Oliver Wood had seen a lot of good Quidditch players in his few years at Hogwarts, and he hoped that today's try outs were no different, aside from the fact that this would be his first year as Gryffindor team captain. He straightened the captain's pin that was stuck to the front of his Quidditch robes, and looked around at the candidates. He was only a 4th year, but the previous captain, as well as all of his former teammates, left Hogwarts at the end of last year. He had been the youngest on the team for the past two years, and now the team was his.
"Alright, everyone! I'm going to try out the chasers first. If you're interested in this position, please line up here." He pointed to a spot a few feet in front of himself. A good number of people headed that way. "The rest of you can wait up in the stands. Beaters will be next, and then at the end, I will try out a few combinations before announcing the results."
Wood surveyed the prospective chasers. Most of them were girls, but he was open minded, at least until they proved him wrong; He was very competitive, and wasn't one to pick someone just to "be fair." He wanted a good, strong team. Gryffindor hadn't won the house cup since his first year on the team."
"Okay, right now, I just want to see what you all have to offer. I want you guys to practice throwing the Quaffle back and forth to each other, as you weave through the obstacles that come your way. When I blow my whistle, whoever has the Quaffle will make their way towards me and try to put it through one of the hoops. Got it? Good. Mount your brooms and head off." He waited until they were up in the air before grabbing the Quaffle and mounting his own broom. He kicked off, tossed the ball to a talk, black girl, and took his place in front of the three golden hoops.
All of them were fairly good, but the girl he had tossed the ball to was spectacular. She made every single one of her shots, which was saying something since he considered himself a superb Keeper. Wood had trouble looking away from her, but he knew that he had two more Chasers to find, now that he had mentally appointed this girl as the first. Fifteen minutes later, he had his picks, but he still wanted to test out how everyone meshed together.
He called the Beaters over, and explained the position, before handing out the clubs and watching the prospective players take air. He didn't want to put anyone in danger by having live targets, so instead he created some targets out of thin air, that would mark the spot hit by the Bludgers. After yelling this up to the six people, he released the Bludgers.
One of the boys trying out, a skinny seventh year boy with a lot of pimples, could barely lift the club. It was dragging him closer and closer to the ground, causing a lot of laughter from the stands. Wood frowned. He didn't want to assume the boy couldn't play, but he also didn't want to waste time if the kid couldn't even swing the club. A few minutes later, the boy lost his balance, dropping the club as his wand fell out of his pocket. The boy dove for it, and caught it before it hit the ground.
"Oy, you! Come down here!" Wood hollered, pointing at the boy. He watched as the boy came hurriedly down looking half embarrassed and half relieved. "What's your name?" Wood asked, looking him up and down.
"Stan Shunpike, sir." Stan said, even though he was three years older that Wood was. Wood tried to look compassionate, but that's just not how he was. "Stan, I don't think the position of Beater is going to be right for you. You kind of have to be able to swing the club and hit the Bludgers, and you're having difficulty just flying with it. However, I don't have a Seeker, and no one seems to want to try out for that position. I saw that catch you made when you dropped your wand.. How would you like to be my new Seeker?" It was a snap second decision on Wood's part, but Stan was slight and quick, the perfect build for a Seeker.
"Y-yes, I would!" Stan stammered. He shook Wood's hand, and headed back to the stands, waiting for the full team to be picked. That left three people to choose from for the two spots; a burly, serious looking girl, and two redheaded boys- identical twins by the looks of them. Wood hoped for a good outcome.
His hopes came true. These twins- Fred and George, he learned- were amazing. They each swung their clubs effortlessly, hitting the Bludgers hard, but on target. They were even able to hit the tricky ones, and, to Wood's amazement, they each hit a target spot on without looking. He was barely able to contain himself as he called all of the participants back onto the field. Once they were lined up, he put together two groups- those he had his eyes on, and those that he didn't. He instructed that they were going to be playing against each other, but that one team would be offense and one would be defense, since there was only one Keeper and one Seeker, and then they would switch.
As he expected, the first team did excellent. They meshed together so well, and ended up scoring four hundred points before Wood blew his whistle. The teams switched positions, and began to play. They were good, too, but not as good as the first team, aside from one of the Chasers, who score 180 out of the team's 210 score.
"Great job, everyone! If you hear your name, come forward, that means you're on the team. If I don't call your name, please don't take any offense, you were all wonderful, but I only have so many spots. Right, here we go. Seeker: Shunpike. Chaser: Johnson, McIntosh, Rubio.. Plus, Spinnet, I want you on reserve. Beaters: Weasley and Weasley." Wood finished, smiling at his new team as the rest walked off.
"Thought you'd pick us." Fred Weasley said. "More like good thing you picked us. If you hadn't of, you would've gotten a Bludger to your head." George corrected his brother. Wood wasn't sure if they were joking or not.