Quidditch Try-outs
After leaving Elinor to her homework, Lilian went to see Professor McGonagall to arrange her private lessons. She had expressed the wish to become an Animagus several years ago and since her marks in Transfigurations were always top, her teacher had started working on it last year. Lily had already selected the animal she wanted to be able to transform into: an eagle, the same that was on her family's crest. Besides, she had always liked flying, and being a bird and doing it really by herself, without using a spell or a broom, would be so much better. McGonagall was pleased with Lily's progress so far and said she might be able to do it this year.
After that was all sorted out, Lily went to see her remaining team-colleagues to find a day where all of them would have time for Quidditch try-outs. They needed two new Chasers, one Beater and a Seeker. Cho had resigned her post because she still couldn't really deal with Cedric's death. The Beater and one of the Chasers had graduated and left school last year, and the other Chaser had resigned because she couldn't deal with all her hobbies and school. Lilian had been appointed captain and so it was her responsibility to organise everything.
Once they had agreed on a date, she posted the list with date, time and the free positions to the black board in the common room.
I do hope we'll find a good replacement for Cho – even though her broom was rotten, she was an excellent flyer.
When she went back to the place where Elinor had been sitting, the blonde girl was missing. She asked one of the other girls about her.
“She left some time ago, I think she went to the dormitory. She just suddenly grabbed her stuff and almost fled from the room... I wonder what was the matter with her.”
“I'll go check on her.”
Wondering what could have happened, Lily dashed up the stairs to the dormitories. Upon entering, she saw Elinor lying on her bed, apparently doing her homework up here. She was looking in the direction of the door, apparently having heard Lily.
“Why are you up here?”
“T-too loud.”
“The others?”
Elinor nodded.
“You could go to the library, then, no-one is allowed to make any noise down there.”
“D-don't know w-where that i-is.”
“Oh, right. How stupid of me. I could show you the way, if you like.”
Elinor hesitated.
“It would be much more comfortable that doing your homework in your bed”, Lily pointed out. “Besides, what if you toppled your inkwell?”
That seemed to convince her, for she gathered her stuff. Lilian led the way across the common room, noticing that Elinor stuck as close to the wall as possible. She seemed nervous and edgy.
I guess she doesn't like gatherings of many people. She was pretty jumpy during breakfast, and yesterday as well... and during Potions she waited until the others were done before gathering her ingredients...
From behind a pillar, Mrs. Norris watched the two girls as they walked down a corridor.
“Not doing anything suspicious or forbidden”, Lily called at her and the cat disappeared.
“This is Mrs. Norris, the cat of Filch, the caretaker. Both of them are always ready to notice any rule-breaking, and Filch can be quite nasty. Also you should try to stay out of Peeves' way, he is our Poltergeist. Oh and you shouldn't let Snape catch you doing anything forbidden, either. The other teachers might be equally strict, but not as malicious as those two.”
Elinor nodded, looking slightly troubled.
“But don't worry about Snape too much, his favourite victim is Harry, after all, and sometimes I have a feeling he is just out on the corridors hoping to catch him doing something forbidden.”
Elinor gave Lily a look of open disbelief. Lilian chuckled.
“It's not much of a secret that Snape hates Harry, and Harry and his friends like to sneak out at night. They've been caught and punished many times already, but I doubt that'll stop them. They are good at getting into trouble.”
“I-I wouldn't h-have thought.”
Reaching the library, Lily showed Elinor around and told her where to find the books she would most likely need.
“Over there is the Restricted Section, you'll need a teacher's permission to enter it.”
“W-what kind o-of b-b-books are i-in there?”
“I don't know for sure, but I suspect some about black magic. The teachers wouldn't want any student to read those.”
Elinor nodded, apparently agreeing with that thought. She had soon found herself a table and sat down to do her work.
Since she had left her bag upstairs and because she wanted to chat with some of the other students, Lily left her to herself and went back to the common room.
