Chapter 5: Owl Post
Lily woke up in the middle of the night, and for a moment, was unable to identify what had woken her. She looked around, until finally she spotted three small shadows at the windows, and realized that what had roused her had been soft tapping on the glass. Throwing back the covers, she raced to the window and opened it, and Frodo, Merry, and a tawny barn owl that she identified as Lucy's, named Bixby, soared in and sat on her bed. Quickly, she untied the letters, then shook Azalea awake.
"Mmm?" her sister muttered sleepily.
"Zia, wake up! Come on, we've got mail!"
Azalea blinked at the owls all perched at Frodo's water tray, then grinned blearily, shaking her head to clear the sleep from her eyes. "Great…"
On the bed turned out to be a letter each from Sirius, James, and Lucy.
Dear Azalea and Lily,
It's hard to believe that it's almost September. How is your homework coming? I haven't touched those essays for Potions yet; Zia, I know you'll help me out when we get back. When are you going to London to get your new books and things? James and I will be there the day before we leave for school. Can we meet you somewhere? Send Frodo back with an answer; I'm growing very fond of him. Mum and Dad say they'll get me an owl this year.
Sirius
Dear Lily and Azalea,
Sirius says he'll tell you about London, so I won't. I finished the last of my homework last night. I hate that git Professor Binns. Three rolls of parchment on medieval witch-burnings! On the plus though, Dad says I can buy an owl this year. Anyway, hope I'll see you both in London, but if not, on the train the next day. Don't be late!
James
Dear girls,
I know I've said this before, but I miss you and all of our friends so much. I can't wait to get back to school. Your last letter telling me about your sister trying to put poison in your soup was funny, although I know it's a serious thing. Maybe you should research those all-purpose antidotes that Professor Venom was telling us about at the end of the year. Anyways, write back soon, and I'll see you on the train.
Love,
Lucy
They finally finished reading all three letters, folding them up and placing them in their envelopes, then into a box on the floor that was almost overflowing with mail. "Do you think we'll be able to go to London and see Sirius and James?" Azalea asked.
"Mum and Dad should be okay with that," Lily said thoughtfully. "We have to buy school supplies anyway. Our vault should be okay, right?"
"Yeah, they put plenty in last year, and that was after we'd bought everything we needed. We should have more than enough to buy what we need."
Lily grabbed a piece of creamy parchment from her night table and examined it. "Not too many new books. It doesn't say we need anything special, but we should get parchment and ink and quills, and refill our potion kits. I need a new ladle too, James stepped on mine."
Azalea got up, slipping back into her own bed. "Good thinking," she said sleepily. "We'll ask Mum and Dad tomorrow."
At breakfast the next morning, Azalea broached the subject. "Mum, we got letters from Sirius and James last night," she said eagerly. "May we go to London on the 31st and meet them to buy supplies?"
"Hmm." Their mother cast a glance at the girls' father, who was absorbed by the newspaper. "What do you think, dear?"
"Don't see why not," he mumbled around a mouthful of eggs. "Girls can look after themselves, and they'll have the boys there."
"You have enough money in that vault, girls?" their mother added.
"Oh yeah," Lily and Azalea both nodded. "Mum, we can stay at the pub in Diagon Alley if Dad drives us up on the 30th…"
"That sounds all right," she consented. "John, you'll drive the girls up?"
"'Course," he answered, then returned his attention to the newspaper. Lily and Azalea grinned at each other, pretending not to notice Petunia sulking across the table.
"We'll send Frodo and Merry back to the boys tonight," Azalea whispered. "We have to figure out where to meet them…"
"LILY! AZALEA!"
The girls turned, just emerging from the door of the Leaky Cauldron into Diagon Alley to see Sirius and James running towards them from the direction of Eeylops' Owl Emporium. Once they were able to meet up, they grinned around at each other, trying not to talk all at once.
Sirius grabbed Azalea's arm. "Come on…our parents are all in the Owl Emporium debating. You can meet them!"
With the girls in tow, they returned to the shop. Sirius' parents were both rather short; he was already on a level with his father at the age of twelve. However they both looked extremely nice, greeting the girls with friendly handshakes. James' dad looked exactly like him; tall and gangly, with thick, untidy black hair. His mother was small, pretty, and blonde.
