Chapter 1

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“Throw the Quaffle!”

“Answer my question!”

“Wood, throw the Quaffle or I’ll knock you off your broom!”

The green-eyed boy stared at his brown-eyed Quidditch mate. “That’s not it.”

She rolled her eyes, hovering ten feet away from him. “The Hawkshead Formation?”

His large, toothy smile appeared on his face. “Excellent.” He tossed the Quaffle at her. She gripped the end of her Clean Sweep and jolted it upward toward it. With both legs gripping the body of her broom, she reached her arms out and grabbed the flying ball. She tucked it under her arm, dodging underneath Harry and zooming down the pitch.

“Ginny!” he called.

She skidded to a halt and turned her broom around. “What?” she yelled.

He beckoned her to come near and she flew close to him. Their brooms were right next to each other. She tossed the Quaffle to him and stared at him inquisitively. “What?”

Harry was suddenly flustered. This wasn’t something either of them usually came up with each other. Not anymore, at least.

“I-just-uh,” he looked away and found two familiar heads walking to the field below them.

“Is that Ron and Hermione?” Ginny asked curiously.

“Don’t you mean Ron and Hermione?” Harry said, rolling his eyes. The moment was broken, much to his relief. He turned away from Ginny and headed toward the ground.

Ron looked up and smiled at Harry. Hermione had a book shoved under her arm, but she wasn’t reading it. One of her hands was clasped tightly in Ron’s. Broad smiles were fixed on their faces, as if they were enjoying a hysterical private joke.

“What’s happening, mate?” Ron greeted happily. Harry could tell right off that the angst Ron and Hermione had dealt with in their period of struggling had been worth it. To see the smiles on their faces was to know it had been worth all the tears.

“Just practicing,” he answered. “What are you doing out here?”

Hermione answered this time. “We got bored in the common room and decided to come outside.”

Ron nudged her. “You lie!” he looked back at Harry and said playfully, “I convinced her to stop studying and spend time with me!” He watched her open her mouth to protest, but he answered before she could. “I can’t believe you’d rather spend time with Arithmancy: The Advanced Study of Divinatory Numbers than your own boyfriend!”

“I had full intentions of spending time with you today!”

“When? When you finished reading page five thousand three hundred forty-two for the six thousandth five hundredth―”

“Trouble in paradise already?” came Ginny’s voice from above Harry’s head. She was smiling mischievously at the pair. “It’s only day two. You’ve got a while before you start patronizing each other.”

Harry’s jaw dropped. “Ginevra Weasley! Watch your tongue! This is Ron and Hermione. The patronizing started before they knew each other’s names.”

The four laughed heartily as Harry rejoined Ginny and Ron and Hermione took seats on the grass by the stands. Harry consistently threw unexpected questions to Ginny to make sure she had been studying up on Quidditch. It was like he always said (and the saying Ginny loved to mock), ‘A good Quidditch player knows how to play. A great Quidditch player has knowledge of the game.’

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