A/N
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and not myself (which as I am posting under a fanfiction site should be obvious)
Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews! We are finally starting to get to the Quidditch! This chapter is full of dialog explaining the League and how it works and I hope I have found a way to make the seeker and the snitch less ridiculous, ie the 150 points being way too much to make any of the other positions relevant. Let me know what you all think. We also get through camp this chapter, I hope none of you are disappointed by how quickly it goes but Harry really has many advantages over his competitors (his training and his skill level being very high for a rookie) and it shows.
Enjoy :]
It was the Sunday before camp and Harry was having dinner with his agent at her office and going over their plans for the week as well as the state of the teams in the British Quidditch League.
"Ok Harry, everything I have heard from your coaches says you are in really good shape, and that your skill level is very high for a rookie. You need more experience but everything seems to point to you being at the top of the class for seekers this year. On top of your skill level and youth which make you incredibly desirable, there is a rather weak class of free agent seekers this year. With Krum resigning with the Vultures none of the top tier of veteran seekers are available, and the few free agents there are either near the end of their careers or are journeymen who bounce around teams looking to plug up the hole in their roster. With all that said, I expect a good camp from you to lead to a record breaking rookie contract. Already the press is reporting sky high demand for your skills, so we should go over my expectations for the next week" Queenie Greengrass said to the young seeker.
"Let's start with an overview of how the signing process will work. After Camp teams will approach us with rookie contracts usually with 2-3 years length and various incentives for playing time and endorsement deals. For example I will be negotiating for a bonus for gaining a place on the National Team, as teams want players to get the notoriety that comes from playing in the world cup. It's good for their brand. For most players these contracts will be for the reserve team or for one of the major clubs semi-pro teams which play in one of the minor leagues in Britain. The reserve team practices with the main team and acts as backups in case of injury's to the main team. Teams often switch players between the main team and the reserve team to rest players and give experience to the younger players. Occasionally a team is weak in an area and finds a rookie who is better than their current starter and signs a rookie straight to the main team.
"For you I expect that you will be placed on a reserve team, possibly sharing time on the main team with their current seeker. If you play well you might start getting more time and maybe swap places to become the main starter. This is advantageous for everyone involved, as you will need to get used to the professional game, and they don't want to have to put their whole season on an untried rookie."
"Ok" Harry said between bites of his slice of Pizza, "that all sounds good. Obviously I still need experience playing at the speed and intensity the professionals do before being named a starter, and I don't have any problems with being a backup to a seasoned veteran for a season. What teams do you think will be interested? Like I've said before I wouldn't want to play on a team that wasn't committed to being the best, so I would prefer to be on a team that was full of talent over one that has a long way to go before they can compete for a title."
"Right good question Harry. We can start at the top of the league and work our way down. The Tutshill Tornadoes are the favorite to win the League this year. Their chaser line is extraordinary, headed by the duo of Moran and Troy who you probably know from the Irish National Team. Their seeker is their weakest link, but has enough skill in playing defensive seeker tactics to keep the other team from catching the snitch before their chasers can put the game away.
"Remember unlike tournaments like the World Cup or the Euro Cup, the British League Cup goes to the team at the top of the table, which counts overall points. A seekers job isn't only to catch the snitch, but to be able to hold off on catching in until the situation favors your team. The team that wins the League is the one that scores the most in goal differential, meaning the team that scores the most in comparison to their opponents, with loses counting as negatives. So if you beat the Cannons by 100 but lose to the Bats by 20 your point total would be 80. Since every team plays every other team twice, once at home and once away this makes it a fair accounting of which team is the best." Seeing Harry nodding along she continued, "This makes it the seekers job to understand when to catch the snitch, as if the seeker thinks the team will continue to raise the goal differential it might be best to hold off and block the opponent from ending the game, while the losing seeker would want to catch it as quickly as possible to minimize the difference in score or if they think they can mount a comeback, prevent the opponent from ending the game. This is why some games take so long, as teams seek to try to overload the table against bad opponents. In the end even the worst teams are still good enough to keep the system fair, and since every team plays the others an equal amount every team has the opportunity to run up the score against bad ones.
"Anyway, since the Tornadoes already have a pretty good defensive oriented seeker and are the favorites it's unlikely they will rock the boat by signing a rookie seeker. They would rather spend the money on a veteran backup that they know will be able to hold off opponents if needed. Next up would be the Harpies, but as you don't meet their criteria we can skip them, just know that they also have strong chasers and a superb beater in Hopkins. Likewise the Wasps have a great defense, with the best keeper in the league in Rodgers. They might be interested in a new reserve seeker. Their current starter is under contract for another 2 years, and is frankly being overpaid, but has been solid for them. Their reserve seeker is another veteran journeyman, but is talented enough to get by. They might be willing to take the risk on you, hoping you could outplay one of their current seekers and push them up the table. From what I hear however, they are a little short on cash so they may not be able to afford to compete for you with the rest of the league and still address their issues with their chaser line. The starters are fine, but they really need another reserve chaser to bolster their attack.
