Author's note:Helloooo! Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I LOVE reviews, so if you could leave me a review and tell me what you think, I'd really appreciate it. So this chapter isn't that great, but I'm just getting warmed up, better chapters will be coming. Enjoy!... and please review :)!
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Chapter 2: Quidditch Try-Outs
I can't believe I'm trying out for the quidditch team. It's official, I've gone insane. Why am I trying out? Simple, I got tricked into doing it. Katie and Alec played on my competitive nature and bet that I wouldn't make the team, and me being me, I just had to prove them wrong.
So here I am. Standing on the quidditch pitch with kids from years 2 to 7 waiting to try out for the quidditch team. The remaining members of the quidditch team was standing in front of us. There was James, the seeker/captain, Sirius a beater, Grant also a beater, Nolan the keeper, Anna a chaser, and Giselle, also a chaser. There was one chaser spot that needed to be filled.
They got a good turn out I must admit. There was probably about 20 people trying out. Despite myself, I was a little nervous. I mean yeah, I knew I wasn't that bad, but there was bound to be people who were better then me. For example, Johnny Bateman had his own quidditch pitch and had been practicing non-stop since he was rejected last year.
I didn't play that often, I mean I did every now and then when Alec and I would goof around with some friends, but I've never actually competed... competitively. Great, now I'm psyching myself out, I'm actually starting to feel sick. Damn these nerves.
Ok, Breathe in, now breathe out, and repeat. Ok, I'm doing better, I'll be fine, just fine.
"Evans, Lily," James called out a small smirk forming on his lips when he called my name.
"Here," I answered dully.
Potter looked up at me with a knowing grin, but I just stared back at him blankly. You won't get a reaction out of me Potter! Nope, I'm bigger then that!
After they finally finished calling out the sign up sheet to see if everyone was here we were split into groups of four and did simple passing drills. We each numbered off 1-4 then we had to fly around the pitch away from our partners, calling our numbers and passing them to the number after us. This wasn't so bad. I caught all of my balls with ease and threw them right at my to the next number.
Just for fun, every now and then I would do a fancy catch by doing a loop then grabbing the ball, or I would do a fancy way of catching the ball. I thought I'd show off a bit, I mean why not? I was competing to get a spot on the team, might as well.
"Ok, everyone come back down," James yelled from the ground.
He seriously sounded like a drill Sargent. 'Everyone come back down!' gar! ... oh, that was more like a pirate, rather then a drill Sargent... huh? How did I get that those two mixed? That's strange.
"We're going to make our first cut now," James said in an orderly fashion as everyone touched back down to the ground, "Groups two, three, and six, I'm sorry, but you've been cut, thanks for coming out."
There were a lot of grumbles and sighs of relief. I would have sighed with relief, I mean I was still in it, but I could feel James watching me so I held it in and pretended not to care. I wasn't going to let him know I was nervous.
"Ok, we're going to mix the groups up again and do a new drill," James called out. He read off who would be in the new groups and we all kicked off the ground ready to be told what the new drill was.
Man my stomach was in knots, I'd never quite felt anything like this before. I didn't like it and I wonder if everyone felt like this when they were playing quidditch competitively. I took a deep breath in and waited for our next instructions.
"Now we're going to play mini games with the groups. Group one and two will go first, then the winner from that will play group three and so on," James said starting to explain.
Despite myself, I found that I was hanging onto every word Potter was saying. I wanted to make sure I didn't screw up. He did seem like he knew what he was doing, maybe I was wrong about him being a bad captain...
"God, could they give us any easier drills," The guy beside me said.
I turned around to see that I was next to Johnny and he was the one who was talking, "Lily right?" Johnny asked, smirking at me.
Hmm... "Yeah," I said smiling tightly at him.
"I saw you flying during the first drill, you weren't too bad," Johnny said cockily, looking me up and down.
Seriously? He was seriously hitting on me during a quidditch try-out? Oh this was just great, just peachy. Why couldn't he go hit on Fiona or Olivia, why did it have to be me? What, do I just attract the ass holes or something?
