I woke up with a strange feeling in my stomach, a mix of nervousness and excitement. I met Ari in the Common Room, looking as if she was trying to look as cool and composed as possible. Her eyes, however, had specks of fear flashing within the blue of her irises. It was almost as if I was forcing her to try out, but I knew better. Ari was strong, and if she didn't want to do something, she wouldn't let me bully her into it. She wanted to try out, but she simply needed that push.
After convincing her to eat some breakfast, we took a walk on the school ground. Ari sat down by the lake, and gazed at the glistening water. She finally looked at me with frightened eyes. The change surprised me, and yet made sense. It was as if she realized that she didn't have to fake anything, and that she could be herself around me.
"You'll do fine," I coaxed, putting an arm on her shoulder. Then, I thought of a way to take her mind off of things. "Have you made repairs on your broom yet?"
Ari jumped up suddenly, her eyes wide. "The Silver Arrow!" she groaned. "I completely forgot!" She ran to the castle with me close by. She took down her broom and the repair kit.
I tried not to show my anxiety, but the broom was a lot more work than I thought. The wood needed to be polished, the twigs would need to be straightened or (in the worse cases) replaced, and the peeling silver letters spelling out "Silver Arrow" would need to be renovated.
"Where do we start?" inquired Ari.
"You start polishing the handle," I suggested. "I'll do what I can with the twigs."
It was tedious work, and yet calming, in a way. To pass the time, I told Ari stories of when I was growing up, how my brother Ron's teddy bear got turned into a spider, and my dad's fascination with muggle objects. We spend as much time laughing as working, and I could almost feel Ari's nervousness fade away. Finally, when the last twig was replaced and the last part of the wood was polished, we put our tools down. Reaching into the kit, Ari pulled out a bottle of silver ink. She dipped a small brush into it, and re-painted the lettering on the handle. She painted it slowly and carefully, and it looked marvelous when she was done. Looking at the broomstick, I felt a strange happiness that I helped restore the broomstick to its former majesty. It looked perfect for Ari to ride on. While Ari preformed a quick-drying charm on the paint, I suggested that she warmed up on the Quidditch field. Working on the broomstick took a long time, and Ari still hadn't ridden on it.
On the Quidditch field, I sat in the stands while Ari flew a few laps around the stadium. I had a clipboard with me, and I began organizing the Gryffindors trying out for beater. I after a quick count, I figured out that there were about eight people trying out, including Ari. Only four of those were Gryffindors.
At last, the time came for tryouts. I first spotted Levia coming, her shoulders squared and her eyes hard. Levia was in my O.W.L. Care of Magical Creatures class. If it was one thing that Levia was, it was tough. Next came Zale, and close behind, Devlin. Finally came a group of girls: Octavia, Whitney, Ashley and Darcie. Octavia was a Ravenclaw, Ashley and Darcie from Hufflepuff, and Whitney was a Slytherin. I sighed and mentally excluded them from the group of people trying out.
I waited until they sat down on the bleachers in front of me. "Listen up!" I began. "What you are trying out for is a dangerous position. You are required to come in close contact with destructing object, and pelt them at other players. In turn, other players will be aiming them at you." I caught Ari's eye and gave her a wink. "Now, all you have to do is see how many time you can hit the Bludger in two minutes. Who would like to go first?"
Octavia, Whitney, Ashley and Darcie had turned as white as flour. Seeing a chance to escape from tryouts, they ran all the way back to the castle. I sighed and turned to the remaining four. "Levia, you're up."
She got up and mounted her broomstick. I set the stopwatch for two minutes, and blew my whistle. I mentally counted every time Levia hit the Bludger. At the end of two minutes, her score was 20.
I noted this on a piece of parchment, and motioned to Zale. "You're next." Zale came up with a score of 18. Levia didn't try to conceal the triumphant sneer that appeared on her face.
"Devlin, mount your broom." I said. Devlin mounted his broom, and at the end of two minutes, had a score of 19 hits. Levia tossed her hair, her sneer growing as she saw Ari mounting her broom, as if she was sure that Ari would fail.
As I saw Ari's hands tremble as she mounted, I felt a sensational want for her to beat Levia. I wanted this more than anything in the world, and I was ready to give up anything for this. Ari mounted her broom and kicked off.
