So Close

Transfiguration was interesting as well with McGonagall starting to teach them to conjure things. All three of them paid attention and were anxious to learn.

Ron had asked last year's members of the Quidditch team and Harry to make the tryouts that were held Saturday morning. There were four students that signed up to tryout. After the first round, Seamus and a fifth-year, Terry Simpson were clearly better but Ron insisted on holding the second round of competition. Ron had setup for a competition using Ginny and Harry as the other two chasers. This was the first time Harry had ever played that position but Ginny said she'd tell him what to do. After thirty minutes of play, Harry and Ginny had beat Seamus and Terry, and had destroyed the other two candidates. Ron declared Seamus and Terry the new chasers.

They were all walking back to the castle when Harry said, "Being a chaser is way harder than being a seeker."

"I don't know," Ginny replied. "You did great at the position."

"Yeah, but only because you were telling me what to do," Harry admitted. "Thanks."

"Anytime," Ginny happily replied.

Hermione came into the Common Room and announced, "Well, I put up the signup sheet for the D.A. We lost seven people from last year, counting Marietta. I really think we shouldn't take more then twelve."

"I agree," Harry said. "There were almost too many last year. You think that many will sign up."

"Are you kidding," Ginny said. "Everyone's been talking about it. You're going to have to turn them away."

The four were sitting outside the next day after lunch when Ron looked up and said, "Don't look now, but Slytherins are heading this way."

The other three turned to look in the direction Ron was still gazing and saw Blaise Zabini, Diedra Simms and Beka Jergin walking purposely toward them. All three girls were good looking, but Blaise was a tall, strikingly pretty blonde. Before they had a chance to say anything Ron confronted them, "What do you want?"

"Ron!" Hermione scolded him. She turned to the Slytherins and said, "Hi Blaise, did you want something?

Blaise was still glaring at Ron but said, "We were wondering what the Requirements were for joining your D.A. group." She turned to look at Harry after saying this.

"Not being a Slytherin is one of them," Ron sarcastically said.

"Ron!" Hermione again scolded.

While the three Slytherins were glaring at Ron, Harry calmly asked, "Wouldn't joining cause you problems in your house?'

Blaise studied him for a second and said, "I suppose it will but we can handle it. We're not in that good of standing since we didn't support the Inquisitorial Squad last year."

"Draco didn't put you up to this did he?" Harry asked, not in an accusatorial voice.

Blaise quickly replied "Draco doesn't have that much influence anymore."

"Right!" Ron snorted.

"Fine," Blaise spat out. "I should have expected this." The three girls angrily turned and began to walk away.

Harry quickly stood up and took a couple steps after the girls, "Blaise," he called. The three girls stopped and glared at him. "Why do you want to join?" he calmly asked.

Blaise's expressions softened a bit and she said, "We heard what happened last year and saw how much some people learned. You know not all Slytherins are like Draco."

Harry studied the girl standing confidently in front of him, then his mouth slowly moved into a slight smile as he said, "It's ok with me if you join." He turned to Hermione and asked, "What about you Hermione?"

Hermione was a bit surprised by Harry's action but quickly said, "Fine by me."

Harry turned back to Blaise and said, "We'll let you know officially before the first meeting. It looks like more signed up than we can handle."

The three Slytherin girls looked at him with expressions he couldn't read, but Blaise smiled, touched his arm and said, "Thank you Harry."

Harry turned back to his friends as the girls left. He sat back down and saw Ron and Ginny giving him a dirty look. "What?" he asked.

"They're Slytherin!" Ron exclaimed.

"They're not so bad Ron, they've never really started anything with us," Hermione said.

"But they're Slytherin!" Ron said.

"Would you treat me that way if I was Slytherin?" Harry asked, now a bit annoyed.

"You? You couldn't be Slytherin," Ginny quickly said.

"Yeah, no way. That'd be like me being Ravenclaw," Ron added.

"Why?" Harry asked hoping to hear some answer he could understand.

"Just because of the way you are," Ginny answered.

