It was a crisp, clear September morning, two weeks into the friends'
second year. Never before in his life had James Potter been more nervous.
It was the day of quidditch tryouts for Gryffindor house, and James and
Sirius were both trying out. They talked nervously throughout breakfast
that Saturday, wondering how they would do.
After a meal that lasted forever, Tobias Stone finally stood up, heading for the field. He was a sixth year, the keeper and Gryffindor quidditch captain. He would make the final decision on who would be on the team. Three people travelled with him, his two remaining chasers and the sole beater. Last year's graduation had hit Gryffindor hard; they were missing their seeker, a beater, and a chaser. Those positions needed to be filled. Immediately, about half the second year Gryffindors pushed in their chairs and followed, including Sirius and James.
Arabella got up to go with them. "What are you doing?" asked Sirius.
"Trying out for quidditch," Ara said with a little haughty laugh.
The field was beautiful, James thought distantly. Though he had heard much about quidditch, even seen a few games, this was the first time he had ever stepped on the field. The grass was beautiful, like it had never been touched. It probably never had, amended James with a silent chuckle; the game was played on broomsticks high above the ground. On each end of the field were three rings, each about two feet in diameter. These were the goals. The only other feature of the field was the stands, nothing particularly exciting.
Stone looked over the dozen second years gathered before him. "Welcome to tryouts for Gryffindor house quidditch. For those who don't know, here are the basics of the game.
"Quidditch is played with two teams of seven, four balls, and six goals. On each team, there is one keeper, three chasers, two beaters, and one seeker. The keeper, me, is goalie. Anything that gets into those three hoops up there has to get by me to do it. The three chasers, Corann Marunk, Elijah Thompson, and one of you, take the quaffle and score with it, through the goals. Each goal is worth ten points. The two beaters, Mundungus Fletcher and another one of you, keep the two bludgers from hurting the chasers or the seeker. The seeker, whom we need, is the last player, and perhaps the most important. The seeker must catch the golden snitch. The capture of the snitch ends the game and gives that seeker's team 150 points. Catching the snitch usually spells victory for that team."
"How are we picking them?" Mundungus Fletcher asked. The burly sixth year beater was also a Gryffindor prefect.
"Same as last year," Stone replied. "We see how they fly. How many of you have flown before?" About half of the students raised their hands, including Sirius and Arabella. "Okay, here's how you do it. Stand next to a broom, like this." Stone stood with the broom at his feet on his right side. "Then just say, 'Up, broom!'." As he gave the command, the broom flew straight up into his hand. The other three members of the house team followed his lead. All held their hovering brooms at waist height. "All of you, do it now!"
A dozen people said at once "Up, Broom!" with varying degrees of success. The broom flew straight into James's hand, Sirius and Arabella got theirs perfectly too. A few others had success as well, but most of the brooms flopped about a foot into the air and then fell, or did not move at all.
"Once you have gotten your broom to respond, you mount it like this." Stone threw one leg over the broom and sat on it. "The broom goes in whatever direction you point the front to, and you control the speed as well. When you have mounted your broom, kick off, rise about ten feet into the air, and come back down." Stone demonstrated once, in perfect sync with the rest of his team. "Do that now."
James was the first off the ground, with Arabella half a second behind. Sirius was right after the two of them. James, with his thin, wiry build, was the fastest of the three, but the bigger and stronger Sirius had a better push off and went higher, about twelve feet to James's ten. Arabella, however, had the best control, flying and landing smoothly. Eventually everyone got off the ground, doing a more or less adequate job.
"I think you have all gotten the hang of this. Now we test for speed. All you have to do is get from one goal post to the other." Stone chucked Mundungus Fletcher a stopwatch. "Fletch, go there now, I need you to know the order they come in." Fletcher flew there, a strong kick off hurtling him to the goalpost. He tagged it with a grin, then gave a thumbs up. "Line up left to right on the ground, then rise straight up to about even with the goals. On the count of three, go as fast as you can to the opposite goal."
