Chapter 12:

Joanna pulled out her wand, trying to recall what her cousin had taught her. It seemed pretty simple when he did it, then again, he started deciphering the art of deception since 5.

“Alright, pervilous… no, pervilius… shit.” Joanna groaned and slumped into her bed. Her brain was too tired to recall her lesson with her cousin.

Sliding the diary under her pillow, she decided to try again after some sleep.

Joanna woke up, what felt like minutes later, with Annoria nudging her hand as she hovered over her.

“Wake up!” Annoria repeated.

“What? Why?” Joanna muttered.

“I need your help,” Annoria said in a hurry.

“What help? Wait, you’re back so early?” Joanna forced herself to sit up.

“Yea. James called for more practices. He says it’s best when the other team isn’t around.”

“Oh. Well, have fun.” Joanna wanted to drop back into her soft pillows when Annoria stopped her by grabbing onto her shoulders.

“Wait. You have to listen to me.”

Joanna groaned and Annoria continued, “Right. So our seeker, Cathy, you know her right? Well, she broke her legs a few days ago and she’s unfit to train, let alone play for our final match.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“Well, James spoke to Professor Dumbledore and he said you attended a Quidditch school for 3 years.”

“So?” Joanna was too tired to see where this was going.

“We need you in our team.”

“What? No. I may have attended Quidditch Academy for 3 years, but I have also not played for 3 years.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Can’t you find someone else?”

“Professor Dumbledore said you would make a good edition to the team. And James trusts him.”

“He has not even seen me play!” Joanna was wide awake now, as though she had just downed a bottle of wide-eyed potion.

“It doesn’t matter. Please Joanna, we need a new seeker!”

“Did Dumbledore also tell you I was expelled from that Quidditch school?”

“He must have thought that was not important. Look, just come down to the field and show us what you do not have. And if you really suck like you think you do, we’ll find someone else.”

“I can just say NO right now.”

“Yes, but what would Professor Slughorn say when we tell him you were sneaking around in his office.”

Joanna shook her head in disbelief. “Fine.”

Annoria squealed in excitement as she dragged Joanna down to the Quidditch field.

It was about 10 in the morning and the entire Hufflepuff Quidditch team were already assembled in the field.

“Hi, I’m James,” James, the year 7, Hufflepuff Team Captain, greeted.

“Hi.” Joanna shook his outstretched hand.

“I assume you dont have a broom, so Cathy has offered her Silver Arrow for you to use,” James said as another player handed her the broom.

“You might want to change into the Quidditch robes as well.” James pointed to a locker room and Annoria ushered her there.

She was given a set of yellow and black robes, which she quickly put on and headed back to where the entire team was.

“Even though Professor Dumbledore has recommended you, we still need to see what you can do. If you don’t mind just fetching the snitch for us?”

“Er, ok?”

“It’s already released,” James casually replied.

Joanna sighed, mounted her broom, and kicked off into the sky.

The cool morning breeze swept through her hair, reminding her of how much she missed flying. Three years ago, when she was expelled, she thought all her dreams of flying were crushed. Never again would anyone take her on the team, and she lived with that thought. But today, the rush of the wind resurrected her dead dreams.

She was nearly 50 feet in the air when she saw the snitch, sparkling under the morning sun. But before she could attempt at chasing after it, a bludger flew right above her, narrowly missing her head.

“What the?!”

“Annoria said you have not played for 3 years, just wanna see how you fair with bludgers in the air!” James shouted from below, as though he had heard her question.

Before she could shout back at him, another bludger came flying right at her. Joanna barely escaped it as it brushed against her robes.

No longer hesitating, she took a sharp swerve to her right and headed for the glistening golden snitch. Picking up speed as she leaned lower, Joanna kept her eyes out for the mad bludgers that constantly came flying at her.

5 feet away from the snitch, Joanna had the craziest idea. Three years ago, she taught herself a new skill, and she might as well give it a go.

Slowly lifting herself up right on her broom, she moved her right leg forward and her left leg further back. On the count of three, she stood up and bent low.

It was what she called surfing. Or at least a term she stole from what she saw on muggle TV, where muggles did the same thing but on a board in the ocean waves.

The broom sped up closing the distance between her and the snitch. As her hand was almost closing its grip on the snitch, a buldger came knocking the end of her broom, forcing her off her feet and onto her stomach as the broom went spinning sideways.

Joanna struggled to sit up right as she steadied the broom. Slowly heading down towards the group of cheering Hufflepuffs, Joanna released her grip on the snitch, which she had caught in time. It shook its wings violently before it tucked it into its sides.

“That was some stun,” James said in amazement.

“Yea,” Joanna shrugged. It was some stun alright. The same stun that got her expelled.

“Welcome aboard then!” James patted her on the shoulder as Annoria ran up to hug her.

“Wait,” Joanna quickly interrupted the excited team, who went silent waiting for her to complete her sentence.

She didn’t know if it was a good idea to be playing Quidditch. She wasn’t sure if it was a good time either. She had promised to help Tom, but the idea of playing was so hard to turn down.

To Be Continued…

(Leave a comment below or vote on whether Joanna should join the Quidditch Team and play for the finals or not!)