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Chapter 7

The Detention and The Quiditch Trial

Wednesday came too fast. Albus left the castle at quarter to five for the Quiditch pitches, he had a horrible feeling that Professor Flint would not forget to make sure that he missed his dinner and he was already starving.

Rose and Philip had asked to walk down with him but he was afraid that Professor Flint might pick on them too if he saw them. He kept trying to decide whether or not Flint had something against him, he hadn't thought much about it at the time but he had seen Flint watching him during the class as if waiting for him to do something wrong.

When he reached the Quiditch pitches he saw the Ravenclaw team practicing. He was early so he waited for a few minutes watching them. Then Flint arrived, he looked at his watch but he could not tell Albus he was late, as Albus had arrived before himself.

"Come in here." He said as though the very sight of Albus disgusted him.

Albus followed indignantly.

Professor Flint led him through a door to a storage room full of old brooms.

"Right now, everyone of these brooms needs to be waxed and polished. You may not leave till I am satisfied. Here is the wax and here is the polish, the brushes and cloths. Start now."

With these instructions, Albus picked up the wax, a broomstick and a cloth and began his long, tiring, chore. Professor Flint sat on a chair in the corner watching him for a while than took the same book he had been reading before class off a small shelf and began to read. Every now and again Albus would see him take out a black, feathered quill and scribble a note on the page.

As Albus cleaned the brooms it seemed the pile of dirty ones just grew. He was very tired and he could hear his stomach rumbling.

It was past seven o'clock before he finished and when finally all the brooms were shiny and clean, Albus stood up slowly, his legs were stiff. He looked at Flint. For a moment he didn't look up than he gazed round the room and gave a tiny nod.

Then he went back to reading. Albus didn't know if he could leave or not so he just stood in silence by the door. Professor Flint looked up again.

"Well? Go." He said as though it was obvious.

Albus left feeling relieved.

"Potter wait!"

He froze, turned slowly to see Flint behind him again.

"No. What now? I haven't done anything wrong." He thought to himself.

"In case I didn't make myself clear enough on Monday," Began Professor Flint in a superior voice, "The broom you broke was "your" broom for the year. Now you will just have to go without one."

Albus felt his heart sink. How was he supposed to take Flying lessons without a broom?

"Well Flint must have something in mind but I bet it won't be fun." he thought.

Back at the castle he met Philip and Amanda in the common room.

"Here," Said Philip holding out a bundle wrapped in napkins. "I saved you some food from dinner, there's not much but I took what I could."

Albus unwrapped the bundle, there was buttered bread and an apple inside, and he started to eat vigorously.

"How was it?" Asked Amanda cautiously.

Albus shrugged,

"Exhausting." he admitted.

He didn't tell them what Flint had said after he had finished.

"Where's Rose?" He asked.

"Just up in the dormitory. I'll go get her if you like." Offered Amanda.

Albus nodded,

"I want to challenge her to a rematch in wizards chess." he grinned deciding he should just take his mind off that evening and do something fun. Besides Rose had beaten him on Sunday and he didn't want to let her get away with that.

Over the next week the work started getting harder as everyone felt the summer slip away to nothing but memories. By Friday James, Blue and Alex had a pile of homework and were dreading Flying Lesson.

When they arrived Professor Flint demanded that they run to the far castle wall and back.

"Everyone who flies needs to be fit." He announced.

The class groaned. They jogged to the wall and when they returned to Professor Flint he looked at them and said,

"Is that the best you can do? Go again, that was far to slow!"

"But Professor -"

"If you argue you can do it ten times!"

They started back, though they all thought it was a waste of time.

"I hate Flint! I hate him! I don't see him doing any exercise anyway!" Muttered James to Blue and Alex. "I can't wait to get another letter from George. He'll know what to do..." A smile full of mischief creeping onto his face.

Blue felt worried, James could very easily get carried away in trouble.

At the end of the lesson the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were all in bad spirits. They went back to the common room grumbling and with a three-page essay on "The Origins of Flying".

"I know what will cheer us up." Said a surprisingly cheerful Alex to Blue and James.

"What?" Asked Blue slightly cautiously

"We can go searching tonight-it is the weekend after all!"

"But Alex, the Quiditch trials are tomorrow, we don't want to be tired." Said Blue looking at James to make sure he knew that he meant him.

"No, that's great! We really need to get more searching done anyway." Said James with sudden energy.

"James you're going to be exhausted tomorrow!" Protested Blue.

"We won't stay out too late, just a little bit, okay?"

"Don't blame me if you fall asleep on your broom tomorrow."

James and Alex chose to ignore Blue's warnings; they were looking forward to a night full of adventures and searches.

At eleven thirty they slipped from their beds, they got dressed and hid beneath the cloak.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Blue asked James.

"Absolutely." He answered.

"Though Blue if you don't want to come along you know you don't have to." Alex pointed out; already knowing Blue was not going to be left behind.

"No way. I'm coming. If I don't you two would stay out all night." Said Blue in his most decisive tone.

They tiptoed down the stairs all the way to the ground floor. Classroom twelve was Professor Iratus's classroom. She was a mean old witch who thought Transfiguration. Every student in the school hated her.

Her classroom was cold and hard, it smelt of something stale and was nearly completely empty.

"Aren't many places for anything to be hidden here." Whispered Alex.

Still, they searched the room thoroughly. Nothing was found. It only took them about fifteen minutes.

"Let's try the second floor." Suggested James.

