Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. I repeat, I am not J.K. Rowling. What this means, is that I do not own any of the characters from the Harry Potter world, or the world itself. Now that we're clear on that, enjoy.
Chapter 5. Quidditch tryouts
Alice and I are laughing at our handiwork, as we listen to the pounding of fists against the closet doors. Normally, we wouldn't resort to such methods of kidnapping, but drastic times call for drastic methods.
"Let me the fuck out!" Cas yells.
"Yeah," Mary's voice joins, "you hate confined spaces Alice, you wouldn't leave us in here?"
Alice snorts, "neither of you are claustrophobic, and I have no problem leaving people in confined spaces, just with being in one myself.
"I am not standing in a closet with her." Cas grumbles.
"It's been three days," Alice sings, "and you know what that means!"
"It's time for you guys to stop being stubborn and make up already," I say with a grin, "arguments are gone after three days, according to notion 6 of our Friendship Handbook."
"Sooooo," Alice smiles, "you guys are stuck in here until you make up. We'll be back after we eat breakfast to check on you."
"Wait! No! We can't miss breakfast, I'm starving," Cas complains.
"Then you better settle your disagreement quickly." I say, "bye."
Me and Alice leave the dorm room, and walk to the Great Hall for breakfast.
"How long do you think it'll take for them to make up and the spell to release them?" Alice asks.
"I'm gonna guess they'll make up in less than 30 minutes," I predict, "if I know Cas, she will force them to make up, even if it's just to get down to breakfast."
Alice laughs at that, "that's a hundred percent true, no question about it."
True to my estimate, Cas and Mary enter the Great Hall only 16 minutes later. Both of them are smiling, as if they know the secret to life.
"What're you so happy about?" Alice asks, "if I knew this would work so well, I'd have done it 2 days ago."
"Oh nothing," Mary grins, winking at Cas, "we just realized that our argument was childish, and there are more important things to be thinking about right now."
Alice and I look at each other, "I'm scared," I whisper.
"Me too," she answers. Both of us glance at Cas and Mary who still have smug grins on their faces.
"I would just like to say," I start, "that this was all Alice's idea!" I exclaim, scooting away from Alice.
"Hey! No it wasn't!" Alice says, "it was all Lily, she put the charm on the door, there's no way I could do that. If you're gonna get back at anybody, go for her."
Cas bursts into laughter, followed by Mary. "We're not going to do anything to you guys," Mary manages to say between her laughs.
"You should've seen your faces though," Cas snorts, "you looked ready to bolt."
"Hey, you would too if you were in our shoes," I protest.
"Yeah," Alice says, "the two of you are frightening when you put your minds to it."
"Awh thanks Alice, that's the sweetest thing I've ever heard." Cas says.
"So what were you guys so happy about?" I ask.
"Oh nothing really," Mary giggles, "we just reached an understanding."
"See, still scary." Alice repeats.
"Oh shush," Cas swats her arm playfully.
"Anyways," Mary begins, "I am now completely on board with the befriend Potter plan."
"Great!" Alice exclaims, "though it really needs a better name than that, because I am not calling it that for a whole year."
"Yeah, I agree." I reply.
"Hmm how about Edelweiss?" Mary suggests.
"Oh yeah, like from that movie you showed us," Cas says.
"Oh Sound of Music, I love that movie!" I smile.
"We know, you've only told us about a hundred times," Alice teases.
"Oh shut it Alice, Edelweiss it is." I decide.
"So, how is Edelweiss going then?" Mary asks.
"Um, okay? Everything still seems like it normally is, though I'm attempting to be nicer, and actually listen to him now instead of just snapping at him like I usually do."
"It's a start," Mary says, "but in the future you'll need to start actively seeking his company, and greeting him. Being friendly isn't enough to be friends."
"Who are you and what did you do to Mary?" Alice questions, "just yesterday you were adamant that being friendly to Potter was a terrible plan."
"Well like I said, me and Cas reached an understanding, and I now believe that this is the best course of action."
"Okay then…" I shake my head slightly, "but, I'm not going to actively seek his company, we are a long ways away from me resorting to that."
"I'm just saying, it'd rid any fear of you faster."
"Mary's right you know." Cas agrees.
"Maybe it'd be faster, but I'm not putting myself through torture just to rid his fear faster. It can wait." I say adamantly.