"The Magpies won't be interested I'm afraid, they have the best seeker in Britain already in Campbell, although he is starting to get up there in years. Their reserve seeker in just in her second season and played pretty well last year so I can't see them moving on from her right now. Next comes the teams that I expect will show the most interest and that we will be focusing our interest on. The Catapults, Puddlemere United, Falcons, Arrows and Bats all are on the market for a seeker and are expected to be in the middle of the pack next year on the table. Both Puddlemere and the Falcons are flush with funds after losing their starting seekers after last season. One to a surprise retirement and the other to a scandal involving performance enhancing potions. Puddlemere has a younger and more talented team, but also has a rather strong reserve seeker that's going into her third year and is seriously contending for the starting position. While the Falcon's reserve isn't as good he is under a long term contract and they might be unwilling to let him go in the future. Plus with the scandal it might not be a team you want to be associated with right now."
"Yeah I don't think I want to be on a team involved with that kind of scandal, it might taint my career and the last thing I need is for people to think I am on drugs," Harry replied. This had been a lot on information to take in at once. While coach Mostafa had taught him all about the role seekers played in the Quidditch League, it was interesting to hear from an agents prospective how seekers were classified by the style they played. He knew that he was an aggressive seeker that liked to play using feints to confuse his opponent and take the attention of the beaters interest to disrupt the game when he could.
"Yes I quite agree," his agent replied. "The most likely candidates for you will be the Arrows, Bats and Catapults. The rest of the league either won't be able to match the offers those three will offer, have long term contracts with starting caliber seekers or don't have enough other talent to interest you. I think your best match is the Bats. They have a very young team, with all of their starters under the age of 25, the eldest of which is their keeper who is in his 5th year as a professional. Their strength is at the beater position, and they have a very good offensive oriented chaser in Bole, but he is a little reckless with the Quaffle. Their seeker is the 24 year old Rodrigues from Brazil, who plays similar to you in that he plays fast and aggressive. This is the last year of his contract however and rumor has it he is being heavily pursued by a team in North America. Their reserve seeker is weak and I could easily see them letting her go to see if you can be the starter of the future. They have a lot of money tied up already, but they should be able to make a run at you. They are maybe a year or so away from being a major contender, but with their main talent being so young they are definitely a team to watch out for.
"The Arrows are a little more seasoned, their seeker in particular is rather well known Aidan Lynch who played seeker for the Irish National Team. He is very talented and you could learn a lot from him. The downside is he just got a contract extension, but there is an opportunity here for you to learn from a seasoned veteran and play on a very good team as their reserve for a few years and then come out in two years as the most wanted free agent. Since you are so young I think we would be able to get you an incredible contract with practically any team at that point. The opportunity to learn under Lynch will have to be weighed against the opportunity other teams will present with more playing time.
"Like the Bats, the Catapults have a starting seeker with only a year on contract, and it looks like Ivanov will be retiring after this year. This is a more offensive oriented team that might appreciate a seeker with your aggression more than others. An excellent chaser line led by Rosenburg and D'Aboville makes them a serious contender for the next few years. Their coach, Bolliger, is also someone worth taking into consideration, as he is well known for his unconventional use of seekers. That might be something that interests you, as he will likely be more willing to give a rookie more chances to start if you are willing to give his ideas a shot."
The two talked about the rest of the teams in the league and about how the camp was set up. The camp would take place over a five day period, with the first two days being various drills and tests for the players testing their speed and maneuverability as well as their coordination. The next two days would consist of practice games and tests of endurance, and the last day the players would be available to scouts for individual drills and to answer questions. Every player would be riding the Nimbus 2002, the newest broom from the British company, in order to allow scouts to make reasonable comparisons between players and to make it fair. The brooms were not set to be released to the public until the end of the month so none of the player would have ever flown on one before. Harry just hoped it was similar to his first broom, the Nimbus 2000 which was destroyed during his third year.
The camp pitch was set up like no Quidditch pitch Harry had ever seen before. The players had been given their brooms and separated by position in preparation for the first drill. The pitch had only one stand set in the middle of the pitch for spectators, which was filled with members of the press and over three dozen scouts from the 20 teams in the British League and a few representing other leagues. The first set of drills was rather simple, all the players in each position had to fly in formation around the pitch, both to get used to the new brooms and to show off their speed and ability to fly to the scouts. There were 6 seekers attending camp, including Harry, most of which had attended another school in Britain or were currently on semiprofessional teams and wanted to try and make it into the big leagues. While Harry was the youngest, it quickly became obvious to everyone watching that he was far more talented than his competition. Harry was able to make the turns quicker and with more grace than any of his peers, in addition to being able to coerce every bit of speed out of his broom.
