The Cheerleading Squad
AN: The idea bit me during cheerleading practice. I wondered what it would be like if Hogwarts started cheerleading. The outcome of this could be pretty funny. Hope you like!
Disclaimer: I do not own HP. I own the plot though.
Warning: Flames against cheerleaders will be laughed at and then used to make s'mores and roast hot dogs.
Also, I will be describing stunts in this. Please don't attempt any of these without supervision and proper training. They might not seem dangerous to you, but I've seen girls become paralysed for the rest of their lives from doing some of these stunts.
PS: I don't know if cheerleading really is that big in England. I'm just assuming right now.
Chapter One - Ready, OK!
"What's this all about?" Ron asked as he saw Pavarti wandering around the common room handing out yellow flyers.
"It's for the first Gryffindor cheerleading squad!" Parvati said with a huge smile on her face. "Boys are welcome on the squad too, you know." Pavarti said as she thrust a yellow flyer in front of his face.
"No thanks." Ron replied, but he held on to the flyer.
He sat down on one of the chairs in the common room and read the flyer.
In huge, red and gold letters, it said "TRY OUT FOR THE FIRST EVER GRYFFINDOR CHEERLEADING SQUAD!!". Under that there was a picture of a girl in a short skirt being lifted up by and extremely strong male. It was a muggle picture, because it was completely still.
The next paragraph said, "Don't miss this opportunity to join the Gryffindor cheerleading squad! Cheer at quiddich games, and at the end of the season, there will be a competition between the Hogwarts houses! Third year students and older will be eligible for the squad. Hope to see you there!".
//Yeah right, like anyone would want to be a cheerleader.// Ron thought,
How wrong he was.
~*~
"Come on 'Mione, it'll be fun!". Parvati said while jumping up and down on her bed.
"No. Way. I think it's degrading". Hermione said firmly.
"What's so degrading about it?". Lavender asked. "It's a sport."
Hermione laughed. "A sport?! Sure."
"Have you ever even seen what cheerleaders do? Not just yelling for their team. There's stunts, and dances. It's an extremely physical job."
"I'm still not buying it." Hermione said, crossing her arms.
"Look, this is a way to get people to notice you for something other than books! Wouldn't you like a whole new image? Think of it. 'Hermione the Cheerleader' instead of 'Hermione the Bookworm'." Parvati pointed out.
"Point taken. But still...." Hermione hesitated.
"Just try out. If you don't like it, you don't have to do it." Lavender tried to negotiate.
"Fine, I'll do it." Hermione reluctantly agreed. //I may as well give it a shot.// She thought.
~*~
The day of the first practice rolled around, and about 30 excited girls were gathered out on the quiddich pitch.
"Welcome everyone, to the first practice of the Gryffindor cheerleading squad!" Parvati called to everyone, looking very excited. Everyone clapped.
"I'm your captain, Parvati Patil. Now, what we're beginning right now is called a clinic. This is where we will teach you the cheers, a dance and basic stunts that you will perform for tryouts. Also, through this clinic, we will be evaluating your sportsmanship, your ability to work with others, your attitude, and your dedication. So it's not just your tryout that will determine if you're on the squad."
Ginny raised her hand. "How many will make the squad?"
"20 girls will be on this season's squad." Parvati answered. "Any more questions? No. Then let's begin!"
~*~ * Hermione was in the dorm room with Parvati, perfecting her cheers.
"Honestly Hermione, it's not that hard!" Parvati said, starting to get annoyed. She had been working with Hermione for an hour and she hadn't improved.
"I told you I wouldn't be any good at this!" Hermione yelled.
"It's simple, you just have to make your arms stiff." Parvati said.
"Why don't I just quit now. It will save me the embarrassment of trying out." Hermione said.
"You can't quit now! You've been to one practice. Keep practising and it will be easy!" Parvati said with a smile.
"Alright, I'll try."
~*~
The next day at practice was going quite well....
"Pivot, half turn, SMILE!" Parvati was barking at the cheerleader hopefuls.
Everyone was getting the dance right away. Even Hermione was doing quite well.
"Alright everyone, that's enough. Just practisingicing and you'll all have it perfect. Now, tommorow we're doing stunts, so come prepared!" Parvati said as the girls started to leave.
//I pray that Hermione won't get hurt tommorow....// Parvati thought as she headed back to her dorm room.
~*~
"Okay everyone gather up. Today we're doing stunts. Now I'm going to go around and decide what position you'd be best at; either base, spotter or flyer." Parvati said with her clipboard in hand.
After everyone was sorted, everyone was put into groups of four, two bases, one spotter and one flyer.
