The scent of grass and wood washed over me as I took my first step onto the Quidditch pitch, the silver lettering on the back of my royal robes spelling out 'Jamieson' pressing uncomfortably into my back due to them having been folded in my trunk for several weeks. Flying hadn't even been on my radar this past summer, and even my broomstick had felt strange when I had first picked it up. Great job keeping up your Quidditch training, Alexandra, I thought bitterly. It's not as if the Quidditch Cup is won by people who actually practice.

Winning the Quidditch Cup has been my dream since joining the team in fourth year. I've always wanted to be the player who won the match, my hands holding the cup above my head as the Ravenclaws hoisted me onto their shoulders, screaming, "Alexandra! Alexandra! Alexandra!" Flitwick would present me with an award, no doubt, the plaque he would give me engraved with my name, 'Alexandra Jamieson,' and the words 'Quidditch Cup Player of the Match.' I have never been one for wanting to be the best in class, never been one for seeing marks as the most important thing at school; although that might account for the sub-par marks in my classes.

But it had been months since I actually played, not counting the tryouts that Carter Day, the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain, had put on, and it would feel like years on the pitch. This year, he'd insisted I hang up my seeker position and pick up a beater's bat to double with my best friend, Charlotte Meaver. It hadn't been a stretch, seeing as how I always ended up playing beater with Charlie when I went to her house, and her older brothers (save Caleb, who'd been last year's captain) and their friends had always taken seeker for themselves.

I looked out at the pitch, a familiar weightlessness settling in. Letting out a deep breath, I mounted my broom, the handle of the beater's bat slightly encumbering me and getting caught in my long blue robes. While I usually loved the warmth my robes gave me, sweat was beading at my hairline and at the back of my neck. Pushing off, I sighed happily as the warm air rushed through my dark brown hair. I caught sight of Charlie as I glanced around the pitch and drifted over to my best mate.

"It's different, yeah?" Charlie greeted me, her brown eyes squinting as she looked at my new accessory.

I smiled uneasily and tossed the bat from my right hand to my left. "Unusual, but not different. I'll get used to it, I'm sure."

Charlie smiled and ran a hand through her short hair, the motion making the blonde strands shimmer gold in the sunlight. "Just don't blow it."

I stuck my tongue out at her, and her response was to giggle and streak off. Rolling my eyes, I turned my broom around and followed her, making my way over to the team who was hovering in front of Carter. Being the last one there, Carter shot me a stern look and I had to bite my lip to keep from smiling. Carter, though he liked to be thought of as a strict captain, was actually such a sweetie and was my closest friend apart from Charlie.

"Okay, Jackson, Amelia," he addressed his fellow chasers, "we'll be doing basic drills shooting on Alex." He looked over at Alexander Kingston, our keeper, who nodded in response. Then he turned to Charlie and me. "I'm only letting out one bludger for the both of you, so aim properly and try not to hurt us too much." I caught the hint of a smirk on Carter's features, but it was quickly erased as he looked over at Tom. "Newbie," he said, and poor little Tom jumped, "I'm letting out the snitch. If you need help, don't hesitate to go ask Alexandra, right?"

The team looked over at me, and I smiled brightly. "Absolutely! Anything you need."

Tom seemed to loosen up and nodded, his bright blue eyes silently conveying his thanks to me. The kid was a wreck, although I suppose I would be too if I was the only new player on the team.

Carter dismissed us and we began our practice: the three chasers flying around with the quaffle, Alex hovering near the hoops and saving nearly everything, Tom zipping around nervously, every so often blasting away only to fly back and ask my for pointers every once and a while, and Charlie and I blasting the bludger at our teammates, simultaneously trying not to hurt them but also trying to provide some real game experience.

At one point, I looked over at Charlie and marveled at how such a small girl could hit the bludger so damn hard. With her short blonde hair and her bow lips, Charlie was never really seen as a threat, but on the pitch she was a menace, so much so that Carter and I once debated calling her the Scorpion, because her hits sting. As the bludger flew towards her, she struck out and the crack reverberated around the field.

Amelia Givens, the fiery haired fifth year chaser, ducked just in time as the bludger raced towards her, and I kept my eye on the magical version of a cannonball as it swerved around the pitch. I steeled myself as it came racing near me, but quickly straightened up and watched in confusion as it flew past me. Then I saw its intended target and frowned.

A sea of scarlet was clustered together near the far end of the pitch and as I watched, one of the red figures stepped forward and threw its arm forward, bringing the bat it had clutched in its hand swinging up to meet the incoming bludger. Another harsh sound cracked around the pitch. Carter sighed as he flew past me suddenly, almost knocking me off my broom. Shaking off the shock, I looked over at Charlie with an eyebrow raised, she nodded in response, and we raced off after him. When the both of us touched down and dismounted, Carter and the Gryffindor captain were already talking.

