That night at the Gryffindor Tower had certainly been a tense one. Fred and George were testing their products on first year students, something Hermione didn’t approve of. She even went as far as to threaten sending word to Mrs. Weasley, something neither twin could believe.

Sirius and James looked shocked.

“That’s bellow the belt,” James spluttered.

 Mrs. Weasley would certainly send them a Howler at the first possible convenience. Hermione was definitely taking her Prefect position seriously while Ron seemed a little reluctant to get involved in situations that didn’t involve him or Harry.

Lily rose an eyebrow and looked pointedly at Remus who ducked his head and mumbled something inaudible.

“Hey, stop that!” Sirius cried shielding Remus.

“Moony may not do much in public but he tells us off in private, okay?” James said angry.

“Sorry,” Lily mumbled.

Since Harry had spent the previous night in the hospital wing, this was the first chance everyone in Gryffindor had to talk to Harry freely. It didn’t last long because Ron declared that anyone that bothered Harry would be given detention with Snape. That did the trick. Ron wasn’t really popular after that but Harry was left alone. Hermione, still furious with Fred and George, retreated to bed early with Ron giving up on his homework a short time later. Despite his own exhaustion, Harry knew that if he put off his homework he would regret it.

“I’m proud of Ron,” James said beaming. “Though he could have said Filch. Detention with Snape is just cruel.”

He tackled his Potions assignment first, finishing it an hour and a half later. By then there were only a few people in the Common Room. Rubbing his tired eyes, Harry started on his History of Magic assignment determined to finish it. Almost two hours later it was finished. Unable to keep his eyes open any longer, Harry called it a night. He set his alarm to go off early so he could go to the hospital wing and be back before anyone would notice. Harry also cast a few silencing charms around his four poster bed so in the chance he had a nightmare he didn’t wake anyone up.

The next morning came too fast for Harry’s liking. Pulling himself out of bed, Harry dressed as quietly as possible before leaving his dorm room to hurry to the hospital wing. To say that Madam Pomfrey was displeased about Harry’s state was a severe understatement. She recognized his exhaustion immediately and gave him a variety of potions that wouldn’t conflict with his prescribed one. By the time Harry left the hospital wing he was feeling better than he had in a long time. The pain from his still healing muscles had decreased and he was certainly more awake now.

Just like the day before, Harry settled at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, waiting for everyone else to wake up. He pulled out his dream journal and wrote down whatever he could remember from his dreams last night. There had been a few strange ones but at least he hadn’t seen the graveyard again. It wasn’t a nightly occurrence but it was still something Harry feared every night. He hated watching Cedric’s murder over and over again. He hated waking up screaming. He hated waking people up with his screaming.

It wasn’t long before people started entering for breakfast. Putting away his dream journal Harry pulled out his Charms book and gazing through it. Before Harry knew it someone sat down with a thump to his right followed by someone else sitting down gentler to his left. Harry had to bite back a smile as Hermione started to pour herself a cup of coffee while Ron started pilling food on his plate.

“Why didn’t you wake me up, Harry?” Ron asked as he covered his mouth to prevent a yawn from escaping. “I would have come with you.”

Harry closed his Charms book and looked at Ron with a raised eyebrow. Ron looked like he was about to fall back asleep as it was. “No, you wouldn’t have,” Harry said honestly. “I’ve been up for a while. Madam Pomfrey wanted to see me to make sure everything was all right.”

“I don’t think Ron would have wanted to wake up hours earlier than he had too,” Sirius snorted.

“He is speaking from experience,” James told Lily who giggled and then giggled harder at Sirius’ glare.

Hermione instantly touched Harry’s arm. “Is everything all right, Harry?” she asked. “You said that you were tired—”

“—which is to be expected considering that I had been taking naps at home,” Harry interrupted calmly. “Everything’s fine. Madam Pomfrey just wants to keep an eye on me for the rest of the week. She wants to be absolutely certain what happened on the train won’t postpone my recovery.” It was basically the truth. Besides, his right side was feeling a lot better today so why mention it and worry them?

