At breakfast two things spread like wildfire across the Dining Hall: Malfoy getting beat up by a girl, and the Gryffindors' new Keeper. The Slytherins laughed when they heard that the Gryffindors' new Keeper was a girl, she wouldn't last the first game of the season at the end of October.
Sian was amazed at how fast she got popular, everything in the Gryffindor House was based around Quidditch, and she was their new Keeper. George told her the story about their old Keeper, Oliver Wood. "He was a bit mad. Based his whole life around Quidditch and completely flipped when we got Harry as our Seeker. We won almost every match after that, Wood was convinced we would win. And we did. He was our captain, then two years back when he graduated, he gave Harry his Captainship. Harry doesn't really lead us and give us speeches like Wood used to," George took this moment to reminisce and laughed, "Fred and I normally do."
Sian laughed, "Can I practice more?"
"Yeah, we'll assemble the troops back at the Common Room and tell them about the tryouts."
After breakfast they headed up to the Gryffindor Common Room. They were met by the portrait of the Fat Lady and told her the password. She swung open to reveal the cozy Common Room that Sian had fallen in love with the night before.
Fred took his place on the stairs and coughed to get everyone's attention. "Excuse me!" He yelled finally. "We, the Gryffindor Quidditch team would like to announce that if you would like to try out, no first years please, then please sign up on the bulletin board by the door. Thank you."
There was a scrambling of bodies and twenty or so kids rushed to the board.
"Your attention again please!" George yelled, "The first practice is tonight at 5:00, we expect you all to be there."
"Whose the Keeper?" Someone yelled.
"You'll just have to be at the practice, won't you?" George laughed.
As the group in the Common Room thinned out Sian made her escape to the girls dorm. All five brooms in her hands she enlisted Hazel, BJ, and Alicia to join her for a game of football. They all agreed and Alicia ran to get her ball. They met on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Alicia looked at Sian oddly, "Why are you carrying all those brooms?"
"Testing," Sian replied.
"Whatever for?"
"So, if my brooms work I can send the plans to my dad and I'll be rich."
"So you made all those?"
"Well, not the Cleansweep, I need something to race them against."
"Why do you need us?" BJ asked overhearing their conversation.
"I promised you a game of football, and these girls love the sport as well, but it does seem odd if one girl leaves with five brooms," Sian pointed out.
"Okay," they all agreed.
They played rounds of two-on-two, switching around as defense and a forward. In the end the game was 2-2.
"Ah, broom-testing, a dangerous, but fun sport," Sian chuckled. "I've got two brooms to test. So give me a sec. I'll test the Corvus first, against the Cleansweep who wants to ride?"
"I've got the Cleansweep," BJ said.
"Alright," Sian mounted her broom. "We just test them for speed, go as fast as you can for as long as you can."
BJ nodded.
They raced, after two seconds the Corvus had dominated the race and maintained its speed. She tried a sharp turn and made it, she flipped dove and managed every trick in the book before she noticed the crowd that had gathered on the front lawn. Hazel then raced her on the Lupus, the fastest broom she had made so far. It outdistanced even that, and she did more tricks at that amazing speed.
She landed and was greeted by twenty or so people from assorted Houses. Sian hated to go public before the season started so she quickly headed inside. Her friends had the equipment she had neglected to pick up and ran to catch up to her. "What was that about?" BJ asked, "What am I missing?"
"Later," Hazel told him.
Safe in the Gryffindor Common Room Sian told BJ the story. "Do you want the juicy version or the edited version?" She asked.
"I want the real deal."
"Where should I start?" Hazel asked Sian.
"I'll start, first off, I'm the only daughter of the MacDonals, Donal and Sinead. Donal was just elected head CEO of the American Broom Company-you know what that is right?"
He nodded.
"We moved to America five years ago because the last CEO wanted to spend time with his family so my dad heard he'd been nominated as the next head cheese so he flew over. He's been working his butt off for the last four years and this year it finally paid off."
"What does that have to do with brooms?" BJ asked.
"I haven't been the basic give-me-dolls little girl. When I was younger I used to hang around Seamus and pick fights like they all did, and it was fun while it lasted. When I heard my dad was getting transferred I was devastated, until he convinced me it would be more fun in America. Really it wasn't, all alone in Vermont with nothing to do. So one day my dad brought me to work with him and I sat watching all the guys hand-pick the twigs for the tail and finely polish the handle and I fell in love. At first he thought it was a phase, my dad, until I got to school and got a job tuning the brooms for the players, and I was really good at it, having watched the people do it so many times.
"So for my birthday in my third year my dad gave me a broom book and some broom-making material. It was great so I made my first broom. I called it the Cygnus 2000, because it was graceful and agile, like the bird I named it after."
"The swan," sighed Alicia.
"What about that fast one Hazel rode?" He asked.
