Quidditch or Auror:
Harry was sitting on the steps of the newly rebuilt Burrow. His two friends, Ron and Hermione, sat hand in hand next to him. The threesome was talking about the careers they wanted to have. Hermione was trying to persuade Harry to become an Auror, whereas Ron was trying to convince Harry to play professional Quidditch.
"An Auror is a really important job, Harry," Hermione said. "You were the best at Defense Against the Dark Arts every single year at Hogwarts. You really should be an Auror.
"But think of all the fans you could have, Harry," gushed Ron. "You could be the next Victor Krum, Harry. I mean, you were the best Seeker at Hogwarts by far."
Just then, a voice behind them said, "What do you want to do, Harry?"
Harry looked behind him and saw Ginny, Ron's sister and also Harry's girlfriend. Harry was 18 years old and confused.
The next morning, Harry woke up to the sun shining through his curtains. He rose groggily from his bed. He could smell breakfast on the table downstairs. Harry opened his bedroom door and started down the stairs. He could still not believe how much bigger the Burrow had gotten. There were huge windows that let a lot of light into the house. Also, the rooms were bigger and better kept, due to the loyal service of the house elf Kreacher. Harry got downstairs and walked into the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was levitating plates of toast and bacon along with big glass pitchers of tea, coffee, water, and orange juice onto the table. Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Teddy Lupin, and Arthur Weasley were already seated at the table.
"Where's George?" Harry asked.
"He had to leave early for work," Mrs. Weasley replied, "Business is booming for him and he has to work a lot in order to keep that crazy shop up and running."
Mrs. Weasley had wanted her sons to get careers in the Ministry of Magic. However, George and his brother Fred had opened a joke shop in Diagon Alley called the "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes". Fred had died in the war against Voldemort the previous year. Since Fred's death, Mrs. Weasley had agreed with George that they should keep the shop open in honor and remembrance of Fred. However, Mrs. Weasley always spoke with a little hesitance in her voice when she talked about the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Whether it was because she resented the shop or because it made her think of Fred, nobody knew.
The group ate breakfast, happily chatting about events that were going on in the wizarding world. Ron and Harry discussed the upcoming tryouts for two well-known English quidditch teams, Ron's favorite team, the Chudley Cannons and Puddlemere United, the team that Harry's old captain, Oliver Wood, played for. Ron wanted Harry to try out for the Cannons for two reasons; a) they were Ron's favorite team. And b) If Harry was on the Cannons, they might not come in last place for the millionth time in a row. Harry however, wanted to try out for Puddlemere United in his hopes he would be on the same team with Wood again.
Later that day, Hermione approached Harry and said, "So, have you been thinking about what I told you about becoming an Auror, Harry?"
"Not really," Harry replied.
"Well you should," Hermione said, "Please don't listen to Ron. I mean, I love him and all, but sometimes he doesn't make any sense."
"You only think he doesn't make sense because you don't understand Quidditch," Harry said.
"That's not true," Hermione whined.
"Oh, okay then," Harry said, "What positions did Fred and George play?"
"Chaser! No, it's Seeker! No, never mind, you were the Seeker! Ah, it's Keeper!"
"Merlin's beard, Hermione! You have been friends with Ron and me for eight years. I thought you would've known at least a little bit about Quidditch. Fred and George were Beaters."
"I knew that," muttered Hermione as she walked away.
"Decisions, decisions, decisions, "Harry muttered under his breath.
The Quidditch tryouts were only five days away and Harry had still not made up his mind about which career he wanted to pursue. He wanted to play Quidditch, but he knew that being an Auror was really important. The Quidditch teams paid more than the Auror office, but Harry already had a huge amount of Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts in a vault at Gringotts. On the other hand, playing Quidditch was a lot more fun and he would be able to spend more time with his friends and, of course, Ginny. Hermione and Ron each tried to persuade Harry to do what they thought was the "better career". After a few long hours of thinking, Harry made up his mind. He went onto the porch to where Hermione and Ron were sitting.
"I am going to play Quidditch!" Harry told them firmly.
Ron whooped with delight while Hermione put her hands over her face and muttered, "Wrong decision, Harry, wrong decision."
"I am also going to try out for Puddlemere United."
Ron stopped his whooping very abruptly.
"Eh, at least you are playing Quidditch," Ron said, but he still sounded disappointed.
Harry rushed back inside, hurried up the stairs; and flung open his bedroom door. He went over to a cage in the back of his room and opened it. Out came an owl named Apollo. With Apollo perched on his arm, Harry went over to his desk and pulled out a quill and a piece of parchment. He quickly wrote a letter to Puddlemere United and gave the parchment to Apollo. "Take this to the Puddlemere United Office in Puddlemere, England." Harry opened his window and Apollo flew off into the sky.
The next day, Apollo returned with a piece of parchment rolled up in his feet. Harry took the parchment, unrolled it and read the letter aloud to Ron.
