CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - Ron's Tryout

For the next few days, Harry was at detention with Umbridge every evening. Each time he returned, Attuoria could tell he wanted to say something, but he never did. A quick look in his head revealed to her his secret: Umbridge was making him write lines with a magic quill that etched the words into the back of his hands as scars. Attuoria decided she didn't like Umbridge very much, especially with her newfound hatred for those who inflict physical harm on others for fun.

Ron was always absent after classes, as well. He didn't tell anyone, but Attuoria knew (obviously by looking into his mind) that he was secretly training to try out for the quidditch team. Hermione, on the other hand, spent all her free time knitting woollen hats for house elves, which Attuoria didn't find very interesting.

So, she decided to help Ron with his training. After following him to the quidditch pitch on Wednesday evening, she watched him to take out the quidditch balls from the changing room.

"You ready for tryouts on Friday?" asked Attuoria, stepping out from behind one of the wooden poles. Ron turned around so quickly that he dropped the Quaffle, and it thudded onto a shaking bludger that was strapped down in its case.

"Attuoria!" He exclaimed. But then he lowered his voice and said nervously, "Please don't tell anyone?"

"Of course I won't," said Attuoria. "But there's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm sure Harry and Hermione will be more than supportive."

"Yeah, but Fred and George will probably end up knowing, and then I won't hear the end of it." He grumbled, picking the Quaffle back up from the ground. "Why are you here, anyways"

"To help you." Attuoria said with a smile.

"To help me? You don't even play quidditch," said Ron skeptically.

Attuoria shrugged. "True." She took the Quaffle from Ron's hands. "Now that I think about it, I haven't even thrown anything before." Pulling her arm back, she tossed the Quaffle out onto the field. Rather than the beautiful arc she expected, her throw didn't go very far and awkwardly fell onto the ground a few feet in front of her. Attuoria chuckled to herself and shrugged at Ron again. "I probably don't plan to throw things any time soon."

She took out her wand. "I'll just use magic."

"Oh great!" Ron said, his expression immediately brightening up. "But uh, the hoop's really far up." He pointed to the three large, golden hoops that stood at each end of the pitch. They were really tall.

"I'll just fly," said Attuoria.

"You can fly? Where's your broom?"

"I don't need one."

Ron gaped at her. "You don't need one?"

"Yeah, I don't." Ron's mouth stayed wide open. "Just get on your broom Ron, let's go. Don't question it. I'm trying to help you here."

He still didn't move. Attuoria huffed and picked up his broom (a new Cleansweep Eleven) and shoved it in his hands. She started pushing him towards the hoops and only when they were halfway there did he finally stop staring at Attuoria with his mouth open.

"Unsupported flight is pretty much impossible," he said.

"And I'm not a human, yet I'm here. Hurry up!"

Ron finally climbed onto his broom and took off, hovering in front of the three hoops. Attuoria grabbed the Quaffle from across the court with a simple Accio! before flying up into the air as well.

Drifting a good distance away from Ron, Attuoria held out the Quaffle in front of her.

"Depulso!" Attuoria called, her wand pointing at the Quaffle before making a swift sweeping movement towards the hoop on the right. The Quaffle soared out of her hand towards her intended direction with perfect aim.

Ron swerved his broom to his left, reaching out his hand to block the ball. He managed to tip it slightly with his finger tips, but the Quaffle still soared into the hoop behind him.

"Dangit," she heard him mutter to himself.

"Accio Quaffle." The ball flew back into Attuoria's hands. "Don't worry, you're still warming up. Wanna try and beat me in a race first? That'll get you focused for sure."

"You, race me? You don't even have a broom!"

"Then you shouldn't have too much trouble beating me." Attuoria flew over to Ron, and the two of them hovered next to one another in front of the middle hoop. "Whoever flies through the middle hoop on the other side first wins, got it?"

Ron nodded.

"Three, two, one, go!"

The two took off through the air. They were actually neck to neck until the last few feet, in which Attuoria suddenly slowed down, and Ron shot through the hoop in front of her.

He turned around on his broom, looking triumphant.

"I won! I beat you! I -"

"Depulso!"

The Quaffle flew towards the middle hoop, which Ron was a few feet behind. Seeing that this was a test, he jetted back through the hoop and knocked the Quaffle away before Attuoria could score another point.

"Nice one!" Attuoria said cheerfully, flying upwards and managing to catch the Quaffle in the air.

"Bloody hell Attuoria, you could've at least given me a -"

"Depulso!"

