Mae managed to keep her mouth shut for the two days following her detention. Quidditch trials were Thursday night, and she didn't want to give Umbridge a reason to give her another detention. She was the captain of the Hufflepuff quidditch team, and she couldn't exactly miss the tryouts. She needed a good team, one that could win matches. Cedric had dreamed of winning the house cup, and Mae wanted to get it for him.

When she finally got done with classes on Thursday afternoon, Mae went straight to the quidditch pitch. This was her first big event as captain, and she didn't want to mess up. She was insanely early though, so for a solid hour and a half, Mae just flew lazily around the pitch. There was a light breeze and the sun was still hanging around, though closer to the horizon than she'd have thought. But flying helped calm her nerves, and she didn't care if she stayed on the pitch until the moon was high in the night sky. She would fly and pick a good team, a winning team.

"Oi!" a voice yelled. Mae shook her head slightly to focus and saw a small group on the ground. She flew down immediately, her heart pounding at the thought of meeting her possible teammates, but the closer she got to the ground, the easier it was to see that hopefuls were not the ones standing on the pitch.

Mae climbed off her broom when she got to the ground and put her hands on her hips, her face slightly pink from the wind. "What the hell are you doing here? These aren't public trials." The majority of the Gryffindor quidditch team just grinned at her. "I'm serious," Mae said, glaring at them. "I've got five minutes before I expect them to be here, and you can't just steal my pitch. I reserved it, Angelina."

"Take a breath," Angelina said, rolling her eyes. "We're not here to steal the pitch."

"Then why are you all here with brooms?"

"We thought we could help," Katie said. "You need chasers and a beater and a seeker. We just-"

"I'm not letting you spy on my team."

"Mae-"

"Get off my pitch, or I'm getting McGonagall down here to remove you herself. She wouldn't support her team spying on mine."

"There's no rule that says we can't be here," Alicia muttered, shifting her broom to her other hand. "Mae, we're not going to interfere with your trials. We're not really even here to help, at least not with those. We're here to help you once they're over."

"Help me?" Mae asked. "What do I need help with? I can put brooms back in the shed myself."

"Not what I meant, and you know that."

Mae flushed, her eyes darting to look at the Weasley twins, who were just standing there with disturbing smiles on their faces. They, she thought, were definitely up to something. "You're distracting me," she said, feeling weaker. "Just… if you're going to be here, then you're going to sit in the stands and not say a word. Do you understand me?"

"Promise not to leave before we get down once they're over." Angelina said firmly.

Mae sighed heavily and nodded. "Yeah, fine. Now go."

They mounted their brooms and took off, landing in the stands and settling down to watch the trials. Mae watched as a relatively large group began trickling onto the grass, and she took a deep breath to try and steady her nerves. They were all shaken up after the arrival of the Gryffindors, and she had a feeling that no one would really be happy to see them there watching.

Her assumption was right; as soon as he arrived and saw them, Zacharias Smith marched over to her. "You're letting them spy on us?" he asked accusingly. "The bloody team beats us every match we play; why do they need more leverage?"

"Shut it," Mae said. She didn't particularly like Zacharias, but he was a good chaser and she couldn't afford to lose him. "Half of them are my friends, and you'll treat them accordingly. Or do you want to risk your spot on the team?"

He glared at her but backed away, and Mae turned to face the group before her. There were quite a few younger kids, probably all trying to be the next quidditch prodigy like Harry Potter was. She sighed, knowing that there was a good chance none of them would make it on the team. Still, she'd give them a fair shot. None of them looked like first years, so they could play on the team without special permission.

"Hey!" she called, getting their attention almost immediately. The quidditch pitch was eerily quiet, and Mae wondered if that was a good thing or not. "You're all here because you want to play quidditch," she said. "I'm here because I want a team that's finally going to crush the Gryffindors."

There was a round of cheering from the Hufflepuffs, but it quickly quieted down.

"That being said, I only need to fill three spots. We've already got two chasers, a beater, and a keeper, and you all know what's left. Those trying for seeker, stand to the left of me, please. Those for the last seeker position, come stand near Zacharias. And if you're trying for beater, go and stand near Jane."

And with that, the trials started. Mae took each group up separately. She made them do basic flying drills and then brought out specific equipment that they'd need for each position. It took a little over an hour of the exercises and Mae writing down different qualities for different people before she had finally finished. She promised to have the list posted within the next day, and the students, all tired, trudged off the pitch and back up the castle. Some were chatting, happy with their performance, and some just looked embarrassed. Mae felt like she was never going to win a single match with the people that had come to the trials.

She nearly forgot about the Gryffindors sitting in the stands until she waved the last Hufflepuff off the pitch. When the timid third year had finally left, Mae heard her friends and the Weasley twins land behind her. She turned around to face them with a large sigh, and put her hands on her hips. "You all saw what I'm working with," she said. "Let me have the night to try and figure out what I'm going to do."

