Lily and I headed back up to the school as the sun began to fade. Numerous thoughts swam through my mind. I hadn’t made the Quidditch team and Haylie’s probably furious. She worked so hard with me, and I let her down. What was she going to say when I faced her? Would she scream at me, embarrass me, or give me the cold shoulder?
Lily sensed my worry as we pulled open the large wooden doors and stepped inside the castle. “Amelia, don’t worry about it. Haylie’s your friend, she’ll understand.”
I knew that Lily was just trying to make me feel better, and something in the corner of my head told me that Haylie might not be as forgiving as Lily said.
We walked in silence the rest of the way, our footsteps echoing in the empty corridors. When we reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, I stopped dead in my tracks. “Lily, I can’t do it. I can’t face them.”
Lily grabbed my arm. “Amelia, you’ve got to face them eventually. What have I been telling you all afternoon? They’re your friends, they’ll forgive you!”
I nodded glumly, feeling like I didn’t deserve to be in Gryffindor anymore. Lily told the Fat Lady the password, and we stepped through the portrait hole.
As usual, the common room was bustling with people. None of them seemed to care that I was feeling like I was lower than dirt. A fresh surge of guilt swept over me as I set eyes on our usual table. Leah sat on one end, her nose in a book, while Haylie and Micky were huddled together on the other end, talking in whispers.
I stopped again, but Lily pushed me from behind. “Go!”
I took a deep breath, and approached our table. “Um…hi Haylie.”
Haylie looked up at me and glared. I felt like I was eight again, getting scolded for accidentally setting the curtains on fire with my brother Dylan’s wand. “What do YOU want?” she demanded coldly.
“Um…about the tryouts…”
“Amelia, don’t even bring up the tryouts. What the hell were you thinking? You had it right THERE!” She got to her feet, gesturing with her hands and glowering into my face. “And what do you do? You sit and let that last goal fly by, when you could have saved it and gone head to head with Tanaka!”
I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. A fresh onslaught of shame and embarrassment swept over me. She was perfectly right…it was my entire fault.
“After ALL the hard work, after ALL the training, you let it go. Amelia, Quidditch is my LIFE!” Haylie shouted.
By now, there were quite a few people staring at us. The Marauders, sitting over by the fire, looked up from their usual whisperings and stared. My face flushed, and I was willing away the tears that wanted to come out so badly.
In my embarrassment, I remembered Micky had gotten up and was standing quietly behind Haylie.
“Haylie, I’m sorry”” I began.
“You’re SORRY? You waste all my free time this week, and all you can say is you’re SORRY?” Haylie spat.
“Haylie, stop it!” Lily said, stepping up to face the wildcat that our friend had turned into. “Amelia’s your friend, do you have any idea what you’re saying to her?”
“Oh, taking the new girl’s side now, are you, Lily?” Haylie accused.
Lily narrowed her eyes. “Look, Amelia did her best. She didn’t make the team, oh well! She gave it her all, so let it go!”
Haylie put her hands on her hips. “Why should I? What if I can’t let it go?”
It was then that I realized James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus were all standing there by the table, observing the whole scene.
“Haylie, Lily has a point…” Sirius started, but a glare from a vicious Haylie silenced him immediately.
Leah slammed her book close and stood up so fast that she knocked her chair over. “Haylie Burch, you shut your face this instant. You’re being completely stubborn and unreasonable,” she snapped, stalking over to join the quarrel.
“Oh, so now Miss Bookworm is going to fight too!” Haylie taunted, sneering a very Tanaka-like sneer.
“Haylie, that was uncalled for.” Micky said, joining in for the first time. “Yes, I’m on the same page as you, I’m disappointed, and a little angry with the outcome of today, but that’s no reason to call people names.”
But Leah cocked her head, appearing unphased by Haylie’s insult, and the fact that Micky defended her. In fact…she looked amused. “Haylie, if only you knew the truth…” she said, shaking her head as if she knew something Haylie didn’t.
“What?” Haylie demanded sounding slightly put out that her rage hadn’t affected Leah in the slightest bit. “The truth about what?” She thought for a moment, and then decided to return to insults. “Oh, I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to get me all confused so that I apologize and say it’s all right. Well, it isn’t going to work, so you can just stick your fat brain back in a book where it belongs!”
“Haylie Burch, if you say one more word, your position on the Quidditch team will be in jeopardy.” James warned, stepping in. He then turned to Leah and his hand flew to his hair, messing it up nervously. “Leah, what were you saying?”
