Chapter 13 – A Chaser & Two Seekers
HG
Hermione woke up before Katie the morning of the try-outs, which surprised her. By the time Hermione made her way up to their room rather late, Katie was already tucked in her bed, her blankets pulled all the way up. Hermione got dressed and picked up Katie's broom and walked closer.
"Katie." She shook her best friend. "Time to get up."
"Hm?" She hummed in her pillow.
"Try-outs, Katie." Hermione nearly fell out of bed as Katie bolted up. Katie jumped out of bed, and quickly got dressed in work-out clothes, making Hermione chuckle. "Katie, we have time, relax." She placed her hand on her shoulder. Katie took in a deep breath before pulling on her shoes. "Okay, let's head out to breakfast, alright?"
"Yeah." Katie nodded her head and accepted her broom from Hermione.
When they got down the others were already waiting for them. Angelina and Fred wrapped their arms around Katie and walked in front of the rest, going over the try-outs of the year before, trying to give her tips and tricks.
"How is she?" George whispered, coming up next to her.
"She's nervous. She didn't say anything, but I can see it." Hermione said, her eyes strained on the back of her best friend. "And I know she's still mad at the whole Harry thing."
"Maybe, once we see him play..."
"I hope so." She glanced up to George. "Do you guys want to come watch Cedric try-out tomorrow?"
"Yeah, sounds like fun. Is seeker the only position they need to fill?"
"No, they are looking for a beater and a keeper too."
"We can stake out our competition." George grinned, rubbing his hands together as they entered the great hall. Angelina placed Katie right next to her at the table with Fred on her other side, still going over things for later. Hermione, George, Lee and Alicia all sat across from them and loaded their plates. "Oh, Hermione." George pointed his fork at her. She pursed her lips and looked from him to the fork pointedly. "Sorry." He lowered his fork with a smirk. "I want to go to the artfade thing."
"Artfade?" Hermione frowned.
"Yes, the artfade. Where you went with the girls this summer, the thing with the games." Hermione looked at George for a second before she laughed loudly, leaning her head against his shoulder. The others all looked at her in surprise, George looked down with a frown at the girl laughing on his shoulder.
"I'm- sorry." She choked between laughs, her laughter dying down. "It's not that funny but." She took her head of his shoulder and shrugged. "It's an arcade."
"Oh, right. That then. When can we go?"
"Maybe we can meet up this Christmas break." Hermione offered, taking a sip from her water.
"Brilliant." George said, Fred chimed in hearing the last part of their conversation.
Hermione turned back to Katie, who was picking at her food. "You need to eat something, Katie. You need your strength."
"You heard her, eat." Angelina teased, hovering a spoon full of strawberry yoghurt in front of her. Katie rolled her eyes before taking the spoon from Angelina with a smile. Angelina pushed the bowl of yoghurt in front of Katie. It was quite obvious Katie wasn't going to eat any more than the yoghurt, so the group stood up and walked out the great hall.
When they just walked out the great hall Cedric, Matt and Gavin walked by, going in to get breakfast.
"Morning, Mi." Cedric smiled.
"Hey, Hermione." Gavin and Matt waved at her.
"Good morning boys." She smiled at them. "Are you coming to watch the try-outs tomorrow?" She asked them.
"Wouldn't want to miss if Ced here is going to screw up." Gavin grinned, Matt and Cedric slapped his head simultaneously. The others laughed at the trio.
"He's going to do great." Hermione beamed at Cedric.
"Thank, Mi." He smiled back at her before he turned to Katie. "Goodluck, Katie." He reached over and squeezed her shoulder. "I saw you fly, you got this." He winked at her.
"Thanks Cedric." She gave him a small smile, Hermione noticed Angelina shifting uncomfortably behind her.
"Let's go. We better get there early." Angelina looped her arm through Katie and pulled her towards the exit. The others followed the two girls to the grand doors that led outside.
