Chapter 22: Quidditch
Harry woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and jubilant. Flinging open the bedcurtains, he saw
an exhausted Ron climbing out of bed. 

"Morning, Harry," he mumbled. 

"Good morning, Ron!" Harry answered, grinning. Ron looked at him tiredly.

"What are you so happy about?" he asked. Harry just smiled, picked up a clean robe and headed for
the shower.

Saturday morning breakfast was not as well attended as usual, as many of the students had stayed up
late and were sleeping in. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had still come; however, Harry was the only one
in the room who was truly awake.

"So guys, how was the dance?" he asked enthusiastically, digging into his eggs and bacon.

"Really good," said Hermione, nodding happily. "I had fun, didn't you, Ron?"

"Yeah... fun..." Ron said, trying to keep a straight look on his face; Harry knew that Ron didn't 
enjoy dancing quite as much as he pretended to. Hermione turned to look at Harry.

"I never saw Rachel Wheaton, I don't think she came. That makes me kind of worried, Harry. Why would
she go buy dress robes and then not go to the dance? She was obviously planning on coming...." 
Hermione rambled on logically for a few moments before noticing the smile on Harry's face. She paused.
"Okay, out with it, Harry. What happened??" He laughed.

"Well, yes, you're right, she was planning on going. But I passed her in the hallway and we decided
that neither of us really liked dances so we would just hang out in my room for a while. We ended up
talking for a really long time, I feel like I know her so well now. It was... nice," he finished off,
smiling, a far-away look in his eyes as he remembered the night before.

"And?" Hermione asked intently, her eyebrows raised expectantly. Harry blushed; nothing could ever get
past Hermione!

"We're dating now," he mumbled, a huge grin on his face. Ron choked on his eggs.

"WHAT? Harry Potter has a girlfriend??" Ron said, a little too loudly. The entire Gryffindor table
turned to look at Harry, along with most of the other students at other house tables. Harry stared
at his plate, his face now beet red.

"Yes, he does," came a sweet and quiet voice from behind him; he felt a hand on his shoulder and 
turned to see Rachel standing behind him. "Mind if I sit here?" she asked. He shook his head and she
took a seat beside him. Hermione leaned across the table. 

"So how far are you on the latest Potions assignment?" she asked. After listening a few minutes to
Hermione and Rachel's dull discussion about Potions, Harry turned to Ron. 

"I'm planning on having Quidditch try-outs this next week. Did you see the poster I put up?" Ron 
nodded. "okay. Well, I might need someone to help run them, so I thought maybe you could give me a 
hand, since you were on the team last year and all..." Ron's eyes lit up.

"Of course, mate! Whatever you need. What are we planning on doing?" 

"Well, we'll need two new chasers and three new beaters, since all of last year's 7th years left. I just 
want you to help keep an eye on things as they try out, maybe take some notes on their good and bad points,
so at the end we can compare and decide who should make it. Does that sound okay to you?" Ron nodded
enthusiastically.

"Sounds great, Harry. But," a look of concern came to his face. "Does that mean I'm still going to be
keeper this year?"

"Yes," Harry answered firmly. "You're a fine keeper, Ron, you're going to stay there." Ron sighed.

"I'm trying out for the Quidditch team this year," Rachel interjected. Harry looked at her, surprised.

"I didn't know you could fly," he admitted. She smiled.

"Well, we're just going to have to see, aren't we, Potter?" she asked teasingly, rising from the table.
"I'll see you around," she said, winking at him and leaving. Ron watched her leave, his eyes never leaving
her body in a stare that made Harry want to punch him. Hermione elbowed him in the side.

"Stop checking out the other girls, Ron. Especially the ones that are dating your friends," she said
sarcastically. Ron came to his senses, shaking his head.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "This is going to be one interesting year," he said to himself.

******************************

After struggling through a hostile Monday, it felt good to Harry to put on his Quidditch robes and head
out to the pitch for the first day of try-outs. He had been out here already a few times this year, 
making sure he was still in good condition for the team and thinking up new strategies. He was still
worried that last year's ban on Quidditch playing may have affected his playing this year and that he
would be out of practice, but things had seemed to be going along okay while he was by himself. 
Hopefully they do while I'm playing with the team, he thought. He reached the locker
room and found the box containing the Quaffle, the Bludger and the Snitch. Harry dragged the box out
into the middle of the pitch and surveyed the playing area. The weather was still calm and comfortable
for this time of year; early November could often be cold but right now it seemed fine. He was glad to
see that it wouldn't be raining today; that would have affected the try-outs very negatively. He turned
around as he heard Ron's voice from behind him.

