Chapter 3: Who's it going to be?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters you recognize unfortunately, due to the genius of JK Rowling, but Parker and Druella, their all mine!!
A/N: There has been a little bit of editing, primarily in chapter 2. I added the actual guidelines that were handed to the students. Ok, I hope that everyone is enjoying so far. Thanks to those who put me on their author alert. I'm trying to update as quickly as possible. Thankfully I haven't had any mental blocks yet, just a pesky old job getting in my way!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ginny and Dru made their way down to the Quidditch stadium along with about ninety-five percent of the school. Huddles of first years wandered around together looking nervous and following the older students at a safe distance, while the second years snickered behind their hands at how nervous the first years were. Being at Hogwarts for a year gave you a confidence you didn't necessarily deserve, but nonetheless they thought they did. Ginny glanced around taking in the surroundings and all of the people and noticed how frenzied everyone seemed. She had no idea that this many people were going to be trying out. This didn't bother her at all because she was very confident in her ability as seeker, but she did wonder how she was going to convince Malfoy to be a part of her team.
The Slytherin common room was slowly emptying now that the crowd of other students had made its way down to the stadium. As a Slytherin you had to make a memorable entrance, not necessarily fashionably late, but at least not in the middle of the crowd, you needed to stand out, everyone needed to know that you had arrived. This time was no exception. Draco and Parker sauntered out the hidden room and headed towards the hallway. As soon as the stepped through the door, every student left in the common room rushed to follow behind them knowing that if they showed up with Draco and Parker no one would mess with them.
As the last of the Slytherin students meandered to their seats, Dumbledore rose from a sitting position in the teachers box. Holding his wand up to his throat and casting a spell to magnify his voice he looked around patiently making sure that everyone was seated.
"Students we will start with the youngest age groups, seeing as so many people have come to try out, this might take a while." He paused as a loud groan circled the stadium, he knew the older students would not be pleased, but he thought it better this way. There were so many talented older students that he felt it would take quite a bit longer to sort them into leagues.
"After all of the first and second year students aged ten and eleven have finished with their try-outs, you will assemble on the lawn outside the stadium where you will meet with Madam Hooch," Dumbledore gave a gracious wave in her direction, "Who will be informing you of the schedule we have set forth, dividing you into X, D, and W leagues, and helping you to form teams. Also, any of our sixth and seventh year students that would be willing to help coach the W League, please see Madam Hooch immediately." Dumbledore nodded to Madam Hooch, who stood and made her way towards the field.
Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly as the students started chattering, and began speaking in a firm "Students, I will now introduce our guest of honor. It is none other then Aidan Talley, hall of fame Captain for the European Olympic Team." Dumbledore grinned as the students burst into deafening applause. Aidan came zooming out of the locker area, circled the stadium twice waving to all the students, and finally came to rest down on the field beside Madam Hooch.
"Aidan will be here for the next two days assisting Madam Hooch in determining which league each student should be assigned to. He will also help you with forming the best possible teams so that there is not one- sided competition within a league." Dumbledore took a breath and looked around, "And now, first and second years, make your way to the field!"
As the younger students hurried down to the field, the older students filled in the gaps in the stadium and moved towards the front to watch and cheer on their fellow housemates. Most of the girls sat in large groups giggling about Aidan Talley and how hot he was. The guys tried to look unconcerned about the fact that a famous Quidditch player was getting all of the attention from their girls, but it was noticeable that they were impressed that Dumbledore had brought in such a talented player to help them out. People began to wonder why Aidan agreed to come to Hogwarts to help with a student intramural league when he was famous worldwide and probably had much better things to occupy his time.
Time went by fairly slow as the younger students tried out. The majority of them didn't seem to even know how to use a broom, much less do something else other then grip the handle like it was a matter of life or death. With only about fifteen students left, it started to get a little interesting. It was becoming obvious which students would be placed in the XC League as natural talent was showing through. As the last student touched down, Dumbledore started to clap waiting for the rest of the school to follow. There was a polite round of applause as the first and second years followed Madam Hooch out of the stadium.
Dumbledore rose again, touched his wand to his throat and began to speak, "Now that we have finished with the younger students, we are going to take a break and assemble in the Great Hall for a quick lunch before moving onto the third and fourth year students." As he finished he waved his hand toward the castle as if pushing the students in that direction.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
After lunch all the students headed back towards the stadium, the older students feeling glad that they had a bit of time to digest their filling lunch. The first and second years had assembled back at the stadium to watch the older students try-out. Since the third and fourth year students had been taught the basics of flying during their first year it didn't take nearly as long to get through their try-outs. There were quite a few girls that most would never have assumed to be able to fly a broom straight, much less out fly some of the boys without breaking a nail. Some of prissier girls on the pitch were putting on quite a show and embarrassing a few of the male gender who fancied themselves reasonably talented when it came to the game.
