Ginny wasn't improving in Quidditch, she still played well, but not as well as she used to. Harry noticed this, and occasionally got frustrated with her.
"Look Ginny, I know you're having a hard time right now but we need to win this match against Hufflepuff." Harry said to her, as they walked back to the school.
"Why? We've won all our matches." Ginny replied.
"Because Slytherin have won against Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff already, they beat Ravenclaw by loads. So we're gonna have to beat Hufflepuff by a lot as well if we want to get in front of them, or at least even out for a rematch. But you're one of our best players and you aren't as good as you used to be!"
"Lay off her, Harry." Angelina said. "He's as bad as Wood." She mumbled to Katie. Harry glared at her and stomped back to school.
"It's true though." Ginny sighed, "I'm awful at the moment."
"You're not awful, you just seem quite distracted." Katie said. Ginny sighed and walked back into the castle. She entered the common room and sat down with Hermione.
"Harry seemed annoyed. What happened?" She asked her.
"He's stressed because I'm not playing very well." Ginny replied.
"He should know better, he knows you're having a hard time. He's so selfish when it comes to Quidditch." Hermione grumbled.
"Leave it, Hermione. I'm really bad at the moment."
"You'll get better though. Once all of this is over." Hermione said.
"That's just it though, when is it going to be over?" Ginny stared at the fireplace.
Draco spent most of his time in the library. On the day of Ginny's Quidditch practise, he was in there as well. He looked out the window and saw Ginny getting off her broom. He scowled as he saw Potter shouting at her. What did Ginny see in him? Sure, when he was in a good mood he was nice to her, but the way he shouted at her all the time angered Draco. Draco had been in quite a few fights with Ginny, but he would never shout at her for no reason. Especially when Ginny was like this. Draco watched her all the time. She looked so frail, like she would break. He wished he could reach out and comfort her, but that would just make it worse. He pretended to listen to Ginny's protests, but he knew it was his fault she was like this. He put his head down and began to work on his essay for Professor Snape. After half an hour, he looked up. He jumped, Ginny was sitting next to him.
"How did you do that?"
"Do what?" Ginny asked.
"Arrive so silently." He said, raising an eyebrow.
"You do it all the time, Draco." She said. The way she said his name made him feel happy, like everything was back to normal.
"Not like that though." He tried to stop himself from grinning, he could tell she wasn't in the mood. "Why aren't you in your common room?" He asked.Ginny cringed.
"Ron's kind of annoyed with Harry for shouting at me." Draco suddenly felt an urge to thank Ron Weasley. He suddenly felt like he respected him. He knew he was being ridiculous, Ron was Ginny's brother, of course he was going to defend her. But he was Potter's best friend.
"I saw that." Draco said, scowling.
"I don't blame him though. I'm playing awful, and if we don't win this match by a lot then you guys win the cup." Ginny smiled slightly. "There will always be some sort of rivalry between us, won't there?"
"Probably." Draco couldn't help it this time, he grinned. Ginny stared at him.
"That's the first time i've seen you properly smile in ages." She said. He stopped smiling.
