Chapter 3

A New Beginning

The Hogwarts Express finally pulled into Hogsmeade Station, the engine rustling to a stop and the whistle blowing loudly. After a few minutes, the train's doors opened and students poured out onto the platform, chattering excitedly as they stepped out to fetch their baggage,

Blaine stepped off the train and walked over to the chamber where he had stuck his suitcase and found it already open. "Accio suitcase!" he said.

The suitcase flew out of the chamber and planted itself directly at his feet.

"Nice one," Artie said from his other side.

Santana stepped in front of them. "Accio suitcase" she mimicked, and her baggage jumped out and landed beside her.

Artie copied their action, only resulting with his suitcase practically pelting itself at them and hitting Blaine in the knee with a thud.

"Ow!" Blaine winced.

"Sorry, sorry! Are you okay, B?"

"Uhn, yeah, I'm fine," Blaine replied with slight disdain.

"New wand."

"Well, that would explain why you almost killed me with that Levitation Charm on the train," Santana said, giving Artie an evil glare.

"First years this way!" a voice called above the chatter.

The three of them turned and looked to find Professor Sylvester, Hogwarts' gamekeeper.

"All first years, follow me!" she called again.

Santana and Artie followed closely behind Blaine as he shuffled out of the station and into Hogsmeade. They walked a little ways before reaching the Thestral carriages.

"Well, I guess we're here," Blaine said.

"Yep. Back at school," Artie agreed.

"You guys ready?"

"We kind of have to be, don't we?" Santana said.

"Well, then, let's go."

Blaine had really forgotten over the holidays how big the Great Hall was. He looked up; the bewitched ceiling was pouring down raining now.

"Hey, Blaine! Over here!"

He looked toward the familiar voice and a short brunette boy with his hand waving above his head managed to catch his eye over the flooded tables.

"Nick!" He watched Santana part from them and head toward the Ravenclaw table before he gladly made his way over and sat down beside him, Artie following suit.

"How are you guys?"

"Fine," Artie replied simply.

"Not bad. You?" Blaine asked.

"Alright, just ready for school to start up again. Sounds crazy, doesn't it?"

"Nah, I feel the same way. Summer holidays were far too long for my liking. It seems like everyone feels that way this year."

"So," Artie said, "are we gonna start the feast soon or what? I'm starving!"

Blaine snorted. "Do you ever stop eating?"

"You don't ever see me eating in between classes, do you?" Artie retorted jokingly.

"Students!" a booming voice echoed throughout the Hall.

They all looked up.

It was Professor Figgins, the headmaster. "It is with great pleasure on my part to welcome you to another year at Hogwarts! Now, it is an honor to introduce the newest addition to our staff- your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher- Professor Schuester!"

There was applause as a rather young-looking man stood up from the staff table. He ran a hand through his mussed brunette hair as he waved to the students.

Blaine looked to Nick. "What happened to Professor Ryerson?"

"Didn't you hear? He came down with Spattergroit over the holidays. He said he might have gotten it when he went down to New Zealand or something. He's been at St. Mungo's ever since."

"Now," Figgins continued, "for the sake of all the first years, I must go over the main rules of Hogwarts School."

Blaine could swear he heard a few groans coming from the Slytherin table.

"First of all, the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds- no exceptions. Any student who is dumb enough to go into the forest- and come out alive and in one piece- will be given a detention."

Trent and Jeff snickered.

"Second, please do not try to swim in the Black Lake; the merpeople aren't ever exactly in the mood for visitors."

Now Nick and Thad had to stifle laughter behind their hands.

Blaine rolled his eyes and smiled.

"Lastly, absolutely- and I mean absolutely no owl posts from anything that is not an owl."

Blaine watched the four boys exchange guilty grins. "You guys are nothing but trouble, you know that?"

"Life's too short," Nick retorted. "You gotta make the most of it."

At the front, Figgins stretched his arms out in front of him. "Now, if there aren't any more announcements..." he paused and looked around as if daring someone to interrupt him, "let the feast...begin."

And with that, mounds of food appeared on the brass plates that had been empty only a moment ago.

The Gryffindor boys all dug into the plates and started shoveling food into their mouths.

"Oi, Blaine," Trent said, swallowing a mouthful of sweet potatoes, "what's the plan for Quidditch tryouts this year?"

Blaine gulped a swig of apple juice. "Why are you asking me?"

"Did you not hear?" Jeff said.

Blaine quirked an eyebrow. "Hear what?"

"You're Gryffindor captain this year, man."

"...I...what?"

"Are you not listening? You're captain!"

"But...I thought Wes was still captain! He was only a sixth year last year, wasn't he?"

"Wes said that he was done with it, he didn't want to do it anymore. He wants to spend this year mostly 'focusing on his future career.' Those were his words. He still would love to be on the team, but captaining just isn't his thing apparently."

"That just doesn't make any sense; our team was great last year."

"Blaine, be honest: Did you really like having Wes captain? Did he never drive you insane, or make you want to strangle him?"

Blaine frowned. "Point taken. But...can't somebody else do it this year?"

"I thought you said you wanted to be captain!"

"Yeah, when I'm a sixth year maybe!"

"So...you don't want it?" Trent asked.

Blaine's eyes widened slightly. "Of course I do!" He shrunk back on the edge of the bench. "It's just... I feel like I'm depriving someone else of an opportunity that they deserve more than I do!"

"Look,"Jeff said, "Wes talked to some of the other teammates, and they all agreed that if anyone deserves that position, it's you."

"Yeah," Nick agreed. "The Gryffindor captain is supposed to be strong and brave-hearted and willing to push the team to do its best, in a way that won't make the whole team hate them. Personally, knowing you since second year, you sure seem to fit that description perfectly."

