Wren spent most of lunch reading through a book she had brought from home, Various Useful Spells in School. She kept excitedly telling us about this or that enchantment, or how this spell would make the victim sing, or if you waved your wand this way and said "Colloshoo," the victim's shoes would be glued to the ground. She wouldn't let James try that one on anyone.

After lunch, James caught up to us on the way to Potions. He pulled us off into an empty classroom.

"What is it?" I asked, annoyed. I'd been hearing bad reports about Professor Sulcan all day and the last thing I wanted was to be late to his class.

"Quidditch trials are a week from Saturday!"

"What's Quidditch?" I asked blankly.

Wren, Albus, and James all stared at me.

"What do you mean, 'what's Quidditch'?" James hissed.

"I mean: I do not know what this 'Quidditch' you speak of is. Please enlighten me."

James, still staring at me like I was crazy, quickly explained the game. The largest ball, a red Quaffle, could be thrown by the Chasers through one of three hoops to score ten points for your team. The Keepers guarded the goals. The Bludgers were hit at opposing players by the Beaters. The Seeker spent his time searching for the Golden Snitch. If he caught that, the game was over and his team was awarded 150 points. And all of this happened on flying brooms fifty feet above the ground.

"All right," I said when he finished. "So?"

"Tryouts are a week from Saturday!" he repeated.

"So? I can't fly. Can I go?"

James glanced at Albus, who smiled. "We'll teach you! It's not hard, really. James, can you help us train? Maybe we can all get on the team. There's five open spots this year, right?"

James nodded. "Sound good, girls?"

"First years can't own their own brooms," Wren pointed out.

"You can use a school broom."

"I'm not very good..." Wren said stubbornly.

"Surely you're better than me," I said, smiling.

"I..." Wren looked around at us, then looked down and mumbled something.

"What?" James tapped the top of her head. "Speak up."

"I'm afraid of heights!"

Albus stared at her. "You are?"

She nodded and crossed her arms. "And you are not making me ride a broom."

"All right, all right!" James said, putting his hands up. "You can just watch. You want to, Astra?"

"Sure," I said, shrugging. There was no way I'd learn in time to get on the team, but it couldn't hurt to try.

"Ok," James said. "I mean, you guys'll have flying lessons later, but it won't be in time for tryouts, and if you want to be on the team, you have to know how to fly, obvious-"

"We need to get to class!" Wren shrieked, looking at her watch. Albus stared at her. I felt myself go white.

James was the only one with a working mind, apparently. He shoved us out the door. "Run!"

We streaked down the almost empty halls, pounding through corridors and down stairs. We flung ourselves into our seats just as Professor Sulcan walked in. He gave our disheveled appearances a raised eyebrow but seemed to ignore it. Ciara Malfoy smirked at me.

Potions was awful. Completely and utterly awful. Professor Sulcan immediately took a disliking to me, taking five points from Gryffindor because I accidentally added five horned slugs instead of four to my Cure for Boils. I was about to say something incredibly rude when Wren and Albus both kicked me under the table.

Ciara Malfoy was, of course, his star student, though in my opinion Rose Weasley did a much better job on her potion than she did. Rose actually had pink smoke rising from her cauldron, while Ciara's was more of a sickly orange color.

After Potions, we didn't bother with putting our things away. Albus led the way outside to the Quidditch pitch.

When we walked in, I scanned the ground for James, but didn't see him. At first, I assumed we had gotten there before him, but then I heard a whoop high above me. I looked up to see James flying upside down and laughing his head off.

When he saw us, he quickly landed a few yards away. Wren took a seat in the stands as James led us over to two waiting brooms.

"That looks dangerous," I said immediately.

James gave me a weird look. "Really, Astra, I'd have thought you wouldn't care about that..."

"I don't fancy getting a concussion, thank you very much."

James grinned. "That's a great name! Welcome to How To Get A Concussion, taught by yours truly." He bowed, and Albus clapped.

I rolled my eyes. "Promise I won't get a concussion?"

"You'll be perfectly fine, Astra. Come on!"

James motioned to the brooms. "These won't be as fast as mine," he explained, "because the school brooms are all Nimbus 8000s, and mine is a Lightsweep, one of the fastest there is, but that's all right. Probably best that you start on a slower one," he told me.

