Death Is Our Gift

XIV

"Trials & Tribulations"

The events of the night before went unanswered as Liam joined the group for breakfast the next morning. Ash and Joshua had already informed Sarah & Lex as to what happened. They all looked at him as he sat down to eat. He looked around at the stares.

"What did I do?" he asked.

"Aside from the fact that you had to be carried to the Infirmary last night," said Ash, "you snore."

"Sorry," said Liam. "I've got this thing that I'm supposed to do every few days and I forgot."

"Mate," said Joshua, "you were in pain."

"Yeah," said Liam. "Just a side effect. I already got an earful from Madam Pomfrey & Will. Sorry I worried you guys."

"What is so-" began Ash, but was interrupted by Lex.

"Liam, you can tell us. We're not going to judge you or think anything bad."

"Look," said Liam, getting a little defensive. "It's this thing that I have to live with. It sucks and I hate it, but there isn't anything I can do about it. Now, can we please change the subject?"

The quintet ate in silence, broken occasionally by a bad joke from Ash. After breakfast, the group headed to Potions. They entered the room and saw instead of Hufflepuffs, the class contained Slytherins.

"As you can see," said Snape with a smirk on his face, "I have requested that Slytherin house be assigned to this class as to show the Gryfindors how potions should be made. And since they assembled earlier, ten points to them. Now take your seats."

The Gryffindors grumbled and took their seats as Snape began reviewing the various uses of slugs in potion making. They frantically scribbled notes which the Slytherins seemed to already have. Liam was upset, but decided not to rock the boat, especially after the events of the morning.

The day did end on a happy note, with the posting of flying lessons the following Monday. Joshua was the most exited.

"This means Quidditch trials aren't far off," he said.

"Makes sense," said Liam. "I mean what about the first years who haven't been on a broom?"

"Doubt there will be many first years," said Ash, who was eagerly awaiting flying lessons to be over before they began.

"Malcolm said over the summer they need one Chaser & two Beaters," said Sarah. "I'm trying out for the Chaser."

"I'd be happy as a reserve," said Joshua. "But I'd like to be Seeker."

"Both of you know how to ride a broom," said Liam. "I'm not even sure I want to learn."

"Too right," said Ash.

"Ya pansy," said Joshua. "Flying is wicked. Up in the air, nothing below but the ground. Zooming around. It's indescribable."

"But you're doing such a fine job of it," said Liam with a wink.

"You'll both do fine," said Lex. "My dad wishes he could fly, but being a Muggle he can't. So, he bought me my first broom and insisted that one of my uncles show me how to fly."

"Uncle Ron gave me his," said Joshua. "A Nimbus 3000. Flew it in two Premiership championships and the World Cup."

"The 3000 is alright," said Sarah. "Mum wants to get me a new Firebolt."

"So, do either of those come with a parachute?" asked Ash.

*******

The following Monday found all the first years outside near the Quidditch Pitch. They chatted amongst themselves, until they saw Mister Wood approaching with four other students, all carrying clipboards. One of them was Malcolm Weasley.

"Good mornin'. I am Mister Wood, the flying instructor. Some of you will recognize these other students," he said pointing to the four next to him, "as the captains of your respective houses Quidditch teams.

"I am here to instruct you on the fundamentals of flying. Flying will be something that you will either get or you won't. Those who show a natural ability to safely maneuver their broomsticks will be given permission to participate in the Quidditch trials on Wednesday or Thursday.

"The captains are here to review their houses and get my approval for those who wish to participate. Now if everyone will sand by their broom..."

Mister Wood spent the next hour explaining how to summon a broom, how to mount it, and how to control it. Some students, like Joshua and Sarah, looked rather bored while many of the Muggle born students were looking rather scared. Liam had no problems calling his broomstick into his hand, unlike many of the others. Some brooms shot into their owners' hands while others just barely got off the ground. After they were all mounted on their brooms, Mister Wood had them kick off & hover for a few minutes. Liam pushed off gently and floated a foot above the ground. He wasn't nervous - in fact he wanted to start flying.

Ash, on the other hand, looked terrified. When he kicked off, he began to shake, causing the broom to respond by moving. With terror in his eyes, he immediately landed again. Other students actually fell off, their brooms either taking off into the air or crashing on and about their heads.

"Alright," said Mister Wood, "now we put it into practice." He took out his wand and waved it. A ball of light came out of the tip and began to speed around above them, producing large rings of different colours.

