An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter Twenty-Three

Angelina woke me up on Saturday morning before my alarm went off, which was actually pretty impressive. I might've appreciated it a little more if I weren't so mad at her for getting me up so early.

"What do you want?" I asked, glaring at her through bleary, half-open eyes.

"We have practice today, and Harry's got detention again," she whispered. "I wanted to make sure you'd be there, and that you're ready to fill in for him as Seeker at practice."

I sighed heavily. "Ange, I promised you I'd be there, so I'll be there. But every. Single. Time. You wake me up before my alarm, it makes me want to steal a bat from the twins and hope a good collision with a Bludger will knock some sense into you."

Angelina just grinned. "Great. I'll see you in a few hours."

She turned away, and I rolled over and passed back out without a second of hesitation. I loved Angelina, but sometimes I also really wanted to kill her.

****************

A few hours later, I sat in the Great Hall with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team (minus Harry), all of us eating breakfast and trying to wake up before going out to the field. Angelina looked far more awake than she had any right to be, and I was practically a zombie as I hovered over my cup of coffee, hoping it would be enough to wake me up.

"Alright team, let's head out," Angelina finally said, standing with her hands on her hips to address the table. It was so early, the seven of us were the only ones in the Great Hall.

I sighed deeply, but followed everyone else as we formed a line behind Angelina and trekked out to the Quidditch pitch. This was my first practice of the year, and on top of everything else, I had to play Seeker. Needless to say, I was less than excited.

"Ange, do we even need a Seeker?" I asked, catching up to her as we hiked across the grounds. "Out of all the positions, that's the one that has the least to do with the rest of the team."

Angelina looked thoughtful for a few seconds as she let the idea run through her mind, and then she turned to me.

"I guess you're right, Alexa. You could probably practice as a Chaser like usual, unless we do anything with the Beaters where they need to practice going after a Seeker."

"Oh. Great. Thanks Ange." My shoulders drooped a little as I dropped back from Angelina's side, and the twins wasted no time catching up to me. They each slung an arm around my shoulders, coming at me from both sides with evil grins on their faces.

"Hear that, Alexa?" asked Fred.

"You only have to Seek if we need target practice," said George, his voice almost a total cackle. I just sighed and rolled my eyes, which only made the twins laugh harder.

Once we got changed and actually stepped out onto the field, I started to feel a little of that dread loosen its hold on my chest. I'd spent so long trying to avoid Angelina's insane routine that I'd forgotten how much fun Quidditch could be.

Next to me, Ron seemed to be having the opposite problem. He was shaking like a leaf.

"Hey," I said, nudging his shoulder lightly. "You okay?"

"Hm? Yeah, yeah, of course. I'm fine," he said, sounding anything but fine. His voice actually cracked on the last word, and I sighed before stepping a little closer to him. The only thing that would make his nerves worse would be his brothers finding out.

"Look, Ron, it sounded like the first Quidditch practice of the year didn't go very well. For anybody. But you tried out and made this team, which means you're good. And you deserve to be here as much as everyone else. As much as you can, try not to get in your own head, alright? I know it's easier said than done, but sometimes, the only thing standing between your and success is your mindset."