Chapter Five: Cloud Nine
After seeing the Pegasus eggs, Laurie's thoughts were constantly bent on Quidditch try-outs on the quickly approaching Wednesday. Every free minute of her time was spent on the Nimbus 2001, flying around the grounds and carefully avoiding Dragon Tail Lake. Several times, Sarah joined her, weaving in and out of Laurie's flight path to simulate a real Quidditch match, while Scott threw golf balls and tennis balls for Laurie to catch. Erick just watched with a constantly vigilant eye, telling Laurie what needed improving and what would work for her. He had decided that he was not going to try out, as the team already had a superb Keeper and that was his best position.
Classes seemed unimportant in the time leading up to try-outs, and Laurie could barely pay attention. In Defense Against the Dark Arts on Monday, Professor Tournaline brought in a hinkypunk, a little creature with a lantern attached to its head that led unsuspecting victims into bogs until they could not get out. Each of the students had a grand time doing a simple charm that made the hinkypunk disappear with a loud bang. Later on that same day, in Potions, Laurie successfully made a shrinking potion that brought Kristie's cat, Grindylow, down to the size of a quarter. Gruffles, who happened to be there for that lesson, was not too pleased with this turn of events, for he could now hold his "girlfriend" in one paw. Kristie was neither amused by Gruffles' response nor pleased that her cat had been the guinea pig for this experiment, though Professor Cornelius assured them both that Grindylow would return to her normal size in a few hours.
The next day came the first Charms class. Professor Dragona gave them an opening lecture about how important Charms was and then started them on learning some basic charms. After mastering an unlocking charm and setting the room aglow with the light charm, Laurie sat back and watched Sarah try to cause a feather to levitate.
"I don't think I can stand another day of classes between now and Quidditch try-outs," Laurie complained, watching Sarah's feather levitate a few inches, then float gracefully back down to the desk.
"Are you nervous?" Sarah asked, twirling her wand around in her hand for a brief moment before turning it back on the feather. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
"I guess. I don't really feel much of anything about it. I kinda want it to be over with, so I can concentrate on other things again," Laurie replied, watching the feather soar higher this time, to the delight of Professor Dragona.
"Bravo, Miss Kimball! Ten points to Wave for a successful levitation charm!" she cried, bringing applause from the other Wave Students. Sarah blushed with pleasure and embarrassment, while Scott made a face at her and tried to levitate his own feather. This resulted in an explosion, which singed off his and Erick's eyebrows. Sarah giggled at this, and Scott glared at her fiercely.
"Scott's a little competitive," Sarah explained as they left the classroom, Scott in a definite huff. "He's better at me in athletic things, though, so I don't know why this is such big deal to him."
"Maybe because you made him look bad," Erick suggested, and Sarah raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't know. That's always what makes me upset when one of my sisters one-ups me."
"Well, he needn't be. I mean, it's just us," Sarah told Erick flippantly. "I don't know why he'd want to look good for us."
"Maybe it wasn't for us," Laurie suggested, but Sarah was through discussing the topic.
The next day in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Tournaline introduced the class to a boggart, a creature that would take the form of whatever a person feared most. While Sarah dealt with a giant snake, Scott a vampire and Erick his older sister, Laurie was surprised to see the room go completely empty when it came her turn to face the boggart. It seemed that everyone had disappeared. She began to panic, when she heard Professor Tournaline's voice call, as if from miles away, "Ridikulus!" Immediately the room was full of students again. Julia and her goons were doubled up, laughing at Laurie.
"What happened, Laurie? The boggart just disappeared and you started to panic. Are you alright?" Professor Tournaline asked. Laurie was still shaking.
"I don't know. The room went all empty; it was like you'd all left," she answered breathlessly.
"Ah. So your biggest fear, then, is being alone," Professor Tournaline stated, and suddenly, Laurie's experience with the boggart made perfect sense.
"I half-expected it to turn into a spider or something," Laurie commented sheepishly to her friends as they left the classroom. Sarah smiled in sympathy.
"At least it's something abstract that you're afraid of," she commented, when Julia brushed by them, knocking the books out of Sarah's arms. Right behind her were Vinny and Alysia, chuckling behind their hands.
"Oh, sorry, Sarah. Didn't see you there," Julia sneered. "By the way, Laurie, stunning performance today: looking around all wide-eyed and panicky. Why, if I'd ever done something that embarrassing, I'd go into hiding for the rest of eternity!"
"Hey, at least she wasn't afraid of a little mouse," Scott muttered under his breath, and Laurie snickered. Julia, unfortunately, had missed the comment and simply sashayed away with Vinny and Alysia in tow.
"Seriously, Laurie, don't let Julia get to you. She's just jealous," Erick stated as they walked reluctantly to the greenhouses for Herbology.
"Of me? Why?" Laurie smirked, but Erick didn't answer as one of the greenhouses randomly exploded at that moment.
"Well, I guess that means no Herbology," Scott commented, and they turned around to go back to their dorm. Sarah, Scott and Erick were planning on playing Exploding Snap in the common room, but Laurie felt the need to practice some more. She retrieved her broom from the girls' bedroom and hurried down to the Quidditch field. Apparently, she wasn't the only person who wanted to practice before try-outs. The sky was full of people playing catch with Quaffles or trying to catch tennis balls. Laurie wasn't sure where she could find space to practice, when she spotted Corey running up to her.
