How to Save a Life

Before Harry knew it, the remainder of the holidays had vanished quicker than a plate of food in front of Ron Weasley. After much frantic last minute packing the three friends made their way back to King’s Cross, leaving behind a huddle of exhausted, but relieved, house-elves. Draco had driven them to near distraction with his increasingly demanding behaviour and minor fits of hysterics that only Harry seemed able to soothe.

As they Flooed direct to Platform 9 ¾’s, Draco was still in a fit of sulks over an earlier squabble with Harry. The Gryffindor had been horrified to find his boyfriend calmly packing their stash of ‘toys’ into his trunk. He had calmly informed the blond that under no circumstances would he be experimenting whilst in the Slytherin boys’ dormitory.

Draco had pouted and insisted that with a good Silencing Charm and well-placed wards on the bed hangings there was no reason they couldn’t continue their night time activities. Harry had put his foot down and would not budge on the issue. Draco had given in gracefully and then promptly repacked them the moment that his boyfriend’s back was turned.

The platform was practically empty when they arrived, and Harry was secretly grateful that the blond’s histrionics had inadvertently prevented any possible repeat of the ugly scenes that had greeted the Slytherins back in September.

They scrambled onto the train, helping Pansy with her unwieldy trunk, and made their way through the carriages in search of a compartment. Unable to locate an empty one, they eventually came across one that was occupied by Neville. Harry sighed with relief and pushed the door open. He felt, rather than saw, Draco tense as he registered that Luna and Dean were also in residence. Harry reached for the blond’s hand and gave it a quick reassuring squeeze, before pulling away and turning his attention back to his friends.

The journey passed fairly peacefully and without any major incident. If you didn’t count the strop that Draco had had when Ginny walked past their carriage and smiled shyly at Harry.

Draco had sneered at the redhead before turning to his boyfriend, a disparaging remark ready on his lips, only to find a similar, tentative smile on the Gryffindor’s face. Harry’s smile had died as soon as he saw the glare on the blond’s face, but before he could say anything to rescue this situation, Draco huffed audibly and turned his attention to Pansy.

Halfway through the journey Draco decided that he had punished his boyfriend sufficiently and decided to forgive him. He slid his hand over and twined his fingers with Harry’s, who was currently deep in conversation with Dean. He started at the unexpected contact and looked down at their joined hands before smiling warmly at the blond.

Unfortunately, Ron and Hermione chose this moment to stick their heads in to the compartment to say hi. Harry froze at the sight of his friends and sharply pulled his hand away, completely oblivious to the hurt expression that crossed his boyfriend’s face.

Draco’s reaction did not go completely unnoticed, however. Neville, who was sat opposite the blond, watched the brief interaction thoughtfully and wondered if he ought to broach the subject with Harry at some point.

However, Blaise chose this moment to return from his prefect duties; listening to his boyfriend’s stream of excited chatter, all thoughts of Harry and Draco left Neville’s mind, and the blond’s mood passed unnoticed.

Despite not having seen his friends for several weeks, Harry opted to seat himself at the Slytherin table for dinner that night. It was such a regular occurrence by now that no one raised an eyebrow. However, he did receive a number of sly grins from members of the other houses who had been at the New Years party. Nothing was actually said, but it did nothing to ease Harry’s nerves about his imminent ‘outing’.

Most of the Slytherin table’s attention was directed towards Tracey Davis and Theodore Nott, who, after the holidays, had emerged as an established couple. Seeing the pair’s overtly affectionate behaviour, Harry discreetly looked at Pansy to gauge her reaction to the news. He was relieved to see that she had a serene expression on her face, before noticing that her fingers were gently toying with the delicate dragon pendant that adorned her neck. Sensing Harry’s gaze, she turned to face him, a reassuring smile on her face.

