Disclaimer: Nothing you see belongs to me sadly.

"Miss Rookwood, just the girl I wanted to see." April stopped dead in her tracks when she recognized her Head of House's voice. The Sorting Ceremony had ended and the students were heading back to their respective common rooms. She had successfully avoided Slughorn all throughout the night but he had finally cornered her as she was following her friends to the common room. "Hello Professor, did you have a good summer holiday?"

"Well my sweet child, I was until I received a letter from your mother. I hope you have alerted your teammates."

"I will soon sir."

"Are you sure you're not able to play this year?" he said eyeing her hopefully. April nodded her head. "Tsk, tsk such a shame. I was hoping to break the school record for most consecutive Cup wins. No matter, I'm sure Mr. Malfoy will do an excellent job as your replacement." April cringed, she couldn't fathom someone that wasn't a Rookwood as captain. Wanting to get away from the Potions Master as quickly as possible she said, "Well professor, it's getting late and I still need to talk to the team."

"Oh yes, yes that's right." Slughorn looked down at the ground, looking as if he wanted to say something more. "Miss Rookwood, if you need any help, I know some very young and smart men climbing their way through the Ministry. It wouldn't be that difficult to contact, just an owl away..."

"No thank you professor. Really this is something I'd like to do on my own." April said quickly. The thought of Slughorn playing matchmaker slightly disturbed her. "Well, if you need anything, you know where to find me. Goodnight April." April nodded and scurried off.

When she walked into the common room and quickly spotted her teammates. They were all huddled around the fireplace talking in hushed tones. Before making her presence known, she surveyed her team once last time. Regulus Black was the smallest (and youngest) of the team which was befitting since he was their Seeker. Lucius and Rowle, the other two Chasers, were standing next to each other in a deep conversation with Rabastan (the consistent and solid Keeper) while Evan Rosier and Goyle, the bloodthirsty Beaters, were listening intently. "Hello boys," the group turned around to see who was greeting them. "Well if it isn't our fearless leader." Lucius said sarcastically. They remained quiet as they all expected her to give some grandiose lecture about how this year would be run. Finally mustering up the courage, she said, "Listen mates, I hate to say this but I'm not playing Quidditch this year." There was a deafening silence. Rowle, Goyle and Rabastan's jaws dropped while the rest of her team blinked at her. It wasn't until Evan had spoken up that any sound was made, "You're just taking the mickey out of us right?"

"No, I'm serious,"

"But why?" said Rowle. "It's a family issue," she cryptically. "Come on now guys, I'm sure it won't be that bad. I'm sure Lucius will do a fine job as captain!"

"This is going to be a disaster!" Rabastan said dramatically. "Watch it, Lestrange." Malfoy said icily. "Like I said, this is going to be a disaster!"

"I'm sorry guys, I'll leave you to your team meeting now." Instead of going up to her room, she walked out of the common room. She didn't want to be there anymore and she certainly didn't want to spend the rest of her night gossiping with her dorm mates. "Rookwood, slow the hell down!" she turned around and saw Rabastan running after her. "You didn't expect to be let off that easily, did you? Come on, why are you not playing Quidditch."

"I already said that it was because of some family problems."

"Okay, that's nice. Now tell me the truth." April hesitated for a moment, she guessed someone besides Slughorn and Narcissa needed to know the truth. "Mymumwantsmetofindahusband!" she blurted out, the words running together.

"Pardon?" April calmed herself and reiterated, "My mum wants me to find a husband."

"And you can't do that whilst playing Quidditch?"

"Well, she thinks that me playing is scaring potential suitors off."

"Oh." Rabastan had a look of deep thought then said, "Well, how long is this ban for?"

"A year, or at least until I can acquire a fiancé." Rabastan nodded then took a step back and looked her up and down. Feeling mildly violated, April snapped, "Do you mind? I'm not some piece of meat!" A light smirked played upon the boy's lips. "Oh calm down Rookwood, I just want to make sure that what I'm about to say is going to be worth it."

"Well, whatever you need to say, I'm sure you can do it without objectifying—"

"Rookwood, shut up. I'm trying to propose to you for Merlin's sake."

"What?" April, eyes wide, gaped at the boy standing before her. "You heard me, marry me."

"Bu-but why?" He just shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. "Well, we're both purebloods, we're close in age, we get along nicely, and you know your way around a Qudditch pitch. Why wouldn't we marry each other?"

"Oh I don't know, ever heard of a thing called love?" she said dryly. "C'mon April, don't be like that. I would treat you well. I don't want kids and could really care less if you worked or not and I doubt that any other right minded pureblooded male would let you do that." April continued to stare him down. He then added, "Besides like you said, any other proper suitors you have either scared off or are already engaged. So it's either me, or you can marry some git like Goyle. Take your pick."

"I don't know Rabastan, this is not something I can just commit to on the spot."

"I thought you wanted to play Quidditch? Don't you want to get back on a broom as quick as possible? Really you should be thanking me for offering a solution to your little problem." He snapped.

