A New Life

Chapter Seven

The New Job

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"Alright Potter, let's see what you're made of." Called the gruff voice of Dorkins.

"I'm ready Sir." Harry called from high above the ground.

A whistle blew and Harry shot off across the Chudley Cannons Quidditch training field. Harry had been personally invited to try out for the team. It seems that their previous seeker, Galvin Gudgeon, came down with a bad case of Dragon Pox and had been forced to leave the team. Harry had never seen himself as a professional Quidditch player but his chances of being an Auror were down the drain because he never finished school.

Harry didn't want to let anyone know that he was trying out for the team because he didn't know if any of them would take it to well. The Cannons were Ron's favorite team and he thought Ron mite get jealous. Hermione was likely to give him a warning about how dangerous Quidditch could be and Ginny would be upset that he was going to waste some of there precious time together practicing. But for some reason he wanted to do this for himself, to prove that he was more than the "Chosen One."

There were only 3 seekers trying out for the spot and they were being sent through an obstacle course one at time. Harry was now making his way past Beaters who were tossing Bludgers back and forth trying to distract him, moving rings that resembled muggle Hula-hoops that he had to fly through, random flying objects and the rest of the Quidditch team doing everything thing they could to get in his way. And during all of this he had to follow a flying golden Snitch and catch it in under two minuets. It was one of the easier things Harry had dealt with in his life but he still found it hard to concentrate with all the movement around him.

"One minute down Potter" Came that same gruff voice from before. Ragmar Dorkins was the manager of the Cannons and he was sitting on his broom, hovering over the ground, looking up at Harry as he made his way around the pitch.

Harry had just made his way through the last glowing hula-hoop when he reached out a hand and easily caught the Snitch. Harry was told to immediately fly to the ground and un-mount his broom when he caught it. He did so and walked over to where Mr. Dorkins was flying.

"Great job Son, great job. Well under a minuet and a half, very impressive. Well, go hit the lockers I have one more try-out and then I'll be in to announce who gets the position." Dorkins said.

Harry didn't want to get his hopes up but he knew for sure that no one could beat his time. For one thing he was the only person trying out today that was riding a Firebolt. He tightened his grip on his broom handle, as if to hug it, and he walked into the locker rooms.

Harry took a quick shower and put on jeans, t-shirt and trainers that he had in his book bag. He sat down on a bench and waited for the Manager to return. He looked around the locker room and noticed that the only other person in there was the person he saw try-out before him. He was now sitting on the ground rocking back and forth, his face was green and he looked as though he may be sick at any moment. Harry figured he should leave him alone and was just thinking about sneaking a peek back out onto the field when he heard footsteps walking towards him.

A white faced and bloody nosed man entered first, sat down on a bench and started cleaning blood from his face with his wand. Mr. Dorkins came in a few moments later. Mr. Dorkins was a large beefy man, with a walrus mustache and grey curly hair on his head. He was wearing worn out, grey jeans with a striped crew neck shirt that was several sizes to small for his large belly. He had tucked his shirt in and it gave him a look like he was going to explode at any moment. He had a clip board and quill in one hand and his wand was in his other. He walked up to the large chalkboard that sat in the middle of the Locker room. With a swish of his wand he removed a rather dangerous looking play from the board and instead placed in large glowing letters:

Harry Potter

Harry looked up at the letters and smiled, did this mean the job was his?

Mr. Dorkins smacked the board hard with is fist causing the three boys to jump, "If this is NOT your name, then you may leave."

The rather green looking wizard picked up his broom and bag and left the locker room, he was closely followed by the bloody nosed wizard that was now splattering blood as he walked out.

"Great job Son. But don't let this go to your head; this just means that you were the best Seeker that tried out; this doesn't make you the best in the world. Our team hasn't been doing to well over the years." Mr. Dorkins coughed loudly, hitched up his pants and went on. "You will come up against some of the fastest, skilled, and frightening Seekers you have ever seen. Keep your head clean and your broom waxed. We practice every day at eight in the morning, our next match is in two weeks."

"I'll be ready Sir!" Harry jumped in, his excitement getting the better of him.

"Enough with that Sir crap call me Ragmar. Also, your coming onto this team in the middle of a season, so don't be surprised if the team is less than excited to have you."

"I'll be fine Sir, I mean Ragmar." Harry said. "I've dealt with people not liking me my whole life, I'm thick skinned."

