Summer holidays = more updates.. yay :D

CHAPTER SEVEN

I woke up on Saturday morning with a headache. Anita's bedside clock told me it was only 4.15, so I turned back over to sleep again, but I just couldn't.

After an hour of tossing and turning, I got out of bed and changed into some weekend clothes: skinny jeans and a plain grey t-shirt. Then, I rummaged through my trunk and retrieved my broomstick. It was nothing new or flashy ― I didn't even know what make it was ― but it was far better than any of the brooms that school had to offer. Just before leaving the dormitory, I grabbed a hoodie and slung it over my shoulder.

The common room was empty apart from Fred and James, who were asleep on the rug by the fireplace. I was really tempted to go and draw something on their faces ― it was something that they would do to me ― but I had a feeling that they'd want revenge.

I pushed the portrait open and went through it.

'Why are you going out this early?' asked the Fat Lady.

'I don't know,' I replied. I turned my back on her and crept down the staircase. I didn't know if I was allowed to be out of the dorm right now, but I didn't want to risk getting into trouble in case I wasn't.

I tried to make as little noise as I could and luckily, I made it to the Entrance Hall without being seen by any teachers. Much to my disappointment, however, the front doors were closed. They would make a lot of noise if I tried to open them. Just then, I heard a sound coming from the... doors? I moved to the side.

The doors opened, and Professor Trelawney walked inside, muttering to herself. '... Don't understand... Grim... haven't seen... while...'

She walked straight past me without noticing me. She's probably sleepwalking, I thought. Or maybe her inner eye is really busy so her outer ones aren't working properly. I rolled my eyes, and slipped out through the now open doors.

It was a good thing that I thought to bring a hoodie with me; it was still very early in the morning, and the sun hadn't risen yet, or maybe it had; I couldn't really tell since it was quite cloudy. Either way, it was cold.

Pulling my hoodie over my head, I started jogging towards the Quidditch pitch. I looked around the stands when I got there, and to my relief, they were deserted. Perfect.

I swung one leg over the broom and kicked off from the ground, hard. A scream of glee escaped my lips as I flew higher. I had missed the wonderful feeling of being airborne; the emptiness in my stomach as I made a dip, my hair flying behind me, the skin on my face feeling strange when I sped up and seeing everything on the ground reduce in size as I rose higher made me smile in spite of my headache. I also started to feel sleepy and hungry, but I ignored it.

I flew around for quite a while, practising the different moves and tactics that I had learned from flying with my cousins at the Burrow over the years. After I felt that I was slightly more ready for the tryouts, I landed at the edge of the pitch.

'Some nice skills you've got there.'

I looked around for the owner of the voice in surprise; I wasn't aware that I had company. I spotted someone sitting in the stands, but I couldn't tell who it was as their hood was covering half of their face. I presumed it was a boy since the voice didn't really sound much like a girl's.

He stood up and came down the steps towards me. 'Hey,' he said when he was on the pitch. He pulled his hood down. It was Josh.

To say I was surprised would be an understatement. What was he doing outside on his own? And at this time of morning? How long had he been sitting there and watching me? Why didn't I see him before?

'What time is it?' I asked him.

He held his arm up and pulled his sleeve, revealing his watch. 'Quarter past seven.'

'What are you doing out here?'

He shrugged. 'I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd go for a walk outside. Then I saw someone flying around and decided to watch.'

'I couldn't sleep either.'

'So you thought you'd practise for the Quidditch tryouts?' he chuckled.

I looked down and felt my cheeks heat up.

'I never knew you loved Slytherin so much.'

I lifted my head and looked at him, confused.

'I'm sorry babe. It won't really work, because you're not one.'

'Huh?'

He laughed at my confused expression. 'Nice hoodie,' he said with a wink.

I looked down at what I was wearing. Oh. My hoodie was green. I rolled my eyes. 'Ha ha. Very funny.' I held my broom over my shoulder, turned around and started to walk away from him. Maybe I could hide my broomstick somewhere, go eat breakfast and then come back out again?

