The Little Lightning Girl

16-In Which Kaley Tells the Truth

I walked to the other side of the field to stand in front of the Seekers and Beaters that had waited.

There were only two beaters trying out, including Fred. I was a Beater, so there was only one position. There were four people trying out for Seeker, including the boy that I'd noted before. I now was almost sure that his name was Henry. I dug a small box out of my pocket and opened it to reveal three different colored snitches. One blue, one red, and the other was the usual gold. I had a hold of them but as soon as I let go they'd go flying.

I pointed at the group of Seekers, "Your job is the same as always. Catch the snitch as fast as you can."

The first hopeful was a tall fifth year boy by the name of Matthew West. I assigned him the blue snitch. I assigned the red snitch to a fourth year, Caden James. And I gave the gold snitch to Henry.

Henry was the first in the sky when I released the snitches from the box, and, as I'd expected him to be, he was the first to bring his to me, even though the gold snitch had gone the farthest.  He deposited the snitch in my  hand and when I asked him to introduce himself for sure, he shook my hand, "Henry Arrow, I'm a third year."

Henry had a very thick French accent, but I'd learned French in childhood and spent enough time around the Finch family that I understood and nodded, "pleasure to meet you."

When the others landed I told them the same thing I'd told the Keepers and Chasers, when the list would be up.

When I turned to Fred and the other potential Beater, a boy named Jason Maines, I noticed that Jason was shaking.

"You alright, mate?"

He nodded, "Just nerves, it'll pass."

"Ok, well I'm going to release the bludgers into the air. I've charmed these bludgers to continually fly back at you. I want you to aim for the hoops on the opposite side of the field."

I handed each of them a bat and they took off. In truth, Beaters got hurt more than any of the other players in the game, and I was considering taking on a reserve Beater, so Jason might have had more of a chance than he thought. But if he couldn't deal with his nerves now, on an empty field, I couldn't risk keeping him on, even as a reserve player.

I released the bludgers in the air and was proud to see that my charm work was a success. Both bludgers flew at Fred and Jason, and to my surprise, both boys hit them away with impressive accuracy. Jason's nerves had all but disappeared. Fred was stronger than Jason, and less prone to nervous breakdowns, but I wouldn't mind keeping Jason as a backup. Again and again, the bludgers flew at them, and each time they were hit away with strength. Neither of them ever missed the ball. I froze the bludgers with a wave of my wand and called them back to the ground, the two Beaters followed.

"I'll have the list posted by tomorrow evening. But before you leave you should know that I'm considering taking on a reserve Beater this year, since we get hurt so often. You two might have to get used to each other, and to me."

The whole process of tryouts had taken over an hour, but I was happy with the people I had for this coming season.

So, immediately after tryouts, I wrote up the list.

Gryffindor Quidditch Team

Chasers:
Miranda Buckshot
Frank Longbottom
Elias Beacham

Beaters:
James Potter
Fred Weasley
(Reserve) Jason Maines

Keeper:
Rose Weasley

Seeker:
Henry Arrow

.................

Later that night I was in the Room of Requirement. I had managed to complete the spell McGonagall had taught me and my opponent for this evening's training was in fact, a straw dummy. I'd managed to animate the dummy and he now moved with the speed and strength of a human about my size. Adrian had taught me a little about sword fighting, but I enjoyed the physicality of hand to hand combat much more. I'd learned a bit about daggers from his sister, Maya, and had found them to be much more satisfying. But currently, I'd stashed my twin daggers in my belt and was punching the crap out of the dummy. 

I was in the middle of a fight when Kaley Finch scared the shit out of me.

"I thought I'd find you in here."

I spun around so quickly when she spoke that I forgot about the dummy behind me and it whacked me on the head so hard I fell. Embarrassing. Kaley giggled at me. I waved my hand and nonverbally stopped the charm on the dummy so he wouldn't keep attacking me.

Kaley's eyes widened, "Was that wandless and nonverbal magic?"

I shrugged, "Hey, I read."

She snorted and offered a hand to help me up. I took it and got to my feet. She was just wearing her uniform skirt and top but somehow she made it look as if she were a model ready to walk the runway. Her golden hair was in a loose braid that fell over her shoulder, and her ocean eyes were trained on me. I plopped down on the couch that appeared and she sat next to me.

"Why'd you want to see me?" I asked her.

"What?"

"When you came in, you said that you thought I'd be here. How'd you know? Did you need something?"

"Alana always came here to relieve stress, I figured she might've passed the practice to you. And as for what I needed... nothing. I thought you might need something."

I paused, looking for clues in her face. I knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted me to spill the details of everything that happened to us in that dungeon, she thought I'd feel better. And maybe she was right, but I was scared.

"Kaley, I don't want to put all of my problems on you. I'm starting to really like you, and I don't want to scare you off."

She laughed, though there wasn't any joy in it, "Trust me, James. You won't scare me off. How about I tell you something first?"

I shrugged, "Only if you want to."

"You don't have to worry about me, James. I already know most of what happened to you."

I was dreadfully confused. I hadn't even told my parents all of what happened to me. I stared at her and saw the truth in her eyes, "How could you? Are you a legilimens, like Lily?"

She shook her head, strands of her hair catching on the buttons of her collar, "No, not a legilimens. My problem is more... I know things I shouldn't. Things that have happened before, and things that will happen."

I felt my eyes widen as I looked at her, "You're a seer?"

She nodded solemnly, her smile gone as she revealed her secret, "I saw what happened to you, James. Not all of it, but a good bit of it I think."

I just stared. I felt like I was seeing her, really seeing her, for the first time. Seers were rare enough that I'd assumed I would never meet a real seer besides my Divination Professor, and no one liked him. But here she was right in front of me, a beautiful young girl with a gift like that weighing on her shoulders. I could see it now, the mystery that had always surrounded her finally made sense. All the times she knew things she shouldn't... she was a seer.

I finally nodded, "I understand why you didn't tell me. You actually shouldn't tell anyone else, like ever."

"I know," she admitted with a pained smile, "I only told you because I want to help. And I want you to know that most of your story you don't have to tell me. The first thing I saw after you were captured was just... darkness. I thought that it was just my brain trying to make sense of the situation. But there was this strange tapping..."

I gasped, "Merlin! You really are a seer!"

She cocked her head, "What do you mean?"

I took her hand in mine, "That tapping was morse code. That was how Alana and I had communicated. The cells that we were placed in were total darkness. It was suffocating, like the air had actual substance, like it was thick and heavy. Some nights I..."

I trailed off and stared at my shoes. Kaley squeezed my hand, "It's okay, James. I'm not going to judge you for anything."

I took a breath, "Some nights, even now, I wake up and have to go down to the common room and turn on all the lights, just to prove to myself that I'm not in that cell anymore. The first few nights in the cells, Alana managed to produce a bit of light with her demigod powers, but after that we were both too weak to do anything at all but lie there."