DISCLAIMER NONE OF THESE CHARACTERS ARE MINE. THEY BELONG TO J.K.
ROWLING. SHE THOUGHT THEM UP BEFORE I EVER HAD THE CHANCE TO, SO ALAS, I'VE
LOST THIS GAME, BUT NOT THE EVIL TURTLE ONE. SO PLEASE DON'T SUE ME FOR MY
CREATIVE MALFUNCTION. THANK YOU. Also, thanks to anyone who wants to be
thanked, you deserve mentioning! The Evil Turtle (aka agent QeM)
Waiting 'till three o'clock doesn't really seem like a long time, especially when you have your classes to occupy your mind, but for all the quidditch players and loyal fans it was like eternity. Most Professors who had last hour classes eventually gave up and let their students out early to head to the field. All the tryees headed off towards the grounds of the quidditch field, while all the spectators made their way up the long stair cases to their seats. Keres spoke to Hermione as the walked.
"This is bloody ridiculous," She began, "Why in the world would they have this many stairs in this place? I don't think my legs have ever gotten such workouts." She began huffing as she trudged on and Hermione merely shrugged, having done the obvious and put a spell on herself to make it so she was feather light.
Harry lead Nukpana, Artemus, Thaddea, and a girl name Genesa Bear towards the quidditch field. There were only two spots open, one as chaser, and one as keeper.
Behind Draco, who was leading the Slytherin group, was the girl named Bonamy, Pansy, Darrius, and Kenny. There were only the beater positions open.
There were four booths in each corner. Each booth had large signs proclaiming what house went where. Nukpana signed under 'chaser' at the 'Gryffindor' booth then went to the booth marked 'Ravenclaw' to wait for Arelen. She hadn't noticed that her kitten had followed her all the way out to the quidditch field until she'd turned around to wait and spotted the furry animal trailing her. "You can't play with me today, Elennar," she said in that baby voice and picked up the cat, who held its head to her chin as she pet him, "I'm really sorry, sweetie, but this schools' regulation is that I can't have any animals on field, for a cause of cheating though I haven't quite figured out how to cheat with a cat. Especially not where I usually keep you when I fly, but I don't see why they oppose black cats flying on witches brooms with them," she looked at him and smiled, "I told you that before we got here. No broom riding during games or tryouts, later maybe."
"Well, I guess," Elennar murmured quietly as he jumped from her arms, "but you'd better save me some dinner if you want to make it up to me. I have a few mice friends that work in the kitchen who inform me of a great fish feast being cooked up. I'll see you back in our room." The fluffy black kitten rubbed his chin against her ankle and was off.
The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff groups arrived a little later than the other two groups led by their Seekers as well. Arelen arrived at her booth and signed up. She saw Nukpana conversing with Professor McGonagall and decided not to interrupt. Instead, when she saw the tall, red hair flash by, her hand flew out to grab the muscular beaters arm of Fred that she knew so well. She was a little disappointed with what she got, though. Instead of a large muscular arm, she got a smaller, muscular, but not as muscular, arm of a different red head. This one was a girl. "Oh, I'm sorry," said the girl, "Do I know you?"
"No, you don't," replied Arelen trying to figure out what to say next, "Um, I just, uh, well. Hi, what's your name? I don't think I've seen you here before, have I?"
"Uh, no, you did see me, I was one of the eight people to be put under the hat and 'sorted' during the night. You didn't see me on the train over though, maybe that's probably why you missed me, OH and my name is Pyrena." She took her first breath, "Pyrena Narwen."
"Hey guys," called Nukpana, "I'm going to just have to wish you 'bonne chance' because we're about to start the tryouts!" she was over by the Gryffindor booth again, "So in that case, Good Luck!!" She turned her gaze to the Hufflepuff booth, saw Felimy had decided to tryout after all, and waved, "Hey Felimy, good luck!!" she yelled across the field. Then she turned her eyes to see if she knew anyone in Slytherin, she saw that Draco was watching her. 'He sure is cute,' she thought, then, on impulse rather then the logical thought out plan, she waved, winked, made sure she saw his reaction, then turned around to follow the Gryffindor team into their holding room under the stadium seats.
"The first teams to scrimmage," announced McGonagall proudly, "are Hufflepuff and Slytherin." Cheers came up from each side of the stadium, showing where the team's fans were. Each team stepped out onto the field. "Those trying out for the Hufflepuff spot of vacant chaser are Felimy Harper and Adelyte Lyons," the two stepped forward together, and Felimy mounted her broom. "Those trying out for the Hufflepuff spots of the two beaters are Elenwen Krossbow, Kenelm Pilney, and Jabari Holland." These three stepped forward and Elenwen and Jabari mounted their brooms. "Those trying out for Slytherin keeper are Pansy Parkinson and Bonamy Vertes," Pansy mounted and blew a small kiss to Draco, who blinked at her then looked away, "And those trying out for Slytherin vacant chaser are Kenny Runako and Pyrena Narwen." Pyrena mounted her broom.
