3. The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most

With the exception of Quidditch, the rest of second year went fairly the same as the first; work, arguing, budding friendships, new curses, etc. Summer was spent separate for the group. Well the twins and Lee spent it making up new horrors for the girls and others to endure; and Alicia and Angelina spent it practicing Quidditch, shopping, and just enjoying being 13.

Third year was inevitably going to be different. They all knew it. For one, Alicia would be on the same team as George Weasley. Everyone was a little nervous to see how that would turn out. Second, although also pertaining to Quidditch, Oliver Wood was to be their new captain. Angelina was excited; she said if he was such a great player he'd have to be a good captain. Alicia wasn't so sure. She had gotten to know Wood fairly well, more than once he had offered her extra lessons since he wanted her on his team the following year. She had a feeling he was going to be an, interesting captain. The third major change started as a rumor. Harry Potter was coming to Hogwarts.

As the crowds gathered at platform 9 ¾, the Gryffindor third years ran into each other. Literally.

"OW!" yelled Alicia as she fell to the ground. She spun around to see two laughing figures with almost painfully bright red hair pushing oversized trunks apparently with their eyes closed. It brought back less than happy memories. Alicia glared daggers up at the pair.

"Uh oh." whispered one twin.

"I know that glare." finished the other.

"Erm, sorry Spinnet."

"Yeah whatever." She huffed and grabbed Angelina's outstretched hand to get up. Together they stormed off in search of other people.

"Well that was strange Gred."

"And why is that Forge?"

"She didn't insult you." He said simply.
"Wow, what a concept! Spinnet being, almost nice!"

"I wouldn't go that far…"

"Alright, well Spinnet not being a bitch to me!" he exclaimed.

"I have a feeling this is going to be a good year." Alicia announced to Angelina in their dorm that night.

"And why is that Leesh?" she questioned from her position at the foot of Alicia's bed, eating chocolate frogs.

"Well, one, we get to be on the Quidditch team together. Two, we're not ickle first or seconds anymore! Hah, and three, the twins haven't pulled anything on us yet! And it's been a full day! More than that it was the first day. That's a record Ange." She said happily. Angelina nodded in agreement, but couldn't shake the feeling in her gut that Alicia was a little off. Classes started tomorrow, and if history really did repeat itself, that meant Alicia would soon be in detention, with her enemy.

And she was right. About twelve hours later Angelina found herself in the common room with a thoroughly peeved Alicia.

"That was the most HORRIBLE night of my life! That giant disgusting prat! How dare he? He made my damn plant ATTACK me! That BLOODY BASTARD! And so I spend the entire night scrubbing nasty old trophies with that little ARSE! What a waste! And now I have to study! Ooh for all I care he can just-" Alicia ranted.

After about that point Angelina tuned out. Quidditch was coming soon. Tryouts would be any day now, and although she didn't have to actually tryout, they got to find a third chaser and a new seeker. Maybe Leesh was right, it would be a good year. The two of them would dominate, and with the twins and Oliver, their team would be unstoppable. A sure success. She looked over to see Fred and George talking in hushed whispers. Fred looked up at her and winked, but even he seemed a little surprised by this sudden act of affection. He blinked, shook his head, and went back to talking to George. Angelina shook her head too. There was no way. That did NOT happen. Fred Weasley definitely did NOT wink at her, and she definitely did NOT enjoy it. No way, no how. She was shaken out of her trance by a shriek and the sound of a book hitting a body.

"So stop staring and leave me alone! Can't you see I have to STUDY!" shrieked an angered Alicia. Angelina followed her gaze to a frightened first year picking up the notebook Alicia had tossed. She quickly gestured to stop the kid, but was too late.

"What do you think you're DOING?" cried out Alicia. "Don't TOUCH it!"

Angelina sighed. They slept hardly at all last night, purely from first night back jitters. But experience had taught her that lack of sleep, plus stress, were not a good combination on Alicia. Add into that a certain red headed twin, and disaster was sure to strike. Her appearance was misleading, that was sure. She was petite, blonde, and had striking navy blue eyes. The strength and temper that resided inside her were a shock to most people. Angelina discovered that it wasn't entirely hidden though, it lived in her eyes.

"Leesh, it's time for you to sleep now." She said comfortingly. She had gone through the violent part, next would either come a loud scream followed by her calming down, or tears. If Angelina acted strategically, both could be avoided.

Half an hour later Alicia was sleeping peacefully, and Angelina found herself back to her previous thoughts. 'I can NOT fancy Fred Weasley. Shit. Leesh is gonna kill me.'

Quidditch came earlier than anyone was expecting. Before they knew it, they found a bulletin up about team tryouts, listing the current team, and requesting their presence at the pitch.

