Heyo! So I normally don't do this, but my friend just started an account and posted a story called Fire meets Flame. Its a Harry Potter fanfiction under the account OverlyCaffinatedHighschooler. It would be really really great if you guys could check it out.

On a different, less promotional note, I don't really like this chapter that much. I love to write quidditch scenes but I hated the way this tryout scene was written. So please, if you have any suggestions on how I could make it better, let me know so I can work on it for the next time.

Finally, I hope you all enjoy the chapter. I've been writing this story on fast forward for the past few days ever since my writers block went away so I'm really excited for the way this is going to turn out. Enjoy guys!

Chapter 8- Fighting and Flying

Transfiguration next block went by as slow as it could ever have. I sat there for the first time half listening half counting the minutes until I got to go to Ancient Runes. McGonagall lectured us on how we need to be prepared for this year and how it won't be 'a breeze' like last year.

"If she thought last year was a breeze then I'm doomed," moaned Alex. "I nearly failed that class."

"Does anyone do well in Minny's class?" I asked.

"Don't you start miss eidetic and photographic memory," Ginny said. "I saw your exam results. You got a hundred on all of them."

All of the boys gaped at me. "How in Merlin's name did you do so well?" Colin asked.

"Eidetic and photographic memory," I said. They all looked at me blankly. "Wow, we really don't ever hang around you guys do we?"

"You prefer to try and find trouble," Jake said.

"Is that our new name for Harry, Ron, and Hermione?" Michael asked.

"What's an eidetic and photographic memory?" Anthony asked.

"Ever so single minded," I said. "And it means that anything I read or hear or see, I memorize instantly. Sort of helpful."

"All the time?" Michael asked, awed.

"Most of the time," I reasoned. "If I'm really tired or if I try to study for too long, my memory gets a bit shaky. But I still am able to memorize things faster."

"Lucky," Alex muttered.

"What class do we have now?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Potions," Ginny groaned. "I hate potions."

"It's not so bad," I said. "It's really just Snape."

"He's a real-" Jake said a word that made all of us snicker except for Ginny who yelled "Jake!"

"I mean, he's not wrong," Anthony said. "We all know it."

"But there is one good thing that comes out of Potions," Ginny said.

"You sure about that?" Colin said, grimacing as we made our way towards the dungeons.

"There is," Ginny said. "And there she is."

We rounded the corner and Astoria sprinted towards where we were.

"Thank God you guys showed up," Astoria said. "I've been stuck with them for the past five minutes." She gestured over to where Amelia Admin, Mason Carrow, Liam Hanson, Sammy Nott, Kelly Rosier, and Max Yaxley were standing. They were the other Slytherin second years. They also were the people who decided that Astoria wasn't 'fit' to be in their house last year since she was friends with Gryffindors. I held a personal grudge against them.

"Don't worry. You're saviors are here," I said as we walked into the classroom. The tables were set up (luckily) in groups of threes and twos so Astoria, Ginny, and I partnered up in one of the tables in the back.

"Instructions are on the board," Snape drawled from the front of the classroom, not even bothering with a greeting. "You have one hour. Begin."

I looked up to the front board and grimaced. One thing I hadn't missed over the summer was the constant reminder of my Dyslexia. I had found a spell to change the language of all of my textbooks to Greek and one to translate my essays to English, but Potions was especially hard when we had directions on the board.

"What Potion?" I asked, flipping around in my book to see if there was a recipe in there.

"Swelling Solution," Ginny replied. "I don't think it's in the book." I searched around but couldn't find it.

"It's alright," Astoria said. "You're better at Potions than either of us anyways. We'll read it out, you do it."

I nodded, annoyed that I had to take a handicap but happy that my friends were there. Astoria and Ginny started to read off directions in a whisper while I crushed, stirred, and added ingredients.

"Potter," came Snape's annoyed drawl from in front of me. I looked up to see the greasy man himself. "Can you read?"

