Sitting at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, I looked around at the rest of the Gryffindors. Something was odd but I wasn't quite sure what. Normally everyone would be laughing and talking, pleased that it was finally the weekend. Yet today, the majority of the people at the table were keeping to themselves and there was an overwhelming sense of nerves surrounding the table.

Neville walked into the great hall and made his way further down the hall. Sitting down across from me, he accepted the plate of toast that I outstretched towards him.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" I asked, taking a sip of my pumpkin juice. "Most of the house are acting weirdly."

"The quidditch try outs are today," he explained, "They're looking for new members to replace the people who left the team last year."

"Oh right." From the corner of my eye I noticed Harry and the already confirmed members of the quidditch team walk out of the great hall. Multiple pairs of eyes followed their movements. "What about you Neville? Are you trying out for the team?"

He gave me a small smile, "I lack the coordination needed to be a part of the team."

"Don't put yourself down so much," I scolded, kicking his shin gently under the table.

"I'm not putting myself down," he insisted, "It's the truth. But I'm going to go down and watch the try outs. Want to keep me company?"

"Sure, why not," I said with a shrug of my shoulders, my eyes drifting to the open doors of the great hall. "Today's not a Hogsmeade trip and I've got nothing else to do."

I watched as Seamus entered the hall, tugging an unusually glum looking Dean behind him. Seamus was talking quietly to Dean, occasionally patting him on the back as they strode over towards Neville and I. Finishing up whatever conversation they had been having, they settled down on either side of Neville. Seamus helped himself to some food before glancing over at his best friend. When it became obvious that Dean was not going to make a move to get any food for himself, Seamus rolled his eyes and began to plate some food onto Dean's plate as well.

Looking up briefly, Seamus met my gaze long enough to see me silently raise my eyebrows in question at Dean's odd behaviour. He mouthed something at me that I didn't quite manage to understand. I raised an eyebrow at him. Seamus repeated himself, slower this time so I could actually understand him.

"Talk to him."

I moved my gaze onto Dean who was barely picking at the food on his plate. He wasn't looking up at anyone. Giving Seamus a look, I settled my eyes back onto Dean; I had never seen him so nervous before.

"Dean?" I prodded.

"Yeah?" He asked, looking up at the sound of my voice. He let his fork slip from between his fingers and land on the side of his plate with a gentle clang.

"Are you feeling alright?" He looked at me curiously, as though he didn't know that he was acting strangely. "You haven't been acting like yourself."

"I'm fine," he said to reassure me. Then when he saw that I wasn't convinced he added, "Honestly."

One of his hands was laying on the top of the table and I covered it with one of my own. I squeezed his hand softly. "Dean."

"I guess I'm just nervous," he admitted with a sigh.

"Why?"

"I'm trying out for the quidditch team today," He answered quietly, "I guess I'm just nervous about the try outs."

"I don't really get why you're nervous about it Dean," I said with a roll of my eyes as I removed my hand from on top of his. "I've seen you play quidditch before – you're a good chaser. I'm sure you'll make the team."

"And if I don't?"

"Then it doesn't matter," I insisted, "Not making the quidditch team will change nothing about you, just the same way making the team won't either. The only thing that will realistically change will be the amount of free time you have where you can do whatever you want instead of having to attend the team practices."

"I guess you're right," he reasoned before picking up his fork and starting to eat properly again. A few moments later, he paused and looked up at me. "You'll be there right? To watch the try outs?"

"Of course I will." I noticed the way that Seamus was watching me from next to Dean, his smile concealed around the rim of his glass, "Besides I'll be right there in the stands, cheering you on alongside Seamus and Neville."

Satisfied with my answer, Dean resumed his breakfast. Neville started to talk to Dean about something when I felt Seamus' eyes on me once again.

"What?" I asked irritably as I helped myself to another slice of toast, "Why do you keep looking at me like that Seamus?"

"Nothing." He shrugged his shoulders, "I just knew I could rely on you."

"For what exactly?"

He didn't answer me. Instead, he turned to join the two boys with their conversation. They continued to talk until Seamus suddenly shot to his feet. He clapped Dean on his shoulder and motioned for them both to leave.

"Come on Dean," Seamus insisted, tugging his friends up from his sitting position, "Otherwise you'll be late for the try outs. I swear, I care more about this then you do."

