Ariella was surprised to find that only twenty-seven students from Gryffindor were trying out. It wasn't like there was anything wrong with Scotty Oak, Gryffindor's captain. No, there couldn't possibly be, he has managed to grasp the quidditch cup for the second year in June, which is surprising since this was his third year actually playing quidditch. That made his some sort of prodigy, Ariella guessed.

And there was nothing else going on this weekend, majority of the school's clubs didn't start until next week.

Then it hit her.

Like, it hit her literally. It was hard not to see, especially since her hair was soaking wet.

Ariella snapped out of her thoughts immediately from shock. She didn't even realize it was raining! And they had just walked all the way to the pitch!

"Hey Peter, did you know it was raining?" Ariella asked.

"Jeez, it's raining? I couldn't tell, I just thought someone casted a large aguamenti spell and that's why my clothes are all soaked, and the lawns soaked, and why the clouds are large and gray….." Peter remarked. ""I mean, c'mon? How stupid are you to not realize it's raining!"

Ariella smiled sheepishly. "I was thinking… and I'm nervous."

"Well, at least there's going to be less people this year trying out making it easier to get in," Peter commented.

"True, but all these people trying out must be good, to be playing in the rain like this."

"How oblivious are you today? Did someone put something in your pumpkin juice?" Peter laughed.

"What are you talking about?"

"We're playing in the rain too, Ariella! And, no offense, we're not the most experienced people in the world either. I'm sure we'll be fine, and besides, there's always next year."

Ariella smiled as she grabbed her broom from the broom cupboard outside the locker rooms. "Yeah, your right."

Scotty blew his whistle and in less than a second everyone was up in the air.

"Okay!" Scotty shouted. "For a warm-up I want you all to fly around the field twice! Once you've -"

One of the players started to zip around the field, cutting Scotty off. The player looked very determined to finish the warm-up, and he didn't even notice all the glare being sent his way.

"Hey!" Scotty yelled, waving his arms above his head in attempt to get the guy's attention. "Mitch! Hey! Micth! C'mon we didn't even start yet and you're breaking my rules!"

But Mitch didn't hear, and almost crashed into the rest of the players as he neared the end of his first lap. Mitch, confused and startled as to why everyone was at the start still, slipped off his broom and started falling.

Scotty ran to catch him in the nick of time.

"Mitch…" Scotty sighed. "I'm sorry buddy, but I don't think you'll make it on the team."

"That's okay," The sandy-haired boy replied.

Scotty, after holding him bridal style, helped him to his feet and waved him goodbye.

Scotty turned back to the team, his cheeks red, most likely from the rain. "Okay guys, that was a really good example of what not to do here. It's important that you follow all of my rules and listen carefully, this ensures that the team works fluidly and efficiently in practice and in games, okay?"

"Okay," everyone echoed.

"Great!" Scotty, clasped his hands. "So fly around the pitch twice, then land down and sort yourselves into groups. The groups are going to be by what position you play because we're going to be testing everyone separately. Got it? Good, go!" Scotty shouted, waving them off.

Ariella almost slipped off when everyone started, but she managed to hold onto her broom again, despite it being as slick as oil with all the rain.

Peter was flying just behind her, but he kept bumping into the back of her broom, causing her to jerk.

She kept going, trying to ignore the rain that was flying into her eyes.

But then Peter bumped her again, harder this time. Hard enough to make her broom dip and fly downwards.

Ariella panicked, her hands slipping. She was going to slam right into the ground at this speed!

The rain splashed straight into her eyes again as one of her hands slipped straight off the handle.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Ariella mumbled trying to wipe the water out of her eyes.

"No, no, no, NO!" She shouted regaining her posture. She gripped the broom tightly and felt a light breeze pass her. Trusting her gut, she followed the soft breeze and ignored the pounding in her head, the rain in her eyes and nose and gripped her broom tightly, steering it back up softly. But then, Ariella realised, why should she join the group again? It was too crowded and she'd most likely get bumped again, and next time she might not be seo lucky. So, as the group finished their second lap, Ariella stayed right below them, only five feet above the ground.

