Before Things Change, Harry Potter Year 6

11. Hermione's Helping Hand

Lilly's POV
Through the next few weeks, homework has piled up for everyone. Nonverbal spells were not only required in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but also in Charms and Transfiguration.
We had Quidditch trials this morning and Harry wondered why so many people signed up. Hermione explain that he was quite popular because he said Voldemort returned and stuck with his word throughout the tribulations with the Ministry. They had to admit that Voldemort was back and Harry fought him twice in two years and escaped him.
After Harry switched the covers of the new Potions book he got with the Half-Blood Prince's book, Hermione read in the Prophet that Stan Shunpike was arrested for being a Death Eater. Which was quite unlikely, but could happen...
Hermione was then talking about how parents were saying Hogwarts wasn't safe anymore. The Patil twin's parents were thinking of taking them out of school, Eloise Midge was withdrawn last night and days before, Hannah Abbott was being taken out during Herbology when she found out her mum was dead. We haven't seen her since. Ron protested we have Aurors, protective enchantments, and Dumbledore. However, lately, Dumbledore has been absent for a long time and only appears periodically... It's seldom we see him, but knowing Dumbledore, he's doing a job that is most likely for the Order.

For tryouts, half of Gryffindor house showed up, from first years to seventh years, it took all morning, unfortunately.
Harry made a smart decision to have people divide up into groups of ten and fly accross the field once. The first group was dreadful... Only one boy was able to stay on his broom for a few seconds, but crashed into one of the hoops. It was if that was their first time on a brrom or they don't jnow how to fly... The second group had a group of giggling girls. I faked gagging, I am so glad I wasn't like that, they think they're cute and gorgeous when they do that... In all honesty, guys and girls find it annoying. The third group had a pileup halfway through the field, the fourth group didn't have brooms, the fifth group was mostly Hufflepuffs which caused Harry to yell, "If there's anyone else here who's not from Gryffindor, leave now, please!"
A group of Ravenclaws left.

After two hours filled with many complaints, several tantrums, and several broken teeth, Harry found three Chasers: Katie Bell, returned to the team after an exellent trial; Ginny Weasley, who had outflow all the competition and scored eighteen goals; and me, I thought my trial went particularly well. We had two Beaters, not as good as Fred and George, but really good: Jimmy Peaks out a nice bulge on Harry's head and Ritchie Cooted had a good aim. Harry saved Keeper for last, hoping to have an empty stadium, but instead found it rather full. Ron saved five goals and Cormac saved four goals. Cormac was making up excuses saying that Ginny and I were going easy on Ron because she's his sister and I'm his friend.
Ron mentioned my throw with the spin on his fourth atempt was hard as we walked down to Hagrid's. When Ron mentioned how Cormac was a bit confused on the last one, Hermione blushed pink. I smiled and nudged her when Harry wasn't looking. We saw Buckbeak in Hagrid's lawn. We went near him and Hagrid came out screaming not to touch him and then he noticed that it was just us and he shut the door on us.
Harry said, "Hagrid! Open up, we want to talk to you!" No sound. "If you don't open the door, we'll blast it open!" Harry said, pulling out his wand.
"Harry!" said Hermione, sounding shocked. "You can't possibly-"
"Yeah, I can! Stand back-"
The door flew open as Harry expected and Hagrid roared, "I'm a teacher! A teacher, Potter! How dare yeh threaten ter break down my door!"
"I'm sorry, sir."
"Since when have yeh called me 'sir'?"
"Since when have you called me 'Potter'?"
Hagrid growled, "Oh, very clever, very amusin'. That's me outsmarted, innit? All righ', come in then, yeh ungrateful little..." He trailed off and the trio explained why they couldn't take Care of Magical Creatures. They couldn't fit it into their schedules and couldn't have used the Time-Tuner, given we smashed the shelf that they were on when we were at the Ministry. They lied to Hagrid saying that Professor Grubbly-Plank was a horribly teacher, but it made him happy, which was all that mattered. I wasn't lying though, I enjoyed that class. Then we talked about Aragog a bit. Hagrid was sobbing because Aragog was dying, which was incredibly sad because Aragog has been with Hagrid since he got kicked out of school, so it would be hard to say goodbye to a friend who you've been with since you could remember. I felt really bad for him.
As we walked back to the castle we noticed Cormac taking two times to get into the Hall. On the first try he hit the door, on the second time, he finally got in. Harry held Hermione back. She admitted that she Confunded Cormac because of the awful things he says about Ron and Ginny and that he has a temper. Both were true...
As we were three steps from the table, Slughorn invited, Hermione, Harry, and I to a party tonight. Harry had detention, but Hermione and I were going. I pecked Neville's lips asking, "Did Slughorn invite you to dinner tonight?"
He shook his head. I turned scarlet saying, "Oops, nevermind..."
He said, "It's alright really. I don't mind, as you can tell it was kind of awkward talking and I'm not my parents, so it's really no point."
I said, "Neville, it's stupid anyway. The only reason he invites people is to get connections throughout the Wizarding World. I mean, look at me, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It's like if he breaks the law, he expects me to let him off with a lighter sentence, no. Don't worry, you're not going to miss much, trust me..."
He nodded pecking my lips saying, "I know you're excited, I see the sparkle in your eyes. Don't worry, it's okay, really. Go, have fun!"
I touched his face saying, "Thank you love, but there might be a party where we have to bring a date, so it's safe to say who I would bring."
He said, "I'd be offended if you didn't."
I kissed his lips again and Ron said, "Oy, bloody hell, some of us are trying to eat here!"
I rolled my eyes saying, "You mark my words, Ron, you're going to regret teasing me."
He said, "Oh, I'm so scared!" He was using sarcasm and I narrowed my eyes saying, "You should be." Neville put his arm around me and we ate a nice dinner.
We returned to the common room and I stayed with Neville for a bit and then I went up to my room, changed and then left with Hermione to the party.

Thanks for reading! Vote please! :)
-Lilly :)