The Slytherin Diaries: Heirs of Grindelwald

Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted
One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

-Eminem, Lose Yourself

Cool darkness reflected off the lake, the barest shadow outlining the castle's mirror image in the flickering surface. A pebble flew from the path into water, sinking deep beneath it's own ripples and plopping down on the head on the lake's great guardian. But the creature only stirred sleepily and blindly extended a tentacle at the unfortunate fish that would be it's breakfast before sinking back into the sand, and the lake was calm once more.

On the surface, however, the morning was alive with motion. The minute, slimy birdlike creatures that Hagrid lovingly referred to as "Squawks" seemed determined to live up to their name by squealing at the rising sun for all their little lungs were worth. Something from the Forbidden Forest hooted a warning, only to be answered by an offended howl. Even the castle itself was waking up, with lights flickering in the Great Hall and, suspiciously enough, the astronomy tower. The perpetrator of the pebble-kicking incident continued to pound against the dirt path that wound it's way around the lake, lowering her eyes to avoid the glare of the rising sun. Her braid flew out behind her like a child's ribbon, fluttering as though it weighed no more than a feather and never falling far enough to bang against the girl's neck. Her legs, lightly muscled, stretched out to greet the rise of the path and her green eyes lit in determination as she saw her starting point, the Whomping Willow, looming up ahead. With a loud pant and a sudden burst of fresh energy she lengthened her stride, until she was four paces away, three, two...

Umph. And... ouff. And a large string of curse words.

So her first morning run wasn't quite the movie montage Andi had thought it would be. At least not between the squawking, the tripping, and the unhappy truth that she had, in fact, only jogged for a total of ten minutes and already felt ready to die from it all.

It had all been Persephone's idea, actually. The Slytherin, who in Andi's opinion was growing weirder by the minute, had confided in her new friend that part of the reason she was in such good shape now was because she had run every morning over the summer. She had been looking for someone to join her in this dawn "routine" (Andi had decided pagan ritual was a much more fitting term) and Andi, in a moment of temporary insanity, had agreed to run. This was actually their third attempt to go running since school had started. The first two efforts had resulted in quite a bit of pillow throwing and at least one hostile charm.

The second they got to the path, of course, Persephone was off sprinting and Andi was forcing herself through each step, just praying she could make it all the way around the lake without stopping. Looking up now... or down, rather, at the world seemed to have flipped before her eyes, she thought she could make out the girl all the way on the other side, in the middle of her second... or was it third?... lap. Andi sighed and rolled back onto her stomach. She was fairly sure she should be doing something now, such as stretching, but she was equally sure that would mean getting up and that was, quite simply, not going to happen.

She had been surprised to see as many students as she did engaged in some sort of physical activity this morning. The Gryffindor quidditch team was already up and flying around the pitch, still testing out replacement keepers. Apparently Angelina's leadership of the team would be no less, in not more, fanatical than Wood's. Andi forced herself not to search for Harry in the sky above her and turned her attention back to the lake

Two Ravenclaw seniors who Andi heard might be dating jogged slowly together around the lake, stopping rather frequently to stretch. A large band of Hufflepuffs tried to stumble through some sort of sprinting-jogging exercise, which turned out to be an interesting demonstration of mass chaos as the poor students kept running into each other. Andi even spotted on Slytherin seventh year, whose name she didn't know, as well as the new twins.

"Good... morning." A heavy voice, followed by a heavy body, collapsed on the dewy grass next to her.

"No such thing," Andi retorted with a smile. Despite her initial assessment of Adonis as a shallow airhead, she'd found that she actually enjoyed his company and, far more importantly and equally more rare, he actually seemed to enjoy hers. She'd managed to have almost normal conversations with him and his brother, if you didn't count a few too many blushes and just a couple of stutters. "Where's your better half?"