But even though she was close to the floor, there was no one else here. So Ariella leaned into the front of her broom, urging it to speed up. The broom obeyed and quickly Ariella started to speed ahead of the others. She was going so quick it was almost reckless. But Ariella felt in control, she kept zooming on into the wind not caring that it was biting her nose and making her cheeks and ears red.

Ariella soon caught up to the person in front, though she was a good six feet below her. But with one final nudge she pushed ahead and finished the second lap first, before landing softly on the ground.

Ariella smiled slightly, hoping that the rest of tryouts would go as well as the warm ups.

Ariella saw Peter smiling smugly to himself. He'd done excellent during his tryouts for beater, Ariella would even go as far to say the bat looked like an extension of his arm, the way he managed to hold it like a swords and block everything, everything, from hitting the seeker he was trying out with.

They locked eyes and Ariella nodded at him, smiling back, before focusing back at Scotty.

"Okay, guys. Now with the beater tryouts and seeker tryouts done, I think it makes the most sense for the keepers and chasers to go next."

Ariella nodded in agreement along with the others.

"Okay, so keepers please stand over here, on the right side of me," Scotty pointed to the area in front of the right hoop's base, "and chasers please come over here in the space to the left of me" he pointed to the area in front of the left hoop's base.

"Okay," Scotty clasped his hands again and tried to shake the water out of his black hair, "First things first, here's a towel for each of you to dry off your brooms since it's no longer raining," Scotty threw two towels at each group. Ariella caught one of them, wiped her broom quickly, then offered it to the person next to her. Scotty had taken out his clipboard again and was writing down notes, making Ariella feel like this was a test in it of itself.

Actually, Ariella felt like everything was a test, Scotty seemed to jot down notes randomly. For instance, when Grace cheered on Peter for making a great hit with the bludger Scotty smiled at Grace and jotted down something.

Ariella soon broke out of her thoughts when Scotty spoke again.

"Okay, so I want you chasers to divide yourself into two even teams, for tryouts you'll be playing a scrimmage against each other. For the keepers, you guys, and gals, will be taking turns at the hoops, so divide into two lines. Got it? Okay, go!"

The chasers all shrugged awkwardly to each other and just, spilt. There were a few adjustments here and there, but when they were all divided evenly (Well, it didn't take that long, there were just six chasers trying out and there's only three per team, so…) they looked back at Scotty, who was busy with his clipboard.

He looked up, his dark brown eyes scanning the teams. He smiled, then clasped his hands again, and yelled "Okay guys, ready?"

Ariella shrugged "Yeah."

Everyone else nodded.

Scotty gave them all an encouraging smile tne blew his whistle. In no time, the teams rocketed into the air and watched as Scotty threw the quaffle up into the air.

Acting on instinct, Ariella zoomend towards it to catch it. She had one hand in the air, reaching out to grab it. She could practically feel the leather on her fingers and in seconds she had a firm grip on it.

Unfortunately, Keith, a bulky fifth year, had the same idea too. The collided in the air, but Ariella was determined to win. She clutched the ball close to her chest and dove down, Keith hot on her heels, his broom so close she could feel his breath.

With quick thinking Ariella jerked back up from her dive, leaving Keith in the dust. She passed it quickly, knowing the trick only bought her a few seconds, but it was worth it when her teammate, Joey Jog, received the pass.

Yes! Ariella celebrated slightly in her head. But she quickly focused again, taking in her surroundings and analyzing her opponents.

By now all the rain clouds have dispersed, leaving a soft blue sky in their wake. People have started to come out to watch the tryouts and Ariella could hear them cheering on their friends. But something else caught her eye.

Rebecca.

Ariella was surprised, she only just met her and Peter, but here she was, sitting out in the stands cheering Ariella's name. But it didn't bother her. No, not at all. Instead Ariella smiled and joined the game again.

She flew around a sixth year on the opposite team, taking a defensive position and guarding him. Ariella saw Keith ahead, already throwing the quaffle towards them. So did her opponent.

They both leaned in on their brooms, trying hard to be the fastest. Ariella glanced at the girl's broom next to her.

A Fire Dasher 6! Ariella internally panicked. That's their third fastest model! I can't beat that with my Lightning 4!

