Chapter 12: Big Snobs and Broomsticks


I stormed, still fuming, into the Entrance Hall; a couple of first years, just leaving breakfast, moved out of my way quickly, fear in their eyes.

Stupid Malfoy, I thought, Stupid Flint. Ruining a perfectly good morning... I had barely made it more than a few steps inside when I felt a presence on either side of me, steering me towards an alcove hidden behind one of the many stairwells.

"That was bloody brilliant!" George whispered to me, he and his twin grinning madly at me. I shrugged.

"Someone had to do it," I said, some of the tenseness leaving me and I smiled up at them, "Besides, it felt...really good!"

"Looked good, too!" Fred said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as George ruffled my hair under my hat. I pushed them aside, moving out of the alcove and around the stairs towards the direction of the Hufflepuff common room.

"Where're you going?" George asked, him and Fred catching up to me quickly; I noticed they hadn't changed out of their quidditch robes yet.

"Grabbing my broom, because...well," I sighed, "Since your practice got cancelled, I figured I could maybe borrow you both and keep practicing for tryouts tomorrow… If you guys don't mind, that is." They smiled broadly at this, and each grabbed my arm and began leading me down the stairs to the basement.


"What if I'm not ready?"

"Trust me, you're ready, now let's go!" Tammy dragged me from the locker room on the pitch, bringing me towards the small crowd of hopeful Hufflepuffs also trying out for the team. Each of us wore a jersey shirt of some shade of yellow and leather padding, with numbers written on parchment pinned to our backs. Tammy pulled me towards the front, turning me around and pinning a piece of parchment with the number 22 written on it to my back. My eyes scanned the stadium as she worked, looking across the empty stands for a familiar face.

"Where's Willow?" I asked, "I thought she was going to come watch?" Tammy shook her head.

"No idea," she said, "Maybe she's caught ill? Flu's starting to go around - maybe she's gone for a Pepperup potion?" She didn't sound too worried, so I shrugged and watched her walk over to the rest of the official team, who were wearing their team robes. I could see Max and Rickett arguing over something near the back of their group, with a handsome blond boy smiling and shaking his head at them. Another blond boy stood near Tammy and a tall brunette, chatting quietly amongst themselves. Then the brunette girl cut off the conversation and turned to us, her ponytail swishing add her thin, dark eyes scanned the crowd.

"All right!" she called, quieting everyone and calling attention to the front, "We're going to separate you all into groups! Those trying out for Truman's old spot as keeper, come stand over by Applebee and Stebbins." She gestured to Tammy and the other boy, who had moved over farther to the left of the field. I, along with at least 11 or 12 others, moved to stand over by them; only about 6 stayed where they were.

"Good," the brunette continued, "Now for the rest of–Smith!" Everyone turned to see short blond boy standing in the crowd, smug grin on his face and expensive, new broom in hand. "First years aren't allowed to try out! Get back to the castle!" Smith glowered at her.

"Potter got to join the Gryffindor team his first year!" he argued, stomping his foot, "Tell me, Macavoy, what makes him so special?"

"Professor McGonagall made an exception for him because of his skill as a seeker," the blond boy by Max responded calmly, "It was a special case, and she had the support and agreement of the headmaster and the other heads of house."

"Precisely," the brunette - Macavoy - continued, "You, however, Smith, don't even have the support of Professor Sprout, let alone anyone else. Now, I suggest you leave, before I decide to get Sprout to keep you from trying out next year, as well." Zacharias snorted but complied, tearing the number off his shirt and stomping into the grass before turning on his heel and marching back to the castle.

"As I was saying, the rest of you will be trying out for alternate," Macavoy said, directing them toward Max and the others, "If anyone on the team gets injured, we'll need an alternate to fill in for them on the team."

Everything moved pretty quickly after that. Max and Rickett (Anthony, I learned his first named was) worked with Cedric (the handsome blond that I should've recognized sooner, but didn't) to do reserve-position tryouts, while Heidi Macavoy - the team captain - worked with Tammy and Jason Stebbins - the third chaser - to begin testing the rest of us for keeper. We moved over towards one set of goal-posts, and flew up one by one. Each person had to knock the quaffle away from the goals as many times as possible out of the six times they threw it towards them. It didn't look very easy - Stebbins may have been an easy shot to knock down, but Macavoy and Tammy were fast, throwing the ball almost too quick to see. Nearly half of the group missed more than they knocked away. But, I noticed something else.

There's a pattern, I thought. They seemed to pass the ball at least twice before trying to score each round, and like clockwork, each one had their own hoop that they attempted to throw towards - Macavoy on the right, Stebbins the left, and Tammy in the middle. I watched this continue, memorizing their movements.

Finally, it was my turn.

I kicked off the ground and flew up, hovering between the goals as I faced Macavoy.

"Remember," she said, "knock as many away as you can." I nodded, and she circled back around to the other two. Tammy had the quaffle, weaving around the pitch with it under her arm before tossing it to Macavoy, who quickly tossed it to Stebbins. Stebbins then rushed forward and chucked the ball towards the left post. As predicted… I swerved over and knocked the ball away with the back of my arm. Tammy swooped under and caught it, then tossed it to Stebbins again as they reset.

