Long Live // Harry Potter Universe

29. Hufflepuff Tryouts

keeping up my courage
foolish as it seems

ϟ

"All right, Perry?" Colin Creevey said as he kept in stride with the two Slytherin girls.

Perry forced a smile onto her face and responded, "Just dandy. And you, Colin?"

His face lit up in light of her response. Every word the blonde girl said was cherished by the Gryffindor first year. Every encounter with him that she had would make his day, so he took every chance to talk to her.

"Great!" Colin exclaimed. "I'm doing great now that I'm with you!"

"That's sweet, Colin," Perry said with a smile. "Do you like quidditch?"

"I've never seen a match before!" Colin exclaimed. "I'm sure I'll love it! How could I not! Everything magic is amazing! A sport played with broomsticks and magic equipment— I'm going to have to love it! And—"

"You know, Colin," Perry said interrupting his rambling. "This isn't a match. It's not even a scrimmage. It's tryouts for the Hufflepuff team."

"Well," Colin said, "I'll still enjoy that! I've never seen anything quidditch. The closest I've gotten to the sport was walking into that store in Diagon Ally—which, by the way, was amazing! They had everything quidditch. Quaffles, Bludgers, Snitches—"

"Well, it is a quidditch store," Viktorija mumbled coldly.

"An amazing quidditch store!" he exclaimed.

Perry nodded, hoping he would stay quiet for more than a minute if she didn't speak. To no avail, he began to ramble again.

"I can't wait to watch a Gryffindor quidditch match!" he exclaimed. "Doesn't Harry play on the team? I read that he was the youngest seeker—"

"Yes," Perry answered, "Harry does play on the team. And yes, you read a reliable source."

"Wicked!" Colin exclaimed. "Do you play quidditch, Perry? No, you're more into art, aren't you? I assume that—"

"Look, Colin," Perry said as they approached the quidditch stands, "We promised to sit with one of our other friends."

Colin opened his mouth to speak, but before he could Perry cut him off.

"I'll see you later, Colin," Perry said. "There's probably a few Gryffindors watching that you can sit with."

Viktorija grabbed Perry's arm and pulled her away before Colin could move his lips to say goodbye. The two girls ducked behind the yellow and black drapes and ran up the winding wooden staircase up to the stands. They climbed the stairs two at a time as they heard cheers from the stands above them.

Perry and Viktorija climbed up the last few steps and emerged from the underneath to the seats. Neither of the girls were expecting to see the turnout of fans in the stands there to watch tryouts. Perry furrowed her eyebrows at the mass of girls seated in the stands, then rolled her eyes when it dawned on her what they were here for. Maybe some of them cared for quidditch, but the majority were here because they found out which group of Hufflepuffs had decided to tryout for the house team.