"Thanks," I replied shortly keeping my eyes forward, hoping he'd take a hint and stop talking to me. Unfortunately I have the worst luck in the history of the world.
"Yeah, you're not bad, but I hope you won't be too disappointed when you don't make it," Johnny said smugly.
That caught my attention, "Pardon?" I asked, slowly turning my head to look at Johnny.
"Oh don't get me wrong, you're a good player, I can see you have some skills, but I'm better. I'm a shoe in for the spot," Johnny informed me.
Oh gee, I have some skill, well that's nice to know. I'm so glad he could inform me of that, I really had absolutely no idea! Since I now know about my new found skills in quidditch, I should use them to crush Johnny!
... I think I may have an anger problem.
"All right, let's get started!" James bellowed.
This was good. Johnny and I were up against each other in the first match. As we took our places, he looked over at me and winked. Did he not realize that by doing that, it made me want to crush him even more? I can't wait for them to throw that damned quaffle in the air.
Anna flew to the center, looked at both groups, and then tossed the quaffle up. I took action first and sped up and grabbed the quaffle before Johnny could get to it, sucker, then I passed it over to one of my teammates and zoomed down towards the goal post. I got opened and was passed the quaffle. I threw the quaffle at the ring to the left and it went soaring through it. Point one for us!
We flew back to our starting positionsand I couldn't help but look over at Johnny. He was frowning at me. This was great! I wanted to score again and again and again, just so I could rub it in that cocky son of a bitch's face! Yup, definitely have an anger problem, Katie and Alec were right. Damn them, they're right about everything!
The quaffle was tossed up again, but I didn't make it to it in time, Johnny got there first, which thoroughly infuriated me. He started racing down the pitch, but I was hot on his trial, I wasn't going to let him score. He went to go pass it to a player on his team but I sped up and intercepted the play.
Haha! In your face Johnny. I sped down the pitch and threw it to another player who dodged someone on the opposite team, then threw it to another open player who threw it through the ring. We scored again! Wahoo! This was fun!
After a couple more drills I finally flew down to the ground and jumped off my broom, it was over, and I was exhausted. My whole body was in pain. I haven't had this much exercise since... actually I've probably never done this much exercise. I saw Johnny touch down a few feet away from me scowling angrily and I smiled. Anytime I was up against Johnny, 90 percent of the time I either blocked, or stole the quaffle from him. I could tell he was extremely pissed at me.
Sorry Johnny, but that's what you get when you're an ass hole. You had to be taught a lesson sometime, I'm just glad it was me who got to teach it to you.
"Ok, so we have three finalists that we've chosen," James said looking down at his clipboard, "They are, Marcus Greenborrough, Johnny Batemen and Lily Evans." James said looking up and smirking at me again.
Why? Why did he always have to do that. Why couldn't he just like, oh I don't know, maybe just give me a normal smile. Maybe I wouldn't hate him as much if he wasn't always smirking like a jerk at me.
"We'll post the person who made the team on Thursday. Thanks to everyone who tried out, you can all go now," James said waving good-bye to everyone.
Finally! All I wanted was to get back to the dormitories and have a nice hot bubble bath. That sounded so good right now. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, I could hear the bubbles calling my name.
"What the hell was that!" A voice yelled at me.
I opened my eyes and looked at the person who seemed so heated with me, it was Johnny. I couldn't help myself, I smiled, "What're you talking about?" I thought the best thing for me to do was probably to act dumb.
"You kept stealing the quaffle from me and blocking me every time I tried to do anything!" Johnny spat, waving his arms around like a maniac.
Touchy, touchy, "Well... that is how you play the game. Unless I'm mistaken... but I'm pretty sure I'm not," I said slowly.
Johnny's eyes flashed angrily at me. Yeah, he was pissed. He walked right up to me so that he was only a couple of inches away from my face. Ah hem. Johnny buddy, you're totally in my personal space, get out.
