keeping up my courage
foolish as it seems

ϟ

"All right, Perry?" Colin Creevey said as he kept in stride with the two Slytherin girls.

Perry forced a smile onto her face and responded, "Just dandy. And you, Colin?"

His face lit up in light of her response. Every word the blonde girl said was cherished by the Gryffindor first year. Every encounter with him that she had would make his day, so he took every chance to talk to her.

"Great!" Colin exclaimed. "I'm doing great now that I'm with you!"

"That's sweet, Colin," Perry said with a smile. "Do you like quidditch?"

"I've never seen a match before!" Colin exclaimed. "I'm sure I'll love it! How could I not! Everything magic is amazing! A sport played with broomsticks and magic equipment— I'm going to have to love it! And—"

"You know, Colin," Perry said interrupting his rambling. "This isn't a match. It's not even a scrimmage. It's tryouts for the Hufflepuff team."

"Well," Colin said, "I'll still enjoy that! I've never seen anything quidditch. The closest I've gotten to the sport was walking into that store in Diagon Ally—which, by the way, was amazing! They had everything quidditch. Quaffles, Bludgers, Snitches—"

"Well, it is a quidditch store," Viktorija mumbled coldly.

"An amazing quidditch store!" he exclaimed.

Perry nodded, hoping he would stay quiet for more than a minute if she didn't speak. To no avail, he began to ramble again.

"I can't wait to watch a Gryffindor quidditch match!" he exclaimed. "Doesn't Harry play on the team? I read that he was the youngest seeker—"

"Yes," Perry answered, "Harry does play on the team. And yes, you read a reliable source."

"Wicked!" Colin exclaimed. "Do you play quidditch, Perry? No, you're more into art, aren't you? I assume that—"

"Look, Colin," Perry said as they approached the quidditch stands, "We promised to sit with one of our other friends."

Colin opened his mouth to speak, but before he could Perry cut him off.

"I'll see you later, Colin," Perry said. "There's probably a few Gryffindors watching that you can sit with."

Viktorija grabbed Perry's arm and pulled her away before Colin could move his lips to say goodbye. The two girls ducked behind the yellow and black drapes and ran up the winding wooden staircase up to the stands. They climbed the stairs two at a time as they heard cheers from the stands above them.

Perry and Viktorija climbed up the last few steps and emerged from the underneath to the seats. Neither of the girls were expecting to see the turnout of fans in the stands there to watch tryouts. Perry furrowed her eyebrows at the mass of girls seated in the stands, then rolled her eyes when it dawned on her what they were here for. Maybe some of them cared for quidditch, but the majority were here because they found out which group of Hufflepuffs had decided to tryout for the house team.

Perry spotted the dirty blonde girl she was looking for and a smile found its way onto her face. Viktorija felt a violent pull on her arm as Perry grabbed it and marched towards the Hufflepuff girl.

"Alana!" Perry yelled as she stepped over other students coats that they had neglected to keep besides them.

"Perry!" she squealed as she enveloped the young girl into a hug. "Come! Sit next to me!"

Perry mumbled, "Okay," into Alana's coat. She patted Alana's arm to tap out of whatever caging hug she had Perry trapped in.

"Fine," Alana sighed, releasing the little girl from her grasp.

Perry sat on the cold wooden bench next to Alana. Viktorija reluctantly sat next to her, well aware of what boy sat behind her.

"When do tryouts start?" Perry asked.

"In the next few minutes I'd think," Alana said while admiring Perry's hair. "You know, I wish you'd let me do something with your hair."

"She doesn't let anyone touch it," Viktorija said.

"It's beautiful, Perry," Alana said.

"I don't like people touching it," Perry mumbled while wrapping her long hair around her shoulder.

Their attention snapped towards the quidditch pitch as soon as they heard the high pitched squeals of the girls in front of them.

"I guess it's starting now," Alana muttered. Perry could tell the other girls were already on Alana's nerves.

Alana, being the way she is, always tried to remain positive, but sometimes she couldn't. At Hogwarts it's no question that Cedric Diggory receives a lot of attention from girls. Alana was blessed with the privilege of being his best friend in the entire world. His girl best friend. Alana put up with a lot being his best friend. Girls give her dirty looks and roll their eyes at her. Alana simply smiles and pretends not to notice.

Most of Alana's friend group consists of guys. The other girls in the friend group goggle at Cedric as well. That doesn't leave Alana many people to rant to. Cedric knows she feels uncomfortable being beside him at all times, but she never talks to him about it. Most of the time, Perry is Alana's only outlet.

"Go Cedric!" Alana cheered. "Wooooh! Goo Cedric!"

