"There is freedom waiting for you,
On the breezes of the sky,
And you ask "What if I fall?"
Oh but my darling,
What if you fly?"
― Erin Hanson
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Elaine definitely sort of hated all the moments in her life that had led up to her being shaken awake at 7 in the morning on a Saturday.
"James will literally kill both of us if you don't get your ass up right now, El", a sleepy Marlene McKinnon whispered to Elaine, her face still sporting marks of her cushion.
"Stupid James Potter. Stupid Quidditch. Stupid me for wanting to try out", the French muttered as she made her way down the stairs to the Common Room, almost tripping over her feet. As she took in the sight in front of her, she was confused as to why Remus, Peter and Luana were all sitting on two couches together with James, Sirius and Marlene.
"You guys want to try out as well?", the Gryffindor voiced out her confusion.
"Please, I wouldn't last a minute on a broom. We're here to support you of course, stupid", Luana answered, shaking her head in the process.
"Well if you're so keen on supporting me, would you maybe be so kind and repeat that spell you used on your hair yesterday? I haven't found my wand yet and I really need some braids to be able to survive on my broom down there", Elaine asked her friend with big eyes, hoping her begging would convince the Dolohow.
"There is no time to look sexy! Shoulder your brooms and get going!", James exclaimed, almost hitting Elaine straight in the face with his broom. The girl was only able to duck down a mere second earlier, feeling the whoosh of the broom over her head. "Great reflexes Sauveur, that should help you on the field!"
"I'm sorry dearest Elaine for almost hitting you with my broom! Are you okay? I was quite worried about that", Elaine muttered, ignoring the 'compliment' given to her by James instead.
"C'mere El and let me do your hair", Luana laughed, amused by her new friend's antics. Upon raising her wand, Elaine's long hair began braiding itself in an easy pattern, creating two Dutch braids. "There you go, lovely. Now get going before Potter actually hits you and destroys any chance of you beating the other houses' asses", the feisty Gryffindor added, a huge smile prominent on her face.
"Ay ay, ma'am!", Elaine saluted, making quick work in following the others' footsteps through the portrait and down the stairs. As they reached the castle grounds, the young girl was able to breath in the frisky morning air, slightly cold from the night but the sunshine promising a warm day ahead.
While her heart still resembled a tornado of emotions, Elaine hoped she would be able to cut out all thoughts to focus on what was actually important in that moment: Quidditch.
Thankful that she had gotten a good night's rest and was able to cry out her eyes while protecting her bed with a 'muffliato' charm, the Gryffindor was now convinced that she should be capable of playing at her best skills.
As she entered the Quidditch stadium of Hogwarts for the first time, Elaine was utterly shocked at how many people had gotten up at this terrifying time in the morning to watch the Gryffindor tryouts. It wasn't even just Gryffindors, there were students from all other houses. Especially wary of the quite numerous Slytherin fraction at one side of the arena, Elaine decided to stick with her friends as she stood next to James and Sirius.
That was, until she heard whispers coming from behind her.
"Little pureblood princess thinks she is all highty and mighty, standing there with Potter and Black" "I heard her family is so much about pureblood supremacy even Walpurga Black looks up to them" "And she is from Beauxbatons too! Those French girls are such whores I've heard"
Elaine turned around to see who exactly was spreading all these lies, only to be met with around a dozen Gryffindor girls, none of who she had met in the last couple of days. Some of them were sure to be no older than in 3rd year, and still here they were, gossiping about her.
With a sigh, she moved a bit over to Marlene, who was looking at her worriedly. Apparently, she had heard the whispers as well. "They are a bunch of bumbling bitchy ballocks, don't listen to them", the girl tried to cheer Elaine up.
"A bunch of what?", Elaine couldn't help but laugh. "I said what I said", her roommate answered.
"Now, dear friends of Quidditch", James suddenly barked over the field, making all heads turn into his direction, "If you felt spoken to by these words, leave. We only need the true lovers of Quidditch. In order to find out who that is, I must first ask you to fly five rounds around the stadium. If you don't have a broom, go get one from Sirius. If you are a first year, leave"
At those words, a bunch of giggling first years ran away from the huge group, high fiving each other in the process. Shaking her head, Elaine mounted her broom, waiting for a command from James.
"Go!", he bellowed, blowing into a whistle directly afterwards. Elaine pushed herself away from the ground, enjoying the direct acceleration her broom was able to achieve. It wasn't long until she found herself at the front of the large group, speeding her way around the stadium.
It had been too long since she had flown like this.
However, her lonely spot at the front shouldn't stay that way for long. Elaine could only feel a whooshing next to her, as Sirius flew past her, smirking in the process.
"You gotta go faster than that, Sauveur!", he shouted at her, arrogant grin on his face.
Elaine could only smile back falsely as she gripped her broom tighter and speeded up. "It's on, Black", she whispered, as she managed to catch up with him again. Enjoying the surprised look on his face, the French blew him a kiss.
