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Chapter 1473: Harry's Helplessness and Ron's Entanglement
🕑 Added 2025-05-14 14:14:06 +0000 UTCAfter the personnel changes, the Gryffindor team performed very well in Quidditch practices for the next two weeks.
Harry’s team was so pleased to be rid of McLaggen, so glad to have Katie back at last, that they were flying extremely well.
With Katie leading the way, Coote and Demelza were performing better and better in their roles as Chasers.
After watching several of Gryffindor’s training sessions, even someone as unprofessional and amateurish as Evan could be sure that no other Quidditch team in the school, under fair competition, could stop the attacks launched by those three.
Not to mention, they also had the equally outstanding Elaine and Ginny covering them.
Elaine was becoming more and more impressive as a Beater. Her movements were sharp, her reflexes and flying speed nearly the fastest, and her hits were shockingly powerful. It was hard to imagine that such strength could come from such a slim frame.
Watching Elaine’s performance, Evan could only marvel at how deceptive appearances could be — never underestimate the explosive power hidden in such a petite frame.
Elaine was indeed delicate, but she was definitely not easy to be pushed over.
On the contrary, if she wanted to, she was very good at pushing others over...
Evan had a good understanding of this, and he had been pushed down by Elaine rudely many times. Like Hermione, Elaine was someone Evan couldn’t afford to mess with in Hogwarts, especially when she was drunk.
In short, Elaine was playing perfectly to her strengths.
For most of the game, the Bludgers were in her control, and she was a veritable master of the field.
As for Ginny, who was partnered with Elaine, she did not seem at all upset about the breakup with Dean; on the contrary, she was the life and soul of the team. Her imitations of Ron anxiously bobbing up and down in front of the goal posts as the Quaffle sped toward him, or of Harry bellowing orders at McLaggen before being knocked out cold, kept them all highly amused.
Harry, laughing with the others, was glad to have an innocent reason to look at Ginny; he had received several more Bludger injuries during practice because he had not been keeping his eyes on the Snitch.
But he didn't care. The battle still raged inside his head: Ginny or Ron?
Sometimes he thought that after his relationship with Lavender, Ron might not mind too much if he asked Ginny out, but then remembered Ron's expression when he had seen her kissing Dean, and was sure that Ron would consider it base treachery if Harry so much as held her hand. ...
Yet Harry could not help himself talking to Ginny, laughing with her, walking back from practice with her.
However much his conscience ached, he found himself wondering how best to get her on her own. It would have been ideal if Slughorn had given another of his little parties, for Ron would not be around, and he could seize the opportunity to confess his feelings, even without the Felix Felicis.
Unfortunately, Slughorn seemed to have given them up.
Ever since he handed over the memory to Evan and Harry, he had never invited them to any more parties.
He himself didn’t seem much inclined to host gatherings either. A few times, Evan saw him studying defensive magic during Potions class...
Slughorn knew very well what the memory he handed over meant. He had completely stood on the opposite side of Voldemort.
Based on Evan's understanding of him, this old wizard probably didn't plan to leave Hogwarts in his lifetime.
As long as Dumbledore was there, this castle was the safest place in the world.
Since Slughorn could no longer be counted on, Harry considered asking for Hermione’s help once or twice, but he did not think he could stand seeing the smug look on her face; he thought he caught it sometimes when Hermione spotted him staring at Ginny or laughing at her jokes.
Little did he know that Evan and Hermione had completely seen through Harry's thoughts.
Hermione had made Harry’s feelings perfectly clear to Ginny, so everyone had noticed Harry’s every little behavior — how he secretly glanced at Ginny during matches, how torn and hesitant he looked, how conflicted he’d been lately. It was all out in the open to them.
That’s why Ginny had become so lively lately!
The reason why she was active was that she was showing it to Harry...
In a way, it was a hint!
Ginny’s feelings for Harry went without saying — she liked him too. But after discussing it with Hermione, the two had decided to wait for Harry to make the first move, rather than spell everything out. They even forbade Evan from telling Harry anything about it.
Evan couldn’t understand girls’ thinking, and he had no intention of getting involved in something so troublesome.
Harry, unaware that all his thoughts and actions had already been seen through by Evan, Hermione, and Ginny, was still hesitating over what to do. And to complicate matters, he had the nagging worry that if he didn’t do it, somebody else was sure to ask Ginny out soon: He and Ron were at least agreed on the fact that she was too popular for her own good.
But in fact, Ginny wasn’t going to date any other boys. She was waiting for Harry.
Why did something so simple become so complicated?!
Driven by this increasing pressure, the temptation to take another gulp of Felix
Felicis was becoming stronger by the day, for surely this was a case for, as Hermione put it, “tweaking the circumstances”?
In this way, the balmy days slid gently through May. There was still no word from Dumbledore, but Harry was becoming more and more desperate.
He found himself seeing Ginny more and more often lately, but it seemed that Ron was always nearby whenever she was.
No one knew for sure how things stood between Ron and Lavender, but lately Ron was almost always hanging out with the group.
More precisely, Ron was clinging to Harry. He didn’t dare approach Elaine, didn’t feel comfortable tagging along with Evan and Hermione, and hadn’t noticed that Harry and his sister Ginny had been troubled about something lately. He seemed to think Harry had no one else to hang out with and so stuck to him.
Ron had reverted to how he’d been before fourth year, practically inseparable from Harry.
While the final Quidditch game of the season was looming; Ron wanted to talk tactics with Harry all the time and had little thought for anything else.
At this rate, unless he could shake off Ron, Harry had no chance of starting a relationship with Ginny.
And that was precisely the one thing he couldn’t do; ditch his best friend to pursue a romance with his best friend’s sister...
He was worried about Ron in the first place, and thinking about this, Harry felt even more guilty.
There were a few nights when he saw Ginny sitting on the sofa next to him, and then Ron drove her away. He was almost desperate. Harry felt that this might be the end of his life. Unless he used Felix Felicis to give him a good luck, so that Ron could realize that nothing would make him happier than his best friend and his sister falling for each other and to leave them alone together for longer than a few seconds...
No, even maybe a few minutes.
Or, better yet, if time could just freeze in that moment, that would be perfect!
