I got my homework all taken care of in the first half of the week, so I spent the second half practicing for Keeper try-outs. Dom couldn't practice with me anymore that week, but Hugo came out on Thursday and Roxy on Friday night. All in all I would say that I was definitely not half bad. I mean, I was no professional by any means, but I could keep a fair few Quaffles away from my hoops.

So on try-out day, I was pretty confident. For some reason I felt if I was able to make the team, I knew I would be okay. The break-up with Seven would have served some sort of purpose, even if that purpose was just to play a bit of Quidditch while at Hogwarts. I was determined. I was prepared. I was nervous as shit. I could feel the butterflies flapping incessantly in my stomach from the moment I woke up. This morning I wasn't even able to keep down the apple that had become my breakfast staple since school started, not to mention the lack of lunch.

All of my family came by the table at lunch to give me words of encouragement.

"You can do it Rose, just stay focused," encouraged Dom.

"You tend to lean to the left, try to focus on staying straight," advised Hugo.

"Knock those Quaffles out Rosie Posie," Al chimed in.

"Yeah," Gordie agreed.

"Kick some Slytherin ass," cheered Lucy and Molly.

And it went on. James whispered something about letting him know if I needed anyone hexed out of the running, and Fred and Roxy both offered to slip my competition some skiving snack boxes. Lily came by with Louis and Lysander, all wishing me luck. Lorcan and Ade both gave me thumbs up from the Ravenclaw table, and I saw a wave from Annie at the Hufflepuff end. It was great, all the support that I was getting from my lovely family and friends, until I noticed that the only people wishing me well from my house were Six, Tabs, Bertram, and Scorpius.

I guess that's what happens after years of neglecting my fellow Slytherins to hang out with Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. I smiled, even though I could feel the tense knots forming in my stomach. It would be fine.

Scorpius gestured towards the Hall doors fifteen minutes before two. I guess it was time. A smattering of other Slytherins, all holding brooms trailed behind us.

"Nervous?" he asked.

"A little," I admitted.

"You'll be fine. Just don't let anything in." Damn his stupid smirking face.

"Thanks."

He winked in response to my sarcasm. Once everyone had gathered at the pitch, I saw that there was quite a crowd in the stands. Seeing that a good deal of them had red hair, I figured out who comprised the majority of the audience. However, on the other side I could make out the long blonde tresses of one Van-bitch-face among the crowd, which meant that there were a fair few Slytherins watching as well. No pressure or anything.

"Okay. We'll start out with some flying drills for right now. Everyone start at this set of goal posts," Scorpius gestured to his right, "and fly to that one and then back again."

There were about twenty people out on the pitch, brooms in hands. We all mounted, some more quickly than others. One girl, in her over eagerness to get up in the air, overshot and ended up falling off before she had gotten a chance to really get on. Scorpius threw a thumb behind him in a way that brooked no argument; her tears were evident from 10 feet up, which is where I was located. I flew higher, other people to the left, right, front and back of me. I could see the dark hair of Miles Flynn up ahead; his muscular frame appeared almost too large to be held up by a small piece of wood. Tabby was right though, he was pretty fit.

Scorpius was able to eliminate four more people just on the basic flying drill alone. Then he broke us up into groups, those who wanted to be Chasers, Beaters, and Keepers.

Seven people flew up into the air at Scorpius' instructions and started throwing around the Quaffle. A Second year boy managed to drop the Quaffle on top of Scorpius, which cause a scowl, a lump, and an immediate thumbing out. He narrowed down the Chaser selection to three and then moved onto the Beaters.

There were five people holding clubs. The first was a scrawny bucktoothed girl who couldn't have been older than third year, if that. Then there were two blokes that looked like they had eaten a baby walrus for breakfast, and two others that were pretty average, if not a little bit bulky. Watching the Beaters try out served to help relieve some of the tension that was beginning to build in my shoulders. There really was nothing funnier than watching someone spin around in mid air after completely missing the bludger and knocking himself on the head instead.

