Bella stared at the ceiling. There was a small black mark on the ceiling that she'd never noticed before. She glanced at her watch. Four hours she'd spent watching that same black dot above her. Lucy was asleep. Abby was out. She was out with Matt, and they'd been gone since before Bella came back. She assumed that Abby was just going to spend the night in the boys' dorms. That happened sometimes. She'd just sleep in Matt's bed and join in with their conversations. Bella was a little jealous of it when she thought about it properly. All the closeness Abby and Matt had, and all the little things that made them a cute couple. Even though Bella knew the gory details of their relationship – the cheating, the lies – she still envied her.

Lucy muttered something in her sleep and turned over, the sheets rustling slightly. The bed squeaked.

And then there was James to think about. Had he really asked her to marry him? Bella couldn't bear to even consider her parents' reaction to that. They'd disown her, surely. But did she really care? Of course she did. Bella shut her eyes. She was chasing her thoughts in circles now. When she opened her eyes, she told herself to think clearly and methodically. Did she love James? Maybe. Did she want to marry James? Dependent on the first question. She sighed. She didn't know the answers to her own questions – how on earth was she supposed to answer his?

Lucy mumbled to herself again. Bella ignored her once more and tried to find her trail of thought.

There was a sudden squeak of the bed next to her. Lucy was sitting bolt upright, her eyes wide and staring at nothing in front of her. She was drenched in sweat and panting as if she'd just done the four-hundred metres.

'Luce?' Bella whispered, wondering whether or not she was still dreaming.

Lucy's head flicked around the look at her. Bella almost jumped back.

Bella cleared her throat quietly. 'Lucy, are you okay?' She didn't get an answer. As fast as Lucy had sat up, she dropped back onto her bed, collapsed into a heap. Bella's eyes spun around the dorm; everyone was still fast asleep. She silently got out of her bed and crept over to Lucy's, kneeling down beside her bed to be at eye-line with her. Bella gently stroked her hair.

'Lucy… what happened?'

Her eyes finally met Bella's. 'Evan,' She breathed. 'he's gone. He's left.'

'What?'

'He's gone.'

'What do you mean?'

Lucy whimpered slightly. 'He's left school. He's actually done it. Him and Rookwood… they left.'

'How do you know?'

'I just do!' Lucy momentarily raised her voice. She inhaled and calmed herself down. 'I know they left. I saw it, and that's when I woke up.'

Bella crossed her legs and sat down on the wooden floor. 'Well how did they leave? The front door is locked at night…'

Lucy shut her eyes to think. 'I don't… they were… You know it's difficult to remember dreams, Bella.' She paused again. 'It was some kind of passage way… third, no, fourth floor? I'm not sure. Oh! It started with a statue.'

'A statue? Of what?'

'I don't know, I wasn't focussing on that. I was watching Evan.' Lucy said, relieved to have actually said one thing that was remotely useful.

Bella looked at her. 'Just try and go back to sleep, Luce, okay?'

'Yeah,' Lucy manage to give her a small smile before she curled up in her duvet once more. Bella exhaled slowly. She crept back into her own bed and resumed her position staring at the ceiling. It didn't help – she was still feeling as confused as before. Eventually, she fell asleep.

The next morning Bella was rudely awoken by a violent shaking feeling. She forced her eyes open and almost shut them again from shock. Jamie was literally directly in front of her.

'What- the- fuck-' Bella's voice shook as Jamie shook her.

Jamie finally stopped and simply stared at her. 'Alex wants off the team.'

Bella bolted upright, nearly head-butting Jamie in the process. 'What?'

'Alex says he's sick of being told what to do, and that you'll be a worse Captain than our last one.'

'Thanks for not holding anything back, Jamie.' Bella said flatly.

'Oh, I held quite a bit back.'

Bella glared at him. Jamie smiled back awkwardly.

'Clear off and let me get dressed.'

'Oh, okay.' Jamie's eyes unavoidably drifted down to Bella's pyjamas – a term used very loosely on Bella.

'Jamie.'

He shook his head. 'Right, sorry, Bella.' He dragged himself up off the floor, and backed out of the dorms, shutting the door quietly behind him. Bella only noticed then that she was the only one left in her dorm. She swung her legs off her bed and rubbed her eyes with her hands. She couldn't believe that Alex would just have decided to call it quits – he loved Quidditch more than anything.

The pitch was dark that morning. Bella pulled the hood of her Quidditch robes over her head and wrapped the robes around herself. Her eyes were cold to match the weather as she stormed towards the pitch, wind billowing through her cloak. She opened the gates wordlessly. Non-verbal magic came easily to her when she was angry. So much so that she could have sworn the gates opened before she cast the spell.

She was greeted by the gloomy atmosphere that the Slytherin team presented to her. The current team. There would be trials, but it looked like they would be postponed. Bella had a mind to tell Jamie and Alex they didn't have to try out because they were in the running for Captain… but now Alex had gone – she didn't know what to do. She marched straight to the cluster of Slytherins, hit the end of her broom on the ground, and everyone fell silent and looked at her. All eyes were on her, scared by the surging anger in her eyes.

'Where is he?' She said in a low voice. No reply. 'Alex, where is he?'

A fourth year named Kitty lifted her ginger hair to look at Bella. 'He's in the changing rooms… says he's going back to the common room.'