"Hey, mate!" he called cheerily as he entered the pitch carrying the beater's bats. Harry grunted in reply;
he was still a little mad from the other day when Ron had been staring at Rachel. He sighed to himself,
trying to put the incident behind him.

"Ready for this, Ron?" he asked, attempting to be cheerful.

"Bloody exciting if you ask me," Ron replied, grinning. After setting up the field, they awaited the
arrival of the students who would be trying out. The first on the field were Jack Sloper and Andrew
Kirke, the beaters who had been chosen last year to replace Fred and George when they had been banned
from Quidditch. Next was Ginny Weasley, who was closely followed by an arrogant-looking boy and an 
attractive red-haired girl. A few more people, mostly 1st, 2nd, or 3rd years, Harry thought, walked 
onto the field behind them. Harry checked his watch.

"Okay, it's time to start. First off, I know a few of you," he glanced at Jack, Andrew, and Ginny,
"were on the team last year. This year we're starting all over again with new try-outs, so that means
you aren't necessarially on again. Please just try your best. We should have the results posted by the
end of the week. If you're trying out for chaser - please go over there. If you want to be a beater - 
come this way." After dividing the group, Harry and Ron led them both separately through some drills.
Harry was extremely pleased with the results; everyone seemed to be doing well. Ron was thinking the 
same thing. They stood at the sidelines and watched the players above passing the Quaffle.

"Harry, this is going to be impossible to decide," Ron said, a worried expression etched onto his face.
"They're all good!" Harry nodded.

"Well, this kid over here, looks about like a second year, he's having some problems. I don't think he
is going to make it...." They began to take notes. After an hour of directing the players in various
activities, Harry called them all down. 

"Alright, great job today everyone. Please all show up again tomorrow at the same time. We should have
it narrowed down by Wednesday. Thanks for coming." The players got up and dragged their brooms of off
the Quidditch pitch. 

*************************

Harry spent that evening in the common room, pouring over the list of possible Quidditch players, as
Hermione and Ron studied. Hermione was scribbling furiously on her History of Magic essay.

"Finished!" she exclaimed, with a flourish. Ron looked over nonchalantly, peering at her parchment.

"Oi, Hermione, would you mind if you just helped me a bit on this part about the revolution...." She looked
at him disapprovingly. "I'm not asking to copy your homework! But maybe if I just read over your essay,
it would inspire me...." He grinned. She shook her head, laughing. 

"You're still not going to read my homework. But I can explain to you what happened with the revolution,"
she told him. Harry tuned out of the conversation. He had pretty much decided how the roster for the coming
year would go; so far, his list read:

Beaters:
	Andrew Kirke
	Jack Sloper

Chasers:
	Ginny Weasley
	Geoffrey Hooper or Euan Ambercrombie
	??
He had yet to decide who the final chaser would be; probably another underclassman. He couldn't decide
between Geoffrey and Euan, but knew he didn't want them both on the team; Angelina had been right last
year when Geoffrey had tried out for Keeper, he was definitely a whiner. Euan seemed okay but he was only
a second year. Harry sighed, putting away his list and picking up his Transfiguration homework. 

************************

The second day of try-outs was brutal. Harry had made the mistake of telling the players that right now
they were all doing about the same, so they were all struggling to stand out. Andrew Kirke and one of 
the third years ended up in the hospital wing with various injuries after a second year tried to bewitch
the Bludger to fly straight up. Harry immediately disqualified the second year, who had been doing poorly
anyway. About five minutes into the try-out, Lavender Brown walked onto the field with a broom. Harry 
looked up, surprised. 

"Oh- hi, Lavendar. Did you want to try out?" he asked. She nodded.

"I couldn't make it yesterday, I had a family emergency. Am I still able to try out?" she asked.

"Sure," Harry replied. "Go ahead and go over here with this group." He watched her for a few minutes; she
seemed to be doing an excellent job of passing the Quaffle, he thought, as several of the other players,
including the red-haired girl, dropped it.

After the try-out was over, the remaining players gathered on the ground. 