"Still running." Adonis pushed himself off the ground in exaggerating slowness, flashing Andi his brilliant smile. "He's a little fanatical about it." Andi tilted her head up to give a hesitant smile to his silhouetted form. Smiles she still had trouble with, but it was hard not to smile back at a boy that was grinning so openly and dazzlingly at her.

"Are you trying out for the Quidditch team?" Andi asked, feeling quite proud of herself for actually continuing a conversation. Slowly she pulled her hands under her, determined to push herself up so her new classmate didn't think she was a total wimp. Her muscles, however, didn't seem like they want to cooperate.

"Need a hand?" Adonis grinned at her, extending one large, tanned hand. Andi took it hesitantly, praying her own hand wasn't sweaty and gross. "Naw, that's Aiden's deal. He was a chaser for our house back at Beauxbatons." His smile faded somewhat as Andi watch awkwardly. She wasn't quite up to comforting yet and had no idea what to say.

"Are you guys done already?" Persephone bounced up, still jogging in place as she waited expectantly for an answer. Adonis rolled his eyes while Andi glared.

"I think it's about time for breakfast," Andi told her, lifting an eyebrow in pity for the extra laps her friend was about to go run. "Meet you up there?" Persephone just nodded and bounced off again.

"So," Andi began, racking her brain for neutral conversation topic as they began to work their way up the hill. She decided to be daring. "Potions today."

Adonis missed her subtle teasing. "Potions, Dark Arts, History." He sighed. "It's going to be a long day."

Andi tried again. "I rather thought you liked potions last time... or was that our red-haired lab partner?" Adonis's face flushed red beneath his tan.

"She was very... nice," he said, a little too quickly. Andi raised an eyebrow, but decided not pursue the matter further. It didn't help that she was still a little bitter on the subject. The two Slytherins trudged the rest of the way to the Great Hall in silence.

A large, flashing yellow and purple poster with swirly green writing greeted their entrance into the hall.

"I was wondering if he was going to start this up again," Adonis commented with a smile as Andi read it. "Professor Robsier started a fencing club a couple years ago back at Beauxbatons, we used to have tourneys once a month." There was an incomprehensible sadness in his voice, a longing Andi wouldn't have thought him capable of. He gave a slightly dampened smile. "I won a few tourneys in my day."

"I always wanted to fence," Andi commented, taking a quill out of her bag and scratching her name up on the list in her miniscule writing. Adonis plucked the quill form her hand and added his own name beneath hers. "4 pm tonight, perfect, it should be over before tryouts," she mused aloud.

"Over-committing yourself?" Adonis asked, eyebrows raised.

Andi smiled back. "Maybe just a little. See, the way I look at it, the more time I'm actually doing something pointless, the less time I have to think and thinking's never good, so it works out in the end." Andi paused for a breath and realized she was rambling. Adonis just raised his eyebrows further and nodded in exaggerated slowness.

"Whatever you say." Andi blushed and decided to keep her mouth shut for the rest of breakfast.

"You know," Andi heard Persphone whisper across the table to her lab partner. "You might find it easier to say something to her if you weren't actually drooling." Adonis just glared sullenly and threw the peppermonk leaves with a huff. Andi tried not to giggle and turned back to her own group.

Snape seemed to be continuing his quest to devise the most outrageous lab groupings possible. In addition to tossing Persephone and Adonis over to Ginny and her rather enthusiastic housemate, Lauren, he had decided that Andi, Aiden, and Florence would be the lucky Slytherins to suffer the company of camera-happy Colin Creevy. Andi didn't know who had given Snape the brilliant idea to assign lab partners, but she seriously hoped the suffered a similar fate to the roots she was currently chopping up.

Fortunately, Colin seemed less outgoing than usual in the company of three Slytherins. Unfortunately, this meant that Florence had no verbal competition as she rattled off the gossip of the first week.

