Chapter 10 – Trying Out

Saturday morning, Ron sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast with a slightly greenish tinge around his nose. Harry had to stifle a smile. Ron had gloriously saved the Gryffindor team during their last game of the previous year, but obviously the memory of that was not as strong as the memory of all the taunts he had had to endure before. Harry knew that Ron was a good keeper. He might not be world class, but this here was not the World Championship, either. Ron was definitely good enough to be the keeper for Gryffindor, but he had a serious problems with his nerves.

When Ron made no move to put anything to eat on his plate, Harry reached for two slices of buttered toast and put them on Ron's plate, then added a blob of strawberry jam.

"Eat something. It's of no use if you starve yourself."

"Easy for you to say, mate. Nobody ever challenges your position."
While that was true, Harry also couldn't quite understand what all the fuss was about. "Just try to relax. You're good, Ron, you know that as well as I do. So you go out there and do exactly what Angelina tells you to do. It'll be fine. I highly doubt that McLaggen is better, but even if he is, he'll have to win his place on the team first. Just don't pressure yourself into anything."

Ron's face twisted into a disbelieving grimace, but he laboriously swallowed down one slice of toast before it was time to go down to the Quidditch pitch.

Angelina and a group of Gryffindor students of various ages were already there, lined up beside the pitch. Harry raised his head and quickly scanned the stands around the pitch. A few people were there, but no large group of Slytherins, fortunately. That might spare Ron the taunts, cheers and songs, at the least. Harry saw Luna and Hermione sitting in one of the rows, waving down at him as he passed. He smiled and waved back, but Ron didn't seem to notice them. In fact, Ron didn't seem to notice anything at all. He nodded numbly when Angelina told him to stand over beside Cormac McLaggen, the seventh year who was also trying out for keeper. Ron nodded numbly and stood beside the other Gryffindor without so much as casting a glance at him.

There were a number of open positions on the team, they needed two new beaters and two new chasers. And while Ron had been Gryffindor Keeper for the past school year, it was a rule that if somebody challenged his position and wanted to try out for it, then he should be given the chance. The decision of who would be in the team was solely Angelina's alone, and Harry didn't envy her for it. They all liked Ron, but it was a fact that he had that thing about his nerves going. So Harry hoped with all his might that McLaggen would prove to be the worse keeper than Ron and spare Angelina the contemplations whom to chose.

Nobody was trying out for the position of Seeker, so Harry stood to the side while Angelina lined up the applicants for chaser. She joined Harry at the sideline as the nine Gryffindors who were trying out first soared around the pitch on their brooms to show their ability at flying.

"I guess that this won't become an easy morning, so I'll be glad about your input."

Harry nodded wordlessly and watched a second-year nearly fall off his broom in an attempt at elegantly circling the goalposts. "Not the one who nearly fell off just now, we need people who know how to stay on their brooms. I'm just not so sure whether I can really give you a neutral opinion on the keeper question."
Angelina chuckled. "I don't quite know whether I'm neutral in that question, either. To be blunt, McLaggen is an ass, but we'll have to see how he flies later on. Then we'll see hat's best for the team."
Harry nodded wordlessly and watched his housemates fly around the pitch. After a few more minutes, Angelina started shouting out orders and calling manoeuvres, and after that she split the applicants up and let the play with a Quaffle. Harry was relieved to find that Ginny was not playing half bad, in fact she was one of the best on the pitch and scored five goals in just as many minutes.

After ten minutes of play, Angelina blew her whistle and called the chasers down.

"All right, thanks for now. Please stick around, we're going to need you later for the shots against the keepers, then I'll make the decision. Now the beaters please!"

The flying procedure repeated itself, only that this time Angelina handed out bats and let a Bludger loose. Ten minutes later, the decision of the new beaters was done. Two of the five applicants were on their way to the hospital wing with bleeding noses, and a fourth-year girl by the name of Annabel Walton remained on her broom solely for the reason that she had been keeping a thirty foot distance to the other beaters and the Bludger for the entire time. It came down to a fourth year named Horatio Sweeps and – much to Harry's surprise – Colin Creevey.

"They're not Fred and George, but they'll do", Angelina said as she blew the whistle and called them down. Harry nodded and with rising nervousness watched Ron and McLaggen rise on their brooms and fly around the goal posts to warm up. Angelina called the applicants for the chasers towards her and started to explain.

