Disclaimer: I do not own anything that has to do with Harry Potter. The
characters are mine, however some of the character's names I found in the
fourth book of Harry Potter. I own their personalities but not their names.
A/N: I really must thank everyone again for waiting a week for me to post my next chapter! You guys are great! Keep reading and reviewing please!
Chapter eight: Bravery
Lena's week was full of more homework and her classes were getting harder. She still enjoyed this school much better than regular school though. Owen and Lena were walking back to their common room at the end of classes on Friday. They were walking around a corner when Owen suddenly fell over. All of his things went flying down the hallway and Lena put her things down on the floor and helped him get up and try to collect his things. Some Slytherins were laughing and some Ravenclaws too. Lena looked to the Ravenclaw kids and saw Orla. She was laughing harder than anybody else was. She swished her wand quickly and made the random stone in the hallway that Owen tripped over disappear. Then she walked over to the two first years sitting on the floor.
"You are a disgrace to the Quirkes," She whispered to Owen, "Why couldn't you just be normal and be a Ravenclaw like the rest of the family?" Owen looked on the verge of tears. His blazing blue eyes glimmered even more brightly now than Lena had ever seen them. Owen got to his feet and looked up at Orla. Then he grabbed his things and walked quickly down the hallway towards the large portrait that led to the Gryffindor common room.
Lena also stood up and looked into the laughing eyes of Orla. "How could you be so mean? He's your brother! You are related to him, you know!" Lena shouted. Even if her voice was trembling out of control, she had to stand up for her friend. Orla stopped laughing and looked into Lena's eyes, a grin spreading across her face.
"Wha-What's that you say, Miss Stars and Stripes?" Orla laughed and quickly stopped, glaring at Lena, "You should not even be talking. You're a disgrace to the wizarding world, mudblood!" Orla laughed harder than she had before and walked away with her other Ravenclaws and a couple of Slytherins.
Lena was not used to the wizard words and did not understand this insult. Many people stared at her as she walked by holding her things. They whispered to each other while staring at her. Lena walked quicker and walked directly into Trevor dropping a few books.
"Oh! Err.Hi there, Miss Rose." Trevor looked a bit worried as he knelt down to help her get her books, "That Ravenclaw girl is nothing but trouble. She had no right to be calling you a-a well you know." Trevor stood up at the same time Lena did and handed her the books he grabbed from the floor. "Well, I can take you back to the common room, if you like." Lena nodded and the two walked back to the portrait. "You really ought to get a satchel for all those books, Miss Rose." Trevor smiled a small grin and Lena felt happier about the whole situation.
Owen was nowhere to be seen in the common room full of working students. Lena was a bit worried about how he was handling his sister's cruel behavior. Trevor was kind enough to go find him in the dorms for Lena. Lena sat on the large red couch facing the fire and tried hard to do her homework but could not concentrate. Everyone in the room was whispering and some looked at her from time to time. Lena couldn't take it anymore so she slammed her book shut very loudly. The whispers stopped but the other Gryffindors still looked at her.
"What? Why are you all looking at me?" Lena stood up and turned around to look back into every eye that was looking at her. April walked forward and stood on the other side of the couch.
"Well, Lena. Not too many first years are willing to stand up to fourth year bullies. Not to mention, she called you a m-m well you know." April looked down at her shoes. Lena tried to calm herself down. She didn't understand and nobody was making sense.
"I'm sorry, April but I don't know."
"A mudblood," April whispered and then covered her mouth. She ran up the girl's dormitory stairway. Lena was still so confused. Why won't anybody tell me what that means?
"What's a-a mudblood?" Lena asked the crowd of gasping students. A few ran up to their dorms as well. One boy stepped forward.
