Chapter 7- The Trials

The day after the celebrations, Harry was up and about quite early. He hadn't slept much the night before, partly because he was so excited about being quidditch captain, and partly because he didn't know what to do now that he was in that position. The quidditch trials were to be held the day after, and Harry was very bewildered. How was he going to test all the Gryffindors who were trying out? He decided to get dressed, and wait for Katie Bell or Alicia Spinnet, the Gryffindor Chasers.

Harry was the first Gryffindor at the breakfast table. Some Ravenclaws were up, puffy-eyed, and silent as they sipped cups if steaming coffee. Harry buttered himself a piece of toast, and munched on it, thinking about his quidditch troubles till the Weasley twins barged noisily into the Great Hall, waking him from his sleepy stupor.

"Morning, boss!" George said brightly, as he poured some tea into a cup and added sugar to it.

"Shut up, George…" Harry groaned.

"So, how are we going to kick the Slytherins' butt this year?" asked Fred wickedly, grabbing a flagon of pumpkin juice.

"Er…"

"And the trials?" George put in.

"I'm asking Katie and Alicia about that…"

"Yeah, Katie'll help. You could ask her to judge the trials with you."

"Yeah… Thanks, Fred."

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Ron, Hermione and Alison. Ron was puffy-eyed and tousle-haired, and the girls didn't look very awake either. However, after a good breakfast, they were all much more invigorated, and they got up from the breakfast table much more animatedly than they had sat down. They had Transfiguration all morning, where Professor McGonagall was teaching them how to turn a fur coat into a rabbit, and they were all very tired when they finally sat down to dinner (Ron was complaining about how his rabbit had coat fastenings down its back). Harry decided to sit next to Katie Bell and ask her how Quidditch trials were held, and she agreed to help. Ron and Alison bolted down some steak and mashed potatoes and hurried out of the room to practice their flying. Hermione ate slowly, her head buried in a thick book, and after thanking Katie, Harry decided to go early to their next lesson, Care of Magical Creatures, and have a chat with Hagrid. He dashed up to the common room for his books and then made his way to Hagrid's hut on the school grounds. Hagrid was chopping firewood round the back of his hut.

"Afternoon, Harry. Yeh're early!" puffed Hagrid, wiping his forehead and leaning on his axe.

"Hello, Hagrid. Sorry if I'm bothering you or anything, I just thought I'd come early and say hello."

"Harry, I gotta bone ter pick with yeh… I met Ron and that new girl, whats-her-name, Alison. They were going down ter the pitch. Ron said summat about you being quidditch captain. Harry!"

"Yeah."

"Now that's yer problem- yeh're too modest! It's great news! Oh, wait a minute, aren't those students coming out of the castle? My lesson! Could yeh help me with those crates over there, Harry? We're doing Billywigs today. Yeah, over there… Thanks!" he panted as he carried three crates on each of his giant arms to the fenced paddock not far from the hut. By this time, many Gryffindors and Slytherins had gathered by the paddock. Many were throwing their bags onto the ground. Hermione's head was still buried in the book that she had been reading during dinner- Harry wouldn't have been surprised if she'd ever looked up from it since he left her. Ron and Alison were sprawled on the turf, having an animated conversation on quidditch and broomsticks, their books still not out of their bags. It was just as well- Hagrid announced that they would not be needing them. He put them into pairs and made them tie a piece of string to the Billywigs' sting and fly them. The lesson was progressing well, until Malfoy and his cronies decided to torture a poor little Billywig by tying the string too tight, but Hagrid corrected them and pretended not to notice as both Alison and Ron made very rude signs behind Malfoy's back. ("Little slime," Ron muttered furiously as Malfoy made a face at Hagrid.)

The lesson flew and it seemed like no time till they were up in the castle again, bolting down supper and deciding what homework to do. Back in the common room, Alison and Hermione huddled over their Arithmancy and Harry and Ron scribbled down a Transfiguration essay. Ron had the jitters about the next day's quidditch trials, but Harry told him not to worry as he scribbled down the best way to substitute Switching Charms with Elongating Spells.

* * * * * * * * * *

The next day dawned with perfect weather for flying- sunny and with the slightest hint of wind. Ron and Alison were now visibly shaken at the prospect of the trials that afternoon, and so were various Gryffindor who were trying out. Harry felt like the morning lesson, Charms, was taking ages, when the dinner bell rang and they went to eat. After an immensely boring of History of Magic, Harry, Ron, Alison and several Gryffindors made ready to go to the pitch. Hermione decided to go with them and see the trials, so she decided not to start her homework early for a change. Ron and Alison were now trembling.

