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astra strode in front of a group of slytherins in her quidditch uniform, ready to start trails but all of them were chatting between themselves. harley and regulus were both silent, waiting for them to shut up. astra looked around the group and her eyes locked with salem's who gave her a smirk making her look away from him and back to the rest of the group.
the captain sighed and gave a sharp whistle making them quiet down and look at her, "fina-fucking-lly. i'm cutting to the point. if you were on the team last year, your position on it this year isn't guaranteed so don't throw a toddler fit if you don't get in. okay? okay. harley, flint, warrington, you're all chasers for this and i'll switch one of you out with montague in a few. bole and malfoy, you're beaters and the shittest one of you won't be in the team because i am. regulus, you're seeker and also apparently the only person who wanted to be. who wants to try out for keeper?"
bole stuck his hand up, "i'd be better in the keeper position that i am as a beater."
"confident, are we? okay, try out for keeper that means unless anyone else wants to be beater, it's me and... malfoy." astra sighed, both harley and regulus glaring at the boy who was still smirking at astra.
pandora, a lovely blonde haired slytherin stepped forward suddenly with a calm grin on her face, "i would like to try out for keeper."
astra heard a few of the boys snigger between themselves and silenced them with a glare before she smiled at pandora, "perfect. bole, you go that side. pandora, the other side, please."
pandora nodded happily and flew over to one side of the pitch and bole flew to the other side. the rest of them flew in the air into position and phoenix, who was watching them, ran onto the pitch and let loose the bludgers and the snitch before throwing the quaffle up in the air which harley caught immediately making warrington grimace in distaste.
regulus' eyes darted around the pitch looking for the snitch. he was already on the team but this was just extra practice for him. harley flew quickly to bole's end of the pitch and threw the quaffle which zoomed past bole and through the left hoop. after retrieving the quaffle and the king it back up, flint was the one to catch it this time, harley hanging back.
smirking, flint headed for pandora, being friends with bole, and tried to throw it as forcefully as he possibly could. gracefully, pandora blocked the quaffle from entering the middle hoop with the end of her broom making flint's smirk drop and astra grin. the game continued, the bludgers being hit with less force and so they would miss the chasers.
well, the bludgers weren't too dangerous until salem suddenly directed one at the quidditch stands. astra looked down to where it was aiming and saw james and sirius sat on the same row. quickly, she flew down in front of the bludger and batted it away before facing them with a deadly glare that made even sirius regret his decision to come to their tryouts.
"our hero." james joked, pressing his lips together as if to stop himself saying more when astra looked as though she could kill him.
"i should have let that bludger punch a hole through your stomachs." astra hissed angrily, more specifically at james than sirius.
"we were only—
"shut your face." astra interrupted sirius and looked at james. "i told you harley was on my team and you told me sirius was on yours—"
"—prongs!"
"— and you show up after a mutual agreement like a fucking prick." astra said lowly, the slytherins having stopped their trails, noticing the pair of gryffindors.
"we weren't spying." james stated.
"so why are you crouching with your hoods up?" astra demanded and yanked them down off their heads before slapping them both in the face, james harder than sirius.
"ow!" they both complained a little over-dramatically although their cheeks were tinting pink.
"if i see either of you or one of your other pathetic teammates in the stands during our training, i will personally make sure a bludger knocks your heads off of your shoulders." astra threatened and they believed her. "understand?"
"not completely—" sirius got cut off from joking when astra grabbed the end of his scarf and shoved it into his mouth.
"understand?" astra repeated and sirius nodded silently and james copied him.
when she flew away, sirius spat his scarf out and looked at james, "that's the second time in three days she's done something that could make me choke to death!"
when the pair had left, regulus trying to fight back a satisfactory smirk as he saw sirius and james complaining about their cheeks to one another, astra resumed the trials and in the end decided her team. harley, flint and warrington were chasers, regulus the seeker, her and salem the beaters and pandora the keeper. bole seemed to be pissed about the outcome of the calm, kind blonde getting the position instead of him but he let nearly all the quaffles in.
later in the day, it was one of the trips to hogsmeade. astra left the castle with sophia, phoenix and harley in desperate need to finish mcgonagall's homework: she was fair but they hadn't handed in a few previous pieces. astra pulled her jacket tighter to her body as she and sophia walked down the street of hogsmeade. it was starting to get colder as november began to kick in properly. sophia seemed warm enough in her layers of pink, blue and yellow jumpers.
