Sorry for the late post, I went to my uncle's wedding and there was no reception (my first wedding, so exciting!), but I'm back now! Thanks everyone who was patient enough to wait for this, and welcome new followers and favourites - you have warmed the cockles of my heart (such a great expression).HT188, iwantsprezzatura, creelluka and xXRosexScorpiusXx thanks for your usual review, they're usually pretty funny! Guest "G" your review was really cute, don't worry I will definitely continue!

There were more people than Emma expected. Way more people. Then she realised that a third of them were wearing red robes. She glanced up at the stands where she could just make out her twin brother. She glared at him, knowing that he would have brought binoculars.

'Just checking out the competition, Sis'!' his magically enhanced voice came booming across the stadium.

Great, she thought. The Marauder fan club is here.

'Anyone who is not a Slytherin and at least a second-year, clear out of the stadium!' Emma touched her wand to her throat. Two can play at this, James.

'Let's start with the Chasers,' Emma said, her magnified voice echoing around the pitch. 'Separate yourselves into groups of three.'

There were seventeen people who wanted the position, including Lucinda and Cassandra Greengrass, who were the Chasers from the other years. Emma flew towards them, and told them to use basic manoeuvres.

'So Lucinda, Cassandra and I will be passing each other the Quaffle from one side of the pitch to the other. Each time, the trio will have to manage to take the Quaffle from us and score before we reach the other side,' Emma explained.

Several people were easily eliminated with this simple tactic, and eventually she had six people. She flew to hover in the middle of the stadium to watch them more closely, and made sure Lucinda and Cassandra were both on different teams. She got them to perform more complex tactics like the Finbourgh Flick: using their broomstick to hit the Quaffle into the goal, and the Dionysus Dive.

One boy tried this so enthusiastically that he was too far from his broomstick, and plummeted to the ground. Several shocked gasps were audible from the stands: by now most of the students had finished breakfast, and many Slytherins had come to see their team try-out: the only practice it was permitted to watch. Emma quickly rushed up and grabbed him, but her broom was unaccustomed to the extra weight and it was only marginally slower that they both dropped to hover a couple of feet above the ground.

'Now listen closely people. Only an idiot would try a Dionysus Dive if they didn't know how without the proper safety measures. This,' she dropped the boy, 'is a mild version of what would have happened if he had tried this on his own.'

The fourth-year landed awkwardly and crumpled as his ankle gave way beneath him.

'Rabastan, take him to the Hospital Wing please. Don't worry, Beater tryouts will be held last.'

The boy ignored Rabastan's proffered hand and tried to get up himself, but leaned on the older Slytherin as he realised his ankle was broken. Emma had expected him to shoot her a filthy look, maybe get angry, but he looked at her with an expression of awe and respect. Drawing confidence from that, she got back to business.

'Right, Chasers you can come back down. The results will be posted in the common room this evening, so relax and take a shower: you all did well.'

After the stick, the carrot, she thought. It had been Alecto's idea to only post the results later, so as to go over who would work well together, but also to increase the suspense, as well as hiding their team members for as long as possible.

'Seekers, you're up! This one's simple. I release the Snitch, and after thirty seconds,' she produced an hourglass, 'the first one to catch it is the Seeker.'

'Wait a minute!' James's magnified voice cried out. 'Snitches are only allowed at matches!'

'Ah but Madam Hooch agreed to let me use this one if my players used gloves,' Emma said smugly. She was proud of that, and knew James would be cursing the fact that he hadn't thought of it first.

She distributed dragon hide gloves usually used for Herbology out to each of the potential Seekers. Luckily there were only six of them, since she only had ten pairs.

'How did you get these?' Regulus asked as she handed him his gloves.

"Nicked 'em" she mouthed. It wouldn't do to confess with the increased volume of her voice. He grinned and mounted his broom.

'On your marks,' Emma released the Snitch and turned the hourglass around. 'Get set…Go!'

The six potential players zoomed into the air. A couple decided to search methodically, doing laps around the pitch. Regulus soared high over the pitch and was completely motionless for a couple of minutes. Suddenly he zoomed towards the middle hoop of the goal and it was over before the others had a chance to realise what was going on. Never doubted it, Emma thought with a grin, as he handed her the Snitch with a smirk and stalked off to the changing rooms.

For the Keepers, Emma had one man the hoops as the others zoomed around the field. She had four Bludgers in play, having also released the replacement ones for maximum distraction. She tried to score against them by herself, whilst the other players merely flew in front and behind. A couple were injured, but she noted with admiration that Bartemius Crouch managed to catch the Quaffle whilst nursing a broken limb. She had instructed Alecto to note down every catch and every miss with details. She was good at keeping notes.

They kept at it for thirty minutes: five for each possible Keeper, and by the time it had finished Emma was exhausted. Upon landing, one girl started complaining about the fouls and injuries.

'That's the game,' Emma snapped at her. 'Deal with it.'

