Unfortunately I am now editor-less. I've been waiting for sometime for a friend of mine to work out but it hasn't, it may take a week or two following this chapter to get the next one up. By the way, usually when I write I'm listening to music so if you guys want mood music I'll start posting what it is I'm listening to when I'm writing these chapters as they pretty much guide what I write.

Music: Are You Gonna Be My Girl, She's a Genius -Jet

Chapter 4

Alley Girl

The student dorm that Harry and Ron were staying at was known as the Collins building. It was a large white building which rose four stories off the ground. Two gargoyle's with menacing faces protruded from the wall at the front of the building and reached downwards toward the door as though they were ready to spring to life and grab any intruders who might come along uninvited. A stone awning lingered above the porch supported by two columns whose architecture matched that of the Greek Parthenon. In evenly spaced out rows along the straight path connecting the Collins building with the sidewalk, large gray statues made to resemble a pawn from wizard's chess stood watch over the path, their arms by their sides as though they waited.

Angelina Johnson stood underneath the awning that was hanging over the porch of the student dormitories. Her hair was soaked and it stuck to the sides of her face as she rang the buzzer for room number thirteen.

Room number thirteen was a small two bedroom dorm which had exactly one bathroom and exactly one window to the outside. The walls which changed colors magically in attempts to match whatever tastes its occupants happen to have. For their current occupants the room had taken on a sports theme; posters of famous Quidditch players hung above the beds upon garnet walls.

On one of the bed's Harry was leaning against the wall with a copy of Expert Potions in his lap. His arm and back were scraped from sliding across the platform the day before, his entire body ached. It was his pride that was hurting the most right now however. Harry had only slept a few hours, tossing and turning angrily in his bed whilst cursing himself for his own hastiness and Ryan for his arrogance. When it was obvious that he wasn't going to get anymore sleep he decided to get up and read over his potions book for the next week's assignment. He hadn't gotten much reading done however, as his mind kept wandering to thoughts of revenge and public humiliation.

As the buzzer rang Harry looked up from his copy of Expert Potions and squinted. He walked over to the door and looked through the small glass peephole. The peepholes in the student dorms were enchanted with a special magic that connected them to the peephole located by the front awning whenever their room was buzzed. So upon glancing through the peephole Harry's eyes went wide as he saw Angelina Johnson standing on the other side. Harry glanced over to Ron who was still asleep in his bed. Harry considered waking Ron but instead he just through on a white shirt that was lying on the floor next to his bed and ran downstairs, trying to pat his hair down to no avail as he ran.

Harry's room was the second door on the left of the second floor, so it didn't take him long to get to the large wooden door that led to the outside. Harry tapped it with his wand once, and the door began to open. When it finished Harry stood facing a twenty year old Angelina Johnson. Angelina hadn't changed much since Hogwarts. She stood facing him with her hands on her hips in much the same way he remembered her. After a moment's pause during which Harry was afraid she might be angry at him over something her annoyed look turned to a small smirk.

"So it's true then. You did come to Grindelwald!" She shouted running forward and throwing her arms around Harry. Harry was so surprised that he almost fell over.

"Yeah. Its true." Harry replied. His body ached from the wounds he'd received the previous day as she embraced him. Not that he wasn't happy to see her, but Harry wondered why exactly Angelina had showed up on his doorstep before noon on a Saturday. Angelina didn't seem to be volunteering any information however and Harry realized a moment later that they were still standing outside in the rain.

"Oh, I forgot we should probably move this conversation to some place less wet." Harry suggested holding his hand out for Angelina to enter. After they entered Harry led Angelina up the stairs to the dorm that he and Ron were staying in.

"Wait here a second." Harry said as they arrived outside the room. He wasn't sure if Ron was awake yet, and Harry couldn't be completely sure that Ron was fully dressed. He cracked open the door and peered inside. As he suspected Ron was still passed out on his bed. Harry opened the door and slid inside signaling for Angelina to wait for him.

