The days began to grow colder as September came to a close. The leaves were now brilliant colours of red, orange, and yellow.
Meanwhile, Harry was beginning to regret his decision of coming back to Hogwarts. Every day he would have to deal with the student body, most of whom regarded him as their new hero, and would stop him in the halls asking for signatures, photographs, one girl even asked him for a piece of his hair to send to her mum! Not only did Harry not get a moment of privacy, but he was constantly having to deal with timelines for his assignments. Percy hadn’t been kidding when he told them that N.E.W.T. year was not going to be easy. Harry often found himself in the middle of an essay wondering what he had even been taught the week before.
Hermione, whom he had assumed would give him a hand, was also finding it hard to balance her homework with her Head duties, and being extremely on edge these days, refused to let Harry and Ron copy, something which they both found aggravating.
If it hadn’t been for Quidditch, the two boys might have lost their heads all ready. It seemed as if this was the only thing to keep them sane. But even Quidditch was requiring more work, longer training hours, and constant lack of sleep. The Gryffindor verses Hufflepuff match was only three weeks away, and Harry was still trying to get his team to work together.
“Ginny, stop being a ball hog!” yelled Seamus down the pitch at practice one night.
Ginny turned around. “It’s not my fault that you aren’t paying attention. At least one of us will be getting some points for us against Hufflepuff!”
Harry interrupted the argument before Seamus could retaliate.
“Seamus, be quiet and focus on your game…no-one else’s.” Seamus opened his mouth to speak, but Harry ignored him. “Ginny, you aren’t the only Chaser. Pass the ball around and try to make some plays.”
Ginny glared at him, and Seamus flew off to the other end of the pitch, muttering under his breath.
Harry sighed and looked at Ron.
“I think you’re going to have to do some repair work before Ginny will talk to you again, mate,” said Ron.
“Look, if she doesn’t think that I am doing a good enough job as Captain, she can take over. It’s not like I haven’t got enough things to do without trying to settle fights with her and Seamus every second.”
Unfortunately for Harry, Ginny had heard him. She tossed her head, and flew off down the pitch to join Seamus and Dean, looking positively livid.
Ron turned back to Harry. “By the looks of things, Harry, I suggest you crack open that book I gave you. Twelve Fail Safe Ways to Charm Witches.”
Harry scowled and flew off to talk to Peakes and Coote. It just wasn’t his day.
***
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not,” Ginny said with an expressionless face.
Harry sighed, “Okay, I’m not. Can’t you just get along with Seamus?”
“Get along with him? He thinks he’s God’s gift to Quidditch. He can’t even shoot straight!” Ginny exclaimed.
“By the looks of things you aren’t exactly acting humble out there either.”
Ginny put her hands on her hips. “Oh sure, of course you guys would stick together. Don’t listen to Ginny. She’s only your star player, and your girlfriend.”
“Listen Ginny”“
“No, you listen. We have an important game against Hufflepuff coming up. You’ve been too soft on everyone! Two practices a week? Hufflepuff is getting three! If you don’t start running these practises right, you’re going to be short a Chaser,” she yelled before storming through the portrait.
“Ginny…wait!” But she was gone.
The Fat Lady chuckled. “Looks like you need some help, young man.”
***
“Decided to follow some of my advice then?” said Ron, as he entered the dormitory an hour later. He gestured towards the gold book in Harry’s hand.
Harry just ignored him.
“You know, I would listen to some of that stuff Ginny’s been trying to tell you. Our practices are pretty slow and”” he glanced over to make sure Seamus wasn’t in the room, “”Seamus needs a good kick in the arse.”
Harry put the book down rather forcefully. “You know what she told me?”
Ron just looked at him.
“She threatened to quit! You know what that will do to our chances?”
Ron smiled. “You know Ginny, she can be very touchy about some things. It just goes with the Weasley stubbornness. Talk to her in the morning when you’ll both be cooled down.”
Harry sighed, “You’re right, Ron.” He tossed Twelve Fail Safe Ways to Charm Witches into his trunk and decided to start on his Herbology homework.