They trooped off to the Hospital Wing, many supported by their friends who had ran out to see if they were alright. Emma received more than a few filthy looks, but she ignored them. Noticing that at some point Rabastan had rejoined the ranks of the twenty potential Beaters, she drew the remains of her energy together. She had to act quickly. Alecto had already handed half of them bats. The other half were looking slightly nervous. She was slightly nervous herself.

'Okay, all Beaters who have bats form a line!' she shouted. 'Bludgers, as you know, are enchanted only to fly towards players on broomsticks. I want you to fly out two at a time, and aim to hit the Bludger within any of the six hoops. There are four Bludgers: you have four attempts. However, the other Bludgers will also be trying to attack you, so you must avoid that. Once you have hit the Bludger four times, you may touch down, hand over your bat and come over to stand by me.'

As predicted by Alecto, there were many more injuries than with the potential Keepers. Emma had a bowl of Murtlap Essence brought out next to her on the pitch, provided by Severus Snape the potions genius, whose hate of Gryffindors exceeded his hatred of Emma, and who had mellowed ever since he had caught her using his own hex to dangle Sirius Black from his ankle in a deserted corridor. It didn't hurt that he had an overwhelming desire to see James fail his first year in captaincy.

Each player thanked Merlin upon seeing the bowl, and soaked the potion up with towels which they then dabbed on their injured body parts. When the last player got off his broom, there was a collective sigh of relief, and many spectators started to leave the stands.

'So here is the catch,' Emma said, and the players exchanged looks of fear. 'You've completed part one. Part two is a bonus. You don't have to do it, but I will be noting down who tries. Being a Beater isn't only about knowing how to hit a ball, it's also about being able to understand angles and trajectories. Yes, it sounds like Arithmancy, so let me make myself more clear. Those four Bludgers aren't going to put themselves away. So I want you to attempt to catch them and put them back in the box. You can try this with teams of two, four, five, I don't really care. Just get them in.'

As she had foreseen, nearly everyone stayed, unwilling to be called cowards by the Gryffindors, or be beaten by their teammates when they had already gotten so far. This was done on purpose. Emma had noticed that Gryffindors were more willing to take risks, so unless Slytherins stopped attempting fouls, or had an exceptionally lucky day, the chasers almost always scored more goals.

Surprisingly, it wasn't as gruesome as she feared, and Rabastan took particular pleasure in shoving the ball into its appropriate place. She thanked them all for coming and dismissed them, once again reminding them that they would be notified as soon as she had chosen the members.

'Wasn't that a bit brutal?' James commented as Emma came out of the showers.

'Merlin, James!' she shrieked. 'What if I hadn't brought my normal clothes into the showers with me?'

'But you always do,' James pointed out. 'And it's not like I haven't seen you in a towel before, so stop being all indignant.'

'Curse you for being right,' Emma grumbled. 'Anyway, they'll live. I had to be sure to get the best players.'

'But still...' James said. 'There were a lot of broken bones on the field today.'

'And Madame Pomfrey will have them all healed up by evening,' Emma finished for him.

'Sometimes you scare me, you know,' James shook his head.

'Is that all you came for?' his twin asked, locking her broomstick in the shed.

'Nah,' James replied, leaning against the wall. 'I put the Slytherin common room on the Map, and I wanted to know if I got it right.'

'Let's see,' Emma scanned the piece of parchment. 'There's a passage just outside our common room around here,' she jabbed the map with a finger. 'It leads to the lower dungeons. You've confused it with the one that leads to the seventh floor in the Entrance Hall. What else…Oh yeah, not exactly anything to do with this, but as a gesture of goodwill from one captain to another, I can show you where the Hufflepuff common room is.'

'Well then as one captain to another, I'll tell you that Madame Pomfrey has got Filch out looking for you. She can't award detentions, but she told him you were the one responsible for the bloody trails in the corridors and he's baying for blood,' James grinned. 'Pun intended.'

'And when were you planning on telling me this?'

'After we got to the Great Hall,' he replied. 'Aren't I a nice brother?'

She raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. After all, were the roles reversed, she would have done the same thing.

In the Great Hall she ate ravenously, having missed all of breakfast and having flown nearly as much as the people trying out. Alecto looked on with amusement as she started on her eighth slice of chicken.

'I was going to hand you my notes, but I think I'll wait until your brother has stopped possessing your body,' she joked.

Emma swallowed with difficulty. 'Thanks for that by the way. I promise I'll help you in Charms now.'

'Gees thanks, my best subject,' the redhead said sarcastically. 'Considering I've been helping you all week, I think you doing my homework for a week is more fitting.'

'The teachers would immediately recognise my writing,' Emma pointed out. 'I'll do mine in advance and let you copy?'

'Deal,' Alecto grinned, handing over the sheet of paper.

Emma tapped Regulus on the shoulder on her way out, who quickly grabbed a handful of peppermint humbugs on his way out, popping one in his mouth. The only thing he had to say was: 'Don't you already let her copy your homework?'

'Yeah, but never in Transfiguration,' Emma replied.