The older students still waiting to try out found it immensely entertaining to see the boys with their eyes bugging out of their heads while a pretty blonde haired fourth year rocketed around the pitch putting to shame the other boys trying out for Seeker. She looked as if she had been born on a broom and had been trained by Aidan Talley himself. There was a barely audible mumble coming from quite a few males in the stadium, most making a mental note to get to know that foxy little blonde a little better, well as long as she didn't make them look bad. The third and fourth year try-outs wound down and the students followed Madam Hooch out of the stadium. There was a restless shudder throughout the crowd as the older students moved toward the field.
Ginny was felt as if she had fairies flying around in her stomach but didn't really understand why she was so nervous. She had been playing Quidditch all of her life. There was no way to avoid it being brought up with six older brothers, all but one of which played Quidditch for the Gryffindor team in their time at school. She had spent every summer doing odd jobs for friends and family to save up money to add to her birthday money so that she could buy a decent broom. She had been able to get the Firebolt model from the year before, which was still a decent broom, even though not the newest. Ginny had come up with some of her own maneuvers, not exactly the type you would use on the Quidditch pitch but were still quite impressive. She had learned to handle a broom better then any of her brothers and had learned a lot by watching intently at all the house games.
"Students, please gather into groups depending on the position you think you would be best suited for," Madam Hooch said gruffly while pointing to separate sections of the field. "Seekers, please go to the far end near the goals, chasers please make your way to the middle of the field, keepers to the other set of goals, and beaters please gather at the sidelines for now."
Ginny glanced at the other people as she made her way towards the far end of the stadium. There were about eleven other people heading in the same direction, one of which being Harry. There were three other girls, a petite dark-haired Slytherin girl with a smug look on her face, a fairly ugly girl from Ravenclaw that went by CJ, and seventh year Gryffindor, Sela Brinker. There was also a tall blonde boy that she thought was a fifth year in Slytherin, the Slytherin seeker, Jacob Rutledge, the Gryffindor reserve seeker, Beau Thomason, two boys from Ravenclaw, probably fifth years, that she didn't know, and two boys from Hufflepuff that looked like they would be blown off of their brooms if someone sneezed too close.
Madam Hooch walked over to them and let them know that they would be going first. The rest of the students would be waiting to start until the Seekers had finished due to the whole field needing to be utilized during their try-outs.
"Okay, what I would like for you to do is to pair off. The snitch will be released and each pair will take their turn in vying to retrieve the snitch. Just because you are the first to get the snitch does not imply anything, this is just a chance for each person to demonstrate their ability to fly as well as any specialized maneuvers they may be hiding up their sleeves." With that she began to pair them all up. Ginny was paired against the smug looking Slytherin girl, and seeing the look on her face, the fairies in her stomach started doing back flips again.
Harry and the blonde boy from Slytherin were first up. Madam Hooch directed them to opposite ends of the field, took to the air, and released the snitch from the center of the field. Both boys watched the sky as the small gold orb disappeared. The day was perfect for playing Quidditch; there was a slight breeze that whipped the boys' robes around their ankles as they circled the pitch and enough clouds in the sky to keep it cool. Ginny was watching the sky intently, holding her breath and waiting to see who would glimpse the snitch first. As she scanned the outer edges of the field she saw a gold twinkle along the edge of the Hufflepuff seats, as she turned her glance toward the boys in the sky she noticed that both boys were still searching the sky frantically. With this one little thing, the fairies in her stomach decided to take a break. Finally she saw Harry dive towards the ground and just as the Slytherin boy gained on his tail he pulled up sharply, banked to the left and did a barrel roll. Once he righted himself he came to a smooth landing right in front of Ginny and held out his hand for Madam Hooch to see. Madam Hooch made her way down to were they stood, gave both of the boys a pat on the back and told them to take a seat on the outside of the field. Madam Hooch motioned for the next pair to take to the sky as Ginny stood patiently waiting her turn. After three more pairs had gone, it was finally her turn. Once Madam Hooch motioned for them to take the sky, Ginny speed upwards leaving all worry on the ground.