Dean shook off Seamus' hand and rose to his feet. He looked down at me, "You'll be there right?"

"Of course."

"Promise?"

I rolled my eyes, "Yes, I promise. Now go – it looks like Seamus is going to explode."

The two boys left the great hall and Neville and I continued with our breakfast. When we were finished we headed back to the common room to grab our coats before heading out onto the quidditch pitch. Once we reached the pitch we clambered to the top of the stands and sat, waiting for the try outs to take place. Right now only Harry and Ginny were on the pitch.

Settling down onto the stand I cast a warming charm over the two of us. Something told me that we would be here for a long time.

"Isn't that Seamus?" Neville asked as Seamus walked out onto the pitch.

Seamus scanned the stands before making his way over towards us. Sitting down on the other side of Neville, I watched as he shook his knees up and down impatiently.

"What's wrong Seamus?" I asked, leaning over Neville to nudge his knee.

"I was just in the changing rooms; Dean looks like he's going to back out."

"He won't," I reassured. There was a sudden increase in volume on the pitch and my head turned to follow the noise. All of the people trying out for the team were making their way onto the pitch. "See? There he is now."

"Merlin," Seamus muttered under his breath, leaning forward to get a better look at his best friend, "He looks like he's about to faint."

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Neville encouraged as someone sat down on my other side.

I turned to look at Hermione as she settled down beside me. She rubbed her hands nervously against her trouser legs.

"Are you here to cheer on Ron?" I asked as Harry started to talk to the players on the pitch.

"It's either him or McLaggen as keeper." She answered with a shrug of her shoulders.

We settled into a silence and watched as Harry announced something to all of the people trying out for the team. They split off into different groups in what I assumed was meant to be the different positions people were trying out for. Ron and McLaggen were the only two stood together for the role of keeper. Furrowing my eyebrows when McLaggen looked over at Hermione repeatedly, I nudged her with my shoulder. She glanced at me curiously.

"Are you aware that McLaggen is eyeing you up like a piece of meat?" I asked under my breath.

"Why does he keep doing that?" She groaned quietly.

"He's done that before?"

She nodded and said with a sigh, "It's been happening for a few weeks now and I have no idea why."

"It's because he fancies the pants off of you," Seamus interrupted loudly making Hermione and I jump apart. "Now shut up; I don't want to miss anything."

"Look!" Neville cut in, making the three of us following the finger he had pointed down at the pitch. "They're about to start!"

The try outs for the team started and I noticed Dean looking up into the stand that we were all currently occupying. One look at him and it was obvious that his nerves had taken over completely. I smiled reassuringly down at him, unsure if he could even see it. But he must have because he had sent a small smile back, before facing Harry as he started to speak to everyone trying out for the vacant position of the chaser.

"How long is this supposed to last exactly?" I asked as everyone hoping to become a chaser took to the sky.

"I have no idea," Seamus admitted before we fell into silence to watch the rest of the try outs.

The try outs had lasted longer than I thought they would have but when they drew to a close, all of the people on the pitch walked back towards the changing rooms. The four of us in the stands walked back to the common room and waited for the applicants to walk back up and tell us how they had done.

I was sitting on one of the sofas, across from Hermione as we discussed who we thought would make the team. Ron would become keeper, whether that was because of the little trick that Hermione pulled and thought it went unnoticed, or because Harry couldn't stand McLaggen was unknown. But Ron was a shoo-in for the position.

Slowly the people that had tried out for the team trickled back into the common room one by one. Everyone knew when Dean had entered the common room because Seamus had entered alongside him and had shouted at the top of his lungs.

"GUESS WHO MADE THE TEAM!"

I glanced over my shoulder to see the pair of best friends still in the entry of the common room. They were both grinning from ear to ear as if they had both made the team. The pair of them went over to talk to the rest of the boys and I turned back to Hermione.

"Well that's one person," she said contemplatively, "I wonder who else made the team."

You could only talk about quidditch for so long. So, as a result, the two of us quickly changed topics onto more fascinating matters. I had been raised in the wizarding world; I was pure blooded, and so my knowledge of the Muggle world was limited to what I learnt in Muggle Studies. According to Hermione, the subject didn't teach enough about the Muggle world so she went out of her way to talk to me about what she claimed were simple matters like what she called a post box and something called a landline.

