The next morning went by in a haze of confusion. Clothes, books, and other items were strewn about the Burrow. The four teenagers were always amazed to find out how many additional possessions showed up every time they tried to pack everything. Ginny hardly had anything to pack considering just about everything she needed was already at Hogwarts. All she had were the little overnight necessities she needed. The trio, on the other hand, was a different story. Harry and Ron more so than Hermione, who had her fair share including her piles and piles of books. But the boys had clothes, posters, quidditch supplies, a few products from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, and the things they had from and needed for their quest. Rounding everything up was an injury waiting to happen. When Harry came down the stairs, he nearly sent Hermione tumbling to the bottom by trying to dodge Ginny. Once everything was gathered, they flooed to McGonagall’s office. Even though Voldemort was gone, people were still extremely cautious.
Ginny entered a few minutes before the boys and had a quick conversation with the Headmistress. The trio appeared next.
“Hello, Harry, Ron, Hermione. It’s good to have you back,” Professor McGonagall greeted.
“It’s good to be back, Professor,” replied Harry.
“Well, I see you have all of your books necessary for this year and all you need now are your schedules. But I am giving you permission to start classes tomorrow and not today.” With this statement huge smiles were plastered on Ron and Harry’s faces, Hermione’s not as much so.
“Now, Ginny, you are already settled in, so you can continue classes today. But I will allow you to wait until after lunch.”
“Thank you, Professor,” said Ginny.
As the four left the room, Professor McGonagall called Harry back.
“Now, as you already know, Harry, practices for Quidditch have already begun. A team has been put together as well as a replacement for Captain and Seeker.”
“I understand, Professor,” Harry somberly interrupted. “It’s okay.”
“Potter, let me finish. Now, your replacement for both has been Miss Weasley. When she put the team together, she told the three chasers that their positions were not necessarily secure. I think her reasoning behind that was that she believed that you would be coming back and that she would fill one of the chaser positions leaving the seeker position for you to fill. Now, that still leaves the matter of Captain. As you know, Ginny arrived a few minutes before you and quickly told me that she would let you take over your old role as Captain. That is, if you accept.”
“I, well I, uh, yea, yes, I accept. I would love to,” replied Harry, his spirits considerably higher.
“The same goes for Ron’s role as Keeper. Ask him if he accepts, would you?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Good. Well, that is settled.”
Harry turned to leave but Professor McGonagall stopped him once more.
“And, Potter, the first match is in three weeks. Make sure you get your team in top shape. Don’t make me regret Miss Weasley’s decision.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he responded and left the office beaming.
Harry returned to the Common Room to tell Ron the good news. Obviously Ron was very ecstatic about it.
“No way, we’re still on the team! That’s fantastic,” Ron practically shouted. “I can’t wait to start.”
Harry said slightly quieter, “Yea, it’s really your little sister’s doing. She saved our positions.”
Ron noticed Harry’s change of demeanor and his addressing Ginny as “your little sister.” He knew Harry wasn’t taking things that great and hoped he wouldn’t do anything stupid. They all knew how Ginny could get.
“Hey, I need to go talk to her quickly before lunch. I’ll be there in a few,” Harry told Ron.
‘Oh, shit, what is he doing,’ thought Ron. ‘He better not fuck things up any worse.’
Harry crossed the common room to get to Ginny.
“Hey, Gin,” he addressed her. “Um, I mean Ginny.” He quickly corrected himself after seeing the look on her face.
“Hi,” she said rather stiffly. “Do you need something?”
“Uh, well, I was wondering if I could talk to you?”
“Well, you obviously already are. Continue.”
“No, not here, in private, please?” he added with a pleading look.
“Huh,” she sighed. “Okay, but only because I don’t have anything to do. We can go to your dormitory. I really don’t feel like walking around to find an empty classroom.” She groaned and walked up the stairs.
Harry followed, wondering if it was such a good idea to talk to her.
Once in his room, he didn’t know how to begin.
“Uh, well, I - I just wanted you to know, um, I wanted to say thanks,” he finally spit out.
“For what?” Ginny retorted.