"Hi, Laurie. Kinda busy out here, isn't it?" he commented, and Laurie nodded, not sure how else to respond. "Well, don't worry about it. They may have closed Dragon Tail Lake for practicing, but you can still use the grazing land over there. There are a few people over there already, but not enough to really disturb your practice."
"Oh. Okay," Laurie replied, and followed Corey's directions to the grazing land. A few odd-looking animals looked at her with annoyance, and above her were a couple people playing catch and one person swinging his bat at Bludgers. Laurie decided this was more than enough space to practice and soared skyward on her broom. She practiced diving, feinting and a few other spectacular moves before she heard Sarah and Erick calling her name.
"You know," Sarah commented as Laurie touched down, "you might want to pay a bit more attention to the time, so you don't have to bring your broom to Potions."
"It's that late already?" Laurie cried, and the three of them ran off to class. Scott was already there, saving them seats near the front and, though Professor Cornelius gave them a disapproving look, he did not take off any points. Halfway through class, a voice announced that it was time for Quidditch try-outs and that all students trying out should go to the Quidditch field immediately. Laurie got up, and noticed that Kyle Houston and two boys from Quake were also on their way out the door. Kyle was nervously holding his own Nimbus 2000 and smiled at Laurie as they walked to the Quidditch field.
"So, are you going out for Seeker, Laurie?" he asked, and she nodded, not trusting her voice. "That's cool. I'm gonna try for Chaser, but I don't know if I'll make it. I heard that Wave's got some really good people going up for that position, too."
"Well, my mom would always tell me that if something was meant to be, there was nothing that could happen to change that," Laurie told him, unaware that she'd even chosen to speak. Kyle smiled his thanks to her, and before she realized it, they'd reached the Quidditch field. The rules for try-outs were explained rather simply. The hopefuls would go by house, starting with Flame and ending with Wave. The order of player try-outs would be Beaters, Keepers, Chasers and Seekers. Laurie sighed loudly. This meant that she would be the last to try out, being the youngest person going out for Seeker for Wave House. A Fifth Year boy and Third Year girl were also hoping for that position, so she held little hope of becoming the new Seeker. The hopefuls were instructed to wait in a tent until their name was called, and all the Wave students congregated together in a nervous huddle.
"My older brother played Keeper when he was here," said a Second Year girl going out for Chaser. "He said that try-outs are really rough."
"Well, he made it, didn't he?" Kyle asked, and the girl nodded.
"He was in the hospital wing for a week afterwards, though," she added.
Meanwhile, Graciela Martini, a Sixth Year from Wind, was calling the try-outs like a real Quidditch game. Though the calls weren't loud enough to be constantly heard by those waiting in the tent, Laurie would occasionally catch her saying something like, "ooh, that had to hurt!" or "good thing the nurse is on duty today!" She began to feel very nervous.
Finally it was time for Wave House try-outs. Laurie watched with little emotion as several older students went to try out to be Chasers, and wished Kyle good luck when it was his turn. Then, it was time for the Seeker try-outs. The Fifth Year boy went out with a grim and determined look on his face, then the Third Year girl. Finally, it was Laurie's turn. She walked out onto the field, feeling very small indeed. Sitting halfway between the two sets of goals were the judges on three tall chairs. One was Professor Tournaline, the professor for Wave House. One was Corey Oxford, the captain for the Wave House Quidditch team. The last was Professor Frankincense, who was smiling politely down at Laurie.
"Name?" she called, her voice echoing through the empty stands.
"L-Laurie Lacewing," Laurie stammered.
"Year?"
"First."
"And you're trying out for Seeker?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Professor Frankincense bobbed her head, and looked at Corey. "Okay, Laurie. Here's how your try-out is going to go. Ben down there is going to throw tennis balls and Remembralls for you to catch; you will receive marks based on how many of these you catch. At some point, which will not be disclosed to you, the Snitch will be released, and you will receive marks based on how quickly you catch it. The results will be posted on Friday, between second and third periods," he explained. "Any questions?"
Laurie shook her head no, and Professor Tournaline spoke up. "When I blow the whistle, you are to push off from the ground and show us a few moves: a dive, an acceleration and a feint. You will receive points on how close you are to the ground when you pull out of the dive, how quickly you go from one set of goals to the other and how convincing your feint is. Ready?" Laurie nodded, and the whistle blew. She pushed off from the ground, blocking out everything but the task at hand. As soon as she'd reached a good height, she turned and dove, brushing the ground with her fingers as she pulled up only millimeters from a crash. She then flew to one set of goalposts and relished the feeling of speed that ended all too soon when she reached the other set. She hoped that her feint was convincing enough, considering that there were no balls on the field. Then came the hard part.
