Disclaimer 1: Draco, his parents and teachers all belong to JKR. (As if you didn't all know that.)

Disclaimer 2: Severus Snape owning a raven belongs to J.L. Matthews. (Go read her story everybody. It's great.)

Disclaimer 3: The gang name Sharks is borrowed from the musical West Side Story of course. I don't remember where I found the name Rakers, but I know I read it somewhere.

Disclaimer 4: The idea for Snape having a family comes from Al's fic Time of Trial.

Disclaimer 5: The Glizzard family and Gringolf Glizzard belong to my friend PegaPony and so do all of Gringolf's songs. Thanks for letting me borrow them!

Disclaimer 6: My friend Edmund owns himself and his horse Apollo.

Disclaimer 7: Old Joe and Tess' Joe belong to Zebee.

A/N: To avoid further confusion: Jorge is from Spain, a country in Europe. Hence he's not likely to be a Quopot fan, even though that sport is popular in North and South America. In fact we haven't heard him say anything about sports, or seen him fly yet and don't know whether he's a sports fan at all. (He's in Hufflepuff, which means he's not part of the Slytherin/West Hogsmeade Flying class, nor does he participate in conversations held in the Slytherin common room.)

Chapter 10: Quidditch Tryouts and Club Choices

After the successful Flying lesson and a Charms class in which Gangolf earned Slytherin a total of eight points they had the fifth lesson off and Billy was feeling agreeable enough to make an attempt to be nice to Gangolf.

"I'm going to sign up for Soccer." he announced right when they got back to the common room. "Anybody want to join me? Aterus? Gangolf?"

Gangolf shook his head. "No way. Flying is bad enough. I'm not signing up for something that dangerous voluntarily."

"Oh come on, it'll be fun." Pank pushed. "I'm at least going to give it a try."

"Well, I don't want to." Gangolf declared. "I want a shower."

"Nothing wrong with that." Billy was feeling generous.

"Do you even know how to play Soccer?" Rupert asked Pank doubtfully.

"No, but I can learn." Pank grinned.

"They're offering 27 places." Danny reminded them. "For the entire school. If there are more candidates, we'll have to try out."

"That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to already know the game to get in." Billy told them. "Draco says very few Hogwarts students know Soccer when they arrive at Hogwarts, so there probably aren't 27 of them at all."

"It can't hurt to try, I suppose." Danny shrugged. "I'll just sign up and see what happens."

In the end they all signed up for Soccer. Only Colleen was unwilling to participate in a vulgar Muggle sport and Gangolf was afraid.

"I'll take French." Colleen announced to everybody's surprise. "And maybe Art, or Poetry. Or perhaps Music or the Choir?"

She seemed to be honestly interested for once and didn't even huff off when Danny started teasing her about her indecision.

"Maybe we all should pick a second club, in case we don't make the Soccer team." Aterus suggested. "I think I'd like to join the Chess club."

"So Gangolf, what club are you signing up for?" Pank asked the boy when he finally returned from the bathroom with his hair freshly styled and wearing a neatly plated robe. "Made up your mind, yet?"

"I don't want to do any sports." Gangolf stated. "I thought I already told you Flying was enough."

"But not all the clubs are sports clubs." Aterus insisted. "I just signed up for Chess. There's no way you can get hurt there."

"Nocturne's taking French." Billy added. "That's noble and elegant. Just your style, isn't it?"

Rupert walked over to the notice board and read out: "French, Math, Soccer, Quidditch, Chess, Duelling, Art, Music, Ballet, Chemistry, Physics, Alchemy, Basket Weaving, Volleyball, Basketball, Gymnastics, Poetry, Psychology and Choir. All open for your choice, Gangolf. Don't tell me none of them ..."

"I don't want to ..." Gangolf started. "Wait a minute! Did you just say Ballet? Oh, I love the ballet."

"Um ... Gangolf? That's ballet dancing, not ballet watching." Billy cautioned.

"Of course it is." Gangolf snapped. "Yes, I'm taking Ballet."

Even Pank groaned at that.

"Gangolf, ballet is for girls." Dinah tried to explain. "Why don't you take Music?"

"Because Ballet is for everybody. They need male dancers as well." Gangolf grinned. "I can see it now: I'll be a big star. The world's best dancer. They'll all come to me begging me to dance in the greatest theatres of the world ..."

Billy jumped up and left the common room without another word while Tullia buried her face in her hands.

"I can't stand that guy!" groaned Danny. "Get realistic, Mirrorboy!"

Gangolf stared at Danny wide eyed for a moment, then left in a hurry as well.

He left startled silence behind.

"You know, that's the biggest coward I've ever met." Colleen stated.

"And you're the biggest snob, I've ever met." Danny commented.

Colleen shrugged. "Better than a coward."

"So what are your second choices?" Pank asked. "Think the Choir will be any good?"

"Billy already signed up for Chemistry." Rupert reported studying the lists again. "But it says you should take at least a year of Math first."

"Don't they have Biology?" Anny asked. "I want to know more about snakes."

"I wonder whether anyone actually picks Basket Weaving." Danny wondered.

"Some of the Hufflepuffs perhaps." Dinah said. "They like mindless activities they can chat over."

"Boooring." declared Danny.

"Does anyone know what they really do in Music?" Tullia asked. "I mean, does that mean listening to music, or actually making it?"

"Maybe it's all about the theory." Aterus suggested. "You wouldn't believe how complicated that is."

