"Emily Poole, you are exceptionally ordinary" ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
"What a strange way to tell me you love me, but I'll take it," ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
In which Emily falls in love w...
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THE WEATHER WAS cold and grizzly when Emily stepped onto the quidditch field, feeling the familiar comfort of her robes and the broomstick clutched in her hand as she spotted the group of Gryffindors huddled together for tryouts.
Her parents had made a big investment and gifted her a Nimbus 2001 for her 14th birthday, and ever since she had treated it like a child and refused to let anyone go near it.
Even though she was feeling embarrassed at being late, Emily lifted her head up high and strode out onto the field towards the small group of hopefuls being addressed by Harry, Ginny standing fast by his side.
There was a turn of heads and a dim in the chatter when she leveled with them, and Harry seemed surprised, before giving her a pleased smile. Emily's eyes swept across the group. Half of Gryffindor House seemed to have turned up, from first years who were nervously clutching a selection of the dreadful old school brooms, to seventh years who towered over the rest, looking coolly intimidating.
The latter included a large, wiry-haired boy, which Emily recognized, much to her disdain, as Cormac McLaggen. Ron stood next to him, his face a delicate shade of green and looking like he was going to be sick.
"All right! Queue up! Excuse me..." Harry tried to speak, but his voice was drowned out by the people's chatters.
After watching him struggle, Emily rolled her eyes.
"Hey!" she bellowed, and the pitch went silent, "Shut up and listen,"
The group quieted down at once. She got a nervous smile from Harry, before he started describing the drills he was going to put them through.
He had decided to start with a basic test, asking all applicants for the team to divide into groups of ten and fly once around the pitch.
Apparently, he had done well to do so, as the first group was made up of first years and it could not have been plainer that they had hardly ever flown before.
The second group was a bunch of giggling girls, and Emily noticed to her great jealousy, that Romilda Vane was making eyes at Harry while the others giggled and fell into each other.
The third group had a pileup halfway around the pitch. Most of the fourth group had come without broomsticks. The fifth group were Hufflepuffs.
"If there's anyone else here who's not from Gryffindor," roared Harry, who looked like he was starting to get seriously annoyed, "leave now, please!"
There was a small pause, then a couple of little Ravenclaws went sprinting off the pitch, snorting with laughter. Emily just smiled and shook her head, unaware that Harry was shooting glances at her every now and then, wanting desperately to impress her by showing off his captaining skills.
However, this did not go as planned, seeing as it took two hours, many complaints, and several tantrums, one involving a crashed Comet Two Sixty and several broken teeth, before Harry had found himself three Chasers: Katie Bell, returned to the team after an excellent trial; Ginny Weasley, who had outflown almost all the competition and scored seventeen goals to boot and finally Emily, also a returning member from last year who had flown so skillfully even Cormac McLaggen had congratulated her.
"And now for keepers," Harry pointed the hopefuls, amongst which Ron and McLaggen towards the goalposts, "Each of you will get 5 shots, made by our very own chasers, to save. Whoever saves the most wins,"
Emily spotted Harry glance nervously at Ron, who had always had a bit of a nerve problem, and indeed, Ron looked, if possible, an even more vivid shade of green than at the beginning of practice.
"I'll talk to him," Emily said to Harry, before going to stand next to Ron as the others did their trials one by one.
"Alright Ron?" she asked, and the red-headed boy shook his head with a gulp.
"I can't do it," he whispered, and Emily shook her head.
"You did beautifully last year, Ron," she reassured him, "Don't worry, I'll be right there, yeah?"
He nodded shakily as Harry motioned for him to get into place.
Emily gave him one last pat on the shoulder before mounting her Nimbus 2001, yet Ron still looked ready to pass out as he mounted his Cleansweep Eleven.
Ron got into position, and Harry blew the whistle. Emily sped towards the goalposts like a bullet, wind whipping past her face as she hurled the ball towards the middle hoop.
Ron saved it, and she smiled at him in encouragement.
Much to Emily's delight, Ron saved the second, third, fourth and fifth goal, and she clapped him on the back as they landed on the ground.
Harry, however, was having bigger problems: Cormac McLaggen had stepped up towards him, and looked like he was so angry steam could've easily been coming out of his ears.
He stepped back hastily.
"Emily didn't really try," said McLaggen menacingly, "She tossed him a floater,"
Emily felt anger bubble up inside her, and she stepped up towards him.
"Piss off, McLaggen, how about I toss you a floater instead?" she threatened, not afraid to get in his face. There was a vein pulsing on the forehead of McLaggen's rage-contorted face as he squared up against Emily, who was about a third his size.
"I'd like to see you try, little-" he started, but barely had any time to finish his sentence before, with a short flick of her wand, Emily sent the nearby quaffle on the ground flying towards him. It thumped him square on the back, and Emily had to step aside as he stumbled several steps forward.
Harry looked like he was going to laugh, but his smile melted at the sight of McLaggen's face, who looked about ready to snap Emily in half.
"Enough," Harry said firmly, "McLaggen, Ron's Keeper, he won it fair and square. Emily, don't get suspended before the season starts,"
Emily shook her head with a laugh, before making her way off the field.
"Emily! Wait!" Harry called after her, and she took a deep breath and turned to face him.
"I didn't think you were going to show," he said honestly.
"Yeah well, I'm here aren't I?" she said, crossing her arms, and Harry got an uneasy look on his face.
"A-Are you alright?" he asked tentatively, and Emily, touched by the genuine concern in his voice, smiled weakly.
"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked.
"You seemed pretty upset this morning," he reasoned, and the smile fell off her face.
"That's nothing," she said shortly, and he nodded, getting the message.
"Alright," he said, and Emily nodded once more before turning away and walking off, leaving Harry staring after her wistfully.
"You really should just ask her out," came Ron's voice from next to him, and Harry shook his head.
"She's not interested in me," he said dejectedly, "I'd like to spare myself the embarrassment of getting rejected, thanks very much,"
"Harry–," Hermione said pitifully, who had overheard his statement, but he cut her off before she could say anything.
"I'm going to change," he said morosely, before he too disappeared off of the field.
