Well, I survived testing and now I've got a summer of freedom ahead of me. (Unless I get a job...I'm crossing my fingers!) Hope you like Chapter 3!
Lily was true to her word. The next morning I was shaken awake by Marlene at a frankly indecent hour, and Lily and Alice had already left.
"Mmph...What?" I mumbled. Of course, Marlene had interrupted a perfectly lovely dream. Never mind that it was about her boyfriend...
I felt a guilty twinge in my chest and forced my bleary eyes open.
"Come on, Dorkie, they left without us!" Marlene knew that the stupid name worked on my sleepiness better than coffee. I heaved myself up (from my very, very comfy bed) and started pulling clothes on from the pile near my four-poster.
Marlene looked on in amusement, giving me helpful pointers every now and then: "Those aren't pants." "Take the hat off, it's September." I'm really not a morning person.
Finally, we made it out of the castle and were walking up towards the Quidditch pitch. It was an absolutely beautiful morning - comfortably cool, and the usually bustling grounds were calm and serene.
"It's nice out," I remarked to Marlene.
"Well if you woke up before noon on a weekend once in a while..." she retorted. For the record, Marlene was one of those people who are always annoyingly perky in the morning. She probably would have been skipping along picking flowers if I wasn't there. Appalling.
I could see people whizzing about above the pitch from far away. Not two people, either - it looked like at least a whole team, flying in formations as if they were running drills.
Marlene looked confused. "Lily said they were coming out here to practice. They were borrowing school brooms - got special permission from McGonagall on account of the tryouts."
"Looks more like a team," I replied, squinting at the sky.
Well, it was a team. The Gryffindor one, to be exact. Apparently James was just as stubborn as our Lily - he had called an "emergency practice" for that morning.
"Emergency practice my arse," Marlene growled at Frank Longbottom, the only player nice enough to come down and talk to us. Even Sirius had stayed in the air, which didn't help Marlene's mood (not that I minded, considering I looked like I'd been through a hurricane). "He didn't want Alice training. I swear I'll kill him, and Sirius too." She sounded like she meant it, and Frank paled a bit.
"Well, I just did what James asked," he said. I guess he didn't want to get on Marlene's bad side. (A wise choice, trust me.) "But anyway, it doesn't matter. Lily shouted at James for a minute or two, and then she said she would practice anyway. I think they're flying somewhere by the lake now."
"Oh great, more walking," I grumbled, pulling Marlene away from the team practice.
Frank was right. Lily and Alice were indeed practicing by the lake, high in the air. From the ground we could see that one of the two was a passable flier, but the other was simply awful. I sincerely hoped it was Lily.
THUD!
I yelped as a golf ball hit the grass inches from my foot. The next moment, someone toppled to the ground next to me. It was Alice. Lily followed behind, landing somewhat more gracefully.
"Alright, you almost caught it that time," said Lily tersely.
"Only because you hit me with it..." murmured Alice. There were tears in her eyes, not surprising considering her rather uncomfortable-looking landing.
"So how's it going?" I said brightly, hoping this was just a rough spot in the training.
"Horrible!" sobbed Alice. Maybe she wasn't crying from the fall after all. "I can't fly worth anything!"
Marlene and I looked at each other, confused. "You told everyone you were pretty good," I said.
"Yeah, she's great on a Junior Shooting Star," Lily grumbled. "That's what she had at home."
Alice sobbed again. "I'm s-sorry Lily! I really want to be on the team!"
I was surprised. "Why?" I asked. It wasn't the nicest thing to say, probably, but I knew everyone else was wondering. I mean, she'd never said a word about Quidditch before, what had changed?
Alice blushed and looked away. "To help Lily?"
I started laughing, but shut up when Lily and Marlene glared at me.
"It doesn't matter, Alice, we'll make sure you get on that team. I can't believe James' nerve! And you know what, we've actually been getting along!"
We all looked at Lily, surprised. "Really!" she said, grinning a little. "We've had to do tons of things together already, what with the Head meetings and all. But get him around his little friends and..." She glared at the distant Quidditch field.
