Hey, guys, I'm back! As usual, all my characters like Hilde belong to me, but the rest don't! Any urge to scream, shout, comment, or whisper is entirely welcome! Cheers!

Drexel approached me the next day when I was at the library. He looked more frazzled than usual; his typical coiffed dark hair was mussed and he appeared out of breath, panting almost as he reached my table.

"I need your assistance," he said, attempting to quell his panting by taking quick short breaths. "Now."

"And hello to you too," I said, closing my Herbology book with a snap. "Oh, and thank you for asking; yes, my day has been pleasant. Yesterday, however, ehh…" I paused, dramatically shrugging my shoulders. "Not so much. Have you ever caught Sirius Black snogging a Ravenclaw in a broom closet? No? Me either; it's not the most delightful of experiences."

"Black?" Drexel wrinkled his nose. "What? Nevermind. As pertaining to our deal, I require your assistance of this very second. Amelia's at the Quidditch pitch, and I need to lure her away from those nosy Gryffindors."

"And just how am I going to help you accomplish this?" I queried, flipping the pages of my book idly. Herbology was my least favorite of subjects, a fact that my Hufflepuff family couldn't seem to comprehend. Plants, they'd say. How could you not like plants? I'd always shaken my head in disgust at them. Yes, plants, I'd say. They're dirty and creepy and crawly. How could one like them, besides flowers, of course?

That said, I surmised that it must be the Slytherin in me.

"You're going to be a distraction again," he said. "The Slytherin team is holding tryouts on the Quidditch pitch; that's why the Gryffindors are there. Barely anyone is trying out, and it's hilarious to them."

"And?" I questioned. "I come in where exactly?"

"Honestly," he rolled his eyes, "do I have to spell it out for you, Puff? You're going to try out for the team? Give them something, anything to focus on, while I sneak Amelia away. It's simple, really. Just give them a show."

"But—" I attempted to protest.

"But nothing." Drexel eyed me, giving me a dark look that shouldn't be possible for an eleven year-old. "Or do you not desire the rights to your chair in the common room anymore?"

So that's how I ended up on the Quidditch pitch, dressed in the most athletic robes that I owned, shuffling along with a used broomstick from the communal Hogwarts stash. I loitered at the sidelines, watching a third-year flip over backwards in the air and fall off of his broom. The Slytherin team sneered from down below on the field, and the team captain, Martin Greengrass, spat in disgust.

To the side, laughter roared from the stands. A moderately sized group of Gryffindors, including the Marauders and Amelia, was dying of amusement and of the Slytherin team's frustration in their inability to find a decent new player.

I merely cringed, watching the beet red third-year brush himself off quickly, then run off the field in a rush of panic.

"What position am I even trying out for again?" I whispered to Drexel who, standing beside me, looked on with a calculative eye. His green sweater vest screamed the opposite of Quidditch.

"Beater, I think," he responded. "The one where you hit Bludgers at the players. Quite easily the most violent position, I should think."

"Beater?" I gaped. "Are you serious? Do you even know me?"

He smirked back at me. "Not entirely, but I do know what you can do for me. And in that case, that happens to be buying me at least fifteen minutes of distraction, so make it good."

I grimaced, looking at the Slytherin team on the field, from tall, blond Greengrass to the two, bulky dunderheads, Marcus Crabbe and Hugo Goyle. Gangly and crooked-toothed Ewan Flint was throwing a Quaffle to Thomas Avery, a sixth-year in my class, while Leopold Nott merely stood bored to the side. We'll just say that none of them seemed to be particular fans of me.

"Anyone else?" Greengrass hollered. "Anyone bloody else have wizarding balls to try out?" The Gryffindors tittered in the background, and I thought I heard James Potter yell out an inappropriate remark.

"Your turn, Puff" Drexel said quaintly, giving me a disproportionally large shove for his small frame forward. I stumbled onto the field and into the eyesight of all six Slytherin players, feeling very out of place and very uncomfortable. So what did I do?

I smiled for all that I was worth.

"Hi, boys," I grinned, practically baring my teeth at them. "I'm here to try out."

I swear the whole pitch went silent at my sudden appearance, and I twitched as all eyes landed on me. But my grin did not falter. In fact, I think it widened quite too much as a result from all my nervous energy.

"Well, well, well," Greengrass crossed his arms, looking at me down his nose. "What do we have here? An ickle badger come to fly for the snakes?"

I stood straighter, refusing to show weakness in front of them as I strode further onto the center of the field. As I neared them, they began to circle me, appraising me from every angle. Still grinning, I situated myself in front of the captain, watching his blank expression.

"I don't think badgers can fly," Flint cackled, from my right.

Avery chuckled in response from my left. "I thought they were only good at finding things."

"Funny," Nott snickered. "I seem to have lost something. It's rather hard and long, shaped like a—"

I cut him off before he could finish his crude joke, my grin majorly dimmed. "I never claimed to be a badger. I came here to try out for a spot on the team, so if you're going to let me try out, let me try out. I'm as Slytherin as any one of you."

Silence again as the boys appraised me. Well, except for Crabbe and Goyle; they were off laughing stupidly at me to the side.

Greengrass examined me, then jerked his head to the side. "Up you go then. Prove to me that you're one of us, Puff, and you got the spot."

