Chapter 10
The Saturday arrived sooner than they expected and Frank stood in the changing rooms with his team smiling at them. It was five to three and the tryouts were due to start. A nervous energy had taken over, he was really in charge; this was going to be weird.
"Okay so we're going to go up there and we're going to work these people out. But before I send you out I need to cover one or two things with you."
He took a breath and looked at Ted.
"Ted you've got to keep an eye on the Bludger. We'll only use one but if those trying out knock it completely off shot it could end up hurting somebody very badly."
He nodded and Frank turned his attention to the three fifth years.
"As for you three, you're going to play a game of Quidditch. Sirius I want you to practice your keeping against these two. Especially work on your back catch, its one of your best moves and I want to make sure its perfect this year. As for you two, I want you moving up and down the pitch don't just go straight for Sirius. Fly towards the opposite end as if your trying to get the Quaffle from another player that way it means whoever is trying as a Beater will have to hit at a moving target which is much harder."
They nodded and looked at his watch.
"Well come on its time."
The five of them headed out of the changing rooms and onto the pitch. Frank was a little surprised by how many people had turned up. He knew there were going to be a few, but still there were many more there than he thought there would be.
Joe was sat in the stands with Alice, both it seemed had come out for support. But Frank was sure there was more to it than that for Joe. Frank knew that he had wanted to be part of the team to prove that he was as good as Anton but he was much better on the microphone.
Looking a little over Lily was sat there grinning and he was sure he caught her winking at him so he quickly looked at those surrounding him. There were about twelve people there from all different year groups. He was happy with the turnout. They were bound to find somebody that could play among the group. He cleared his throat and all noise died as they looked at him.
"Okay thanks for coming out here today. We've only got two spots on the team so not everybody will make it but whoever is the best at the skills will get onto the team. So we'll start I think with a simple warm up. Everybody on your brooms and up into the air."
This was the first test he wanted to see if anybody didn't look comfortable on their broom because they would be spending hours on it in a lot of different conditions. Nobody seemed that bad and he smiled at them all.
"Okay so I want you all to form a large circle and make sure there's enough space between you and the person next to you to get a broom through."
He watched as they did and he looked around.
"So we're going to start with a simple flying exercise. Amanda is going to go first, and what happens is she flies passed Sirius who will follow her and when Sirius passes James he'll follow on and then when James passes Ted he'll move on and so on, so you'll all be following Amanda."
Frank nodded looking left to Amanda who was hovering next to him. She took off flying between James and Sirius easily; Sirius followed on as she went passed James and Ted. Frank knew that his team mates would be able to do it but the test was if the others could. It was a good fast way to see if they were able to handle changes in direction and having people in their paths.
It wasn't as bad as it could have been. A few of them didn't look that comfortable with the change of direction and Frank thought that a second year named Spears was going to fly right in to a third year called Sanders.
As Amanda flew passed him she came to a halt and Sirius took the lead until he passed Amanda stopping. Frank watched as the others looked a little confused he hadn't explained that they would have to stop but it was another part of the training. A few had awkward stops but for the most they managed it, when the last person stopped Frank smiled at them nodding.
"Yes that was pretty good. Now Amanda go get a Quaffle will you. What we're going to do now is another little warm up. We'll throw the ball in a circle and then when it gets back to Amanda she will throw it to anybody, you have to see it coming and catch it. No one will say who they will be throwing the ball at. Okay Amanda we're doing the quick toss practice."
She nodded and passed the ball to Sirius it went around the circle a few didn't seem all that good at catching and one looked terrified when he took his hands off the broom handles. When Frank passed the ball back to Amanda, she quickly put it behind her back and bringing it out on her left hand passed it to a fourth year girl named Annie.
The girl almost dropped it but steadied it just in time before throwing it at Sirius who threw it at Sanders, who completely missed the ball. It went on for another five minutes and then Frank called them all back to the ground.
