Katie's P.O.V.

I'm not a morning person. I never have been to be totally honest. This being said, you can probably imagine how I reacted when my best friend, Sarah, got me up before the sun was even showing. Because most Hufflepuffs were slightly scared of Slytherins, she was always allowed inside of our common room. No one even asked twice the morning that they were awoken by a blonde banging two kitchen pans together whilst wearing dark green Slytherin quidditch robes. They were used to it.

"Good morning, starshine! Now, get your ASs out of bed before I drag it out!" Sarah said, ripping the covers off of me. The cold air wrapped itself around me, causing a shiver to run down my spine. Emma, my closest Hufflepuff friend, groaned a bit before stuffing her head back under her pillow, her brown curls just peeking over the blankets.

"Just go," Her voice muffled by the dense cloth. I quickly complied to Sarah's wishes, mainly because I didn't want my entire house to hate me. As soon as I swung my legs off of one side of the bed, she had grabbed my arms and hauled me off straight for the common room.

"Sarah, shoes!" I yelped as my bare feet padded the cold stone floor. "And I'm still in my pajamas!" With this, she stopped.

"Fine. You have two minutes." I nodded frantically before scurrying off to get dressed. My hands gripped the yellow and black quidditch robes from my truck as soon as I got back up to my dorm. I slid them on with ease.

"Two minutes and thirty-four seconds." Sarah said with just a tad of annoyance in her voice. Sarah had always been very precise with everything. Somehow, it never did manage to rub off on me.

"Sorry."

"Whatever," She yanked me by my arms to drag me out of the Hufflepuff common room, down the corridor, and to the Great Hall. Surprisingly, there were already a few other people eating breakfast, all of them already on the Quidditch team.

"Sarah, I don't know if-" I started to say as I got second thoughts.

"Katie, you. Will. Be. Fine." She said to me, pulling me in for a hug.

"Let's hope." We moved to the empty end of table and helped ourselves to as much food as we could manage.

"You need lots of carbs," Sarah mumbled through a large mouthful of waffle. "They'll keep you full longer, and you burn them off quick." I nodded, trying to soak in all of the information she was feeding me. I had practiced every weekend during the summer so I could make the bloody team. Of course, I needed Sarah's help, so it was good that we lived so close.

"Shit, we have to go!" She exclaimed as she wrapped her hair into a messy bun. We filed out of the Great Hall along with everyone else, me being a nervous wreck, and Sarah being confident as ever. "You've got this in the bag," She whispered into my ear after scoping out my competition.

"You think?" It was hard to believe her.

She nodded. "Becca Hastings can barely stay on a broom, and Dustin Barrow's practically blind. This makes the position for seeker yours!" I must admit, that did excite me a bit. I had never even given a thought to being on the team until Sarah had brought up that I "had the perfect body for a seeker". And I, as it turned out, was actually decent. Go figure.

The keeper's went first for tryouts. None of them were the best, but that wasn't expected in Hufflepuff. Well, not until it was the final keeper's turn. Even on his broom, a Nimbus 2001, I could tell he was tall. He wore his yellow and black helmet, but bits of ebony hair poked out, laying on his forehead in a fringe form. Sarah elbowed me.

"Who the hell is that?"

"I don't have the slightest clue." Even in a school as small as Hogwarts, you couldn't know every single witch and wizard.
"He's... really good," She watched him as he swooped and swerved, keeping the quaffles from entering the goals.

"Yeah," I agreed. Who was this boy? He finished with people applauding him. When he hopped off of his broom, a nervous look took over his face. He was humble.

The beaters were up just as soon as the boy was done, though nothing was to push Kenny Fargo and Sam Durango off of the team, Sarah we sure. And then suddenly, it became my turn. Dustin and Becca both got to go before me, proving that Sarah was indeed right about them.

"Brimpaul, Katie," Oh god.

"Good luck!" Sarah squealed, tackling me in a hug and slipping the firebolt she had made her father buy me under my arm. I felt frozen, but I knew that I had to do good, even if I wasn't as good as that...boy.

I get up and mount my broom, one leg swinging over, the other firmly planted on the ground.

"Your clock will start in thirty seconds." Okay. I had to find the snitch, and catch it, in at least four minutes and twenty-three seconds, which was Becca's time. She had no trouble finding the snitch, it was just the catching part that challenged her.

The timer beeped on and I pushed off of the ground, launching myself into the sky. Bugger, it was windy. My eyes were everywhere as I soared upward, until I finally saw it, just a few yards in front of me. I zoomed forwards and cupped it in my hands with ease. Sarah was the first to cheer.

"TWENTY EIGHT SECONDS!"