"Did you know the Sorting Hat wanted to put me into Slytherin?" Harry said with obvious annoyance. "Said I'd do great there." His friends, Hermione included were stunned. "Know the only reason I'm not in their house?" Harry said looking directly at Ron. Ron shook his head. "Because of you Ron. I'd never had anyone just sit down and talk to me before like they actually enjoyed being around me. You told me about many of the dark wizards coming from Slytherin. Then when the hat mentioned Slytherin, I begged it not to put me there. That's the only reason I'm in Gryffindor."

Ron was just staring at him but Hermione asked, "Why didn't you ever tell us this?"

"I never thought about it much until second year," Harry said sounding a bit depressed. "You remember that everyone thought I was the heir of Slytherin and even you guys were treating me differently with the whole parslemouth thing, I didn't want to give you even more reason to stop being my friend. Besides, you didn't tell us that you were almost in Ravenclaw either."

"Bloody Hell," Ron exclaimed. "Slytherin would have won the Quidditch cup all those years."

Harry kind of chuckled that Ron's mind instantly went to his favorite topic. "Well maybe until you guys put Ginny at seeker. I say she could have given me a run."

That evening, Hermione and Harry were sitting in the back of the common room trying to decide which students to take into the D.A. group. They had filled most spots and were still talking about Blaise and her friends when Ron came up. When Hermione wrote down their names on the parchment, Ron started to say something but Hermione gave him a dirty look and it caused him to hold his comments.

Hermione sent notices to all of those who signed up telling them if they made it or not. For the ones that did, she told them the location for the first meeting.

Classes quickly fell into a routine and even though they were difficult, Harry couldn't believe how much less stressful things were when he didn't have to dread going to Potions every few days. Ron did comment that Snape didn't seem quite as hard on the Gryffindors without Harry and Neville in the class. Ginny had already started to complain about all of the work her Professors were giving out.

Harry, Ron and Hermione arrived at the Room of Requirement early for the first meeting. Harry wasn't as nervous as last year but still felt weird to know students were going to show up to learn anything from him. Mostly the students returning from last year were first through the door and immediately went to look at the dark detectors or glance over the many books in the room. Cho Chang walked in with Padma and Parvati Patil and came directly to Harry.

"I'm so glad you're doing this again Harry," Cho said standing very close. "Did your friends tell you I saw them in Diagon Alley this summer and said to tell you hi?"

"Well Cho, I..." Harry started to say but saw the look Hermione gave him and it reminded him that he was under a Disillusionment charm at the time. "Oh, yeah, they told me. I was just too busy to come that day."

The door opened and the mumbling instantly began. Harry turned to see Blaise and her friends come in. They all seemed to ignore the mumbling and walked straight to Harry and Hermione. "Thanks again for letting us in Harry," Blaise said, again touching his arm and drawing a very evil look from Cho Chang who moved off to next to Padma.

"I told you it was ok," Harry said.

"Yeah, well we weren't really sure until we got the official note," she admitted.

"Blaise, Hermione and I wouldn't lie to you," Harry said, not used to people not believing Hermione.

"I'll remember that," she said with a smile before the three stepped back.

Hermione handed out her enchanted coins to the new members at the first D.A. meeting. Harry let Hermione tell everyone the basic rules they followed and how they hoped everything would go. Harry was glad Hermione was so good with the organization and instruction part of the group, and knew without her the group would be a failure. Hermione finally asked Harry to explain what the group would be working on.

"I think we should start going over the Patronus spell again. Since the Dementors aren't under Ministry control, this could be very useful for us," Harry saw everyone pay attention at this. "After we do the Patronus for a bit, we'll move onto Shield Charms which are very useful when you're being cursed. Some of you made great progress last year and I hope you'll help those having problems. Remember, it is very different doing it here in the light. You have to really focus on your happy memory to produce a Patronus when a real Dementor is around." Harry paused and then said, "I'll work with the new members and Hermione who has made great progress with her Patrons can work with the rest of you." Harry looked at Hermione who had a very proud expression on her face and nodded at her before moving off to the side with the twelve new members.

Harry's mood was lifted after a few D.A. meetings by how much progress people made and how seriously they were taking the lessons. He was also very impressed by how quickly Blaise picked things up.