Once names had been exchanged all around, Sirius and James quickly purchased their owls; a brown barn for Sirius, and an unusual black screech for James. They led the group back out into the sunshine, admiring their new pets.
"Where shall we go next?"
Azalea looked around. "Flourish and Blotts is just across the street…we can go buy books and stuff."
After books, parchment, and quills had been purchased, the group returned to the Leaky Cauldron to drop off their bulging shopping bags. Sirius and James would be staying there the night as well.
The boys were still fascinated by their new owls. "Azalea, what's a good name for him?" Sirius asked, peering in at the grey owl.
"Hmmm…Samwise?" she suggested. "Frodo's best friend."
"Well that's appropriate," he grinned. "All right. Samwise it is."
"What about mine?" James asked.
Lily and Azalea exchanged a glance. "It's a boy, right?" He nodded. "How about Gandalf?"
James tested the name. "Gandalf. I like it," he announced.
"Keep this up, we're going to have the whole Fellowship going…" Lily muttered to Azalea.
Consulting their lists, the group made one more stop to refill their potion kits, then Sirius and James aid goodbye to their parents. "You're sure you won't have any trouble getting to the station?" Sirius's mother inquired anxiously.
"Relax, Allison," said James's father. "I'm having the Ministry send a car for them, remember? They'll be fine."
James's father was an Auror, working for the Ministry of Magic. As such, he had enough pull to secure a vehicle to transport the four students.
The parents finished fussing, and headed down the street, presumably to find a less crowded place to Disapparate from. Sirius, James, Lily, and Azalea looked at each other excitedly.
"Come on…let's go exploring!"
By the time dinner rolled around, the four of them felt like they knew every corner of Diagon Alley inside and out. They dined at the Leaky Cauldron, talking excitedly and speculating about the coming year.
Morning had arrived what seemed like a scant few minutes after they had fallen into their beds. After a huge breakfast, all four of them frantically finished packing up their trunks and various new purchases.
The Ministry car arrived promptly at ten o'clock. The driver, a large wizard in a green uniform, bowed crisply to the children, then helped wrestle the four large trunks and owl cages down the stairs.
"I brought my broom back with me," James told Azalea, as the car departed Diagon Alley and made its way onto the Muggle streets. "I haven't heard anything about tryouts yet, but you are going to go with me, aren't you?"
Azalea nodded. "You talked me into it. I haven't bought a broom yet though…I mean, what's the point if I don't make the team?"
"You were great even on that school broom," he assured her. "And for tryouts, maybe you can borrow mine if we don't have to go at the same time."
Sirius grinned at them. "I want to try and commentate this year," he told them, mischief dancing in his eyes. Lily groaned.
"Sirius, you won't last one match…"
"Sure I will!" he asserted. "I'll just put a Filter Charm on myself to help."
They arrived at King's Cross without incident. The Ministry driver helped them find trolleys for their trunks, bowed again, and then drove off.
Once past the barrier onto Platform 9 ¾, the four looked anxiously around, and soon found Remus, Peter, and Lucy, who greeted them eagerly. The three new owls were all admired, and with everybody pitching in, it was easy for them to load the seven trunks and five cages.
Peter sighed enviously as they all crowded into one of the large compartments at the back. "I wish I had an owl…"
"His parents aren't well off. Maybe for Christmas," Sirius muttered to Azalea and Lily. "We could all chip in for it."
James was already pulling out the cards and the chessboard to pass the time. "Azalea and I have been practicing chess," Lily boasted. "We checked and made sure that the chessboard was okay to use over the holidays, so we're much better now!"
"Oh really?" James looked up from the board, his eyes gleaming. "Care to test that theory?"
Soon enough, James and Lily were locked in a heated chess match, as the other five began playing cards. Remus had just nearly had his eyebrows singed off by the cards, and Lily was shouting at a rook to stop being a coward, when the witch with the tea cart came by and they broke for lunch.
After lunch, Peter fell asleep in the corner, the card game continuing without him. James narrowly lost the chess match, largely owing to the fact that his king became very enamored of Lily's queen and frequently refused to move out of danger.