"Well apparently Draco's been snogging that third year Beauxbatons, Gabrielle, which is so gross, he's like two years older than her, Reston Meyer found then in the Quidditch locker room, when he went to take Mary Sue down there to hook up, oh! Did I mention, apparently Reston finally realized that thing hanging between his legs can be used for something other than going to the loo, so he's been shagging that American girl, could his standards get any lower? The green hair is a serious issue, I'm sorry." Florence was so disgusted she threw too many leaves into the cauldron and turned the potion a sizzling orange. Andi cringed, both because she knew they'd here it from Snape later and because Reston and Mary Sue were only a table away.

Her disgust couldn't shake her for long, however, and without so much of a five second breather Florence was off again. "So anyhow, now Seth's really jealous of Draco because he really liked Gabrielle, the Delacours and the Montagues are neighbors or something so they've known each other for forever, and Seth is determined to get her back by making the Quidditch team, only it's kind of stupid because he's not even trying to be a seeker, he's going out for keeper..."

"Wait!" Andi interrupted suddenly, releasing all the dragonpepper she had in her hand by accident and creating a small *pop in their potion. Over Aiden's head she could already see Snape swooping over, not that it really mattered, because their potion had already moved beyond redemption with the excess peppermonk. "Seth's going out for keeper?" she whispered hurriedly, hoping that neither Seth nor Snape heard her. Florence nodded and opened her mouth to continue, but at the very moment the words "so, anyways" had formed in her mouth Snape cast his shadow across the table and pulled the cauldron to him.

"Tell me, Ms. Falco, do you know what the color green looks like?"

Andi tried desperately not to roll her eyes. "Yes, Professor." She knew keeping the sarcasm out of her voice was simply asking too much.

Snape sneered. "Very good, you have already surpassed all my expectations of you scholastic aptitude." He moved onto Aiden. "Now Mr. Trosclair, I know Beauxbatons was very into appearances and things like 'cosmetic magic'," Snape wrinkled his nose in obvious disgust before continuing. "So I'll just assume you know what the color green looks like and move right onto a harder question: is this the color green?" He gestured to the potion. Even Andi had to cringe as she looked again at their lovely orange stew.

"I would have said a light auburn myself," Aiden told the potions master with an innocent smile. Andi tensed and waited for the ax to fall.

"Detention, Mr. Trosclair," Snape hissed, his face even paler than usual. "You too, Ms. Falco." Andi knew better than to protest the unfairness of it all so she quietly bit her tongue until he had sauntered away.

Aiden frowned in mock disbelief. "You know, I've never gotten a detention before." His mischievous smile deepened.

Andi lifted an eyebrow. "Why do I find that hard to believe?"

Aiden tossed some spotted cane in the potion. "Well, actually, we didn't have detention at Beauxbatons."

"What did you have?" Andi asked, stirring the now thick broth in a figure eight motion.

"Essays," Aiden sighed. "Lots and lots of essays."

Sudden, booming laughter erupted at the table behind him. "Like the one you had to write on the 'Consequences of Unnatural Hair Colors on the Study Habits of Fellow Students." Adonis beamed at his brother, speaking aloud for the first time since he'd been paired with Ginny.

"You should be working in SILENCE" Snape roared from behind his desk without even looking up. Andi and Aiden stifled giggles.

"Out of pure curiosity," Andi whispered, struggling to keep her laughter in check. "What color did you dye your hair?"

Aiden grinned slightly devilishly. "Oh, it wasn't mine."

The class everyone had been looking forward to the entire week, was, as always, Defense Against Dark Arts. Partially because of the subject matter, but more because everyone was dying to see who the new teacher (who had been mysteriously absent at the Welcome Feast) was. Rumors had been flying around faster than a Firebolt at full speed, rumors that it was some ancient hag or a gorgeous veela. One student even guessed that the real Alastor Moody had come back to teach, and that now both his eyes were magic (the last rumor had stirred some chord in Andi's memory that she couldn't quite place). One thing there were not expecting, however, was to walk into the DADA classroom Friday afternoon and to find a Hippogriff behind the teacher's desk.