"Ron are you dressed?" Harry asked.

Ron simply groaned in response and rolled over, covering his head up with his pillow as he did so. Harry stood for a moment unsure whether or not he should invite Angelina. Finally he decided he'd be polite and so he opened the door and invited her in.

"Uh. Not to be rude Angelina, but why exactly are you here?" Harry asked, once they'd both moved into the room and taken seats, Harry on his bed and Angelina in a desk chair. Angelina glanced around at the messy room and then looked to Harry.

"Harry!" Angelina said looking at him. "I don't know if you heard already but the Otarion Phoenixes are looking for a Seeker."

Harry's eyes widened slightly at the sound of an open position, however his expression quickly shifted to confusion. "Otarian Phoenixes?" Harry asked.

Angelina looked at him slightly disappointed. "It's one of Grindelwald's quidditch teams... surely Ron told you?" Harry shook his head in confusion. "It's the team that I happen to be captain of..." Angelina continued, sounding slightly disappointed that Harry hadn't known the team immediately.

"Oh!" Harry said smirking slightly.

"Yep!" Angelina reiterated. "There's a spot open on the team, Ron suggested your name so I talked it over with the team and we want you to fill it."

Harry almost leaped to his feet upon hearing that. After the previous day's embarrassment he could use some cheering up and this just happened to be the perfect thing.

"Wait Ron suggested?" Harry asked, diverting his gaze slightly to where Ron lay with a pillow stuffed over his head.

"Yeah." Angelina responded. "Ron's the team's Keeper. Honestly I would've thought that he'd told you right away."

Harry glanced curiously over at the sleeping Ron for a moment and then turned back to Angelina. "So when does practice start?" Harry asked.

"That's actually why I'm here." Angelina responded. "Practice starts today, the team will be meeting on the field in half an hour."

"Great, just let me grab my broom" Harry responded hastily, rising from his bed as he did so. As he moved his ribs ached and he remembered the duel from the day before. His anger flared up for a moment as he pulled out a long wooden trunk from under his bed. He still couldn't believe he'd lost to that prick.

Here you're just a freshman.

The words echoed through Harry's mind. It wasn't so much that being a freshman was a bad thing, nor was it the worst insult he'd ever heard. It was how Ryan had said it, like he was worthless... like he was childish or inexperienced. Harry tried to shake the thoughts from his head as he popped open the thunk.

Inside the trunk Harry's broom lay on its side. His heart sank slightly as the Nimbus 2000 stared back at him. Staring at that broom Harry couldn't help but miss his Firebolt. Harry's Firebolt had been purchased for him in his third year by his godfather Sirius Black. It had been the very first thing that Sirius had ever given him. Last year however Harry's Firebolt had gotten lost during The Battle Over Little Whinging. When he'd returned to Diagon Alley to buy a broom the first thing he'd attempted to purchase had been a new Firebolt, but unfortunately it was well out of his price range. It wasn't that he couldn't afford it, it was just that it would've required him to spend most of the money left to him by his parents, the money that he'd been saving for a house, so instead he'd decided on buying a Nimbus 2000. It was the second fastest model they had, and it was much cheaper.

After he'd grabbed his broom Harry walked over to Ron's bed. "Shouldn't you be getting up for quidditch practice?"

Ron held his hand up. "Yeah... I'll be there in a few minutes." Harry shrugged and turned to Angelina. "I guess we should go then."

Once outside they mounted their brooms and Harry followed Angelina down to the Grindelwald quidditch pitch. The Grindelwald Quidditch pitch was located inside of a large Colosseum. At the north, east, south and west sides of the Colosseum towers rose high into the air allowing those who desired it a bird's eye view of the game. The Colosseum was located outside the west entrance to Grindelwald's campus. Although it was still part of the campus grounds its location caused it to be the prime location for students looking to get away from dorm life. However on weekends the pitch was closed to students not associated with one of the six teams. This made scheduling practices interesting, Angelina explained to Harry along the way, because it meant that if any of the six teams wanted to practice privately they could do so only twice a week.

