After grabbing my golden coin and sending a message to my friends to meet up at the Room of Requirement, I headed to the seventh floor.

Once I arrived, I found Anna already inside sitting at a wooden round table. After sitting down at the table, I saw her glance down at my new ring and let out a small grin.

Before I could ask, Cedric and Alicia came in together. Both of their hair looked wild and untamed. If I had to guess, I would say that they had been flying around on broomsticks practicing for their upcoming tryouts.

"When are you guys trying out for your teams?" I asked.

Fixing her hair, Alicia replied, "Mine is later today, and I think Cedric is trying out tomorrow."

Cedric nodded, indicating that she was right. Turning to Anna, he asked, "Are you sure you don't want to try out for the Slytherin team? I know Alex had no intention of joining, but I bet your dad would like it you tried out."

Anna vigorously shook her head, sending her blond hair flying. "No," She declared. "I've already made up my mind. Besides, I'm going to be busy this year."

Anna reached over and slid up her robe on her right arm, revealing a solid black tattoo that looked like a fang of a great beast running down her forearm. "I joined a dueling club called the Dragon Fangs," she declared with a grin on her face.

Her lavender eyes sought mine expectantly. Before I could say anything, Alicia squealed in shock, "Merlin's beard! Anna, you got a tattoo!"

Coming out of her seat, she leaned over and carefully inspected Anna's arm. "Aren't your parents going to be pissed?"

Anna smirked, "They would if they could find it," she gloated. "Check this out." Pulling out her wand, she touched the tattoo with the tip of her wand and murmured, "Absconditum."

The black fang faded away, leaving behind clear pale skin. "It's not a real tattoo. It's an enchantment that I can make fade away." She explained.

As I looked at her tattoo, I felt a small pang of jealousy rise within me. I shot my new ring a disgruntled look, where was my magical tattoo? Clearly, the Silver Spears are behind the times. Secret rings that designate membership have gone out of style.

"Could we join?" Alicia asked.

"I don't know," Anna replied, "But they mentioned that they don't recruit quidditch players because they have to spend so much of their free time practicing quidditch."

Alicia shook her head, "Nevermind," she said. "There is no way Cedric or I would be willing to give up playing quidditch. Maybe Alex can join."

Anna smiled at Alicia's suggestions, and her lavender eyes sought my grey expectantly, "I also found out that there are several different dueling clubs at Hogwarts. One of them only recruits people who have aspen wands." She mused with a smile on her face.

Cedric and Alicia's eyes quickly darted back towards me. Holding up the hand with my new ring on it, I confirmed, "Guilty, I just joined the Silver Spears last night."

Anna's eyes twinkled with happiness, "It's nice that we're both in dueling clubs. We'll be able to practice together." She remarked with a smile on her face.

Thinking of my less than impressive performance against Zack, I replied, "From what I learned this morning, we're going to need a lot of practice to compete competitively."

A little curious about how Anna got into her dueling team, "How did you come to the attention of the Dragon Fangs?" I asked.

A small blush slowly appeared on her face while she explained, "Apparently, I came to the attention of some of the members last year when we were feuding with Micheal and his friends. They really thought my bowel-exploding hex that I hit Ray with was impressive."

I chuckled at the memory, that was the hex that turned our fight into more of a Cold War, no one wanted to walk around Hogwarts with the chance of being hit with explosive diarrhea.

"I guess this means that you will be competing against one another this December," Alicia remarked.

"It's possible, but at least I know there will be some good competition in our age group," I mused out loud while Zack's explanation of how one could choose a higher age group came to mind.

While I wasn't on the same level as a fifth-year student, I believed that I should be able to mount a decent challenge to third or possibly even fourth-year students.

Once the conversation on dueling was finished, we started talking about other topics, Cedric turned to Alicia and asked, "So, how many open spots are on the Gryffindor team this year?"

"Four spots," she explained. "A pair of chaser positions and both of the beater positions as well."

"Well, at least you have a better chance of making it than me," Cedric grumbled with his eyebrows scrunched up in worry. "There is only one seeker position, and if I'm not the best, I won't make it onto the team."

As I saw the worried look on Cedric's face, I wished I could comfort him on this issue. While I didn't know precisely when Cedric would make the Hufflepuff team, in Prisoner of Azkaban, Cedric was both the seeker and the captain of the Hufflepuff team.

Locking eyes with Cedric and with as much conviction in my voice as I could manage, I declared, "Cedric. You've got this. There is zero doubt in my mind that you will be on the Hufflepuff team."

Weighing in as well, Anna and Alicia both assured him he would make it. "Not like it matters too much," she teased with a smile. "If I make it on the team this year, Gryffindor is definitely winning the house cup."

Alicia declaration set off a new round of arguments about who would win the quidditch cup this year. If I remember correctly, it should be Slytherin, unless things have changed.

The rest of the day went by quickly, and soon we were all headed down to the quidditch stadium. Alicia was all decked out in her gold and red quidditch robes that she usually wore during practice.

As she took to the field meeting up with the other contenders, the rest of us made our way up to the stands.

Charlie Weasley, the muscular, red-headed Gryffindor captain, apparently decided to test the beaters first. Anna groaned when she saw Fred and George take off into the sky.

She wasn't their biggest fan, while they generally subjected everyone to their pranks, I cannot deny that a more significant number of them ended up being on Slytherins.

