•Memories• ||D.M.||

5. Peanuts at the Circus

"Liz, I need to tell you something." My sister pulled me aside.
"Mionie, I'm about to start practice..." I grabbed her hands and pleaded.
"This is important!" She begged. "Oh, and congrats on making the team, and being a keeper!"
I blinked.
"Sorry... anyways, when I was walking with Ron and Harry, we ended up on the third floor."
"You broke a rule?" I asked in disbelief.
"Yes, now quiet! We found a room with a three headed beast-"
"Jesus, Mionie, what were you thinking?!"
"It was guarding a hatch in the floor..."
"And?"
"Those boys keep insisting that we investigate, so I was wondering..."
"Absolutely not!" I ordered. "You know how much our parents have been pushing for me to be better-" she held her arms up to quiet me, continuing.
"Ah! Just in case I end up doing it, promise you'll have my back if you get asked about it!" She finished as fast as possible.
I groaned but agreed, before getting called over by my team.
I've never been curious enough to get myself hurt, and I had no interest in finding out whatever it was that she was going on about.
If it hurts me and can't help me, what's the point?
---
"Alright you bumbling morons! You made tryouts, but this is the real test!" Marcus Flint was the definition of loud and scary. "If you can do much as breathe by the end of today, I will make sure that you cannot by the next practice!" Simon stood next to me, knees shaking a bit.
"Scared, Kim?" I teased.
"Terrified, actually."
"You should be.." I whispered jokingly.
I eyed the sleek brooms that were much different than the school provided ones, and I felt giddy as I looked at it.
"Brooms up!"
I was the first to grab mine, making the boy leading side eye me.
"Keeper!" He yelled and I flinched slightly.
"The Gryffindor queen says you're a natural." He said in a lower, still threatening voice.
"Prove it, little girl."
I hid my fear and strapped down my helmet, making sure to hide my anger too.
I took a breath before flying towards the scoring hoop a bit too fast, but I steadied myself.
"I want my 5th year chasers and up on her! You score more than 3 times and she's out!" He yelled, and the chasers laughed as they got ready.
"Oh, cause that's bloody fair!" I yelled out.
"There's that Slytherin!" Simon yelled up to me.
I blinked.
Maybe I had been acting more "Slytherin" per say.
Don't get me wrong, I've always been aggressive, just not as sassy.
Or maybe people were just being more annoying.
"Careful, peanut. Don't wanna make Marcus mad." One of the chasers warned as he tossed a quaffel in his hand. Marcus led the others on flying exercises behind us, but I took a breath and focused on the ball.
It flew clean passed me without me even seeing it until after.
They laughed and I tried to regroup myself.
That was insanely fast, and I wasn't ready.
I needed to be ready.
I felt the breeze in my hair and took a deep breath in, then out.
The next ball came and I focused on it, aiming for it with my hand as I tried to push it from entering the goal.
I yelled in pain as it bent my wrist back, but it didn't make it in.
"Let's go, El!" I heard from the stands.
There was a group of first years clumped together, cheering.
Well, some.
Donna, Blaise and Theodore all cheered my name and yelled, as Pansy waved.
I even spotted Draco with Crabbe and Goyle, looking moody, as even the two boys surrounding him seemed to be smiling at me. Though, they seemed more amused by my failure than anything.
"Show them up!" Blaise yelled.
"Yeah! Kick their asses!" Theodore added.
A little piece of my heart melted at my housemates, and I waved before looking back.
I know how hard they hit, and how fast they hit.
I just need to block harder and faster.
The third quaffle came towards my face and I brought myself up, using my shin to kick the ball more than halfway down the field, and right into one of the new recruits on Marcus's flying lessons.
I knocked him clean off, and he landed with a thud.
"Take him to the medical wing! And he's off the team!" Marcus yelled as two of the chasers flew down to help.
"And as for you, peanut!" He turned to me. "Make sure you use that on someone that isn't wearing green, got that?" He said with a slight smirk before flying towards the beaters.
Maybe this year was turning out better than expected...
I gave a big smile to my friends as practice continued, but when it was dark and time to eat, they practically had to carry me to our table.
"That's our Slytherin keeper!" Isabella cheered as she helped her brother sit.
"And she's got this beater to keep her safe!" Simon slurred out, cheek swollen comically.
"After those first two, you didn't miss one! Bloody brilliant!" Theodore praised.
I just put my head on the table and groaned, hair shooting out in all directions.
"My goodness, just drink some water." Draco said, pushing my cup towards me with disgust, like I had a disease.
I grabbed it and chugged it down, getting the boy to eye me with a horrified expression.
I couldn't help but laugh into my sip, making me break my gross character as the group praised Simon, and hoping nobody noticed as I wiped the water from my chin.
I saw the faintest hint of a laugh as he shook his head.
"You're lucky that you actually ended up doing good..." Malfoy mumbled.
"Was that a compliment from you?!" I asked in disbelief.
"You're lucky, because otherwise, my father wouldn't be sponsoring our quidditch team with customized Nimbus 3000s." He said with his nose turned, and the table went wild.
"You're shitting me, Malfoy?!" Simon yelled.
"See, the money boy comes in handy sometimes." Pansy teased.
"He sure does!" I yelled.