"It's a real nasty name for someone who has non-magical parents. It's like a cuss word." The boy stood there in the silence of the room. Lena said: "Oh." and grabbed her things and walked to her dorm room. Before she opened the door, she could hear people back in the common room talking once again. She didn't want to have to hear her name in any of the conversations. She opened the door and shut it behind her. She ran to her bed and threw her books down. She laid her head into her pillow and cried. She was so stressed that crying was the only thing left for her to do.
The next morning was much better than the day before. Lena remembered that she had her Keeper tryouts this afternoon and became very excited. She leaped out of her bed with her clothes still on from crying herself to sleep. She quickly grabbed another clean outfit and threw it on. The other three girls in her dorm were still asleep. Lena quietly opened the door and walked out to the common room. Owen was there on the couch waiting for her. They smiled at each other.
"Are you all right?" Lena asked him as they walked out of the common room towards the Great Hall for breakfast. Owen couldn't speak. He was afraid he would start crying in front of his best friend. He just nodded and looked down. Lena was glad to see he was OK but she knew they couldn't talk about this subject.
"How are you always up so early?" Lena asked him. He was always waiting for her every morning, "What do you do? Sleep out there or something?" Lena laughed and so did Owen. They smiled at each other and Owen stopped walking at the top of the last staircase. Lena looked at him and stopped as well.
"Thank you for all of your help yesterday. You didn't have to-" Lena cut him off.
"I'm your friend, Owen. I wasn't about to stand and watch you get yelled at without doing something about it." They both smiled and continued down the stairs. They reached the Great Hall and walked to the Gryffindor table. Orla glared at them and whispered to her boyfriend. The Slytherins were also glaring. This was not unusual because they glared at everybody who walked in.
The two sat down across from each other and ate their eggs and ham. Lena was hit multiple times by charmed food from behind her at the Ravenclaw table. Owen saw a piece of food coming and whipped out his wand and made the food spin around back at his sister. He stuck out his tongue at her.
"She does it all the time at home. Too bad for her that she taught me, eh?" Owen and Lena laughed.
The two walked out to the large Quidditch pitch after stopping by Professor McGonagal's office for a permission slip. Lena's jaw dropped at the sight of the very high up stands with the different house colors strewn all over them. She saw three hoops on either side of the large field. It was much larger than a football field or perhaps it just looked that way because it went far up in the air.
A tall thin girl with long black hair marched over to them.
"Just what do you think you are doing here, first years?" She was obviously the captain of the Gryffindor team. Lena handed the girl her note from Professor McGonagal. "Oh! Well then, go to the locker room and find yourself an outfit, Miss Rose. Lena had to leave Owen and go to where many other Gryffindors were going. She entered and found many people that she had seen in the common room the night before. Lena also saw April and Trevor. They were very surprised to see her there.
"What? How did you get in here without ol' Lydia seeing you?" Trevor asked as he pulled on a red shirt and began to strap on arm pads as Lena told her story. April was very happy and grabbed a suit for Lena and told her what goes where in terms of padding. Trevor was a beater and April was trying out to be the other beater in the game. Lena was glad that she was not the only one trying out for something today.
The large group of Gryffindors came outside to the Quidditch pitch and walked toward Lydia. Everyone there looked nervous except for some that were already on the team but had to come to help. Lydia explained the rules of the game to everyone and split the group up. They were going to switch players and see who was the best in each one at each position they needed. Lena became a bit nervous before it was her turn.
"Rose, Lena! Keeper position!" Lydia shouted. Lena switched places with the person who tried out for Keeper before her. Lena hopped on the broom and waited. For the signal to start the game.
"Johnson, April! Beater position!" Lydia shouted once more. April smiled at Lena. They were both glad to be playing together. And Trevor was also there to help both of them. When all of the players were sitting on a broom, as well as Lydia. They zoomed off into the sky. Lena knew where to go from watching the Keeper in the game before her. She was guarding the three hoops on long poles. The red ball (called the Quaffle) was what she was to look out for. Lydia blew the whistle and the game began.
