"Duck!"

As soon as I heard the shout I threw myself to the side, not wanting to get hit. I toppled off the bench I had been reading on and went sprawling on the wet grass.

A red quaffle passed by where my head had been. Pushing myself off the ground, I glared up at the offender.

"Merlin’s Beard, Alicia! You almost hit me!" I shouted, annoyed that the book I was reading was now on the ground.

She grinned down at me from her broomstick, with her red and gold robes fluttering in the breeze. 

She grinned maliciously at me and innocently said, "Oops... I dropped it." 

She swooped down to grab the quaffle that she had 'dropped' and pleaded, "Come on, Alex, I need someone to practice with if I'm going to make the Gryffindor team this year."

I didn't have the heart to tell her that she was probably only going to make the reserve team this year. 

In the books, she was on the reserve team for a year before she made the official team. Her first year was the same year that Harry got on the Gryffindor team to play seeker.

Rolling my eyes at her antics, I pointed out, "Alicia, we can't play with only two people, we need at least four to for a decent game."

Flying in small circles around me, she complained, "I'm so bored."

After cleaning off my robe, I grabbed my book and said, "We can play when Cedic and Anna get here."

Dragging out the word, she grumbled, "Fine."

After landing, she took a seat next to me. Looking around our backyard, she asked curiously, "How much land does your family own?"

Sighing, I closed the book that I was trying to read. I sensed that it was going to be impossible to get any more reading done today. 

Looking around our property, I explained, "We have over a thousand acres of land. Surrounding our land is a wall that has enough spells and wards in it to prevent any muggles from sneaking in."

Alicia looked around our property wistfully and said, "You're so lucky to have this much open space. My family lives in a townhouse in London and we can't even fly around unless it's at night."

Wincing, I sympathetically said, "That must suck, having to be so careful with your magic around muggles. Our house is chock full of magical items and if a muggle ever saw them, they would think they are going crazy."

Having never met her parents, I questioned, "Your parents are healers. Right?"

"Ya, they both work at St. Mungo. They’re both healers, but my dad typically works in their research division," Alicia answered. 

"What does your dad research?" I inquired.

She rolled her eyes and said, "To hear him tell it, he is on the frontier of the fight against dark magic. But, all he really does is figure out new basic counterspells for minor curses and jinxes. People are constantly coming up with new spells known only to them and if none of the known counterspells work, he tries to figure out a new way to remove it."

My eyebrows rose in surprise. I had known that they were healers, but hearing about her dad's work was new. Hearing that he researched new counterspells was impressive. 

Counterspells had always interested me, especially those against dark magic. Not only was it challenging to discover new counterspells, if you did create a new way to counter a specific curse, a hundred others would spring up in its place. Trying to root out the dark arts was futile. 

I also found it curious that dark magic tended to leave behind wounds that weren't able to fully heal. Theoretically, magic should be able to cure anything but as of yet, healing spells are limited in what they can do against dark magic. It was something I wanted to research at some point. 

"So, speaking of your parents, on a scale of 1 to 10, how upset were they?" I questioned.

Alicia's eyes shifted nervously, "Well, they weren't pleased with me, and they're not your biggest fan." She replied hesitantly.

I grunted in acceptance and kicked at a pebble that was half-buried in the ground. It wasn't a big surprise, we had almost been killed during the year and her parents hadn't even met me.

A thought occurred to me and I said, "If your parents don't like me, I can't imagine that they would approve of you being here. Where do they think you are?"

She smirked and replied, "Who said they know I'm here? Besides, if I get caught I'm just going to blame you for being a bad influence."

Speechless, I half-heartedly glared at her and pointed out, "You were the one spoiling for a fight with the Grendel, I just wanted to free the vampire and find my ring. If anyone is the bad influence, it's you."

Her eyes danced with mirth and she soothed, "Well, they were impressed with the special service to the school award we got. And my mother was pleased about us freeing the vampire. She has a few friends inside the vampire conclave and they were grateful for the release of one of their own."

I glanced over at her and asked, "Were they told about the Grendel?"

