What About Quidditch?

A Little bit of Charm and a Whole lot of Pumpkin Juice

I headed down to breakfast with James. We sat down next to a tired looking Dom, and Danny, who was always smiling. This was mostly due to the fact that he went to bed around eight every night and had an abnormal amount of patience, especially when it came to homework.

"Hails, why are you wearing James' sweatshirt?" Dom began, but then her question was interrupted by a flurried looking Fred crash landing onto the seat next to her. He grabbed a sausage off her plate and maliciously poked it with a fork.

"What happened?" Danny asked, as Roxy appeared in a much more calm, dignified fashion.

"Nothing. It doesn't matter. Just that low slutty Veela girl." We looked at each other questioningly, till Roxy came and explained the rest.

"She was snogging the Durmstrang boy in front of half the school. And that's why she left last night, too! Luckily they got detention!"

I gave Fred a sympathetic pat on the arm.

"You tried, Fred. But you're just too good for her!"

He gave me a tiny grin, and continued to impale his sausage. Luckily nothing could faze Fred Weasley for long. We continued to 'comfort' him, till he reached a point where he could no longer stand it, and stole a piece of bacon off my plate. Which resulted in me throwing my own, non-impaled sausage at him.

"But Hailey, why are you in James's shirt?" Freddy asked slyly, appearing from where he had hidden under the table.

"That's what I was asking before you so rudely interrupted. Come to think of it, you didn't get back the dorms last night. Where were you?" asked Dom suspiciously.

"You and James weren't getting it on, were you?" Fred asked mischievously, his grin getting wider.

"Fred Weasley! I can't believe you just asked that! Who do you even think I am? I have half the mind to go write your mother an owl right now!"

"But did you?"

"No! We did not! James just let me sleep in is bed because he couldn't get me back to the dorm. And before you ask, he slept on the floor!" I snapped, trying to focus all my brain power on not letting blood rush to my face.

James poked me in the ribs, then slapped Fred on the shoulder. "Just cut it out man. But because you're feeling better, I guess you're still on for asking Anastasia out?"

Fred gave a groan and fake punched James. "You are so changing the subject. But fine, I'll go now and get it over with. Watch the master of charm at work!" he said lightly, rising to his tiptoes and giving us a slight curtsy before bobbing off to Ravenclaw table. We strained our ears, not wanting to miss a word.

Fred reached Anastasia's seat and gave a loud cough. She turned toward him. "Anastasia Boot," Fred announced loudly. "Will you come to Hogsmeade with me on this very fine date of September 22? All expenses will be payed for, and hopefully you will be returned to the castle as quickly as possible, so I can break this stupid bloody charm."

Anastasia gave him a scowl. "You know that's against the rules? To set an unbreakable charm? Anyway, why would I want to waste an afternoon on you? What's in it for me?"

"An hour with a handsome young man such as myself?" Fred asked hopefully.

"Not enough. I don't care a rat's tail about your looks, Weasley. If you talk money, then I'll be listening."

"Fine. 20 galleons, you're on." Fred put flatly, his charm having burst like a balloon.

"25." Anastasia countered.

"Whatever."

She picked up her bag and sauntered away, smirking.

Fred came back to our table.

"I think she likes me!" he said aloofly, to which James smacked him on the head, and Fred spewed pumpkin juice all over me. I grimaced.

Soon the whole table was laughing.

"That's my shirt you're wearing, Davies!" exclaimed James.

"Well, you let me borrow it. And it's your fault anyway, for smacking Fred!"

"Well, I'm not the one who got him hooked on pumpkin juice!"

"That was in 2nd year! And I didn't get him hooked, I just made my pumpkin juice look like hot chocolate so he'd drink it!"

"Hey, that's not very nice!" said Fred, waggling his finger at me.

For some reason, up till 2nd year, Fred had a phobia about pumpkins. He's over it, but believe me, Roxy will never let him live it down. We jested a tiny bit more till McGonagall came up on stage and waved her hands for silence.

"Good morning students! I trust you had a good night's sleep last night, and were safely tucked in your own beds, in your own dormitories!" She said, giving us the evil eye.

"Anyway, here are the class schedules for 1st through 6th years. 7th years, your Career and Application talks will begin this morning. The order of names are listed on these sheets here. You will find the proper pamphlets, if you are interested, in your common rooms." She said, giving her wand a flick.

She began distributing out the career sheets, much to everyone's perturbation. Career talks were long and boring, and usually had a brief chat with a counselor in them. Seriously?

She stopped by me and James.

"Mr. Potter, as you do know, the Quidditch tryouts will need to be held sometime soon."

James nodded. He had been made Captain of the Gryffindor Team the second Teddy graduated.

He turned to me, and we began discussing Quidditch.

Most of the family plays. For our Gryffindor House Team, James is a Chaser. Fred and Roxy are Beaters (Go figure or what? Half the time, they're chucking the something at each other's heads, both on and off the pitch.)

I'm another Chaser, Danny is our Keeper. We need to have another chaser, and a Seeker. That position will be hard to fill. Gryffindor's had a few seekers since Teddy left, but they were awful and didn't last long. No one quite has the knack. Especially if they're going against Albus, who's seeker on the Slytherine team. You can't talk about sibling rivalry without mentioning the Potters.

James decided to hold tryouts tomorrow. Oh joy! Flying again! Quidditch is practically my life, and I don't know what I'd do without it.