Scorpius was able to eliminate Beaters until all that was left was one of the walrus-eaters and the small girl. She really was pretty incredible. Not as good of a form as Lucy or Molly, but she was young yet.

Then it was the Keeper try out. Scorpius had his prospective Chasers throw the Quaffle while we were sent to protect the hoops. It was me, Miles Flynn, a fourth year boy with large bug eyes, and Thaddius Gamp. Whatever happened, Thaddius could not become the Slytherin Keeper.

Bug-eye went first. When his name was called his eyes bugged out even more, causing me to feel a bit nervous that they might just pop out of his head. Claudius Stradmore, or

Bug-eye, flew up to the hoops and then some, having to stop and descend a bit to get into position. Then the Chasers-to-be let him have it. Two of the girls played really well off of one another and got three goals past him right away. The lone boy shot once and Bug-eyes saved it. His eyes retreated into his head a little; I almost couldn't see the whites of them anymore. Scorpius thumbed him out a few more misses and one more save later.

The boy Chaser was also cast out. Bug-eye and Boy Chaser descended back to ground level. Bug-eye wore a glassy look, while Boy-Chaser shot ominous looks in Bug-Eye's direction.

Next, it was my turn. I only had to watch out for the two girls, but they were both pretty intense. I wondered how Scorpius was going to choose between the two. Then I got my head in the game when I saw a bright red Quaffle careening towards it. I saved it by the tips of my fingers. A little too close a call! Now jolted into action, I focused fiercely on the two girls, only letting two out of the twelve thrown my way slide by. One from each girl. Though I hoped that the taller one got on, the way the shorter one gloated made me want to punch her in the face a little.

Thankfully, I wasn't thumbed out, but Scorpius indicated that my try-out was up. Instead of landing on the pitch, I flew over to my family to watch the rest of the try-out from there. Six was sitting along with everyone, while Tabby sat with Bertram between herself and the non-Slytherin entity. I let my family and friends all compliment me, letting it get to my head only a little bit. I mean, I was pretty freakin' awesome.

It was Thaddius' turn; I could see his thick skull from here. He started off pretty well, which pissed me off, but then it looked as if he began flirting instead of saving and let in three Quaffles in a row. By the fourth one, Thaddius wasn't even hovering near the goal posts and was instead making a lewd gesture to the taller Chaser. Needless to say, Scorpius thumbed him out as well. I don't know why he even bothered to let him try; there was no way that Thaddius Gamp would have been a good member of any team.

Last it was Miles. There were several shouts from the Slytherin side. A lot of them sounded pretty girly, probably because Miles was the dishiest man on the pitch. From the first, I could tell he had good form. He hovered in the center of the hoops, not leaning at all to the left. I wasn't surprised when he went six in a row without a single slip up. When the shorter Chaser managed to shoot the Quaffle past him there were several boos and jeers from the Slytherins, and though I tried to stifle them, a few cheers from my friends. James and Fred were the rowdiest.

There were several more attempts, only one of which gained any more misses from Miles. Shite, he was good. When Scorpius called Miles down, I figured it was time to hear the news. My shoulders slumped a little, even though Tabby was trying to convince me that Scorpius would definitely let his girlfriend on the team. I shot a stinging hex her way, and then stuck out my tongue before flying downwards to my impending rejection. Yet another one.

"You were both good," Scorpius said in his calm, all-business voice, "but I'm afraid that Miles was a sight better." He looked at me with only a small trace of sympathy on his face. Well sod him, two weeks of friendship obviously meant nothing.

"How is that? We caught the same number!" I asked, my arms crossed across my chest.

"Well, he doesn't lean to the left, and you almost missed that first shot," Scorpius said, looking me dead in the eye. Stupid sod, didn't even have the decency to look ashamed of his choice. I didn't know what to say, so I stood there with my mouth agape. Miles smiled a broad grin that showed off a set of straight, white teeth. When I shot him my stoniest glare his smile faltered. Good!

