Quidditch Tryouts
The whole of Gryffindor left the breakfast table at nine, heading down to the quidditch pitch. I continued to hear whispers about the color of my eyes. But for the most part it was students wondering what had happened.1 Through the crowd I kept Mochi wrapped around my neck. Longer-legged, the older students passed by us first years, including a rather humungous individual, with waist length hair and broad shoulders. He carried his own broom and a club on one shoulder.
"Cygnus! Hey Cygnus!" Alice shouted. She jumped up and down, waving.
The broad-shouldered man turned. Cygnus did not look sixteen. He was taller than everyone in the crowd. He had a full beard, and bushy eyebrows. Tanned with thick arm muscles. He wore scarlet and gold quidditch robes. A large pair of goggles sat atop his head. He walked with several friends, one, a girl of Arabic descent, who too wore her quidditch robes.
"Watcha Alice, Raven, Courtney," he said, turning and walking at the same time. He smiled. His smile was massive. "Glad to see you're alright Raven. The glasses helping?"
I nodded. "Helps with the ma—the light intake. Flitwick charmed them."
"He does that. Is the coloration permanent?" He gestured my eyes.
"Afraid so," I said. "A lot of people seem to think they're stupid looking."
"Fuck 'em" Cygnus said.2
"Are you trying out for beater?" Alice asked Cygnus.
"Yup. I've been one of the beaters since my second year, along with Marie here." He indicated the other girl in quidditch robes. I noticed now that she bore a beaters club; she lifted it with one hand and winked. I looked away. I'd never had a girl wink at me before.
"Do you have to tryout?" Alice asked
"Yup each year. No freebies."
Alice was relentless with the questions "Do all old players wear team robes to tryouts."
A sly smile crossed Cygnus's lips. He glanced over to Marie, who smirked. "Well…no, Marie and I like to...like to remind people that we're the beaters here. Get in there heads a bit."3
"How many on the team last year are returning?" Alice asked.
"Five," Cygnus answered. "We'll be needing a new seeker and a new chaser, if everyone returns that is. Why are you thinking to trying out?"
Alice nodded vigorously.
"And what about you?"
I thought back the last time I'd flown and shook my head. "I'm not one for flying much," I said.
Cygnus paused then shrugged.
"But you love quidditch," Courtney protested. "You're really not going to try out?"
I shook my head. "Are you?"
Courtney's eyes lit up, and she gave a tiny nod.
Cygnus interjected. "Tell you what. When you two tryout, you can use my broom. Don't use one of the school's; they're terrible." He adjusted the broom on his shoulder. Made of completely black wood there were small gold numbers that had faded. "It's nothing fancy, just a Nimbus 2001, but she'll get the job done."
We continued to chat about quidditch all the way down the pitch. It turned out Cygnus was also a Montrose Magpies fan, and so he, Alice and I discussed their chances of winning the league, with several thoughts from both Courtney and Marie. When we reached the pitch, I swung off to the left with the rest of the Gryffindors, as the would-be-teammates marched forward.
The quidditch pitch was about a mile away from the school. One had to follow an old dirt path down several rolls of a hill to a flat meadow. In the middle of the meadow stood the oval structure. It was a small stadium, compared with the professional ones, which sat fifty thousand. The Hogwarts pitch sat a thousand, though it was enchanted to accommodate more if they arrived. Unlike most quidditch stadiums, which had levels on levels of stadium seating, the Hogwarts pitch had four towers, as well as the normal stadium seating. Each tower was decorated in a house color, along with a large house banner. The towers were reserved for staff, guests, parents, and prefects. Us normal students were required to sit in the stadium seating.
The Gryffindor's section sat between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tower. The seats were all red. Most of the seats were empty. More than half the house was on the pitch, ready to tryout. It seemed that Courtney and Alice were the only first years interested in trying out. I spotted Zephyr walking silently along a couple of third years, with Arthur bouncing along behind him, as they climbed up to their seats.
I thought of joining them, as I passed the entrance to Gryffindor's tower. The entrance was roped off. I twisted my neck to look up. It didn't seem anyone was up there. I looked around. No one paid me any attention. I bent low and went under the rope.
The stairs were caked with mud, and some straw that looked as if it had sat there for ages. I went up three flights of stairs before coming to the first row of seats. I clambered up and peered over the edge of the tower. I spotted Alice and Courtney. They stood next to Cygnus.