'Hey! Where are you going?'

I ignored him and carried on walking. A hand grabbed my wrist and yanked me back around. My broom fell to the floor.

'What's wrong with you?'

I avoided looking at him. 'Nothing,' I mumbled.

'Calm down. I was just joking.'

I didn't reply.

'You look tired,' he said quietly. He put a hand under my chin and pushed it upwards, forcing me to look at him, 'Do you want to sleep?'

'Um...' What was he playing at? I couldn't tell if he was trying to be nice or just telling me that I was ugly. Why was he being nice and talking to me these days anyway? He never really noticed me before in the five years that we'd known each other.

'The Gryffindor tryouts are today, aren't they?' he asked, looking into my eyes.

I nodded, feeling uncomfortable under his gaze.

He smiled sympathetically. I tried to stop myself from staring; he had really cute dimples, and his dark brown eyes seemed so sincere. I slapped myself mentally. What the hell was I thinking about?

'Do you want to just rest here?'

I shrugged.

'Come on, then.' He took hold of my wrist and led me to the stands. I noticed that his hand was slowly moving down my arm, until he was no longer holding my wrist, but my hand. I felt my cheeks grow warmer.

'Sit down and sleep,' he said softly, carefully pushing me down onto a seat.

I nodded and thanked him.

'I'm going to get breakfast. Do you want anything?'

'Yes, please,' I replied with a small smile.

He grinned, and then walked away.

I leaned back and closed my eyes.

'Wake up, sleepy head.'

I opened my eyes to find myself sitting in the Quidditch pitch stands with my head resting on Josh's shoulder. 'How long have I been sleeping?' I asked, sitting up straight and rubbing my eyes.

'Just over an hour.'

My eyes widened in surprise.

'Here, have some toast. I just re-heated it,' he said, twisting his wand over in his hand.

I took a piece from the stack on his lap, and thanked him.

'Tryouts are starting soon. I should go. See you.'

'Bye.'

I watched him get up, place the remaining toast on the seat he was sitting on and leave. I wondered why he kept treating me as though we were close friends. I don't even make the effort to talk to him properly, so why does he bother with me?

After a few minutes of eating my breakfast, I saw a group of people walking across the pitch to the changing rooms. I stood up, grabbed my broomstick and went to wait outside the changing room for them.

The door opened.

'...And if they've got an attitude, we'll just kick them out. I don't want someone on the team if they don't appreciate it and try their best,' someone was saying.

'Rose?'

I turned around and saw the team dressed in their Quidditch robes.

'Hey,' I said nervously. 'I'm here for the tryouts.'

'Great!' Yasmin said, beaming.

I gave her a small smile. 'So who's the...' I trailed off when I saw a badge with a 'C' on it pinned to her chest. It looked as though it had been polished recently. 'You're the captain?' I asked loudly.

She grinned.

'How come you never told me?'

'I wanted it to be a surprise!'

I rolled my eyes for the third time that morning.

'Hey, look,' said Albus, pointing at something behind me. 'The people for the tryouts are here.'

I was surprised at how few people had turned up.

'Maybe it's because it's the first weekend―' started James.

'And people can't be arsed to wake up,' finished Fred.

'Well at least we've sorted out the lazy ones,' said Yasmin.

I looked at the group of people who had just arrived. There were only six. They all looked younger than me, and they were all boys. I didn't know any of them by name, just by sight.

'Ok guys!' said Yasmin.

The boys looked at her.

'You lot are all here for the position of chaser, right?'

They nodded.

'Ok, so I think we should start off with some penalties. You all have five goes each. Get into line, and get started then!'

The keeper, Sophie Macmillan, got on her broom and flew over to the goalposts, while the boys got into line. I joined the end of it.

'Hey, Ginger,' Lorcan said, walking up to me with a smile.

'Why are you so happy?' I asked incredulously.

He shrugged, still smiling.

'Finally out of your moody phase?'