"You were really good, too." Miles said to me as I started skulking away.

"Yeah, I was bleeding fantastic."

He jogged to catch up to my quickly retreating legs. "No, really. I was close to diving right instead of left on that last shot. I would have totally missed it if I had."

I gave him a wan smile. "Yet, you didn't."

"No. S'pose not."

He stopped trailing me and I left the pitch, not interested to see who made Beater. I figured that the Chaser position would go to the shorter girl. She had gotten the second goal past Miles, as well. I guess it's for the best. I probably would have ended up kicking her at some point anyway.

I found the dorm room empty and pulled the curtains around my bed to block out any light. Too bad they didn't block out all sounds, namely Hollace Van-Bitch-Face.

"I'm so glad Miles got Keeper. Could you imagine how obnoxious Weasley would be if she had gotten it?" Did the girl just grow up with bitch coming out of her mouth?

"She was good though," Jocelyn said.

"Whatever. She was passable. Though, I think Thaddius was much better. If he hadn't gotten distracted..."

"Yeah," Jocelyn's complacent voice simpered. It was almost more irritating to listen to her brown-nosing than Hollace talking.

"Are you really going to wear that?" Hollace asked in her condescending manner.

"No, of course not. I was just changing."

There were minutes of shuffling, then, "I guess that will be okay. You don't look as fat."

More sounds of shuffling, a "brilliant", and tapping footfalls later, I was once again alone.

I guess this would just be the year of loneliness. Stupid Scorpius and his fair captaining. I knew there was a reason I hadn't talked to him much all these years. In fact, I remember my dad telling me specifically not to talk to him. Why did I never listen to my father?

I punched my fist into my pillow, creating a large dent for me to stuff my face in. Screaming never felt so good. There was something magical about yelling into a feather pillow that really released the pressure in my head. Pressure that had been building ever since Seven had dumped me. Stupid fucking twat! I hated him. I officially hated the bloody git. It was all his fault. His fault that I did not get on the Quidditch team, his fault that now everyone at school thought I was some skank, his fault that I no longer had anyone to snog on rainy nights. It was all because of him that I was laying here alone in my dorm screaming into a sodding pillow. WANKER!

"Rose? You in here?" Six's voice broke through the darkness of my hideaway.

"No!" I groaned.

"Oh c'mon. You were great out there. Don't get all sulky again." The light that invaded my space made me hold my hand up against my eyes. Granted it was the dungeons, so not nearly as bright as say… the Gryffindor dorms, but when those lanterns were lit, it could definitely blind a person who wasn't expecting it.

"Hey!"

"Sorry," She started to close the curtain a bit when Tabby burst into the room.

"Don't you dare apologize. Get up Rose! Your behavior is unacceptable!" She wrenched the curtains back fully, leaving me exposed to the damp air and bright lights.

"Gee, thanks, mum."

"Shut it. I am not going to let you sulk again. It's annoying." She then pulled my duvet up and me out of the bed.

"Now get showered and dressed, we are going to celebrate in the common room with the rest of our house." Why was I friends with this girl? Really, I want to know. I listened to her though, but only because she was kinda scary, with a little bit of drool hanging from the side of her mouth. Maybe she had rabies.

I drew out my shower, rewashing my hair and body twice, before getting out.

"'Bout time." Tabby said.

Six was rifling through my trunk, throwing jumpers and trousers aside with a pile of skirts, a couple of tops, and a dress on my bed.

"Can I ask what you're doing? Or would that be considered complaining?" I asked as I stepped further into the room, my bath towel wrapped snugly around me.

"Just sorting out what you're going to wear."

"Denims and a jumper are fine," I say as I grabbed a pair of jeans and a red jumper from the floor.

"I don't think so." Six pulled the clothes from my grasp and throwing them back on the floor.