Ginny circled her end of the pitch, watching the Slytherin girl and keeping a sharp eye on the outer edges of the stadium. As they began to circle the pitch she decided that she should show off a little to make her performance stand out to anyone who might be watching. She had a nagging feeling that if she didn't do something spectacular Draco wouldn't even know she had been there to try-out. She scanned the edge of the stadium again and checked where smug girl was before taking a steep dive towards the field. She heard a few gasps as she came within just a few feet of the ground, pulled up and flew parallel with the ground. Smuggy, as she had started referring to the Slytherin girl in her head, had taken a dive as soon as she saw Ginny head toward the ground, but she unfortunately was not able to pull out of her dive in time to keep from plowing handle first into the dirt. Ginny snickered to herself, threw a smirk over her shoulder at the girl, and pulled sharply upwards into the sky. She circled around the pitch once more, waiting to see if Smuggy would be getting back onto her broom. It seemed like she was going to stay grounded for the rest of the day, she was cradling her left arm and being lead of the field by Madam Pomfrey. Ginny knew that this was her chance to really shine. She did a few lazy loops in the sky before leveling out, getting slowly to her feet. Once she was standing, she pulled one leg up slowly until her toes were almost touching the back of her head, her hair thrashing through the air like golden flames. She gently let her foot back down onto the broom and immediately placed both hands in the center of the broom, brought her legs into a split above her head. After holding this for a short time she let herself pitch forward as gymnast on the high bars would, as she came back on the upswing she brought one leg back over the broom to where she was seated properly again. She quickly glanced around again and seeing a gold wink on the far end of the pitch she flattened herself to the handle of the broom and raced towards the snitch. She knew she might have overdone it a bit, but she didn't care because she didn't think anyone had missed it based on the whooping and hollering she heard from the ground. Hopefully Draco had noticed her aerial acrobatics and had been even remotely impressed, or at least impressed enough to be willing to be on a team with a Gryffindor.
"Dude, did you see that girl up there?" Parker said quite awestruck as he elbowed Draco in the ribs. "That totally kicked ass, a little unnecessary, but completely amazing," and under his breath whispered, "I wonder if she bends like that in bed?" Draco hadn't heard the last comment and had scarcely picked up on what Parker was saying, but was scarcely aware of a sharp elbow persistently digging into his ribs.
"Yeah, what did you say Parker?" Draco mumbled after Parker punched him in the arm. He was still watching the girly with fiery hair trailing behind her streak down the pitch with one arm stretched out before her. As he watch her tiny hand and embrace the snitch he looked over at Parker.
"What did you say Parker?" He glanced over again where Ginny had been, but she was gone already. She had landed back in front of Madam Hooch and handed her the snitch.
"You do realize she's a Weasley," Parker stated matter-of-factly as he pointed at Ginny. He followed Parkers' gaze over to where Ginny was standing being congratulated by Potter of all people. He felt his face tense up as he saw Harry and turned quickly away.
"Of course I know that is a Weasley. How could you not with that horrid shade of hair!" He said with a haughty look on his face. "But, she's a damn good flyer and we do have to have people from other houses on our team. We can kill two birds with one stone, get the best seeker on our team and piss Harry and Weasel off at one time." And with that Draco sat back against the edge of the stadium looking quite pleased with his plan. As he was pondering who else to invite to be on his team Madam Hooch signaled for the rest of the students to take to their brooms. Draco and Parker both glided gracefully into the air heading to their respective areas of the field. Madam Hooch explained that she would divide them up into standard teams, a keeper, two beaters, and three chasers to try-out with. They would play a shortened game and then switch out with the next teams.
Ginny made her way over to the edge of the stadium to grab a towel and something to drink. She sunk down to the ground and wiped her face dry with the towel. She watched as the first two teams took their places on the field. One by one each team took to the air until the final two teams were sent up. One of the last teams consisted of Draco, Parker, Seamus and the Ravenclaw she assumed would be on a team with Harry as beaters, a fifth year girl she didn't know, Lavender Brown from Gryffindor, and a seventh year boy from Hufflepuff named Jenkins as chasers. The other was comprised of Ron as keeper, Dru, Madison Alexsia from Ravenclaw, and Ethan Jarrett from Slytherin as Chasers, Jayden Plith from Hufflepuff and Shila Query from Gryffindor as beaters.