She heard someone say something about throwing the first ball, and almost immediately, a clear ball with white smoke inside was flying towards her. She caught it with ease, and the games began. Laurie put every ounce of effort she could muster into catching the balls thrown at her, and managed to catch all but two, before she heard a whirring sound near her right ear. Not thinking, she reached up and grabbed whatever was making the whirring sound, and to her surprise, realized that she'd caught the Snitch without even thinking about it. Applause was coming from the judge's chairs and Graciela Martini was saying something about how Laurie had caught the Snitch fastest. She blinked at the little winged golden ball in her hand in shock. She'd really caught the Snitch. She felt weird about it, though, like there hadn't been enough of a chase. Slowly returning to the ground, she handed the Snitch back to Ben, a tall and skinny Sixth Year. He was grinning from ear to ear.
"Great reflexes, Laurie. I released the Snitch about ten seconds before you caught it. Did you know that I'd released it?" he asked.
"No! I swear . I thought it was a bug or something," Laurie cried, and Ben laughed.
"Don't worry, no one's accusing you of anything. But you were really impressive out there. I hope you get it," he stated, walking away. Laurie stared after him, silently agreeing with his hope.
Thursday and Friday classes were unbearable for Laurie. Professor Starlite announced that Laurie had a worried aura, and, though a few people were quite impressed with this, Laurie knew it must be obvious by her fidgeting and shuffling of her feet. Friday was even worse. Laurie was so nervous that she almost slept through Defense Against the Dark Arts, and arrived just in time for Professor Tournaline to introduce the poltergeist to the class. The shimmering, glowing ghost-like creature flew around to all of the students in the class, laughing at them and making fun of whatever their worst fault was. Laurie was glad that the poltergeist was not solid, or she might have hurt herself punching him. As it was, she simply felt an extremely cold sensation as her hand went through his head. Later, in Herbology, Laurie barely noticed the plant wrapping itself around her arms, and only paid it any heed when Professor Gromoor had to whip out her wand and yell "Lumos solem!" at the plant to make it stop trying to strangle Laurie.
"Devil's Snare," she sighed, checking Laurie for any injury. "Are you alright, dear?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Laurie growled, jerking her arm away from Professor Gromoor's grasp. Sarah patted her on the shoulder reassuringly, and Kyle gave her a sympathetic smile from across the room. Finally, the class was over, and Laurie raced to the Wave Common Room to see the list of the new Wave Quidditch team. Kyle was right on her heels, but apparently, they hadn't been fast enough, for when they reached the Common Room; older students already surrounded the list. Kyle, who was a head taller than most of them anyways, pushed his way to the front and looked at the list. Moments later, he emerged from the crowd, grinning wildly at Laurie.
"We made it!" he shouted. "And not just onto the reserve team! We're both on the House Team, Laurie! That Fourth Year girl who tried out for Chaser, too."
"No way!" Laurie screeched, and pushed her way to the front of the crowd. Sure enough, there was her name in gold lettering, next to the word "Seeker." She bit back a scream of joy and ran back through the crowd. Sarah, Scott and Erick had just reached the Common Room. She jumped at them and hugged them excitedly.
"I'm Seeker!" she cried as they hugged her back, jumping up and down happily. "I made it!" They started congratulating her at the top of their lungs, when a sudden quiet voice interrupted them.
"Congratulations, Laurie," the voice said, and Laurie whirled around to see someone she'd never heard talk before. The girl was dark and beautiful with black hair and black eyes. Laurie knew from attendance in her classes that her name was Selena Raven, but she didn't know anything more about this girl. The first night there, Selena had crawled into bed before all of the other girls even reached the bedroom, and had repeated this ritual every night since. Her voice was soft and accented. Laurie looked at her, in confusion.
"Ah . thanks, Selena," she replied, but Selena had already withdrawn back into the crowd of excited people. Laurie shrugged it off and went back to celebrating with her friends. In too little time, however, it was time for Potions. Professor Cornelius was grinning when they arrived.
"Before we start with class today, I would like to congratulate Miss Lacewing, Mr. Houston, and Mr. O'Toole for their success in Quidditch try- outs. This shall be an exciting year for Quidditch! Now, on to our lesson for the day. I promise, this shall be short and sweet as I have an important announcement to make before class ends," Professor Cornelius stated, and began lecturing. True to his word, he finished half an hour before class was scheduled to end.
"Now, you're probably wondering what on earth I could want to announce that would be so important as to get in the way of a Potions lesson," he stated with a chuckle. "Well, here at Salem, we have an annual tradition. Every year on Halloween, we hold what is called the Danse Macabre. This is the equivalent to a Muggle homecoming dance. At this dance, the Quidditch teams will be officially presented to the school. I believe this gives you a good month and a half to prepare."
The room was suddenly abuzz with conversation about the dance. Scott and Erick seemed relatively unimpressed by it and began a game of Exploding Snap under their desk. Sarah, on the other hand, turned to Laurie with an excited expression on her face. "We should try to get dates, Laurie! Oh, it'll be so much fun! Alicia was talking about these balls. She said there's one for Christmas and in the spring too. But the spring one's only for upperclassmen. So do you want to try and get dates?" Sarah was almost talking too fast for Laurie to understand her.
"Dates? Whom on earth would we ask?" she asked, knowing full well that she wanted to ask a certain Erick deBaron to the dance. Sarah shrugged.
"Does it matter? As long as we have fun, that's what counts."