“That’s a relief,” Ron said then started stuffing food in his mouth.

The Great Hall quickly filled with students and teachers. Looking up at the Head Table, Harry couldn’t help but notice the absence of a large friendly man by the name Hagrid. He let out a sigh as he grabbed a piece of toast. It had been almost two weeks since he had heard from Hagrid who was on a mission for Professor Dumbledore. The last thing Harry heard from his Care of Magical Creatures teacher was that ‘things were going slower than expected’ and Hagrid would see him as soon as possible. All Harry could do was hope Hagrid was all right.

“Don’t worry Harry. Hagrid can take care of himself,” Lily said confidently.

Double Charms was the first class of the day. Professor Flitwick spent at least the first quarter of an hour stressing the importance of the OWLs followed by the next hour reviewing Summoning Charms since they would be on the exam. At the end of class, Professor Flitwick assigned the largest Charms assignment they ever had. At that moment Harry was certainly glad he had stayed up last night so he could work on today’s assignments tonight.

Following Charms the fifth year Gryffindors had double Transfiguration. Once again they listened about the importance of their OWLs (which was already becoming an annoyance). Once the lecture was over, the class started working on Vanishing Spells, difficult magic that was bound to be on the OWL exam. For the remained of the class everyone tried to vanish the snails they were given. Hermione managed to successfully vanish her snail in three tries and Harry managed after five but they were the only two who were successful. Both Harry and Hermione earned ten points for Gryffindor and weren’t given homework. Everyone else had to practice tonight.

“You know, if teachers didn’t keep reminding us how OWLs are stressful and difficult many nervous breakdowns could be avoided,” Lily said knowingly. “I mean every second of every class they mention the damned OWLs. How are you supposed to keep calm like that?”

After a quick lunch was Care of Magical Creatures. The previous day’s rain had left the lawn soaked which made it an interesting experience traveling to Hagrid’s cabin by the Forbidden Forest, where class was held. Everyone tried to avoid the larger puddles but some were not so fortunate and had mud splattered on their clothes, causing several girls to complain (Parvati and Lavender being two of them).

“Girls,” Sirius snorted but when Lily glared at him he said quickly, “You aren’t Lily. I mean you are but you’re not you know? Not like that, all girly. Help here!”

“I think Padfoot that you should just cut your losses short and stop there,” Remus said patiently.

Since Hagrid was still away Professor Grubbly-Plank was his substitute. She stood about ten yards from the front door of the cabin with a trestle table covered with twigs in front of her. Once everyone arrived, she called the class to attention. Harry, Ron and Hermione stood at the end of the long table to the teacher’s left. “Good afternoon class,” Professor Grubbly-Plank said. “Can anyone tell me what these things in front of me are called?”

Hermione raised her hand instantly. Malfoy started to mock her, earning in snickers from his fellow Slytherins. Harry could only roll his eyes in annoyance as he knelt down for a closer look. Upon closer inspection Harry noticed that the twigs weren’t twigs at all. They resembled tiny pixies but looked to be made of wood. They had thin arms and legs and at the end of each hand had flat face with small brown eyes. Harry was about to back away when one of them moved and jumped on Harry’s left shoulder, causing a few of the students to cry out in surprise.

“Settle down!” Grubbly-Plank said sharply.

Trying to remain calm, Harry held his hand out, palm upwards by his left shoulder and let the creature jump on his hand before he returned it to the table. Glancing up at Professor Grubbly-Plank, Harry noticed that she was looking at him in surprise like she had last year when he had calmed down the unicorn. He really didn’t like that look. He only got that look when he did something no normal witch or wizard was supposed to do.

“Stop looking!” James cried.

Professor Grubbly-Plank finally returned her attention to the class and scattered a handful of some sort of brown rice substance amongst the stick-creatures. “Miss Granger,” she said at last. “What are these creatures?”