"Of course I can, professor," I said, giving the last word all the sarcasm I could muster.

"Then pray tell me why you need Ms. Greengrass and Ms. Weasley to mutter directions to you?" Snape said, sneering.

"It's called Dyslexia," I said. "Maybe if you read then you would know what that means."

Snape scowled. "Ten points from Gryffindor, Potter. And I want all of you," he said addressing the class, "to finish this potions silently."

Snape sauntered back up to the front of the classroom and sat back down at his desk, turning back to grading papers.

I turned towards the blackboard, silently fuming. How unfair was this? I literally can't read English without problems. I took a deep breath, refraining myself from killing Snape and pulled out my wand and a piece of parchment.

"Exemplumly," I muttered under my breath and watched as the words from the chalkboard copied themselves onto the piece of parchment in neat letters. "Graecan Lingurms." The writing translated itself to Greek. I smiled slightly at my handy work.

"How did you do that?" Ginny whispered to me.

"I had to figure out something that translated languages," I murmured back.

"Potter. Weasley. What part of silence did you not get?"Snape sneered. "Ten more points and next time, it's a detention."

Potions couldn't have gone any slower. When we finally finished our potion, it was near perfect, much to Snape's dismay. A potion like that would have at least gotten us ten points with any reasonable teacher. Instead, Snape dismissed us with a foot long essay.

"At least we have a break next block," Alex said as we made it to lunch and bade Astoria goodbye.

"You do," I said, slightly annoyed but very excited. "I have runes."

"Emma! Ginny!" Hermione called from down the table. Ginny and I turned and found my brother and our friends sitting together. They waved us over.

"Go on," Anthony said, rolling his eyes. "I see we're not important enough."

"Shove off, Anthony," Alex said.

"Yeah we spent the whole day with them. There's only so much of this," Jake said, gesturing to himself and the rest of the boys, "that girls can handle."

Ginny and I both made a point of rolling our eyes at them before making our way towards where Harry, Hermione, and Ron were sitting. Ron looked stricken, as if he had just seen a ghost.

"What happened," I asked, sitting down.

"Harry saw the grim," Ron whispered. Hermione rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"The grin?" I asked, confused.

"Grim," Ron corrected. Ginny gasped.

"That's that big black dog thing," I said, "right?"

"Do you just know everything?" Ron asked.

"I read it," I defended. "It was in a book I got from Florish and Blotts over the summer. Anyways, I thought that all was fake?"

"My Uncle Bilius saw a grim," Ginny muttered as Ron nodded on. "He died twenty four hours later."

Hermione rolled her eyes again. "It's a fake!" she exclaimed. "Trelawny is a complete fake."

"On a different note, are you excited for runes, Hermione?" I asked. "It's-" Hermione, who was sitting on the edge of our group gave me a warning look over the other three's head.

I must have looked confused, because Ginny asked, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," I said. "Just- just thinking." Hermione looked relieved

"I am excited for Runes, Emma," Hermione said, acting like nothing happened. "If it's anything like Arithmancy, it'll be great. Speaking of which, we better get going!"

"To where?" Harry asked.

"Library!" Hermione replied on instinct. "Want to get some research done before class starts." I grabbed my bag, following Hermione's lead, and started out the hall.

"Wait!" Ron called as Hermione opened the door of the great hall. "But you haven't had Arithmancy!" The door of the hall boomed closed behind us.

"What was that about?" I asked Hermione.

She reached under her shirt and pulled out a golden chain. "It's a time turner," Hermione explained. "You mustn't tell anyone! It's supposed to be a secret."

"Isn't that a thing that let's you go back in time," I said, awed. "How'd you get your hands on that?"

"McGonagall got it for me," Hermione explained. "I couldn't fit all my classes into my schedule, so I have multiple at a time. Right now, I'm supposed to be in Care of Magical Creatures and Runes, so I am."

