Chapter Four:
Aphelia came running up to us the moment we arrived at the pitch.
"Did you hear?" she panted, out of breath. I grimaced in sympathy.
"Sadly, yeah. We're going to watch to tryouts, want to come?" Hugo offered. Aphelia shrugged. "Nothing else to do," she sighed, as she followed us up to the stands.
For the first half an hour, we were just chatting about nothing in particular. Slytherin were good, but when they slipped up, it was so exaggerated it looked as if they were making deliberate mistakes. David joined us after a while, followed by Lissy and Felicity. Felicity started heckling at one point, which Hugo eagerly joined in with. 'Go get a real broom', 'Haircuts are cheap, you can afford them', and 'How does that scrawny neck support that big head?' were by far the politest. I didn't say anything, though - I knew it would be our turn when we finally tried out.
At last, after an hour and forty-five minutes, Slytherin surrendered the pitch, after stretching their field time to the absolute limit. Ravenclaw came on, and you could tell how quickly they wanted to get this over and done with by the fact that they were airborne immediately. Some of the Seekers were quite good, but nowhere near as good as Al had been, who had been not quite as good as James. James now played for the Tornados, something Dad, who had been an avid Quidditch player, and Mum, who had played for the Holyhead Harpies and was now the Quidditch Correspondent for the Prophet, were extremely proud of. Someone, I couldn't see who, let the ball slip through their fingers at one point, however they was so high up I doubted that the Captain, George Allan, could even see. Sure enough, they got on the team.
I watched as Robert tried out for Beater. It all went well until the last part of his tryout - instead of hitting the Bludger, he swung his bat around so hard that it smacked him in the face. And what's worse, the Bludger zoomed off and hit another Ravenclaw right were it would really hurt. That can't have felt too good. I watched as Allan told him that he couldn't be on the team. I winced in sympathy for him.
"Well, hello, Potter," I heard a familiar, snooty voice call, just while Allan was announcing the Ravenclaw team.
"Parkinson, I give you my greetings," I replied, in an equally snooty voice, mimicking her. Her black hair was pulled back in a high ponytail - I noticed that the necklace from Kej was tucked under her shirt.
Sharon Parkinson smirked. "Seeker," she said pointing to herself. I smiled at her, and shook my head. I pointed at her.
"Bitch," I said, loudly.
Parkinson went red in the face. "Seeker," she said determinedly, jabbing herself in the chest. I shook my head again.
"Illiterate," I said, pointing at her again. This made Aaron and Hugo crack up, and that laugh made me realise that our little group's eyes were all on me and Sharon. Parkinson smirked. "Oh, Little Miss Lily Potter, we both know you couldn't get on a team unless someone Confunded the Captain. Or perhaps used your famous...alternative methods. You simply don't have the skills required to play Quidditch - only the skills to be a 'heinous cow,'" she sneered, quoting our last meeting.
"Actually, Parkinson, she does have the skills for Quidditch. Lily's trying out," Aaron said, loudly, standing up and walking to my side.
Sharon smirked. "Really?" she said sarcastically.
"Yeah, really. I play Quidditch all the time at home. Did I tell you my brother plays for the Tornados?" I asked, smiling.
"Just because your brother is good, doesn't mean you are. For instance, both your brothers were excellent kissers, and I think I can safely say that you aren't, since Kej dumped you," Sharon smirked. I heard Hugo gasp.
I shrugged. "All I can say is, if my brothers have kissed you, I really hoped they didn't pick up your infection."
Parkinson stopped smiling. "What infection?"
"Sharonisabitch-itis," I said, smiling.
Parkinson scowled. Then she recovered herself. "Well, go on then. Try out for Quidditch. I dare you," she simpered, before stalking off, and calling over her shoulder, "Seeker!"
I quickly turned to Aaron. "I'm trying out for Chaser."
Aaron shrugged. "Sure. I'll do what I can."
I shook my head. "You have to get me on the team."
"Lil, I can't do that, I'm sorry," he muttered. Everyone else had resumed their conversations.
"Look, please?" I pleaded. Aaron shrugged.
"All I can do is be biased during your tryout. But I can't guarantee you a spot on the team, I really want to win the Championship, so I need the best players," he shrugged.
"...Thanks," I surrendered, patting his shoulder and walking back to my seat.
Then I realised. It was happening. I was actually trying out for Quidditch. Dear Merlin, let this be a nightmare.
