in the end ~ d. malfoy

Chapter Thirty

'BANNED, NO SEEKER AND NO BEATERS . . . WHAT ON EARTH ARE WE GOING TO DO?'

Angelina says this in the common room, later that day. It doesn't feel as though they've won the match at all. Everywhere Maya looks there are disconsolate and angry faces; the team themselves are slumped around the fire, all apart from Ron, whose not been seen since the end of the match.

'Its just so unfair,' says Alicia numbly. 'I mean, what about Crabbe and that Bludger he hit after the whistle had been blown? Has she banned him?'

'No,' says Ginny miserably; she and Hermione sit on either side of Harry. 'He just got lines, I heard Montague laughing about it at dinner.'

'And banning Fred when he didn't even do anything!' says Alicia furiously, pummelling her knee with her fist

'It's not my fault I didn't,' says Fred, with a very ugly look on his face, 'I would've pounded the little scumbag to a pulp if you three hadn't been holding me back.'

Snow falls outside the window. The Snitch Harry had caught earlier is now zooming around and around the common room; people watch its progress as though hypnotised. Church leaps from chair to chair, trying to catch it with his tiny paws, but failing miserably as the onlookers chuckle.

'I'm going to bed,' says Angelina, getting slowly to her feet. 'Maybe this will all turn out to have been a bad dream . . . maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and find we haven't played yet . . .'

She's soon followed by Alicia and Katie. Fred and George slope off to bed some time later, glowering at everyone they pass, and Ginny goes not long after that. Only Harry, Hermione and Maya are left beside the fire, Diana doing homework upstairs in their dorm.

'Have you seen Ron?' Hermione asks, in a low voice. Harry shakes his head.

'I think he's avoiding us,' says Hermione. 'Where do you think he — ?'

But at that precise moment, there's a creaking sound behind them, as the Fat Lady swings forward and Ron comes clambering through the portrait hole. He's very pale indeed and there's snow in his hair. When he sees the three of them, he stops dead in his tracks.

'Where have you been?' says Hermione anxiously, springing up.

'Walking,' Ron mumbles. He's still wearing his Quidditch things.

'You look like an ice cream bar,' says Maya.

Ron walks to the fireside and sinks into the chair furthest from Harry's, not looking at him. The stolen Snitch zooms over their heads.

'I'm sorry, " Ron mumbles, looking at his feet.

'What for?' says Harry.

'For thinking I can play Quidditch,' says Ron. 'I'm going to resign first thing tomorrow.'

'If you resign,' says Harry testily, 'there'll only be three players left on the team. I've been given a lifetime ban. So've Fred and George.'

'What?' Ron yelps.

Hermione tells him the full story. When she finishes, Ron looks more anguished than ever.

'This is all my fault — '

'You didn't make me punch Malfoy,' says Harry angrily.

Maya's stomach twists uncomfortably at the mention of his name. Mere hours ago, he seemed like an entirely different person. Apologizing to her, a stuttering, nervous mess who turned red every two seconds. That Draco Malfoy seems miles away

' — if I wasn't so terrible at Quidditch — '

' — it's got nothing to do with that.'

' — it was that song that wound me up — '