Angelina and Harry arrived on the Quidditch Pitch to find that there were already four students there waiting for them. All of the students seemed to be gathered around a single issue of the Daily Prophet, when they'd landed one of the students, a girl spotted them immediately and ran towards them.

"Oh Angelina its horrible!" She cried as she stopped in front of the captain.

"What's happened?" Angelina asked, the color draining for her face as she stared at the rest of the team, all of whom had looked up at her arrival except one who was still reading the prophet carefully.

"Aderhold?" Angelina spoke the name as though she were expecting an answer. As though in response the boy holding the prophet rolled it up and tossed it to her. As she began to read over the paper Harry took notice of the team.

The first person Harry noticed was the girl who'd run towards Angelina crying. She was a rather short Asian girl who had a rather tiny head with medium length black hair that hung just above her shoulders. She was holding glasses in her left hand and wiping tears from her eyes with her right.

The next person Harry noticed was a fairly attractive German blonde who had her hair pulled back into a bun. Harry noticed her first out of the players standing together because of how incredibly tall she was. She was almost as tall as himself and he'd always been considered rather tall. She had medium proportions and she was exceptionally pale with eyes that were either a shade of green or blue, Harry couldn't exactly tell.

The next person Harry saw was a rather large boy that reminded him somewhat of a larger Neville. The boy was tall, though not quite as tall as he was, and big. He had rather large arms and a round gut. He had short blonde hair which covered his bluish green eyes.

Finally Harry came to the last person, the boy Angelina had called Aderhold. He was a good bit shorter than Harry and Angelina and slightly shorter than the other boy. He had medium length dark hair that appeared somewhat ruffled as though he hadn't brushed it since waking up and a somewhat loosely shaved beard.

They were all wearing normal clothes for practice which suddenly reminded Harry that he did not yet know the team's colors.

Harry would later learn their names and positions. The Chasers were Angelina Johnson, Savannah Stankovic the tall blonde, and Demi Dobson the tiny Asian girl. The beaters were Charles "Bubba" Bennett the large man, and Eric Aderhold the boy who'd been reading the prophet.

After a moment Angelina dropped the paper. Harry looked down on the ground to see a young girl smiling up at him from a black and white obituary.

Harry knelt down and picked up the paper, reading over the article.

The girl Marietta Pryce, was twenty-two. She didn't have any enemies and was well liked according to the article. She was popular as one of Grindelwald's VIP students and quidditch players. Apparently her family was rather rich and her father had dedicated a wing to Grindelwald when they'd admitted his daughter. The girl, Harry continued reading, had been found lying dead in an alleyway late last night. The ministry was still investigating the exact cause of death, witnesses however recalled shouting and a flash of green light before witnessing an assailant fleeing the scene. Harry stared in horror at the paper for a moment. Green light and shouting... it may be happenstance to Muggles but Harry knew exactly what that meant.

He dropped the paper and immediately felt a chill. "Who was she?" He asked solemnly.

"She was our last Keeper. Quidditch players are only allowed to play for four years at Grindelwald. Ron was her replacement." Angelina replied.

"What's going on?" Ron's voice called from behind.

Harry turned around and looked at Ron. The boy's red hair was slightly unkempt as though he'd woken up and flown straight to the pitch. The team's grim faces made him feel uncomfortable and he looked at Harry for some support.

Angelina was the first to speak. Turning so that she could speak to everyone at once she began. "Alright well the wake is going to be tomorrow, so I'm canceling tomorrow's practice session. We'll try to get in what we can today and hopefully we'll make up for it next week." She said trying to lighten the mood with her voice.

Ron stepped beside Harry and gulped as he heard the words. "Wake?" He whispered in Harry's ear. Harry handed him the paper. Ron read the paper as they moved towards the center of the field to begin practice.

