Chapter 2

Severus sat in the stands of the Quidditch pitch wondering what in bloody hell he was doing there. His dark eyes peered around at the wooden stands that were currently sparsely populated. He was the only Slytherin student sprinkled in with the few Gryffindor housemates that showed up. The sky was its normal Scottish gray, cloudy bleakness. The clouds seemed to have mirrored Severus' current mood as he stared at the back of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin's heads. Sirius was chortling on with Remus, grabbing his friend's shoulder in emphasis of the conversation that was out of Severus' ear shot. In Severus' opinion, there weren't enough wooden benches to separate him from the irritating sight in front of him. He did not find it surprising though how quickly Sirius, James, and Remus had attached themselves to Riley's side. He grimaced thinking how quickly James had attached himself to Lily Evans and how painful it was to watch her doting after Potter. How they held hands in halls between classes-they took everything of beauty away. He removed his eyes from the scene before him and glanced down at the pitch below. Students stood in the center of the giant oval-shaped field in bright scarlet and gold Quidditch uniforms. Most of the forms below were male, so it was easy to pick out the chestnut bobbed head that would be Riley. She was smirking like the cat that ate the canary. The mass of students stood about chattering excitedly as the blonde, bushy haired captain of the team placed an amplifying charm on his voice.

"Welcome to the Gryffindor Quidditch Team Tryouts! If you're looking to play for Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw, you're in the wrong place!"

Some students laughed aloud at that comment and one girl with red hair turned around, waved, and pretended to jog off. That got even more laughs.

"All right, all right, mates." The captain chuckled and proceeded on, "I am the captain of this team, my name is Billdamorte Crestfellowe, but you can call me Bill."

"Or we can call you sweetheart!" A dark haired fifth year boy called out, adding to the laughter from before.

Riley's face was still smug as Bill went through the brief rules of practice: Be on time, come prepared, and come ready to play. All the players looked attentively on as Severus closed his eyes briefly and rubbed his left temple. Severus still did not understand what he was doing sitting on a cold wooden bench in the middle of September in Scotland when he could be inside, in his room by the fire, reading a book or creating a new spell. But something made him stay and watch the American girl below. It was as if there was some force holding him to that very bench. That force annoyed his logic very much. And then his breath caught as he watched as she lifted her head to the sky, hand over eyes to help see meters in front of her. She caught his gaze and waved briefly before turning away with another hapless grin. Severus froze and did not move. His face was an expressionless mask as Sirius and Remus turned around to glare at him. Sirius's face was marred with jealousy, his handsome features twisted in annoyance. Severus pretended not to notice and turned his black eyes again to the pitch. He needed to get rid of this girl before she caused him any real trouble.

Riley stood quietly with her foot softly tapping the ground as she waited for the captain to complete his long speech about the history of the Gryffindor team. She was trying out as a keeper even though witches were not typically picked for that role due to their size and muscularity. She would have to just wow them the way she did back in the US, when her skills were first doubted by her original teammates. See, you had to have strength, but you also had to have control and speed. Riley believed that she had all of these things, in a Riley-sized package.

"All right, mount your brooms!" Bill exclaimed in his Scottish accented voice.

Up they all went, heading towards the positions that they were assigned based on their requests. Riley flew swiftly over to a goal basket, showing off her agility and posting herself directly in its center. Her charcoal lined-blue eyes were set with determination as she awaited the sight of any bludgers and the quaffle. She sat high upon her broom, her chestnut locks breezing by her high cheekbones, spine straight as a board. Other potential keepers set themselves at the other nearby goal posts, eyes glancing side-to-side scoping out the competition.

Soon enough, the zooming sound of approaching Chasers roared in Riley's ears. Padded up and ready to go, she narrowed her eyes in challenge. Her grip tightened on the handle of the broom as she sighted the quaffle. An opposing chaser gripped the red, leather quaffle firmly in his bulky hand with a self-important smirk on his face. He pulled his grip back and swung the quaffle forward in release, watching as it departed from his fingertips. Without a moment's hesitation, Riley flung herself to the side and threw a leg backwards. The lanky, long leg shot forward, toes pointed in their uniformed shoes, and vaulted the ball distantly into the air, whizzing by the chaser's ear. The chaser looked on in amazement as he sat firmly on his broom, watching the ball troll off into the foggy air. As he sat, another female chaser approached, whooshing in on her broom and let a second quaffle go. It was aimed at the corner of the goal net and Riley shot up, left arm extended. With her palm outstretched, body extended, she slapped the red quaffle high into the clouds. Three more quaffles sailed past the other players heads and with a punch, punt, and elbow, they were out of there. The two chasers mouth dropped open in disbelief. Riley adjusted her broom back to the center of the post and let a smirk tug its way upon her cherry, red lips. She was used to this. People always doubted her the first time. After the first time, they never did again. She turned to her left and her right and noted that the other keeper candidates had stopped. Their eyes openly stared at her with awe.

"I think we found ourselves a keeper." Bill said, swirling his broom around to face Riley and the chasers. The chasers nodded as did the other potential keepers to her side.

"I'll be fine with losing to her, as long as she plays for Gryffindor in the Cup," muttered one of the boys competing for the position. They all nodded again, eyes faced in her direction.

Riley smirked and folded her arms.


Riley's broom tipped down and she swooped down back to the ground. After pats of congratulations on her back from her new teammates, her blue eyes peered around at the crowd. She sighted James Potter's head of untidy black hair and received a thumbs-up when she saw the flash of his hazel eyes. She smiled back and turned around, appearing to look for something or someone. When the item was not sought she turned her dark lashed eyes and slender tanned neck up to the stands again. The wooden benches were empty to her disappointment. Not that she'd admit she was disappointed. It was then she heard Sirius' genial voice call her name out of the mass of students around her. The rush of wavy black hair swayed as he walked to her, engulfing her into a hug with a muffled congratulation. She whipped her patented smirk back on her face although her eyes had a small twinkle of dissatisfaction.