Listening carefully to Hermione as she talked, I drowned out the rest of the noise in the common room. Arms slid around my shoulders and I jumped at the contact. Someone hugged me from behind, setting their chin on the top of my head. I only relaxed when the person started speaking and I recognised the voice.

"I made the team," Dean said softly as I turned to look up into his face.

"I heard." A small laugh left me, putting a hand on one of the arms slipped wrapped around my shoulder. "Seamus already made the announcement."

"Thank you," he said sincerely and I squeezed his hand gently.

"What for?" I furrowed my eyebrows up at him uncertainly. "I didn't do anything."

"You did," he insisted, a grin building from the corner of his lips, "You were my good luck charm."

"I don't think so." I said with a shake of my head, "If anything, Seamus was your good luck charm. He made sure you were fine the entire time."

"No, you were a good luck charm. He was a nuisance." He removed his arms from around me and slipped them into the front pocket of his trousers. "A loveable nuisance, but a nuisance none the less."

The library was deserted; it was almost time for curfew and very few students remained in the library doing their work. I was one of them. Looking down at the textbook in front of me, I skimmed my finger down the page I had been reading, looking for the right part of the text.

"Hey," Dean said as he sat down across from me. I didn't acknowledge his presence as I continued to search through the page. Dean, surprised by my lack of response, waved his hand in front of my face. "Hello?"

Finding the place I had been looking for, I placed my finger on the start of the paragraph and looked apologetically up at Dean.

"Sorry." I gave him a sheepish smile, "When I'm doing something I tend to get really into it."

"I've noticed." He grinned at me before turning to open up his own textbook.

I looked down at the page, biting on the inside of my cheek to supress the blush that tried to creep up my neck. We worked in silence, the only sound was that of our quills scratching against the paper. Feeling a heavy gaze set on me, I looked up at Dean from under my eyelashes to see if he was looking at me. He was. I quirked an eyebrow at him and raised my head to look at him properly.

"Can you check my essay?" he asked hesitantly, "Professor Snape has been getting on my case about letting my grades drop just because I made the quidditch team."

"Sure I can," I said extending my hand out to take the essay he was holding out for me.

I read the essay in silence, seeing him move to sit beside me from the corner of my eye. He was so impatient. When I reached the end of the final sentence, I turned in my seat to face him and found him watching me expectantly.

"It's good Dean." He gave me a doubtful look, "Really."

"But it's not great," he insisted with a groan. "I need to get an Outstanding from Snape or else he'll complain to Professor McGonagall about my grades because he's such a miserable sod."

"Maybe you should add some stuff in it?"

"Like what?" he curled a strand of my hair around his finger before giving it a playful tug, "Can you help me?"

Reaching my hand out to grab the textbook he had open, I pulled it over towards me. Flipping through the textbook to find the right page, I scanned over it quickly. Pointing my finger at a paragraph, I looked up at Dean.

"Put some of this stuff in and you'll probably get an E."

He leaned closer towards me to read the paragraph, an arm moving around the back of my chair and curving around my shoulder as he read it. "Does this apply to the set question, though?"

"It does if you word it correctly."

Dean, taking my word for it, picked up his quill and started to amend his essay. When he was finished, we were quickly ushered out of the library. We had mere minutes until curfew started. I fell into step beside Dean and looked up at him when he nudged my shoulder with his.

"I have no idea what I'd do without you," he admitted. "You're always ready to help me whenever I need it."

"Of course I am," I said nudging him back, "What are friends for Dean?"

Another emotionally scarring potions lesson drew to an end but Professor Snape stood at the front of the class. A single look from him and everyone that had risen to stand at the end of the lesson, settled silently back into their seats. Merlin, why couldn't the man just let the torture end already?

"These are your essays," he said, raising his hand full of parchment up slightly, "They're sub-par as per usual. Really, do try and make these essays worth my time."

Snape made his way through the lab, handing out the essays as he went. A piece of parchment was thrust in front of my face. I glanced up briefly to see Snape staring impatiently down at me. Taking my essay quickly from his outstretched hand, my eyes scanned across the grade at the top.