The pitch was a beautiful deep green, a stark contrast to the cloudy sky. The six hoops—standing fifty feet tall—were a metallic gold. Around the edge of the pitch was a sand boundary, followed by several wooden stanchions connecting the pitch to the stadium walls.
A short girl with a lot of curly red hair was shouting out instructions down on the pitch. I thought she managed to create a disproportionate amount of volume from her vocal chords compared with her size.
"Raven." The voice was female, and Scottish.
I turned. Professor McGonagall sat at the top row, looking down those spectacles at me.
"Professor," I responded. Was I in trouble?
"Did you not see the sign stating whom the tower boxes were for?" she asked. She was rather rigid in both facial expression and posture.
"I figured that rule was only in place during actual games?"
"The fact that the rest of your house are all sitting below didn't tip you off?"
"No, Professor."
"And I suppose you thought the rope was just for decoration."
"Yes, Professor." I couldn't stop myself, nor could I stop a grin poking out from my lips.
A small grin flashed across McGonagall's face too. "Very well Raven, you may sit up here, but know for the future that, in general, ropes are not merely for decoration."
I couldn't believe my luck. I climbed the stairs and joined Professor McGonagall, sitting next to her. Today she wore swirling robes of deep crimson. I let a squirming Mochi off my neck, allowing her to explore the surroundings. She immediately went to the headmistress who outstretched her fingers to let Mochi rub against them.
"Your sister, she's on the pitch?" McGonagall asked.
I nodded.
"I would have thought you would have wanted to try out. As I recall, you follow the league quite closely," she remarked.
"The last time I flew, I didn't enjoy it," I said.
"I wasn't aware you had brooms at your home," McGonagall said.
I was in awe that she remembered such a small detail. "We don't. But a couple years ago I bewitched a stick to fly and got too high up. I fell."
McGonagall smiled. "I remember your mother telling me so."
I looked over at McGonagall. When had my mother told her that? "She did?"
"Yes, when I visited your home."
I hadn't realized she had been at the home that long.
My attention was drawn back to pitch as half a dozen brooms rose into the air. I spotted Courtney among them. Alice, it seemed, was still on the ground. The red-haired girl who shouted instructions zoomed up to the circle, a large red ball in one arm.
"Chaser tryouts," McGonagall said, mostly to herself.
"Is that the captain?" I asked, pointing to the red-haired girl.
"Yes, that is Amelia Horford, chaser. She was captain last year too, though we—that is to say, Gryffindor—finished last. So, we'll see if she was good choice for a second year in a row."
Rushed footsteps were followed by an image of Professor Silsbury running up the stairs. "Headmistress I—oh hello Husher—Headmistress I—"she started to hand over her clipboard to McGonagall.
McGonagall waved her hand. "Not this year Rowan. You are on your own."
Professor Silsbury let the clipboard droop in her hand. "But Headmistress—"
"I told you this summer, you are on your own. Now please, Rowan, sit and watch the tryouts."
Professor Silsbury snapped the clipboard back at her side, then sat two rows in front of us, pouring over it, not watching the tryouts.
Courtney did okay during warmups. I was amazed to see how much control she had of the broom. Even Professor McGonagall noted how well she flew. While she did fine on the short passing drills, she couldn't manage to throw the long passes. She did even worse on the scoring drills, scoring only one of the five allotted penalties. And she didn't manage to tackle Amelia or get the quaffle away from her in the timed trial.
She was cut, along with four others. Though she immediately joined the group of beaters. I watched as Cygnus lent her his club. She had difficulty holding it up.
Including Courtney's group, there were five clusters of six people trying out for chaser. Alice was in the last group. Of the second group, four were cut; the third group, all were cut. The fourth group, the one before Alice, started their passing drills. During this, I asked Professor McGonagall, "Is it normal for there to only be five new inductees in a house. I mean, Hufflepuff got a lot more."
Professor McGonagall gave me a small smile. "Its not unheard of, but it is quite rare. Over my time in Hogwarts, I've seen three occasions when classes become rather small."
She put up three fingers, indicating each instance. "Eleven or so years after Grindewald came to power, and the same timeframe for both times when Voldemort came to power. This year should be the start of a small decline in student population."
"But why—"
"People don't want to bring children into a world filled with fear and murder. They want to bring their children into a world where they know it is safe for them."
"But why so few in Gryffindor?"
"After Grindelwald came to power, we had a surge in Hufflepuffs as well. My theory is, that when such evil becomes such a threat, there is a large swing, on a social scale, to people wanting to be good—not brave, or smart, or ambitious—just good, to build a better world, and have better people in it.