"What is the point?" I asked. "I don't even want to go."

"The point," she said as she put a green silk skirt into my hands along with a white blouse, "is that you won't look like such a sore loser. Also, maybe getting out of your comfort zone is exactly what you need. Tabby is right; your sulking has got to stop. And it stops today."

"Fine," I practically shout, "but I won't like it!" I couldn't help it; the petulant child in me came out in full force.

"You'll like it just fine." Tabby added from in front of the mirror where she was applying a layer of her special 'no smudge' eye liner that she makes herself.

I let Six do my hair and make-up under protest, although my protest consisted of a couple of grumbles, some 'this isn't going to do any good's', and crossed arms.

"There, you look wonderful. Well, except for that scowl. Try smiling." She prodded as she picked up one side of my mouth with her finger. I showed my teeth. It was not exactly a smile, but it was the best she was going to get.

"Maybe later then." She gave in.

"Ready?" Tabby asked as Six guided me towards the mirror.

"Almost. Now Rose, take a look. Pretty, right?"

I looked in the mirror for only a second. I was still under revolt. In that brief glimpse, I did notice that it wasn't too shabby. I wouldn't have put so much shadow on my eyes, and perhaps a more neutral lip gloss, but all in all Six did a pretty good job. But I still was revolting!

"Yeah, I look great. Now can we get this over with?" I turned and stomped out of the room. I heard Six and Tabby following behind me.

The house elves had brought the dinner into the common room and there was a bowl of pumpkin juice sitting in the corner. Thaddius and two of his younger cohorts were crowded around it, appearing to have a pumpkin juice chugging contest. Were they for real? Thaddius crushed the paper cup against his forehead when he was done. Yep, apparently he was very much 'for real'. I think there should be a law against allowing him to ever breed. Maybe I could ask my mum to look into that.

I went over to peruse the dinner spread that had been laid buffet-style across a long table against the back wall. I didn't really want to eat, but the idea of going into the middle of the throng of people cheering for the new team members was even less appealing than the pot roast. There was a small crowd around that younger, buck-toothed Beater girl. Guess she must have made the team. The walrus-eater didn't seem too pleased with this and was sulking in a corner being cajoled by his other walrus-eater mate and a stick figure of a girl who was stroking his hair and placing kisses along his jaw bone, both of which gestures seemed to go unnoticed by him.

A larger group was crowded around the short Chaser, including her tall Chaser competitor who didn't appear to be taking her rejection badly at all. The tall one was glorifying as much in her friends' lime light as she probably would have had she gotten the position herself.

Last was the large group of girls that were surrounding Miles as he sat stretched out on the couch, ostensibly ignoring all of them and instead embroiled in a game of Wizards Chess with another seventh year whose name I couldn't remember. Maybe he wasn't all PBD after all.

"You gonna eat that, or just stare at it?"

Scowling, I turned to see Scorpius. I took a large chunk of pot roast onto my plate and huffed over to the pumpkin juice.

Thankfully Thad and his cronies had moved away, the only saving grace of the day. I poured myself a glass and took a small sip.

"You can't ignore me all night."

Stupid prat. Couldn't he see that I very well could? Instead of answering I drank down my whole glass of pumpkin juice in one swig.

"C'mon, Rose. You were good, but Miles was just a little bit better."

I squinted dangerously at him as I poured myself another glass. The pumpkin juice was really exceptionally tasty tonight, probably because I hadn't had anything to drink to refresh myself after try-outs.

"It's better this way. He's a seventh year. You can try-out again next year, and he can't."

Scorpius was really beginning to grate on my nerves.

"Besides, can you imagine the rumors that would go around if I had chosen you over him? I would have lost all respect as a Captain."

"You really don't know when to shut the hell up do you?" I finally asked, taking down the last sip of my second glass before taking a bite of my pot roast; which tasted like moldy socks.

"Guess not." He shrugged.

