CHAPTER SEVEN

THE QUIDDITCH TRYOUTS

The first Modernist meeting of the year went rather smoothly, and Lucy seemed a little hesitant to talk about the events of last year, probably not wanting to scare the first years. Rose wasn't really paying attention, because the next day were the Quidditch tryouts, and she could hardly think about anything else. She was worried she wouldn't make the team, because even though she had last year, she hadn't the year before and that had shaken her confidence in her flying abilities considerably. Despite Al's constant assurance that she would make it, she had worked herself into near-panic by the time she reached the pitch that Friday evening. There was, however, a surprise waiting when they arrived. Her brother was standing in the group of hopefuls, looking incredibly tiny in comparison.

"What's Hugo doing here?" Al asked.

Rose sighed. "I don't know," she said, and walked quickly over to her brother. "Hugo, what are you doing?"

He smiled nervously. "Trying out," he said, shrugging. "Why not?""You don't play Quidditch," she said.

"Well, you all do, and I don't want to be left out," he said.

"It's not—Hugo, look, everyone here is a lot bigger than you, maybe you shouldn't do this."

"I can try out if I want to," he said, looking annoyed now, and Rose looked back at Al and Scorpius for help.

"He's right," Scorpius said. "I mean… he can if he wants."

"All right, everyone! My name is Tom Wood, welcome to Quidditch tryouts!" he said. "I can tell this is going to be a great year, so er, let's start with the Chasers. The rest of you can wait in the stands." Hugo didn't step forward with Rose and Scorpius and she looked at him, surprised again.

"What are you going for?" she asked him.

"Beater," he said. Her eyes widened and Scorpius pulled her onto the pitch before she could say any more.

"He's going to get killed," she moaned as Wood explained the rules of the tryout. Whatever worries she had, though, she forgot about them once she started flying. During the speed test, she felt on top of the world, and did pretty well from what she could tell. She had missed flying over the summer; the small pitch drawn in the field behind the Burrow wasn't quite the same. She was also proud of herself for finishing four seconds before Scorpius, which made him considerably annoyed. She thought she was doing well at the other parts of the tryout as well, and despite being irritated at Hugo, she smiled when she heard his embarrassingly loud cheering. Wood landed first and congratulated them as they walked off the field.

"Nice job, Malfoy. Glad you're back in Gryffindor, I saw you last season. You're a natural," Tom told Scorpius, who then turned to Rose smugly.

"Sounds like I made it. Did you?"

"I did better than you!" she complained, and they walked up to sit in the stands next to Al and Hugo.

"Who's here for Seeker tryouts?" Tom asked, and Al raised his hand. Rose looked around and was amused to see that no one had even bothered to show up to compete with Al, and Tom shrugged. "All right, well, welcome back to the team, Al." A few people chuckled and Al put his hand down quickly, going a bit red. "How about Beaters, then?"

"Be careful," Rose whispered to Hugo as he stood up and made his way down to the pitch with Fred, Harry, and a massive seventh year boy. James turned around from where he sat next to Alice looking alarmed.

"Is Hugo really going for Beater?"

"Yep," Rose groaned. "If he dies, my parents will kill me…"

"Since when does he play Quidditch?"

"Since now," Al said grimly.

"Merlin. How many broken bones do you think?"

"Two," Al said.

"Nah, at least three," Scorpius chuckled.

"I heard you can break up to 33 bones just in your arm so… my money's on that happening," James said.

"I hate you all," Rose muttered. The Beater candidates rose up into the air and Tom took out the Bludgers. Hugo's bat looked about as large as his entire head and torso, and Rose winced as the first Bludger flew past him by an inch or two. To her surprise, he actually did manage to hit a couple out of the way, but the third one aimed for him hit him in the gut and he doubled over, his broom rocketing towards the field. He managed to right himself a little, but it was too late to stop, only minimize the damage, and he skidded to a halt after tumbling off the broom on the pitch, clutching his arm.

"Told you," James snorted and Tom ran onto the pitch, the other Beaters flying back down to the ground. Fred picked him up and offered to take him to the hospital wing, and Tom nodded. Rose sighed and stood up to leave. Scorpius and Al stood up with her, and she stopped and turned to them.

"You can come, but only if it's not just to see who's right about how many bones."

"We were just kidding," Al mumbled, and she sighed.

"Come on." They walked quickly out of the tryouts as James and a few other boys walked down for the Keeper tryouts. As they walked up the path, they began to hear people approaching them and Scorpius groaned.

"Brilliant," he muttered, "just brilliant."

"What?" Rose asked, and then she started to make out what the group of students were saying.

"Did you see him? He was in Beater padding, you've got to be joking. He was the scrawniest Beater I ever saw. I guess that's what you look like when you're underfed your whole life, though." Rose saw that the students were Slytherins, and that the boy talking was Ajax Rosier. The students around him laughed, and at that moment Rosier seemed to see them.

"Hey, Weasley! If your brother dies, will you finally get to sleep in your own bed?" he shouted, and Rose rolled her eyes.

"Just ignore them," Al said quietly, but Scorpius was not about to ignore them.

"Shove off, Rosier," he muttered, and the group laughed and ignored him.

"What's wrong, Weasley? Don't want to talk to me? Didn't your Mudblood mother ever teach you manners?" he asked, and Rose felt her ears going red.

"Don't talk to her like that," Scorpius said, louder than before, and Rosier looked around at his friends.