"Anyway," she continued, dropping her school broomstick, "I just wanted to prove this to him. He's so cocky about Quidditch and I wanted him to see that I'm not like the stupid girls that fall all over him and Sirius."
"Like me?" Marlene said, offended. "And since when have you cared what James Potter thinks?"
"No! No, not like you," Lily answered, ignoring my amused look. "You and Sirius are...very close and..." She gulped, changing tack at the speed of light. "Besides, I don't care what Ja - Potter thinks, he's an arrogant jerk and I can't believe I ever talked to him!" Lily rounded on Alice, a fierce look in her eyes. "And you'll get on that team if it's the last thing we do."
This didn't sound good. "Er, we?" I asked timidly.
"Yes, we! You and Marlene will stand up for Alice in front of those boys! Won't you?" As if I would say no - she probably would have attacked me or something.
"Uh, yeah, but there are other people who're trying out, and they're bound to be..." I shot a look at Alice.
"Better," she finished with a sigh.
"No matter. We'll threaten them, or use blackmail, you know. Whatever it takes." Lily said calmly.
Alice, Marlene, and I exchanged looks. Marlene cleared her throat and said, "Lily, er, I think it's time you went inside to cool down. Alice can practice with Rae, and I'll take you to the castle."
Oh, convenient. I shot Marlene a look and she grinned at me. "Fine," I said, and grabbed the old broom from the ground where Lily had dropped it. "Nothing else I'd like to do at seven in the morning."
Alice beamed. I picked up their golf ball and threw it into the air. "Go fetch!" I said, winking at Lily. Bad decision. She practically pushed me onto the broom, and prattled on for ten minutes about "Seeker training methods" and "likely trajectories". Meanwhile, Alice had actually tried to catch the stupid ball, and was now picking herself off the ground again.
I reluctantly rose into the air (although not very far - I hate heights) and started chucking the ball around for Alice. She generally either fell off her broom or got hit with it.
"How long until tryouts?" I asked, afraid of the answer.
"Two weeks!" she replied brightly, flailing wildly on her broomstick for the golf ball.
I held the little ball up. "Haven't, er, thrown it yet, Alice."
Her face fell. "Oh. I thought I almost had it."
The rest of the weekend was devoted to Alice's Quidditch practice, since we would barely have time during the week. We still hadn't gone to the pitch, instead flying about in random places around the grounds.
"The more secret the better," said Lily cheerily. "We don't want James seeing how well we're doing!" I suspected she actually didn't want James seeing how truly awful Alice was.
Nevertheless, she did improve. On Sunday evening, Alice only fell off her broom twice and actually managed to catch the ball three times. Lily was optimistic - "Next weekend we'll bring out the Snitch!" - but I had my doubts. James wasn't going to keel over and let Alice on the team if she wasn't really the best candidate. Arrogant or not, he was a decent Quidditch player.
One good thing (or bad, depending on who you were) was that Sirius and Marlene had cooled it off a little. They had disagreed about the Quidditch thing, of course. Furthermore, both had discovered that when your best friends are constantly fighting, it's hard to be together often.
That didn't mean the two refrained from their sickening public displays of affection (or more accurately, lust) but they were less frequent, and this was a welcome change. Also, with the fierce competition between James and Lily (he actually stopped asking her out) we girls stopped hanging out with the Marauders. Which was a shame, really, because we'd been having an awful lot of fun with those boys.
We certainly had other things on our mind, though. As classes started up again on Monday, we were beginning to learn what NEWT year really meant. The Auror track was difficult and demanding, and we were often up past midnight, quills scratching feverishly on never-ending essays.
This brought out the best in some (Lily had pinned a study and homework schedule to the walls), the worst in others (Peter Pettigrew routinely broke down in tears) and exhaustion in all. Poor Alice was practically dead on her feet, what with the practicing she did every evening and sometimes during mealtimes. It wasn't that bad for the rest of us, who just slouched on our brooms chucking golf balls, but Alice was perpetually tired and black-and-blue.
Defense Against the Dark Arts was by far the toughest class, not to mention a rude wake-up call. We entered the room for our first class to see clippings of the Daily Prophet on all of our desks. Looking through them, I saw that they were all notices of death or disappearance, mainly about Muggles, but sometimes featuring a prominent witch or wizard as well.