"I guess so," Laurie consented. She made up her mind to make Erick ask her to the dance by any means possible, and made plans to put on make up before dinner that night. Unfortunately, there was a meeting for the House Teams right after Potions that ended up lasting until dinner. Laurie and Kyle ran as fast as they could from the Common Room to the banquet hall afterwards to assure they could sit with their friends. Sure enough, Erick had saved the seat next to him for Laurie, while Kyle managed to find a seat between Brandon Lyons and Ross Logan. Laurie dug into her meal of spaghetti and meatballs, and was about to take a bite, when Mary Beth McNabb, another First Year from Quake, appeared behind her and Erick. She was giggling furiously.
"Hi, Erick! How are you?" she squealed, sounding much like a little pig. Her eyelids were fluttering like they might make her fly if she fluttered hard enough.
"I'm . ah . doing alright. How are you, Mary Beth?" Erick looked around Mary Beth to where she usually sat at the Quake table. On either side of Mary Beth's seat were two girls who looked like Erick's sisters. They waved at him, sweetly.
"Oh! I'm . great!" Mary Beth giggled again, as if she hadn't been expecting that question. "I was wondering if you'd want to go to the dance with me?"
Erick sighed and shook his head no. "Sorry, Mary Beth, but you're not my type," he told her, looking unimpressed by her on any level. Mary Beth backed away, looking very hurt, and Erick's sisters glared at him disapprovingly. He was about to start a conversation with Laurie, when she felt herself being shoved over and heard a familiar voice.
"Well, hello, Erick! I couldn't help but hear that Mary Beth isn't your type and you're not going with her to the dance. Not that I'm surprised. She is Muggle-born, after all," Julia proclaimed in a haughty voice. Jolene and Kyle, who were also Muggle-born, sent glares in Julia's direction.
"Not that that had anything to do with it," Erick answered; looking very much like he wished Julia would just go away.
"Oh! Well, in any case, I know that you come from a long line of wizards, as do I, and so I figured you would be the perfect date for me," Julia stated as if she was the most logical person in the world. Laurie managed to catch a glimpse of Julia's face at that moment, and it was caked in more makeup than Laurie had ever seen on a person at a time.
"Actually, I think you'd probably be someone else's perfect date," Erick announced. "Bye, Julia."
"But . but I ." Julia seemed at a loss for words.
"Bye, Julia," Erick repeated, and she stood up and left, stamping her feet as she went. He chuckled at her retreating figure. "I've been getting that ever since the ball was announced. They all try too hard."
Laurie forced a smile at him. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, they're not really being themselves. I mean, when she's not trying to ask someone to a dance, Mary Beth's pretty cool. Likes to talk about her family a lot. But then she decides to ask me to a dance, and boom! She's a complete and total ditz." Erick shook his head sadly. "And then there's Julia. Not that she changed much. She always acts that way, but I've never seen her with so much makeup on. Laurie, I'm so glad you're not like them. You're always real."
Laurie grinned, glad that Erick didn't know she'd been planning something very similar to Julia and Mary Beth's strategies earlier that day. They finished their meal in peace, and returned to Wave House, only to discover that Scott and Sarah had spent the entirety of dinner playing a highly competitive game of Exploding Snap in the Common Room. They laughed aloud when Erick told them about Mary Beth and Julia's attempts to get him to be their respective dates.
"Let that be a lesson to you girls," he said sternly to Sarah and Laurie. "Just be yourself when you want someone to be your date." Laurie took this advice to heart and just relaxed the rest of the evening.
The next day dawned bright and sunny, perfect for the first Quidditch practice of the year. The first thing Corey did was to introduce the other team members. He played Chaser, as did the Fourth Year girl, Ariel Jameson and Kyle. The Keeper was a Seventh Year student named Karl White and the Beaters were Jessica Leroy, a Sixth Year, and Malcolm Black, a Second Year. Next, practice started. Laurie caught the Snitch five times, her time improving with each catch. Her last catch took only twenty-five seconds and an impressive dive that solicited applause from her fellow players . and from someone in the stands. Laurie looked up to see Erick applauding from a place high in the stands, and ran up to join him.
"Erick, have you been watching this whole time?" Laurie demanded, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Yeah," he replied. "I hope you're not mad about that. I just figure that if I'm going to be on the team next year, I might start doing my homework now." Laurie grinned at that.
"Well, I know that I wouldn't mind having you on the team," she told him, watching Kyle score a goal against Karl White. "Karl's really good, but this is his last year."
"Yeah, I know. Speaking of really good, you were amazing out there! Have you ever played before?" Erick asked, dodging a stray Bludger that came dashing into the stands. Jessie apologized as she flew by to retrieve it.
"No, this is my first time playing. In fact, I've only been flying for about a month now," Laurie explained, causing Erick to laugh in surprise.
"You don't show it," he told her. "Anyone watching you would think you'd been flying since before you were walking."
Laurie blushed, feeling this sentiment meant a lot more coming from Erick than from anyone else who might tell her that same thing. An awkward silence fell between them. Laurie was about to get up and leave, when Erick grabbed her wrist to stop her.
"Laurie, do you want to go to the Danse Macabre with me? I mean, you're a good friend and it'll stop all of these other girls from asking me," Erick asked. A strange rushing noise filled Laurie's ears, and she nodded.
"Okay."
With that, she turned and walked back down to the Quidditch field, feeling like she'd just won the World Cup.