"Okay so that's the warm up for us all. So now that we've sorted that we're going to start the tryouts. We're going to try Beaters first so anybody trying out for the chaser spot please go take a seat over in the stands."
Seven of the twelve took a seat and Frank looked at those left standing there. The second year Spears had remained along with the third year Sanders. Then there was a fourth year called Katherine Wood, Tabitha his fellow sixth year prefect and surprisingly Branwen.
He looked sideways at Sirius, Amanda and James and the three flew back into the air forming a small circle and passed the ball from one another. With every catch the other two would fly a little wider until a large distance was between them, the small group seemed to be watching them going and Frank cleared his throat.
"Okay so you're all being thrown in at the deep end today. Each of you wants the same position and only one of you will be able to get it, so here's what's going to happen. The three up there are going to practice on some of Sirius' saves and the other two will be working on their attempts on goal, what you have to do is hit them. Simple right, wrong because they will be moving around the pitch as they always do. Since you've all seen our team play I'm assuming you know how good James and Amanda are at flying so you're going to have a job getting them. If your aim isn't that good don't worry because Ted here will be up there making sure that you don't hit anybody else. Do you all understand?"
"So you mean that I'm actually allowed to hit Dixon off her broom?"
"If you can get her off it Branwen there won't be anything held against you."
Frank saw the look that came over the girl and knew that Amanda was going to have it hard from her.
"Okay so first up we'll have Marie Sanders."
The girl turned slightly white and went into the air. Ted followed her up and moved over saying something to her. Then Ted nodded and Frank let the Bludger into the air. Quickly he got onto his own broom and went up to get a good look.
The girl looked a little shaky at first missing the Bludger a few times and then swinging the bat with great effort she caught the ball and it came hurtling towards him. Frank went flat on his broom as it flew over his head and as he sat up he felt something on the back of his left arm and he lost his balance and began to fall.
He didn't have time to panic everything was happening so quickly. Then he felt a pair of arms wrap around his chest and his descent was happening much slower. Turning his head slightly he saw Amanda smiling at him.
"Thought you needed a hand."
"Thanks. Just put me on the ground."
"I was going to. Not like I was going to put you on one of the hoops was it."
He laughed looking up at the girl. Ted had grabbed his broom and was bringing it down.
"I don't think we want her on the team Frank."
"She's got a hard hit."
"Yeah and was lucky she hit anything."
His feet were on the ground and Amanda had landed next to him. He turned to look as Marie landed next to Ted.
"I'm so sorry."
"No it's … Mand what you doing?"
"Checking your arm. I think it's just bruised but you should go see Pomfrey about it."
"Get back into the air Amanda and try to score."
She did as she was told and Frank looked at Marie and smiled kindly at her.
"That was a good attempt. So next up Troy."
The second year Spears took to the air and Frank followed with Ted. Troy seemed to struggle non-stop with the Bludger, in fact he couldn't get near it. He was having enough trouble letting go of the broom with one hand to hold the bat, then he began to wobble and fell backwards from his broom.
Frank flew down to try to catch him just as James went up and between them they managed to grab an arm each and lower him to the ground. He was extremely pale when they got to the ground he bent down and kissed it.
"Are you alright?"
The boy just shook his head and crawled out of the way. Before he had gotten far though Amanda had landed next to him, putting her hand on his shoulder.
"Get back on your broom now otherwise you never will."
Frank watched as she pulled him onto her broom and took him into the air. It was pretty nice of her. They had all fallen off their brooms before and had to get back on and she had been right Troy would never do it again. Frank looked at the next person in line.
"Okay Branwen you're next up."
She smiled and turned to look at Lily giving her a thumbs up and as she went into the air Amanda landed to let Troy off her broom. Frank watched as Amanda took the ball from James and headed towards Sirius. From nowhere she was hit with a Bludger and began to spin as she dropped the Quaffle.
