If It's Meant to Be

 

Chapter Five - Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff

 

It was Thursday night, and it was the first Quidditch match of the season. Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. The common room was buzzing with anticipation, as people were getting ready to go down to the field. Ron was sitting in an armchair, skimming through the copy of Flying with the Cannons, which, he painfully remembered, was borrowed from Harry. He sat quietly, distractedly watching the players zoom around the pages, scoring goals, or hitting bludgers.

 

"Ron?" He looked up; it was his sister, Ginny.

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Aren't you going to the match? You'd better get ready."

 

"Um, no, I'm not."

 

"What do you mean you're not? Have you got detention or something? Why aren't you going?"

 

"I'm…not feeling well…"

 

"Then you should go up to the hospital wing before the match, so you can go," she said, and joined a couple other fourth years at the portrait hole. "See you there!"

 

"Yeah, sure," Ron called back, without enthusiasm. No, I won't see you there.

 

In his first four years at Hogwarts, Ron had never missed a Gryffindor Quidditch match. Today, however, he would. He didn't want to go. He couldn't stand to see Harry, after what he had heard last night. He couldn't bear to see Cho in the stands, cheering him on, either. Thinking about her, he once again saw the image in his head that had been tormenting him all day: Harry and Cho, in the Owlery, leaning forward to kiss…

 

He slammed the book shut. He turned, and was making his way towards the stairs when he collided headlong with Seamus Finnigan, who had just come down.

 

"Ouch! You okay, Ron?" He said, helping him up.

 

"Er…um, yeah, fine. Uh…sorry…I wasn't watching where I was going," he said sheepishly.

 

"Hey! No problem! You coming to the match, right?" Seamus was the new Gryffindor Keeper.

 

"Of course," Ron said without thinking, still embarrassed that he'd run into him.

 

"Cool! See you, then!" and he hurried past Ron.

 

Ron felt like banging his head against a wall. What was I thinking? Now I have to go, don't I? Well, he thought resignedly. I might as well. Wouldn't do to miss the Quidditch match just because the rest of my life sucks. I don't even have to watch Harry play. I'll just watch the rest of the match…

 

Who am I kidding? I may not want to talk to him, but I want to see him play.

 

He ran upstairs to change.

 

*~~~~*~~~~*

 

Ron walked to the Quidditch pitch in a sort of mental fog. He found his seat and amused himself by staring at nothing. He felt Hermione take the seat on the bench next to him. He didn't turn his head to look at her.

 

She leaned over next to him, her voice close to her ear. "Ron?" She said softly. "What's wrong with you?" He said nothing. "Please."

 

"Harry," he mouthed, but no sound could escape his mouth.

 

"Huh?"

 

He turned his head to face her, and she could see the bare misery that was etched onto his freckled face. "Harry," he croaked as he found his voice again.

 

"You told him." It wasn't a question.

 

"Yeah, and…"

 

"I know," she said, cutting him off. "He told me."

 

"What? He did?" He was trying to act surprised. He didn't want her to know that he'd been listening in to their conversation last night. "What did he tell you happened?"

 

She relayed the same story Harry had told her last night.

 

"Yeah, that's pretty much how it happened, but…well?"

 

"Well what?"

 

"What did he say?" He knew, but he needed to hear it from her again.

 

"He said…he doesn't know how he feels about you. I think he got a bit spooked when he woke up next to you."

 

"I don't suppose it matters now, does it," he said bitterly. "After all, he's got Cho Chang to fool around with now…" He scowled darkly around the rapidly filling stadium, looking, until he found her sitting with a group of Ravenclaws. He glared at her.

 

"What?!" Hermione gasped.

 

"Yeah. I saw them, that morning he kicked me out, coming out to the Quidditch field, alone. And then last night, I heard him say they were snogging in the Owlery."

 

Oops! Said too much…but he couldn't help it. It hurt so much…

 

"What? Where'd you get that idea?"

 

"I…nowhere," he said innocently.

 

"Where, Ron?"

 

"I, um…" he turned away, embarrassed. "I used an Eavesdropping Charm last night before I went to bed…"

 

"You what? How could you, Ron? As pleased as I am that you've learned it...still!"

 

"I—I'm sorry, Hermione, it's just that I had to know."