"I'm not going near that thing," Julianne muttered almost fearfully. Everyone had heard stories about Draco's tragic encounter with a Hippogriff in his third year, although many suspected he had been exaggerating just a little.

"Scared, Mademoiselle Mills?" A heavily accented, young voice asked behind them. "But why be scared of a... chair?" With a quick flick of his wand and a few muttered words, the hippogriff dissolved into a simple wooden chair.

"Excuse me, thank you, excuse me," their new teacher said as he pushed his way through the throng of students. He was a tall, fair haired man with the most rigid posture Andi had ever seen, despite the fact that he couldn't have been more than thirty.

"Professor Robsier?" Two voices, which Andi could now recognize immediately as the twins, rang out. The man who was apparently Professor Robsier smiled thinly.

"Bonjour, Monsieur's Trosclair. And Mademoiselle Foster of course." He took a pair of gold rimmed spectacles out of his pocket and wiped them as the students finished getting settled. This was one of the few classes they had without any other houses and the room seemed awfully large with only eleven students to fill it.

"Now." Professor Robsier settled one the desk, one leg crossed over the other, and viewed his new class with a stern expression. "Can anyone tell me what that was? Yes, Ms... Rose, is it?"

Florence nodded her head vigorously. "It was a hippogriff, Professor." She beamed up at him as the rest of the class cringed.

Their new professor opened his mouth, then, apparently changing his mind, closed it again. "Yes, it was, Monsieur Rose. Good to see you know your magical creatures." Andi was impressed that only a margin of condescension managed to creep into his voice. "Now, just for fun, can any one tell me what spell was used there?"

Aiden's hand shot up unrivaled. Professor Robsier nodded to him. "A glamour spell, sir."

"Very nice, Monsieur Trosclair. I see you did your summer reading." Robsier paused a moment to wipe his glasses again. "And yet, even though you knew such a spell existed, you still accepted they fact that a hippogriff was standing in the center of the room. Why?" An uncomfortable shuffling of feet drifted through the room. "For that matter, how do you know that these desks are here? How do you know that we are here?"

"What is the meaning of life, really?" Persephone muttered dryly next to Andi.

This time is was Adonis to raise his hand and receive a nod. He banged his fist against the desk. "Because I can feel it, sir. Glamour spells only change the appearance, not the physical properties."

"Very good, Monsieur Trosclair. Two points for Beauxbatons." He smiled almost

mischievously. "Oh, why not, two points for Slytherin as well. Monsieur Trosclair is right, as always, that glamour spells don't change anything physically, they can only change what the eye sees. More importantly, they can only change what the eye is willing to see. For instance, had any of you thought beyond your fear of seeing a hippogriff in the room to the logic that there is no possible way a hippogriff would be allowed inside of school, you would have been able to see the green outline that gives away a glamour spell to the suspicious eye." Professor Robsier paused for a moment to let his students digest this. "So for the next couple of weeks we shall be working on glamour spells: how to cast them, how to see them, and how to dissolve them. Please open your textbooks to page five."

"That was a good class," Andi commented as they filed out of the room. Persephone snorted rather loudly, and Andi noted that the Slytherin had become, if not her old self, certainly more confident than she had been a couple days earlier. "You didn't think so?"

The girl shrugged thin shoulders. "They're just glamour spells." Andi rolled her eyes and had opened her mouth to speak when a heavy hand rested on her shoulder.

"Ready to go learn how to fence?" Adonis asked her, beaming down at her in a brotherly fashion.

"Who knows, I could have a natural flair for it and be even better than you," she retorted. Adonis just snorted as a second arm looped around her shoulders.

"But then you'll be ready to come to Quidditch tryouts with me, right?" The second twin grinned slightly more hesitantly at her and Andi suddenly felt very small sandwiched between these two twin giants, each of whom approached six feet in their own fashions. But it felt nice, this sense of belonging and even this sense of brotherly protection. She had no idea why either of them wanted to hang around with her, but apparently they did and as they walked down the hall together she, for the second time this year, that she had made real friends. Which meant, nicely enough, that she was already three true friends ahead of her record for any other year at Hogwarts.