"It might mean dancing." Colleen said. "Ballet can't be the only dance they offer, right?"

"They can't offer everything." Pank argued. "According to the older students that's an unusually large choice."

Colleen approached Professor Snape's office with hesitation. Her head of house had been surprisingly friendly during detention, but she still knew she hadn't made a too good first impression. Should she really go to him for advice?

She hated to look weak, but there was a lot on her mind and she didn't have anybody else she could talk to. The last thing she wanted to do was tell another teacher about her problems and the clubs looked like a good excuse. She did have difficulty choosing after all, so it wasn't even a lie.

One last check whether her robes were falling properly and her hair was correctly tied. Anny's hair band had proven to be very efficient so far and once again Colleen found it still properly in place.

She'd gotten used to the feeling of the pony tail as well. It was more fun than a bun, because it swung around when she moved and it had bounced wonderfully during Flying class. The lesson itself may not have been particularly interesting aside from the show Gangolf had unintentionally provided, but the bouncing had been entertaining enough to keep her from getting bored.

Once assured of her proper looks Colleen put on a confident expression and marched up to the office door without looking left or right. She knocked and walked in distracting herself from her nervousness by paying special attention to the way she walked.

A Lady always had to keep herself straight, but not too stiff to look elegant. Moving too slowly would appear indecisive, too fast was timid and would mess up the fall of her robes and her legs would become visible through her clothes, if she took too long strides.

Concentrating on her grandmother's behaviour lessons always helped her to hide her feelings. Somehow it was easier to keep your expression in check, if you were controlling the rest of your body as well.

"Professor Snape?" she asked. "Do you have a moment? There's something I need to ask you."

"Ah, Miss Nocturne." Snape smiled at her. "Do come in, my dear."

He was friendly, yes, but Colleen wasn't deaf or stupid. She was very much aware that she was the only Slytherin first year that he addressed by her last name. Was that because she'd given the impression that it was her preference, or because he liked the others better?

"Thank you." she placed herself in the chair he indicated to sit in, taking care to place her robes so that they fell nicely and didn't get wrinkled, then folded her hands in her lap just like her grandmother had taught her. "I was wondering about the clubs, you see."

Professor Snape nodded. "Yes, those are one of the biggest advantages of our school partnership with West Hogsmeade. On its own Hogwarts doesn't have enough interested students for most of the clubs, but together we have almost three times as many students which allows us to offer such a big selection this year."

Colleen nodded, though she wasn't all that comfortable about classes with the common rabble that went to a public school. She'd been able to avoid interaction with them during Flying class, though, so it would probably be possible to do the same at the clubs.

"Well, I saw that Billy signed up for both Soccer and Chemistry." she mentioned.

"Chemistry is a preparatory course for Alchemy." Professor Snape explained. "If you're interested in becoming an Alchemist, you have to take it first. Without a basic knowledge of Potions and Chemistry you'd be lost in an Alchemy course. I wouldn't advise taking Chemistry this year unless you already have a very good grasp of Mathematics. Taking a year of Math before starting Chemistry is only a recommendation, not a requirement, but it is recommended for good reasons."

Colleen inclined her head acknowledging his advice, though it wasn't at all what she'd meant to ask him.

"Having seen Billy's choices, I've been wondering just how many clubs we are allowed to pick." she explained. "There are several that sound very interesting to me."

"No official limit has been set, so theoretically you could sign up for all the clubs, but several will have to be held at the same time and even though you can't fail a club, they still require studying or practise as do your normal classes." Snape answered cautiously. "Seeing as it is only your first week at Hogwarts, I don't expect you to be able to judge just how much time you require for your school work, yet, so I advise to keep the number low for now. If you find that you have enough time left over for another subject, you can still add another club next year. I think two should be the limit for first year."

Colleen thought for a moment.

"It's a hard choice." she admitted.

Professor Snape nodded once again.

"Maybe, if you told me which clubs you're most interested in, I could help you make up your mind." he suggested. "I know most of the teachers and also some students who have participated in some of the clubs before."

"Well, I definitely want to take French." Colleen stated.

"That is a very useful subject indeed." Snape agreed. "But you should be aware, that you can still choose it as an elective in third year and that it is very difficult. It requires a lot of studying, especially at the beginning."

Colleen nodded. "I still want to learn it now."

"In that case I'd advise to pick a second subject that isn't very time demanding and definitely no more." Snape decided. "What are your other choices?"

"I've been considering Art, Poetry, Acting, Music and the Choir." Colleen listed.

"Art is a nice pastime and you don't necessarily have to do any work outside of class for it." Snape agreed. "Poetry on the other hand is mostly taken by older students. You might find yourself rather lonely without classmates your own age and the work done there is adapted to the age group. Why don't you save that one for a later year, when you'll be able to appreciate it better? You don't have to do everything now."

"That sounds fair enough." Colleen agreed.

"Acting requires a lot of learning by heart." Snape continued. "As does French. Combining those two might end up being a little too much. Music ... Do you play a musical instrument?"

"The piano." Colleen admitted. "I've been taking lessons for years, but I was more interested in actually hearing and discussing music."

"Then the Music Club isn't what you're looking for. It is more like a school band, or rather several school bands that practise and occasionally arrange parties." Snape explained. "I suppose some of the other Hogwarts students will be interested in playing more classical music, but as far as I know the current groups all play modern Muggle style. That doesn't seem to suit your temperament from what I've seen so far."

