Hermione was not happy.

"He's going to get in so much trouble," She said again, wringing her hands nervously as they watched the teams file onto the field. "That's cheating. . . I didn't even know Harry would - "

"Hermione," Amisty cut her off. "Malfoy's not playing."

They sat in silence for a moment, regarding what the other had just said.

"Agree to stay far away from both of those topics?" Amisty offered.

"Deal."

The whistle blew to tumultuous applause and the teams soared up into the air.

"Well, there they go, and I think we're all surprised to see the team that Potter's put together this year," Zacharias's unimpressed, monotone voice echoed around the pitch. "Many thought, given Ronald Weasley's patchy performance as Keeper last year, that he might be off the team, but of course, a close personal friendship with the Captain does help. . ."

The Slytherin end exploded with laughter as Amisty scowled.

"Oh, and here comes Slytherin's first attempt on goal, it's Urquhart streaking down the pitch and - "

Ron dived to the right, cleanly sweeping up the Quaffle in one arm.

" - Weasley saves it, well, he's bound to get lucky sometimes, I suppose. . ."

Hermione made a very valiant effort to keep her lips tightly pressed together at that comment.

In the span of about half an hour, Ginny had scored four of the six Gryffindor goals and Ron had saved nearly every goal. Fortunately, this put a dam on Zacharias's steady stream of snark. Unfortunately, on the other hand, he decided to aim his sarcastic comments onto the Beaters.

"Of course, Lamark isn't really the usual build for a Beater," Zacharias drawled, "they've generally got a bit more muscle - "

Amisty rolled her eyes, picking up the faintest cry of outrage from the Hufflepuffs. Definitely Hunter on behalf of his sister.

With a broad grin, Hazel aimed a Bludger at Harper - the replacement Slytherin Seeker. It hit her mark with a dull thunk and whoop from the Gryffindors.

Consistently, the Gryffindors kept the lead tight in their fists with save after save and score after score. Ron was in a considerably better mood than earlier that morning, beaming down as the crowd burst into a verse of "Weasley Is Our King."

The cheerful energy continued until Harper barrelled - quite purposefully - into Harry. Madam Hooch had her back turned and Harper had already sped off, feigning innocence by the time she looked around. Harry chased after him, eyes narrowed as he leaned down -

"And I think Harper of Slytherin's seen the Snitch!" Zacharias announced, suddenly much more alive. "Yes, he's certainly seen something Potter hasn't!"

Amisty scooted forward on her seat, eyes latched onto the flicker of gold soaring up into the sky. Harper had accelerated quite a bit ahead, hand already outstretched. Harry lurched upward, hair already tangled up in knots and broom nearly vertical in his desperation to catch up.

There was a moment of quiet as Harper's fingers brushed the edge of the Snitch, but then he fumbled and Harry snatched it up from right under his nose.

"YES!" Harry shouted, his voice snapping the crowd back into action.

A unanimous roar erupted, led by the Gryffindors, overwhelming the piercing whistle that signaled the end of the game.

The team surrounded Harry in a midair hug. All except Ginny, who went crashing into the commentator's podium with startling accuracy. Amisty snickered at the sight of Zacharias stumbling through the wreckage, looking thoroughly dazed.

"Shall we say our congratulations, then?" Amisty asked, nudging Hermione with her elbow.

"I suppose," Hermione said very grudgingly.

They waded through the jubilant crowd, taking care to keep the ends of their scarves far away from flailing limbs.

By the time they reached the changing room, it was empty except for Harry and Ron. Hermione, with her scarf now wound around her fingers, stepped forward with an air of stubborn determination.

"I want a word with you, Harry," She began, mouth pinched. "You shouldn't have done it. You heard Slughorn, it's illegal."

"What are you going to do, turn us in?" Ron demanded, grin slipping into a scowl.

"What are you two talking about?" Harry asked lightly as he hung up his robes.

"You know perfectly well what we're talking about!" Hermione replied, voice rising an octave or two. "You spiked Ron's juice with lucky potion at breakfast! Felix Felicis!"

