West Harris Nifflers
Chapter One
Tryouts
Judas walked out onto the pitch and stared up. Above him, the sky was blue, not a cloud to be seen. The excitement on the pitch was evident. All around him, people were chattering or polishing their brooms. Judas let out a long sigh and wondered why he made the trip to West Harris in the first place.
West Harris was a large town in Nova Scotia. It was one of those truly rare all Magic People village. It was also home to one of North America's most prestigious Wizarding and Witchcraft Schools, West Harris Academy for young Witches and Wizards. As well, West Harris had for years had a pretty good Quidditch team. After a stunning 750-10 defeat of the Toronto Beavers the year before, the North American league had sat up and taken notice. The West Harris Nifflers, now the west Harris Phoenixes, had been admitted to the league. Problem was, during the investigation, four members of the team and one alternates had been found guilty of a number of anti-muggle offences and banished from the team. As such, an open tryout was sent to all the schools to alert their best players.
Judas sat down on an empty spot on the ground and began to stretch his arms before wrapping his arm in a bandage. A bad run in with a bewitched bludger a few years earlier had landed Judas with a spot on his arm that attracted bludgers. He wrapped it in magic tape to keep him from being killed, and his team from being accused of cheating.
Judas knew the competition would be tight for a spot on the team, but he was ready for anything. He had nowhere else to go. He was the first wizard in his family. He hadn't really talked to his family since he graduated from Victoria Magic School, a small private magic school on the West Coast of Canada.
"'Allo," said a bright voice, jolting Judas from his stretches. Judas looked up to see a tall, lanky, greasy haired man holding a broom and a quaffle.
"Hi," said Judas.
"You 'ere for the tryout?" he asked.
"Yeah," said Judas, "You?"
"OH yeah. I played for my 'Ouse team all through 'Ogwarts," he said, "The names Snape, Eddie Snape."
"I'm Judas Vallaincourt."
"You from West 'arris?"
"No. I'm from Yellowknife."
"That place up in the ruddy cold north?"
"Yes sir," he said, "All the polar bears and stuff."
"I'm from Hogsmeade," he said, "Britain."
"I would never have guessed."
"Wot you play? Chaser? Seeker? Keeper?"
"Beater."
"Right right. We need a few beaters. Both got kicked off the team after that nasty
little incident with the Hippogriff."
"Yeah. Only one chaser spot I heard."
"One beater too. One of the young alternates got bumped up."
"Great…" said Judas, "So how does this tryout work?"
"Well they look at your work and then you show them wot you got."
"Ah."
"Look!" shouted Eddie, "They're letting go the snitch!"
"Wow," said Judas, watching as about fifteen young wizards and three witches sped off after the tiny golden ball.
"BLUDGER!" shouted a voice. Judas ducked, but Eddie turned around and was smacked in the face with the large iron ball.
"WOT IN THE BLUE 'ELL ARE YOU DOING?" shouted Eddie, holding his bloody nose as Judas jumped on top of the black bludger.
"Sorry…" said a tall boy with long blond hair, "It was my partners faul…"
"LIKE HELL IT WAS!" shouted the voice. A thin, young witch flew up and smacked the boy off his broom with her club before jumping down and pointing her wand at the bludger, causing it to drop harmlessly to the ground.
"Stasi," he pleaded.
"Listen Owen," she said, "I know we do things different in Canada, but we don't blame the one whose hiring the next beater."
"Sorry…" he said.
"And it was your fault. I was trying to get it away from the seekers and YOU just keep hitting it towards them."
"They need to know what it's like to dodge bludgers."
"No, they don't. Our job is to make sure that they don't, got it?"
"Got it."
"Good! Now go get off your broom and go talk to George. Tell him that your good enough for the house team, but not for the full team."
"So I didn't make it?"
"You may get a spot as an alternate."
"Which means?"
"If I get hurt, you may play."
"YES!" he said, skipping off the field.
"That boy has taken one too many bludgers to the head."