Quidditch practices had started and Harry quickly realized how much more confident Ron seemed this year. He was amazed at how much strategy his friend knew and saw the gleam in Ron's eyes when he was explaining this to the team. Harry also noticed that the team wasn't near as good as the one before Fred and George left. He had been so used to Angelina and Katie at chasers and the twins as beaters that watching this set of players made him long for the others to be back. Ginny was by far the best chaser and the two beaters were barely better than they were last year. Harry didn't hold out much hope for winning the Quidditch Cup and could tell Ron was worried about this as well.

The next morning, Harry was late to breakfast but when he entered the hall, he was struck by how somber everyone was. He noticed Ron, Hermione and Ginny looking at him with obvious concern and he went directly to them grabbing some toast as he sat down. "What is it?" he asked.

"There was an attack at the Underground," Hermione sadly said.

"Fifty Muggles were killed," Ron added.

Harry knew his scar hurt a bit this morning but didn't think anything this big happened. His mouth dropped after hearing the news. "How did they explain it?"

"Well, the Muggle paper said it was a gas explosion, but the Dark Mark was hanging over it until the Auror's banished it," Hermione answered.

"He's not trying to hide at all is he?" Harry asked, though not really expecting an answer. Every time Harry heard about an attack, he felt a jab of guilt because he knew they wouldn't stop unless he could defeat Voldemort and he had absolutely no idea how he could do that. Harry tried to eat but could see his friends watching him warily.

Things between the four friends had become very comfortable. Harry never really considered how hard it was for Hermione to have two boys as best friends. She never complained, but Harry could see the subtle differences in how she acted when Ginny was around. Of course Harry enjoyed having Ginny around as well now that she had gotten over her crush and started talking normally around him. The four would spend time studying together and this gave Ginny the added bonus of having three students who had already taken their O.W.L.s to help with her homework. Hermione seemed to tolerate the Quidditch talk much better as well and since the first match of the year was quickly approaching, the talk often turned to Quidditch.

Ron and Ginny both seemed really nervous the morning of the first match. Neither of them were eating much breakfast and looked like they hadn't slept much either. "C'mon you two, you've been through this before." Harry pleaded.

"But it's my first time as captain," Ron exclaimed. "There's nobody to yell at me if I'm doing bad."

"Oh, don't worry, I'll yell," Harry joked.

"It's not funny Harry," Ron replied. "We can't lose to them."

"Yeah, we can't let Slytherin beat us," Ginny agreed. "I feel like I could be sick," she quickly added.

Harry leaned over, put his hand on Ginny's shoulder which made her eyes fly open and said, "Ginny, you're going to be great, I've seen you fly." Ginny was looking into his bright green eyes and suddenly felt at ease. She could feel the warmth of his hand on her shoulder and could just tell he was being honest.

Ron groaned and said, "It's time." This caused Harry to remove his hand and this allowed Ginny to start breathing again. She turned and saw Hermione with a bright smile on her face raising her eyebrows at the still blushing girl. "C'mon Ginny," Ron demanded and Ginny followed the two down to the Quidditch pitch.

"Ok team," Ron said, sounding more confident. "You all know the plays and they've had to add just as many new people as we have so that shouldn't be a problem. We can't let Slytherin beat us! Go kick some Slytherin arse," Ron exclaimed and everyone cheered.

Harry laughed at his friend but could see the difference in his attitude. Ron lived for Quidditch and after the rough start last year; he now seemed comfortable in his position. Harry kicked off hard and quickly soared up, ready to begin his search for the snitch. His silent search was interrupted by a voice he had been expecting, "How pathetic is it that King Weasley is the captain of your worthless team. I mean you can't even beat him out for that."

"Stuff it Malfoy," Harry spat, not stopping his search.

"It was good of your little weasel tag-along to hand you a spot back on the team. She's not very good but at least she's better to look at," Malfoy taunted.

