CHAPTER FIVE
Haylie’s Rival
The next morning, I actually got up on time! Yes, miracles can actually happen. I threw on some clothes and noticed that Lily’s bed was empty. Carefully, trying not to wake anyone else, I tiptoed across the room and eased out of the door.
Down in the common room, Lily was scribbling away happily on some homework. She didn’t notice I was there until I sat down next to her.
“Oh, hi, Amelia. Sleep good?” She smiled at me, trying to stifle a yawn.
“I slept great.” I returned the grin and noticed the tattered appearance of her normally shiny red hair. “Did you stay up all night?”
Lily shook her head. “No, I just got back late from patrolling with Remus, and then did some of the homework before going to bed. I finished a bunch of it, but I still had this and it kept me awake all night, so I decided to try and get it done first thing.”
“Alright. Are you almost done with that?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’ll probably be a few more minutes…,” Lily told me as she dipped her quill into the ink and started writing again.
“Ok…. well, I’m still getting used to this place, and I don’t want to get lost…so is it alright if I hang around until you finish?”
Lily nodded wordlessly as she nibbled on a loose strand of her hair.
Not wanting to disturb Lily, I left my bag on the table and began walking aimlessly around the empty common room. I passed the fireplace, some chairs, some couches, a few more tables, until I came to a stop at the first thing that caught my interest.
It was the message board. It was almost empty, with a few flyers for clubs, and a large blank list. At the top of the list were the words “Interested in joining the Gryffindor Quidditch Team? Try out for the Keeper position, Sunday, September 8 at the Quidditch Pitch.” A few names had been scrawled haphazardly across the first few lines.
My heart sped up. This was my chance! I dashed over to the table where Lily was working and I began digging through my bag until I found a quill. I hurried back to the sign up list, and neatly printed my name on the next available line.
It was only a few more minutes until Lily was done, and once she stowed all her papers and books in her bag, she got up and we headed down to the Great Hall.
I was almost finished eating my piece of toast when Haylie, Micky, and Leah showed up. Haylie plopped down next to me, while Leah and Micky seated themselves across from us.
We ate in silence. Everyone seemed to have something on their mind. I was thinking about my siblings. Maggie was sitting over at the Ravenclaw table with her friend Naomi. She seemed to be happy, and I was glad for her.
I looked around for Danny, and saw him enter the Great Hall with Sirius and James. My stomach dropped. If Danny was blabbing his mouth off with some stupid story…I cringed at the thought. I watched in horror as Sirius laughed at whatever Danny said.
James, Sirius, and Danny joined us girls, and instantly, Sirius turned to me. “Amelia, your brother is hilarious! Is it true that when you were eight, you got hold of your brother Dylan’s wand and”“
I put my hand up to stop him. “”And I don’t need to be reminded of what I did.” I glared at Danny, who seemed to find the puffy white clouds reflected in the ceiling fascinating.
James laughed, and everyone seemed to come out of their own heads. “So Amelia,” he began, “I saw your name on the list for Quidditch tryouts.”
I nodded, and Haylie suddenly grabbed my arm. “Amelia!” Haylie said suddenly, grabbing my arm painfully. “Quidditch tryouts are Friday!”
I wrenched my arm from her grasp. “Yeah…and today’s Tuesday.”
Haylie’s eyes were wide with excitement. “Exactly! That means…” she paused and began counting on her fingers and mouthing things to herself. “…We only have five days until the tryouts! Amelia, you’re NEVER going to beat Tanaka and make the team if you don’t train beforehand!”
“Beat who?” I asked. Did she just say Tanaka? I swear I’ve heard that name before…
Haylie sighed in exasperation. “I keep forgetting that you weren’t here last year! Tanaka Reeves is in fourth year this year, she’s an amazing Keeper, but she is the biggest show off you’ve ever seen!”
Tanaka Reeves…why did that name ring a bell? “Reeves…is she related to”“
Haylie cut me off. “”Zander Reeves, head training coach for the Falmouth Falcons? Yes, he’s her father.” Haylie’s face darkened at the thought. “Garr…. I bet Tanaka’s been to LOADS of professional training sessions over the summer…she’s so lucky. She was our Keeper last season, only was taken off the team due to injuries and an overprotective mother. But, she’s bound to try out again this year, and I do NOT want my last season here to be spoiled by Tanaka, so we need to be prepared. Oh yes…we will be ready…,” Haylie broke off her rant, muttering evilly to herself.
I gulped, feeling my confidence slide a bit. Sure, I was a very good Keeper, but against the daughter of an international Quidditch coach? I guess Haylie’s right…I willneed to train for this!
“And…so we need to train every night this week! Amelia, meet me after supper tonight in the Common Room. Be dressed and ready,” Haylie told me sternly, coming out of her maniacal mumblings.
“Haylie, I’m not too sure you should be doing this so early in the year,” Micky began, “tryouts aren’t until Sundayand we’re bound to have lots of homework in the evenings, so maybe you should only have a few training sessions, instead of every night.”