Each team took their place in the air. In the crowd Hermione and Keres carried on their unspoken conversation, with each randomly bursting out in laughter. The balls were released, Madame Hooch picked up the quaffle, "Remember that this is only a tryout, I don't want anymore students in the hospital wing, do you here?" She threw the ball up into the air, and walked off the field.
Six chasers dove for the ball. The person to catch the ball was Pyrena who locked it between her broom and her body with both hands on the front of her broom; she flew quickly. A bludger was flying straight for her, and she did a three-sixty to miss getting hit by it. She switched her eyes for only a second, to see who'd hit the ball in her direction, still holding the quaffle. It was Elenwen. The pretty Asian girl smiled and saluted with her bat, then took off to find the next bludger. Pyrena rolled her eyes then flew close to the three rings, got the ball out from under her, and threw the first point. She cheered, but hadn't noticed the bludger coming from her right. It hit her hard in her ribs and she flew off her broom. She hit the ground with a loud thud as a cheer went up from some female voices in the crowd. Hooch had sent Kenny in to take his try-out. Jabari saw a bludger headed straight towards him and turned quickly to try whack it with his utmost force, but instead had thrown himself off balance with the speed of his sharp turn, his broom started to wobble as he lost control of it and dropped the bat. He swayed to the left as Elenwen flew to him to help him stabilize, "You've dropped your bat," she pointed out and he replied, "I know, I'm out of the game, I'll see you later. By the way, good luck."
"Yea, you too," She replied with a weak smile. "Don't forget to tell Hooch that you're subbing in Kenelm." She left him to take on another bludger, which she hit hard towards Pansy, who ducked in time for it to fly past.
When Pansy looked back up a Hufflepuff was flying straight towards her with the quaffle. She wasn't going to let a damned Hufflepuff score on her, she quickly steadied herself then readied to jump in whatever direction the quaffle might be thrown. Felimy flew fast, and got very close, she tossed back to through the ball in, and chucked it with great speed. Pansy dove after it and knocked it off its course to the shortest ring. When she had righted herself again, she watched as Kenny caught the ball and took off towards the other rings. He dodged bludger after bludger, when He got close enough to score, he tossed the ball lazily in and scored. The cheers came from all over, and not a one was male. Kenny smiled lazily then took off slowly in the other direction.
Cedric was floating, watching the game, and doing lazy circles around the outer rim of the field. He was humming a tune to himself that he wasn't quite sure he'd heard before when a glint of something flew in a circle under him, and then spiraled down. He knew exactly what it was, and dived.
"Harry and Cedric are great matches," Hermione explained to Keres, "during the real games." The two watched as Cedric followed the snitch closely, when Felimy flew right in front of them. Just as she reached the air in front of the two Felimy's rubber band in her hair flew off, or broke, and her hair came flowing out beautifully thick and shiny. She became a long streak of canary yellow with a streak of gold in front.
"HOW DARE SHE," Hermione yelled as she jumped up and stomped her foot, "SHE DID THAT ON PURPOSE THE LITTLE -"
"What's wrong?" Keres asked.
"HER HAIR! Look how she flaunts it! Just because some of us don't have long beautiful hair, doesn't mean that the other some of us that do have it, go showing it off!" Hermione got huffy and decided to check her mascara.
"Uh, I don't think she meant to do that," Keres spoke calmly.
"Do shut up Keres, you don't understand." Hermione finished her make-up just as Draco came swooping over her head, messing up her hair to follow Felimy. "Oh, fine! Just great! Now he's messed up the hair I did have even more!"
Draco caught up with Felimy fast. The crowd had all gone quiet to watch the two, knowing that; either way, the game was over. Their shoulders touched as they nudged at one another to try to gain speed. They simultaneously threw their hands out then looked at one another. Neither of them saw the wall coming up, and both ran into it at the same time. There was a tumble and then both stopped struggling. They had both been knocked unconscious and the two teams watched in melancholy anticipation, they all knew it wasn't a real game, but quidditch is very competitive. No one saw a gold something flying away, so one of the two must have had it. Professor McGonagall walked over and took a quick look at the two. She let out a hearty laugh, and declared, "They have both retrieved the snitch. I believe, for the first time in history, we have a tie. They are both holding equal parts of the ball, and it's a good thing this was only a tryout. What a hassle this would be." She shook her head contemplating the possibilities and turned a meaningful eye on Madame Hooch, "The next game will be between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. I will give a half hour for preparation. Does anyone want to quickly help move a few students to the hospital wing?"
"Okay," began Professor McGonagall, "Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor game. Trying out for Ravenclaw seeker are Arelen Belegdil and Matthew Trent. Trying out for Ravenclaw keeper are Akhtar Imshi and Louis Landrey. Trying out for Ravenclaw vacant beater is Terrel Drendrotti." Arelen, Louis and Terrel flew up. "Trying out for Gryffindor keeper are Thaddea Goulart and Artemus Ganem. Trying out for Gryffindor vacant chaser are Nukpana Wathari and Genesa Bear." Artemus, and Nukpana flew up.