Ginny could easily pick Dru out from the rest of the players because she was one of the smallest and had on bright blue robes that swelled around her as she sped around the field. Dru was right she thought as she laughed to herself, she was damn good; probably better then any of the chasers on the house teams, except for Parker Marinni of course. Ron was getting frustrated, as he always did, and kept letting the Parker get past him and score. The more frustrated he got, the more Parker scored. As Parker soared towards Ron for the fifth time in less then three minutes, a bludger headed right for him. As he jerked out of the way, the quaffle popped out of his hands and Dru swooped below him and caught it. She raced down the pitch with ease, weaving between the other chasers and heading at Draco like a speeding bullet. Just as she was about to reach him, she faked to the left and hurled the quaffle through the ring to her right. She grinned slightly, turned back toward her own goals as Malfoy stopped with his jaw hanging slack. Ginny could barley contain herself as she saw the dumbfounded look on his face, it was like he had seen a three-headed hippogriff. The teams went on for about ten more minutes before Madam Hooch indicated for them to land and join the rest of the students.
"Students, I would like to congratulate you all on a magnificent show today," Madam Hooch said proudly seeing as she had taught all of these students at one time or another. "It is quite difficult to separate you into the X and D leagues, but it has to be done. I am going to have to deliberate over this for a few hours. After I have consulted with Professor Dumbledore and Aidan, I will post a list outside of the Great Hall." And with that she turned to leave the stadium.
As Ginny and Dru made their way toward the castle, they could her Malfoy and Parker talking about "the new girl" in hushed whispers. They couldn't seem to believe that this tiny little girl was able to score on Malfoy. There was an air of respect that wavered in the two boys voices as they walked towards Dru and Ginny. Ginny looked at Dru and mouthed for her to follow her lead.
"So Weasley, I saw those tricks you were doing up there earlier," Draco said with approval in his voice as he and Parker caught up to the two girls. "Where did you learn to fly like that because I know it wasn't from your brothers," he mocked.
"There's no need to be rude Malfoy," Parker said with a sneer and then turned toward Dru. "I'm Parker Marinni and this is Draco Malfoy," he said with a slight bow of his head. Ginny wanted to laugh at how dramatic yet cheesy Parker was being. She wondered if he knew how transparent he was being.
"This is Druella Brooks, she's a new student from the states," Ginny said and continued on, "and my first name is Ginny, just in case you hadn't ever bothered to notice."
"To be honest, I did know your first name is Ginny, I'm not a complete imbecile," Draco said while smirking at Ginny. "We have a proposition for the two of you. As we all know, the teams have to be made up of members from different houses, and seeing that I am the best keeper in the school and Parker was the best chaser, we would like for the two of you to be a part of our team. What do you say?" Ginny looked over at Dru and raised her eyebrow slightly. This was exactly what Ginny had been hoping for and had her fingers crossed behind her back that Dru would say yes. Dru nodded her head ever so slightly, only enough to where Ginny was really the only one to know it meant anything.
"Alright boys," she said sexily, "we'll be on your team, but only if we have some say so in who else is asked." Draco looked quickly at Parker who was nodding his head in agreement.
"We will let you make an input as to who else you think would be appropriate for the team," Draco said and added quickly, "but we do the asking." Both girls nodded their heads and stuck their hands out to shake on it. The boys looked quizzically at one another, then decided that it was all right and grasped the two girls hands. Draco's skin was softer then Ginny had expected, and it caught her off guard. She looked down at their hands clinched together and felt her cheeks fill with color. She looked back up to his face and saw that he was looking directly into her eyes and it completely unnerved her. She pulled her hand back, grabbed Dru's arm and pulled her away.
"See you guys later," she threw over her shoulder as they jogged up the hill to the entrance of the school. Once they were inside the castle and out of earshot Dru came to a screeching halt.
"What the hell was that about?"
"I don't know, it was weird," Ginny said as she studied the top of her shoe. "I've never actually had a civil conversation with either one of those boys, and there was something about the way that Malfoy looked at me that caught me off guard, not in a bad way though."
"Well, I can tell you this right now, I don't want any other girls on our team," Dru said laughingly. "I want that Parker all to myself. He is one good looking piece of man!" As they both giggled a bit they started moving toward Gryffindor tower to take showers and get ready for dinner. It had been a long day and both were drained for the anticipation, exertion, and giddiness that had taken over them for the past few hours. They also wanted to make sure that they were there when the list of leagues was posted for the fifth, sixth, and seventh years. Neither one doubted that they would be in the X League, but they wanted to get an idea of who else should be lucky enough to be on their team.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
A/N: Thanks again to all who reviewed. It's late, so I hope that all is coherent. Hopefully I'll be able to get at least one if not two chapters finished tomorrow as I'm lucky enough to have the day off from work! I know the Draco/Ginny action is slow coming, but it's coming, I swear. I think there should be some next chapter, well at least some tension that definitely needs to be acted on. I haven't a clue as to what's going to happen next, I just write as it comes to me.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters you recognize unfortunately, due to the genius of JK Rowling, but Parker and Druella, their all mine!!