Elinor stayed in the library until it was time for dinner, for several reasons. First, she wanted to find out more about which books were stored where. Second, some of them were very interesting and she decided to borrow them. And third, after dinner she would surely find someone to follow back to Ravenclaw tower.
At dinner Elinor noted for the first time that Professor Trelawney wasn't eating in the Great Hall, even though every other teacher was. She briefly wondered why and then figured that it might have something to do with that “Inner Eye” of hers. Maybe too many people distracted it, what did she know.
As before, it was crowded and loud. Elinor hoped that someone else would be done eating about at the same time she would be, so that she wouldn't have to stay here any longer than absolutely necessary. Though she had by now realised she wouldn't be able to avoid being among many loud people, she still wanted to keep it to a minimum. Her ears were already hurting.
Elinor went to bed soon after dinner, she didn't feel like listening to the idle chatter of her fellow Ravenclaws.
The next morning, it was raining. It was Autumn, after all. Bad weather was to be expected.
During breakfast, her family's owl arrived, bringing Elinor a reply from her mother. It wasn't much longer than her own letter.
Ravenclaw is a good choice. Looks like you can do some things right.
Divination isn't a subject I would have chosen, but if it suits you, it is all right, as long as you have good marks.
The date for the Quidditch try-outs is usually posted to the black board in the common rooms, check it regularly for information.
Stick to Achura, if possible. Her family is powerful and influential, and I believe they will be on the right side.
This was just the kind of answer she would have expected from Lydia Shiras. Don't waste any unnecessary words.
Elinor let the owl have some ham before it made its way back home.
On the other side of the table, Lily was busy reading the Daily Prophet, probably to find out what kind of rubbish the Ministry was up to this time. Seeing she wasn't going to finish soon, Elinor decided to go and kill some time in the library. Today, she had Ancient Runes – a mixed class from all houses, since only a few people had chosen that subject. After that she would have one hour to herself and then double charms. And on the other three days the subjects she had already had were repeated in single or double lessons.
Upon leaving the Great Hall, she again ran into Malfoy and his gang.
“It's you again!”, the Slytherin complained.
Since she didn't make way for him fast enough, he simply shoved her hard. Caught off-guard, Elinor lost her balance and collided with the wall. Her head throbbing, she remained on the floor, waiting for the room to stop spinning.
“Malfoy!”, an angry voice shouted. “What did you do that for?!”
“That's none of your business, Mudblood!”, he replied aloof.
That made Elinor look up and try to see something. Facing the three Slytherins stood three Gryffindors, one of them a girl – Granger. The others were Potter and Weasley.
“Call me a Mudblood again and I'll curse you!”, the girl fumed.
“Hermione, leave him be, he's not worth it”, Weasley advised.
Hermione humphed and made her way over to Elinor.
“Are you all right?”, she asked, a strange undertone in her voice. Elinor couldn't quite tell what it was.
“H-head h-hurts.”
“Hm. You'd better go see the nurse, then. Might be serious.”
“Got c-classes - “
“The teacher is bound to send you to the hospital wing anyway, so going right away would save time. Besides, if you hurry, you'll make it before class starts. What do you have, anyway?”
“R-runes.”
“Ah, me too. I'll take you up to the hospital wing and then to the classroom. It'll be all right, I'm a prefect, after all.”
Not wanting to start an argument she was going to lose anyway, Elinor gave in. She still thought Hermione made too much a fuss about nothing, she had had much worse injuries than that.
Harry and Ron left for Trelawney's tower and Hermione led the way to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey, the matron, took a look at Elinor.
“Nothing's broken, but it would turn into a nasty bruise”, she explained. “However, you should never take any injuries on the head too lightly. That could be a fatal mistake.”
She took out a small box containing a salve which she applied to the injured area. The pain almost vanished instantly.
“How did this happen?”
“Malfoy shoved her against the wall”, Hermione, at whom the question was directed, replied. “I would have given him detention for that, if he wasn't a prefect as well...”
“I see. I'll report it to Professor Flitwick, then.”