"Oh no, that's not what I expected at all!" Colleen exclaimed. "So you think I should choose between Art and the Choir?"

"Yes, the Choir does require some learning by heart as well, but not nearly as much as acting and they usually sing classical songs." Snape confirmed. "It is up to you now whether you prefer to paint or to sing, but you don't have to make up your mind right away. The lists will be up until Monday."

"It's still hard to choose." Colleen decided to get more personal. "Do you know the teachers well? What are they like?"

"I'm afraid I'm not very close with either of them." Snape said apparently not minding the personal question. "Professor Azaleea, who is in charge of the Art club, teaches Herbology at West Hogsmeade. My older son Draco says she's very friendly and popular with the students, but can get very demanding. It's Professor Trelawney's first year teaching the Choir, so I can't predict how well she'll do at it. Until now she only taught Divination and with her classroom being up on the top of a tower and mine down in the dungeons we don't meet much. Few Slytherins have an interest in Divination and Professor Trelawney is a very private person who usually takes her meals in her rooms."

"She's a Hogwarts teacher, though, and the Choir will meet at Hogwarts?" Colleen asked.

She didn't like the idea of having to go to West Hogsmeade for class. Who knew what that place might be like? It was a public school, after all. Most likely it was filthy and full of germs.

"Yes, I think so. That's at least the plan as it was discussed at the staff meeting." Snape answered. "The final locations and times for each club will be arranged once all the applications are in, though. Depending on the number of students there will probably have to be two groups for some while those with too few participants might have to be cancelled."

"If I apply for the Choir and it is cancelled, will I still be able to join the Art club, after the lists are taken off?" Colleen asked a little worried.

"Most likely, yes." Professor Snape assured her. "I would have to negotiate it with Professor Azaleea, but unless the Art club already has more members than she is comfortable with, I don't see why it would be a problem. Should you find out that you don't like a club after all later in the year, it is possible to quit or switch clubs as well, but don't abuse that possibility. It is meant only for emergencies."

That was a relief!

"Thank you, Professor." Colleen said getting up. "You have helped me a lot."

"I'm glad to help. That's what a head of house is for after all." Snape replied. "Please don't hesitate, if there's anything else troubling you. You're not having any problems now, are you? You seem a little lonely."

"I ..." she hesitated. "I'm fine, Sir, but I do miss my family a little. I owled them on the first day of school and still haven't received an answer. That weighs on my mood, I suppose."

"Are you worried that something might have happened to your owl?" Snape asked. "They should have had ample time to send an answer, if they are in the habit of answering their letters right away."

"They aren't." Colleen sat back down. "They are very busy people and never have much time. I just thought that my starting Hogwarts was important enough to get a fast answer. I thought they'd be proud to hear I was sorted into Slytherin and would want to congratulate me. And ... I also asked them to send me an urgently needed item. I didn't think they'd want me to go without that."

"An urgently needed item." Snape repeated. "May I ask what exactly you are in need of?"

Colleen hoped that she didn't blush. "A set of hairpins. I seem to have lost mine."

"Your hair looks very nice as it is now." Snape stated obviously at a loss with such a feminine problem.

"That's only because I'm using this elastic ribbon." she pointed at the hair band which should be clearly visible. "It's some Muggle thing I had to borrow from Anny and she'll want it back. I didn't tell my parents I had that anyway."

"Well, I'm sure somebody else will be able to lend you a hair band if you have to return Anny's before your hairpins arrive." Snape assured her. "And before you worry yourself unnecessarily I suggest you owl your parents again. Most likely your owl got lost on the way, or maybe the answer did. It happens often enough."

Of course it did, but Colleen also didn't want to be pushy, if her parents just hadn't deemed her letter worthy of a fast answer. It was never a good idea to be too demanding of their time.

Maybe she could use one of the ribbons on the sleeves of her green summer robes, she thought on the way back up to the dorm after signing up for French and the Choir. She wasn't likely to wear those anytime soon and the colour looked good on her.

With a little caution it was easy enough to pull the ribbon out and she stepped in front of the mirror to try it out. Tying it properly while working over her head and being only able to see what she was doing in the mirror was difficult, though. The sides tended to end up uneven, or the ribbon wasn't in the middle in the first place. Every time she thought she'd done it the ribbon suddenly sagged away and slipped either to the side, or down the length of the pony tail until she was afraid of losing it entirely as soon as she moved.

She was just making another attempt when the door opened behind her. In the mirror she saw Anny walk past her, then heard water running next to her, but she didn't pay the mudblood any attention.

"That'll never hold like this."

"What?" Colleen glared at Anny.

"Trust me, I've tried it before." Anny insisted. "Those bands just aren't made for it. They always slip. You have to tie it to a proper hair band that will hold your hair in place. I'll show you."

She held out her hand and after a moment of hesitation Colleen handed over the green ribbon.

Anny grabbed the hair band which Colleen had left lying on the sink next to her.

"It's best to fold the ribbon in the middle, put the folded end through the hair band and then pull the ends through here." Anny demonstrated. "If you just pull one end through the hair band the ribbon will never be straight. Then you tie the ribbon and make sure the sides are even."

Colleen watched as Anny tied and corrected the ribbon until it was just right. She had to admit that the mudblood was good at that. She probably wouldn't have been able to arrange it that nicely this fast.

"There, now you just have to make sure the ribbon is exactly on top when you put it on." Anny grinned and held the construction out to Colleen. "And the best part is that you don't have to untie it every time you take it off. You can just leave the ribbon on as long as you like it."

