Chapter 9 - Try Outs & Tribulations

Barney's optimism was short lived. Having obtained the books he needed from the library he started to try and translate the book he had found but could only find a couple of the symbols on the rest of the pages that were either Sumerian or Celtic in origin. Obviously who ever had written those runes had used multiple sources and Barney still didn't know what they were. For more than a week he had spent as much free time as he could in the library, scouring books for any signs of a language that matched any of his runes. In doing so he had neglected his flying practice and try outs were set to take place that weekend.

Barney headed to his Transfiguration class and took a seat next to his friend Tilly from Ravenclaw and waited for the class to begin. Transfiguration was one of Barney's least favourite subjects due to the fact he didn't think he was very good at it and he debated dropping it after his O.W.L.s where he only achieved an 'acceptable' mark. But Professor Featherstone had decided that students only needed an 'acceptable' or above to carry on the subject and as Barney liked both Professor Featherstone and the idea of being able to transform objects and possibly one day transform himself into an animal, he persevered with the subject.

So far this year the class had been transforming a rabbit into a basket which Barney had failed to achieve so he was glad when Professor Featherstone announced that they would be starting on something different.

"Today class we will be beginning the topic of Conjuring spells. Now last term we learnt how to vanish an item."

Barney remembered his attempts at vanishing a teapot last year but only proceeded to make the actual pot vanish and not the tea inside it, nearly covering Professor Featherstone in scolding liquid. He was pretty sure he was only awarded an 'acceptable' out of pity.

"Now conjuring an item can mean one of three things. You conjure an item that has previously been vanished. You can conjure an item that already exists if you know exactly where that item is located or you can conjure an item from nothing. This is extremely difficult magic and can be hard to master."

Those were not words Barney wanted to be hearing.

"So we will be starting off simple and you will all be attempting to conjure a button."

Barney's head dropped in frustration as he contemplated the task at hand which seemed impossible to him as Professor Featherstone went on to describe how exactly to achieve this.

After the professor's explanations the class started to attempt to produce a button from nothing and Barney was glad when he saw everyone struggle to begin with. However for the full double lesson Barney managed to produce absolutely nothing. Despite repeated attempts nothing materialised on the desk in front of him.

By the end of the lesson five students had managed to achieve the feat and a handful of students had resorted to conjuring a button they already knew existed from an item of clothing back in their dormitories. And one student had managed to conjure a button from a keyboard. With them being half-blood they didn't think it was that special but the students who were pure-blood and had never seen a computer before thought it was pretty amazing.

Barney left the classroom feeling dejected. He was failing at Transfiguration and he was failing at translating his runes. He hoped his failures didn't come in threes as he had try outs tomorrow.

The next day Barney woke super early, excited and nervous about his chance to make the Slytherin team. After spending some time laying in bed running through Quidditch manoeuvrers in his head he finally got up and took a cold shower to revitalise himself before heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

With it still being early and the weekend when he got to the hall he was the only one there but he was glad that when he sat at the empty table some food materialised in front of him. The Hogwarts' elves were attentive as usual. Though he loaded some bacon and scrambled eggs onto his plate he found that he actually didn't have much of an appetite. The nerves inside him were already kicking in and his stomach was doing somersaults.

As students started to trickle into the hall (mainly those who were trying out also) Barney was soon joined at the Slytherin table by Silvanna and Maximille who had both been on the Slytherin Quidditch team since their third year at Hogwarts.

"Morning Barney," Maximille said as he took a seat opposite him. "Ready for try outs?"

"I guess," Barney replied with little enthusiasm.

"You're a good flyer Barney, you should be more confident," Silvanna added as she sat next to him and helped herself to some fruit. "You were just unlucky that we had Corinne on the team before and she was a good Seeker too."

"I guess. Does anyone know if Velyan is trying out for the team?" Barney hadn't dared speak to Velyan about the Quidditch team, afraid of what the answer might be. But after his performance in the capture the flag game he knew he would be a contender for making the team, especially if going for the Seeker position.

"Yeah he said he would but he didn't say what position though," Silvanna said as she peeled a banana.

"He's a pretty amazing flyer," Maximille added. "He'll make the team for sure."

Maximille was about to go on praising Velyan's abilities on a broom but stopped when Silvanna kicked him under the table and he looked at Barney's disappointed face.

"I mean he doesn't have as much experience with the team as you have though. You know all our manoeuvrers and plays having been on the bench for the last three years."

Maximille stopped talking when Silvanna kicked him again and didn't say another word, not wanting to have a badly bruised leg affect his flying later.