Perry laughed at her obnoxious cheering. Other girls looked back and rolled their eyes.

"Yeah, Cedric!" Jasper yelled. He then followed that with a cat call whistle.

"Wow," Alana said hitting him in the arm.

Viktorija shuffled in her seat. Perry looked at her in the corner of her eyes and raised her eyebrows.

"Stop," Viktorija mouthed before rolling her eyes.

Perry leaned her head over on her hand to cover a smirk that was spreading onto her face. She watched as some players lined up as chasers, others as beaters, and a few as seekers. The captain of the Hufflepuff team was a keeper, so nobody was lined up for that position.

"Hey, Vikky," Jasper whispered.

Viktorija faced forward, watching the players as if she had never seen something more interesting.

"Vikky," Jasper whispered again, dragging out her name longer.

Again, Viktorija gave no response.

"Vikky," Jasper nagged, poking her in the shoulder as he said her name. "Vikky. Vikky. Vikky."

"What!" she exclaimed. "What do you want!"

"You seem pretty interested in Quidditch," he said nonchalantly.

"Really?" she exasperated. "That's what you needed to tell me?"

"I'm just being observant," he said in his defense.

She scoffed and turned her head back towards the pitch. "Yes," she said reluctantly, "I like quidditch."

Jasper smiled and said cockily, "Well, I play for the team you know."

"Since when?" Viktorija grumbled.

"Since my second year," he said. "Don't act like you haven't noticed me when you attend the matches."

"Actually, I have not noticed you," Victorija sassed. "I don't spend all my time staring at you."

"That's your loss, really," he smirked.

Viktorija turned to retort, but Alana interrupted.

"Look! Look! They're releasing the snitch!"

The Hufflepuff team captain pulled a shiny gold ball out of the brown box. The gold ball shimmered in the sunlight as the transparent wings unfolded from within. With the shiny ball in his hand he mounted his broom and flew over to the seekers.

There were only three people trying out for the seeker position. Cedric was one, a second year boy with scruffy hair was another, and a boy older than Cedric was the last. They all were lined up in the air as the captain talked to them. Perry watched them all close their eyes and turn around.

The captain released the shiny golden snitch from his hand and it fluttered in place for a few seconds. In an instant the wings began to flap faster and the snitch disappeared from sight.

"Cedric's got this," Alana said holding on to Perry's hand. "He's been practicing all summer.  He hasn't spent a second not thinking about this position. There's no way he can't-"

"Don't worry, Alana," Perry said. "Like you said, he's got this."

Alana nodded and turned her eyes back to Cedric. Perry's eyes followed hers to the blonde fourth year. He dashed upward on his broom to the high ground, earning him many gasps from the girls in front of them. There he would be able to look for the snitch easier.

"He literally didn't do anything yet," Perry whispered to Alana as she commented on the girls giggles.

"You get used to it," Alana whispered.

Perry shook her head before finding Cedric again. His hair was blowing around in the fall wind, and Perry couldn't deny that it made him look more attractive. The girls below certainly thought so. They cheered him on and giggled every time he moved his head, as if he were noticing them.

"You got this, Ced!" Perry yelled at the top of her lungs.

He looked down at her and smiled before looking for the snitch again. The girls in front of them squealed in high pitch voices at the simple action. A few girls realized it wasn't them he was looking at and sent dirty looks at Perry and Alana.

Perry disregarded the looks and continued to watch Cedric as he drifted through the sky on his broom. In one swooping motion he dived down in the air. The entire crowd began to stir as they watched him glide through the air on his broomstick. Behind him the other seekers followed, traveling as fast as their brooms would carry them.

Cedric swerved around stands and other potential players in an attempt to catch up to the golden snitch. It was hard to pay attention to him when the girl in front of them awed about his every move. He ducked under flapping curtains and flew overtop of the spectators.

The students trying out stopped what they were doing as Cedric and the other seekers raced around the pitch. All eyes were watching the three potential seekers as they raced as fast as their heart beat towards the golden snitch. It was neck in neck between two of the seekers, as the other had taken a not-so-short shortcut.

The two boys took a sharp turn on their broomsticks, following the snitch as it tried to escape their grasping hands. The snitch flew straight towards Perry, Alana, and their other friends.

The girls in front of them screamed and yelled at each other as they fled the stands. The boys seated behind Perry and Alana jumped behind their seats and laid down on the ground. Jasper, instead of following what the other boys were doing, jumped out of his seat and picked up Viktorija bridal style.

"Put me down you crusty, monkey-licking, maggot!"

"No can do, Princess," Jasper said leaping down the stands. "And ouch."

