A/N: One night, while lying in my bed, I realized that about half of the Harry Potter fanfic archive is slash, and the other half is populated by Mary-Sues. I decided to go against the grain, and use someone who had been floating around in my head for some time now. Is she a Mary Sue? Is she written badly? Is she *gasp* unfit for the Harry Potter world?
Please, please, PLEASE tell me. I'd really really like to know. I'm a tad nervous.
(Disclaimer: The Harry Potter world doesn't below to me, yaddayaddayadda. Unfortunately, I had to make up pretty much all of the house this is based in, since it's NOT GRYFFINDOR. A few names may pop up that sound familiar, like Cedric Diggory, Professor Sprout, and *gasp* Harry Potter. Oh, and by the way? This fic contains massive spoilers for all four of the books. If you haven't read them all, do NOT read this.)
Chapter 1 - Replacing Cedric
It was the beginning of a new school year at Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, home to four amazing Quidditch teams, the Forbidden Forest, Albus Dumbledore the Great, and Harry Potter, which speaks for itself.
Students of the school could be found gathering in common rooms, the mess hall, dormitories to unpack, the grounds, and even, in the case of the infamous Weasley twins, in Professor McGonagalls office, recieving a hefty punishment for perpitrating crimes against the school, i.e., blowing up bathrooms, showering the Slytherin house portal with dung bombs, and scaring the House Elves half to death.
Or in some cases, they gathered at desks...
"Yes, thank you, I KNOW you want to be seeker, but you CAN'T. You're six feet tall! You're muscular! You're heavy! Are you SURE you don't want to be keeper? Or maybe a beater?"
His name was Pihjin Mackey. He was one of the three Chasers on the Hufflepuff team, and elected captain. Pretty much the only reason he had managed to become captain was because there were only two other players on the team, and he was the most senior of all of them. Not to mention the fact that the others hadn't wanted to be captain, and had bullied him into it.
And now came the problem of finding replacements for the missing players.
The task had fallen to Pihjin, being the team captain, and he was currently sitting at a desk in the Hufflepuff common room, jotting down the names of willing Hufflepuffs. The list was dismal. Only a few had wanted to be Keeper, there were only a few names campaigning for the last Chaser position, and not one name was in the Beater column.
The Seeker column ran three pages long.
It was a well known fact in Hufflepuff house that the late Cedric Diggory had been Seeker last, and HE had beaten the Gryffindor team. Half the house was devoted to filling in his shoes, or at least inheriting the respect he had recieved for his post.
The other spots on the team had been vacated in a happier way; their occupants had all graduated the year before. Many of the names on the Seeker pages had had to be crossed out, because they belonged to first years that were determined to be the youngest seekers ever. This, however, was not allowed. Harry Potter had only gotten onto the Gryffindor team because he had been flying his broomstick, against the rules, and had been seen by the head of Gryffindor House.
Cheating idiots, the lot of them, in Pihjin's opinion.
A shadow fell across the desk.
"Nesbit, Helena," came a nervous voice from in front of him. "Nesbit's my last name, not Helena. I mean. You know. Uh..."
"Right, right, whatever," Pihjin muttered, writing down the name in his looping scrawl. "And you want to be seeker. I'll get back to you. NE-"
A hand slammed down on the table. Pihjin looked up over his glasses.
Helena was NOT what he had expected. She was, well, TALL. And she didn't look like a girl, except for the casualties of puberty. Short, poofy brown hair shadowed her square face, out of which stared desperate brown eyes. "I don't want to be Seeker, I want to be Beater."
Pihjin slowly crossed her name off of the Seeker list and put it on the Beater list. "You're the first, you know," he said.
She looked astonished. "You're kidding!" she yelped. "But Beater is the best position! I've wanted to be Beater ever since I found out about Quidditch!"
"Well, you're different," Pihjin shrugged. "What year are you?"
Helena looked blank. "What?"
"Year. YOU know. First year, second year, third year..."
"Oh. Second year," she said quickly, nervously running a hand through her hair. "Sorry. I didn't know what you meant for a minute there."
"Fine, fine. Come out to the Quidditch pitch at..." Pihjin checked the clock. "Oh... make it noon. Tomorrow. I won't be done with the Seeker hopefuls until then, at least."
She grinned and nodded. "Right. Thank you! What are my chances, do you think?"
Pihjin leaned over to look at the line behind her. One of the people waved a toy snitch hopefully at him. He let out a soft moan. "I'd say you'd get on the team if you could barely get into the air. NEXT!"
