Quest of the Seekers: Animals Within
Year Two at Hogwarts
Chapter 6: Best Friends at Opposite Ends
"I'm Phil Villar, your newest commentator" (the last one had left the school) "Let us bring out our teams! First the Slytherins," which he lowered his tone a bit from before probably due to the fact he was a ravenclaw and not slytherin friendly. "We have the chasers: the captain Oakmire, Crump, Gansley. The beaters Tanner and Dellen, the keeper Mefist and the seeker Solemn!"
Tyler felt his stomach drop at the sight of all the people that would be watching him. He could hear the cheers of all the people in the Slytherin stands and hear a few boos in the other stands. They walked up to the center of the field while Villar spoke the commentary again a little louder than he did for them.
"Now! Here is the Gryffindor team with the chasers: Pettis, Herald, Capland. The beaters: Captain Berkeley, Villar and the keeper Thompson and the seeker Walker! Lets give them a hand folks!"
Clapping erupted throughout the pitch but Tyler could still make out the boos from the slytherins. Across the pitch came the gryffindor team and Tyler caught sight of his best friend Jacke holding a newly released Cleansweep Two model broomstick at his side. Then Madam Hooch approached with the sports trunk and in quidditch referee robes. She stopped in the middle of the field between the two captains.
"Alright now, captains, shake hands please."
Oakmire looked like he was trying to break the Gryffindor captain's hand with that shake but Berkeley didn't flinch. Tyler looked to Jacke again and saw that his eyes were looking at the crowd. He seemed to be as nervous as he was that moment. Tyler just wished that they could just start already.
At that same moment, Brad and Reggie sat in the stands close to the center.
"Who are we gonna root for?"
"I honestly don't know Brad. We want to cheer for both but that's...mad. How do we choose one over the other?"
"What's wrong with just watching them play" said a new voice that was familiar to the two seekers.
Brad and Reggie turned to see Regulus and coming up behind him was Carroway.
"Hey Regulus."
"Hey Regulus, how are you doing there? Hi Carroway."
Carroway just looked away from Brad with an irritated scowl, which Brad chose to ignore. But Regulus graciously shook their hands.
"Hey there guys. Trouble deciding who to root for huh?"
"I'm rooting for Slytherin," said Matt flatly.
"I'm sure Carroway, but we have two friends on opposite teams so it's just hard to decide how's team to choose."
"Yeah" said Brad. "Our best mates are in their first big game and we can only cheer for ones team."
"Well try cheering for just your friends and not just their teams."
Reggie and Brad looked at Regulus with newfound respect. He really was a sensitive, brotherly like guy. No wonder Tyler like him so much. They had heard from the older guys in their houses that Regulus Black was a dull- witted follower. He may have seen like that when he is surrounded by the other fifth year Slytherins but on his own, he was a different guy.
Back at the pitch, all the players mounted their brooms while the snitch and bludgers were released out onto the pitch. Madam Hooch pulled the quaffle out of the box and then hurled it straight into the air. All the chasers scampered in the air to it and Tyler went high in the air with Jacke not far behind. Phil Villar started up again.
"A great take by the new Tanya Pettis, pass to Herald...oh caught off guard by a bludgers hit by Tanner, now slytherin captain Oakmire has the quaffle and is heading for the goal posts, going for it and...oh caught by the lively Sarah Thompson, she passes to Capland, she throws it to Herald...and he nearly gets hit by a bludgers delivered by Dellen, wait Crump is coming after him, oh, got hit by a bludger sent by my own older brother Gill Villar...Herald shoots and he SCORES! 10-0 for Gryffindor!"
The crowd went wild at the sight of the first goal of the season. Jacke clapped on his broom while his eyes still looked at the pitch for the golden snitch. Tyler started to cycle the field looking for it still keeping a watch over Jacke if he caught sight of it first. Oakmire had instructed him to keep going around the field until he found it in his sight because just hovering and waiting for a sign of it was foolish, and he would make an easy target for the bludgers and beaters. A good example of this happened when a bludgers went at him from the quidditch captain Berkeley.
After 35 minutes, the score was Gryffindor 270, Slytherin 240, meaning that the scoring system could go either way. It seemed it all came down to who ended the game, Jacke or himself. Tyler still hadn't seen even a shiny notice of the snitch. This was way different then looking for it when he was alone. Now there were over a dozen people flying around to distract him and make it harder for the snitch to be in his sights. Jacke seemed to be having as much luck as Tyler did because he couldn't find the snitch at his stationary position in the middle of the field. Jacke was looking like he was shaking and Tyler again didn't blame him. He was starting to get nervous and anxious to his stomach.
Reggie and Brad were also starting to get as anxious as them.
"Wow, the scores are not that far apart. This game is too nerve racking"
"I'm with you Reggie. Seeing our friends with so much pressure in this match is making me excited and nervous altogether unless this is a part of quidditch I wasn't told about."
