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Chapter 9

Quidditch and All Things Muggle

The next morning Simon awoke at 4 a.m. like he had everyday since Al had taken him to Hawaii. Like the morning before, Damion was also awake.

"Why are you up?" whispered Simon as he began getting dressed.

"Couldn't sleep," mumbled Damion.

Simon didn't reply but started putting his weapons on as Damion grabbed a book from his trunk and disappeared into the common room. Simon quickly finished sheathing his last sword, hanged into his eagle form and flew out the window to the clearing.

After changing back, Simon ran around the clearing for thirty minutes then quickly did 50 pushups and sit-ups. Today, he'd planned on refining his elemental skills, or at least, working on them. Al had said that as he mastered each element, new abilities could come to him. Over the summer, he had found out that he was a Beastspeaker and a Telepath.

For the next two and a half hours, Simon experimented with his elements, getting more of a feel for what they could and couldn't do, how they could be mixed and so on. He had progressed farther than Al had expected him to over the summer, but felt that he could do better. Simon thought that maybe Al still thought that controlling all four elements was somewhat impossible.

Simon changed into his shadow wolf form and stepped into a shadow, melting into it and disappearing from the clearing.

He reappeared in a shadowy corner of the room, checking for watchers before changing into his human form.

I really should figure out if I can do that in my human form, thought Simon as he realized that if someone saw him he could be in trouble. All of his forms had green eyes, green and/or black coloring and a lightning bolt mark somewhere. Only his adder and mini-dragon forms had the mark in inconspicuous places. The adder form's mark blended in well with the zigzag on its back and the mini-dragons was on it's foot, but a mini-dragon isn't quite a normal animagus form.

Simon showered and dressed quickly. As he was strapping on his swords, he came up with a brilliant idea. Simon flicked his wrist and his wand slid out of its holster into his hand. Waving it, he conjured two buckets. He filled them with water (discretely using his water element) and charmed the bucket to refill itself automatically. Simon then put a couple of extra interesting charms on the buckets including a homing charm, a charm that would only let the target get wet and a couple others. He charmed one bucket to hover over Phil and Sam's beds. He stepped into the shadows and let the buckets tip over, still hanging in midair as he phased (that's what he called the shadow wolf's traveling ability) into the hallway outside his room.

A girlish scream rang out almost drowning out another shout that was a bit more masculine. Simon smirked but didn't re-enter. He didn't need to. He knew that inside the room chaos was reigning. Sam and Phil were probably jumping around futilely trying to get away from the buckets of water.

Simon shrugged and walked down the hall towards the stairs. He'd get the pictures later.

At breakfast, Simon purposely sat in the shadows at the far end of the table He'd been thinking things over and decided that getting close to people like Kat, Sam and Damion wasn't good idea. If Deatheaters ever came (or the Ministry), it wouldn't e a good thing to have them mixed up in the thick of things. Of course that didn't mean he couldn't play Quidditch or set up a prank here or there. He'd just have to be sure not to raw too much attention to himself.

Throughout classes that day, Simon sat alone in the back of the class when he could. Some classes it had not been possible. Each class had been much like the classes the day before with introductions and review. During introductions, Simon followed the 'unwritten rule' and said as little as possible, like most of the other students. He didn't say anything that would draw attention to himself, except in History when the teacher, Mrs. Sidel, had asked them to give their opinion or thoughts on Harry Potter in their introductions. Most students said things like 'Who cares?' 'I don't know' or 'It's not like he's here.' Simon had inwardly smirked at a lot f the answers, but a few students claimed that 'Harry Potter belongs in jail,' or 'He's an attention seeking brat.' Even more rarely, a student would say something positive about Harry Potter. Simon was used to put downs and insults as Harry, but when his turn came; he had actually stood up for his beliefs.

FLASHBACK

"Simon Thorpe. East Wing. I think the Minister is a coward. He's trying to save his own skin, but he's making a mistake." Simon began to sit down while some people openly gaped. The others mostly just looked confused although a couple smiled.

"How so, Mr. Thorpe?" asked Mrs. Sidel.

"Fudge likes his job, but doesn't do it well. Potter and Dumbledore raised issues that could ruin his career and lose him his job and the power it comes with. So he's covering his tracks, sending those two to jail and inviting V- You-Know-Who to waltz n and tart taking over," said Simon from his seat.

"Voldemort died. Potter killed him. Fudge is right to send those s – "

"Language, Mr. Shent!"