"Well, you heard my previous speech, so I won't say it again. Okay, so, in that case, let's begin!" Hooch threw up the quaffle and was off the field.
The ball flew high enough that none of the players actually had to dive or quite move at all to reach it. It was right in front of Nukpana for a split second, then under her arm. She smiled at the fact that the ball had been so easy to catch, 'Pitiful Hogwart's balls' she thought to herself, 'I wish I were back at my old school, no matter how unsafe it had become,' she flew towards the three hoops and swerved lazily lost in thought. 'Ah well, just because one school is unsafe, doesn't mean another one isn't,' she looked up just in time to see that she was about to crash straight into a pole and turned at a crisp 90-degree angle. She turned back around and threw the ball as the rest of her teammates watched her lob it. It went through the hoop almost as if it were in slow motion, and dropped. She smiled slowly and turned around on her broom to go the other way.
Artemus was another story, his eyes were intent on every player on the field and he swooped between hoops menacingly.
Arelen was zooming about. She had an older broom, but it was kept up well. It seemed to be in good condition too, because she was easily flying around and chatting with Harry. "Your Nimbus is nice," she glanced at him as they lazily circled the field. They didn't quite care which team won, it was only a tryout to them.
"Thanks, it was a present," returned Harry, "I'm not familiar with your type of broom, what is it?"
"Oh, that's 'cause it's kind of, um, ancient," Arelen started, "you see, it was an heirloom of the royal Prince McBrendin of Scotland. Way back in the 1600s, my family was kind of a tyrant-ish family, and we sorta stole it from him. No one in the entire whole of Scotland, or Great Britain new that he was a wizard, except, of course, my family. Ever since then it's been passed down from woman to woman in my family, and now I have it. We keep it in good condition, and because it's so old, it doesn't have a brand really."
"That's so cool," Harry exclaimed, "To have all that history behind it and everything-" all of a sudden Arelen was dashing off towards something, Harry figured it'd be the snitch, so he followed. He caught up to her, semi- quickly, and realized she was going a lot faster than he had ever even dared. He stopped, he didn't really mind if she got to it before him, he was on the team she was trying out, and it didn't matter as much to him.
Arelen flew quickly. So quickly that some wondered if it weren't the broom that supported her. They all knew that she was after the golden streak in front of her, but none understood what happened next. She flew straight past the snitch, which then flew in the other direction. Harry watched her in amazement, then realized the reason for her error.
Arelen had a look of pure panic on her face, and a bludger right on her tail. If she turned or tried to swerve, at the speed she was going, she'd surely be hit. She was also headed downward, at a break-neck speed, no less. This factor made matters much worse. Fred took this all in with but a glance, and was on his way. He flew straight towards Harry.
"Switch mi broom wit yers," he said quickly, and in an awkwardly Scottish accent.
"What?" Harry exclaimed, he was breathless as one of his new friends, not for the first time, plummeted toward the earth, faster than needed.
"Give mi yer broom," Fred said again, the random Scottish accent becoming stronger and more noticeable.
"Uh, sure," Harry jumped from his broom onto Fred's, as Fred did the same, causing many of the females in the crowd to swoon for the two boys were very handsome, and doing something they hadn't seen done much.
"Tanks," Fred said, and he was off, bat in hand, towards the bludger that was going to hit Arelen at any minute. He got to her just in time. She was about 5 yards from the ground, and only about an inch from the rouge bludger.
He raised his bat above his head, caught up to girl and bludger, and swunge. The ball went flying and Arelen, noticing the ball was going in a different direction, was able to pull herself out of her death drop.
The ball came flying towards George. It hit his arm and he went into a spin. His arm swung around and was completely splintered. He finally got control of his broom and landed. He took off towards the school with Ginny, who'd watched it all in horror.
"Fred you idiot," cried Harry, "Now we may need a new beater!"
"Whatever," Fred replied and went to talk to Arelen and make sure she was ok.
Harry noticed that the snitch was next to him, he sat still, then, just reached out and grabbed it.
"Gryffindor wins the tryout!" Cried Hooch. And Ron, who was a bit close to Hermione groaned loudly.
"What's wrong," Keres and Hermione asked in chorus.
"I didn't even get to play," he began his decent, "How stupid!" The girls laughed as the teams took off to their places beneath the stadium.
"Next game is Slytherin versus Ravenclaw!' Cried Draco as he came back into the holding room, he'd been knocked out previously, but had been revived directly during the dinner break.
"Well, ok," Bonamy murmured forlornly.
"Don't be so grim," Draco groaned, "you're in this game if you like it or not. You signed up already, it's to late to turn back now." He glared at her for a second, turned to the broom rack, picked up his shiny new Nimbus, and headed out.
"Now, left for Ravenclaw seeker is Matthew Trent, and left for Ravenclaw keeper is Akhtar Imshi." Professor McGonagall called the tryouts to a start again, "And left for the Slytherin team is Bonamy Vertes for keeper, and Kenny Runako will go in again for chaser." Loud, very feminine cheering went up and Nukpana gave Akhtar thumbs up sign.