"Your choice." Cas mutters.
The next day during dinner, Alice excuses herself and makes a beeline towards the entrance of the Great hall.
"Where's she going?" I ask.
Mary turns around to glance at Alice, "I'd bet you ten galleons that the tall guy next to her is the famous Frank Longbottom."
Me and Cas stare at him for a second, and both nod, "yep, that is definitely him," Cas says.
"Uh huh," I add, "you can see her crushing on him from here."
"Oh they're coming this way, shush." Mary says.
"Hello, guys, this is my boyfriend Frank," Alice introduces with a beaming smile.
"Hi Frank," we all chorus.
"Nice to meet you," his low voice rumbles, "Alice has told me so much about you all."
"Oh we've heard a lot about you as well," I say with a smile, "you're in your sixth year?"
"Yep," he responds.
"Well, we'll have time to talk later,"Alice smiles, "but Frank and I are going to have dinner in the common room together, so I'll see you guys later,"
Alice waves at us, and Cas winks in her direction, giggling at Alice's appalled face.
"Cas, don't make fun of her," Mary scolds with a laugh, "Alice is the most pure person you'll ever meet, I bet she's not even considered that yet."
"That's why it's funny," Cas laughs.
I roll my eyes at her, "just let her have her innocent romance," I say.
"Yeah, he actually seems like a good guy," Mary remarks.
"That's just what he wants you to think." Cas whispers conspiratory.
"Of course," I laugh, "he's actually James Bond in disguise."
Mary stares at me, "Who…?"
"Sorry, James Bond, he's a secret agent."
"He's not very good at it if you know he's a spy," Cas snorts, and both her and Mary start giggling.
I swat Cas's arm, "he's a fictional character, created by Ian Fleming. Honestly, you two need to pick up a book sometimes."
"Hey I read!" Mary mumbles, "just not for fun…"
"Doesn't count."
"Well I actually read, and I've never heard of him," Cas announces.
"Okay, I mean muggle novels, not wizarding books," I amend my statement.
"Give me some books and I'll read them then," Cas says.
"Really? Okay." I say excitedly, "I have the Outsiders and the Bell Jar with me, so you can start with those, but I'll get Mum to send me some more books from home!"
"I'm slightly scared now," Cas whispers to Mary.
"That's why you just don't read," Mary responds.
"No, this'll be great," I promise, "you'll love them."
"Okay, I'm trusting you here Lily."
"Yeah, and when have I ever let you down," I grin.
The rest of the week flies by. I go to my classes throughout the day, then go outside and do drills for an hour, play a one on one game of quidditch with Cas if she comes out, do a quick strength training session, and then go for a run as a cool down. I then take a shower, do my homework, sleep, and wake up the next day to do the same thing.
Even with all the practice I'm doing, I can't help my nerves when the day of quidditch tryouts arrives.
"Cas I am freaking out!" I announce as I walk into the dorm room, "quidditch tryouts are this afternoon, and I feel like I've made no improvement."
"That is not true Lily. You've been doing amazing."
I groan and flop onto my bed, "But amazing might not be good enough to make the team."
"Lily, you'll be fine," Alice says, glancing up from her potions homework, "I've barely seen you this week, if that tells you anything about how hard you've been working."
"Alice, you've been spending half your time with Frank," I point out.
Mary pokes her head out of the closet, where she's putting her clothes away, and says, "Lily, you've been staying up till 1 am each night just trying to get your homework done after practicing for like 4 hours each night, if that says anything about how hard you've been working."
"I know!" I exclaim, "but what if the lack of sleep messes me up? What if one of my teachers caught me dozing off in class, and gives me detention tonight? What if I pass out because I can't handle the stress? OH NO! What if I pass out in the air and fall to my death?!"
"Lily stop it!" Cas says loudly, "You are being crazy."
"Yeah LIly, you never sleep in class, even if you just pulled an all nighter."
"But I've been thinking about it Alice! What if they can read my thoughts?"
Mary puts down the dress she was holding, and walks over to me. "Lily, you are going to listen to me very carefully, okay?"
I nod slowly, and Mary continues, "You are absolutely hysterical right now. And you are way too stressed to have any good judgement right now."
I start to protest, but Mary holds up her hand, "No, its true, don't even try to argue. My point is, if you can't trust your own judgement, trust the judgement of your three friends who would do anything for you."
