A/N: I do not own anything Harry Potter. My lack of updating seems to be a pattern for which I am sorry. Anyway, please enjoy this chapter. Happy reading and happy belated Halloween! XO

Chapter 51

"And what do we have here?" Professor Umbridge asked looking between the two stunned and rosy-faced teenagers. "Being out in the corridors past curfew and taking part in distasteful behavior is prohibited."

"Our curfew is ten o'clock. We've got about forty-five minutes until we have to go back to the common room," Annie argued crossing her arms across her chest.

"Be that as it may I will still have to give you both detentions," Professor Umbridge said reaching into her purse and producing a quill and pink parchment.

"For what reason?" George challenged placing his arm back around Annie's waist.

"You know the reason, Mr. Weasley as does Miss Black," she said sweetly as she began to write. "I will not let any student go frolicking about in this castle."

"We weren't frolicking!" George refuted.

"Yeah, we were just snogging!" Annie agreed.

"Ms. Black, are you challenging my authority?" Professor Umbridge asked, her nostrils flaring.

"Yes, I am," Annie replied staring at the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor determinedly.

"Well, I think another detention would suffice for your behavior," the professor said as she started to write.

"That's completely unfair!" Annie proclaimed loudly.

"And what is unfair?" Professor McGonagall asked as she came around the corner to find the two teenagers and her colleague in a heated stand-off. "What is going on?"

"Professor Umbridge is trying to give Annie and I detentions for snogging behind a statue," George answered bitterly.

"And she's giving me another one because I questioned her about it," Annie added crossing her arms across her chest and shooting daggers at the stout professor.

Professor McGonagall raised a hand to prevent them from arguing their case any further and turned to Professor Umbridge.

"They were partaking in some very crude behavior on school property, Minerva," she said smiling sweetly at Professor McGonagall. "Surely you will agree with my position."

"We were just snogging, Professor, honest!" Annie pleaded with George nodding at her side.

Professor McGonagall looked between the two teenagers and nodded. "Dolores, surely you wouldn't want to deal with something as trivial as this. They seem to have caused no harm at all tonight." Annie and George grinned triumphantly at each other.

Professor Umbridge straightened herself up and fixed the deputy headmistress with a stern stare. "Very well," she said tucking her parchment back into her purse. "But I will keep my eye on you two." She wagged her finger menacingly at Annie and George before adjusting her sweater and walking away. Once she was out of sight, Annie and George broke into a fit of giggles and Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes at the pair.

"Thanks, Professor," Annie said as she calmed down a bit.

"Yeah, really thanks," George agreed taking Annie's hand. "I guess we'll be going then."

"Hold it right there, you two," Professor McGonagall said calling them back as George made to pull Annie away. They came back and stood in front of her with matching guilty expressions. "Ms. Black, I was going to call you to my office tomorrow to discuss furthering your Animagus training but we might as well discuss it now."

Annie looked relieved and smiled. "Oh, I thought we were in trouble. So when can we start again?" she asked.

"I was thinking the same time as last year. Would Monday nights at eight o'clock still work?" the professor asked.

"Yeah, perfect!" Annie answered excitedly. "Should I bring that book that you told me to get?"

"Yes, please do. I look forward to working with you this year," Professor McGonagall said. "Now you two may leave. I want you to go straight back to the common room."

"Thanks, Professor!" Annie yelled as she and George ran off down the corridor.

"No detours!" Professor McGonagall called after them.

Back at Gryffindor tower, Annie and George tumbled into the common room giggling and out of breath. They made their way over to the table where Fred and Lee were sitting poring over the results of their test and sat down, George pulling Annie onto his lap.

"Where did you two run off too?" Lee asked the couple.

"Wouldn't you like to know," George answered with a wink and a kiss to Annie's cheek.

"Will you stop that?" Harry hissed at Annie as sparks flew out the tip of her wand that she was tapping on the edge of the desk. "What's gotten you so jumpy today?"

Annie ceased her tapping and threw him a scandalous look.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten about Quidditch tryouts today," she whispered back as her leg started to bounce up and down. They were sitting in the back of the Charms classroom only half paying attention to Professor Flitwick's lecture when Annie started to get antsy. "Ron, your best mate, is trying out today and I just really want to get down to the pitch."

Harry, who had forgotten all about the tryouts because of his detentions with Professor Umbridge, looked over at Ron who had grown paler throughout the class due to his nerves.

"He doesn't look good does he?" Harry asked. Annie leaned around him and shook her head.