"James, you have to go to bed! The trial is in the morning." Blue warned him.

"It's not even twelve yet." Moaned James. "One more room won't take long."

Blue gave in, there was no point arguing with James. It was his trial anyway.

So they left the first floor and arrived on the second then they spotted Peeves.

Peeves were a poltergeist, a spirit but not a ghost. He was a small man dressed in colourful clothing and he was speeding up and down the corridor pouring ink on the floor and singing:

'Ink, onk, stink, stonk.

We'll make a mess tonight

What will Heep say in the morning

About the mess I am forming.

I cannot wait to see,

His reaction to my glee'

The boys managed to slip by without getting any ink on the cloak. Classroom twelve was an unused classroom. It was completely empty inside. There was nowhere to look except for beneath the windowsills and behind the old blackboard that was still on the wall.

"Perhaps we're searching all wrong," Suggested Blue.

"What do you mean?" Frowned Alex in puzzlement.

"Well... the note said at the twelve, so it must mean a particular twelve, a more unique twelve, we're searching just any twelve. Do you know what I mean?"

"Not a clue."

"Well it's not in here anyway." Interrupted James. "We'd better go, Peeves has flown off but he'll be back any minute to finish his mess." He said looking at the map.

Outside the classroom they saw that Peeves had added a layer of glue to the ink.

"Wow, what a way to introduce yourself." Joked Alex as they dodged their way around the large puddle.

They arrived back in the common room with the cloak still on. James pulled it off.

"Well, we didn't find anything - again." Muttered Alex.

"Hey, I thought you were doing this to cheer yourselves up, you can't start whining now." Said Blue giving him a dirty look.

"Well, I had fun." Offered James.

"Great, then now we can all go to sleep!"


"Before anyone here trials I want you to understand exactly what is involved.' Rangi Pai was standing on the Quiditch pitch in front of the hopeful students who assembled shivering in the freezing wind.

"Quiditch must be your number one priority. We will be training three times a week, on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, whatever the weather, missing training will not be taken lightly. If you get on this team you make a commitment!"

James was standing opposite Rangi, the rest of Gryffindor team was standing behind him and James could see two of his cousins, Molly and Fred.

"Anyone who has no experience of Quiditch might want to reconsider taking this trial. As you know, we need a need a seeker and a chaser, so will all the chasers line up here," Said Rangi indicating to his right, "and all the seekers over here." He indicated to his left. "We'll start with the chasers."

The Seekers pushed their way into a line. James felt himself being slowly pushed to the back of the line and after a moment found himself standing at the very back. He didn't want to go last but there wasn't anything he could do, the other students were bigger than him.

James could see Alex, Blue, Victoire, Rose, Albus and a friend of theirs'. They had all shown up to show him their support but he wished they hadn't, he was nervous enough without so many people watching him.

One by one the chasers flew into the air, they did a short passing exercise with Fred and the other chaser, then they had to take three shots on one of the fifty-foot high hoop shaped goals.

Next in the line of chasers was a small nervous looking boy who said he was in second year but James didn't know him. Rangi towered over the boy and he was looking down at him with suspicion.

"Are you in second year?" He asked.

The boy nodded but he was shaking.

"Let me make this clear right now, First years are not allowed on the Quiditch team. So before anyone wastes more of our time taking this trial when they won't be able to play anyway, I did not make these rules, will all first years leave the pitch."

The small boy and one other boy from the line of chasers left the pitch looking disappointed and rejected. James felt sorry for them, he had wanted to be on the Quidditch team last year and he wasn't allowed but they would have to wait, like he did.

The chaser trial continued and soon they had all taken the trial.

Now it was the seekers turn. As James watched the line ahead of him shrink he felt like his heart was in his mouth. He was the last person standing in the line.

"Name?" Asked Rangi.

"James Potter." Replied James. Rangi raised an eyebrow in interest.

"Year?"

"Second." Rangi looked at him with caution but decided to believe him.

"Go on then."

James mounted his broomstick. He pushed off from the ground and felt the sudden rush of air pass him and felt adrenaline fill him. He took off with speed. A sort of floating obstacle course had been set up and the seekers had to fly through it then the trial was to spot and catch the Golden Snitch without getting hit by any Bludgers.

James swerved around and through the obstacles with all the skill he had. He dodged an oncoming Bludger narrowly and that was when he spotted the snitch.

It was fifty feet in front of him hovering a few feet from the ground, he shot after it with all the speed he could muster. He dove towards it sharply, forgetting about the people who were watching him, his mind only concentrated on the one thing; the snitch. He watched as the ground rushed towards him, he pulled out of the dive just in time, the snitch was darting away from him but he was hot on it's tail.

He stretched out his hand and nearly lost his balance on the broom but he made a grab for it and felt the cold metal against his fingers before allowing his feet to touch the ground. He heard the cheers of his friends and family and was suddenly he felt glad that they had come.

Fred ran over to him and ruffled his hair,

"Well done, that was some performance! Rangi says you can go back to the school, he'll post who got the position in the Gryffindor common room tonight. In my opinion you were easily the best we saw, let's hope Rangi agrees, eh?" He patted James on the back then left to go back to the rest of the team who were waiting for him.

James spotted Blue and Alex sprinting across the pitch towards him.

"Wow! That was amazing!" Declared Alex.

"Nice dive!" Grinned Blue.

James was escorted all the way to the castle by such happy company he felt like he had got the position on the team already.