We had to walk down to get changed almost straight away after I'd signed up to tryout. I borrowed Aphelia's spare robes - that were really big for me - and before I knew it we were on the pitch. I sidled up to Aaron and muttered, "Go easy on me, ok?" He nodded once before calling everyone to attention. The moment he opened his mouth a lot of mixed shouting came from around the pitch. The Gryffindors were cheering, and the Slytherins were jeering. Loudly. Mostly about me. Rudely about me. I tried not to listen to Aaron talking about how he was going to try us out, as I was still partially convinced I was in the middle of some sort of bad dream. Then I realised Chasers were going first. This is going to be humiliating. I haven't played a game of Quidditch in about five years. I am going to hate this.
Mounted the broom. Started flying. Simple. I was already the right height, and the Quaffle was being tossed around. "I can do this," I muttered, getting a firm grip on the handle of my broom, and flying into the midst of hopeful players - I noticed one of them was Roxanne. For a minute or so I didn't really do much, just flying absently around trying to follow the path of the Quaffle. I was trying to ignore the jibes coming from Sharon's direction about how I resembled a pug, when suddenly a big red ball was dropped in my lap. It took Sharon a split second to respond.
"Oh, wittle baby Wiwy doesn't know what to do wif the bawl. Pwoor bwaby Wiwy," she yelled, in a fake lisp. I saw red. Redder than the Quaffle, redder than my overlarge robes. Suddenly, without any conscious thought on my part, I shot off down the other end of the pitch. I could hear a couple of people hurtling after me, but I was going too fast - I hadn't even known a school broom could go so fast! When I reached the goals, I imagined the Quaffle was Sharon's head, and I hit it as hard as I could, making it soar through the goal.
I let out a little shriek. "I did it!" I squealed, momentarily thrilled. Then I realised I would have to score a lot more to be on the team.
Suddenly, Quidditch didn't seem so hard. Pass, catch, shoot. Pass, catch, shoot. I was nowhere near as natural as Rose was, but then again Rose always was the perfect girl - with the slight downside of currently dating a Malfoy. But Scorpius was nice, even though I had been raised to hate his surname.
After about an hour, Aaron called us down. My heart was pounding - not necessarily because I wanted to be on the team, but because I needed to show Parkinson I could be on the team. Aaron had had us all trying out at once, so he could see how prospective members of the team could fly as a whole. It had been crowded - with far to many Beaters trying to hit the Bludgers - but overall it meant that we didn't have to play for too long in the pitch black.
"Great, you all flied really, really well. I mean it, there isn't a person here who I wouldn't be happy for them to be on the team," Aaron began. There was bit of mumbling at this - nobody particularly wanted Jack Kipplet on the team. He'd been shooting Bludgers at me all evening. "But, there are only seven players I can have," Aaron continued, ignoring the mumbling.
"Potter, have you been sent home yet?" Sharon called.
"So I would like to welcome back to the team, Lucy Tomlinson as our Seeker," Aaron cleared his throat and raised his voice over the jeering of the Slytherins. Lucy beamed at everyone as they applauded her.
"Been told you're not good enough for a school sports team yet?"
"Like you're not good for anything?"
"And Aphelia Clarke as a Beater," Aaron said, even louder. The applause couldn't drown out Laticia Lypicious calling out, "The only thing the precious Potter is good for is snogging other people's boyfriends!"
I watched as Hugo hexed her in the stands. It was fun, watching Laticia's white-blonde hair turn a vivid bogey-green.
"And also Hepiliya Jones as a Chaser!" Aaron bellowed, over Caroline Zabini crying, "Can't even fight you're own battles, Miss Potter? Got your cousin to fight them for you?"
"She doesn't need to ask! Some people are nice without being paid!" Hugo yelled, sending something flying at Caroline - I think it was his shoe. Good on him.
"Our new Keeper is Thomas Hallenby!" Aaron shouted, clapping Thomas on the back, "And our new Chasers are Lily Potter and Scarlett Marks!"
I squealed, running over to Aaron and giving him a brief 'man-hug', even though I wasn't a man. I'm on the team! "Thank you so, so much!" I breathed, looking Aaron right in the eye. He grinned briefly, then I went to stand next to Aphelia while he addressed the team. I leaned back against the stands, then leapt back with a quiet squeal - I had just leant against a spider!
"Can everyone meet me here at four one week from now? Great," he said, without waiting for a response. "Our first match is against Slytherin, so we'll talk tactics later. And, yeah, that's it, so you can all go now if you want," Aaron said, shrugging.
"Guess he's not one for big speeches, is he?" I muttered to Aphelia, as we turned to walk back up to the castle.