They all rose, nervously, watching each other. Who would win? "On three," Stone called. "One, two, three!"
They were off! James was flying the fastest. He got there in under thirty seconds, with Arabella close enough to touch him the entire way, and Sirius on her heels. Everyone else was fairly close, but not close enough. It was clear the order the first three came in.
Sirius shot Arabella a dirty look as Fletcher ordered them back down. "How'd you beat me?" He asked her.
With a laugh and a toss of her long blonde hair, she looked over her shoulder and said, "I flew, Sirius Black. I flew!"
"Stupid git," James heard Sirius mutter as Stone and the others flew over to meet them.
James just shook his head and grinned at his best friend. "Aw, come on Sirius. She beat you in one race, that's all. Nothing to be ashamed of if you get whipped BY A GIRL!" It was a good thing they were both still astride brooms; it gave James more liberty to dodge punches than he normally had around Sirius.
"Now," Stone said, "it's time to see if you can throw and catch without the ground under your feet. Each of you will go in turn with one of us, tossing the quaffle. We'll see how you do." The quaffle didn't look easy to throw. It seemed to be a hollow rounded wooden box, painted red. It was about a foot in diameter.
That test passed very quickly. Sirius nearly knocked Stone off his broom because he threw the quaffle too hard, but he missed one or two throws. James caught very well, he didn't miss a single one, but his throws were not especially good. Of everyone, only Arabella seemed especially good at handling the quaffle. She made it look easy, catching and throwing it with an amazing dexterity. Everyone else did well, more or less, with the activity.
"Wait here," Stone told them while he went off with his team. The four talked quietly amongst themselves, occasionally arguing in whispers or pointing at various students. Finally, the four came back. "Alright, I'm going to break you all into groups based on what what position you are most likely to be good at. Then, we work with you on those skills."
Stone began moving among them, breaking the students up into groups. About half were put into the chaser group, while the rest seemed to be split fairly evenly between beaters and seekers. Sirius got into the beater group, Arabella went with the hopeful chasers, while James was with the potential seekers, along with Larren Bitterwater and Marrett Hingerfent.
"Alright," Stone said, silencing the mild chattering going on. "Since we have no seeker to work with all of you, I am going to work with the seekers. Fletch, the beaters are yours, and Marunk and Thompson, you take the chasers. Work one or two at a time, run 'em through the ropes." He finished quietly to the seekers, "Come with me."
"Now, I don't want to risk losing the snitch, so we're going to work with these." He pulled out a sack of golf balls, about half painted with glow-in-the-dark material, the rest bright orange. He picked up the orange ones. "I can find these easily if you miss, but the glow-in-the-dark serve the same purpose at night. Now, you'll go one at a time, catching the balls as I throw them." Stone looked over the three students he had in front of him. "Potter, you go first. Get up about thirty feet, then catch 'em as I throw 'em. I won't aim for you, so you'll have to fly after 'em."
James nodded resolutely, ignoring the hinkypunks in his stomach. He rose up in the air. "Ready!" Stone threw the balls, one by one. Each one in a random direction. High to the left, low to right, high to the right, low to the right again, straight up, a couple yards in front of Stone, twenty feet behind him, a little to his left and well above his head, low to the left, they just kept coming! James didn't miss one though.
After about fifteen minutes, Stone finally signalled James down. "Hingerfent, you're next!"
James felt too nauseous to watch the other two go. He sat with his knees pulled up to his chin and waited. Larren went as well. When he was done, Stone said, "Alright, you can go," but he tapped James on the shoulder before he could leave. "Potter, you stay here," he whispered confidentially. James nodded to Stone and sat back down. Why did he have to stay? Was it between Larren and Marrett and Stone didn't want him to feel bad?
After a minute, Sirius walked over and sat down next to his best friend. "Fletcher told me to stay behind too." Arabella joined them almost immediately, sitting down in front of them both.
After a minute, all four members of the team walked over. Stone was smiling. "Welcome to Gryffindor House Quidditch!"