A group of Gryffindor fifth years appeared at the other end of the hallway and Andi felt, if possible, even gladder to have the arms of arguably the two best looking Beauxbatons around her as she spotted Harry.

"Fencing, dinner, Quidditch,," Andi noted aloud, not even really paying attention to what she was saying as her world suddenly narrowed down to a single, skinny, floppy-haired boy that was currently engaged in conversation with a freckled carrot. A freckled carrot with a rather hurt expression on his face. Suddenly Andi didn't feel as good as she had a couple of moments ago and she scowled at the idea that a boy she had hardly spoken to could make her feel so guilty.

"Okay, well I'm off to the common room," Aiden told them, removing his arm and turning around. "Headed that way?" he asked Persephone and Julianne, who had been walking together in almost comradely silence. Both girls glared but followed. Andi decided to file away the peculiarity of her friend's reaction (Julianne's was normal) for a rainy day.

"Great hall, right?" Adonis asked her. "How many students do you think will show?"

"Well, the cutoff was third years... wait, are you just wondering if a certain fourth year Gryffindor will be there?" Andi teased, slightly more boldly than she would have a half hour ago.

Adonis didn't completely blow her question off the way he had Persephone's earlier. "Well... maybe... she's just so..." his voice trailed off dreamily and Andi rolled her eyes.

"Beautiful, smart, nice, compassionate, perfect... stop me when I'm getting

warm," Andi rattled off dryly.

"Well... yeah." Adonis grinned boyishly, looking for a moment more like his shyer brother than himself. "Perfect." Andi sighed inwardly, reminding herself that having real guy friends was still better than no friends at all, even if all they did was confide their girl trouble to her.

"I don't know if she's much of a fencer," Andi admitted, deciding to be helpful. "Actually, I don't know if anyone at Hogwarts is much of a fencer... it's never really come up in conversation. Not that I've had many," she added under her breath, only slightly bitterly.

"Draco Malfoy is," Adonis told her. "And all three Montague's, although I guess Carmen's too young... oh, no, she's a third year now isn't she? I used to take fencing lessons with all of them when we were younger. Oh, and I fenced a little with Hermione Granger and Harry Potter in Scotland over the summer at this clinic, they're both pretty nice." Andi's heart skipped a beat at the last name. But they had all been walking away from the Great Hall... maybe Harry had decided he was too busy for fencing?

"Well, if Harry and Hermione join, then Ron Weasley definitely will which means his sister might." Andi's voice shook only minimally, but Adonis caught on.

"Hmm, does somebody have a crush on Mr. Weasley?" He teased her. "I saw the way he looked at you in the hallway, all tragic and sad and loving."

Andi shivered slightly violently at the thought. "Merlin's beard, no. I just... he just..." she shook again.

"Uh-huh," Adonis grinned at her as he pushed open the door. "I completely understand. Andi bit her tongue from saying anything she didn't want the small crowd of fencing hopefuls to hear.

It was, in fact, a very small crowd. As Adonis had suspected, Carmen, Seth, and Henri Montague were all there under a mass of raven hair, Carmen looking as petite and determined at ever while her two brothers loomed over her. Andi sneaked a glance at her classmate and wondered how on earth she would beat the burly fourth year in tryouts for keeper.

Draco was there, of course, because that was just how Andi's life went, and where Draco was Crabbe and Goyle were, although Andi suspected they were there mostly for moral support and not because they were particularly handy with a foil. A lot of former Beauxbatons were there although not, Andi noted gratefully, Mary Sue; she picked out a couple of sixth year Ravenclaws, including seeker Cho Chang, as well as Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet from Gryffindor. Andi was slightly taken aback by the number of students there that also played Quidditch; she had no idea how big the time commitment would be, but she had been fully prepared to be the only student stupid enough to attempt to do both.