After Madam Pomfrey said she could go, Elinor and Hermione left again. They were indeed late for class, but Hermione told their teacher that Elinor had needed to go to the hospital wing. Of course now the rest of the class was eager to find out why.
“What happened?”, Lilian asked.
“Malfoy is what happened”, Hermione replied as she took a seat.
Elinor sat down next to her, since every other seat was already occupied.
“And he called me a Mudblood again”, she added grimly.
Lily made a rude noise.
“Had I been there, I would have cursed him”, she said darkly.
“I warned him I would next time.”
“Not good enough. People like him won't get it if you try to talk to them nicely. They're too stupid for that. All those pure-blood fanatics are. And you shouldn't allow him to insult you just like that. Or perhaps we should invent a name for him and his friends...”
“That's enough, Miss Achura, Miss Granger! Save that for later!”, the teacher demanded.
Ancient Runes turned out to be a very fascinating subject, and it was totally new to Elinor. She eagerly started deciphering phrases using the table in her book. What made the subject even more appealing was the fact that talking wasn't so much required.
After the lesson, however, she was called back by her teacher.
“Miss Shiras, the list I got form the Ministry says you had Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures so far. Why did you choose Ancient Runes instead?”
Elinor frowned. Explaining that would take a very long time.
Remembering something, she took out her quill and a piece of parchment and drew a rune she had translated as “not wanting to”. Professor Babbling frowned.
“You didn't want to continue with those two?”
Elinor nodded.
“I see. Though the rune isn't perfectly drawn, it's quite remarkable for your first lesson. I'll have a look at your work, but I'm afraid you'll have to do the last two exams this class did if you want to continue. If it's too much work for you, I suggest you go back to what you did before.”
Elinor shook her head. Ancient Runes was much better than Arithmancy, and she'd rather die than have Care of Magical Creatures again. Especially if it was taught by a half-giant.
“I'll t-try.”
“I see. I'll try and gauge your abilities in the first week and then let you know what you need to prepare for the exams.”
“Th-thank you.”
Elinor managed to find her way to the library, where she sat down to do the homework she'd just got.
So I'd better work hard so I can keep up with classes, because I'll have to learn the stuff from the last two years as well... but I don't suppose it'll be that much. Joining a third year Arithmancy class would be much harder.
When her free hour was almost over, she got up and set out to find her way to Flitwick's classroom. Which turned out to be impossible, and she didn't dare ask anyone for directions, either.
“Where do you think you're going, girl?”, a voice barked.
Elinor turned to see a man hurrying toward her. He had long, rather untidy hair and she couldn't remember seeing him with the other teachers.
He could be that Filch person Lily warned me about. Uh-oh. Am I doing something forbidden?
Since he seemed to be expecting some kind of answer, and she didn't want to get into trouble if she could help it, she decided to tell him.
“L-looking for P-Professor Fl-Flitwick's c-classroom.”
He frowned, then his eyes widened slightly.
“Thought I hadn't seen your face around before. You're the new Ravenclaw fifth-year, right?”
She nodded.
“I see. Well, that classroom isn't that way.”
So Elinor turned to try her luck in the other direction.
“You have no idea where you need to go, do you?”
She shook her head. How should she.
“I suppose I could take you along the way, since I got some work to do over there, anyway. Just don't expect me to pop up any time you get lost.”
“N-no. Th-thank you.”
Filch stared at her. Elinor gave him an uncertain look.
Did I say something wrong?
Filch turned away and started down the corridor, Elinor hurrying after him.
She soon found out he was a very strange person, always muttering to himself about students who had dirty boots or played pranks and broke rules. Elinor wasn't sure whether he was sane or not.
“The classroom you're looking for is down that corridor. Take care to remember that, girl.”
Elinor nodded and thanked him again. When that caused him to give her another measuring look, she guessed that people didn't often thank him. Especially since he was usually busy punishing students. But for Elinor, it was normal to be polite. Not being polite normally caused pain.
Elinor arrived at the classroom to find that not many other students had arrived yet. Terry, the other prefect, was among them.
“Ah, there you are. I was worried you'd lost your way.”