It required some pushing and pulling to get the ribbon into the proper position, but then Colleen did indeed have a pony tail with a ribbon in her hair.

Anny frowned. "No, that's not quite it."

"Yes it is." Colleen contradicted. "That's exactly the middle."

"The middle, yes, but the colours don't match." Anny shook her head. "Red and green is a bad combination. At least unless you want to spread some early Christmas cheer. We should have used a green hair band."

Now it was Colleen who frowned. "Do you know how to do a colour changing charm?"

"No, but I think I have a green hair band. Come on." Anny dashed back into the dorm and opened the drawer of her nightstand.

Colleen watched amazed as she brought out a small box full of hair bands in various colours and emptied it onto her bed.

"There!" she said. "I knew it."

Unfortunately when they held the hair band next to Colleen's ribbon it turned out to be a very different shade of green.

"No, that won't do." Anny decided. "Lets try a black one. That won't be as obvious in your hair and it doesn't clash with anything."

Indeed the black hair band did look much better with the green ribbon and Anny looked very satisfied with herself when Colleen said so and admired herself in the mirror.

"Oh, but I meant to give your hair band back to you, not borrow another!" Colleen suddenly remembered.

"Doesn't matter." said Anny with a shrug. "I just want to have the red one back, because it's one of my only pair. Without it I can't wear pigtails."

"You know, pigtails look hopelessly childish." Colleen informed her, but handed over the red hair band just the same.

"I like them anyway." Anny returned. "And you can keep the black one as long as you need to. I hardly wear it anyway."

"Anny!" someone yelled from somewhere on the stairs before Colleen could make up her mind whether it was proper to thank the mudblood or not. "Hurry up!"

'Must be Danny' Colleen thought. None of the others were that impatient and indecently loud.

"Coming!" Anny yelled back. "Come on, we shouldn't be late for dinner."

Dinner! Colleen had almost forgotten about that entirely and several days of hardly eating had taught her that that was a very bad idea. She followed Anny as fast as she could manage while still looking dignified.

"What took you so long?" Danny demanded of Anny, though she was glaring at Colleen.

"We made a new hair band for Colleen, so I could get my red one back." Anny explained.

Pank and the rest didn't look much happier than Danny when Colleen tagged along to the great hall, but they didn't tell her to get lost either. Maybe they could get along after all.

"So, have you made up your mind what clubs you're going to choose, yet?" Danny sneered at Colleen while they were waiting for their turn at the soup bowl.

Colleen nodded. "Yes, in fact I've already signed up for French and the Choir."

"That was fast." stated Anny. "How did you decide?"

"I went and asked Professor Snape what they're like." Colleen said lightly. "Music isn't worth it after all and Poetry's better for older students. Art is held in West Hogsmeade and he thought Acting and French wasn't a good combination."

"I think I might take Acting as my second choice." Anny announced. "What do you think, Dinah?"

"No thanks, I'm no actor." Dinah shook her head. "I'm taking Gymnastics. That'll at least give me some exercise, if I don't make the Soccer team."

"Rupert and I are taking Riddles." Pank told them. "That sounds like fun."

"Sounds like hard work." Danny frowned. "I'm with Dinah. I always liked Gymnastics in primary school."

"I've been thinking about taking Alchemy." Tullia announced. "I've always wanted to know what it's all about."

"Then you need to take Chemistry first." Colleen said. "And Math before that."

Billy looked up from his soup in surprise. "That's right. How did you know that?"

"Professor Snape mentioned it. He said you wouldn't understand Alchemy without knowing the basics of both Potions and Chemistry first and you need Math for the Chemistry course."

"But Billy's taking Chemistry without Math." Tullia complained.

"That's because I already know some. I grew up in a family of Alchemists, remember?" Billy grinned. "Anyway, I know the teacher."

Dinah gasped. "But that's not fair!"

"Connections are everything." Danny grinned.

"Well, my connections say there'll be Quidditch tryouts on Saturday." Rupert declared.

"Connections?" Danny laughed. "What connections?"

"Jon." Rupert admitted.

"Who?" Danny asked again.

"You know, Jonathan from Hufflepuff." Rupert explained. "I worked with him in Herbology and we talked a little and when I met him again in the corridor today, he told me about the Quidditch tryouts."

"But that's the ones for Hufflepuff, then." Billy groaned. "Every house has its own team and they hold the tryouts separately."

"No, they're all on Saturday." Rupert insisted. "Jon said one of the Hufflepuff prefects overheard Hooch telling Sprout that the Quidditch players all have to be picked before the Soccer tryouts and those are scheduled for Sunday."

"I thought we had until Monday to sign up?" Dinah asked surprised.

"For the other clubs." Rupert explained. "I checked. The Quidditch list doesn't give a deadline, but the Soccer one says Sunday morning. All the other lists all say Monday."

"So what is it to us when the Quidditch tryouts are held?" Tullia asked. "None of us are trying out anyway."

"But maybe we can watch." suggested Anny. "I want to see them fly."

"Of course we'll watch." declared Pank. "It's a matter of house loyalty. We have to support our house team every way we can."

"You missed the Ravenclaws' Quidditch tryouts." Colleen smirked as she walked into the Potions classroom at one minute to ten on Saturday morning. "They just ended."

"And you were almost late for class." Danny scolded. "You know how easily Professor Snape takes points for that."

"Only off the other houses." Dinah corrected. "Slytherins only need to come up with a good excuse."