The Quidditch practice was short. No one was particularly in the mood for practice and that became painfully obvious right away. Harry didn't particularly feel like chasing after the snitch and so he feigned interest and would only chase after it whenever he felt Angelina watching him. Ron was slightly down but as he hadn't particularly known the girl who'd died he found it easy to block the empty shots from his teammates. The practice really fell apart when the team's beaters Bubba and Eric started taking their anger out on a poor bludger, knocking it back and forth between them until Harry wondered if it was even aware anymore.

Angelina called practice early and told everyone to go home.

"Sorry about that." She told Ron and Harry after the team had begun to disperse. "Today just wasn't a good day for practice I suppose." With that she left, and Harry and Ron were the only two remaining on the pitch.

"So... that was depressing." Ron said as Angelina left and he and Harry were alone.

"Yeah", Harry responded, thinking about the girl's picture and the events surrounding the death. Witnesses however recalled shouting and flash of green light.

The line stood out in Harry's mind. He was still mulling over it when Ron next spoke.

"So what are you doing later today?" He asked staring off the field.

"Uh... well I was planning to hit the showers but after that nothing I guess." Harry responded snapping out of his trance. "What about you?"

"Well I promised Hermione that I'd meet up with her after Quidditch practice. She probably just wants someone to help her study or something I don't know." Ron shrugged as he mounted his broomstick. "Anyways... I'll see you later." And with that he was gone and Harry was left alone on the Quidditch field.

Harry grabbed his broomstick and made his way to the showers after realizing he hadn't washed up since the day before. The men's showers were located inside the stadium. Upon reaching them Harry walked inside not paying much attention to his surroundings. Harry walked into the shower room and saw a row of lockers in front of him. As he made his way around them and looked towards the shower room he saw a girl standing in the showers looking back at him. Harry ducked quickly behind the lockers.

"Oh don't mind me." The girl called towards him.

"So... sorry!" Harry replied embarrassed. "I must have entered the wrong room. I..."

Harry heard the water turn off behind him.

"No the women's showers were out so I decided to use these! I didn't think anyone else was here!" The girl called back.

Harry's back was to the locker's when the girl walked up to him in a towel. Harry saw her walk up beside him.

"Wha... what are you?" He stuttered, looking away.

"My clothes." She pointed past him towards a pile of clothes that were lying on one of the benches he was blocking.

"Oh." Harry replied shifting so that she could get by. She made her way to the pile of clothes and dropped her towel. Harry who had been expecting her to grab them and move out of eyesight was startled and turned away quickly.

"Um... nice weather." He said casually trying to change the subject.

"What's that?" She asked.

"Nothing..." He answered. He wondered why he was so nervous. Its not like he'd done anything wrong, it wasn't his fault a pretty girl happened to be in the men's showers. Wait had he just called her pretty? That was beside the point, she shouldn't be in...

A moment later he felt a tap on his shoulder. When he turned around he noticed that the girl was dressed. She was extremely attractive with light blue eyes and long raven black hair that was still wet from showering. Her She had a slightly curved nose and large dimples that accompanied her current smile. The girl wore a purple skirt and black t-shirt with the phrase, "More Magical than a Muggle", displayed in white lettering around it. He could tell she was older than he was. She turned her head slightly after getting a good luck at Harry and then pointed her finger.

"Hey you're Harry Potter, you were the one who dueled with Ryan the other day?" She stated as the realization struck her.

"Yeah..." Harry responded, once again growing angry at the name.

The girl giggled slightly as she made her way past him. "That's so sad." She said the words as though Harry's dog had just died.

As she put her hand on the door she turned around to look at Harry. "Its too bad you can't duel. You really are quite cute." As soon as she finished the sentence she exited the room and Harry heard the door slam shut loudly.

He stood staring at where she'd been in utter confusion for a few minutes. Turning slightly he noticed she'd left a clothes bag and pair of leopard underwear on the bench behind him.

Wha... What just happened? He wondered.