I nodded at him, mounting my broomstick.

Now this would be the precise moment to show them all up, to prove my skills, to wow them once and for all. This would be my personal moment of triumph. My chance to prove myself as one of them, a Slytherin at heart.

Now if I only knew how to fly properly. Sadly, this remained one of my only skills that I lacked finesse; I mean, I knew how to fly. I'd flown with my sister and little brother plenty of times, but I'd always been the slowest, clumsiest, most unorthodox flier. For one mini-Quidditch game between us, I'd ridden my broom completely backwards the whole time, managing to fly into three pigeons, a dove, and a weathervane.

A second before taking off, I prayed to Merlin that I wouldn't make the biggest fool out of myself. Being a little fool, I could handle. That would prove distraction enough to Drexel and not cause enough damage to my already badgered reputation.

With that thought in mind, I vaulted into the air, managing to steady myself enough to hover a few meters over my fellow Slytherins. Success! I'd barely wobbled.

"Congratulations," Greengrass drawled, vaulting up upon his own broom and soaring into the air beside me with a practiced ease. "You've already beaten about half of the blokes that have tried out already. Let's see what you can do now." He handed me a short, blunt Beater's stick and kept the other for himself. Smirking, he flew away from me, signaling down to the team with a snap.

Glancing below, I observed Flint unfastening the Bludgers which were already straining at their bonds, eager to be released.

"What am I supposed to do?" I yelled over to the captain, a tremor in my voice.

He shrugged back at me almost playfully. "Do what comes naturally."

Utterly confused, I glanced into the stands to see if I could identify Drexel or anyone else, but they were too far away, appearing as little blurs. High-pitched screams filled the air, and it was then that I saw that the Bludgers case was now empty. Flint stared up at me with a filthy grin, waving his fingers.

Both Bludgers were free?!

Hearing a shriek heading towards me, I darted to the left, narrowly avoiding an oncoming little demon-ball which flew past me, ruffling my hair. Looking around, I saw it circling around only to come back towards me again. Urging my broom forward, I sped ahead of it, racing away. The scream once again alerted me of its proximity though, so somehow I executed an upside-down loop in order to get away, clinging to my broomstick with all my might.

Coming out of the loop, I saw the Bludger go straight past me, missing me entirely. Grinning, I raised a fist in triumph when I felt a boulder-like object slam into my shoulder, pushing me forward.

"Merlin," I swore, soaring away from the other Bludger that I'd conveniently forgotten about. My shoulder was now throbbing, echoing with pain from the impact.

"Might want to defend yourself," Greengrass shouted over, holding his bat in the air. I slowly came to suspect that he'd sent the offending Bludger my way, so I grin-grimaced back at him. Laughter emanated from the ground, pierced with a few jeering comments sent my way.

Hesitantly, I switched my grip, holding the bat in my right hand while clinging onto my broom with my left. I tried to ignore the pain that resulted from this hold; it was straining my injured shoulder.

Two screams came towards me at the same time, so I wobblingly dove down, unsteady on my own new hold of my broom. One of the devil-balls was smart enough to follow me.

Taking a breath in my efforts to confront the Bludger, I took too quick of a turn on my broom which sent me flying off, gripping the shaft of my broom one-handedly with the rest of my body dangling below. Right in front of me, I saw the Bludger aiming straight for my face. Reflexively, or perhaps instinctually, I raised my bat and swung with all my might, hitting the offending Bludger in the complete opposite direction.

A couple cheers rose from the stands as I heard Greengrass curse from a distance. I took the time to put my bat in my mouth to clutch onto my broom with my other hand as well. I was in the middle of attempting to mount my broom when another piercing scream approached, of course, another Bludger coming for me.

Grunting (for the bat was still in my mouth), I swung myself from my broom in a downward motion to kick away the devil-ball, feeling its impact reverberate all the way up my right leg. The tiny crack that I'd heard too didn't comfort me the slightest, although the Bludger's decidedly new direction did.

Using all my strength, I pulled myself up to re-mount my broom finally only to see Greengrass grinningly hit both Bludgers toward me, mere seconds apart. Merlin, I thought. When would this end? I seemed to be in a sort of survival mode which messed with my head, causing me to fly towards the Bludgers themselves.

Yells from both the ground and stands alerted me of my insanity, but I was too far gone. My shoulder ached and my right leg was far too numb to care. All I had to do was put on a good show.

Swinging, I hit the first Bludger straight back into the second, causing them to both fly off in different directions, ricocheting across the field. Greengrass gave me a small yet impressed raise of his blond eyebrows in response. Without looking, he used his bat to hit one of the Bludgers again, aiming it towards me.

Still flying forward, I beat it back towards him, feeling all of the muscles in my arm working to their utmost extreme. When was the last time I'd worked out as hard as this?

Not expecting my fast parry to his attack, the Bludger caught the handle of his broomstick and send him into a tailspin, spinning him round and round in an amusingly dizzy manner. In fact, it was so hilarious that I started to chuckle myself, and the glare he gave me afterwards only served to increase it.

Was I actually having fun? I thought.

All of this was all fun and games until I felt the overwhelming Bludger-sized force crash into the back of my head. For a split-second, there was shock then pain, and then everything went black. The last sensation I remembered was of falling, dropping down through the air like a rock.