"Hey Ange, did you see this?" questioned Alicia.

"See what? Oliver's post? Of course, Leesh I was with you this morning when you read it." she replied in confusion.

"No not just the post, look here." She said pointing. Each position was listed, with a check next to it if it was filled to show those who wanted to tryout what was available. To their surprise, the seeker position was checked. The only available spot was one chaser position.

"Hey! What's with this, we don't have a seeker. OLIVER!" she shrieked. He wandered over with a look of confusion.

"Um, something you wanted to ask me Johnson?" he asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Who the bloody hell is our seeker?" she asked angrily. When it came to Quidditch, Angelina didn't mess around.

"Calm down, you're starting to sound like Spinnet when she's pissed at me." Alicia glared at him and stepped on his foot.

"OW! Damn, okay not messing with you two in the morning. Now calm down will you. We've got ourselves a seeker."

"Who?" the girls chorused.

"You'll just have to wait and see. See you at tryouts!" and with that he turned on his heel and joined the rest of the fifth years.

Tryouts were a waste of time in the teams' eyes. There was only one position open, so the first ten minutes was devoted to weeding out the beaters, seekers, keepers, and confused Hufflepuffs. After that, only 13 people remained. The first that tried dropped the quaffle six successive times. The next two couldn't fly to save their lives. The fourth hit Alicia in the back of the head with the quaffle, the fifth threw it to the defense, and the sixth thought it was football tryouts-only to find they didn't have a football team. The remaining weren't bad though. One fourth year girl, and two second years, a boy and a girl remained. Playing with Angelina and Alicia though clearly showed them their new teammate. Only one fit into their way of play without interruption, and played like she had known them all her life. The newest member of the team became Katie Bell, second year Gryffindor.

Only at their first day of practice did the team find out the name of their seeker. Harry Potter. And to their glee, he was spectacular. Wood was ecstatic.

The season progressed well, and the team was flawless; well almost. Okay so flawless wasn't quite the word, more like an emotional train wreck. They were all incredible players, but together…Fred and Angelina couldn't concentrate on anything and spent most of practice trying to discreetly stare at each other. Alicia and George argued the entire practice, Katie was supremely self-conscious for being the youngest chaser, and Wood came close to tears anytime the cup was mentioned. But they put on a good front, and no one guessed that they were anything less than the best.

Soon Angelina learned that she was wrong about thinking Oliver would be a fun captain. Turned out Alicia was right-he was a Quidditch Nazi. Or at least that's what they called him behind his back. He started regulating their food, sleep, and even friendships. He stopped tolerating anything during practice, and they were prohibited to flirt, argue, or speak in any way that wasn't directly connected to a play. But they kept him in line the best they could. For some reason, he tended to listen to Alicia, even if she played a leading role in his 'no speaking' policy and largely contributed to the vein that tended to pulse over his right eyebrow when the team was mentioned. But for an unknown reason, she had a certain amount of control over him. Most of the team figured he was afraid of her. It was true; they actually had become pretty good friends. But it was also true that she was the only one that would threaten to leave the team, and actually meant it. Plus he wouldn't dare threaten to kick her off the team, since he had no replacements, and no one could fill her shoes. She was the only chaser, even of the reserves, that actually liked and was good at penalty shots. So she had been assigned that job at all times that the penalty didn't have to be taken by the person fouled. Angelina and Katie hated them. So with all that, plus the fact that Alicia easily had the shortest temper on the team plus the loudest voice, she had an allotted amount of control over their obsessive captain. Perhaps the biggest reason was just the fact that she was not afraid of him. She was the only one brave enough; or stupid enough, depending on how you look at it, to shout at him when he was being an overbearing Nazi. However no one could control his 'moods'; then they were all doomed.

So except for Oliver's 'moods', Quidditch went well. They were all terribly disappointed at losing the cup (none more so that Wood, who would have drown himself in the shower if they hadn't stopped him) but still, they had fun. They learned to work as a team, even Alicia and George-well usually. Their bickering could not be stopped altogether, but they learned to be almost civil to each other. But they were also rather forced into that.

Fred and Angelina took to spending a lot of time together that year, and Lee set his sights on the youngest chaser. With all their friends off flirting, Leesh and George found themselves stuck together often. A day still never passed without an argument of some sort, and a week never went by without a blow up argument that left the spectators a little afraid, but still it was progress in their friends' eyes. But the two of them found it a little too easy to get along. That was a scary place to be, so they avoided it the best of their abilities.

A/N: sorry for the sucky chapter. I just wanted to keep the story going and this chapter was awful. I'll do better next time.