Draco sat opposite, watching the pair with a thoughtful look on his face. He was still smarting slightly from, what had felt like, Harry’s rejection of him on the train earlier. He tried to soothe his hurt feelings by reminding himself of Harry’s promise to tell his friends about them. However, he couldn’t quite shift the cloud that had settled over his golden head.

Draco had tried to be as understanding as he could of Harry’s fears. But although he was a fairly private person himself, he just didn’t share his boyfriend’s concerns. Growing up as both the child of a known Death Eater, and a member of Slytherin house, Draco was used to receiving a less than warm reception from those outside his friends and family.

The opinions of strangers just didn’t matter to him. The only person he had truly been nervous of telling about his relationship with Harry had been his father. And yet, despite this, he had still done it.

Draco tried his hardest not to be angry with Harry. He had promised to tell his friends in a few short weeks time, and Draco just had to trust that he would.

The blond was startled from his silent reverie by the sight of Ginny Weasley making her way, purposefully, towards the Slytherin table with a determined look on her face. Sitting with their backs to the room, Harry and Pansy remained unaware of the impending confrontation until they caught sight of the cold expression on Draco’s face. Before either of them had chance to question this, a quiet cough from behind caught their attention.

Turning in their seats, they were greeted by the sight of Ginny watching them calmly, her shoulders pulled back and, what some might have called, a determined set to her chin. To Draco, it just appeared as a defiant gesture.

“Ginny,” Harry said after a moments pause. Pansy remained silent at this side, watching the redhead apprehensively. Draco, meanwhile, had already slid his wand from his robes in preparation.

“Harry,” Ginny acknowledged before turning her attention to the Slytherin girl. “I want to apologise for how I behaved towards you last term. It was unacceptable; I don’t know what came over me.”

“Apology accepted,” Pansy replied in equally calm tones. Not that she believed a word of it, but she could see the look of relief on Harry’s face at this sudden development and she didn’t want to take that away.

Ginny nodded and then her focus shifted. “You too, Harry. I’m sorry for how I acted. I hope we can put it behind us.”

Draco could have kicked his boyfriend hard as he smiled warmly at his ex-girlfriend.

“Of course we can, Gin. You know I hated arguing with you.”

The smile that Ginny turned on Harry was almost blinding in its brightness. She dipped her head and quickly pecked his cheek.

“I’m so glad. I hate not being friends with you, too.” With that, she turned away and headed back to her seat.

Harry sat, a little dazed, while Draco watched the girl’s progress across the Great Hall with narrowed eyes. He noted, with some surprise, that she didn’t make for the Gryffindor table. Instead, she slid into an empty seat at the Hufflepuff table, next to Wayne Hopkins, who promptly put his arm round her and kissed her soundly.

When the couple pulled apart, Draco noted that both of them cast discreet glances in the direction of the Slytherins. Faintly disgusted by the blatant display, Draco turned his attention to the Gryffindor table, smiling to himself at the looks of complete surprise on Ron and Hermione’s faces. As his eyes travelled further along the table, he noted that someone else was watching the happenings at the Hufflepuff table.

Neville Longbottom was eyeing Ginny’s antics with a thoughtful expression on his face. Catching the other boy’s gaze, Draco inclined his head in acknowledgement. He rather thought he had found another person who had not been entirely convinced by the Weasley girl’s show of penitence.

“Well,” Harry said finally, breaking the silence. “That was unexpected.”

Pansy nodded in agreement, while Draco snorted softly. “That’s one word to describe it,” he sneered.

Harry looked thrown by this. “What do you mean? How would you describe it?”

“Bullshit,” Draco answered succinctly, and Pansy couldn’t quite suppress her laughter.

Tiny creases appeared on Harry’s brow as he processed this. “You don’t think she meant it?” he asked finally.

Draco restrained the urge to roll his eyes; sometimes his boyfriend could be so naïve. “Of course she didn’t mean it. At least, not what she said to Pansy.” He paused here and looked intently at Harry. “I’m sure she meant exactly what she said to you.”

“Now you’re just talking in riddles,” Harry sighed.