To Harry Potter,
We received an owl yesterday evening. The letter said that you wanted to try out for our team. As you know, your former captain Oliver Wood is currently playing Keeper for our team. We have heard only great things about both you and your Quidditch skills from Mr. Wood. We look forward to seeing you in three days at our try outs. They will be held at a practice field behind Puddlemere Stadium at one o'clock in the afternoon. We hope to see you soon.
From,
Nicholas Hawkes
"Congratulations, Harry!" Ron exclaimed, "This is awesome!"
Ron ran downstairs to tell everyone the news. For the remainder of the day, Hermione and the Weasleys congratulated Harry multiple times, Teddy Lupin, his two year old godson even seemed delighted. The next day, Harry packed a trunk with his Firebolt, an old pair of Gryffindor Quidditch robes, and a shirt and pants in case he stayed overnight in Puddlemere.
The next day, at precisely 2:47 p.m., Harry stood in the living room with the rest of the residents of the Burrow. They all wished him good luck and then went out of the room so that Harry could Apparate in private. Harry closed his eyes and imagined he was standing behind Puddlemere Stadium. He felt the world spin around and, when he opened his eyes, he was standing in front of a Quidditch pitch with the huge shadow of the stadium looming over him. He looked at the pitch and saw about three dozen people in assorted colors of Quidditch robes. A dozen of the players wore navy-blue robes that signified them as current members of the team. Looking around, Harry saw that he was the only one wearing Gryffindor Quidditch robes. Harry took his gleaming Firebolt out of his trunk and mounted it. He flew over to the pitch. He saw Oliver Wood making amazing saves as one of the Puddlemere United Chasers tried to score. Harry flew over to them. Wood noticed him and cried, "Hey, man. It's good to see you. I hope you make the team, and then it could be just like old days."
"Yeah. That would be cool." Harry replied.
Just then, Puddlemere United's Coach called, "Ok. Come on guys, let's start the tryouts. First off, I would like the current team members to fly over to the other side of the pitch. Then I want Seekers to my right, Keepers to my left, and Chasers in the middle of the field, and Beaters will stay where they are. First we will be doing some flying drills, and then we will get a scrimmage starting."
Harry flew over to the coach's right hand side. He noticed that there were only five people trying out for Seeker, including Harry himself.
"Hmmm, maybe this won't be too hard because there aren't a lot of other people trying out for my position." Harry thought.
However, he thought wrong. The other four candidates were very talented, especially a blond haired boy named Archie Brown. Archie rode a Nimbus 2001, which made Harry think of his old rival, a boy named Draco Malfoy. Archie was definitely an experienced Quidditch player, but Harry refused to think he was already beaten. For the first Seeker drill, the coach had levitated hoops all around the field. The Seekers had to fly through all of them in the least amount of time possible. Archie went first and made it through every single hoop in fifty seven seconds. Then, the other boys went. None of them got a time that was less than a minute. Lastly, it was Harry's turn. He flew through the hoops at breakneck speed. His score was forty nine seconds, eight seconds better than Archie Brown. The Seekers and the other players continued to do drills for about half an hour. Archie and Harry received close scores on every drill. The coach blew his whistle, looked at the notes he had been writing, and called, "These are the people that are going to be staying for the scrimmage. Archie Brown, Harry Potter, Tomas Evans…"
The players who had not been called flew dejectedly of the field and out of sight. The remaining players were split into teams. Archie and Harry were on separate teams, as they were both Seekers. The players took their positions and the coach released the Snitch. Then he threw the Quaffle in the air, and the match begun.
Harry's team's Chasers took control of the Quaffle and passed it around. Harry looked around for the Snitch but could not find it. He rode around as his team and the opposing team traded scores. Then, after about twenty minutes, he saw a gold speck hovering above the opposing team's middle hoop. Harry flew towards the Snitch, only to find it disappear out of sight when he got to where it had been a moment before. He saw the Snitch again, and dove after it, determined not to let it out of his sight. Archie had seen the Snitch too, and now both he and Harry were chasing it. Archie was tailing Harry for a while, so Harry did a move that he had seen star Seeker Victor Krum do in a match five years ago. It was called the Wronski Feint. Harry dove towards the ground. Archie followed him. Right before he was about to hit the ground, harry pulled up. Archie, however, was not as lucky. He hit the ground at full speed. Now free of the other Seeker, Harry caught the Snitch easily and his team won the game.
The coach flew over to Harry, "That was some amazing flying you just did. Where did you learn to do that move?"
"I saw Victor Krum do it at a Bulgaria vs. Ireland match at the Quidditch world cup about five years ago," Harry replied.
"Wow." Coach said in awe. He called everyone who had played in the scrimmage and said, "You will get an owl in about three days' time that will tell you if you made the team or not. I wish the best of luck to all of you. Good bye and I will see some of you at the practice in a week."
"Bye," everyone said in unison.