“L-lost it.”
“You did? Then how did you get here?”
“F-filch took m-me a-along.”
Terry looked surprised. “He did? Was he afraid you'd blow up the castle if he let you out of his sight?”, he joked.
“H-he said h-he h-had w-work to do o-over here. A-and he w-was surprised when I-I thanked h-him.”
“Well, that's not really surprising. Most students hate him, after all. He is a spiteful old squib.”
A squib. Interesting. Never met one before. Is that why he hates the students so much? Does he envy them? Or maybe – maybe he feels threatened because they have magic and could overpower him, if they wanted to.
Elinor herself felt more at ease around Muggles – though that didn't mean much. She was always on edge.
Charms turned out to be an easy lesson as well, most of the spells they had to use Elinor knew already and the others weren't particularly difficult to learn. After class, Flitwick called her over to ask how her first two days had been. So Elinor tried to tell him as briefly as possible and with as little stuttering as she could that classes weren't anything unmanageable, but finding her way around the castle was.
“That'll come with time. The most important thing is that you don't fall behind in classes”, Flitwick squeaked. “Learning the routes is the easy part. Everyone manages eventually, and you have the advantage compared to a first-year that all your classmates know the way. Just stick to them.
Professor Babbling also told me you would have to do two exams the others in your class already did. I advise you get a date for those two as early as possible, for classes are bound to become more demanding as term passes.”
Elinor nodded. That made sense.
“Well, as long as you know what you're in for, you will be fine. All the teachers so far told me they didn't notice anything that you were in any danger of falling behind the others. Well then, off you go.”
Upon returning to the common room after lunch, Elinor saw that Quidditch try-outs would be held Thursday in the late afternoon. Finally, something to look forward to.
Flying was the one thing where Elinor felt completely safe. No-one could reach her once she was in the air, no-one told her what to do, she was free. She always savoured every moment she spent in the air, for she knew it wouldn't last. She had to go back eventually, back to the prison called “home”.
I wish I could just fly away, far, far away... but where would I go? There is nothing better out there. No, I have no choice but to return there every time...
For Lily, the first four days passed in a blur. Just like Elinor, she was looking forward to the try-outs and the beginning of the Quidditch-season. Between classes and homework, patrolling the corridors and looking after Elinor kept her quite busy. The other girl had apparently decided to become her “shadow”, following Lilian to classes, the library and the common room. However, she wasn't clingy. When Lily was headed elsewhere than those three, Elinor stayed behind without the slightest complaint.
Apart from shadowing Lilian, she still avoided company, talking to others or spending too much time among too many people. She was hardly ever seen in the common room during the evenings, she usually fled to the library or dormitory. She seemed suspicious of everyone, never talking about personal things or voicing an opinion. And she was easily scared. Peeves had quickly figured that out and loved to scare her out of her wits. Which of course didn't help her to overcome her fears.
Malfoy had also taken a liking to bullying the new girl who wouldn't ever fight back, so Lilian tried to make sure either she or someone else she trusted could handle Malfoy were with Elinor. Her passivity was trying.
Finally, Thursday evening arrived. Lilian and the other members of the team surveyed the crowd. There was no-one from the sixth or seventh year, and first-years weren't allowed to join the teams anyway. There were some from the second, third and fourth years. From her own class no-one had come, with didn't really surprise Lily. No, wait, there was one: Elinor Shiras.
Now this is a surprise.
After greeting the others, Lily and her colleagues went to see if they could fit into any of the offered positions. Checking on Elinor, she noted that she was holding a Firebolt. Lilian had gotten one from her parents when she had joined the team in her third year.
“So, you want to play Quidditch?”
As expected, Elinor replied only with a nod.
“Are you good at flying?”
Another nod.
“Ever played before?”
“N-no. I-I just flew.”
“Hm. I see. Well, I can't let you be a Beater, you probably couldn't even lift one of the clubs. I suppose you might be able to handle the Quaffle, but what I would like to know is if I could make you our new Seeker. You have good eyes, right?”
“Y-yes.”