James, Sirius, and Ara just looked at Stone for a moment, then they all began to grin at the same time. "We did it. We all did it," Arabella murmered. James smiled, Sirius laughed. They did it.
After a meal that lasted forever, Tobias Stone finally stood up, heading for the field. He was a sixth year, the keeper and Gryffindor quidditch captain. He would make the final decision on who would be on the team. Three people travelled with him, his two remaining chasers and the sole beater. Last year's graduation had hit Gryffindor hard; they were missing their seeker, a beater, and a chaser. Those positions needed to be filled. Immediately, about half the second year Gryffindors pushed in their chairs and followed, including Sirius and James.
Arabella got up to go with them. "What are you doing?" asked Sirius.
"Trying out for quidditch," Ara said with a little haughty laugh.
The field was beautiful, James thought distantly. Though he had heard much about quidditch, even seen a few games, this was the first time he had ever stepped on the field. The grass was beautiful, like it had never been touched. It probably never had, amended James with a silent chuckle; the game was played on broomsticks high above the ground. On each end of the field were three rings, each about two feet in diameter. These were the goals. The only other feature of the field was the stands, nothing particularly exciting.
Stone looked over the dozen second years gathered before him. "Welcome to tryouts for Gryffindor house quidditch. For those who don't know, here are the basics of the game.
"Quidditch is played with two teams of seven, four balls, and six goals. On each team, there is one keeper, three chasers, two beaters, and one seeker. The keeper, me, is goalie. Anything that gets into those three hoops up there has to get by me to do it. The three chasers, Corann Marunk, Elijah Thompson, and one of you, take the quaffle and score with it, through the goals. Each goal is worth ten points. The two beaters, Mundungus Fletcher and another one of you, keep the two bludgers from hurting the chasers or the seeker. The seeker, whom we need, is the last player, and perhaps the most important. The seeker must catch the golden snitch. The capture of the snitch ends the game and gives that seeker's team 150 points. Catching the snitch usually spells victory for that team."
"How are we picking them?" Mundungus Fletcher asked. The burly sixth year beater was also a Gryffindor prefect.
"Same as last year," Stone replied. "We see how they fly. How many of you have flown before?" About half of the students raised their hands, including Sirius and Arabella. "Okay, here's how you do it. Stand next to a broom, like this." Stone stood with the broom at his feet on his right side. "Then just say, 'Up, broom!'." As he gave the command, the broom flew straight up into his hand. The other three members of the house team followed his lead. All held their hovering brooms at waist height. "All of you, do it now!"
A dozen people said at once "Up, Broom!" with varying degrees of success. The broom flew straight into James's hand, Sirius and Arabella got theirs perfectly too. A few others had success as well, but most of the brooms flopped about a foot into the air and then fell, or did not move at all.
"Once you have gotten your broom to respond, you mount it like this." Stone threw one leg over the broom and sat on it. "The broom goes in whatever direction you point the front to, and you control the speed as well. When you have mounted your broom, kick off, rise about ten feet into the air, and come back down." Stone demonstrated once, in perfect sync with the rest of his team. "Do that now."
James was the first off the ground, with Arabella half a second behind. Sirius was right after the two of them. James, with his thin, wiry build, was the fastest of the three, but the bigger and stronger Sirius had a better push off and went higher, about twelve feet to James's ten. Arabella, however, had the best control, flying and landing smoothly. Eventually everyone got off the ground, doing a more or less adequate job.
"I think you have all gotten the hang of this. Now we test for speed. All you have to do is get from one goal post to the other." Stone chucked Mundungus Fletcher a stopwatch. "Fletch, go there now, I need you to know the order they come in." Fletcher flew there, a strong kick off hurtling him to the goalpost. He tagged it with a grin, then gave a thumbs up. "Line up left to right on the ground, then rise straight up to about even with the goals. On the count of three, go as fast as you can to the opposite goal."
They all rose, nervously, watching each other. Who would win? "On three," Stone called. "One, two, three!"
