Hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait between chapters but I got a little caught up with work and a few other projects. But during Frozen Month on tumblr I was finally able to find my muse again and it feels appropriate to post this at the end of AU week. I know its a little shorter than usual but I will try to make up for that in the next chapter XD Thanks for all your patience.

Enjoy!

Anna's hand was starting to get sore with how tightly she was gripping her broom as she and Ginny made their way to the Quidditch pitch. The girl grew increasingly nervous with each step and the furious fluttering in her stomach wasn't helping things.

"Relax, Anna you'll do great," Ginny assured.

A slight nod was the only indication Anna had heard her friend.

Friday had finally arrived and with it came the dreaded Keeper tryouts. Anna glanced up at the grey clouds that had spent the better part of the week threatening more rain but never quiet following through. It seemed fitting, Anna thought, that the sky was as sullen as she was.

Although Anna was a decent Keeper, her real talent resided in her ability as a Beater. So, even though she was excited at the prospect of trying out, she knew the likelihood of her actually making the Gryffindor team was slim. Despite being there mostly to get a feel of what tryouts were like, Anna was still a nervous wreck. How she flew might determine whether or not she'd be considered for a spot if she were ever to try for Beater in the future.

By the time they'd reached the pitch, the fluttering in Anna's stomach had turned into what could only be described as backflips and the witch was pretty sure she was having heart palpitations.

"Ron?" Ginny said suddenly, causing Anna to snap out of her anxiety-ridden stupor.

The Weasley boy jumped and spun around to face his sister. Anna felt a small glimmer of relief when she saw that he didn't appear to be much better off than she did. His faced was drained of all colour and he looked like he might be sick.

"I didn't know you were planning on trying out," Ginny said with hint if a smirk. "You look awful."

"Shut up, Ginny. I'm-," he swallowed and glanced at the pitch, "I'm fine."

Anna gave the boy a sympathetic look and was about to ask him when they were going to start when Angelina interrupted her. The quidditch captain's yell caused Ron to jump again.

"Alright, listen up you lot, let's get started!" She called gesturing for them to move closer.

"Good luck," Ginny whispered to Anna before giving the girl a pat on the back and heading up into the stands to watch.

And while Ginny watched from the benches with Hermione and a few other Gryffindors, someone else watched anxiously from the shadows.

Xxx

Elsa shook out the cramp in her wrist for what must have been the millionth time. She had spent a good portion of her Friday evening furiously attacking her mountain of homework for the last – she glanced up at clock – six hours! When did that happen?

Her friends had long since abandoned her, not without first trying to convince her to take a break along with them of course, but Elsa had refused. She had told them that she had fallen behind in her studies and so needed the extra time, but she knew they hadn't believed her. The truth was, she needed to forget.

Yesterday, while walking back to the common room from her Muggle Studies lesson, Elsa had been cornered by a pack of first-year Ravenclaws who then proceeded to bombard her with questions. She'd done her best to deflect them and explain that she had no desire to discuss her past, but they had simply ignored her.

"Did your boggart really turn into you?"

"Is it true you wouldn't talk to anyone for a whole year?"

"Why do you wear gloves all the time?"

Luckily, Amish had come along just as Elsa felt like she was beginning to collapse in on herself, treading dangerously close to a breakdown. The dark-skinned boy had been furious and threatened to report them to their Head of House, Professor Flitwick, for being insensitive little brats. In the end he chased them away with the warning he was not above cursing the lot of them. He'd sat with her until she'd calmed down enough to walk back to the common room.

For a full year, with the help of Madam Pomfry, Elsa had successfully pushed the painful memories to the back of her mind so that they would no longer overwhelm her and she could get back to living a relatively normal life. She had been very lucky – though she of course wished it'd been under different circumstances - when the Headmaster had cancelled examinations last year. Elsa was sure she would have failed miserably, and most likely would have been required to repeat the term. So naturally, being reminded of such unpleasant things did not help Elsa's rather fragile defenses.