Professor Bones walked in as we looked at the articles. "Here in Hogwarts," she began in a clear, authoritative voice, "we are sometimes insulated against the outside world. This is not necessarily a bad thing - our school offers a haven from the troubles that often occur outside its walls. However, in times like these, it can become a burden. This year in class, I want to break down some of the barriers between Hogwarts and the rest of the Wizarding world. I want you to see" - she gestured to the newspaper clippings - "what is really going on nowadays, so that when you leave this spring, you will be prepared."
Professor Bones paused. "As I am sure you know, in recent years our world and way of life have become threatened. Dangerous witches and wizards, led by an elusive and powerful wizard named Lord Voldemort" - a shudder ran through the room - "have been terrorizing Muggles, known Muggle supporters, and Muggle-born witches and wizards." Her voice grew stronger. "This threat is not temporary, nor is it inapplicable to students such as yourselves. In this class I hope to teach you, not only how to defend yourselves, but how to recognize danger in its many forms. Please take out your wands."
Transfixed by Professor Bones' words, many students were caught unawares by her speech's sudden end, and sat gaping up at her in alarm.
"Take out your wands, please!" she said in a louder voice. "I will not tolerate incompetence. This class may be vital to your very lives." We complied, unusually silent. She broke us up into groups of two, cleared the desks from the room with a wave of her wand, and then told us to begin dueling. "Nonlethal spells, obviously, and do not attempt any physical harm. That being said, use any curse, jinx or hex you wish. You may begin!"
It was pandemonium. None of us (with the exception of James and Sirius, who had had a lot of practice) were great shakes at dueling. Wands ricocheted off the walls, people turned into various other things, some unrecognizable, and many were on the ground in a Full-Body Bind. This was basically random, since nobody could aim. I'm pretty sure I was hit with a Bat-Bogey curse from a Ravenclaw on the other side of the room. James Potter alone was left standing, his partner (Peter Pettigrew) laughing and skipping around in apparent glee, duel forgotten.
Professor Bones, who had momentarily been a tree frog, transformed back with a faint pop, shouted for us to stop, and waited while various curses wore off.
"Now that is exactly what I'm talking about. You probably know all about what to do if you see a Kappa, but you're hopeless at defending yourself. Line up again, and let's practice the three D's of dueling in a life-threatening situation - Disarming, Defense, and - "
"Decapitation?" suggested James Potter (Lily scoffed imperiously).
"No, Mr. Potter. Distance. In this sort of situation, winning is often too much to hope for, and your main objective is to get as far away as possible and avoiding injury, not trying to cause it."
We spent the rest of class learning nontraditional methods of disarming, to be used "only when the opponent is unaware or unprepared."
"3 D's? I've got a fourth: Depressing," muttered Sirius darkly as we left the room. It certainly hadn't been the most fun class, and we had been given a load of work already, but personally I thought it was a great wake-up call. Professor Bones certainly had many students reading the Daily Prophet, anyway.
The week flew by in a daze of studying and golf balls, and before I knew it the weekend had arrived. "One week to the showdown," Lily said darkly. You would have thought we were going to war.
Alice had now graduated to a Snitch, although we kept it within a smallish distance with a Containment Charm. She really was getting better. Who knows? I thought. Maybe she'll actually make the team. After all, a week ago she wouldn't have been able to stay on her broomstick for the whole tryout. And to make things even better, Marlene and Sirius got in a huge fight that Friday evening (although I felt horrible for being happy about this).
Things were definitely looking up. Even McGonagall abstained from giving us homework over the weekend: "I daresay you'll take the extra time to enjoy the weather, and perhaps practice a little Quidditch, eh Potter?" She gave him a downright frightening look. "That trophy looks lovely on my desk, you know."
She might have to go without it this year if Alice makes the team, I thought later that day as my friend clambered onto her broomstick. But who knows?
Feedback is very appreciated. Thanks for all your reviews and comments so far! And as for the anonymous reviewer thing, I had no idea it was on (thanks asian.marshmallow!). Anyway, it's not on anymore, so if you are anonymous, go nuts!