I continued to chew on the same bit of pot roast. It really was the most horrible stuff ever. I can't remember the house elves ever preparing anything this disgusting.

"So... we all right?" He asked as I finally finished the ever-chew bite.

"No, we are definitely not all right." I took one more glass of pumpkin juice to wash down that horrible bite, dumped my plate of pot roast on top of Scorpius' head, and went to find my real friends.

Six was sitting on the arm of the couch that Miles was playing chess on, her back to the game. There were still a few giggling girls near-by, but for the most part they had dispersed, probably after noticing that Miles couldn't have cared less about them.

"Nice job with Malfoy. Too bad he's so good with his charm work. I wouldn't have minded seeing him sport that pot roast for a bit longer."

I turned back to see that he was, in fact, cleaned of all chopped meat products. Stupid prat.

"Having fun yet?" she asked with an overly cheerful smile on her face.

"Oh yes, it has been ever such a lovely time." I put on my best posh accent and stuck my pinky up when sipping my juice.

"It can't be all that bad. I mean, until two weeks ago you didn't even want to play Quidditch."

Ever the reasonable Six.

"That is not the point. I changed my mind and now I do want to play Quidditch, and the worst part is that the only reason Scorpius didn't choose me was because he was afraid that in choosing me it would undercut his Captain authority. Stupid bleeding tosser!"

"Really?" Six asked, shocked

"He might have said some other stuff, but yeah. Really!"

"Well that is a stupid reason. But look on the bright side..."

"Which is?"

"More time for schoolwork?"

I gave her a patented eye roll and finished my drink. We sat there for a little while, me staring around the room, inwardly making fun of practically everyone. Usually I would scold myself for being such a bitch, but today I did not feel very charitable. I mean, look at all these losers! There was Hollace, who was dancing on Thaddius like he was a freaking stripper pole. Jocelyn was trying to do the same to one of Thad's mates, but just looked like a cat trying to crawl up a wall. Then there was Thaddius and his mates, all of whom reminded me of gorillas that I had watched on a TV special once when I was younger. I think I even saw one of them pick something out of the other's hair and eat it. I swear.

A couple of third years were turning each other's hair different colors in the corner, bursting out in peals of laughter at each new color change. I definitely don't remember ever being that lame. That time when Six and I changed each other's noses was totally different, that was completely funny.

I turned my sights to the corner that I had occupied so often lately, and gasped. Six, who had been watching Miles play chess, was completely oblivious. I elbowed her.

"What?" She asked turning towards me.

"Look," I pointed in the direction of the corner.

"Oh. My. Goodness."

"I know." My mouth was still hanging open in shock.

"I just never thought..." Six tilted her head to the side. I followed suit, as if looking at it from a new angle would make it any less real. It didn't.

"Never." I agreed.

"Pretty interesting development."

Grr... Could he not just leave me alone to sulk, or watch Tabby and Bertram snog like there was no tomorrow?

"How did that even happen?" Six asked while I remained tight lipped.

"Not exactly sure, but I think it might have something to do with the spiked Pumpkin Juice." Scorpius' calm tone grated on my last nerve.

"Wait- What? The pumpkin juice was spiked?" I turned to Scorpius, all new wrath coursing through me. "And you let me drink three cups of it?"

He just shrugged. "Figured you knew. I mean you saw Thaddius and his cronies chugging it. I thought maybe you wanted to take the edge off."

"Well, I didn't." I huffed and marched towards the girls dorms.

"You can't stay mad at me forever," Scorpius called out over the crowd. I continued up to my dorm. I was starting to feel a little woozy anyway. Better to sleep it off than act like one of those fools out there.

A/N: I know it has been forever, and I apologize. The sproggy came a couple of weeks earlier than expected and I am still working on getting everything back to some semblance of normal. So thanks so much for anyone who is still sticking to this story. I will try not to let another huge gap like that occur again. So what did you think of this chapter? What do you think will be happening next, I love all guesses :)