< b>Chapter 18 “ Don’t Stop Here
“Even the best fall down sometime
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
I somehow find you and I collide.”
- “Collide” by Howie Day
----
Ron seemed very reluctant as he looked at Hermione, one eyebrow raised in a form of disbelief.
Hermione simply sighed with sleepiness and continued to hold her arms out.
Eventually, Ron managed to give up the sleeping baby he held in his hands and take a few steps back from the hospital bed, now looking at his wife and daughter with anxiety.
“I still don’t like it,” he reminded her carefully.
Rolling her eyes, Hermione let out a tired laugh. “And I won’t like the grief that I will receive ten years from now if you don’t go.”
Ron glanced towards the door where his broom and bag were propped against the wall.
Looking back at Hermione, he couldn’t believe the words that came out of his mouth. “It’s just a game.”
This time Hermione laughed a bit louder and pulled her daughter closed to her. “Right, and I’m just a muggle-born.” She tilted her head towards him and they just looked at each other for a moment. “Come here.” She motioned with her arms.
Ron immediately moved forward, gathering her into a careful hug, but holding tight enough that she knew he meant it.
“I’m alright, the baby is alright.” She pulled back and looked at him seriously. “I’m just going to be sitting in this hospital bed for the next week. You need to go to that game.”
Heaving an almost resigned sigh, Ron bit his bottom lip. “I’ll come right back when it’s over.”
Hermione blushed a bit as she smiled. “I’d like that.”
Leaning forward, Ron gave her a long, deep kiss, the kind they hadn’t shared for several days, and he felt her melt under his touch. As he pulled back, he leaned down and kissed their sleeping daughter softly on the cheek.
“I love you,” he whispered to them both, his eyes traveling from the newborn to Hermione.
“Love you…” Hermione’s reply was very soft and sincere.
As he went over to the door, slinging his pack on his shoulders and picking up his broom, he stopped short, suddenly turning around and looking at Hermione seriously.
“Have you said her name to her yet?” he asked softly.
Hermione frowned a bit. “No…why?”
“Watch,” Ron grinned, walking back towards the bed and leaning down to whisper in his daughter’s ear, making sure Hermione could still see her face.
“I love you, Gracie,” he said in a barely-there voice.
The tiny mouth curved into a slight smile and Grace’s hands gripped her blanket just a bit tighter.
----
The worst day of Harry’s life dawned far too cheerful.
A few birds that were singing outside of his bedroom window scattered away quickly as an old textbook came flying out of the open window.
Harry rubbed the remaining sleep out of his eyes, grateful that the birds were gone, but now remembering exactly why this was going to be the worst day of his life.
His eyes found the clock on the wall and he moved a little faster as he saw it was already eight and the game started at ten.
Unable to find Ron last night at the hospital, Harry had returned home, deciding that he might be able to catch Ron at the stadium before the game. He had convinced Draco to come with him to the game and was just now remembering that the Malfoy heir would be showing up at his doorstep at any minute.
A ring through the house announced that Draco was on time, as always, and Harry, in a furry of clothes, pulled on his last shoe as he hurried down the stairs, flinging open the door quickly before making his way into the kitchen without even so much as a “Hello”.
“What happened to your alarm clock?” Draco queried, following Harry into the kitchen and looking amused. “Did it break?”
Harry shook his head as he filled the coffee maker with some mixture and turned it on. “No, it got hit with an old transfiguration textbook.”
Draco seemed to find nothing unusual about this and sat down at Harry’s table. “Lupin said he and Tonks were going to the game as well. I’m sure Weasllette is going to be there. Wanna tell me why you’re dragging me into this?”
Harry managed to look amused as he poured himself some coffee. “Quidditch, Draco? You would turn down free tickets to a pre-game for the Quidditch World Cup?”
“Obviously I didn’t turn them down, Potter, which is why I’m here.” He accepted some coffee from Harry. “I want to know your reason for my being here.”