After seeing the Pegasus eggs, Laurie's thoughts were constantly bent on Quidditch try-outs on the quickly approaching Wednesday. Every free minute of her time was spent on the Nimbus 2001, flying around the grounds and carefully avoiding Dragon Tail Lake. Several times, Sarah joined her, weaving in and out of Laurie's flight path to simulate a real Quidditch match, while Scott threw golf balls and tennis balls for Laurie to catch. Erick just watched with a constantly vigilant eye, telling Laurie what needed improving and what would work for her. He had decided that he was not going to try out, as the team already had a superb Keeper and that was his best position.
Classes seemed unimportant in the time leading up to try-outs, and Laurie could barely pay attention. In Defense Against the Dark Arts on Monday, Professor Tournaline brought in a hinkypunk, a little creature with a lantern attached to its head that led unsuspecting victims into bogs until they could not get out. Each of the students had a grand time doing a simple charm that made the hinkypunk disappear with a loud bang. Later on that same day, in Potions, Laurie successfully made a shrinking potion that brought Kristie's cat, Grindylow, down to the size of a quarter. Gruffles, who happened to be there for that lesson, was not too pleased with this turn of events, for he could now hold his "girlfriend" in one paw. Kristie was neither amused by Gruffles' response nor pleased that her cat had been the guinea pig for this experiment, though Professor Cornelius assured them both that Grindylow would return to her normal size in a few hours.
The next day came the first Charms class. Professor Dragona gave them an opening lecture about how important Charms was and then started them on learning some basic charms. After mastering an unlocking charm and setting the room aglow with the light charm, Laurie sat back and watched Sarah try to cause a feather to levitate.
"I don't think I can stand another day of classes between now and Quidditch try-outs," Laurie complained, watching Sarah's feather levitate a few inches, then float gracefully back down to the desk.
"Are you nervous?" Sarah asked, twirling her wand around in her hand for a brief moment before turning it back on the feather. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
"I guess. I don't really feel much of anything about it. I kinda want it to be over with, so I can concentrate on other things again," Laurie replied, watching the feather soar higher this time, to the delight of Professor Dragona.
"Bravo, Miss Kimball! Ten points to Wave for a successful levitation charm!" she cried, bringing applause from the other Wave Students. Sarah blushed with pleasure and embarrassment, while Scott made a face at her and tried to levitate his own feather. This resulted in an explosion, which singed off his and Erick's eyebrows. Sarah giggled at this, and Scott glared at her fiercely.
"Scott's a little competitive," Sarah explained as they left the classroom, Scott in a definite huff. "He's better at me in athletic things, though, so I don't know why this is such big deal to him."
"Maybe because you made him look bad," Erick suggested, and Sarah raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't know. That's always what makes me upset when one of my sisters one-ups me."
"Well, he needn't be. I mean, it's just us," Sarah told Erick flippantly. "I don't know why he'd want to look good for us."
"Maybe it wasn't for us," Laurie suggested, but Sarah was through discussing the topic.
The next day in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Tournaline introduced the class to a boggart, a creature that would take the form of whatever a person feared most. While Sarah dealt with a giant snake, Scott a vampire and Erick his older sister, Laurie was surprised to see the room go completely empty when it came her turn to face the boggart. It seemed that everyone had disappeared. She began to panic, when she heard Professor Tournaline's voice call, as if from miles away, "Ridikulus!" Immediately the room was full of students again. Julia and her goons were doubled up, laughing at Laurie.
"What happened, Laurie? The boggart just disappeared and you started to panic. Are you alright?" Professor Tournaline asked. Laurie was still shaking.
"I don't know. The room went all empty; it was like you'd all left," she answered breathlessly.
"Ah. So your biggest fear, then, is being alone," Professor Tournaline stated, and suddenly, Laurie's experience with the boggart made perfect sense.
"I half-expected it to turn into a spider or something," Laurie commented sheepishly to her friends as they left the classroom. Sarah smiled in sympathy.
"At least it's something abstract that you're afraid of," she commented, when Julia brushed by them, knocking the books out of Sarah's arms. Right behind her were Vinny and Alysia, chuckling behind their hands.
"Oh, sorry, Sarah. Didn't see you there," Julia sneered. "By the way, Laurie, stunning performance today: looking around all wide-eyed and panicky. Why, if I'd ever done something that embarrassing, I'd go into hiding for the rest of eternity!"
"Hey, at least she wasn't afraid of a little mouse," Scott muttered under his breath, and Laurie snickered. Julia, unfortunately, had missed the comment and simply sashayed away with Vinny and Alysia in tow.
"Seriously, Laurie, don't let Julia get to you. She's just jealous," Erick stated as they walked reluctantly to the greenhouses for Herbology.
"Of me? Why?" Laurie smirked, but Erick didn't answer as one of the greenhouses randomly exploded at that moment.
"Well, I guess that means no Herbology," Scott commented, and they turned around to go back to their dorm. Sarah, Scott and Erick were planning on playing Exploding Snap in the common room, but Laurie felt the need to practice some more. She retrieved her broom from the girls' bedroom and hurried down to the Quidditch field. Apparently, she wasn't the only person who wanted to practice before try-outs. The sky was full of people playing catch with Quaffles or trying to catch tennis balls. Laurie wasn't sure where she could find space to practice, when she spotted Corey running up to her.