"Look Potter, Flitwick booked the pitch for us himself. If you have a problem with that, go bring it up with him or McGonagall," Carter stated diplomatically. I could see that it was a strain on him to be cordial to the opposing captain.

While the Gryffindors weren't as bad as the Slytherins, Carter was still nursing a bruised ego from two years ago when the Gryffindors stole the cup we rightfully should have had. Through a large bit of dirty plays by their beaters, they had injured Alex, and we had to play without a keeper.

Although we had all known that it was in no way Alex's fault, he still moped for the next week, like he usually did when he got in one of his mopey moods, but nonetheless, I love the bloody nuisance. Although he likes to keep to himself, Alex can always bring a smile to my face. And although we only see each other as friends, the fact that our names are so similar has led to some very intrusive questions about our relationship and if perhaps we would ever become the Alex duo. Whenever that comes up the both of us laugh, especially because I would rather play keeper before being called Alex.

As Alex touched down next to me, I could see that Carter's annoyance with the Gryffindor team was present with all the seventh years; Alex, Charlie, and Carter all looked exactly how I felt, and even Amelia, Jackson, and Tom seemed to sense the tense atmosphere.

"Well," Potter countered, sighing dramatically, "Minnie told us it was ours, and obviously, Flitwick probably forgot. You know how he is. Short-term memory and all." As he laughed his hazel eyes danced with laughter at his cruel joke.

Apparently his team wasn't quite so amused, although the boy to his right, the one who had hit the bludger in the first place, snickered beside him.

"Shut up, Potter," Charlie seethed, glaring at the tall boy standing only a few feet away. "And if you'd like to keep your tongue I suggest you stop talking."

I felt the sides of my mouth curl up slightly as I suppressed the large grin that threatened to take over my face. Charlie's favourite subject was Charms and she would readily defend Professor Flitwick to anyone willing to take a jab at him.

Potter gave Charlie a disdainful look before turning back to Carter. "Is this why you have to practice? New players?"

"She's not new, you prat. You'd think that those glasses would help you see better, but obviously not," I countered, glaring at him.

The boy who had laughed at Potter's earlier joke, Sirius Black, stepped forward, his arms crossed along his chest, and grimaced as he looked over me. "Really? Because I don't remember one scrawny girl and one extremely feminine boy as beaters last year. Seems to me you had the Meaver siblings." His shaggy black hair fell into his eyes as he turned to look at Potter, the both of them laughing.

I glanced over at Charlie to see her jaw set determinedly, but her eyes filling with tears. It had only been this summer that she had cut her hair and she was still extremely sensitive about it ever since her brother Christopher had accidentally called her Caleb. I was set to murder Black, and by the look of Carter's clenched fists and furious glare, he was going to help, when Charlie lunged forward and knocked Black over, suddenly swinging her bat and connecting with the bludger that would have crushed his skull.

She turned back to the group, Ravenclaws to her right, Gryffindors to her left, and shrugged nonchalantly. While most of us were gaping at her, awestruck, Black was laying on the pitch, a scowl on his sharp features. He stood up quickly and angrily dusted off his bright red robes before turning on Charlie.

"Don't you ever do that again," he snarled, his eyes flashing dangerously.

Charlie pouted and brought a finger up to her lips quasi-innocently. "Does the big bad pureblood not like being touched by the icky half-blood?"

I knew it was a low blow but I couldn't help but smile. Everyone knew the Blacks were fiercely purist, it was just simply common knowledge; but it was also common knowledge that although he grew up in that environment, he was entirely opposed to You-Know-Who's ideals. Of course, I was in no way supportive of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's ideals either, but I knew it was something that would get under the Gryffindor's skin, and it seemed to work. Both Potter and Black seemed struck by Charlie's comment, unable to figure out how to respond, when Carter spoke up.

"Charlie, that's enough," our captain said sternly, stepping forward and grabbing her arm.

The both of them shared a look before Charlie nodded, albeit she did roll her eyes whilst doing so. Carter gave her a forced smile and turned to the Gryffindors. "Well, since this obviously won't be resolved easily, how about a friendly game? It's decent practice for the lot of us."

Carter outstretched his hand for Potter to shake but the dark-haired boy just stared at it. "What do we get when we win?"

I laughed sharply and he looked over. "When we win, we get to keep the pitch."

Carter glared at me for a moment but quickly looked back at Potter, his hand still outstretched. "Fine. Winner gets the rest of the night on the pitch. Deal?"

"Deal," Potter shrugged. "Gryffies!" he suddenly called and I jumped slightly. "In the air."

With that the Gryffindor team lifted off together, the motion making them seem like one unit. They flew over us in an arrow formation and I glanced over to gape at the rest of the Ravenclaws.

