Alright, Chapter 8! Enjoy everyone!


I woke up groggily, eyes fluttering open and closed as I heard Lily's near frantic voice, "Annalea! Albus!"

I groaned, opening my eyes, stretching away from the warmth of my pillow. "What Lily? There aren't any classes today, and the Quidditch game was yester-" Realization dawns on me, and I shoot up, "Oh my God, I missed the match! James and Alb-"

I stop short, looking down at the form laying prone on the bed, realizing that my 'pillow' had been Albus. Oops.

"What time is it?" I asked hurriedly, pulling up my skirt and putting on my cloak.

"Fifteen minutes before you have to meet in the locker room," She informs me, "Wake up Al, I'll get you guys some coffee. Meet me in the Common Room with your gear."

"Tea!" I call after her, "Blackberry, two sugars!"

"Whatever, Princess!"

I can practically hear her smug eye roll as she walks away.

There was no time to dwell on it, and I returned to the task of waking Albus up.

"Potter!" I hissed, shaking his shoulder. "Wake up."

I repeat this numerous times, to no avail. Eventually giving up and putting my hands on my hips, I muster up the brunt of my strength to push him off the bed.

The resounding crash and yell of distress as worth it. "Anna!" he bellows, "What's your problem?"

"There's a match, in, oh, ten minutes," I say nonchalantly, shrugging my shoulders. "Just thought that you should know."

He shoots up. "What?" he croaks loudly, voice raspy and low. "Holy-"

"Lily's getting coffee for us, and we're meeting her in the Common Room."

He stands up rather gingerly. "Ow. What's your problem?"

"It's not my fault that you could sleep through the end of next week. Desperate times call for desperate measures, you know."

"Yeah, I know," He says, twisting around, giving me a view of sculpted abs, "I think I twisted my back."

"Oh, come on, you whiner," I say, opening the door, "Let's go."

We walk to the Common Room quickly, beginning to feel the stress of the upcoming match.

Lily is waiting there, with hot drinks steaming in the cups on the table.

She hands them to us quickly, already bundled up and ready to accompany us, per my request that she be there for my first match. She'd been allowed, I'll admit it, by favoritism to come beforehand in the locker rooms with me.

"Blackberry tea, two sugars," she pauses, looking to Albus, "coffee, milk."

I sigh in ecstasy as the first sip passes through my lips, warming and waking me up from my head to my toes.

"Thanks, doll!" I call behind me, racing to get my broomstick, ready to go to the locker rooms with two minutes to spare.

After we gather everyone up and reach the locker rooms, my tea is gone and I'm a bundle of shaking nerves.

"It's going to be alright," Lily soothes me, running a calming hand across my shoulders, my hands beginning to tremble and shake violently as we gather up our uniforms.

I'm shaking so badly that I can't my new jersey over my head, Trotsky written in gleaming, golden block letters across my shoulder blades, Gryffindor written the same way on the front of the red shirt.

I proceeded to pull on my tight red pants, the long gold socks, my cleat-like sneakers, and put on my gloves, worn now from days of tough practices.

Lily ties my hair back for me, braiding and twisting my hair into a bun, secure. She's just finishing when Albus calls us over, his no-nonsense face put on again.

"This is it," he says. "The first game of the season. I'm not going to say a whole lot here, because you all know that I'm not the most social person in the world. But you do know that I believe in you. James and I picked you all for a good reason, and this is our opportunity to show them those reasons. Let's go, Gryffindor!"

The last bit is out of character for him, and is spoken rather solemnly, but we ignore the tone, chanting back at him.

After one last 'good luck' and a pat on the back, Lily leaves, and we take the tunnel out to the pitch, waiting for them to announce us.

I'm somewhere in the middle, beside fellow Chaser Freida Robins, who gives me a warm smile and a curt nod, as if to say 'let's do this'.

I salute her in return, and she gives me a slight grin before sobering again.

Finally, the doors open, and we mount our brooms for pregame.

The thrill of hearing my name called out was only paralleled by the cheers surrounding it. Feeling reenergized, I took my position on the field, ready to begin play.

Gameplay begins with James and Albus shaking the Ravenclaw captain's hand, and quickly morphing into a fierce competition.

Ten minutes in, Ravenclaw is ahead by ten points, Frieda having dropped the Quaffle when James passed it to her.

I kept my own eyes peeled, watching for stray bludgers and an opportunity to steal the Quaffle from the Ravenclaw Chaser.

I seize the opportunity as a bludger hits the other Chaser, ducking underneath, grabbing the Quaffle, and streaking to the other side of the pitch, a blur in the air.

I hurl the Quaffle through the center of the goal posts, the Ravenclaw Keeper surprised, head whipping back and forth, confused as to how I'd gotten past him.

I had no time to think about it, charging back into the game, now tied with Ravenclaw.

The next half hour is one big blurred picture. I vaguely remember James taking a Quaffle to the head, being taken off the field, unconscious. I remembered the indignation that was on Albus' face, how Freida and I had worked harder than ever, dragging our limp limbs, trying to compensate for James' absence. I remembered the cheers vaguely as Albus captured the golden Snitch, and that we'd won, 320-240.