" – to jail!" exclaimed a boy from the front in an arrogant voice, ignoring Mrs. Sidel's admonition. Simon noticed that he was from North Wing with his cape.

"You asked for my opinion. I gave it," said Simon simply, shrugging.

"Well, you're wrong!" sneered the boy (Shent according to the teacher.

"Now, now," said Mrs. Sidel. "Everyone's entitled to their own opinion."

END FLASHBACK

From then on, the rest of the students introducing themselves either stared at him as if trying to prove that Potter should be in jail, smiled at him because they agreed with him or outright ignored him.

Compared to History class, all the others were easier for Simon to blend into the background in, except for Muggle Defense.

Apparently, it was a tradition for the teacher, Irene Volkov, Head of East, to give out Physical Fitness tests. After a summer of training with Al, Simon found this test remarkably easy while his classmates all struggled. After a few minutes of class, Simon had realized how bad off these kids were and held back, severely. However, Simon's acting skills were obviously lacking because Volkov had seen through his act and pulled him off to the side to question him quietly about his martial arts training after he had separately sparred three students and won. Simon had held back, but the damage was done. If Salem was anything like Hogwarts, the whole school would know soon.

Simon walked quickly to his dorm and grabbed his 'Firebolt' from his trunk. Today was Quidditch tryouts. The sign in the common room had announced that the tryouts were today right after dinner. Dinner ended in ten minutes.

Simon quickly glanced around and phased from his room to under the stands. Now he'd have enough time to put away his weapons and possibly take a quick lap around the pitch on his broom.

Simon walked out from the shadowy overhang of the stands to the immaculate pitch. A quick assessment showed him that he'd be better off putting his weapons in a secluded corner with Asesina and a few spells to guard them. That way, they were still in reach but safe from nosy people.

By the time, he had finished, East students and their friends were starting to arrive on the pitch. Simon sighed regretfully as he realized that he wouldn't get to fly any before tryouts. Simon joined the slowly forming group on the pitch.

A tall girl in an East Quidditch team jersey walked out from the locker rooms and the small crowd instantly hushed.

"Listen up everyone!" I'm Mandy Harper, this year's Quidditch captain for East. Anyone not from East leave now!" She paused for a moment as her magically enhanced voice echoed around the pitch. A few students turned and left. "Alright. Everyone who's trying out for Keeper up in the air. Everyone else, go sit down!"

Simon sat down next to his weapons at the top of the stands to watch the tryouts. Obviously no one was exempt from tryouts except for the captain or the captain, Mandy, didn't like the whole team. However, after Simon watched the current keeper (who was wearing his uniform) stop all the shots that Mandy threw at him, he realized that she was probably holding full tryouts so that she could kick Kyle Lowry off the team without telling him out right that as a seeker, he sucked.

Mandy called up all the chasers next and worked with them for the next twenty minutes before selecting a former chaser and a third year as the other two chasers.

The beaters were called up next. Simon scowled. It was unnerving to be called last at tryouts, games, sports, sortings, etc. Not to mention that it was nerve-wracking. He didn't want all the eyes on him from being first, he just wanted to know if he'd make the team.

Finally after what seemed like hours, Mandy picked twins to be beaters that were wearing jerseys signifying that they'd already been on the team.

"Seekers!" yelled Mandy.

Simon jumped onto his broom and flew down neatly landing in front of her along with two others, a fat second year and a blonde guy in a jersey that could only be Kyle Lowry.

"I'm going to release the snitches," said Mandy after taking off the Sonorous charm, pointing at a box of five struggling snitches. "Whoever catches the most snitches gets more of a chance of getting the position. The faster you get the snitch and the better you fly will help. Wait until I say go to take off."

Mandy undid the restraints of the five golden snitches and they took off into the air disappearing into the sky.

A few seconds later, Mandy shouted, "Go!" in their ears and they took off.

