A/n: The aftermath to the auction day!

Amelie

I wake to the sound of gossiping girls. This sound has been foreign to me since last year when our roommate Pattie, one of the most ridiculous Ravenclaws to ever exist, graduated. I assume that I'm hearing things and roll over to return to dream land.

'And then Grace was like, silencio, under her desk so that when Sophia went to talk to Daryl she couldn't say a thing.'

I pull a pillow over my ears to block out the incessant chatter. It's barely muffled.

'And then what?'

'What else? Sophia stood there for a full minute gasping like a fish, then turned bright red and ran off. You can hardly get a word out of her these days.'

Giggles ensue. I groan; it's too early for this.

'Did you hear what James did the other day?'

I perk up. What did James do?

I jump up and throw open the curtains of my four-poster, blinking at the bright light burning my corneas. Lily and Ruth are set up on Nell's bed doing their nails. The owner of said bed is rifling through her chest, pulling out clothes and throwing them on Ida, who is lying on the floor moaning. They all turn to look at me in my sudden appearance.

'Good morning, sleeping beauty.' Ruth says, uncharacteristically cheerful for the early hour that it is. Lily waves as the other two return to their throwing and moaning.

'What did Potter do?' I ask, still a little hazy from sleep.

'Oh!' Lily grins from ear to ear. 'Dom told me that the other day in Care of Magical Creatures James was trying to impress Marion Fleud by showing her how to tame a hippogriff – and he fell right in a load of hippogriff stool! She can't talk to him without laughing now. Poor bloke.'

'Poor bloke indeed! I cry, falling back on my bed, shaking with laughter. I close my eyes, trying to envision the scene. Nell and Ida watch me sourly. When I'm done I address them.

'Why do you two look so glum?' I ask, sliding out of bed to a warm sweater.

'Did you manage to miss the spectacle?' Nell spits, throwing balled up socks at Ida's head to vent some anger. The other girl just moans louder. 'McLaggen poured a bowl of pudding over my head and topped it off with whipped cream and cherries!' She falls onto her bed, sending nail polish sailing. 'Arne told me to go clean up and we ended the night there. McLaggen ruins everything.'

Lily takes up her right hand and begins to paint her nails a bright pink.

'And you, Ida?' I ask, pulling on a pair of jeans and warm socks – a chill is starting to set into the castle and I get cold easily.

'I've got a boyfriend.' She groans into a pile of shirts, curling up in the fetal position.

There is a beat of silence, then –

'Boyfriend!?'

We're all on her in a second.

'Who?'

'What?'

'When?'

'Where?'

'Guys!'

We quiet, waiting for her to explain.

'Damon Vicker bought me at the auction, trying to pass me off as some sort of secret girlfriend to his mates.' She huffs angrily. 'I've made a deal with him that if I help him get his ex off his back, he'll give me whatever I want – including secrets. Quidditch secrets.'

'That's brilliant Ida!' I cry, clapping my hands excitedly, racing for my quidditch chalkboard. On it I write each girl's name, then beside Ida, Damon Vicker. Beside Rose's name I write Scorpius Malfoy, beside Nell, Arne Corner, and myself, Albus Potter.

'What is all this?' Lily pipes up and I realize that revealing this in front of her probably wasn't the best idea. 'I mean, I get that each of these girls have interesting relationships with these guys – but what's with you and my brother?' She fingers her wand. 'You know, I may only by a third year, but I know some pretty mean hexes.'

I flush and quickly rectify the situation. 'We've made a deal. I'm not using Rose's relationship with Scorpius to gain secrets, and in return, Albus is feeding me some of his. About your brother.'

Lily squints at me. 'You know,' She says after a moment, 'You could have always come to me. I know my brothers better than anyone. And I'm all for taking them down. Neither one of them wants me to play quidditch – they're too afraid I'll hurt myself. Perhaps we can come to some sort of an agreement? I don't tell them what you have going on here and I give you some information pertaining to James and Albus.'

'And in return?'

'I want to train with you.' Lily sits up straight to match me. 'I want to go out and fly and learn feints and techniques. Those are my conditions. You can take them or leave them, but I'm not changing them.'

I look to my friends. Ruth nods excitedly, quite taken with the younger girl, while Nell eyes her bright nails.

'We have the pitch booked for two o'clock. Do you have your own broom?'

Her eyes light up and she smirks. 'A Rocket. It goes from zero to sixty in less than a second. Mum bought it for me this summer, thinking that with my brother as captain he'd let me on the team.'

'A Rocket?' Nell asks, hands finding a magazine on her bedside table. 'Fawkes, I haven't even got a broom yet – and I'm on the team! What do you think of this one, Ruth?'

She beckons the other girl and they settle on her bed. Ida stands and brushes herself off.

