when it all comes down
can you say you never gave up?
"PERFECT!", HEIDI MACAVOY yelled when Ember landed on the field, the snitch in her fist for the fourth time in a row. "That was just incredible! Tony, tell Summerby to go home, we have our Seeker!"
On Tony Cadwaller's face appeared a satisfied grin when he walked over to the only other one who came to the Seeker's tryout. But Ember didn't grin.
"No, wait", she said in a sharp voice, and the team threw her questioning looks. "See, Heidi, that was all nice and fun, but I think I can't do this."
"Oh, I pretty much think you can do this", Heidi scoffed, "as you caught the snitch four times in a row, and three out of them under 5 minutes."
"It's a difference to do that here in front of seven people, than to do it in front of the whole school. I don't want to disappoint you -"
"Then join this team!"
"I can't, I -"
"Don't know why you discuss this with her, Heidi", a grumpy blonde boy to Heidi's left snapped. "Let her go. If she's scared, we don't need her."
"You can't even imagine how much you need her, Smith."
"Or didn't we watch the same girl fly?"
Ember's cheeks grew hot, as she felt to persons appear to both of her sides, and she didn't need to turn her head to know that she would find ginger hair, freckles and grins drunken with mischief.
"Oh Merlin, don't tell me you watched this?", Ember groaned, her shoulders sacking down.
"Oh Merlin, we did!", they cheered unison.
"And to be honest we're slightly pissed that you always refused to join our matches at the Burrow", said George.
"Whatever", Fred added, "you will join this team. I mean, you could let Summerby play, but then Gryffindor will just overrun you guys within two minutes."
"Our team is more than capable to stomp you into the ground!", Zacharias Smith hissed through gritted teeth. "We don't need a whiny little girl just because our captain pities her."
The grins dropped from the twins' faces and their chocolate brown eyes dangerously glimmed. George's hand shot inside his robe, but Ember grabbed his wrist and pulled it back. Not that she feared he would hex Smith. It was more the fear of one of those untested Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products that could probably kill them all she was worrying about.
"Nobody is pitying anyone", Heidi said in a sharp tone. "Cedric thought she was perfect for this position. We all saw that she's more than perfect for this position. I won't accept a no, Potter", she then told Ember, eyes enlighted with the same fierce determination she knew all too well from marble grey eyes that would never show this expression ever again.
"Plus when Ickle Ronnykins can make it to the Gryffindor team, nothing's impossible", George snorted, and Ember's eyes fixed the boy's amused face.
"He made it?"
"Held five out of five", Fred scoffed. "The lucky fool."
"And he's a Weasley, what's indeed an unbeatable argument for getting into the team", George added with a satisfied grin, even though he rolled his eyes.
Ember sighed, eyes wandering from Fred back to George, to the still pissed Zacharias Smith, and the rest of the team that impatiently waited for her reply. Then she looked back at Heidi.
"Fine. I'll do it."
·
"Quite a shame what's allowed to play Quidditch nowadays." Ember rolled her eyes but bit her tongue. "But on the other hand, it's just Hufflepuff. Nothing to lose for this team anyway."
"Kinda arrogant for someone who bought his unlucky arse into his own team, don't you think?", she replied in a matter of fact kinda voice, completely forgetting that she swore to not let him provoke her.
"Oh please, you wouldn't know talent if it would punch you in the face."
"I know at least one talented player that had punched you in the face", Ember scoffed. "Whatever, that's not what we're here for, is it? So what does your daddy want?"
"We'll see about Weasley's talent soon enough, I promise you", Malfoy muttered, leaning back into his chair. They had hidden in the darkest corner of the library beneath the highest shelves with a literature so boring, not even Hermione would show up here. Impatiently, Ember drummed her fingers on the table between them, pouting her lips, while Draco's curved into a crooked, devilish smile. "Father just wanted to make sure you haven't forgotten about your deal."
"Nothing as easy as that", she muttered, eyes narrowed at her still drumming fingers, until she clutched her hand flatly onto the table plate. "He's still mad with me because of your letters. Oh, stop this self-satisfied grin, you moron!"
Draco raised his hands in defense, but the smirk remained on his face. "I already told you last year that he's a dimwit dwarf with glasses."
"He's taller than you."
"His stubbornness needs more room to unfold."
"You're terrible."
"And deep down in the dark, evil parts of your heart you like it", he snickered.
"Never!"
·
The news that Hufflepuff's new Seeker was no one else than Harry Potter's sister was spreading faster through Hogwarts corridors and hallways than a wildfire. It didn't even take full twenty-four hours for the whole school to know about it, but not everyone seemed to be happy about her new position. In fact it was Harry getting the main part of the hate and mockery because of what the Daily Prophet was keeping up writing about him. But it wasn't that Ember just got away with nothing. That article about her being jealous with Harry still roamed people's mind, and not few of them thought she was nothing but up to gaining the same popularity and fame Harry 'enjoyed'.
"That's it", she groaned, letting her back fall into the grass where Fred and George were sitting by the lake's shore, watching first years trying to get rid of the itching on her skin by washing their arms in the cold water. Ember for a second watched them curious, then shook her head. "I don't even want to know what you did to them. But if you try to test this stuff on me, I'll murder you in your sleep!"
"Where's this beautiful mood of yours coming from?", Fred snickered, laying back into the grass.
"Smith", Ember muttered, furrowing her eyebrows. "He's so not getting over me being in the team. Stalking me the whole day now, Merlin knows why."
"Maybe he has a thing for you", George said, his voice deadpanned, but as Ember looked at him, his eyes were glimming with amusement.
"Oh, haha!"
"No kidding!", Fred said, still staring up into the sky. "You might haven't noticed, but boys like the crazy chicks."
"And according to the Daily Prophet you have more than just one screw loose", George added.
"Oh, and that summer had you grown into a mysterious beauty isn't really taking down those fools' peg."
Ember felt the skin of her face prickling as heath crept down her neck, and lost for words she threw George a flustered look, who answered with a shrug and his Cheshire cat grin, while Fred Weasley kept staring up into the clouds.
—