"You promised the rest of your night to us," Alicia said with a smirk. "Come on; mount your broom. We're flying."

"We're flying?" Mae asked, somewhat relieved. She'd imagined something worse in store for her, but she could handle flying. "For how long?"

"Half an hour?" Angelina suggests, looking around their odd group with a slight smile. "First one to a hundred wins?"

"First one to a hundred?" Mae asked, her relief turning to the feeling of stupidity. "Are we playing quidditch? We don't have enough for two teams."

"Have you lost your head?" Katie asked bluntly. "We played quidditch on night two with four people. You don't think we can work it out with six?"

"I'm well aware that we can," Mae said hotly. "It's just been a long day." One of the Weasleys laughed, and Mae glared at him. She hated when people laughed at her, at least now. Laughter reminded her of Cedric, and she didn't want to think about him. "I'm not so sure I want to do this."

"Calm down," Angelina said. "and pick your team. You get two, I get two. And I'm doing you a favor by letting you go first."

Mae rolled her eyes. Her instincts said to pick Katie and Alicia, just to spite the Weasley boys, but she knew how well they played together. "Katie and that Weasley." she said, gesturing to the one who hadn't laughed. "Which one are you?"

"George Weasley, reporting for duty." he said, saluting her and then smirking at his brother.

Mae rolled her eyes. "So how are we playing this? A keeper, chaser, and beater?"

"One bludger?" Angelina says, and Mae nods in agreement. "Right then. Take a couple of minutes, strategize, and then get ready to be crushed."

Mae rolled her eyes and nodded toward the opposite end of the quidditch pitch. Katie and George followed her, laughing about something and seeming too happy. "Alright," she said, once they were far enough away from the other team. "Any suggestions for strategy?"

"I already like you," George Weasley said with a grin. "Don't you like her, Katie? She's asking for our opinion; Wood never did that."

Katie laughed, and Mae rolled her eyes. "I'm glad you like me," she said. "But I'd rather shove a win in Angelina's face, so if you please, can we move onto suggestions?"

"Just go hard?" Katie suggests. "This...isn't really my strong suit. There's a reason why Angelina's the captain."

Mae looked to George, who shrugged. She sighed again; was there no way she could win a match? "Okay," she said, looking over to Angelina, who was gesturing with her hands to Fred and Alicia. "Alright. My guess is that they're going to try and hammer you, Katie. None of them are keepers, and you score amazingly well. So...So George, I want you to watch her back, okay? If I need your help, I'll yell for you, so keep your ears open."

"You don't want me watching your back at all?"

"I can handle myself," Mae replied, "I'll yell if I need you. Keep Katie safe, keep her with the ability to score. Okay?"

He nodded, though he looked mildly apprehensive. "I'll keep my ears open." He smirked and reached into his pocket for a moment, looking at her with a slight smile.

"Whatever that is...I don't want to know," Mae said. "Come on; let's get back. I've got essays to write and I need to get this over with."

They walked back, quieter than they were before. Mae couldn't help but blame herself for that. They'd been happy, and now they were as quiet as her. She'd ruined their good mood with her own lousy one. And all she wanted to do was go back to her dormitory and curl up in bed. Homework didn't even sound like something she was willing to do at the moment, and she usually tried to do as much of it as possible so she'd have free time later on.

"Alright," Angelina said once Mae, Katie, and George stopped walking again. "We're all decent people, so let's avoid fouls. There won't be a seeker or the snitch, so the first person to one hundred points wins. Clean game, yeah?"

"Of course," Mae said, eager to get done and go back to her dormitory. "Let's get in the air."

She mounted and took off before any of the Gryffindors. They followed her, of course, but she could tell that they were all ready to play. She watched as Alicia flew to the other goal posts, and Angelina and Fred took their positions. George and Katie did the same, and with a simple spell, Angelina released the bludger and the quaffle, and the game was on.

Mae didn't have to do much besides just sit in front of the goals. Angelina and Katie were ruthless, and the Weasley twins were doing a good job of keeping the bludger from hitting their respective chaser. She was glad to watch them, because they worked better as a team but still incredibly well when they were separate. It took a full three and a half minutes before Mae had to try and block a quaffle, which she did easily enough. Angelina looked irritated, but she swerved quickly to get back into the fray.

Time went on and Mae lost herself in the game. She blocked shots by Angelina and, while she missed three, Alicia had let through at least eight in half an hour. She was embarrassed by a couple of the shots she'd missed, but she knew that Alicia was fairing worse than her. She was an amazing chaser, but being a keeper wasn't the easiest thing in the world, and it couldn't be learned in a night.

As she thought this, however, there was a sharp pain in the back of her head. She couldn't make a sound. Mae lost her grip on her broom and started to fall. She tumbled through the air, finally yelling in fear. Her friends and the Weasleys all yelled too, and as she fell, Mae saw them start to fly in her direction. The pain from the blow to the back of her head started to worsen, and before she got close to hitting the ground, Mae's world went black.