“Not at all,” Draco answered calmly. “I don’t think she is remotely sorry for what she did to Pansy. I do think, however, that she regrets falling out with you over it. That whole performance, including the rather revolting display a moment ago, it was all for your benefit.”

Harry turned and looked in the direction that Draco indicated. “What display?”

“That idiot Hufflepuff sticking his tongue down her throat.”

Harry’s eyes eventually located Ginny where she sat, cuddled up to Wayne.

“She’s trying to make you jealous,” Draco explained in exasperation.

Harry turned back to face him. “I don’t think so. I’m sure she’s just moving on. Ron said their mum was pretty hard on her over the holidays.”

Draco shook his head. “Harry, that girl has been obsessed with you for the best part of the last decade. She attacked Pansy because she thought you two were together. Even McGonagall couldn’t get her to see sense. You really think that a couple of weeks of parental disapproval would change that?”

“You haven’t seen Mrs Weasley when she loses it.”

“No, but I’ve seen people like her daughter before. And if that apology was genuine, well, I’ll…”

“You’ll what?” Blaise questioned, joining in the conversation.

“Start sleeping with women,” Draco finished, with a smirk.

“You will not,” Harry responded hotly, glaring at his boyfriend.

“No, you’re right, I won’t. That’s my whole point.”

Not wanting to row, Harry shrugged and turned back to his dinner. Draco was about to continue, when he met Pansy’s gaze over the table. The Slytherin girl mouthed ’leave it’ and for once, Draco listened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After returning to Gryffindor tower, Harry headed up to his dormitory to change out of his school robes. Entering the room, he found that Neville and Seamus were there already.

Neville simply smiled in recognition. Seamus, however, bounded over, a broad grin on his face.

“Harry, mate! How are you?” He rounded off his remarks by giving Harry a hearty slap on the shoulder.

“Fine thanks, Shay,” Harry replied, staggering slightly from the blow. “Good holidays?”

Seamus grinned even wider. “Brilliant. Me mam got me a new broom. How about you? How was Christmas with the Malfoys? That must have been quite the experience.”

“It was really good,” Harry, answered sincerely. “I didn’t want to leave,” he added softly.

“They certainly know how to throw a party, I’ll give them that. New Year was a blast, wasn’t it, Nev?”

Neville paused in his unpacking his trunk to nod his agreement. “I’ve never been to a party quite like that before,” he admitted.

“You certainly seemed to enjoy yourself, Harry. That was quite the show that you and Malfoy put on.”

Harry flushed brightly at his friend’s teasing.

“You can talk, Seamus,” Neville retorted. “You were the one getting a blow job of Daphne Greengrass while everyone else was watching the fireworks.”

Seamus just shrugged, not embarrassed in the slighted. “Just doing my bit for inter-house unity. There’s something to be said for Slytherins - not that I have to tell you two that. Especially you, Nev. Not from what I remember of Blaise.”

Neville smiled tightly at this and the Irish boy seemed to sense he had overstepped and invisible mark.

“I’ll see you guys in a bit. I’m heading down to the common room.

“Don’t let it get to you,” Harry advised, giving Neville a friendly pat on the shoulder. “He doesn’t mean anything by it; it’s just Seamus.”

“I know that, and I know that everyone has a past. But I don’t like to think of Blaise being with anyone else.”

Harry nodded. “I know what you mean. I feel the same about Draco. I think he even gets a bit like that over Ginny still.”

“I don’t suppose it helps that she’s still obsessed with you.”

Harry looked at Neville thoughtfully for a minute, before slowly shaking his head. “Draco says that too, but I don’t see it. She’s with Wayne now, and she apologised earlier.”

“Do you think she meant it?” Neville asked cautiously.

Harry’s eyes widened. He was used to Draco’s cynicism, but coming from Neville it was a complete shock.

“Draco doesn’t, and I don’t really think that Pansy did.”

“But do you?” Neville persisted.