"Want to come watch with us?" Hermione asked the three Hufflepuffs.
"I'll come. Gavin has detention." Cedric chuckled, pointing at the boy in question. "And Matt here, has a letter to write."
"Holly?" Hermione smiled and Matt nervously rubbed his neck. "But she doesn't know about the wizarding world, does she?"
"No. I send the letter to my parents, who sent the letter to her the muggle way."
"Are you a muggle born?"
"I am, so are you, yes?"
"Yeah." Hermione grinned thinking back at George and the arcade. "It's hard to explain it to the others sometimes. The twins didn't even know what a postman was." She snickered, she turned when she heard said boys call for her from the open doors. "I got to go." She turned to Cedric.
Cedric stepped in the great hall for a second and came back holding a couple of breakfast muffins. "I'm ready." He grinned, taking a bite from a muffin. "Later." He gave the boys a nod and followed Hermione out the castle. Hermione picked a few pieces from a muffin in his hands as they walked out.
HG
"I didn't mean to drag you out of the great hall, you know." She said, tearing another piece off.
"Oh, I know. But didn't want to miss Kitkat's try-out."
"Kitkat?" Hermione chuckled as they reached the twins.
"Kitkat?" Fred's eyes wide. "That's a perfect nickname, why didn't I think of that!? Thanks, Diggory." Fred grinned as he ran to Katie, yelling the new nickname after her.
"Why, Digs?" Hermione pleaded. "Fred's bad enough with his nicknames, now you."
"It's fun." He grinned. Hermione rolled her eyes as George picked a muffin from Cedric's arms with a smirk. "I heard you already have a new seeker." Cedric asked George.
"Yeah." He said with his mouth full. He swallowed quickly from the look Hermione shot him. "Harry, he's a first year."
"Harry Potter? He's the new seeker? How?"
"McGonagall pulled some strings to get him on the team, she saw him flying earlier."
Cedric huffed out a breath. "If McGonagall did that, he must be really good."
"You're great too, Cedric." Hermione said as they walked up on to the pitch. She turned to look at the pitch filled with wannabe players. Oliver was franticly placing his gear in the right place, picking something up and putting it down a few centimetres to the right.
"Oh, Oliver." George laughed at his antics.
"Alright, I think everyone's here." Oliver said, looking around. "I'm sorry to say the seekers position is already taken."
Of couple of kids looked distraught at this as Harry tried to hide in the shadows. The kids who wanted to try out for seeker, walked out of the pitch with a scowl.
"Can the spectators take a seat in one of the stands?" He practically shoed them away. Hermione walked over to Katie and hugged her tight.
"You're going to do brilliant, Kitkat." She winked as she pulled back.
"This is all Diggory's fault." She rolled her eyes playfully. "Thanks, Hermione. For everything."
"Anything for you." She smiled before she let her shoulders go and waited until the rest wished her good luck and walked up to one of the stands.
"I think Katie has the biggest group of supporters we've seen in years." George chuckled as they all leaned on the banister.
Hermione counted the kids who wanted to try out. Five boys and three girls, including Katie, were waiting for Oliver's instruction. Hermione didn't notice Harry and Ron come up to stand with them, it wasn't until Fred spoke up, she snapped her head their way.
"Here's our little seeker." Fred grinned, rubbing the top of Harry's head. "Ready to practice after?"
"I-I think so." He said a little nervously.
"We'll take it easy on you." George chuckled before he turned back to look at the eight players as they rose up in the air.
"Didn't Oliver want your help with the try-outs?"
"He said he didn't trust our judgement, because of Katie." Angelina answered, her eyes following the girl in the air.
"Load of bullshit." Alicia cursed; her eyes too, pointed to the sky. Although Hermione saw her glance at Cedric a couple of times. Hermione heard Oliver blow a whistle and the group started shooting shot at goalposts as Oliver watched. After five minutes, Oliver took his place in front of the hoops and they all went one by one, trying to make a goal. When they were in the air for half an hour, Oliver came flying over.
