The Untold Story of Victoire Weasley (HP Fan Fic)

Chapter 05: Announcement

Despite the fact that it was the very first day of the school year, not one teacher failed to remind them heartily of the O.W.Ls approaching them at the end of year. They stressed the importance so much that by the end of the day it seemed like everyone in the class rolled their eyes every time the tests were so much as mentioned.

Having given up Care of Magical Creatures after all of the animals seemed to hate me, I had chosen to take up Divination this year; that was a mistake. Maybe it would have been better if I'd recieved Firenze as a teacher, but Professor Trelawney clearly hated me. Apparently I was messing up the atmosphere of the room and distracting all of the boys' "Inner Eyes." Plus, she too seemed to be prejudiced against anything that wasn't purely human; I suspected her continued rivalry with the centaur that was the other Divination teacher had something to do with that.

Muggle Studies and Arithmancy had gone well as usual, and although I was horrible at Charms, Professor Thompson treated me extra kindly and helped me out. Professor Shalf made potions miserable as usual, docking points from me (but no one else) for the most insignificant things like "not stirring fast enough" or "taking up too much table space." I was reminded of all the stories I'd been told about the Potions teacher from my dad and his siblings' time; of course, Uncle Harry had always amended his stories of Snape's torture by saying something like "still, in the end he turned out to be a very good man." I wasn't sure if it was because he really felt that way or because his son, Albus Severus, always looked annoyed at all of the complaint's people were giving his namesake.

The old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, an older woman who had been there since I started Hogwarts, had finally retired in place of a new, younger teacher called Professor Jackson. He was kind and energetic, obviously smart and powerful but still fun; it was clear that everyone who had had him that day loved him already.

Meanwhile, the quidditch captain for Ravenclaw, John Wood, had scheduled tryouts for that Friday. I really wasn't prepared; as I'd told Annelies, I had only actually ever flown twice in my life. That probably wouldn't cut it.

So, after dinner on Wednesday night, I snuck out of the dormitory with Annelies, who'd agreed to come with me to help me practice.

We'd just learned Disillusionment in Charms yesterday, so naturally, Annelies could do it without hardly even trying. She tapped the top of my head, muttering the incantation, and then twirled her wadn around her own head to place it on herself.

It felt like a raw egg had just cracked on my head as the charm slowly trickled down my body and I blended in with the wall behind me. It didn't make us completely invisble, but it was the best we had.

We crept slowly and cautiously out of the dormitory, thankful that the common room was empty of anyone who might question us.

We continued along with out seeing anyone except for Peeves, who we quickly hid from by leaning against the cold, stone walls, letting the Disillusionment Charm do it's work and blend us in.

When we finally got to the pitch, Annelies summoned one of the school's brooms; it wasn't exactly a Thunderbolt (the newest edition to the Firebolt series), but it'd due for now. She also summoned a huge trunk complete with a Quaffle, Bludger, Beater's bat and Snitch.

***

I was dreadful. Even kind, supportive Annelies had a hard time finding anything in the whole practice that had gone well. Five times, I'd let the Quaffle that Annelies go through the hoop (even though she was not a Quidditch player herself). Twice I missed the goal hoops when I through the Quaffle and twice Annelies blocked it; I only made it in once. After Annelies let out the Snitch, it took me over a half hour to catch it, even on the empty pitch. The only position I was mildly good at was Beater, which is what I'd hoped to try out for anyways, but I'd still nearly fallen off of my broom three times while whipping the Bludger as I hard I could across the stadium.