Well, here's the next chapter everyone. Enjoy!

NOTE: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER. ALL RIGHTS GO TO J.K. ROWLING

Chapter 14: Never Trust an Old Broom

As the term went on, Cassie's dislike for Jemma grew stronger. Within the first few weeks, the Gryffindor had started a one-sided rivalry with the Slytherin ranging from outdoing each other in all of their classes to just finding all kinds of ways to annoy her. Fortunately, Jemma didn't rise to the bait and was content to just focus on studying for herself. She had no desire to prove herself and that just seemed to make Cassie despise her even more.

But what was really getting on Cassie's nerves was Jemma's sweet tempered nature itself. If she didn't know any better, the Slytherin belonged in Hufflepuff and was kind to the other Houses. No haughtiness, no cruel remarks towards Muggleborns or anyone, and no amount of suspicious looks sent her way seemed to faze her. After she, Vincent, and two other students from both Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw started having meals together in the Great Hall, several others began to do the same. The barriers separating Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw from one another were slowly being torn down.

But, despite the visible changes, deep down, Jemma felt hurt whenever students from the other Houses looked at her as if they expected her to stab them in the back at any moment. Still, she bore all of it in silence. Surprisingly, she found herself confiding all her worries in not just Seraphine and Otulissa, but Snape as well.

It all started when Cassie decided to bully Annie during Potions, while Slughorn stepped out for a while, calling her names like 'snake bile' and 'little Death Eater.' Poor Annie looked ready to burst into tears when Jemma decided to step in. "What is your problem?! She's not even doing anything to you!" the youngest Dursley angrily asked Cassie.

"That's what you think!" Cassie snapped back. The others looked back and forth between the two, too nervous to step up and intervene, while the girls argued.

"If this is because Annie's a Slytherin, you're acting like an immature child! Cassie, this has to stop," Jemma sighed, exasperated, and assisted Tanya in comforting Annie.

Cassie's coal black eyes narrowed and she took out her wand just as Jemma turned her back on her. Vincent saw this and, quickly, took his out and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" Cassie's wand flying into his hand.

"Traitor!" Cassie shrieked, but Vincent gave her a disgusted look.

"The war's over, Cassie. We Gryffindors don't have to keep fighting with the Slytherins and vice versa. Grow up," said Vincent, effectively shutting Cassie up, and all the students quickly went back to their seats when Slughorn returned. From across the room, Jemma caught Vincent's eye and gave him a grateful smile.

Class ended in time for break but, instead of joining her friends outside, Jemma volunteered to stay behind and clean the room. Slughorn was surprised at this, but let her do it. So Jemma went to work, polishing all the jars and vials in the classroom. As she did this, she remembered how Vincent had stood up for her and smiled, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks. Throughout their few weeks at Hogwarts, Vincent had always been quite shy so him stepping up to defend her was something new. Compared to Lawrence and Wendy, he was the quiet one among Jemma's three friends. He didn't say much about his time in Gryffindor, but Vincent often told her that he felt like "a lamb in the lion's den" which was something Jemma could relate to. She felt out of place in her House, too...

"You recover quickly for someone who almost got attacked."

Jemma startled, accidentally dropping a beaker she'd been polishing. Whirling around, she saw Snape watching her from behind a row of desks. "You were listening?" the Phoenix Soul asked as she hunted for a broom to clean up the mess.

Snape nodded and glided over to some of the shelves to inspect how Jemma cleaned them. "I have to say... You are nothing like your cousin, Ms. Dursley," he remarked.

"Sir, if you're going to insult Harry, please do it while I'm not around," Jemma rolled her eyes at him.

"Hmmm... Seems I was mistaken," Snape sighed and Jemma carried on cleaning.

When she was done, Jemma began to leave when Snape spoke up. "Keep that temper of yours quiet, Ms. Dursley. But... it would be wise to seek help if things get out of hand."

Looking over her shoulder, Jemma replied, "I'll remember that, Professor." Before leaving the classroom.

That was a few weeks before one of the Slytherin First Years' flying lessons and, up until now, Jemma and Snape had fostered an unlikely sort of friendship. They would talk about Slughorn's Potions lesson, Jemma would ask about the subject's finer points and Snape, in a rare show of kindness, would offer her advice on how to make more effective brews.

