The Speaker and His Wraiths

A Match

Slytherin VS Gryffindor

When Harry woke up the morning of November 2nd, the day of the Quidditch match against Slytherin, Ron was already awake and sitting cross-legged on his bed, exceptionally pale-faced.

"Nervous?" Harry asked, stretching and yawning.

"I'm lousy, horribly lousy." Ron groaned. "I should just give Slytherin their win now." Harry stood and padded towards the bathroom.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine. Let's go down to breakfast, yeah?" Ron reluctantly got up, and started getting ready for the day.

"Just because we're friendly with the Snakes now doesn't mean we're gonna roll over and let them win!" Fred was laughing when Harry and Ron descended the stairs to the common room.

"Besides, ol' Montague isn't a Wraith. He's fair game." George grinned. "Think Warrington will let me take a swing at him?"

"Nobody will be attacking the Slytherin Captain." Harry huffed, amused. "Just because he's not with us doesn't mean he's the ultimate evil. Let's just enjoy ourselves, sound good?" The team cheered, and Angelina just smirked at Harry. Her eyes were anxious as they flicked to Ron at his side, though, and Harry ignored this. "C'mon, we need breakfast if we'll be winning a match today!"

They headed down for breakfast, and Ron gave wobbly smiles to the Gryffindor team who kept patting him on the back and wishing him luck. However, he stopped as Miles Bletchley, the Slytherin Keeper, walked up with a serious expression.

"Weasley." He said, nodding to a pale Ron. "I'd like to say I was disappointed by what I've seen of your practices, but I'm cheering you on. Your brothers, and Potter here, are excellent Quidditch players and you can be one too." He held out a hand, and Ron slowly shook it with huge eyes. "Everyone will be watching you, and I hope we'll have us an exciting game." He then walked off, back to the Slytherin table which was full of Slytherins looking amused, some even acting mysteriously excited.

"What was that about?" Ron asked, though a smile was breaking out on his face.

"I told you, the Slytherins want you to do well." Harry clasped him on the shoulder, grinning. "We'd better sit down." Ron nodded and headed to the Gryffindor table, and Harry plopped down so he and Ron were surrounded by their Quidditch team plus Hermione. Everyone else at the table was wearing red and gold scarves, gloves, and little ribbons called rosettes. It made Harry smile.

"Weasley, you've been practicing, right?" Angelina checked, eyeing Ron's slightly shaky hands. He nodded.

"Yeah, in between meetings. Harry's been helping me." His voice shook like his hands, but his expression was resolute. Harry was quite proud of that.

"You should eat something." Hermione smiled at him softly, and Ron nodded. He looked up at her, and spotted Draco waving and giving him a thumbs up from the Slytherin table behind her. Ron waved back, smiling, and nodded to Hermione.

"Okay, thanks." Ron collected a small plate of food that Harry knew was less than he normally ate, but any food was better than none before a Quidditch match. "I totally got this." Ron said, mostly to himself.

"It's a good sign to be nervous." Hermione encouraged. "I never feel you perform well in exams if you're not a bit nervous." Ron sighed, and Harry resisted a snicker.

"Even Bletchley believes in you." Harry reminded him with a grin. "And you know that if you save one goal you'll save them all. You just need time to get going at practice. Don't lose focus if you miss one." Ron nodded, eyes seemingly more determined.

"Hello." Luna's dreamy voice came from behind them. Harry turned with a grin. She was wearing a massive hat shaped like a lion, with a snake on top of that like it's very own hat. Harry laughed openly, and noticed many of his Wraiths from other tables laughing and pointing too. Luna simply smiled dreamily, knowing none of them were really teasing her. "I'm supporting both of you. Look what it does..." She reached up to tap with her wand lightly, and the snake wiggled while the lion roared loudly. "It's good, isn't it?"