Amie and the Army (Harry Potter fan-fic) Book 5 COMPLETED

Keeper tryouts

The next day was another tough one. Amie was glad she'd gotten some studying done the night before, Harry and Ron skipped breakfast to finish the dream journal for Trelawney (their first lesson was Divination), and then Harry skipped lunch to finish the drawing of the bowtruckle. To top it all off, Professors McGonagall, Grubbly-Plank and Sinistra gave them even more homework. Amie and the others were all feeling rather stressed when they came down for dinner, and Harry's mood plummeted even more when he was yelled at by Angelina for not being able to make it to Keeper's tryouts that Friday.
"I'm in detention!" Harry yelled after her as she stalked away."D'you think I'd rather be stuck in a room with that old toad or playing Quidditch?"
"At least it's only lines," said Hermione consolingly, as Harry sankback onto his bench and looked down at his steak-and-kidney pie, looking very glum. "It's not as if it's a dreadful punishment, really. . . ." 
Amie saw Harry open his mouth to reply, but then he shut it again, and nodded. What was up with that? Was he hiding something?
"I can't believe how much homework we've got," said Ron miserably, interrupting Amie's line of thought.
"Well, why didn't you do any last night?" Hermione asked him."Where were you anyway?"
"I was . . . I fancied a walk," said Ron shiftily.
"You fancied a walk?" Amie repeated incredously.
"Yeah." Ron said, ignoring their gazes.
Something was clearly going on.

That evening Amie and Hermione studied again, while Harry was in detention, and Ron managed to sneak off again.
"Where is he?" Hermione frowned.
"Dunno," Amie replied, looking around the common room. "Maybe he's got himself a secret girlfriend,"
The look Hermione gave Amie made her laugh for a long time.

Thursday went by in a haze. Harry seemed extremely tired - considering he'd been up for most of the night, doing homework, it wasn't surprising - but so was Ron, although he didn't give an excuse for it. Luckily they didn't have much homework that night, so Amie spent some time with Fred and George instead, pretending she was okay with them testing their products on first years. Mostly she kept quiet, only making sure the first years were okay - since they couldn't be in the common room where Hermione could see them, they occupied an empty classroom not far from Gryffindor tower. Amie went to bed a little earlier that night, hoping to be well rested for the next day.

Friday dawned gray and sullen, and Hagrid was still not back. Amie kept her spirits up through the day, looking forward to Quidditch and the weekend, and trying to make Harry happier. He was rather down, and they all could tell. At about four o' clock, Amie decided to head down to the pitch, to get some extra flying time before tryouts. Surprisingly, Ron decided to follow her, and he took his broom with him.
"You're trying out for Keeper?" Amie exclaimed, beaming at him. Ron nodded, his ears turning red. "Brilliant! Oh, you've got to see this Hermione, come on!"
Hermione, who'd been sitting by the fire, reading a book, looked up.
"I think I'll stay behind, I'm very tired. Good luck, though, Ron,"
And so, Amie and Ron left Hermione and Harry behind - Harry was trying to get some studying done before his detention at five o' clock.

Reaching the pitch Amie and Ron walked up to Angelina, who'd obviously wanted to go down early as well.
"Oh Captain, my Captain!" Amie greeted. "I present to thee, our new Keeper, sir Ronald Von Weasley" she held out her arms towards Ron in a dramatic pose.
"Amie," Ron groaned, covering his eyes. Meanwhile Angelina watched them amusedly.
"Come on, brother in law, you know you love it!" Amie giggled. Ron's mouth dropped.
"I've never thought of that," he murmured in a horrified voice.
"HA!" Amie laughed. "Come on, let's practise!"
They took to the air, Ron to the goal hoops, and Angelina threw Amie the Quaffle. 
"Ready, Ron?" Amie called, speeding towards the hoops, watching Ron, watching her. Amie threw the Quaffle - and Ron caught it! He threw it back, looking just as surprised as Amie. She wasn't easy to be up against. Amie and Ron continued to practise for a few minutes, Ron caught about 50% of her shots, and then they flew down to the pitch.
"Great job, Ron!" Amie praised. 
"Thanks," Ron answered.
About half an hour later, Angelina called them - Katie, Fred and George had arrived. As Ron joined the other two - Vicky Frobisher and Geoffrey Hooper - trying out for Keeper, Angelina said to the team:
"Okay, Fred, George, you just stand and watch with me, Katie and Amie, you try to score on them. But first, I wan't to test their flying abilities.
"Okay, listen up! Weasley, Frobisher, Hooper, you're all trying out for the position of Keeper. I want you all to fly as quick as you can around the pitch, two laps!"
Geoffrey Hooper groaned, but he took to the air, with Ron and Vicky. None of the three candidates were quick flyers, but Amie had to admit Ron was slowest. But that could have something to do with the brooms, it didn't have to be Ron's fault.
"Right," said Angelina. "Now, Frobisher, you can start in the hoops, and Amie and Katie will try to score on you. You have ten shots."
Vicky flew to the goal hoops, Amie and Katie took the shots in turns, and Vicky ended up saving six out of ten. Next were Ron - he saved six out of ten as well, but some were near misses. Geoffrey did the best out of them, he saved seven out of ten, but he kept complaining over Amie and Katie's techniques, and the shots he missed he had an excuse for. An example was: "But you tricked me, that's not fair!"
After everyone had done their shots, they met up on the ground.
"Okay, everyone, how did you think that went?" Angelina inquired. Ron, Vicky and Geoffrey looked at each other. Vicky spoke up.
"Um, when do you guys have practise? Because I'm in a lot of clubs, and if a practise clashes with my Charms Club, I'll go to Charms," she said.
"Okay," said Angelina. "Team, come,"
Angelina walked a few feet away, Amie and the others following.
"What do you say?" she asked.
"Well, I'm not having Hooper on my team, no way," Amie stated.
"And we can't have Frobisher on the team, she won't put the team first..." Angelina said.
"I guess it's decided then?" Fred and George said, though they didn't sound too happy about it - Amie stuck her elbow in George's ribcage.
"Hey!" she said.
"Okay, let's go tell them," Angelina said, and they all walked back to the others. "After some consideration, we decided the spot for Keeper goes to Weasley,"
"Congrats, Ronnie!" Amie laughed, as Ron's chin dropped. "Come on, let's go celebrate in the common room!"