"What's up?" Harry asked as he came to stand beside her to watch the game.
"Oh, that kid's my nephew!" She beamed, "Took up quidditch after he found out mummy's sister was doing it, I'm so proud of him!" Harry smiled and they watched as the game began.
The different teams lazily drifted upward on their brooms.. It was now almost 4 in the afternoon, and the small celebration for those making the new teams was going to be at 5 thirty. Four games had to be fit into a small amount of time, an hour and a half to be exact. That's how long it took to finish two games, and they ended shorter than normal. It was a discouraging thought.
The game started quickly, with the quaffle up and moving in a flash. Mari Rabble, one of the Ravenclaw chasers, had it under her arm. She saw Bonamy and remembered what Pansy had been like. She wondered fleetingly if Bonamy was as good. She then found out that Bonamy was not only as good, but better. Mari sidled up to the first hoop and was close enough to just push the ball right on through, but Bonamy was there in a flash. She was on the other side of the hoop and pushed the ball over onto the side that Mari was on. The ball fell to the ground, but on the wrong side. Bonamy smiled, "That was a nice try. Better luck next time!" and flew back to her spot in the front.
Draco was people watching. He nearly choked when he saw Artemus and Hermione were standing so close to one another that they looked like one person. 'What has gotten into that mudblood anyway? Now she really has gotten annoying, what with all that make-up,' he thought with disgust as he looked down at her, 'ugh, they're even closer now?' He turned away just in time to notice the snitch was flying past him on one side, but not quick enough to see that Matthew had started in hot pursuit. Draco followed after him, as the snitch soared over crowd and field alike.
Then Kenny had the ball, he didn't seem very happy though. He flew down the field quickly as he watched Draco and Matthew fly around the field in tight circles, both trying to catch the just slightly alluding snitch. He smiled at how funny this game must all seem for someone who's never seen it before. He headed towards Akhtar, who simply nodded his head to him as Kenny tossed the ball to the highest hoop, at a calculated speed, because he was at the lowest hoop. Akhtar came up faster than Kenny had guessed and grabbed the ball just before it went into the net. "No hard feelens?" he asked with a surprisingly Australian accent.
"No, none at all, don't worry," Kenny smiled then floated away, "but expect me back." He challenged over his shoulder.
"Sure," Akhtar replied as he tossed the ball in to Rage Bilmore, another Ravenclaw chaser.
Bonamy was smiling to herself as she watched her cousin make a fool of himself for the second time. Doing loop-the-loops while basically arm-in- arm with Matthew was quite a funny sight. It was so funny to her that she ended up bursting out in laughter, laughter that blurred her vision and made it impossible to catch the quaffle thrown by Rage before it entered the highest hoop. She let it go through and wiped at her eyes as Kenny dove for the ball again.
Finally, everyone watched as Draco decidedly took the lead for the snitch over Matthew, and grabbed it. No less then in the nick of time. It was five o'clock on the dot.
"Slytherin wins the tryout!" Madame Hooch informed, "And I would like to request that the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor teams please come see me, including their tryees."
The two teams that were left on the field lazily floated off. There was no cheering because everyone was too tired to do so, or had gone in already to take showers and get ready for the celebration.
"Now teams," Hooch's voice was all authority, "I know this will make you mad, but there isn't enough time to do the next tryout. You still only have thirty minutes to get ready for the celebrations tonight, to tell Professor Dumbledore that you have your choices, and to get back to the main hall. I will leave it up to team captains to decide who will make the teams or not," she looked at the team captains, "Now be fair, which I know will be hard for you, seeing as you didn't see all of those who are trying out in action, but try to use your best judgment, please?"
"I plan to see you all in the main hall in half an hour, doors lock at 5:45." McGonagall chimed in and the two left together.
"Well that's just great!" cried Thaddea, "I didn't even get to try out, you don't know if I'm good or not, you can't be fair then!"
"Calm down," Harry, now the team captain for Gryffindor, took charge, "I'll need to know if any of you have ever played before today, and if you have, how many games your team won or lost. Now in a single file line, come one by one and tell me, and I'll make the decision, and you'll learn at dinner if you're in or out!" The Gryffindor team and tryees quieted down, and did what told to do.
The Hufflepuff group wasn't the same. It was all mass confusion. The Keeper was in charge and was trying to keep everyone calm.
"LOOK, the only thing we can do is toss a coin!" screeched one of the chasers.
"NO, we have to see the wins and losses, take a hint from Harry!" yelled another.
"I think I'm just going to keep whoever played," mumbled the small, meek keeper.
"NOOOOOO" the team replied.
