Hey. Sorry this chapter was so long coming. Updates are a tad slow these days. But it's here at last. Will Teddy make the team?

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JKR. Apart from the names you don't recognise :)

Later that evening, Teddy was seated in one of the comfy-chairs in the Gryffindor common room, his friends scattered in the seats and on the floor around him. Vlad was lying on his stomach by the fire, absentmindedly flicking through the pages of Quidditch Weekly.

"I'm knackered!" Jeremy puffed out his cheeks, slouching heavily in on of the chairs next to Teddy "I feel like I've just run to Hogsmead and back!"

"That's coz you're so unfit!" Vlad threw a scrunched up piece of paper at Jez's stomach, but the boy tossed it away before it hit him with a lazy flick of his wand.

"Were the try-outs fun?" Asked Gus, looking up from his half-written Charms essay. "I mean, I wasn't missing out?"

"Oh, they were alright" murmured Vlad licking his fingers and turning a page, "Nothing to difficult…or physically draining" He looked mischievously at Jez who stuck his tongue out.

"I thought they were quite hard." Piped in Teddy, "So many people showed up! I didn't think that many would be interested!"

"They're all in it for the glory these days Ted." Vlad chuckled "They don't really care about the sport like you and me."

"And me!" Interjected Jeremy.

"Nahh, you're just a glory-seeker!" Vlad laughed.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow before standing up; raising an arm high into the air and jumping up and down shouting, "Ooh, ooh! Pick me! Pick me! My name's Vlad and I simply MUST be seeker. I want everyone to look at me. Ooh, ooh, ooh!"

Teddy and Gus laughed out loud as Vlad tackled Jeremy to the ground. The two thrashed about on the floor until a prefect came and told them off for being disruptive.

"That's what you get when you mess with the Vlad-meister." Grinned the Russian.

"Bah, I so won." Jeremy had a grin to match his friend's "And my impression was amazingly accurate."

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

The argument went on for some time until the same prefect shooed them all up to their dorms to the loud moans of Gus "But I haven't finished my essay!"

As Teddy stared up at the ceiling from the comfort of his bed he thought about the day's activities. He wanted to be on the team so badly, yet in his heart-of-hearts he knew he wasn't that good. Harry had told him how his father, Remus, had never been a Quidditch player so it wasn't in his blood, but all the same…

"Hey Ted." A voice whispered from the bed beside him. Teddy rolled over to face Jeremy's bed. "Teddy, don't worry about making the team. It's not the end of the world ey? I mean, first years hardly ever make it and there are loads of good players this year. If we don't make it, we'll just practice hard for next year, yeah?"

Teddy smiled into the darkness, comforted by his friend's kind words. "Yeah. It's fine, no big deal. I'm not that worried about it." He heard the grin in Jeremy's voice when he replied,

"Exactly, we can't all be big-headed show-offs like Vlad…"

"I heard that." Came a sleepy mumble from the bed opposite.

"So just forget about it. We'll check tomorrow, and if we don't make it, we'll find something else fun to do."

Happily, Teddy snuggled down deeper into his bed, glad to have such a loyal friend. "Thanks Jeremy." He whispered.

"No problem. Night Wolfy."

"Night Jez."

Comforted, Teddy slipped into unconsciousness; however, his sleep was haunted by bad dreams. Teddy dreamt that he was walking out onto the Quidditch pitch alone to face the opposing team, but when he reached for his broom, he found only a long wooden pole that couldn't fly. Desperately he tried to charm the pole into the air so he could face the enemy team of trolls, wearing Slytherin robes. Eventually the pole zoomed high into the air with Teddy on it, fiercely trying to keep balanced. Suddenly the flying trolls, all armed with beater bats, surrounded him. Bludgers were zooming all around and he hopelessly tried to avoid being beaten to death. Looking at the jeering crowd, he saw the faces of Harry, Aunt Ginny, Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione looking angry and disgusted. Blinking back tears, Teddy tried to fly away, but instead he lost his balance, slipping off his broom and falling to the ground with a…

THUD.

"Merlin! Are you alright Teddy?"

Teddy opened his eyes to find himself blinded by daylight. His bed felt cold and hard and his pillow had disappeared.

"Wha? Where? The Trolls? I didn't…"

"Ted?" Vlad, Gus and Jez all approached him cautiously. Teddy blinked blearily around the room, trying to gain his bearings. Suddenly he realised he wasn't in his bed at all, but on the cold stone floor beside it. Propping himself up on his elbows he gazed at the concerned faces of his friends.

"Teddy, what happened?" Vlad reached down to pick Teddy up by the arms. "You fell out of bed."

"Yeah, you were shouting a bit then you tumbled out. Are you ok?" Gus took Teddy's other arm and helped him stand up.

"I'm ok." Said Teddy shakily. "Just had a bad dream. Must of fallen out of bed."

"You look a bit pale. Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine." Smiled Teddy sincerely. "Just had really, really strange dreams. I'm fine though." He looked at his friend's disbelieving faces. "Seriously guys, I'm alright."