"Hm. Can I go and punch Sharon now?" she asked, totally serious.
"Lia!"
"Please? Pretty please?"
"No!"
"Really?"
"Maybe," I conceded.
"Hey!" someone called out. I hadn't heard that voice in a long time.
"Roxanne?" I asked in disbelief, unnerved that she was talking to me. Unlike the rest of the Weasleys, Roxanne and Fred both had dark hair, instead of red, and had inherited their mother's colouring. This, and the fact that Roxanne had avoided me and Rose - but nobody else in our families - made it practically impossible for people to tell that the two of us were related.
Roxanne stormed up to me, carrying her broomstick so tightly in one hand I thought it might break.
"You got me off the team!" she cried, her eyes blazing.
"What?" I asked, sharply.
"Because of Rose I couldn't get onto the team for five years since she was in the spot that could have been mine! I get onto the team last year, for one year, and now you come along and kick me off?" she screamed, tears of fury in her eyes.
"Leave Lily alone, Roxanne. It's not her fault. You should have heard what Sharon was saying to her. She basically had to try out, she wasn't expecting to actually get on the team!" Aphelia sighed.
The pent up tears in Roxanne's eyes suddenly spilled down her face.
"You think people don't say things like that to me too? Since when has Parkinson given any of us a day's peace? All I w-wanted w-w-was to g-get on the t-team, and n-now I'm off it after only one y-y-year!" she choked out, covering her face with her hands. I had never seen Roxanne like this. She had always struck me as the tough one. She had never cried when she tripped over a gnome or two at our grandparent's house, like Molly and Lucy had. She had always seemed to laugh in the face of fear. Even Aphelia seemed startled by this turn of events.
"Um, ok, let's sit you down somewhere," she muttered, guiding Roxanne over to a patch of grass in an alcove of the great castle. She sat Roxanne down on the grass, then gestured for me to sit down too.
"Ew," I muttered, looking at the wet grass - it was so going to stain Aphelia's spare robes. I sat down anyway, though, as I knew I had to make peace with Roxanne somehow. Thankfully Aphelia doesn't care about grass stain.
"Look, what's this really about?" Aphelia asked, the moment she sat down too. Roxanne looked up, her dark eyes still full of tears.
"What do you mean?" she mumbled, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her robes.
"Come on, even I don't get this worked up about Quidditch, and you know how I can get from last year," Aphelia said, folding her arms. Roxanne sniffed.
"I just - I just really, really wanted to be on the team!" she persisted.
"Yeah, I'm not saying that's not true, but there's something else, isn't there?" Aphelia said, softly. Roxanne looked first at Aphelia, then at me.
"Ok, fine," she mumbled. "It's just...I just kind of feel like I'm forgotten, and Lucy does too."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I dunno," Roxanne shrugged. "But my parents were there, too. They fought You-Know-Who, they fought his army, I'm also related to The Boy Who Lived - obviously not as directly as you," she gestured at me, "but just as much as Rose or Hugo! But I'm just left out of the whole...the whole new generation thing," she sniffed.
I didn't really want to say that this was because she wasn't the kid of one of the Golden Trio. Damn, I have got to stop calling Dad, Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione that!
"Roxy, I don't think you're forgotten," I lied. She totally was. "The only reason people seem to...well, look by you, is because you don't even talk to me or Rose! I mean, what is you're problem with us, Roxy?" I asked.
Roxanne stiffened. "Ask Rose."
"But I'm asking you."
"And I'm not giving you an answer. Ask Rose," she repeated.
"Again, I'm asking you. Why should I have to ask Rose?"
Roxanne shot me a look of disgust.
"Urgh, see, that is the thing with you! You can't let a subject drop! I should never have talked to you!" she spat, standing up faster than I thought possible.
"Roxanne!" Apehlia cried out, standing up too. I stood up as well then, as it's awkward being the only one sitting down.
"Just tell me! I'm going to find out from Rose anyway," I rolled my eyes. Roxanne tossed her head.
"Well, if you're going to go and find out from precious Rose, why don't I leave?" she hissed.
"No!" Aphelia cried, before I could.
"Look, I'm sorry about the Quidditch thing, I am. But the other stuff? I mean, there's not a lot I can do about that. I didn't do that. Can you guys at least talk to me?" I shrugged. Roxanne paused.
"You could have included me in that thing in our fifth-year," she muttered.
"Rose was there."
"I know."
"Well," Aphelia said, " would you have believed she was telling the truth if she'd told you?"
Roxanne flicked a strand of hair over her shoulder. "Probably not," she agreed.
