That night, after dinner, Hermione agreed to a game of Quidditch.

“Fine,” she laughed. “But I get Ginny.”

“Aww, come on, that’s no fair!” Harry protested.

They finally divided into two teams: George, Harry, Ron, and Charlie on one side, and Hermione, Ginny, Fred, and Bill on the other. They had no proper Quidditch equipment except for a Snitch, which Harry had gotten to bring home after captaining the Gryffindor Team for the last time. Therefore, a tetherball replaced the Quaffle, and tennis balls replaced the Bludgers.

They flew around a couple of times, Hermione trying her hardest to get the Quaffle past Ron. He’d improved greatly, which probably explained why he’d been signed to the Appleby Arrows. Hermione did not discover this until the night after they’d made up.

Eventually, they decided to call the game quits and resume the next day; their “pitch” had gotten so dark that it was hard to see their hand in front of their own faces.

As they were heading inside, Mrs. Weasley yelled out the back door. “Hermione! There’s a visitor here to see you!”

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows in curiosity. Walking forward carefully, as to not trip on anything, she was surprised when a voice spoke out of the shadows right in front of her.

“Herm-own-ninny? Could I haff a vord?”

Hermione lit her wand to reveal Viktor Krum, dressed in black.