I had never known that two words other than Lord Voldemort could cause such a stir amongst the people at Hogwarts. I had been sitting in the Great Hall, munching on a piece of wheat toast while glancing over the Daily Prophet when a felt a rush of anxiety and nerves come pulsing at me. I turned to look up, finding Ron sitting next to me, his hand shaking unsteadily as he tried to pour some orange juice into his goblet.

"You alright Ronald?" Hermione asked, looking up from her own copy of the Daily Prophet.

"Yeah...yeah...I'm fine," he said letting out a shaky laugh that didn't have anyone fooled.

Hermione turned her head to look at me, her eyebrows raised with confusion.

"Quidditch tryouts," I whispered, while Ron's fork fell out of his hand with a loud clank. Hermione gave Ron an exasperated look before giving her head a little shake, and returning to her Daily Prophet article.

I turned my head to the door, figuring that Harry would be making his way in soon. I smiled slightly as he walked in moments later, dressed in his Quidditch attire. He slumped onto the bench next to me, leaning over to give me a kiss of the cheek before piling some scrambled eggs onto his plate.

"So, are you excited?" I asked him, folding up the Prophet and tucking it into my bag.

"Yeah, but a little nervous too. I was kind of surprised about being nominated as Gryffindor's Quidditch captain, but I'm going to try and do my best!"

"Don't be silly," I said, giving him a little elbow to the side. "You'll be a great Quidditch Captain!"

Harry gave me a bashful little smile before taking a sip of his orange juice.

"I'll be...right..uh, right back!" said Ron, flying out of his chair with his hand over his mouth. A couple of Gryffindor's chuckled as the door closed behind him.

"Poor Ron," said Hermione, a look of sympathy on her face. "He looks so nervous!"

"In all honesty, he kind of has a reason to be," said Harry with an apologetic smirk.

"And why is that?" I asked.

"He's trying out for Keeper."

I nearly choked on my orange juice, Harry having to smack my back a couple of times before I stopped.

"Why that reaction?" asked Hermione with a glare.

"Because Cormac McLaggen is also going out for Keeper," said Harry.

"Oh," said Hermione, her cheeks flushing slightly.

We turned our heads slightly to look at Cormac who was surrounded by a group of Gryffindor girls. Cormac had blonde, somewhat curly hair, surrounded by a smooth almost angelic face that would make him the kind of model you would expect to see on the cover of Witch Weekly. He was toned and tall, and I knew for a fact that he loved nothing more in life than being doted on.

I found it a sad occasion when I was stuck in a tight area with Cormac. There really wasn't much that went on between the ears, other than a constant tally of how many girls were looking at him, and how he looked to himself in whatever reflective surface he could manage to find.

I raised an eyebrow at him as he turned to look at us, a loud and rather fake laugh emitting from his mouth. The girls surrounding him swooned which Hermione and I shot each other skeptical looks.

"He seems kind of...slow," concluded Hermione, choosing the nicer term to use.

"Yeah, he's not the smartest bloke around but he is lightning fast when it comes to catching a quaffle."

"Does Ron have a chance at all?" asked Hermione, hopeful.

"Yeah...if he's got luck on his side," said Harry, stopping when he saw Ron close to returning to the table.

I turned my eyes slightly back to Cormac as Harry and Hermione continued some small chat, sending words of encouragement to Ron. As I watched Cormac talk I couldn't stop my eyebrows from rising when I caught a glimpse of his thoughts.

Surrounded by girls and only one that he hoped would catch his eye. I turned back to Hermione and gave her a little smirk. Interesting.