"If you say so Wolfy." Vlad patted him on the back. "Come on, get dressed and we'll get some breakfast."

Teddy pulled on his Hogwarts robes with trembling fingers. Downstairs in the common room, on the notice board pinned on with little gold pins would be a piece of paper, and on that piece of paper would be a list of the eight people who would be on the team: one keeper, one seeker, two beaters, three chasers and one reserve. Teddy knew everyone in the room was avoiding the subject, but he was pretty sure that they were nervous too, maybe not as nervous as him, but still feeling the butterflies.

Taking an extra long time to tie up his shoe laces, while the others stood silently by he door, Teddy wondered how he could cope if he didn't get in. -You'll be fine.- he told himself -you just need to focus on your studies. You're smart. You like lessons. Quidditch would only distract you anyway- But still all Teddy could think about was the feel of air against his skin, the glint of a golden ball and the roar of the crowd beneath his feet.

"C'mon Ted. Let's get this over and done with."

Teddy nodded slowly and trudged downstairs behind his friends. The common room was empty when they got there. Everyone was undoubtedly at breakfast. But there, pinned to the notice board with four shiny gold pins, was the list of people who had made it onto the Gryffindor quidditch team. Teddy approached it slowly, behind his two friends. Gus stood patiently by the door.

There it was.

The list.

He read the names, slowly, one by one…

Keeper - Fergus Wood (c)

Seeker - Vlad Turkorovitch

Beaters - Davina Hubbord, Maxamillion Avery

Chasers - Alexander Jameson, Jessica Sandford, Yvonne Leister

Reserve - Charity Phelps

-Solid effort everyone. Commiserations to those who didn't quite make it. Don't worry, there's always next year!-

Teddy felt his heart sink. Eight names and not one was his. He hadn't really expected otherwise, but still he felt so disheartened. He felt Jeremy put an arm around his shoulders.

"Never mind Teddy. We'll try again next year."

"Yeah. Don't loose heart Ted" Vlad was obviously happy at his achievement, but knew that his friend was more important at this moment in time. "Quidditch is one stupid sport. You've already proven that you're the smartest out of us four and you don't need to fly a broom to pass your OWLs."

Teddy knew his friends were trying to cheer him up, but he just felt… un-cheer-up-able.

"Umm, you guys go ahead to breakfast. I don't feel all that hungry. I'll catch you in Potions." Teddy mumbled before heading in the direction of the grounds. He just didn't feel like being around people at the moment.

Sitting on the grass by the lake he thought about all the quidditch matches to come, and how he wouldn't be taking part. But instead, standing on the sidelines, cheering his friends on.

"Hey Ted?" Teddy whipped around in the direction of the voice and was surprised to see Fergus walking over to him. He tried to smile, failed and turned to face the lake again with a sinking feeling in his stomach. Wood was the last person he wanted to see right now.

"Ted, I know you must be pretty bummed out." Fergus said sitting next to the small first year "But you can't loose hope. It's almost impossible for a first year to make it onto the team. The only real exception is yer godfather."

Teddy felt his heart sink as he thought about how disappointed Harry would be with him.

"But don't worry. You have so much potential Ted, you really, really do." Wood put a hand on Teddy's shoulder. "You have great beater potential, you just need to learn to be more aggressive. I know you're the son of a Lupin, which means you're quiet by nature. But from what I heard your dad was a great man and he wouldn't let a little thing like this get him down. He would just breathe in, hold his head high, and do bloody well at everything else. Sounds like you're already following in his footsteps academically,"

Teddy felt tears prick in the corner of his eyes. If only he'd known his dad, if only…

"And then," Fergus continued. "There's yer mam. And you can never forget that you're descended from the Blacks. She was Sirius Black's cousin, no?"

Teddy nodded, unsure of what point Wood was making.

"Well then." Fergus grinned. "We've all heard the stories of the great Sirius Black. So if you have some of his bloody running through your veins, then I know you won't give up. Because he was a fighter, and when he wanted something, he worked until he got it. And that's what you're going to do Ted.

"Every Saturday night, you're going to be with me, on that quidditch pitch, training. I'm going to give you one-on-one lessons. What do you say? Let's make your parents proud. We'll make a beater out of you yet."

Teddy, eyes stinging, turned and gave Fergus a watery smile. "Thanks Fergus." He mumbled.

"Don't mention it." Fergus smiled back. "I see a lot of potential in you. Let's not let that all go to waste, eh?" Standing up, he gave Teddy a quick wink before turning and heading back towards the castle.

His heart beating fast, Teddy turned back towards the lake, a huge smile etched on his face. He would work hard. He would practice hard. He would have fun, and most of all, he would make his parents proud.

Poor Teddy. But he doesn't seem to upset any more. Apologies to anyone who wanted him to make the team. I just thought it would be a bit too much of a coincidence if he did. We all know, first years don't get in very often. Anyway, next chapter will have brooms, wolfish traits, girls and maybe a bit of colour changing hair ;) stay tuned!