"No," said Judas, "My friend Eddie has taken one too many bludgers to the head."
"Oh my GOD!" she said, rushing to the aid of the bleeding Brit, "Are you okay?"
"NO!" shouted Eddie, "NOT AT ALL!"
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Eddie," he said, between gasps for air, "Eddie Snape."
"I'm Astasia McCormack," she said, poking Eddie in the nose with her wand, "There, that should do it."
"My nose feels a little better."
"I didn't stay an extra year at West Harris to learn to be some quack," she spat, "If you read your package, I'm listed as the medi-witch."
"Sorry kid," said Eddie, "But I just didn't think someone who looks like she should be in third year."
"I'm nineteen thank you," she said, "And I have half a mind to break your nose again."
"No! That's okay," said Eddie, "My nose is just fine. It already looks like my mum was a hooked nosed buzzard thank you very much."
"Good," she said.
"STASI!" came a voice over the P.A.
"Damn…" she said, "Nice meeting you two. Beater practice will resume as soon as my replacement is found, and chaser tryouts will start as soon as the Quaffle is found."
*+*+*
"Hawk, you've got to understand. I know she's your sister but she's GOOD!" said George Cooper, sitting on his chair in the top box.
"Fine," said Hawk, "Make her Seeker, or chaser."
"She's in less danger if she's the one holding the club," said George, "The owners want her."
"Astasia is just a child George," said Hawk, looking to the other member of the Phoenixes for help, but she just looked away.
"Hawk, she's not a child anymore. She was all ready to up and join the Chudley Cannons, but she CHOSE to stay here and play beater."
"I don't like it!" shouted Hawk, banging his fist on the wall, "George, I have to protect her. I would never forgive myself is she hurt herself while getting knocked off her broom by a bludger."
"HA!" laughed the silent Phoenix.
"And what is so funny Maureen?" said Hawk, taking off his sunglasses.
"Well the last time Astasia fell off her broom was when she was hanging on by one hand and YOU tried to rescue her Francis."
"My name is Hawk."
"Francis," said Maureen, looking down, "And now on to the actual important matters since I know George is not going to change his mind."
"George, please!"
"No Hawk," said George, "Besides…"
"Besides what?"
"OH for Pete sake," said Maureen, "Francis, Astasia signed the contract this morning. I knew this was going to happen and got the contract Okayed and signed before you were even awake."
"WHAT!"
"And now onto what we've seen today," said Maureen, "George, the Beater Field is pathetic. The only one with any talent is that one, Judas Vallaincourt. Stasi has basically put all the others in their place. Judas isn't as good as Stasi, but he's got talent."
"From what his school said you're right Maureen, as usual."
"YOU SIGNED HER WITHOUT TELLING ME?" shouted Hawk, words finally coming to his mouth.
"Send him the contract," said George, "And one to the Snape boy. He was set to join the Wimbourne Wasps, but chose our team. If he's good enough for a wasp, he's good enough for us."
"And as for seeker?" said Maureen, ignoring the awful look Hawk had on his face.
"Who caught it the fastest?"
"The seeker for Manticore House," said Maureen, "Jalida Katsuno."
"Jale?" said Hawk, "She's just a little wisp of a girl, not quite sixteen."
"She's fifteen and a half," said Astasia, stepping off her broom into the top box, "and I stand behind her. I know she's young, but she's better than any of the others. I mean, the idiot I was testing at the time, Owen Boot, smacked her in the head with a bludger. She came over, had me patch her up, and she was off. And she still caught the snitch first."
"Can we hire her?" asked George.
"If her parents say yes, then we can," said Maureen, "But I believe that Jale is a ward of the City."
"Actually," said Astasia, "I asked the city for her guardianship if she made the team. They said yes."
"Without talking to me first?" said Hawk, "Stasi, you and I are going to have a long talk about this with mom and dad."
"NO Hawk," said Stasi, "Right now, I think we should go inform the school that Jalida Katsuno is now a member of the West Harris Quidditch team."