Harry suddenly spun around and dove at Malfoy, causing him to nearly fall off his broom to avoid the collision. Malfoy glared and began tracking Harry around the pitch. Harry wasn't able to watch much of the plays but soon heard that Gryffindor was up 30-0. "Your token girl is doing pretty good," Malfoy shouted. "Think I'll have to go compliment her." Malfoy sped down and got along side of Ginny and Harry could see he was saying something but couldn't hear what. He saw Ginny angrily reply and as she took her eye off the goal, one of the Slytherin chasers knocked the Quaffle out of her arm and sped off in the other direction.

Malfoy came back up and Harry shouted, "Leave her alone Malfoy."

"Oooh, found your button didn't I?" Malfoy gleamed before he said something to the chasers on his team. Harry was barely able to concentrate on looking for the snitch as he saw the chasers deliberately trying to run into Ginny. After a few minutes of this, Ron realized what was happening and called time out.

"What the hell are they doing to Ginny?" Ron exclaimed. "And you're not even looking for the snitch Harry!"

"They're trying to knock Ginny off her broom," Seamus exclaimed.

"I can handle myself!" Ginny yelled. "Pay attention to your own job Harry!"

"Fine," Ron said. "Get back up there and end this." Before Harry took off he whispered, "Don't let her get hurt." Harry nodded confidently.

The Slytherins wasted no time in continuing their assault on Ginny. This time it was the beaters going after her, leaving the chasers free to try and score. Ron had been so preoccupied watching Ginny barely avoid bludger after bludger that Slytherin soon had a 80-40 lead.

Harry saw the beater swing the bat and pictured exactly what was going to happen. Ginny was watching the quaffle fly from one chaser to the next and hadn't noticed the beater behind her. Harry instantly dropped flat onto the Firebolt and instantly set off toward her. Ginny didn't know anything was happening until she heard someone yell "Harry!" She turned at the last moment, stunned to see Harry so close to her back and heard the bludger hit Harry in the side and saw him spin out of control for a second.

The next instant she heard Ron yell "Harry! Below you! Snitch!"

Still in pain, Harry caught the glint of gold below him but also saw Malfoy streaking in, quickly closing on the prize. He was still holding his side but tried to pull his Firebolt down, realizing there was no way to get turned around in time to beat Malfoy to the snitch. Only one choice snapped into his mind and he leaned over and allowed himself to fall off his broom, focusing totally on the winged ball. The seconds seemed to drag by but he saw his hand coming closer to the snitch but also saw the shadow of his rival coming in from the side. The instant his fingers slipped around the cold metal ball, he felt the contact with Malfoy and the two spiraled toward the ground. Suddenly they landed with a thud and a loud groan. Harry quickly realized it wasn't him that groaned and in fact he felt fine. Malfoy who had broken Harry's fall was still groaning in pain.

Jumping up, Harry held the snitch up in his left hand and heard the roar of the crowd. He quickly retrieved his wand and called out 'Accio Firebolt'. Turning, he saw his teammates streaking toward him but then saw his own broom fly by them and come to a stop at his side. He knew his side must be injured but he was too happy to feel much of anything.

Suddenly, he was surrounded by the rest of the team congratulating him. "Bloody Brilliant!" Ron roared as he stepped on the still groaning Malfoy.

"At least Malfoy had some use in him," Seamus added.

Harry finally saw Ginny approach but couldn't quite figure out the expression on her face. He was ready for her to give him a big hug and thanks for stopping the bludger but when she got next to him, he quickly realized that wasn't going to happen. "What the hell did you think you were doing!" she roared, causing the rest of the team and in fact many still in the stands to get suddenly silent. "You nearly lost the match for us! Why can't you just do your own job?"

Harry was stunned but also annoyed by this. Hadn't he just stopped a streaking bludger from smashing into her head? "Well, you're welcome for stopping the bludger from sending you to the hospital," he spat.

"I don't need you to protect me Harry!" Ginny yelled. Harry's first impulse was to reminder her about the Chamber of Secrets, but some little voice in his head told him to hold that thought. "I don't need another big brother!" Ginny finally roared before turning and storming off.

"I guess you should have let it hit her," Seamus tried joking.

Harry was still in stunned silence when Ron said, "I always knew she was barkers. The parents should have stopped at me. She's gone over the top on this one." Harry was still shaking his head as Ron said, "C'mon, forget about her. That was just Bloody Amazing. Too bad it couldn't have been from higher."