"Smarmy git," James snarled at the king, who was currently being throttled by Lily's bishop. "That's cheating!"
Sirius looked over and began laughing. "Women are nothing but trouble, and I think that proves case and point, James."
The train slowed to a halt at the Hogwarts station that night, and they disembarked the train, to find a host of carriages waiting for the students (excepting, of course, the first years, who were already being collected by Professor Kettleburn). Sirius, James, Azalea, and Lily squeezed into one, while Remus, Peter, and Lucy took another.
They made their way into the Great Hall, and took seats together at the Gryffindor table, in preparation for the feast.
James immediately stood up and hurried over to Andrew Quigley, who was one of the Gryffindor Chasers, and now the oldest person playing on the team. They conferred for a few minutes, and then James returned, beaming excitedly.
"Andrew's Captain, just like I thought," he informed Azalea excitedly, squeezing in between her and Lily. "He says tryouts will be this week, on Wednesday right after last class."
It was currently Monday. "Do you reckon we ought to practice tomorrow night?" she asked.
James shrugged. "Let's see how classes go first, right?"
"Hmmm. Good point."
The first year students entered the Hall in procession, much as they had themselves last year. The Sorting seemed to take forever, but by the end of it, there were fifteen new Gryffindors at the table.
"I guess you were right, Lucy," Azalea shouted at her across the table amidst the cheering and applause. "Maybe we are a small year."
"That's okay, it means we're all closer as a group," Remus said, clapping enthusiastically.
(Note: I started writing the next part while drinking a few glasses of wine…so if things get a little odd, please forgive me. J )
Classes began the next day, and the second year students groaned at the immediate increase in their workload. Tuesday night found them already spread out on two of the large common area tables, poring over homework for Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"These boggarts are really fascinating," Remus mumbled, flipping through the pages of his text.
"Glad you think so!" snorted James. "Myself, I think I'll stick to Transfiguration, thanks."
"We haven't even had that yet," Sirius groaned, rolling his eyes. "I'm afraid to find out what McGonagall's going to do to us."
"When are tryouts tomorrow, James?" Azalea asked, even as she leaned over to see the page number that Remus was looking at for the information on boggarts.
"Five o'clock," he said, perking up. "Maybe we should hop down to the kitchens for a snack after Herbology. We'll need the energy."
"Good idea," she approved.
Peter looked up from his essay, which had several ink blots scattered over it. "Are we allowed to come and watch?" he asked.
James shrugged. "I suppose if you want, you can, but it's not going to be very interesting."
"Any idea when you'll find out?"
"No clue. Andrew didn't say," James answered Sirius, frowning. "Probably pretty soon afterwards, we'll have to start training and all…"
"Pass the ink," Lily mumbled, head bent over her History of Magic textbook, and Remus handed her the economy-sized bottle that they were all sharing.
The next afternoon came quickly, and as soon as they were let out of Herbology, James and Azalea separated from the rest of the group and ran back to the castle. They hurried to Gryffindor Tower to grab their brooms, then back downstairs to the kitchens for their snack.
Nod, their friend from last year, rushed up to them excitedly as they stepped through the door. "James Potter, sir, and Azalea Evans, miss!" he squeaked. "What is you wanting? We has fresh scones just coming out of the oven, sir and miss, and…"
James held up a hand. "We've got Quidditch tryouts, Nod, we just need a snack that we can eat on the way…"
"Say no more, James Potter sir!" The elf zoomed off into the kitchen, returning with two flaky fist-sized pastries, and a huge bunch of grapes.
"These is stuffed with chicken and herbs, sir!" Nod said, quickly wrapping the pastries in a napkin. "Most good for snacking!"
"Thanks, Nod!" Azalea told the elf, as James stuffed the pastries in his pocket and she took the grapes. The elf bowed to them as they headed out the door.
Stuffing the last of the grapes into their mouths, James and Azalea walked onto the Quidditch field, where there was already a small group of people milling around. To be precise, it looked like all the Houses were having tryouts on the same day, and there were four distinct sets.
James led Azalea up to Andrew Quigley, who looked pleased to see them both. "Good you're here, James," he greeted them. "You're trying out for Seeker, right?"