"She's right Lily," Cas says, "You trapped me and Mary in that closet because we wouldn't stop arguing, so this is our closet for you. Pull yourself together! You are going to make the team. I can tell."
"But Cas! I'm nowhere close to ready. This was a stupid idea. Just tell the captain that I'm not trying out."
Cas rolls her eyes, "I'm not telling Radek that you're quitting, because you are not quitting. If I have to drag you down to that quidditch pitch screaming and crying, I will do it."
"And I'll gladly help her," Alice adds
"Me too," Mary says, crossing her arms.
"Ugh, you guys are so annoying!' I groan.
"So you're doing it?" Alice asks.
"Sure."
"Nope, you're gonna have to do better than that to reassure me," Cas grins.
I roll my eyes, "YES DORCAS, I SHALL DO IT," I yell.
"I'm going to let that slide for now," Cas says with narrowed eyes, "But only because I know you're stressed right now."
"Or am I?" I giggle.
"Yeah, you are." All three of them say at the same time.
"No need to rub it in my face," I grumble.
Me and Cas walk down to the quidditch pitch, both are carrying our brooms, and dressed out for tryouts. When we arrive, I see that Nick Radek, the team captain this year is already there, with a group of about 15 kids surrounding him. Cas and I walk over and join them.
'Hey Evans," Potter greets as I join them, "Cas," he nods.
"Sup guys," Cas says, "Does the competition look hard? Lily's a little nervous."
I hit her arm, "I'm not nervous. I'm just being realistic about my chances."
"And what would those be," Black asks.
"None of your-" Cas glares at me, and I correct myself, "Just that I've only flown for a month, so i don't have high expectations." I finish with a forced smile.
Potter snickers at that, and I turn to him with anger in my eyes, "Are you seriously laughing at me right now?!" I demand.
He backs away, holding his arms up in surrender, "No, no, of course not." He says between laughs.
At that, Black bursts into laughter as well, and I turn my glare on him, "You best shut up right now before I incapacite you for the rest of tryouts."
That sobers them up, and Potter finally says, "It's just funny that you think you're not going to make it."
I stare at him incredulously, "Excuse me?'
"Yeah, you've been practicing like 5 hours every night, and from what I've seen, you're a natural."
For a second I'm flattered, and surprised that Potter is actually complimenting me. And without any sexual subtext. But then his words process through my brain, and my anger reignites, "Are you stalking me Potter!" I shriek.
"Why, you want me too?" he smirks.
'UGH NO! YOU ARROGANT, SELF-ABSORBED, DESPICABLE PRAT!"
I see Potter flinch, and Cas taps my arm, as a cue to apologize, or maybe trying to remind me about the plan. Befriend Potter? Yeah right? I don't give a damn if he's scared of me. It's better that way even. Maybe then I can scare some sense into him. Instead of listening to anything Cas is trying to silently tell me, I send one more glare in the direction of the two teenage boys in front of me, and stalk off in the opposite direction.
I hear Cas give a quick apology, and she runs after me. 'What was that Lily?" she asks.
'Absolutely nothing," I say, "I'm not nervous anymore though."
"You're not?"
"No. I am going to make it on that team, and become a better fucking player than Potter. Maybe that'd wipe that smug smile off of his face." I fume.
'Okay, everybody who's trying out for chaser, come over here," Radek calls.
Me and Cas walk over there, along with Potter, and 4 other people.
'Now," he says, "As of now, I am only looking for one more chaser. I've seen James and Cas play before, and at this moment, they're still on my team. It's your job to play the best you can, and try to change my mind. I'm going to have three parts to my evaluation. One, a two minute free for all. Each of you is trying to score as many points as you can with me as Keeper. Second, I'm going to have you all play in a mock game, and I'll see how you fare. And third, I'm going to have you race 10 laps around the field, to determine your speed. Got it?"
"Yes," the group responds in unison.
"Good. Now, your order is Potter, Meadowes, Knox, Ducey, Evans, Preece, and Kelly." Radek announces, "No practicing while you wait, I expect you to watch, and hopefully learn what you can do better by watching each other."
