Red hair and a Hand-Me-Down robe? You must be a Weasley!

Chapter 11: A girl who almost KILLED me

"I now present Lola Weasley. She will fill in our empty Chaser position." Wren smiled. I blushed, holding my new Nimbus and wearing my brand-new Quidditch robes. "Hi," I mumbled, my face still red. "Hi, Lola! Show us how well you can ride your broom. I'll throw you a ball and you try and catch it!" Said the captain of the team. Wren winked at me and walked back toward the castle. What? No! I didn't know that you'd leave me here! "Ok.." I said. The captain whose name was Amanda, got onto her broom and held a red ball in her hand. "Come on, show me how fast you can catch a ball. We'll race afterwards." I leapt onto my broom and flew up beside Amanda. I was surprised because the Nimbus was so much swifter than the first broom I had ridden on. "Ok, I'll go fly over there and I'll throw the Quaffle. You catch it on your broom." I nodded, scared. Amanda flew off a little further then turned around and threw the Quaffle without warning. I panicked, flying hard toward the Quaffle. I caught it just before it fell to the ground and quickly rose so I wouldn't crash. "Well done Lola! You're almost as good as a seeker!"

"Hey!" Cried Liana indignantly. She was the real seeker for the team. "I was just joking!" Amanda grinned. "Now, let's race! We'll Start from here, then fly around each tower before landing back here again." Amanda, the rest of the team and I, lined up. "3 2 1, GO!" Yelled Amanda. Everyone shot off at once and I looked around in shock. They were all so fast! Then I realised I was going to be last if I didn't fly up and go. Everyone was already dodging the first Tower. I kicked off and zoomed toward the first red and gold tower. I dodged it and leaned my chest onto the stick of the broom I was holding onto. I sped forward at once and caught up with the others who were already flying around the second tower. I smiled happily. I was doing well on my very first training session! I whipped past Daniel and Rita the beaters and flew past Flora and Tim the two fastest chasers. Now only Amanda the keeper was steering deftly around the third tower in front of me.

I put all my energy into winning this race and shot forward like a bullet. Then I found myself neck and neck with Amanda. She looked at me in utter surprise, then frowned. She obviously wasn't keen on the youngest player on the team beating her in a flying race. She gritted her teeth, trying to shoot faster around the fourth and last tower of the lot. But I surged forward, slightly grazing Amanda's broom as I did so, and landed with a small bump on the finish line. A second later, everyone else landed beside me. "Lola! I can't believe you beat Amanda in that race!" Cried Flora with surprise. "Yeah! Amanda is the fastest of the team!" I smiled, blushing. Amanda started to sulk and looked away as everyone patted me on the back and called out encouraging words and wishes. "We should start teaching you how to play as a chaser since you're so good at racing!" I smiled. This was fun!

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Many weeks later, while we were in Herbology class, we were introduced to our teacher. "My name is Neville, Longbottom" I covered my mouth and looked away. "I'm your Herbology teacher. You can call me Mr. Longbottom" He continued and I looked over at Amber, seeing how she was taking it. I rolled my eyes. She was about to burst with laughter. "You alright, Amber?" Neville asked concerned and she slowly looked up and nodded. She calmed down and looked up. "Today, we're gonna learn how to care for mandrakes." He explained "Hence the weeds set up in front of you" I looked down, seeing the ugly-looking weeds sticking out from the ground. "Not, so fast Amber" I looked up to see what Amber was doing this time. Her hand was floating over the weed in front of her. "First, we need to understand, that the mandrake scream is highly deadly, that's why before we lift them, we need earmuffs, to block out any unnecessary noise."

I looked down again and noticed a pair of earmuffs, waiting next to the weed and I picked them up, placing them over my ears. "All right, now you're ready. Hold your mandrake weed and lift!" Nevile yelled trying to make sure we could hear him. I looked at him in confusion. I didn't hear a word he said. Neville started to say something but I shrugged and lifted the weed early. Everyone pulled their mandrake weed as hard as they could after I did and the room was filled with screams. I looked up and saw Draco Junior holding his mandrake, and pointing to it Amber, mouthing the words, 'It's you'. I frowned, but then the mandrake bit the finger he was using to point at it. I giggled at Draco struggling to pull free. He finally pulled his finger out, glared at Amber and she mouthed the words, 'You're right' so he rolled his eyes. I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned. Before I could react, Emily threw her Mandrake at me and I let go of mine to shield myself.

The mandrake landed heavily on my arms and then piercing pain shot through me as her Mandrake bit my gloved arms. I shrieked and stuffed a nearby glove into its mouth. Everybody had already put their Mandrakes back into their pots and were starting to take off their earmuffs, but when they saw the Mandrake shrieking and biting me, they kept them on. I looked up, seeing Emily reaching for my headmuffs. Before I could clap my hands over my earmuffs, Emily pulled them off and the shrieking of the Mandrake filled my ears. Everything turned black and I fainted.

I opened my eyes and saw Neville scolding Emily severely. I sat up. We were still in the Herbology room. "Thank goodness her Mandrake was a weak one. It only knocked you out for 20 seconds!" Neville sighed. I nodded and followed everyone out of the room. I noticed Emily was staying behind.