"That's so cool!" I said. "Must be really helpful when you have to have more time to study."

"It is," Hermione agreed. We had made it to the Ancient Runes classroom. "Promise not to tell anyone?"

"I promise," I said. "I mean, you've kept my secret this long. Why shouldn't I keep yours?"

"Oh thank you, Emma!" Hermione squealed.

"Now let's get to class." The two of us walked into the classroom filled with Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and two Hufflepuffs. Surprisingly there were no Slytherins. I got a couple of weird looks, but no one said anything. I sat at a table with Hermione and brought out my books and quills.

"Good morning class!" Professor Babbling said, walking into the room. "Welcome to Study of Ancient Runes. My name is Professor Babbling and I will be your professor.

"This class will not be like any other class you have taken. It will be rigorous and harder than anything you have taken at Hogwarts."
A ravenclaw girl raised her hand. "Yes, Ms-" Babbling began.

"MacDougal, ma'am. Isobel MacDougal. I was wondering what a second year was doing in this class," Isobel said.

"Ah, very observant, Ms. MacDougal. Ms. Potter will be joining us this year for our class. She has sufficiently proved that her knowledge for the subject is passed that of our fourth years and so she will be taking this class a year early.

"Now back to the topic at hand," Babbling continued. "I expect you all to keep ahead of your work load at all times. Any incomplete homework will result in loss of house points. Up to three incomplete homeworks and you will receive a detention. Up to five, a week of detention, and so on.

"So on we go to the interesting part of the class!" Professor Babbling said. "Everyone, open up your books and read the section on Demiguise."

O

"How was your third year class?" Jake asked when I sat down in the common room with them after classes for the day.

"Amazing," I said. "Professor Babbling is a great professor. I'm really looking forward to her class. Speaking of," I said, pulling out my runes book, some parchment, and a quill, "I have an essay to write."

"C'mon, Emma," Jake complained. "It's Friday! Come play chess with us!"

"I have to read 200 pages of this by Monday, complete this essay, and do all of my other homework," I replied, "and it's only the first day of school. Plus, I have quidditch tryouts tomorrow so I have to get this all done tonight!"

"Or you could just do it Sunday like every normal person," Anthony replied.

"But then I'll get into the habit of pushing off my homework and I'll start doing it all the time. It's better to just get it done." I turned back to my essay and tried to get back into it, but the noise of the common room had risen to a high and I couldn't focus anymore. I turned towards my small group of friends and found them all sitting together in a circle.

"I think he'll be a Ravenclaw," Colin stated, popping a bertie botts every flavored bean into his mouth.

"No way," Alex said. "Ten galleons that he'll be in Hufflepuff."

"Who are we talking about?" I asked, pulling my chair past a group of scared looking first years and over to their group.

"That new kid," Alex replied. "The one who'll be in Hufflepuff."

"I think Gryffindor," I announced. "Definitely Gryffindor."

This caused an entire argument over who was right. As the common room began to empty as more and more people went to bed, our group dispersed to our separate common room.

O

"Quidditch tryouts!" Oliver wood shouted out, standing in the middle of the quidditch field.

It was probably about 7 am Saturday morning and literally everyone here to try out looked half asleep. Including the entire team. The morning fog had settled over the field, causing awful conditions for quidditch.

"All of you are either here to try out for the reserve squad," Wood said, looking towards one half asleep group on the right side of the field, "or for our vacant chaser spot." He looked towards the opposite group, also half asleep, but this time containing me. "Either way, some of you are not going to make it through this, but my decision is final. No 'callbacks', no retries, and absolutely no whining. Am I clear?"
All of us nodded our heads, except for the ones who looked actually asleep. Wood proceeded to dismiss these people, claiming that if they were still half asleep, they didn't have the dedication it took to play. He then ordered us all to run laps around the field.

All that early morning running and running from monsters really paid off. I finished first, minutes before the others. As soon as everyone was done, Wood barked at us to get in the air and fly laps this time.