We all sit down on a bench, and watch as Radek and Potter kick off into the air. Radek has his friend Amy Strout passing the quaffles to keep a steady stream of available balls for Potter to score. I watch with begrudging appreciation as Potter glides through the air with ease. I hate to admit it, but he is really good at what he does. He is able to easily throw the quaffle into the hoops from meters away, and on numerous occasions looks like he is throwing it to the left, but at the last millisecond, somehow switches to score in the right hoop. At the end of the two minutes, he managed to score 19 times, for a total of 190 points. The entire bench is in shock, except for Cas, who stands up, ready for her turn.
Potter walks over to the bench, "190, beat that Cas,"
Cas grins, and smiles, "I will."
I've seen my friend fly before, but now, there is something different about her technique. She seems to be moving in doubletime, with all her movements quick and calculated. I stare in awe, as she quickly racks up 210 points.
She flies to a stop, and rejoins us with a smug grin on her face. She high fives Potter, and says, "I told you so."
"I should've known better than to bet against you," Potter laughs.
"Yeah, because I creamed you."
"It was 20 points," Potter counters.
"She creamed you." I state coldly. If I can't beat Potter and wipe that smug smile off his face, I will gladly take Cas doing it for me.
He stares at me for a second, and shrugs, "Fine Cas, you beat me, but I'll definitely win next time."
"Sure Potter," she says with a grin.
I watch as Knox and Ducey take their consecutive turns. I feel pretty confident when Knox scores only 60 points, knowing I can make that many easily. But, I become a bit more nervous when Ducey scores 120 points.
Cas sees my nervous face, and whispers, "you can do it, just imagine each score you make is you kicking Potter in the nuts."
I giggle at that, and stand up a little less nervous now. "Thanks Cas."
"Good luck Evans!" Potter calls.
I grab my broom, and kick off into the air. I fly over to where Amy is hovering with the quaffles, and accept the one she hands me. "Lily Evans, right?" She asks.
I nod, and she smiles kindly at me, "You've got this," she says, "Anybody with the guts to knock Potter down a few rungs has the spunk to score high."
I take a deep breath to focus my thoughts. Any gives me a thumbs up, and says, "your time starts in three, two, one."
I immediately fly off with the quaffle, over to where Radek is hovering in front of the center hoop. I zoom over to the right at my fastest speed, and raise my arm to throw the quaffle. But, at the last second, turn to the side, and throw it into the hoop on the far left.
Grinning, and feeling more confident now, I return to Amy to receive my next quaffle. Over the next two minutes, I make 15 goals, which is 150 points. But I'm more focused on the fact that I only made four less than Potter.
I land and Cas immediately wraps me in a hug. "that was absolutely amazing Lily!"
"Really?" I ask.
"Yeah, when I first made the team I only got 130 points, and you're already beating that."
Potter jumps in and says, "and some of those feints you did, they were brilliant."
I mutter, "thanks," at Potter, still angry and eager to ignore him. But I turn to beam at Cas, "well thank you, I had the best teacher."
We watch as Preece starts his two minutes, and I frown when at the end he racks up 160 points.
"Cas," I groan, "how am I supposed to beat him now?"
"Shh, you'll be fine." She says, "Preece has tried out every year, and never made the team, and you're only ten points behind him. You'll see why."
Preece rejoins us and Kelly gets up to take her turn.
"Sucks to be you Evans," Preece says with a cocky grin.
"Excuse me?" I ask.
"Just that I sure wouldn't want to be you. Gryffindor's golden girl beaten by me. I didn't even think that you could handle losing something. You need some tissues to cry with your loss?"
I blink at him, shocked that he could be so pretentious, "wow. And I didn't think I could ever meet someone more self absorbed than Potter, yet here you are to prove me wrong." I smile at him innocently, and he walks away, trying to figure out what I said.
Both Potter and Cas are laughing now, "you showed him, though I'd appreciate it if you didn't use my name to do it next time." Potter grins at me.
"You can't say it's not true though," Cas laughs.
"So is that what you mean about him not making the team?" I ask.
"Yep. He has way too much of a Merlin-complex for any of the coaches to want to deal with him." Cas explains.
"It's a wonder they let Potter on the team." I grumble.
"Hey I heard that." Potter replies.
"I know, maybe you should get it in your head that you're not as great as you think you are."
"Lily!" Cas exclaims, "be just a little nicer, huh?"
I roll my eyes. Sure. I'll be a little nicer. Over my dead body. Actually, over my passed out body. I'm not that against Potter that I'd essentially die for him.