Professor Robsier whisked into the room, as tall and upright as he had been in the classroom and bearing a single wrapped foil. He strode straight to the center of the room and held his wand high in the air as a call for silence. "Attention, please," he commanded after a couple moments in which noise persisted. Gradually the noise ceased and Andi and Adonis settled quietly onto a nearby bench.

"I'm quite pleased to see many of my former students here," he nodded to the group of Beauxbatons that had formed in the corner, "as well as many new students. Today I'd just like to outline a schedule of practices and tourneys and pass around order forms for foils and suits; unfortunately, the school does not carry enough to suffice the number I see..." the Professor was cut off by the creak of the door and the entrance of one more student.

"Sorry," Hermione Granger smiled apologetically and slid onto the bench next to Angelina. She didn't offer further explanation and Andi cursed inwardly because Harry, it appeared, would not be coming. Professor Robsier, with a quick smile at Hermione, continued to list the dates of practices and tourneys before handing out a sheet of parchment that conveniently listed them all.

"It would be kind of nice if he handed this out at the beginning so I could have slept through that whole long speech," Andi whispered to Adonis at the French professor moved to the other side of the room.

"I think he does it so you don't sleep through that whole long speech," Adonis noted wisely. Andi sighed and muttered something about evil teachers always being two steps ahead.

"Well, I think that's it for today." Professor Robsier smiled at the group, a much more open smile than he had used in class. "I hope to see you all on Sunday."

Andi and Adonis continued to look at the parchment as students began to shuffle out of the hall. It was only a half an hour until dinner, and the Slytherin dungeon took about ten minutes to get to.

"Practices ever Sunday, tourneys once a month," Adonis noted. Andi listened with half an ear, watching Hermione approach the Professor out of the corner of her eye. "It's almost like back at Beauxbatons." Andi missed the wistful note in his voice.

"Professor Robsier? Would it be possible for me to get three extra copies of the schedule and ordering forms?" Hermione sounded more tentative than usual as Andi strained to hear the rest. "Harry, Ron, and Ginny all wanted to come but had Quidditch tryouts."

"Of course, Mademoiselle Granger, I look forward to seeing them here." He shuffled through the papers and retrieved several to hand to her. "By the way, how is the essay on ethical uses of glamour spells going? I'll be particularly interested to hear what you have to say, seeing as you seem to be one of the few students that has any idea what they are let alone how to use them."

Hermione blushed. "Fairly well, I think... I'm only on my fourth roll of parchment, but I'll have it done by Monday."

Professor Robsier lifted one long, groomed eyebrow. "Wasn't the minimum two rolls?" He smiled at her as her blush deepened.

"Oh... well... I just had more to say on the subject," Hermione's voice was positively squeaky by now. Andi tried not to giggle and give away her eavesdropping.

"Very good, Mademoiselle Granger, very good." Hermione muttered a quick thank you before darting from the hall.

Andi poked Adonis playfully. "Sounds like your dream girl will be attending fencing lessons," she teased.

"Could you say it any louder?" Adonis hissed darkly, with a meaningful glance over at Draco and his minions, who had also elected to stay behind. Andi recoiled back and looked down at the parchment to hide to mixture of hurt and anger that she could feel rising in her face. After a moments silence Adonis laid a light, almost shy hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry," he said, his voice scratchy in chagrin. "Didn't mean to snap... just this whole thing is embarrassing enough." He leaned over to give her a lopsided grin. Andi smiled gratefully.

"So Quidditch on Saturdays, fencing on Sundays..." Andi removed the shaking form her voice quickly, annoyed that already she'd become so emotionally attached to Adonis. She was beginning to rethink this whole friend thing and the vulnerability issues it brought up.

Suddenly Adonis enveloped her in his arms and planted a smacking kiss on her forehead. "You are way too understanding," he told her with his dazzling grin. Andi stiffened, her eyes wide with shock, and Adonis released her with a quizzical frown.