"You were purposely sabotaging me!" Johnny said savagely.
I gave him a 'yeah right' smile, then said, "Johnny, I think you're a little too paranoid. I didn't try and sabotage you, ok? I've go to go,"
I went to go walk away but Johnny grabbed my wrist tightly and pulled me back, "I'm not done with you yet," he sneered.
Bad move. I do not like it when some guy, who is an arse, grabs a hold of me, "Let go of my wrist," I said in a low steady voice. If he didn't let go soon, I would not be responsible for my actions. He should not have invaded my personal space.
"Did you think by sabotaging me, it'll get you on the team? It won't. That spot is mine, no matter what you do," Johnny hissed.
"Then what're you so worked up about?" I asked simply.
My wrist was going numb. He had such a tight grip on it. If he did not let go soon, I would not be responsible for my actions.
"Why am I worked up? Because of the fact that you tried to sabotage me! I didn't do shit all to you, and you had to go and be a little bitch–"
"Let go of her wrist now," James Potter's voice came from behind us.
I looked over to see James looking at Johnny with a withering glare. It was actually quite frightening, not like the ones he normally gives me.
"We're just talking Potter, no need to stick your nose where it doesn't belong," Johnny sneered, glaring at him then looking back over at me.
"Well, Johnny, normally I wouldn't but it doesn't seem like Evan's here is much enjoying your conversation... or your personal hygiene," James said.
I snorted at that one, I mean, it was kind of funny. Both James and Johnny are looking at me oddly now. What? I can't enjoy a joke? Go back to fighting! Stop staring at me!
"Look Potter, I'm just going to finish off here, so run along and bother someone else," Johnny said condescendingly.
Probably not the best thing to do. I mean, even though I hate to admit it, Potter has a lot of influence over the school. Anything he and his idiot friends do, people follow. Things he and his lamebrain friends hate... so does the rest of the school. It was well known not to cross Potter or his friends, something apparently Johnny didn't know.
"Run along? All right, I've been patient enough," James said. He took out his wand and pointed it at Johnny's legs, magic shooting out and hitting him.
Ahh! Relief. Johnny finally let go of my hand. Oh my! James put the jelly leg curse on him. Oh this is funny! HAHAHA! SUCKER! That's what you get when you're an ass. Er... I mean, what an arse Potter is for doing that.
"How about you run along now Johnny?" James asked Johnny sweetly who was swearing like crazy at James.
Haha, Johnny's flailing around like an idiot with his jelly legs! What a loser. All right, I really need to head back up to the castle now. As much fun as this is to watch Johnny squirm around and curse like crazy, that bubble bath of mine is no longer calling my name, it is screaming my name. Crap, James is following me, why the hell do I attract all of the arsehole's.
I wonder if they sell arsehole repellent at Hogsmeade...
"What?" I snapped. If I was angry enough, maybe he would just leave me alone.
"Aren't you going to say thank-you?" James asked smiling down at me.
Um... pardon? "Thank-you for what?" I think Potter's delusional.
"For saving you back there,"
Yup, definitely delusional.
"What're you talking about? You didn't save me, you butted in. I would have been perfectly fine without you. I'm not some damsel in distress Potter, I can take care of myself,"
"Oh yes, you sure were handling the situation, what with Johnny bruising your wrist and all," Potter said looking down at my wrist.
I looked down as well. Oh, I didn't realize it was so red, it was definitely going to bruise. Wow, he sure was angry at me if he bruised my wrist. Some guys were such jerks.
"You came right before I was going to curse him. But no, you couldn't mind your own business, you just had to intervene in a situation that had nothing to do with you,"
"I really don't understand you Evans. I do something nice for you and you yell at me. Why can't you be like a normal human being and just say thank-you! Is that really so hard for you to do, or is it not in your bloody vocabulary,"
What an arse! I want to curse him so bad! ARGH! How dare he say that to me. I stopped right before the doors leading into the castle and glared at him.