"No, I didn't," Harry replied.

"Yes, you did, Harry, and that's why everything went right, there were Slytherin players missing, and Ron saved everything!"

Not the best phrasing, even if she was right.

"I didn't put it in!" Harry's eyes lit up, pulling out a golden bottle with the cork still sealed tight with wax. "I wanted Ron to think I'd done it, so I faked it when I knew you were looking. You saved everything because you felt lucky! You did it all yourself."

Amisty's eyebrows raised considerably.

"There really wasn't anything in my pumpkin juice?" Ron asked softly, eyes gone wide. "But the weather's good. . . and Vaisey couldn't play. . . I honestly haven't been given lucky potion?"

Harry shook his head, still grinning.

Ron gaped for a moment, then turned on Hermione in a harsh mockery of her voice, "You added Felix Felicis to Ron's juice this morning, that's why he saved everything! See! I can save goals without help, Hermione!"

Hermione looked crestfallen, "I never said you couldn't - Ron, you thought you'd been given it too!"

He didn't offer a reply, simply striding out of the room with his broomstick over his shoulder.

"Ron!" Amisty snapped, starting after him. "You and I both know she didn't - "

"Leave it," Hermione mumbled, very interested in her shoes. "Just leave it, Am."

"Er," Harry blinked, "shall. . . shall we go up to the party, then?"

"You go!" Hermione sniffed, swiping at her eyes. "I'm sick of Ron at the moment, I don't know what I'm supposed to have done. . ."

And Hermione stormed off in the opposite direction as Ron.

Harry stood there quietly, quite nonplussed at the results.

"What did you honestly think was going to happen?" Amisty asked.

"I thought they'd forgive each other?" He said.

"You're such an idiot sometimes, Harry," She sighed, seizing him by the wrist and dragging him out of the changing room.

The crowd shouted out congratulations to Harry as they walked past, but his responses were very muted. Especially with a severely peeved Amisty River pulling him along.

"Run me through your thought process, why don't you?" Amisty demanded.

"Well," He scratched the back of his neck as they pushed through the main entrance, "I thought Ron would win and they'd - "

"They'd just forget everything and click back together?"

"Yeah?"

It took a whole lot of her self control not to roll her eyes, "Ron decided out of nowhere to be an arse to Hermione and you thought faking a luck potion was going to fix everything?"

"It made sense at the time. . ."

She gave another almighty groan and shoved him through the portrait hole.

Even the common room party did little to revive the mood of the match. Not when two of the quartet were missing because Harry did something stupid. It didn't help that Harry was immediately swarmed by a crowd of admirers and a gaggle of girls that seemed very determined to shove Amisty away with the sharpest bits of their elbows.

"Hey, River," Romilda Vane pushed her way toward her, eyes sharp and calculating. "What's going on with you and Harry?"

Amisty stared up at her, unimpressed, "Nothing."

"Are you - "

"Oh, hello, Am!" Ginny appeared at her shoulder, steering her away from the other girl with ease. "I was looking for you."

"Thank you," Amisty said out of the corner of her mouth, bending down to scratch Crookshanks behind the ears. Arnold the Pygmy Puff was perched on Ginny's shoulder, someone that Crookshanks was hopeful of getting his claws around.

"She's a bit like a vulture, isn't she?" Ginny remarked, tilting her glass toward Romilda - who was now dangling off a very oblivious Harry's shoulder.

"Care to elaborate?"

"She's been circling him since you two walked in," She replied. "It's almost funny if you watch for long enough."

Amisty snorted, hiding her smirk with a mug of Butterbeer as Harry extracted himself from the crowd with the face of someone who was severely overwhelmed.

"Looking for Ron?" Ginny asked, jerking her head over to the couch. "He's over there, the filthy hypocrite."

They glanced over and Amisty's stomach did a swooping motion at the sight of Ron and Lavender so tightly wound together she couldn't really tell who was who. It didn't help that they were right in the middle of the room, too.