By the end of tryouts, I was sore, tired, and greatly in need of food, but Wood still made us stand around while he gave out results.

"Alright everyone, great flying today," he said, once again all business. There were give or take ten of us left and only eight spots, seven reserved and one chaser. "I am pleased to announce our reserve chasers to Killian, James, and Tegan." Three boys who I recognized as fifth years all grinned and went to sit on the stands. I deflated a bit more, seeing that my chances were beginning to deter. "Peterson, welcome to the reserve team as our keeper," a fourth year girl grinned like a maniac. "Kyles, seeker," a sixth year girl smiled, "and Gregory twins, beaters. That leaves us with Potter as our new team chaser."

I felt my heart drop so fast that I almost collapsed. Instead, my face split into a wide smile.

"Alright, everyone who made the team I'll let you know when practices start. Now go get some breakfast."

O

"I can't believe you made the team!" Anthony cried when I sat down at breakfast.

"Try outs literally just ended," I exclaimed.

"Word travels fast," Michael said, a book on his lap.

"She was amazing," Ginny said, taking a seat next to me. "I don't know how she does it."

"You make it sound like I was some sort of magician," I said, taking a bite of toast.

"You should have seen her running," Ginny continued, ignoring me. "They probably ran like two miles and Emma did it in close to 9 minutes."

"Well doesn't she run in the mornings?" Colin asked, coming to take a seat with us. "I heard you made the team, Emma. Congrats."

"How do you know that?" I asked incredulously. "And thanks Colin."

"You're not as quiet as you think you are, Em," Anthony answered.

"At least you don't have to sleep in the same room as her," Ginny grumbled.

"Will all of you just shut up and let me enjoy my Saturday morning in peace," I groaned.

"There's my amazing sister," Harry said, coming up behind me and slinging his arms around my neck. "Little sister's friends," Harry acknowledged the kids around me.

"Why are you so happy?" I asked, leaning back and looking up at my brother.

"Can't I just be happy that my sister made the quidditch team?" Harry asked.

"Well you can, and you were," I said, "for twenty minutes after tryouts, when we walked up together and you wouldn't stop talking. Your happy. You're never this happy. Why are you so happy?"

"We just realized we have Lupin again on Monday," Ron said coming up next to Harry. "He loves having Lupin."

"He's a bit old for you, don't you think?" I said, and Harry let go of me and slapped me across the head.

"You're inappropriate, you know that? Inappropriate 12 year old."

"Oh go have breakfast," I said, pushing him farther down the table. Ron and Harry left, and Hermione followed after stopping to talk with Ginny and I.

"Wonderful brother you got there," Anthony said, shoveling more fruit onto his plate.

"Isn't he though," I said, chuckling.

"He's just proud of you, Em," Michael said, not glancing up from his book.

"Morning Air head," came a voice from behind me. I turned and found a head of black hair in front of me.

"Death face," I said, shoving Callie lightly.

"She speaks!" Callie joked. Ginny moved over slightly to give Cal a place to sit.

"What d'you mean?" I said.

"When has the last time you talked to me been?" Callie whined, stealing food off my plate.

"You sound so needy," I teased. "Oh by the way, Callie, this is Jake, Michel, Alex, Anthony, and Colin. Cretans, this is Callie."

"I am not needy," Callie scoffed. "And hello cretans."

"And that's our cue to leave," Jake said, dragging the other four out of the great hall.

"So what's up?" I asked, turning to Callie.

"You run in the mornings, right?" Callie said, popping a grape into her mouth.

"Yeah, why?"

"I want to run with you," Callie said. "I never really got around to real training, but I want to train."

"Alright," I said, taking a breath. "Than I guess I'll see you at four tomorrow morning."

Callie spluttered. "Four- as in f-f-four am?"

"Well you wanted to train," I said, patting her back. "So see you then."