"See you on the ground, Black", she shouted as she managed to fly past him, "And for the last time, it's pronounced 'Sauveur'!"
To Elaine's luck and pride she was actually able to stay in front of Sirius for the remaining four rounds, making him huff in annoyance as both of them reached the ground again. "Bloody fantastic broom work there, Savvy. Not everybody manages to outfly Padfoot", James exclaimed, patting said girl on the back.
Sirius didn't look quite so convinced, letting out another huff. One by one, the other fliers started landing, Marlene being one of the first.
To Elaine's absolute pleasure, the group of gossiping girls was quite at the back with many of them having already fallen down from their brooms, only to be saved by charms from James.
"Listen up, Gryffindors!", James shouted again, "I want the chasers to come to Marlene and me, beaters to Sirius, and everybody who wants to try out as a keeper or seeker to go to the back at first. We'll do you last."
Giving Marlene a last thumps-up, Elaine walked to the back of the stadium and sat down on the ground, where she was joined by a buff-looking guy she recognized to be a 7th year.
"So, you're the infamous Elaine Sauveur, huh?", he asked interested.
"What is it with you British and surnames?", Elaine asked slightly annoyed, "Like why do you need to address everybody by their family name? And if you do, why can't you try to pronounce it the correct way?"
"I've heard you're feisty, but the gossip doesn't really hold fully true", the seventh year laughed.
"There is already so much to say about me?", Elaine wondered aloud, annoyance creeping in even more.
"Well I did hear quite a lot about the Defence against the Dark Arts lesson you apparently made heaps more interesting yesterday", the boy answered back.
At those words Elaine started blushing quite aggressively. It was true, she had to admit. As the Gryffindors had their first DADA lesson on Friday together with the Slytherins, their teacher, a young man in his 30s, had the fantastic idea of pairing up partners from opposite houses only. That way, Elaine ended up stuck with Avery, who made some many rude and obnoxious comments that at one point her wand 'slipped' and transformed the insufferable Slytherin into a ferret.
She did get in a bit of trouble, but since Lily came to her defence and recalled the comments Avery had made all she got was a deduction of 20 points from Gryffindor as well as further 10 points added to the house, as Professor Tumrag was very impressed by her "flawless execution of advanced magic".
"I don't know what you mean", Elaine chose to answer the Gryffindor sitting next to her instead, trying her best to put up an innocent façade.
Said boy just shook his head in laughter and held out his hand. "John Bartles, nice to meet you", he introduced himself with a charming smile.
"Elaine Sauveur, but you obviously already know that.", she answered with a smile matching his.
"Sauveur stop flirting and get your ass on the field! We're ready to try out the seekers!", James voice brought her back to the stadium. Looking up, she could indeed see a handsome boy standing next to Marlene, already deep in conversation with her, while Sirius and a second buff boy were discussing the wood of their bats.
With a blush, Elaine stood up from the ground, joining a couple other students standing in front of James, while John shouted a "Good luck" after her that she answered with a thumps-up.
"Okay potential seekers, I hope you're all ready. I'm not going to actually release a snitch right now, but would rather test your reflexes. One after one, try to catch as many of these hexed tennis-balls as possible", James instructed, pulling out a rather large basket from behind him.
'Well, let's get the games started', Elaine thought to herself.
The small tennis balls weren't the only thing James had in mind in order to discover the seeker he would want to have on his team. One after another, the potential players had to fly through a parkour, swerve around bludgers shot by Sirius and the new beater as well as perform risky maneuvers.
In the end, it came down to Elaine as well as a dark-haired girl she recognized to be from the girl gossipy group, probably in the year above her, who was sending flirtatious gestures to James,
"Now for you two, we'll actually release a snitch. However, you need to be wary of the pitch, as the others will play an actual game", James explained the last challenge.
Looking around, Elaine realized that the keeper's selection had come down to two boys, who were now positioning themselves in front of the rings, while the actual team positioned themselves on the field, joined by players who Elaine assumed were reservists.
"Luna, you will be playing for Sirius' team while Elaine joins me", he added to his explanation, making Luna shoot a smile to the beater positioning himself.
With a smile as well, Elaine recognized John being the keeper of her team, before she brought her attention back to herself and the small ball James held in his hand.
"Three, two, one, GO!", her hopefully new captain exclaimed as he let the snitch fly from his hands. The two potential seekers both mounted their brooms at his words, flying in the direction of where they hoped to find the golden orb.
Sirius had definitely earned his position as a beater, Elaine thought to herself as she was almost hit by one of the bludgers. Not wanting to lose her focus, she flew above the field, trying to find the snitch. It wasn't long until she actually spotted a golden shimmer next to the hoops of the opposite team. As she searched for her opponent, Elaine spotted Luna quite close to where she saw the snitch.
