One Last Chance (Harmione Story)

Chapter 13: The game

*Harry's POV

Today's the day. It was always a big deal for the whole school whenever Gryfindor played against Slytherin. But that was not what had me so excited. I was in such a great mood because today was the first game Hermione played for her house, our house.

She was a decent player, no doubt. She proved it herself several times during the summer at the Burrow, when we played and did it once again yesterday in practice. She seemed a bit nervous when she started the game but eventually she got over it and played surprisingly well for someone with so little practice.

I woke Ron up, we headed downstairs with Hermione, who was already waiting for us at the common room as usual. It was really happy that Ron was back in good terms with us at last, I really missed him.

In the Great Hall there was already plenty of excitement to go around before we entered and, when we did, the shouting and cheering grew even louder. So louder you might even wake Hagrid up if he was still in his hut. The increase in the intensity of the shouting when someone who was playing arrived was nothing unheard of and it happened before every game, nonetheless, Hermione was quite shocked and amazed to be on the receiving end, with people shouting her name and cheering for her.

Ron and I were used to it by now and simply smiled and waved back at some people. Hermione on the other hand, was completely unable to follow our example and stood there, staring into nothing, her mouth wide open with surprise. The only time she got attention in this scale was back in the Yulle Ball and even then it didn't even come near to what was happening now.

I grabbed her by her wrist and lead her through the crowd, as she seemed unable to do so by herself. We sat farther down the table then we usually would to get some distance from all the screams, hoping it would calm Hermione down a bit.

It didn't, I sat down and she sat by my side, facing Ron, her shoulders tense and biting her lower lip. I grabbed her hand under the table, not being able to get myself to do anything more with so many people watching...

*Hermione's POV

The moment we laid a foot on the open doorway of the Great Hall, the world seemed to stop. Everything was running in slow motion, the screaming, people jumping, clapping...

I had never got so much support and attention in my life. Not even in the Yulle Ball, back then there were others on which the watchers could lay their attention on, right now there were just the three of us.

After what I perceived as an eternity, I felt Harry grab my wrist and pull me through the crowd, leading me to our table. He lead me to the end of the table, the closest we could get to the professors. I sat down at the table, guided by some kind of autopilot at this point. I felt Harry sit beside me and after a bit, he grabbed my hand under the table.

The moment his hand held mine, the world resumed its normal speed and I saw that Ron had sat in front of me. My shoulders, until then tense, relaxed, I released a breath I didn't realise I had been holding and a wave of safety washed over my body.

He released my hand only to wrap his arm around my shoulders and pull me closer to him and I whispered in his ear as he did ''Thank you''

The rest of the breakfast went acording to normality, except from Draco boasting more than usual and the occasional soul who would wander in our direction to ask for an autograph or a picture.

After we ate, we headed for the pitch to get ready. As we did, the rest of the school took their places at the stands.

We now stood at the edge of the pitch, looking at Madam Hooch who was reciting the rules. She then told us to take our position at the field and we took off...