Ginny buckled her leathers on with care, checking each fastener in sequence, then again in reverse order. It was a superstition, sure -- and Quidditch players were notoriously superstitious -- but if she lost an arm guard in the midst of play, no one would stop the game for her. And she wasn't going to let a little thing like a lost arm guard slow her down today: this was the biggest game of the year.
The House championship hung in the balance of this one match.
As the team stood together and prepared to walk out to the pitch, Ginny looked around at their faces: Katie, grinning and confident; Dean, his dark eyes darting about nervously; Peakes and Coote full of bravado that might've been real or false; Ron, looking a bit green under his freckles; Demelza, face set in a grim line that suggested a funeral more than a Quidditch match. And she herself made seven.
Harry, their leader and captain, was the missing piece. It was killing him to be forced away from this match, Ginny knew. She didn't care about Malfoy and what Harry had done to him; she just hoped his punishment didn't kill the team's chances today.
Ginny looked at her teammates again. Just because Harry wasn't on the pitch with them didn't mean that he couldn't be a part of the match. "Let's win this one for Harry!" she shouted, and the others took up her cheer as they spilled out of the changing room onto the pitch.
"For Harry!"
Katie, standing in for Harry as Captain, shook Cho's hand. Ginny, standing in at Seeker, checked the gleaming buckles on her leather arm guards one more time before kicking off and taking to the sky. Everything depended on this match. If Gryffindor could best Ravenclaw by more than three hundred points, the championship was theirs. Lose by more than a hundred, and they'd land in last place.
The match -- and the championship -- rested entirely on Ginny. If she caught the snitch too soon, even a win could leave them in second place. And a loss... a loss could be devastating. Her older brothers would never let her and Ron live it down, if they led Gryffindor to last place for the first time in two centuries.
The score was three hundred to a hundred and forty when Ginny edged in front of Cho, deflected an elbow block, and reached out one leather-bound arm toward the tiny gold ball hovering just beyond the end of her broom.
Ginny reached, and the noise of the crowd fell to a reverent hush. She reached, and she felt Cho behind her, struggling to catch up. She reached, and the fluttering metal wings brushed gently against her fingertips: once, twice -- and then the snitch was in her hand, and the crowd exploded into noise and she began to breathe again.
Ginny dropped quickly to earth, and even as the team converged for one giant, seven-person, fourteen-arm hug, she knew something was missing.
Even as the crowd's roar sounded in time with the beat of her heart, and the snitch struggled against her hand, and her eyes were filled with a sea of red and gold... even as Peakes and Coote lifted her to their shoulders and carried her off the pitch singing "Weasley is our Queen," she knew something was missing.
No, someone.
Harry.
It was Harry's captainship that had made this moment possible. His drills, his dedication and his strategy had inspired everyone. And if Ginny herself had been a bit more dedicated and inspired by him than most, she hadn't said anything. Harry had always been special.
Lately, though, things had been different. Lately Harry had been casting long looks her way, making up weak excuses to hang back and walk with her, laughing harder than the rest at her jokes.
Something had changed.
Today, Ginny decided as she rode the wave of Gryffindor's victory into the castle, climbing the stairs with a whoop and a yell, today was the day that she did something about that. Today was the day that she showed Harry just how much things had changed.
And when the common room door opened and Harry emerged, Ginny did not hesitate. With her face set, she ran straight toward him. As the cup was hoisted high and the crowd cheered, she threw her arms around Harry and felt him return the embrace. And without thinking, without analyzing it, without worrying about the fact that fifty people were watching, Ginny kissed him.
Summary: Ginny knew that everything hung in the balance of this one match.
Categories: Harry Potter > Harry/Ginny Characters: Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter
Chapters: 1 Table of Contents | Completed: Yes | Word count: 762 | Read Count: 128
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Story Notes:
Written for the hpgw_otp anniversary challenge, for the prompt "leather." Thanks to lyras for beta-reading.