Pinkish Tone

Winter Flow

Harry's pov :
Breakfast was the usual excitable affair the morning of the match ; the Slytherins hissed and booed loudly as every member of the Gryffindor team entered the Great Hall. Percy and Annabeth waved at the Slytherin, looking amused, I saw Tonks tying several snakes' shoes together. I then glanced at the ceiling and saw a clear, pale blue sky: a good omen. The Gryffindor table, a solid mass of red and gold, cheered as Tonks, Percy, Ron and I approached. Three grinned and waved; Ron grimaced weakly and shook his head.
“Cheer up, Ron!” called Lavender. “I know you’ll be brilliant!” Ron ignored her.
“Tea?” I asked him. “Coffee? Pumpkin juice?”
“Anything,” said Ron glumly, taking a moody bite of toast.
A few minutes later Hermione, who was trying to massage Ron, even with his stiffness asked us something
“How are you all feeling?”
“Fine,” I said, concentrating on handing Ron a glass of pumpkin juice. “There you go, Ron. Drink up.” Ron had just raised the glass to his lips when Hermione spoke sharply.
“Don’t drink that, Ron!” We all looked up at her.
“Why not?” said Ron. Hermione was now staring at me as though she could not believe her eyes.
“You just put something in that drink.”
“Excuse me?” I asked
“You heard me. I saw you. You just tipped something into Ron’s drink. You’ve got the bottle in your hand right now!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said stowing the little bottle hastily in his pocket.
“Ron, I warn you, don’t drink it!” Hermione said again, alarmed, but Ron picked up the glass, drained it in one gulp
"Sorry 'Mione, but I'll try with everything I can."
She looked scandalized. Bending low so that only I could hear her, she hissed,
“You should be expelled for that. I’d never have believed it of you, Harry!”
“Hark who’s talking,” I whispered back. “Confunded anyone
lately?” she swatted me before still kissing Ron, and storming off under the 'aw's' of Percy, Annabeth, Tonks and I. I looked at the other and saw them at different states of disbelief, only Tonks was smiling at me, not believing for one bit that I could have done anything.
“Nearly time,” I said blithely. The frosty grass crunched underfoot as we strode down to the
stadium. “Pretty lucky the weather’s this good, eh?” I asked Ron.
“Yeah,” said Ron, who was pale and sick-looking.
Ginny was already wearing her Quidditch robes and waiting in the changing room.
“Conditions look ideal,” said Ginny, ignoring Ron. “And guess what? That Slytherin Chaser Vaise he took a Bludger in the head yesterday during their practice, and he’s too sore to play! -And even better than that- Malfoy’s gone off sick too!”
“Oh yeah?” I said, mediumly interested as I knew he was a Death Eater, but Tonks was my main thought at the moment. “He’s ill?”
“No idea, but it’s great for us,” said Ginny brightly. “They’re playing Harper instead; he’s in my year and he’s an idiot.” I thought about it a bit : Malfoy's a Death Eater and won't play, he casted an Imperius curse on Madam Rosmerta, tried to send a cursed necklace to Dumbledore, but we lack actual clues, except for Rosmerta's testimony.
“Fishy, isn’t it?” I said in an undertone to Ron. “Malfoy not playing?”
“Lucky, I call it,” said Ron, looking slightly more animated. “And Vaisey off too, he’s their best goal scorer, I didn’t fancy — hey!” he said suddenly, freezing halfway through pulling on his Keeper’s gloves and staring at me. “What?... I . . . you . . .” Ron had dropped his voice, he looked both scared and excited. “My drink . . . my pumpkin juice . . . you didn’t . . . ?” I raised my eyebrows, but said nothing except,
“We’ll be starting in about five minutes, you’d better get your boots on.”
"Harry?" Tonks called, I nodded and went to her: "I know you would not do it, but I want to be sure : show me the bottle of Felix Felicis please."  I took the bottle out and she saw the cork was still tightly sealed with wax. She kissed me before saying hotly : "~You know, I love seeing you in your Quidditch robe captain.~", I grinned and kissed her again. We then walked out onto the pitch to tumultuous roars and boos. One end of the stadium was solid red and gold; the other, a sea of green and silver. Many Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had taken sides too: amidst all the yelling and clapping I could distinctly hear the roar of Luna Lovegood’s famous lion-topped hat. I stepped up to Madam Hooch, the referee, who was standing ready to release the balls from the crate.
“Captains shake hands,” she said, and I crushed the new Slytherin Captain's hand, Urquhart. “Mount your brooms. On the whistle . . . three . . . two . . . one . . .” The whistle sounded, the others and I kicked off hard from the frozen ground, and we were away.
I soared around the perimeter of the grounds, looking around for the Snitch and keeping one eye on Harper, who was zigzagging far below me. Then a voice that was jarringly different to the usual commentator’s started up.