"Hi, my name is Morven Sneckins, and I was BORN to be Hufflepuff Seeker."
Pihjin sighed. It was going to be a very long day.
Please, please, PLEASE tell me. I'd really really like to know. I'm a tad nervous.
(Disclaimer: The Harry Potter world doesn't below to me, yaddayaddayadda. Unfortunately, I had to make up pretty much all of the house this is based in, since it's NOT GRYFFINDOR. A few names may pop up that sound familiar, like Cedric Diggory, Professor Sprout, and *gasp* Harry Potter. Oh, and by the way? This fic contains massive spoilers for all four of the books. If you haven't read them all, do NOT read this.)
Chapter 1 - Replacing Cedric
It was the beginning of a new school year at Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, home to four amazing Quidditch teams, the Forbidden Forest, Albus Dumbledore the Great, and Harry Potter, which speaks for itself.
Students of the school could be found gathering in common rooms, the mess hall, dormitories to unpack, the grounds, and even, in the case of the infamous Weasley twins, in Professor McGonagalls office, recieving a hefty punishment for perpitrating crimes against the school, i.e., blowing up bathrooms, showering the Slytherin house portal with dung bombs, and scaring the House Elves half to death.
Or in some cases, they gathered at desks...
"Yes, thank you, I KNOW you want to be seeker, but you CAN'T. You're six feet tall! You're muscular! You're heavy! Are you SURE you don't want to be keeper? Or maybe a beater?"
His name was Pihjin Mackey. He was one of the three Chasers on the Hufflepuff team, and elected captain. Pretty much the only reason he had managed to become captain was because there were only two other players on the team, and he was the most senior of all of them. Not to mention the fact that the others hadn't wanted to be captain, and had bullied him into it.
And now came the problem of finding replacements for the missing players.
The task had fallen to Pihjin, being the team captain, and he was currently sitting at a desk in the Hufflepuff common room, jotting down the names of willing Hufflepuffs. The list was dismal. Only a few had wanted to be Keeper, there were only a few names campaigning for the last Chaser position, and not one name was in the Beater column.
The Seeker column ran three pages long.
It was a well known fact in Hufflepuff house that the late Cedric Diggory had been Seeker last, and HE had beaten the Gryffindor team. Half the house was devoted to filling in his shoes, or at least inheriting the respect he had recieved for his post.
The other spots on the team had been vacated in a happier way; their occupants had all graduated the year before. Many of the names on the Seeker pages had had to be crossed out, because they belonged to first years that were determined to be the youngest seekers ever. This, however, was not allowed. Harry Potter had only gotten onto the Gryffindor team because he had been flying his broomstick, against the rules, and had been seen by the head of Gryffindor House.
Cheating idiots, the lot of them, in Pihjin's opinion.
A shadow fell across the desk.
"Nesbit, Helena," came a nervous voice from in front of him. "Nesbit's my last name, not Helena. I mean. You know. Uh..."
"Right, right, whatever," Pihjin muttered, writing down the name in his looping scrawl. "And you want to be seeker. I'll get back to you. NE-"
A hand slammed down on the table. Pihjin looked up over his glasses.
Helena was NOT what he had expected. She was, well, TALL. And she didn't look like a girl, except for the casualties of puberty. Short, poofy brown hair shadowed her square face, out of which stared desperate brown eyes. "I don't want to be Seeker, I want to be Beater."
Pihjin slowly crossed her name off of the Seeker list and put it on the Beater list. "You're the first, you know," he said.
She looked astonished. "You're kidding!" she yelped. "But Beater is the best position! I've wanted to be Beater ever since I found out about Quidditch!"
"Well, you're different," Pihjin shrugged. "What year are you?"
Helena looked blank. "What?"
"Year. YOU know. First year, second year, third year..."
"Oh. Second year," she said quickly, nervously running a hand through her hair. "Sorry. I didn't know what you meant for a minute there."
"Fine, fine. Come out to the Quidditch pitch at..." Pihjin checked the clock. "Oh... make it noon. Tomorrow. I won't be done with the Seeker hopefuls until then, at least."
She grinned and nodded. "Right. Thank you! What are my chances, do you think?"
Pihjin leaned over to look at the line behind her. One of the people waved a toy snitch hopefully at him. He let out a soft moan. "I'd say you'd get on the team if you could barely get into the air. NEXT!"
"Hi, my name is Morven Sneckins, and I was BORN to be Hufflepuff Seeker."
Pihjin sighed. It was going to be a very long day.