A/N: There has been a little bit of editing, primarily in chapter 2. I added the actual guidelines that were handed to the students. Ok, I hope that everyone is enjoying so far. Thanks to those who put me on their author alert. I'm trying to update as quickly as possible. Thankfully I haven't had any mental blocks yet, just a pesky old job getting in my way!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ginny and Dru made their way down to the Quidditch stadium along with about ninety-five percent of the school. Huddles of first years wandered around together looking nervous and following the older students at a safe distance, while the second years snickered behind their hands at how nervous the first years were. Being at Hogwarts for a year gave you a confidence you didn't necessarily deserve, but nonetheless they thought they did. Ginny glanced around taking in the surroundings and all of the people and noticed how frenzied everyone seemed. She had no idea that this many people were going to be trying out. This didn't bother her at all because she was very confident in her ability as seeker, but she did wonder how she was going to convince Malfoy to be a part of her team.
The Slytherin common room was slowly emptying now that the crowd of other students had made its way down to the stadium. As a Slytherin you had to make a memorable entrance, not necessarily fashionably late, but at least not in the middle of the crowd, you needed to stand out, everyone needed to know that you had arrived. This time was no exception. Draco and Parker sauntered out the hidden room and headed towards the hallway. As soon as the stepped through the door, every student left in the common room rushed to follow behind them knowing that if they showed up with Draco and Parker no one would mess with them.
As the last of the Slytherin students meandered to their seats, Dumbledore rose from a sitting position in the teachers box. Holding his wand up to his throat and casting a spell to magnify his voice he looked around patiently making sure that everyone was seated.
"Students we will start with the youngest age groups, seeing as so many people have come to try out, this might take a while." He paused as a loud groan circled the stadium, he knew the older students would not be pleased, but he thought it better this way. There were so many talented older students that he felt it would take quite a bit longer to sort them into leagues.
"After all of the first and second year students aged ten and eleven have finished with their try-outs, you will assemble on the lawn outside the stadium where you will meet with Madam Hooch," Dumbledore gave a gracious wave in her direction, "Who will be informing you of the schedule we have set forth, dividing you into X, D, and W leagues, and helping you to form teams. Also, any of our sixth and seventh year students that would be willing to help coach the W League, please see Madam Hooch immediately." Dumbledore nodded to Madam Hooch, who stood and made her way towards the field.
Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly as the students started chattering, and began speaking in a firm "Students, I will now introduce our guest of honor. It is none other then Aidan Talley, hall of fame Captain for the European Olympic Team." Dumbledore grinned as the students burst into deafening applause. Aidan came zooming out of the locker area, circled the stadium twice waving to all the students, and finally came to rest down on the field beside Madam Hooch.
"Aidan will be here for the next two days assisting Madam Hooch in determining which league each student should be assigned to. He will also help you with forming the best possible teams so that there is not one- sided competition within a league." Dumbledore took a breath and looked around, "And now, first and second years, make your way to the field!"
As the younger students hurried down to the field, the older students filled in the gaps in the stadium and moved towards the front to watch and cheer on their fellow housemates. Most of the girls sat in large groups giggling about Aidan Talley and how hot he was. The guys tried to look unconcerned about the fact that a famous Quidditch player was getting all of the attention from their girls, but it was noticeable that they were impressed that Dumbledore had brought in such a talented player to help them out. People began to wonder why Aidan agreed to come to Hogwarts to help with a student intramural league when he was famous worldwide and probably had much better things to occupy his time.
Time went by fairly slow as the younger students tried out. The majority of them didn't seem to even know how to use a broom, much less do something else other then grip the handle like it was a matter of life or death. With only about fifteen students left, it started to get a little interesting. It was becoming obvious which students would be placed in the XC League as natural talent was showing through. As the last student touched down, Dumbledore started to clap waiting for the rest of the school to follow. There was a polite round of applause as the first and second years followed Madam Hooch out of the stadium.
Dumbledore rose again, touched his wand to his throat and began to speak, "Now that we have finished with the younger students, we are going to take a break and assemble in the Great Hall for a quick lunch before moving onto the third and fourth year students." As he finished he waved his hand toward the castle as if pushing the students in that direction.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
After lunch all the students headed back towards the stadium, the older students feeling glad that they had a bit of time to digest their filling lunch. The first and second years had assembled back at the stadium to watch the older students try-out. Since the third and fourth year students had been taught the basics of flying during their first year it didn't take nearly as long to get through their try-outs. There were quite a few girls that most would never have assumed to be able to fly a broom straight, much less out fly some of the boys without breaking a nail. Some of prissier girls on the pitch were putting on quite a show and embarrassing a few of the male gender who fancied themselves reasonably talented when it came to the game.
