Rise

The tryouts

"Hey, Lily. Yo, Potter." Amara ran up to her the next day during breakfast.
"What is it?"
"Are you good with tryouts tonight at six?"
"Give me a second." Lily pulled out her schedule and saw that she was free. "Yea."
"Brilliant. I will go put posters up in the common room. See ya later." Amara turned and practically skipped her way out of the Great Hall. Lily had charms next so she made her way out.
"Excuse me. I'm lost, can you help me?" Lily heard a voice behind her. She turned and saw a small Slytherin boy, panic-stricken walking slowly towards her. When he saw her house crest, he retreated. "I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else."
"Wait. It's fine. I can help you. I know where everything is in Hogwarts."
"Oh, ok. But, how? You were sorted only a minute before me."
"I have two older brothers, five uncles and three aunts. Had another uncle, brother, and sister. My grandparents and all ten cousins and a godbrother attended school here along with my parents, their friends. My other aunt came here for one year. You learn about the school very quickly."
"My dad went to Durmstrang and that's where he wanted me to go but mum said no. I need to get to Transfiguration but I forgot where it is."
"Let me show you something." Lily pulled out the map.
"What rubbish is this?" He asked as he turned to storm away.
"It's not rubbish, if you wait and listen, I'll show you." She pointed her wand at the map and thought, 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good'. Hey, at least he won't know how to open it.
"Wow, where'd you get this?"
"It was actually made by my grandfather, confiscated by Filch, then stolen by my twin uncles. Finally, my uncles gave it to my dad who gave it to me and my siblings. Ironic, huh."
"Yea, I guess. I got where it is, thank you."
"You're welcome. I'm Lily, by the way. Lily Potter. Mera and Garrett Malfoy might say I'm prejudiced against Slytherin when honestly me and my family just don't get along that well with certain members of the Malfoy family."
"Yeah, they told us about you. Thank you for clearing that up. I'm Jacob Arik. I'll see ya around." With that, he turned and ran towards the middle courtyard.
"Lily, was that snake bothering you?" James walked up to her.
"No, J. He was just lost and I helped him."
"Is that why you have the parchment out and still open?"
"Bloody hell. I didn't realize that. Mischief managed."
"You don't need to be hanging around with that lot. I overheard him say his dad went to Durmstrang. They teach the dark arts. I understand Scorpius but others aren't like him. Trust me, please, Lily. Don't hang out with them."
"James, let me make my own choices. Don't baby me. I am eleven years old and more than capable of defending myself."
"Lily, I know. Believe me, I know. I just don't want to see you hurt."
"You can't know unless it happens. No one in our family had a gift as a seer. James Sirius Potter, let me live my life. I don't want to be corralled or contained. Leave me alone for a while. Please?"
"Fine." He turned and stormed away. Lily went through all her classes thinking of how she would apologize to J. They ignored each other through lunch when Amara gave her the list of kids trying out.
"Thanks. Tell them to be at the pitch no later than five-fifty or they cannot tryout."                             