'Well,' She says, 'I must be off. Lunch date with the boyfriend.' She stomps out of the room.

'I have no idea why she's so angry.' I say, moving into the bathroom with Lily tailing me. 'She's doing the team good with this deal.'

'Perhaps he isn't the nicest fellow. It sounds like he tricked her into being his girl, even if it's only for show.'

'He is a Slytherin after all.' I say without thinking. I look to Lily, who doesn't seem to care that I've just slighted her brother.

'I get it – Slytherin's aren't your type.' She says, grinning and sitting down on the edge of the bath. 'I already knew that. In fact, I think that you fancy yourself a golden Gryffindor.'

I splutter angrily around my toothbrush as I practice dental hygiene. If she's referring to her eldest brother then she's surely mistaken, I think that he's a prick and a prat and everything in between.

'A bloke whose got some gut, who'll stand up for you. You've been fighting James by yourself for far too long.'

'I am perfectly capable of fighting my own battles.' I blink at her. 'A bloke will just get in the way of any hexes I launch at Potter.'

'Just think about it.'

'Fine.'

She smiles widely, clapping her hands, obviously happy with winning our mini-battle. 'Let's go down to lunch.'

Ida

Damon is waiting for me at the bottom of the marble staircase, his smile blindingly bright. Had Evert not been there as well, I might have hexed the boy for being so happy.

Today is not a good day.

I awoke this morning from a nightmare involving Posy Thorn hexing me because I've taken her man. She made my fingers turn into tentacles and my hair all fell out. It makes me wonder what spells seventh years learn.

'I'm a seer.' I announce to the two boys as Damon holds my hand a little too tightly.

Evert laughs. 'Oh mighty seer Ida, what have you read in your tea leaves this morning? Torrential rain? Clouds of dementors? The approaching apocalypse?'

'Ha-ha.' I return sarcastically. 'No. Posy's going to hex me over lunch.'

'That's a given.' Evert nods. 'She's been in a foul mood since last night.

'Oh look,' Damon says, pulling on my hand and leading me towards the Slytherin table. 'There's Posy now.' He looks quite cheerful upon spotting her sour face.

I swear I saw her fingering her wand.

'Hello Ida.' Amity smiles as we approach, moving over on the bench to open up a space for myself and Damon. Evert slips over the table to greet Niles and Hans. Posy glares at her sister, the boys, Damon, and then me. She returns to her soup without a word.

The meal progresses as such: Niles asks me about my favorite quidditch team and I reply that I like the Tutshill Tornadoes, earning a high-five and a lengthy, one-sided conversation about why Geen Karney is the single greatest chaser to have ever lived. Hans and Amity ask about my favorite courses, speaking animatedly about Charms and Transfiguration for nearly half an hour when I answer that I enjoy them equally. Evert asks me what I want to do after Hogwarts and I say that I'm not quite sure, but fancy something with dangerous creatures. He hints that he's going to working on the Ministry's control squad in a year's time and that he wouldn't mind helping me get a leg up on the competition.

Damon gives me a squeeze and a kiss on the forehead, proud of me for impressing all of his friends. Though, the flash cards he gave me last night helped a lot.

The only one still in a pissy mood after lunch is Posy, who I heard muttering hexes under her breath. Amity gives her a kick in the shins and invites me to visit the library with her and Hans after lunch. I make to say no, but Damon senses my hesitation and gives me a pinch in the side and a meaningful look.

I agree to the library.

Niles shoves his hands in his pockets and invites Damon down to the lake while Posy takes off with another Slytherin girl. Oh, how I wish I could go to the lake rather than the library!

Amity, I find out in the dusty, hellish place that most Ravenclaws practically live in, could be one of us. In fact, I have no idea how she isn't. She has her own sofa and everything.

Honesty, is has 'Aunst and Thorn' carved into the molding.

She throws down her book bag and scurries over to the shelves to pull out a hefty, leather-bound volume. There's a bookmark about halfway through it. She flips to a precise page and flops down on the sofa, arranging the cushions just so to maximize comfort. I take a seat on the couch by her feet, catching a glimpse of the title, Runes and You.

'Ancient Runes? I ask her, surprised.

'Yeah, I'm not a natural like Damon and Hans,' She spares a smile for her companion who is searching amongst the shelves for a book to read. 'I actually have to study. I've been working on this text for the past month and I'm only on chapter ninety-seven.'

'Perhaps,' Hans murmurs, turned with his back to us but his smirk is intended for Amity. 'If you spent less time talking to that Hufflepuff ponce who can't transfigure a quill and more time reading, you might be further along.' He spins on his heel, brow raised and book in hand, to give the girl a look, but she's got her nose in her tome.

'He's got quills down. It's teacups he has trouble with.' She mumbles, flipping her page quickly.

