Hello Readers! As promised, this is a more upbeat chapter, enjoy and please review!

See my profile for images of Amy, Lily and the Marauders!

I do not own Harry Potter!

Three days later, I stumbled down to breakfast at Hogwarts. As per usual with my new routine, I was a complete zombie. My hair was scraped back from my face in a resemblance of a ponytail, I had circles beneath my eyes and my communication consisted of monotonic grunts and shrugging of shoulders.

To think that I used to be a fun and lively person. They were the days.

I was snapped out of my daydreaming (a new habit to add to the zombie collection) by a way-too-enthusiastic-for-the-morning-person-also-known-as-James. He was positively bounding around the place.

"QUIDDITCH TRY OUTS!" He shrieked like a banshee. Peter swooned, Remus rolled his eyes and Sirius joined James in running laps of the Great Hall as if that would help impress the captain.

"Oh, and Amy, I signed you up to try out as Seeker", he added as an afterthought.

Now if anything could wake me up, that could.

"WHAT!" I yelled, causing the sky of the Great Hall to become stormy. I think birds even flew out of the Whomping Willow. All eyes were on me. I didn't think that it was possible to shout so loud.

Awkward…

Two hours later, with much persuasion on James' and Sirius' part, I was kitted out in my Quidditch gear, had my Nimbus 1800 in hand and was freezing my arse off at the Quidditch pitch. Last year, Ravenclaw had won the house cup and it was clear that the new captain wished for a Gryffindor victory this year.

The new captain was a 6th year student called Patrick O'Donnell. He was tall, with a slender, muscled build and a dazzling smile that made girls swoon. He had blonde hair and impish green eyes not unlike Lily's. He was Gryffindor's star chaser and had been on the team for the last four years.

There was a large crowd assembled, both as spectators and applications. Patrick was in the middle of it all, trying to regain some calm.

"RIGHT! LISTEN UP!" he shouted angrily. Everybody fell silent. "Thank you, now I want everybody who applied as Chaser to go to the far side of the pitch and all Seeker hopefuls to stay here. Anybody who hasn't signed up, get off the pitch, the stands are open if you want to watch."

I waved goodbye to Remus, Sirius and Lily who made their way to the stands.

"GOOD LUCK JAMES! GOOD LUCK MARLENE!" I shouted to James and my roommate Marlene, both of whom were flying against each other for the much conveyed position as chaser.

"Right, Seekers, you go to the stands. The chasers are going first. I'll call you when we're ready." Patrick told us.

I joined Lily, Remus and Sirius and we watched as the Chasers flew around the pitch at top speeds. Patrick, the second chaser, Lucy Rivers, Beaters Fabian and Gideon Prewett and Keeper Tessa Helt were judging.

One by one they were sent off the pitch, often in tears. Eventually they were left with only ten chasers. They were each handed a Quaffle and Tessa flew to the hoops. They had to dodge the Prewett's Bludgers and score at the same time. It was a process of elimination. Miss and you're out.

By their fourth shot, they were left with 6 fliers. On Round 5, Marlene failed to get the Quaffle passed the skilled Keeper. We all sighed, but Marlene had done extremely well to get this far. Besides, James was still in the running!

It was twenty minutes before they were left to two candidates: James and a 6th Year called Antony Murray. They both scored on the first round, but then Murray failed to dodge Gideon Prewett's Bludger. It struck him on the elbow, sending his Cleensweep spinning. We all held our breath as he struggled to regain his seat. He cursed loudly and flung the Quaffle towards the hoop.

We watched as the scarlet Quaffle spun through the air it was aimed for the middlee hoop, but Tessa deflected it with ease.

When it was his turn, James grinned and swerved past the dreaded Bludgers, scoring through the left hoop with ease. James Potter was the new Chaser!

We all cheered loudly, but I had no time to congratulate him because I soon found myself on my Nimbus.

Our first instruction was to fly around the pitch. I did this with ease, but others didn't. Around half of the candidates were shunned from the pitch due to pathetic attempts at flying!

After that, we had to pass a Quaffle around. We lost a few applicants there as well. Soon, Patrick began to toss muggle tennis balls for us to swoop and catch. I caught each one that he threw for me, but others weren't too lucky. We were reduced to five fliers.

Patrick swapped the tennis balls for even smaller dof no not dof…golf balls. He hurled these without mercy and we swerved and dived and whizzed on our brooms to try and catch the golf balls. Within five minutes only a 4th Year girl called Susie Colt and I were remaining.

"Right! It's time to let out the Snitch! First to catch it gets the place, but don't forget to dodge the Bludgers!" Patrick announced. I grinned confidently and quickly surveyed my opposition. She was tall-too tall to be Seeker-and lanky with blonde hair scraped back from her face. She had a friendly face but her brown eyes were narrowed in concentration.

We mounted our brooms and rose into the air. Patrick released the Snitch. I saw it briefly before it zoomed out of sight. I flew the perimeter of the pitch, my eyes peeled for any sign of movement, my ears perked for any sound of buzzing or wings flapping.

I was vaguely aware of my friends cheering like a mad troop of leprechauns in the stands. Susie was circling the pitch, her stature similar to my own.

Half an hour later, I was just beginning to give up hope when I suddenly heard a faint buzzing noise. I perked up and strained my ears. I wasn't imagining it. I whipped around on my broom and looked down. It was there, the golden Snitch, hovering half way down the pitch.

I was about to accelerate and fly after it but Susie was closer. She hadn't spotted it yet but if I sped up, she would notice and get there first. I began to tentatively move closer to the Snitch. I still had it in my sight.

Susie glanced at me and to my horror, spotted the Snitch. We both accelerated, flattening ourselves against the handle of our brooms. The wind rushed past our faces, blowing our hair behind us. The Snitch seemed to sense its danger and darted downwards. It descended rapidly until it was less than a metre from the ground.

Susie and I were neck and neck. I urged my Nimbus to go faster. I pulled ahead slightly and pushed the handle of my broom downwards until it was almost vertical. Susie fell behind, unable to keep up with my dramatic and dangerous swoop.

One of my hands left my broom and stretched in front of me. Before I knew it, I had the struggling Snitch in my hand.

I had done it, I was Seeker!