"So we're all settled?" I asked. Aphelia and Roxanne shot me twin looks of exasperation.
No, we're not all settled.
"What about Quidditch?" Aphelia asked. Roxanne looked at me, eyebrows raised.
"What? Oh, I can't do anything about the team," I told her, "but I bet Hugo would play Two-A-Side with us at weekends."
Roxanne shrugged. "That's the best I can ask for, without telling you to resign, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"Fine. See you, Lily," she said, smiling weakly at me, before heading back the way we'd come.
"Tell me what happened with you and Rose?" I called after her.
"Nope!" she called back.
"Hey, where are you going?" Aphelia said loudly. Roxanne turned back.
"Back down to the pitch, to see if I can get any more practise," she replied, grinning, before turning to walk off again.
"Bye?" I rolled my eyes. "She didn't even say bye!"
"Who cares? At least she said something," Aphelia pointed out. "Back to the common room?"
"Yeah." I agreed, grabbing Aphelia's arm and dragging her back into the castle.
"We'll be ok now, won't we?" I asked, as we were walking up Gryffindor Tower. It took Aphelia a second to know who I was talking about.
"Yeah. I don't think she was really mad about Quidditch, you know. It was everything else," Aphelia muttered, as we passed some first years.
"Hey, Lily!" one of them called out.
"Hey, Ly," I replied, looking at them properly. Charlie Duntrot was also there, as well as that girl Sophie Abbell with the really black hair. Sophie beamed at me, tossing a strand of hair over her shoulder. She was carrying a vast quantity of books. "Hey, Charlie. And you're Sophie, right?" I asked. She nodded, her hair bouncing up and down like mad.
"How's Hogwarts?" Aphelia asked.
"Fine," Charlie replied. "But Jollieminda has it in for me."
"That's not true, Charlie!" Sophie sighed. "She just thinks you weren't paying attention when she was talking about the syllabus!"
"No, she hates him," Lysander agreed. Charlie grimaced.
"It's can't be that bad," Aphelia said. "Jollieminda's...fine. She's nice!"
That's pushing it.
"Well, I thought she was really interesting," Sophie shrugged.
"You think everyone's really interesting," Ly pointed out.
"Have you had Hippelby yet?" I asked.
"The Transfiguration teacher?" Charlie asked. I nodded.
"Yeah, I'd say if you're going to prank any teacher, prank Hippelby," I told them. Aphelia laughed.
"Yeah! Remember the time Hugo turned his hair bright yellow?" Aphelia said.
"Rose told me she turned his hat into an owl once," Lysander mentioned. My eye's widened, as she'd never mentioned that to me.
"I would have loved to see that!" Aphelia grinned.
"Come on you two, we'd better get down to the library before we have to go to bed," Sophie said, slinging her arms around the other two boy's backs. "Bye, nice meeting you!" she called after us.
"See you round," Lysander called. I waved casually, then walked back up to the common room.
There were some first years sitting in the chairs by the fire, so Aphelia showed them her Beater's bat. The chairs were free mere seconds later.
"So," Aphelia said, sinking down into a chair. "How are we going to get revenge on Parkinson?"
I tilted my head to one side. "I say you show her your bat."
"Really?"
"No, idiot."
"Damn."
I laughed at that, but then she was serious again. "So really, how do we get back at her?"
"Hm...I'll use Kej against her. I'm working on it," I yawned.
"Isn't that a bit mean? To use the fact that you used to go out with him against her?" Aphelia wondered.
I laughed. "Um, no. That is exactly what she would do, no, does to me. Fight fire with fire and all that."
"Hey, Lily," I heard someone say. I saw Dave and Kurt, two guys in my year, standing behind me. They had both extended their arms, holding out water bottles. I'd dated Dave very briefly back in fifth year, then sworn never to forgive him after he drove Hugo to fight giant vicious spiders. "Fancy a Gillywater?" Kurt asked.
"Nope," I shrugged, but Aphelia leaned over, saying, "Pass it, I'm parched!"
Dave snatched his bottle away from her. "No! I mean..." he stammered.
"Give her the Gillywater. Or is it specially for me?" I smiled, teasing. Neither of them replied, only exchanged oddly furtive looks with each other. "So it is for me. How touching. But no, I'm not thirsty, but thanks anyway!" I shrugged, turning back to the fire and pulling my Charms book out of my bag to read the assigned chapters. Suddenly I felt a sharp jab on my shoulder. I turned, and got a face full of water. Aphelia shrieked a little bit, and Dave cried, "Dude!", as Kurt had just chucked his entire water bottle on my face.