The Slytherins were helping Malfoy up and Harry heard the words Madame Pomphrey come from one of them. He turned and yelled, "Oh Malfoy! Thanks for breaking my fall."

By the time Ron and Harry cleaned up and made it to the Common Room, the party was in full swing. Everyone was talking about the catch but Harry tried to find Ginny. He wanted to know why she had acted like that. He also noticed that Hermione had left the Common Room as well.

Ginny was sitting on Hermione's bed feeling very confused. She was angry at what Harry had done though she wasn't exactly sure why. However, she felt an extreme sadness at how she had treated him. The past couple months had been wonderful. She had felt part of their group and Harry had consistently asked her to do things with them. Almost everything she had ever wanted had been coming true and she had just screamed at him in front of all his friends.

After sitting in silence for a while, Hermione softly asked, "Why did you do that Ginny?"

Ginny sighed and tried to come up with an answer, "He's trying to protect me, just like my brothers do."

"Why is that a problem?" Hermione asked.

"I don't want him to see me as a little sister Hermione," Ginny sadly said.

"I don't think he does Ginny," Hermione honestly said. "That's just Harry. He would have done the same thing for anyone on the team. That's just him, he won't change."

"But he nearly missed the snitch because he was protecting me," she replied, trying to justify her actions.

"You've seen him do it before with other people," Hermione said. "He loves Quidditch, but would help a teammate out before worrying about the game. You know he would."

Deep down, Ginny knew this to be true. She had no idea why she flew off at him like that. "I know," Ginny sighed. "I just want him to know I can handle myself."

"I think he knows that," Hermione said. "Why is that so important?"

Ginny took a deep breath and sighed. "I still like him Hermione," Ginny said with pleading eyes. "I see how he is with you. He trusts you completely and has confidence in you. Harry's not going to want to be with someone he has to protect all the time."

Hermione inwardly felt warm knowing it was obvious how she and Harry were. They were more than friends but not in a romantic way. "I'm not sure yelling at him in front of the entire school is the way to show him that."

"I know," Ginny admitted, letting her head drop. "I just don't know how to act around him."

"Just be yourself," Hermione quickly said. "You were this summer and look how much closer you two got. He's got a lot to deal with, try not to add to that ok?" Ginny was a good friend of Harry's but she knew that Harry was her best friend.

"I'll try," Ginny finally said. "I'm not going to go back down though. I've made a spectacle out of myself enough for today."

Hermione went back down and quickly saw Ron in the middle of the celebration but after scanning the room, didn't see Harry. She made her way to Ron and asked, "Where's Harry?"

"Went to bed," Ron said shaking his head. "Why'd she have to go and ruin this? He doesn't need stuff like that now."

"Don't be too hard on her Ron," Hermione said. "It'll be ok." They looked at each other knowingly but the mood was suddenly broken by a pillow hitting Ron in the head.

"Oi! Seamus you prat!" Ron yelled before throwing one back in response.

Hermione thought about talking to Harry but decided to let him have his time alone so she quietly slipped out of the celebration and went to bed. She wouldn't have found him anyway. Harry had grabbed his invisibility cloak and slipped out of the common room soon after he left the party. He didn't go far, only to the end of the corridor but at least he was alone. The cloak sat discarded next to him as he sat there with his hands in his head, mood slipping back into the self-doubt and guilt that had been kept at bay since leaving the Dursleys. Even when he tried to do good, he ended up hurting someone. He really couldn't understand what he did to upset Ginny, but obviously he had and this just tugged at him. "Why can't I do anything right?" he thought.

Harry was so wrapped up in his gloom that he didn't hear footsteps approaching until a voice he hoped never to hear again startled him, "Roaming the halls after curfew. Let's see, that will be 10 points from Gryffindor." Harry looked up to see Professor Snape standing in front of him. Harry grabbed his cloak and tried to push it behind him but Snape had already seen it. "Ah, I see. What mayhem have you been causing tonight?"

Harry thought to everything Kingsley said about focusing his mind and controlling his emotions but knew it would be hard with Snape's taunting. "Answer me Potter!" Snape loudly said.