"Ugh," Elenwen yawned, "look, I'll tell you what to do, put names in a hat, and choose that way. WITHOUT POWERS!!" Everyone turned to the slender Asian girl. She was pretty with shoulder-length brunette hair, and blonde streaks. Then the Keeper nodded, "That is exactly what we're going to do!" and so it was done.
ok, still not my best work and I wanted the quidditch tryouts to be fun, but oh well. I'd also like to thank the Mysterious Mish for pushing me to finish this chappy (cause I'm really lame and can't stick to the commitment of keeping chapters up - to - date {Don't read Confessions of an Evil Turtle, whatever you do}) AnywayZ, I think that's about it. Much love, hugs and warmth to all Agent QeM
Waiting 'till three o'clock doesn't really seem like a long time, especially when you have your classes to occupy your mind, but for all the quidditch players and loyal fans it was like eternity. Most Professors who had last hour classes eventually gave up and let their students out early to head to the field. All the tryees headed off towards the grounds of the quidditch field, while all the spectators made their way up the long stair cases to their seats. Keres spoke to Hermione as the walked.
"This is bloody ridiculous," She began, "Why in the world would they have this many stairs in this place? I don't think my legs have ever gotten such workouts." She began huffing as she trudged on and Hermione merely shrugged, having done the obvious and put a spell on herself to make it so she was feather light.
Harry lead Nukpana, Artemus, Thaddea, and a girl name Genesa Bear towards the quidditch field. There were only two spots open, one as chaser, and one as keeper.
Behind Draco, who was leading the Slytherin group, was the girl named Bonamy, Pansy, Darrius, and Kenny. There were only the beater positions open.
There were four booths in each corner. Each booth had large signs proclaiming what house went where. Nukpana signed under 'chaser' at the 'Gryffindor' booth then went to the booth marked 'Ravenclaw' to wait for Arelen. She hadn't noticed that her kitten had followed her all the way out to the quidditch field until she'd turned around to wait and spotted the furry animal trailing her. "You can't play with me today, Elennar," she said in that baby voice and picked up the cat, who held its head to her chin as she pet him, "I'm really sorry, sweetie, but this schools' regulation is that I can't have any animals on field, for a cause of cheating though I haven't quite figured out how to cheat with a cat. Especially not where I usually keep you when I fly, but I don't see why they oppose black cats flying on witches brooms with them," she looked at him and smiled, "I told you that before we got here. No broom riding during games or tryouts, later maybe."
"Well, I guess," Elennar murmured quietly as he jumped from her arms, "but you'd better save me some dinner if you want to make it up to me. I have a few mice friends that work in the kitchen who inform me of a great fish feast being cooked up. I'll see you back in our room." The fluffy black kitten rubbed his chin against her ankle and was off.
The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff groups arrived a little later than the other two groups led by their Seekers as well. Arelen arrived at her booth and signed up. She saw Nukpana conversing with Professor McGonagall and decided not to interrupt. Instead, when she saw the tall, red hair flash by, her hand flew out to grab the muscular beaters arm of Fred that she knew so well. She was a little disappointed with what she got, though. Instead of a large muscular arm, she got a smaller, muscular, but not as muscular, arm of a different red head. This one was a girl. "Oh, I'm sorry," said the girl, "Do I know you?"
"No, you don't," replied Arelen trying to figure out what to say next, "Um, I just, uh, well. Hi, what's your name? I don't think I've seen you here before, have I?"
"Uh, no, you did see me, I was one of the eight people to be put under the hat and 'sorted' during the night. You didn't see me on the train over though, maybe that's probably why you missed me, OH and my name is Pyrena." She took her first breath, "Pyrena Narwen."
"Hey guys," called Nukpana, "I'm going to just have to wish you 'bonne chance' because we're about to start the tryouts!" she was over by the Gryffindor booth again, "So in that case, Good Luck!!" She turned her gaze to the Hufflepuff booth, saw Felimy had decided to tryout after all, and waved, "Hey Felimy, good luck!!" she yelled across the field. Then she turned her eyes to see if she knew anyone in Slytherin, she saw that Draco was watching her. 'He sure is cute,' she thought, then, on impulse rather then the logical thought out plan, she waved, winked, made sure she saw his reaction, then turned around to follow the Gryffindor team into their holding room under the stadium seats.
"The first teams to scrimmage," announced McGonagall proudly, "are Hufflepuff and Slytherin." Cheers came up from each side of the stadium, showing where the team's fans were. Each team stepped out onto the field. "Those trying out for the Hufflepuff spot of vacant chaser are Felimy Harper and Adelyte Lyons," the two stepped forward together, and Felimy mounted her broom. "Those trying out for the Hufflepuff spots of the two beaters are Elenwen Krossbow, Kenelm Pilney, and Jabari Holland." These three stepped forward and Elenwen and Jabari mounted their brooms. "Those trying out for Slytherin keeper are Pansy Parkinson and Bonamy Vertes," Pansy mounted and blew a small kiss to Draco, who blinked at her then looked away, "And those trying out for Slytherin vacant chaser are Kenny Runako and Pyrena Narwen." Pyrena mounted her broom.
Each team took their place in the air. In the crowd Hermione and Keres carried on their unspoken conversation, with each randomly bursting out in laughter. The balls were released, Madame Hooch picked up the quaffle, "Remember that this is only a tryout, I don't want anymore students in the hospital wing, do you here?" She threw the ball up into the air, and walked off the field.