“Bowtruckles,” Hermione said instantly. “Tree-guardians that normally live in wand-trees. They eat woodlice and fairy eggs if they can get them.”

“Very good,” said Professor Grubbly-Plank. “Ten points to Gryffindor. Bowtruckles live in trees whose wood is able to be used for wands. Whenever you need leaves or wood from a tree where a Bowtruckle resides, it is smart to have a gift to distract them, such as woodlice. They don’t appear to be dangerous but their fingers are very sharp. Now, gather closer, take some woodlice and a Bowtruckle. There are enough for one between every three students. Study them closely. I expect a sketch of them with all of the body parts labeled at the end of the class.”

“I hate when teachers expect sketches,” Lily huffed. “What if you can’t draw?”

“They don’t expect a piece of art Lily,” James chuckled, “They are more interested in knowing f you can name the body parts.”

“Still!” she moaned.

Harry knelt down again and let the Bowtruckle jump back on his shoulder. Turning to Ron and Hermione, Harry saw that Hermione already had some woodlice in her hand. They walked over to a patch of grass away from everyone else. Hermione pulled out her wand and dried the ground so they could sit down. Harry sat down slowly so not to startle the Bowtruckle.

“Um…Harry, could you maybe get it to lie down on the ground?” Hermione asked.

Harry brought his right hand up to his left shoulder, palm up, and the Bowtruckle stepped on to it. Slowly, Harry lowered his hand and brought the creature in front of his face. It turned around and they looked into each other’s eyes for a long moment. Suddenly, Harry felt something he couldn’t explain. He felt a sense of peace and protectiveness mixed in with a little fear. The Bowtruckle was afraid of what they would do. Harry smiled at the creature and let his own feelings of curiosity and kindness mix with the sensations he was feeling. Slowly, Harry felt the fear fade away.

“Harry can feel what the Bowtruckle is feeling?” Lily asked. “Do you think Harry is some kind of empath?”

Remus looked pensive but James cried

“I sure hope not!”

“James-“ Lily was about to scold.

“You know what the Ministry will do if Harry is one?” he asked desperately, “They’ll make him spy for them. They will lock him up and use him like some weapon. No, no, no. Harry is not one.”

“He may be,” Remus said cautiously.

“No he is not!” James cried.

“Okay, he isn’t,” Sirius said, “But if he is, do you really think Moony and I will let the Ministry take Harry?”

James looked a little pacified by this but was still mumbling that Harry was not an empath.

“She’s a she not an ‘it’, Hermione,” Harry said softly as he slowly lowered the Bowtruckle to the ground, his eyes never leaving the creature. “She’s afraid of what we may do to her. I’m trying to reassure her but right now just be patient.”

The Bowtruckle stepped off Harry’s hand onto the ground. With his left hand, Harry motioned for her to lie down on the ground, hoping that the Bowtruckle would understand. She did and slowly lowered herself so that she was lying down, her eyes never leaving Harry who smiled at her and gave her some woodlice. Ron and Hermione immediately started to draw with Harry following suit. It didn’t take them long to finish then to start labeling. As soon as they were done, Harry motioned for the Bowtruckle to stand up then gently put her back on his shoulder where she waited patiently.

“I think that’s everything,” Hermione said with a smile as she rolled up her completed diagram then looked around at the other groups who were still working on their drawings and talking to each other. “I think we’re the first group done.”

“Well it helps when you can talk to—er—her,” Ron said with a shrug then looked at Harry curiously. “So how’d you do it, Harry?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders. This time he was being completely honest. He didn’t know how he knew what to do. He just did what felt right. “I can’t it explain it,” he said as he rolled up his diagram. “She was afraid we would hurt her to I tried to reassure her that we wouldn’t. It was the same with the unicorn last year. He was afraid of us. They don’t understand our curiosity for them since they have none for us.”