Simon rose quickly, enjoying the freedom of flight. He scanned for any sign of a snitch as he rose and settled at his normal height above normal playing height. He began flying lazy laps around the pitch looking for the snitch. As he flew he kept a sharp eye on Lowry and the other kid. Lowry looked slightly scared, but was looking for a snitch while the other kid was just sitting on his broom below playing height looking quite green. Simon spotted a golden glint near the bottom of the Quidditch hoops closest to him. He glanced at the other players inconspicuously to make sure they hadn't seen it. If they had, they gave no sign of it, so Simon dove directly towards the glint counting on its speed to get him to the snitch before the others noticed. The snitch seemed to have other ideas though because as Simon got close and started reaching out to grab it, it dropped two feet like a dead weight. Simon scowled and pulled his broom up stopping directly above the snitch. He rolled sideways so that he hung upside down from his broom and reached down to grab the snitch, which was hovering about a foot from his head. Snitch in hand, he righted himself on his broom and pocketed the snitch, wandlessly sealing the pocket so that the now inactive snitch wouldn't accidentally fall out. He didn't immediately fly away. Instead, he scanned the sky and pitch from his new position and almost immediately spotted a snitch hovering around one of the rings. Simon took off toward the snitch flying almost straight up as Lowry spotted the same snitch and began racing across the pitch towards it. The snitch seemed to sense that it had been seen so it flitted through the hoop. Simon flattened himself against his broom and made it through the hoop just before Lowry got there causing the other seeker to pull up slightly giving Simon a fraction of a seconds head start. That was all Simon needed to begin chasing the snitch as it started a twisting, weaving dropping and rising course across the pitch. Lowry followed, but at a much slower pace as the snitch wound its way across the pitch. Simon followed the snitch closely diving almost perpendicular to the ground twice before it rose abruptly into the air. Simon followed closely still and began reaching for the snitch. His fingers were inches from the snitch.

'Just a bit closer,' thought Simon pushing his broom for more speed. His broom gave a small boost of speed surprising Simon slightly and his fingers closed around the snitch. He pulled up from his ascent and pocketed the snitch. He descended a couple dozen or so feet to his usual height receiving a glare from Lowry as he did so. Simon ignored the glare and began searching for a third snitch.

Five minutes later, Simon was still searching for it when Lowry went into a steep dive. Simon followed at a length wary of a Wronski Feint. Simon spotted the snitch Lowry was aiming for a little way into the dive and began pushing his broom to its limits. He quickly drew up alongside Lowry who glared at him. Simon tried to flatten himself further against his broom. He was slowly inching ahead of the current seeker when he felt something slam into his side. Simon glanced over and realized that Lowry had slammed into him. Simon ignored this once again and began reaching for the snitch which was feet away and closing. Simon wrapped his hand around the snitch and pulled up from the dive, feet barely brushing the tops of the grass. Lowry however was not so lucky. He pulled up in time, but pulled up too hard and was sent flying off backwards onto the grass. It wasn't a long fall so he was soon back up on his broom scowling and glaring at Simon.

A sudden movement in the corner of his eye caught Simon's attention. He turned to see the other kid pocketing something, most likely a snitch.

For the next ten minutes, Simon scanned the pitch, but didn't spot the faintest glimmer of gold anywhere. He got bored and dove a couple dozen feet before pulling up and doing a couple of lazy loops. Lowry and the other kid had followed him into the dive only to pull up with scowls on their faces when he went into the loops. Lowry and the other kid had followed him into the dive only to pull up with scowls on their faces when he went into the loop. Simon came out of the loop grinning at Lowry and the other kid's scowls. That's when he saw it. The last snitch. It was hovering right in front of him with in arms reach. With his seeker reflexes his arm darted out, fingers closing around the snitch before it could disappear again. Simon dove towards the ground, landing neatly in front of Mandy.

"What? Have you given up?" she asked.

"Nope. I've caught four of them," said Simon. "He caught the other one." Simon pointed to the fat kid.

"Right. We'll see about that."

She yelled for the other two to comedown and asked each one to present their snitches. As Simon had told her, he had four and the fat kid had the last one. Kyle Lowry, the current and soon to be former seeker, had a grand total of zero snitches.

"I expected better of you," she admonished Lowry. Simon could tell that she didn't really mean it though as he had seen the relief in her eyes when he'd said 'none' a few seconds earlier.

"Well, that's it for today and, Simon, welcome to the team. First practice is tomorrow, same time."

With that the crowds of people, team members, hopefuls now rejected, new members and mere observers began to disperse in all ways. As they began to move, dispersing in all different directions, Simon heard many of his fellow students muttering. Some muttered about how well he had flown. Others muttered about how so-and-so should have got such-and-such position. Still others muttered about how this season of Quidditch would be interesting or an easy win for East Wing.

Sorry for the boring chapter. but it must be done sometime. please review!