"You want me to say thank-you Potter? All right. Thank-you Potter, for making my life a living HELL!" I yelled at James then walked into the castle quicky leaving James behind.
The nerve of him! How dare he say such things to me. Of course I can say thank-you. But I'd never say such a thing to him. Has he forgotten how he's tortured me these past years? Does he think that, just because he's decided he fancies me that I'll, just forget it all?
Bloody idiot.
"LILY! I heard you were amazing at try-outs. You're a shoe in for the chaser spot!" Alec said, running up to me and wrapped me up in a huge hug as I entered the Gryffindor common room.
Seriously? What the hell is with everyone and quidditch? It's like it's some big cult or something the way people act about it.
"Well sorry to bring down your happiness, but I'm pulling out," I snapped pushing Alec away from me.
Ok, I know it's rude to be mean to Alec, you know, since he's just really excited for me and everything, but if it wasn't for him, today's situation never would have happened.
"What?" Alec asked confused as he followed me to the chair by the fire, which I collapsed in.
I'm really exhausted, I don't think this whole 'exercise' thing agrees with me. I really didn't want to have to go through this everyday, it wasn't worth it, especially having to deal with Potter, nothing was worth having to deal with him.
"I'm sure you heard me just fine the first time," I said leaning back in the chair and closing my eyes. It felt nice to do nothing.
"Lily, why do you always have to be so difficult?" Alec asked me.
"I think I was born that way," I replied simply, not bothering to open up my eyes.
I heard Alec sigh, "This is about Potter isn't it?"
"Who?"
"Lily!"
"Yes?"
"I don't get what's so bad about him? He's a pretty cool guy. Don't look at my like that Lily Evan's, he is! I mean, I know you two don't always get along–"
"More like never,"
"Whatever. But honestly, as Katie and I have been trying to tell you for years, just give him a chance and you'd be surprised,"
"Hmmm... I'll take that into consideration, while I'm about to jump off the Astronomy tower,"
"Lily that's not funny,"
"Really? I found it rather amusing,"
Alec sat there and glared at me then stood up and walked away. I felt bad you know, or I would have, but I didn't get the chance, because he whirled back around and walked over to me with a set glare on his face.
"All right, I've got a deal for you!" He said flatly.
Oh Alec, it doesn't matter what your deal is, I won't take it, but I might as well amuse him, "Well, let's hear it then,"
"When you make the quidditch team, either you join or... or... we're not friends anymore!" Alec said crossing his arms.
WHAT!
"Haha, very funny Alec,"
"I'm not joking,"
"..."
"Well,"
"..."
"You're seriously thinking about this!"
...well... here were my options. I either a) not join the quidditch team, loose Alec as a friend until he finally gets over the stupid bet... which could be a while because he's very stubborn or b) join the quidditch team and have James Potter and Sirius Black verbally harass me seven days a week.
Well, technically they already do harass me seven days a week, and it would really suck not to be able to talk to Alec, he is one of my best friends. Ok, fine, who am I kidding, I'd never choose anything over Alec, and he knows that.
"Fine,"
Alec's face broke out into a knowing grin, "I knew you'd do it," Alec said hugging me, "Even if I had to force you into it."
Yeah, that seemed to be happening a lot, people forcing me into doing things that I ABSOLUTELY did not want to do.
"I do hope you realize that you owe me one now," I said sweetly, patting Alec on the arm.
Alec's smile fell, and he looked at me confused, "What?"
"I'm doing you this favor Alec, obviously you're going to have to do me one, that's how favor's work. No matter what it is, you can't say no," I said happily as I got up and headed for my dorms to go take that bubble bath I'd been dreaming about for a while now.
"That's not how favours work. Lily. Lily!" Alec called after me fear rising up in his voice.
Poor, Poor Alec. I'm going to make him wish that he never made me join the damned quidditch team. If I was miserable, he better believe I was going to make him miserable as well!