metanoia

Chapter Eight

In the weeks that passed after the girl pranked the Marauders; Sirius, James and Remus continued in their attempts to weasel their way into Alex Worth's life but she wasn't budging. No matter how many days they would sit with her in their classes, during meals nor how many times they would try to engage her in a conversation. Alex Worth was unmoving, unrelenting in her stance of not wanting their friendship.

Her reasoning was simple and self-explanatory. She swore to herself after the last time that she would never trust anyone except for her twin's best friends ever again.

However, with Gryffindor House Quidditch tryouts rapidly approaching the Marauders quickly discovered that Quidditch was the one subject that Alexandra Worth was completely willing to discuss with them. Seeing that she'd been on the House team since their 2nd year, longer than all of them.

On the morning of Quidditch tryouts, Alex and Letti sat in their normal section of the Gryffindor table when Charlie and her friend, Eddie Bones, joined them, neglecting their House table and Eddie's two best friends that were flailing their arms to get his attention. Eddie played with the ends of one of his woven bracelets as he sits on Charlie's left across from the two Gryffindor girls, who he's become kind of friends with through proxy of the Hufflepuff Prefect, "Morning Lightwood, Worth. How're you two this morning?"

"Ready to go out on the Pitch and beam a Bludger at one of the Third year boys who are trying to take my position," Letti laughed, adding a sugar cube into her morning coffee. 

Charlie smiled at the brunette's answer, looking at the blonde directly across from her for her answer, "How about you, Alex? You ready for tryouts?"

"Always. Hey, Bones, how's the Hufflepuff team looking this year? I heard from Fabian that you and Diggory are co-captains?"

Eddie smiled at her inquiry on his House's team, leaning forward to rest his chest against the edge of the wooden table, "Staking out the competition are we? Well, we're pretty much in the same position as you guys, just looking for someone to fill the open spot. The same team as last year: so it's myself and Abbott as Beaters, Diggory as Seeker, Dorcas as Keeper, then Benji and MacMillan as Chasers. But there's this Fourth year, her name is Nicolette Finch, and she's filling the spot. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but you guys should definitely bring your A-game this year."

"There's no other kind of game," Letti laughed as a wave of loud gasps and crash of plates onto the floor came from the front of the Great Hall. The group of four looked down the table,  seeing that James Potter jumped on top of a table and began singing horribly at the top of his lungs for his "Lily Flower".

Lily's pale ivory cheeks turned a shade of crimson as dark as her hair, wanting the public humiliation she was being subjected to to cease as Potter's friends laughed on, encouraging James in his embarrassing performance of Frank Sinatra's "I Love You". James breathlessly hops down off the tabletop, landing beside his long-time crush, "Lily Evans, would you please accompany me to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

Her emerald green eyes widen at the question, darting down the table meet the quiet Worth through the sea of curious onlookers, panicking at the proposal. She hadn't yet admitted to herself that she fancied him as well so her indecision scared her. Alex raised a single eyebrow at the person she now calls a friend, shrugging as though to say go for it. While Letti and Charlie were both giving her two thumbs up, totally supporting that as a possibility.

 "I'm sorry but I will not, Potter. I-I already have a date. But thank you for extending the offer," Lily politely lies, walking away from the Gryffindor Table hurriedly, for once not calling him an arrogant toerag.

Flabbergasted, James runs down to Alex's side, sliding on the bench next to her, smacking her arm repeatedly like an excited little kid, "Did you see that, Alex? Alex, did you see that? She was nice to me AND she didn't call me a toerag. I think... I think she's finally starting to like me."

"Avoir de la merde dans les yeux," the blonde lowly murmurs into her goblet, earning a chuckle from Sirius, who understood what she'd said. "Congratulations, she decided to be polite this morning." 

Remus snorts, covering his mouth with his free hand as James and his excitement deflated. Sirius, however, did not hold his laughter, his loud barking laugh filling up the Great Hall, catching the attention of the students seated around them, "Let's go, mate. It's time to get to the Pitch."

"Have fun," Charlie laughed, waving at the six Gryffindors as they left the Great Hall for their Quidditch tryouts.

The Gryffindor Team has not won a House cup since 1972 and this year James and Sirius were furiously determined to win the Cup. Quidditch is a rather important affair at Hogwarts, students and teachers alike gather in the stadiums during tryouts to scope out the potential for the season. The Pitch was filled with eager Gryffindors, ready to prove to the Co-Captains that they deserved to play this season. The Co-Captains divided the Gryffindors who were trying out by new kids and their team from the previous year.

This year they had one open spot, the Keeper spot, seeing as they already had three Chasers: James, Sirius, and Gideon; two Beaters: Alex and Lisette; and their Seeker: Fabian, and the Co-Captains already knew from looking at the kids trying out who would get the position. 

James was trying to call their attention and was being drowned out by the constantly talking Younger students. Annoyed by their continuous talking about how great of players they were, Alex glared at a particular pair of Fourth Year boys to her left as she yelled over them, "Shut it!"

James smiled at the blonde, appreciative for her silencing them, "Uh, thanks Alex. Alright so we're only really looking for a Keeper this year but if you lower years can beat one of our players from last year in a one on one, the spot is yours. Alright, so everyone take two laps and impress us."

James and Sirius grip tightly onto the neck of their brooms, analytically watching the team they had in the previous year fly circles around the other students and play like all-stars then watching the younger students fumble with the Quaffles and Bludgers. The Golden Snitch catches the co-captains' eyes, as well as one of the Prewetts and Alex. The glittering Snitch suddenly drops into a nosedive, fastly plunging toward the ground. The two race after it, playing a game of chicken until Fabian pulls up and watches as Alex continues her pursuit straight into the ground.

"Alex?!" The onlookers gasp as her small, muscled body harshly connects with the ground.

The six of her friends on the Quidditch Pitch sprint to meet her on the ground, all casting their brooms aside, her well being being their number one priority. Fabian looks down at his friend, who was basically his sister, wondering why she, as a Beater, decided to race him, the Seeker, to the Snitch. The three Marauders look at the girl horrified, scared that she could be seriously hurt or worse. 

In that moment, everyone on that Pitch realized why this girl was sorted into Gryffindor. Because she was recklessly committed and dangerously courageous.

Alex tightens her fist as her body starts shaking viciously from the laughter. She opens the palm of her hand, groaning as she pushes herself up into a sitting position, "In case you were wondering, I caught the Snitch. I didn't die, geez lighten up guys. If anything, you guys should be concerned about your Seeker losing the Snitch to a Beater. That's why we haven't won a Cup in three years."

Letti laughed at her friend making a joke after slamming face first into the grass before smacking the small girl on the back of the head. Alex yipped in pain, grabbing her head as Lisette scolded her in a rather maternal way, "You're an idiot! An actual idiot, Alexandra! You could've gotten seriously hurt!"

"But I didn't," Alex laughed as she was helped off the ground, tossing the Snitch at Fabian.