"Hi, Laurie. Kinda busy out here, isn't it?" he commented, and Laurie nodded, not sure how else to respond. "Well, don't worry about it. They may have closed Dragon Tail Lake for practicing, but you can still use the grazing land over there. There are a few people over there already, but not enough to really disturb your practice."
"Oh. Okay," Laurie replied, and followed Corey's directions to the grazing land. A few odd-looking animals looked at her with annoyance, and above her were a couple people playing catch and one person swinging his bat at Bludgers. Laurie decided this was more than enough space to practice and soared skyward on her broom. She practiced diving, feinting and a few other spectacular moves before she heard Sarah and Erick calling her name.
"You know," Sarah commented as Laurie touched down, "you might want to pay a bit more attention to the time, so you don't have to bring your broom to Potions."
"It's that late already?" Laurie cried, and the three of them ran off to class. Scott was already there, saving them seats near the front and, though Professor Cornelius gave them a disapproving look, he did not take off any points. Halfway through class, a voice announced that it was time for Quidditch try-outs and that all students trying out should go to the Quidditch field immediately. Laurie got up, and noticed that Kyle Houston and two boys from Quake were also on their way out the door. Kyle was nervously holding his own Nimbus 2000 and smiled at Laurie as they walked to the Quidditch field.
"So, are you going out for Seeker, Laurie?" he asked, and she nodded, not trusting her voice. "That's cool. I'm gonna try for Chaser, but I don't know if I'll make it. I heard that Wave's got some really good people going up for that position, too."
"Well, my mom would always tell me that if something was meant to be, there was nothing that could happen to change that," Laurie told him, unaware that she'd even chosen to speak. Kyle smiled his thanks to her, and before she realized it, they'd reached the Quidditch field. The rules for try-outs were explained rather simply. The hopefuls would go by house, starting with Flame and ending with Wave. The order of player try-outs would be Beaters, Keepers, Chasers and Seekers. Laurie sighed loudly. This meant that she would be the last to try out, being the youngest person going out for Seeker for Wave House. A Fifth Year boy and Third Year girl were also hoping for that position, so she held little hope of becoming the new Seeker. The hopefuls were instructed to wait in a tent until their name was called, and all the Wave students congregated together in a nervous huddle.
"My older brother played Keeper when he was here," said a Second Year girl going out for Chaser. "He said that try-outs are really rough."
"Well, he made it, didn't he?" Kyle asked, and the girl nodded.
"He was in the hospital wing for a week afterwards, though," she added.
Meanwhile, Graciela Martini, a Sixth Year from Wind, was calling the try-outs like a real Quidditch game. Though the calls weren't loud enough to be constantly heard by those waiting in the tent, Laurie would occasionally catch her saying something like, "ooh, that had to hurt!" or "good thing the nurse is on duty today!" She began to feel very nervous.
Finally it was time for Wave House try-outs. Laurie watched with little emotion as several older students went to try out to be Chasers, and wished Kyle good luck when it was his turn. Then, it was time for the Seeker try-outs. The Fifth Year boy went out with a grim and determined look on his face, then the Third Year girl. Finally, it was Laurie's turn. She walked out onto the field, feeling very small indeed. Sitting halfway between the two sets of goals were the judges on three tall chairs. One was Professor Tournaline, the professor for Wave House. One was Corey Oxford, the captain for the Wave House Quidditch team. The last was Professor Frankincense, who was smiling politely down at Laurie.
"Name?" she called, her voice echoing through the empty stands.
"L-Laurie Lacewing," Laurie stammered.
"Year?"
"First."
"And you're trying out for Seeker?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Professor Frankincense bobbed her head, and looked at Corey. "Okay, Laurie. Here's how your try-out is going to go. Ben down there is going to throw tennis balls and Remembralls for you to catch; you will receive marks based on how many of these you catch. At some point, which will not be disclosed to you, the Snitch will be released, and you will receive marks based on how quickly you catch it. The results will be posted on Friday, between second and third periods," he explained. "Any questions?"
Laurie shook her head no, and Professor Tournaline spoke up. "When I blow the whistle, you are to push off from the ground and show us a few moves: a dive, an acceleration and a feint. You will receive points on how close you are to the ground when you pull out of the dive, how quickly you go from one set of goals to the other and how convincing your feint is. Ready?" Laurie nodded, and the whistle blew. She pushed off from the ground, blocking out everything but the task at hand. As soon as she'd reached a good height, she turned and dove, brushing the ground with her fingers as she pulled up only millimeters from a crash. She then flew to one set of goalposts and relished the feeling of speed that ended all too soon when she reached the other set. She hoped that her feint was convincing enough, considering that there were no balls on the field. Then came the hard part.
She heard someone say something about throwing the first ball, and almost immediately, a clear ball with white smoke inside was flying towards her. She caught it with ease, and the games began. Laurie put every ounce of effort she could muster into catching the balls thrown at her, and managed to catch all but two, before she heard a whirring sound near her right ear. Not thinking, she reached up and grabbed whatever was making the whirring sound, and to her surprise, realized that she'd caught the Snitch without even thinking about it. Applause was coming from the judge's chairs and Graciela Martini was saying something about how Laurie had caught the Snitch fastest. She blinked at the little winged golden ball in her hand in shock. She'd really caught the Snitch. She felt weird about it, though, like there hadn't been enough of a chase. Slowly returning to the ground, she handed the Snitch back to Ben, a tall and skinny Sixth Year. He was grinning from ear to ear.