Around 15 hopefuls rose into the air, each one of them had a wooden beater bat clutched in their hands.

"What are they doing?" Anna questioned as Charlie Weasley unsealed a pair of bludgers from a quidditch trunk. The round, dark bludgers took off with vengeance, determined to start smashing anyone on a broomstick.

As the Gryffindors began a mad scramble to avoid being smashed, I guessed out loud, "I think it's going to come down to the last man standing."

My prediction seemed to be proven right when one of the Weasley twins, swung and hit a well-timed bludger towards another Grffindor which nearly unseated him when it smashed into his back.

Fourteen of the remaining hopefuls continued flying around dodging bludgers. The whole scene was incredibly chaotic. I'll bet that this is why Fred and George seemed to be doing so well. They are chaos incarnate.

Fourteen was soon whittled down to seven. The remaining seven Gryffindors proved to be more talented than the rest, but their biggest problem was a lack of teamwork.

However, Fred and George were the sole exceptions. They worked in seamless unity as they smashed their fellow Gryffindors one by one.

When it came down to the last one remaining, I almost felt sorry for him when I heard Fred and George cackling madly while mercilessly cornering him with the angry bludgers.

Unsurprisingly, the twins were the last two standing. I couldn't tell if Charlie was pleased or worried about how his little brothers ruthlessly hunted down their fellow Gryffindors.

Soon, it was time for the chasers to tryout. Their method of selection was much more straightforward. They were each given ten chances to score against the Gryffindor keeper, Oliver Wood. The two candidates who racked up the highest number of goals would be selected.

Around twenty hopefuls were wanting to be chosen for the team. It seemed like they were going in order by grade, so Alicia was one of the few second years confident enough to try out.

The first two who went first set the bar extremely low, neither one of them were able to make a score on during their ten attempts.

I could tell by everyone's faces that they expected Alicia to perform the same. I smirked, they had no idea how good she was, I spent the entire summer playing keeper against her, so I knew from experience how tricky she could be when trying to score.

Not to mention, some of our practices were overseen by Anna's dad, who played quidditch professionally. He had given Cedric and Alicia plenty of advice over the summer.

As she took off into the sky on her Clean Sweep broom, she surprised everyone on the quidditch field when she scored on her first attempt.

"That's it, Alicia, show him what you're made of!" Anna cheered, happy that their friend scored. Not to be out cheered, both Cedric and I started yelling our support as well.

I smiled when I saw Oliver Wood straighten up on his broom. Clearly, he hadn't been expecting a second year to score on him. Oliver blocked the next two attempts, and just as he seemed to start thinking it was a fluke that Alicia scored, she scored twice in a row.

By now, I could tell Oliver was getting annoyed at himself. Of her remaining five shots she ended up scoring three more, for a total of six.

As Alicia started descending to the field, we all made our way down, eager to congratulate her on an excellent performance. Alicia smoothly landed on the green quidditch field with a happy grin on her face.

By the time Alicia made it to us, Charlie had meandered over and said with a smile, "Alicia, right?"

Alicia nodded eagerly, and Charlie continued, "You did a great job, make sure you stick around until the end."

A sneering voice cut in, "She wasn't that impressive. I think that the keeper just sucks. He let a twelve-year-old score six points. I'll bet when it's my turn. I'll make all my shots."

Turning in annoyance, I saw Ray Sullivan, Micheal's black-haired toady sneering down at Alicia. Before I could angrily retort, Charlie remarked, "I've always found that deeds speak louder than words." Motioning towards the field, he continued, "Since you've taken it upon yourself to judge your fellow housemates, you can go next and show everyone your talent."

While Charlie didn't raise his soft-spoken voice, there was no mistaking the anger contained within his words. For a moment, it seemed like Ray sensed that he had made a mistake. Shooting a condescending look towards Alicia, he scathingly said, "Let me show you what a real contender looks like."

As he took off into the air, I noticed Anna glaring daggers at his back, if Ray wasn't careful, he might find himself being hit with the bowl-exploding hex again.

When Ray took his first shot at the goal, Oliver quickly blocked it. Red in the face, Ray tried again. After he missed his third, the Gryffindors started jeering at him. They had heard his bragging, and they didn't appear to like it any more than we did.

The whole ordeal snowballed, the more he missed, the more furious he became, which caused him to miss again. After he missed on his tenth try, he bolted away on his broom, too embarrassed to return to the field, not having made a single point.

The rest of the tryout went more smoothly, and soon it was finished. There was only one other person who had scored more than Alicia, but thankfully, because there were two open spots, she made it on the team.

As I eyed my friends celebrating, I mused that I probably had changed the timeline slightly. Not significantly, in the books, she was only supposed to make it to the reserve team her second year, and then on the primary team during Harry's first year.

I imagine that our group friendship is what changed the timeline. Us practicing together over the summer must-have elevated her skill level to the point where she made the team.

While I was a little worried about the change, it was only a small ripple in the timeline. It shouldn't affect the future that I knew was coming. I needed to be careful not to change too much in the beginning. If I wanted to prevent the deaths that I knew were coming, I needed Harry's first few years not to change, if they did, who knows what could happen.

Squashing my worry down, I swept Alicia up in a congratulatory hug. Soon she was pulled away from our group by Charlie, who wanted to conduct a team meeting. After reassuring Alicia that we would celebrate later, the rest of us headed back to the school.