"You are to fly through the rings. The blue rings represented normal flying. The red rings display more advanced flying and the green rings still more advanced. In order to qualify for Quidditch, you must successfully reach the green rings, without missing too many of the other rings. When I call your name, please kick off and pass through as many rings as you are comfortable with. "Hufflepuff - Ferris."

As a blonde haired girl kicked off, Liam looked to Ash, who was very pale. "You'll do fine," Liam said. "Hit as many rings as you want."

"How 'bout none?" asked Ash. "None work for everyone? Does for me."

"Get one," said Sarah, "after that, get another."

"Just focus," said Joshua. "Can't believe you're so scared."

"Not helping here," said Liam. "Just get the first one. After that, do what you want."

"But try to get more than the Slytherins," added Joshua.

Liam watched as the Hufflepuffs and then the Slytherins went through the rings. The Slytherins seemed to have better luck than the Hufflepuffs. He attributed that to the number of Muggle borns in Hufflepuff. As the last of the Slytherins touched down, Mister Wood said, "Gryffindor - Evans."

Lex mounted her broom and began to fly through the rings. She hit all the blue rings then touched back down. "Easy peasy," she said to Ash, who still looked like he was about to faint. The other Gryffindors slowly went through their paces. Joshua made it to the green rings and did a flip before landing.

"Gryffindor - Summers," said Mister Wood.

Liam mounted his broom and kicked off the ground, harder than he had anticipated, rushing to the first ring. He made it and gripped the handle of his broomstick, turning into the second. He felt amazing, racing through he rings. He missed a few, but finally saw the difficult green rings and tried to hit as many as possible. When he ran out of rings, he looked down, fifty feet or more above the ground. He slowly came back down and landed.

"Wow," said Joshua, "not bad for your first time on a broom."

"Yeah," said Liam. "Just felt... almost natural." But then shifted his attention back to the others flying. When Ash was called, he took off slowly reaching the first ring and working his way through three more. He finally came back to land, his brow covered in sweat.

"Told you it was easy," said Lex.

"Yeah easy," said Ash. "I supposed fighting a dragon ranks pretty low on your scale too?"

"You did good, bro," said Liam.

"No,' said Ash. "You did good. I didn't break anything."

"Well, now you're done with it," said Liam.

"Yeah," said Ash, "only six more years 'til I learn to Apperate."

As the Ravenclaws finished, Mister Wood dismissed the class. Malcolm called out, "Gryffindors, over here!" The first years gathered around him, where he looked to the clipboard. "Alight," he began, "I'm going to call names. If yours is called, you can choose to participate in House trials.

"Weasley,-"

"Surprise," said Joshua under his breath so only Liam and Ash could hear him. An elbow from Sarah prove him otherwise.

"Clairborne, Bolivica, Malfoy, Summers. The time of the trials will be posted in the Common Room." He looked to the other students. "Everyone else, budge up and try again next year." He turned and walked off.

"Woohoo!" yelled Joshua. "Good job Liam!"

"You too," said Liam. "And you too, Sarah."

"Thanks," said Sarah. "You did well too."

"That's three of you," said Ash, almost relieved his name wasn't called.

"Now to figure out what to try out for," said Joshua. "Thought about it, Liam?"

"Wasn't expecting to do that good," said Liam.

"Well, you got two days to think about it," said Joshua.

**********

Liam did spend the next two days trying to decide. He borrowed Joshua's copy of "Quidditch through the Ages," and looked over the various positions. Sarah had said she was trying out for the open Chaser position. Joshua was debating a reserve position, as he didn't fancy his odds at beating Sarah. Liam had decided to see what felt best when he got there.

On Wednesday, the hopefuls filed out onto the Quidditch pitch. Liam had seen the pitch from the outside, but the sheer size held him in awe. There were four stands, each decorated in their house colours, as well as a fifth for the staff and visitors.

As he looked around, Liam saw Malcolm enter the field with the rest of the team, all dressed in their scarlet and gold robes.

"Okay," said Malcolm, "here's how this works. Each position will be tested for by the others. What I mean is that the reserve Keeper will be tested by the current Chasers, plus any hopefuls. Then the beaters will go against the Chasers. After we have seen everyone fly, we will have a mock match."

Joshua raised his hand. "What about the Seekers?"