"Angelina, Alicia. I want to see how good they'll work with you in the air." He said it while he summoned two brooms. The girls climbed up and flew up in the air towards the group. Hermione's throat was getting sore from cheering Katie on so much. Lee who was always prepared for quidditch handed over a bottle of water with a wink. She thanked him and turned her eyes back to the sky. After an hour of try-outs, they all landed back on the grass. Hermione and the others rushed to the pitch and waited until Oliver cleaned everything up.
"Thank you everyone for coming. Sadly, I can only pick one player for our team this year." He said dramatically, taking a very long pause. "The one joining us this year, who I think is the best fit for our team is... Katie Bell!"
They all screamed, and Hermione ran over to Katie, tackling her in a hug before the two of them were picked off from the ground by the twins, who danced with Hermione and Katie squished in between. When the twins finally let go, Angelina and Alicia ran over and tackled the girl in a tight hug too. The others had started slumming out of the pitch while they celebrated.
"OKAY!" Oliver shouted over the screams and chanting, making them grow quiet. "Time for our first practice!"
"We'll be in the stands." Hermione said and walked back to the stands with Lee and Cedric. "Katie was amazing!"
"She certainly was." Cedric and Lee agreed. "I was worried about that other girl, with the blond hair?"
"Cindy." Lee nodded. "She's a fourth year, she was good too. I didn't know she played though."
"Well, let's see if Harry's any good." Hermione grumbled a bit, leaning in back in the seat on the stand.
"Not a fan of Potter boy?" Cedric snickered.
"Harry's fine, just the way he got on the team. Just seems unfair." She shrugged; her arms crossed over her chest. Cedric hummed as he understood. They watched the team play very synchronised, only Harry just hovered high above the field, swaying from left to right. "Where's the bloody snitch? How am I supposed to know if he's any good?!"
The boys on either side of her snickered as they watched the young boy high in the sky. That's when Harry's head shot to the left, his eyes searching for something. It was evident the moment he saw the snitch, as he leaned flat against his broom and flew fast after it.
"GO HARRY!" Ron's voice came from a few seats behind them. The three of them looked behind them in surprise, none of them saw him coming up.
"Ron, why don't you sit here with us?" Lee asked.
Ron's eyes flickered between the three of them. "I don't trust it."
"It was just a candy, your head's fine." Lee laughed. Cedric looked confused between Lee and Ron.
"Fine, but I'm not sitting next to Hermione."
Hermione rolled her eyes as she looked back forward. Ron sat down next to Cedric, not trusting Lee either. Cedric leaned closer as he whispered.
"What was that about?"
"I gave him one of the twins' candies, making his head blow up like a balloon." She bit down a smile. "He doesn't trust me anymore after that."
Cedric chuckled lightly as he leaned back. "Wish I could've seen that."
HG
Hermione was glad when practice was over two hours later as she started to shiver from sitting still for that long outside in the cold. She walked down the pitch and saw Katie and Harry talk to each other.
"You did amazing, Harry." She heard Katie say, when she came closer.
"Me? What about you? The moves you made on your broom, that was awesome."
"Years of practice." Katie shrugged.
"Natural talent, I would say." Hermione grinned, putting her arm over her shoulder.
"Yes, yes. You're all great, can we go eat Harry?" Ron groaned.
"Let's all go down to the great hall." George and Fred said, walking over and each placing a hand on Harry and Ron's shoulder, pushing them towards the castle.
HG
The next day she was sitting in the stands again, now better dressed for the cold as she's sitting in the stands with Matt, Gavin, George and Alicia. Fred had been busted the night before by Snape and had a Sunday afternoon detention in the dungeons, doing Merlin knows what. Katie had come down with a cold and stayed in, not wanting to risk getting worse, Angelina decided to stay in with her, to keep her company.
