Disclaimer: All ideas are based on characters and events belonging to J.K. Rowling.

Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 28: Tryouts

Olivia was a nervous wreck as she waited the next day for Regulus. She had no idea what his surprise could be and quite frankly, thinking about it made her nervous. As the minutes ticked by with no Regulus, her stomach was twisting more and more. Finally, she heard the doors to the library open and she saw Regulus come sauntering though. He wasn't alone though. Walking behind him was Severus Snape.

At first, she didn't think much of it but as Severus joined Regulus when he sat at her table it all clicked. Severus was Regulus' surprise. She sighed in relief, remembering when he had helped her with an essay the previous year. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all…

"Good evening, Olivia."

She looked at Regulus, who looked so much like her boyfriend she couldn't help but smile. "Good evening, Regulus." She then turned to Snape and nodded her head. "Severus."

Snape nodded in return but didn't say anything. Regulus pulled a couple books out of his bag. "So, as you can see, I brought reinforcements. Severus is bloody brilliant at Potions and if anyone can help you he can."

Olivia blushed. "Yea, he helped me last year."

Regulus threw Snape an odd look but didn't comment on it. "Well, we probably need to get started since no introductions are needed."

The tutoring session actually went extremely well. Severus proved, once again, to be an excellent teacher and Olivia was extremely grateful to him. She finished her essay in record time and actually understood everything she had wrote.

Olivia quietly thanked them both once she had everything packed away and made her way to leave the library. Before she made it to the stairs, on her way to the Gryffindor common room, she felt a hand on her arm. She froze in fear, thinking the worst, but as she turned around she was shocked to see Regulus.

"Oh, did I forget something?"

Olivia watched as she saw a blush creeping its way onto Regulus' face. "No, no. I just…ummm…I just wanted to ask you something."

Olivia regarded him with caution, not knowing what could be so important that he had to chase her down to ask her instead of waiting for Potions the next morning. "Uh, yea sure, go ahead."

She watched as he fidgeted in front of her. He looked as if he was wrestling with what he wanted to say. Finally, he looked her in the eye. "Is my brother happy? I mean, now that he left home, where is he staying? Does he have money? What's he been doing?"

Olivia just stood there, staring at him in shock. She had been under the impression that, though Sirius loved his brother and worried about him being in the environment he was in, he and Regulus had never got along but here was Regulus standing in front of her almost begging for information about Sirius. She was at a loss of what to do. What if Regulus was just acting like this to get information to give to Sirius' parents? The look in his eyes really had her believing different though. They showed nothing but worry and love. She thought her answer out carefully, not wanting to give him too much info in case she was wrong about him. "He's living with us until he graduates, I don't know what he has planned after that." Regulus nodded his head, accepting the information she was willing to give. "He's happy."

He stood there for a few seconds before turning and walking away without another word.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Olivia sighed. Her hands were shaking as she took her broom from Sirius. He was watching her strangely, "Are you ok, love?"

She nodded but didn't trust herself to speak. More people had turned up for the house tryouts than she had expected. And why did there have to be so many there to watch?

Sirius bent down and kissed her forehead, her nose, and finally her lips. "You're brilliant at flying, love. Don't worry about it, don't even think about it, just do it. Just like you've done it a hundred times before. Pretend that we're in your backyard, just James, me, and you."

She listened to him carefully, trying to tune everybody else out. There were just so many people there. She looked through all the contestants trying to figure out who would be trying out for what position.

Suddenly she heard James' voice cut through the uproar of the crowd. "Alright everybody, line up!" Everyone did as they were told and formed a line in front of the returning team and captain. "Now, we have two positions open, one chaser and seeker. If you don't play either of those positions, please leave the pitch now." Olivia watched as a handful of disappointed people made their way off the field. "Ok, I want chasers over here and seekers over there." She followed James directions and walked with a small group of people to James right. She was immensely relieved that she was a part of the smaller group.

James first addressed the chasers. "We will first see how you fly, then I'll watch as you throw some passes back and forth before finally I'll have each of you play with the current chasers, me and Prewett, to see which of your styles works best with us." He made sure all of the chasers nodded in understanding before turning to his right to address the seekers. "For you guys, I'm going to have each of you fly some laps and then through a predesignated pattern that Sirius will demonstrate beforehand. After that, we will release the snitch and see what happens."

James signaled and everybody took off in laps. Olivia concentrated on nothing but her broom and was able to stay toward the front the entire time. After around twenty laps, James signaled for everyone to land before separating them into their groups once again. Fabian Prewett and the keeper, Davis Neel followed James and the chasers to one end of the pitch while Sirius and the other beater, Fabian's brother Gideon Prewett, took the seekers to the other end.