After congratulating us thoroughly, Albus told us to go change, and that James would be fine.

Lily caught up to the team through the throng of students. "But Anna's coming with us, of course. Right, Al?"

He nods, and, ignoring my desperate need for a shower and sleep, the three of us trudged to the Hospital Wing.

To our collective relief, James was sitting up, looking embarrassed and a bit deflated. "Hi, you guys."

"Hey, James," Lily says softly, moving to sit beside her older brother, giving him a bright smile. "We won."

"So I heard. How many goals did you score, Anna?"

"I can't really remember," I say honestly. "Six?"

He grins at me, "I knew that we picked a keeper."

"Chaser," I correct jokingly.

After we cheer James up and he complains of the smell, Albus and I leave for much-needed showers.

Once I've showered and had dinner, I go to find Scorpius. Not surprisingly, I find him in the library, poring over a huge text, scribbling furiously at a bit of parchment, the feathers of his quill bent, not from overuse, I was sure, but the task before him.

"Someone not do their homework?" I tease, walking over to him, my steps echoing in the almost-empty room.

His head snaps up, "I'm doing it now. Obviously."

I laugh at his snarky reply. "Obviously."

I pull a chair up to the table while he flits around the library with the ease of one who'd spent a lot of time in here. "Did you see the match?"

He grins at me. "I did. I'm half mad at you for beating us, and half proud. Six goals on your first match! That's more than Potter."

"It helps that he was knocked out halfway through, right?" I wink at Scorpius. "I'd wager that he's a little sore about that."

"Were you in to see him?"

"I was. He seemed happy once we cheered him up a bit."

"That's good. Next weekend's your match against," his brow furrows, "Slytherin, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I reply. "They won't be as easy to beat. They play dirty."

"I'm going to bypass the 'easy to beat' part, Anna," he says, voice muffled from behind an ancient looking book, "and agree that the Slytherins don't play fair."

"Yeah."

"Be careful, won't you? Quidditch's a rough sport. And before you take off about gender stereotypes, I mean for both guys and girls."

I laugh. "You know me too well."

"I'm not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing, yet."

"Depends on the situation, doesn't it?"

"I suppose."

I leave him to his work soon after that, finding Lily in the Gryffindor Common Room, who grabs me by the arm, grin brilliant on her face.

"What's up, Lils?" I ask she drags me out of the portrait hole, "What's the rush?"

"You know exactly what."

I sigh, knowing better than to mess with her when she was like this.

Surely enough, she brings me to the Room of Requirement, and, opening the door, we plop onto the cushy pink poufs she's thought up.

Ignoring my look of distaste against the violent pink decor, she begins. "What's up with you and Al? Don't even think of telling me nothing! There's something going on."

"Remember when...on our first Hogsmeade trip, I told you that I liked your brother?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think...I mean, of course it isn't at all probable...I mean, who would..."

"Anna, stop rambling."

"Do you think he could possibly like me?" I blurt out in a rush.

Lily looks at me curiously before starting to laugh. "Now," she chastises teasingly, "Was that so hard to ask?"

I glare at her. "Oh, hush, Lils. This is all...new. It's new."

Her laughter subsides. "Yeah, I know," she says softly, before brightening, "And of course he likes you, silly! That's what I've been trying to tell you all along!"

"Really?"

She rolls her eyes at the hope in my voice. "He-llo? Just this afternoon, I walked in on you guys, asleep, cuddling. That nearly made me puke from the sugary sweetness."

"But he said..."

"I don't care what kind of excuses he made," Lily says bluntly. "You were lying on top of him, Anna, and his arm was around you, and you both looked so couple-y."

"Really? Because I was just reading a book, and all of a sudden he just barges in. By the way, that was the reason I wasn't really properly dressed, not because of him. Nothing happened."

"Nothing happened my arse," Lily says, giggling. "Just so happened to barge in, huh?" She winks.

I blush again. "As I said. He just barged in, and wouldn't let me leave. Then he fell asleep and I fell asleep and you know the rest."

"Hm."

"What?"

"So you're saying that he cuddled with you for, literally, hours, and you think that he doesn't like you? Do you know my brother at all?"

"I don't know! You're the expert! What do you mean?"

"I mean that my brother hasn't ever had a serious relationship in the entire six years of his Hogwarts career. He's kissed one girl, maybe, I'm not even sure. Cuddling? It means that he's in for the long run, Anna. And let me warn you, when he wants something, he can be pretty determined."

"I don't know," I say, sudden bouts of distrust plaguing me. "Your brother..."

"Oh, come off it!" Lily finally sounds irritated. "He likes you, you like him. Easy as pie."

I agree with her for the time being, even though I can't believe what she's saying, just...can't.


It gets more exciting soon, I hope.

Alright,

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Bye loves, thanks for spending a part of your valuable lives with my silly thoughts.

Brenda