Harry let the coffee wake him up a bit before he replied. “It’s kind of a long story. Mostly, I guess, I don’t want Emily to get any more of my friends involved.”
“So you’re saying I’m not one of your friends?” Draco said with a chuckle.
“No,” Harry drained the last of his coffee. “I’m saying you’re one of the friends I don’t care the most about.” He smirked over at Draco. “How do you deal with that?”
Draco put his empty cup on the counter and started towards the door. “I remind myself that I hate you too.”
Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation and followed Draco to the door, grabbing a light cloak and locking the door behind them.
----
Ginny wailed at the sight in the mirror, looking horrified at herself.
“I can’t go out in public like this!” She practically cried, turning around to face Riley. “Can’t you do any more?”
The fight the previous night had seemed like a good idea at the time, and even right afterwards when they had left Emily staggering home and had bought a round for everyone in the club, it wasn’t that big of a deal.
But now dealing with a black eye, bruised arms and a crick in her neck, Ginny might have rethought her decision.
“If you want to get rid of the black eye you have to drink the potion, Gin. I can’t do that with my wand. Same goes for the bruises.” Riley looked perfect, as always. She had downed several of her homemade healing potions that Ginny always swore she would never consume, and they had done their job, leaving her with no signs of the fight the previous night.
Ginny pouted childishly and turned back to the mirror, putting more make up in her hands as she attempted the “muggle remedy”, as Riley called it, of covering up her bruises.
“It won’t work!” Riley called out to her, disappearing back into their bedroom.
Ginny gave another cry of frustration before charming her face clean of makeup and trudging downstairs to find a clothespin to put on her nose as she drank Riley’s potions.
----
Harry wasn’t that surprised to run into Emily, but he couldn’t keep down the bout of chuckles that rose as he saw her appearance.
“You look like you got hit by a truck,” he said evenly, continuing to walk towards his seat in the stadium as she came up along side of him.
“Or something to that effect,” Emily said, her voice a bit more shaky than usual. But she managed a sweet smile anyways. “In a hurry, dear?”
“The game’s about to start,” Harry snapped, feeling out of temper with her already. Looking for Ron had been a lost cause from the start. The fact that this whole day could be a lot less stressful for both of them was obviously not enough for Harry to locate Ron in the crowd of the Cannon locker rooms.
A few more flights of stairs landed him on the upper balcony, a flash of Draco’s platinum hair leading him quickly to his seat.
A glance behind him also told him that Emily was gone again.
Good riddance, he thought, sitting down next to Draco and watching as the starting players entered the field.
----
“I see him! Look, look!”
Riley handed the omnioculars over to Ginny pointing towards the other side of the stadium near the head box at the top.
Ginny focused on the area she was pointing and got a nice view of Draco Malfoy before she moved next to him and found Harry.
He looked in the same state as he had last night: nervous, depressed and very anxious about something. The roar of the opening play sounded around them and the players began zooming across the field, but Ginny paid them no mind. She zoomed in closer to his face and saw him focusing fiercely on one of the players.
A zoom out and closer inspection told her he was glaring at Ron who was poised evenly before the Cannon’s three hoops.
“Well, he looks pissed at Ron for some reason,” Ginny said offhandedly, handing Riley back her omnioculars so she could watch the game. She blew out a short sigh and leaned her chin on one hand. “I never know what’s going on.”
----
Hermione adjusted the volume of the wireless a bit lower as she saw Gracie drift off to sleep, her own eyes feeling very heavy, but determined to listen to the entire game.
----
Emily watched Harry and Ron closely as the game went into hour number two. The Cannon’s standby Seeker, Stempski, wasn’t doing that bang up of a job. Twice already the Wasps’ seeker had been close to catching the snitch, only to be stopped by the Cannon’s beaters sending blugers his way.
Weasley, however, was playing in top form….most of the time. She could see him loose confidence at different times and even purposely miss catching a few goals, which seemed to aggravate his teammates to no end.
