The Forgotten Riddle: Darkness Descending

Chapter 12: Tryouts

A/N: Yay :] Only one day later than i said I would be with an upload, I'm making progress haha :] I know it's short but these nxt couple of chapters are going to be wierd for me to right because i'm going to have to start time jumping to get where i need to be. Hope you like it :] as always, vote and comment. song of the upload is Going through CHanges by Eminem. Mostly because Elizabeth is going through a change...just not a good one.

Elizabeth's POV

The next few days passed quickly, leaving me barely anytime to see Draco, except for in Care of Magical Creatures where he, yet again, started with Harry with out Grubbly-Plank noticing. I had glared at him briefly, looking up from explaining my bowtruckle drawing, and he had met my gaze for a momnt before looking away, an apologetic look on his face. In addition to not being able to see ,y boyfriend, I hadn;t been able to think about the voices and what they had suggested. Whether or not that was a good thing  i had no idea. I was curious as to whether or ot I would actually be able to find my family, or at least find out who they are, but my family was greatly against dark magic, and so I was I. At least I though I was. 

Our teachers were loading more and more homework on us, left and right, leaving no room to breathe, or slac off. Hermione was driving herself crazy with her mountains of work, plus prefect duty, and I found myself keeping Ron and Harry company as we all tried to catch up o our work, something that I had never had a problem with before.

"I can't believe how much homework we've got," my brother grouched as the four of us sat at the Gryffindor table for dinner, Angelina Johnson having just stalked off after learning Harry was unable to convince Umbridge to let him skip detention for tryouts.

"Well, you wouldn't have as much if you had done it last night. Where were you anyway?" Hermione asked, looking at Ron.

Ron looked away, avoiding her gaze. "I-I was out...I fancied a walk." Harry looked at Ron and, by the look he was giving him, i figured that Ron had to be hiding something and Harry either knew, or was hiding something as well.  After we ate, we said goodbye to Harry and headed up to the common room. Herimione and I setled in our favorite chairs by the fire, dragging ou homework infront of us. Hermione charmed a pair of knitting needles to make hats for the house elves while we worked. After a few hours, Harry still hadn;t returned from his detention, which wasn't unusual, and Ronald had disappeared again. 

"He's going to regret slacking on his homework when he has mountains of hit to do before he's caught up again," Hermione muttered, packing her things away. 

" I smirked, shaking my head as I did the same. "You'll help him I'm sure."

"I'll do no such thing! He deserves to suffer if he isn't going to do the work," my friend said, outraged.

"Uh-huh," I smiled, knowingly. Hermione would help Ron. Wheher she wanted to admit it or not, she liked my brother and would help him if he asked. Hermione 'humphed' and set out her finished hats, covering them in debris. "It's really not right, you know," I told her, "Tricking the house elves like that. Maybe they don't want to be freed."

"Sure they do!" Hermione said, passionately. "No one wants to be enslaved." I shook my,head and, as Hermione turned away and headed up to the dormitory, I cleared the rubbish of the hats. 

"They should at least be ale to see what they're picking up." With that, I grabbed my bag and headed up to my bed, prepared to get some sleep.

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The next day passed in a blur, but I was happy that Draco and I managed to go back to that room on the 7th floor and have lunch together. He surprised me with my favorite chocolate from Honeydukes and a lily. It was perfect and, thankfully, uninterrupted from strange voices this time. "Are you coming to watch the tryouts?" I asked him as we sat eating our sandwiches. 

Draco wiped his mouth with his napkin, thinking. "Hmm, I dunno. Should I? I mean, I'm not exactly welcome by your lot."

I feigned offense. "MY lot? What do you mean my lot?" I sad, laughing. Draco smiled and rolled his eyes. "It'll be fine. Come, I'll pretend not to notice if you heckle anyone, okay?" I looked at him, giving him the puppy dog look that i knew he couldn't resist. "Pleaseeeee Draco?"

Draco sighed. "Oh, alright, for you." I beamed and leaned across the table, kissing him. 

"Thank you!"

"Yeah yeah, you're welcome, love. It's no big deal though." He said.

"It is to me," I smiled. "We can never be together, together, in public. At least now we can kind of be." Draco looked at me for a moment, processing my words, and then he smiled softly, rubbing my cheek gentley with his fingers. 

"You're right. It'll be good for us to be out, together." I leaned into his hand, briefly, before we finished our lunch and parted to finish our classes. 

After dinner, Hermione and I walked down to the quidditch pitch together and sat in the middle of the stands to get a good seat. I looked down at the pitch, looking at all the hopefuls trying for the spot of Gryffindor Keeper. Among the group, I spotted a crop of bright red hair. "Hermione, is that...is that Ron?" I asked, shocked. II had no idea that Rond wanted to try out at all. 

"It is! I didn't know he could fly..." Hermione said, looking at me. 

"Yeah, he can. He's fairly good. Charlie, Fred, and George always used to have him play Keeper when they were practicing over the summer. He's always had a problem with nerves though...." As I looked at him, I noticed that he was a bit paler than usual and there was a slight greenish hue to his face. "He's nervous," I muttered. 

"Of course he's nervous. The bloody git probably knows that he's going to make a fool of himself the second he gets on that matchstick!" A voice snapped from behind us. Hermione and I whirled around to see Draco sitting with Blaise right behind us. 

"Back off Malfoy<" Hermione hissed. I just stared at Draco, frowning slightly. He knew that I didn't like it when he mocked my family, even if he hated to do it. Blaise looked from Draco to me, and back again. He miled softly and mouthed, "relax, you know he doesn't mean it." I sighed and turned away, pulling Hermione with me. 

We watched as Angelina made the people wishing to tryout line up and go one by one. Many did a good job while others did either alright or very poorly. Draco kept quiet fot the most part, gently tracing patterns on my back with his fingers. Occasionally he would shout something, or Blaise would, but I ignoredd them. Ron was the last one to go and he did amazingly well, better than I had expected. he had a few problems, there were definitely at least two that flew a lot better, but he did well. 

It was dark out by the time Angelina posted the roster for the Gryffindor team. Hermione and I sat in the stands, nervously waitig to see what happened.  A moment later, and jubilant shout came from the changing rooms and a figure sprinted towards. Hermione and I shrieked as my brother came into view, a wide grin on his face. We leapt up as he bounded toward us and engulfed him in a hug, Draco and Blaise slipping out of sight. As we pulled away congradulating Ron, I felt a horrible pain flash through my chest and a strange,feeling in my stomach. I gasped, in shock, but it passed quickly and i waved off Ron and Hermione's concern.

"My chest just heart for a second, probably just heart burn," I said, dismissively, lying smoothly. "Don't worry about it."

Little did I know that I had quite a bit to worry about.