The Hufflepuff group was larger as they needed more new players. Cedric waited on the side as they tried out for the beaters position first. Half an hour and a lot of blood later, which made Hermione queasy, George was rubbing her back gently as they watched six kids fly up to try-out for keeper. Hermione's eyes went to Cedric, who was nervously tapping his foot as he looked up at the sky. Hermione stood up and hopped off the bench, making the others look at her.
"Where are you going?" George asked. Hermione pointed at the nervous looking Hufflepuff on the side of the pitch.
"He's too nervous." She lowered her hands. "I'm going to go talk to him." She turned to the two Hufflepuffs next to her. "Or does one of you want to go?"
"I think you'll do a better job calming him down." Gavin said. "I'll just make it worse."
Hermione chuckled lightly before she descended the stairs to the field. She walked on the side of the field, keeping her eyes on a potentially lost Quaffle. Cedric didn't even notice when she slides down next to him, sitting on the damp grass.
"Hey, you." She nudged him. He stopped tapping his foot and looked at her with a smile.
"You scared me."
"At least you stopped tapping your foot." She grinned and pointed to his feet.
"Oh, was I doing it again?" He looked back up the sky. "I'm nervous, Mi."
"I know." She said as she followed his gaze up. "But didn't I tell you, you're going to do great! When am I ever wrong?"
Cedric laughed softly and looked back down at her. "You got a point there. But I'm not as good as Harry." He said with a soft voice.
"Hey." She placed her hand on his shoulder. "You're as good as Harry, trust me. I've been practicing all summer with you, remember?"
"How can I forget." He winked.
"At least you're better at this than riding a bike." Hermione teased.
"Oi!" He said, laughing. Draping his arm over her shoulder, tugging her close. "Thanks, Mi."
They sat there in the damp grass until it was time for Cedric and the three others to try out. He jumped to his feet and pulled Hermione up with ease. Then Hermione did something she hasn't done before, when she saw that he was tapping his foot again. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.
"Good luck." She whispered before pulling back.
Cedric looked flustered at her for a moment before the team captain called him over. He winked at her before he turned with the others to the middle of the field. When they flew up in the air, Hermione resumed her position on the grass. She didn't want to head back to the stands as this was the last part of try-outs. She just waited there until they were done. It quickly became obvious that Cedric was the best player to try out for seeker.
When they lowered back to the ground, Cedric pulled her in a side hug. "You did great, Digs." She said as she watched the Hufflepuff captain discuss the try-outs with the other players.
"All because of you." He squeezed her shoulders.
The captain turned to all the players who had come up to try out, just as George and the others walked over the pitch. The boys all clapped Cedric on the shoulder before they turned to the sixth year Hufflepuff.
"Let's not beat around the bush. Our new beater is Andi Mcgreggor." A small round of applause came. "Our new keeper is Nora Stevens." Another round of applause. "And last but not least our new seeker... Cedric Diggory!" This applause was the loudest.
Cedric was so excited he picked Hermione up and twirled her around. Hermione laughed and said in his ear. "I knew it."
"You did." He whispered back, before putting her down.
"Great work, mate." Gavin clapped him on the back.
"You were wonderful." Alicia said with admiration in her eyes.
"Thanks Alicia." He smiled and turned to the others who congratulated him. Matt gave him half a hug, while George and Lee clapped him on the shoulder with a grin.
"Harry needs to watch out for you, Diggory."
"Just like our beaters need to watch out for you Weasley." He laughed. "Come on, let's go to the great hall."
"Great! I'm starving." George chimed in. They all walked back to the great hall; Cedric casually draped his arm around Hermione's shoulder as they walked through the castle. The Gryffindors decided to join Cedric at the Hufflepuff table. Fred who was sitting with Harry and Ron at the Gryffindor table looked up from the commotion. He quirked an eyebrow as Cedric had his arm around Hermione in the way he or George normally did. George beckoned him over. He quickly said goodbye to his brother and Harry before he joined them at the loud yellow filled table.