"Captain," Jackson said, running a hand through his light blonde hair, "can we learn how to do that next practice?"

Carter frowned and grumbled, "Your bloody sister's on the team, why don't you ask her how long it took that prat Potter to get the team to do that."

Carter lifted off and raced away in a huff as the rest of us stared at him go. Jackson squinted as Carter flew in front of the sun and then turned to the rest of us.

"Is that a no, then?"

It had been fifteen minutes and the score was almost even with the Gryffindors leading by ten. With the unseasonal warmth, sweat was dripping down my neck and I felt like a dog, panting like I was. My arms ached from hitting so many bludgers and my mind hurt from trying to refocus on beating instead of seeking. Playing with the Ravenclaws had me reverting back to seeker position and at one point I was about to go streaking off down the pitch for the snitch when I realized that the bat in my hand meant that I was not supposed to do that.

So far the game had been clean: no physical contact between any of the players, and no ill-aimed bludgers, but it still wasn't over. I had my eye on Black and the other Gryffindor beater, Carl Spinn, a lanky fourth year, making sure that they weren't about to do something rash, when Tom suddenly flew past me, his squeaky little voice muttering something. It wasn't until after he had passed that I realized what he had whispered to me.

Snitch.

I tensed and quickly looked around the pitch, deciding who would be the immediate threat. The Gryffindor seeker wasn't looking in Tom's direction, but a bludger was meandering over to Black and he was directly in position to blast it at poor Tom. Glancing over at Charlie, I saw the second bludger making its way to her and decided what to do.

"Charlie!" I yelled, making her turn towards me. "Over here!"

She nodded to say she understood and repositioned her broom as the bludger raced towards her. As her bat came in contact with the magic cannon ball, its course was redirected to me. I steeled myself as it came closer. Swinging my bat out just in time, it nicked the side of the bludger and sent it flying towards the shaggy haired boy it was intended for. I could see him winding up to take a whack at his own bludger when Spinn called out to him and he barrel rolled to avoid getting caught between the two. When he righted himself he shot me a murderous glare, evident even from half the pitch away, but all I did was smile and wait for…

"I did it! I caught the snitch!"

Tom's excited squeak of a voice made its way around the pitch. Black's face went slack and I grinned triumphantly as I spun my broom around to hover over to the excited boy.

"I did it!" he cried as I approached him, finding a spot between Amelia and Alex. "I can't believe it! I thought for sure Carter had made a mistake picking me over you, Alexandra, even if you are an amazing beater."

He blushed bashfully and I laughed, letting my broom creep forward a wee bit so that I could reach out and hug him. "Tom, you were brilliant at tryouts. I don't even think I could have done better today."

Tom beamed at me and his cheeks darkened. He thanked me and flew off towards the stands to get a drink with Jackson and Amelia, both of whom were congratulating him profusely.

Carter, Charlie, Alex, and I stayed in the air. "He still needs more work," Charlie mused. "But the talent is there, no doubt."

Alex scoffed and turned to me. "Do you see talent, 'Xandra? Because all I see is a kid who couldn't decide whether or not it was the snitch near the hoops, or someone's earring; and I was the only one in the area."

I stifled a giggle as Charlie gave Alex a cross look. "But you must admit, he has potential."

"Oh, everyone has potential, Charlie," Alex stated, nodding his head, "I'm not disagreeing with you, but the problem is I don't think he can build on it."

"Well I guess that's going to be my problem, Alex, isn't it?" Carter said harshly, giving the fellow seventh-year a sharp look. "I'm the captain and I picked him. If you have a problem with my choice, bring it up with Flitwick."

As Carter flew over to the stands were the rest of our team was huddled, Charlie turned to Alex and I. "It's just the pressure. He's got to live up to Caleb, you know." And without another word she was off, making her way to the stands as well.

Alex made a noncommittal sound and turned to me. "I didn't mean to question his choices. You know that."

"Yeah, I do, Alex," I said, giving him a reassuring smile. "I also know that had I been seeker I would have seen it five minutes in when it was hovering near the end of Tom's broom."

Alex began to snicker and I soon followed.

"Carter sure has a lot of work to do to get that fourth year up to your standard," Alex said, beginning to slowly descend towards the stands.

I shrugged. "I have a long way to go to get to Caleb's standard."

"Oh, nonsense," Alex scoffed. "Caleb was in another league of his own. I'm surprised he didn't go into Quidditch professionally. Not even Black could compete with him."

"Oh, so now Black's a better beater than me?"

Alex smiled. "Better at being a total arse? Yes. Better with strength? Yes. Better with aim and accuracy? Never in a million years."

I smiled. "Thanks Alex. But I guess I now have to work on my strength. How do you get such gorgeous muscles?

"Checking me out, 'Xandra?" Alex teased.