"So many children in the wizarding community today are growing up with everyone telling them to be good, to be nice, to be loving, and not hateful. And that seems to influence what type of people they are by the time they reach Hogwarts."
I thought this over, silently. What did that say about me? Was I not good? I was smart, evidently, and ambitious, and I guess brave—else the sorting hat wouldn't have placed me in Gryffindor—but was I good enough to be in Hufflepuff?
"Ah, this is Zelda Weatherbee, she was a chaser last year. Fourth year student, and just a spectacular goal scorer."
The girl the headmistress pointed out was a black girl with a short flat-top fro. I thought she had looked unremarkable in the passing drills. But McGonagall was right. She scored all five of her goals—all of them from a great distance away. It took her all of three seconds to tackle Amelia and take the quaffle from her. Amelia had to take a break for a bit. It seemed Zelda had winded her when the two made contact. From my perspective, Zelda was the favorite to be one of the three chasers.
Alice's group started. She rode Cygnus' nimbus and shot off with great speed. She caught all her short passes and threw perfect short passes back. They all landed squarely in the chest of whomever she passed to.
Both Professor McGonagall and I stayed silent throughout Alice's tryout. And I didn't realize it until halfway through, but we both leaned forward with our chins on our fists, in the same way.
Alice struggled during the long toss, but only missed two throws, and she caught an overthrown pass by letting go of her broom and leaning all the way back. She stayed herself before rolling over, which drew some cheers from the crowd below.
"I think she's become a little of a fan favorite." It was Professor Silsbury who said this. I hadn't realized she was watching. Her clipboard had vanished again, and she looked out onto the pitch.
"First year tryouts with talent always do," Professor McGonagall said.
Alice elected to go last on the scoring drill. By the time she was up, it seemed like no one out of this group was going to make it to next tier. Only one person had managed to score more than once.
Amelia threw the quaffle to Alice, then streaked back to the three hoops, where she was acting as keeper. Alice took a moment, she tucked the quaffle under her left arm, and then rocketed towards the right goal. The closer Alice got, the more Amelia shaded the right goal. Just as Alice was five feet from the goal, she untucked the quaffle from her arm, with her left hand, and threw it, at an incredibly sharp angle, to the very left goal post. Amelia had no chance to save it. The quaffle bounced off the inside edge of the ring and went through the goal post. All the Gryffindors cheered.
I straightened up and pumped my fist.
Alice flew back to the starting position and was given the quaffle again. She did the same thing. She tucked the ball under her armpit, and flew towards the right goal. Amelia had to shade the right again, but she stayed a little more center. Alice took out the ball about ten feet from the hoops, put on a burst of speed and kept going towards the right goal. Amelia met her there. Alice faked a shot with her right hand, Amelia dove that direction, and Alice instead held onto the ball, and did a sort of basketball looping shot up towards the middle goal.
The cheers were even louder from the crowd.
Alice was back at the staring position with the quaffle. She wasn't smiling, she was stone faced. She shot off towards the middle of all three goals. Amelia stayed in position, dead center. Alice, twenty-five feet out, threw the quaffle at the left post, but it was a weak shot. It didn't even make it to the goals before it started to fall. Amelia called back for a second quaffle, but she hadn't noticed that Alice had flown as fast as she could underneath the ball and caught the quaffle three feet from the left hoop. Amelia raced down, but Alice wasn't aiming for the left goal post, instead she shot past and put the quaffle into the center ring with an easy shot.
I could see Amelia shaking her head, but there was a hint of smile on her face.
When Alice got the quaffle next she didn't take her time. She tucked the quaffle under her left armpit and flew towards the center. She didn't take the ball out when she was near the goals, instead she pelted towards Amelia, then turned swiftly towards the left goal. She collided with Amelia, who held on tight to her broom, and knocked Alice back, trying to get her to drop the quaffle. She didn't see Alice use her left hand to untuck the ball. Alice kept it in her grasp by her hip and as they passed the left goal, she threw it behind her head, straight in for a goal.
Professor Silsbury gave a little whoop. The cheers from the Gryffindors were raucous.
Alice flew back to the starting position.
From the where the beaters stood a cheer emerged. "Al-ice, Al-ice, Al-ice."
I could see Cygnus and Courtney leading the cheer. Soon all those on the ground were cheering. But then Amelia threw the quaffle to Alice and the stadium became quiet.
As soon as Alice started flying, I knew she was unsure of what to do. She started off a meandering pace and listed back and forth. At this point, Amelia had taken to the strategy of circling the goals, rather than staying in the middle.
