Evan Bailey, one of the third years that Harry had taught in DA, approached him the following day asking if it was too late to try out for the Quidditch team. Having taken a liking to him during the meeting, Harry let Evan try out that afternoon during his lunch hour. When he saw Evan fly, Harry had the euphoric feeling of a child successfully sneaking a cookie before dinner. Evan proved to be everything that the team needed, even if he was a bit aloof at times. He had excellent batting aim and hit every bludger with a loud, exacting, crack.
This meant that Harry could start holding team practices, which he did, every Thursday and Saturday morning. Every night, he continued to attend Ginny’s sessions with Tonks, despite Hermione and Ron’s mounting absences. They made the excuse that as prefects they were forced to roam the hallways in search of wrongdoers. Harry found their justifications quite dubious, but elected to say nothing disputing their alleged ‘duties’.
As he and Ginny walked back from her many sessions with Tonks they came across a fair number of miscreants, but never did they stumble upon Ron and Hermione. Ginny was of the notion that if they ever did encounter Ron and Hermione; the two would be in a rather compromising position. She beseeched Harry to help her find where the two were stowed away; however, he obstinately refused to do so.
Secretly, he was still unsure how he would react if he saw the two of them as a couple. He harbored a fear that he would become the odd man out; thereby throwing off the whole trio chemistry they had managed to establish. That notwithstanding, Harry found that he was spending the majority of his time in the company of Ginny. Her sessions were becoming all the more interesting. Tonks began moving Harry into different rooms within Hogwarts and having Ginny vessel-voyage to find him. It was quite the game of hide-and-go-seek, except that he always lost…now that Ginny could truly garner her power.
For all the time he spent with her, Harry remained confounded as to how to confess his feelings for her. He was unwavering in his resolution that the two of them could never become a couple. Not unless he could destroy Voldemort, in any case. There was no way he could put her in such danger. Yet as time passed, she grew increasingly distant. He was able to deduce that she either sensed his inner turmoil or heard his bewildered thoughts. Irregardless, she took the matter out of his hands altogether.
Ginny began to treat him with a business like demeanor. They attended her sessions with Tonks, quidditch practice, DA meetings, which were set for every Sunday, and class in cold silence. Ginny’s new behavior hurt Harry, but he knew that it was for the best. She was simply treating him the same way she had for the previous two years. At that time, he had felt relieved; now, he felt as though he had a permanent dementor affixed to his side. His sad feelings were compounded when Ginny accepted a pricy looking necklace from Dean, symbolizing that the two were exclusive.
He took his feelings of hurt and anger out on the Hufflepuffs, who they played in their first quidditch match of the year. The team that Harry had formed proved to be highly skillful and they crushed the Hufflepuffs two-hundred and seventy to twenty. The DA meetings were the other outlet for his mounting misery. Controlling the third years required so much of his energy that it was all he could do to collapse into his bed and sleep after dealing with them. He found small joy in winning quidditch and teaching the DA; still, it didn’t cancel out his remorseful longing for Ginny.
Meanwhile, he decided to ignore the blatant signs that Hermione and Ron had begun dating. When they held hands, he simply refused to look anywhere below their faces. When they fed each other playfully, he looked straight into his plate and devoured as much of it as was humanly possible. And when they blew kisses at each other, he ate even more. Luckily, as he devoured an increasingly startling number of meals, he gained muscle instead of fat. He had his physically grueling quidditch practices to thank for that.
Ron was highly amused by the amount of female attention that Harry was attracting. Of course that was with the exception of Ginny, much to Harry’s dismay, she kept her distance. Shrewd as she was, Hermione was not entirely convinced by his façade of indifference. She quit trying to talk to him about Ginny, however, when she became aware of the alarming amount of food he digested when Ginny’s name was brought up. Only Charlie acted stranger than Harry. Whenever Ron asked him for a game of chess he would bolt from the room as though he had forgotten an errand.
Harry noticed that every time Charlie ran away, Tonks was somewhere nearby; it seemed as though the two had fallen out. Harry knew who was to blame for that. Despite their problems, Harry had continued to attend Ginny’s sessions with Tonks. During Halloween, he, Ginny, and Charlie had gone to Tonks’ office for an impromptu session. Harry was highly embarrassed to find Lupin and Tonks in a rather passionate embrace. Ginny found the whole mess rather romantic. Charlie wore the look of a rather dejected man and Harry found that he could empathize. He and Charlie were in the same boat…both in love with a woman they could not have.
Charlie took his aggression out in class, to Harry’s amusement. He became quite Snape-like, refusing to repeat directions or information. He also brought in progressively more dangerous creatures for their lessons. Malfoy became Charlie’s favorite student to pick on, as he never listened to instructions. When Charlie brought in a Kelpie, a water demon that quite often appears as a friendly horse to lure the unwary to their doom, Malfoy wadded into the water in a show of bravado. He rode astride it to the applause of Pansy Parkinson when suddenly; the Kelpie swam swiftly to the middle of the lake.
Charlie let it dive into the water with a hysterical Malfoy on its back. A good two minutes passed as Charlie continued to lecture about how the Kelpie dives to the bottom of the lake or river that it inhibits to devour its rider. He callously continued to instruct them that the Kelpie allows the entrails to float to the surface which worked the Slytherin’s into quite a panic. Finally, he languidly pointed his wand to the lake and the Kelpie appeared back at the surface. Using a simple Placement charm, he placed a bridle over the Kelpies head rendering it docile and harmless.