As more students arrived in the hall all that anyone wanted to talk about was the Quidditch try outs and eventually Barney couldn't take any more and left.

When he went back to the Slytherin dormitory he checked out the noticeboard to see if the timetable for try outs had been posted. It had and Slytherin were last on the schedule, meaning Barney had to wait even longer. He didn't know how he was going to cope. He debated heading to the library to do some more research on his runes but he was beginning to get tired of that task and wondered if he should give up on the whole thing altogether. Instead he grabbed his broom and headed to the practice lawns for some final preparations.

However when he got there he found out he wasn't the only one cramming in some last minute practice and the sky was full of students on brooms zooming about, doing twists and turns and all sorts of moves. Frustrated, he left and headed to the lake instead and was glad to find it was quiet and climbed on his broom and took off into the sky.

As he flew above the Black Lake, which glistened underneath him, he could finally forget his troubles. Gone were thoughts of deciphering runes, Transfiguration, homework and even the actually try outs as he soared freely through the sky without a care in the world.

When he finally landed back on the shore he found two people waiting for him.

"There you are, we've been looking everywhere for you," Tabitha said as Barney dismounted his broom.

"We wanted to wish you luck before your try out," Thomas added.

"Thanks," Barney muttered feeling a bit bashful. "But can we not talk about the try out please, it will only make me more nervous."

"OK well I can't stop. Hufflepuff's try outs are first and I want to go cheer Hamish on but good luck for later," Tabitha said as she gave him an awkward hug and left.

Barney sat down on the grass beside the lake and Thomas joined him.

"You feeling OK?" Thomas asked, noticing his friend looked a little worried.

"Yeah it's just nerves. I've been waiting so long to get onto this team. What if I don't make it again this year?"

"As long as you've done your best that's all that matters," Thomas replied.

Barney thought that was the type of thing a parent would say to brace a child for disappointment. Thomas had never been much of a flyer, he would literally shake with fear anytime he had to fly on a broom. And he certainly never had any interest in joining the Hufflepuff Quidditch team so he had no idea how he was feeling right now. But he was actually glad to have a friend with him so he wasn't left alone with his own thoughts which would only lead to more worry.

"So how you getting on with those runes?" Thomas asked, changing the subject.

"Can we not talk about that also."

"Guess what Roblin McGregor did in Charms class this week?" Thomas said, changing the subject yet again.

"What?"

"We were meant to be bewitching a piece of fruit to talk but his apple ended up trying to eat him. It chased him round the room for five minutes. Professor Pomperduke was in a right state trying to stop it. In the end one of the students had to use a freezing charm to stop the apple."

"That boy is a right klutz," Barney said as they both started laughing.

Roblin McGregor was known as being the most accident prone and clumsy student in the school. In the past he'd made all his hair fall out from drinking an incorrectly brewed cold cure, given himself purple spots on his face when he accidentally rubbed his face after touching a poisonous Foemont leaf and managed to get himself swallowed whole by a giant Dondaling Python (which is quite a feat considering they're herbivores though luckily Hagrid was hand to make the python puke him back out).

Barney enjoyed the light relief as he lay laughing on the grass with his friend. With all the stress of try outs, lessons and deciphering he'd forgotten to actually have some fun with his friends.

"I think Professor Pomperduke is losing his marbles too, though I'm not sure he had any to begin with," Thomas remarked as he removed his glasses and enjoyed the feel of the warm sunshine on his face.

"Why what happened?"

"He swears he saw a flower dragging itself through the corridor in a plant pot the other day."

Barney started laughing but Thomas didn't think it was that funny. He was genuinely concerned for his teacher.

"So how's Divination going?" Barney asked when he finally managed to stop laughing.

"It's going good thanks. We did some tea leaf reading in class the other day," Thomas replied.

"Oh yeah? What was in yours?"

"A circle," Thomas said going slightly red.

"And what does that mean."

"Er... erm... love apparently."

"Oh great not you as well. At this rate I'll be the only single person in our year," Barney joked and they both started laughing again.

After enjoying some much needed chill time with Thomas by the lake, Barney headed back into the castle for lunch. Though again he didn't have much appetite for but forced down a sandwich in the hopes of settling his still tumultuous stomach before he headed to the library.

With it being a weekend and the weather outside being nice and sunny the library was practically deserted. Other than Madame Pince the school librarian he could only see one other student who was sat at a table reading a big book on potions.