“Hey Ron, what is the charm used to stop a Wiggler from spraying everywhere?”
“Dunno, I would say to ask Hermione, but you’d probably just get screamed at.”
“How do you know?” asked Harry.
“I just asked her.”
***
Ginny still wasn’t talking to Harry at breakfast the next morning. She sat beside him, but ignored him and, Harry noticed, crunched her bacon so forcefully that Harry was sure that she must have ground it into a thousand little pieces.
This rather solemn breakfast, with Ginny so quiet, and Ron and Harry exchanging looks was broken when Hermione came running through the Great Hall.
“Oh you’ll never believe it. This is the most exciting news!” she exclaimed, out of breath as practically all eyes turned to her.
“What is it?” asked Ginny, speaking for the first time.
“Your Mum just sent an owl, and it opened before I could give it to you. Oh Ginny, Ron…it’s just so exciting!”
“WHAT?” The three of them asked.
“Fleur’s pregnant.”
***
The news about Fleur put everyone in an excited mood. Ron was telling anyone who would listen that he was going to be an uncle. Percy had been so excited that he had postponed the date of their latest assignment, much to the delight of the students.
Hermione, Ginny and Luna talked about everything from diapers to whether they thought it would be a boy or girl, and what to name it, until Professor Flitwick came up to them.
“Ladies, as excited as I am sure you are right now, that baby that you are talking about is not due for nine months, while your charms essay is due at the end of the class so I suggest you stop the chatter and get to work,” he said with a slight smile.
***
That night, Harry decided to take Ron’s advice and approached Ginny after dinner.
“Ginny…” he started.
“I’m busy, Harry,” she said coldly continuing to write a long note.
“What is that you’re writing?” asked Harry, gesturing towards the piece of parchment.
“It’s a letter to Fleur,” she said, not bothering to elaborate.
“Oh…” Harry didn’t know what to say. “Ginny, I wanted to talk to you.”
She looked up at him expectantly.
“I’m sorry for the way I treated you the other day.” She waited for him to continue. “It’s just that I’ve been really on edge these past few weeks with homework, and the match coming up soon, and all those girls who keep pestering me for a photograph.”
Her expression softened. “I know that Harry. It’s just that I wish you would stop treating me different than the boys on the team. It’s like you think I’m not capable of doing whatever, and you are always trying to stop me from doing something.”
“That’s not it Ginny. I know that you are a fantastic player. It’s just that Seamus is new to the team, and I guess he thought that he would be a star or something. If you’d just give him a chance or something…”
“Well you could have told me that in the first place!”
“I tried to,” Harry explained calmly, “but you took it the wrong way.”
She looked down. “I guess I did jump to conclusions. I’m sorry.”
He pulled her into a hug. “From now on, we talk things through first, okay?”
“Agreed,” she murmured.
He pulled away. “Well, I guess I should head to bed and let you finish your story, or whatever it is you’re writing to Fleur.” He gave her a quick kiss before heading up the stairs while she smiled.
“So, what’s up?” asked Ron.
“She’s writing a novel to Fleur on how to raise a child,” said Harry as he pulled on his pajamas and crawled into bed.
“Not that,” exclaimed Ron. “How’d it go? Is she talking to you again?”
“Yeah, we made up, but I better watch it around her from now on.”
Neville’s voice travelled over from the other side of the room. “Girls are nothing but trouble, it’s better to pretend you want nothing to do with them.”
Harry looked at him, with a bemused expression. “Have you ever considered psychology, Neville?”
“Nope, never heard of it.”
Ron smiled. “Goodnight, Neville.”
***
Harry Potter: The Following Year by ginnygirl16
Chapter Notes: The brilliant Afifa once again stepped in and beta'ed this, so thanks very much for that! Thank you everyone for your lovely reviews. Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter;)
--ginnygirl16
Chapter Endnotes: *Gasp* Fleur's pregnant! And Harry and Ginny had their first fight! Did you like it? Let me know with a review! The first memories are coming up soon so stay tuned!
--ginnygirl16