“Yes, I remember that. Harry helped and he knew what the unicorn was feeling-“

“LILY! Stop that! Our son is not an empath!”

Hermione thought for a moment before nodding. “Actually that makes sense,” she said. “I never thought of it that way. These creatures are pulled out of their homes so we can learn about them. Maybe you should tell Professor Grubbly-Plank, Harry. I don’t think anyone has ever thought of the creature’s point of view. Think of how much help you could be in classes!”

“NO, DON’T DO THAT!” James cried, “She’ll tell the Ministry!”

Harry shook his head. “No way,” he said firmly. “I saw the look on Grubbly-Plank’s face. This sort of thing isn’t normal. I don’t need any more attention. Come on, class is about to end. We should hand in our assignments.”

“Good boy,” James said relieved.

Knowing that the conversation was over, Harry slowly stood up and strolled over to Professor Grubbly-Plank with Ron and Hermione following him. They handed in their assignments then returned the Bowtruckle to the table after bidding her farewell then left for the greenhouses where they had Herbology shortly. Just as they reached the greenhouses the bell rang and students started filing out. They knew it was a fourth-year class because Ginny was one of the first ones out.

“Hi!” Ginny said with a smile as soon as she saw Harry, Ron and Hermione. “How’s your day so far?”

“Long,” Ron answered bitterly. “Everyone’s giving us homework.”

Harry shook his head and rubbed his eyes under his glasses before looking back at Ginny. “In other words the rumors of the fifth year being stressful are certainly true,” he clarified. “See you at dinner?”

Ginny’s smile widened. “Of course!” she exclaimed then started to move on with the rest of her classmates. “See you all then! Have fun!”

“What’s she all excited about?” Sirius asked bewildered.

“Harry said: See you at dinner,” Lily said knowingly. Sirius just stared at her lost. “I think she has a little crush on Harry.”

“But he didn’t ask her out to dinner!” Sirius said lost.

“Still, she got excited,” she said smiling.

“Girls are just weird!” Sirius said throwing his arms up.

“I would stop there Padfoot before you have a repeat of what you said a few minutes ago,” Remus said wisely.

Ron let out a huff. “Have fun,” he muttered. “She’s too chipper for her own good.”

“And you’re too moody,” Hermione countered as she led the way into the greenhouse. “Honestly Ron, do you really have to complain about everything. I would expect to hear something from Harry with the way everyone’s treating him but you have been irritable all day. Why?”

“Er—nothing,” Ron said uncomfortably as he dropped his schoolbag on the ground. “There’s just so much homework. We still have yesterday’s homework in addition to todays. Do you know how long it’s going to take us to do Snape’s essay tonight? We also have History, Charms and I have Transfiguration. I’m going to be up all night!”

Harry and Hermione shared a glance but remaining silent as fifth year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs entered the greenhouse. Who would have thought Ron would be so stressed on the second day of school? Hermione was usually the only one vocal about homework although, Harry had no doubt that he probably would be stressing out too if he hadn’t finished two of his assignments last night.

“Well fifth year is stressful,” Remus pointed out. “But there is definitely something off with Ron.”

Once class begun, Professor Sprout addressed the importance of the OWL exams before setting them to work with dragon dung fertilizer, Professor Sprout’s favorite. At the end of class they were given another essay to complete before being dismissed, leaving Ron in an even worse mood than he had been in before class if that was possible.

Hungry and aware of the long night ahead of them, Harry, Ron and Hermione grabbed an early dinner (with Ginny joining them just as they started eating) before retreating back to the Gryffindor Tower. Ron and Hermione were shocked to hear that Harry already had two assignments completed and tackled those first while Harry started on his Charms homework. After pulling out some of his own books that he had in his trunk, Harry was able to finish the assignment just as Ron and Hermione were nearly finished with their Potions essay. Harry then moved on to his Herbology essay, which was nowhere near as difficult as the Charms assignment, and finished it in no time.