I nodded. Albus reached his hand out and his broom flew into it. He mounted it and whizzed off. I heard Wren's scream as Albus almost crashed into her, but he lifted at the last second and soared high into the air. I looked back at James as Albus started taking laps around the stands.

"What do I do?"

"Ok, you stand next to your broomstick," James said, demonstrating as he talked. "Stick your right hand out over your broom and say 'Up!'" James's broomstick flew into his hand. "Don't be disappointed if it doesn't work the first time, Astra. Albus and I are pretty good for our age, really, so you can't expect to be doing loop-de-loops and everything. Flying is in our blood, so don't be disappointed if you don't get it the first time."

I nodded, not really listening. I was concentrating on my broomstick. I stretched my hand out and said confidently, "Up!" The broomstick flew into my hand. I was so surprised that I fell over.

James stared at me in shock, then grinned, holding a hand out to help me up. "That was great! Now try again, and see if you can stay on your feet."

I tried several more times, and each time the broom seemed to get a bit easier to manage. Finally, James decided I was ready to mount it. He demonstrated it very slowly.

"Got it?"

"I think so..." I mounted my broom, which wasn't as hard as James made it out to be.

Janes clapped. "Nice. Ready to kick off and fly around a bit?"

"I guess so..." I said slowly.

"Ok. When I say go, kick off, fly up a couple of feet, then come back down. Keep yourself steady. Ok? Three...two...one...go!"

I kicked off the ground hard and flew up a few feet. It was amazing, being up in the air. James nodded encouragingly. "Nice! Want to come down, or fly some?"

As an answer, I took off around the stands. An exhilarating rush of joy spread through me. This was awesome! It was easy and perfectly wonderful! Albus gaped as me as I soared past him, and I heard James shouting, "She's a natural!" I had more fun that afternoon than I'd ever had in my life.

~~~~

We did have flying lessons later that week, and Albus and I had a good laugh afterwards at the shocked and slightly offended look on Ciara's face when we both turned out to be "gifted fliers," in Madam Hooch's opinion. Scorpius surprised both of us by congratulating us.

Wren was a huge failure on her broom, the one thing she seemed to have trouble with at Hogwarts. She ended up having a panic attack while in the air and Madam Hooch had to rush her off to the hospital wing for a calming potion, with a warning that if anyone so much as touched a broom while she was gone, we could kiss Hogwarts goodbye.

"I am going to tryout for my House Quidditch team," Ciara announced haughtily.

"Bet you don't get on," Eric Finnigan said. He was another Gryffindor first year.

"Yeah," Albus added, "it's been twenty-six years since a first year got on a House Quidditch team, and that was my dad."

Ciara rolled her eyes. "I'd like to see you get on."

"Maybe he will," I said hotly.

"Ciara..." Scorpius pleaded, "can't you come off it?"

"At least his dad got on from pure talent. Your dad had to buy his way onto the team when he was in school," Iris Brown said, talking over Scorpius.

Another Slytherin boy, Nico Jasper, scoffed. "And did either of your parents play Quidditch, Brown?"

Iris flushed. "No...not exactly..."

"Not exactly," Nico repeated, in a high falsetto voice. All right, that was enough of that.

"Shut up, Nico," I said steadily.

He smirked at me. "Make me."

I raised my wand and shouted, "Colloshoo!" before Nico even had time to take his out. His face paled as he tried to move his feet but couldn't. Most of the Gryffindors doubled over laughing.

Everyone froze as a stern voice behind us said, "Miss Lewis, what on earth do you think you're doing?"

Nico snickered as I turned to see Professor Patil, our Transfiguration teacher. I slowly lowered my wand. "Nothing..."

"I think you need to come with me, all right?" she said. I stiffly nodded and followed her inside, trying to ignore the snickering from the Slytherins.

~~~~

Professor Patil sighed as she sat down begins her desk. "Astra, you do realize that hexing other students is against the rules, don't you?"

"But he was-"

"I'm not interested in what he was doing right now. We're talking about you."

I sighed and looked down. "Yes ma'am, I know..."

"I'm going to have to take five points from Gryffindor, but I won't give you detention this time, all right? I'll let you off with a warning." I nodded, still studying my shoes. "All right, you may return to your lesson."

