The Master of Death

Chapter22: Snitches

When Harry entered the common room, he was surprised to see everyone cheering and partying till he remembered that he was supposed to witness the Quidditch try-outs, instead of spending his whole evening in Umbridge's office. Ron emerged from the crowd, a goblet of butterbeer in his hand as he rushed over to Harry. "I made it, Harry! I'm the new Quidditch keeper!" he said with a huge grin on his face and he spilt his chest with butterbeer from the excitement. Obviously, he had all forgotten about the fact that he never told Harry about his plan to try out for the team.

"Congratulations," Harry started, but Ron was already being pulled into the crowd by Fred and George. Soon Angelina approached Harry and started to talk about the try-outs. Harry pretended to listen, but he was distracted by Death, who just turned into a snake and slithered up his sleeve.

"-obisher and Geoffrey Hooper did fly better than Ron, but Hooper is a real sissy. All the time he is complaining about this and that, and Vicky is in a lot of clubs. If the training were to take place on the same days as the charms club, she would rather go to the club, she told me so herself. Well, it doesn't matter now. Tomorrow is our first training, around two. So, try to be there, okay? Just do me a favour and help Ron as much as you can, alright?" Angelina said and Harry nodded. And while the dark-skinned girl went back to Alicia, Harry approached Hermione who was sitting in an armchair, seemingly asleep.

When Harry let himself fall into the seat next to her, she woke with a start.

"Oh, Harry... It's just you," Hermione said and yawned. "Good for Ron..." she muttered, "I'm just so tired..." She yawned again before she continued. "I stayed up till one and made hats. Insane how they all disappear!" Hermione said happily and Harry hummed in agreement while grabbing a butterbeer from the table in front of him.
Only two hours later - Hermione had gone to bed not long ago - Ron managed to fight his way through the crowd. "Hey Harry," Ron said with a grin on his face as he found him. His face was flushed, and he seemed a little drunk. "Lee smuggled a few bottles of firewhisky into the castle. But don't tell Hermione that I drank some of it," Ron added in a hushed voice, his eyes wandering over the crowd. Then his expression sobered. "I almost forgot to ask you why you fainted that morning," Ron started concerned, "It was just - with the Quidditch try-outs..." He rubbed his neck and his face grew red with embarrassment.

"It's okay," Harry interrupted him.

"I didn't tell Hermione since Fred and George said-" Ron stopped and lowered his voice, "It wasn't because of your scar, was it?" he asked.

"No," Harry responded immediately, and Ron seemed relieved. When the redhead asked Harry what he had done in his free time, Harry used the same excuse he had told Madame Pomfrey. He blamed Umbridge and the detentions, saying that he was so far behind with his homework, that skipping Divination was a price he would gladly pay to finish Snape's essay. Ron seemed to get his point; despite being somewhat upset that Harry didn't ask him to join. But thankfully the joy over being declared the new keeper of the Gryffindor-Quidditch team predominated his disappointment. And soon he proudly showed Harry his new cloak, which Wood had been using when he'd still been the keeper of their team.

On Saturday during breakfast, Ron started to stare longingly at the high ceiling that showed the grey sky outside. Harry sighed. Today was the first Quidditch training. A distant fluttering announced the arrival of the morning post. And soon hundreds of owls were flying through the air, screeching and stealing small pieces of food from the plates of their owners. Everywhere people were showered with letters and packages from their homes, magazines or the Daily Prophet.
A ruffled looking barn owl landed next to Hermione and dangerously close to Ron's scrambled eggs. The bird stretched out her leg, a small leather pouch was tied to it. After Hermione took the Daily Prophet, she paid the owl with a Knut. As soon as she'd put the money into the pouch, the bird stretched its wings and took off, but not without stealing a piece of toast from Hermione's plate. The bushy-haired girl was already looking at the pages of the Daily Prophet, too invested to notice the little theft.