“Well, there they go, and I think we’re all surprised to see the team that Potter’s put together this year. Many thought, given Ronald Weasley’s patchy performance as Keeper last year, that he might be off the team, but of course, a close personal friendship with the Captain does help. . . . The same seems to go with Lily Graves who's capacity can be questioned, but being Harry Potter's girlfriend surely helps much more.” These words were greeted with jeers and applause from the Slytherin end of the pitch. I craned around on my broom to look toward the commentator’s podium. A tall, skinny blond boy with an upturned nose was standing there, talking into the magical megaphone that had once been Lee Jordan’s; I recognized
Zacharias Smith, a Hufflepuff player whom I heartily disliked. Anyway. As expected, the match went really well, at the end, Tonks sped up, and crashed in the commentator podium, making Smith fall, and, Percy flying by had his bat slip of his hands, and crashing on Zacharias' head, and, in utter bad faith, they said it was accident. Then we went back to the locker room where Hermione found us:
“I want a word with you, Harry.” She took a deep breath. “You shouldn’t have done it. You heard Slughorn, it’s illegal.”
“What are you going to do, turn us in?” demanded Ron. Meanwhile Percy and Annabeth were raising an eyebrow at me, and Tonks was smirking at me
“What are you two talking about?” I asked, turning away to hang up my robes so that neither of them would see me grinning, except Tonks who kissed me gently on the scar left by the Horntail -on my pectoral-, making me shiver unnoticeably (I hope).
“You know perfectly well what we’re talking about!” said Hermione shrilly. “You spiked Ron’s juice with lucky potion at breakfast! Felix Felicis!”
“No, I didn't, and before you say something you might regret, here's my proof.” I said reaching for the bottle of Felix Felicis, still sealed. Percy and Tonks burst in laughter while Annabeth rolled her eyes
"It was only me?! Bu-but... The condition?... Vaise... And Malfoy?"
"Sheer dumb luck it seems." Annabeth stated. Everyone laughed.
"I'm... I'm sorry Ron, I shouldn't have doubt you... You too Harry..."
"Ah it's nothing love, I was doubting myself you know.." Ron said getting an arm around her
"As for me, you don't have to worry. As far as I'm concerned, you both reacted as I espected you to. If you hadn't remark the bottle, Ron wouldn't have believed in himself, so yeah..." Both my oldest friends looked at me with wide eyes, gulping :
"You know, you using your cleverness is both scary and fascinating... I mean, you read us so simply!" Ron said and everyone chuckled. The party that night was quite good, and Hermione was quite eager to keep Lavender Brown at bay, helped of course by all of us. Romilda Vane, who was hinting heavily that she would like to go to Slughorn’s Christmas party with me was also kept at bay by a quite furious Tonks, that I was eager to calm with kisses getting her soul out.
A problem came with the following weeks : I couldn't go anywhere without having to stick to the wall to avoid any girl, to the greatest enjoyment of my closest friends who were laughing loudly at my attempt to walk through secret passage. I didn't get why so much girl were so adamant on trying to be asked by me to Slughorn's party, I mean, I already have a girlfriend who accepted, I still remember the way her face brightened :
*"Hey Tonks, since I can't wiggle out of this party this time, will you make me the pleasure to be my date?" I had asked her a day we were in the common room, her going through the Prophet in her normal form, and me reading the book of the half-blood Prince. She had looked at me for a split second, raising an eyebrow before tilting her hair backwards, reaching to kiss my lips:
"Of course you goofball, you didn't have to ask me." she had said with a bright smile.
"I know, but I wanted to make it officially by saying it. (goofball? That's a new one.)" she had smiled even brighter. *
Thankfully for me, I began to prank the girl that were assaulting me, putting reverse compulsion charms (others were drawn to them), notice-me-not's or very strong pheromones making any kind of fantastical beast drawn to them. All this was really enjoyable for me, until they began to get their love potions... Honestly, I need to get a word with Fred and George about who they sell their products to, especially ask them about a ban on love products for Romilda Vane. The witch had gave me chocolate cauldron I had threw away in the room. Finally, the evening of Slughorn's party came, and I was thrown out of the bedroom, along with the two others boy, letting Tonks and the girls get ready. I was wearing a pure white robe but with black highlights and the Potter and black crest on each my shoulders.
"Do you think they'll take a long time from now?" Ron asked, in a black robe, probably the one offered by Fred and George.
"Don't know, usually Annabeth isn't one to take too long for any makeup or dressing..." Percy answered. He was wearing royal blue robes with sea-green tridents on the outside of his forearms.
"They should be down any minute, don't worry." I said, just then, the door to the bedroom opened and the three girls got down. The boys all sucked a breath: the girls were beautiful, but my eyes were focused on Tonks : she was wearing an emerald green asymmetrical full skirt dress with a v cleavage, stopping at the level of her solar plexus.