The Chasers were flying around frantically for the Quaffle. When one of them caught it, they flew with it towards the hoops and hit it to try and score. Many times, they went to the other Keeper on the other side who was not doing a very good job. He was trying but only managed to block one of three.
The Chaser who was assigned to be on the "other team" finally grabbed the Quaffle and was zooming towards Lena. Lena got nervous and watched as the ball came flying at her from the strong throw of the Chaser. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as Lena flew to the far-left hoop to stop the ball from getting in. She wasn't going to make it! She spun her broom around and was able to just reach it with the bristles of her broomstick and knock it diagonally away from the hoop.
Lena smiled wider than she had ever smiled before. A small golden ball whizzed in front of her face. Two girls came plunging through the sky towards Lena's face. Lena had no time to move and slipped off her broom and was hanging upside down by her feet that were still gripping to her broom. The Quaffle was coming towards her as well and she reached her arms up and grab the broom in her hands. The Quaffle was heading for the middle hoop. She swung her legs forward like she was on a swing and the broom moved enough so that she was able to kick the ball out of the hoop.
A whistle blew once more and Lydia called out that the game was over. There were still some more kids who needed to try out but it was close to lunchtime and the students were told to come after dinner if they still wanted to try out.
Everyone headed back to the locker room and Trevor and April caught up to Lena.
"That was bloody brilliant, Lena!" Trevor exclaimed. He was very excited. He turned to April, "You were also excellent, Miss Johnson! You just have to get in there and whack that nasty Bludger!"
At lunch, Lena met up with Owen who told her there was no way she was not going to get on the team. Lena was very excited about the idea of actually playing a sport. Her parents wanted her to get active. Thinking of her parents made her realize that she had been away for almost three weeks and had not written them one letter.
"Owen, could you help me with something later?" Lena asked.
"Of course! What is it?" They sat down at the Gryffindor table, Slytherins and Ravenclaws glaring.
"I just-I'm not sure how to write letters or send them from Hogwarts, that's all."
"Not a problem!" Lena smiled and thanked him. She could not wait to tell her parents everything that had happened to her.
Lena and Owen went to the Owelry where all of the school owls were kept. This was also the place where pet owls were kept. Lena found Opal and she flew down onto Lena's arm. Lena had written the letter before they got there. It was already after suppertime and it was dark and cold outside. Lena was worried for her owl being out in the cold, but realized that she was an owl and didn't mind the cold or the dark at all. Lena still decided not to send the letter until she found out if she made the Quidditch team or not. Owen also agreed that this was a good idea and they went back to the common room to finish their homework.
The next morning was to be the announcement of the new players for the Quidditch team. They were going to be posted on the Gryffindor bulletin board in the common room. Lena was actually up before Owen and rushed down the stairs in her pajamas. She dashed over to the board and looked everywhere for the notice. It was not up yet. Lena sat in the chair nearest to the board and waited for Lydia to get up and post those names.
When Lydia finally did come, all of the other kids who went to practice were up. Trevor, April, Lindsay, Owen and BLAH were all waiting. Lydia came down the stairs last holding a rolled piece of parchment in her hand. She marched her way through the parting crowd to the board where April and Lena were standing. They were the two closest people to the board.
"Nice to know that you are all this dedicated to the team." Lydia said facing the students. "I think that since you are all here, I might as well just read the names to you. I'll start with the Beater position." The room was completely silent as Lydia slowly opened the parchment. "Miss April Johnson!" Lena screamed louder than April did as they hugged each other. April went to join the others who were not so close to the board. Owen was standing right next to Lena.
"Now the Chaser position.Henry Appleby!" More cheers came from further back in the room.
"The new Keeper is.Miss Lena Rose!" Owen and Lena hugged each other then quickly realized what they were doing and stopped.
"Good job Lena!" Trevor and the rest of the gang called. She was the last person submitted to the team. Lena went back to her dorm to get changed and grabbed her letter. She opened it and wrote:
P.S. I made the Quidditch Team! You can come see me play some time! I'll write to you when there is a match!