"All right, we're going to keep the two teams we had earlier, four of you per team. Ginny, your team is going against McLaggen, the other team is going against Weasley. I know it's one chaser more than normally, but that should keep the keepers on their toes. When I blow the whistle again, we're going to take five penalty shots against each keeper, then I'll tell you who'll be on the team. All right, let's go."

The chasers raised up in the air, Angelina tossed the Quaffle in and the game began.

"I'll watch the keepers, you best keep out an eye out for the chasers. Right now I'm tending to take Ginny and Eric Pouters, but let's see how they handle this."

Harry nodded absent-mindedly, a little glad that he had an excuse not to watch Ron too closely. If he was already this nervous about it, then how must Ron be feeling now? His friend was too far away to see anything clearly, but Harry wouldn't have been surprised if Ron was entirely green right now. But instead of giving in to the temptation of watching Ron, Harry did as Angelina had bid and kept his eyes on the chasers.

Ginny was good, Harry had to admit that. He had seen her fly before, at the Burrow, and he knew that last year when she had taken over for him in the position of Seeker, nobody had voiced any protest about her, either. Training with her six brothers did that to her, obviously. The other chaser Angelina favoured, Eric Pouters, was in Ginny's year as well. He was a good flyer, admittedly. Left-handed, and to Harry it seemed as if he was a little insecure whenever a pass was made to him from the right. Should Angelina decide to take him into the team, she'd have to take care to place him in the right field so that not all that many passes came to him from the right. Chasers were constantly moving along and across the pitch, but if they took Pouters into he team they'd have to think of a way of making it easier for him. And they needed to train passes from the right with him, that should do the trick.

The other chasers were all doing well, but not really well enough to get on the team in Harry's opinion. There was a third year, Nicholas Drabbet, who was flying extremely well, but it was obvious that he didn't have that much experience at playing Quidditch. A little training over the year and he would be a hard candidate for the Chaser position next year when Angelina's spot became vacant.

Harry watched the chasers for a few minutes longer, careful not to watch Ron too closely, until he heard Angelina's whistle.

"Everybody form up for penalty shooting!" Angelina yelled up and mounted her broom. Before she flew off, she turned towards Harry.

"And, what do you think?"

"Ginny and Pouters should do the job. But Pouters needs to work on his right side, we'll need a bit of training to get that working. Maybe we should put Drabbet into reserve, he flies extremely well."

Angelina nodded. "Yeah, I noticed that. He's muggle born, never sat on a broom before he came to Hogwarts. His fling developed extremely well over the past two years, but outside of the house teams there is no real opportunity to play Quidditch here, so he doesn't quite know what to do with the Quaffle once he has it. You're right, with the right training he should become a good player. All right, let's get those penalties over and done with."

She mounted her broom and soared up to the goalposts where Ron and McLaggen were waiting for her. She spoke a few words to both of them, then McLaggen fell back and Ron took up position in front of the middle post while five players lined up to shoot the penalties.

Harry found his heart beating fast in his chest as Angelina took the Quaffle and got into position. Please let Ron get the first shot, please let him get it, he found himself whispering. If Ron missed the first shot, then his nerves would be blank. Angelina came soaring towards the goalposts, threw the Quaffle hard without as much of an indication as to where it would go, and Harry only saw Ron shoot towards the left, nearly crashing into the hoop, but a moment later he pulled his broom up and passed the Quaffle back to Angelina. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. One down, four more to go.

In the end Ron caught all penalties except one, ironically the one Ginny had thrown, feigning that she was going to the left and then swivelling hard to the right at the last possible moment. Ron was on his way into the wrong direction and had absolutely no chance to even get near the Quaffle. Harry cast a quick glance at McLaggen and saw the seventh year hovering just out of range of the goalposts, his face an expression of distaste.

Angelina waved him forward and he flew towards the goalposts, intentionally flying in Ron's way so that Harry's friend had to swivel hard to the left to avoid a collision. McLaggen, too, caught four of the five penalties, though he missed the fifth only by a hairsbreadth and it jumped into the hoop from the tip of his fingers.

Once the penalties were done, Angelina blew her whistle and signalled for everybody to descend back to ground. Harry stepped into the idle of the pitch along with the applicants and awaited Angelina's decision.