When the bell rang Annie shoved her book back into her bag and her wand into her pocket and raced toward the door. She waited a minute in the corridor for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to catch up before they made their way to the Gryffindor common room. Once upstairs in the fifth year girls' dormitories, Annie dropped her backpack at the foot of her bed and started rooting through her trunk for her Quidditch robes.

"You hung them up in the wardrobe," Hermione reminded her as she sat on her bed and waited for her friend. "We're going to be late for dinner. You know, your favorite time of the day."

"Yeah, but Quidditch," Annie answered pulling out her robes and throwing them on her bed. "Food can wait. Quidditch now."

Hermione sighed and got up. She grabbed Annie's hand and pulled her toward the door. "It's not even time for you to go yet," she argued. "Besides, when have you ever been one to turn down a meal? I know you, Annie. If you don't eat, you'll just complain that you're hungry until you sneak off to the kitchens later on in the night."

"But I need to change," Annie whined as Hermione led her down the spiral stairs to where Ron and Harry were waiting in the common room.

"You can change after dinner," Hermione countered.

She heard Annie give a frustrated sigh as she yanked her hand back and crossed her arms over her chest. Annie followed along as her friends went down to the Great Hall and sat down pulling every dish in sight toward her, not even stopping to see what it was.

"She really will eat anything," Ron commented as he watched her wolf down her dinner, barely picking at his own.

"Annie, will you slow down?" Hermione begged grabbing her wrist. "You look like a dog that hasn't eaten in a while."

"Well, in her defense she hasn't eaten since lunch and that is a long time for her," Harry said standing up and clapping Ron on the shoulder. "Anyway, I wish I could join you guys for tryouts but I've got to get going. Good luck, mate."

"Yeah, thanks," Ron mumbled into his plate going pale again.

When Annie had finally emerged for air, she looked around at Ron who hadn't touched a single piece of food on his plate and at Hermione who only looked half finished.

"How come you haven't eaten?" she asked Ron looking at his untouched food.

"Watching you made me sick," he answered. "I don't think I should try out anymore."

"Oh, come on. Am I really that disgusting?"

"Yes," Lavender Brown answered from a few seats over.

"Nobody asked you, Lavender!" Annie shouted back before returning to the conversation. "You're trying out, Ron. And I'm going to walk down with you to the pitch."

"No, you don't have to. I'm just not going."

"Yes you are. Now, if you're finished not eating let's go back and get ready."

Ron smiled and shook his head as he stood up with Annie.

"See you later, Hermione!" Annie called as she bound out of the Great Hall with Ron walking behind her.

Down on the pitch, Annie stood between Fred and George clutching her broom as Angelina gave instructions to those who were trying out. As she talked Annie kept looking down at George's watch to see how much time had passed.

"How much longer is this going to take?" Annie whispered to the two boys.

"No idea," George answered propping his elbow up on her shoulder.

"If you ask me, it's like Oliver hasn't even left. Are you even listening to her?" Fred asked as Annie and George broke out into silent giggles.

"And what is so funny?" Angelina snapped as she turned around.

Annie stuffed a fist in her mouth to stop herself from laughing some more at being caught by her captain.

"Nothing, nothing," George answered. "Weren't you saying something about starting or something?"

Angelina eyed them suspiciously before answering.

"Yes. Alright, everybody up in the air. I want everyone to take two laps around to see how well you can fly. Team, stay in the middle and watch everybody," she instructed before leading everybody up in the air.

Annie gave a cheeky wink to George as she kicked off into the air. She did a few loop-de-loops before settling back in formation to the left of Angelina with Katie Bell at her side. The trials, with Ron among them, leapt into the air and began their circuit around the arena. Annie could see Ron at the front of the pack with a mixed look of determination and nervousness. After they had taken their laps around, they gathered around Angelina and waited for their next instruction.

"Alright, I'm calling numbers. If you do not hear your number please leave the pitch immediately," she called. She rattled off a list of numbers with the help of the rest of her team, Ron being one of them. After those whose numbers were not called left to sit in the stands or go back to the castle, Angelina had them split into two groups with four in each.

"We're doing this in groups. Annie, Katie, and I are each going to try to score a goal on you. We will then determine who will stay in a top three," Angelina informed as the trials nodded in affirmation. "Okay, this group, go to those goal hoops on the right, this one to the left." When the two groups had flown off Angelina had turned to her team.