A/N: I really must thank everyone again for waiting a week for me to post my next chapter! You guys are great! Keep reading and reviewing please!
Chapter eight: Bravery
Lena's week was full of more homework and her classes were getting harder. She still enjoyed this school much better than regular school though. Owen and Lena were walking back to their common room at the end of classes on Friday. They were walking around a corner when Owen suddenly fell over. All of his things went flying down the hallway and Lena put her things down on the floor and helped him get up and try to collect his things. Some Slytherins were laughing and some Ravenclaws too. Lena looked to the Ravenclaw kids and saw Orla. She was laughing harder than anybody else was. She swished her wand quickly and made the random stone in the hallway that Owen tripped over disappear. Then she walked over to the two first years sitting on the floor.
"You are a disgrace to the Quirkes," She whispered to Owen, "Why couldn't you just be normal and be a Ravenclaw like the rest of the family?" Owen looked on the verge of tears. His blazing blue eyes glimmered even more brightly now than Lena had ever seen them. Owen got to his feet and looked up at Orla. Then he grabbed his things and walked quickly down the hallway towards the large portrait that led to the Gryffindor common room.
Lena also stood up and looked into the laughing eyes of Orla. "How could you be so mean? He's your brother! You are related to him, you know!" Lena shouted. Even if her voice was trembling out of control, she had to stand up for her friend. Orla stopped laughing and looked into Lena's eyes, a grin spreading across her face.
"Wha-What's that you say, Miss Stars and Stripes?" Orla laughed and quickly stopped, glaring at Lena, "You should not even be talking. You're a disgrace to the wizarding world, mudblood!" Orla laughed harder than she had before and walked away with her other Ravenclaws and a couple of Slytherins.
Lena was not used to the wizard words and did not understand this insult. Many people stared at her as she walked by holding her things. They whispered to each other while staring at her. Lena walked quicker and walked directly into Trevor dropping a few books.
"Oh! Err.Hi there, Miss Rose." Trevor looked a bit worried as he knelt down to help her get her books, "That Ravenclaw girl is nothing but trouble. She had no right to be calling you a-a well you know." Trevor stood up at the same time Lena did and handed her the books he grabbed from the floor. "Well, I can take you back to the common room, if you like." Lena nodded and the two walked back to the portrait. "You really ought to get a satchel for all those books, Miss Rose." Trevor smiled a small grin and Lena felt happier about the whole situation.
Owen was nowhere to be seen in the common room full of working students. Lena was a bit worried about how he was handling his sister's cruel behavior. Trevor was kind enough to go find him in the dorms for Lena. Lena sat on the large red couch facing the fire and tried hard to do her homework but could not concentrate. Everyone in the room was whispering and some looked at her from time to time. Lena couldn't take it anymore so she slammed her book shut very loudly. The whispers stopped but the other Gryffindors still looked at her.
"What? Why are you all looking at me?" Lena stood up and turned around to look back into every eye that was looking at her. April walked forward and stood on the other side of the couch.
"Well, Lena. Not too many first years are willing to stand up to fourth year bullies. Not to mention, she called you a m-m well you know." April looked down at her shoes. Lena tried to calm herself down. She didn't understand and nobody was making sense.
"I'm sorry, April but I don't know."
"A mudblood," April whispered and then covered her mouth. She ran up the girl's dormitory stairway. Lena was still so confused. Why won't anybody tell me what that means?
"What's a-a mudblood?" Lena asked the crowd of gasping students. A few ran up to their dorms as well. One boy stepped forward.
"It's a real nasty name for someone who has non-magical parents. It's like a cuss word." The boy stood there in the silence of the room. Lena said: "Oh." and grabbed her things and walked to her dorm room. Before she opened the door, she could hear people back in the common room talking once again. She didn't want to have to hear her name in any of the conversations. She opened the door and shut it behind her. She ran to her bed and threw her books down. She laid her head into her pillow and cried. She was so stressed that crying was the only thing left for her to do.