After a moment, Harry nodded slowly. “Yes, or at least I did, until everyone else started saying that they didn’t.”

“I’m not saying that I don’t believe her. Just that it seems a bit of a sudden change. She was so dead set against doing it for months, and now, all of a sudden, it’s forgotten.”

“It could happen,” Harry said defensively. “Mrs Weasley is a force to be reckoned with when she wants to be.”

Neville shrugged. “I guess. Just be careful, Harry. I don’t think she’ll give up on you quiet that easily.”

Harry just nodded in agreement. He didn’t really believe in what his friend was saying, but he didn’t want to cause offence by saying so.

They finished the remainder of their packing in silence and then headed down to the common room. They joined the group of their friends and were promptly hailed, enthusiastically, by Ron.

“Harry! Neville! Come and save us. Hermione is torturing us with talk of study sessions and revision timetables.”

Harry grinned as Hermione bristled under her boyfriend’s comments.

“Really, Ron. There’s no need to be so melodramatic. I was simply pointing out that NEWTs aren’t so far away.”

“We’ve got nearly five months,” Ron protested.

“And you’ve got two years worth of work to revise in that time. You’ll thank me for it when you get your results.” She turned in the direction of a grinning Harry. “You will too. Neither of you will get on that Auror training programme without at least E’s on your NEWTs.”

Harry shifted uncomfortable at this. “I don’t think I’m going to apply for that anymore,” he mumbled, not daring to make eye contact with his friends.

“What do you mean?” Ron spluttered. “Of course you do. We’re going to be partners.”

“Ron,” Hermione intervened. “If Harry doesn’t want to be an Auror anymore, then that’s okay. He can’t do it just to please you. What are you going to do instead, Harry?”

Harry shrugged and carefully avoided Ron’s outraged glare. “I’m not sure. It’s just…I think I’ve had enough of fighting dark wizards for one lifetime, you know?”

His friends all nodded their understanding, though Ron clearly still had issues with his friend’s decision.

“I know!” Hermione exclaimed, a familiar fanatical gleam in her eye. “There’s a whole careers section in the library. We can go and have a look tomorrow. There’s bound to be a career for you in there somewhere.”

Harry suppressed a groan and Ron let out a chuckle. “I reckon being an Auror doesn’t look so bad now, eh?”

“I don’t know why I’m friends with you two,” Hermione huffed.

“Sorry, Hermione,” Harry said in an effort to appease his bushy-haired friend. “We’re only kidding. That sounds like a good idea. I’d be grateful for your help; I really don’t have a clue.”

Hermione smiled warmly in return and then gave her boyfriend a pointed glare.

“You could play professional Quidditch,” Dean suggested. “You’re damn good and I bet most teams would fall over themselves to sign you.”

“That’d be brilliant, mate.” Ron scooted forward on his chair and joined the conversation eagerly. “Just think, if you played for the Canons then I could get to meet the whole team. And you’d probably get heaps of free tickets too.”

Harry watched in amusement as his friends debated what the perks of being a Quidditch player would be. Ron’s suggestion, that there would be tons of women throwing themselves at him, produced amused grins from the other three boys, and a sharp slap from his girlfriend.

“Honestly, Ron. You can be so sexist at times. Anyway, Harry already has Pansy. He wouldn’t be interested in those pathetic groupies.”

Harry smiled faintly at this comment and heard a distinct snigger come from Seamus’ direction. Even now that he was planning to come clean with his friends, it didn’t stop him feeling guilty that they didn’t know such an important part of him, when so many others did. Wanting to escape before the conversation headed in a direction where he was forced to lie further, he stood up, stretching.


“I think I’m going to have an early night, guys. I’ll see you all in the morning.”

“That’s a good idea, Harry,” Hermione said approvingly. “We could all do with getting plenty of sleep; it’s going to be a busy term.”

~~o0o~~

Despite his best intentions, sleep proved to be fairly elusive that night. Harry tossed and turned until long after his roommates were soundly asleep.

