Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx

By Angelina Johnson

Chapter 8

Quidditch

    A week had passed since the students from the School of the Sphinx had arrived, and Harry was yet to meet any of them. He saw them in the hallways, and maybe it was just Harry's imagination, but they seemed to avoid him. Harry respected that they wanted their space, that they preferred to stick together, and he didn't go out of his way to talk to any of them. Draco Malfoy, however, had wasted no time in trying to befriend them. Ron said that Malfoy was trying to turn them against anyone that wasn't in Slytherin, but his plan didn't seem to be working. Harry had seen Draco come up to them in the halls and try to talk to them, but the members of 'Sphinx House,' as Dumbledore had told them to think of it, all seemed eager to get away from Malfoy.

    Harry, however, soon found that he had many other things to worry about. Even though he was caught up on his homework, he soon found that he had Quidditch tryouts to worry about. He and Ron were the only people left from last year's team, and since Harry was the captain, he was in charge of the tryouts. There were a lot of people who Harry didn't know very well who were trying out, and he had no idea if any of them were any good.

    The tryouts were due to begin, and Ginny was giving him the low-down on some of the people who were trying out.

    "Katherine and Caroline Luna are fourth years, and they sort of remind me of Fred and George-they're trying out for Beaters. They're pretty good, I've seen them play-they're Luna Lovegood's cousins or second-cousins or something like that. They're nothing fabulous, not yet anyway, but I think with some practice they could be great. Dean Thomas is trying out for Beater, too, and I suppose he's all right, but I don't know if he can compare to the Luna twins. Let's see, Colin and Dennis Creevey are both trying out to be Chaser, but I doubt that they're much good. Katie Bell's little brother Brett is probably good, he's only a third year, though, and so is Angelina's sister Andrea. Alicia Spinnet's cousin Ali Burke is trying out, but Alicia said that she's not a very good flyer," Ginny said.

    "Thanks for the help, Ginny. Just go out there and fly your best," Harry said as she joined the line of people trying out for Chaser.

    Ron stood beside Harry and helped him watch. First he had all of the hopefuls fly through an obstacle course. Ginny flew through it perfectly, as did Brett Bell and the Luna twins. Andrea Johnson also did a very good job, but Dennis and Colin Creevey both ran into just about everything in sight. Dean was a decent flyer, but he didn't have much experience, and it showed. There were a few others, but they didn't stand out of a crowd.

    After the obstacle course, Harry had all of them get back onto their brooms and play a scrimmage. They didn't release the Snitch, because there was no need, and Harry played Keeper as opposed to Seeker. Ron was the Keeper for the other time. On Harry's team were Ginny, Brett Bell, and Ali Burke as the Chasers, and the Beaters were Dean and a seventh year named Gary Crump. Ron had Andrea Johnson, the Creevey brothers, and the Luna twins. Harry tossed up the Quaffle and the Bludgers, and then he flew to guard the other set of goal posts.

    Once Ali Burke had a Quaffle in her hands, she was an excellent flyer, but the way she had flown the obstacle course had been alarming. Ginny continued to do a fantastic job, and Brett was almost as good as Katie Bell. He supposed that Brett had learned a few tricks from his older sister. Andrea Johnson was also an excellent flyer. She handled the Quaffle well, and she made smart passes. The Creevey brothers were, naturally, a disaster. Harry had already eliminated them from the competition. The day that Harry let them on the team would be the day that he and Draco Malfoy became friends. He was finding it much tougher, however, to choose three out of the other four.

    The Beater situation was much less difficult to decide. Gary Crump was a horrid flyer, although he was better than the Creevey's. Dean Thomas was decent, but he didn't hold a candle to the Luna twins, and even if Dean had been as good as they were, Harry doubted that the Luna's would perform as well if they weren't together. Harry decided that he would make Dean a reserve, as his abilities were respectable and he seemed enthusiastic enough.

    An hour later, after carefully watching the four remaining Chaser candidates, Harry was ready to make his decision. They had all done a very good job of flying, and Harry had easily chosen Brett Bell and Andrea Johnson. That had left the final spot between Ali Burke and Ginny. Harry carefully analyzed things. Ginny was a better flyer, but Ali had a slight edge when it came to handling the Quaffle. However, Ginny was more enthusiastic, she was older, and she had more experience, so Harry gave her the position, and he kept Ali as a Reserve. However, none of his decisions were final, so Harry decided to talk to Ron, and he promised the people who had tried out that he would let them know before tomorrow.