"The Lupus Racer?" Sian asked smiling, "Got that for Christmas two years ago. My dad gave me more of a variety of materials to use and I built a fast, swift-moving, gliding, sharp-turning broom."
"Very cunning," Alicia commented.
"The Wolf Racer," BJ laughed aloud. "What about those other two? That one you tested today?"
"Ah, the Corvus Speed Demon, that is one of my personal favorites. I hadn't used it before today. Using the broom book I specially ordered the products I wanted and got them for my birthday. I built it and admired it, it is beautiful. I had no idea it went that fast, I wanted to try it against a Firebolt, do you know any one who owns one?"
"Uh-Harry does, you can ask him at practice today," Alicia told her.
"What about that other one?" BJ pestered.
"The Columba Angel, I love that one too, built it for Christmas. My dad told me if I thought they were good enough I could sell the plans to him and they could build the brooms, I love them, I just don't want to go commercial, I told him I'd decide when I was sixteen at the soonest. I've still got a month and I've brought too much attention to myself already."
"I like their names," Hazel grinned, "The Swan 2000, the Wolf Racer, the Crow Speed Demon, and the Dove Angel. They're cute."
"I'll test them against Harry tonight, d'you want to use one and see how you match up to him Hazel?" Sian asked her eyes flickering an amused midnight blue.
"Sure," she replied and they headed down to lunch.
Five o' clock sharp there were about thirty members of the Gryffindor House ready to play Quidditch. George sorted them out. Sian had given Hazel the Corvus and took the Lupus for herself. BJ was in the stands watching them with her Columba.
There were five wannabe Keepers that she had to deal with. First she got their names and their broom models. Three of them were sporting Nimbus's, one had a Firebolt, and the last one had a Cleansweep. Sian had them practice defensive blocks and played as a Chaser. She also tested them on their throwing abilities. The kid on the Cleansweep could throw it past half-field, money wasn't everything, she surmised and continued on. It was in fact the kid on the Cleansweep that reminded Sian greatly of herself. The girl's name was Ryan O'Connell and she had stolen her heart away. Ryan was the best, the kid, Drew, who owned the Firebolt also had some real talent, the other kids on the Nimbus's were okay.
After practice while the little kids were showering Sian heard the news, Hazel had caught the Snitch, she had out done Harry and stolen the Snitch. "So is my broom better?" Sian asked her madly cheering friend.
"Hell yes," came the reply.
"Is it faster?" "I beat him in a nose dive and so many fake-outs you would not believe, I no longer have to tail him like Cho does."
"Cho?"
"The Ravenclaw's Seeker."
"A girl?"
"Yep."
"Uh-Harry-"
"Yeah?" Harry whipped around.
"Um-if you don't mind I've got a broom here that I'd like to try out, could I possibly race you?"
"Uh, sure."
"You won't get mad if I win, will you?"
"Not with Hazel's magic broom already beating me, I'll be good, I promise."
They mounted their brooms and took off in an upward spiral. Sian's broom dominated the course through twists, turn, weaves, and an outright stretch.
"That broom's amazing," Harry commented when they were back on the ground.
Sian looked at her Columba and beamed.
"Don't know real talent when you see it Potter?" Came a sneering voice.
"Actually, I was commenting on the satisfaction of the broom Malfoy," Harry replied.
"It's a great broom, what's it called?"
"The Columba Angel," Sian told him.
"Look at that, some no name brand is better than your Firebolt, doesn't life suck Potter?"
"Only because you're in it," Harry grinned pleased with the effect of his comeback. He had finally said the last word. Malfoy opened his mouth to speak.
"Now children," Sian reprimanded.
Malfoy shut his mouth and the Gryffindors walked off the field. The next morning Sian got on her normal clothes and exited the dorm.
"We do have a dress code," Hermione told her snootily.
"Is that what you call it?" Sian replied.
"Yes."
"Oh," Sian threw on a robe and placed her CD player in her pocket and hit the play button. She ignored all Hermione's snooty comments for the rest of the walk and was pleased when both Harry and Ron told her to hush up.
"What is with you guys?" Hermione asked. "I've never seen you two act like this over a girl."
"Act like what?" George asked. "They're falling head-over-heels for that miscreant, Sian."
"They look to be standing right-side-up," George commented.
"Him too!" She cried in bewilderment, "She's not part Veela is she?"
"Nope," said Hazel passing by them.
"Then what is it with her?" Hermione asked finally.
"She's the opposite of you," Ron told her, "you know how hard it is to find someone like that?"
"Someone like what?"
"Someone who doesn't care what you think about them, someone who likes sports, someone who knows what you are talking about when it comes to brooms or Quidditch, and she hardly ever talks about homework and getting it done."
"She probably doesn't do it, which wouldn't surprise me, that's probably why she's here got kicked out of her old school...You should of seen her this morning, didn't even attempt to wear her robe..."