His bed just seemed so big and empty without Draco in it. It was the first time in weeks that Harry had slept alone and he was amazed at how quickly he had become accustomed to having another warm body to curl up against.

When sleep eventually did come, it was plagued by nightmares of the kind that Harry had not experienced in months. He found himself back in the cellar at Malfoy Manor, watching as Bellatrix held Draco repeatedly under the Cruciatus Curse. And as much as he had struggled desperately to help his boyfriend, Harry found himself unable to move; forced to watch as Draco was tortured, and finally killed, by his mad aunt.

When Harry woke with a start, drenched in sweat, tangled in the bed sheets, his voice raw, he realised in dismay that he had forgotten to cast his usual Silencing Charm. It had been so long since his dreams had been this ferocious, and with Draco by his side at night, the spells had been unnecessary.

As he took in the startled faces of his three roommates, Harry cursed silently. Neville was already out of bed and crouched at his side, a hand reaching out hesitatingly. Dean and Seamus were sat on their beds, somewhat horrified expressions on their faces.

“Harry,” Neville began tentatively. “Are you OK?”

Harry took several deep breaths to steady himself. “I’m fine, Nev.”

“Honestly,” he added, seeing the disbelieving look on his friend’s face. “It was just a bad dream.”

“That was some bad dream, mate,” Seamus said, somewhat awkwardly. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t wake the whole tower the way you were screaming.”

Harry flinched at this and Neville shot the Irish boy a warning glare.

“Sorry about that,” Harry managed to say, his voice sounding small. “You guys go back to bed. I’ll put up a Silencing Charm so I don’t disturb you again.”

Neville’s hand gripped his arm tightly. “Don’t!” he said, his voice coming out louder than he had intended.

Harry turned to him in surprise.

“You don’t have to hide it from us, Harry. Nightmares are nothing to be ashamed of. After last year, I should think that most people in school get them.”

His other two roommates nodded at this, and Harry grimaced. “Yeah, but the rest of you don’t yell the placed down, do you?”

Neville hesitated. “I think if we’d been through, and seen what you have, then we would, yeah.”

Harry bit back a sharp retort. He knew that the other boy was just trying to make him feel better, but he hated being the exception. He had suffered no more than any number of other people; Neville included. Yet he was the one screaming the place down, causing a scene…standing out again.

“It’s fine,” he managed finally. “Just go back to bed, please.” There was a faint pleading note to his tone that made Harry cringe.

“If you’re sure?” Neville stood and looked at his friend uncertainly.

“I am.” Harry nodded. “Get some sleep.”

Neville returned to his bed and was just burrowing under the covers when he heard Harry speak again.

“Could you do me a favour and not mention this in front of Draco. He’ll only worry.”

Two murmurs of assent sounded instantly. “Neville?” Harry questioned.

“OK,” Neville agreed reluctantly, thinking it wouldn’t be a bad thing for the Slytherin boy to find out. Someone should be worrying about Harry, as he plainly wasn’t doing it himself.

“Potter looks like crap,” Blaise observed as he and Neville stood in the doorway to the Great Hall.

Neville’s eyes travelled to where Harry sat alone at the Gryffindor table, one elbow resting on the table, hand cradling his chin, while the other forked listlessly at his breakfast.

Harry had been gone from the dormitory long before Neville had gotten up, and the Gryffindor rather suspected that his friend had not gone back to sleep following his nightmare. There were dark smudges under his eyes and they stood out vividly against the paleness of his skin. Neville knew he wouldn’t have to say anything to Draco; one look at his boyfriend and the blond would see that something was wrong.

Neville turned his attention back to the questioning eyes of his boyfriend, wondering if telling him what had happened constituted a betrayal of his promise to Harry.

“Nightmare?” Blaise questioned, inadvertently solving the Gryffindor boy’s dilemma.