"Oh, most definitely," I countered, smirking. "Have you seen your arse? I could bounce a dime off it."

We were both laughing when we reached the rest of the team, to their confusion.

"Oi! What are you two laughing at that's so funny?" Jackson asked, raising an eyebrow.

I looked over at Alex and could barely contain my giggles as I said, "Oh, just the bouncing properties of a dime."

The harsh light of the sun shone upon my pillow, and subsequently my face, waking me up unpleasantly. I wasn't a morning person on the best of days, let alone when the burning light of a million tiny flashlights was burning through my eyelids. I moaned and turned from my side onto my back, my body groaning in protest. After our victory against the Gryffindors, Carter had insisted we still practice, and had decided to end it with a five lap run. Needless to say, I'm a flyer not a runner, and was extremely miffed at him. My legs felt like they had been hit by bludgers and then reset by Carter himself.

Slowly, I sat up and looked around the small room I called my dorm. From the bed to my left I could hear Charlie snoring, and judging by the stillness of her sheets, Kendra, one of my three other dorm mates, was also sleeping. The two beds to the left of Charlie were those of Sydney and Moira, but they were unoccupied as they usually were when I woke up.

Unlike me, Sydney and Moira were not only unnaturally gifted at schoolwork, but also worked exceedingly hard at everything, earning them top marks in most classes. Their extreme work ethic meant that they liked to wake up early and compare study notes and homework answers over oatmeal and grits, although how anything in that sentence could be considered fun or delicious is beyond me. Of course, they wanted to be co-Ministers for Magic, so a heavy course load was probably a requirement.

I was hoping to go into Quidditch as a profession somehow, but Flitwick had told me that if I didn't have a fall back career, then I was deluded. So, I took the core courses that I could with my O.W.L.s, namely Charms, Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Advanced Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Alchemy as electives.

I slowly got out of bed and made my way over to the bathroom, my muscles screaming in protest, and locked the door when I closed it. I had a quick shower, using Charlie's lavender shampoo, although it was her fault, actually – if she didn't buy such nice smelling products I wouldn't have to use them. When I got out of the shower, I quickly dried off, then wrapped a towel around my body and stepped out into the cold dorm. Shivering, I shuffled over to my four-poster and closed the royal blue curtains around me. I dressed hurriedly and when I was done I returned the towel to the bathroom, shaking Charlie awake as I passed. She groaned and gave me a sharp look through hooded eyes.

"It's morning," she growled. To say she was even less of a morning person than me was an understatement.

I walked over to her bed and smiled down at her. "It is, sleeping beauty, and if you want to have enough time for breakfast before Charms, you'll get up."

"I hate you."

We were down in the Great Hall within minutes, Kendra in tow. We were silent for the better part of five minutes, all focusing on trying not to fall asleep at our plates, until Carter sat down across from Kendra and me, and next to Charlie.

"Have you noticed yet?" he whispered, looking at each of us devilishly.

I looked up from my plate of waffles and frowned. "What?"

Carter subtly motioned to the head table. Charlie, Kendra, and I all looked over, our slack faces quickly turning to faces of awe. Dumbledore, in the Headmaster's chair, was eating his breakfast as he normally did, but something unusual was happening to his beard. Shimmering like the glitter on Kendra's excuse for exercise shorts, his beard was turning all different colours, starting with red, then orange, all the way to purple and then back again. If the old man noticed he wasn't letting the students catch on, but I could suddenly hear the murmurs around the hall.

"Who – oh," Kendra whispered, her gaze locked on something behind us.

I looked back and saw the Gryffindor table, everyone looking down admirably at a group of four boys: Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew. As they laughed and received claps on the back from their fellow housemates, Black suddenly caught my gaze. He winked and in response I rolled my eyes. As I turned back to my friends I sighed.

"They're bloody brilliant," Kendra murmured, not looking away from the Gryffindor table.

"Yeah," I muttered, not catching the hilarity of the prank. "Bloody brilliant."

Author's Note: So I know I said I wouldn't really be posting anything, but think of this as the teaser to the totally revamped All Bets Are Off. Most characters will remain the same, although they are in seventh year and not sixth year, Amos and Alexandra were never in a relationship, and a large portion of the plot has been redesigned. So why don't you tell me what you think of the new and improved ABAO in that little grey box down ? Do you like the title? The summary? How about the chapter title/summary? Are you excited for more? I'd really appreciate it!

And with that, I need to give thanks to randomhpffwriter for the title, Lululuna, whose summary writing skills are legendary, and my absolutely stellar Beta, pixileanin, without whom I wouldn't be writing this. Pix guided me through the new plot, helped tighten up this first chapter, and is going to be such a huge help and motivator for me in the months to come. And thank you, to those who have read and reviewed this chapter: your support is really appreciated.

- Lo :)