It took a week for us to overcome the shocker in the previous match. I did have memories of the following week. We the team members barely spoke to each other. Even to the other house members. I found it hard to meet anyone after the defeat. It was difficult to pass someone without getting those unpleasant memories. So I mostly stayed in my room to avoid people. Even Kingsley, who was normally talkative was quiet. Captain Davies meanwhile was found in deep thought in his room. I guessed he was thinking how to prepare for the next match. Peter the seeker did not show any outward feelings, which I guess was from the feeling that his failure to catch the snitch was my fault. Only Barbara seemed to unaffected by the defeat. She even tried to cheer up us and captain Davies many times. Captain Davies seemed to be slightly better after this. Finally we had another Hogsmeade outing. Kingsley and I decided that it was better to make an outing together to Hogsmeade. But I wasn't too pleased about this though; It falls on Valentine's day and all the pubs would be filled with couples. It wouldn't be very nice to sit and have drinks particularly in such a time.

February 14, 1975

But anyway, I decided to go. I noticed in the morning, that kingsley was very nicely dressed up, far better than he usually does. I was cuirous and intrigued.

'Hey, you looked very nicely dressed up.'

'Well, yeah. I suppose so.'

Now that wasn't an answer that I usually get from Kingsley. so I decided to push furthur.

'Well, ahem. You are having a date or something?'

Surprisingly, Kingsley flushed red as his bow in the shirt. He looked quite embarrassed when he answered in a whisper.

'Keep this quite will you? Well, Erika you know, asked me out. And I….'

He broke off looking embarrassed. I looked incredulous.

'Asked you out?!'

'Yeah sort of. She asked whether we can go out together and I agreed.'

It cost Kingsley quite some effort to tell all this. I did not know what to answer. Making the final preparations, we went out together. After passing the inspection by Filch who checked whether we had any dark objects, we were finally out into Hogsmeade. Along the way, we did not speak to each other. I did not know what to say and Kingsley was too embarrassed to say anything. In order to break this uneasy silence, I finally found something to ask.

'Anyway, when are you going to meet her?'

'Eh…. afternoon at Hogs head. And please, please keep this quiet will you?'

'OK'

Hogs head was a lesser known and mediocre pub run by a unpleasant barman from what i heard.. Three broomsticks was a better maintained, but always busy. I wondered where we were going now.

'Where shall we go now?'

'Three broomsticks I guess…'

'Will be crowded you know.'

'OK. I have no problem going to Hogs head.'

Anyway that is where you are going in the afternoon, I thought. I usually did not like Three broom sticks due to its crowded nature. I liked secluded and deserted places to meet with a few of my friends. No one else should be there. Hogs head seemed to be such a place from what I heard. All the shops of Hogsmeade was decorated with colors for Valentine's day. Pink, rose or yellow. Faries flying around the shop showing off pink or any other color was a popular sight. Crossing the busy and full three broom sticks, we finally went to the outskirts of Hogsmeade and reached Hogs head. As expected, it was a quite place. Also very dirty and poorly maintained. A few people were there, but they quite strange. Most of them were covered in masks. It seemed to be a fashion of the place. Some couples were there too. I believe on the account of their inability to find a place elsewhere, they had come here. They were glued to each other. Either eye to eye or lip to lip. We sat down randomly in a table around the center(all the couples were mostly in th sides). The barman was a tall thin and dirty looking. He came up to us. He was as unpleasant looking as he was described to me by others.

'What?'

The sound that came from him was more of a growl.

'Two butter beers please.'

The barman brought two bottles(thankfully they were clean). I thought he smelled of goats. I paid him four knuts. We drank butterbeer quietly. Kingsley did not talk today. He was unusually quite. Nerves, I thought. One thing good about this bar as expected was that it was quiet. Perhaps until a argument broke out between the barman and another man. The barman was shouting.

'That was another time you took out the cups from the room, Mundungus. This has gone far enough.'

'You dare? Why would I ransack this ugly no good place? This den is not worth even a galleon.'