Ron had finished two essays and his Charms homework before he claimed that he needed some fresh air. Hermione moved to object but Harry silenced her with a look. Perhaps some fresh air was exactly what Ron needed right now. Ron didn’t enjoy schoolwork like Hermione and wasn’t healing from injuries like Harry. Deep down Harry knew something else was going on with his best friend but he didn’t know how to ask.

“But if he is so stressed about homework putting it off will only make things worse. They will keep piling up,” Lily said but the boys just shrugged. She huffed in response.

The next morning transpired the same as the previous. Harry woke up early, was checked over by Madam Pomfrey and ended up sitting in the Great Hall writing in his dream journal before anyone else had arrived. His right side only ached every now and then which pleased Madam Pomfrey immensely. By tomorrow Harry would be pain free and by the end of next week Madam Pomfrey assured Harry he would be able to start flying again with supervision. However, this meant that Harry would be grounded for the tryouts, something he needed to talk to Angelina about. He could only hope that she wouldn’t be mad about it.

“She has nothing to be mad about and if she is I’ll have a nice chat with her,” Sirius said his eyes glinting dangerously.

“I’m sure she won’t,” Remus said reassuringly patting Sirius.

By the time Ron and Hermione sat down beside him, Harry had the dream that he could remember documented. It was strange. For the third night in a row there had been no dreams of the third task. Those dreams made sense. Seeing Cedric die over and over again, although hard to deal with, was considered normal. His recent dreams with nothing more then colors, distorted voices and a sense of protectiveness with a hint fear. If that wasn’t strange enough whenever Harry woke up the feelings remained before slowly fading away.

“That could be explained if Harry was feeling someone else’s-“ Lily faltered at James’ glare.

Hermione slowly poured herself a cup of coffee as Harry put his dream diary away. “No offense, Harry, but how in the world can you be so awake to be doing schoolwork?” she asked tiredly. “You’re getting less sleep than we are but don’t look tired in the slightest. No one changes from the way you were two days ago to the way you are now that fast.”

Harry shrugged at the comment. “I’m used to getting up early,” he said offhandedly. “I guess I just needed a day to recover from what happened on the train. I also haven’t had any nightmares since I got here so I’m actually sleeping through the night. Going to bed early last night probably helped too.”

“So are you looking forward to tryouts on Friday, Harry?” Ron asked as he piled food on his plate.

“It’s hard to say,” Harry answered honestly. “It’s going to be hard for whoever is chosen to live up to what Oliver accomplished as a Keeper. I had to live up to Charlie’s accomplishments when I joined. It’s not easy living in someone’s shadow. I’m probably more worried about the stress Angelina’s going to put on the person than anything.”

“Do you have any idea what the tryout is going to be like?” Ron asked curiously.

Harry shook his head. “Whatever Angelina has planned I can’t participate,” he admitted. Ron and Hermione looked at Harry in confusion. Harry had to admit that the thought of him not participating on anything Quidditch related was as likely as Malfoy being nice. “Oh, I—er—I’m grounded until at least next week. Madam Pomfrey’s orders.”

“Torturer,” James mumbled.

Hermione gave Harry a reassuring smile while Ron seemed to be disappointed. With Divination first thing this morning, Harry and Ron left the Great Hall early for the North Tower. They were among the first few to arrive giving Ron plenty of time to makeup a few dreams for his dream journal. Most of Divination class was spent on understanding the hidden meanings of dreams before Professor Trelawney reminded everyone to keep writing in their journals.

Transfiguration passed by slowly with Harry and Hermione being separated from the rest of the class and instructed to be able to cast the Vanishing Spell in just one try while everyone else tried to cast the spell for the first time. By the end of class both Harry and Hermione had managed their task, earning another ten points each for Gryffindor.

