"Come on, draw!" bellowed Ron, holding up his wand with a shaking hand.
"Ron, please, calm down," Harry attempted. "Look, I didn't know it was such a big deal. Plus I thought you already-"
"Expelliarmus?!?!" shouted Ron, his voice breaking.
A flash of white light shot from the end of his wand and flew towards Harry, who leaped to the side just in time to see the spell smash a flowerpot on the windowsill behind.
"Ronald, stop!"
The voice was that of Ginny, whose presence had been all but forgotten, standing as she was several feet away near the fireplace.
"Stay out of it Ginny!" Hermione screamed, drawing looks of surprise from both Harry and Ron.
"Ere, don't speak to my sister like that!" complained Ron.
In tears, Ginny attempted to run past them and out of the common room. Noticing her attempt at escape, Hermione leaped towards Ginny and dragged her down to the ground. In the middle of the common room floor they rolled over, scratching and biting as the two boys, their wands drawn but hanging limp, watched on in confusion.
"How...dare...you...be,...with...Harry!" screeched Hermione. "He....was...supposed...to...be...mine!"
From the hallway leading to the portrait of the Fat Lady, Harry and Ron suddenly heard the voices of the Gryffindor Quidditch team as they returned the tower.
"Crumbs!" yelped Ron, staring at Harry wide-eyed. "We missed training again! Dean's gonna freak!"
"Here, get under the invisibility cloak with me!" Harry demanded.
While the two girls continued to grapple and tear at each other's clothes, Harry and Ron vanished beneath Harry's cloak. Soon enough the room was flooded with a gang of muddy, sweaty quidditch players, their hair and clothes damp from sweat and rain.
Dean Thomas was the new captain of the team, and it was he who interrupted the jovial conversation players to draw attention to Ginny and Hermione's struggles on the common room floor.
"Ladies, ladies!" said Dean humorously. "If you're going to waste your energy, let it at least be something worthwhile for the rest of us!"
He nodded to the gang of boys on each side, and soon enough a ring of Gryffindor boys had formed around the two girls. Ginny and Hermione stopped fighting and stared through the dishevelled hair that now covered their eyes as Dean Thomas drew aside his robe and revealed his