*+*+*
"Katsuno!" called a voice from deep within the great hall of West Harris Academy for young Wizards and Witches. Jalida Katsuno looked around the emptying hallway and saw nothing.
The hallowed Halls of West Harris Academy had been home to Jalida for years, since she was four. West Harris had both a proper Wizardry and Witch program as well as program for young Wizards and Witches. Special Children, chosen at the age of three, were brought in and raised among the older students. Most of them were orphans, or people like her with nowhere else to go. They learned the basics of reading and writing, as well as learned to play Quidditch and what muggle life was all about. They helped the house elves, and generally lived a good life.
Jalida was four when she was brought to West Harris from her home in Ireland, where her parents had lived. She was an orphan, so West Harris took her on with open arms. She had spent the last eleven years at West Harris, never really caring for anything but her schoolwork and Quidditch. She was a top student, and the best Seeker in the school.
Jalida was just a little bit afraid of leaving the school. She was going to live in a small house with the beater and keeper for the West Harris Phoenixes, Astasia and Maureen. She really wanted to live at school, but that was not possible. Her new schedule had been lain out before the Headmaster and it proved impossible for her to live at school and play for the Phoenixes. She would attend classes at the school for Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures. All her other subjects would be taught by her two roommates.
Astasia McCormack and Maureen Starwind, her new roommates. Jalida was impressed. Astasia had only graduated two years earlier, though they had been in different houses. Astasia was in the Dragon house, the home of the strong and brave. Jalida was a Manticore, smart, sly, and hardworking. Jalida hadn't really seen Astasia since her stunning defeat of Jalida's house team in the house cup finals. Her only memory of Astasia was the girl sitting proudly on her broom, her brown hair cut short, holding up the house cup, as it was her bludger that knocked Jalida away from the snitch.
Everyone in West Harris Academy knew of Maureen Starwind. She was a living legend. She often would sit in on Seventh year Defence against the Dark arts. Rumour was that she was once a powerful Dark Witch who chose to rebel against Voldemort, but then again rumours also said that Jalida herself was a Dark Witch.
Jalida stood in the great hall with her trunk, waiting for Astasia to catch up. She gaze up at all the portraits who stared down at her, all seeming to just be watching her every move, scrutinising the girl.
"Katsuno!"
Jalida looked around to see Adam Lee, a handsome Japanese Seventh year hauling his trunk down the stairs to wait for his roommate to arrive. Jalida smiled shyly as the boy walked up next to her and gave her a big hug.
"I was wondering who got the spot as top seeker," said Adam.
"You made it too?"
"Only as an alternate. You got top spot, I guess."
"Yeah."
"I'm a little nervous."
"I guess. So you're just dropping off your stuff and coming back?"
"No…" said Jalida hesitantly, "I'm moving in with the Beater and Keeper."
"Oh…I wasn't given that option."
"Well how many hours a week are you on practice."
"Ten."
"I'm doing six hours a day, six days a week. You can see how I would have trouble working that into a normal school schedule. Maureen Starwind and Astasia McCormack are going to tutor me in all but Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology."
"Wow…" said Adam, "I'm just dropping off some stuff at the men's home just a ten minute walk from the pitch. They just want me to have the basics in case practice runs late."
"Well…" said Jalida, "It'll be good to work with you."
"Jale?" said a voice. Both Adam and Jalida looked up to see someone neither of them recognised. The young witch was tanned, and very muscular. Her robes were not normal robes, but really a crimson shirt with sleeves that grew to large size at the bottom and a long black skirt. Jalida looked her over and was amazed at her. Her eyes were violet coloured, a real deep purple, which matched with her long silky blue hair.
"Miss?" she said.
"It's Astasia," she said, smiling at the younger girl, "I've come to steal you from school."
"Astasia?" said Adam.
"Do I know you?" she said, "Were you in my house?"
"No…" he stammered, "You were a Dragon, I'm a Hippogriff."
"Didn't I break you leg?"
