AN – Sorry about the delay, life got in the way.
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Here we go for…
Chapter 4 – Try outs
Quidditch try outs were scheduled for the Tuesday; for the Slytherin's it was 7 – 9 and then Hufflepuff's were scheduled for 9 – 11. Ravenclaw's were scheduled for the afternoon 12 to 2 and the Gryffindor's would have the last slot from 2 – 4; Dumbledore had cancelled classes so that everyone could try out for their house team. He used the time to call a staff meeting to discuss the duelling classes.
Harry, Tom and Neville walked down to the Quidditch pitch for the try outs, when they arrived at the pitch, it seemed like the entire house was there to try and make the team
"Alright everybody gather round, now as some of you may know last years teams consisted only of seventh years and it was no different from the rest of the houses. So Wood, Flint, McKinney and I went to the headmaster and requested that everyone be allowed to play this year" Kingsley said
"Now first we are going to do some basic flying, everyone collect a broom and split into groups of ten" he ordered
Eventually everyone was in a group and the flying began one group at time. They had to do sprints first and it was clear that many of the people had never really flown a broom properly before, very few of them could accelerate quickly enough. Kingsley blew his whistle and everyone gathered around again, this time however he made his way through them and started telling some people to leave because they were being cut. There were 17 left waiting to hear the following instructions
"Now I know some of you here have a position you think you are good at playing but I will decide what role you will have in this team. All the positions are up for the taking, except for keeper which is my job" at this another two people left leaving only fifteen
"Now everyone on your brooms, I 'm going to release 5 snitches whoever catches the most will be our seeker" he blew his whistle and everyone took to the air. When he blew his whistle there was a mad rush of activity as all fifteen players darted around the field looking for a snitch
Harry found two at the goal posts close to the ground, he dived and caught one quickly as the other one raced away. Shoving the caught snitch into his pocket he took of chasing the evading one, Tom saw what his brother was doing and started chasing as well. The snitch started a vertical climb and Harry immediately followed, pressing his body flat to the school broom to gain more speed he eventually caught up to the snitch and grabbed it before Tom could catch up.
"How many do you have?" Tom asked when he reached the same altitude as Harry
"Two, I need one more to be certain of my victory. Why are you chasing them anyway?"
"To give you a hard time, now let's see if I can deny you a victory brother" Tom spoke and then flew away. Harry stayed watching the field; no one seemed to be following a snitch they were all flying around searching. Harry decided to try something he had seen in a match a couple of time. Pushing his broom into a dive he chased an imaginary snitch and the rest of the field started following his trajectory, Tom and Neville were the quickest behind him the rest were on their tails. As he was diving he did see another snitch in the stands but what really caught his attention was that there were two blondes in the stands. He barrel rolled and started for the stands and urging his broom to go faster, getting closer and closer to the stands he saw that he would have to stretch to catch the snitch or he would crash into the seats. He flipped up side down and crossed his legs to hold onto the broom and stretched his body to full length catching the third snitch, he heard someone shriek and assumed it was Daphne. When he straightened up again he saw that she was laying between the seats in the stands and Astoria was laughing at her. Kingsley blew his whistle and everyone returned to the ground.
"So how many does each of you have?"
Cho had caught one and another boy who Harry didn't recognise had another, he raised his hand with three and passed them to Kingsley.
"Fine flying there Potter, you're our new seeker. Now go sit in the stands while the rest of them fight for the other five spots" Harry hopped on the broom and flew to where he saw Daphne and Astoria, when he landed Daphne punched his arm and then hugged him
"You almost killed me idiot and you almost killed yourself" she fumed while her sister was still laughing
"Congratulations Harry, I'm glad I made keeper because I wouldn't want to be a seeker up against you" Astoria said after she managed to calm down. Daphne gave him another hug and congratulated him as well.
Tom watched his brother join the blondes and get punched before he focused on what Kingsley was saying
"Each of you will get a chance to hit the bludgers at the floating targets. Now everyone up" Tom took to the skies not excited at having to try out for everything. A half an hour later they all landed again with Matthew Goode and Matthew Stevens making the cut for the beaters since they hit all the targets and managed to smash them completely.
"Now the twelve of you are going to fight it out for chaser, it is a difficult position as you have to dodge bludgers and manage to score enough to make the other team seeker useless. So now that you have been tired out by the rest of the drills we'll have a 6 on 6 game and the beaters will try and knock all of you off your brooms. You'll have a half an hour to play and there won't be a keeper instead I'll do this" He waved his wand and the hoops decreased in size so that a quaffle could barely squeeze through
"You can thank Professor Flitwick for that added difficulty" Kingsley laughed at the faces of the last twelve
He threw the quaffle up and Tom managed to get it first and passed it over to a teammate who barely managed to stay on his broom after catching the throw, she immediately had to duck to evade a bludgers aimed at her, she dropped the Quaffle and Neville swooped in and caught it. He didn't make it very far before his broom was kicked by someone and he started spinning and lost the Quaffle. They reached the 25 minute mark and no one had managed to score a single goal, they were all dead tired but were still trying to get ahead but Kingsley had already chosen his three chasers and two reserves. Tom got the Quaffle and sped across the field, flying low to the ground and waiting for the rest to give chase but no one did, and they waited for him to come back up instead. He reached the goal posts and twirled up around them until he got to the hoop and shoved the ball through scoring the only goal. Kingsley blew his whistle shortly afterward and the remaining twelve landed completely exhausted.
Harry watched his friend and brother struggle for half an hour and was impressed with the tenacity he saw from them. Astoria mentioned that she was looking forward to playing against Tom. She predicted that he would make the team and Neville wouldn't
"Why do you say so?" Daphne asked
"Because he isn't daring enough, he choses the safer path instead of going all out which is fine if you're playing a scrap together game with your friends but not when there is a trophy or a place on a team at stake" she explained and Harry had to agree with her. They watched the players disperse and Tom came flying towards them while Neville walked back to the castle
"So I guess it's time to write Sirius and tell him he owes us two brooms?" Harry asked
"Of course and they released the Nimbus two thousand over the weekend. So you know what he is going to get us" Tom landed and high fived Harry
"Congratulations on making the team Potter, I can't wait for the first Ravenclaw/Slytherin game" Astoria stuck out her tongue at Tom.
"Oh you're going to regret that Greengrass" Tom started chasing her leaving the school broom behind. They ran down the stairs and onto the field, Harry and Daphne watched their siblings act crazy.
"So why does Astoria call him Potter and me Harry?" Harry asked
"Because they have their playful rivalry" Daphne explained
"Let's go find Neville; I want to make sure he's alright. Do you want to fly?" Harry gestured to the brooms laying next to them. Daphne nodded stiffly, she did want to try and show him that she could be brave like he was. They mounted the brooms and flew low and slow towards the castle and found Neville as he reached the entrance doors
"Neville!" Harry shouted as he dismounted and helped Daphne do the same
"Harry, congratulations on making seeker" Neville smiled
"Thanks" Harry grinned "Are you alright mate?"
"Yeah, I didn't make the team but it was fun playing with everyone. I think we are going to have a strong team this year and next" he analysed
"Maybe you should ask Madam Hooch if you can commentate the matches?" Daphne suggested
"Of course, that's a brilliant idea Daph" Harry smiled at her
Together the three of them went inside to find Hermione and try and get ahead weeks work.
AN- Hope everyone enjoyed. Please do review and let me know what you thought