Quidditch Try Outs
Henry, Tom, and William were all crowding around a large piece of parchment that had been placed on the Great Hall's bulletin board, whispering excitedly to one another. As soon as Earnestine's voice rang out, the three jumped simultaneously at her sudden and startling appearance. "What are you guys looking at?"
"Geez, Earnest!" Henry exclaimed breathless as she clutched his racing heart in attempt to get it back to a normal pace. "Kill someone why don't you."
Earnestine laughed, while William beamed at her. "Quidditch try outs are tomorrow evening on the pitch; and I, my dear lady, am going to be the first ever fist year to make the team."
"Sure." Tom muttered sarcastically, rolling his dark eyes at the pale boy.
"You don't believe me?" William asked, eyebrows raised.
"No. I don't." Tom said plainly.
William shrugged nonchalantly.
"What's Quidditch?" Earnestine felt stupid for asking, but she simply couldn't swallow her curiosity. Earnestine felt especially out of the loop when all three boys, including her brother and Tom who knew nothing of the wizarding world prior to these two weeks that they had spent in the school, looking at her as if she had three heads.
"What's Quidditch?!" William seemed to be the most shocked of the three, which was reasonable considering that he had grown up around all of this.
"You're forgetting we weren't raised like you, William." Henry defended. Henry didn't quite like William as it were, and he especially didn't like him around his sister.
Earnestine smiled secretively at her brother, fondly.
"Quidditch," Tom explained, "Is like football for wizards. It is apparently our biggest and most popular sport. I am surprised that no one has filled you in on this yet, honestly."
Earnestine shrugged it off. "I haven't really been taking to many people."
Henry frowned, he sometimes wished that his sister didn't totally rely on him solely for companionship; he had hoped that them being separated would have forced her to make her own friends. Apparently she was finding it difficult.
Earnestine, avoiding her brother's gaze, asked the other two. "How do you play?"
William was shocked. "Girls can't..." He shut up in one look at Earnestine's serious and dangerous face.
"We can to." Earnestine's voice was daring him to cross her; she spoke next with her lips pursed in what was now a stubborn determination. "How do you play?"
Tom couldn't help but give the slightest smile at the girl, her constant attempts to keep up with the boys was something that defined her. Earnestine certainly wasn't going to allow her to be counted out of anything simply because of the parts she wasn't born with. "William was actually going to spend some time teaching us after lessons. You're welcome to join us, if you'd like."
"I'll be there." Earnestine promised with a slight cocky sneer in William's direction. "And I'll be twice as good as you, simply because I am a girl." Certainly William had lost a few points in Earnestine's book simply by his snide remarks, he seemed quieter than usual.
Earnestine gathered her school books and strode proudly towards the dungeon, her brown curls swinging side to side with each step, preparing herself for Potions class. All three boys followed behind her.
"Good Afternoon, students." Professor Slughorn called out to the class cheerily. Tom had taken a seat next to Earnestine, giving her a polite smile as he did so. William and Henry had seated themselves across the aisle. "Today, I will have the honor of teaching you the basics of potion making."
"Some of us don't need the basics." William sighed haughtily as he leaned back in his chair so that the front legs were off the ground. Earnestine rolled her eyes, wishing he'd simply shut up for once.
Tom, in seeing the look Earnestine had given him, slyly whipped his wand and watched in humor as William's chair flew towards the ground and William get out a girlish yelp of terror. The entire class burst out in laughter and Tom's heart gave a small flutter at the look of awe that Earnestine had just given him; he answered her with a smile.
"Keep your feet firmly on the ground there, William." Professor Slughorn reminded, he too had also given a small laugh at the boy's 'accident'. "Now where were we? Ah..oh yes, the basics of potion making. If everyone will kindly bring out their textbook and flip to page eighteen."
There clearly on the page, were printed instructions on how to make a very simply anti-nausea potion that had been used even by Muggles in the ancient times; until, as the brief history on the page had informed, all witchcraft had been shunned from society.
"You may work in pairs with those next to you," Professor Slughorn said as he finished his explanation to the young students. "Everything you need is right there in front of you. You may begin as soon as you are confident."
"We'll just set your book in the middle to share then?" Earnestine asked Tom with a smile.
Tom nodded, and scooted around the ingredients to make room for the book, positioning so that both students could read it clearly. "I am supposing that we should start by adding the 'Saliva of Hippogriff'?"
