So sorry for the delay! I'm terribly busy with life and I hope you enjoy this chapter. I also apologize for the spelling mistakes!
September, 1974
Quidditch Stadium
It might have been early in the morning, but that did not stop Azalea Evans and Caleb Grayson from sitting down on the Gryffindor benches to give Connie Hernandez, a half-Spanish Gryffindor girl, their full support on her Quidditch try-outs.
They too were Gryffindor, second year students to be exact. Azalea had a talent for Charms, while Caleb—who was a little upset that his friends did not noticed his grown spurt—was keen on Potions. Connie however, liked learning a bit from everything, although she did not possess any interest in either Charms or Potions: she was terrific at flying, better than her two friends indeed.
It was the second week of September, Azalea could not believe how time went by since the start-of-the-term feast. Gryffindor had gained fourteen new students to their house, it had been less than last year but all of the first years were welcomed warmly.
Madam Hooch marched between the nervous looking students, while the Gryffindor Quidditch team hovered above her, waiting for the try-outs to begin, Azalea spotted Hector Smyth, the Quidditch Captain. He was handsome, and if Azalea squinted her eyes she could notice his crooked nose, probably from getting hit by a Bludger many times.
And Connie was down there, holding her school's broom close to her heart and attentively hearing whatever Madam Hooch was saying. Azalea sighed, her friend looked so serious and nervous, it wasn't until she spotted James Potter grinning cheerfully at her friend that a smile appeared on Connie's lips.
"Do you think Connie will make it?" Caleb asked besides her.
"Of course," Azalea didn't hesitated, "She has been practicing all summer, remember?"
Caleb sighed, "Of course I do, she wouldn't shut up about it on the Express."
The redhead laughed, remembering the exasperation on his face.
Suddenly the two heard footsteps approaching, and Sirius Black emerged from the staircase accompanied by an ill-looking Remus Lupin. Azalea was immediately concerned but didn't show it, she just greeted the two with an easy smile, they returned it.
"Good morning, we hope we're not interrupting your little date," Sirius joked as he sat down in the benches behind the two second-years. Remus rolled his eyes as he sat next to his friend.
Caleb coughed and looked at the pitch to hide his flushed cheeks.
"Good morning Azalea, Caleb. Are you here to cheer for your friend?" Remus asked politely.
Ignoring Sirius's jab, Azalea nodded and grinned at Remus, "More like, we're here to tell her 'I told you so' when she enters the team."
Sirius whistled, "You seem confident."
"I am very confident that Connie will make the team, she practised all summer and she's really good!"
"Which position is she trying?" Remus asked.
"Seeker." Caleb replied as the try-outs had started.
Connie was up in the sky, on a school's old broom, but her face was bright as the sunny sky above. She was trying for seeker so she stood still, hovering high as the other students trying to make the team showed their best against the actual Quidditch team.
"GO CONNIE!" Azalea suddenly yelled as she stood from the bench.
The tanned skinned girl grinned and waved at them, Caleb showed her a thumb up.
Connie had suddenly stopped waving though, as she stared at something above Azalea's head, she dived for it and the redhead had to duck quickly as her second-year friend passed by the group.
Connie had spotted the snitch!
She kept chasing it, without taking her sharp eyes on it, and the other players started to notice. James Potter, whom was currently dodging a Bludger from a fourth-year student trying out to be a Beater, whistled enthusiastically as Connie passed by with full speed, the snitch was still ahead of her.
"CATCH IT CON, YOU CAN DO IT!" Azalea yelled passionately, she was full on adrenaline. Sirius and Remus shared an amused look because of her giddiness.
Caleb suddenly gasped, standing to stay next to Azalea, "She's got it! She caught the snitch!"
And the bluebell eyed girl didn't even notice when it happened. But Connie was, quite merrily, showing the golden snitch on her hand to Hector Smyth, who looked impressed. The following half-hour was filled with failures and success from the students trying their best to be on the team.
But Connie was mostly accomplished throughout the whole time.
"Well Azz, I must hand it to you, Connie will definitely be on the team." Sirius commented as the group watched the try-outs come to an end.
"I told you—wait, what did you just call me?" She whipped her head to look directly at him so fast that her long, auburn hair slapped Caleb mildly in his face – he didn't seem bothered by it.
Sirius shrugged, "Evans calls you Azzie, James calls you Azziewinkles. I want to be special too." He gave her a sardonic smile.
"Why don't you just call her 'Azalea' since it's her name?" Remus advised.