"Lily!" came a desperate whisper. I looked, and realised Lissy had just quietly slipped into the little scene. "Don't drink it!" she said, as if it were urgent.
"Why?" Aphelia asked, who's mouth was still slightly open in shock.
"It's Amortentia spiked," Lissy murmured, fishing around in her pocket for something.
"Mmm!" I mumbled indignantly, glaring at Dave and Kurt.
"How d'you know?" Aphelia asked.
"Heard them earlier," Lissy replied.
"Thanks, Lissy!" Kurt mumbled, looking angry and foolish simultaneously. Lissy handed me a handkerchief, saying, "Get it off, don't swallow any."
"Yeah, or you'll end up in love with one of these morons," Aphelia muttered darkly. It was hard not to laugh at that, but instead I wiped my face completely dry of the spiked water.
"You idiots!" I screamed, as soon I was certain there was no Amortentia left on face. "First off, that is immoral! And two, in case you didn't notice, I have a boyfriend!" I cried, glaring at them.
Dave made a face. "Yeah, but we figured you were a girl who might like a bit extra," he chuckled. I met his chuckle with stony silence.
"Merlin! You think I would date you -" and then I called them things that if I were half decent I wouldn't have dreamed of.
"Lily," Kurt said - and I hated how he seemed to think we were still on first name terms - "come on. Be serious, you're Lily Potter! You date a lot of guys at the same time!"
"For your information, she has never two-timed anyone!" Aphelia cried. Aphelia's a good liar. She made even that sound convincing.
"She really nice," Lissy chimed in, nodding, her curly blonde hair bouncing.
Then Kurt told me to go and do something obscene to myself, including going away and Devil's Snare. I snarled, "Bite me," and he said, "With pleasure," to which I slapped him. As did Aphelia, and Lissy, and then a bunch of first-years came up to him and hit him too.
I had to admit this was very funny, watching a group of midgets hitting Kurt. I asked them if they'd mind hitting Dave too, and then left him in the middle of a swarm of violent eleven-year-olds.
"Why does everyone think I'm that girl?" I cried, exasperated, the moment Aphelia, Lissy and I got up to the dormitory.
"I don't know," Lissy shrugged, biting her lip, and moving to sit on her bed. "Congratulations about Quidditch," she added.
It really seemed like ages ago that I had been picked for the team, what with Roxanne, Lysander-Charlie-Sophie, and the two morons currently being attacked by a hoard of hyper pre-teens.
"It's great! Now we're both on the team!" Aphelia grinned. "But I never pictured Scarlett as being a Quidditch player," she added, frowning slightly.
Scarlett was one of Lucy's friends. She always wore thick, square glasses and had her hair tied up, not to mention wearing her skirt at the actual regulation length. Seriously, barely anybody takes that rule seriously.
"I know!" I agreed, grimacing, thinking about how much Roxanne deserved to be on the team. "Still, she was alright at playing."
"Worse than Roxanne," Lissy murmured, rummaging under her bed for a pair of woolly socks.
"No," Aphelia agreed. "But good enough to help us win the Championship. We didn't win last year, remember," she pointed out.
"Merlin, that was humiliating even for me, and I was just watching!" I laughed.
"Way to comfort me Lily," Aphelia rolled her eyes. I raised my eyebrows, making a mental note to buy more moisturiser for them.
"You deny it?" I asked, smirking.
"Duh, of course not. We got our asses kicked," Aphelia conceded.
"First bottom of the table in Merlin knows how many years," I added.
"Move on please," Lissy murmured, pulling on her socks.
"There's a Hogsmeade trip this weekend, guys, you going?" Aphelia said, taking Lissy's advice and changing the topic.
"With Robert," I told her. "He asked me last night after we went for a walk."
Aphelia smirked. "Taking moonlit walk, now, are we?" she teased.
"No, he left his coursework at Care of Magical Creature, so I went with him to get it."
"'Tis très romantic," Lissy giggled. Aphelia laughed too.
"So seriously, have you guys even been out yet?" she asked.
"Not properly. Robert doesn't want to use a secret passageway to get into Hogsmeade, no matter what I do - say! What I say," I corrected myself, after seeing Aphelia laugh her arse off.
"What you do?" she asked, disbelievingly.
"You do what?" Lissy giggled.
"Stuff," I said, shrugging, once again priding myself on the fact that I could completely control when I blushed. They continued to pester me until we finally went to bed, hours later.
Too bad they don't know that'what I do' is practice non-stop Quidditch with him, and his Charms homework.