Sub-par, my foot, I thought glaring at the back of Snape's head. This was the first O the man had ever given me.

Once Snape had eventually made his way around the entire class, he dismissed everyone with a single wave of his hand. Rising from my seat, I packed everything away into my bag. Just as I was about to head out of the door, I spotted Dean still sitting in his chair staring down at the essay set on the table before him.

"What did you get?" I asked approaching him and setting a hand on his back so as not to startle him.

He glanced up at me with wide eyes. Peering around him I looked down at his essay and felt a small smile tug on my face.

"Dean you drama queen," I said nudging him with my shoulder. "I thought you'd got a T or something; why aren't you happy?"

"I am," he insisted as he managed his facial expression. "I am happy but sometimes I can't help but wonder whether Snape is part dementor or something? He sucks away all of my happiness."

"Well at least you know that he can be kept away by eating chocolate," I said optimistically, not noticing that Professor Snape was making his way towards both of us.

"Maybe we should get some chocolate then?" Dean said with a smile, "There's a Hogsmeade trip next-"

His words were cut off forcefully as he recoiled from the impact of the book that Snape had hit him over the head with. I flinched, moving away from the two men.

"Professor-" Dean protested.

"Hurry up and get out of my classroom Mr Thomas." Snape raised an eyebrow, his eyes flickering momentarily in my direction. "Unless of course you and your companion would prefer to spend tomorrow night serving detention in this very classroom."

"No thank you professor," I said nudging Dean to silently tell him to hurry up.

Dean scrambled to his feet, packing up his things. We both left the classroom to see Seamus waiting at the end of the corridor. Catching sight of the pair of us, Seamus jogged towards us, dropping into step on the other side of Dean.

"How'd you do on the essay then?" Seamus asked, glancing at Dean.

"An E," he said grinning at Seamus.

"So I see that your good luck charm worked," Seamus peered around Dean's body to wriggle his eyebrows at me.

"Good luck charm?" I repeated with a roll of my eyes, "I suppose you're referring to me."

"He never told you." Seamus shoved Dean slightly making him bump into me, "You're his good luck charm?"

"According to who?"

"According to me," Seamus said with a grin.

Another week passed quickly and I found myself sitting in the common room on a Saturday morning trying to finish the new essay that Snape had set for us. It might have been early in the morning but once I'd got this essay finished then I'd have no more work for the weekend. I'd already had an early breakfast and once I'd done this I could push homework to the back of my mind. Maybe I could take a nap?

I wasn't the only early bird in the common room. People were scattered around the common room talking to each other, still half asleep. The quiet of the common room was shattered by loud masculine voices that came from the entrance. Glancing over my shoulder I rolled my eyes when I saw Harry leading the boys on the quidditch team into the common room. They headed for the stairs leading to their dorm. Dean walked away from the rest of them after he spotted me sitting down. Seamus trailed after him.

Turning my attention back to the essay, I cast my eyes over the final paragraph to check it for any mistakes. My concentration was shattered when someone dropped into the seat on either side of me. Glancing to my left, I raised an eyebrow at Dean.

"Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for training?" I looked to my right, "And aren't you supposed to be going with him in case he can't stand to spend even a minute not in your presence?"

"Oh ha ha," Seamus said sarcastically, rolling his eyes at me.

"No but seriously, aren't you supposed to be getting ready for training, Dean?"

"Yeah I'm heading up to get my stuff in a minute." He assured me as I glanced back down at my essay momentarily. "But I've got a favour to ask you."

"Ask away," I said still not looking up from my essay.

"Come to training with me?"

"No thanks." I looked up with a slight smile and gestured to the pieces of parchment on my lap. "I'm busy."

"You can do that whilst you're sitting in the stands." He nudged me with his shoulder, "Come on, please. I need my good luck charm."

"Seamus will be there with you, that should be enough. You'll have the luck of the Irish with you." Folding my essay away, I looked up at Dean. "Besides you're hardly going to need good luck during a training session, now are you?"

"I don't know," Seamus cut in beside me, "You never know what could happen during a training session. The quidditch season isn't considered to have truly started until someone falls off of their broom-"

I cut him off, "Seamus-"

"Relax," he said swatting me on the shoulder, "Besides you might as well get used to him dragging you to all of the training sessions and matches."