Earnestine shrugged clueless as she poured what they had portioned out in front of them into the small cauldron. "That sounds about right." Turning her attention back to the instructions, she pursed her lips, making the decision of how many slug boils to toss in. "There we go, 'three medium slug boils'."
"When these get done," The Professor called out over the working students, "I should be able to turn these in to Madame Pumphry in the hospital wing for use on the students."
Earnestine gave a look of nervousness. Looking down into their cauldron, this was certainly not something she would ever ingest. "I hope we are doing this right."
Tom laughed, "I think we're fine." Just then he tossed in the 'four gillyweed seeds'.
Professor Slughorn walked passed their desk, peering into the brew inside their cauldron. Earnestine felt a heat of self-conscious nervousness. The Professor called out to the students, "Come over here, everyone."
"Oh-no." Earnestine whispered desperately, "We've messed it up."
"This," exclaimed the Professor once everyone had gathered around, "Is exactly what we are looking for!" Professor Slughorn looked up at Earnestine and Tom, smiling fondly. "Very excellent job, Tom, Earnestine!"
William let out a scoff and rolled his eyes, going back to his seat; clearly not liking being shown up. Henry gave his two friends a thumbs up in approval. Earnestine smiled at him.
Earnestine let out a breath she wasn't aware that she had been holding and let out a small laugh, her brown eyes looking up to meet Tom's matching one's that were alit with the same relief that hers held. Clearly he too had been expecting failure. The two shared a smile of victory.
They had both found their partners for the year.
It didn't seem, however, like Henry and William had such good chemistry in working together. Whenever Henry would pipe in, and offer his suggestions, William would ignore them and go about doing his own thing. Their lax of understanding literally exploded directly into William's pale face as he cursed and swore like no other. Henry, though, felt as if William had simply gotten what he had been asking for.
Tom and Earnestine had the luxury of spending the rest of the class cleaning up their work area and making small talk, eventually they had been dismissed. Just before Tom and Earnestine had followed William and Henry out of the dungeon doors, Professor Slughorn called out to them. "Tom, Earnestine, may I have a moment with the two of you?"
Tom caught hold of Earnestine's arm, turning her around too. "Of course, sir."
Professor Slughorn had come over towards them and gestured towards the nearest desk for them to sit; he too took a pulled up a spare chair. "You both have shown some extraordinary potion making skills today."
"Thank you." Tom answered politely.
"There is no need to thank me for simply complementing you on what you were born with." Professor Slughorn dismissed. "I have simply wanted to invite you into a small group of students that I am forming together."
"What kind of group?" Earnestine asked.
The Professor laughed, "A group of exceptionally gifted young witches and wizards like yourselves. You two will have been the first members, of course, but it will grow as the year goes on I am sure."
Tom seemed to enjoy the idea of being special; he agreed readily. "Of course we will join." He and the Professor both gave Earnestine a look to make sure the mutual agreement was okay with her. Earnestine nodded in consent.
"Excellent." The Professor exclaimed as he stood up, leading the two pupils towards the door. "You two are the first members of the 'Slug Club'!" Both Tom and Earnestine beamed at each other as the door was closed on them. It sounded to be very exciting, being exclusive.
William and Henry had already saved the pair seats at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall for lunch. Times were different then, no one really paid mind to the formalities and labels of houses. Everyone simply blended and meshed into one another cooperatively. Times were a lot simpler in those days. Earnestine was not the only outsider to seat herself comfortable at the table.
William drawled nosily as the two had sat down, clearly envious of their attention. "So what was is Sluggy wanted to speak with you two about?"
Tom shrugged, not bothering to fill William in. "Nothing. He simply praised our good work is all." To be fair, it was partially true.
William swallowed his jealousy and spoke, clearly trying to make the three feel like lesser beings to himself. William had changed the subject back to Quidditch. "Well, it seems you three will have to be borrowing broom as clearly you haven't the money to purchase your own...no offense." Usually when people say 'no offense', they mean offense. "I mean, the school has some donated ones, but they are ancient, just a word of warning."
Henry rolled his eyes at William's snootiness. "William, no offense or anything, but being on ancient brooms won't make a difference. Usually people like you, who seem to be all cocky talk, have no substance when it comes to performance."
William looked very offended, "Meaning?"