"Alright everyone, we're going to do four stunts today. The Thigh Rise, the Elevator, the Elevator Extension and the Liberty. We'll start with the Thigh Rise because it's the easiest. Your bases have to go into a lunge position. Then your flyer will stand behind them, and the spotter will hold the flyer's waist. Then on the count of 'One, two down, up!', the flyer will jump, with the spoter helping her up, and she'll place her feet at the very top of the base's thighs. And that's the Thigh Rise!" Parvati said as she wandered around, making sure that everyone was doing it right.
Hermione was a flyer, even though Parvati thought it may not be a good idea. But Hermione was the right size for it and she needed one more flyer.
Hermione went up on the Thigh Rise and looked pretty sturdy. But as soon as she took her hands off her base's shoulders, she started to shake, and then fall.
"Are you alright Hermione?!" Parvati said as she rushed over to Hermione.
"I'm fine, just a scratch." Hermione replied and she tood up to make another attempt. She wasn't taking failure very well.
"Ok, but when you go up again, lock you legs so that you won't shake." Parvati said.
"Alright, don't worry." Hermione said as she got into position to go up again.
This continued for a while, Hermione falling and trying again, but finally she got it. Parvati moved her to spotter position, just to be safe.
~*~
"Alright everyone, great job today. You've all been wonderful cheerleaders and it's going to be very hard to make my decision. Final tryouts are on Monday so practice as much as you can over the weekend!" Parvati said just before everyone was leaving. "Hermione! Come here!"
"What?" Hermione sighed.
"You're coming to tryouts, right?" Parvati asked.
"Why bother? I'm not going to make it." Hermione said sullenly.
"Hermione, you've made a huge improvement over the week. You do have a chance to be on the squad. And I want to see you at tryouts. Ok?" Parvati said sternly.
"Fine." Hermione breathed as she turned to walk away.
~*~
"Like I have a chance. I don't even know why I let them convince me into trying out. But now that I think about it, I kind of do want to be on the squad...." Hermione said to herself as she was walking back.
"Well, I guess it's up to my tryout."
~*~
AN: Argh. I think this is boring so far. I need more humour! Suggestions are always welcome, so is constructive criticism. I'm not sure when the next chapter is coming out, I have a lot of schoolwork but I'll try to get it out as soon as I can. Thanks for reading and please review!
AN: The idea bit me during cheerleading practice. I wondered what it would be like if Hogwarts started cheerleading. The outcome of this could be pretty funny. Hope you like!
Disclaimer: I do not own HP. I own the plot though.
Warning: Flames against cheerleaders will be laughed at and then used to make s'mores and roast hot dogs.
Also, I will be describing stunts in this. Please don't attempt any of these without supervision and proper training. They might not seem dangerous to you, but I've seen girls become paralysed for the rest of their lives from doing some of these stunts.
PS: I don't know if cheerleading really is that big in England. I'm just assuming right now.
Chapter One - Ready, OK!
"What's this all about?" Ron asked as he saw Pavarti wandering around the common room handing out yellow flyers.
"It's for the first Gryffindor cheerleading squad!" Parvati said with a huge smile on her face. "Boys are welcome on the squad too, you know." Pavarti said as she thrust a yellow flyer in front of his face.
"No thanks." Ron replied, but he held on to the flyer.
He sat down on one of the chairs in the common room and read the flyer.
In huge, red and gold letters, it said "TRY OUT FOR THE FIRST EVER GRYFFINDOR CHEERLEADING SQUAD!!". Under that there was a picture of a girl in a short skirt being lifted up by and extremely strong male. It was a muggle picture, because it was completely still.
The next paragraph said, "Don't miss this opportunity to join the Gryffindor cheerleading squad! Cheer at quiddich games, and at the end of the season, there will be a competition between the Hogwarts houses! Third year students and older will be eligible for the squad. Hope to see you there!".
//Yeah right, like anyone would want to be a cheerleader.// Ron thought,
How wrong he was.
~*~
"Come on 'Mione, it'll be fun!". Parvati said while jumping up and down on her bed.
"No. Way. I think it's degrading". Hermione said firmly.
"What's so degrading about it?". Lavender asked. "It's a sport."
Hermione laughed. "A sport?! Sure."
"Have you ever even seen what cheerleaders do? Not just yelling for their team. There's stunts, and dances. It's an extremely physical job."
"I'm still not buying it." Hermione said, crossing her arms.
"Look, this is a way to get people to notice you for something other than books! Wouldn't you like a whole new image? Think of it. 'Hermione the Cheerleader' instead of 'Hermione the Bookworm'." Parvati pointed out.