"Okay guys, I'm pretty sure where I am going to put everyone. After I confer with Ron, I will post the
results. It could be as early as tonight or as late as tomorrow evening. Thanks for coming." The players
walked off the field. Harry sighed; he was in for another long night.

In the common room that evening, Harry, along with Ron, studied the list of prospective players. They were
talking quietly in the corner of the room until the second year who had bewitched the Bludger came up to
them.

"Hey guys!" he squeaked excitedly. "I'm really sorry about that today at try-outs, I hope it doesn't impact
my results, I just wanted to make sure-"

"Maybe we should go up to our room," Ron said pointedly, as a few other familiar faces from try-outs started
to filter over to Harry and Ron's corner. Quickly, they gathered their belongings and went upstairs.

"Ugh, that kid drives me insane," Ron muttered, spreading their notes about the various players out over
Harry's bed. The two continued to talk about the team until finally Harry felt that they had chosen the
right players for each position. He wrote the list down and posted it in the Gryffindor common room, which
was now almost completely deserted. A tiny boy woke up as Harry entered the room and rushed over after he
had seen him post the list. His eyes scanned the page.

Gryffindor Quidditch Team Results:

Beaters: Andrew Kirke
	 Jack Sloper

Chasers: Ginny Weasley
 Euan Ambercrombie
 Lavendar Brown 
The boy reading the list squealed with delight. "I made it! I made it!" he cried. Harry smiled at him.

"Congratulations, Euan. I'm sure you'll do great," he told him, before heading upstairs for bed.

*****************

The next morning was a disaster for Harry. His breakfast was far from peaceful.

"Harry... watch out, here they come..." Ron muttered under his breath. Harry turned to see an angry red
haired girl approach the table; he recognized her as Vicky Frobisher, one of the girls who had not made
the team. 

"I just want you to know, I was better than those younger kids! You're going to regret not having me on
the team!" she huffed before stalking off. Geoffrey Hooper sat next to Harry.

"How come I didn't make it?" he whined.

"I'm really sorry Geoffrey, but there's only so many spots on the team..." Harry explained.

"It's not fair!" he complained. "Lavendar made it and she only came one day, I came both days and I'm not
on the team!"

Harry dropped his head into his hands. "This is gonna be a long day," he muttered.

***************

By evening Harry was not in a much better mood. He had been hounded all day by angry students who had been
cut from the team; he was beginning to think that this was a lot harder job than it had seemed. He didn't 
think his day could get worse until he walked to the staircase for prefect duty and saw Draco Malfoy 
sitting there alone. A wonderful ending to a great day, he thought sarcastically to himself. 

Draco looked up. "The other two already left. I guess it's just you and me, Potter," he said, a smirk
forming across his face. "You want the even or the odd floors?"

"Even," he grunted. Draco nodded, grabbing his backpack and walking off.

"You've got the dungeons too, Potter, I'm not doing those." Harry spun around.

"That's not fair, Malfoy. I'll have more to do than you will," he complained. Draco smirked again and 
laughed.

"I'm soo sorry Potter," he said sarcastically, disappearing around the corner.

"Great," Harry mumbled to himself. He was exhausted; prefect duty, Quidditch try-outs, and homework were
definitely taking their toll. He hadn't imagined it would be this hard to have the responsibility of both
Prefect and Quidditch Captain. He decided to head to the dungeons first, since he knew Malfoy wouldn't be
checking there. "Bloody git," he mumbled, thinking about Draco. "Why does he always have to be such a-"

"Harry!" he heard a woman's voice call. "Harry, help me!" Harry began to run through the passages of the
dungeons, looking for who was calling his name.

"Hello? Who's there?" he called, worried. The voice had become more distressed and was practically
screaming now.

"Harry! Harry! Help me!" It sounds so familiar, he thought to himself.Who is it? Then it
suddenly occured to him: Adele. 

"Adele?? Is that you?" he asked, extremely confused. He turned a corner and saw her lying helplessly on
the floor, a look of pain on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked, fear rising in his chest. She looked up
at him but her expression was oddly blank. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" he asked again. Suddenly her
eyes cleared and she seemed to be conscious again.

"Harry," she hissed. "Get out of here. It's a trap."

********************

I know, I know, another cliffy. But I have to keep up the suspense!! Thanks to my reviewers, you guys are
amazing!!