Harry, however, seemed much more calm and collected than Emily knew he should have been. She had made sure that Harry wasn’t about to talk to Ron before the start of the game, but could there possibly have been some other reason for his cool behavior?
Another goal scored by the Wasps brought her attention back to the game and she smiled at the Keeper’s obvious cursing as he flew back around to get into position.
Ah yes, she thought, the cat is in the bag.
----
Three hours in, and Harry knew he was starting to sweat.
The Cannons were down by over 100 points, Stempski acting like a house elf on a broom and Ron missing every other goal, seemingly, on purpose. Harry saw the exhaustion and disbelief on the Cannon team’s faces as they struggled to understand what was wrong with their coach. Ron had so far called no time outs and was ignoring any comments made to him by his teammates.
Somehow, someone was going to have to get to him, and fast.
Harry’s time was running out.
----
“I can’t take this any more,” Ginny said abruptly after Ron finally decided to block a goal, raising a rousing roar of cheers throughout the stadium from the Cannon’s fans. She stood, grabbing her cloak. “I’ve just got to go talk to him.”
Riley gave her a doubtful look. “What makes you think he’s going to tell you anything? Besides, he’s with Malfoy. I didn’t even go to the same school as the guy, but I already know he hates my guts.”
Ginny calmly looked back at Riley and replied, “He’ll talk to me.”
“Fine,” Riley got up as well, “but if you’re not making me stay here, I’m leaving too.”
----
“Harry, look….over there.”
Draco handed Harry his omnioculars and pointed towards the other side of the stadium in the crowd. After a bit of searching, he found Ginny and Riley, both of them sitting calmly in their seats. Riley had never been the biggest Quidditch fan and it showed on her plainly uninterested face.
Suddenly, he saw Ginny stand up and start to go, exchanging a few words with Riley before they both left for the exit.
Throwing inhibition to the wind, Harry shoved the omnioculars into Draco’s hands and rushed back down the stairs, painfully ignoring another cheer from the Wasps’ fans.
----
Ron let another goal get through, blinking back the looks of disappointment and even anger from his teammates.
How in the world was he doing this to them?
He glanced out onto his players, most of them standby teammates, the prime team either sick or out of the country, all except for him.
He thought of his first game playing, when he had conned himself into the game, taking out Daughterly and thereby saving the game for all of them.
He thought of the thrill of victory when he realized that even though he was just a stand-by, he had actually done it and he had actually accomplished something.
He thought of the disappointment on all of his team’s faces as they realized they had lost the first game they actually got to play in.
He thought of Hermione.
He thought of Gracie.
He blocked the next goal.
----
She ran into him quickly.
Quite literally.
“Oh, err…sorry Gin.” Harry reached a hand down to help her up from the ground, her face red with embarrassment as the people around the concession stands gave them both funny looks.
“Here, let’s go out here.”
His hand didn’t let go once she was on her feet. He pulled her out into the sunlight outside of the stadium and away from the prying eyes of the witches and wizards who were stuffing their faces on overpriced food.
“Sorry about that, again,” he said, looking a bit embarrassed. “I guess I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“Me either,” she replied, managing a smile and noticing that Riley had “conveniently” stopped at an ice cream booth and had left them both alone.
They stood in an awkward silence for a few moments, both of them trying to avoid one another’s eyes without being too obvious.
“I hear congratulations are in order,” Ginny said carefully.
“What?” That seemed to have gotten his attention and he looked her right in the eyes.
“Congratulations.” She said it firmer this time, gauging his reaction carefully. “Don’t you like to be congratulated?”
“Well, who doesn’t? But most of the time I like it better if I know what I’m being congratulated for.”
Ginny felt her heart slow down a bit. “You’re getting married I hear.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m guessing you were the one who met up with Emily last night and put those smashing colors on her face.”
For a moment she thought he was going to be angry with her, but then he smiled.
“I should have guessed it was you.”
“So you’ve seen her today then?” Ginny asked reluctantly.
“Unfortunately, yes.” He did look apologetic for that fact.