"Sorry," Andi apologized genuinely, once she recovered. "I'm just not much of a huggy person." She shivered, not recalling the last time anyone had hugged her.

"Well, we'll just have to work on that," Adonis teased her lightly. "Hug you when you least expect it." His grin widened.

"Oh Merlin, please don't," Andi pleaded, even as Adonis threw his arms around her again. Andi stiffened only slightly less this time and he released her quickly.

"We'll work on it," he told her, still grinning. Andi just moaned.

"Your brothers very...um, huggy," Andi panted out to Aiden as the jogged to the pitch together.

"Merlin's beard, don't get me started." Aiden rolled his eyes. "He tried to hug me once, I nearly socked him.

"Well, you two are brothers," Andi amended, stopping at the center of the field and bending over to catch her breath.

"You know, you're never supposed to bend over after to you run," Aiden told her, leaning against his broom. "You're supposed to put your hands on top of your head to get the air flowing." Andi gave him her best 'screw you' face and continued to rest her hands on her knees.

"Adonis... some people think he's really snobby, I've never understood why though. He's just like a big...teddy bear, although he'd kill me if he knew I said that." Andi choked out a laugh. "He's given away his heart so openly, so freely... so many times," Aiden snorted slightly, recalling past experiences. "It's sad and refreshing, all the same time... Merlin knows I don't have the courage to be as open as he is." Aiden gave her another lopsided smile as Andi finally managed to pull herself upright.

"You know, we really didn't have to run," Andi told him with a mock glare. "Seeing as we are the first one's here and all."

"Ah, but then we wouldn't have been able to have this nice heart to heart," Aiden pointed out. "Besides, here comes the rest of the team." Andi sighed.

The quidditch players clung into two very distinct groups; the remnants of the team after five of its players had graduated (in essence, Draco and Henri Montague) and everyone else. Of course, Crabbe and Goyle were pretty much given as Beaters, so they kept inching over to the existing team despite Draco's repeated glares. Andi was quite impressed, actually, by Draco's 'start-of-the-season' speech and his apparent determination to hold completely fair and unbiased tryouts. Of course, Andi knew this was all just because he wanted to win the Quidditch cup and rub it in the other houses faces, but he still seemed to be on less of a power streak than Andi would have suspected from his recent promotion to captain.

"Keepers over there, chasers here, and beaters here. Seekers, try out for another house team." Andi grinned at this last bit of nastiness, glad to see that Draco had completely lost his sense of unwarranted meanness. Fortunately no one on the field seemed to be stupid enough to have come for the seeker position, so the hopefuls split cleanly into three groups. Andi was relieved to note that Seth was the only other Slytherin trying out for keeper, since that would be competition enough.

Crabbe and Goyle were the only two trying out for Beaters, and Draco, only slightly chagrined, waved them over to his side. He looked for a moment over at the spot he had sent the Keepers, his gaze resting briefly on Andi with a look of annoyed confusion, but a second later he had moved on from him and faced the chasers.

"Carmen Montague and Aiden Trosclair." Draco frowned as he looked at them. "A first year and a Beauxbatons... I guess we'll have to start training particularly hard." His scowl deepened as he held up a hand to wave them over.

"Wait!" A light voice cut through the darkening air as a small figure hurried across the pitch. Andi blinked as she watched Persephone's form materialize next to Aiden. "Sorry I'm late... I thought I might try out for chaser?"

Andi waited for Draco to unleash a tirade of sarcasm about lateness, but it never came. Actually Draco didn't even seem angry... puzzled, maybe, and possibly a little too relieved.

"Good," he stated, nodding. "We'll try out chasers tomorrow morning." His gaze darkened as he switched back to Seth and Andi. "And keepers now. If any of you want to practice, which I highly recommend, you can do so at the other end of the field while Montague and I decide who your new keeper will be." Henri snorted and muttered something under his breath as five brooms lifted off the ground.

