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Her lungs were aching with effort, but damn her if she would back down this far in.
Quidditch trials were—barring anything she had ever said before—the absolute worst part of any school year. Piper had always argued that it was just plain tyrannical of James to force his team's participation in the trials, practicing with the bumbling hopefuls that had no idea what they were doing on a broom. After all, everyone that was already on the team had their spots solidified; why would they have to attend trials in the first place? Especially Piper—she always thought, as the one and only Gryffindor Seeker, that nobody need even show their face in the Quidditch pitch trying to go out for her spot.
But this year was different, and the only year she would understand mandatory attendance on her part; she would be leaving next year, and thus someone had to scout out new faces to take on her arduous role. James was mostly holding the trials on behalf of looking for a new Captain to take his place and a new Seeker to take Piper's—Marlene and Sirius, the only other two seventh years on the team, had already found counterparts to follow in their footsteps.
Unfortunately for Piper, a follow-up Seeker had not yet revealed themselves nor distinguished themself from the rest of the blubbering first- and second-year hopefuls stumbling over their own two feet. What kind of an omen was it if none of the potential new Quidditch team members could manage to get their broom off the ground after ten minutes of trying?
James had instructed the elder members of the Gryffindor team - which consisted of himself, Piper, Marlene, Sirius, and their sixth-year Beater Farley Wilkerson—to split into two teams. One would give the younger generations tips and tricks, most especially in getting their broom off the ground successfully. The other team would take the third through sixth years and run drills in the air to get a feel for the skill level.
Marlene and Sirius took to the air without a second thought. Piper hadn't been surprised by this, either—really, neither of them were exactly cut-out for the patience it took to hold first years' hands as they took to the skies. But James, already kneeling beside a first-year that looked rather sick in the face, told Piper to get up there instead. For logistics, of course—what good would it be to show off two of the same position, like Marlene and Sirius were?
At least, that was the obvious reason for James's sending Piper into the skies. But the one that plagued her mind was the idea that he just wanted her out of his immediate area.
In any case, Piper had swapped places with Marlene, and she, Sirius, and Farley did their best to drill the elder hopefuls on their Quidditch skills. For Piper, that meant taking the two fifth years that expressed interest in Seeking and soaring them around the pitch in attempt to maybe catch the Snitch. It was two boys that looked remarkably similar—they shared enough of a resemblance for Piper to give up all hope on memorizing their names and knowing either of them apart from the other —with dark black hair and blue eyes that were within two shades of each other. As if whatever higher being that had created them wished to make Piper's life more difficult, they both had two freckles on one side of their face—Michael, Piper was almost positive, had the freckles on his left cheek, and Quincey had his on the right.