Six chasers dove for the ball. The person to catch the ball was Pyrena who locked it between her broom and her body with both hands on the front of her broom; she flew quickly. A bludger was flying straight for her, and she did a three-sixty to miss getting hit by it. She switched her eyes for only a second, to see who'd hit the ball in her direction, still holding the quaffle. It was Elenwen. The pretty Asian girl smiled and saluted with her bat, then took off to find the next bludger. Pyrena rolled her eyes then flew close to the three rings, got the ball out from under her, and threw the first point. She cheered, but hadn't noticed the bludger coming from her right. It hit her hard in her ribs and she flew off her broom. She hit the ground with a loud thud as a cheer went up from some female voices in the crowd. Hooch had sent Kenny in to take his try-out. Jabari saw a bludger headed straight towards him and turned quickly to try whack it with his utmost force, but instead had thrown himself off balance with the speed of his sharp turn, his broom started to wobble as he lost control of it and dropped the bat. He swayed to the left as Elenwen flew to him to help him stabilize, "You've dropped your bat," she pointed out and he replied, "I know, I'm out of the game, I'll see you later. By the way, good luck."
"Yea, you too," She replied with a weak smile. "Don't forget to tell Hooch that you're subbing in Kenelm." She left him to take on another bludger, which she hit hard towards Pansy, who ducked in time for it to fly past.
When Pansy looked back up a Hufflepuff was flying straight towards her with the quaffle. She wasn't going to let a damned Hufflepuff score on her, she quickly steadied herself then readied to jump in whatever direction the quaffle might be thrown. Felimy flew fast, and got very close, she tossed back to through the ball in, and chucked it with great speed. Pansy dove after it and knocked it off its course to the shortest ring. When she had righted herself again, she watched as Kenny caught the ball and took off towards the other rings. He dodged bludger after bludger, when He got close enough to score, he tossed the ball lazily in and scored. The cheers came from all over, and not a one was male. Kenny smiled lazily then took off slowly in the other direction.
Cedric was floating, watching the game, and doing lazy circles around the outer rim of the field. He was humming a tune to himself that he wasn't quite sure he'd heard before when a glint of something flew in a circle under him, and then spiraled down. He knew exactly what it was, and dived.
"Harry and Cedric are great matches," Hermione explained to Keres, "during the real games." The two watched as Cedric followed the snitch closely, when Felimy flew right in front of them. Just as she reached the air in front of the two Felimy's rubber band in her hair flew off, or broke, and her hair came flowing out beautifully thick and shiny. She became a long streak of canary yellow with a streak of gold in front.
"HOW DARE SHE," Hermione yelled as she jumped up and stomped her foot, "SHE DID THAT ON PURPOSE THE LITTLE -"
"What's wrong?" Keres asked.
"HER HAIR! Look how she flaunts it! Just because some of us don't have long beautiful hair, doesn't mean that the other some of us that do have it, go showing it off!" Hermione got huffy and decided to check her mascara.
"Uh, I don't think she meant to do that," Keres spoke calmly.
"Do shut up Keres, you don't understand." Hermione finished her make-up just as Draco came swooping over her head, messing up her hair to follow Felimy. "Oh, fine! Just great! Now he's messed up the hair I did have even more!"
Draco caught up with Felimy fast. The crowd had all gone quiet to watch the two, knowing that; either way, the game was over. Their shoulders touched as they nudged at one another to try to gain speed. They simultaneously threw their hands out then looked at one another. Neither of them saw the wall coming up, and both ran into it at the same time. There was a tumble and then both stopped struggling. They had both been knocked unconscious and the two teams watched in melancholy anticipation, they all knew it wasn't a real game, but quidditch is very competitive. No one saw a gold something flying away, so one of the two must have had it. Professor McGonagall walked over and took a quick look at the two. She let out a hearty laugh, and declared, "They have both retrieved the snitch. I believe, for the first time in history, we have a tie. They are both holding equal parts of the ball, and it's a good thing this was only a tryout. What a hassle this would be." She shook her head contemplating the possibilities and turned a meaningful eye on Madame Hooch, "The next game will be between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. I will give a half hour for preparation. Does anyone want to quickly help move a few students to the hospital wing?"
"Okay," began Professor McGonagall, "Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor game. Trying out for Ravenclaw seeker are Arelen Belegdil and Matthew Trent. Trying out for Ravenclaw keeper are Akhtar Imshi and Louis Landrey. Trying out for Ravenclaw vacant beater is Terrel Drendrotti." Arelen, Louis and Terrel flew up. "Trying out for Gryffindor keeper are Thaddea Goulart and Artemus Ganem. Trying out for Gryffindor vacant chaser are Nukpana Wathari and Genesa Bear." Artemus, and Nukpana flew up.
"Well, you heard my previous speech, so I won't say it again. Okay, so, in that case, let's begin!" Hooch threw up the quaffle and was off the field.