Ariella pushed on her broom, the quaffle was flying lower than Keith intended, but with the lack of speed it wouldn't work in her favor. Unless she tried a different tactic.

Ariella whipped out of her dive, surprising her opponent who glanced back at her. Ariella smiled, and as fast as she could she dashed to the other side of the girl causing her opponent to look back at her and take her focus off her dive.

Using the moment of confusion Ariella dived in again, snatching the quaffle again from a fake-out. She dove upwards satisfied, but that only lasted for a second as Sam, a fellow third year, slammed into her, knocking the quaffle out of her hands.

Sam zipped on, his arms already prepping to shoot. Ariella tried to steady herself again to intercept, but Stacey, her final teammate, beat her to it, fortunately. Stacey passed it back to their keeper, and their keeper kicked it right out of the air and towards Joey.

Ariella flew on.

Each play happened in twenty seconds or less, each player amped up with adrenaline. In less than seven minutes there were three more amazing blocks, one goal, and five tackles and dives.

With everything going well, Ariella risked a glance at the small crowd and spotted Rebecca.

But there was something wrong.

Rebecca wasn't cheering anymore, she was backed up against the wall of the stands by no one else except

Oliver.

Ariella was enraged and completely abandoned the pass that was coming towards her. She flew over towards the stands as fast as she could.

She saw Oliver taking out his wand and mouthing the words -

"Petrificus totalus!"

Rebecca shrieked as she fell backwards, frozen. Ariella saw Oliver smirk, and he started to walk away.

Started to, that is, until Ariella flew into the stands and blocked his path. She jumped gently off her broom and whipped out her wand.

"What are you doing?" Ariella shouted, slamming her foot on the ground.

"Pay back," Oliver shrugged. "I asked to sit with her during breakfast and she refused. Of Course I was a little angry, and commented back, but I didn't say anything rude! No, I wouldn't. But then, all of the sudden as I'm walking away, she insults me!" In the distance a whistle blew.

"Mmmf!" Rebecca tried to shout. "MMMfff!" She tried again, trying to shift her head towards something.

Ariella glanced back at Rebecca. "And that's why you were planning on leaving her outside, frozen, until someone found her?"

"Exactly! Thank you for understanding, you see -"

Ariella cut him off. "All I see is a liar. You shouldn't go around demanding things rudely, and you shouldn't mess with my friends!"

Ariella was just thinking of a spell to say when she heard a soft "Ahem," behind her.

She and Oliver both turned around to see the source of the noise.

Scotty.

Ariella was suddenly embarrassed, she just abandoned the game!

"You can't just leave the game like that you know." he spoke softly.

"Sorry," Ariela mumbled, looking down.

"But it was for a good reason, your friend was being attacked by Oliver here, who I know personally to be a mean guy."

Oliver gulped. "Look, man, can we get over that issue from last year? I-I didn't know she was your girlfriend!"

"Sure, sure… you didn't know, especially when she kissed me in the Great Hall right near where you were sitting," Scotty crossed his arms.

"I-I-I'm sorry, dude…"

"You should be. Now go! I don't want to see you at any of my tryouts or practices again!"

Oliver scrambled away. Scotty faced Ariella.

"That was the right thing to do, though you abandoned your team mates. But I'm hoping that if you made the team you'd defend them just like you did to your friend?"

"Yes, I would," Ariella hoped that that was the right answer.

"Good," Scotty nodded, thinking.

"Okay, I'll give you another shot, but you're still on the same grounds as everyone else trying out, got it? You had a better reason than Mitch for flying off without instruction."

Ariella nodded, hopping back on her broom, rejoining the game.

"Don't try anything stupid!" Scott yelled.

I hope he doesn't think I'm too much of a reckless player…

Yay! I'm not dead! And I'm back again with the longest chapter I've written so far!

Well, what do you think? This was the first quidditch related thing I've ever written, so I'm a bit nervous about it.

But anyways, I owe any apology to anyone who was looking forward to an update. A lot has been happening at my school, there's been a lot of hate going around and things got bad enough that the police got involved. So I've been very occupied, especially since I was a part of the group some students were targeting.

But I'm fine and good and stuff. I got free candy recently, so that's a plus!

- UnwantedAutumn.