"Thanking you? I'm not going to make a MAJOR life decision because of Quidditch, no matter how much I adore it." She paused for a moment and looked him in the eye. "Listen, you're not thinking clearly. You're just overreacting to my announcement. I'm sure tomorrow when you wake up, you'll be happy that I said no."

"Fine, say if I was just overreacting, that still doesn't solve your little dilemma. We play Hufflepuff in six weeks and I doubt that you can find someone that is willing to put up with your shit and propose to you on the spot."

"Just let me think about it, okay?"

"Fine but my offer won't last forever. I've had the same talk with my mum." And with that Rabastan turned around and stormed back off to the common room. April gulped and pushed her back up against the cold dungeon wall and slid down. What was she going to do?

The whole team had decided to shun her. They wouldn't make eye contact or speak to her. As a result, this had caused her to branch out, which really meant she actually had to talk to her female roommates. It hadn't been that bad really, they weren't the clothes-obsessed dolts she thought they were. Well, actually fifty percent of the time was spent talking about clothes, makeup and shoes, thirty percent was spent on marriage options and the remaining twenty percent was pure, unfiltered gossip. At first, it kind of annoyed her that her days were wasted on such superficial bullshit but the girls were growing on her. They were funny, sweet and incredibly bitchy.

"Dear Salazar, McKinnon's book bag makes me want to put a wand to my throat." said Helena Parkinson one morning. "It could be worse," added Narcissa, "Wait, no, I lied. There is no way a bag like that can get any uglier." The three girls, Narcissa, Helena and Ava Winston had been a tightly knit group since their first year. Originally, they had been reluctant to include April into their small circle but they had found her knowledge on boys to be quite valuable.

"Oi April, what about that Bones bloke? He's pretty fit." said Ava.

"Gay."

"Nah, I think you're wrong."

"Am I? He's been staring at some 7th year Ravenclaw for the past thirty minutes." Like April, they girls were on the husband hunt too. "Ava, don't worry about it so much. Mr. Right will find his way to you eventually." assured Narcissa. "We can't all be as lucky as you Narcissa and have Lucius fucking Malfoy trying to wrap his hands around us." Narcissa rolled her eyes and continued to scan her Prophet.

"Did you hear?"

"Maybe we'll actually have a chance at the Cup this year.

"I wonder why she quit? Jessica told me she heard that she was pregnant."

Whispers had been flying around April all morning, she knew it was going to be like this but it still felt weird having the entire school talking about her. April's sudden departure from Quidditch had been a closely kept secret in the Slythering house. Apparently Lucius didn't want the other teams to know that they were switching strategies. Of course, word eventually got out when the Quidditch captains and Head Boy and Girl met to discuss practice schedules last , three days without all of Hogwarts knowing Slytherin's little secret probably had broken a record or two.

"Honestly, people are so one dimensional, it's like they have nothing else to talk about." said Helena. "Let's just get to Potions," mumbled April.

Once they had reached the dungeons, the girls had decided to separate. Narcissa and Helena paring off together and Ava decided to latch onto some random bloke frome Slytherin. This unfortunately had left April all alone and the only empty seat left was suprisingly next to none other than James Potter. "Well well well Potter, it seems that your goons have deserted you." James looked up from the book bag he was searching through and scowled. "On the contrary Rookwood, Sirius has decided that females are more important than his own friends and Remus wanted Peter as a partner so he wouldn't have to worry about someone hexing poor Snivellus. What about you, have the Slytherins deemed you unworthy now?"

"Now James, we're not rivals anymore, no need to be so tense."

"Actually, I probably dislike you even more now that you've stepped down as captain." "What do you mean?" said April frowning. "Well, it won't mean anything now when Gryfinndor wins the Cup this year." he said while running a hand through his hair. "Cut the Gryffindor crap, James. Consider yourself lucky that you'll get atleast one year of glory before I return to my rightful place." They continued to scowl at each other until Slughorn began to teach the lesson for the day. They both were chopping forcefully away at there dungbeetles when Sirius had decided to stop by their table. "Prongsy you didn't tell me you and sweet April Rookwood were friends now."

"We're not," they both answered simultaneously. "Black, I believe McKinnon is needing your assistance. You can go now."

"Now, now, April, don't be jealous. Although our affair on the train was brief, sadly I don't think Lestrange would approve of us continuing it."

"Is he always this delusional?" she asked Potter.

"Yup." Just then Slughorn appeared by Sirius' side, "Mr. Black, stop talking to Miss Rookwood and Mr. Potter and get back to Miss McKinnon. If I see you over here again I'm deducting points." Sirius threw James a smirk, and sauntered over to his forgotten partner. "So, why'd you quit?" James asked plainly. April sighed, "Familial obligations." James nodded his head understandingly, "I didn't think your parents were so old-fashioned and I certainly didn't think your father of all people would make you give up Quidditch."

"Potter?"

"What?"

"Shut up."

Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. Really I had become uninspired until I recently got an e-mail saying someone had favorited this story and BOOM inspiration to write had returned. Tell me your thoughts por favor.