She walked out to the pitch filled with confidence. She carried her broom with her. For many, it was the first time seeing Rachel's broom, and she wanted to surprise them. The Gryffindor Quidditch team were in the stands, except for Alicia Spinnet and George Weasley, who were hovering in midair in the center of the pitch. Angelina Johnson held a sheet of paper, and stood in front of a microphone.

"When your name is called, please fly up to the near end of the field, in front of the hoops. You will be shot at ten times by Alicia, and George will knock bludgers at you. You will be judged on the number of shots blocked, number of bludgers avoided, and grace. Colin Creevy, you are up first.

Rachel stood, under the stands, with the rest of the people auditioning. She went over to the group of fifth years. She was the only girl. Seamus and Ron were the other fifth years auditioning.

"What kind of broom do you have?" Seamus asked, staring at hers.

"Super Nova 2400. It's really a racing broom, made by Smith and Company." Rachel was proud of it, thought it was no Firebolt. It might be able to beat a Nimbus 2000, if the Nimbus was having an off day, but Rachel loved her broom, it had helped her so much before.

"Smith and Company?" Ron raised his eyebrows. Rachel showed him the stamp underneath Super Nova 2400, where it said, in silver letters SMITH & CO.

"They are the top American broom manufacturer. They don't ship out of country, and the have a rather unusual design." Rachel took off her tail cover. It was rather short, and fluffed out. From far away, her broom looked like a paintbrush.

"What's with the tail? Do you need to get a new one?" Seamus touched the fluffy end on her broom.

"No. The tail is what is unusual about their design. It compacts in the air to make it more streamlined, and beats through the air during turns to help control them more."

"Oh." Both boys looked at it, then

"Seamus Finnigan," was called, and Seamus, grabbing his broom, ran out to audition. From then on, Rachel was silent as they called the rest of the F's, G's, H's, and I's. Finally she heard her name.

"Rachel Jacobson." Then Ron patted her on the shoulder.

"Good luck." He whispered as she left the stands.

"Ok Rach, understand the drill?" George smiled at her. The bludger was at the far end of the field, and rapidly rocketing toward them.

"Yep." Rachel nodded, and moved to her place.

"Then.....GO!" Alicia called. And began flying toward her with the quaffle. First shot, Rachel blocked. Not her best block though, she needed to be better. Second, blocked much better, front on and easy. Third block was a bit more difficult, and the bludger came at her. She tried a half starfish and stick, by dropping down low to block the quaffle and it worked. She was falling into the rhythm of Quidditch again. She managed to block the rest, with varying degrees of skill and grace, sometimes wanting to be better, sometimes satisfied, then the last shot was fired, blocked, and George said.

"Very nice. The team list should be posted in a few days.. Thank you." Then he winked, and Rachel flew down to collect her things and go. She ran into Seamus. He was standing there, a bit awkwardly, holding his broom in his hands. Rachel had slid her broom into it's cover, and put on the shoulder strap, so it rested against her back.

"Want to go for a walk?" Seamus asked, looking hopeful.

"Sure." Rachel had done most of her homework, the rest could wait. She picked up her bottle of water, and followed Seamus outside the stands.

The night air was cool and refreshing. For a while, they said nothing as they walked, then Seamus said.

"I think I did miserably at my audition."

"Don't say that! Don't be harsh on yourself."

"You didn't see me. I was so nervous I missed one."

"It doesn't matter! I mean, if you have the style they want, then you will get it."

"You had the style they want." Seamus had stopped and was staring at her.

Rachel blushed. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you were really good out there! Amazing. I was watching, once I finished my audition."

"Really? Thanks. It was incredible to play Quidditch again, I mean, I played some over the summer, but European Quidditch is so much more involving."

"What was it like in America?"

Rachel talked a little bit about her summer, then talked a little bit about Diagon Alley. When she mentioned the whole thing with Ron and the dead seeker, Seamus laughed.

"You're funny Rachel, but I've never seen that side of you. You are always really quiet like."

"Well, I dunno, I mean, I think that when I came here, I was all quiet in the beginning because I didn't have a lot of friends, and felt really different, and everyone just accepted that. It's really rather sad, when you think about it."

"Yeah." Seamus said slowly. "Yeah." Then he told her what he had done. He had hung around with Dean and Lavender for most of the summer, he told her, then asked if she could keep a secret.

"I guess so," she replied.

"Well, it's just, Lavender and I, we aren't working out." Seamus said finally.

Rachel had heard the same thing from Lavender this morning, but pretended to be surprised. "Really? That's a shame."

"I'm probably going to break it off soon, but I mean, it will hurt Lavender so bad, but I mean, she is just such a–nag! She wants everything her way!"

"Oh." Rachel was really uncomfortable. "I guess–if that's what you think is right, then it is what you should do."

Over the next few days, Rachel kept taking walks with Seamus. It was amazing. She had known him for five years, but the most she had learned about him had taken place during those five days. They had walked together up to the common room, to see it crowded with people. Fred was waving around a sheet of paper. He smiled slyly to himself, then stood on a table.

"Friends, Romans, countrymen–"

"Get to it already!" A sixth year called out in a jeering tone.

"Fine. Without any further ado, Gryffindor's new and improved Quidditch team! Captain: Angelina Johnson! Chasers: Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet! Beaters: Fred Weasley and George Weasley! Seeker: Harry Potter! And–" Fred cleared his throat, "the moment you have all been waiting for–Keeper: Rachel Jacobson! Welcome to the team!"

People were shoving Rachel to the center of the room. Fred offered his hand, and pulled her up. George was suddenly behind her and he yelled.

"Ok! We said it! Now stop grumbling and go do your homework!"

"Do their homework?" Rachel inquired.

"Well, we had to get rid of them somehow, didn't we?"

"Of course." Rachel smiled. She felt really happy, however, she was at a loss for words, so she just hugged them both and hopped off the table.

Harry was waiting for her. "Congratulations!" He hugged her.

She returned his hug, then asked, "But didn't you already know?"

"Well, I vouched for you, but I didn't know how much my vote really counted."

"You voted for me over Ron?" Rachel was amazed.

"Well–keep it down." Harry blushed and looked around. "You played better–but–speaking of Ron, he's rather upset. You may want to stay away from him for a while. Training starts next week." He shoved a schedule into her hand. "Don't lose it. I'm gonna go console Ron." He blushed again. "Good bye." And he rushed off.