Outside a few minutes later Harry launches himself into the air on his broom along with the twins as people gather for a pickup game of quidditch, including the other tri-wizard tournament champions Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour Once everybody is in the air they pick white or black marbles out of a bag to select their teams.

"Is he always like that?" Viktor asks as Ollie starts yelling at the twins.

"Yeah, he's the Gryffindor team captain. And he was heartbroken when we found out there'd be no quidditch this year. This will still let him get in some games while he's cramming for his NEWTS." Harry won't tell him about the older boy already failing them last year, his Mum had sent him a Howler about that before they'd left school.

"Do you play quadpot?"

"Not on house teams, Dumbledore doesn't like the game and banned it. But Professor McGonagall got in his face about it and he gave in, we can have pick up games."

A few hours later Ron is sulking as Harry settles into his seat at dinner. Once he'd washed and changed into clean clothes he'd been forced to work on his essays. Meanwhile he could see Harry and the others in a game outside. It wasn't fair. He should be the one outside playing with Viktor, after all Viktor was already famous in Bulgaria and he'd be playing professionally the minute he gets out of school. With him as a friend Ron is a shoo-in to get lucrative contracts from other countries. Chudley would have to give him oodles of money to make him stay with them.

Harry looks behind him as Sirius comes up. He hands a thick bundle of papers to Harry.

"Harry, look this over kiddo. It's information on a quidditch camp in America that the Potters own. If you do good on your OWLS over the break, you can head there for a few weeks."

"It's not fair." Ron yells, jumping to his feet and grabbing the papers from Harry's hand. "I'm the one who's going to be the professional player. . .I should. . ." a number of hexes hit him and he turns into a billy goat.

"There, if you're going to stand there bleating about how life isn't fair, you can really be a goat." Ginny says with a smirk as she hands Harry back the envelope. "Dumbass. . .you don't have a broom and Mum and Dad can't afford to buy you one." she snorts. "There's no way in hell they'd pay for a broom and the costs of you going to a camp. Besides. . ." she smirks evilly. "You'll be too busy working all summer on schoolwork to try to pass first year again." Up at the front table Madam Umbridge is red with anger while the other teachers are desperately trying not to laugh.

"Ms. Weasley, five points from Gryffindor for your appalling language." Snape's lips twitch. "Please return your brother to human before he's hurt." Ron had been trying to eat off everybody's plates had been pushed away. One Hufflepuff pops him one in the nose as Ginny turns him back.

"You hit me." he whines.

"Damn straight I did, that's how you deal with goats and other animals that get into your crops. . one good pop on the nose discourages them."

"You hit me." he yells again, the picture of total innocence.

"Ginny, you turned him into . . ." Fred says.

"The wrong animal. The way he's braying. . ."

"He should be a jackass instead."

"Harry mate, best bud, you'll spot me the money for a broom and the camp won't you?" Ron wheedles, seeing the papers in Harry's hand.

"If he wouldn't spot you the money on the train for chocolate, what makes you think he's buying you a broom and paying for you to go to camp." Hermione snorts. "Besides, you are not his 'best bud', you're a using little toad who sucked up to Harry on the train to get whatever you wanted."

"Mum and Dad brought the twins brooms." He bleats.

"No Mum and Dad did not . . ." Geprge says indignatly.

"Buy our brooms. We've been working with . . ."

"Gringotts doing grunt labor for the last two summers. . ."

"lifting and toting stuff to make money . . ."

"to pay for our brooms, new wands, and to put money away . . ."

"for our store."

"They brought Percy a new owl. That's why I got his old rat Scabbers."

"There's a difference between an Owl ickle Ronnie-kins. . ."

"And a broom. The stuck up prat might be . . ."

"A stuck up prat but he worked hard for his grades and was working. . ."

"At the ministry with Dad since his third year. That's how he . . ."

"Was able to get hired right away, he'd already been working for them."

"Mum brought you all new robes, a wand, and whatever else you wanted. Because you're a girl, the first girl in seven generations." Ron says defiantly to Ginny.

"Are you fucking stupid. No, dumb question. No they did not buy me all new stuff, the only new things I got was my books and supplies and that was only because Flourish and Blott's didn't have any used." She snorts. "All my clothes have come from the second-hand store, my wand was a hand-me down, and so are my robes."

"They got new stuff." Ron points at the twins.

"Bullshite." George says. "Our robes were hand-me downs, in fact we had them first before you did. Our wands were Uncle Fabian and Gideon's."

"But it's not fair. Hary's rich, he should buy me whatever I want." Harry turns away after giving Ron a disgusted look, one that's shared by everybody else in the Great Hall. Seeing everybody ignoring him Ron starts shedding crocodile tears, figuring if he looks pitiful enough he'll get whatever he wants.

"What do you mean your history of magic teacher is a ghost who only talks about the Goblin Rebellion?" Madam Umbridge hisses after dinner. She'd been looking for the history teacher to get notes on what she needs Weasley to learn.

"Exactly what I said Madam Umbridge, Binns is a teacher who only talks about the Goblin rebellion. . .no matter what year he's teaching."

"How the blazes does anybody pass their OWLS or NEWTS then?"

"Independent study. Right now former Professor Lupin is tutoring the sixth and seventh year students for their NEWTS."

"It cannot be that bad, when I come back from getting Weasley his new wand, I'll be sitting in on the class for a couple weeks. Right now I need to take him to the potions classroom and have him make a new batch of potions."

"Why are we doing this again?" Ron whines as he's dragged into the potions laboratory and threw behind a table.

"Because you couldn't be bothered to document what you did in preparing the last potions. That is needed to grade them since we don't have a potions master here watching you work. Now get to work." He glares at her and she hexes him again. making him yelp and jump around on one foot before he sullenly takes up a quill and starts writing as he prepares the ingrediants.

The next morning is spent on the floo to the ministry. She hates having to pay so much money but she has the container and she sends the potions and paperwork back with Weasley.

"But I'm hungry." Ron whines, looking at the tables filled with students eating.

"We are taking a international portkey to America." Umbridge says between gritted teeth. "Nobody does it on a full stomach. . .now drink the damn nutrient potion and let's go."

Ron whines, whimpers, begs, pleads, and finally kicks her in the shins, running to the tables. He's grabbing food off plates and shoving it in his mouth when he's frozen by Umbridge and she triggers the portkey.

Ron throws up on her as they land. "Maybe you were right about not eating before portkeying." he says woozily. She's glaring at him and if looks could kill he'd be a pile of dust on the floor.

"Ummmm Whoops?"