"Meaning," Tom piped in on the game, "you aren't as good as you say you are."
William stood up, preparing for a fight. "You want to prove that?"
Earnestine gave him a snotty look, placing her hands on her hips, "Bring it."
"Very well," William motioned towards the door, "Let's do this, then." Standing up, the three children followed him, not even minding that none of them had eaten any of their food and leaving their school books behind.
When they had reached the pitch, it was crisp and chilly outside with the swift autumn air. The sun was obscured with a mixture of fog and clouds. Earnestine let loose a brief shiver at the contrast of the castle's warm atmosphere.
"Okay, Earnestine," William handed her a broom, his voice authoritative. "You're going to be working on the part of Chaser to start out. Your job is to get this ball, called a quaffle, into one of those rings." William pointed towards the three standing hoops at the end of the field.
William then turned his attention to Henry, also handing him an old broom. "Henry, you're going to be Keeper. Your job is to prevent Earnestine from successfully scoring."
"Tom," William turned his attention to the last boy, and his least favorite of his three companions. "You're going to be a beater." William took a heaver looking ball from the trunk that he had gotten out of the old shed of supplies, "This is a bludger, all you have to do is try to hit either me or Earnestine with it. Pretty simple."
Tom grinned devilishly, clearly liking the idea of being able to hit William with anything he could get away with. "What about you, what will you be doing?"
"I," William answered proudly, standing up a little straighter and adjusting his tie, "Am going to be the Seeker." William carefully took the last and smallest ball from the trunk. It was a golden ball with wings. "This is a snitch; the game of Quidditch doesn't end until this little thing is caught. If your team's seeker catches this ball, your team gets an extra one hundred and fifty points."
"Very well," Henry said curtly. "We understand the game. Let's start."
William grinned, ready for the challenge and for any chance to show off his talent for a girl. "Okay then, mount your brooms and wait for my whistle." With that, William released the snitch which had taken off into the opposite direction and flew off towards the center of the pitch.
The three remaining children all exchanged a look and copied William's actions. Once Henry had positioned himself in front of the rings, and Tom and Earnestine had joined William in the center of the pitch, William raised his arm for attention and blew the whistle signaling the start of their practice.
Tom made a whack at the bludger and aimed it directly for William's retreating figure. Earnestine had grabbed hold of the quaffle and tucked it securely under her arm, heading for Henry and determined to get it passed him. Henry had focused intently on her approaching figure, fixed on doing his job as well.
Earnestine had approached the hoops, and locked eyes teasingly with her twin brother, carefully dodging her broom from side to side in attempt to confuse him. Henry had let out a laugh, amused at his sister's childish efforts. "What are you doing?"
Earnestine saw her chance and made a shot for the lowest ring and scored. Grinning, she stuck her tongue out at her brother victorious, "Distracting you."
Henry smiled and shook his head as his sister sped off, always the good sport.
Earnestine had taken to catching up with Tom, who clearly didn't care about trying to knock Earnestine off her broom, but more focused on his frienemy William. Looking to his left he had spotted Earnestine flanking him and shot her a wink as he sped up into the sky after William.
Earnestine ducked as the bludger had traveled over her head and back to Tom, who with one swift crack, had sent it straight ahead. The only other noise was the soft thud of the ball colliding with William's back, knocking him off his broom.
Tom laughed and allowed William to fall a few feet before zooming under him and letting him land safely on the back of his broom. The look of sheer terror on William's face was completely priceless. Tom ginned mischievously at him as he clutched tightly to his side. "So you're Mr. Talented, huh?"
William didn't answer and Tom laughed once again, meeting up with Henry and Earnestine who were both also clearly amused at William's blunder. Once firmly on his two feet, William turned a bright shade of pink under his pale skin and didn't say a word to the other three, stalking off back towards the castle, humiliated.
The three remaining children gathered up all their equipment and the missing snitch, and placed them back where they had found them, following their ego bruised companion back towards the Great Hall to get ready for their next class. All three of them pink with laugher.
Henry looked down at the small piece of parchment that his sister had slipped him in the middle of their droningly boring History lesson.
Do you think any of us our going to make the team?
Henry thought for a moment and scribbled back, handing it over to her.
I don't know. William had said no first years ever make it.
Earnestine replied instantly. It doesn't seem fair though, does it?
No. Henry answered, Perhaps William might, though.