Bella didn't wait to answer her, she just stalked towards the changing rooms. She kicked the door open with a bang, and half the team on the pitch jumped. It was evident who was in charge of this situation.

Alex was just packing his Quidditch robes into a bag. He didn't bother looking up when Bella entered, although it was obvious he knew she was there. Everyone heard her enter.

'Don't bother.' He started, shaking his hair out of his eyes.

'Why? Because you're not worth it? Because you don't like me? Take your pick.' She snatched the bag from the bench and hurled it across to the other side of the changing rooms. It hit the back wall and thudded onto the floor, some of the contents slipping out. Alex finally looked up and met her gaze. His expression was beyond scared. He was terrified.

'I'll tell you which, Alex,' Bella told him, knowing she now had his full attention. 'you are fucking worth it – you're a good Quidditch player. One of the best. And I don't care what your reasons for leaving are, or why you assume it's a good idea, or what kind of Captain you'll think I'll be – you are not leaving this team. D'you hear me?' He nodded meekly. 'Good.'

Training didn't happen that day. Alex went back to the common room, even having admitted defeat and saying he'd stay on the team. Bella called off practice, and told everyone that the try-outs would be held the next day.

As it turned out, Bella picked the worst possible weather for try-outs. It was pouring down with rain, bolting onto the ground with such force it made it look like hail from a distance. Although, Bella didn't think it was all bad. They needed to be able to play in bad weather, they weren't always going to have sunshine and a breeze. They'd played in thunder storms before. They ought to get used to it.

Chaser try-outs were first, and with Jamie on her left side, they were looking for two people. One of their previous team was looking casual down on the ground, almost knowing she'd be back. Kitty Rookwood had gained considerable confidence from the night before, although Bella knew Kitty was easily flustered by anger. Luckily, she didn't panic on the pitch. Her hair was all curled behind her, and tied up securely with two bobbles. She was Augustus Rookwood's little sister. Although, nobody called him Augustus… he was just known as AJ to most people – his middle name was John.

Bella stood up, to address Lucy down on the ground. She'd roped in Lucy to unleash the Quidditch balls. She nodded at her, and Lucy released the Quaffle, trying her best to through it up in the air high, like the referees in matches did. She failed quite miserably, but Bella couldn't help but smile at her effort.

Kitty was the first after it, grabbing it with both hands and zooming off to the opposite side of the pitch, her hair frantically attempting to escape her pony tail. Bella leant forwards on her seat, trying to watch every move she was making. She neatly pocketed the Quaffle through the centre hoop (much to the Keeper's dislike) and all with one simple flick of her wrist. Bella had to admit she was impressed.

'She's good, right?' Jamie interrupted her thoughts. Bella nodded, not wanting to take her eyes off the pitch in case she missed something. One of the others had the Quaffle now, but they didn't keep it for long, Kitty took back quickly.

'You feel okay playing alongside her?' Bella asked Jamie quietly, allowing herself to tear her eyes away from the pitch to look Jamie in the eyes.

'Yeah,' he nodded. 'why wouldn't I be?'

Bella raised her eyebrows. 'You think I don't know about what happened after our last match last year?' Jamie didn't flinch. 'I can remind you if you like. It was just after Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup, and Kitty was upset. You guys went back to the common room before us and-'

'Okay, okay!' Jamie held his hands up, a cheeky grin on his face. 'You got me, alright? But yeah, I'm good playing with her.'

'I know that.'

'Bella!'

She giggled. 'Yep, I hear you. Just joking with you!'

Jamie rolled his eyes. 'We done here?'

'You're distracted.'

'I'm not.'

'So far you're happy playing with only two chasers?'

Jamie sighed to himself, unable to turn back to look at Bella. 'Right. Sorry. Maybe I am a bit distracted.'

Bella smirked. 'Alright. Which of the others do you want?'

'It's not up to me, is it?'

'Nope. It's up to me. And right now – I'm telling you to choose.'

'Damn it,' Jamie chuckled. 'let's see then.' He leant forwards to get a closer look. There was one boy and another girl. The boy was in his fourth year, and the girl in her fifth. 'Well, the girl seems pretty good…'

'Nothing to do with the fact that she's pretty?'

'Nope,' Jamie shook his head. 'it's to do with the fact that she's fit.' Bella sighed and just let him get on with it. Both the other candidates were as good as each other, so it didn't really matter who Jamie chose.

'What's her name?' Jamie asked Bella, not bothering to turn around.

'Serena Keas.'

'Sounds Spanish…'

'Keep your head in the game, Jamie.'

'Oh… I am.'

Bella stopped listening then. They didn't actually need anyone else for the team after this. They just had to hold the trials and re-hire the old team. Well, that's what Bella intended to do, anyway – whether anyone else knew or not. She just had to sit back and let everyone show her their skills. She could get used to that. Until James popped back into her head. She thought she was seeing things at first, but when she blinked a few times, she realised that James was actually standing by the gates the stadium.

'Bells…' Jamie began, his reaction only a few seconds behind. 'What the fuck is Potter doing here?'

'I'll deal with it.' Bella told him, immediately standing up.

'You sure? I'll come with you…'

'I said I will deal with it.' Bella glared at him. Jamie's expression turned to something resembling a frightened puppy. She didn't mean to snap at him, but there was no way she was letting him come with her. She had to deal with this alone.