"Fred and George, I just want you two to observe and tell me what you see," she said. They nodded and then she turned to her two fellow chasers. "I want you two to do the same as the others are taking a shot on the goal. Annie, try not to goof off too much and pull any of your stunts. I want you on top form and focused."

"Hey, I never said I was going to goof off," Annie said defensively. "You know I take Quidditch very seriously."

"I know you do. We're already down a player for tonight. Just save your antics for practice, okay?" Angelina asked. Annie gave her a thumbs up and she smiled. "Good. Okay, let's find our new keeper."

The tryouts went as Annie had expected. Three hadn't even come close to blocking the shots, and two had only done okay but still weren't that great at flying. Annie flew to the center of the pitch where the team huddled together to give their input on the top three.

"Alright, well I think twelve, seven, and six were horrendous," Annie added to their conversation.

"No, Annie, you liked six," George corrected. "Number nine was the one who kept dropping the ball."

"Really?" Annie looked over her shoulder at the eight hopefuls and took a good look at numbers six and nine. "Oh yeah. I did like six. Twelve, nine, and seven were horrendous."

"Well, I agree with Annie," Katie said clapping her teammate on the shoulder.

"Alright then twelve, nine, seven, and I think two should go as well," Angelina marked on her fingers. "We need one more out to make our top three."

"What about," Fred started as he looked over Katie's head at the trials, "four, six, and ten in the top three?"

"No way," George disagreed. "Fourteen flew much better than four and he didn't fumble around as much."

"I like what George said," Annie said.

"You always like what George says," Fred commented.

"Maybe. But you're clearly blind if you thought four was better than fourteen."

"Okay enough," Angelina reprimanded. "We'll put it to a vote. Those in favor of fourteen." Her hand, Annie's, and George's went up. "Those in favor of four." Fred and Katie were the only ones to raise their hands. "Alright, so we have fourteen, ten, and six in the top three. Does this work for everybody?" Fred shrugged and the rest nodded. "Well, let's let them know our decision."

Angelina flew over to the eight trials and stopped right in front of them as the rest of the team flanked behind her.

"We've made a decision. The top three advancing to the last part of try outs are Mark Taylor, Ron Weasley, and Celia Harrison," she announced. "The rest of you may stay and watch or head back to the castle. The three that I've called please follow us to the goal hoops."

Ron, Celia, and Mark flew behind the Gryffindor Quidditch team and lined up off to the side of the goal hoops. Angelina held the quaffle in her hands and gave her instructions.

"Katie, Annie, and I will be advancing on you five times to try and score. All you have to do is block the majority of our shots. Taylor, you're up first."

Annie saw Mark gulp as he took his place in front of the goal hoops. She, Angelina, and Katie flew off to half pitch and started advancing on the trial keeper, passing the quaffle back and forth. Annie caught the ball last and made for a shot but was blocked by Mark who smacked it out of the path of the hoop. Annie thought he might actually have a shot at making keeper. That is until he missed the last four goals made upon him. He flew off the pitch and sat down in the stands to watch Ron and Celia. Angelina called Ron to the hoops and Annie could have sworn he had just swallowed a Puking Pastille. Annie was pleasantly surprised when he had blocked four out of the five shots. Celia came up last and had also blocked four shots which left the team to make a decision between the two.

"So what do we think?" Angelina asked the team as they huddled around each other for the last time.

"I think Ron was better," Annie said outright. Okay, maybe she was a bit partial to her friend but she did see the potential in him.

"You're not just saying that because he's your friend are you, Annie?" Katie asked. "Not that I mean anything against him. I just want to know your reason."

"Fair enough," Annie said shrugging. "Well, I am a bit biased I'll admit, but I still think he did better. When you threw that shot to the left hoop all the way from the right side, I honestly didn't think he would make it in time but he was quick to catch the quaffle and that's what impressed me."

"I saw that too," Angelina agreed. "But he did come up a bit shaky on the last one."

"Good point," George acknowledged. "On Celia's last one she did that dive that I'd never seen anybody do, not even Oliver."

"That's because she was slipping off her broom," Fred countered. "I don't know. Celia was good and so was Ron but I think Ron can fly better."

"Exactly what I was thinking," Annie voiced. "If we train him up a bit he wouldn't be half bad."

"So have we come to a decision then?" Angelina questioned looking around at the team again. "Ron over Celia?" Annie looked over at Fred and George who nodded. Annie nodded as well and Angelina smiled. "Great! We just found our new keeper!"