the pair chatted between themselves as they walked towards honey dukes, phoenix having asked for some sugar quills and harley a chocolate frog or five. astra offered to buy their sweets and sophia's, knowing the muggleborn didn't have as much. with a lot of disagreement, they came to the decision that sophia would pay for a butterbeer when they would go to the three broomsticks.
they walked into that pub and astra went to find them a small table in the corner while sophia went to get them drinks. as astra pulled out her packet of cigarettes, placing the filter between her plush lips to light it, someone sat in the seat opposite her. looking up, her grey eyes hardened in a glare as james grinned at her, watching as she lit up her cigarette, her piercing eyes unmoving from his own soft ones.
"fuck off." astra mumbled around the fag before inhaling deeply.
"no, i'm good, but thanks for the offer." james shrugged making the young women sigh, smoke falling from her lips and disappearing in the air.
"what do you want?" astra asked. "if it's to piss me off, fuck off back to sirius and annoy him instead."
"it wasn't, although something's telling me i already have." james joked, his smirk falling when she didn't even crack a minuscule smile. she just continued to stare at him as if he wasn't allowed to be near her. "i wanted to apologise."
astra scoffed, "i find that hard to believe. you have never once apologised for anything, potter."
"i'll have you know that i have apologised before!" james replied. "i accidentally set remus' jumper on fire and burnt a massive hole in it, so i apologised for that."
"what a riveting story. now, if you're done, i'd like to enjoy myself because, at this current moment in time, i want to stab you in the eye and then turn the knife on myself." astra said flatly.
"okay, i'm sorry for being at your trails, but we really weren't spying. it was sirius' idea, i swear." james stated. "he was worried about malfoy, he thinks he's gonna try and do something bad to you so he was keeping an eye on him. well, before our heads nearly got knocked off."
"what do you swear on?" astra raised an eyebrow.
"what?" james asked.
"you said, 'i swear'. so, what do you swear on?" astra repeated.
james thought for a second, "my invisibility cloak. i swear on that."
the slytherin nodded, "okay. still don't forgive you completely, by the way. only a little because you don't know what we're planning."
"fair enough." james smiled widely and astra saw sophia look over to their table and then at james in confusion.
"i can sort my own shit out, y'know?" astra mumbled, taking another drag of her cigarette. "sirius doesn't need to watch over me."
"he was just worried, although he won't admit it." james hummed. "and he most definitely knows you can handle your own shit, he told me how you broke his nose when you were 10."
"that was a fun day." astra smirked.
james laughed lightly, "i did it once, it felt good."
"you broke his nose? why?" astra asked, confused: everyone knew that the two boys were basically siblings.
"something happened in fifth year, it was... doesn't matter." james' smile grew slightly forced and astra didn't push for a reason she just nodded.
"he can be a right prick sometimes." astra mused. "i found remus in the library upset because of him and peter was avoiding him, too. funnily enough, that was fifth year. and snape seemed smug about something when he was close. but then again, his face is always in a strange position."
"you really are observant." james said and she nodded as sophia came back to the table with their butterbeers.
"sorry, james, i didn't know you were joining us, i wouldn't got you one." sophia gave him a smile as the gryffindor took in her mad hair and bright outfit.
"no, it's okay, i have my own on our table." james pointed to the table on the other side of the restaurant where sirius, remus and peter were all sat with their drinks.
"oh, okay!" sophia said brightly and sipped her drink before handing astra a spoon.
james looked at her in confusion, "you're not gonna drink that like you eat soup, are you?"
"no." astra denied.
sophia gave a small laugh, "she only likes the foam."
"that's one of the most ridiculous things i have ever heard." james grinned.
astra scowled at him in a jokingly fashion, "fuck off, how, potter."
"as you wish, madam." james said dramatically, bowing his head at her before making his way back over to the rest of his friends.
"he's nicer than i expected." sophia approved, wiping the foam moustache from her top lip.
"hm, he's okay." astra nodded, glancing at james to see him giving her a small smile with flushed cheeks, which she assumed were from the cold.
{1806}