Hans makes a noise, but now his attention is trained on me and the spot I've taken up. After a moment of knit brows and confused looks I jump up, realizing that I'm sitting in his usual place. He takes it without a word, flipping open his book and submersing himself in it.

I'm left standing awkwardly by myself. A little voice in my head who sounds a lot like Rose tells me that I should get a head start on that Charms essay due for Wednesday. I sigh and move to an armchair nearby to set up my papers.

Half an hour, two paper cuts, one ink spill, twelve corrections, three arm stretches, five doodles, and eight useless books later, I'm no closer to the end of my essay.

'Ida?' Someone asks and I'm glad to have any relief from the boredom that is schoolwork. I turn to spot Rose's cousin there, books and essay in hand, looking strangely surprised to see me.

'Hey Albus.' I reply.

'What are you doing here?' He slips into the armchair across from mine.

'I'm writing a Charms essay on Avis.' I say, twirling my wand. Yellow feathers erupt from the end of it, not my intention. 'Hmm, there are supposed to be birds…'

'No. I mean, here, this part of the library.' He gestures around us. 'This is unofficially dubbed the Slytherin section.'

'I'm here with Amity and Hans.' I point out the pair on the sofa, too engrossed with their books to hear.

'You're on first name terms with them? Since when? I didn't know that you had any friends in Slytherin.'

'Aren't you my friend?'

He thinks for a moment. 'I don't think I count because I'm Rose's cousin and thus I have to be nice to you.'

'Well,' I say, a little miffed at this. 'I do. As of yesterday, I guess, when my Slytherin boyfriend introduced us.'

Albus seems to choke on nothing. 'Who is this Slytherin boyfriend or yours? Not anyone in our year. I think I'd know, I share a dorm with those blokes.'

'Damon Vicker, seventh year.' I say somewhat proudly. His obvious disbelief shows.

'Damon?' He repeats. 'Stickler Vicker? Ace chaser for the Slytherin team?'

'The one and only.' I reply dryly.

'I thought that he was dating Posy Thorn.' Albus raises a brow, trying to find a flaw with what I'm telling him.

'Not since September.' I raise one back. 'I'd know. I'm the only one snogging him.'

Albus scowls. 'Watch yourself, Winters. I know that Perry is playing secrets. Damon isn't one to be played.'

If anyone is being played, it's me. I bite my tongue.

'Don't worry a thing Potter, I'm a big girl.' I retort. 'I've got everything under control.'

He huffs, obviously not pleased with what he's hearing. 'Just watch yourself.' With the final word in he stands and makes for the exit, not once looking back. I wonder if he can feel my glare burning into his neck.

What the hell is he on about? Watch yourself? Merlin, all of these Potters are bat shit crazy.

Rose

After practice Amelie and I sit down to pick out our new team kits.

'Our current kits include lace-up shoes, knee and elbow pads, gloves, two pairs of pants, chest padding and a jersey.' Amelie lists, writing them down in her playbook. She pulls out a catalogue and starts flipping through it. 'Coach Wood recommended this company because Puddlemere buys from them.'

She grins, everyone knows that Puddlemere was Coach Wood's dream when he was our age, then tears out the slip of paper at the back reserved for purchases and passes it to me.

'I have a few items picked out already.' She lists a page and product number for me and I quickly write them down. 'That's a knee and elbow pad set, colour bronzed leather, to show team spirit.'

We continue as such, Amelie listing and remarking on design and colour as I scribe for her. Her writing is just barely legible and I know that's all I'm here for.

Along with the pad set we decide on two pairs of regulation beige pants and white chest padding, black lace-up shoes, bronzed leather gloves and team jerseys. The jerseys are the hardest to choose because there are so many designs. We end up choosing a dark blue base with a bronze stripe running horizontally across the chest and arms, Ravenclaw emblem on the left breast and names embossed in bronze on the back. The paper enlarges magically to allow Perry, Dortan, Weasley, Winters, Darcy, Affey and Taytum to be written in the jersey column. We don't have to worry about sizes because the company ensures a one-size-fits-all policy, thanks to magic.

When we're finished we sit back and wait for our total. Finally several numbers appear at the bottom of the page. Three hundred and twelve galleons, seven sickles and twelve knuts.

'Nuts.' Amelie says, throwing down the catalogue. 'How much are we over?'

'Almost twenty galleons.' I reply with a grimace. 'I'm sure that the girls wouldn't mind forking over a couple of galleons for our cause, it's not that much if you spread it seven ways.'

'It's alright,' Amelie tells me, packing up the catalogue. She quickly copies down the price and how much we're over, blowing on it to dry the ink. 'I know that Nell and Coraline are still saving up for brooms. I'll cover the costs. I'll owl Gringotts tomorrow.'

A/n: Next chapter, James has a preposition for Amelie and the Ravenclaw team.