"I'm not late." Colleen insisted. "I'm right on time."

Several Ravenclaws were late however and Professor Snape didn't let the Quidditch tryouts count as an excuse.

"You're not even allowed to try out, yet, so I don't see why you had to be at the tryouts." he declared.

"Professor Hugge even gave the second years the first lesson off so they could attend." Lucinda Iterton complained.

"That," Snape stated softly, but with a deadly glare. "Is Professor Hugge's business and second years are allowed to be on a Quidditch team so their situation was different. Now get out your books and open them to page five before I take any more points for delaying class."

The Ravenclaws grumbled, but complied.

Billy softly hummed to himself as he stirred his cauldron. When he was brewing in this mood he hardly noticed anything around him. Today's potion might be terribly simple, but he liked it nevertheless.

"Ms Nocturne and Ms Iterton!" his father barked suddenly tearing him out of his concentration. "Whatever is so important that you have to discuss it right now?"

Colleen and Lucinda were standing in front of the ingredients cupboard blocking access to it for the rest of the class. A really stupid move, Billy knew. Considering that a Slytherin was involved his Dad might have let a short conversation slide, if it had been held somewhere a little more out of the way.

"Perhaps we all would like to know?" Snape hinted when the girls just stood there staring at their feet. "Well?"

"Nothing." Lucinda admitted. "I was just telling Colleen that Professor Hugge gave this lesson off as well, so his students could watch the Hufflepuff tryouts."

"Well, isn't that nice?" Snape sneered. "As I said before it is Professor Hugge's business how he plans to make up for the lost time. We have a lot of important basics to cover this year and I don't think you want to put in an extra lesson on Sunday to catch up, do you?"

Of course they didn't. They might miss the Soccer tryouts and at least in Slytherin too many of them had signed up for those.

"Or maybe you think that I'm going too slowly and would like me to speed up a little?" Snape continued. "Is this potion too easy for you?"

'Yes, Dad.' Billy thought, but wisely refrained from saying so. After all he knew that his classmates were finding it difficult.

So far Tullia seemed to be doing best, he decided as he watched them work while letting his potion cool off. She was interested and worked diligently when she wasn't daydreaming. Danny had taken to giving her a gentle push whenever she started drifting off and it looked like that method was working.

Anny and Dinah were doing okay as well. They'd both said that brewing reminded them of cooking. Unfortunately the boys never seemed to have learned how to cook, though.

Gangolf was doing worst, because on top of not having any experience with hot cauldrons or even pots he was also afraid of burning himself. As a result he threw his ingredients in from too far away causing hot water to splash out all the time and he stirred from the side holding the stirrer by its very end with two fingers.

Colleen still was disgusted by some ingredients, but this time had thought of bringing her dragon hide gloves along. She ought to get herself plastic ones, Billy thought. Those would serve her better.

She also seemed to have very little experience with kitchen knives and found it difficult to cut and slice correctly.

Aterus had never been allowed to handle a sharp knife at home and was struggling with a similar problem. Occasionally Billy helped him out a little. His Dad had asked him to help his classmates after all, hadn't he?

The next house to have Quidditch tryouts was Gryffindor who were up right after lunch. It was a little daunting to see them set off for the pitch straight after the meal. The whole house appeared to be going and they were shouting and laughing and making boasts that rang through the entire great hall.

They seemed like just one big gang, Billy thought and moved closer to his dorm mates.

Even Colleen seemed daunted by that display and remained in her seat.

The fist years sat looking at each other for a while, waiting for somebody to make the first move.

"Are you sure it'll be safe to watch their tryouts?" Gangolf finally asked. "What if they attack us?"

"We just have to stick together." Pank declared, but didn't sound entirely sure of himself.

"There's a lot of them and most are older than us." Billy pointed out. "Our numbers won't help us, if we're attacked by a large group of older students."

"The older ones will ignore us like they always do." Pank said.

"Are you sure?" Gangolf asked.

"Maybe they think we have no business watching their Quidditch team." Billy pointed out. "They might see it as spying."

"Lets stick behind the older Slytherins, then." Rupert suggested. "That should be safe."

It was, but it also turned out to be a bad position to watch from. They could only see those candidates who flew very high past the heads of the taller students.

"Professor Hooch and the old team members are standing near the right side hoops." Danny reported after a daring expedition to the front of the crowd of watchers. "I think they're taking notes."

"That's what they did for Ravenclaw, too." Colleen confirmed her suspicion. "Do you know how they tell the individual candidates apart up there?"

"I suppose they know their house mates better than we do and recognise them more easily." Danny shrugged.

"They might have assigned a watcher to each candidate." suggested Billy.

"This is boring." Gangolf decided. "I'm going back to the common room."

"Don't get lost." Pank called after him. It didn't seem necessary to warn him to watch out for Gryffindors. They were all here watching the Quidditch tryouts after all."

Things became much more interesting when the Gryfindors left and the Slytherin candidates started to gather on the field. The crowd got much thinner for a while and they went up to the front where they'd be able to see what was really going on.

"There's the team." Danny pointed excitedly.

"There's quite a lot of them." Rupert commented. "Are you sure they're all on the team?"

"There should be fourteen." Billy explained. "Seven for the actual team and seven reserve players. They don't always really have seven reserves, though. Four's the minimum."

"This year there are only two openings on the real team." Danny added. "A chaser and a beater. I don't know about the reserves."