“But you never answered my question.” She pressed. “For some reason she has it in her head that you two are getting married.” This time her eyes narrowed up at him.
He looked nervous again. “Does she?”
“You don’t seem to be disputing it, Mr. Potter,” she said warningly. “Despite that I am your best friend and should be the first one you inform of this, I’ll add the fact that everything I’ve heard about this woman labels her as a complete lunatic.”
“If she’s a lunatic, why do you believe what she says anyway?” Harry shot back.
“Well why don’t you just give me an answer then!?” she practically shouted at him.
They stood nose to nose for several moments before Harry finally took an exhausted breath and backed away. “Just stay out of it, Ginny.”
Ginny shook her head sadly. “You know, Harry, you’ve told me that before. You told me that after Dumbledore’s death, during the summer of my sixth year and even after you had completely defeated Voldemort.” She walked up to him, getting dangerously close for her own good, but wanting him to get the point. “It didn’t work then and it won’t work now.”
And with a flick of her hair, she was walking away from him again, enjoying the fact that this time it was on her own terms.
She was so filled with anger and frustration that she didn’t even hear the gigantic roar that rose from the stadium, signaling the end of the game.
----
Draco was the first to find him, much calmer and collected than any of the other Cannon’s fans, working his way through the crowd, smiling at Harry in a suspicious way.
“You think they’re happy?” Draco shouted at Harry, trying to be heard over the Cannon’s fans.
Harry, in his own little world of private joy himself, just smiled. “How was the last ten minutes I missed?”
“Incredible, I’m not going to lie,” Draco responded, leaning up against the wall where Harry stood. “Something just clicked with Weasley all of a sudden and when he got back into the grove, there was nothing stopping the rest of the team. Especially Stempski. He snatched that snitch like it was on a string.” Draco shook his head in disbelief. “Who knew so many stand-by players could get through a game like this?”
“Mr. Potter knew, didn’t you Harry?”
Both men turned to see Emily walking up to them, bruise-free now and smiling much more cheerfully than she ought to be for just having lost her bet with Harry.
Neither of the men said anything, but Harry could tell that Draco was having a hard time keeping his mouth shut.
Emily walked right up to Harry, pulling out an envelope and handing it to him. “I misjudged Ron, it seems,” she admitted. “That, or you just got lucky.”
“Probably a bit of both,” Harry admitted, sliding the envelope quickly into his pocket, knowing that it was the letter she had promised him if the Cannon’s won. “But I’m not complaining.”
She gave him a sort of sly look. “It was quite the romantic interlude, though, wasn’t it Harry? Did it ever bring you back to the old times?”
“More often than I would have liked,” he admitted dryly. “I’m heartbroken that it’s over.”
She smiled at his sarcastic comment. “Oh, but it’s not over, not yet, at least.”
Harry frowned and felt Draco put a hand on his shoulder, keeping him from charging Emily which, it looked like, he had been about to do. “What?”
She pouted. “’I need you. I’m coming there now.’…”
She waited as the words sunk in and the truth dawned on him.
Sighing, she laid a hand gently on his arm. “Such a shame for such a good person as Ronald Weasley to be betrayed by none other than his best friend and his wife…”
And like that, she was gone, leaving Harry in a shocked and heart pounding pose that Draco finally managed to snap him out of.
“Potter…Potter…Blast it, Harry snap out of it! What the bloody hell is going on?”
“Hermione’s note…” he stuttered. “She’s got Hermione’s note.”
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a/n: Remember when Emily took it in chapter 7?? AhHA!
I chose the name Gracie for Ben Fold’s song “Gracie”. It’s really cute, go listen to it. I’ll probably have it as my heading song for an upcoming chapter.
Head Over Feet by Liisa
Chapter Notes: Sorry for the terribly long wait! School is becoming more of a burden than I want it to be. Hope you enjoy! I AM going to finish this story soon!
No flashback for this chapter because it's kind of a pivotal one.