Ron swerved to the right and swatted the ball away. Before he even had time to recover back to the middle, Attuoria retrieved the Quaffle and sent it to the left. She watched his lanky figure on the broom, observing the way his long arms reached out and hit the ball away from the hoop again.

"You react pretty fast." Attuoria mused after summoning the Quaffle back to her.

"That's because you're shooting them at the hoops like you want me to fall off my broom - No!" Ron held out his arms in front of him when he saw Attuoria raise her wand again.

"But that's how you'll get better. If you can deal with an overwhelming situation, then the normal situation becomes much easier." said Attuoria.

"That's… really good advice," said Ron. "Alright then. But if I do fall off my broom, you have to save me."

"If you do fall off your broom, then you won't have to go to the quidditch tryouts, which is a good thing because it clearly means you're absolutely terrible."

"Jeez Attuoria, what a way to reassure someone," said Ron with a slight smile on his face.

"I'm just looking out for you here. If you fall off your broom now when we're training, I can't imagine what'll happen to you in game." Attuoria explained, flicking her wand as she sent the ball back towards one of the hoops.

"You throwing the Quaffle at me three times every second is much more intense than a real game, I can guarantee you that." Ron said through breaths, missing the ball and watching it fly through the hoop.

"Great. Depulso!"

***

On Friday evening, Attuoria had just finished dinner and was on her way to the quidditch pitch when a voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Knight!" Draco called, running down the marble steps. Attuoria glanced up the staircase and saw the rest of his Slytherin friends, with Pansy giving her a heated glare.

"Hi." Attuoria greeted politely. Once he arrived by her side, she started walking again.

"Where are you going?" asked Draco. There was no snideness in his voice. It was a genuine question.

"To the quidditch pitch."

"Oh that's right, the Gryffindors have tryouts today, don't they?" A hint of his usual snideness was back on this remark.

"Yep."

"I didn't peg you as a quidditch person."

"I'm not. I'm going to watch Ron try out."

"Oh."

Attuoria could tell he was doing his best not to throw out a rude comment like, "I bet Weasley's trash."

"Yeah. I'm just trying to be a supportive friend," said Attuoria with a shrug. The two walked in silence down the grassy hill towards the pitch. "Sorry about the bowtruckle situation, by the way."

"It's okay. Thanks for getting that thing off my face." said Draco, his pale face turning slightly pink.

Seeing that he was being friendly today, which was quite rare, Attuoria decided to take this opportunity and ask him some questions.

"What does your friend Pansy Parkinson have against me? I've never even spoken to her before."

"That's just how she is," Draco said with a shrug.

"Really? Did she insult you the first time you met her, too?" asked Attuoria.

Draco glanced at her, trying to find any hint of sarcasm in her sentence, but there was none. "No, she didn't."

"So she does have something against me."

"Maybe. She's probably just jealous of you."

"Jealous?" Attuoria frowned. The first and only time she encountered jealousy was with Draco, the day she agreed to help Voldemort. Draco had been jealous that she had so easily gotten the role he always wanted within the Dark Lord's ranks. Although the whole concept of jealousy was still foreign to her, that situation helped her understand the emotion a little better. "Why would Pansy be jealous of me?"

"You can't take a guess?" said Draco slightly condescendingly.

Attuoria stared at him blankly. "Uh, no. I don't know a thing about her."

He stared back at her for a few seconds before his tone switched. "Nevermind. Don't worry about it. You're not doing anything wrong. It's her problem. Just ignore her." He said gently.

"Is that what you do, then? Just ignore the things that bother you?" Attuoria thought of their moment on the train: When Pansy made a rude comment, Draco just ignored it and tried to leave.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"But my friends seem to bother you a lot, yet you do anything but ignore them." Attuoria pointed out. All of her interactions with Draco since they got to Hogwarts were of him insulting her and her friends.

When he didn't reply, she continued. "I don't like it," said Attuoria bluntly. "If Harry really bothers you that much, why can't you just ignore him or pretend he doesn't exist? You're constantly harassing him. Does it make you happy?"

"You won't get it." Draco quickly muttered, staring down at the grass underneath them.

"Clearly I won't. There's nothing funny about making someone else feel bad." said Attuoria defiantly.

"The way you're talking, I'd think you were a Hufflepuff," he scoffed.

"I mean, I could've been in Hufflepuff. It was all a matter of choice to me, really." Attuoria replied, not picking up on the intended tone of his words.

Draco let out a small chuckle.

"I wasn't joking," said Attuoria.