"I think you did…" he stammered.
"Eddie and Judas will be by soon. They're just settling in."
"Okay," he stammered as Astasia pointed her wand at Jalida's trunk and made it disappear.
"We're taking a coach, and there's just no room for that in there," she said, patting Jalida on the shoulder, "You ready?"
"The headmaster wants to speak to you Miss McCormack."
"Oh for the love of Pete," she said, "It's Astasia, or just Stasi. Your not some screaming teen fan or member of the opposing team. You're my roommate! You're my team-mate! And most importantly you're my equal. You proved your skills and I respect that totally."
"Okay…" said Jalida, letting a thin smile flicker across her face, "The headmaster will be in the great hall."
"Fine," said Stasi, walking towards the great double doors.
"Thanks…" said Jalida quietly to Stasi as they walked into the large, ornate great hall.
"For talking when you were too scared?" said Stasi, "Any time."
"Miss McCormack!" roared Headmistress Maria Ingress, a young woman who'd only been headmistress for the past four years.
"Headmistress," said Stasi, smiling, "I've come to steal your fifth year."
"You think you can teach her?"
"Most things," said Stasi.
"If I remember, your potions and Astronomy marks were abysmal Astasia."
"You ever have someone get one hundred and ten percent in Charms AND Transfiguration?" asked Stasi, "So I was on the brink of failure in a few subjects. Big deal. I made it, didn't I?"
"What have you been doing?"
"Mostly working at the Crossed Wand Pub and studying Medical Magic," she answered, "I just finished my last exam to become a trained Medi-Witch when George called me up to join the team."
"You chose Quidditch over medicine?"
"George needed me," said Stasi, "And how many people get to compete in the Canadian Circuit, and possibly the English as well."
"Not many," said Headmaster Ingress, "Now about young Miss Katsuno."
"Maureen Starwind has offered to tutor her and keep ferrying her here for Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology, as well as George is willing to give her a month off in June for Exams."
"Fine," said Headmistress Ingress, "And I shall be sending Professor Xan over once a month for a potions check up. I trust Miss Starwind with everything but potions."
"I'll be covering Charms and Transfiguration," said Astasia, "Just because I'm a little more up to date than my dear friend Maureen."
"Fine," said the Headmistress, "I trust you with Jalida's care Astasia. Just keep her out of trouble."
"Ma'am, she'll be on the Quidditch pitch so much she won't have time to get into trouble."
*+*+*
"Wot a dump!" said Eddie as he walked into the guys house. The management of the West Harris Phoenixes had decided that belonged to Eddie, George, Hawk and Judas.
"I know!" said Judas, "You would think they would spring for something nice."
"Don't be so surprised," said George, stepping out of the kitchen, "The team is almost broke. We need to bring in money."
"Are you George or Hawk?" asked Judas.
"I'm George, or just Captain. You must be Eddie and Judas."
"You should know us," said Eddie, "Wot with 'iring us and all."
"I've never met you up close. You spoke with the management?"
"Yeah," said Eddie, "And I never thought I'd make less money playing Quidditch than I did waiting tables at the three Broomsticks."
"I know it doesn't seem like much," said George, "But you get all your food and rooming paid for. It's just your pocket money."
"We need to win some Tournaments and get some galleons," said Eddie.
"I'm aware of that," said George, "And as Captain, I'm that one that falls on."
"Where's the other guy?" asked Judas.
"Hawk? He's out arguing with Astasia, most likely. Maybe fighting with Maureen, but likely trying to get Astasia to quit the team."
"What does he have against Astasia," said Eddie, "Which one is Astasia, anyway."
"The hot chick who hit you in the face with a bludger," said Judas.
"Don't ever let Hawk hear you say that. He's VERY protective of Stasi."
"Girlfriend?" asked Eddie.
"Baby Sister," said George, "He nearly threw Maureen out the window when he found out she signed on Astasia."
"Is she actually any good or did this Maureen just sign her to spite Hawk?"