"Alrighty then. You'd make a great captain later on." She said, admirably.   "Let's not get ahead of ourselves now. You're only in your fifth year. You still have plenty of time as captain and I could only hope to become as great a captain as you are."                                    "Aww. You're too kind. See ya at tryouts."                                                        "Can you make sure the rest of the team is there because, well, you'll see."                                             
"Okay, then it's settled. See you in two hours." She turned to announce it to the team and those who want to tryout the news. J glared at her when he left.                                                             "James Sirius Potter, you wait and listen to me right now." Lily ran after him. He turned to face her.                      "What do you want?" He snapped.          "I get it. You're mad. I respect that. I'm just trying to apologize. My actions were extremely brash but you have to understand my standpoint. I'm trying to make other friends, it's two days past plus I hurt my boyfriend. How do you think I feel?"    "I didn't think about it like that. I'm sorry, Mooney. I really am. I should've taken a breath and worked it out with you. Awkward sibling hug?" Lily grinned because they actually got that off a muggle TV show John had shown them. She took the hug gladly.  "So you're running a Quidditch tryout, huh? Spare Seeker?"                                  "How'd you know?" She teased. He laughed. They walked towards the library because it was very early in lunch and they had nothing better to do.                                                       
"So, the oldest and youngest Potters made up, huh? So sweet." Mera teased.                                         
"Shut up." James and Lily said at the same time.                                                   "Whatever." She flipped her hair behind her as she turned and walked away. Four hours and forty-five minutes later, Lily was on the pitch in her new seekers uniform waiting for everyone to arrive.                                     "Yo, Lily. Up here." She looked up and saw Lysander on a spare broom. He hung upside down from it.                       "Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital wing? Also, what happened to hating flying?" She questioned him.                                                                 "I figured I could try." She grabbed his broom and pulled him to the ground.  "Dang, Potter. You're strong. Anyway, this is-" Amara looked at her list.           "-Lysander Scamander." Lily finished for her.                                                          "So you know him?"                                  "Very well." She said, raising an eyebrow at him. He burst out laughing while everyone else arrived.    "Okay. Hello, everyone. EXCUSE ME! I am trying to talk. SHUT IT!" Everyone jerked and shut their mouths.
"Pardon me for yelling but I do not like to be talked over. Anyway, hello. I'm Lily Potter. First year and Seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. These are tryouts for a backup Seeker. Just in case of family emergencies. First off anyone who is not a Ravenclaw, leave now." A multitude of the group trudged up the hill towards the castle.
"How'd you know?" Kurtis asked. He was clearly astonished by how many weren't Ravenclaws.   
"Same thing happened to my dad his first year as captain. Anyway. Second, we are going to do some laps around the pitch. In the air, please." Lily directed them up.
"GO!" She blew the whistle she had found in her bag earlier. A handful of first and second years crashed as soon as they started. Four third years and three fourth years rammed into each other. That left Lysander and only four others.                                                  "Okay, next Amara is going to time my speed going around and across the pitch the ones that are closest stay for the final part. Got it ready, Amara?" Lily nodded at her and in a moment Lily was in the air. She raced around the pitch and then streaked across.      "16.25 seconds." Amara said, impressed. Lily took out her wand and wrote the number into the log behind her. She gestured for the first to go. His time was 26.58. She wrote that under her's. The next two were both girls. One was 23.22. The other was 20.23. The second boy had the fastest yet, 18.20. Lily compared their builds to their time and finally gestured for Lysander to go. He took off faster than she thought he would. His time was 17.69.                                                                  "You two are the final two. I'm sorry to the rest of you. Maybe next year. Keep working. Alright, Amara get one of our plays going. I'm going to send one of you up at a time and when I release the snitch, I am going to time you. You have to dodge through the players, catch the snitch and bring it to me to end your turn. Whoever has the fastest time is on the team. I want clean, no cheating. Got it?" Lily turned strict. The boys nodded. She gestured for Lysander to go first. He kicked off the ground.                                                   "Here comes the snitch." She hollered up. She started the time. Lysander dodged and weaved until he caught the snitch and dodged once more to get it back to her. 16.66 seconds. She wrote it into the wood once more. She shooed the other one into the air and repeated the process. The boy had a ton of near misses. He eventually got the snitch to her. His time was 16.67. She couldn't have Lysander on the team because he'd be gone when she was so she had to let the other boy on the team.                                                        "You, what's your name?" She asked the boy.                                                           "Aryon Morrison. Why?"                           "Welcome to the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. We practice every Monday, Tuesday and the occasional Thursday. Wear our house colors with hubris." Aryon walked away, happily.   "Good job, Potter. See you at practice on Monday." Amara told Lily.                  "I know why you did that." Lysander whispered in her ear.                                "I know you're better than him but I can't have us both not be there." Lily took his hand and led him back up to the tower, where they said goodnight and Lily promptly fell asleep.