The older students still waiting to try out found it immensely entertaining to see the boys with their eyes bugging out of their heads while a pretty blonde haired fourth year rocketed around the pitch putting to shame the other boys trying out for Seeker. She looked as if she had been born on a broom and had been trained by Aidan Talley himself. There was a barely audible mumble coming from quite a few males in the stadium, most making a mental note to get to know that foxy little blonde a little better, well as long as she didn't make them look bad. The third and fourth year try-outs wound down and the students followed Madam Hooch out of the stadium. There was a restless shudder throughout the crowd as the older students moved toward the field.
Ginny was felt as if she had fairies flying around in her stomach but didn't really understand why she was so nervous. She had been playing Quidditch all of her life. There was no way to avoid it being brought up with six older brothers, all but one of which played Quidditch for the Gryffindor team in their time at school. She had spent every summer doing odd jobs for friends and family to save up money to add to her birthday money so that she could buy a decent broom. She had been able to get the Firebolt model from the year before, which was still a decent broom, even though not the newest. Ginny had come up with some of her own maneuvers, not exactly the type you would use on the Quidditch pitch but were still quite impressive. She had learned to handle a broom better then any of her brothers and had learned a lot by watching intently at all the house games.
"Students, please gather into groups depending on the position you think you would be best suited for," Madam Hooch said gruffly while pointing to separate sections of the field. "Seekers, please go to the far end near the goals, chasers please make your way to the middle of the field, keepers to the other set of goals, and beaters please gather at the sidelines for now."
Ginny glanced at the other people as she made her way towards the far end of the stadium. There were about eleven other people heading in the same direction, one of which being Harry. There were three other girls, a petite dark-haired Slytherin girl with a smug look on her face, a fairly ugly girl from Ravenclaw that went by CJ, and seventh year Gryffindor, Sela Brinker. There was also a tall blonde boy that she thought was a fifth year in Slytherin, the Slytherin seeker, Jacob Rutledge, the Gryffindor reserve seeker, Beau Thomason, two boys from Ravenclaw, probably fifth years, that she didn't know, and two boys from Hufflepuff that looked like they would be blown off of their brooms if someone sneezed too close.
Madam Hooch walked over to them and let them know that they would be going first. The rest of the students would be waiting to start until the Seekers had finished due to the whole field needing to be utilized during their try-outs.
"Okay, what I would like for you to do is to pair off. The snitch will be released and each pair will take their turn in vying to retrieve the snitch. Just because you are the first to get the snitch does not imply anything, this is just a chance for each person to demonstrate their ability to fly as well as any specialized maneuvers they may be hiding up their sleeves." With that she began to pair them all up. Ginny was paired against the smug looking Slytherin girl, and seeing the look on her face, the fairies in her stomach started doing back flips again.
Harry and the blonde boy from Slytherin were first up. Madam Hooch directed them to opposite ends of the field, took to the air, and released the snitch from the center of the field. Both boys watched the sky as the small gold orb disappeared. The day was perfect for playing Quidditch; there was a slight breeze that whipped the boys' robes around their ankles as they circled the pitch and enough clouds in the sky to keep it cool. Ginny was watching the sky intently, holding her breath and waiting to see who would glimpse the snitch first. As she scanned the outer edges of the field she saw a gold twinkle along the edge of the Hufflepuff seats, as she turned her glance toward the boys in the sky she noticed that both boys were still searching the sky frantically. With this one little thing, the fairies in her stomach decided to take a break. Finally she saw Harry dive towards the ground and just as the Slytherin boy gained on his tail he pulled up sharply, banked to the left and did a barrel roll. Once he righted himself he came to a smooth landing right in front of Ginny and held out his hand for Madam Hooch to see. Madam Hooch made her way down to were they stood, gave both of the boys a pat on the back and told them to take a seat on the outside of the field. Madam Hooch motioned for the next pair to take to the sky as Ginny stood patiently waiting her turn. After three more pairs had gone, it was finally her turn. Once Madam Hooch motioned for them to take the sky, Ginny speed upwards leaving all worry on the ground.