Barney didn't know what books to try next for help in deciphering his runes. It felt like he'd looked at every book in the library now on the subject. He sat at a desk for ages just contemplating the book he had found, wondering if there was an easier way to get it to reveal it's secrets. To pass the time he absent mindedly doddle some of the runes onto a piece of parchment.

"Studying Alchemy now are we?" a voice asked but when Barney turned around to see who it was there was no one there but two books that were floating in the air. It took him a second to figure out what was going on but finally he remembered who the voice had belonged to.

"Oh hey Professor Winters. What do you mean studying alchemy?" Barney said as he looked at the title of the books the invisible professor was holding - Secrets of Invisibility and Making the Invisible Visible. Clearly his former Dark Arts teacher hadn't given up hope of finding a cure for his miscast spell.

"Well that symbol you're drawing. It's an alchemy symbol for water."

"It means water?" Barney said astonished as he looked at his doddle which he'd copied from the book. "Are you one hundred percent sure?"

"Why of course. I studied a bit of alchemy myself, I would know that symbol anywhere."

"Professor Winters if I could see you I'd hug you," Barney said as he quickly gathered his things and threw them in his bag. "Sorry I've got to run but you've been an amazing help,. Thank you."

As Barney ran to the door, with a disapproving look from Madame Pince, Professor Winters felt a warm glow inside, glad that he was still able to help a student out.

Barney ran to the Great Hall and scanned the students in there looking for Thomas and Tabitha but couldn't see them anywhere. As he headed outside he bumped into Everard.

"Barney you're gonna be late for try outs if you don't get a move on."

Barney had been so caught up in the library that he'd lost all track of time and started sprinting down to the Quidditch pitch. By the time he got there he was out of breath and panting hard as the rest of the Slytherins trying out were about to begin.

"Mr West hurry up and get changed if you're want to try out this year," Madame Hooch said and Barney rushed off to get into his Quidditch robes.

When he returned there were already some students flying in the air on their brooms.

"What did I miss?" Barney asked Silvanna who was stood at the edge of the pitch.

"Keepers are trying out at the minute. Then it's Beaters, then Chasers and Seekers are last."

Great Barney thought, even more waiting.

He looked around to see who else was there and how many were trying out, trying to figure who was going for what position and how much competition he would have for the one Seeker position on the team. Usually only those who were trying out for a team came down to the Quidditch pitch but there were always a few extras from rival teams wanting to scope out the competition and get an early advantage as Barney looked to the stands to see twenty or so students watching. The last thing he wanted was an audience to watch in case he screwed up.

It seemed like the longest wait ever as Barney watched his fellow Slytherin try out for the other roles on the Quidditch team. By the time it got to the Seekers he was more nervous than he had ever been. As he'd seen the numbers of participants whittle down there was just one other student left - Velyan Dagon.

Barney was relieved he didn't have any more competition but terrified because Velyan was the competition. He'd proved himself a skilled flyer on a broom. Barney felt his chances of making the team slipping away. He had been wishing Velyan had gone up when the Chasers had been called but no such luck. And to make matters even worse Velyan had a Lightningbolt broom. Barney thought he was going to be sick as he mounted his broom and took to the skies.

"Right you two, to start with I want you to show me your flying skills," Madame Hooch said as she hovered on a broom beside them. "Use the whole stadium to show me what you can do. Dives, rolls, sprints, in and out of hoops. There will also be some Bludgers flying about. Impress me. Then you'll both take it in turns at catching a Snitch. Got it?"

Barney and Velyan both nodded in agreement and as Madame Hooch blew her whistle they both darted off.

Barney headed for the hoops to show off some weaving skills but out the corner of his eye he couldn't help but see Velyan who was flying upwards vertically before dropping back down and doing a nose dive to the ground. He was so distracted by Velyan he was almost knocked off his broom by a Bludger but managed to dodge it at the last second.

After showing off his skills around the hoops Barney wanted to impress with his speed and started doing a lap of the Stadium, pushing his Nova X5 broom to it's limit. As the faces of the crowd whirred past him he could see his fellow Slytherins such as Silvanna and Maximille and also Professor Slughorn but none of them seemed to be taking much notice of him as all their eyes were fixed on Velyan who was now doing a triple loop de loop followed by a spiral dive.

By the time Hooch blew her whistle again Barney felt like his position on the team was slipping away from him. Velyan had certainly impressed Madame Hooch and the crowd more. His only chance now was to catch the Snitch and catch it fast.

"Heads or tails?" Hooch asked after they had both flown down to the ground beside her and she held a Sickle and waited for one of the pair to call out.