"Because I have nothing better to do?"

"You're so defensive," Seamus muttered before speaking aloud, "I just think that you should get used to your position as a quidditch girlfriend."

"Quidditch girlfriend?" I repeated slowly, sure that I had misheard him. Seamus nodded. So I hadn't misheard him then.

"Or you know, in your case, potential quidditch girlfriends."

"What in Merlin's name is he talking about?" I asked, turning my head towards Dean.

"Ignore him."

"Don't worry, I always do."

Dean smiled at that and rose to his feet, "I'm going to grab my stuff from the dorm. I'll meet you here and then the three of us can go down to the quidditch pitch?"

"Fine," I relented with a sigh. They were both just going to pester me until I gave in anyway. This way I was saving myself a lot of time. "But I swear if any of the quidditch fan girls start to say something even mildly irritating then I'm leaving."

"Whatever you say." His lips curved up in triumph.

Sending me one more smile Dean walked up the stairs to his dorm. When he was out of sight, Seamus turned in his seat to face me and raised both eyebrows at me. I drew back from him slightly.

"What?" I asked wearily.

"How long are you two planning on playing this game?"

"What game?"

"The game you've been playing for a year now; the one where you pretend to be satisfied with being nothing more than friends but secretly harbour feelings for each other."

"Seamus we don't-"

"I'm not listening to another denial from either of you." He crossed his arms over his chest, "Just remember when you have kids; your first son either has my name as his middle name or you make me a godparent."

"Seamus-"

"What's he done now?" Dean called out as he made his way back over towards us, the bag containing his quidditch gear slung over one shoulder.

"Nothing." I shook my head slightly, "Let's get going or you'll be late for your practice."

The three of us trailed down to the Quidditch pitch, the two boys leading the way and occasionally glancing back at me as if to make sure that I was still following behind them. Once we had entered the quidditch arena Dean made his way towards the changing rooms and Seamus and I took to the stands. Settling down in a group full of other spectators I glanced around. Was this what Seamus meant by quidditch girlfriends?

Seamus engaged one of the boys in the stands in conversation as the girl sitting in front of me turned to face me.

"How long have you been dating Dean?" She asked curiously making my eyebrows shoot towards my hairline.

"I'm sorry?"

"Well you are here to support Dean aren't you?" I nodded and she rolled her eyes as if I was the one that wasn't making sense. "So how long have the two of you been dating?"

"We're not dating." I tucked a strand of hair behind my ears, "I'm here to support him but that doesn't mean that I'm dating him."

"But I thought you were a quidditch girlfriend?"

"What does that even mean?" I asked, seeing the team pour out onto the pitch from the corner of my eyes.

"Don't worry about it." The girl patted my knee slightly patronisingly, "You might not know what it means now but in a few weeks you just might."

With that she turned to face the pitch one again leaving me staring at the back of her head. There was a whistle blown from the pitch and the practice started. I moved my eyes from the back of the girl's head and focused them onto Dean.

Many people shared the belief that the quidditch season hadn't properly started until a player landed in the hospital wing. It was common to believe that a game was only truly entertaining when a player fell from their broom. I hadn't expected that player to be Dean.

This morning he had been sitting across from me during breakfast, obviously nervous but still excited for the match and now he was lying unconscious in the hospital wing. I was sat by his side as the quidditch match continued outside. A small niggling part of me was murmuring that this was my fault.

Seamus claimed that I was Dean's good luck charm and I knew that a small part of Dean believed the same. But I couldn't help but think that this proved that I definitely wasn't Dean's good luck charm. The incidents where I had apparently given him good luck occurred because I had no idea that I was acting as his good luck charm. But today I knew that I was his good luck charm. Seamus had even prodded me into giving Dean a good luck kiss on the cheek, not that I needed much prodding.

Even still, I knew that I was acting as his good luck charm but he'd been thrown off his broom.

If you ignored the nasty fall he'd suffered then he'd performed extremely well especially because it was his first match. As he was a new addition to the team, the Slytherin beaters hadn't expected him to be any good and so had focused their efforts onto the other two chasers. This gave Dean the opportunity to score what seemed to be continuous goals, the quaffle only leaving his arms when it sailed through the outstretched arms of the Slytherin keeper and through the goal.