Malfoy, a slopping mess, was pulled off the Kelpie by Crabbe and Goyle who tripped and fell repeatedly splashing much water about. The Kelpie meanwhile, seemed content to be the center of attention as the Gryffindor’s taunted Malfoy with catcalls. Unfortunately, all his other classes were not as entertaining as Care of Magical Creatures. Overall, his teachers taught ‘practical’ lessons. Only Transfiguration proved interesting as they began to study the theories behind becoming an animagus.
Only Hermione qualified to study after classes with Professor McGonagall to develop into an animagus. No matter, she was not guaranteed to become proficient enough to attain animal form and she received no credit for the four days a week she attended lessons, so Harry and Ron did not feel remorseful whatsoever that they did not qualify by testing high enough. Instead, Harry increased the amount of quidditch practices to match Hermione’s schedule. Mainly he did this so that Ron would not have cause to mope around while waiting for Hermione to get out of her lesson.
It was gratifying to know that between her sessions with Tonks and the increased amount of quidditch practice, Ginny had no time left to spend with Dean. Harry found her constant proximity to him to be rather bittersweet. Even so, today was a rare free day. He did not schedule practice due to the teams vehement protests that they be allowed to go to Hogsmeade. He and Ron joined the horde of students traveling to Hogsmeade. Hermione was forced to stay behind as she had an animagus lesson.
Harry and Ron made their way lazily through the streets of Hogsmeade with a pack of girls trailing not to far behind, giggling all the way. Finally, the mass of energetic students in front of Zonko’s caught their attention. Harry was somewhat amazed when the milling students parted, allowing him and Ron straight entrance into Zonko’s. As they entered the store, they feared being smothered by the vast crowd enclosed within. The proprietors of the shop hopped onto the counter and shouted into crowd for silence.
A hush fell upon the Hogwarts students. Ron, who was able to see over the crowd with ease, elbowed Harry excitedly.
“It’s Fred and George!” he yelled.
George spotted them before Fred had the chance.
“You lot! Get up here!” he shouted to them, and the crowd within the store parted just as their counterparts outside had done to let them through.
“What are you doing here?” Ron asked once they had reached the counters.
“Just bought this place,” Fred replied to the enthusiastic applause of the students.
“It’s great that you lot are here,” George told them, while simultaneously hyping up the crowd, “because we were just about to introduce our new line of defensive gear!”
“Like this new wailing widow,” Fred dropped an orb shaped glass on the counter where, instead of shattering, it rolled around aimlessly beaming flashing lights while making loud wailing sounds, “gives you just the diversion you need to escape your enemy!”
“I don’t know about you Fred, but I could sure use a Visor Veil,” George called out.
“Why George,” Fred replied in mock eagerness, “What’s a Visor Veil?”
“How can you not know what a Visor Veil is?” George asked unveiling a bright multi-colored visor.
“Is that a Visor Veil?” Fred asked continuing their clearly rehearsed sketch.
“It sure is!” George confirmed.
“What does it do?” Fred asked the question that many kids were now excitedly shouting.
“Why tell you when I can show you?” George queried as he placed the Visor Veil on his head and went completely invisible. The entire student population gasped loudly as one.
“George!” Fred called out in false concern, “Where have you gone?”
It was clear where George was, however. To everyone’s amusement, he was messing around with Fred’s robes, pulling them over his eyes and tying his shoe laces together. It was painfully obvious to Harry that they had practiced this comedy routine many times, but the students loved it all the same. Next, they introduced a Charbong, a long pipe that exploded scorching anything near it. It singed Ron’s right eyebrow off, as they had tossed it to him.
Having witnessed this Harry swore not to take anything Fred and George offered him. He was literally forced to eat his words moments later as he reluctantly accepted the Pelt Pellet and swallowed it after much heckling of the crowd. When he opened his mouth to speak colored capsules shot out. A blue one hit Neville who floated into the air. A gray one hit Luna, forming into a thundering cloud directly over her head. No matter where she moved, the cloud persistently followed.
A red one hit Ron, who began to swell up into a big red ball. Harry spit the rest of the capsules into a cup, refusing to hurt anymore of his friends. Neville was in good spirits when they managed to peal him off the ceiling. Luna’s hair clung to her face making her bulging eyes look huger and scarier than ever before. Although, when Fred offered her a free love potion she cheered right up. Harry felt the worst for Ron. In order for him to deflate, he was forced to pass gas. It was another taste of Fred and George’s rather crude sense of humor. Everyone was highly amused and Fred gave him a free Visor Veil to make it up to him.
Angelina began to ring up the students who were buying up everything they could get their hands on while Fred went to get more merchandise from the back. George signaled Harry and Ron to the back where they were able to talk without yelling.
“Harry, good news,” George told him, “Dumbledore just gave the okay for you to come to the Burrow for the holidays.”
“Excellent!” Ron cut in happily. “Hermione’s coming too.”
Christmas break was still a month away. Harry thought about how Ginny would react when she learned he was coming home with her.
“Better make your Christmas lists boys,” George advised with a wink.
Harry already knew what he wanted…for Dean not to be invited to the Burrow for Christmas.