'Don't you copy my essays in that class?' asked Regulus.

'I don't copy,' Emma replied haughtily. 'I draw inspiration. Besides, you never let anyone copy your work, so I wanted to respect that.'

Regulus was touched, until he realised that Emma had just bargained away his work and not hers.

'Until now,' she added, making her way to a secluded spot near the Great Lake.

'Right,' she said, plonking herself down on the ground and unfolding a makeshift map of the Quidditch field. 'I'm counting on you to help me choose our teammates.'

'You mean I'm already on the team?' Regulus feigned shock. 'I thought we were only supposed to know this evening!'

'Don't be an idiot,' Emma punched his arm. 'Now, I had an idea...'

She took out her quill and crudely drew seven stick figures on broomsticks, enchanting them to fly in the direction she waved her wand.

'Nice,' Regulus sniggered. 'Wait a minute.' He took her quill and added a mass of squiggly hair to one of the players, and a round dot next to it. 'That one's you losing the Quaffle.'

'Regulus! You're as bad as Rabastan; can't you see I'm trying to do this seriously?' Emma complained.

'Then you shouldn't have been so bad at drawing,' he laughed, but picked up a sheet of Alecto's scribbles. 'Okay, this is for Chasers. I can't believe you dropped that guy.'

'Neither can I, really,' Emma admitted. It had been a spur of the moment thing.

'Well be careful. I heard Rabastan say that all he could talk about was how he always wanted a strong, independent woman.'

'That kid has more problems than just a broken ankle,' Emma shook her head. 'Maybe I should have dropped him on his head.'

'Maybe you should have,' Regulus said not-quite-jokingly. She looked at him, but he had was already crossing the name off the list. 'Anyway, I think you should keep Lucinda and Cassandra.'

'So do I, but I thought you might say I was playing favourites.'

'It'll be our secret.'

They laughed, and Emma scrawled their names above two of the hovering players. As an afterthought, she added Regulus's and her own as well.

'I think it's fairly obvious that you'll be on the team,' Regulus stated.

'I was thinking of using a bigger version of this to show the plays I want us to do,' she replied, scratching her head with her wand. Lucinda flew into the goalpost. 'Whoops.'

'Just as long as you don't do that,' he laughed. 'Okay, so Keepers.'

'Aha! This is what I wanted my map for,' Emma said excitedly.

Regulus moved the Keeper with his wand as she moved her own little character. They put down the best saves, but also the ones that were most consistent in saving the most popular ways of trying to score. In the end, as Emma had suspected, they chose Barty Crouch. Regulus added a mop of yellow hair to the Keeper and wrote the name down,

'Why do you have to have such beautiful handwriting?' Emma complained. 'I'm the girl here.'

'Mother made me re-write each of my Christmas cards until they were perfect every year,' Regulus grimaced. 'You should see my brother's -'

He stopped abruptly, his face darkening. Emma hurriedly pulled out the last roll of parchment. 'So we still have the Beaters to choose from.'

Rabastan was put on the team, if only because he was taller and broader than any of the others, and third-year Anthony Nott was chosen too. He had a surprisingly large amount of strength behind that scrawny arm of his. Emma carefully copied out all of their names in large handwriting on a separate scroll.

'Right, that's sorted!' she finished with her signature. 'Now I just need to post this.'

'Well I'll be off then,' Regulus got up.

'What? Why?'

'You wanted me to help you with the Quidditch team, right?' Regulus asked. 'Well it's done.'

'Oh come on, Regulus. I never see you anymore.'

'You saw me all morning!'

'You know that's not what I mean,' Emma huffed, frustrated. 'Come on, I'm not going to talk to you about that. Even an idiot could tell you don't want to.'

'Maybe we should ask Helen then,' Regulus joked, but stayed where he was. 'What do you even want to do?'

'I don't know…Skip stones?' she suggested randomly, spotting a couple of flat pebbles.

'If that's your idea of fun, then you do need me around,' Regulus relented. 'But let's go back to the castle, it's getting chilly out here.'

Scottish weather, Emma grumbled to herself. Barely five in the afternoon and we already need coats in September.

In the end, they decided to visit the Hospital Wing. Emma hid her surprise at just how many people from the Quidditch tryouts had ended up in there: there were at least fifteen Slytherins groaning in their beds.

'Maybe this is a bad idea,' she muttered. They didn't know anyone besides Barty Crouch in here. She was trying to slink discreetly back out when a hand grabbed the back of her robes.

'And just where do you think you're going, Miss Potter?' Madame Pomfrey said firmly.

'Nowhere.'

'That's what I thought. Never have I seen so many students with Quidditch injuries in my care at once! And for tryouts?'

'Quidditch is a rough sport, Madame Pomfrey.'

'Rough enough without you adding to it! I don't want this happening again, do I make myself clear? Now be off with you!'

'Yes, Madame Pomfrey,' Emma replied dutifully, privately adding, besides, there are only seven players in a Quidditch team.