Meant To Be

Time With Friends

I was surprised at the lack of people who wanted to tryout for Keeper, there was only a small group of people including myself on the Quidditch field.

"Alright, now that you're all here we'll have two of you tryout at the same time. The only advice I can give you is try not to fall off your broom," The Captain and Seeker said.

We each waited for our names to be called in pairs, watching the other people. I anxiously waited and watched until I heard my name.

"Avery Harper."

I slowly walked towards the middle of the field to mount my broom.

"Avery wait!" Penny yelled, being followed by Marc, Daniel, and Sebastian.

"What is it?" I asked, worried if I was doing something wrong.

"I just needed to stop you from riding that horribly slow broom," She told me, pointing down towards the Shooting Star broomstick I held in my hand.

I looked down at it as well. "I don't have my own broom though, I have to borrow the school's."

She grabbed the broom from my hands and traded it with the one that Marc was carrying. "Use this, it's a Lightning Bolt 300. It's the fastest one out right now, it'll be better than riding an old Shooting Star."

I stared down at the broom I was just handed. "Who's is this?"

Marc raised his hand. "It's mine. Don't worry though, I'll get you one of your own."

"You can't buy me an expensive broom Marc, I couldn't accept it," I said.

"You can and you will," He stated. "Now get up there and become the Hufflepuff Keeper."

I sighed, shaking my head. I knew I couldn't argue so I just did as I was told.

Once I was in front of the three rings on my side I waited for the whistle to blow and for the Chasers to try and score.

As soon as the whistle blew I was already looking for the Quaffle, and almost every time they tried to score I caught it or hit it away. I seemed to be doing better than what I thought, I guess Charles was right about me being a good Keeper.

Once tryouts were over and I had both feet on the ground I gathered with my fellow Hufflepuffs who were standing around the Quidditch Captain.

"Nicely done everyone, we will have the name ready tomorrow at breakfast. Good luck to you all," He said before joining the other members of the team, most likely to discuss the new Keeper.

<><><>

"You did great up there Avery," Daniel complemented as I returned Marc's broom.

"Great? Great? She was amazing!" Marc yelled, finishing his sentence with pulling me into a giant bear hug.

"You might want to let her go Marc, she's turning blue," Sebastian said, leaning against a wall that was a slight distance away.

Marc let me go which allowed me to breathe again, I took a step back just in case he decided to hug me again.

"Well Sebastian," I paused, making sure I had his attention. "What did you think about tryouts?"

"Well Marc, Daniel, I think the other Chasers and myself will finally have a challenge when it comes to going against Hufflepuff this year," He told them.

I smiled. "So I did good?"

He walked over and ruffled my hair. "Yeah Avery, you did good."

I gave him a hug, wrapping my arms around his torso. He politely accepted the gesture and hugged me back.

"Who knew Sebastian would ever make physical contact with anyone?" Marc said.

Daniel smacked him upside the head. "Don't even ask what that was for, you already know."

Marc opened his mouth to say something else when Penny shot him a glare.

"You guys know the hug ended already right?" I asked.

"Still, Marc just needs to shut up," Daniel replied. "We're glad to see that you've finally gotten along with someone Sebastian."

Penny walked up and put an arm around my shoulder. "Now that we have this settled, can we go to the library now? I need a new book."

I turned to her, confused. "Wait, what happened to the book I gave you?"

She looked me in the eyes. "Did you really think it was going to take more than one day for me to read that?"

"No," I sighed. "No I didn't."

<><><>

I sat between Daniel and Sebastian at a table in the library as Marc sat across from us telling me that he's already sent a letter asking for a new Lightning Bolt 300.

"Marc, we don't even know if I'm the Keeper yet. You should at least wait until you know, that way it won't be money not well spent."

"Shhhh," He started. "I don't care, just think of it as a late Christmas gift from me."

"Speaking of late gifts," Daniel spoke up, sliding a gift bag in front of me. "Here's the one from me."

I reached into the bag and pulled out a few things for my cat. There was a collar, some plastic toys, and a little charmed toy mouse that moves by itself that will come in handy when Ollie wants to play while I'm busy or gone.

"Thanks Daniel, I know for a fact that these will come in handy," I said, nodding towards the toy mouse.

He gave a slight smile. "Thought so, at least he'll be preoccupied so you can study."

"Okay, I found some books, if you guys want to find a place other than the library to go to, I'm all ears," Penny announced, appearing from behind a shelf with her arms full of books.

"Marc go help her with the books," I ordered. "Oh and we can go to the Hufflepuff Common Room, it's usually quiet by now."

With that we all headed towards the Hufflepuff dormitory to spend the rest of the day with each other.