Which is how she'd ended up here, in the library on a Friday afternoon, with ink on her fingers and an ache behind her eyes. Currently, she was working on her Bowtruckle sketch, probably going into much more detail than necessary and had become so engrossed with the assignment that Elsa hadn't heard the sound of the chair being pulled out beside her.

"Hello, Elsa."

The sudden interruption caused Elsa to jump a little in her seat.

"Luna? You startled me, I didn't hear you sit down," Elsa said giving the younger girl somewhat of a reproachful look. She knew it wasn't Luna's fault really; Elsa had just been on edge lately.

"Oh that's alright," Luna said, placing her schoolbag on the table.

This was the first time Elsa had spoken to the girl in a very long time, but she didn't seem to have changed much. She still kept her wand tucked behind her ear, her hair was still a mess of blonde curls, and Elsa could see an issue of The Quibbler sticking out from between her schoolbooks. Although, this year Luna seemed to be trying out a new fashion statement as it appeared she was wearing earrings shaped like radishes.

They'd met in Elsa's second year when she'd first started tutoring. Elsa had helped the younger girl with Transfiguration, it was Elsa best subject, and she hadn't been able to shake the girl since. Luna would approach Elsa at times like this, when Elsa was alone and outside her common room, talking to her about one thing or another that more often than not left Elsa extremely confused. And she just seemed to… know things. Like when Elsa was worried she'd done poorly on a test, Luna had stopped her in the hall to tell her that she'd actually done better than most even though there was no way she would have been able to see the marks. She hadn't even known which class Elsa'd been stressing over.

" – er – was there something you needed Luna? I haven't decided if I am going to start tutoring again if that's why you are here," Elsa said shifting awkwardly in her seat; the other girl had been staring unblinkingly at her ever since she'd sat down.

"Nope."

"Okay, well I'm going to get back to work then," Elsa said shooting the girl one more suspicious look before turning back to her drawing. Luna's silence didn't last long.

"That's a lovely picture, Elsa, looks a bit like a nargle," Luna said dreamily and craned her neck to better look over the Slytherin girl's shoulder. "You should join the art class. I'm thinking about doing it myself. Though, I can't draw very well, it still might be fun," she said, fiddling with one of the strange pieces of jewelry dangling from her earlobes.

Elsa sighed and packed away the care of magical Creature assignment and instead pulled out her Astronomy essay. "I don't have time for those extracurricular classes anymore, Luna I have to prepare for my O.W.L.s," she said dismissively.

"My father wrote an article about the O.W.L.s and how they are just another way for the Ministry to keep an eye on everyone, he even interviewed one of the examiners. I'm not sure I will be participating in the whole thing next year, seems highly suspect if you ask me."

The older witch couldn't help but roll her eyes at yet another one of the Lovegoods' conspiracy theories, and was beginning to accept the fact there was a good chance she wouldn't be getting much more homework done today.

Mercifully, Luna did not further educate her on the treachery of the O.W.L.s and instead proceeded to stare off into space. Elsa had grown accustomed to Luna's strange behavior and so left the girl to her thoughts, which allowed Elsa to get back to her essay.

Almost thirty minutes were passed in silence except for the rapid scratching of Elsa's quill. As she wrote, occasionally pausing in her scribbling to consult her books, the world fell away. In those minutes Elsa was able to escape her own traitorous mind. The only thing that mattered right then was Jupiter's moons, not Luna, not the malicious first years, not her secret, only the moons. However, her reprieve was not meant to last.

"You know there is Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts today," Luna said nonchalantly as she began to play with her wand.

Elsa had to resist the urge to look up from her parchment and berate girl, instead she continued to read about ice fields of Europa. "And why would I care about something like that?" she asked sharply still not looking up, though Elsa was pretty sure she knew the answer.

