𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐅𝐔𝐄𝐋 ; h.potter

fifteen ; weasley is our king

"Well, the Sorting Hat did seriously consider putting me in Ravenclaw during my Sorting," Hermione said brightly, "but it decided on Gryffindor in the end."

When I glanced over and noticed Terry looking at me expectantly, I shrugged and said, "I guess I was just more Gryffindor than anything."

I saw Harry smile knowingly at me.

"So," Hermione said, "does that mean we're using the Galleons?"

There was a murmur of assent and many people examined their Galleons, which glinted brightly in the torchlight. After everyone had left and Harry made sure they were safely back in their common rooms with the Marauder's Map, he, Ron, Hermione and I left the Room of Requirement ourselves.

"You know what those coins remind me of?" Harry said, as we made our way up a staircase.

"What's that?" I asked.

"The Death Eaters' scars. Voldemort touches one of them, and all their scars burn, and they know they've got to join him."

"Well . . . yes," Hermione said quietly, "that's where Rory got the idea, actually . . . but you'll notice we decided to engrave the date on bits of metal rather than on our members' skin."

"Yeah . . . I prefer your way," Harry said, grinning, as he grabbed my hand. "I suppose the only danger with these is that we might actually spend them."

"Fat chance," Ron said, examining his fake Galleon slightly mournfully, "I haven't got any real Galleons to confuse it with."

. . . . .

As the first Quidditch match (which happened to be Gryffindor versus Slytherin) drew nearer, the DA meetings were put on hold because Angelina insisted on almost daily practices. However, luck was on our side in some departments. Professor McGonagall, for example, clearly cared so much about beating Slytherin that she abstained from giving us homework in the week leading up to the match.

"I think you've got enough to be getting on with at the moment," she said loftily. I almost couldn't believe my ears at first, until she looked directly at Harry, Ron and I and said grimly, "I've become accustomed to seeing the Quidditch Cup in my study, boys and Miss Areli, so use the extra time to practice, won't you?"

Snape, on the other hand, was just as horrible as usual, if not more. He booked the Quidditch pitch for Slytherin practice so often that the Gryffindor team had difficulty getting on it to play. He was also turning a deaf ear to the many reports of Slytherin attempts to hex Gryffindor players in the corridors.

I wasn't too worried, though; we had never lost to Malfoy's team. Ron, admittedly, wasn't performing as well as Oliver had, but he was working hard to improve. His problem was losing confidence after he'd make a blunder; if he missed a goal, he became flustered and more likely to miss more. However, Ron had made some pretty spectacular saves. For example, he had hung one-handed and kicked the Quaffle so hard away from the goalhoop that it soared the length of the pitch and through the centre hoop at the other end.

One day, Harry expressed his worry that Ron was letting the Slytherins get to him too much. I couldn't help but agree. While Harry and I were used to their many snide comments from over the years, Ron had endured far less. Whispers of, "Hey, Potty, I heard Warrington's sworn to knock you off your broom on Saturday," made Harry laugh rather than scare him, for instance.

"Warrington's aim's so pathetic I'd be more worried if he was aiming for the person next to me," Harry retorted, which made Ron, Hermione and I laugh as well, and wiped the smirk off Pansy Parkinson's face.

However, when some Slytherins, (a few of which happened to be seventh-years, and much larger than Ron was) muttered as they passed in the corridors, "Got your bed booked in the hospital wing, Weasley?" he didn't laugh, but went a little green, no matter how much I told him not to worry. When Malfoy imitated Ron dropping the Quaffle (which he did whenever they came within sight of each other), Ron's ears glowed red and his hands shook so badly he was likely to drop whatever he was holding at the time.