Perry watched Viktorija squirm in the arms of Jasper, meanwhile she felt her own nerves squirming around inside her body. Alana followed in suit of her friends and crouched to the ground.

"Perry, get down!" she yelled.

Perry panicked as she looked forward. The two boys were racing towards the stands faster than she'd be able to go to the ground. In seconds she'd be rammed into by one of the boys or impaled by their broomsticks. Perry closed her eyes and fell backwards with a slight scream as she saw a broomstick inches from her face.

She opened her eyes and saw Cedric floating above her. She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding in and relaxed as much as she could. The boy behind him was glaring at her, as he had hesitated because she hadn't moved.

"Look's like you're my good luck charm, Seph," Cedric said smiling down at her. He lowered himself down on his broom and extended his free hand out to her.

"I wouldn't call that much of a lucky charm," Perry muttered while taking his hand. He pulled her up into the air and then dropped her onto her feet.

"I would," he said holding out the snitch to her.

Perry opened her mouth to say something but Alana beat her to it.

"You did it!" she exclaimed, jumping up from the ground and flinging her arms around Cedric. If he wasn't a good flyer he would have lost balance and fallen off, but luckily, she only rattled him.

Claps and cheers radiated around the stadium for the new seeker. Cedric smiled his award winning smile and flew back up towards the captain.

"Good job, Cedric," a girl said as he flew by.

"Yeah, good job, Cedric," another said.

"You did amazing," another fawned.

Cedric smiled at them and all the girls had mini heart attacks. They flapped their hands around and jumped up and down.

"Tell me the secret to how you deal with this," Perry said to Alana.

"You... just do, I guess."

"Brilliant," Perry sighed. She stood up taller and straightened her clothes.

Up in the sky, Cedric received a large pat on the back from the team captain. Perry and Alana smiled knowing that he most certainly got the spot of seeker on the team. The other girls, clearly only interested in his looks, started to clear out of the stands now that the excitement was over.

"Come on, Perry," Alana said looping her arm around Perry's as she dragged her down the stands.

They walked over towards the stairs that all of the girls were descending. Alana's guy friends followed after them as they came upon the stairs. They were in a chaotic conversation about how amazing Cedric's catch was. Perry didn't understand much of it since they all kept interrupting each other.

Perry furrowed her eyebrows at a disturbance in the staircase. The girls and other spectators kept moving to the side as something moved up the stairs. Viktorija came running up the staircase to where they stood in a pant.

"He tried.. to kidnap me!"

"I think you're being a little dramatic, Tori," Perry giggled.

"I am not!" she protested. "He stole me!"

"I saved you," Jasper corrected as he came up through the staircase.

"Get away from me!" Viktorija squealed. "Kidnapper! Perry, don't let him take me!"

Viktorija dramatically threw her arms around the small, blonde, Slytherin girl and hid behind her back.

"Ahh, he's so terrifying," Perry said mockingly.

"Let's just go congratulate, Cedric," Jasper, who seemed a little sad, said while walking back down the stairs. Alana followed after him and Perry after her.

"Wait," Viktorija said, causing them all to look back at her. "I have to go back down the stairs? I just ran up them!"

"I tried to tell you you'd have to come right back down them, but you started running away from me," Jasper explained.

"I—whatever," Viktorija said shoving past him and leading the way down the stairs.

"Is she always like this?" Alana whispered.

"Dramatic?" Perry asked.

Alana nodded.

"Yep," Perry answered. "But not usually this dramatic."

The two girls laughed at Jasper and Viktorija as they bickered all the way down the stairs. At the bottom, they stood waiting for Cedric to come out from the pitch.

"Cedric!" Alana exclaimed while running towards him to give him a hug.

He hugged her before making his way over to the group. He tried to ruffle Perry's hair, but she stopped him from doing so by grabbing his wrist. His friends immediately began to engage him in conversations about his catch and about how good of a chance Hufflepuff will have this year with him on the team.

Perry walked behind him with Viktorija and Jasper. She listened to their bantering with a smile across her face.

When they reached the castle doors they stopped. Cedric's friends continued to the Hufflepuff common room while he stopped to say goodbye. Jasper attempted to give Viktorija a hug goodbye but she ran away from him.

"Thanks for coming, Seph," Cedric said sincerely.

"Of course, Ced," she replied. "It beats listening to Malfoy boast for an hour."

Cedric smiled and reached into his pocket. He pulled out the snitch and looked down at it.

"You kept it?" Perry exclaimed.

"Of course," Cedric said. "It will remind me that you're my good luck charm."

"Just incase you forget?" Perry said jokingly.

"Just incase I forget," he repeated.