"All right, that was good flying. Thanks to everybody for trying out. You all know that we only have five spots to decide over, those of you who don't make it today should definitely try out again next year. Here's what I've decided. Ginny Weasley and Eric Pouters are the new chasers. Though Pouters, we definitely need to work on what you do when the game is going on to your right. Drabbet, I want you to join our training sessions as a reserve player. Your flying is very good, but you need to learn a lot more about the game if you ever want to be on the team."

A huge smile spread across Drabbet's face and he nodded eagerly. Ginny was smiling slightly, though Harry knew that she had to be extremely proud of herself for being on the team again. Pouters seemed slightly unsure about Angelina's remark about his right side, but that they would tackle in their first training session.

Angelina nodded at the other applicants. "Thanks for trying out today, sorry that you can't make it all onto the team. As for the beaters, Sweeps and Creevey are on the team. Ron Weasley will stay our keeper."

Ron paled, Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and McLaggen grew red with anger from one moment to the next. "You can't be serious!", he all but yelled at Angelina. "Weasley was a mile away from the last penalty, and I nearly had all of them! It's me who should be on the team!"

Angelina made a step towards McLaggen and drew her eyebrows together. "I am the one who makes that decision. Yes, you were closer to getting all penalties than Ron was. But while that's good, penalties are often a thing of luck. I watched you both during the mock game, and let me tell you that I certainly don't want a keeper who spends his whole time shouting orders at the other players. I am the captain, if anybody shouts orders, it's me. You're a good flyer, McLaggen, you're a good keeper, but so is Ron. And Ron fits better into the team than you do."
"Because his sister and his best friend are on the team, that's what you're saying, isn't it?"

Angelina was angry now, Harry could see that. "No, because he is a team player and you are not. You might do better in an individual sport, like broom racing. Because you are no team player, McLaggen. That's my final word."
McLaggen was breathing hard. "I'll take that up to McGonagall."

Angelina shook her head. "Do what you think you have to do. But she'll only tell you that I am the captain and it's my decision. I need a team I can work with and you are no part of it. That's my final decision, McLaggen."
Without waiting for a response, Angelina turned towards the rest of the team. "I booked the pitch for next Saturday at ten. We'll have training once a week from then on, our first game is already in October. Thanks everybody, that's been it."

Those who had remained behind slowly dispersed. McLaggen was the first, storming off angrily into the direction of the castle. Angelina blew a sigh of relief at his retreating back. "Merlin, I'm glad he's not in the team. He's hard to work with." She turned towards Harry. "Thanks for the input. I need to get the balls back into the storage room, I'll see you on Saturday."

"Yeah, bye."

As Angelina left, Harry turned towards Ron with a huge smile on his face. "You're on, mate."

Ron smiled hesitantly. "Yes, seems so. I can't quite believe it yet."

"You'll believe it soon enough when Angelina starts torturing us during the first training session. Come on, let's go up to the castle for lunch."

Ron's smile widened. "Yeah, I'm hungry."

On their way back, Hermione, Ginny and Luna joined them. Ginny and Ron blushed equal degrees of red when everybody congratulated them for their places on the team, but soon Ron was entertaining Hermione with the heroic tale of how he had anticipated Angelina's direction during the first penalty shot.

Harry fell slightly behind with Ginny and Luna at his side.

"There's something I wanted to ask you", Ginny suddenly said. Harry felt a completely irrational lurch somewhere between his chest and stomach.

"Y-Yeah?", he all but stammered. He quickly cast a glance at Luna, but the Ravenclaw's face was impassive and detached as ever.

"Luna, Neville and I have been talking yesterday. We were wondering whether you want to continue with the DA this year."

As her words progressed in his brain, Harry couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, though he could not quite explain why. When that feeling settled, confusion set in.

"The DA? I haven't really thought about it, to be honest. I mean, we have a lot of practical defence lessons this year, we don't really need to go on with it."
Ginny shrugged. "Yes, but we thought it was a good idea nevertheless. Fairbanks keeps on pointing out that we should practice outside of lessons if there is something we don't master immediately. And the DA was good for that. Neville said he felt far more comfortable in the DA than he ever did in lessons, and I can imagine that a lot of others would want to continue as well. We wouldn't need to meet as often as last year, but maybe once a week or so. We wouldn't need to hide anymore, we could even turn it into an official club."

