A Cannon's Harpy

VII

The days continued to pass quickly when she was with Harry, which had been most of the time during each day. They went out a few times, each being more wonderful. He had continued to take her to all his favourite places in the evenings; their dates always in the Muggle world. It was better for them not to be seen. Gwenog would not look kindly on this.

Harry had yet to talk to her about anything more. His past hung over him like a dark ominous thunderstorm. Thankfully he had not arrived at practise with anymore injuries, at least none visible. She wanted to push for answers, especially about the one evening, but how could she as she had yet to talk about the Chamber and the diary?

The tension hung in the air between them. She could feel it each time either one of them mentioned anything about the past. They needed to talk about it, but neither seemed willing to share so much of themselves yet.

Before Ginny blinked, the last day's training with Harry had come and it was almost done. She still had not managed to beat Harry to a single Snitch, but she'd gotten a bit too close for comfort on a number of occasions.

High above the ground, Ginny flew her search pattern, the same she'd been flying for years. It was about the only thing Harry had not changed over the month. Well, he only added a small little trick to it.

Her eyes caught a glimpse of gold in her peripheral vision. Harry, oblivious, continued to fly slowly away from it. Casually she broke away from her pattern and sailed around in a lazy arc. Harry suspected nothing, or at least he suspected, but he could not know that she'd seen the Snitch. She liked this change he'd brought to her routine. A search pattern was all good and well, but for precisely this reason he'd taught her to change position lethargically at random intervals.

She was almost there when he too glimpsed the little golden ball. The race was on. Her body flattened against the broom. Her ponytail flapped against her back as the air buffeted her body.

"I've got this one, Harry." Her teeth were clenched so the words came out as a single growl.

But then he emerged out of nowhere, flying beneath the broom, and snatched the Snitch from right in front of her disbelieving eyes.

A minute later Harry landed, golden ball in hand, in the middle of the pitch looking much too smug for her liking.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Ginny demanded as soon as her feet touched the ground. "There's no way you should've been able to get to that Snitch before me."

Harry continued to smile insufferably. "I can tell you, but then you'll have to marry me."

Her mouth opened and then snapped shut. Her eyes narrowed. "I might just take you up on that, Mr Potter."

He gulped, but the grin did not fade. In fact his eyes sparkled. She wanted nothing more than to run her hands through his hair and snog the night away, but a soft pop to the side stopped them both from stepping closer.

"Is my new Seeker ready, Harry?" Gwenog asked startling both of them.

"As ready as I could make her in four weeks," Harry replied.

The woman held his gaze for a moment. They were softer than Ginny had ever seen.

Gwenog talked with them for a few minutes. Eventually telling Ginny to head to the changing room. Harry tried to tell her something, but Gwenog had already begun leading him away.

"What do you make of her?" Gwenog asked Harry when Ginny was well out of earshot. "Do you think she's got what it takes to make it at this level? I've got another, more experienced, Seeker ready to be signed."