"Yes, my dad interrogated me endlessly on the matter," she answered. "He told me that long ago, there was a period in time when many wizards and witches performed similar experiments on themselves. It almost always ended horribly and eventually the magical community learned that it wasn't a good idea to mess with such magic."

I nodded, it made sense that the wizards and witches in the magical community would stop experimenting after so many horrible outcomes. 

While we were speaking, I heard the back door open. Turning, I saw Cedric exit wearing a set of black and yellow robes with a pair of quidditch goggles on his forehead. 

Following close behind was Anna wearing green and silver. For some reason, everyone showed up wearing their house colors. I almost made fun of them, but to my chagrin, I realized my robes were blue. 

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I noticed that both of them were carrying broomsticks. It seemed like they had come prepared to play. I glanced wistfully at the book I had been reading, it appeared that I would not be finishing the book today.

Alicia pointed at them and accused, "You're late."

Cedric slowed and hesitantly said, "Didn't we agree to meet up at 2?"

I gave Alicia a playful shove and replied, "We did. Alicia is the one who forgot and showed up an hour early."

Alicia just grinned and asked excitedly, "Are you guys ready to play some quidditch?"

Cedric matched her grin, motioned towards his broomstick, and taunted, "I brought my Cleansweep 9 with me. You don't stand a chance."

Alicia playfully sneered back and scorned, "That's cute, bringing in your little model 9." Pointing towards her broom, she bragged, "This is a Comet 280, Good luck trying to catch me."

Cedric narrowed his grey eyes and argued, "Speed without control is nothing, the Cleansweep brooms have always handled better than the Comets."

Anna and I moved off to the side, taking a seat on the wooden bench, content to watch the show. This wasn't the first time they have had this argument about which brand was superior. Anna and I always were entertained by the sparks that flew between them.

Initially, they had both been fans of the Nimbus model, which was unquestionably better than the Cleansweep or the Comet series. But, after they all heard how the Whithorns stole my grandfather's work, all my friends vowed never to ride a Nimbus ever again.

While Cedric and Alicia were bickering, I turned to Anna and asked, "How has your summer been?"

"Ugh," Anna groaned and turned her head so that her long blond hair made a curtain covered her face. Grumbling, she added, "I'll bet about the same as yours. My parents were furious."

"Hopefully, they don't blame me too much." I hopefully said.

Anna parted her blond hair and looked at me with her violet eyes. "Why would they blame you?" She asked

"Alicia's parents do. And it's kinda my fault about how everything else went down." I pointed out.

Anna softly smacked the back of my head and said, "Stop trying to act like the whole world revolves around you. We all decided to enter the forest, you didn't force any of us to follow. The only actions you are responsible for are your own. Don't try to shoulder everyone else's mistakes. It's condescending."

After mulling her words over, I decided she was right. My friends weren't mindless drones who obeyed my every whim. Their choices were their own.

I nudged her with my shoulder and joked, "Well, I guess I can stop saying I was being stupid, and start saying we were all stupid. It's nice to have company."

She laughed and pointed out, "Well, I don't know if you get to count Cedric among our company. His father was actually pleased with him; he said Cedric showed great courage and claimed that the special award we all got would help him in the future."

I couldn't help but roll my grey eyes at that. Cedric's father always had ambitious plans for Cedric. Amos's goal was to have his son become the Minister of Magic one day.

It's too bad that Amos hadn't ever paid attention to what Cedric wanted to do with his life. According to Cedric, he plans on being a professional quidditch player. I didn't care what he did as long as he was alive to do it.

We turned our attention back to the passionate debate between Alicia and Cedric. They had moved on from ‘which broomstick was better’ and were now belittling the quidditch team that the other supported.

Anna leaned her head on my shoulder and stage whispered, "Wake me when they stop bickering."

I smiled and replied, "I know how to end this." 

I called out in a louder voice, "I guess you guys are just not in the mood to practice."

Alicia shot me a dirty look, while Cedric just looked sheepish at getting sucked into the same argument that they had before.