Harry frowned and turned towards Ginny. "You've spent quite some thought on that."

Ginny shrugged. "The DA was fun, and it helped in lessons. All those who were members last year are doing a lot better in lessons than the others. I don't see why we should give that up. And we could practice some useful things which Fairbanks doesn't cover in lessons."

"Let me guess. You've spoken to everybody who was in the DA last year."
Ginny grinned and shrugged. "Nearly. And they all want to continue. They all thought you did a very good job in teaching. Are you going to think about it, or do I need to keep on flattering you?"

Harry smiled. "I think about it. I'll talk to McGonagall as soon as I can, ask her what it takes to make the DA official. It can't hurt to have a place to practice, that's definitely right."

Ginny grinned. "You see? It wasn't all that hard."
They reached the castle soon after that and went into the Great Hall for lunch. Harry smiled as he saw how Ron was now entertaining Seamus and Dean with the tale of how he had gotten onto the team. Cormac McLaggen was sitting at the far end of the table, angry and brooding, occasionally throwing distasteful glances at Ron, but Harry ignored him and sat down beside Hermione. He certainly wouldn't allow McLaggen to ruin Ron's good mood about making the team. Over lunch, he'd ask Hermione what she thought about continuing the DA, then he'd think about when best to take the matter to McGonagall.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Sirius came back to Grimmauld Place after spending an entire afternoon with Dung in search of any trace of Emmeline Vance. They had found none, none at all, not even a hint as to where she could have vanished to. By now, Sirius no longer held any doubts that she had somehow fallen into the hands of Death Eaters. But Death Eaters normally didn't particularly bother about hiding the bodies of their victims. Emmeline's body hadn't been found anywhere, which gave Sirius at least a little hope that she was still alive, but even if that was so, they were not a step closer to finding her.

Dung would come to headquarters later, there was still some "business" he needed to take care of, and in all honesty Sirius didn't quite want to know what exactly that was. Wearily, Sirius went down into the basement kitchen at headquarters and let himself fall into the nearest chair. He was hungry, but eating would mean he'd have to get up again. But getting up also meant that he could fix a coffee for himself. Dilemma. Getting up or not?

While Sirius still contemplated whether a coffee and something to eat would be worth the effort of getting up, the flames in the fireplace suddenly roared to life, turned green and a split second later somebody came rushing out of the fireplace into the kitchen.

It was no unusual occurrence that people came to Grimmauld Place by floo, but Sirius was stunned when he realised just who had arrived there. Janus brushed some soot off his robes, looked around the kitchen and as soon as he saw Sirius sitting at the kitchen table, his eyes darkened, his face set into an angry mask and he came hurrying over towards him.

"You and I need to talk."

Sirius got up from his chair because he didn't feel overly comfortable with Remus' brother towering above him.

"Has anything happened?"

"You tell me", Janus snapped. Sirius silently raised an eyebrow, then he shook his head and went over towards the counter to pour himself a cup of coffee. He and Janus had never gotten along overly well, he shouldn't expect a good conversation to come out of this. In an attempt to be polite, he wordlessly waved the coffeepot in Janus' direction. Remus' brother nodded courtly, so Sirius filled a second mug and carried them over towards the table. Janus made no move to sit down, but Sirius was tired and in no mood for power play, so he sat down and gestured for Janus to do the same. When Remus' older brother made no move to sit down, Sirius sighed in exasperation.

"In Merlin's name, sit down. I for sure won't keep standing around here, and looking up at you gives me a crick in the neck. So if you think we need to talk, sit down."

Janus hesitated for a moment, then he pulled out the chair opposite of Sirius and sat down.

"So, what is it?"

"Where is Remus?"

Sirius leaned back in his chair and contemplated the possible answers to that question. How did Janus even know that Remus was not at Grimmauld Place anymore?

"How do you know that he's not here? Have you heard anything about him?"

Janus angrily shook his head. "I haven't heard anything about him, I have heard from him. And because my little brother didn't want to tell me anything, you are going to do that now."

Sirius sipped some coffee and raised an eyebrow. "Am I?"

"If you want to hear the message I'm supposed to pass along to you, you'd better tell me what you know."

"That's blackmail."