"Great reflexes, Laurie. I released the Snitch about ten seconds before you caught it. Did you know that I'd released it?" he asked.
"No! I swear . I thought it was a bug or something," Laurie cried, and Ben laughed.
"Don't worry, no one's accusing you of anything. But you were really impressive out there. I hope you get it," he stated, walking away. Laurie stared after him, silently agreeing with his hope.
Thursday and Friday classes were unbearable for Laurie. Professor Starlite announced that Laurie had a worried aura, and, though a few people were quite impressed with this, Laurie knew it must be obvious by her fidgeting and shuffling of her feet. Friday was even worse. Laurie was so nervous that she almost slept through Defense Against the Dark Arts, and arrived just in time for Professor Tournaline to introduce the poltergeist to the class. The shimmering, glowing ghost-like creature flew around to all of the students in the class, laughing at them and making fun of whatever their worst fault was. Laurie was glad that the poltergeist was not solid, or she might have hurt herself punching him. As it was, she simply felt an extremely cold sensation as her hand went through his head. Later, in Herbology, Laurie barely noticed the plant wrapping itself around her arms, and only paid it any heed when Professor Gromoor had to whip out her wand and yell "Lumos solem!" at the plant to make it stop trying to strangle Laurie.
"Devil's Snare," she sighed, checking Laurie for any injury. "Are you alright, dear?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Laurie growled, jerking her arm away from Professor Gromoor's grasp. Sarah patted her on the shoulder reassuringly, and Kyle gave her a sympathetic smile from across the room. Finally, the class was over, and Laurie raced to the Wave Common Room to see the list of the new Wave Quidditch team. Kyle was right on her heels, but apparently, they hadn't been fast enough, for when they reached the Common Room; older students already surrounded the list. Kyle, who was a head taller than most of them anyways, pushed his way to the front and looked at the list. Moments later, he emerged from the crowd, grinning wildly at Laurie.
"We made it!" he shouted. "And not just onto the reserve team! We're both on the House Team, Laurie! That Fourth Year girl who tried out for Chaser, too."
"No way!" Laurie screeched, and pushed her way to the front of the crowd. Sure enough, there was her name in gold lettering, next to the word "Seeker." She bit back a scream of joy and ran back through the crowd. Sarah, Scott and Erick had just reached the Common Room. She jumped at them and hugged them excitedly.
"I'm Seeker!" she cried as they hugged her back, jumping up and down happily. "I made it!" They started congratulating her at the top of their lungs, when a sudden quiet voice interrupted them.
"Congratulations, Laurie," the voice said, and Laurie whirled around to see someone she'd never heard talk before. The girl was dark and beautiful with black hair and black eyes. Laurie knew from attendance in her classes that her name was Selena Raven, but she didn't know anything more about this girl. The first night there, Selena had crawled into bed before all of the other girls even reached the bedroom, and had repeated this ritual every night since. Her voice was soft and accented. Laurie looked at her, in confusion.
"Ah . thanks, Selena," she replied, but Selena had already withdrawn back into the crowd of excited people. Laurie shrugged it off and went back to celebrating with her friends. In too little time, however, it was time for Potions. Professor Cornelius was grinning when they arrived.
"Before we start with class today, I would like to congratulate Miss Lacewing, Mr. Houston, and Mr. O'Toole for their success in Quidditch try- outs. This shall be an exciting year for Quidditch! Now, on to our lesson for the day. I promise, this shall be short and sweet as I have an important announcement to make before class ends," Professor Cornelius stated, and began lecturing. True to his word, he finished half an hour before class was scheduled to end.
"Now, you're probably wondering what on earth I could want to announce that would be so important as to get in the way of a Potions lesson," he stated with a chuckle. "Well, here at Salem, we have an annual tradition. Every year on Halloween, we hold what is called the Danse Macabre. This is the equivalent to a Muggle homecoming dance. At this dance, the Quidditch teams will be officially presented to the school. I believe this gives you a good month and a half to prepare."
The room was suddenly abuzz with conversation about the dance. Scott and Erick seemed relatively unimpressed by it and began a game of Exploding Snap under their desk. Sarah, on the other hand, turned to Laurie with an excited expression on her face. "We should try to get dates, Laurie! Oh, it'll be so much fun! Alicia was talking about these balls. She said there's one for Christmas and in the spring too. But the spring one's only for upperclassmen. So do you want to try and get dates?" Sarah was almost talking too fast for Laurie to understand her.
"Dates? Whom on earth would we ask?" she asked, knowing full well that she wanted to ask a certain Erick deBaron to the dance. Sarah shrugged.
"Does it matter? As long as we have fun, that's what counts."