"It looks like he's eating her face, doesn't it?" Ginny scoffed, her nose wrinkling. "But I suppose he's got to refine his technique somehow. Good game, Harry."

Amisty turned to the portrait hole, just barely glimpsing a curl of brown hair disappearing through it.

"Harry. . ." She tugged on his sleeve.

His mouth was a fine line, "I know."

They pushed open the Fat Lady, scanning the deserted corridor. A faint sniffle sounded from a nearby classroom.

"Hermione?" Harry called.

"She's in there," Amisty whispered, pointing at the closed door.

They tiptoed forward, opening the door quietly. Hermione was perched on the teacher's desk, a flock of yellow canaries circling her head. They chirped cheerfully, the antithesis of the girl who created them.

"Oh, hello," She said once she saw them, her voice wavering slightly. "I was just practicing."

"Yeah. . ." Harry cast a desperate look over at Amisty, "they're - er - really good. . ."

Amisty cleared her throat, "Hermione - "

"Ron seems to be enjoying the celebrations," She cut in.

Her heart sank.

"Er. . . does he?" Harry asked.

"Don't pretend you didn't see him," Hermione replied bitterly. "He wasn't exactly hiding it, was - ?"

The door burst open with a bang closely followed by Lavender's high-pitched giggles. Ron and Lavender waltzed in, arms intertwined so tight it seemed they were inseparable.

"Oh," Ron said, the understatement of the year.

"Oops!" Lavender exclaimed, still giggling as she stepped out of the room and let the door fall closed yet again.

The tension was so thick a knife couldn't make a dent. Hermione was staring at Ron, who in turn was refusing to look at her.

"Hi, Harry!" Ron said brightly with the widest smile he could manage. "Wondered where you'd got to!"

Hermione got up, her birds following her. Their cheerful song had quickly turned minor, not helping to improve the tone of the room.

"You shouldn't leave Lavender waiting outside," Hermione said. "She'll wonder where you've gone."

Amisty trailed after her as she headed to the door, finding it very difficult not to glare at Ron until he burst into flames. The silence persisted, suffocating as Hermione's fingers rested on the doorknob.

Amisty ducked just in time.

"Oppugno!" Hermione shrieked, her canaries streaking toward Ron with a terrifying crescendo. Ron yelped, covering his face as the birds bombarded him with their beaks and claws, scratching up every bit of bare skin available.

"Gerremoffme!" Ron shouted.

Hermione remained unphased and unsympathetic, throwing open the door without pause. Amisty raced after her, pulling her into another classroom and winding her arms around her as Hermione broke down in tears.

"I don't know what I've done, Amisty," Hermione whispered into her hands. "I thought - we were - I - "

"I know," Amisty replied quietly, rubbing her back in circles.

"We were supposed to go to the party together. . ."

"I know, Hermione."

They sat in the silence of the empty classroom, Hermione's sniffles rebounding off the walls.

"You can always go alone, you know," Amisty offered. "Come with Jasmine and me?"

"That's mortifying, Amisty, I couldn't do that, I'd - " Her voice wavered again and she swallowed. "No. I'll find someone."

Amisty pursed her lips, "Then. . . maybe you want to ask someone who. . . maybe, I don't know. . ."

"What if I ask Zacharias?" She said suddenly.

"Hermione!" Amisty hissed.

"Oh, no, that's too much isn't it," She seemed dazed, unaware of Amisty's fervent nodding. "I just. . . I want to - "

"Ask McLaggen instead, please, anyone other than Smith," Amisty pleaded.

"Fine, then. McLaggen," Hermione's nose wrinkled.

"I really don't think this is the best idea - "

"He's the one who's been so rude and ridiculous lately, he chose to get all lovey-dovey with Lavender, he has no right to be upset with who I chose to go to the party with!"

"Hermione - "

"No, that's my decision," She declared stubbornly, wiping away the stray traces of tears. "I'll ask him tomorrow."

We love our disasters in the Harry Potter universe. Perhaps one day, sometime (maybe) soon, they'll all finally be able to act like functional human beings. Today, however, is not that day.