"Only one opening." an older boy who'd been standing next to them informed them. "But it's the keeper, so it needs to be filled. Without a reserve keeper we'd have to forfeit, if our keeper ever got hurt. You can play missing a chaser or beater, but you definitely need the keeper and seeker."

"So there are three openings for all those people?" Anny asked looking at the about twelve hopeful candidates that had gathered on the pitch. "And only two that actually get to play."

"They can't be sure of that either." the older student replied. "A player would have to be really good to be accepted into the main team after only one trial. Most likely they'll promote the two best reserve players and put all the new ones on the reserves."

"Sounds very hard to get in." Tullia commented. "Are you sure you want to do that, Danny?"

Danny shrugged. "I have seven years. If I get on the reserves next year, there are still five chances to make the main team."

"Hey, first years! First years!" A boy who Pank thought was a third year squeezed himself through the once again tightening crowd and stopped in front of them panting. "That girly boy of yours, the one with the mirror ... I don't know his name."

"Gangolf." Pank stated. "Gangolf Bartering. Why? What about him?"

"He's in the hospital wing." the boy panted.

"What?" Pank just couldn't believe it. "But he was here only minutes ago. He said he was just going back to the common room."

"Yes, well, once there he decided to annoy everybody by prancing around and saying he was a ballet star and Calligula lost his temper and gave him a little push." the boy reported. "Gangolf fell and started crying so much the prefect levitated him to the hospital wing. I just thought you ought to know."

Pank nodded. "Thank you. We'll check up on him, if he isn't back in an hour or so."

"Ha, Mirrorboy was probably just crying because he's so scared of big, bad Calligula Lestrange." Danny snorted. "He's just a cowardly little baby, that's all."

She was probably right, but still Pank couldn't quite enjoy the Quidditch tryouts after that. What if Gangolf really was hurt? Shouldn't they check up on him to make sure he as okay and didn't need them?

But the others would be disappointed, if they missed the tryouts and it turned out that Gangolf had only scraped his knees. Perhaps it would be the responsible thing to do to go himself and leave the others here?

Was it a good idea to leave the others on their own, though? And would he be safe walking through the castle on his own?

In the end Pank and Rupert went straight to the hospital wing after the tryouts were officially over.

"We're here to visit Gangolf Bartering." Pank told Madame Pomfrey. "A Slytherin first year."

"From what we were told he fell when dancing in the common room and hurt himself." Rupert added.

"Did he?" Madame Pomfrey asked. "He told me he was attacked by a group of third years."

Rupert shrugged. "That's the story we heard. We didn't see it happen."

Madame Pomfrey sighed. "Well, he's probably embarrassed by his clumsiness. Don't tease him about it!"

"Of course not." Pank promised. "We're his friends."

"So is he hurt badly?" Rupert added.

"No, no, not at all. He just bruised his knee and hand. I already sent him back to the common room. You must have missed him by seconds."

Indeed Gangolf was perfectly fine when they met him at dinner. Perfectly fine and eating salad again.

"Don't you think you should eat something more after your injury?" Dinah asked him. "You know, to rebuild your strength."

"I don't want to get fat." Gangolf explained. "I didn't even miss any meals."

"You won't get fat, Mirrorboy." Danny rolled her eyes. "You're so thin Professor Hooch is probably worried that the wind will blow you away when you finally get your broom in the air."

Gangolf shuddered.

"Hey, what's going on at the head table?" Rupert pointed to the front of the room where Professor Hooch was talking to three students.

As they watched two more students walked up to the group. One of them bent in, said something to Hooch and handed her a parchment. Hooch opened and read the roll, then pointed at something on it and looked to the student as if she'd just asked a question.

The student spoke again. Hooch regarded the parchment for a moment longer, then nodded and pushed it over to the headmaster and returned to her conversation with the three first students, while the two others went to the Ravenclaw table.

"That's the Gryffindor Quidditch captain." Colleen reported nodding towards the group still at the head table.

"Which one?" Pank asked. "The blond?"

"No, the tall redhead. The blond's their keeper."

Cheers rose up from the Ravenclaw table and now a large group of Hufflepuffs was approaching the head table. They too handed in a parchment, which apparently met Hooch's approval right away as she passed it on to the headmaster without any further questions.

Now all of Hufflepuff was cheering.

"It must be the names of the newly appointed Quidditch players they're handing in." Danny realised. "They have to be approved by the teachers."

"Isn't the headmaster supposed to do that?" asked Tullia.

"I guess he trusts in Hooch's judgement." Danny decided. "She'd have to know best how well they fly. Dumbledore wasn't even at the tryouts."

"So what's with the Gryffindors?" Rupert asked as the Slytherin captain handed in his list.

"Looks like Hooch doesn't agree with one of their choices." Billy suggested.

The Slytherin captain said something to his Gryffindor counterpart and the other two Gryffindors had to hold their captain back while the lone Slytherin sauntered back to the table smirking in triumph.

Soon the names of the new members of the Quidditch team were whispered down the length of the table. No loud cheering here, just quiet congratulations. There wasn't that much cause for it anyway. The three newcomers had indeed all been placed with the reserves.

They were almost finished eating by the time the Gryffindors finally returned to their table as well and Dumbledore got up.

"Just a moment please!" the headmaster called out to the assembled students. "I'd just like to take the chance to congratulate all the new members of our Quidditch teams while we are all gathered here."

There was a round of applause and most students turned back to their meals, but Dumbledore wasn't done.

