On Wednesday Eleanor trailed along beside Cynthia as they made their way outside into a surprisingly warm day for their Herbology class with the Gryffindors.

"Tryouts are this afternoon," says Cynthia for the fifth time that morning.

"I'm not gonna miss them," Eleanor says, "Who would you have to take such great shots of the newly formed Hufflepuff team if I did?"

A smile tugs at the corner of Cynthia's mouth. The walls of the Hufflepuff common room were adorned with pictures of every Hufflepuff team they had had since Eleanor had started at Hogwarts and found her love for developing the moving pictures.

"Are you going for chaser again this year?"

"Probably. I had thought, you know, that I'd really like Seeker - but what with Ced-. Nevermind, I'm used to playing chaser anyway."

Eleanor turns to look at Cynthia whose face has become clouded, brows furrowed like she's deep in thought. "He would've said to go for it, he was always fair and there is no way that he would want you to miss out on an opportunity like this."

Before she can reply to this Professor Sprout emerges from one of the greenhouses and calls everyone into class. Inside Eleanor notices the odd behaviour of some of the Gryffindors who keep casting glances towards the back of the group where Harry Potter is standing with his friends.

"Let's join them," Eleanor says, pointing the group out to Cynthia who hesitates only a second or two before following.

As they join the group, muttering a quiet hello and Cynthia staring down Lavender Brown who is blatantly watching them, Eleanor watches her fellow prefect Ernie Macmillan approach.

"I'd just like to say Harry, I believe in you one hundred percent. My family has always stood firmly behind Dumbledore and so do I."

Eleanor smiles a little at the ever pompous Ernie, also making an effort to show Harry that at least the Hufflepuffs weren't going to judge him - apparently unlike the rest of Gryffindor, several of which look deeply perturbed by Ernie's declaration.

Cynthia, who still seems to be internally struggling with her recently proclaimed desire to be seeker, also turns to Harry, "Yeah Cedric was a good friend and the fact that beast of a woman is making you serve detention for standing up to her about what happened with him and you-know-who is disgusting."

With that the conversation is apparently over and as class begins Eleanor and Cynthia work in silence with Harry and his friends until the end of the lesson. Walking out of the greenhouse, covered in considerably more dirt and stickier than when they walked in, Eleanor calls out goodluck to Cynthia before hurrying off to the Hufflepuff common room to change quickly into clean pants and a shirt, snatching up her camera on the way out into the corridor.

The walk down to the Quidditch pitch was fairly quiet as anyone going to see the tryouts had gone straight after class and there were only a few students returning to the castle. Eleanor hoped she could borrow Cynthia's cloak to watch tryouts as the sun crept closer to the horizon and she scolded herself for not thinking ahead.

A dozen or so students are up in the stands watching the tryouts that have already begun. Knowing the captain won't mind her being on the ground as long as it means there are decent pictures of the team Eleanor heads straight across to where Cynthia is pacing on the spot.

"I'm just going to go for chaser," she says when Eleanor is in earshot, despite the fact that she clearly can't take her focus off of anything but the little golden snitch that is sitting away in the trunk to the side of the field.

"No. You're not."

Summerby, the captain, is a few feet away talking to some other hopeful students when Eleanor marches up to him, Cynthia watching in a mixture of awe and horror.

"Have you found a seeker yet?" Eleanor asks, pulling Summerby away from his conversation.

As usual with the students in Hufflepuff who had known Cedric he blanches a little at this reference to the fact that they no longer had Cedric.

"No, not yet-"

"Good, Cynthia wants to try out for seeker, not chaser."

"You didn't have to do that El," Cynthia says after whispering thankyou to Eleanor when she got back to her.

"You certainly weren't going to."

"Yeah well, I was worried it would seem a bit - insensitive to do it, I mean he was great at seeker and-"

"He was an excellent seeker, but that doesn't change the fact that the team is in need of a new one. Cedric wouldn't have wanted the team to just stop existing because he isn't here to play, and just because there's a new seeker doesn't mean you're forgetting him. Also, can I please borrow a cardigan, I left mine in the castle"

Summerby whistles loudly and begins to call up people to try out, Cynthia seeming to have regained some of her energy and confidence hugs Eleanor quickly, pointing her to the benches by the side of the field where a spare jumper sits before grabbing her broom and speeding up into the air.

As the people watching in the stands call out encouragement to their friends Eleanor pulls out her camera and begins snapping photos of the tryouts, the bite of the cold kept at bay by the job ahead of her and the newly donned jumper as she ensures she captures every moment she can.

When the sun has set the team is finally settled and after a few proper photos of all of them together inside the illuminated changing rooms Eleanor and Cynthia run arm in arm back up to the castle.

"I'm going to be late," Eleanor laughs as her friend and newest seeker for Hufflepuff lags behind her.

"You go ahead, I'll see you when you're back from Prefect duties tonight - if I can stay awake," Cynthia says.

Eleanor arrives, breathless in the corridor that marks the start of her route, to her horror Cynthia's brother Reggie is standing there waiting. He watches bemusedly as she clutches her side, bending in half her face as red as the rubies in the Gryffindor hourglass.

"Try... Outs," she manages to say, pointing somewhere in the direction of the Quidditch Pitch as she recovers from her sprint, finally straightening to look him in the face. It struck her suddenly that over the summer he had changed quite dramatically, gone was the tall, gangly boy she and Cynthia had teased and annoyed.

He seemed to have filled out, his height complementing a more muscular frame and his face more defined then it had been before making him look much smarter and - with his curly dark hair framing his face - more handsome. His blue eyes matched his Ravenclaw colours flawlessly and-

Woah what?! Since when did you know what colour his eyes were?

Heat erupts across Eleanor's face and she's convinced that it's no longer possible to turn any redder.

"Since when do you play Quidditch?" He asks, absolutely oblivious to the thoughts exploding inside her mind, matching the feeling of fireworks going off in her stomach when she realises that even his voice sounds deeper and much more manly.

"Who plays Quidditch?" She says, still out of breath and unable to focus but now from more than just the run. "I mean. Cynthia. Cynthia plays Quidditch, I went to watch the tryouts."

Walking down the corridor now so no teacher can scold them for not doing their duties Eleanor continues to fight with her thoughts.

Absolutely not! There is no way this can be Reggie. I've passed out. That's it, I am so unfit that the run from the grounds to here has exhausted me to the point of hallucinations.

True it had been dark in the carriages up to Hogwarts their first night back and she really had barely looked at him, but could she really have not noticed such a big difference?

Why does it even matter? So what, he's 17 he was bound to grow up sooner or later. Okay you didn't think he'd be quite so gorgeous but- wait, GORGEOUS?! No. This just is not happening.

"Are you okay El?"

There they were again, fireworks in her stomach. Trying her best to ignore the feeling she smiles and nods.

"Yeah, just still puffed from, you know, running."

"Right. Get any good photos?" He asks, pointing out the camera that was still hanging around her neck.

"I think so, won't really know until I develop them."

For the rest of their walk Eleanor continues to sneak glances at the new Reggie beside her, scolding herself whenever she does and by the time she returns to the common room to get ready for bed her face is still red and Reggie is convinced she somehow got sunburned.

Climbing into bed, Cynthia already snoring soundly in her own, Eleanor decides that she shouldn't say anything. It was just the shock of seeing him so grown up, there was absolutely no way she could tell Cynthia she thought her brother was cute. Because he wasn't. Definitely not.