"I overheard your sister talking to Ginny Weasley about it in Herbology. It sounded like she was going to try for Keeper even though she doesn't think she'll make the team. Something about being better at Beater-"

"Luna," Elsa interrupted a little louder than she had intended, causing a few people to look over at their table. Elsa flushed with embarrassment and refused tear her gaze away from her quill until everyone had gone back to their individual tasks. When she turned back to Luna, the girl didn't look fazed at all, she just blinked her silvery eyes at Elsa, waiting for her to continue.

Luna liked to do this too, evidently at some point she'd taken it upon herself to track Anna's movements and activities for Elsa. The Slytherin girl didn't always like what Luna had to say on the topic, but Elsa couldn't find it in herself to ask her to stop.

"Luna I know you mean well but I just – I don't belong at something like that," Elsa said looking away. "I doubt Anna or her friends would appreciated my showing up anyways," Elsa murmured softly.

"You're wrong."

Elsa's eyes whipped back to Luna's face, which held an expression that Elsa had never seen on her before. She looked… serious.

The older girl's mouth was now hanging open slightly, not knowing how to respond. She desperately tried to think of something to say but immediately rejected everything that came to mind. Elsa was relieved from forcing herself to form words when Luna shrugged and her signature dreamy look returned.

"I just thought you might like to know about the tryouts cause you haven't watched people playing Quidditch since your third-year and you used to do it all the time back then," she paused, looking thoughtful. "I think that hole in the benches still hasn't been repaired yet." Elsa froze. "Anyways, here," she handed Elsa her copy of the Quibbler, "read the part about O.W.L.s, you should be informed before you decide if you want to take them. Bye, Elsa." Then she was gone, skipping out of the library humming a tune Elsa didn't recognize.

Elsa stared after her for a good five minutes, frozen in her disbelief. How does she always know? She'd never told anyone about how she used to occasionally watch Anna flying with her friends from a little hidden nook under the seats, despite it having a terrible effect on her nerves.

The blonde shook her head, trying to decipher the mystery that was Luna Lovegood was likely to make even the brightest of minds dizzy. She turned her attention back to Professor Sinistra's assignment, willing her brain to get back on track but Luna's words kept interrupting her thoughts, you're wrong. After reading the same line for the fifth time Elsa decided it was no use and stood up. She began to pack her things, grumbling indignantly under her breath the entire time.

Elsa was pretty sure she'd trimmed more than a few years off her lifespan watching her sister racing around the training pitch. The girl seemed to have zero regard for her personal safety as she threw herself time after time in front of the Quaffle – yes she knew what they were called - that the Gryffindor captain, Angelina something, continued hurl forcefully at the goal posts.

Elsa was a little surprised at how well the girl was doing, it seemed she had become a considerably better flyer since the last time Elsa had seen her play. Anna hadn't let a single ball through – oh no wait she just missed one – but still. There had been three other students before her, two Elsa didn't recognize – Vicky Frobisher and Geoffrey Hooper, Elsa'd heard them called - and the third had been Anna's friend Ronald Weasley. Vicky and Geoffrey had flown rather well and the Weasley boy had been all right but Elsa thought, with a swell of pride, that Anna was doing the best.

Suddenly Elsa jerked back, she'd caught herself leaning a little too far forward and when she looked up, Hermione Granger who was sitting at the other end of the stands was staring at her. Elsa held her breath waiting for the girl to point her out and effectively expose her hiding place but to her relief the girl went back to watching Anna. Elsa figured she must have just seen the movement and chalked it up to a rat or something.

Elsa wasn't given the chance to calm her racing heart however, when she heard a shout of alarm. Anna had practically jumped off her broom in order to kick the Quaffle away but she'd over-shot the distance and her hands slipped. Time ground to a halt as Elsa watched her baby sister take the ten-foot drop from her broom. When the girl hit the ground with an audible thud and a noise that sounded suspiciously like something snapping in half, Elsa cried out in terror and she felt her capped magic shudder in her chest. Luckily everyone had been too preoccupied with getting Anna, and her broken arm, to the hospital wing to investigate why a wooden bench was making such noises.