"So," I said, as we seated ourselves in an empty compartment.
"So," Roxie echoed, obviously trying to smile. Then, I cracked.
"Roxie, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, I was so sure that you would get it!"
"It's alright, Dom," Roxie said, smiling sadly.
"No, it's not alright! You worked so hard for this, it's… it's unfair, that's what it is!"
"Dom, it's fine, really." From the look in her eyes, though, I could tell that it was far from fine. "I'm sure they had a good reason to give the badge to you instead of me."
"And they overlooked a million better reasons why they should give it to you," I mumbled.
Roxie just sighed and looked out of the window. We hadn't left yet, and we had a good view on our younger cousins (and siblings) getting their speeches. We had quietly snuck away and no one had called us back, so here we were.
"Can I at least see it?" Roxie finally asked. I hastily grabbed the badge (I assumed that that was what she was talking about) and handed it over. I promptly dropped my gaze to my hands, not wanting to see her face while she examined the one thing she had wanted more than anything since she had joined the team. Or maybe even before that, I didn't know.
"Dom," Roxie said softly, "don't worry 'bout it. It's not your fault, is it?"
"If I hadn't been on the team…"
"Then I wouldn't have survived until now either," Roxie finished. "But Dom, don't tell me you also became Head Girl."
"Roxie, are you insane? Who would want to make me Head Girl?" Roxie fell silent for a moment. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Last year, Roxie had been fretting about becoming Quidditch Captain, and I had tried to console her by telling her that I couldn't think of anyone who wouldn't want to make her Captain.
"Good," she said, with a forced smile, "because if you were, I would have to start pranking you too this year."
I smiled back, starting to feel uneasy. Hopefully this tension wouldn't last all year.
"Dom? You do know that this is our last year, right? We have to win this year!"
"I know, Roxie. But we've got the best Chaser in the entire school – no, what am I saying, in the entire country! You, I mean. And our other players are great as well. And once we've got a new Seeker, we'll have the best team in centuries. Nothing will stop us!"
"That's my line, Dom," Roxie said, though smiling slightly again (for real this time). "Well, let's hope we'll find a decent Seeker then."
"I think everybody in our family will kill Al if he doesn't try out," I said. "Yesterday they were all pushing him to join the team."
Roxie suddenly looked pensive. "Do you think we could bribe Cameron and Stephen to resign? Maybe we could get Rose to try out too. Or Lucy. Or Louis. Or Molly. Too bad Lily and Hugo aren't allowed to join yet."
I laughed at her comment. "I don't think Cameron and Stephen will want to resign, Roxie. We can easily reach world domination with those two tagging along. They can perform the nasty tasks."
During our talk, we had left the station. We kept on talking about our holidays (the last two weeks, that is; we had seen each other almost every single day before that), especially Roxie's vacation. We weren't disturbed until around lunch, when our compartment's door slipped open.
"Hey Roxie, Dom." It was Fred; but he wasn't alone. I don't know whether it was a coincidence or not, but he had brought along the rest of our team. And Al. But if he was going to try out, he would be part of the team anyway.
"We thought it would be nice to call a team meeting already," Stephen told us.
When Roxie looked pointedly at Al, James said, "We figured that Al might as well come along, he's going to be our Seeker no matter what happens. He has to, or else he'll 'disappoint' everyone. He's doomed."
"Shut up, James," Al muttered, flushing a bit. He didn't look like it was his own idea to come.
Most likely, James had dragged him along.
"Right," I said. "Well, if you'd rather leave, Al, go ahead. And James, I'm sure he won't disappoint everybody if he doesn't try out. If he doesn't want to try out, he won't try out."
"Thanks, Dom," Al said, smiling. "I think I'll go then, Hugo and Lily are probably driving Rose and Lucy crazy. Maybe I should save them."
While I dealt with the Potter brothers, Fred and Roxie had started fighting. Or rather, they had started a tickling match. Stephen and Cameron looked mildly amused. We were all used to this behaviour. I would say it's a typical siblings-thing, but I never had tickling matches with Louis or Victoire.
"Right," I said, when Roxie and Fred were done, "you wanted a team meeting, so… what's up?"
"Maybe we could discuss tactics or something?" Cameron opted.
"Tactics?" Roxie shouted, even though everyone was silent now and was within a couple of feet's radius around her. "We only have one tactic: to win!"
Did I mention that Roxie was a Quidditch fanatic?
"Yes!" Fred and James shouted in agreement.
"But we might need some more specified tactics," I said, interrupting their shout-fest. "I mean, I think that every team will want to win."
"Oh, but they won't," Roxie said, grinning maniacally. "We'll stomp them all."
Alright. I love Roxie, I really do, but she's pretty scary right now.
"Why don't we chat about tactics at our first practice?" I asked. I had suddenly realised that any good Captain (like Roxie) would have spent his/her whole summer thinking up tactics and plays and everything. I had done nothing, except dreading the moment I would have to face Roxie. So I was very well prepared… alright, not really.
"Maybe that's a good idea too," Roxie replied. "Anyway, you all had better be prepared and ready and bloodthirsty for this year!"
Our teammates all saluted and marched out of the compartment. "Impressive," I told Roxie. "Though the bloodthirsty part could have been a little less extreme, I think."
"Oh well," she said, shrugging, "I'll be your bulldog this year. So I should be a bit extreme."
Somehow, we had returned to the topic of the captainship. I looked down again. "I'm so sorry, Roxie. I know you really wanted this – "
"Oh, shut up, Dom, I'm happy for you." I looked up, and Roxie was, once more, giving me a forced smile. Something told me she would be much happier yet if she had been the one with the badge.
The remainder of the train ride was spent in silence or by telling each other even more stories about the holidays, and I made a mental note to ask Nev – eh, Professor Longbottom – about his decision the next morning.