The next morning was much better than the day before. Lena remembered that she had her Keeper tryouts this afternoon and became very excited. She leaped out of her bed with her clothes still on from crying herself to sleep. She quickly grabbed another clean outfit and threw it on. The other three girls in her dorm were still asleep. Lena quietly opened the door and walked out to the common room. Owen was there on the couch waiting for her. They smiled at each other.
"Are you all right?" Lena asked him as they walked out of the common room towards the Great Hall for breakfast. Owen couldn't speak. He was afraid he would start crying in front of his best friend. He just nodded and looked down. Lena was glad to see he was OK but she knew they couldn't talk about this subject.
"How are you always up so early?" Lena asked him. He was always waiting for her every morning, "What do you do? Sleep out there or something?" Lena laughed and so did Owen. They smiled at each other and Owen stopped walking at the top of the last staircase. Lena looked at him and stopped as well.
"Thank you for all of your help yesterday. You didn't have to-" Lena cut him off.
"I'm your friend, Owen. I wasn't about to stand and watch you get yelled at without doing something about it." They both smiled and continued down the stairs. They reached the Great Hall and walked to the Gryffindor table. Orla glared at them and whispered to her boyfriend. The Slytherins were also glaring. This was not unusual because they glared at everybody who walked in.
The two sat down across from each other and ate their eggs and ham. Lena was hit multiple times by charmed food from behind her at the Ravenclaw table. Owen saw a piece of food coming and whipped out his wand and made the food spin around back at his sister. He stuck out his tongue at her.
"She does it all the time at home. Too bad for her that she taught me, eh?" Owen and Lena laughed.
The two walked out to the large Quidditch pitch after stopping by Professor McGonagal's office for a permission slip. Lena's jaw dropped at the sight of the very high up stands with the different house colors strewn all over them. She saw three hoops on either side of the large field. It was much larger than a football field or perhaps it just looked that way because it went far up in the air.
A tall thin girl with long black hair marched over to them.
"Just what do you think you are doing here, first years?" She was obviously the captain of the Gryffindor team. Lena handed the girl her note from Professor McGonagal. "Oh! Well then, go to the locker room and find yourself an outfit, Miss Rose. Lena had to leave Owen and go to where many other Gryffindors were going. She entered and found many people that she had seen in the common room the night before. Lena also saw April and Trevor. They were very surprised to see her there.
"What? How did you get in here without ol' Lydia seeing you?" Trevor asked as he pulled on a red shirt and began to strap on arm pads as Lena told her story. April was very happy and grabbed a suit for Lena and told her what goes where in terms of padding. Trevor was a beater and April was trying out to be the other beater in the game. Lena was glad that she was not the only one trying out for something today.
The large group of Gryffindors came outside to the Quidditch pitch and walked toward Lydia. Everyone there looked nervous except for some that were already on the team but had to come to help. Lydia explained the rules of the game to everyone and split the group up. They were going to switch players and see who was the best in each one at each position they needed. Lena became a bit nervous before it was her turn.
"Rose, Lena! Keeper position!" Lydia shouted. Lena switched places with the person who tried out for Keeper before her. Lena hopped on the broom and waited. For the signal to start the game.
"Johnson, April! Beater position!" Lydia shouted once more. April smiled at Lena. They were both glad to be playing together. And Trevor was also there to help both of them. When all of the players were sitting on a broom, as well as Lydia. They zoomed off into the sky. Lena knew where to go from watching the Keeper in the game before her. She was guarding the three hoops on long poles. The red ball (called the Quaffle) was what she was to look out for. Lydia blew the whistle and the game began.
The Chasers were flying around frantically for the Quaffle. When one of them caught it, they flew with it towards the hoops and hit it to try and score. Many times, they went to the other Keeper on the other side who was not doing a very good job. He was trying but only managed to block one of three.