Three more tries, and three more balls I knocked out - two more from Stebbins on the left, and one from Tammy in the middle. Macavoy began rushing towards me next, quaffle in hand; it had already been passed once, so I watched carefully for it to be passed again. Tammy flew in next to her, and grabbed the ball, rushing past her. I focused in, hovering in front of the center ring. Tammy's hand slipped, and she dropped–Wait!

The ball wasn't in her hands. She had never taken it. Macavoy rushed up behind her on the right, and tossed the ball at the left hoop. I jerked to the side, just barely managing to kick the ball aside before it went through.

"Don't get complacent!" Macavoy yelled, "Patterns are used to trick you! Focus on where the ball is, not where it should be!" I shook my head - feeling dumb for falling for the ploy - and focused my attention on the ball again, catching it as Stebbins tried to throw it through the right hoop.

"Excellent. Next!" I touched back down next to the rest of the group. I stood near the back now, barely paying attention as the last few were tested. Finally, we were released with the promise that the team posting would be up by breakfast on Monday, and we all headed back to the locker room to change.

"Nicely done, McIntosh!" a boy with strawberry-blond hair said, clapping me on the shoulder. I shrugged it off.

"I didn't do that well…" I said. I couldn't even figure out that the pattern was a trick! He shook his head.

"You kiddin'? You're the only one who blocked all six shots! It was amazing!" I slowed to a stop, thinking over his words.

Me? I got all six shots? "But how? I could've sworn…"

"Munslow and Fleet got five each, but Macavoy's too fast for them," he continued, "I'd say you've got a damn good shot at making the team!" I looked back up at him, smiling as I met his blue-gray eyes.

"Thanks," I said, "I'm Rosie, by the way." I held out my hand, and he shook it.

"We all know that," he laughed, "You aren't exactly 'blending in', you know." He gestured to my hair. "I'm Ernie, Ernie Macmillan."

"Nice to meet you. See you around!" I waved at him, and then headed to the lockers. After changing and fixing my hair again, I went up to the castle, meeting up with Max and Cedric outside the entrance.

"Hey!" Max called, pulling my under her arm and mussing my hair, "Great job out there! You were amazing!" I pushed her off, laughing.

"Thanks," I said to her, then turned to Cedric, "Hi, I'm Rosie." He nodded, shaking my hand.

"Cedric," he answered, "Good to meet you."

"You as well." Max groaned and punched my shoulder, just hard enough to get my attention.

"Heidi's just told us!" she said, "You made the team!" I gasped.

"No way!" I cried, "Seriously?" Cedric nodded.

"Completely serious," he said, "You were the only one to block every shot. It wasn't a very difficult decision." I squealed, hugging Max fiercely around the middle. She laughed and shoved me back, but I was too excited to care.

"I've gotta go," I said, brushing past them and inside the castle, "See you later!" I started running up the stairs, headed towards where I figured the Gryffindor common room was.

I've got to tell Fred and George! I ran up to the fifth floor, and almost hopped onto the next staircase when I saw the twins and Lee, walking out of one of the rooms laughing. I ran towards them, my grin so big it hurt.

"Guys!" I called, grabbing their attention, "Guys!"

"Hey, Rosie, how'd it go?" George asked. I ran up and threw my arms around his shoulders.

"I did it!" I said, "I made the team!" He laughed and hugged me back, lifting me up off the ground for a moment.

"That's awesome, Rosie!" He said as he put me back down. Lee threw an arm over my shoulder and pulled my into a half-hug.

"Way to go, Rosie!" Fred shook his head, a smirk on his face.

"Don't expect us to go easy on you," he said slyly, "Rough game, quidditch. Anything can happen…" I pulled away from the others, hands on my hips as I stared up at Fred with a smirk of my own.

"Is that a challenge, Weasley?" I asked. He inched closer.

"No, McIntosh─a promise." We stared down for a moment, hardly blinking, before I dissolved into giggles; I was too excited to even pretend to be serious, apparently. He eased up, too, smiling brightly before picking me up and spinning me around.

"We're proud of you, Rosie-Posie," he said. I smiled, burying my face in his shoulder for a moment.

Then shooting back up instantly, coughing.

"You're covered in gunpowder!" I exclaimed, pushing off him and back to my feet; I wiped my hand across my nose, covering it in the black powder. All three of them started laughing. "What the hell have you been up to while I was gone?!"

"We've set up a prank outside the Prefects' bathroom," George said, taking my arm and pulling me down the hall, "Come on, you've got to see!" I walked along with them, wiping the black off my face with my sweater sleeve as we walked. They began explaining some details of the prank, but I couldn't entirely focus, still too hyped.

I can't believe it, I thought, I made the Hufflepuff quidditch team!


A/n: Hey everyone! Happy New Year! I know the ending to this chapter's a little lame, but I wanted to try and finish it before I go back to school on Monday. It might be a little while before chapter 13, but I promise I've at least started it by this point. Hope you enjoyed!

-H. E. Vaughn

(PS, don't forget: I've got outfits designed for Rosie on Polyvore - mostly for fun on my part, but still... just remove the spaces, and the link will work!)

www . polyvore trapped_in_rowling / collection?id = 4881504