'Hello saucepot.' Gemma looked up to see Luke, smiling at her as he took a seat.

'Hello, chicken nugget,' she replied. She began spreading jam on a piece of toast, while Ted (who was sitting next to her) took a bite of his bacon sandwich.

'You know bacon and bread have like, a shit tonne of calories,' Iz told him. She had decided to eat a misshaped lump of avocado.

'At least it tastes good. Unlike that green lump your eating,' he said, continuing to wolf down his breakfast. Luke opened a book, and Gemma was about to take a bite of her toast, but was stopped.

'Don't eat that!' Someone yelped. Gemma turned to glare at them, but was surprised to find it was none other than Regulus Black.

'Why?' She asked suspiciously. He said nothing, just pointed to the Gryffindor table. There, four boys were staring intently at the Slytherin table, mischief glinting in their eyes.

'My brother,' Regulus said distastefully. 'I just know he's up to something. Him and his little friends.'

'They do look rather excited,' Luke commented.

'They look rather hot,' Iz countered. 'Hot boys always look excited.'

'Wait,' Ted said. He looked down at his bacon sandwich in horror. 'Am I going to turn into a frog now?'

'I'm not sure,' Regulus said. Ted shrugged.

'Might as well finish it then,' he decided. Regulus didn't answer, seemingly distracted. Gemma followed his gaze to the entrance of the Great Hall. There, a group of sixth year Slytherin girls had just entered. She watched as one of the girls went to sit at the Gryffindor table instead, attracting the attention of those around her. Gemma realised it was the same girl she'd seen threatening Mulciber and Snape on the train.

'That confirms it,' Luke said, snapping his book closed. 'If Elladora Hargreaves isn't eating it, then I'm not.'

'Luke is in love with her,' Iz explained.

'Everyone's in love with her,' Luke argued.

'Not me,' Ted said. 'I'm in love with this bacon sandwich.' Gemma laughed. Luke was about to say something, but was interrupted by a number of cries emitted by those around them. They watched in awe as Ted and Isolde's tongues were swollen to nearly twice their original sizes. Regulus was shocked, and Gemma was almost in tears from laughing too hard.

'You look..' she wheezed. 'You look so dumb...'

'Helh eeh!' Ted said, struggling to speak.

'Aht is ish!' Iz exclaimed. Gemma was too busy laughing to decipher what they were trying to say. Regulus however- though wearing a smirk of his own- whipped out his wand.

'Reverte,' he muttered, pointing his wand at Iz. Immediately, her tongue shrank back to its normal size.

'Oh thank god!' She cried. 'Kissing with a tongue that size would be just ridiculously difficult.'

'Maybe you should thank Regulus instead of god,' Luke observed. He was ignored. Regulus smiled as he performed the spell on Ted.

'Oh god,' Ted said. He eyed his bacon sandwich. 'That was horrible. But so worth it.' Gemma shook her head at him. Then, she looked at Regulus.

'Thank you,' she said. 'For the warning I mean.'

'Er.. no problem,' he said. 'Oh, and first quidditch tryouts are today. I decided to redo them to get rid of.. y'know.. dead weight. I'm sure you guys will be on it. I also made practises three times a week. Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays. It'll be a lot to manage, but I figured you were right.' She smiled.

'I always am,' she said, winking at him.

.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.

Gemma walked out onto the quidditch pitch in her green uniform,  broomstick in hand. It was old and a pretty horrible model- but that didn't matter. The worst broomstick in the world couldn't keep her from being the best performer on the team, and certainly couldn't supress the excitement in her chest whenever she put on the uniform.

'Feeling the pressure?' Ted asked her. 'I heard Mulciber's going to try out for beater too.'

'Oh yeah,' she answered. 'I bet he's feeling tremendous pressure, knowing he doesn't stand a chance.' They got to the centre of the pitch, where Regulus was standing among a large group of people.

'I was beginning to worry you guys wouldn't show up,' he said, grinning.

'No. Just so you know, Black, I'll be trying out for seeker,' Ted said. Regulus gave a small smile.

'That'll make only you and I. Most people here want to be chaser,' he said. He eyed Gemma.

'What?' She demanded.

'There's not a low supply of beaters either. Remember, I need to pick whoever plays the best, or they'll have my head for favoritism,' he warned. She smiled, but said nothing.

'Alright everyone, listen up!' He said, clapping his hands. Nobody listened. 'Guys! Hello?'

'I think you should speak a bit louder,' Ted advised.

'Um, okay. Guys!' This time he raised his voice to little more than a yell. Gemma shook her head.

'Shut it!' She roared. Immediately a hush ran through the crowd.

'Er.. Thanks,' Regulus said. 'So everyone mount your brooms and do two laps around the pitch. Then divide into groups.. Beaters over there, seekers there, chasers here and keepers next to them. Okay? Um.. Go!' Gemma mounted her broom and took off. She finished the laps in a blur, and touched on the ground. Avery and Ted had finished before her, with Mulciber right behind her, but she didn't mind. None of them were really trying- yet.

She found Mulciber, two sixth year boys and a second year boy were her competition. She figured she'd do alright.

First were the keeper tryouts. Regulus tested who could save the most goals. It was a tie between a boy called Snyder and a girl called Bulstrode. In Gemma's opinion, Snyder's agility made him the best choice.

Next went the chasers, passing the quaffle to each other, and trying to score on a keeper- Regulus had decided to assume this post, and saved about half the attempted shots.

Then came the beaters' turn. Regulus had them all hit five bludgers each, then judged based off the distance it travelled and the location of where it landed. Gemma hadn't seen the others' performances, but felt satisfied with her own- she'd definitely improved over the summer.

Lastly was the seekers- Regulus and Ted. As Avery released the snitch into the air, both boys immediately began searching for it. Regulus spotted it, and began chasing it. This attracted the attention of Ted, who followed suit. It came down to a frantic race between the two- with Regulus ultimately coming out victorious by the skin of his teeth. Ted landed, and bitterly shook his head.

'You did alright,' Gemma said, trying to console him.

'I know,' he said, throwing his broom down. 'Alright clearly wasn't enough though.'

'Okay guys,' Regulus called. 'Now I should probably go mull things over and think about it and give you the results in a few days like I'd planned. But I'm not going to do that because the anticipation would kill me. Also, it's pretty clear choices for me anyway.' There was a loud cheering, which quickly subsided as everyone huddled in to listen to the results.

'So our keeper is Jace Snyder, chasers are Morgan Jules, Blythe Avery and Ted Nott.' He dropped his voice. 'I know that's not what you tried out for, but It would be a shame not to have you on the team. Anyway, the beaters are Gemma Aston and Anton Mulciber-' (he shot Gemma an apologetic look) '- and um.. I'm the seeker!' There was a mix of joyful cheering and disappointed groans, as everyone who's name was not called headed off the pitch.

'Isn't this a nice bunch,' Mulciber sneered. 'Might as well have just kept it all boys though.'

'You want that broomstick shoved up your arse?' Ted snapped. Mulciber and Avery continued smirking. Gemma turned to Regulus.

'Can't you make Ted beater instead?' She begged. He grimaced.

'I don't think so,' he said. 'Mulciber's too good. You can handle him, I'm sure.'

'Of course I can,' she replied through gritted teeth. 'I just don't want to.' She turned and headed to the changing rooms.

'You could always quit,' Mulciber called after her.

'I could,' Gemma muttered under her breath. 'But I'd sooner jump off a fucking cliff.'