Louanne Delacour

The Reserve

September 28th, 1993

Wondering was almost worse than hearing the thoughts and rumors people had made up about me throughout the past few weeks. I did my best not to attract attention to myself in the halls and in the classrooms. I stopped raising my hand, along with going straight to my dorm after meals. Of course I didn't actually know if it was a bigger deal than I was making it out to be. And for now, that was perfectly fine. Better safe than sorry.

Today was the day of the Gryffindor quidditch tryouts, and I decided nothing was going to ruin my day. I held my head high and sauntered down the girls' dormitory stairs to the second-year section of the stairs further down.

"Ginny? Are you in there?" I knocked on the door.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" She yelled through the piece of wood. Instead of waiting for her, I slowly opened the door to see her tying her hair up in a high ponytail. She made her way over to me, tugging her Gryffindor jumper closer. "Let's hurry. It's absolutely freezing, and I'd like it to be over as soon as possible-no offense." She and I started down the stairs again.

"None taken," I replied.

"What position do you want? Or more importantly, which position do you think you'll get?" The redhead questioned. I thought for a moment before answering.

"Well I'd like to be a seeker, but apparently Harry hasn't lost a game yet. I'd probably just be a reserve though. Oliver became captain a few years ago. I shouldn't make the team unless somebody resigns," I sighed. Ginny and I continued in silence to the quidditch pitch where the team was messing around flying all over the place having fun. I spotted Harry and enthusiastically waved him over.

Harry flew down to us, jumping from his broom onto the ground, "Hey Lou, uh Ginny. What are you two doing down here?"

"Hopefully becoming a reserve?" I gestured to my duffel. I looked at the ground and bag up to him. He smiled.

"Yeah, I'll go talk to Wood." And with that, he hopped on his broom and flew back to the team.

"Just do your best!" Yelled Oliver as he took his place in front of the tallest and middle hoop. I adjusted my stance on the nimbus 2001 I got from Draco for my birthday. "Ready?"

Shaking my arms, I nodded and the game was off! I was to play as a chaser first, then a beater, and then a seeker. I didn't try out for reserve keeper because Oliver said he'd never missed a game. And I have no reason not to believe him. He's crazy for quidditch.

I gripped the quaffle tighter in my arms. My biggest fear was dropping it in the middle of a game. I looked at the other players and dashed straight forward at Oliver with furiosity. At the last minute, I decided to go up then under, throwing the quaffle into lower a hoop next to him. While also dodging a bludger at the same time. It went in, as I let a breath out.

We continued like that for a while. I made the hoops a little over half the time, but I wasn't nearly as good as the older players. After 10-ish minutes of trying for chaser, we all sat down and took a break. We had all afternoon to do this, and as far as I could tell, we were all having a blast!

"George, were you targeting me or something?!" I joked with the older Weasleys. Fred and George were identical twins, meaning I hadn't exactly figured out who was who yet. I wasn't facing them, so I figured whoever answered would give it away.

"Me? No! I would never!" George put a hand to his chest feigning offense. I looked back at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Sure." I turned around fully on the bench and took a sip of water. "Because that bludger bolted straight for my face all by itself so directly?" I said matter-of-factly. The twins just shrugged.