With the weekend finally here, Lily and her friends could finally relax a bit, but decided to work on their homework that had been assigned first. After doing her homework, Lily went up to her room and grabbed her broom, the Star Sweeper 20. It wasn't the top of the line broom that her father wanted to buy her, but it suited her needs the best.
Her friends were waiting for her to go flying also. Audrey went and got a school broom. Lily mounted her broom and took it through a few turns. It was only the second time she had been on it. Her father had bought it for her the first week in August on one of their many trips to the AstroMall. The broom store had a spot outside where people could try out the brooms to find the one that fit them the best. That was the first time on the broom. While they were on Franklin ranch, they couldn't ride their brooms because of the nonmagicals that were employed there and that lived in the area.
Lily smiled as she did the paces that her father told her to do. The broom worked as seamlessly as she remembered. It was when she finished her paces that she found a student watching her. He had to be a sixth year by the looks of him. Lily flew over to him and said, "Can I help you with something, sir?"
The student smiled and said, "Gregg Tripton. I heard you were out here flying and wanted to see what I had to work with."
Lily took his hand and shook it. Gregg then handed her a book and said, "These are all the plays that every team captain has employed since the inception of Quidditch at Ilvermorny. It gets passed down from player to player. I was reserve last year and have my own copy. You will benefit from this. Each captain adds to it with their own plays and is then copied over to each player. Some of the older plays aren't in use anymore, but we study them from time to time. Occasionally a team captain may think one of them may work against one of the teams and decides to try them out and goes from there."
Lily took the book which appeared thin, but she knew looks could be deceiving.
Gregg continued, "I would start learning the plays from the year 2000 to present. Those are the ones that George has been employing since he became captain last year. I'll see you Monday."
Lily noticed that he didn't make note of her broom. She was glad that not many it seemed to pay attention to the brooms of the players but rather their talents.
That evening, Lily stayed up and read the first few plays. The captains of Horned Serpent had some good plays and she could see why they employed them when they did. Each play had a code name so that in the middle of a match, if the captain wanted to change a play all he had to do was yell it out in the middle of the match, and it would be followed. Sometimes the plays would be recoded each year so the opposing players wouldn't learn each play's code name.
Monday came, and with-it excitement for Lily. She was about to attend her first Quidditch practice. After her last class of the day, Lily went to her room, and changed into her practice gear, and went to the practice area. Each team had their own practice area. She did some warm-up exercises as she waited for the rest of the team to show up.
Everyone showed up at different times. George was last. He called them to the middle of the practice area.
He said, "Welcome to the team. So, the lineup is this: in as starters is Gregg Tripton as seeker, Thomas Branton, Michael Thompson, and Mikayla Johnson in as chasers, Stephanie Boettcher, and Samuel Watson as beaters, and I will be in as keeper. In on reserves: Lily Potter as Seeker; Mark Watson, Sarah Mullings, and Vince Hopkins as chasers. With beaters we have Monica Robledo and Heather Young. And finally, as keeper is Brandon Curl. The way I have done things in the past is have scrimmages between the main lineup and the reserves after a couple of weeks of practice. This week and next, you will be taught the plays in the books you were given over the weekend." Everyone new to the team groaned. He continued, "We have been one of the top teams at Ilvermorny for a few years. Only injuries and illnesses have prevented us from taken the Quidditch cup. Everyone team up with their respective counterparts. I want the starters to work on the exercises that we do at the beginning of practice to get into shape and then start running the reserves through the paces. Reserves that were reserves last year, help out if you have a new member in your position."
The rest of practice went relatively quickly. Gregg showed Lily all the moves that George wanted them to play in certain plays and he also showed her how to be an aggressive seeker, and when to be.
Lily returned to her dorm at 430 after doing a quick cooldown run with Gregg and showered. It was a good practice. After her shower, Lily grabbed her Charms book and went to her desk. She knew that her friends would be curious on how practice went, but she wanted sometime alone. Monica had been sending her evil looks all practice, unnoticed by anyone else. Lily really hoped that the feud that was coming wouldn't spoil over onto the Quidditch team.
Five-thirty arrived, and Lily got up. She grabbed her light jacket as she had noticed that it was starting to rain and headed up to the school for supper. Her friends were just coming from the direction of the library. They met halfway and proceeded into the dining hall. It wasn't too terribly busy.
The friends took a seat at one of the tables and ordered their supper. Renee said, "How was your first practice?"
Lily said, "Interesting to say the least. I still like my broom and am glad that I didn't let my father talk me into getting the newest model of Mustang. The Star Sweeper is just as good if not better than the Mustang especially for the tactics they want us to employ."
Everyone nodded.
Irene came over then and sat with them. Julia hugged her sister. Julia said, "How is it going sis?"
Irene said, "It's a bit overwhelming. I've made some friends, but still feel unsure around them. A lot of people are wondering how I am known as Donaldson-Murphy. I'm not comfortable answering those questions."
Renee said, "If they still bother you, I will say something to Mrs. Cutter or even say something to Mrs. Allen."
Irene nodded. Irene ate supper with them and then walked with Lily back to their building while the rest went to get their things from the study room.
August faded into September. Anticipation for the first village visit was building amongst the third years. Lily was the only one in her friend group not going with the group, but she had a date with a cute guy, who could blame her. Renee and Julia had come into her room a week before the visit, to help her choose what to wear. They had decided on a pair of blue jeans, and a t-shirt that had flowers on it.
On September 2nd, Lily received a message from her father that Jasmine and Ivy had been sorted into Gryffindor and Hufflepuff respectively. Lily was happy for her cousins and sent a message back saying such. She had suspected that Ivy would go into Hufflepuff as she was a shy girl and knew that Hufflepuff looked after their own and would help Ivy bring out her own personality.
As for the Quidditch team, everything was shaping up splendidly according to George. They had started scrimmaging against each other a week earlier than he had anticipated, and he was thrilled. Gregg was glad that Lily was shaping up to be all that had been hyped about her. Their first game was October 10th against Thunderbird. The next game after that was January 9th against Pukwudgie, and then their final game was April 10th against Wampus.
On September 4th, Lily rose early, showered, and changed into the outfit that they had chosen for her first "date". As she was running her brush through her hair, Audrey came in and said, "I was wondering if you could pick up some supplies for me in the village?"
Lily looked up and said, "Sure. Just write down what you need and I'll pick it up."
Audrey said, "Thanks. I know you have a date with Oliver, but was hoping you would pick up somethings for me. Also, I would like some fudge from the fudge shop. I've been talking to some of the fourth years and they say that place is to die for."
Lily giggled. She had heard the same from Emily and Henry. A few minutes later, Audrey returned and handed Lily the list. It wasn't much. Lily smiled at her roommate.
Downstairs everyone was milling about waiting for time to head to the carriages. Oliver had told her that he would meet her at the carriages.