“And your built is good for that position as well. I suggest you just try to catch the snitch, we'll see how long it takes you. The one doing it best in the shortest time will be the new Seeker.”
Lily selected some other students likely to be good Seekers, the she took out the snitch. She instructed the Keeper to pick the ones who wanted to be Chasers and have them throw the Quaffle at him, while the Beater took the rest with him.
Lily released the Snitch and told Elinor to take off on her mark. Elinor mounted her broom and watched the small ball fly away. When Lilian gave the signal, Elinor kicked off hard and soared high into the air.
Her style was good, and it was obvious she had had a lot of practise as a flyer. Some of the other would-be Seekers looked a little uncertain after seeing her performance.
Elinor returned after five minutes, bringing the Snitch with her. Lily thanked her and let the next candidate loose.
Two she kicked out after watching them fly, simply because their flying style was intolerable. The others she had race each other who would catch the snitch first.
That was interesting to watch. Cho had already been on the team when Lilian had joined, and even though someone was always swapped every year, she'd never seen Seeker try-outs before.
At first, the candidates clustered together, as not to miss it if someone else should spot something. Elinor was the first one to split off and climb to higher heights, using that to her advantage because she now could watch all of them at once.
A clever move, and just what a Seeker is supposed to do.
The others eventually noticed that getting into each other's way wasn't the best method to find the Snitch and spread out. By the time Elinor had started to circle in a certain area and Lily wasn't much surprised when she dived the next moment.
The others reacted a bit slower, and the extra height gave Elinor the bonus of being able to accelerate more quickly. And some of the younger students were hesitant to dive at the same angle Elinor did. It seemed as if the blonde didn't know any fear once in the air.
Suddenly, Elinor pulled up, her right hand snatching something small. The others tried their best to avoid crashing into her.
Elinor stopped next to Lily, about one meter above the ground, to show her the snitch.
“Well done!”, Lily said, meaning it. Elinor had been the best by far.
“How is it going?”, she then shouted at her Keeper.
“Got one so far”, he replied. “The others are inept.”
Lily grimaced. “You two get over there and try Chaser instead”, she instructed.
Then she welcomed Elinor and her new Beater to the team.
“You seem to like flying”, she observed to Elinor.
“I do”, the other one replied, smiling faintly.
Lily stared at her.
“W-what is it?”
“No stuttering. You smiled. That took me off guard.” She grinned. “It's good to see you can unwind somehow. If it helps you, you can go out and fly around any time you want – as long as no other team is practising, or they might think you're here to spy on them.”
Elinor nodded, apparently happy about this proposal.
After what seemed ages, they had finally got a third Chaser and Lily tackled the next issue: getting Quidditch-uniforms for everyone. She also showed them the dressing rooms and showers used by the Ravenclaw team, then they agreed onto a day for their first practise.
“Gryffindor is our worst enemy when it comes to Quidditch”, she told the new ones. “Potter is an excellent Seeker, and the Weasley-twins are almost unbeatable Beaters. Lucky for us, their Keeper, Wood, graduated last year. He was very good. They'll need to find a replacement for him. Captain is now Angelina Johnson, one of the Chasers. Johnson, Bell and Spinnet are very good at what they're doing, so we need to have a strong defence and keep them busy.”
“So we can only hope they won't find a Keeper as good as Wood was, or we're bound to lose again”, the new Beater said.
“Unfortunately, that is the truth. Hufflepuff needs a new Seeker, Keeper and one Chaser, the Slytherin team will be the same as last year. They all fly Nimbus 2001, because Mr. Malfoy felt he had to by his son into the team. The fact that they all fly at the same speed can be used against them, I think. Especially since some of us are faster than them.” She nodded towards Elinor. “I don't think you'll have much trouble with Malfoy, he didn't get that position because of his talent, after all.”
Some people laughed. The Gryffindors weren't the only ones annoyed by the conduct of the Malfoy family, and the Slytherin team.
“Any questions? Suggestions? Complaints? No? Well then, let's go back to the castle.”