"If I hadn't ever seen Stasi play I would claim it was just to spite him, but Stasi has great potential. She's got an arm to rival the great English player Ludo Bagman."
"Ludo?" said Eddie, "Wow."
"But enough about that," said George, "Go get unpacked. First practice is in the morning. You need your sleep."
"Aiight," said Judas, "Where's my room?"
"There's only three bedrooms in this place. I've got one to myself, and I doubt that either of you could share with Hawk, him being the way he is, so you two share the master bedroom."
"Thanks," said Eddie, picking up his stuff and hauling it towards the room.
"I'm going out in about twenty minutes. You two should stay here and unpack. When Hawk gets in, play nice?"
"Sure," said Eddie.
"Should I be calling you two Edwin and Judas or something else?"
"I go by Eddie," said Eddie, smiling.
"It's Jude," said Judas, pulling out his wand and sending his trunk flying to his room.
"Your welcome to use the work out equipment in the living room, as well as make use of the radio," said George as he walked ot his room, "I'm just going to get ready."
"Where are you going?" asked Eddie.
"Out for a walk," said George, "Same as I do every Thursday night."
*+*+*
The stars were out in droves that night. The night sky was as clear, with a round moon hanging high above the lake. Lake Harris, a huge pond, sat reflecting the stars like a cosmic mirror as two lone figures walked slowly aroudn it.
"So our first game is against the Toronto Unicorns?" asked Maureen as she walked along the beach next to George. Dressed in Khaki Capri pants and a black peasant shirt, she looked like your average muggle. She and George liked to go out for dinner at a muggle restaurant called The Dundas Grill every few weeks, so she had to dress like a muggle. George was wearing a pair of black baggy pants and a light blue silk shirt with a black tie.
"Yeah. An all girls team. They wanted Stasi," he answered, smiling at his companion. Maureen looked young, nowhere near her age. Her skin was pale, but she had learned to change the colour with charms. Her hair was long and a deep reddish brown, like the colour of Mahogany wood. She kept it up in a tight bun most of the time, but she had let it down as she and George had walked. It cascaded down her back like a river of blood, soft and silky.
"Everyone wanted Stasi," said Maureen, smiling, "But she's loyal to us. She does love Hawk, though she'll never admit it. She loves him, but at the same time she doesn't like him."
"He's so overprotective of her," said George, "It's actually really funny."
"He'll get better," said Maureen, "He can't get any worse."
"I know," said George, gazing out at the moon across the pond.
"You miss her, don't you?" said Maureen.
"Alice was a good person."
"She didn't love you," said Maureen, "She never loved you. She wanted the fame that came along with what you were becoming, not you."
"I know…" said George, "But I did love her."
"Did you?" asked Maureen, "I mean, did you love her, or having a girlfriend?"
"I don't know…"
"You should find out."
"How? She's off in Japan and won't even talk to me?"
"You need to think within yourself and find out who you love," said Maureen.
"I guess…" he said sheepishly. A long silence followed Maureen's blunt comments. Maureen was embarrassed that she had been so forward, and George just wanted to think. The two friends walked along the lake, watching the ducks float harmlessly across the glittering lake.
"So what do you think of Edwin and Judas?"
"Eddie and Jude?" said George, "They seem okay. I foresee a confrontation between and Jude and Hawk though."
"You do?" said Maureen, "Why?"
"Just because there's something about the guy that I think Hawk is going to hate."
"What?"
"Those of us here in West Harris know that Astasia McCormack is off limits. We know her as the cute baby sister of Francis. Jude doesn't. Jude mentioned he thought she was pretty."
"I know," said Maureen.
"You looked into the future again?"
"You know it."
"How's our team going to do?"
"Well, I hope."
"You don't know?"
"No."
"Then about Jude and Hawk."
"You know my gift. I see the bad things. I saw Hawk trying to kill Jude."
"We're going to have to stop that."
"It's not up to us."
"I know," said George.
"George?"
"Yeah Maureen?"
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"For just being with me."