He nodded, looking at me with puppy eyes.

I laughed; he looked kind of cute. 'Aw Scamander, that's good to know.' I pinched his cheeks and ruffled his hair.

'I don't know why the idiot wanted me to come here as well, though,' he complained, finally losing the smile. 'I mean, I'm a seeker! What have I got to do with the chasers?'

'I take it that you're talking about Yasmin.'

He nodded.

'Anyway, we should watch them now.'

The first boy scored two goals out of five. He missed the first three; it was probably because he wasn't expecting Sophie to be very good seeing as she was in fourth-year. The second one scored four. The boy after him: all five. None of the others after did that well.

When it was my turn, I sighed. 'I can't miss any of them. And even if I don't, I'll probably just have to go against that guy again.'

'Good luck,' Lorcan said.

I thanked him, got on my broom, and kicked off from the ground.

'Here.' Yasmin threw me a battered Quaffle. I caught it easily, and flew towards Sophie and the goalposts. I stayed still for a few seconds, then sped towards the third hoop and hurled the Quaffle with as much force as I could. It went through.

I flew to the Quaffle and caught it before it fell to the ground.

After that, everything was a blur. I had no idea how I managed to score all five goals, but I did. I had never played this well before, ever.

Sophie gave me a weak smile. 'We should go and find out what's going to happen now.'

I nodded in agreement, and followed her back down. No one, however, noticed us joining them; they were all standing in a semi-circle, watching two people arguing.

'I don't care how well you did. I'm not having someone with that kind of attitude on the team.'

'What, so you're going to let someone worse than me get on it instead?'

The boys in front of me looked annoyed. I walked around them to see Yasmin glaring at the boy who had scored five times.

'Rose didn't miss any either,' said Albus. 'I was watching.'

The boy now looked furious.

'Just do us all a favour and get lost, would you?' spat Lorcan.

'Yeah, just let another one of your friends on the team, why don't you?' the boy snarled at Yasmin. 'You've already got Potter and Scamander, so why not just get Weasley as well?'

I wondered how he knew my name; I had never spoken to him before. I didn't even know what year he was in.

'You know what, Adams? I think I will.'

'Bitch,' the boy, Adams, said quietly.

Yasmin's face hardened.

'Just go,' Albus said in a harsh tone of voice. 'I don't see why you're still here when you obviously don't like the rest of the team. Go. Piss off.'

Adams opened his mouth to retaliate, but one of his friends grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away before he had the chance to.

Yasmin took a deep breath before speaking again. 'Sorry about that,' she said to the rest of the boys. 'Thanks for coming. I'm sorry you couldn't make it onto the team, but you can always try for the beater position next year.'

The boys all turned to go.

'Hey, you!' Yasmin called to the boy who had scored four goals. 'What's your name again?'

'Daniel Hartley.'

'Well, you're actually quite good, so you can be our substitute chaser, ok?'

He smiled, thanked her, and then followed the boys back towards the castle.

'What happened? Why did you start arguing?' I asked Yasmin.

'He walked in to Lorcan―'

'―Almost knocking him over,' Albus interrupted.

'―And then swore at him for not looking where he was going instead of apologising,' Yasmin finished.

'Oh.' I didn't know what else to say, so I just stood there silently.

After a few moments, Yasmin grinned. 'Welcome to the team, Rose.'

I couldn't believe it.

I'm on the team.

Note: When I write in italics (like, a whole sentence and not just one word), well... they're Rose's thoughts.. Which is why they are in present tense. So that's not me just accidentally shifting tenses. I thought I'd point that out, just in case :)

Note #2: I hope changing it to first person hasn't affected the story too much.

Note #3: Rose, Yasmin, Lorcan and Albus are in Gryffindor. Lysander and Tom are Ravenclaws.

Note #4: Ugh.. I know I'm taking ages to get into the story, but I promise I'll make things more interesting soon.. Thanks for bearing with me :)

Thank you for the reviews ^^