Haylie pulled out a quill and began scribbling away furiously on a scrap of parchment. “Micky, do you want Amelia to make the team or not?” she snapped
“Well, of course, but she’s new here, and she needs some time to get into the swing of things,” Micky reasoned.
“Don’t mess with the master plan. If Amelia wants to make the team, the only way is to train as hard as we can. She can do her homework later. And if we don’t have time,” Haylie cast a glance over to where Lily, Leah, and Remus were talking, “I’m sure Lily or Leah, or even you, my dear Micky, will be willing to let her copy a bit.” Haylie then lay down her quill and shoved the napkin into my hand. “Here. I wrote down a quick practice schedule for this week.”
I glanced at the crumpled napkin. In the midst of all the scribbles and inkblots, I could only make out a few of the numbers. “Six to ten o’clock! Haylie, this is insane! We can’t go until ten, it’ll be dark by then!” I exclaimed.
Haylie merely brushed off this comment. “It’s really messy, I know. I’ll make a better one later, maybe in Muggle Studies…I never pay attention in that class anyways.” Haylie rambled on and I only pretended to hear her.
This Tanaka girl must be good. Who am I kidding…. her father’s a huge famous Quidditch coach, of COURSE she’s good! If I have to train that hard to beat her…she must be like, the best Keeper in the school!
We all headed to Defense Against the Dark Arts, a class I had been waiting for. I loved Defense at Beauxbatons; our teacher was amazing! Sadly, though, Professor Birky spent the hour lecturing about N.E.W.T.’s (which was very boring. If you’ve heard the speech once, you’ve heard it a thousand times.) And we read a few chapters out of our textbooks.
After that, Leah, Micky and I made our way to Ancient Runes, which was difficult, but very interesting. We reviewed some of the runes and spent the rest of the time spelling out our names in them, which was really fun.
We had Herbology in the afternoon with the Ravenclaws, which was…interesting. Besides the fact that Hollie was a complete coward about it, and flat out refused to dig down into any plant that could bite her head off, it was an enjoyable lesson.
The rest of the day passed quickly, maybe too quickly for my taste. After inhaling a quick dinner, I changed into my shabby old pair of practice robes. I met Haylie in the Common Room at six o’clock, as planned, and we set out towards the Quidditch Pitch.
We stepped out of the castle and onto the grounds. Everything was cast in a pale gold glow from the receding September sun, and the fresh air was sweet with the scent of falling leaves.
The Quidditch Pitch was a large grassy stadium. Rows and rows of seats towered above the field, and three gold hoops stood on each end of the field.
“We’re getting right down to business,” Haylie announced as we stood in the center of the large grassy field. “If you could do a few warm up laps while I go get a Quaffle, that would be great. Plus, I want to see how well you fly.”
I nodded and mounted my broom. I kicked off, and sped into the air. The wind whipped against my face, and I could see the whole grounds. I soared up and down and around the whole field, feeling more alive than I had since I arrived at Hogwarts.
It wasn’t until I heard a shout that I noticed anything unusual. I stopped in midair and looked down at the stands, where Haylie stood, facing another girl. The two were having a heated argument, but after a few moments, Haylie stormed from the stands and waved for me to come back down.
I turned and did a steep dive, enjoying swooping sensation in my stomach. I landed on the ground next to Haylie with ease and dismounted my broom. “What’s wrong?” I asked, glancing at the girl in the stands.
Haylie threw a nasty look at the girl. “Tanaka Reeves. She’s checking out the competition. She must see you as a real threat if she bothered to come watch instead of doing her homework,” Haylie explained. “But, we’re just going to do our best to act like she’s not there. I’m not going to let Tanaka ruin this training session. I’m going to keep my head and ignore her,” she said firmly, more to herself than to me. “All right, I was watching you for a minute up there, and you seem to be a pretty good flier.”
“Thanks, so…now what?” I asked, feeling slightly confident. That warm up lap really helped build me up, but the sudden appearance of Tanaka was a bit unnerving.
Haylie took one last chance to glare at Tanaka, and then she let out a deep breath and looked at me. Her plain blue eyes were filled with determination, and she seemed to be completely…well…insane. “Well, we’ll start out doing flying exercises, and then we can do some passing drills, and maybe, if we have time, we’ll try out your Keeper skills. I play Seeker on the team, but I can manage just about any position, so I’ll be the Chaser for you,” Haylie said, mounting her broom.
I followed her example, and we were off. We practiced swerving and diving and all sorts of things a Seeker needs to know, but being a Keeper, didn’t necessarily apply to me. Still, it did help a lot with my broomstick control. After about an hour of this, we then started out with the Quaffle, at first just throwing it back and forth to each other on the ground, and then to more complex things like catching it while in flight, like a Chaser would do.
Finally, after a few more hours of this, the sun had finally dropped over the forest, and it was getting hard to see. After three and a half hours of being on a broomstick, Haylie finally motioned for me to return to the ground.