The Chaser who was assigned to be on the "other team" finally grabbed the Quaffle and was zooming towards Lena. Lena got nervous and watched as the ball came flying at her from the strong throw of the Chaser. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as Lena flew to the far-left hoop to stop the ball from getting in. She wasn't going to make it! She spun her broom around and was able to just reach it with the bristles of her broomstick and knock it diagonally away from the hoop.
Lena smiled wider than she had ever smiled before. A small golden ball whizzed in front of her face. Two girls came plunging through the sky towards Lena's face. Lena had no time to move and slipped off her broom and was hanging upside down by her feet that were still gripping to her broom. The Quaffle was coming towards her as well and she reached her arms up and grab the broom in her hands. The Quaffle was heading for the middle hoop. She swung her legs forward like she was on a swing and the broom moved enough so that she was able to kick the ball out of the hoop.
A whistle blew once more and Lydia called out that the game was over. There were still some more kids who needed to try out but it was close to lunchtime and the students were told to come after dinner if they still wanted to try out.
Everyone headed back to the locker room and Trevor and April caught up to Lena.
"That was bloody brilliant, Lena!" Trevor exclaimed. He was very excited. He turned to April, "You were also excellent, Miss Johnson! You just have to get in there and whack that nasty Bludger!"
At lunch, Lena met up with Owen who told her there was no way she was not going to get on the team. Lena was very excited about the idea of actually playing a sport. Her parents wanted her to get active. Thinking of her parents made her realize that she had been away for almost three weeks and had not written them one letter.
"Owen, could you help me with something later?" Lena asked.
"Of course! What is it?" They sat down at the Gryffindor table, Slytherins and Ravenclaws glaring.
"I just-I'm not sure how to write letters or send them from Hogwarts, that's all."
"Not a problem!" Lena smiled and thanked him. She could not wait to tell her parents everything that had happened to her.
Lena and Owen went to the Owelry where all of the school owls were kept. This was also the place where pet owls were kept. Lena found Opal and she flew down onto Lena's arm. Lena had written the letter before they got there. It was already after suppertime and it was dark and cold outside. Lena was worried for her owl being out in the cold, but realized that she was an owl and didn't mind the cold or the dark at all. Lena still decided not to send the letter until she found out if she made the Quidditch team or not. Owen also agreed that this was a good idea and they went back to the common room to finish their homework.
The next morning was to be the announcement of the new players for the Quidditch team. They were going to be posted on the Gryffindor bulletin board in the common room. Lena was actually up before Owen and rushed down the stairs in her pajamas. She dashed over to the board and looked everywhere for the notice. It was not up yet. Lena sat in the chair nearest to the board and waited for Lydia to get up and post those names.
When Lydia finally did come, all of the other kids who went to practice were up. Trevor, April, Lindsay, Owen and BLAH were all waiting. Lydia came down the stairs last holding a rolled piece of parchment in her hand. She marched her way through the parting crowd to the board where April and Lena were standing. They were the two closest people to the board.
"Nice to know that you are all this dedicated to the team." Lydia said facing the students. "I think that since you are all here, I might as well just read the names to you. I'll start with the Beater position." The room was completely silent as Lydia slowly opened the parchment. "Miss April Johnson!" Lena screamed louder than April did as they hugged each other. April went to join the others who were not so close to the board. Owen was standing right next to Lena.
"Now the Chaser position.Henry Appleby!" More cheers came from further back in the room.
"The new Keeper is.Miss Lena Rose!" Owen and Lena hugged each other then quickly realized what they were doing and stopped.
"Good job Lena!" Trevor and the rest of the gang called. She was the last person submitted to the team. Lena went back to her dorm to get changed and grabbed her letter. She opened it and wrote:
P.S. I made the Quidditch Team! You can come see me play some time! I'll write to you when there is a match!
