Chapter IV
Harry –
I totally
understand about the adoption thing. It's fine! As long as you live with me
once you're allowed to, but as my godson. If you don't want to live with me,
I'm coming down there right away to see what the matter is!
Have you met the girl in your
dream yet? I have a feeling you have. Ask her if she has something to tell you!
You never know, she might really know something…
Tell me what's going on at
Hogwarts – I miss the place with its secret passages and I miss being there
with the Marauders. And tell me all about Quidditch, too! I miss seeing James
the constant hero of every match. I suppose you start the Quidditch season this
Sunday?
Anyway, I have to go meet that
blasted Ministry again to sign some more papers and clear my name.
See you soon,
Sirius.
"See, Ron! Sirius does
understand," Harry said to Ron on Saturday morning at breakfast, once he had
read the letter Hedwig had brought him. He hadn't told anyone about the girl in
his dream, though.
"I think you made the right
decision about not wanting to be adopted, Harry," Rachel said to Harry.
"I
didn't know what to think. Ron just wanted the best for you, and I…well…I guess
I thought you were wrong and right," Hermione said to Harry. Harry just smiled
at her to show his appreciation.
They got up and walked to the
marble staircase, when they saw a sign, saying:
Trials for Quidditch places!
Gryffindor, Slytherin,
Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff all need new players! If you want to try out for a
place, please see Madam Hooch tonight at the times below.
Gryffindor students: 7:30pm at the Quidditch pitch to try out
for Keeper.
Slytherin students:
5:00pm at the Quidditch pitch to try out for Beater.
Ravenclaw students:
3:00pm at the Quidditch pitch to try out for Seeker.
Hufflepuff students:
1:00pm at the Quidditch pitch to try out for Seeker.
-------
"Great! Now you can try out for
Keeper, Rachel!" Harry said.
"Yeah! Ooh, I hope I get the place!" She exclaimed.
"I'm going to try out for the place, too," Ron said.
"Whaaaaat? But – but Ron! I – I really don't think that-" Harry
started to say, but Ron cut him off.
"Oh, I know I'm not the best player in the world, but I can give
it a go, can't I?"
"Of course you can!" Rachel said cheerfully. "I'm not the best
player in the world either, but I'm pretty good at it, and it would be fun to
give it a go!"
"Suppose you're right," Harry said.
"Of course I'm right! Now come on, we've got a game of wizard's
chess to play!" Rachel cried, and slung her arms over Harry and Hermione's
shoulders. They did the same back, and Ron called out, "Don't leave out li'l
ol' me!" and put his hands on Rachel's back and did the cha-cha train. They
went back to the Gryffindor common room and talked and played wizard's chess
for the rest of the day, and found out that Rachel wasn't a good player, but
she was having fun and didn't give up. Then at 7:15pm, they set off for the Quidditch
pitch. As they were strolling along, Hermione said, "You know, I might try out
as well. Rachel made me realize that it doesn't matter if you get the part or
not, but as long as you have fun and that you tried."
"Good for you, Hermione!" Harry and Rachel said together. They
all laughed.
By the time they reached the Quidditch pitch, it was 7:30 on the
nose. There were only a few other students there: Lavender, Neville, Dean and
Seamus.
"Oh, good! We have a bit of good ol' competition," Rachel cried.
Harry grinned. He knew Rachel was kidding, and she was hiding it very well, as
the other Gryffindors beamed and didn't realize she was being sarcastic. For
Neville still couldn't fly a broom properly, Lavender was scared of flying
higher than 2 metres, Dean didn't know how to play Quidditch properly, Hermione
simply wasn't interested, Ron was a bad player altogether and so was Seamus.
Rachel had basically already won the part. But she had to prove it. Madam Hooch
came up to them, and gave them all instructions. Then she gave them each a
broom, and let them go on the pitch with her one at a time. The people that
were trying out had to try and catch as many Quaffles as they could (Madam
Hooch had about 100 in her shed.), and Madam Hooch would write down the
results. The person who caught the most was the new Keeper. They al went in
alphabetical order, so Dean was up first. He flew to the pitch, and straight
away Harry realized he couldn't fly a broom properly. After a couple of
minutes, Dean had caught all he could, which turned out to be 56 Quaffles. Then
it was Hermione's turn. She could fly okay, but she only caught 48 Quaffles.
She just shrugged as she came off the field and smiled at them.
"At least I gave it my best shot," she said, handing her broom
back to Madam Hooch. Madam Hooch nodded and smiled. Lavender came up next, and only caught 28 Quaffles; the rest flew
too high for her. Neville did even worse than that, catching 12. Then Rachel,
who walked up to the pitch confidently, and hopped on her broom and flew to the
goals. Harry saw that she was a very good flyer, but not as good as he was. She
flew to each Quaffle and caught it with ease. Then when two were launched at
her at the same time, she would lurch after one and turn quickly after the
other. Overall, she caught 92 of the Quaffles! She was grinning as she walked
off the pitch; she knew she had done it. Madam Hooch beamed at her. Then it was
Ron's turn. He wasn't very good, to say the least. He would go after one, catch
it, but miss another that was coming his way. Sometimes, he missed them
altogether. He was not grinning as he walked off the field. He had only caught
58.
"Oh well, Ron. At least you tried! And you did better than me!"
Hermione said to him. Ron seemed to brighten up at this.
"Suppose," he muttered, his ears turning pink.
Seamus had his go, and got 54.
"Well, you all know who our new Keeper is! Congratulations, miss
Hay! I'd like to thank all of you for trying out, and congratulate Ron, as the
reserve! You all did very well. Congratulations to all of you," Madam
Hooch said. Then she bid them goodnight, and walked back up to the castle.
Hermione squealed.
"Ron, Ron! You made the reserve!" She hugged Ron, then they both
turned red and Hermione stopped squealing. Harry laughed. Then Rachel started
squealing, hugging all of them (Harry turned bright red) and then she calmed
down enough to say that she didn't know why she said that. Harry, recovering,
said that it was just the excitement of getting onto the team. Then they walked
back to the castle, got some cakes from the kitchens and held a mini party for
the people that had tried out.
Later, in bed, Harry wondered why he had turned red when Rachel
had hugged them all.
"Do I like her more than I thought?" he wondered to
himself. "Nah … or do I?" With those thoughts swimming through Harry's
mind, he fell asleep.
------------~*~------------
Author's Note: Sorry that was a little short and
uneventful, but it was necessary. I hope you liked it, and PLEASE REVIEW! (If
you do, please, NO FLAMES!) Or, click here to e-mail me! If you want a good
fic to read, look in my "Favourite Stories" list, or "Favourite Authors" list.
In particular, some big faves of mine are by: Caitlyn, Jilliana, Elani Wrapdon
and Starlight. (If you search for Starlight, she's the first one on the list!)
If you want, feel free to put a plug in for yourself at the end
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Notes! Feel free to e-mail me! (Look in my bio.)
Disclaimer: I only own Rachel and the plot. The rest of the characters,
Quidditch, Hogwarts, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling (the Master).