Ginny circled her end of the pitch, watching the Slytherin girl and keeping a sharp eye on the outer edges of the stadium. As they began to circle the pitch she decided that she should show off a little to make her performance stand out to anyone who might be watching. She had a nagging feeling that if she didn't do something spectacular Draco wouldn't even know she had been there to try-out. She scanned the edge of the stadium again and checked where smug girl was before taking a steep dive towards the field. She heard a few gasps as she came within just a few feet of the ground, pulled up and flew parallel with the ground. Smuggy, as she had started referring to the Slytherin girl in her head, had taken a dive as soon as she saw Ginny head toward the ground, but she unfortunately was not able to pull out of her dive in time to keep from plowing handle first into the dirt. Ginny snickered to herself, threw a smirk over her shoulder at the girl, and pulled sharply upwards into the sky. She circled around the pitch once more, waiting to see if Smuggy would be getting back onto her broom. It seemed like she was going to stay grounded for the rest of the day, she was cradling her left arm and being lead of the field by Madam Pomfrey. Ginny knew that this was her chance to really shine. She did a few lazy loops in the sky before leveling out, getting slowly to her feet. Once she was standing, she pulled one leg up slowly until her toes were almost touching the back of her head, her hair thrashing through the air like golden flames. She gently let her foot back down onto the broom and immediately placed both hands in the center of the broom, brought her legs into a split above her head. After holding this for a short time she let herself pitch forward as gymnast on the high bars would, as she came back on the upswing she brought one leg back over the broom to where she was seated properly again. She quickly glanced around again and seeing a gold wink on the far end of the pitch she flattened herself to the handle of the broom and raced towards the snitch. She knew she might have overdone it a bit, but she didn't care because she didn't think anyone had missed it based on the whooping and hollering she heard from the ground. Hopefully Draco had noticed her aerial acrobatics and had been even remotely impressed, or at least impressed enough to be willing to be on a team with a Gryffindor.
"Dude, did you see that girl up there?" Parker said quite awestruck as he elbowed Draco in the ribs. "That totally kicked ass, a little unnecessary, but completely amazing," and under his breath whispered, "I wonder if she bends like that in bed?" Draco hadn't heard the last comment and had scarcely picked up on what Parker was saying, but was scarcely aware of a sharp elbow persistently digging into his ribs.
"Yeah, what did you say Parker?" Draco mumbled after Parker punched him in the arm. He was still watching the girly with fiery hair trailing behind her streak down the pitch with one arm stretched out before her. As he watch her tiny hand and embrace the snitch he looked over at Parker.
"What did you say Parker?" He glanced over again where Ginny had been, but she was gone already. She had landed back in front of Madam Hooch and handed her the snitch.
"You do realize she's a Weasley," Parker stated matter-of-factly as he pointed at Ginny. He followed Parkers' gaze over to where Ginny was standing being congratulated by Potter of all people. He felt his face tense up as he saw Harry and turned quickly away.
"Of course I know that is a Weasley. How could you not with that horrid shade of hair!" He said with a haughty look on his face. "But, she's a damn good flyer and we do have to have people from other houses on our team. We can kill two birds with one stone, get the best seeker on our team and piss Harry and Weasel off at one time." And with that Draco sat back against the edge of the stadium looking quite pleased with his plan. As he was pondering who else to invite to be on his team Madam Hooch signaled for the rest of the students to take to their brooms. Draco and Parker both glided gracefully into the air heading to their respective areas of the field. Madam Hooch explained that she would divide them up into standard teams, a keeper, two beaters, and three chasers to try-out with. They would play a shortened game and then switch out with the next teams.
Ginny made her way over to the edge of the stadium to grab a towel and something to drink. She sunk down to the ground and wiped her face dry with the towel. She watched as the first two teams took their places on the field. One by one each team took to the air until the final two teams were sent up. One of the last teams consisted of Draco, Parker, Seamus and the Ravenclaw she assumed would be on a team with Harry as beaters, a fifth year girl she didn't know, Lavender Brown from Gryffindor, and a seventh year boy from Hufflepuff named Jenkins as chasers. The other was comprised of Ron as keeper, Dru, Madison Alexsia from Ravenclaw, and Ethan Jarrett from Slytherin as Chasers, Jayden Plith from Hufflepuff and Shila Query from Gryffindor as beaters.