"Ooh, I'm scared, Malfoy," he said.

"Do we still call him Malfoy?" Anna MacDougal asked Rosier, feigning innocence rather mockingly. "I mean, he obviously doesn't want to be a Malfoy anymore."

"Aunt Astoria told my mum that he took the elf, too," Ben Burke snickered, and the group burst out in laughter.

"He's even worse than a Mugglelover," Acantha Carrow sneered.

"Yeah, really Malfoy, you're as stupid as it gets," Rosier said, shaking his head. "Throwing everything away like that. You know, we could have been friends. Shame."

"Yeah, what a shame," Scorpius muttered, rolling his eyes.

"I'd watch your back if I were you," Rosier said quietly, and for the first time Rose noticed that his wand was gripped firmly in his right hand. She felt a little scared for Scorpius, considering Rosier's track record, but Scorpius just laughed.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, with about as much sarcasm as possible.

Rosier smirked a little and said, "Blood traitor. Let's go, guys." He turned to Rose and said, "Be careful this year with all that Modernist stuff. It'd be a pity if something happened. Your boyfriend won't always be there, you know." The Slytherins continued down to the Quidditch pitch and Scorpius stomped up to the castle. Al turned to Rose looking nervous.

"Oh, he's all talk, Al," Rose assured him, trying to assure herself at the same time.

"Isn't he the one that stunned you?" Al asked.

Rose didn't know how to positively respond to that so after a few seconds she just said, "Let's catch up with Scorpius." When they reached him, Rose said, "You okay?"

"I'll be fine," he muttered, continuing to stare straight ahead as they approached the main doors.

Rose felt bad for him instantly and said, "Don't let them get to you, you know you're in the right here."

"Yeah, I know," he mumbled. The Auror on duty let them into the castle and they started for the hospital wing.

"Hey, cheer up, Scorpius, at least you basically already know you made the team," Al said, trying quite hard to smile despite his remaining nerves.

Scorpius chuckled. "Says the only Seeker that bothered to show up."

"It's not my fault no one came!" he protested as Rose and Scorpius laughed.

After a few minutes, they reached the hospital wing to find Fred sitting with Hugo, who was now wearing a sling and looking quite embarrassed. He smiled a little when he saw Rose. "Hey," he said. "Guess you were right."

"That was really stupid, Hugo," Al laughed. "Kind of funny, though."

"It's hardly funny, he broke three bones," Mrs. Longbottom said as she brought over what appeared to be some kind of tonic.

"Knew it," Scorpius whispered, and Rose tried very hard not to slap him.

"Maybe stick to chess, Hugo," Rose said, and he nodded, rolling his eyes.

"Can I at least come to your club, Rose? I want to do something," he groaned. Fred looked at Rose nervously and she hesitated. She hadn't had a problem with Hugo joining… until Rosier threatened her. She'd hoped they'd back down after last year, but apparently they hadn't. j

"I don't know, Hugo," she said quietly, and he groaned.

"I'll just ask Lucy, she'll want me to join," Hugo said, grinning smugly.

"She wants everyone to join."

"Exactly. I'll go with Lily."

"Lily joined?" Al asked, looking just as nervous now.

"What's wrong with you lot? It's just a club," Hugo said.

"I hate to do this, but visitors out, he needs to rest," Mrs. Longbottom said, and Fred stood up.

"Just… feel better, Hugo," Fred said, and they all left, Hugo still looking a little confused.

"You can't let him," Fred said as soon as the door was closed. Rose wasn't even planning on letting him, but she also didn't like people telling her what to do, so she crossed her arms indignantly.

"He's my brother, not yours," Rose said. "You're not the one responsible for him."

Fred sighed. "No, I'm not, but you should be careful, that's all." He walked away and Al turned to Rose.

"Lily can't join, she's only 11."

"So were Grace and Alex," Scorpius said, and Rose sighed.

"I know, Scorpius, but… after what Rosier said…"

"Don't let that git tell you what to do," he said. "Come on, let's go wait for the results." Rose tried to be calm as they went down to the Great Hall, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop thinking about that threat.

It was only a few hours later when Tom came into the Great Hall and posted the results of the Gryffindor tryouts that she really cheered up.

GRYFFINDOR: Seeker: Albus Potter, Keeper: James Potter, Beaters: Harry Longbottom, Fred Weasley Chasers: Rose Weasley, Tom Wood, Scorpius Malfoy

"Nice job, Weasley," Scorpius said, grinning, and she smirked.

"Not bad yourself," she conceded, and then saw Hugo walking into the Hall with a cast. "Hugo!" she called, and he hurried over. "I made the team."

"Brilliant," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Sorry to tell you, but… you didn't," Scorpius said, grinning, and Hugo laughed.

"Yeah, bummer," he sighed, grinning. Rose started to look around for James and couldn't help noticing the same Slytherins at the end of the Slytherin table, who seemed to be whispering and glancing at them occasionally. Rose's smile faded and she said quickly, "Come on, Hugo, let's go tell Mum and Dad."

"Can't you do that yourself?" Hugo asked. "I don't want to tell them I broke my arm trying, it's embarrassing."

"Then… tell them you got into Gryffindor, come on," she said, and walked out of the Great Hall quickly, ignoring Scorpius and Al's confusion. She didn't want to think about Rosier or his stupid friends any longer, and though she would never admit it, she had been thinking about them all day. Whatever they had been talking about over there, Rose didn't like it at all.