Frank saw the grin on Branwen's face as Amanda stopped rolling and pulled herself back up onto the broom. It had been a good hit she had been the only one to get one of the players. He watched as she hit the Bludger again and this time it hit the Quaffle from James' hands and as Amanda caught it another Bludger hit her in the arm and she flew from the broom.
Frank flew down into a deep dive reaching out with the tips of his fingers. He just about caught her wrist and pulled her up onto his broom. Then he steadied up and landed gently on the ground. She stood up and rubbed her shoulder as Branwen landed.
"Good aim Branwen. Don't you agree Mand?"
"Yeah, just what I've always wanted to get hit off my broom by her."
"Amanda if your shoulder is okay get back in the air."
She didn't make a noise or even look in his direction as she climbed back onto her broom. He watched her take the Quaffle from James and slam it at Sirius who jumped about an inch off his broom to stop it hitting him.
Frank turned his attention back to those waiting and pointed Tabitha up into the air. She went straight up and when Frank got level with her he saw that she was holding the bat lightly as though scared of it, she didn't look as comfortable on her broom either.
She swung the bat and it slipped right out of her hand and hit Ted in the forehead. He fell backwards and began to drop. Frank went into a dive and yelled causing Amanda to look up just in time for Ted to hit her across the head with his foot. She too began to fall but quickly using her good arm grabbed hold of her broom. Sirius had come from the goals and James too was racing forward and the three managed to grab hold of Ted before he hit the ground lowering him gently.
"Is he alright?"
"I don't know? Ted open your eyes mate."
Sirius was bent over him and Frank too was standing close with James when they heard a noise from above.
"Hey guys a little help!"
Amanda was still hanging from her broom and it was clear that the arm Branwen had hit was useless as she struggled to use it to try and get back on her broom. James went up into the air while Frank stood there looking around. Tabitha had landed next to him looking sickly pale and as James and Amanda landed he began to wonder if he'd done the right thing calling these tryouts.
He looked at the stands and Lily had moved to sit next to Joe who was edging closer to Alice and he called out to the pair. Alice and Joe came running and Frank smiled at them.
"Alice can you and Tab here take Ted to the hospital wing. Tell Madam P that he was hit with a Bludger bat and fell from his broom, but that we caught him."
Alice nodded and with Tabitha they managed to drag the boy from the pitch but Frank was looking now at Joe.
"We're missing a beater. Think you could stand in for now?"
He nodded and Frank looked at the last person stood there, Katherine Wood.
"Okay Katherine if you'd like to go up into the air then, we'll continue."
They were all back in the air and Frank was impressed with Katherine, she wasn't as steady as Branwen but she had a good aim. She managed to knock the Quaffle from both Amanda and James and would have hit James across the shoulder if she hadn't screamed at the last minute causing him to roll over on his broom.
They landed and Frank grinned at the four potential beaters.
"Okay thank you. Each of you made a good attempt and the name of the person who got the position will be posted on the notice board Monday morning."
They left the pitch and Frank turned his attention to the Chasers, he just hoped that this would be less dangerous than the beaters…
Okay first up sorry for the delay. Everyone is taking holidays at work at the moment so I'm stuck working 20+ hours a week. But hopefully it'll be a little quieter this week than last.
I'd like to comment on two things that I noticed from reviews and want to explain to everyone. With the Slug Club chapter the idea was to show how everyone is related. It's the whole marrying into the same families (like the Valleys! – Who said that?) Anyway the Pure Blooded families are running short so they are marrying people that they are related to in some way. So yeah that's why so many of them were related.
As for the comment on a lot of 'filler' chapters. Well maybe I need to clear that up. This year is all about surviving each other. Because of this its going to be a lot of everyday things that have taken a back seat in other years. But that doesn't mean that it isn't going to be bumpy, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve.
Oh and this chapter was meant to be for laughs and to show how hard it is to find someone who fits. But yeah I like the idea of want to be Beaters knocking team mates off brooms. Well hope you like it anyway.
Kris xx