The 2nd Change – Breaking through
That evening symbolised the first breakthrough regarding the family I once knew. It came, surprisingly, in the form of Quidditch, and even more surprisingly, from Albus.
I was out for another fly, trying to rid my mind of that unknown smell. I furiously chased an old snitch through the clear, crisp air, my breath forming a stream of white behind me, like that of an aeroplane trail.
As it neared eleven I touched down gracefully, sweating lightly despite the freeze of the evening.
There, stood by the exit, was Albus Potter, an awkward yet slightly awed expression filling his face.
"Um, Rose?" he choked slightly, and then muttered to himself, I only caught a few words of it though, "really was telling the truth."
"Albus?" I asked cautiously.
"Rose, listen I-" he stopped, seeming to backtrack, and then said, "I think you should tryout for seeker Weasley, tryouts are on Sunday."
I openly gaped at him, to scared to move, "Albus I -"
"I'll see you there," he cut me off sharply, I could see the odd fear in his eyes as he turned to leave, but at the last minute he spun around, adding, " It was nice to see you Rose, I missed you."
"Me too," I managed to say before he left the stadium.
As Sunday drew closer any thoughts about my unknown Amortentia smell seemed irrelevant as nerves took the front line.
On Sunday morning I sat as silently as ever, hardly eating and tapping a bread roll almost impatiently against my pumpkin juice.
An owl dropped a scroll on my lap causing me to hit the goblet too hard, tipping its contents on the table. I hastily pulled out my wand, "Evanesco!" the orange spillage vanished and I tilted my goblet back to its right way.
I then focused my attention to the parchment resting on my legs.
It was tied with a smooth white ribbon and I could feel the small holding charm that kept it from sliding off.
Cautiously I tugged on it, letting the parchment unroll;
Good luck today
X
I felt my eyes widen, through my lonely façade I talked to no-one, so only Albus was aware of my intentions for today, unless he told someone.
Just as I was thinking that, a second identical scroll landed atop of the other, I eagerly pulled it open;
And eat something!
X
I felt the grin pull at my lips, how did he know? A quick glance along the table confirmed that he'd already left for the pitch, so I grabbed a slice of toast and made my way there too, enlarging my shrunken broom from my pocket, a very handy attribute of the Firebolt Sparks.
There were six of us, I would say that we were all nervous, but Steven Blakered defied that rule, standing there with an air of importance despite being a year younger than me. He did regard me with a look of quizzicality though when he noticed me, obviously I was not only known throughout my own year as a bookworm.
Albus blew the whistle loudly silencing the existing team (who were nattering away behind him) and the few students who had come to watch. The whole Slytherin team being seven of them, of course their seeker Malfoy among them.
We did a few laps first, two out of our six dropped out at this early stage, steadying my nerves a bit, but still I could feel my heart beating strongly against my ribcage, almost as if it was struggling to contain it.
Then, Albus let out the snitch.
We stood in a line, poised to fly; I traced the fleck of gold with my eyes, waiting to hear the whistle that would announce our ability to take off.
The second the sharp trill pierced my ears I pushed hard, only vaguely aware I was first off the ground.
The golden ball soared high before plummeting back down and, despite being momentarily blinded by the weak October sun on my upward flight, I pivoted sharply and followed its arc downwards. It was testing me, I realised, as the ground neared faster, with my momentum gaining in tedium with my speed. I was gaining on it though, aware that someone was tailing me I pushed harder, leaning closer to my broom, disregarding any thoughts involving hitting the ground. That bit I could worry about later.
My hand reached out almost automatically to clasp my fingers around the cool metal once I was within arms length from it.
The first bit was over, now all I had to do was pull out of this dive.
Even though my broom needed little physical indications, I'm not sure it would have reacted fast enough on thought alone to keep me out of the hospital wing.
Grasping the front of my broom tightly with my free hand I yanked upward, corkscrewing slightly to slow, I levelled out and jumped off.
Blackard landed heavily beside me a minute later and Albus took the snitch from me only seconds after that.
"Welcome to the team, you are gratefully received," Albus intoned.
I heard a mumbled congratulation from Blackard, but he did cheer up slightly when Albus informed him that he'd made reserve.
I took my time to shower and change in the Quidditch changing room, exiting slowly as I wandered toward the store room to replace borrowed kit.
I felt elated, my cousin, my once best friend, had accepted me, nothing could bring me down, nothing – "Oi sis!"
Except that.
Suddenly the whole Slytherin team stood before me, my beater step siblings at the front flanking their captain keeper Mclaggen, Malfoy hung silently at the back.
I stayed quiet, not wishing to rile them anymore.
"I suppose we should congratulate you," Martin said, a grin spreading across his face, I could see a glint of malice in Martha's eyes that was not looking good on the Rose-staying-whole front.
"I'd like to say we are now worried about the Gryffindor competition-"Martha began.
-"But well…" Martin let it hang in the air purposefully, his sneer plastered on his face as he critically looked me up and down, an air of disgrace billowed from him.
Mclaggen and his group laughed.
Don't rise to it!
Martha took that all important step toward me, sealing my fate. I braced myself for the blow, and I didn't have to wait long.
"You're nothing but a worthless piece of crap!" The punch was harder than I'd expected, I heard the familiar crack behind my ear followed by the splitting headache, as I always did.
Don't rise to it!
After having a good few step-sibling-free weeks I was out of practice, I felt my anger rise despite my attempts to quell it. I brought a hand up to cradle my skull, feeling the cool liquid of my blood between my fingers.
Don't rise to it!
One last punch to the other side of my head by someone, I'm not sure who, doubled the pain in my already searing skull. But they left me then, swaggering off back to the castle.
The last thing I remember before blacking out was Malfoy looking back with an odd expression on his otherwise blank face.
I woke back up about ten minutes later, lying beside the storage shed with a cracked skull and a bloody mess. I had just paid for stepping out of line. I had gotten off lightly.
An episki and a scorify later left me with only the headache to deal with.
One thing did cheer my mood though, (after the pain potion had kicked in that is) later that evening as I was heading out of the library, one of the school owls collided with me and dropped a scroll on my still slightly pain filled head. At first I failed to notice the white ribbon securing the note, as I was scolding the owl for harassing me, but once I'd glimpsed the letter in my hands the owl was forgotten and my attention focused elsewhere.
My vow of never reading in the corridors (a vow made after an unfortunate incident involving me, a pillar and a five person pile up) was sorely tested as I found I could almost not get back to the tower fast enough to satisfy my curiosity.
Once snuggled in my favourite chair in the quieter corner of the common room, I eagerly slid the white ribbon off, unrolling the parchment and spreading it open on my knee.
Even if Albus were writing to me in letters, written word was still better than nothing, it was still a foot on the stairs to having some sort of normal friend in my family.
Congratulations, you flew beautifully today
I can't wait to see you fly again.
And I want you to know, you shouldn't have
to put up with what your step-siblings do to you,
you are worth more than them
xxx
Whilst overjoyed on the compliment on my flying and the three kisses written at the end, the letter as a whole confused me somewhat.
One kiss I could understand from a male cousin, but three?
Also, unless he'd followed me after the tryouts, how would he have known what my step-siblings had done.
Maybe someone else was watching and told him? That seemed plausible.
Or maybe someone else wrote the notes.