The Wandmaker's Granddaughter and the Curse of Hogwarts

Quidditch Trials

The day came for the Gryffindors to compete for their spots on the Quidditch team. James was as nervous as he had been his first day at Hogwarts.  Lucy had a much more optimistic outlook.

"If it's meant to be it will be," she said at breakfast the morning of the trials.  "I'll just, try my best and hope that's enough."

The trials were to be held that sunny Saturday at noon on the Quidditch pitch and nearly all Gryffindors were planning to go and cheer on their friends.  The breakfast table was a buzz with excitement for having something other than studies to entertain them for the day.

"James?" Amelia said looking up from her book which intricately detailed the life of a former Hogwarts ghost that had left the school hundreds of years ago due to internal conflict with the head of the spirit council.

"Huh?" James said barely able to give her proper eye contact.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Of course why wouldn't I be?"

"You just spread butter across your hand and I'm afraid your going to eat it."

James looked down at his hand which was the only thing on his plate and was smothered in far too much butter. He muttered to himself as he grabbed a napkin and began to clean his hand.

"If I tried out for the Quidditch team as well would you feel better?" Amelia said causing James and Lucy to laugh.

"Don't worry, your parent's are great at Quidditch, I'm sure you'll be at least decent," Marta chimed in several people away.

"Thank you Marta," Lucy said with fire in her eyes.

"Are you gonna try out today Marta?" Athena asked from beside Lucy.

"Oh no, I prefer to focus on my studies," Marta said tucking her hair behind her head.

"Clearly you need all the help you can get," Athena said under her breath but loud enough for Lucy, James, Amelia, and several other second year Gryffindors to hear. Marta gave her laughing peers a suspicious look but otherwise seemed unconcerned.

"Should we go prep the brooms?" Lucy said finishing her eggs.

"I guess," James said fear still weaving across his brow.

"If you get nervous just think of me trying to play Quidditch on the ground," Amelia said as James and Lucy stood up to leave. James snickered and nodded at Amelia with thanks.

Amelia found herself wandering the library as she waited for the time to come for the trials to begin. She listened to the soft classical music streaming through her ear buds as she scanned the titles of each book looking for one she hadn't read before. Static began to fill the earbuds as it picked up nearby interference. Annoyed, Amelia took one of the earbuds out and shook it because she had no other idea how to fix it.

The static eventually cleared around the time Amelia needed to head over to the pitch. She left the library alone reading her way out of the castle and across the grounds. As she approached the stands Amelia looked up to see a lone shadow lingering near the stairs leading to the seats.

"Animon," Amelia said having remained undetected by the silhouette. Nero jumped and spun around to see Amelia.

"Ollivander."

"Did you come to watch?"

"No."

"Liar."

"I was just passing by."

"From where?"

"Over there."

"Over there?"

"Ya, it's a nice day, I was on a walk around the grounds."

"Since you're here, would you like to come watch?"

"No, why would I do that, I have more important things to do today then watch the Gryffindor Quidditch trials."

Nero turned and began walking away. 

"You can see the pitch from the Astronomy tower if you have a telescope," Amelia said after him.  She knew he heard but didn't acknowledge what she had said.  Amelia turned back to the stands and climbed up to join the rest of Gryffindor tower who were already seated watching the warm ups.  James tripped over his own feet more than once before getting on his broom and kicking off into the air. 

Amelia went and sat next to Athena and Ivy who were watching intensely trying to decide who would make what position.  Micah and Declan joined in from behind and a small argument broke out amongst them as to whether James had any chance.

As they debated Amelia scanned the crowd and caught sight of Casper, Molly, and Fred.  She waved to them and they waved back happily before going back to Casper showing them the signs for the different Quidditch positions. 

"Whose that?" Athena asked.

"Molly and Fred are James' cousins and Casper is Fred's friend, they're all first years," Amelia explained.

"What are they doing?" Declan asked.

"Casper's deaf so he's teaching them some sign language," Amelia said. 

"Cool, we should all learn," Micah said as the whistle blew and the first group began their trial.  Amelia got the attention of the other group before waving them over.  Slightly nervously Fred, Molly, and Casper walked over to the second years.

"Hey, What's up?" Fred asked.

"We saw Casper teaching you guys sign and we wanted to learn too, is that okay?" Amelia said being sure Casper could see what she was saying. 

"You want to learn some sign?" Casper asked being sure he understood what Amelia said.  The group eagerly nodded and Casper began showing them some fo the signs for the match that was happening in front of them.  As they learned the wind blew and the stands around the field creaked and groaned in the breeze.

Half way through the trial Lucy was up and the second years eagerly cheered her on along with the small group of first year friends.  While they watched and enjoyed happy conversation Amelia caught the sound of  some of the other Gryffindor first and third years laughing.  She looked over at them and saw them pointing at Casper while flailing their arms about. 

Amelia tapped Athena on the shoulder and gestured over to the other group. 

"What are you doing?" Athena said standing up and shouting at the kids teasing Casper.  The rest of the group sitting with Athena and Amelia looked around surprised while Fred tapped Casper's shoulder and pointed to the commotion.

"What do you mean?" A boy from the other group asked.

"You were making fun of Casper," Amelia said joining at Athena's side.

"I don't know what you're talking about," a different kids said from the group.  On the pitch a few of the players noticed the commotion in the stands and began watching from where they stood.

"How rude," Ivy and Declan said joining them as well.

"You don't have any proof," the first boy argued.

"I have my eyes," Athena said.

"How would you feel if we teased you because of your hair?" Micah said.

"What's wrong with my hair?" The kid asked.

"It's attached to a stupid brain," Athena said.

"How would you like it if we teased you for having a Hawthorn wand?" Amelia said.

"How do you know that?" He asked.

"Students," Madame Hootch called from the pitch. "Please you're distracting the players."

"We'll stop when they apologize to our friend," Athena said.

"We didn't do anything wrong so I won't apologize," one of the boys said.

Before anyone could argue with him there was a loud crack and the entire stadium began to collapse.