Then feet from the goals, Alice still held the quaffle in her right hand. She climbed up over to the right goal and tried the same trick she had before—throwing the quaffle behind her head. But Amelia was ready, and she used the back of her broom to hit the quaffle away.
But Alice didn't let that stop her. In an act of, what I am sure was, desperation, she jumped off her broom, grabbed the quaffle as it fell, and sort of dunked it through the hoop. Alice just managed to hold onto the bottom of the hoop. She pulled herself up, and sat in the hoop, on leg dangling off as she waited for Amelia to bring her Cygnus's broom.
The Gryffindor crowd had gone nuts. And cheers of "Al-ice" rang throughout the stadium again. I watched as Alice was handed the broom and was given a pat on the back from Amelia. My excitement ebbed away as the cheers grew even louder when she landed on the pitch, and the beater, seeker and keeper hopefuls swarmed her.
Not only was I going to be the pink-eyed boy. I was going to be "'that pink-eyed kid, you know, Alice's brother."
Alice still had to fly against four more people, including Zelda, for the two open chaser spots. Amelia—as captain—would be occupying the third slot. But it was in the bag after Alice dunked in that fifth goal. And after watching Alice and Zelda play together as a pair, there was a tangible excitement in the air. And indeed, Alice and Zelda were both selected for the two chaser spots.
"Your sister hasn't flown much, has she?" Professor Silsbury asked.
"Just a couple times. My dad took her to the Magpies stadium for her birthday present, twice. You know how they have days where kids can come and fly."
The next tryouts were for the beaters. Amelia, with the help of a couple other seventh and sixth years created two scores of round wooden targets that flew around the stadium.
Marie, the girl who wore her old quidditch robes along with Cygnus, elected to start.
"I think," Professor McGonagall said, "you'll find these tryouts to be short. Ms Abdule is one of the best beaters I've ever seen. And alongside Mr. Dolohov, I don't know if I've ever seen a better duo of beaters play for Gryffindor."4
The forty wooden targets around the stadium all had red circles painted in the middle. The would-be beaters were required to take out all forty of the targets, and they were timed. Marie hit every single target in the circle, and she did so in two minutes. They were all clean shots too, straight in and out of the target.
As Amelia repaired all the targets, I watched Cygnus crouching next to Courtney, who had found a smaller club. He was showing her the correct way to hit a bludger.
Two third year boys tried out and did poorly. And then Courtney attempted to go. On her first swing she hit a bludger, but it went backwards and out of the stadium. She tore after it, and tried another swing, but threw the club. Laughing she flew back to the ground, waving to Amelia that she was done. Cygnus and Marie both gave her a big hug before Courtney darted off to the keeper section.
Cygnus went after Courtney, and it took him a minute and a half to hit all the targets. He didn't hit the center of the all the targets like Marie did, but his blow was so powerful, a dozen of the targets exploded on impact. After he finished, the rest of the beater hopefuls left, and beater tryouts concluded.
During keeper tryouts Professor McGonagall asked me a question I knew was coming. "How are your eyes?"
"Fine," I answered. "I can still see it here—"I indicated the edge of my glasses."
"Ask for Professor Flitwick to extend the charm a bit," she said.
"That was my thought too," I said.
"Tell me, can you see the magic coming off the brooms?" Professor Silsbury asked. She turned to look at me.
I guess the teachers had been briefed on what happened to me, and why my eyes were colored so. I took off my glasses, shutting my eyes first, and opened them slowly. It was excellent to see that, though I could see signs of magic around me, they weren't blinding like being in the castle. The stadium itself had a faint gold glow to it. The brooms glowed bright as well, and off the tails of the broom, a gold light streaked out like air.
I nodded. "It looks like fire off a jet engine."
Instantly a notebook was out and Professor Silsbury was writing on it.
I turned to McGonagall. "Was the stadium built by magic?"
McGonagall looked away from a particularly poor keeper tryout by Courtney, who managed to save just one shot, a shot from Amelia, that Courtney leapt to catch, and ended up head butting.
"Yes, and it was rebuilt after the Battle. Why?'
"I can see the residual magic keeping it together. It's not like looking at the castle where it's all blinding, but it's a faint glow."
"The castle is guarded by a great deal of spells," Professor McGonagall explained.
I nodded. The castle was behind where we sat. I didn't dare look at it. I thought it would probably be like looking at the sun. I put my glasses back on.