Tanaka had only stayed to watch about an hour and a half into the training session, and she was nowhere to be seen as Haylie showed me around the locker rooms and Madame Hooch’s office, where all the balls were kept. After that, we headed back up to the castle. My hair was all windswept, my cheeks were red from the wind, and I was nearly drenched in sweat. I’m pretty sure I smelled pretty bad as well.
“Well, Amelia, that was a great training session,” Haylie announced loudly as we entered the Gryffindor common room. “A few more like that, and you’ll make the team with no competition at all.” She cast a look across the room to where Tanaka now sat with her group of friends. Tanaka looked up and narrowed her eyes at us. She had obviously heard Haylie bragging.
I bit my lip. What Haylie said wasn’t true, it was a good session, but I’m going to have to work really hard to get onto the team, and this fourth year definitely counts as competition. Haylie shouldn’t be pushing Tanaka’s buttons like that. She knows that Tanaka sees me as a threat, so she’s practically dangling the fact that I might be as good as her out in front of her to make her angry. She seems like the kind of person to cheat her way out of things…I don’t think tempting her like this is a good idea.
“Haylie, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I whispered as we made our way to our usual table. “I have a bad feeling that she could get dangerous if you push her too far.”
Haylie, once again, brushed off my advice. “Amelia, relax!” she said in tone that suggested she had this all figured out. “You’re a seventh year, and she’s a fourth year! She may be a nasty little fourth year, but she’s only fourteen! What can she do to you?”
Haylie had a point, and I didn’t bother arguing against it. I plopped down next to Leah, feeling exhausted. I haven’t practiced in awhile, and Haylie definitely knew how to run a training session. I wonder why James got the captainship, instead of her? She seems to be a perfect candidate.
Sirius, who left his spot with his friends to come over, interrupted my thoughts. “Amelia, can I talk to you? I was going to earlier, but Haylie said that you had to train for the tryouts.” He looked me over and grinned. “Did you have a good practice session?”
I got up and shrugged. “It was good.” I really didn’t want to talk to Sirius right now. My mind was filled with the look on Tanaka’s face when Haylie said those things about me, and I wanted to dwell on the practice session a bit longer.
Sirius looked around. “Alright, well, I was thinking somewhere where we won’t be overheard…” He pointed to a secluded corner. “Why don’t we go over there?”
“Ok.” I followed him, glancing once back at my friends. Leah had been watching my back, and she quickly looked away, glancing at Lily. The two shared a look, and then they returned to their work. My cheeks flushed a bit. They probably thought Sirius and I had something going on.
“So, how have things been going with Lily?” Sirius asked, leaning against the wall.
I bit my lip, feeling a like a rock just fell into my stomach. With all the thoughts about Quidditch and Tanaka, our plan to set up Lily and James completely slipped my mind. “Well…the truth is…I haven’t really talked to her about it.” My voice was quiet and apologizing. “I’ve been kind of busy with Haylie today, she’s intent on filling every ounce of my free time with Quidditch.”
“I can understand that,” Sirius mumbled to no one in particular. “Haylie tends to get a little…passionate when it comes to Quidditch. Try not to take her too seriously, or she might work you to death.” I laughed, remembering how she didn’t listen to anyone this morning at breakfast while she made plans for training. “Still, I really hope you do make the team. I can’t wait to see you play.”
I smiled weakly. “Thanks. So…is that all you wanted to talk to me about? How I was doing with Lily?” Sirius nodded, and I went on, “How are things going with James?”
“Well, I told him that I didn’t think Lily liked how outgoing he was in pursuing her, and that maybe he should tone things down a bit,” Sirius told me.
“That sounds great. I’ll do my best to soften up Lily.” I glanced down at my sweaty self. “Um…I should probably go shower and start on my homework.”
Sirius grinned at my condition. “That sounds like a good idea, you don’t want to smell.”
Despite myself, I couldn’t help smiling as I hit him in the arm. Shaking my head in laughter, I bounded up the stairs and headed to the showers.
When I returned to the common room some twenty minutes later, I avoided Leah’s stern gaze and settled down between Lily and Micky. I could tell that she wanted to know what I was doing talking with Sirius earlier, but I wasn’t about to spill our plans. Pulling out a quill and some parchment, I set to the numerous essays and assignments.
It was nearly twelve thirty by the time I finished. I was one of the last people to leave the common room, Micky had let Haylie copy some...or more like all of her homework, but I had insisted on doing mine myself. I wasn’t about to cheat, despite Haylie’s assurances that the teachers would never find out.
I sleepily shoved my books back into my bag and trudged up the stairs. Not even realizing I was still in my clothes, I plopped onto my bed and was out like a light.
A Girl Like You by Lady Alanna
Chapter Notes: Well, here's Chapter 5! I'm really sorry that it's so late....I wrote it last August and then ran into some troubles with betas....thanks to Star, though, I've been able to get it up and going! So, I really hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think because reviews are lovely and I enjoy hearing from you guys!