Alicia could feel her face fall when Charlie said it wouldn’t be fair to the players who made it. The worst part was she knew he was right, and she didn’t want anyone kicked off the team either. She just wanted to play. Again, she chewed on her lip. Nigel was going to be a git about this, she just knew it. She’d have to tell Sam then, and then he could tell Nigel, and maybe then... no, Nigel would still be a git about this.
Then Charlie did something she had never expected him to do; he invited her to come sit next to him. A little confused Alicia looked around the Common Room to see if the twins were watching. She doubted that this would be beneath them, that they had talked to Charlie and made him help them pull one over on her. They weren’t there, though, which made her think that maybe – only maybe – this wasn’t them. She didn’t know them to ever miss out on watching the result of one of their pranks.
Still cautious she went to sit next to Charlie, mindful not to sit too close, but not too far away either, because when would she ever get a chance to sit next to him again? He had a friendly voice, she noted, even if he was giving her bad news. Looking up at him, she smiled a little; it hadn’t all been bad what he had said. “You’d let me try out for the reserve squad?” she asked him, her smile slowly spreading into a bright grin. The reserve squad wasn’t a bad choice either, and he had just said that she’d get to practice with him and some of the others from the team. She’d get to practice flying without Madam Hooch’s all-seeing eyes on her.