The ball flew high enough that none of the players actually had to dive or quite move at all to reach it. It was right in front of Nukpana for a split second, then under her arm. She smiled at the fact that the ball had been so easy to catch, 'Pitiful Hogwart's balls' she thought to herself, 'I wish I were back at my old school, no matter how unsafe it had become,' she flew towards the three hoops and swerved lazily lost in thought. 'Ah well, just because one school is unsafe, doesn't mean another one isn't,' she looked up just in time to see that she was about to crash straight into a pole and turned at a crisp 90-degree angle. She turned back around and threw the ball as the rest of her teammates watched her lob it. It went through the hoop almost as if it were in slow motion, and dropped. She smiled slowly and turned around on her broom to go the other way.
Artemus was another story, his eyes were intent on every player on the field and he swooped between hoops menacingly.
Arelen was zooming about. She had an older broom, but it was kept up well. It seemed to be in good condition too, because she was easily flying around and chatting with Harry. "Your Nimbus is nice," she glanced at him as they lazily circled the field. They didn't quite care which team won, it was only a tryout to them.
"Thanks, it was a present," returned Harry, "I'm not familiar with your type of broom, what is it?"
"Oh, that's 'cause it's kind of, um, ancient," Arelen started, "you see, it was an heirloom of the royal Prince McBrendin of Scotland. Way back in the 1600s, my family was kind of a tyrant-ish family, and we sorta stole it from him. No one in the entire whole of Scotland, or Great Britain new that he was a wizard, except, of course, my family. Ever since then it's been passed down from woman to woman in my family, and now I have it. We keep it in good condition, and because it's so old, it doesn't have a brand really."
"That's so cool," Harry exclaimed, "To have all that history behind it and everything-" all of a sudden Arelen was dashing off towards something, Harry figured it'd be the snitch, so he followed. He caught up to her, semi- quickly, and realized she was going a lot faster than he had ever even dared. He stopped, he didn't really mind if she got to it before him, he was on the team she was trying out, and it didn't matter as much to him.
Arelen flew quickly. So quickly that some wondered if it weren't the broom that supported her. They all knew that she was after the golden streak in front of her, but none understood what happened next. She flew straight past the snitch, which then flew in the other direction. Harry watched her in amazement, then realized the reason for her error.
Arelen had a look of pure panic on her face, and a bludger right on her tail. If she turned or tried to swerve, at the speed she was going, she'd surely be hit. She was also headed downward, at a break-neck speed, no less. This factor made matters much worse. Fred took this all in with but a glance, and was on his way. He flew straight towards Harry.
"Switch mi broom wit yers," he said quickly, and in an awkwardly Scottish accent.
"What?" Harry exclaimed, he was breathless as one of his new friends, not for the first time, plummeted toward the earth, faster than needed.
"Give mi yer broom," Fred said again, the random Scottish accent becoming stronger and more noticeable.
"Uh, sure," Harry jumped from his broom onto Fred's, as Fred did the same, causing many of the females in the crowd to swoon for the two boys were very handsome, and doing something they hadn't seen done much.
"Tanks," Fred said, and he was off, bat in hand, towards the bludger that was going to hit Arelen at any minute. He got to her just in time. She was about 5 yards from the ground, and only about an inch from the rouge bludger.
He raised his bat above his head, caught up to girl and bludger, and swunge. The ball went flying and Arelen, noticing the ball was going in a different direction, was able to pull herself out of her death drop.
The ball came flying towards George. It hit his arm and he went into a spin. His arm swung around and was completely splintered. He finally got control of his broom and landed. He took off towards the school with Ginny, who'd watched it all in horror.
"Fred you idiot," cried Harry, "Now we may need a new beater!"
"Whatever," Fred replied and went to talk to Arelen and make sure she was ok.
Harry noticed that the snitch was next to him, he sat still, then, just reached out and grabbed it.
"Gryffindor wins the tryout!" Cried Hooch. And Ron, who was a bit close to Hermione groaned loudly.
"What's wrong," Keres and Hermione asked in chorus.
"I didn't even get to play," he began his decent, "How stupid!" The girls laughed as the teams took off to their places beneath the stadium.
"Next game is Slytherin versus Ravenclaw!' Cried Draco as he came back into the holding room, he'd been knocked out previously, but had been revived directly during the dinner break.
"Well, ok," Bonamy murmured forlornly.
"Don't be so grim," Draco groaned, "you're in this game if you like it or not. You signed up already, it's to late to turn back now." He glared at her for a second, turned to the broom rack, picked up his shiny new Nimbus, and headed out.
"Now, left for Ravenclaw seeker is Matthew Trent, and left for Ravenclaw keeper is Akhtar Imshi." Professor McGonagall called the tryouts to a start again, "And left for the Slytherin team is Bonamy Vertes for keeper, and Kenny Runako will go in again for chaser." Loud, very feminine cheering went up and Nukpana gave Akhtar thumbs up sign.
"What's up?" Harry asked as he came to stand beside her to watch the game.
"Oh, that kid's my nephew!" She beamed, "Took up quidditch after he found out mummy's sister was doing it, I'm so proud of him!" Harry smiled and they watched as the game began.
