QLFC
Team: Tutshill Tornadoes
Position: Chaser 3
Prompt: Quaffle: Write about a witch or wizard being torn between two different people or groups.
Optional prompts:
2 (word) defeated
4 (setting) a Quidditch pitch
11 (word) grass stain
The Houses Competition
House: Ravenclaw
Category: Short
Prompt: Quidditch
Word count: 1004
Ginny sat cross-legged on her bed, staring at the two letters in front of her. One of them was from the Holyhead Harpies, and the other one was from Puddlemere United; both of them wanted her to try out as a chaser. She would, of course, try out for both, but she needed to know which she would rather have.
"Hey Gin," Harry said from the doorway. "What's up?"
"I'm trying to decide which Quidditch team I'd rather be part of, the Holyhead Harpies, or Puddlemere United," Ginny said as Harry came and sat beside her.
"Which team do you like better?"
"I don't know," Ginny said. "Puddlemere has got a great captain, and their form is impeccable, but they seem to have lost some of the fun element."
"Okay," Harry said, "what about the Harpies?"
"They're amazing! They're an all girls team; their chasers seem to know exactly what to do all the time; and their team spirit is off the charts!" Ginny said, trying to contain her excitement.
Harry laughed. "Well I think you have your answer," he said.
"Well yes, but Puddlemere United is such a great team, and their seeker is amazing." Ginny said.
"Ginny, calm down, you don't need to know yet." Harry said seriously. Ginny didn't respond, so Harry just continued. "When are tryouts?"
"Two weeks from now." Ginny responded.
"Okay, then I'll help you practice, and we can discuss this more later." Ginny nodded and Harry stood to go get his broom, kissing her cheek before he left.
After what seemed like not nearly enough time to Ginny, the day of the Harpies' tryouts finally arrived. Ginny woke up early, ate breakfast, and apperated to the quidditch pitch half an hour before the set time. Already several of the other hopefuls had arrived and were standing in the pitch chatting, or warming up in the sky. Ginny signed in and took to the sky, not allowing herself time to get nervous. At seven o'clock the Captain of the Harpies called all the contestants together.
"Alright everybody, listen up! I'd like to welcome you all to tryouts, I'm Gwenog Jones, Captain of the Holyhead Harpies. If you are trying out for the Beater opening, please gather by the base of the hoops on the left hand side of the pitch, our Keeper, Jessica Lee, and I will oversee your tryouts. If you are trying out for the Chaser position, please gather at the base of the hoops on the right hand side of the pitch, Chasers Valmai Morgan and Nicole Donaldson will oversee you. Fall out!" Captain Jones said.
Immediately everyone moved to follow her instructions. Some people walked over to the pitch, and others, Ginny included, flew.
"Hello everyone, I'm Valmai Morgan," Valmai began when they were all gathered. "We're gonna start by flying around the pitch twice, three at a time."
When noon came Captain Jones called them back to the center and sent them all to eat lunch. By that time it had been weeded down to four possible chasers, and four possible Beaters. Ginny sat down in the shadow of the stands and pulled the lunch she had packed that morning out of her bag.
"Hello, what's your name?" Captain Jones asked, sitting down next to Ginny.
"I'm Ginny Weasley, it's nice to meet you," Ginny said.
"It's nice to meet you too. You flew well this morning," Captain Jones said.
"Thanks," Ginny said, she took a drink of water.
"What previous experience have you had playing Quidditch?" Captain Jones asked.
"I played Seeker for the Gryffindor team part of a year, and chaser for them four years," Ginny responded.
"Interesting. Well I'm going to go say hello to the other hopefuls, good luck with the rest of the tryouts."
Ginny watched as the Captain walked towards the next group of people. She could feel the nervousness building up inside her, and she quickly squished it down. She needed to focus. Nervousness was her enemy, not her friend. After lunch was over everyone gathered in the middle of the field for their next instructions,
"Alright," Captain Jones began. "For the next part of tryouts were going to play a small game of Quidditch. You are going to be divided into two groups, the red team, and the blue team. Unlike normal Quidditch, we will not have the snitch out, when the first team reaches one hundred points the game will end. Morgen will be in charge of the blue team, which will include Lee as Keeper, Smith and MacNeal as Beaters, and Garrison and Rogers and Chasers. Everyone else, you'll be on the red team, please get your markers from the lead chasers and we'll begin."
The game had been going for two hours and the score was eighty to ninety for the red team. Even though both teams knew that it didn't really matter who won, the competitiveness was running high. Ginny zoomed towards the quaffle as the blue team neared the hoops. Suddenly, a well-aimed bludger hit her broom, just right to send her swirling towards the ground without damaging the broom. Ginny tried to regain control of her broom, but wasn't able to and crashed to the ground. Determined not to be defeated in the match Ginny stood up, ignoring the pain in her ankle and the large grass stain on her Quidditch pants. She swung her leg over her broom and kicked off into the air. The blue team was in possession of the quaffle again, after having scored the previous goal. As they passed the ball between two of their chasers, Ginny came up and grabbed the ball. The flew towards the hoops and threw the quaffle to one of her teammates, who lost no time throwing the quaffle into the middle hoop, finishing the game.
As they landed, all question of what team she wanted to join was erased from Ginny's mind. Yes, Puddlemere was an excellent team, but this was where she wanted to be.