Kelly's turn is over, and she ends up scoring 100 points. Which is decent, but still lower than both me and Preece by a lot.
Radek lands, and walks over to us. Now, there are seven of you, so I'm going to ask Cas, can you play as keeper, you're second best to me."
Nobody showed up to try out for keeper, because that's Radek's position. So, Cas nods, and steps over next to him.
"Okay, so Potter, Knox, and Preece, you're one team, and Cas is your keeper," Radek says, "Evans, Kelly and Ducey, you're the other, and I'm going to be your keeper. I'm going to have my beaters play with you guys, just to give you the feel of a real game. However, we're playing a shortened game, and it will end when one team reaches 100 points."
Amy jumps in and explains, "I'll be keeping score for you guys, and I'm going to be adding in fouls as well, so keep to the rules of the game, Okay?"
"Okay," we all respond.
We get two minutes to make a strategy before the game starts, so me, Kelly, and Ducey walk away from Potter, Knox, and Preece to discuss our strategy.
"So, I'm thinking that our best strategy would be to have all three of us work to get the quaffle closer to the hoops, and then I think either me or Ducey should try to score. No offense Kelly."
"None taken," she laughs, "I know you two got a couple more goals than me."
"Okay," Ducey says, "So basically just pass it to me or Evans if we're open, and we'll try to score it."
"Yeah," I say, "and, we should try to aim for the right hoop as much as possible, because Cas always favors her right hand, so she struggles with protecting the right side."
We all nod, and fly up to start the game. Amy tosses the ball into the air, and Potter immediately flys out to grab it. He then flies over to our side, and scores first thing. I groan at the bad start for our team, but swoop down to catch the quaffle and start flying over to score. Halfway across the field, I see a bludger coming at me from one direction, and Preece zooming towards me from the other. I quickly throw the quaffle to Kelly, and she tosses it to Ducey who scores.
After about thirty minutes, the score is 90:100, but Preece ends up taking one of the beaters' bats, and tries to hit a bludger at me to keep me from scoring. Amy calls a foul, and I score into the right hoop without an issue. I turn away, and see Potter yelling at Preece, who is now holding the quaffle, "Are you an idiot Preece?" He bellows, "You could've knocked her off her broom, this is tryouts, not the bloody world cup!"
I laugh when I see Potter snatch the quaffles out of Preece's hands and fly away to score, leaving him dumbstruck.
In the end, Potter, Knox, and Preece win 150:130, but it was a close game, and I'm fine with how I played, so I don't fret about it too much.
"Okay," Radek says, "Now all of you please line up here with your brooms. And at the sound of my whistle, you're all going to race to get 50 laps, and end here. No foul play. This is just you and your broom."
All of us file into line, and get set to kick off. Out of everything, I'm most confident in my flying speed. Me and Cas have done a lot of sprints and endurance, so I know I can do well in this. Radek blows the whistle, and all of us kick off.
The race starts with Preece flying at a sprint speed, in front of everybody else. I roll my eyes, knowing that he's going to burn out at the end. Both Potter and Cas are slightly ahead of me, but Knox, Ducey, and Kelly are all far behind me. I continue flying at a medium-fast pace, and slowly Knox, Ducey, and Kelly fall farther behind as I catch up to Potter and Cas.
On the 25th lap, I grin in satisfaction when I see Preece slowing down and panting. I was right that he'd burn himself out, and now he's too out of breath to finish the last half with a fast pace. Sure enough, Potter and Cas easily pull in front of him, and I urge my broom forward to do the same.
I'm now in the top three, but I don't let myself relax yet. My goal is to beat Potter. I can feel myself slowing down slightly as we enter the 40th lap, but I start doing the breathing exercises me and Cas did, and I force myself to fly faster through the pain.
We enter the 46th lap, and I pass Cas, who is about 8 meters behind Potter. I am now completely exhausted and out of breath, but I am determined to pass him. Despite him defending me to Preece, I'm still mad that he was literally stalking me. Besides, I want to take his cocky attitude away from him, and there is no better way to do that than to beat him.
I turn into the last lap, and lean forward, trying to get any last bit of speed out of my broom. In the last 200 meters, I see Potter start to speed up, and I let my mind go foggy, and focus on sprinting forward, and only that. 100 meters left, and I could reach out and touch the end of Potter's broom if I tried. I try to speed up more, but have nothing left to give, and I watch as suddenly Potter takes off twice his previous speed.
