I wake with a groan. My head is killing me. I sit up and send a new wave of pain pulsing through my head. Might as well go downstairs. I think.
My feet are choppy. It's like I'm walking in a limp, then the limp changes to the other leg, then I'm normal. It's weird. I end up sliding down the stairs on my butt because I cannot lower myself to reach the first step.
"You seem to be having issues." A head pops above the couch and I see it's Harry.
"Why would you want to talk to me?' I ask
"I don't know. I was worried about you yesterday. I feel like if you had told me a secret of yours, none of this would have happened." He shrugs like it's nothing.
"Oh, really?" I say. Anger seeps into my voice. "My secrets are mine alone. The only way to have avoided that was to not yell at me! If you had just accepted the fact that you weren't going to know and I would tell you when the time was right, we could have avoided that whole scene yesterday!"
He looks taken aback. "Well, maybe if you don't publicly display that you have big secrets that you're keeping, then maybe we could have avoided all the arguments we've had!"
"I don't publicly display that. I have been trying to keep my secrets secret until someone had to know!"
"Like Hermione?"
I take a step backwards. "She didn't have to know."
"Then why did you tell her?"
"I had to tell someone."
"Why didn't you tell me? Or Ron?"
"Because of the way…"
"The way what?"
"She was being treated."
"And that matters because…?"
"Another secret to be told later!" I angrily yell. I turn around and stomp to an empty desk and sit down.
Neville comes down shortly after my yelling session with Harry and looks at us both. Harry doesn't notice him, but he seems to see me staring at him, so he walks over and sits next to me.
"H-hello." Neville says shyly.
"Hi."
"Uh, did you and Harry?" he asks, again, shyly. He makes it sound as if the whole house knows about our fights, which I'm sure they do.
"Yeah." I look at my hand on the desk.
"I talked to him yesterday, when you were with Fred and Ron…" I nod, "He said you have to many secrets."
"That I do." I reply.
"He said that he doesn't trust you now because you keep to many secrets from him."
"I do that too." Neville seems to know this and just nods.
"McGonagall…" He seems to pause. I look at him and nod in understanding at what he's trying to tell me.
"I'll leave as soon as I feel she would be awake." He nods back.
…
"Professor?" I say as I knock on Professor McGonagall's door.
The shuffling of shoes can be heard through the door and it slowly creaks open. In the door frame stands a less than happy looking professor fully dressed and ready to teach. "Why, Katie, I was expecting you yesterday. Did something happen?"
"That's a story for another day professor." I reply getting the same look of disappointment Harry gives me. "Neville said you wanted to see me?"
"Yes, come in." She motions me inside and I take a seat across from her desk.
"Is this about Harry quitting Quidditch?" I ask solemnly.
"Yes." She just nods. "We need a seeker desperately, I was thinking it could be you."
I am taken aback. Okay, this is cool, it's not everyday you get to be seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. This really isn't something that I want to do but if I have to, then I will.
"I guess." I say hesitantly.
"Good! Mr. Wood will test you to see if you're seeker material." She says.
"Uh, when?" I ask.
"Now." Says someone behind me who I assume is Wood.
"Great." I say with false enthusiasm.
Oliver Wood grabs my arm and tugs me out onto the Quidditch field where the Gryffindor team is practicing. "Let's get started." Wood said.
"I already know about the different balls and what I have to do." He looks surprised. "I all need to know is how to fly well."
"The professor told me she watched you and Potter race. She said you were just as good as him." Now it is my turn to be surprised.
"Oh?"
"Yes. Now get on the broom." He says, motioning to a Nimbus 2000.
"Is that?" I don't need to finish my sentence.
"Yes… Potter turned in his broom. Sad isn't it?'
"Very."
"Now get on before you get me depressed!"
"Yes sir!" and I clamber onto the broom.
"Up!" He commands. When my broom leaves the ground he adds, "Now fly and try to avoid the unnecessary balls and catch the tennis ball."
"Yes sir!" I call before I take off into the air.
His test wasn't' that hard to be honest. I underestimated the challenge when he said avoid unnecessary balls. They were spelled and he had my favorite twins, Fred and George Weasley, hit them with their bats. I got hit with a soccer ball (the American kind) twice.
"Ya need to watch where you're flyin' Smithy!" George called to me. Fred seemed a little unnerved about the whole situation probably because of my break down the other night.
Wood called "Don't go easy Fred!" When he saw that Fred was going easy on me.
Finding the tennis ball was the hard part. It was originally tied to one of the goal posts until I came near, then Oliver Wood would hex it or something and it would go flying. After about half an hour of chasing the most annoying thing in the world, I finally caught it. When the tennis ball was safely in my hands, all the others seemed to stop and fall to the ground. I looked to see if Oliver was still standing to find that he was hiding under the bleacher.
"It's kind of a faulty spell isn't it?" I say when I land my broom.
"It's the only fault." He says. "You're definitely seeker stuff. Potter took an hour to catch on."
"Well…" I say shyly.
"Go get some rest. You need strength for the game tomorrow… and class."
I growl. "The game's tomorrow!"
"Yes. I'm sorry for the short notice, but our previous seeker graduated and Harry was all we had until he quit. Then McGonagall told us you were just as good and we grasped the opportunity to have you before the game, so get used to it!" He practically yelled at me.
Fred and George decide to land in between us. "Hi Katie! We didn't know you would be the knew seeker."
"Neither did I." I roll my eyes.
"Don't fret!" Fred said.
"We are so you don't get killed." George says.
"I wasn't planning on getting killed, thank you very much." I say.
"No seeker gets killed." Fred says.
"They just get brutally beaten." George says.
"Thank you for boosting my confidence." I say dryly.
"I meant it, Katie." Wood says again.
"Okay, okay. Let's go back to the common room." I say to the twins as they follow me back into the castle.
…
"Where've you guys been?" Ron asks when we step into the common room.
"Quidditch practice." George says next to me.
"You too?" Ron asks astonished.
"Yeah. Professor McGonagall asked me to make a last minute decision to be seeker since Harry quite. I don't know why though, flying and seeker-ing are in his blood." I say as I rub my neck and sit next to Ron on the couch.
"Wizard chess?" He asks pointing at a set chessboard on the table.
"Yes please!" I nearly beg. It's been so long since I've sat back and just relaxed. So much has gone on that it has hindered my ability to do so.
"You seem eager to sit back and just watch the world go by." Ron laughs.
"I want to relax." I say tilting my head back. "So much has gone on since the last time I played you."
"Oh, yeah, no four-move-kills." Ron announces. "We have to play the hard way."
"The more time spent, the better off I'll be." I wanted to say the more time I waste on relaxing, the better off I'll be, but I didn't want to sound rude by saying I was wasting my time playing wizard chess.
"Pawn to E6!" Ron stated and he started the game.
We finished the game and hour later. Ron wins… as usual. I'm not sure if I fell asleep on that couch or not, but I zoned (or fell asleep) because the next thing I knew, Ron was shaking me and telling me I had to go upstairs. When I did make it to my bed, I just crawled under the sheets not caring if my robe wrinkled or not.
When I did wake in the morning, I had a terrible headache and I was reminded that today was the first Quidditch game of the season.
READERS! Thank you for reading. Do you think that Gryffindors should win the game against Slytherin? Please review! –wolfhound22