The Humiliation of Ron Weasley - Part 2 - Racing Ron

By Berty AKA Aduechoirwen

The time was approximately seven AM.  The date was September fifteenth.  The place was near the entrance of the Gryffindor common Room, on the bulletin board.  The event was Alicia Spinnet, Quidditch Team Captain, posting a notice.  The notice read as follows.

Attention all Quidditch players!

The Gryffindor Quidditch team is looking for a student to take the place of Keeper on the house team. Tryouts will be held on September nineteenth, after dinner, on the Quidditch field.  All hopefuls should be on time.  School brooms will be supplied.

By September nineteenth, half the house was hoping to be on the Quidditch team, including, but not limited to, Colin Creevey, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Ella Villet, Seamus Finnigan, and, of course, Ronald T. Weasley (The T. stands for something, yes, but that's later).  It should be noted that Hermione Granger had much better things to do, like study, than play on the Quidditch team.

The 'Terrific Trio' left Charms class (A class which Ron was not particularly good in, but that's another story), with spirits high.  Harry was looking forward to running the tryouts, while Ron was hoping to make the team.  Hermione, well, she wasn't so excited, but that's not important right now.

Dinner passed slowly, and after what seemed like an eternity, the tryouts began.

Twenty school brooms were laid out on the grass of the Quidditch stadium.  Several Quaffles had been accumulated in a pile.  Six figures, dressed in scarlet robes stood, waiting for the hopeful team members to arrive.

The tryouts began with a nice, easy drill.  All the hopefuls had to do was pass the Quaffle between themselves and a partner at increasing distances.  Easy enough?

Not for Ron.  Ron grasped his broom handle as he lifted unsteadily into the air.  His partner, Ella Villet, passed him the Quaffle.  Ron dived to his right, in an attempt to catch the Quaffle.  The attempt failed, however, when Ron misjudged the distance to his right, and managed to get hit in the head by the Quaffle.

The second drill involved speed.  The task was to speed around several marked out points in the fastest time, somewhat like Muggle skiing.

Ron hovered about fifteen feet off the ground on the school's shabby Aries 400.  He was fourth in the line.  Then third.  Then only Colin Creevey was before him.  Then it was Ron's turn.

Ron raced to his right.  Ron raced to his left.  Ron… hit a goal post.  He had been trying to curve around the fifth point, when, seemingly out of nowhere, the goal post appeared.  He had no time to stop, and soon, he was trying to maneuver his damaged broom to the ground.

The third and final drill was next.  This drill was most like what a Keeper actually did.  The hopeful would float in front of the goal posts, while the three Chasers would try to score a goal.

Finally, after the agonizing minutes of waiting, it was Ron's turn.  Ron flew up to the Keeper area.  Katie Bell hovered twenty feet away.  Katie shot the Quaffle.  Ron missed.  Katie shot the Quaffle.  Ron missed.  Katie shot the Quaffle.  Ron shot to his left, determined to make the save.  He missed by inches, but the position he had been in to make the save was not particularly balanced. 

Ron fell, down, down, down.  The fall seemed to take ages.  He hit the dirt.  Hard. 

Ron woke up two days later in the Hospital Wing.  He had broken several bones, and managed to give himself a bad concussion.

Ron left the hospital wing the next day.  The entire House seemed to hear of Ron's injury and all of what had happened at tryouts.  It was also discovered, much to Ron's dismay that the middle initial 'T' stood for Thaddeus.

(If the reader is wondering who did become keeper, it was none other than the almost-squib Neville Longbottom.)