Dear Mr. Potter,
We have analyzed our notes from the tryouts and we are happy to say that you are now an official member of the Puddlemere United Quidditch Club. Your robes, schedule and other important papers and items will come in about two to three days. Congratulations and we hope to see you soon.
From,
Nicholas Hawkes
"Nice job, Harry!" Ron exclaimed.
"Cool," Ginny said.
"I can see the headline of the Quibbler already, 'Harry Potter catches Snitch and sets the world record'," joked George.
"Um, what Ron said," Hermione sighed. She still had not gotten over Harry's decision to become a Quidditch player instead of an Auror.
The next evening, when the Weasleys, Hermione, Teddy Lupin, and Harry were sitting at the dinner table and about to eat, there was a knock on the door. Harry got up from his seat and opened the door. There stood Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, Harry's old Gryffindor friends, and the remaining members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
"Congratulations, Harry," they all shouted as one. Harry laughed.
"Hey guys, I haven't seen you since last year. What brings you here?"
"Harry," Lee said, "We just shouted 'Congratulations'. What do you think we are doing here?"
"Oh, oh, right. Well come on in." Harry said as he stepped out of the way to let his friends into the house.
The large group of young wizards came into the house one by one. When George saw Lee, he shrieked with delight. Lee had been one of George's best friends during their years at Hogwarts, but they had not seen each other since the previous year. Hermione and Ron said hi to their former classmates and, after much joy and laughing, the visitors said that they had to leave.
The next few days were rather uneventful, which was not a bad thing to Harry, as he had had enough events over the past seven years for a lifetime. The biggest events were Hermione nearly falling off a broomstick when Ron, Ginny, and Harry tried to show her how to play Quidditch, Ron magically knocking over a water pitcher and spilling water on his pants (Ginny's throat hurt for an hour afterwards because she laughed so hard), and Harry receiving his navy-blue Puddlemere United robes. Then the weekend came, and Harry had one of the best Quidditch practices of his life. One of the best parts was that he got to hang out with Wood, who seemed to not be as eccentric with his speeches as he had been when Harry was a first year. At the end of the practice, the coach announced that the first league game as going to be in one and a half weeks. They were going to play Falmouth Falcons in Falmouth.
Harry had four more practices over the next seven days. When he wasn't playing Quidditch, he was spending time with Ginny, Ron, and Hermione. On the day of the first game, everyone in the Burrow announced that they would be attending the game, even little Teddy.
Mr. Weasley, Ginny, Ron, George, and Hermione would be Apparating to the game. Mrs. Weasley would be taking a Portkey with Teddy, because he was way too young to Apparate.
After the foursome Apparated and the other two took a Portkey, they met up at the stadium entrance. Harry, who had to go through Falcon Stadium's visitor entrance, said goodbye to everyone and went inside. He went down a narrow hallway that led into the dressing rooms. The rest of the team was already there. They were laughing as they put on their robes. Harry quickly put on his robes. The coach came in and said that they had to be on the field in three minutes. The players hastily scrambled around, grabbing pads and their brooms. There were an assortment of Nimbus' and Firebolts along with one Cleansweap Eleven. The players walked out onto the field and mounted their brooms. They flew off to their various positions. On the other side of the field, players in gray and white robes hovered on their brooms. They looked like a tough bunch that weren't afraid to hurt others in order to achieve their goal. This proved to be evident from the second the game started. One of the Falcon's Chasers crashed into the right Chaser for Puddlemere United. For the first twenty minutes of the game, Harry could not find the Snitch. The Beaters on the Falcons were very good, yet violent as well. They swung their bats ferociously at the Bludgers, and more often than not, the Bludgers hit their intended targets. The Falcons were winning fifty to nothing when Harry saw the Snitch and chased after it. The Falcon's Seeker was on the other side of the pitch looking for the Snitch, but since it was near Harry, he could not find it. Harry thought that seizing the Snitch would be fairly easy because his opponent hadn't even seen it. The Snitch however, did not want to make anything easy for Harry, and it started to speed over to the other Seeker. Harry flew after it. The Snitch buzzed right by the opposing Seeker, but he recovered too late. Harry sped by him and caught the Snitch. The crowd erupted. Harry looked for the Weasleys, Hermione, and little Teddy and saw them in the Top Box, yelling at the top of their lungs. Wood flew over to Harry and mobbed him as he ruffled his hair.
For the remainder of the season, Harry was unstoppable. He had caught the Snitch in every game except for one (the exception was the game Puddlemere United played Victor Krum's team, one of the best Seekers in the world). After that game, Victor had approached Harry and told Harry that he had improved with his flying abilities since the last time Victor had seen him, the second task in the Triwizard Tournament. Harry set a world record for the most Snitch catches by a single Seeker in one season. Newspapers and magazines such as The Quibbler, Which Broomstick, The Daily Prophet, and even a magazine that rarely focused on Quidditch, Witch Weekly had articles on their front ages about Harry's record.