They were off! James was flying the fastest. He got there in under thirty seconds, with Arabella close enough to touch him the entire way, and Sirius on her heels. Everyone else was fairly close, but not close enough. It was clear the order the first three came in.
Sirius shot Arabella a dirty look as Fletcher ordered them back down. "How'd you beat me?" He asked her.
With a laugh and a toss of her long blonde hair, she looked over her shoulder and said, "I flew, Sirius Black. I flew!"
"Stupid git," James heard Sirius mutter as Stone and the others flew over to meet them.
James just shook his head and grinned at his best friend. "Aw, come on Sirius. She beat you in one race, that's all. Nothing to be ashamed of if you get whipped BY A GIRL!" It was a good thing they were both still astride brooms; it gave James more liberty to dodge punches than he normally had around Sirius.
"Now," Stone said, "it's time to see if you can throw and catch without the ground under your feet. Each of you will go in turn with one of us, tossing the quaffle. We'll see how you do." The quaffle didn't look easy to throw. It seemed to be a hollow rounded wooden box, painted red. It was about a foot in diameter.
That test passed very quickly. Sirius nearly knocked Stone off his broom because he threw the quaffle too hard, but he missed one or two throws. James caught very well, he didn't miss a single one, but his throws were not especially good. Of everyone, only Arabella seemed especially good at handling the quaffle. She made it look easy, catching and throwing it with an amazing dexterity. Everyone else did well, more or less, with the activity.
"Wait here," Stone told them while he went off with his team. The four talked quietly amongst themselves, occasionally arguing in whispers or pointing at various students. Finally, the four came back. "Alright, I'm going to break you all into groups based on what what position you are most likely to be good at. Then, we work with you on those skills."
Stone began moving among them, breaking the students up into groups. About half were put into the chaser group, while the rest seemed to be split fairly evenly between beaters and seekers. Sirius got into the beater group, Arabella went with the hopeful chasers, while James was with the potential seekers, along with Larren Bitterwater and Marrett Hingerfent.
"Alright," Stone said, silencing the mild chattering going on. "Since we have no seeker to work with all of you, I am going to work with the seekers. Fletch, the beaters are yours, and Marunk and Thompson, you take the chasers. Work one or two at a time, run 'em through the ropes." He finished quietly to the seekers, "Come with me."
"Now, I don't want to risk losing the snitch, so we're going to work with these." He pulled out a sack of golf balls, about half painted with glow-in-the-dark material, the rest bright orange. He picked up the orange ones. "I can find these easily if you miss, but the glow-in-the-dark serve the same purpose at night. Now, you'll go one at a time, catching the balls as I throw them." Stone looked over the three students he had in front of him. "Potter, you go first. Get up about thirty feet, then catch 'em as I throw 'em. I won't aim for you, so you'll have to fly after 'em."
James nodded resolutely, ignoring the hinkypunks in his stomach. He rose up in the air. "Ready!" Stone threw the balls, one by one. Each one in a random direction. High to the left, low to right, high to the right, low to the right again, straight up, a couple yards in front of Stone, twenty feet behind him, a little to his left and well above his head, low to the left, they just kept coming! James didn't miss one though.
After about fifteen minutes, Stone finally signalled James down. "Hingerfent, you're next!"
James felt too nauseous to watch the other two go. He sat with his knees pulled up to his chin and waited. Larren went as well. When he was done, Stone said, "Alright, you can go," but he tapped James on the shoulder before he could leave. "Potter, you stay here," he whispered confidentially. James nodded to Stone and sat back down. Why did he have to stay? Was it between Larren and Marrett and Stone didn't want him to feel bad?
After a minute, Sirius walked over and sat down next to his best friend. "Fletcher told me to stay behind too." Arabella joined them almost immediately, sitting down in front of them both.
After a minute, all four members of the team walked over. Stone was smiling. "Welcome to Gryffindor House Quidditch!"
James, Sirius, and Ara just looked at Stone for a moment, then they all began to grin at the same time. "We did it. We all did it," Arabella murmered. James smiled, Sirius laughed. They did it.