Unworthy

Third Year - 5

"Expelliarmus!"

"Protego!" Cedric casts. "Depulso!"

"Prote-ARGUH!" Erica is thrown backwards, knocking her wand out of her hand and the air from her lungs.

She had been doing pretty well, the first few minutes in, but she finds that she loses that tempo the longer the practice continues. Her spells begin to lose their kick and her protection charm becomes more brittle. It's been an hour now and she feels like a walking zombie.

Cedric rushes forward. "Hey! Are you alright?!"

Erica sits up, and nods breathlessly. She looks down at her hands and winces, her palms having been scrapped across the ground when she got thrown.

"Sorry, I should've noticed you were getting tired. Next time you're hitting your limit, you should tell me." Cedric goes to heal the small cuts on the palms of her hands, but pauses upon seeing her injuries heal themselves.

"Ow - thanks, Cedric."

He glances up at her, just in time to see the necklace she's wearing glow brightly, before it quickly dims. Something is certainly off here, but instead of calling it out, Cedric simply nods, opting to look into this later.

"I was just embarrassed." Erica frowns. "I know my classmates can go way longer than ten minutes. I've seen it myself. I don't get why I have to be so different."

Cedric shrugs. "Everyone has their limits. You're doing better, so take pride in that."

"Thank you." Erica is helped up to her feet by her mentor. She glances over at the clock in the corner. "I have to go, I almost forgot, Malorn wanted me to meet him at the Quidditch Pitch."

"The Quidditch Pitch?" Cedric perks up. "What for?"

"Training." Erica says. "He's helping me prepare for tryouts in two weeks."

Cedric seems really excited about this, perhaps more than Erica. "That's wonderful! While I personally don't enjoy playing against the Slytherins, I've got to tell you, playing competitively is one of the best things I've ever experienced! I think you'll love it! What position are you trying for?"

"I had some time to think about it, I was stuck between Keeper and Chaser, but I think I'll be trying for Keeper." Erica says. "I'm just hoping the boys play fair, otherwise I won't have any chance of getting on that team."

"I'm sure everything will work out." Cedric reassures. "Run along now, don't want to keep your other mentor waiting."

Erica nods in agreement, thanks Cedric once more, and rushes to the Quidditch Pitch. It's a Saturday, but the skies aren't clear enough for the Pitch to be busy with fliers. There's a few Ravenclaw fliers, racing on their brooms around the outskirts of the field, and a couple of Gryffindor girls who are trying and failing to mount a couple of cleansweeps.

Erica quickly changes from a skirt into a pair of trousers, and removes her Slytherin vest and tie to leave just her button up shirt with rolled up sleeves. She opted to not bring Quidditch gear in order to avoid any taunting should she run into any of her unsavory housemates, as the only ones who know she's interested in trying out is Malorn and Lucille, and she'd like to keep it that way. She can easily pass this off as a "for fun" thing whilst foregoing any gear.

"Ah, there you are." Malorn greets. "How was your practice with Diggory?"

"Got knocked off my feet, as per usual." Erica shrugs. "I expect Quidditch tryouts to be similar, except I'll be free falling from 50ft."

"You're very hard on yourself, y'know that?" Malorn pauses. "And I'm not letting anything happen to you during tryouts. You will get your fair shot without any interference."