By the time I reached the Quidditch pitch, though, the lessons were over. Wren and Albus were sitting in the stands, waiting for me. On the field, Madam Hooch and Professor Sulcan were trying to pry Nico's shoes off the ground. He kept sending pointed glared in my direction.

"That wasn't smart, Astra," Wren said the moment I sat down. "What if you had said it wrong? And someone got hurt?"

"I knew what I was doing," I lied. The truth was, I had had no idea what I was doing. I just raised my wand and said the first thing that popped into my head. Wren didn't need to know that, though.

"Wait till James hears about it," Albus said, laughing. "I never could have done that."

"Sure you could have!"

"Not that you should," Wren said firmly. "You're lucky you didn't get detention."

I shrugged. "Next time I'll make sure I don't have any witnesses."

Wren sighed. "I give up, you're hopeless."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I said sweetly, as Wren rolled her eyes.

~~~~

Saturday, James decided that I'd had enough practice flying, and that what Albus and I needed was Quidditch practice. He had us practice all four of the positions all afternoon, and had Wren judge which ones we were best at.

I was a terrible Keeper. I had a tendency to overestimate where the Quaffle would soar past me, and often would zoom away and leave an opening. Albus wasn't much better.

As a Beater, both of us failed. Albus had a hard time lifting the bat to hit the Bludgers, and my aim with it was terrible. There's a reason I never excelled at softball.

Albus really was best as a Chaser. He was good at ducking and spinning to avoid the Bludgers, and he managed to get the Quaffle though the goals a lot. I was average - nothing special, but not overly bad.

The place I really shined was as a Seeker. All I really had to do was keep my eyes open for the Golden Snitch and make sure I didn't get hit by flying Bludgers or players. Once I saw the Snitch, I just had to catch it, which wasn't very hard at all for me.

The days sped by and finally it was the morning of tryouts. Albus was too excited to eat his breakfast, and all around us our Housemates seemed just as excited. There had never been this many openings on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Ryan Ham, the captain, was sitting at the end of the table with the only other remaining team member, Jaycee Bell, a fifth year.

After breakfast, what seemed like the whole House made its way to the Quidditch pitch. Half of the students took places in the stands to cheer on their friends, but about forty students were milling about on the field when Ryan and Jaycee walked out of locker room in their scarlet and gold Quidditch robes. Immediately, all the talking ceased. Every eye was trained on Ryan.

"Well," he said loudly, "let's start! Could you please all group into sections based on what position you play? Chasers over here, Beaters there, Seekers, Keepers. Ok?" Everyone shuffled around, moving to show their different positions.

"Great," Ryan said, once we'd all stopped moving. "As most of you know, at the moment only Jaycee and I at left on the team. Since we both play Chasers, we'll only need one more person to play that position." The largest group, made up of about twenty potential Chasers, groaned. Albus glanced at me, a bit paler than normal, and I have him a thumbs up. He was the smallest boy trying out for Chaser, I could see why he was nervous.

I looked around at my competition for Seeker. There were a few older students, and a boy who looked like he might be a third year. Five of us in all. I was the smallest, like Albus, but this time that was to my advantage, according to James. The smaller a Seeker was, the harder it would be to hit him with a Bludger and knock him out of the game. Really comforting.

Ryan had all the potential Keepers, eight hopeful fourth and fifth years, go first. Most of them were incredibly good, but only two managed to block the Quaffle every time Jaycee and Ryan threw it. Drake Wood and Connor O'Bryan were told to wait while the rest were sent up to the stands.

The tryouts for the Beaters came next. James was outstanding, along with one of his cousins, Fred Weasley, and a girl named Mackenzie Walker, the one that James apparently had a crush on.

The Chasers were given a chance after that. Albus did fairly well, but some of the older kids did better. He was sent back to the stands in favor of Brooke Hall, Caroline Long, Patrick Shaw, or Noah Cartly.

Finally, the Seekers were given a chance. Jeremiah Hogan, a sixth year, went first. He did fairly well, finally catching the Snitch after several minutes. There were several opportunities when he could have gotten it before then, though, if he'd just been paying attention. Kristina Murray and Loretta Clayton were both only average.

Allen Bowen, the third year, went next, and he was incredible. Definitely a tough act to follow. He caught the Snitch in five minutes. That's about when I started getting nervous.

Ryan called for me to try, and I mounted my broom, trying not to tremble. You'll do fine. You were good when you practiced, I told myself. Just forget about the crowd.

I soared into the air, and Jaycee released the Snitch, which immediately zoomed out of sight. She and Ryan zoomed into the air as well, along with two of the potential Beaters, James and Fred. They did their best to act like it was a real game, making sure the Bludgers were sent in my direction several times. Each time, I easily dodged, scanning the air with all my might for the Snitch.

There it was. The golden orb was hovering near the middle goalpost to my right. I immediately dived towards it. It zoomed off, but I was right on its tail. Stretching...just a little farther... My fingertips brushed it...

I heard Wren, Albus, and James's excited cheering as my hand closed around the Snitch. I raised my closed fist up in the air, and Jaycee and Ryan both flew up to me, stunned looks on their faces.

"Lewis, do you know how quickly you caught that? After you'd seen it?" Ryan asked. I shook my head. Was it too long? "Twenty seconds. Twenty seconds!"

My mouth dropped open.

"Welcome to the team!" Jaycee squealed, then hugged me, almost pulling me off my broom.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, Wren and Albus tackled me with a hug. "You did it!" Albus yelled excitedly.

Jaycee laughed. "Congrats! Now just hang tight until Ryan finishes choosing, all right? That was amazing, Astra!"

I sat in a kind of daze as tryouts continued. I didn't come back to reality until the new team sat assembled in front of me. James was beaming proudly at me clutching his new Beater's club. His cousin Fred stood beside him, equally excited. The new Keeper was Drake Wood, who kept going on and on about how his dad would be so proud. His dad had been a Gryffindor Quidditch captain. The newest Chaser was a nice-looking fourth year named Caroline Long.

"So," Ryan said loudly, getting all of us to look at him. "This is the team this year. You're all really good, so I think we stand a good chance at winning the Quidditch Cup this year, as long as we practice and play hard. First practice is Tuesday night, so make sure you don't have detention!"