"I know you weren't." He tilted his head and gave her a small smile. It was just a small gesture, but Attuoria knew it meant a lot. Usually, the only smile people ever saw on his face was a smug, sly one. This one was genuine.

"I have another question," said Attuoria, suddenly remembering something.

"Go for it."

"I was in my dorm the other day and I overheard - well, I kind of read her thoughts - a girl thinking that all the boys were going to go after me. As of the past week, no guys have tried to chase me down the hallway yet, with the exception of maybe you, that time after potions. I don't think I did anything wrong. What could I have possibly done to make her think that all the boys at Hogwarts want to catch me or hunt me down?"

Draco laughed. "I don't think you know what 'go after' means."

"Doesn't it mean to chase something you want to get?"

"That's the literal meaning of it."

"So there's another meaning to it?"

"Yeah, but it's a human thing. You won't get it, with your whole no-emotions thing."

"But I want to know."

The two had arrived at the entrance to the quidditch pitch. Angelina Johnson's voice was loud and clear, echoing through the staircases that lead up to the stands.

"You'll figure it out." Draco gave her a wave and left, heading back the way they came.

Attuoria stood at the foot of the stairs alone, watching him climb back up the hill. She was baffled by their interaction. He had walked all the way down with her just so they could talk. Perhaps he still thought of her as a friend.

Shrugging it off, Attuoria climbed up the stairs to the quidditch stands. There were only a few other people there watching Keeper tryouts, and most were clearly just there to hang out. Attuoria selected a seat at the front and sat down.

Three people were trying out for Keeper, including Ron. All three of them were at a similar skill level. They weren't amazing, but were good enough to block around half of the shots the Chasers were shooting. It was difficult to tell who would be chosen as the final keeper.

After around an hour or so, Attuoria's eyes were completely strained from trying to keep up with the quidditch player's movements. But thankfully, the tryouts were done. Attuoria saw three red heads fly towards each other and they all exchanged high-fives. Ron must've gotten it, she thought to herself, running down the stands to wait for them outside the changing room.

Sure enough, the team came out of the stadium congratulating Ron.

"Attuoria!" Ron called, noticing his friend standing outside. He jogged over to her, his loose helmet threatening to fall off his head.

"Congrats," said Attuoria, beaming at him.

"Thanks for helping me train." said Ron, taking off his helmet. "I definitely wouldn't have gotten it without you. The other two guys trying out were way better than me."

"I think you all did great." Attuoria said honestly. "But you clearly did better, because they chose you."

Ron grinned. "Thanks," he said.

The twins came up to Ron, and they each slung an arm over his shoulder.

"Our ickle Ronniekins here said you helped him train," said Fred, ruffling Ron's hair.

"We did not think you were interested in quidditch," said George, snatching the helmet out of Ron's hand and plopping it back onto his head.

"I just wanted to help Ron out, really," said Attuoria. "Quidditch is definitely not my forte."

"But Ron said your training was harder than the tryouts, so you must be a pretty decent Chaser."

Ron chuckled awkwardly at George's sentence, rubbing the back of his neck as he glanced at Attuoria.

Attuoria shook her head. "Oh no, I didn't throw it. Unfortunately I don't have a particularly muscular body," she held up her arms, which were not only skinny, but also pale and noodle-like. "I couldn't throw a quaffle into the hoop even if I tried. I used magic."

"Ohhh," the twins said simultaneously in realisation.

While the three brothers headed into the changing rooms, Attuoria went back to the castle. She stopped by at the Great Hall to grab a treacle tart, knowing that Harry would be hungry after skipping dinner for his detention with Umbridge. She noticed that as she walked by the tables in the Great Hall, a few people gave her odd looks. Each time she tried to make eye contact with any of them, they all quickly looked away.

When she got back to the common room, she found Hermione knitting woollen hats on the couch by the fire. Her eyes were drooping but she jerked awake each time her head tilted down. A few grey lumps were scattered on the carpet around her, and Attuoria suspected that those were the hats.

"Hey Hermione," said Attuoria, walking over and patting her on the shoulder. Hermione drowsily gazed up and smiled.

"Hey. How were the tryouts?"

"Ron got it."

"He did? That's great. Where are they?"

"They should be coming up soon." Attuoria pulled out the treacle tart that she had wrapped up with paper towels. "Can you give this to Harry when he comes back? I think I'm gonna head down to Hagrid's hut to check on Eylense."

"Oh, sure. Hagrid's still not back, is he?"