"For those of you who didn't make it, I'd like to remind you that you can still sign up for the Soccer club today." he continued. "You may already have noticed that we have more openings than usual. That's because we have decided to attempt to run two Soccer clubs this year. Our new partner school West Hogsmeade has that many as well and we thought it might even our chances at the games against them. Yes, there will be the chance to actually represent Hogwarts in real Soccer games this year. How does that sound?"

Cheers went up from all of the houses this time, though not quite as loud as they had been for the Quidditch players.

By the time the first years returned to the common room the list of names for the Soccer club had definitely grown, though.

ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies – Not to hungry hedgehogs and foxes. We think they smell edible.

Mystical Witch – I've met British people who don't like Soccer, so even if Quopot were the national sport of Spain, Jorge might not be a fan.

Wirretine – Mal sehen: Bei Pank bin ich noch nicht sicher. Es würde passen, aber könnte keinen Platz in der Story finden. ... Jorge wird sich als echter Hufflepuff mit fast jedem anfreunden. Wenn er erst einmal besser Englisch kann hat er ja alle Möglichkeiten dazu. ... Sevi und Draco werden wieder auftreten, aber das ist die Geschichte von Billy und seinen Freunden. (War nie geplant so weit zu gehen, aber das ist die Geschichte die erzählt werden will.) ... Potionsstunde siehe oben. ... Billy ist im Moment in keiner Gang. Die Wannabes haben keinen so engen Zusammenhalt wie die Bande selbst, und die Bande hat ihn noch nicht aufgenommen. Es kann sein, dass wir einige Rakers treffen wenn Billy turnen geht. zwei Schulfreunde von ihm sind uns übrigens schon über den Weg gelaufen. (Flugstunde. Er hatte die beiden schon früher erwähnt.) ... Ich werde auf jeden Fall die Tryouts für das Team beschreiben. Ob ich dann auch eine Trainingstunde einfüge hängt von Greenie ab.

The Last Lion war ein Plothedhehog (Ich denke wirklich jedes Mal hedgehog bevor ich mich erinnere, dass die Tiere Igel heißen. Irgendwie passt das Wort so gut zu dem Tier.) das mich nicht loslassen wollte, also musste ich es mir wegschreiben. Wie es weitergehen könnte, was die Gründe für das Verschwinden der Gryffindors waren, das alles habe ich beim Schreiben nicht gewusst. Als dann immer mehr Leute eine Fortsetzung wollten, sind mir schließlich für beides verschiedenste Möglichkeiten eingefallen und je nach der Frage, die man sich dann stellt gäbe es ganz unterschiedliche Fics und Genres in denen es sich fortsetzen ließe. Ich habe aber wirklich keine Zeit dafür. Eigentlich sollte ich mitten im Schreiben von The Catar sein. Dann ist da noch eine Geistergeschichte, die ich eventuell für dieses Fandom schreiben möchte, und eine andere mit dem Arbeitstitel Guard the Base. Im Saber Rider Fandom sollte Both or Neither längst fertig sein und ich an seinem Sequel Nemo arbeiten. Außerdem ist da not eine Sammlung Plothedgehogs für ein SR AU namens Coeducation. Dann ist da ein ziemlich langes unveröffentlichtes Transformers Fic das ich abgebrochen habe um Both or Neither schreiben zu können, ein Transformers Challenge Fic, das ich fertig kriegen muss, zwei Hausübungen für einen Fernlehrkurs, die vor Dezember eingeschickt sein müssen und drei Ideen, die ich versuchen möchte in Bücher zu verarbeiten. Wenn ich Zeit für ein zusätzliches langes Fic sehen würde, würde ich gerne die Epiloge zu MNS und Double O in ein eigenes Fic verwandeln, aber leider ... Jedenfalls habe ich damals beschlossen TLL in eine Challenge zu verwandeln. Jeder ist gerne eingeladen eine Fortsetzung zu schreiben und mir ein Link zu schicken. Ich verspreche zu reviewen. Offenbar will aber keiner. (Sniff!)

midnight tiger – Thank you for reading it!

Pam Briggs – No, I don't think Jorge will get his own chapter. He's supposed to be only a supporting character and I already have quite a large cast to handle as it is. Ten POV characters are quite enough, believe me. Yes, Gangolf is getting more and more unhappy at Hogwarts. Poor boy just doesn't fit in.