'That is because you cannot resist doing it, dung. Now get out of here. I shall see what Dumbledore has to say about this.'

At the sound of Dumbledore, the other man became nervous.

'You watch yourself, Aberforth. Very few know that you traffic poisons…'

The barman resisted his urge to hit him.

'From tomorrow onwards, you will not step into my shop again. Now get out'

'I have no pleasure of coming here. And I don't need your help anymore.'

With a last look of fury, the man called Mundungus walked out of the pub. Morning passed off quite quickly. After the pub, we went a trek up some nearby mountains, enjoying the winter bare trees and the dull winter sun. Soon it was time for Kingsley to meet Erika in the after noon. It was 2pm. I accompanied him upto the Hogs head where Erika was waiting in the door step. I stayed away as Kingsley looked quite embarrassed to meet her in my presence. Wordlessly they greeted each other. I made an glance into the Hogs head pub and found something quite interesting. I walked up to Kingsley and took his a little aside.

'I'll see you in the night.'

He looked quite irritated in being taken aside.

'OK.'

'And one small request: say hello to Davies and Barbara from me.'

I smiled quite wickedly. Leaving him shell shocked, I went away from Hogsmeade to the castle of Hogwarts. Keeping secrets is quite a difficult one I must say. I just takes one person for the entire class to know about it. But I decided to keep everything at Hogsmeade a secret.

Coming back from Hogsmeade, I found Michael at my room alone.

'How was your visit to Hogsmeade?'

I was in deep thought and was quite startled by the question.

'Well…. yeah… fine.'

'So Kingsley is with Erika now, right.'

I was taken aback. How did he know.

'Don't worry. I won't tell it out. I just asked.'

I didn't even answer to him. How Michael got to know about it, I did not know. But we both decided to keep it a secret. When Kingsley came back from Hogsmeade, he was quite cheerful. It was a successful date for him. He just felt like talking and talking. he was talking about how beautiful Hogsmeade was, which I found quite funny. But nevertheless his cheerfulness rubbed on me and in all this events, the bitterness of the last match was forgotten.

February 16, 1975

Soon, the practice for the second match was underway. Captain Davies seemed to have recovered his former self completely. It seemed that his trip to Hogs head has paid off. So were everyone else. Some how there was no need for any pep talk this time. Without speaking, we all decided on a common goal: defeat Slytherin at all costs and win the cup.

We backed up each other. I and Kingsley made Captain Davies to practice hard to make him more confident against bludgers. I worked hard to improve my aim and Kingsley helped me here. We once again tried the Dopplebeat bludger technique, but it was unsuccessful. Fristly, one cannot expect a bludger to come where you like. Secondly, Kingsley's blows are much faster than mine. So, co-ordinating was a tough task. Everyone was shaping up well. Marshall was wonderful and Peter was magnificent. Our chasers were once again in their best.

However, there was a new threat. The last match against Slytherin witnessed their chasers using a new technique: the Hawkhead formation. Griffindor's defenses were no match for the Slytherin's three chasers flying in an arrow formation with the center player having the quaffle. Captain Davies was wary, but quite confident about it. According to him, he and the other two chasers were good in passing the ball and they could out maneuver the Slytherin players. I agreed privately. Our teams chasers were outstanding in passing the ball. To knock out opposing chasers, there was Samson. Captain Davies also assigned roles separately for me and Kingsley. After the first match and the second match, it became evident that I was good at attacking seekers. So I was assigned to take care of the Slytherin seeker. Kingsley was to primarily concentrate on defending the chasers while they attack. As for defence, both of us will do it together, as usual.

After two moths of practice, finally the match arrived. By now our team was fully tuned and completely ready. My backhand stroke was greatly improved and my forehand was lethel. Our chasers were in finely tuned so were the keeper and seeker. The Dopplebeat bludger technique which we practiced seemed to work occasionally, but erratically. I and Kingsley were able to produce a truly good shot only occasionaly say about one in ten chance.

Continued in the next chapter — The Eagle and the Hawk