Attuoria shook her head. "I checked his hut, he packed away some things. But from the looks of it, he definitely plans on coming back."

Hermione nodded slowly, staring at the fireplace blankly. "That's good…"

"I'm gonna go. Don't force yourself to stay up if you're tired." Attuoria placed the tart on her lap before heading back out the common room.

As she walked down the school grounds, she thought about her plans for the weekend. Tomorrow was Saturday, and the boys had their first quidditch practise in the morning. She realised that during her first trip to the mortal realm, she spent all her time trying to find out who T.M.R. was. There was a purpose to her visit, and she had a clear goal in mind.

Returning to the mortal realm this time provided her with the answer to her previous question: T.M.R. was Voldemort. She settled a deal with him. Quite an unfair deal, now that she thought of it. She asked for his knowledge of invoking fear in humans, as well as to be taught the ways of humans. The magic aspect of his knowledge was quite underwhelming - it was nothing different than the spells that could be found in books. He just performed these spells with more power, which was accumulated through time.

The second part of the deal was a scam. Voldemort couldn't teach her the ways of humans. He told her that the dementors would help her. But after spending more than a month with dementors, Attuoria realised that the ways of humans couldn't be taught. It was something that was gained through experience. No matter how long she spends observing human memories from the dementors, she would not be able to understand happiness. The only way to understand was to experience.

Her time at Hogwarts has provided her with more insight to both magic and humans than Voldemort ever will. But it was pointless to think about it now. Attuoria had agreed to the deal, and it would be irresponsible of her to back out. Plus, Voldemort was the reason she was here. Without Voldemort, she would have never even thought of entering the mortal realm. All these experiences started from the message he sent out fourteen years ago. She kind of owed this journey to him.

Attuoria arrived at Hagrid's hut, and Eylense was sitting on the roof waiting for her. Upon seeing her, he flew down and landed by the door. He held a keyring in his beak, which held a large jumble of silver and copper keys.

"I told you not to take that!" said Attuoria, pulling out her wand and pointing it at the door. Her bird cocked its head at her, the keys jingling loudly. "We don't need the key anymore. Alohomora!"

The door clicked open, revealing the cramped but homey interior. Attuoria was immediately greeted by loud barks as a large black dog bounded towards her. Fang circled her twice before running back onto Hagrid's large bed, all the while panting and drooling excessively. Eylense followed her inside, wobbling over to the table and plopping the keys down.

"You're going to have to take that back to Filch's office without people noticing. And before he notices that it's gone." Attuoria said, giving the bird a pointed look.

Eylense cawed at her, signalling for her to listen to his thoughts."Yeah yeah, I will. I know that man's schedule by heart. He's going to be out early tomorrow morning with that whiny cat of his. I'll put it back."

"Good." Attuoria sat down on a slightly collapsed armchair near the unlit fireplace. Fang came down from the bed and jumped onto her lap. He was very heavy, but Attuoria found it quite comforting to hug this large bundle of fur.

It was getting quite dark outside, and the cabin was becoming less and less visible.

Attuoria pulled out her wand again. "Caerulus inflamari." She casted the spell on each of the lamps around the house until everything was covered by a soft blue glow. The small blue flames flickered in their containers. Then, with a quick incendio, the fireplace came to life.

Attuoria hadn't seen Hagrid since she got back to the mortal realm. Eylense told her that Dumbledore had sent him out on a mission to the East of Europe. So while he was gone, Eylense checked up on his hut everyday and made sure Fang had food. He was quite mature and responsible, considering he was just a bird and usually conversed with Attuoria in a very sassy manner.

When Attuoria came down to Hagrid's hut for the first time a few days ago, she decided that it would now be her job to make sure everything was going okay. After all, there was only so much a bird could do.

Sitting there in the armchair, surrounded by the nothing but the sounds of a crackling fire, Fang's breathing, and Eylense pecking at a dead pheasant hanging from the ceiling, Attuoria found herself enjoying the peace. Not that she didn't enjoy hanging out in the common room where everyone was busy and talking to one another, because she most definitely did. But the calm atmosphere in Hagrid's hut elicited a different feeling in her, one that set her mind at ease.

"You know what, we might as well spend the night here. No one would notice." Attuoria said to the two animals around her, who didn't give any response. She pulled out her wand and locked the door.

Turning around and pointing her wand at the patchwork quilt on the bed, she summoned it into her hands and pulled it over Fang and herself. The dog was already asleep on her lap. There was nothing for her to do in the cabin, so she decided to just go to sleep.