"We currently have a Seeker and a reserve," said Malcolm, pointing to two girls off to the side. "Amy & Kim will be watching and flying, but won't be practicing with the Snitch.

"Now, Chasers first."

Sarah, Gordon Sumner, a third year, and Stephanie Riker, a fifth year, walked over and took their brooms. "Gordie," said Malcolm, "you first." Gordie shot into the air as the other two Chasers took off. Malcolm walked over, opened the large chest, and threw the Quaffle into the air.

Gordie did rather well, passing the ball and scoring five goals on his own. Stephanie didn't do as well, scoring only three goals and having troubles passing to the other Chasers. "Sarah," said Malcolm," you're up." Sarah flew off and grabbed the Quaffle. After two goals and dropping the Quaffle twice, Malcolm blew his whistle for them to land.

"Her mum isn't going to like that," said Joshua.

"Why not?" asked Liam.

"She was a Chaser for the Bats."

"Well, she didn't do too bad," said Liam.

"I did dreadful," said Sarah walking over to them. "Mum is going to be furious."

"Don't worry," said Liam. "She'll know you did your best."

The three watched as Keeper trials began, with Gordie apparently the new Chaser.

"This mean you're trying out for Beater?" asked Sarah to Joshua & Liam.

"Yeah," said Liam, "sounds like the most fund - smashing a ball at your opponents."

"I'm still thinking about it," said Joshua. "I really wanted to try for the reserve Seeker, but there isn't one. And Keeper is really rough."

"We'll have a blast being Beaters," said Liam, watching the Chasers try out the Keepers, one at each end as Malcolm kept calling them down and back up to the goals.

"Now, Beaters," he said. Liam, Joshua and two forth years walked over.

"Liam, you and Malfoy are up first," handing each of them a small bat. They both mounted and kicked off, as Malcolm released one of the black Bludgers into the air.

It took Liam a few moments to adjust to flying one handed, accelerated by the Bludger coming straight for him. He turned and charged it, turning at the last moment and smacking it to Joshua, who hit to towards Gordie Sumner, causing him to swerve from his goal run.

"Nice work," yelled Liam watching the Bludger turned towards Joshua, who flew away, which caused it to chase him. He flew across the path of Tara Morgan, the sixth year Chaser. The Bludger changed directions slightly, focusing on Tara.

"What are you doing, you twit?" yelled Tara as Joshua came behind her and hit the Bludger away.

"Malfoy,' yelled Malcolm, "you're down. Kyle, you're up!" Liam looked to Joshua, who was not pleased. He landed and handed his bat to Kyle Bernard, a second year try out, who was mounted on his broom already. He took off; going straight for the Bludger that Liam was after. Liam knew what was about to happen. Kyle reached the Bludger two seconds after Liam had hit it away, but Kyle's arm was moving too fast. The bat hit Liam's broomstick, shattering the handle.

Suddenly, Liam's world slowed down. The broom began to fall to the ground, forty feet below him. Liam felt himself slide off the broom, looking around frantically. He saw Gordie moving near by, coming to help Liam. Liam willed his body to reach out to Gordie's broom, seeming to slow his fall and almost fly.

Liam grabbed Gordie's broom in front of the startled Chaser. He tried to change direction again, wanting to flip up behind Gordie's seated position. But he overestimated how fast he was moving and flipped past the broom, his hands slipping as he rotated. He was in the air again, searching for something to grab hold of, finding nothing.

Liam began to focus on slowing his fall. He felt the seat on his brow, which began to tingle a bit. He didn't know what was happening, but he was slowing down slightly for a second, then loosing concentration, falling faster, time speeding up again. He felt the wind whipping around his face as he tumbled head over feet to the ground.

He hit the ground on his chest, his face smashing into the sand. His ribs hurt and he could feel the blood on his face - probably a broken nose. What was more interesting was that he could smell it - the faintly acidic smell of his own life force, seeping into the sandy ground.

Joshua reached him first, Sarah shortly behind him. "You alright!" Joshua yelled as he began to turn Liam over.

Liam saw the shock in both of their eyes as Joshua let go of him and he rolled back on his chest. He thought he must look bad with his nose smashed. He painfully moved a hand to his face, feeling the ridges that appeared on his brow and his nose. The palm of his hand pushed against his mouth, feeling a sharpened point pushing against his lip.

"Oh fu-" he began as he passed out.