Chapter 4- Just Like My Dad

The next morning the three boys woke up as if nothing happened the previous night. Scorpius shrugged off the incident as nothing more but a mere nightmare. Al, however, told Blake to write a letter to his dad explaining what he saw and then Al would write a little note at the end too. Blake agreed to write a letter, but not until a free period. They met Rose in the common room and Blake muttered to Al, "Don't say anything to her. I don't want her to be worried over what could be nothing." Al whispered his respond, "Fine, we won't tell her, yet. But when we get the reply from my dad we might have to." Blake nodded in understanding. When they got down to the Great Hall they were met by James and two other older students in Gryffindor robes. "Are these them James?" One of the older students asked. James answered, "Yea, the one on the middle left is my brother Al, to his left is my cousin Rose, to his right is Blake and next to Blake is Scorpius." The four first years were confused as to who these older students were and why they wanted to know who they were. "My name is Amanda Clora. I am the Gryffindor quidditch captain this year. I play keeper and this is another quidditch team member, Alison Tols. She is one of our chasers. I am a sixth year and Alison is in her seventh year. The reason we are asking James about you guys is because we have quidditch team tryouts on Saturday and I want you four there. Al and Rose I've heard you guys are pretty good fliers. Blake and Scorpius, you two are welcome to tryout or you can just show up for moral support for Al and Rose. Well that's it, see you guys around," Amanda said and walked away with Alison. James was left standing there with Al, Blake, Scorpius, and Rose. James was one of the beaters on the team. James got private training from their uncle George who was a beater when he was a student and played minor league professional quidditch. "So which position you gonna go for?" James added, "We currently are looking for a seeker, two chasers, and another beater." "James you already know what spot I'll get. Dad's been training me all summer just like Uncle George training you. I'm gonna make seeker as a first year just like my dad," Al replied with excitement in his voice. "Well Aunt Ginny has been giving me lessons too. I think I'll try for chaser," Rose said, "What about you Scor? Blake?" Scorpius responded, "I don't know. I haven't really played much quidditch. I guess I'll just fly as well as I can and then decide last second." Blake was looking down at the ground at didn't realize his friends were calling his name. "Huh? What? Quidditch? I won't be going out for anything because I've never flown before and I don't know how to play. I'll go to cheer you guys on though," Blake said giving a fake smile and laugh.

By the time Saturday came, Al was too riled up to do anything but fly. Their tryouts weren't until three and it was now noon. Rose was off in the library doing homework with Scorpius and Al was watching Blake write Al's dad a letter about the nightmare he had. Blake was writing the letter and recapping what he had seen.

Dear Mr. Potter,

You don't know me but I'm one of Al's friends. We met on the train ride to school. Well the other night I had a nightmare or a vision or something. Al told me to write to you and tell you about it so here it goes. It was dark and I was being chased. I was eventually taken by the people chasing me and brought to an ancient looking building. Maybe they were runes or something. When they brought me down into a basement sort of room they branded my arm with some mark. All of a sudden I was blinded by an unknown light source and I was then thrown to the ground. I woke up then to see Al and Scorpius Malfoy (another one of our friends we met on the train.) Well I hope this isn't something too serious and I thank you for reading this. I hope that this didn't take much time and didn't upset your busy schedule. If it's not too much trouble I was wondering if you could send a reply.

Al's Friend,

Blake Woodrush

P.S. Hey Dad it's Al. Yea that's my friend Blake. I told him to write to you because you're the only person I can think of that would know a solution. See you at Christmas time. Also I am friends with Scorpius Malfoy. Don't seem shocked.