    "Well, what do you think?" Harry asked Ron. They were sitting together in the locker rooms once the tryouts were through.

    "Well, the Beaters are easy enough to decide. You'd have to be crazy not to take the Luna twins," Ron said.

    "Yeah, I agree. Dean did a decent job, though, and I was thinking I might keep him on as a Reserve, you know, just in case something happens," Harry said.

    "Yeah, good call. Dean's a nice guy, and he certainly tried hard. He'd be a good influence on the whole team, you know, since he's so relaxed," Ron said.

    "Yeah. Well, what'd you think about the Chasers?" Harry asked.

    "That's an easy one," Ron said.

    "Really? I was having a hard time deciding between the four of them," Harry said.

    "Oh, so you've already done the easy part. I just meant that you should totally nix the Creevey brothers. I wouldn't even consider either of them," Ron said. Harry agreed.

    "What about the others, though? I was thinking I should definitely take Andrea and Brett, but I was having a hard time deciding between Ginny and Ali," Harry said.

    "Yeah, you took the words right out of my mouth, you did. Look, you may think I'm just saying this because she's my sister, but I think that you should take Ginny. She's a good flyer, and I know that she's not a master at handling the Quaffle yet, but she'll get better. She learns fast. Besides, you can take Ali as a Reserve. She's only a second year, she'll have plenty of time to play once Ginny leaves," Ron said.

    "Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking, I just needed a second opinion," Harry said.

    "Good. Shall we go tell them, then?" Ron said.

    "Yeah. I'll take half, and you take the other half," Harry said.

    "Okay, but I don't want to be the one telling these people that they didn't make it," Ron said.

    "Oh, give me a break, Ron. I'll talk to the Creevey's, you know, tell them that they didn't make it, and you can talk to Gary and Dean. Don't forget that Dean's a Reserve. Then I suppose you can talk to Ali, Andrea, and Brett, and I'll talk to Ginny and the Luna's," Harry said.

    "Oh, no, I'll talk to the Luna's and Andrea, you can talk to Ali and Brett and Ginny. I don't want to have to tell Ali that she didn't make it, George'll kill me, you know, he dates Alicia. He'll probably come up here and turn me into a frog or something for not putting her cousin on the Quidditch team," Ron said.

    "Fine then. Let's go talk to them now before it gets too late," Harry said, and they were on their way out of the locker room when Harry bumped into someone. He fell to the ground with a thud, and saw that the girl he had run into had fallen as well. She had brown-blond hair, green eyes, and freckles, and she had a smile on her face. She appeared totally unafraid of Harry, unlike most of the other Sphinx students. Harry had seen her a couple of times in the halls before.

    "Oh, I'm sorry," she said, quickly scrambling to her feet, "I wasn't watching where I was going."

    "Oh, no, it was my fault," Harry said, getting to his feet as well.

    "I'm Alexandria Evans. You can call me Alex," she said, offering her hand to Harry. He took it.

    "I'm Harry Potter," he replied, "and this is my friend Ron Weasley. We were just having Quidditch tryouts." Alex smiled even broader.

    "You play Quidditch too? I'm our Captain!" Alex exclaimed. She was very friendly.

    "Yeah, I'm the Gryffindor captain," Harry said.

    "Yeah, Captain, shouldn't you go back up to the Common Room and tell everybody who made the team? Or should I do it for you?" Ron asked.

    "Yeah, you go on, I'll be there in a minute," Harry said.

    "I was just coming down here to see what your Pitch was like. After all, the other four teams have an advantage of being used to the field," she said with a smile.

    "Yeah, I suppose so. You don't sound like you're from Egypt," Harry said bluntly.

    "Oh, I'm not, but my aunt Kristin teaches there, so she insisted that I go there instead of Hogwarts. It's a shame, really, I don't like the School of the Sphinx, or the people there, and they don't like me either," Alex said. The mention of Kristin Langley reminded Harry that he still needed to talk to Melissa. Perhaps he would have to do that before he went back to the Common Room.

    "Well, that explains why you don't look as me as if I'm the devil, or Voldemort or something else awful," Harry said.

    "Oh, don't mind them. They're all superstitious, and they're a bunch of dunderheads if you ask me. My aunt Kristin isn't exactly one of my favorite people, either. Sort of hard to get along with. My mum said that she disappeared for a long time after she graduated from Hogwarts, and the next they heard from her she was teaching at the School of the Sphinx. My mum doesn't really have anyone else, you know, Aunt Kristin is her only sibling, and Voldemort killed my dad, so Mum just listens to whatever Aunt Kristin says, even if it's telling me to go to the stupid school of hers. I guess there's nothing I can do about it anymore, though," Alex said, still grinning.