To my surprise, Leah smiled at James before she continued, not just to Haylie, but also to all of us who were watching. “Did anyone notice the dazed look on Amelia’s face as she missed that last goal?”
Several of the onlookers nodded. “Yeah, she looked like her head wasn’t on right or something,” piped in one of the kids who had tried out.
“So, why don’t we ask Amelia what went wrong instead of insulting her to a pile of rubbish? Amelia, will you tell us all why you missed that last goal?” Leah said, motioning to me.
Merlin…that girl can run a crowd. The eyes of all the onlookers turned to me, a confused chatter swept over them. I cleared my throat. “Well…my head sort of felt fuzzy…like there was a bee buzzing in my ear. When I tried to get rid of…this weird…feeling, one of the Chasers had scored the goal.”
Leah spoke again. “Thank you, Amelia. So, obviously this weird feeling you got was caused by magic. Don’t you find it strange that you get this feeling right when the key goal was being scored?”
“Um…yeah, I guess so,” I stammered, not seeing where she was going with this at all.
“Leah, what the hell is this supposed to mean?” Haylie demanded. “You’re just trying to mess with our heads again!
“Well, by all the evidence here, someone wanted to momentarily distract Amelia while she attempted to save that last, pivotal goal,” Leah stated clearly.
Haylie seemed to have nothing to say. Her mouth opened, and shut, but nothing came out. “But…but…” she spluttered.
“I think Leah’s right,” Lily piped in.
“Yeah, by the look on Amelia’s face, she definitely didn’t miss that goal on purpose,” Sirius added.
“Plus, why would Amelia purposely miss that last goal?” James put in. “She wanted this as much as you did, maybe even more because she put up with your obnoxious training schedule.”
“Obnoxious training schedule?” Haylie’s eyes narrowed.
“Well…it was a little demanding,” James said apologetically.
I took a deep breath and said evenly. “Are you all done discussing whether I meant to miss that last goal or not? Haylie, why would I do that to you? Why would I go through all that hard work, just to purposely screw up my only chance to get on the team?”
“Well…” Haylie threw her hands up in surrender. “Alright, I’m sorry. I got a little out of hand…I was just so mad…after all our hard work…”
“Trust me, Haylie, Amelia felt just as bad, if not worse, about this whole thing than you.” Lily said gently. “I was with her all afternoon.”
I looked around at all of them. Micky and Haylie standing together, Haylie’s face flushed with embarrassment. Micky was glancing around curiously, as if waiting to see what would happen next. Lily was standing next to me, smiling supportively, while Leah stood firm, most likely mentally preparing what to say next. Remus matched Micky’s expression, slightly confused and curious. James and Sirius, however, had their heads bent together, and were whispering to each other.
“Now that this is all cleared up,” Micky said pointedly. “Leah, what were you going to say next? I’m thinking that you have a possible suspect for who’s behind whole fiasco.”
Leah nodded. “Exactly right, Micky. Well, after the tryouts were over, I headed over to the library where I did some research. Whatever caused Amelia to miss that last goal was obviously magic. We all know that simple, everyday magic doesn’t happen by itself. It has to be caused by a spell.”
“So…what you’re saying is…” Haylie paused, fitting it all together. “…Someone performed a spell to distract Amelia, so that she couldn’t catch that goal, and so she wouldn’t make the team?”
“Close, but not quite,” Leah hinted.
I realized what she was saying. It all fit. “What she’s saying is” I paused, mentally checking my theory to see if it all fit as well as I thought. “Someone cast a spell on me so that I wouldn’t get to go against Tanaka.”
Leah smiled. “Exactly.”
Turning my head to the outskirts of the small crowd that was gathered, I laid my eyes on the girl who was both my and Haylie’s Quidditch rival. Her face was confused and her mouth hung open in disbelief. My green eyes met her brown ones, and I knew instantly that she was the one who jinxed me.
“Wait a minute…” I said. “…I think I might have seen Tanaka stuff something into her robes right after I missed the goal.”
“So did I. In fact, I saw her stuff a wand into her robes right after you missed the goal.” Leah said decisively.
“So you think Tanaka did it?” Lily asked.
Leah nodded, and so did I. “It all fits in.” I said.
“Yeah, it seems like something Tanaka would do,” Haylie agreed.
My eyes darted back to Tanaka, who was slowly edging out of the crowd.
“If what you guys are saying is true, Tanaka interfered with my tryouts.” James said, a frown beginning to form on his thin face. He then glanced around, searching a face in the crowd. He spotted whom he needed to find, and then shouted, “Hey, Tanaka, come here!”
