hermione grinned.

"And I'm fifteen," Ginny added.

"And besides...wasn't Gabrielle sixteen when she married Neville?" Hermione asked.

Jamie groaned. "You two are awful!"

Ginny laughed, giving Jamie a hug. "But you love us anyway."