Al and Blake headed towards the Owlery. When they got there Al called his owl down. A big brown barn owl came swooping down silently from behind and made the two boys jump when it landed on Al's shoulder. "This is Liam. He's a barn owl," Al said. Blake responded, "He looks amazing. I haven't got an owl of my own but if I were to get one, I think I'd want a snow owl. I saw one at this shop and there was one owl that looked amazing." Al attached the letter to Liam's leg and told him to go to find his father and deliver the message and not to come back until he had a response. "I hope your dad responds," Blake said breaking the silence between them. Al replied, "Don't worry about it. He'll reply. He's not too busy right now I don't think. Aurors office has been quiet recently. We should get back to the tower and quick. Practice starts soon and I need to be there," Al said quickening up his pace and emphasizing the word need. They made it back in time to see Scor and Rose heading out of the common room entrance with their equipment in their hands. "WAIT FOR ME!" Al yelled as he went into the common room, dashed up the staircase, got his broom and his other things, and went down the stairs two at a time. Al caught up to the rest of them as they were waiting for a staircase to come back their way.

When Al, Rose, Scorpius, and Blake made it down to the pitch there were only a few people there. After ten minutes passed about seventeen more hopefuls had arrived with their brooms and necessary equipment. "Ok, welcome to Gryffindor quidditch team tryouts. I am Amanda, the captain of the team and the keeper for our team. Anyone wishing to go for the position of seeker please stand over to my right. Beaters stand to my left. Chasers stand in front of me. And anyone wishing to be a replacement keeper if I can not play fly to the middle hoop. Now for the rest of you. Mount up and fly around the pitch twice," instructed Amanda. After the chasers, beaters, and seekers were done flying they landed and awaited further instruction. Out of the twenty people who showed up, there were ten people going for chasers, three beaters, four replacement keepers, and three seekers. After they flew around twice they were broken down into groups depending on what position they were trying to get. Amanda went to watch the keepers, James took the beaters, and Alison took the chasers. The seekers would be tested by Amanda when she was done with the keepers. Alison had the chasers break into three lines and would pass the quaffle around as quick and accurately as they could. As soon as the quaffle entered Rose's hands it would leave and go to the next person. Alison sent four of the people trying out away and said they needed more practice. Out of the six left that would be tested later Rose was one of them and so was Ed Blixen, one of Blake, Al, and Scor's roommates.

James was rough on his group. He put them into pairs. A third year was paired with a first year and James paired himself up with Scorpius. Their task was to throw the bludger as hard as they could at their partner and their partner had to hit it back and then the other person would hit and they would volley as long as they could. The third year hurled the bludger at the first year and it the first year right on the side of the face. He fell from his broom on impact and went straight down. He was unconscious before he hit the ground. Amanda had Alison bring him to the hospital wing and then instructed her to report back to the pitch immediately. Alison headed up with the first year hovering in front of her. James had the third year that was known as Trey, and Scorpius wait off on the side to be tested again with the other people that made it to the next part of the test. After the keepers were done there were only two who made it to the next part. A fourth year girl named Kayla and a fifth year boy named Billy. Since there were not many people going for seeker, their test was to catch the snitch when all of them were playing in a game. By the time it was time for the scrimmage Rose and a fourth year boy named Steven Choles were picked to be the newest chasers and Scorpius was added as the newest beater. The replacement keeper was given to Kayla.

The new Gryffindor team flew up on the pitch. The chasers were just to be flying obstacles and the beaters were to hit bludgers at the others even the seekers though that was just for this practice. The snitch and bludgers were released and the seekers were now battling it out for a spot on the team. Al with his Speed of Sound broom was hovering over the middle of the pitch watching and waiting. After about fifteen minutes or so one of the seekers got his broom hit with a bludger and he flew off his broom and hit the ground. It was now Al and a third year girl named Katie. Al spotted the snitch zooming around the end post by Alison who was just there for the sake of a keeper. Al sped over to try and retrieve the snitch but Katie was closer and she didn't know the snitch was there yet so Al sped to the other side of the field to try and get Katie to follow. She spotted him and was soon on his tail. Before she realized what happened Al turned around and sped to the snitch and caught it from behind. At the end Al was awarded the spot of Seeker for his brilliant strategy and skills. Katie even came up and hugged him and congratulated him. The new Gryffindor quidditch was young and new and were the underdogs for the quidditch house cup.

OK. End of chapter 4. Hope you like it. Sorry its been a while since I wrote ive been busy with work and stuff. SUBMIT A REVIEW