"Right," James nodded fiercely, clutching his broom.
"Right, then. You'll want to go over to McMillan, he's working with the Seekers. And you?" Andrew asked, turning to Azalea.
"I'm Azalea Evans…I'm trying out for Keeper," she answered.
Andrew raised his eyebrows. "Wonderful! You're good build for a Keeper too…you'll be able to move quickly," he observed. "Come with me…I'll take you over to Nick Sanders, he's one of the Chasers…he's checking out the Keepers, not that there's a lot of you…"
The tryouts started shortly afterwards. Someone had put up two extra sets of hoops, and so each House had their own small field to work with. Someone had also color-coded the Snitches, so that the Seekers for Gryffindor were looking for a red Snitch, the Ravenclaws for blue, the Hufflepuffs for yellow, and the Slytherins for green. It helped avoid confusion.
The Seekers traveled all over the field, looking for the Snitch, off in their own world. The Keepers trying out went in front of the hoops one by one, to be tested against various students who were either trying out for Chasers, or the actual team Chasers. The Beaters were also in the air, testing their skills against the Chasers.
From what Azalea could tell, James was doing well – he seemed to zoom back to Joey McMillan more times than the rest of the group of six or so that were trying out. She wasn't able to check on him that often; Nick Sanders had left her in front of the hoops for quite some time, and she had her work cut out for her as Andrew, who was supervising the Chasers, sent groups of three, four, and occasionally five against her.
All of a sudden, there was a commotion from the end of the field that the Slytherins were occupying, and the rest of the Houses temporarily stopped play. Nick and Andrew flew off towards the other end of the field, and returned grinning gleefully.
"One of the Slytherins rammed into a hoop," Nick reported, laughing. "Some nasty-looking second year, I think his name's Snape. That'll cut him for sure!"
Azalea suppressed the feeling of glee that if she did make the team, she wouldn't have to play with that disgusting boy!
They resumed work, and Azalea put Snape out of her mind, as Paul Botchas, one of the Gryffindor Beaters, sent a Bludger against her…
Two hours later, James and Azalea headed back up to the dormitory together, exhausted.
"How did it go for you?" Azalea asked, as they climbed the last flight of stairs.
"I think I did really well," he replied. "Dragon tail," he added to the Fat Lady, and the portrait hole obediently swung open.
"What about you?" James asked, as they climbed in.
"I think I was all right. Andrew, Nick, and Joelle Archer all went against me at the very end, and they only scored twice."
The rest of their friends were waiting in the common room for them. "How did it go?" Sirius asked eagerly.
"They'll have the results up by the fireplace tomorrow morning," James answered. "We both did well, so maybe…"
Azalea stifled a huge yawn. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm exhausted. See you in the morning," and she trooped up the stairs to the dormitory.
She was awoken by excited yelling from downstairs the next morning, and looking around, saw both Lily and Lucy sitting up in their beds looking around confused by the noise.
An instant later, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all came thundering up the stairs and burst into the room. "AZALEA!" James shouted, yanking her out of bed and spinning her around in a circle.
Lily was blinking sleepily at the group. "Mind telling us what's going on?"
"We made it! Both of us!" James gabbled. "You're Keeper and I'm Seeker!"
As soon as Azalea had woken up enough to understand his words, she let out a whoop and pounded him on the back, for he still hadn't put her down.
"I've got to buy a broom!" she yelled. Lily and Lucy had gotten out of bed by then, and were offering their congratulations as well.
Sirius had picked Azalea up next, and as he put her down, James added, "We've got a meeting tonight at seven, Zia, on the practice field. Supposed to meet the rest of the team and all that."
"We're the only new ones, right?" she asked.
"There was one Chaser slot open," and James' grin threatened to split his face. "She's a fourth-year, Joelle Archer. But we did it, Zia! We got the best spots! Only one pick for our spots, and we did it!"
Sirius grinned maliciously. "I've got to go talk to McGonagall after Transfiguration," he revealed. "With any luck, I'll be commentating the matches."
Lucy looked around at the other six, her face glowing. "It's going to be a great year. I can tell already."