This was no surprise to any of the scouts, as Harry was the only seeker at the camp that they had predicted to earn a professional contract. Harry continued to excel throughout the rest of the drills, showing off his maneuverability as well as his ability to dodge to the scouts. He blew through the drills with ease, and had no problems in crushing his opponents when the time came for practice games. His time preparing all of July had served him well, as Harry knew his endurance would have made the constant drilling and practicing difficult before this summer. Despite being far better than his opponents however, both Harry and his agent were worried that the poor quality of his opposition would reflect poorly on his own assessment. After all it wasn't very impressive that Harry was easily beating a group of seekers who would almost certainly never play professionally. On the other hand, since none of the other seekers were any good that made Harry very desirable as the only rookie seeker available, they would just have to wait and see what teams would be willing to take the risk on a talented rookie with a lot of potential over a veteran who they would already know was able to play Quidditch at the level played in the professional leagues.
It was the last day of camp, and Harry was nervous about talking to the scouts directly. He knew he had done the best that could be accomplished against his quality of opponents; he had caught every snitch and had easily been able to dominate any drill they had been put through. The previous day he had even flown with the chasers to show off his skill as a defensive player, and while he was certainly not the best among the chasers he thought he had performed well enough to impress some of the scouts. He had been able to break up a number of plays from the best chasers at the camp and had even been a part of a scoring play for his own team, where he had blocked the vision of the opposing keeper allowing his own team to easily score.
Each team that had sent scouts to the camp had set up a tent where they would meet players and their agents to answer questions and discuss the possibility of the player joining their team. The scouts had kept track of the players they were interested in, and the previous day had submitted a request to meet with those players for a short period of time. Harry had been requested by the majority of the teams, with only the Harpies and Magpies passing, as was expected given their lack of funds and interest in a rookie seeker.
Since Harry had so many requests for a meeting, the League had offered him the use of one of their time turners in order to be able to talk to all the teams that were interested. Of the teams that Harry met with only a few really stood out; the majority only seemed to be meeting him as a formality as they either didn't have the funds or position open for him, or like the Cannons didn't interest Harry.
The first team to really stand out to Harry was the Catapults, who had brought their star starting seeker in to talk to Harry. This impressed him, as it showed the level of their interest in him as a seeker as well as giving him the opportunity to be recruited by a member of their team. The two seekers had discussed their love of the sport and their position, as well as what to expect as a rookie seeker. The scouts had been pleased with Harry's stated desire to join a team that would be competitive, and had ensured him that the goal of their club was first and foremost to win the League Cup. Ivanov had been friendly to Harry, but despite his age, Harry guessed he was in his early-thirties, was very committed to continuing to play at the professional level and win a title. Harry was more than willing to be a on the reserve team for a year, but expected to become the starter in the near future and wanted teams to understand his expectations both for himself and his future team. After receiving assurances from the scouts that their team operated on merit, meaning if he was the best seeker he would be the starter, the meeting came to a close with both sides expressing interest in coming to an agreement in the future.
Like the Catapults, the Arrows also brought their star seeker, Lynch, with them to their meeting with Harry. Unlike Ivanov however, Lynch didn't seem interested in discussing much with Harry, and left quickly after introductions and exchanging some small talk. Despite this, Harry came away from that meeting expecting to get an offer from the Arrows and seriously thinking about the possibility of playing with the World Cup winner and learning from him. While he might have lost against Krum, his play throughout the rest of the tournament was excellent and he had consistently been among the top seekers in the British League for a number of years.
Unlike the Catapults and the Arrows, the Bats impressed Harry by bringing their coach Adrian MacAteer to talk about how he would fit into their scheme for the current season. Coach MacAteer seemed excited about the possibility of having a new young seeker to coach up and had told Harry that he would make sure he received a good deal of playing time. Their team was being built to be a dynasty soon, and they expected noting but the best from all their players. With their youth, the team's goal was to lock in their players for as long as they could and become a dominant force in the league by building team chemistry and cooperation. This methodology interested Harry, as one of the reasons he felt his Hogwarts team had been successful was the level of comradery between players and their superior team work due to years of familiarity.
The last team to really interest Harry was to his surprise one of the few present at the camp from outside of the British League. The Finchburg Finches, a team from the American state of Massachusetts, had been impressed with Harry's play and wanted to discuss with his the possibility of joining their team. They espoused the benefits of playing for a team like the Finches, mainly the possibility of playing and learning under the well-known seeker Maximus Brankovitch III the captain of the American National Team. Unlike the British teams, the Finches would better offer Harry a place away from his fame as the boy-who-lived, which the scouts quickly picked up on as something that was very interesting to Harry. While going into the meeting Harry had not expected himself to be really interested in what they had to offer, he had found himself thinking over the benefits of leaving Brittan and playing in America.
After a long day of time traveling and meeting with teams, Harry finally made his way back to his apartment to rest. This weekend he would have to make one of the biggest decisions of his life, as his Agent had told him offers should start coming in by tomorrow afternoon; it was up to her now to get Harry a favorable contract with one of the teams he was interested in. The deadline for rookie signings was a week from tomorrow, and Harry knew that by that deadline he would achieve his goal of being a professional Quidditch Player.
Thanks for Reading. What team do you think Harry will be most interested in? Find out where he signs next chapter!
See you all soon.