Sirius and Gideon exchanged a few quick words before Sirius turned and addressed Olivia's group. "Now, I'm going to fly a pattern which I want you to watch carefully for you will be repeating it afterwards for James to watch. During your turn, feel free to add as much as you wish to demonstrate your ability but make sure not to cut anything out. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them when I get back."

Olivia watched along with the others and Sirius mounted his broom and kicked off hard. He flew extravagantly and made many twists, turns, rolls, and dives. Everybody's eyes were glued to him from the moment he kicked off until he landed back in front of them, his hair windblown and his cheeks slightly flushed from the wind. "Does anybody have any questions?"

Everyone shook their heads no as James joined them. He, Sirius, and Gideon spoke quietly together before James turned and addressed his potential seekers. "Now that you've seen the pattern I want you to line up and take turns showing us what you've got."

Olivia succeeded in getting a spot in the middle of the line for she didn't want to go neither first nor last. The first brave sole to take flight was a third year that Olivia recognized but couldn't name. He flew fairly well but watching him made Olivia's confidence grow. She was sure she could outfly him. The next one up was a fourth year girl, Penny, followed by another fourth year, Albert. They both flew extremely well and added quite a bit to the routine making Olivia's previous burst of confidence dwindle away.

She was next. She tried to swallow but her mouth was too dry to accomplish anything. She scrambled on her broom, briefly meeting Sirius' eyes, and waited for James' signal before kicking off. She tuned everything out, as Sirius had told her to do, pretending they were playing in her back yard. She made sure to add flips and twirls wherever she could and by the time she landed, she was relatively confident in her performance.

James only gave her a quick smile before turning to the next contender. She knew he was proud of her but showing favoritism could end badly with so many people wanting what was at stake. Two more people went and Olivia for once was positive that she would get this, it was practically hers. Finally, there was only one person left. A seventh year by the last name of Gill. Olivia watched as he took flight and flew the intricate pattern Sirius had set forth, adding what he wanted here and there. As she watched, all her hopes crashed and burned. He was excellent. As he landed, she sighed, there was no way she would be chosen over him. She shouldn't be chosen over him.

James watched them all closely, exchanged a few words with Sirius and Gideon, and turned back to examine them closely. "Ok, that was good flying everyone but I want Gill, Penny, and Olivia to stay for the next round. We thank everyone for coming and better luck next year."

They watched as he crossed the pitch back to the chasers, who took turns running some plays with James and Fabian, trying their best to keep up with the sixth and seventh year experienced chasers. It didn't take very long to weed through them and reduce the selection down to four. James told them to take turns trying to score goals against Davis before rejoining the seekers. "I'm going to release the snitch for each of you and time how long it takes you to catch it."

Olivia took a deep breath and watched as Gill landed. He caught the snitch in a little less than fifteen minutes and Penny had caught it in a smidge over twenty. She would be able to walk away with her head high as long as she could get under twenty minutes. James nodded to her. "Are you ready?"

She gave an affirmative nod and James released the tiny gold snitch. While she searched for it, James kept his eyes not only on her but on the chasers too. He was going to have a hard decision to make where they were concerned. After what felt like forever, she caught a glimpse of gold. She was off like a bullet. The snitch was flittering across the pitch toward the chasers. She weaved in and out of them trying to keep up with the tiny gold ball. She passed Davis who was watching her instead of guarding the goal posts like he was supposed to but she didn't even register him. She was solely concentrated on the snitch. Finally, she felt her fingers close around cold metal. Smiling in victory she landed in front of James and handed it back to him.

Olivia looked at him expectantly. "What's my time?"

James studied her for a few seconds before calling Sirius, Gideon, Fabian, and Davis into a huddle. This was a bad sign. He wasn't even going to tell her what her time was. Come on, all she wanted was under twenty. After several minutes of talking and head nodding, they all straightened up and James turned around.

"My time?"

"Eighteen minutes, fourteen seconds."

Olivia smiled slightly. Eighteen. That was under twenty, and she had told herself she would be happy with that. She couldn't help but feel disappointed though, Gill had beaten her. She turned to him slightly. "Congratulations."

He smiled brightly at her. James interrupted any conversation though. "Hold on. We had a talk, and though Gill had the fastest time you, Olivia, impressed us all with how you weaved through the game that was going on. We are going to release one more snitch in which you two will go head to head and whoever catches it gets the position."

Olivia smiled brightly, all hope wasn't over yet. As James made his way back to the chasers she slipped over to Sirius. "You flew brilliantly."

She grinned up at him. "You're just saying that."

He laughed, knowing she knew better, she knew she had flown good. He pressed his lips firmly against hers in a good luck kiss for her finally challenge.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Author's Note: My apologies that this has taken so long. :( I've had zero time and couldn't get my head where it needed to be but finally, today I had a couple hours to myself and have the next couple chapters planned out so they should be out much sooner than this one was.

Thanks to all my reviewers! I appreciate you all and love the feedback, it encourages me so continue!