Iremione – It's something that's important to me that friends can be and should be different and individual. I think they make a nice group with only Gangolf and Colleen not quite fitting in at this point. ... I suspect Colleen was just so tired that night that she placed them in a very unlikely place where they might have been accidentally dusted into a crack by a house elf. They're gone is the only thing that's really important about those pins. ... As you can see Colleen is already making first steps towards accepting Anny. ... Aterus is very insecure. He has never had the chance to develop any social skills, but knows that he desperately needs them or will end up in a similar situation as Colleen. Having no idea how to make friends he assumes (see your earlier remark) that one has to be exactly like the others and share all their opinions in order to fit in. Any mistake could cost him the only friends he's had in his life. (I thought very much like that at his age. I used to pretend to think completely differently than I do and cry about being different from my classmates. It took me a while to get to: I'm me. And I added: And I don't need any friends. to that back then. I'm me and friends are people who like me as me is something I didn't learn until I was about 18. Aterus has had a more extreme version of my childhood, but I'm trying to make his school days better anyway. Billy is a very good and accepting friend and will teach him that he can be himself.) Aterus didn't really choose Billy, by the way. Billy chose him. He saw very soon that Pank and Rupert were a good match and out of Gangolf and Aterus, he liked Aterus best. It also helped that they happened to sit next to each other at the welcoming feast. Only Danny is able to judge Billy's fighting skills. The others wouldn't think of that, nor do they have the ability to recognise these things yet. No, Aterus isn't stupid. He's just afraid of showing his own thoughts as he believes hat that will make him an outsider. ... We'll see. In time the green uniforms will become a normal sight at Hogwarts and the students' thoughts about West Hogsmeade will change. It might take years for it becoming completely commonplace to befriend West Hogsmeade kids, but Sevi is looking at the big picture here. For now he has arranged contact between the schools. Hogwarts can no longer pretend that West Hogsmeade doesn't exist. The teachers will get to talk, will exchange experiences and knowledge and make friends. It's a start. ... My primary class had 26 students. Three called Verena, two Michael, two Martin. The Hogwarts children tend to have very unusual names though, except for the Muggle borns and hence I assume repetitions in one year are less likely. At West Hogsmead we do get the same given name in one class, but those kids' habit of using nicknames makes it easy for them to differentiate. (Ricky, Richy and Dick all mean Richard. Bob, Bobby, Robby, Bert and Rob stand for Robert. Mick, Mike, Micky and Mitch mean Michael. And do you know al the forms for Elizabeth? And then you can always go by a name like Bubbles, Sparks or Curly. ...) I think it makes it easier to keep the characters apart, if each has his or her own first name, but I've slipped up quite a lot actually. In double O I had two boys named Phelan of all things! (I think they were even in the same years, though different houses.) And in Runaway Dragon both the Rakers and the wannabes had a kid named Bobby. (To say nothing of the fact that both of Larry's brothers accidentally ended up with versions of Robert for their names. The siblings Rob and Bob were probably christened Robert and Roberta or maybe Robin. ... No Flying and Gangolf don't mix well. Unfortunately it's not an elective. ... Jorge might indeed be an excellent flyer, but I won't break the no first years on the Quidditch team rule (That's so Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu!) and he isn't in the Slytherin/West Hogsmeade Flying class. I've played it all through with the student numbers and with Hogwarts and Hogsmeade added, then the Squibs detracted I get four classes of 22 students which is already large for Hooch, but more will not fit the schedule. Four classes and four houses make it the most practical idea to put each house into one of the classes then fill up the numbers with West Hogsmeade students. Hence Jorge is in the Hufflepuff/West Hogsmeade Flying class. (Okay, maybe I just had an idea how I could tweak this to put him into the Slytherin class after all. We'll see.) ... Colleen nees time to unlearn the things her family taught her one by one. Too much at once would be asking too much. She's currently learning that non-purebloods are people too and that Sevi is someone she can trust. ... No, no, I'm just assuming that Jorge either went to a wizarding primary school or was home schooled, so he wouldn't have had the Spanish Muggle curriculum. (I'm modelling him after a classmate I had at 14 a little. Dita arrived from Romania a week or two before the start of the school year. She came into our class and the only German she knew was: 'Hello, my name is Dita.' Besides Romanian the only other language she spoke was Russian and nobody in our class spoke either. On our first school outing that year she told me how much she hated having an accent! Due to her not understanding the language her grades didn't count, but she was graded like the rest of us. At the end of that year she'd passed German, got an average grade in English and was top of the class in everything else. 'So Dita, what are your next plans?' our head of class asked her on the last day of school. 'To arrange that my grades will count next year and to work on my accent.' Dita answered. ... With three other girls in class whose grades didn't count either and who'd been living in Austria so long that they didn't even have an accent!) ... Minerva simply wasn't thinking about Tullia's feelings. All she saw was a Slytherin, who would surely lord it over the Gryffindors that she could climb trees and keep her head underwater for so long. She'd no doubt taunt and sneer at them until they tried to prove they could do it as well and got themselves hurt in the process. ... As far as I'm concerned I'll keep hinting in my review responses. People who don't want hints can simply scroll past them. (That's why they are at the end after all. If you don't intend to review, you can even stop when you reach them.) ... Okay, let me rephrase that: 'Show me the Gryffindor student that's friend with teacher Severus.' is what I meant. Friendships in his student days or with other teachers are not what I was thinking of. And I don't think Albus is really just friends with Seivi, because it's of use in he fight against Voldemort. He does really mean it. Sevi however is incapable of realising that. ... Befriend has nothing to do with being a sex symbol. In fact Colleen isn't mature enough to have such thoughts, yet. (I know a lot of writers make their first years fall in love, but it just isn't realistic. I won't do it until at least third year. They might play at being in love with another child their age, but not start mooning over an adult. That's has to wait for puberty.) ... I don't think this was the talk you were thinking of, but remember that Colleen doesn't yet trust Sevi. Attacking the foundations of her world view now would only scare her and set her against him. Sevi has experience with this: First he has to build up a trusting relationship with the student, then gently take up the issues one by one discussing the prejudices and stating his own opinion. Once he has reached role model status that will be enough to guide the student without using force or having to fight over it. ... Yes, Danny is quite good at judging her classmates. Gangolf is the real problem case here.

A/N: Is Colleen starting to like Anny? Will Gangolf ever learn to avoid trouble? And is Caligula Lestrange always that dangerous?

In the next chapter: The Soccer tryouts. Our first years visit West Hogsmeade for the first time and Draco shows up again.