“For giving me and Ron our spots and me my Captain spot back. Thank you. It means a lot.”
“Well, Ron is my brother, isn’t he? He does deserve something.”
“But what about me? Why do I deserve it?”
“I didn’t say you deserve it, but it is your job to be Captain. I really didn’t do anything.”
“Yes, you did. You didn’t know if I was going to survive-"
Ginny cut him off. She couldn’t take this again.
“Harry, don’t start this. I did what I felt was right at the time, okay? It’s over. The situation is over and I don’t feel like talking about it again.”
“Yeah, well I do. You had to have had something telling you not to give up hope. It had to be your heart telling you that I would make it through.”
“How can you stand there and tell me that it was my heart, the heart that was broken nonetheless, that made me make this decision. No, it was for my brother Ron, the brother who has always been there for me. I wanted him to have his position back if you three made it back. And I figured that if you also made it back, I might as well give it to you also. I didn’t think it was right for one of you to get your position back and the other not. It was my heart making the decision for Ron, not for you. It was my conscious deciding for you,” Ginny stated, hair flying everywhere while on the verge of completely losing it. “There, are you happy now? I told you, okay? Now I’m done talking about it.”
“But, Ginny, how can you-“
She cut him off once more. “Harry, there is nothing else for you to say. You have no right to say anything.”
“I have as much right to say something as you do,” Harry said, fighting the urge to scream.
“Oh really, I didn’t get that equal feeling four months ago. Does that ring any bells? You get to be left out in the cold this time. And don’t ever tell me about decisions that my heart makes ever again. Especially when it deals with you.” Ginny stormed out the door.
Harry sighed and plopped down on his bed. ‘Is anything ever going to be normal again?’ he wondered.
Little did he know that a certain redhead was standing on the other side of the door, crying about what she had just stated and wondering if things were ever going to be the same.
The rest of the day went by without any more conflicts or confrontations. Ginny returned to class after lunch while Hermione headed to the library. The boys had no idea what she was already studying. They obviously had forgotten about the amount of homework they had to make up.
Harry and Ron walked out to the Quidditch pitch to fly around and get used to playing again. Harry played chaser for a while, shooting at Ron.
“Come on, Ron, let’s go. You have only stopped two of the last five,” Harry yelled. “I know you aren’t that bad.”
“Hey, chill out, I haven’t played in four months. Go easy on me, will you?”
“Going easy on you is not going to help us win that Cup. You need to focus.” Harry was slowly turning into his Captaincy mode again.
“Harry, this isn’t practice, you know that, right?” Ron chuckled.
“I don’t care; you need to be in top-notch shape.”
“Oh, so I’m not in shape, am I?” said Ron. “Ok, let’s see how well you fly after four months off.”
Ron put up the Quaffle and let out the Snitch.
“Let’s go, Harry. Let’s see how well you do.”
Then Ron chased Harry, trying to catch the snitch from him. He failed miserably. Harry easily outstripped Ron every time, catching the Snitch within fifteen to twenty seconds of each time he let it go again. It looked like Harry hadn’t even stopped playing. He was still as phenomenal as ever.
Harry flew to the ground with a huge smile on his face while Ron was panting behind him.
“Well, it looks like that answers your question, doesn’t it, Ron?” Harry smirked.
“Yea, yea, whatever. You were always better than me anyways. Let’s go, I’m starving,” Ron said while trudging up to the school. Harry followed, shaking his head and laughing.
After showering, they headed to the Great Hall. Harry had completely forgotten that there were other people in castle. He was rudely brought back to reality in the Great Hall where he did a fairly good job of avoiding people’s questions or congratulations for his defeat of Voldemort. But that was only by eating dinner in five minutes, much to Ron’s dismay. Once they were in the common room, Harry was mobbed once again by a swarm of people. He successfully dodged them and was able to get to the dormitory before anyone else could congratulate him. He knew he would have to deal with it sooner or later, but he preferred later. Soon, sleep fell over him and he got lost in his dreams.
Yes, yes, I know it's short. But, I had a few things in this chapter that just needed to be by themselves. I'm trying to work out some things in the third chapter. Criticism is appreciated. R & R. Please!!