“H-how…” Neville looked at the other boy in surprise. His boyfriend had many qualities but perceptiveness was not usually one of them.

Blaise snorted softly. “You think yours is bad, look at mine.” The Italian boy nodded in the direction of the Slytherin table, where an exhausted looking Draco Malfoy sat slightly apart from the other students. Even Pansy appeared to be giving him a wide berth.

“A tired Draco is not a happy Draco.” Blaise grinned. “Just ask Theo. Not that you can, as he’s currently in the hospital wing.”

Neville’s eyes widened and flickered nervously in the direction of the irritable blond. He made a mental note to steer clear until the danger had passed.

“He screamed the dorms down in the middle of the night,” Blaise explained, wincing slightly as he spotted the death glare that was currently being sent his way by his best friend.

“Harry too,” Neville confessed. “He made us promise not to tell Draco.”

Blaise chuckled. “You got off light. Draco threatened a rather important part of our anatomy if either Theo or I ever mentioned it again.”

“Is that why he’s in the hospital?” Neville was suddenly filled with sympathy for the scrawny Slytherin boy.

“No, that was just because he took too long in the bathroom. Draco is not a morning person at the best of times.”

Neville chuckled. “I guess we’d better go make sure they eat something.”

Blaise just rolled his eyes, wondering when he had become the responsible one in the friendship, before making his way slowly to the Slytherin side of the room.

Harry managed to find time to slip back up to the dorms before first lesson. The lack of sleep had hit him hard and he needed a Pepperup Potion if he was going to make it through the day.

Once lessons began he was infinitely grateful for the added assistance in staying awake, as teacher after teacher droned on and one about their NEWTs and just how important they were. The fervour in their voices could have put even Hermione to shame, and Harry wasn’t entirely sure that some of his professors weren’t actually channelling the Gryffindor girl.

Normally the start of a new term was fairly easy going as far as the students’ workload was concerned. The Professors would ease them back into study-mode gently. None of that seemed to apply this time round, however. Not only were lessons becoming fraught affairs, with teachers’ manically cramming knowledge down their throats, but also their homework seemed to have increased to such a degree that it caused even Hermione to break out in a light sweat.

Not to be defeated though, the resourceful girl had created herself a self-updating workload planner that seemed to map out every spare moment of her day. Ron took one look at it and promptly bemoaned the loss of his girlfriend for the foreseeable future.

Harry gave his friend a sympathetic look, which turned to one of horror when Hermione swiftly produced two further timetables and presented him and Ron with one each. Both boys protested wildly, especially when they noted that there was virtually no time set aside for their Quidditch practices.

“But, Hermione,” Ron spluttered. “Exams aren’t for months. Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a bit?”

Harry winced at this; Ron had the timing and tact of a Jarvey. He edged off his seat, mumbling some lame excuse, and abandoned his hapless friend to his fate. He ignored the accusing look that Ron shot in his direction and hurried to the portrait hole; Hermione’s shrill lecturing echoing after him.

He made his way down to the Slytherin common room and was soon cuddling up next to Draco on one of the comfy sofas. He peered at the parchment in the blond’s lap.

“What are you up to?” he enquired curiously.

Draco set his work to one side and wordlessly tugged Harry onto his lap, one arm encircling the smaller boy’s waist. He pressed a light kiss to the tip of Harry’s nose.

“Hi.”

“Hi, yourself,” Harry replied, relaxing against the blond’s chest. He spotted Pansy and Millicent cooing at what a ‘cute pair’ they were; he poked his tongue out at the two girls and then turned his attention back to his boyfriend.

“So, what are you going? Homework?”

Draco shook his head and reached for the parchment. “No. I was working out a schedule for us.”

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of Harry’s stomach. “A what?”

“A schedule,” Draco repeated, settling the sheet on Harry’s lap. “Look, there’s colour coded slots for each subject and I’ve even put in Quidditch practice too. NEWTs aren’t far off and we need to be organised.”