Professors McGonagall, Grubbly-Plank and Sinistra gave more homework meaning another long night for all of the fifth year Gryfindors. That night Harry did manage to talk to Angelina Johnson about the tryouts on Friday. She didn’t like Madam Pomfrey’s orders but accepted the fact that Harry had no choice in being grounded. Like the previous nights Harry tackled his homework with Ron and Hermione and like the previous night Ron left saying he needed some air after a few assignments were completed.

“He’s up to something,” Sirius said in a singsong voice.

The remainder of the week seemed to pass in the same manner for Harry. He got up early, was checked over by Madam Pomfrey, went through classes, received homework, completed the homework, and went to bed. Before Harry knew it classes had ended on Friday meaning he had to catch an early dinner before meeting the rest of the team out on the pitch.

When Harry arrived Angelina was already preparing for the tryouts. He helped her finish up as the rest of the team arrived. Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell helped in pulling the brooms out of the closet for students to use. Fred and George ushered in the students trying out for the open position. Harry couldn’t keep himself from grinning when he saw Ron enter the pitch. So this was what he had been up to.

“Ha! Told you!” Sirius cried.

There were ten trying out for the position. Harry watched from the ground as his teammates tried to score on each Keeper. Ten attempts were made for each Keeper, easily cutting the group down to five and then three. Ron looked extremely nervous but had only allowed three goals to be scored each time. He had the basics down but it appeared that he wasn’t completely comfortable on his broom yet. After the second round Harry shot red sparks into the air signaling to his teammates that he wanted to talk to them. Darkness had fallen leaving the nearly full moon as their only source of light in the partially cloudy night.

Remus shivered and James said calmly while Sirius rubbed circles on Remus’ back.

“Nearly full Moony. Nearly.”

Angelina and Katie were the first to land. “Something wrong, Harry?” Katie asked curiously.

“I have an idea,” Harry said as he re-holstered his wand. He knew the Weasleys were purebloods and most likely wouldn’t understand what he was thinking but hoped that it would help in deciding who was best for the position. “Tell everyone to land. I want to try something.”

Angelina eyed Harry curiously before taking off on her broom and instructing everyone to land. Once everyone was on the ground, Harry nodded his thanks to Angelina before taking over. He signaled for Fred to hand over the Quaffle and without a word threw it as hard as he could at Ron. A few people cried out in shock only to let out a relieved sigh when Ron caught it. Harry motioned for Ron to toss it back and once Harry had it in his hands threw it at the only female finalist, Vicky Frobisher. She caught it but not as firmly as Ron. After she tossed it back, Harry glanced at Angelina and saw that she understood where he was going with this. Without even looking at the finalists, Harry threw the Quaffle at the third finalist, Geoffrey Hopper, who caught it firmly.

“There are many aspects to the role each of you want to play on this team but this is the most important,” Harry said to the finalists. “It is your duty to prevent this Quaffle from going through one of the goal posts, no matter how many distractions may be around you.” Harry motioned for Geoffrey to toss back the Quaffle, which he did. Harry then threw it between Ron and Vicky. Ron quickly moved and caught it then tossed it back. “It will rarely come right at you,” Harry added. “You will need to use every part of your body, including your broom, to prevent this ball from getting past you.”

“He is so smart,” James puffed proudly, “Just like his dad.”

“You had to ruin it,” Lily snorted. “Couldn’t haves stopped at ‘smart’?”

Harry handed the Quaffle over to Angelina before approaching the finalists. “Turn around and look up,” he said and waited for the three finalists to do so. “That is your domain, your territory, your area of concern. You must protect it at all costs because unless you do our positions won’t matter. I trust you all remember the World Cup. Even with Krum catching the Snitch, Bulgaria still lost the game because Ireland scored so much. That is how important a Keeper is to a team.”

After a moment of silence Harry turned and walked back to his teammates, leaving the finalists to think about what he said. In all honestly Harry had no idea where any of that came from but he wasn’t about to tell anyone that. “They’re all yours,” Harry said quietly to Angelina who nodded in response before stepping forward.