"Relax," said Regulus patting their shoulders. "You don't need to add more wands to the curse."
"Ok, Okay" Brad said breathing deeply trying to calm himself like Regulus said.
"Thanks for the help Regulus but I think it'll be better when the match is actually over," said Reggie.
"What's wrong with you two? It just can't be about Tyler and Jacke. Is there something else?"
"Well" started Brad. "It's just that the two of us could end up in the same position like that."
"You worry too much," said Matt more to himself than to them.
Tyler doubted that the snitch was even still in the country until he finally saw a glint in the air on the west stands area. He zoomed toward it with Jacke on his tail. The snitch picked up speed and went into maneuvers. Tyler was straight in its path, leaning on his Silver Arrow while Jacke was starting to catch up on his Cleansweep Two. The snitch zigzagged on its path making Tyler instinctly take turns slowing him down. Jacke pushed hard to catch up and the zigzagging Tyler made him get closer and closer to him until they became neck and neck. Tyler started to get scared that Jacke just might pass him, because if he did he was as good as done. The snitch went upward and Jacke Tyler stretched their hands forward trying to get a handle on it. They had their hands against the other for the claim on the snitch and brought all of the crowd's attention to them.
"You're not getting that snitch before I do Jacke" chanted Tyler.
"Yeah, well you must have been hit by a bludger pretty hard to say that because I am going to," chanted Jacke right back to his friend and fellow seeker.
The hands started to zone in on the snitch and they went to close in. The hands made trapping movements and one of the hands seized it. Both stared at each other and made the crowd get suspenseful. All the people in stands and all the players in the air wondered the same thing – Was it Jacke Walker or Tyler Solemn? They wondered until Tyler threw his hand up with the snitch struggling.
"Solemn caught the snitch! The match goes to Slytherin who had 370 over Gryffindor with 290" announced Phil Villar clearly disappointed that his brother's team lost.
The stands in the arena exploded with noise. Disappointed groans came from the Gryffindor area and from other areas while the Slytherin section yelled out cheers trying to overpower the rest of the crowd. Jacke looked disappointed and Tyler knew why. His first game and he had lost it. The rest of his teammates in the air then joined Tyler and they gave him good pats on the back.
"Good work there Solemn."
"Perfect flying."
"Nice catch."
"I see that I chose well, good."
"Thanks Oakmire" Tyler looked at him blindly "I think" he added in an undertone.
Slytherins from the stands came down to offer congratulations to the team and Tyler found it hard to get away to find any of his friends. He finally got the chance when Professor Reckler told them to head back to the castle. Tyler ran to the changing rooms and changed into his normal robes and went on a search for Jacke. He asked Herald, who came out of the Gryffindor changing rooms, if Jacke was still there and he answered no with a grudge type of voice.
'Maybe he already went to his common room' he thought. When he headed back to the castle he caught sight of the lake. 'Or maybe not, I wonder.'
Tyler went to the rock valley on the other side to find that the entrance to their cave was sealed. He levitated the rock away and went in to find Jacke there already changed sitting near the pond.
"Mind some extra company mate?" he asked as he went to him.
"Oh no go ahead" he said in a low voice.
Tyler sat beside his friend who was still staring blankly out to the water.
"Is there anything you want to say Jacke? It's okay you know."
"No...well there is one thing."
"You could tell me," Tyler said getting ready if he was going to yell.
"Alright" said Jacke after thinking it over. "I'm not too eager to tell you this but I'm starting to think maybe I really wasn't cut out to play quidditch after all. I mean, I just lost my first game ever."
"Oh please Jacke. You were fantastic out there. For a moment, I thought I wasn't going to make it to the snitch on time. You were a really tough opponent." This brought a little smile to his gryffindor friend's face so he decided to keep going with a little slytherin baiting he got from Regulus. "Though I have to say that you were against me so of course you WERE going to lose."
Jacke glared at him. "Is that so?"
"You bet it is."
Then after glaring at each other they bursted in giggles at each other's faces.
"You sure know how to help people out of bad moods Tyler," Jacke said shaking his head.
"Pure Slytherin talent," Tyler said trying to be smug.
This only made them laugh harder. Jacke seemed better then when they formed their group and their gang's name.
"Try not to get used to it Tyler. I'll win against you next time. There's always next year."
"You, can, dream."
Then they walked out of their cave and headed to the castle.
'What a year' thought Tyler, 'and it's just started.'
Little did Tyler know there was a tall figure keeping an eye on him from afar when he reached the main entrance.
End of Chapter 6
Author Notes:
The end of this chapter. Boy, it was fun to decide how the quidditch action should play out. The next chapter is "The Hogwarts Animals" where the seekers start and end their training to be animagi. Confused? Well read the next chapter to be marveled out of your mind through the eyes of animagi. Review.