I cross the finish line about 20 seconds after Potter, gaping at him. Where did that sudden burst of speed come from? I was so close to beating him, and I let it slip out of my fingers. I lay down flat on the grass, dejected, and trying to catch my breath. I see Cas's brown eyes appear in front of me, and she screams, "Lily! That was amazing!"
I grumble, "Stop mocking me Cas."
She glares at me, and yanks me to my feet. Preece crosses the finish line at that moment, with Ducey right behind him. "Stop being so whiny and self-deprecating, Lily, and open your eyes!" She yells, "You finished 50 laps, in only 9 minutes, and 23 seconds"
"And.." I mutter, "I didn't beat Potter."
Cas hits me, and looks as if she is refraining herself from strangling me, "Lily Jay Evans," she says deathly calm, "You flew about 20 kilometers, in 9 minutes and 23 seconds."
"Yes, you already said that," I glower.
Kelly pulls past the finish line, and I look up to see Knox struggling while on his 44th lap.
Cas groans, and grabs Potter's arm, pulling him into our conversation, "Potter, tell Lily she's being ridiculous."
"Why?" he asks, "how's she being ridiculous."
"Thank you," I exclaim, "It's not bad to want to do better."
Cas looks at Potter, and says, "if you didn't notice, Potter, Lily finished second. Right behind you. Only 20 seconds later."
I watch as Potter's face turns into one of astonishment, "Seriously?!" he demands, "Are you insane Evans?"
I groan as Cas yells, "Thank you!"
"Stop rubbing it in my face Cas. I lost."
"You lost?" Potter says incredulously, "You do realize you beat everybody here, including Meadowes, who is one of the fastest fliers I know."
"You beat me," I point out.
"Well of course he beat you Lily!" Cas laughs, "Potter's been flying his whole life, and holds the school record for the fastest sprint speed."
"Oh." I respond dumbly.
"That, and you finished 20 seconds behind me?" Potter asks.
I nod and he says, "So you flew 50 laps in 9 minutes 23 seconds… and you're complaining?"
"Honestly Lily, we have so much to teach you," Cas shakes her head.
"Yeah, I'm lost here, is that good?" I ask.
Cas scoffs, "Lily you beat me, what do you mean 'is that good' are you an idiotic? Of course it's good, the women's world record is a 9 minute 4 second time."
I stare at her, now feeling like a complete idiot. "Oh." I say again.
"Yeah, Oh's right," Cas mutters, "Come on, let's go see you get your place on the team."
"But-" I start.
"Nope, from here on out you're listening to me." Cas states, "Is that good…" she repeats, shaking her head.
"Well," Radek says, "Congratulations to you all, you have a huge amount of talent, and it'd be a pleasure to have most of you on this team." He glances at Preece as he says this. "However, I only need 7 member on my team, so if I call your name, please stay here. The rest of you, go ahead and return back to the common room."
I squeeze Cas's hand, and she squeezes back, trying to reassure me.
"For seeker," Radek announces, "Amy Strout. For my two beaters, Sirius Black, and Andrew Larner. And for my three chasers, James Potter, Dorcas Meadowes, and Lily Evans. Everybody else, please leave the pitch so I can discuss the practice schedule with my team."
I grin at Cas, and wrap her in a hug. I am so excited right now. I knew that I could eventually make it if I tried, but I'm glad I was able to pull myself together and make it this year.
As he leaves, Preece stalks over to me, and whispers, "You and I both know you don't deserve this. You only got it because your friends are on the team."
I glare at him, not breaking eye contact, and say, "You and I both know I do deserve this, and we know deep down you didn't get it because you're a self centered idiotic who only think of themself. I hope you have fun trying to tear others down, because its the only thing you'll ever be good at."
His eyes flash angrily at me, "You'll regret that Evans," he growls before walking away.
"I'm sure I won't," I call back.
Cas high fives me, "You put him right back in his place," she smiles.
I grin, but turn towards Radek who is passing out the practice schedules.
"I expect us to win this year," he says. "I am confident that we have a great team. We have three of the fastest chasers, who can score brilliantly in any scenario. We have two beaters who can somehow hit better and with more aim than Amy ever does when she slaps me," Amy glares at him, and he laughs, "Only kidding Amy. We have Amy as our seeker, who can spot any snitch, and catch it before the other team has time to say time out. And then we have me, your keeper."