"Point taken. But still...." Hermione hesitated.
"Just try out. If you don't like it, you don't have to do it." Lavender tried to negotiate.
"Fine, I'll do it." Hermione reluctantly agreed. //I may as well give it a shot.// She thought.
~*~
The day of the first practice rolled around, and about 30 excited girls were gathered out on the quiddich pitch.
"Welcome everyone, to the first practice of the Gryffindor cheerleading squad!" Parvati called to everyone, looking very excited. Everyone clapped.
"I'm your captain, Parvati Patil. Now, what we're beginning right now is called a clinic. This is where we will teach you the cheers, a dance and basic stunts that you will perform for tryouts. Also, through this clinic, we will be evaluating your sportsmanship, your ability to work with others, your attitude, and your dedication. So it's not just your tryout that will determine if you're on the squad."
Ginny raised her hand. "How many will make the squad?"
"20 girls will be on this season's squad." Parvati answered. "Any more questions? No. Then let's begin!"
~*~ * Hermione was in the dorm room with Parvati, perfecting her cheers.
"Honestly Hermione, it's not that hard!" Parvati said, starting to get annoyed. She had been working with Hermione for an hour and she hadn't improved.
"I told you I wouldn't be any good at this!" Hermione yelled.
"It's simple, you just have to make your arms stiff." Parvati said.
"Why don't I just quit now. It will save me the embarrassment of trying out." Hermione said.
"You can't quit now! You've been to one practice. Keep practising and it will be easy!" Parvati said with a smile.
"Alright, I'll try."
~*~
The next day at practice was going quite well....
"Pivot, half turn, SMILE!" Parvati was barking at the cheerleader hopefuls.
Everyone was getting the dance right away. Even Hermione was doing quite well.
"Alright everyone, that's enough. Just practisingicing and you'll all have it perfect. Now, tommorow we're doing stunts, so come prepared!" Parvati said as the girls started to leave.
//I pray that Hermione won't get hurt tommorow....// Parvati thought as she headed back to her dorm room.
~*~
"Okay everyone gather up. Today we're doing stunts. Now I'm going to go around and decide what position you'd be best at; either base, spotter or flyer." Parvati said with her clipboard in hand.
After everyone was sorted, everyone was put into groups of four, two bases, one spotter and one flyer.
"Alright everyone, we're going to do four stunts today. The Thigh Rise, the Elevator, the Elevator Extension and the Liberty. We'll start with the Thigh Rise because it's the easiest. Your bases have to go into a lunge position. Then your flyer will stand behind them, and the spotter will hold the flyer's waist. Then on the count of 'One, two down, up!', the flyer will jump, with the spoter helping her up, and she'll place her feet at the very top of the base's thighs. And that's the Thigh Rise!" Parvati said as she wandered around, making sure that everyone was doing it right.
Hermione was a flyer, even though Parvati thought it may not be a good idea. But Hermione was the right size for it and she needed one more flyer.
Hermione went up on the Thigh Rise and looked pretty sturdy. But as soon as she took her hands off her base's shoulders, she started to shake, and then fall.
"Are you alright Hermione?!" Parvati said as she rushed over to Hermione.
"I'm fine, just a scratch." Hermione replied and she tood up to make another attempt. She wasn't taking failure very well.
"Ok, but when you go up again, lock you legs so that you won't shake." Parvati said.
"Alright, don't worry." Hermione said as she got into position to go up again.
This continued for a while, Hermione falling and trying again, but finally she got it. Parvati moved her to spotter position, just to be safe.
~*~
"Alright everyone, great job today. You've all been wonderful cheerleaders and it's going to be very hard to make my decision. Final tryouts are on Monday so practice as much as you can over the weekend!" Parvati said just before everyone was leaving. "Hermione! Come here!"
"What?" Hermione sighed.
"You're coming to tryouts, right?" Parvati asked.
"Why bother? I'm not going to make it." Hermione said sullenly.
"Hermione, you've made a huge improvement over the week. You do have a chance to be on the squad. And I want to see you at tryouts. Ok?" Parvati said sternly.
"Fine." Hermione breathed as she turned to walk away.
~*~
"Like I have a chance. I don't even know why I let them convince me into trying out. But now that I think about it, I kind of do want to be on the squad...." Hermione said to herself as she was walking back.
"Well, I guess it's up to my tryout."
~*~
AN: Argh. I think this is boring so far. I need more humour! Suggestions are always welcome, so is constructive criticism. I'm not sure when the next chapter is coming out, I have a lot of schoolwork but I'll try to get it out as soon as I can. Thanks for reading and please review!