"I bet you are Son, I bet you are. Well, I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning. Go see Carrie, she's waiting for you out on the field, she will get you your training clothes and your Quidditch robes today. Oh, and the job paystwenty Galleons a game for the first season, after that we will talk about more."

"Thank you!" Harry said and ran out onto the pitch.

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"And then, I went and saw this witch named Madam Carrie, and she measured me for my training stuff and new robes. She also gave me four tickets to the next game which is against the Wigtown Wanderers." Harry said.

Harry was now reliving the entire day's events to Ron, who was the only one home at the moment. He wanted to tell Him, Hermione and Ginny all at the same time but it seems that Ginny and Hermione had left early that morning and hadn't returned yet. Harry sat down beside Ron and handed him the four tickets that were in his back pocket.

"Here mate, these are yours, give them to whomever." Harry said happily.

Ron was staring open mouthed at the tickets, in complete shock at the startling revelation that his best friend was now a member of his favorite team. Ron's silence was now unnerving Harry, he had hoped that Ron would be happy for him.

"Is something wrong? If you can't go or something it's okay, I can get tickets for all of our home games." Harry said now staring at Ron.

Ron sat still for another few moments just looking at the tickets hanging loosely in his hands. But just as Harry was about to get angry a small grin started to spread across his face. He stood up, placed the tickets on the Living Room table and turned to look at Harry. He smacked Harry hard on the arm and gave a big whoop that made Hedwig, who was sitting on the window seal, jump and fly around the room.

"I can't believe this! My best mate is playing for the Cannons! This is like the greatest thing ever! I haven't been to a game in years, this is so cool Harry!" Ron exclaimed.

"You had me worried; I thought you were going to be mad at me." Harry said smiling and rubbing the spot where Ron hit him.

"Mad? Are you kidding! This is great; I wish I could come to your practices. Hey can you get me some autographs?"

"Well, let me get to know the team first before I start bugging them for autographs. I don't want to look too stupid on my first day." Harry smiled at Ron, seeing him this excited made his decision to try out completely worth it.

Ron and Harry spent the rest of the evening talking about Quidditch and the past few seasons of Chudley Cannons and how horrible they have been. Ron made a point to let Harry know that now that he was on the team they were bound to start winning aging. It was late into the evening before Ron realized that the girls had not come home yet.

"I wonder where they are. It's getting really late." Ron said. "I mean it's well past midnight."

Harry looked at the clock on wall and frowned. "I didn't realize it was so late, should we go looking for them?"

"Yeah, lets try the Burrow first, maybe their with Mum." Ron said.

Harry and Ron stood up to make for the Burrow when the front door swung open and Ginny and Hermione came in laughing so hard they were both purple in the face. They stumbled in through the living room and into their bedrooms. They were both carrying several shopping bags and Harry heard the bags crinkle as they placed them on their beds. They were still laughing as they came back out into the living room. Ron and Harry were giving them odd looks and the girls didn't even notice them as they made their way into the kitchen.

"I still can't get over the look on that one guys face that was priceless." Ginny said while pulling a glass from the cupboard.

"I know if you hadn't stopped him he would have walked right into that cactus." Hermione said while pulling two butterbeers out of the refrigerator.

Ron seemed to have gotten tried of waiting for them to pay attention to him so he spoke up. "Where have you guys been all day? And who walked into a cactus?"

"No, he didn't walk into the cactus, I stopped him. And can't you tell that we have been shopping all day?" Ginny said.

Harry was rather amused at the pair of them, they seemed to of had a good day. As long as they were safe and sound he didn't care what they did. However Ron seemed to think otherwise.

"Why did someone almost walk into a cactus?" Ron asked now walking over to the kitchen.

"Because he was looking at Hermione." Ginny said. "You really needed to be there to understand Ron."

"Why was some guy looking at Hermione, what were you doing." Ron asked looking at Hermione.

Hermione stood up, walked over to Ron and kissed him on the cheek. "You'll find out tomorrow." She tossed Ginny a small wink and walked to her room then shut the door.

Ginny drowned the Butterbeer in her glass and stood up as well. "As will you Harry." She walked over to Harry, stood on her tip toes and kissed him hard on the lips. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and joined Hermione in their room.

Harry could still taste the Butterbeer on his lips as he smiled at Ron. "Well, I would say that their up to something, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, but I still want to know why some guy was checking out Hermione." Ron said grumpily.