 

"Well," she said huffily, "if you were listening, then you should know that they weren't snogging."

 

"Oh, come off it, Hermione. Of course they were! Just before the charm wore off I heard him say that she was leaning towards him. You don't expect me to believe that she was checking his teeth for bits of spinach, do you?"

 

"It wore off…that's right. It only lasts an hour. Oh, Ron. He didn't kiss her. He stopped her, told her no."

 

Ron blinked. "W—What?"

 

"I said he didn't kiss her!" She said this quite loudly, and Lavender and Parvati who were seated behind them, leaned forward.

 

"Who didn't kiss who?" Parvati asked, always eager for the latest gossip.

 

"Um, no one…don't worry about it. Just a book I was reading," Hermione told her.

 

"Oh," Parvati said, not sounding convinced, but she leaned back, and continued the conversation she was having with Lavender.

 

"But why?" Ron asked.

 

"Well, he said it was because he couldn't stop thinking about you."

 

Ron sat in stunned silence. A grin split his face for the first time in five days. "He…really said that?"

 

"Yes. Would I make that up?"

 

"No, no. No way! I just…find it a little hard to believe…but, wow…"

 

Hermione started to say something, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of Lee Jordan's magically amplified voice. "Students and staff! Welcome to the very first Quidditch contest of the season, between Hufflepuff" loud cheers "and Gryffindor!" Deafening cheers.

 

All eyes were trained on the middle of the field, where the teams stood. Harry, the new captain, was shaking hands with the Hufflepuff captain, a sixth year boy whom Ron didn't know. For a moment, Harry looked up into the crowd at Ron, and their eyes met. Ron gave Harry a small smile, and a wave. If Harry had been on his broom he would've fallen off, such was the look of surprise on his face. He gave a small wave back, and mounted his broom.

 

And they were off, fifteen broomsticks rising up into the air to thunderous cheering. Ron spent the majority of the match watching Harry circle, looking for the Snitch. He occasionally paid attention to the rest of the game, and Lee Jordan's commentary:

 

"—Hufflepuff in possession, Bones with the Quaffle. She shoots—save Finnigan!" A cheer went up from the Gryffindors. "Gryffindor now in possession, Bell with the Quaffle, to Johnson, back to Bell, Bell shoots, Bell scores!"

 

The stands erupted with cheers, Ron along with them. "And Gryffindor now leads sixty points to ten." Lee Jordan was saying.

 

"Hey, Hermione," Ron said, "Mind if I borrow your Omnioculars? I left mine back in the dorms."

 

"Sure," she handed them over, looking relieved that Ron seemed to be back to normal.

 

He put them to his eyes, and began following Harry around the sky as play resumed. He saw Harry's eyes light up. He was looking across the field. He must have seen the Snitch. Ron followed his line of sight and noticed that if it was where Harry had seen it, the Hufflepuff Seeker Hannah Abbott was a lot closer. He saw Harry screw up his face in determination, and dive in the other direction.

 

"Potter's seen the Snitch!" Lee bellowed.

 

But…no. Ron's jaw dropped as he saw the words flashing purple across the lenses of the Omnioculars: "Wronski Defensive Feint—Dangerous Seeker Diversion." Ron felt a twinge of unease. The Wronski Feint was designed to draw the opposing team's Seeker away from the Snitch. It was dangerous because it involved going into a headlong dive straight at the ground. Harry had seen Viktor Krum perform the move at the Quidditch World Cup last year, but as far as Ron knew, had never tried it himself.

 

Until now.

 

The crowd roared as Harry dove toward the ground, Hannah behind him. As he was about to pull out of the dive and pelt after the Snitch, several things happened at once.

 

George Weasley was racing towards Katie Bell, to swat away an oncoming bludger. Fred was on his way to intercept the other bludger, when he nearly collided with Susan Bones, one of the Hufflepuff Chasers, who hadn't seen him. He was knocked off course, and the bludger continued on its course, straight towards the ground.

 

Straight towards Harry. Ron screamed, "Look out!" But Harry could never hear him over the roaring crowd.

 

With a sickening thud that echoed throughout the arena, the bludger smacked Harry square on the side of the head.

 

He fell sideways off his broom and hit the ground at high speed, landing with a crunch and rolling a few times before settling in a heap.

 

A heap that didn't move.