Hope's POV:
The following day is Quidditch tryouts. The only returning players are me, Harry, and Ginny who joined last year as a fellow chaser. This year Harry and I are co-Captains and are in charge of tryouts this year. I'm nervous about tryout since Ron is one of the guys trying out.
He's good, but I would hate to have to choose someone over him based on just who is better for the job. Currently all the guys except Ron are messing around, chatting playfully with each other as Harry is trying to explain everything we're going to be putting them through today.
No one is listening to him. Ginny and I exchange an annoyed look. "SHUT IT!" I yell, catching their attention. Harry turns to me with a grateful smile. "Thanks." I just smile and nod before he turns back to the prospects.
"All right, um. Now then, remember, just because you made the team last year, does not guarantee you a spot this year. Is that clear?" He asks. No one says anything. "Good." With that we start paring people off on different teams.
Ginny and I against the prospective chasers. Shouldn't be too much of a challenge seeing as Ginny and I are very inn sync with each other. It's why we play so well together. We know how the other thinks.
When Harry blows the whistle and tosses the ball into the air, I'm quick to shoot forward and snatch it. The three trying out rush me with no form or technique. I chuck the ball towards Ginny who makes a break for the goal where one of the keepers, Cormac McLaggen.
A cocky, kinda rude guy in the year above us. Two of the three chasers lose focus on me, except one girl who hovers kinda close as the other chase Ginny, trying, unsuccessfully, to stop her path towards the goal.
I speed forward, trying to lose the chaser who does let me out of her sight and follows closely behind. Hmm. I can work with that. I keep an eye on her the entire tryout. She's good, really good. I also notice her particular skill for dodging bludgers.
The other two have crashed more times than I can count and haven't gotten the ball from either me or Ginny. The girl, however, actually intercepted a miscalculated throw on Ginny's part and scored one on Cormac.
Though, he was doing really well at blocking the Quaffle and his face was a look of shock when he suddenly reared out of the way. The next time around Ron blocks his ball. He didn't let a single one get by. Finally practice comes to an end.
I fly up to the girl, calling out for her to stay back a second. "What's your name?" I ask her. She gives me a sheepish look. "Demelza Robins." I smile. "You're very intuitive Demelza, and watchful. You did good today." Her face brightens with a red blush. "Thank you." I nod.
"Go, get cleaned up. Good work." With that I walk up to Harry as he is the only one left out on the field. "You find your chaser?" He asks me. I nod. "Sure did. You find your beaters and keeper?" He nods.
"Good, now, lets go get cleaned up and get dinner. I'm starving. We can talk over our picks tonight." He nods, wrapping an arm around me as we head into the castle to wash off the day's practice.
Later that night, in the Common Room, Ron can't stop smiling, going on about how well he did compared to how he thought he would do. "I hope Cormac isn't taking it too hard. He's god a bit of a thing for you, Hermione. Cormac." He tells her.
I roll my eyes at his idiocy as the three of us turn to look at him. Can he not tell she has a thing for him? "He's vile." She scoffs, turning back to the Daily Prophet as Harry and I go back to reading our respective books.
He's reading his potion's manual and I'm reading an old journal of my grandmother's. Her journals have a few spells sprinkled inside that aren't in her grimoires so when I was looking for the spell I also had a few of her journals which got transported here with me.
"Have either of you heard of this spell? Sectumsempra?" Harry asks, showing me and Hermione his potions book. "No, I haven't. And if you had a shred of self-respect, you'd had that book in." Hermione warns.
"Come on Mione, it's not hurting anyone. I mean, the point of learning potions is to become better at them. This manual has some great tips and tricks." I explain to her. She doesn't look pleased with me not backing her up. In turn, I turn to face Harry.
"Though, I would advise against using any of the added spells in there. Theres probably a reason they're not in any of the spell books I've ever read, which is a lot." I explain. He just gives me a small smile before pulling me back into his side and placing a soft kiss on the crown of my head.
"I'd like to know who's that book was." She says. Instantly Harry pulls away from me, quickly jumping to his feet. "No." Now Hermione is on her feet. "Why not?" I give him a questioning look. "The binding is fragile." I roll my eyes at his pathetic lie.
"The binding is fragile?" She asks in a disbelieving voice. "Yeah." By now, I'm on my feet and walking around behind him. I quickly snatch the book from him and open it to the last page. 'This book is property of the Half-Blood Prince' is written in neat handwriting.
"The half-blood prince?" I wonder aloud. "Who?" Hermione asks. "It says 'This book is property of the Half-Blood Prince'." I explain, handing the book back to Harry who looks a tad bit defeated as he retreats to the boy's dormitory. I sigh.
"He'll be fine. He shouldn't have tried to hide it." Hermione assures me. "Why not? I mean, it's his book." Ron says. I roll my eyes to how ignorant to the situation Ron is at the moment. Does he seriously not see the risk?
"Yeah, but whoever wrote that, despite how good they are at potions, wrote spells, probably too dangerous for the normal witch or wizard, in that book and I'm worried Harry won't listen to me and he'll try to use them." "When has he not listen to you?" Hermione asks. I try to think.
She has a point. It's not like Harry to not heed my warnings. I sigh. "I'm going to bed. I'll see you tomorrow." With that I head towards the girl's dormitory.