"I guess so," Laurie consented. She made up her mind to make Erick ask her to the dance by any means possible, and made plans to put on make up before dinner that night. Unfortunately, there was a meeting for the House Teams right after Potions that ended up lasting until dinner. Laurie and Kyle ran as fast as they could from the Common Room to the banquet hall afterwards to assure they could sit with their friends. Sure enough, Erick had saved the seat next to him for Laurie, while Kyle managed to find a seat between Brandon Lyons and Ross Logan. Laurie dug into her meal of spaghetti and meatballs, and was about to take a bite, when Mary Beth McNabb, another First Year from Quake, appeared behind her and Erick. She was giggling furiously.
"Hi, Erick! How are you?" she squealed, sounding much like a little pig. Her eyelids were fluttering like they might make her fly if she fluttered hard enough.
"I'm . ah . doing alright. How are you, Mary Beth?" Erick looked around Mary Beth to where she usually sat at the Quake table. On either side of Mary Beth's seat were two girls who looked like Erick's sisters. They waved at him, sweetly.
"Oh! I'm . great!" Mary Beth giggled again, as if she hadn't been expecting that question. "I was wondering if you'd want to go to the dance with me?"
Erick sighed and shook his head no. "Sorry, Mary Beth, but you're not my type," he told her, looking unimpressed by her on any level. Mary Beth backed away, looking very hurt, and Erick's sisters glared at him disapprovingly. He was about to start a conversation with Laurie, when she felt herself being shoved over and heard a familiar voice.
"Well, hello, Erick! I couldn't help but hear that Mary Beth isn't your type and you're not going with her to the dance. Not that I'm surprised. She is Muggle-born, after all," Julia proclaimed in a haughty voice. Jolene and Kyle, who were also Muggle-born, sent glares in Julia's direction.
"Not that that had anything to do with it," Erick answered; looking very much like he wished Julia would just go away.
"Oh! Well, in any case, I know that you come from a long line of wizards, as do I, and so I figured you would be the perfect date for me," Julia stated as if she was the most logical person in the world. Laurie managed to catch a glimpse of Julia's face at that moment, and it was caked in more makeup than Laurie had ever seen on a person at a time.
"Actually, I think you'd probably be someone else's perfect date," Erick announced. "Bye, Julia."
"But . but I ." Julia seemed at a loss for words.
"Bye, Julia," Erick repeated, and she stood up and left, stamping her feet as she went. He chuckled at her retreating figure. "I've been getting that ever since the ball was announced. They all try too hard."
Laurie forced a smile at him. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, they're not really being themselves. I mean, when she's not trying to ask someone to a dance, Mary Beth's pretty cool. Likes to talk about her family a lot. But then she decides to ask me to a dance, and boom! She's a complete and total ditz." Erick shook his head sadly. "And then there's Julia. Not that she changed much. She always acts that way, but I've never seen her with so much makeup on. Laurie, I'm so glad you're not like them. You're always real."
Laurie grinned, glad that Erick didn't know she'd been planning something very similar to Julia and Mary Beth's strategies earlier that day. They finished their meal in peace, and returned to Wave House, only to discover that Scott and Sarah had spent the entirety of dinner playing a highly competitive game of Exploding Snap in the Common Room. They laughed aloud when Erick told them about Mary Beth and Julia's attempts to get him to be their respective dates.
"Let that be a lesson to you girls," he said sternly to Sarah and Laurie. "Just be yourself when you want someone to be your date." Laurie took this advice to heart and just relaxed the rest of the evening.
The next day dawned bright and sunny, perfect for the first Quidditch practice of the year. The first thing Corey did was to introduce the other team members. He played Chaser, as did the Fourth Year girl, Ariel Jameson and Kyle. The Keeper was a Seventh Year student named Karl White and the Beaters were Jessica Leroy, a Sixth Year, and Malcolm Black, a Second Year. Next, practice started. Laurie caught the Snitch five times, her time improving with each catch. Her last catch took only twenty-five seconds and an impressive dive that solicited applause from her fellow players . and from someone in the stands. Laurie looked up to see Erick applauding from a place high in the stands, and ran up to join him.
"Erick, have you been watching this whole time?" Laurie demanded, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Yeah," he replied. "I hope you're not mad about that. I just figure that if I'm going to be on the team next year, I might start doing my homework now." Laurie grinned at that.
"Well, I know that I wouldn't mind having you on the team," she told him, watching Kyle score a goal against Karl White. "Karl's really good, but this is his last year."
"Yeah, I know. Speaking of really good, you were amazing out there! Have you ever played before?" Erick asked, dodging a stray Bludger that came dashing into the stands. Jessie apologized as she flew by to retrieve it.
"No, this is my first time playing. In fact, I've only been flying for about a month now," Laurie explained, causing Erick to laugh in surprise.
"You don't show it," he told her. "Anyone watching you would think you'd been flying since before you were walking."
Laurie blushed, feeling this sentiment meant a lot more coming from Erick than from anyone else who might tell her that same thing. An awkward silence fell between them. Laurie was about to get up and leave, when Erick grabbed her wrist to stop her.
"Laurie, do you want to go to the Danse Macabre with me? I mean, you're a good friend and it'll stop all of these other girls from asking me," Erick asked. A strange rushing noise filled Laurie's ears, and she nodded.
"Okay."
With that, she turned and walked back down to the Quidditch field, feeling like she'd just won the World Cup.