~~~~

In the common room that night, several people came up and congratulated me on making the Quidditch team. They all seemed surprised that I was so young, which got a bit old after the third person. It was fun seeing their faces when I told them I hadn't even been riding for two weeks.

The best part was that Ciara Malfoy, despite all her boasting, didn't make her House's team. At breakfast on Sunday I caught her glowering at me every few minutes. I made sure to smile sweetly and wave whenever I did.

~~~~

I've had a few people ask for me to say which children are descended from the canon characters in the book, so here you go. Skip it if you want, there's nothing else to this author's note.

James and Albus (and Lily) Potter - Harry and Ginny Potter

Rose (and Hugo) Weasley - Hermione and Ron Weasley

Fred (3rd year) and Roxanne Weasley - George and Angelina (née Johnson) Weasley

Victoire, Dominique (Ravenclaw), and Louis Weasley - Bill and Fleur Weasley

Lucy (5th year) and Molly (4th year) Weasley - Percy and Audrey Weasley

Andrew and Arthur (and Anna and Alyssa) Longbottom - Neville and Hannah (née Abbott) Longbottom

Lorcan, Lysander, and Luna Scamamder - Luna (née Lovegood) and Rolf Scamander

Ciara and Scorpius Malfoy - Draco and Astoria (née Greenglass) Malfoy

Teddy Lupin (7th year, Hufflepuff) - Tonks and Remus Lupin (sadly deceased)

Colin Creevey - Dennis Creevey

Lacy and Leah (Hufflepufff) Macmillian - Ernie Macmillian

Robby Thomas - Dean Thomas

Eric Finnigan - Seamus and Padma (née Patil) Finnigan

Iris and Elias (2nd year, Ravenclaw) Brown - Unnamed brother of Lavender Brown

Jaycee Bell (5th year) - Unnamed brother of Katie Bell

Elizabeth Finch-Fletchley (Ravenclaw) - Justin Finch-Fletchley

Clarissa Rogers (2nd year, Ravenclaw) - Cho (née Chang) Rogers

Elijah (3rd year, Slytherin) Zabini - Blaise Zabini

Caleb (5th year, Slytherin) Goyle - Gregory Goyle

Ok there you go, everyone else is not related to anyone mentioned in the books, or if they are, it's not directly. Or they aren't in this book, but a later one.

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Comment!

~Ellie