All classes except Astronomy were over meaning the moment Ilene had looked forward to since starting Hogwarts had come. Quidditch tryouts. She all but skipped towards the pit, remembering a summer full of broomstick riding and Quidditch books. Checking the sturdiness of her braided bun, she ran strategies both general and counter through her mind.

Wow, there was a lot of competition. She took a deep breath, she could- she would do this. She just had to be confident or at least make herself a rock, steady and unreadable.

"All right then, welcome one and all to the path to fame and glory, a position on the Slytherin Quidditch Team. But!", the captain shot a finger into the air, "Only the best of the very best will make it, good luck!"

Cheers erupted as many stampeded to the broom box.

"Wait! First, you were only to sign up for one position, one!" He gave a sharp look to the group through green-tinted goggles with gold rims. "So all hopefuls group by position as we go over the rules."

There was a chorus of groans as the majority glared at whoever they thought was a culprit. Ilene could call the ones who looked at her many things but not wrong as she joined the chasers. She assessed her competitors as the captain listed the rules she knew by heart: Broadford Flint, he'd make a better beater, Brandy Higgins, devious and good at tricky moves but hesitated at high altitudes, Phillipa "Flip" Greengrass, swift and daring perhaps to a fault which made her the real competition so far...

"If no one has questions, which you shouldn't since this is common knowledge, let's get going!"

With an "up", Ilene got into her broom and zoomed into the sky. There was something about being in the air that gave Ilene a sense of freedom and belonging but right now she couldn't afford such a distraction.

The quaffle shot into the air, the potential Chasers followed.

Ilene dipped to avoid a rear-ended blatching from Higgins and snatched it a second before Greengrass could and kept her grip steel tight.

A bludger smashed into her back, causing her to flail and nearly drop the ball.

She recovered.

Now prepared, Ilene dodged the other bludgers in her path.

It was time for a new challenge, Miles Bletchley, keeper hopeful.

"No sore feelings when I beat you," he said with a smirk.

She remembered his show-off tendencies from previous games aka his biggest weakness.

She flew down and threw the quaffle up.

It went through.

One more round and everyone went down for the final results.

"Some of you were so full of talent I wanted to vomit, but some of you made me want to regular gag. We'll be going by number of openings." Captain Billy Bile paced around in a much too big circle as if he was merely pretending to contemplate.

Ilene's scrawny legs thumped in her oversized black Quidditch boots, that meant chasers first!

"Chasers: Greengrass, Verde, you're in, along with Higgins I guess. Congratulations! Now hit the showers, you disgusting champions or stay here if you want."

Ilene trudged to the showers, body aching and mouth smiling. She did, she was a chaser! She pumped her fist into the air, now all she had to do was not collapse. She put a hand with bitten nails on the throbbing bruise on her back and took a look at the showers ahead. If she could make chaser, she could make it to the showers and then next stop was Madam Pomfrey. For now, she sat down on the cool grass and brushed the deep brown hair out of her eyes.