Janus shrugged. "So you say. If it gets me the answers I want to have, I don't particularly care whether it suits you or not. So, where is Remus, what in Merlin's name does he think he's doing, and whose incredibly stupid idea was it for him to bring himself into such a bloody dangerous position?"

"It seems to me that you already know just as much as I do. Voldemort is rounding up the werewolves, Remus thought he could get information so he left. I can't tell you where he is, I can't tell you when he'll be back, all I can tell you that it was Remus' own idea. Nobody forced him to do it. In fact, all the people who got to know about it were against it."

"But still you let him leave."

Sirius was getting angry, but he forced it down. "If you knew your brother a little better, you'd know that it was not a question of letting him leave. Remus wanted to go, so he did. He's an adult, he's capable enough to take care of himself, and he's too stubborn to let anybody talk him out of something when he's made up his mind. That's hereditary, I'd guess. I haven't heard from him since he left. You have, obviously, so I think you ought to tell me what you know."

Janus leaned back in his chair and took a long sip of coffee, deliberately drawing out the moment of wait for Sirius. But Sirius remained silent and didn't let his friend's brother goad him. After a few seconds, Janus put down his cup and folded his arms across his chest.

"Remus called me at home, a little less than an hour ago. He said that he hadn't reached anybody here, and that he had news and a message to pass along."

"And? What news? What message?"

Janus hesitated for a moment, as if contemplation what to tell and what not. Then he gave a small shrug.

"He got to know that Voldemort has taken Azkaban."
Sirius sighed. "Shit."
"Exactly", Janus said dryly. "The Ministry got to know about it shortly before Remus called me, so I'm fairly sure that Moody will tell you all the details. He's in a meeting with the Minister right now and should be back as soon as this is over. Remus says that the Lestranges are in charge there now, but so far we don't have a way to check that information. But you'd have gotten to know that sooner or later; Remus sent me to pass along another message."

"Which would be?", Sirius said, getting a bit impatient with how Janus was stretching this meeting beyond what was necessary.

"First of all you can congratulate yourself for letting Remus leave. It seems he has found Fenrir Greyback, just so you know. The last time those two met, Remus nearly died."

"The last time those two met, Remus was only five years old! I will tell you only once more that I am not the one who decides what Remus does and what not, that's up to Remus alone. If you cared about whether Remus is in danger or not, then maybe you should talk to your brother occasionally, or show a little interest in where he goes and what he does! And don't tell me that you give a damn, because I know that you don't. So don't be so self-righteous and tell me what you came here to tell. I you want to play those silly little games, then leave and search somebody else to bother with them!"

Janus only smiled lazily. "My, my, my. It seems that not even the archway in the Death Chamber could dampen your temper. Still so fierce about my little brother's wellbeing. What are you going to do, send me howlers again?"

Sirius balled his hands into tight fists. "Janus, stop it. Say what you want to say and then go."
Janus only grinned again. "All right. First of all, Remus told me to warn you about Harry Potter. Seems that the Death Eaters have an increased interest in getting to him, so Remus wants you to check up on him regularly."

Sirius paled a little, but forced himself to remain calm. "Harry is at Hogwarts. He's as safe as he can get."

"Oh, I wouldn't bet on it. Hogwarts is strongly secured, but it's not perfectly safe. But you surely know best what to do about that. The other message was more of a personal nature, and I can imagine that Remus was a little glad that he didn't have to deliver it personally. He doesn't know yet whether he'll make it back from wherever he is before the next full moon. But he said not to worry, he's taking care."

Janus drained his coffee and got up from his chair. "I hope you're still glad about letting Remus go join the werewolves. I for one don't know whether it was the best choice. I know that he's stubborn and strong-willed, but sometimes others simply have to make the choices for him. My little brother loves to burden more onto himself than he can bear. So I wish you a lot of fun dealing with him should he come home after having run free on a full moon night. He's been a werewolf for thirty-three years without killing somebody, and right now he's about to put an end to that. But of course, Remus made that decision for himself and thinks it's for the best, so there's no need to burden your conscience with whatever is about to happen. Good day to you, Sirius."

Sirius didn't even have the chance to react to Janus' words. Remus' brother immediately strode over towards the fireplace, reached for the floo-powder and in a swirl of green flames and black robes was gone as abruptly as he had come.