Summary: You could say Oliver Wood looked like the average teen jock with his tall figure and strong build. Well, Oliver Wood was an average teen jock. But, although he looked like the average teen jock, he didn't play the average sports that average teen jocks played. One-shot.
Disclaimer: Neither Oliver Wood or Quidditch belong to me. You can all thank JK Rowling for her brilliance in thinking up everything.
Tears of Joy
You could say Oliver Wood looked like the average teen jock with his tall figure and strong build. Well, Oliver Wood was an average teen jock. But, although he looked like the average teen jock, he didn't play the average sports that average teen jocks played. He didn't play soccer or football or basketball or baseball. He didn't play any of those sports. That was because he didn't know what any of those sports were. But even if he did, I'm sure he wouldn't want to play any of those sports. They weren't hard-core enough for him. You see, Oliver Wood only played one sport. And only a select few people in the world actually knew what sport that was. That sport was the favorite sport among all the selected people. It was invigorating and exciting as well as brutal and dangerous. It was like soccer, baseball, and jacks all at the same time. This sport was called Quidditch.
Now this sport had its traditional points. It included two opposing teams and scoring points. But Quidditch didn't play with just one ball like so many other average sports. This game included 4 balls, a quaffle, two bludgers, and a golden snitch. There were seven players to a team, all having a very important job. Each team had three chasers, two beaters, one keeper, and one seeker. Oh yeah. Did I mention Quidditch wasn't played on the ground? It was played on broomsticks, all in one huge field that sort of resembled a football field. But there were no yard lines or goal posts. Instead, there were 3 large hoops at each end of the field high above the ground. Now, the chasers' jobs were to pass the quaffle around to each other and try to throw it into one of the hoops at the opposing team's side. Each goal was worth 10 points. It is the keeper's job to try and block any incoming goals, like a goalie. Meanwhile, the two beaters had to deal with the two bludgers. Unlike the quaffle, bludgers didn't stay immobile. Bludgers were heavy black balls that would fly around trying to attack the players. It was the beaters' jobs to take their clubs and hit the bludgers at the opposing team members. And then lastly, there was the seeker and the golden snitch. The golden snitch was a small golden ball, about the size of a walnut, and had tiny wings that would fly it around very fast just like a hummingbird. Because of its size and color, the snitch was very hard to see when it was fluttering around the field. It was the seeker's job to try and catch the snitch before the other team's seeker. If the snitch was caught, it would earn the seeker's team an additional 150 points and ending the game. But anyways, back to the story.
Now at the age of 18, Oliver Wood was out of school. He had been one of the team captains of Quidditch at his school. He had led his team to many great victories in his years as captain. And as the keeper on his team, he had kept all opposing teams from scoring a lot, thank you very much. But today Oliver was expecting a very important letter. A letter that could ultimately change the rest of his life. He had applied for a position on one of the international Quidditch teams and was waiting for their letter. He had been pacing in the kitchen of his parent's house when he couldn't stand the pressure anymore. So, he went outside and enjoyed his favorite pastime: flying.
Flying always seemed to calm Oliver's nerves. Ever since his first ride on a broomstick, he couldn't leave the exhilarating feeling of freedom. Plus, flying always tended to make the time fly by very quickly. Maybe it would help him forget about that important letter that could ultimately change his life.
As he flew, he couldn't help but think back to all his time at his school, Hogwarts, and all the Quidditch matches he had been a part of. He also couldn't forget his teammates. There were the three chasers: Angelina, Alicia, and Katie. And then he smiled at the thought of the beaters: the Weasley twins, Fred and George. And then lastly was the seeker: Harry Potter. Oliver had never seen such natural talents. Harry had been the youngest player on a house team in over a century. And to think Professor McGonagall had found him for the team. Oliver had been honored to be able to play with such a great team. He smiled at all the memories he shared with them and how his team had always memorized his pre-game pep talk. Before he knew it, 2hours had passed and still no sign of the post. Just as he was about land he saw something flying towards him in the distance. Oliver squinted and saw that it was an owl. His heart started to beat faster and his palms were getting all sweaty. And then the owl approached him. It had an official looking letter tied to its leg. Oliver took the letter and landed on the ground. On the envelope he could see his name and address and in the corner was the sender. Puddlemere United.
With shaking hands, he ripped open the envelope. He took out the piece of parchment and scanned it quickly. It read:
Dear Mr. Wood:
It is with great pleasure that we have accepted you to be on the Puddlemere United International Quidditch Team in the position of a keeper. We look forward to you being on the team and will see you at the following practice.
A smile plastered itself onto Oliver's face. He was grinning like a maniac. He pumped his fist into the air with a cheer of joy and started doing a little victory jig while waving the letter around in his other hand. He then began laughing like there was no tomorrow. And then tears started to leak out from his eyes. He hastily wiped them from his face just in case one of his parents walked out that second. But he knew that his eyes were probably slightly red but it was ok. I'll just say they're tears of joy. And they were.
End
Haha. This was just a spur of the moment thing I felt like writing. I'm going back to school tomorrow and I just felt like writing it because I probably won't have time to write or read much during the school year. I'm starting high school... Wow. I'm not too excited about it, especially since I have biology first period. And then I have English and History at the end of the day after lunch. Ugh. Well, drop a review and tell me what you think. Oh yeah. I'm not a person for flames so if you didn't like this, you don't have to tell me. So, um, yeah. Ok, well later days!!!!