The day before a flying lesson, Snape offered only one piece of advice. "Never trust an old broom, Ms. Dursley," he said.

Jemma guessed that he was trying to say, "Be careful."

"Good afternoon, class!"

"Good afternoon, Madame Hooch!"

Jemma's hands were itching to pick up the broom in front of her. She fantasized soaring through the air, doing loop-de-loops to the envy of her friends, before Opal nudged her and reminded her to listen. Cheeks slightly red, Jemma looked at the Hufflepuffs lined parallel to the Slytherins. Wendy looked slightly nervous and was fiddling with the pink carnation in her hair.

Sharp hawk eyes glittered as Madame Hooch said briskly, "Well, come on, then! No dawdling about. Everyone stand on the left side of your broomstick and say 'Up!'"

"Up!" Jemma said loudly and her broom went up to her waiting hand. She noticed that it was quite old, and the twigs were all twisted up in all directions.

Never trust an old broom...

Remembering Snape's advice, Jemma approached Madame Hooch while all the others were still trying to get their brooms off the ground and asked if anyone had used the broom currently in her possession. "Ms. Devon of Gryffindor used that yesterday's lesson, Ms. Dursley. Is there a problem?" Madame Hooch asked. Jemma quickly shook her head and carefully handled the broom as she went back in line. She didn't want Madame Hooch to think she suspected Cassie of jinxing the broom she was about to use. That would be too paranoid of her.

"Up! Up, please, UP!" shouted Wendy, growing more frustrated, as her broom uselessly flopped on the ground. "Oh, for the love of..." she picked her broom up off the ground herself, not caring for any of her fellow Hufflepuffs' stares.

Once they mounted their broomsticks and had their grips adjusted, the students took off at Madame Hooch's whistle. Jemma had the biggest grin on her face as she and zipped from one end of the practice field to the other. This was where she felt most free. She flew up a bit higher than the rest, despite Madame Hooch's instructions not to fly for more than four feet in the air, and even did a few spins.

"Okay, Jem, now, you're just showing off," Opal laughed.

"Sorry. I can't help it," Jemma said sheepishly.

"You make it look so easy..." Annie said, sighing enviously.

Jemma smiled slightly before seeing Wendy having trouble. No matter how much she spurred it on, Wendy found her broom flying at a butterfly's pace compared to the others. "I suck at this..." Wendy groaned as Jemma flew to her side.

"Maybe you just need to relax. My cousin tells me that riding a broom's mostly based on being in the moment, letting everything go except for flying," Jemma told her.

Wendy visibly loosened up and her broom began to go faster. "I was hopeless at flying back in Ilvermorny. My parents told me it was due to my lack of patience..." she admitted as they flew about. Jemma was about to say something to that when, suddenly, her broom gave a violent jerk.

Well, that's not good, Jemma thought before her broom sharply turned, flying towards a tower wall!

"JEM!"

Wendy's terrified shriek was the last thing Jemma heard before she hit the side of her head on the hard stone and blacked out.

When she came to, Jemma found herself in a bed surrounded by Annie, Lawrence, Opal, Tanya, Topaz, and Vincent.

Annie sighed, "She's awake..." with relief while Opal, Tanya, and Topaz called for Madam Pomfrey.

Vincent and Lawrence, faces pale, anxiously watched as Jemma fully regained consciousness. "Never should have trusted that old broom..." Jemma moaned, recalling Snape's advice, and sat up with a bit of help. "What happened?" she asked, carefully touching the bandage wrapped around her head.

"Well, after you hit your head, you... you started to fall sideways off the broom. And, then, Wendy managed to catch you and bring you back down to the ground. She and Madame Hooch brought you here..." Annie said haltingly, still looking quite distressed.

Jemma nodded before noticing that her flower-toting friend was nowhere to be found. "Guys, where's Wendy?" she asked the boys worriedly.

Lawrence and Vincent looked at each other worriedly. "Uh... she's in detention..." Vincent mumbled, Jemma's eyes widening.