Earnestine made a face that clearly showed that she hoped, for their sake, that he didn't. William had already been so full of himself, and being the very first first-year to have ever made the team definitely wouldn't lessen his pride.
Henry chuckled at his sister's face and whispered, "I doubt it, though. He wasn't as great as he made us think he was."
"You're telling me." Tom agreed, grinning as he thought of his triumphant moment of knocking William off his high horse. "What a pathetic wimp."
William was nowhere to be found after he had left the three on the pitch, clearly too embarrassed to show his face at the moment. Perhaps he was saving his energy for the Slytherin try-outs tonight. Henry and Tom were pulling it together and trying out as well. Earnestine had yet to decide whether or not she was going to try for the Gryffindor team the next night; leaving her decision up to whether or not any of her friends would make it.
Earnestine sighed, doodling on her parchment absentmindedly as she spoke. "For his sake, I hope they consider him. Poor guy, I don't think he could handle two embarrassments in one day."
"Eh," Henry shrugged.
"It's good for him." Tom finished. "No one should be that obsessed with themselves."
After their boring history lesson, Earnestine walked with her brother and Tom as they put their school things back in the Slytherin common room, and headed off towards the pitch to cheer her three friends on as they gave it their best shot. William had already been there and mounted on his broom, ready to retrieve his stolen glory.
Earnestine waved at him from the stands and William gave her a simple nod of acknowledgement. Henry and Tom gave him a sympathetic pat on the back as they approached showing that there were no hard feelings, still swallowing laugher. William smiled a little too.
Earnestine was glad that William clearly hadn't been too mad at them, or at least that he let it go so that things could mesh right back to normality a little easier. No one wanted to have to listen to a sour William all day long.
The Slytherin team captain was a broad shouldered, dark hair, well-built boy with a booming deep voice. When he spoke, Earnestine was able to hear him from quite a distance away as if he had been sitting right there with her. "I want to thank you all for coming out, and supporting your house so eagerly. Not everyone can make the team, regrettably, but we still want everyone to give it their best shot."
Earnestine felt a pinch of nervousness as the captain had separated all the hopefuls into miniature teams. Henry was up first as keeper and Earnestine cheered as he hadn't let one quaffle get by him. The captain seemed to admire his skill as well. "Very good eye, Gander. Very promising. Next team!"
Tom had been up next as beater, just like in practice. Tom, too, did fairly well seeing as he had just learned the game a few hours prior. Tom alone had knocked several players off trail and even a few more off their brooms completely. The team captain seemed to be eyeing the boy with astonished admiration. Earnestine was like a proud mother, both her boys overachieving on the field.
In the final group of hopefuls was William, who seemed to wear a look of new determination. Looking up at Earnestine who was wringing her hands nervously, he grinned and blew a teasing kiss. Henry and Tom rolled their eyes.
As soon as the captain had blown his whistle the final time, William took off like a bullet towards the snitch, dodging several eager quaffles along the way. Within two minutes of the mock game, William had zoomed around the captain in a circle, holding the snitch high and grinning with victory. Excited at his triumph, Earnestine leapt to her feet giving him a hearty cheer; Williams grin broadened at her little bit of attention.
The captain grinned too, "Very impressive, William. Everyone gather around, I've already made my selections." All the children walked over to where the captain had landed with a bag of numbered jerseys to hand out. "You'll get your letters before our first match. There is one open spot for chasers and beaters and room for a new keeper and seeker. For anyone who doesn't make it, I encourage you to try out again next year."
William, Tom, and Henry looked on hopefully.
"I'll make this quick for you," The captain said, suddenly grinning at four of his buddies that had shown up after his many days of begging. "Harry, Ted, Louis, and James. Congratulations, you're our new Quidditch super stars."
Earnestine leapt to her feet in outrage. Her companions had outshined all of the other prospects by a mile. Clearly this was a game of favoritism above all else. "WHAT!?" She watched as her three friends stalked off sullen and ran to meet up with them.
Sighing, she wrapped her arms comfortable across the shoulders of Henry and William, playfully stepping on the back of William's feet with every other step. "Come on guys, cheer up. If it helps, you were better than everyone out there."
They said nothing.
"And that's not just me being biased. It was true."
They weren't cheering up despite her kind words. William, who had seemed to be taking it worst of all, stalked off ahead of them, muttering something along the lines of sporty mindless oafs.