"Where were you two?" asked Tracey with a hint of accusation in her voice, as the Greengrass twins approached the Quidditch pitch's stands. "You weren't at breakfast."
"Yeah, where were you, Daphne?" said Oleandra, throwing the figurative hot potato at her sister. "What were you doing, skulking about the nice part of the dungeons?"
The Slytherin part of Hogwarts's underground layer was constantly cold and damp due to the proximity of the Black Lake, but the Hufflepuff part was warm, well-lit and well-aerated, which really wasn't fair.
"It really is none of your business what I get up to in my free time," Daphne snapped, "but if you really must know, I was asking the House-Elves to make me some food. Happy?"
Oleandra harrumphed.
Daphne was telling the truth… but she wasn't telling the whole truth— of that she was certain.
"Oi, you lot!" Harry called out as he swooped down towards them on his Nimbus 2000. "I know for a fact that a bunch of you aren't from Gryffindor!"
The Slytherin trio had come to cheer on Astoria, but it seemed they weren't the only outsiders to have barged their way into the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts— there were plenty of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students scattered throughout the crowd as well.
"We're just watching!" Oleandra cooed sweetly in his direction. "We'll try not to be too disruptive, okay?"
"W-well," spluttered Harry, flushing slightly the moment he saw Oleandra's face. "As long as you're not too loud, I s'pose it should be fine…"
"What was that all about?" said Tracey unpleasantly as soon as Harry's back was turned.
And with that, Oleandra, Daphne and Tracey took their seats with the other onlookers in the stands, and the tryouts began in earnest.
Harry, the new team captain, began by dividing his prospective teammates into groups and having them fly around the pitch. Among the participants, Oleandra spotted a few familiar faces— old rivals from her brief stint on the Slytherin team. This, combined with her sister Astoria's presence, made it clear to her that Harry intended on rebuilding his team from the ground up.
"Did you see how he just looked at her?" a fourth-year girl whispered loudly to her friends. "There's no way there's not something going on between them, right?"
Oleandra tried concentrating on the tryouts, but the gaggle of gossiping girls sitting behind her wasn't making it easy.
"I hear he made his Asian girlfriend cry," another girl added conspiratorially. "I think there really might be!"
Meanwhile, Harry was just about done with the first group of prospectives. They landed, and Harry signalled for the group of girls sitting behind Oleandra to join him on the pitch. However, the instant he blew into his whistle to have them demonstrate their flying skills, they all fell over each other, giggling.
"Hey, are the rumours are true?" the leader among the fourth-year Gryffindor girls brazenly asked Oleandra, as they were returning to their seats. "Are you going out with Harry Potter?"
"That can't be right," another one said cattily. "My older sister says she's always seeing her hanging out with that handsome Slytherin boy."
"If you're asking if Harry's single," said Oleandra, who was rapidly losing her temper, "then why don't you ask him yourself?"
For some reason Oleandra couldn't fathom, the younger girls burst into a fit of giggles and returned to their seats without answering her question, continuing to chatter loudly among themselves as if the question wasn't worth answering.
Harry then called for the third, fourth and fifth groups to join him on the pitch in quick succession, and the tryouts resumed. As an experienced flyer, Astoria performed admirably, but others weren't so lucky. It was obvious that many of the hopefuls hadn't touched a broomstick since their first flying lessons— which for the first years, had only been a week ago.
Since he had become Seeker in his first year at Hogwarts, Harry had lifted the ban on first years joining the team, but as the tryouts wore on, it became clear to him that he had been the exception, not the rule.
…
As the tryouts dragged on and hours passed, Oleandra noticed Tracey's mood rapidly worsening…
"Is it fun?" Tracey suddenly asked, totally out of the blue.
"Eh?" Oleandra blurted out, distracted by a screaming second-year Gryffindor boy colliding with a teammate in midair. "Watching this? I mean, this team's no Puddlemere United, but I suppose it's kind of entertaining watching them fail so badly…"
Incidentally, Puddlemere United was Tracey's favourite team.
"I mean, is it fun, staying cooped up in a dark room with Theodore Nott all day?" cried Tracey. "Is it more fun than spending time with your girlfriend!?"
It was true that Oleandra had been spending a lot of time learning about Alchemy with Theo lately, but since Tracey hadn't said anything until now, Oleandra hadn't realised just how much it had been bothering her girlfriend. The cold shoulder, as it turned out, was not an effective communication method— especially if the other party was enjoying themselves or just plain clueless.
"Trace, you're making a scene," hissed Oleandra, but as soon as the words had escaped her mouth, she knew she had made a mistake.
"Fine," sobbed Tracey, clumsily staggering to her feet, since her legs had fallen asleep after sitting for two hours straight on an uncomfortable bench. "If it's so embarrassing for you to be seen with me, I'll— eep!"
Oleandra abruptly stood up straight, startling Tracey into falling back into her seat.
"Oi!" Oleandra shouted angrily. "Who did that just now? Show yourself!"
Her Mystic Eyes had just perceived a burst of magical energy flying above her head, and at the same time, Astoria— vying to keep her position as Keeper— had flown off in the wrong direction during a penalty save, missing the Quaffle entirely. Oleandra hadn't said anything when she'd seen the magical light affecting McLaggen in the same way on his last save, but now, it was personal!
"Who did what?" a first-year Ravenclaw boy shouted back. "I didn't see anything!"
"I didn't see anything either!"
Not all spells emitted pretty lights, making it rather inconvenient for Oleandra to accuse anyone of wrongdoing when she was the only one capable of seeing magic itself. If she continued making a scene, she'd only be embarrassing herself.
In the end, McLaggen and Astoria only managed to save four penalties out of five, while Ronald Weasley managed to block all five, earning him the position of Keeper. With all other positions filled, Astoria was effectively out of the team…
"Wait!" Oleandra shouted at her younger sister. "You can still try for Seeker!"
The three Chasers, two Beaters and one Keeper had already been selected, but Harry hadn't held any trials for his own position yet!