(A/N: I am finally back from vacation, and I was able to afford the time to write another chapter. I would have had it up sooner but there was so much I needed to catch up on, especially fics that got updated while I was gone; there were quite a few, which of course made me very happy. :-) )
It quickly reached Friday, Ron and Hermione were still concerned for Harry because he regularly had blackouts. Due to their concern for Harry the forgot about their fight. Harry who was under constant pressure from Hermione to tell some one about his black outs wrote Sirius. Every evening Harry and Ron practiced to prepare Ron for the tryouts. Meanwhile Hermione stayed behind to work on her paper. Ron and Harry decided to do theirs over the weekend since they had not time during the week due to practicing.
This Friday night Hermione had much to do she had received and ancient runes assignment, which needed to be ready by Tuesday, on top of the paper assigned by Snape. She wanted to be out watching the tryouts in support of Ron but couldn't with all the work she had. As she measured the length of each scroll to be sure that they were each standard length, Ginny came up to her.
"Hermione, are you going on girls only shopping trip?"
"I don't know," answered Hermione, "I have this Ancient Runes project and then a three scroll paper for Snape…"
"You've got to come," jumped in Ginny, "I've been invited too, you see, and I don't mind going shopping but I have to wait on buying my dress for a bit and I was wondering if you would wait to buy yours as well so I'm not the only girl who doesn't buy here dress this weekend."
"Well, I …" started Hermione.
"I sound self centered don't I?" asked Ginny.
"No, it's an embarrassment any girl would want to avoid, I'll wait on buying my dress."
"Thanks Hermione," smiled Ginny hugging her," You're like a sister to me!"
Ron paced back and forth in the team room before tryouts.
"Ron, you'll do fine, you're a good flyer," reassured Harry.
"You think?" asked Ron, "Even though I have such an old broom?
"It's never held us back," offhandedly remarked Fred.
"What do you expect to have a Firebolt like Harry?" asked George.
"Maybe I shouldn't try out," debated Ron seeing someone else trying out with a faster broom than him.
"Just relax," instructed Harry.
"Yes sit down you're going to ware a hole in the floor," added Fred.
Ron finally sat down letting out a great sigh of nerves.
"Look's like everyone is here," observed Alicia, "Here's how the tryouts are going to run, I'll call one keeper up at a time and then we'll run through a quick and basic practice. Afterwards I want the existing team to remain on the field for a quick discussion and vote. I will then have the new team roster up Monday morning.
Ron was the last person to be called up for tryouts. "Well here goes nothing," Ron thought to himself as he kicked up off the ground to join the team.
When Ron was in position he missed the first quaffel that came to him.
"Let's try that again," called Alicia.
This time Ron readied himself for the quaffel he realized after the first, "This is no worse than what my brothers put me through at home and I don't miss there. I can do this! " When the quaffel came this time Ron blocked it.
"Let's try another," called Alicia.
The next move was a bit more difficult but Ron was able to block it. In all Ron did well he missed only one other quaffel before Alicia called, "All right that's it."
As Ron left the field he felt fairly good about the tryouts until he heard some one bragging about how well they did up in the air, not missing a single quaffel. Ron paled at this knowing that he had missed at least two. (Ron hadn't paid much attention to the others trying out because he was so focused on what he needed to do when he was up in the air.)
When Harry got back from the team vote Ron asked, "So what's the verdict?"
"There was a tie," answered Harry, "Alicia has to decided between the two."
"Which two does she need to decide between?" urged Ron desperate to know.
"Ron, you know I can't tell you, besides you'll find out Monday."