Blaine looked down at his plate and stabbed his turkey with his fork.

"Come on, you can try it for one year, and if you don't like it, you can choose someone else for next year. Okay?"

A brief silence drifted around the group of boys.

Blaine slowly lifted his head to looked at each of his friends.

Trent looked at him pleadingly.

Nick flashed him an encouraging smile.

Jeff simply shrugged.

Thad nodded at him.

Blaine turned to his best friend. "What do you think?" he mumbled.

"Well, you did say you wanted to be captain. I say that if you think you're up for it, why not?" Artie reasoned.

Blaine sighed. "Fine, I'll do it."

A few weeks passed, and fifth year was already becoming a bit of a struggle for Blaine. Even after only his first few classes, his stack of homework began to pile on. He didn't know why, but it seemed like he saw Kurt almost every time he walked through the corridors, and only so many of those times would they stop and talk, because most of the time he had Brittany hooked on his arm. Blaine still had yet to figure out why this made his cheeks burn, or his body steam with jealousy; all he knew was that every time his chance to enjoy a conversation with Kurt was interrupted by the blonde, or even by Artie and/or Santana catching up to him and practically dragging him off to their next class, there was a slight irritation in the back of his throat that almost made him want to jinx somebody.

A few weeks into the school year, Blaine finally managed to set a free date for the Gryffindor team's Quidditch tryouts, when he wasn't doing his Potions assignment, or trying to finish his first project of the year for his Care Of Magical Creatures class.

Evidently trying to find players good enough for each position of the Gryffindor Quidditch team wasn't as hard as Blaine had dreaded that it might be.

He watched the try-outers as he hovered above them, slowly gliding past them all and watching them all give their best performance. He blew his whistle loudly. "Abrams, you're up!" He almost fell backward off his Firebolt as Artie zipped past him, chucking the Quaffle past Nick and into the goal. "Nice," he noted to himself.

Artie turned on his Nimbus and looked at Blaine hopefully.

"Go again!" Blaine told him, trying not to sound biased.

Artie gave him a thumbs up and obeyed. The second time, he scored again.

Blaine nodded in approval. "One more time, Artie. You make this last one and you're on the team."

Artie's lip curled excitedly. He went again. Another score.

Blaine had to resist grinning. "Congratulations, Artie, you made Chaser."

"Yes!" Artie exclaimed, flying up to Blaine and high-fiving him. "You won't regret this captain!"

"I sure hope I won't," Blaine said, the corners of his mouth twitching.

Artie flew away and descended to the ground before landing firmly on his feet.

Blaine turned around and blew his whistle again. "Alright, who's next?" He looked around and looked over to Nick at the goal.

Nick's eyes flickered with slight reluctance.

Blaine couldn't blame him; Artie had just owned his ass. "Hey Trent!"

Said boy looked up.

"Give me a hand," Blaine said.

Trent nodded and kicked up off the ground.

Wes passed him the Quaffle.

He dipped in the air and zipped toward the goal. He flung it toward Nick, who dodged it.

Blaine pursed his lips and nodded approvingly. "Again!"

Whoosh! Another successful dodge.

Blaine heard a broom swiftly fly up next to him.

"It looks like we've got trouble, Blaine," Wes said in his ear.

Blaine looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Wes' eyes narrowed and shifted in a gesture toward the stands.

Blaine followed his eyes and groaned silently.

A small sea of green and silver was filling up the Slytherin stands.

Can't they ever leave us the hell alone? he thought.

But his mind seemed to go numb when he spotted a face that had already etched itself into his mind...

Kurt was looking directly back at him with a small smile on his face. He raised a hand up to wave at Blaine.

Blaine didn't know if he should wave back, or if he should just act like he hadn't seen him. He was surrounded by so many other Gryffindors and Slytherins; he didn't want anybody to have an excuse to gossip about two boys from enemy's houses being friendly to one another. Of course, he didn't want to risk hurting his feelings, so he waved back simply.

Matters were made even worse when he looked closer and noticed that Brittany was with him, and all over his shoulder and thigh.

Blaine felt his cheeks begin to burn. "Go again, Nick!" he yelled, trying to mask his irritation.

Bam! Dodged again.

A few of the Slytherins booed and hissed at them.

Blaine rolled his eyes and grunted annoyedly.

Nick flew up to him looking hopeful.

Blaine faked a smile. "Good news, you're still Keeper."

"Sweet!" Nick said, earning him a high-five. "So, what about the other Chasers? From what it seems like, if we have Artie on the team now, do we need the others?" He laughed.

"Try-outs are just the start, Nick. Artie has speed- and that definitely makes for a decent Chaser- but he still needs to play an official game in order to get the real feel of Quidditch. He hasn't faced the potential aggressions that will come from the opposing team."

Nick shrugged. "Well, I think he'll do fine."

"So do I... I just don't want him to become too full of himself before our first game; it's a dangerous game, he could really hurt himself."

"You worry too much."

"He's my best friend, I'm just looking out for him."

Nick nodded with a smile.

Blaine shifted on his broom before he blew his whistle once more. "Next!"

In the end, Blaine only hoped he hadn't been too biased with tryouts.

Artie was a little too eager about making Chaser along with Trent and Jeff, Nick was keeping his position as Keeper (no pun intended,) and Wes and David were the Beaters.

In the end, Blaine could only hope that he'd chosen the right players for the job. Otherwise, the first Quidditch practice was going to be a long one.

So, I'm very sorry for the delay of updating this...my spring show was this weekend, and the homework is starting to pile on again now that the end of the year is approaching. Meh! I am soooo done with school!

Anyways, hope you all liked this chapter! REVIEW!