Chapter 15

Quidditch Tryout

Disclaimer: Everything in the Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling, I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Dumbledore knew that Tonks was a Hufflepuff, and he wondered if she would have any information about this.

If Voldemort hid Hufflepuff's Cup inside Bellatrix's vault, I could ask Tonks to sneak in there and see what happened.

He wasn't sure if he was right about this, but he knew it would be worth to try, better than not doing anything at all.

O-O

The second Saturday of the month arrived, Harry took his firebolt and followed Katie down to the Quidditch pitch, with another group of students following behind him, carrying their broomsticks.

"I've seen you playing for five years, Harry," Katie said. "Maybe I could see you catching the snitch again."

"Right," Harry said.

Katie watched him as he caught the snitch several times, she was impressed with his abilities.

"Good catch Harry, you are still in, now I am going to see how the others are doing before I let them in on the team," she said.

A large, wiry-haired boy called Cormac McLaggen was the next one to be tried out as a Keeper.

"You didn't try out last year, did you?" Katie asked.

"I was in the Hospital Wing when the trials were held last year," Cormac said. "I ate a pound of Doxy eggs for a bet."

"Wait over there please," Katie said, pointing at the edge of the pitch.

As she tried out the applicants who wanted to be keepers, they saved no more than two goals, yet another boy called Bradley Berry saved three goals.

"Cormac, you are next," she said.

Cormac got to his feet, he saved five penalties.

As she examined Ron guarding the hoops, Ron saved five penalties.

"You two are in for a draw," Katie said. "This is a bit hard for me to decide who to let in on the team. We can't have two keepers on one team."

Several applicants who were waiting to be tried out laughed.

"Stop laughing!" Katie ordered. "This isn't a joke."

The applicants stopped laughing.

Katie considered for a moment.

"Let's try out the chasers and beaters, then we will get back to the keeper," she decided.

Bradley didn't look too comfortable, and Katie spotted him.

"Don't give up hope yet, I'll leave you on reserve, Bradley," Katie said. "If the keepers are sick, I'll let you in."

Bradley nodded.

Katie tried out the beaters first, then the chasers.

Two hours later, she found two beaters, Ritchie Coote, who looked weedy but aimed well, and Lawrence Lopez, a fourth-year student who not only aimed well but also had fast reactions.

As for the chasers, she picked a girl called Demelza Robins, who was good at dodging Bludgers, and a boy called Luis Wells, who was only one year below Harry, not only he was good at dodging Bludgers, he also aimed quite well and had scored eighteen goals out of twenty.

Ginny Weasley, who was also trying out as a chaser and had scored seventeen goals didn't look comfortable, she wasn't in on the team.

"Don't worry, Ginny, maybe you could be put on reserve too," Harry comforted her, then he turned to Katie, who nodded.

Later on, Katie tried Ron and Cormac a second time, this time, Ron scored eight out of ten goals, while Cormac scored six out of ten.

"Ron, you are in again," Katie decided.

As everyone went back into the Gryffindor common room, they sat down and rested for a moment.

"Let's go down to dinner now," Harry said.

O-O

"We've got our team ready now," Katie said in the evening in the Gryffindor common room. "Let's hope that this year we will win again."

The rest of the Quidditch players cheered.

"Let's hope that we practice hard, then," Harry said.

O-O

The following week passed, Dumbledore received Hufflepuff's Cup from Tonks, who had morphed into Bellatrix, entering the Lestrange's vault and retrieved it.

He took the Sword of Gryffindor and stabbed it.

There was a piercing scream erupted from the cup, a moment later, it fell silent.

Albus put the Sword of Gryffindor down on the table, sighing in relief, as he knew that there was only one Horcrux left, which was the Snake.

He knew that he will need to find out where the snake is before he could destroy it.

The only thing to do after all the Horcruxes gets destroyed would be letting Harry facing Voldemort, he thought.

He knew that even if Voldemort discovered that all his Horcruxes had been destroyed, there would be no chance for him to create more of them again, lest if he wants to render his soul more unstable than before. He hoped that Voldemort didn't have any idea that his Horcruxes were being hunted and destroyed.

He was impressed with his progress. Voldemort would be mortal once again soon enough, then he would ask Harry to finish off Voldemort.

O-O

On the thirteenth of October, Harry and Hermione went to Hogsmeade with the other students who were third years and above.

Ron joined them a moment later, along with Ginny.

"Are you studying lately?" asked Harry.

"A bit," Ron answered.

After Harry ordered two Butterbeers, he handed one to Hermione, then they sat down, opened their tankard and began drinking.

"I hope you learnt your lesson from last year's lack of study, Ron," Harry said.

"And if you get expelled from Hogwarts…" Hermione began, but she stopped as she saw Ron walking away.

Ginny came over and sat down with Hermione and Harry.

"Ron hadn't been studying much at the moment," she said.

"He might be able to get E in some of his subjects this time, though," Harry said.

"He might, but at the moment he only got A or worse," Ginny said. "I don't know if he is going to improve as time goes on."

Harry and Hermione decided to stop discussing Ron for the moment.

They went into Honeydukes and bought some sweets.

"Harry, don't forget that we are going to be patrolling the corridors this evening," Hermione reminded him.

"Yeah, I remember that," Harry said.

So after dinner, they walked from corridor to corridor, making sure that no one was wandering around, then they saw Tracey and Blaise confronting two third-year Slytherins who got into an argument with a first-year Slytherin.

They proceeded on without hearing their conversations.

At ten o'clock, they went back to the Gryffindor common room, bid each other goodnight, and went back to their dormitory.