"Why?" was all Jemma managed to get out before Madam Pomfrey came in and herded her friends out of the wing.

It wasn't until she was released the next day did Jemma find out that, after bringing her to the Hospital Wing, Wendy had gone after Cassie. She had accused the Gryffindor of jinxing the broom Jemma had used, then, physically attacked her. Of course, there was no absolute way of pinning the blame on Cassie because, according to her, the broom in question had tried to buck her off during the Gryffindors lesson with the Ravenclaws yesterday. That didn't stop Wendy from going berserk and landing a few punches, resulting in a full-out scuffle that sent both girls to Madam Pomfrey, bruised, while Jemma had been unconscious. In the end, the cause of the broom's misbehavior was due to its usage that had rendered it prone to malfunctions. Madame Hooch, finally, forwarded the suggestion of replacing all of the school brooms with new ones and was relieved when the Headmistress allowed it.

Once she was out of the Hospital Wing, Jemma looked for Wendy and found her in the library doing homework. She winced at the sight of her Hufflepuff friend's black eye and whispered, "You know you didn't have to attack Cassie for me..."

"She's been a bitch to you and your House ever since the school year started. It was high time she got her comeuppance," replied Wendy before blushing and adding, "Don't tell anyone I said 'bitch.'" To which Jemma pinky swore not to.

As soon as the new brooms had arrived, Quidditch tryouts began. Jemma practically dove into the sea of eager Slytherins when the sign-up sheet was posted in the common room and came out, breathless and giddy at having signed up. Once all the slots had been filled out, Madame Hooch organized the tryouts for each House along with the team captains. The Slytherin team tryouts were held on the first week of October, Tuesday afternoon, under a cloudy sky under the supervision of Madame Hooch and Lionus Xavier, the team captain.

It was here that Jemma marveled at how she'd been in Hogwarts already for a month and still hadn't told Harry the truth. Ginny had been helpful, giving vague answers to her own letters to Harry, making sure that her boyfriend wouldn't know until Jemma was ready.

But, for now, Jemma concentrated on only one thing: getting into the Quidditch team.

"All right, you lot. First thing I wanna see is how well you can stay on your brooms. Mount up and fly a couple rounds the pitch!" Lionus ordered, taking to the skies on his own broom.

There were at least 50 hopeful Quidditch players present at the tryouts and, by the end of the first trial which was basic flying, the number had been whittled down to half. Now the trials for the various positions could begin. For Jemma, she and the other promising Seekers had to chase after a model Golden Snitch controlled by Madame Hooch. This was to test their agility and capability of making sharp turns when the model took an unexpected turn. She did pretty well, impressing Lionus so much that he began to consider breaking tradition and letting girls into the team. Each House had to do two tryouts to really distinguish who were the best qualified for their team. The next tryouts were held a week later and, in the end, Jemma had gotten the much-coveted position as Seeker for the Slytherin team.

"Second youngest Seeker in the century..." Madame Hooch had murmured in amusement as she saw Lionus congratulate Jemma for making the team.

Jemma was on cloud nine when she told Vincent, Lawrence, and Wendy the news. Wendy had tried out for her House team and was made a Beater. Vincent, like Jemma, was also the Seeker for his House team.

"Let's make a pact that we'll play fair against each other... even though I'll do my best to win," Jemma suggested, a playful smirk on her face.

Vincent smirked back and saluted. "So will I," he grinned.

"And as for me, I'll try not to knock the Bludgers in either of your direction. Oh, I'm looking forward to knocking other players off their brooms, though..." Wendy giggled, a mischievous gleam in her eye.

"And I'll be cheering all three of your teams on," Lawrence promised.

The four of them went to Hagrid's house, where they celebrated with rock cakes that nearly broke their teeth.

Posted in time for New Year.

Now, a moment of silence in respect towards Carrie Fisher - an actress who played one of the greatest female heroes of all time. Rest in peace, Ms. Fisher or, as many Star Wars fan know her - Princess Leia.

The next chapter won't be so happy, I'm afraid, for Jemma. Rather, she's going to be in a lot of emotional stress. I'll leave it to you to figure out the cause.

In the meantime, read and review!

-GuardianDragon98