Blimey, she thought to herself as she turned her broom in the right direction and started speeding to the hoops. As she presumed, the gossipy girl started flying right next to her, attempting to hit Elaine with her broom.
Said girl was ignorant to those actions, as she had gotten quite a lot worse from the seekers at Beauxbatons. With one last impulse she shot to the spot where she had the snitch fixated with her eyes, pushing away Luna in the progress as she grasped the small ball in her hand.
"That was not fair! She pushed me off my broom! That was a foul! Jamesie, that was a foul!", Luna screamed, landing on the ground with a thud and throwing her broom away.
James only looked at her antics uninterested, before turning to Elaine, as both of them landed on the ground. "That was quite impressive, Savvy! Congratulations on making the team", he praised the French instead, paying no attention to the huffing and pouting girl still screaming around.
"Thank you, Jamesie", Elaine answered sweetly, putting an extra emphasis on the nickname, only to be pulled into a hug from her new captain, who ruffled her hair in the action.
"Quit messing up her braids and let me hug my girl!", Luana exclaimed from behind Elaine, pulling the surprised Gryffindor in a hug as well, while Remus and Peter shot her a thumps-up from next to the Dolohow. Soon, Marlene and Sirius also landed their brooms, quickly praising Elaine on her catch.
"Listen up one last time guys!", James shouted, "The main selection is officially of now Marlene, Benjy and me as chasers, Fabian and Sirius as beaters, John as keeper and Elaine as seeker. I will post an announcement on the black board who will be selected as reservists for when we need them. Congratulations and thank you to everybody!"
There were a few moans and shouts, but overall also a lot of cheers, even from the stands. Looking up, Elaine was able to spot Dorcas Meadows and Olivia in a crowd of Ravenclaws, both waving to her excitedly, which she answered just as cheerfully.
"Now team:", James instructed the players still standing around of him, "I will expect you at practice every Tuesday and Thursday, and on weekends if I let you know beforehand. If we have a game coming up, it might be more often, but that will be decided later around. Now for the leisure part: I expect you all, after you've showered of course, to come down to the Black Lake and properly celebrate your achievement. You should be proud of yourselves"
The group answered James with a cheer, before Marlene pulled Elaine in the direction of the changing room. "This season is going to be so much fun!", the blond Scot gushed to Elaine, "Now that I finally have another girl around! I have been on my own for the past two years and it was horror!"
"Well, it's my pleasure to join you", Elaine answered, the smile she sported since catching the snitch not leaving her face. Her response was met with another squeal from Marlene, as well as a big smooch on her cheek. "I love you Ellie!", the quirky Gryffindor shouted, as the two roommates reached the changing room and went inside.
"Congrats you two!"
Elaine and Marlene both shrieked as they were met with the excited faces of Mary, Luana and Lily.
"Merlin, you almost gave me a heart attack", Elaine grumbled as she picked up her jacket again that had fallen down when she jumped up.
"Cheer up, grumpy face! You made the team! And put a bitch into her place! I'm allowed to be excited!" Luana exclaimed, pulling Elaine into another hug.
As Elaine was released from the hold, she fell right into the arms of Mary and then Lily, who whispered to her: "I brought you some breakfast from the Great Hall, in case you're hungry"
"I'm absolutely starving!", the French cried, hugging Lily again as a thank you.
"You're welcome", Lily patted her back, "But shower first, you reek of sweat and grass". Her hint was met with an outstretched tongue on Elaine's side as she grabbed a towel and made her way into the shower. "Love you too, Lily-boo!", she shouted to the red-head.
"I'm so glad to be graced by your poetic presence!", the prefect called back, snickering while doing so.
It wasn't long until Marlene and Elaine were both freshly showered and clad in jeans and a Gryffindor team sweater that James had left in the changing room with Lily, Mary and Luana.
While the two Quidditch players put on their shoes, Lily went on a rant about how "stupidly annoying" James Potter was.
"What did he do now, Lily-Bow?", Elaine asked, a question that was met with a hit on the head. "Ey!", she exclaimed, feeling where the prefect had hit her hard, "Violence is not an answer, Lily-cancer- Okay, I'll stop! Jésus!"
"Who the hell is 'zhay-zu?'", Mary asked confused. "Wait, cancer is that muggle-sickness, right?", Marlene added, just as perplexed.
Lily and Elaine exchanged two glances, before they decided to ignore the two questions. "The question you should rather ask, dearest Elaine, is rather: What didn't he do?", Lily uttered instead. "James Potter can't go one encounter without being an arrogant toerag that just needs to ask me for a date, knowing full well that I'll never say yes!", she added.
"Girls, are you quite finished?", Sirius knocked on the door of the room, "We're actually waiting for you"
"Coming!", Elaine exclaimed, pulling all the girls with her, "Lily just ignore him. I'm sure it'll get better", she included before opening the door of the room, nearly making Sirius fall into it, who had leaned on it beforehand.
"Oopsie daisy"
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