"Yeah," Azalea agreed at once, "And it's not like I want James to call me 'Azziewinkles' he does that to upset me!" She snapped at disgruntled.
He chortled, "Whatever you say, Azz."
"Why you-"
"Azalea look, they're about to choose who's officially part of the team!" Caleb interjected with an excited tone.
Argument forgotten, Azalea immediately returned her attention to her close friend, whom she came here with Caleb to support. They both nervously watched at Smyth passed by each student, some of them dejectedly walked away, other threw their broom into the grass with anger.
And then Smyth passed by the fourth-year student that had almost hit James Potter with a Bludger, Azalea squinted at her and could see that she had a pear-shaped body and long, blonde hair tied into a ponytail. Smyth nodded at her and patted her shoulder, and the girl grinned as she shook hands with her new captain.
The whole Gryffindor Quidditch team cheered as she walked to stand next to them.
Sirius whistled for her.
Then Connie was next, Azalea could feel her friend's anxiety from the stands, she could feel it because the redhead herself was a nervous wreck. She grabbed hold of Caleb's hand for support, she didn't even notice the boy blush with her touch, she was too focused when Smyth stopped in front of Connie.
And as soon as she saw the grin on her friend's face and the two shaking hands, Caleb and Azalea looked at each other, mutually knowing that their friend had indeed made the team.
October, 1974
It was two days away from Hallowe'en, and Azalea was already planning in how much candy she would force herself to eat. She didn't care about the stomach ache she'd feel afterwards, it would have been worthy. However, when she told her Hallowe'en plans to her sister Lily, she wasn't amused, go figure.
"Azzie you cannot eat sweets all day, you'll get rotten teeth and stomach aches!" Lily scolded her twelve-year-old sister as the two walked together down the hall, "Please tell me you won't, it's fine if you eat some after dinner, but all day!?"
Azalea rolled her eyes good naturedly, she secretly liked when Lily scolded her, but shrugged indifferently at her attempt, "Lily-pad you underestimate my power of will." She drawled casually.
"More like power of stubbornness." Lily stressed softly, she was beyond concerned about her sister's health.
That made the younger Evans giggle, "It's just for a day, what's the worst it could happen?"
Lily sent her a look that Azalea decided to ignore, the two parted ways when Azalea's went to Charms and her sister to Arithmancy, they bid a quick goodbye and rushed to avoid tardiness.
Azalea was without a doubt exceeding expectations at Charms and her classmates already got used to professor Flitwick favouriting her, even the Slytherins didn't seem to care anymore, except for one: Michael Carrow. He'd try to surpass whenever Slytherin and Gryffindor had Charms together but of course Azalea would best him.
The year had started well enough for Azalea, she had laughed when the Marauders did their traditional beginning of the year prank, she had cheered with Caleb when Connie did her Quidditch try-out (which she succeeded on making the team) and now she was finishing her day with her favourite class.
Today they were learning the Severing Charm, on the class prior to this one they had learned how to conjure Lumos, which Azalea managed to succeed at her third try, Caleb at his sixth and Connie at her twenty-fifth. Michael had done it when the class was almost finished, but professor Flitwick still praised him and awarded him one point for not giving up, and to Azalea he awarded ten points for being the first one to perform it.
"The Severing Spell is used to sever ropes and tapestries, but it also has a variety of uses. For example, it can be cast on certain tapestries or wall hangings to reveal heretofore hidden entrances." Professor Flitwick explained from his post.
Azalea licked her lips with anticipation as she read the chapter four of her 'The Standard of Book of Spells' book, or well in her case, she re-read it. She couldn't help it; the excitement was too much for her to wait so during the night, as her dorm mates slept, she would read her spells books like it was a novel. Connie would call her a nerd while Caleb did the same with his Potions book.
Azalea looked at her friends, Connie seemed bored but forcefully attentive. The half-Spanish girl seemed to be in a good mood ever since she made it in the team, people congratulated her and she was slowly becoming popular.
Caleb, as ever, looked concentrated. She couldn't help but to stare at him, he was a bit taller this year, he thought no one noticed but Connie and Azalea decided to tease him about it and pretend he hasn't grown an inch.
She smiled fondly at the two, feeling lucky that she had found them. Azalea's main fear about going to Hogwarts was becoming the 'loner'. But she should've heard Lily, her sister said that Azalea was very good at making friendships with strangers.
Sighing contently, the young witch started to pay attention to the lecture again.
"Now let us bring our wands out and point them at the unravelled tapestry in front of your eyes," Flitwick continued as he eyed his students expectantly.