"What if I fall off my broom, Ron?"

"Nonsense, Alison, you can fly really well, but I didn't catch many Quaffles when we practiced yesterday!"

"Oh, stop it!" Hermione interjected hotly, "I'm going down to the pitch to get a good place in the stands. Harry's already left. You coming or d'you want to miss it all?" And the three of them hurried down to the pitch. Many Gryffindors were gathered on the lush green turf on the quidditch pitch, and the Gryffindor team, along with Madam Hooch were sitting in the front row of the Northern stand. Fred and George were fooling about with a couple of fake wands. Katie was explaining something to Harry, who was hanging onto her every word. Alison and Ron ran to join the crowd of excited Gryffindors, and Hermione went to sit on the Eastern stand, so as not to interfere with the Gryffindor team, and smiled as Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown came to join her. A few minutes later, Harry called to the crowd on the pitch, and told them to split up into two groups- those who were trying out for the Chaser position and those who were trying out for the place of Keeper. There were fewer people trying out for Keeper, so they tried out first. Hermione watched nervously as Alicia Spinnet walked out onto the pitch, broom and Quaffle in hand, and Ron, who was going first, mounted his Comet Two-Sixty. Alicia mounted her broom and took off, as did Ron. Alicia signaled for him to fly towards the goal posts and told him to catch the Quaffle whenever she threw it at him. Ron did surprisingly well, even though his broom was rubbish, and only failed to catch the big red ball once out of ten times. Hermione applauded loudly, as did Alison, down on the pitch. Harry smiled as Fred bent over to tell him something. Ron landed on the pitch, flushed and went over to where Hermione was sitting, his trial over.

"You were absolutely brilliant, Ron d'you know that?"

"I missed that bloody Quaffle by inches, though."

"Ah well, it was only once. I don't think many Gryffindors will be able to match that!"

And indeed, they didn't. The closest anyone got to beating Ron was a tall third-year, who managed to catch the Quaffle six times. Harry was grinning as he got up and announced the new Gryffindor Keeper- Ron Weasley. Ron went pink at the ears and said nothing as the Gryffindors applauded and cheered. Now it was the Chasers' turn. This time, Katie also joined Alicia in the air, and she explained that she would be trying to take the Quaffle away from the candidate. Alicia would pretend to be a teammate. The competitors would be judged on teamwork and their ability to avoid opponents. There were seventeen hopefuls trying out for the position of Chaser, and some were very good. Alison was sixteenth in line, and she looked sick with anxiety. Hermione called out reassuringly to her as she mounted her broom.

Harry had never really seen Alison fly, but she was very good, he thought. She had the right build for a Chaser- tall, but lithe and supple. She looked determined to try her best, but her hands were trembling as she gripped her Nimbus Two Thousand and One. Katie signaled for the trial to start and Alicia automatically threw the Quaffle to Alison, who caught it and zoomed to the goalposts, Katie by her side. She tackled her, but Alison dodged neatly and threw the Quaffle back to Alicia, a few feet behind her. Alicia caught it and threw it back to Alison when Katie had finally dislodged herself from her. Alison caught it well again, threw it at the golden hoop a few feet away, and scored. There was a lot of clapping as she landed, waved to Harry, who waved back, and made her way towards the Eastern stand to join Hermione and Ron. After the final Gryffindor tried out, Katie and Alicia landed on the pitch and strode over to the North stand. Katie whispered something into Harry's ear, and he nodded and grinned. The Gryffindors were very quiet. Katie stood up and cleared her throat, and thanked all the Gryffindors who tried out that day. She pointed out that they had all been excellent fliers and that they had all done their best. Then she paused and continued slowly. "I have great pleasure in announcing the new Gryffindor Chaser- Alison McKenzie!" And there was thunderous applause as Alison, a bright red, sank down in her seat, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the great J.K. Rowling's characters- just the plot and perhaps some characters of my own invention, like Alison. I don't make any money off this story, and I never plan to!

Claire xxx

P.S: Thank you Darkness, for your nice reviews and support! And a thanks to you too, LittleEar BigEar's Sis!