"Who can block anything coming his way," Amy adds.
"Yeah sure," Radek says, "My point is, we've got this. Our first practice is going to be next week Monday. Be sure to get a good night's sleep, because it's going to be a hard one."
"Sir yes Sir!" Black yells.
"Thank you for the enthusiasm Black," Radek says, "Okay, that's all. I'm sure you're all exhausted, so get back to the common room, and take a shower, you lot stink."
"Sure thing Nick," Amy laughs.
Me and Cas walk into our dorm. I have a frown strewn across my face, and Cas looks apologetic.
"Oh no, Lily, I'm sorry you didn't make it," Mary says, rushing over to give me a hug.
"You didn't!" Alice asks, "I'm so sorry, I don't believe it, there's no way someone was better than you."
I nod with a fake sniffle, "I'm devastated. I worked so hard, only to fail."
"Yeah," Cas adds. "I'm sorry Lily, I've got a little bit of chocolate if you want some."
"Oh that'd be wonderful Cas." I sniff, wiping away my fake tears.
"Here," Alice says, digging into her bag and pulling out 2 chocolate frogs and a package of sugar quills. Mary pulls out 2 more packages of sugar quills, and a package of bertie botts every flavored beans, and dumps them on my bed.
"No, I can't take this," I say.
"Nonsense," Alice says.
"We insist." Mary adds.
I turn to Cas, and smile. I grab all the candy, and stick it in my bag. Then the two of us start laughing.
"Oh no," Mary grumbles. "What did you do?"
"I MADE THE QUIDDITCH TEAM!" I yell.
"Lily!" Allice shrieks "Congratulations!"
"Wait…." Mary says, "was this just a plot to get our candy?"
Cas and I look at each other, "Mayyyyybbbbeeeee." Cas says, popping a jellybean into her mouth.
"Cas!" Mary exclaims, "I'm disappointed in you."
"Hey, it was Lily's idea!" Cas defends.
"Well Lily hasn't done this before," Mary says, so she gets off easy.
"She also made the quidditch team, so she gets extra congratulations." Alice adds.
"I made the quidditch team," Cas grumbles.
"Did you? I didn't know you tried out," Mary says with a straight face. At the look on Cas's face she promptly bursts into laughter. "I know Cas, congrats to you too, I'm just messing with you."
"Not very funny in my opinion."
"Well I'm down 2 sugar quills and one bertie bott's package," Mary says, "So it's not very funny, I agree."
"Fine. Here you go." Cas passes Mary a sugar quill, and I toss a chocolate frog to Alice.
"This is only one of them," Mary says expectedly.
"And the others are a congratulations for making the quidditch team,'' I smile.
Mary and Alice roll their eyes, "Fine. Take the candy." Mary laughs.
"Glad we have you permission now." Cas says.
I stand up and grab a clean pair of pajamas, then walk over to the bathroom to take a shower. "Cas, make sure they don't take my candy."
"Sure thing Lily!" She responds.
I close and lock the bathroom door, and turn on the shower, letting the cold water wash over my face. I don't know what to do about Potter now. We are now on the same quidditch team, so I need to converse with him on the daily. But, do I act friendly? Or do I act the same as always…? I know that I don't want him to be scared of me, but can I handle spending enough time with him to make that fear go away? I squirt some shampoo into my hand and start massaging it into my roots. We actually did have a normal conversation without yelling at each other, though mostly because Cas was there to mediate, and her and Potter were busy poking fun at me.
I turn off the water, and get dressed, before climbing into bed. I'll try to be nice to him. I already decided I would do that, and I'm not going to change my mind because of one argument. No, I will get along with him, even if he is an annoying prat.
Author's Note: This is a very long chapter. I think it's twice as long as the previous ones I've written. I probably could've split it up into two, but, somehow all of this fits together in one chapter. I hope you enjoy reading it anyways.
Also, I'm well aware that a lot of this is very cheesy and predictable, and that a lot of the characters seem slightly oblivious of everything. But, that's how I want to write it right now, and I feel like it tells the story, so that's how it's going to be.
Auf wiedersehen for now, enjoy the next chapter when/if that is up, and have a great day/night :)