The different teams lazily drifted upward on their brooms.. It was now almost 4 in the afternoon, and the small celebration for those making the new teams was going to be at 5 thirty. Four games had to be fit into a small amount of time, an hour and a half to be exact. That's how long it took to finish two games, and they ended shorter than normal. It was a discouraging thought.
The game started quickly, with the quaffle up and moving in a flash. Mari Rabble, one of the Ravenclaw chasers, had it under her arm. She saw Bonamy and remembered what Pansy had been like. She wondered fleetingly if Bonamy was as good. She then found out that Bonamy was not only as good, but better. Mari sidled up to the first hoop and was close enough to just push the ball right on through, but Bonamy was there in a flash. She was on the other side of the hoop and pushed the ball over onto the side that Mari was on. The ball fell to the ground, but on the wrong side. Bonamy smiled, "That was a nice try. Better luck next time!" and flew back to her spot in the front.
Draco was people watching. He nearly choked when he saw Artemus and Hermione were standing so close to one another that they looked like one person. 'What has gotten into that mudblood anyway? Now she really has gotten annoying, what with all that make-up,' he thought with disgust as he looked down at her, 'ugh, they're even closer now?' He turned away just in time to notice the snitch was flying past him on one side, but not quick enough to see that Matthew had started in hot pursuit. Draco followed after him, as the snitch soared over crowd and field alike.
Then Kenny had the ball, he didn't seem very happy though. He flew down the field quickly as he watched Draco and Matthew fly around the field in tight circles, both trying to catch the just slightly alluding snitch. He smiled at how funny this game must all seem for someone who's never seen it before. He headed towards Akhtar, who simply nodded his head to him as Kenny tossed the ball to the highest hoop, at a calculated speed, because he was at the lowest hoop. Akhtar came up faster than Kenny had guessed and grabbed the ball just before it went into the net. "No hard feelens?" he asked with a surprisingly Australian accent.
"No, none at all, don't worry," Kenny smiled then floated away, "but expect me back." He challenged over his shoulder.
"Sure," Akhtar replied as he tossed the ball in to Rage Bilmore, another Ravenclaw chaser.
Bonamy was smiling to herself as she watched her cousin make a fool of himself for the second time. Doing loop-the-loops while basically arm-in- arm with Matthew was quite a funny sight. It was so funny to her that she ended up bursting out in laughter, laughter that blurred her vision and made it impossible to catch the quaffle thrown by Rage before it entered the highest hoop. She let it go through and wiped at her eyes as Kenny dove for the ball again.
Finally, everyone watched as Draco decidedly took the lead for the snitch over Matthew, and grabbed it. No less then in the nick of time. It was five o'clock on the dot.
"Slytherin wins the tryout!" Madame Hooch informed, "And I would like to request that the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor teams please come see me, including their tryees."
The two teams that were left on the field lazily floated off. There was no cheering because everyone was too tired to do so, or had gone in already to take showers and get ready for the celebration.
"Now teams," Hooch's voice was all authority, "I know this will make you mad, but there isn't enough time to do the next tryout. You still only have thirty minutes to get ready for the celebrations tonight, to tell Professor Dumbledore that you have your choices, and to get back to the main hall. I will leave it up to team captains to decide who will make the teams or not," she looked at the team captains, "Now be fair, which I know will be hard for you, seeing as you didn't see all of those who are trying out in action, but try to use your best judgment, please?"
"I plan to see you all in the main hall in half an hour, doors lock at 5:45." McGonagall chimed in and the two left together.
"Well that's just great!" cried Thaddea, "I didn't even get to try out, you don't know if I'm good or not, you can't be fair then!"
"Calm down," Harry, now the team captain for Gryffindor, took charge, "I'll need to know if any of you have ever played before today, and if you have, how many games your team won or lost. Now in a single file line, come one by one and tell me, and I'll make the decision, and you'll learn at dinner if you're in or out!" The Gryffindor team and tryees quieted down, and did what told to do.
The Hufflepuff group wasn't the same. It was all mass confusion. The Keeper was in charge and was trying to keep everyone calm.
"LOOK, the only thing we can do is toss a coin!" screeched one of the chasers.
"NO, we have to see the wins and losses, take a hint from Harry!" yelled another.
"I think I'm just going to keep whoever played," mumbled the small, meek keeper.
"NOOOOOO" the team replied.
"Ugh," Elenwen yawned, "look, I'll tell you what to do, put names in a hat, and choose that way. WITHOUT POWERS!!" Everyone turned to the slender Asian girl. She was pretty with shoulder-length brunette hair, and blonde streaks. Then the Keeper nodded, "That is exactly what we're going to do!" and so it was done.
ok, still not my best work and I wanted the quidditch tryouts to be fun, but oh well. I'd also like to thank the Mysterious Mish for pushing me to finish this chappy (cause I'm really lame and can't stick to the commitment of keeping chapters up - to - date {Don't read Confessions of an Evil Turtle, whatever you do}) AnywayZ, I think that's about it. Much love, hugs and warmth to all Agent QeM