Tanaka glared defiantly at James, and then pushed her way through the crowd. “Well?” she demanded, stepping into the “arena” where we all stood.
“Well, you heard the conversation,” Sirius cut in impatiently. “Did jinx Amelia so that she would miss that goal or not?”
“Does it matter? She didn’t make the team, so why are you all being such sore losers about it?” Tanaka retorted back at him.
“Hey,” James cut in, pointing warningly at her. “We’re the ones asking the questions here. Did you or did you not interfere with Amelia’s tryout?”
Tanaka gazed around the room at all the faces. “So what if I did? The girl has no right to be on the team, she’s just some random French broad who showed up out of nowhere, why should she get the position? I’ve worked hard and long for these tryouts, I’ve been here for four years, and I’m much more committed to this than she is.”
“Hey, that’s my sister you’re talking about!” Danny shouted out of nowhere.
“Tanaka Reeves, because of that little speech, I’m afraid you will no longer able to be on the team,” James said, his voice calm and commanding. “You heard me when I said that I wanted someone committed, someone who would get along with everyone. You’re obviously committed, but I can’t have someone who’s willing to sink so low as to cheat her way onto the team.”
Tanaka’s mouth fell open. “Of all the hard work I’ve put in, THIS is what I get? FINE! James Potter, if Gryffindor doesn’t win the House Cup this year, it’s going to be entirely YOUR fault, because YOU decided to choose one of your friends over someone who’s obviously the better player.” With a turn of her heel, she strode from the crowd and up the stairs to the girls dormitory.
James turned to me; his eyes were full of relief. “Well Amelia, welcome to the team. You saved the most goals after Tanaka, so that makes you the new Keeper.”
I smiled widely at him as Haylie let out a squeal of delight. “Amelia, I KNEW you’d make it! Typical Tanaka, cheating her way out of things…but you did it! I’m sorry I ever doubted you!” She was hopping up and down, speaking words of jibberish that I couldn’t understand.
After several minutes of cheering with my friends, we settled down at our table. Haylie was recounting the whole thing to Micky, who listened absentmindedly. Leah was smiling slightly as she read her book, and Lily simply sat there staring into space. I could hardly contain my joy. After all that work, all the hours of extra practice, after everything that had happened, I had gotten the spot on the team. But then... it occurred to me that while I celebrated my victory, Tanaka had returned to the common room and was sitting alone in a corner, her face expressionless.
It hit me. Quidditch was just as important to her as it was to Haylie, and that’s saying a lot. I tried to imagine how she must feel, having gotten her victory and having it swept away from her. That thought made my own victory a little less sweet. But she cheated, the reasonable half of my mind protested, she deserves it. I looked down at the table top, studying the fine lines engraved in the wooden surface.
Without thinking, I stood up and walked over to where Tanaka sat alone. She glared up at me, her dark eyes hostile. “Um, I just wanted to say good job out there.” I said nervously. “We both did a great job, and I’m really sorry things turned out the way they did.”
Tanaka narrowed her eyes. “What are you apologizing for? You won! So go celebrate with your friends, don’t come gloating to me.” With that, she got to her feet. She shot me a disgusted look and stomped away.
My face fell. So much for making amends, I thought miserably as I sat back down amongst my friends.
“What was that about?” Leah questioned.
I shrugged. “I was just trying to be a good sport and tell her that I was sorry things got all messed up like this, and she kind of got angry.”
Micky let out a laugh. “Well that’s not obvious.”
Haylie on the other hand, looked at me like I was insane. “Amelia, you beat her! Don’t go apologizing! She’s the one who cheated, and she got what she deserved.”
I nodded absentmindedly as Haylie went on. “Well, now that we have our new Keeper, we can officially start the season! We really need to get practicing as soon as we can, the first match is in November, you know! I think we might be playing Ravenclaw first, but if we’re playing Slytherin, we need to be extra prepared…”
Finally, after a long day of physical activity and drastically changing emotions, it was finally over. I was named the new Keeper and Haylie went on about Quidditch strategies for the remainder of the evening. I smiled to myself. If this was what Hogwarts would be like, then I was in for an interesting year.
A Girl Like You by Lady Alanna
Chapter Notes: Well everyone, here's chapter seven! I hope you all enjoy it! I'd just like to randomly add that I have a few one-shots that I'll be submitting in the near future, so be sure to check those out! For information on those, just check my author's page. I'll try and update it regularly. Thanks so much to Kathy and Kate for the great beta work!
Chapter Endnotes: Well, that's it. Hope you like it! Chapter eight will hopefully be around soon, it's my favorite so far. As always, don't forget to leave a review!