What happened next is mind-blowing. Ari didn't fly around the field; she was just a blur. I was counting the number of times she hit the Bludger, but I hardly noticed that Devlin and Zale were counting out loud with me. All four of us stared up in wonder as we saw Ari, the human Bludger, beat Levia's score of 20 with a whopping score of 25.
Ari was soon back on the ground, catching her breath. Zale and Devlin shook her hand enthusiastically and congratulated her on her new position on the team. Levia did so too, though less enthusiastically.
When they left for the castle, Ari turned to be with an uncertain smile on her face. I grinned back at her and soon, she did so too.
"You did it!" I yelled out, hugging Ari. "You did it! You did it!" We screamed and jumped and danced until we couldn't breathe. We linked arms and strode to the castle for dinner.
In the Great Hall, all the Gryffindors knew of Ari's success. Ari picked up her goblet of pumpkin juice and accepted many toasts. Surprisingly, Levia came also came up to her. "Congratulations," she said with a painted smile on her face. She toasted Ari so hard that some of the contents in her goblet splashed into Ari's. "Whoops," Levia chuckled. "My fault." She turned on her heel and walked away. Ari raised her eyebrows at her departing back, but the incident was soon forgotten, as more people came to toast and drink to Ari.
When people finally let Ari sit down to dinner, she didn't even take a few bites before clutching her stomach, her face a strange shade of green. "Are you alright?" I asked her, concerned. She forced a smile and nodded, but the smile quickly disappeared behind Ari's hand as she bounced up and ran out of the hall. "Ari?" I yelled as I ran after her. "Ari?"
I found her in a nearby lavatory, leaning over a toilet as if she was going to be sick. Without hesitation, I knelt down next to her, stroking her hair and comforting her. Slightly trembling, Ari fainted in my arms.
I carried Ari all the way to the hospital wing. After explaining Madam Pomfrey what happened, I waited for her diagnosis. "Well?" I asked.
She sighed. "It couldn't have been the food she ate, all of it is prepared by house-elves and purified by magic. Besides, she only ate a few bites."
I was startled. "Then what could it be?"
Madam Pomfrey frowned. "You said Quidditch tryouts were today? Miss Perry got the position?" I nodded. "Then I suspect foul play."
A few minutes passed before the diagnosis. "Aqua lacerta." said Madam Pomfrey.
I was startled. "A water lizard?"
Madam Pomfrey was also surprised. "You know of this?"
I nodded. "We studied it in Care of Magical Creatures." How could I forget that lesson? The aqua lacerta was one of the many creatures in the lake. It thins out while in liquid and is oftenly slipped into an enemy's drink. While not fatal to a human, if swallowed, it will cause extreme discomfort.
"Who is in your class?" asked Madam Pomfrey.
It was easy, as there were only three of us. "Well, there's me, Jazz, and...." I stopped, as a sudden feeling of realization and shock came over me. "And Levia." Suddenly, my memory returned to me.
"Congratulations," Levia said with a painted smile on her face. She toasted Ari so hard that some of the contents in her goblet splashed into Ari's. "Whoops," Levia chuckled. "My fault." She turned on her heel and walked away.
"How bad is the damage?" I asked nervously.
Madam Pomfrey bit her lip. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "If it was a young one, or an adult, she will make a full recovery. If, by chance, she swallowed a pregnant female..." she trailed off, and I could finish the sentance myself. If Levia was cruel enough to have used a pregnant female, then Ari would be forever scarred as a hatching ground for aqua lacerta.
Madam Pomfrey, after a quick glace at the clock, was ushering me out of the hospital wing. "It's getting late, and I can't keep you in here. Good night."
Good night? How could I leave Ari there? When Madam Pomfrey wasn't looking, I slipped underneath Ari's bed. After the lights went out and Madam Pomfrey went to sleep, I crawled out and sat down next to Ari.
Sitting there and watching Ari sleep had a mystic effect on me. Her face was emotionless, her hair was streaked with sweat, and her lips were shades paler than when she was conscious. But seeing the slight rise and fall of her chest, the moonlight dance across her face, and her peaceful state made me realize that she was much more than my friend. I was falling in love with Ari, if not already in love.