"Tails," Velyan called out before Barney had time to say anything.

Madame Hooch flipped the coin into the air and caught it again. When she opened her hand up the silver coin showed the image of a dragon.

"Tails it is. Do you want to go first or second Velyan?"

"I'll go first."

"OK Barney please take a seat in the stand. Velyan get ready to kick off after my whistle."

Once Barney was in the stands he watched as Madame Hooch released a Golden Snitch and then waited as Velyan tried to keep sight of it. Hooch's whistle sounded and off Velyan went at lightning speed. Barney couldn't watch. Watching Velyan was like watching his dreams being crushed.

Soon he heard a gasp from the crowd but still he didn't dare look. When he didn't hear a cheer soon afterwards he was relieved to know Velyan hadn't caught the Snitch yet.

As the seconds and minutes ticked by and more gasps and sighs from the crowd followed as they watched with baited breath's at Velyan's attempts. But soon there was a massive cheer. He'd caught the Snitch. Barney wondered how long it had taken him and wished he'd been keeping count so he knew what he had to beat. But it seemed fast. He didn't think he'd be able to compete.

As Velyan headed to the stands he was greeted with handshakes and pats on the back as Barney started to make his way down to the pitch.

"Hey good luck Barney," Velyan shouted out to him.

Barney turned and feigned a smile back at him, trying to show some good sporting behaviour.

Barney mounted his broom as he stood beside Hooch who had her whistle in one hand and the Golden Snitch in her other.

"Ready?" she asked.

Barney stared at the glistening Snitch as he trembled with nerves. It was all that stood between him and the place on the Slytherin team which he had desired for so many years. Barney nodded to Hooch and she released the Snitch that went high into the air. Barney tried to keep it in sight but with the sun in his eyes he lost it.

The whistle blew. He kicked off and headed straight up fast, scanning the sky as he went for any sign of the Snitch but he couldn't see it anywhere. He looked all around, hoping somewhere he would see a glint in the sky as he hovered. He knew his time was ticking down, all he needed was a little bit of luck to give him the edge.

Out the corner of his eye he thought he saw something flash past the stands. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? Was he wanting to find the Snitch so bad that he was convincing himself any movement must be it? With nothing else to go on he dived down towards the edge of the pitch, scouring every inch of the stands for his golden prey but there was no sign of it. He knew it had to be somewhere within the confines of the stadium.

Then he saw a flicker of light near to the goalposts. Quick as a flash he willed his broom on and streaked towards them. As he got closer he could see the Snitch. His heart rate intensified as he dashed towards it as the Snitch hurtled away but Barney gave chase, not letting the little golden ball out of his sight.

As the Snitch whizzed around the stadium Barney never let up, his hands gripped tightly around his broom and the wind rushing against him as he raced on. The Snitch darted to the left and Barney changed directions but he lost some ground on the Snitch but still he persevered on. He wasn't going to let a position on the Slytherin team slip away from him and he certainly wasn't going to let the Snitch give him the slip either.

As he flew faster and faster he was gaining on the Golden Snitch. He pushed his broom harder and harder and the Snitch was now only a meter in front of him. As he picked up even more speed he cautiously took his right hand off his broom and started to reach out. He was leaning forward and putting a lot of weight on the front of his broom but was having to pull back with his left hand to counteract the weight and avoid his broom heading downwards. The Snitch was nearly within reach. With all his might he stretched out. His fingertip brushed the back of the Snitch. Just a little bit more and it was his. With another push forward he grabbed for it and heard and almighty crack! His broom started to fall as he looked down and he slipped off it. He still had his left hand gripped around the front of the broom but the back half was falling fast to the ground. His broom had broken in half under the intense pressure. As Barney hurtled towards the ground fear gripped him. He could see the pitch approaching fast and knew he would hit it any second at speed when sudden he jolted to a stop mid air and glided slowly the last few meters towards the pitch.

Madame Hooch rushed over as she pocketed her wand, having stopped Barney's fall. "Are you alright?" she asked as Barney looked a bit shaken but didn't say anything. Instead he held out his right hand that was clasped tightly shut and opened it revealing the golden glow of the Snitch. He'd caught it.

"I say well done," Hooch declared as she checked her stopwatch to see his time. "Oh how extraordinary."

"What is?" Barney asked, still a little shaken up.

"Your time. It's exactly the same as Velyan's. It's going to be a hard job deciding between the two of you for the Seeker position."

Barney breathed a sigh of relief. There was still some hope for him.