Slytherins and Gryffindors started saying the spell at the same time, some of them too quickly others slowly, or even uninterested, but Azalea didn't say a word. She stared at the unravelled tapestry and pointed her wand at it, and then after saying the correct spell with a slashing motion of her wand, the tapestry presented in front of the room was suddenly sliced in half.
Some students gasped in surprise, and Flitwick clapped his hands,
"Well done Ms. Evans! Ten points to Gryffindor!"
The Gryffindors seemed pleased, Connie bumped shoulders with Azalea, the two sharing smiles and Caleb nodded at her with a grin on his face.
Her cheeks were a little flushed from all the positive attention she was receiving, even some of the Slytherins seemed to be eyeing her with some minor respect, but Azalea couldn't help to forget her humbleness and throw a smirk in Carrow's direction, whom was glaring hatefully towards her way.
"Seems like some things never change," Connie whispered in her ear.
The redhead giggled, "Of course they do Con, or else everything and everyone would be boring."
December, 1974
Azalea walked over to the window of her common room and reflected on her surroundings. She had always loved the sight of Hogwarts at night. It was a place that encouraged her tendency to feel happy.
It's been three months since she started her second year and Azalea already felt like her school year was going past her too fast. She reckoned she would feel happy since on her third year she'll get to go the Hogsmeade, but as she approached third year her sister Lily would approach her fifth. Not a while ago, Azalea realized she will spend two years in Hogwarts without Lily in the future, her sister was almost graduating and they haven't talked much because of each other's exams.
The redhead sighed as she moved from the window to sit down on the sofa in front of the cosy fireplace, her exposed legs warmed up right away but she couldn't stop shivering.
She then thought about a certain group of boys, James and his mates have been somehow quiet these past two months, it was like they were actually normal students instead of the pranksters they became.
But she was still expectant, after all Christmas was a week away so Azalea could only wait and briefly greet them in the halls.
But she knew they were busy with something, and she was determined to find out what was it.
"There you are!" Connie suddenly said as she came down the stairs of the girl's dormitories.
Azalea smiled as Connie leaped over the couch to sit next to her, she placed her arm around the redhead's shoulder and the two cuddled in front of the fireplace.
Connie Hernandez had become, officially, very popular.
The first game had happened last month, it had been Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, and though Gryffindor had a rough start, Connie had caught the snitch forty minutes in. It was safe to say that Smyth had been proud of his choice.
"Were you looking for me?" Azalea asked her with a smile.
"Yeah, I don't like when you're not by my side, it's kinda lonely." Connie replied.
Azalea's cheeks reddened a little by the praise, "What about Caleb?"
Connie shrugged, "Caleb is a boy."
The redhead gave her a look, "He's not filled with toxic masculinity though, he has heard us talk about how cute Smyth's bottom is and he didn't even frown."
"True," she nodded.
The two decided to stay in a comfortable silence. They stared at the fire and heard the wood cracking beneath it, Azalea suddenly heard Connie yawn and she smiled sympathetically. Just because they won the first game didn't meant that Smyth wouldn't be soft on his team, practices stared earlier than usual and Connie was starting to see the negative side of being in the Quidditch team.
She wasn't complaining though, Azalea has never seen Connie so happy since she started school.
"I miss my sister." Azalea suddenly told her.
"Lily?"
"Yes,"
"Well… that's normal I mean, I can see how close you two are." Connie said.
Azalea bit her lower lip and frowned, "Can you though? We barely spoke since this term started. I have spoken more to James and his friends than her."
Connie winced at that, "Yikes, don't tell her that."
The redhead huffed in annoyance. Her friend wasn't helping at all, now she regretted telling Connie that. Maybe she should've talked with Caleb about this, he seems more logical.
"Nevermind," she told her quietly.
Connie hummed, "Listen Azzie…"
"Nevermind, Connie, it's fine." Azalea repeated forcefully, she gave her friend a reassuring smile and even though Connie looked a little guilty she smiled back.
The two Gryffindor girls stared at the fire again, and Connie decided to ruffle Azalea's hair.
"I'm going to sleep now, I have practice tomorrow. Are you coming up as well?" the half-Spanish girl said as she rose from the sofa.
Azalea nodded, feeling tired as well, "Yeah, let's go."
Unbeknown to them, Remus Lupin had decided to eavesdrop quietly from the portrait's entrance. He felt terribly guilty for doing it so but he sincerely hoped that what he was about to do would help Lily and Azalea's relationship – they were both kind girls, and he was starting to like Azalea Evans quite a lot, she was so determined. All Remus wanted was to stop seeing her fake her smiles.