    "That doesn't seem very fair, though," Harry said.

    "My life's never been fair," Alex said sadly, "but I just laugh at it. It makes it a lot easier."

    "I sort of know how you feel. I mean, I had to live with my Muggle aunt and uncle for ten years after my parents died. I still have to stay with them during the summers. But they're the worst sort of Muggles possible. They treat me as if I'm scum, and if they're not ignoring me they're threatening to chuck me out. They hate everything that has to do with magic, and anything else that they think is abnormal. They treat me as if I'm a slave most of the time, and they used to starve me for like a week at a time. The only reason that things have gotten better the past couple of years is because of my godfather, Sirius Black. I forgot to mention the fact that he was innocent to them. They think he's some murdering nutter," Harry said. Alex laughed.

    "Good thinking. I've heard a lot about Sirius Black-both good and bad, mind, but he always sounded pretty cool to me," Alex said.

    "He is pretty cool. Well, I better go, Ron's not going to be happy if I make him talk to all of the people who were at try outs on his own," Harry said.

    "Yeah. I'm glad I met you, Harry. We need to talk again sometime," Alex said.

    "Yeah. I'd like that," Harry said, and he headed back up to the Common Room. He was greeted, however, just outside the front doors by Ginny.

    "Oh, Harry, Ron's just told me that I've made the team, oh, thank you so much!" Ginny exclaimed. She was jumping up and down happily, and she hugged Harry excitedly.

    "You deserved it. You were easily one of the best," Harry said, hugging her back. She felt so right in his arms. He felt like he could hold her forever, but he released her reluctantly. She was beaming.

    "Brett and Andrea were both better than me, I knew that much, but Ali and I were so close, and I was afraid that you would pick her, but oh Harry, you won't regret this, I promise, it means a lot to me!" she said.

    "It's no problem. After all, I took your spot. When I leave, you should take my spot as Seeker for the last year, and then Ali can be Chaser. You're a great Seeker, too," Harry said. Ginny smiled again.

    "You took the Luna's, then?" Ginny asked. Harry nodded.

    "No way around it, they were easily the best," Harry said. However, once they were done analyzing Quidditch, the usual silence fell.

    "Harry," Ginny began. Harry looked down at her.

    "Yes, Ginny?" he replied.

    "Well, I've been thinking about what happened on the train. A lot. And I just... I guess I don't really understand what happened, or why, but I do understand something. I like you, Harry, and even if that kiss meant nothing to you, it meant something to me, and I just need to know how you feel," Ginny said. All of her words came out very fast, and she seemed very nervous. Harry wasn't exactly sure what to say. Ginny liked him, she really liked him. Harry had wanted so much to hear her say that. His stomach fluttered and did flips again.

    "I like you too, Ginny," Harry said very softly, "I just..."

    "You just what?" Ginny asked, looking at him nervously.

    "It all seems so weird, though. Weird, but-right, somehow. Like, I dunno, like..." Harry stuttered.

    "Like this?" Ginny asked, and she kissed him gently. Harry felt as though something had exploded inside of him. Ginny wrapped her arms around him, and somehow, Harry's arms ended up around her as well. He felt himself kissing her back, and it was like fireworks were going off inside of him. They stood there for the longest time, just holding each other, kissing under the stars. Finally, very slowly, Ginny pulled away. Her arms were still entangled around Harry.

    "Oh, Lord, what is my brother going to say?" Ginny said, more to herself than Harry. Harry looked at her, and she was grinning. He couldn't help it-he grinned too. Before he could stop himself, he was kissing her again. This time he was the one who broke away.

    "Should we go back up to the Common Room?" he asked. Ginny looked as though she was thinking about it, but then she just kissed Harry again. Harry had never felt so happy. Every time he and Ginny kissed, every time that she wrapped her arms around him, even just when she was around him, Harry felt as though there were rockets going off inside of him. He liked that feeling.

    Finally, he and Ginny disentangled themselves and walked back up to the Common Room. They were talking and laughing about things again, and somewhere along the way Ginny's hand slipped into his.

    Harry grinned again. He glanced sideways at Ginny. She grinned, too.

    They reached the Common Room all too soon for their liking. Harry had already completely forgotten about his conversation with Alex Evans, and about his earlier resolve to talk to Melissa. Being around Ginny always made him forget things.

    "Let's not say anything to anyone else," Ginny whispered as they climbed through the portrait hole into the crowded Common Room.