Clearly the Slytherin team changed their tactics and Dean came under heavy fire. It took one bludger to his side to knock Dean straight off of his broom. The Gryffindor team had attempted to catch him but he was falling too quickly. Harry called a time out to allow Dean to be escorted to the Hospital Wing.

At the sound of approaching footsteps, I looked up to see the entire Gryffindor quidditch team making their way towards Dean with Neville and Seamus trailing after them. They crowded around the bed and Seamus came to a stop beside me, setting a hand on my shoulder.

"Madame Pomfrey says he's fine," Seamus was the first one to speak. "She's given him a calming draught and that's why he's sleeping. She says that she'll send an owl when he's woken up."

I nodded my head, glancing briefly at Dean's peaceful sleeping face before looking up at Harry, "The match? Did we win?"

Harry nodded with a small smile, "By a large margin. The early goals he scored really helped us."

"He'll be pleased to know."

The next morning, a Sunday, I woke to the persistent tapping on the window of our dorm. Slipping out from my bed I opened the window to let the owl in. Taking the letter from the owl, I offered it some treats. Helping itself to some snacks it flew away once again and I looked down at the letter it had carried to see that it was addressed to me.

Opening the letter I let my eyes skim across its contents. Folding the letter back up, I quickly got changed whist making sure not to wake any of my dorm mates. Walking down into the common room and out into the corridor, I navigated my way to the Hospital wing.

Pushing open the large wooden doors, I entered the room and made my way towards the bed where Dean had been placed yesterday. Drawing closer to the bed I found him sitting up with his back leaning against the pillows. At the sound of my footsteps he turned to look at me.

"How are you feeling?" I asked as I sat down in the chair beside the bed.

"Fine. Really," he added at my disbelieving look.

"I doubt it Dean, you fell from thousands of feet."

"Yeah but thanks to my lucky charm I wasn't hurt to badly, now was I?" He set his hand on top of the one that I rested beside him on the bed.

"Some lucky charm," I muttered with a roll of my eyes.

"Hey," he said as he gave my hand a squeeze, "Why does it sound like you're blaming yourself?"

"It's just – maybe you should reconsider this whole lucky charm business –"

"Why?" He removed his hand from on top of mine and crossed his arms over his chest, "You did your part as my lucky charm; your kiss – it helped to remove any nerves I felt. Getting hit by the bludger was my own fault, I was feeling confident after managing to score some goals and started to show off. I wanted to look good in front of you."

"Dean-"

"You know those quidditch girlfriends?" He asked, his voice much quieter now as he pulled at the blanket under him.

"What about them?"

"What do you think about them?"

"They're there to support their team. I mean, most of them are nice, of course but by now I've figured out which ones to avoid."

"Well I was thinking about getting one as well."

"Oh." I glanced away from him momentarily. "Who were you thinking about?"

"How would you react if I said it was … you?"

His words made me freeze and a silence stretched out between us.

"I shouldn't have –"

"You can't expect me to turn up to every one of your training sessions Dean like some of them do." I hesitantly raised my eyes to meet his shocked ones, "You guys have far too many."

A dopey grin made its way onto his face, "But you'll come to some right? I need my good luck charm." I nodded, "You need to be there for all of my quidditch matches though."

"Deal," I said with a smile, watching him curiously as his hand moved to the back of my neck and he brought his head down towards mine. "Dean-?"

He moved closer towards me and I leaned into him, closing my eyes.

"Dean!" Seamus burst into the hospital wing, shouting at the top of his lungs as he paid no heed to the other sleeping occupants of the hospital wing. My eyes snapped open as I pulled away from Dean, his hand falling back to his side. "Gryffindor won the- oh. I didn't realise I was interrupting. I'll just leave."

"You don't need to Seamus," I said as I rose to my feet, ignoring the slightly put out look on Dean's face. "Madame Pomfrey wrote in the letter that he can leave the hospital wing. Breakfast should be set up by now so you can stay and talk and when you both come down to breakfast I'll meet you there."

I couldn't take more than two steps from the bed before Dean caught my wrist and gave a soft call of my name.

"I'll see you in a bit," I said as I leaned over to press a peck to the corner of his lip. I had no reason to wait for someone to prod me anymore.