Harry was looking at his boyfriend with a mixture of horror and betrayal.

“Why stop there. Why don’t you timetable…” He peered closer at the parchment. “You did! Draco, you scheduled our bloody sex life.”

The words came out louder than he expected, and a cluster of giggles sounded from a group of third year girls. Harry fixed them with a fierce glare; he hadn’t dated Draco for nearly three months without picking up a thing or too.

“It’s not sex,” Draco hissed quietly. “Well, not just sex,” he added. “I don’t see what the problem is.”

Harry slumped back against him with a pained groan. “I’m dating Hermione,” he moaned piteously.

For that remark, he found himself unceremoniously dumped onto the floor. As he looked up dazedly at his scowling boyfriend, the thought occurred to him that he was probably on a par with Ron when it came to saying the wrong thing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

During the first few weeks of term, Harry found that he didn’t get to see nearly as much of his boyfriend as he would have liked.

After spending the holidays together, Harry had gotten used to being with Draco constantly. He found that now they were back at school, he was seeing less of the blond than ever. It wasn’t just down to studying; the Slytherin/Ravenclaw game was approaching and Draco was determined to win. He had not given up on the idea of winning the Quidditch cup in his last year at school, and as such, was spending most of his spare time drilling his team mercilessly.

Harry tried hard not to mind. He knew that schoolwork was almost as important to Draco as it was to Hermione, but he rather suspected that the blond prized the Quidditch cup even higher than his NEWT results. Even as much as he wanted to win it for Gryffindor one last time, Harry secretly wanted to see the smile of pure joy that would certainly accompany Draco’s victory.

Following her apology to Pansy, Professor McGonagall had lifted Ginny’s ban on extra-curricular activities. This meant that the Gryffindor girl was once again free to play Quidditch.

Harry was rather surprised that the redhead hadn’t approached him yet about retaking her old place on the house team. He was quite relived that the subject hadn’t risen though. Because as good a chaser as Ginny was, Natalie McDonald had more than proved her worth in their last game, and Harry was loath to lose her. Plus, the younger girl didn’t come with all the attendant awkwardness and baggage that the older girl did.

However, with the start of team practices in the offing, Harry knew it was something he would have to address, sooner rather than later. Things between him and Ginny seemed to have settled down nicely. They would never be as close as they once were - too much had happened between them for that to happen. But they were getting along reasonably well and Harry didn’t want to do anything to damage that.

He was relieved the, when Ginny approached him herself and effectively resigned from the team. She had cited a desire to concentrate on her studies as the reason behind this decision. Harry didn’t although believe that, but as it had just avoided a potentially volatile situation he didn’t question it.

Since Ginny had apologised on the first night of term, Harry found himself observing the redhead discreetly. Always wanting to see the best in people, his first instinct had been to accept the apology at face value and put the conflict behind him.

Had it just been Draco who had cast doubt on the girl’s sincerity, then Harry would probably have dismissed it as part of his boyfriend’s cynical Slytherin nature. But when Neville, of all people, had voiced his suspicions, Harry had felt compelled to take notice.

Maybe because he wasn’t particularly observant, and tended to judge people based on his own standards of behaviour, Harry was unable to spot anything ‘off’ in Ginny’s behaviour. The girl behaved perfectly pleasant towards him and seemed more than happy with Wayne Hopkins.

Harry had even done some minor detective work and had questioned Ron about that particular relationship. Draco seemed to believe that it was all faked, but it looked real enough to Harry, and Ron revealed that the Hufflepuff boy had been a frequent visitor to the Burrow over the holidays. Apparently, Mrs Weasley had gotten quite flustered at the amount of times the two of them had disappeared off to Ginny’s room.

All of this put Harry’s mind at rest. And with the Quidditch issue resolved peacefully, he put Ginny Weasley from his thoughts entirely. Besides, the posters had just gone up in the common room advertising the date for the next Hogsmeade weekend, which meant that Harry had more pressing issues to worry about.