"What was that, Montague?" Draco questioned, his voice dangerously low. Andi shivered. "You don't think it will be that hard of a decision?" Henri's eyes darkened but he didn't say anything. "Let's wait until we see your brother play until we judge how hard that decision will be." Draco sneered at the older boy, who clenched his fists. Andi couldn't decide which of the two looked more dangerous at the moment and felt rather grateful for the piece of wood she held in her hand.

"Falco," Draco hissed, his cheek twitching slightly as he gave off the air of an offended cat. "You first." Andi bit her tongue in determination and mounted the broom, rising what hoped was gracefully to the goal posts. Montague and Draco zoomed up after her.

Andi shifted nervously on her broom in front of the middle goal, not entirely sure what to expect. Montague and Draco each took opposite sides of the field, Montague with the quaffle. Andi grinned. She had a feeling both boys were going to bring their absolute all in this, and the quidditch pitch was one of the few places she welcomed a challenge.

Montague was off and the tryout had begun. Andi inched over toward the right goal, noting out of the corner of her eye that Draco hadn't moved. Montague flew straight to her and the center goal, but Andi noted that he tilted slightly to the left in preparation for a shot on the left goal, not the center goal. Which meant Andi had to remain in front of the center goal until the last possible moment...

Whack! Andi grinned as she heard the back of her broom cleanly deflect Montague's shot, much to her opponent's surprise. But she had as little time to celebrate as Montague did to wonder, as Draco had quickly retrieved the quaffle and they were off again.

They played well into dusk, Andi deflecting a total of twenty one shots and only letting by three. She filed them in her memory to review later, but she knew from past experience that if she went over them now she wouldn't make another save for the rest of the night.

Then is was Seth's turn; Andi stayed because she felt it would be bad form to go but she didn't watch. Instead she lay back into the crunchy grass, feeling her robes settle coolly against her as they shifted across her body in the evening wind. She pitied Seth having to make the saves in the dark; on the other hand, she'd had to make them with the setting sun in her eyes so it all worked out. Several times, after a loud yell or thwack, she attempted to tilt her head back to see what had happened, but either her brain or her neck muscles wouldn't cooperate because it never happened.

Stars began to push their way through the clouds Andi hadn't previously seen, twinkling harshly at her in the exquisite brightness. Centaurs, she'd heard, saw the future in these stars, but when she looked she saw nothing more that vague, incomprehensible patterns and shapes. Maybe she just wasn't smart enough; maybe she didn't want to see the future. For the first time in her life she was content with the present, and it seemed the future could only get worse.

"Falco." The smooth, condescending voice Andi had learned to hate cut through her thoughts. "Despite the objections of my teammate, you're the starting keeper. I wouldn't rest on my laurels though, you weren't so good that we aren't going to keep Montague junior around to practice and take your place when you screw up."

"Only you could make making the team seem like a bad thing," Andi glared at the older boy as she pushed herself to her feet. "And when have I ever 'rested on my laurels'? And who on earth uses the phrase 'resting on my laurels'?" Andi realized her retorts were weak, but she was tired.

"Well, I wouldn't expect you to recognize the allusion to Greek history," Malfoy sneered, turning to begin the trek back to school. "And recently you've been almost cocky, it's revolting." Andi just rolled her eyes, even though his back was turned to her. She used the pretense of looking at the stars some more to give Draco a good head start up to the school. Everyone else had gone back ages ago, long before even she had finished trying out. Aiden had given her a quick thumbs when she'd turned to wave (thereby creating one of the shots she'd missed).

Friends. People that gave her thumbs ups and genuinely wished her well...it was a new feeling, a good feeling, and a feeling she knew she'd miss if it suddenly wasn't there. She didn't like missing things; she went out of her way not to miss her mom or her brother and she allowed herself to miss her father because she'd never met him and it seemed safer that way.

Deciding Draco had enough of a head start if he wasn't crawling, Andi began to make her way to back to the school. Her school.