"So, how are we doing this? Boys against girls?" Alicia eagerly questioned.

Shrugging, I replied, "We can do that, but if your goal is making the team this year. I would suggest doing more specific training for whatever position you're seeking rather than just playing a casual game."

Eyeing me thoughtfully, Cedric asked, "What do you suggest?"

I gestured towards Anna sitting next to me and replied, "How about we get some advice from the daughter of a professional quidditch player. I'm sure she can come up with a better plan than I ever could."

Anna's ears burned red at my compliment. "Well, what position do you guys want to play?" She questioned.

Without hesitation, Cedric replied, "Seeker."

I could tell Alicia was tempted to say the same, but after a moment of consideration she answered, "I think I want to try out for chaser."

Anna mulled over their choices for a moment, then turned to Cedric and explained, "You probably have the easiest training method. The seeker only has one job: retrieve the Golden Snitch. While it's one of the most difficult positions, it has the advantage of having a straight forward training method. Maybe we can get a Golden Snitch for you to practice with."

 A memory of a Harry soaring through the sky chasing a small glass object surfaced in my mind. "Well, I don't have a snitch, but I have an idea." 

 I reached down and grabbed a small rock off the ground. I pulled out my wand and pointed it at the rock and chanted, "Speculo."

 The rock morphed into a small glass ball. I tossed the glass ball towards Cedric and said, "Think fast."

 Cedric snatched the glass ball and looked at me in shock.

 "What?" I asked. 

 Anna looked at me in panic and said in a strangled voice, "You just broke the law on underage magic. The Ministry can track your magic. You could be expelled from Hogwarts."

 Hearing their fears, I laughed and said, "Didn't I ever tell you about how the trace works?"

 They all shook their heads, so I explained, "The Ministry can only detect magic around the Trace. They can't tell who cast the spell. As long as you're at home, they will assume that any magic detected is from your family."

 Cedric thought about it for a moment and pointed out, "It seems like this rule was invented to monitor muggleborns."

 I nodded and said, "You're right. But remember, most of the rules that the Ministry enforces has to do with maintaining the International Statute of Secrecy."

 After hearing about how the Trace worked, Anna and Cedric both seemed relieved. The only one who didn't look surprised about how the Trace worked was Alicia.

 Wanting to get back on topic,  I drew Cedric's attention back to the glass ball and explained, "If you can see and catch that in the air, you shouldn't have any issue finding a golden snitch."

 After hearing about Cedric's training, Alicia looked excited to hear what was in store for her. She looked and Anna and said, "What about me?"

 Anna paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts, and said, "Although the chaser position seems less demanding than the seeker, it's actually a very demanding position. You'll need to learn to coordinate your movements with your fellow chasers and how to pass the quaffle between yourselves. Also, you’ll need to know how to block and steal the quaffle from the opposing team. All while dodging angry bludgers that are trying to smash you."

"What should I focus on?" Alicia questioned.

"For now, I would suggest focusing on practicing coordinating with other players," Anna suggested. "We can practice passing the ball back and forth while Alex plays interference."

Eager to begin practicing, Alicia and Cedric hopped on their brooms and took to the sky. I turned to Anna and complimented, "You're pretty good at this. Are you going to try out for the Slytherin team?"

Anna shook her head and said, "No, I love quidditch, but it's not something I'm interested in doing. I know from my dad just how much time it takes to be a quidditch player."

"I know what you mean," I responded. 

Seeing Alicia impatiently flying above us, I continued, "Well, we better get going. Otherwise, I think Alicia is going to lose it.”

We both hopped on our brooms and took to the skies. Alicia and Anna started by practicing passing the ball between them while I tried to steal the quaffle from them. 

To help Cedric, I would toss the small glass ball and watch him chase it down.  He would often lose track of it and let the ball shatter on the ground, forcing me to make a pile of replacements.

After a few hours of practice, we were all covered in sweat and exhausted. We decided to call it a day and they all headed home after Anna and I agreed to help them practise a few days each week.