As Quidditch practice came to an end Harry, as was becoming custom, helped Ron get the balls all packed away before the two headed into the changing rooms. He didn't get to spend nearly as much time with Ron as he had in the past, and despite whatever problems or issues going on between them, Harry wouldn't trade his friendship with Ron away for anything.
He began making it a point to hang out after practices. It gave them a chance to hang out just the two of them and talk Quidditch or whatever else might come up, kind of like old times. When they were finally walking into the changing rooms, the rest of the team was just clearing out. They all bid their goodbyes as Ron and Harry were walking in.
"Pretty good practice," Harry commented as he bunched up his robes and threw them over his head.
"Yeah," Ron agreed with a broad smile. "Slytherin won't know what hit them."
"You're not kidding," Harry returned. "Katie is better than ever, maybe even better than Angelina, Ginny is right on form with where Katie was last year, and Stephanie's not far behind. By the end of the year, they'll be unstoppable."
"Don't I know it," Ron grumbled good-naturedly. "I can hardly stop them even when I know exactly what play they're running."
"Don't sell yourself short," Harry told his friend. "You've been on form since day one. You play like you have been come game day, and we may end up with a shutout on our hands."
"I don't know about that," Ron mumbled shyly.
"Just don't let the Slytherins or anyone else get into your head," Harry told him honestly. "That was your biggest problem last year. You've got it down physically. You just have to keepto keep your head in the game and you'll be unbeatable."
"Thanks, Harry," Ron told him earnestly.
"Nothing to thank me for; it's just the truth." Harry paused to pull on his black school robe. "You going to schedule more practices now that the game is coming up?"
"Yeah, I need to talk to Hooch about that," Ron replied, his voice muffled by the robes he was trying to pull over his head. "Should start up with the extras at the end of the week or the weekend."
"Were you planning on sticking around to work on strategies or were you going to head back?" Harry asked.
"Nah, I'll head back," Ron replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Doesn't make much sense to come up with new strategies now when the team won't have time to learn it properly by game time. Let's head back in. You up for a game of chess?"
"Sure mate," Harry returned as he walked out the door, holding it open for Ron. "Sounds like a plan."
By the next day, Harry's battle scars were practically nonexistent. He still applied a concealing glamour to them just in case, but someone would have had to be looking really hard to even be able to spot the blemishes.
He did eventually get his hands on a copy of the Daily Prophet, which covered the attacks that had occurred on Halloween night. It focused on the attack at Diagon Alley, and only briefly mentioned that smaller attacks had occurred in a couple other towns like Hogsmeade. Harry wished he had more information to go on than that, but he didn't have any way to find out more. He resolved to ask Professor Dumbledore about it later that week during their Occlumency practice, but he doubted that the old man would be very forthcoming with information.
The week passed by terribly slowly, mostly due to the appearance of the Daily Prophet every morning. It seemed like every night there was another attack, and the following morning breakfast only served to dish up more bad news. Harry was thankful for the fact that he'd had no more visions. Of course, all that really meant to Harry was that Voldemort probably wasn't personally involved in the attacks. And as they weren't really targeting anybody of importance, Voldemort didn't react too much to the nightly attacks. He did feel occasional pangs of pain in his scar, but it was definitely bearable. His friends didn't even notice.
Spirits were down throughout the castle, save for a selection of Slytherins. Ginny brought the subject up during one of their Animagus training sessions, surprising Harry slightly with her insight. "You can't expect to be able to save everyone, you know," Ginny commented as Harry was sneaking a furtive glance at the Daily Prophet lying open on his desk.
Harry was broken out of his internal reverie and eloquently responded with, "Huh?"
"It's just a guess," Ginny amended, "But I imagine you feel kind of helpless right now. You wish there was more you could do to stop these attacks and save people, but you can't. Even if you weren't stuck at school, you have no idea where the Death Eaters will attack next. We all feel helpless about it."
Harry, who had been leaning against his desk, rose up to his full height and began pacing back and forth. "I know that, I just wish there was something I could be doing. I hate just being stuck here with no way to help. I just feel like I should be doing something…."
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