Our annual back-to-school dinner (only established when Teddy Lupin, my uncle Harry's godson and Victoire's (now, not then!) sort-of-boyfriend, was starting Hogwarts) was rather awkward. It could have been more awkward, though, if Roxie had actually been there. She wasn't; I silently thanked aunt Angelina for wanting to go on a holiday so late in August. Everybody congratulated me with my Captainship, but all I could think about was Roxie's reaction. I knew that she felt like I was casting a huge shadow, out of which she would never escape (she told me once, when she was drunk). I didn't mean to, honestly; as I said before, it was completely unintentional. It would have been a great opportunity for Roxie to step out of that shadow (if it really existed), becoming Quidditch Captain.
James was the only one who seemed a little sour. "So now I have to listen to you all year?" he asked, almost looking disgusted. Yes, James, love you too. It would have been me or Roxie anyway.
"Would you have liked listening to Roxie better?" I asked him, forming a plan in my head. If I could get James to question my authority, perhaps Neville (or, well, Professor Longbottom, as we had to call him at school) would make Roxie Captain instead.
James pulled a face. "No. Girls are stupid. I should've been made Captain. Or Fred."
I raised an eyebrow and tried not to laugh. He really was a peculiar fourteen-year-old. His girls-are-stupid phase seemed to take longer to go away than any other boy's did.
In case you hadn't noticed yet, more than half the Gryffindor team consisted of Weasleys (and a Potter, of course). Apart from us, there was Cameron McLaggen, our Keeper, and Stephen Isaacs, our other Beater, both third years. Phil, our previous Captain and Seeker, had graduated last year, so we needed a new Seeker. At the family dinner, I got the suspicion that the entire family was trying to get Al to try out for that position. If he would try out, he would get it, I was sure of that; I had seen him play before, after all. Way to monopolize the Gryffindor team! Maybe world rule wasn't that far out of reach for us after all.
Now really dreading the next day, September 1st, I silently went to my room when we returned home from my grandparents' house. I still had to pack, and now seemed a perfect time for that. In the middle of folding up my clothes, Louis decided to come and annoy me.
"Get out, Louis," I muttered as he sat down on my bed, making all my books fall on the floor with that action.
"You don't seem very happy," he commented, ignoring my command. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, Louis," I grunted, trying to stack my books in my trunk, on top of my clothes. I knew he didn't believe me, but he was the last person I wanted to have this conversation with. Even Victoire would be better, since she, at least, was a girl too.
"You're afraid of what Roxie will say tomorrow when she finds out," he told me. I looked up at him, an incredulous look probably plastered on my face. "I knew it." Though they were both fourteen, cousins and friends, Louis and James were pretty much polar opposites. James acted half his age most of the time, and Louis acted twice his age. Fred was the only normal fourteen-year-old in the family, it seemed. As normal as someone with Weasley as their last name can be, anyway.
"Everyone thought she would become Captain," I answered my brother. "Of course I'm afraid of her reaction. She wanted this so badly."
"If it really bothers you, maybe you could hand in the badge," Louis mused. "I don't know if that's possible, but under certain circumstances, it should be an option." He stood up and walked towards my door. Before he walked out, he told me, "It's not your fault that you've become Captain, Dom. And you probably won't even have to tell Roxie. She didn't get the badge, and there's no way that anyone would make a fourth year Captain when there are two seventh years on the team. She probably already knows that you're the Captain."
"Jeez, that makes me feel a lot better," I mumbled, but Louis had already left. With huge effort, I managed to shut my trunk.
"Dom?" I heard Victoire yell only seconds later. "Is this your broomstick?"
Cursing silently, I flew to the stairs and looked down. Indeed, that was my broomstick. "Thanks Vic," I said as she handed it to me, "hopefully I'll be able to fit it all in my trunk…"
Victoire laughed. "You're the Quidditch Captain, Dom, you can't afford to leave your broom here!" Right. Maybe if I left some clothes here. The summer was over for the most part anyway, so there really wasn't any need to bring my entire summer wardrobe.
I didn't sleep very much that night. By the time I got up, I had slept about three hours (and I had been lying in bed for nine). It seemed that everybody tried to start a conversation with me, but I wasn't very responsive. I saw mum and dad exchanging worried glances, but I ignored it. The only person who really understood me was the person I was scared to face right now. Ironic, no?
I briefly wondered if I couldn't just leave the badge at home, but knowing my parents, they would send it after me before we would even arrive at Hogwarts. It was now tucked away in a pocket of my jacket, and I tried to look as normal as possible when we arrived at Platform 9 ¾.
The entire family was there already, and we were greeted as if we hadn't all seen each other the night before. After I had escaped a particularly big hug from aunt Ginny, I felt someone else hug me. Roxie.
"Hey, Roxie! How was the holiday?" I asked, laughing nervously.
"It was nice," she answered, shrugging. "I'll tell you later. We need to talk anyway." She gave me a pointed look that told me all I needed to know. She had already figured it out.