Ginny could easily pick Dru out from the rest of the players because she was one of the smallest and had on bright blue robes that swelled around her as she sped around the field. Dru was right she thought as she laughed to herself, she was damn good; probably better then any of the chasers on the house teams, except for Parker Marinni of course. Ron was getting frustrated, as he always did, and kept letting the Parker get past him and score. The more frustrated he got, the more Parker scored. As Parker soared towards Ron for the fifth time in less then three minutes, a bludger headed right for him. As he jerked out of the way, the quaffle popped out of his hands and Dru swooped below him and caught it. She raced down the pitch with ease, weaving between the other chasers and heading at Draco like a speeding bullet. Just as she was about to reach him, she faked to the left and hurled the quaffle through the ring to her right. She grinned slightly, turned back toward her own goals as Malfoy stopped with his jaw hanging slack. Ginny could barley contain herself as she saw the dumbfounded look on his face, it was like he had seen a three-headed hippogriff. The teams went on for about ten more minutes before Madam Hooch indicated for them to land and join the rest of the students.
"Students, I would like to congratulate you all on a magnificent show today," Madam Hooch said proudly seeing as she had taught all of these students at one time or another. "It is quite difficult to separate you into the X and D leagues, but it has to be done. I am going to have to deliberate over this for a few hours. After I have consulted with Professor Dumbledore and Aidan, I will post a list outside of the Great Hall." And with that she turned to leave the stadium.
As Ginny and Dru made their way toward the castle, they could her Malfoy and Parker talking about "the new girl" in hushed whispers. They couldn't seem to believe that this tiny little girl was able to score on Malfoy. There was an air of respect that wavered in the two boys voices as they walked towards Dru and Ginny. Ginny looked at Dru and mouthed for her to follow her lead.
"So Weasley, I saw those tricks you were doing up there earlier," Draco said with approval in his voice as he and Parker caught up to the two girls. "Where did you learn to fly like that because I know it wasn't from your brothers," he mocked.
"There's no need to be rude Malfoy," Parker said with a sneer and then turned toward Dru. "I'm Parker Marinni and this is Draco Malfoy," he said with a slight bow of his head. Ginny wanted to laugh at how dramatic yet cheesy Parker was being. She wondered if he knew how transparent he was being.
"This is Druella Brooks, she's a new student from the states," Ginny said and continued on, "and my first name is Ginny, just in case you hadn't ever bothered to notice."
"To be honest, I did know your first name is Ginny, I'm not a complete imbecile," Draco said while smirking at Ginny. "We have a proposition for the two of you. As we all know, the teams have to be made up of members from different houses, and seeing that I am the best keeper in the school and Parker was the best chaser, we would like for the two of you to be a part of our team. What do you say?" Ginny looked over at Dru and raised her eyebrow slightly. This was exactly what Ginny had been hoping for and had her fingers crossed behind her back that Dru would say yes. Dru nodded her head ever so slightly, only enough to where Ginny was really the only one to know it meant anything.
"Alright boys," she said sexily, "we'll be on your team, but only if we have some say so in who else is asked." Draco looked quickly at Parker who was nodding his head in agreement.
"We will let you make an input as to who else you think would be appropriate for the team," Draco said and added quickly, "but we do the asking." Both girls nodded their heads and stuck their hands out to shake on it. The boys looked quizzically at one another, then decided that it was all right and grasped the two girls hands. Draco's skin was softer then Ginny had expected, and it caught her off guard. She looked down at their hands clinched together and felt her cheeks fill with color. She looked back up to his face and saw that he was looking directly into her eyes and it completely unnerved her. She pulled her hand back, grabbed Dru's arm and pulled her away.
"See you guys later," she threw over her shoulder as they jogged up the hill to the entrance of the school. Once they were inside the castle and out of earshot Dru came to a screeching halt.
"What the hell was that about?"
"I don't know, it was weird," Ginny said as she studied the top of her shoe. "I've never actually had a civil conversation with either one of those boys, and there was something about the way that Malfoy looked at me that caught me off guard, not in a bad way though."
"Well, I can tell you this right now, I don't want any other girls on our team," Dru said laughingly. "I want that Parker all to myself. He is one good looking piece of man!" As they both giggled a bit they started moving toward Gryffindor tower to take showers and get ready for dinner. It had been a long day and both were drained for the anticipation, exertion, and giddiness that had taken over them for the past few hours. They also wanted to make sure that they were there when the list of leagues was posted for the fifth, sixth, and seventh years. Neither one doubted that they would be in the X League, but they wanted to get an idea of who else should be lucky enough to be on their team.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
A/N: Thanks again to all who reviewed. It's late, so I hope that all is coherent. Hopefully I'll be able to get at least one if not two chapters finished tomorrow as I'm lucky enough to have the day off from work! I know the Draco/Ginny action is slow coming, but it's coming, I swear. I think there should be some next chapter, well at least some tension that definitely needs to be acted on. I haven't a clue as to what's going to happen next, I just write as it comes to me.