"You know to go straight to the hospital wing if it starts to hurt again?" Professor McGonagall asked. I nodded, and the conversation ended.
Gryffindor ended up with a keeper named McKinney Hart, a tall and thick fourth year, who Professor McGonagall told me played last year at that position. He was a white boy with dirty blonde hair.
The seeker tryouts had the most people waiting, including Courtney. But it was also the fastest tryout. The goal was simple. Catch the snitch as fast as possible, and if the it took longer than three minutes the tryout was over. Special consideration was given to spectacular flying.
I watched Amelia release the snitch and followed its progress for a bit before looking down at Courtney. She was near the back of the line, and her head kept moving. I slid my glasses down my nose and spotted the trail of gold light that was the snitch. Courtney was following it, not letting it out of her sight. I thought that was a great strategy and wondered for a moment if I should have tried out, given that my eyesight gave me an advantage to seeing the snitch. Then I imagined falling off the broom. I shuddered.
Amelia shot giant red sparks at the end of her wand, which morphed into a large timer. When Amelia said go, the clock ticked down from three minutes. I imagine a great deal of people did not like this.
At times, during the tryout, it seemed Courtney had lost sight of the snitch when it was too high up, or at the other end of the pitch. But she was remarkably quick in picking it back up.
The first fifteen people didn't catch the snitch by the end of three minutes. The sixteenth person, a seventh year named Carl Abernathy, caught the snitch in forty-five seconds, which became the new time. Amelia switched the timer from saying "3:00" to "0:45." No one was able to catch the snitch in forty-five seconds by the time Courtney's turn came.
She flew up into the air, her head still swiveling. I slid my glasses down again. The snitch was on the other short side of the pitch but was moving quickly upwards. Ameila gave the okay, and Courtney shot off towards the snitch. She pulled up with it, but the snitch went into a dive. Courtney leaned forward on her broom, and nearly overcorrected, but managed to hold the dive. She stretched out, caught it in one hand, pulled out of the dive, and looked up at the timer.
She'd done it in twenty-four seconds.
An argument broke out between Carl and Amelia. I could hear ever word clearly.
"She was watching the snitch the whole time. She already knew where it was."
"That's what you're supposed to do. That's the point of the game."
"It's cheating."
"It's smart, Carl, now shove off."
"I flew better than her, we should at least have another go."
"That's not true, and no. You're out Carl. I'm sorry."
Carl stormed away from Amelia, who gave the next seeker hopeful the good to go sign.
"I think they're dating," Professor Silsbury mentioned to Professor McGonagall.
"Good for Amelia," Professor McGonagall responded. "Looks as if we might have two first years on the house team—I mean, you might have two first years. I hope—for your sake Rowan—they are as good as they look. I will have to award special privileges to both of them, so they can own their own brooms." She paused. "Goodness, this seems to be happening more and more often. Maybe we should just disband the rule." She stood. "I should be off Rowan. Would you please inform Ms. Husher and Ms. Nighy about their privileges? See you at dinner." She gave me another smile and nod, "Raven." And she disapparated.5
"Come on Raven," Professor Silsbury said. "We'll be taking a tour of the grounds soon."
"The tryouts aren't over yet," I said.
"They're over," Professor Silsbury remarked.
She was right. By the time we had gotten onto the pitch, the seeker tryouts were done, with Courtney having bested everyone.
Zephyr and Arthur spotted Professor Silsbury and I walking onto the pitch and followed. The rest of Gryffindor house left the stadium, some dejected, but most excited. I heard Alice's name a lot, and many people saying, "that small girl" when talking about Courtney.
Amelia was addressing her new team on the field. She called over to Professor Silsbury and said, "We'll be right back Professor, just got to get these youngin's into their new robes."
Alice waved at me through the legs of her new teammates. I waved back. I don't know if I'd even seen her that pleased. She practically jumped with each step. Cygnus and put Courtney up on his shoulders. I heard her talking animatedly about how terrible she was as a beater. Cygnus and Marie just laughed. I watched as they marched towards the locker rooms.
1 As opposed to nasty comments. Such as the one Courtney's brother Christopher uttered as he went by. "They look like anuses on his face." Classy. What a classy dude. I don't think Courtney heard him.
2 This I feel was an appropriate comment.
3 I found this slightly brilliant.
4 I told George Weasley about this statement years later. "That old bat," was his response.
5 Mind you, the reason I wasn't flabbergasted by McGonagall's apparating on school grounds is that I already assumed the Headmistress would be the only person in the world who could do so.