“Harry is right,” Angelina said. “The Keeper is an extremely important position. That is why we’re being so thorough. Now, if you’ll mount your brooms we will have one more round before making our decision.”

Everyone but Harry mounted a broom and took to the air. Harry watched the final round and was amazed at the change in the finalists. Ron only missed one attempt while Vicky and Geoffrey missed two. It was certainly going to be a tough decision. All three of them would need a lot of practice with the team before the first game. Harry was just glad that he wasn’t the Captain. He didn’t think he could make such a difficult decision.

Everyone landed on the ground. The three finalists waited nervously as Angelina motioned for the team to follow her. They huddled fifteen feet away from the three Keeper hopefuls. Angelina looked tired and nervous as she looked at the team members hopefully. “What do you think?” she asked. “I had talked to Vicky before tryouts and she said that she is in a Charms Club that is her first priority. We need a Keeper who will make the team their first priority.”

“Of course!” James cried, “Quidditch comes first!” The others just rolled their eyes.

“Well, Hopper and Frobisher seem a little more stable on their brooms,” Katie Bell pointed out quietly. “We can’t have someone falling off their broom in the middle of the game. On the other hand, Ron does have his own broom. He doesn’t have to use the old school ones that look like one Bludger could finish them off.”

“Ron just got his broom,” George clarified. “He hasn’t had much time to practice on it in the last few days. If you want someone dedicated to Quidditch, Ron’s your player. He knows everything about the game.”

“I think that was the point Harry was trying to make when he threw the Quaffle at them while standing on the ground,” Alicia said. “With practice anyone can manage a broom. The question is who do we feel most comfortable giving the position to?”

Everyone looked at Angelina, awaiting an answer. Fred, George and Harry really couldn’t have a say because of Ron so that left the three girls to make the decision. Angelina, Katie and Alicia huddled together and talked quietly for a few minutes. Fred, George and Harry gave them their space and walked over to the finalists who were looking rather nervous. Ron looked at Harry for an explanation of what was going on but only received a discrete shake of the head.

“What’s going on?” asked Geoffrey.

“Angelina’s getting some final input before she makes her decision,” Fred said with a grin. “It shouldn’t be too long.”

It hadn’t taken long before Angelina, Katie and Alicia approached with relieved looks on their faces. They had made a decision and everyone knew it. “First off, I want to thank you three for coming out tonight,” Angelina said to the finalists. “You all are talented but we can only choose one of you. The decision is based completely on ability, please understand that. The new Keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team is Ron Weasley.”

“Actually it would have been smarter to choose two,” Lily said.

“Lily,” James explained slowly. “In Quidditch there is only one keeper.”

“I know that,” she rolled her eyes. “But why don’t you ever have a reserve team?”

“A what?” Sirius asked.

“Muggles have reserves for every position in their sports,” Remus explained. “So if a player gets hurt and can’t play they can put the reserve on. Lily is actually right, in the Wizarding World if a player gets hurt the team has to forfeit the game.”

“Interesting,” James eyes were glinting.

“Oh no,” Sirius said worried. “James is scheming. Every man for himself!” he finished ducking in the bed and hiding under the covers.

Ron’s eyes went wide with shock as he was immediately congratulated by the team members and the other finalists. When the shock finally did wear off, Ron had the biggest smile on his face as Fred and George patted him on the back proudly. Harry couldn’t help but smile at the three Weasley brothers. It was amazing that with everything going on and the differences between them the Weasley family could still be as close as ever. Despite the carefree front Fred and George put up for everyone, they were just as protective and as proud of their family as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

That night there was a party in the Gryffindor Common Room but it wasn’t long before everyone called it a night. Many were exhausted from the overabundance of homework and wanted nothing other than a good night’s rest. It had certainly been a long first week for everyone, especially the fifth and seventh year students. Everyone was looking forward to the weekend although there was no doubt it was going to be anything but relaxing.