Chapter Five
Ginny and Cho continued working on their Quidditch Round Robin plan, Hermione appointed herself strategy supervisor, she wrote a list of tasks to do, with a bullet point list of issues to raise with each audience. First the prefect meeting, then a meeting with Qudditch Captains, then the Hogwarts Staff meeting to which Ginny was invited to make her presentation.
There was no real resistance to the concept, even by those who were not Quidditch fans and everyone was keen to improve interhouse relations and general Hogwarts morale. Ginny, with help from Cho and even Madam Hooch, were able to address the occasional concern to everyone's satisfaction.
Between them, Ginny and Cho came up with another way to involve first year students, who almost never made the House teams, by offering them regular clinics, they could use the school brooms to learn and practice specific skills as they pertain to particular Quidditch positions.
The third Saturday of the first term was Quidditch tryouts. Previously House tryouts, strategies and even general training sessions were considered highly private, secretive affairs, but that level of competitiveness seemed unpleasant and unnecessary in the new post war era. Also the old days of hating Slytherin students were long past, it seemed that everybody in the magical world had come to comprehend that such prejudice and divisions between people had made such a war, based on blood purity among other things, possible, perhaps even inevitable.
Each of the House Quidditch Captains were sitting in the first row of each of the four stands, with their brooms, their sports bags, bottles of water and several sheets of parchment, listing the names of team hopefuls and their preferred role on the team. Madam Hooch was moving from team captain to team captain to coordinate events and Madame Pomfrey was also in attendance, stationed at a table with basic medical and healing supplies and potions, ready to attend to any student who may sustain an injury.
Ginny had been advised in writing by the Headmaster over the summer of her appointment to Prefect and also to Quidditch Team Captain, along with her new book and equipment list. She had not been surprised by the Prefect badge that fell out of the envelope but she had been especially pleased with her Team Captain appointment. She had promptly appointed herself to the position of Seeker!
The rest of her holidays had been largely committed to devising fitness schedules, training sessions, skill development and strategy management. She may even have written some pre-match motivational slogans and prepared post game analysis charts. Ginny had made a list of all remaining team members from the team last year and their positions and added to that the names of other students she thought would like to play or that she thought could actually play. She moved the names around an image of a Quidditch pitch, defense and attack, pushing little bits of paper to and fro and back again, occasionally swapping them over, or swapping them out, altogether.
Seated in the rows directly behind the Team Captain were the hopeful team members with their broomsticks, nervously waiting for their name to be called out. In the rows behind them were seated the students who were in attendance to observe the tryouts, many of them were in their House colours, waving flags or shaking pom poms revealing their House colours, they called out clever and amusing rhymes and occasionally chanting their House Quidditch song. There was a temporary refreshment stand staffed by house elves, serving students with snack foods and beverages; hotdogs, popcorn, mocktails and butter beers to contribute to the joyful atmosphere.
The Slytherin team went first testing several students for the Keeper position. One at a time nervous students tentatively approached or over confident students zoomed into position to hover in front of the hoops defending them from an endless series of fast arriving Quaffles which were pelted in that general direction by hopeful Chasers. Hovering around in the background were possible Beaters, belting back any loose Quaffles that happened to make it past the Keeper. Students were rotated throughout various positions giving everyone a fair chance to demonstrate their skills.
Seekers were tested independently of the rest of the team, Madame Hooch constantly released and recalled the snitch for each hopeful Seeker, other flyers served to provide competition, distraction or even impediment, giving Seekers a chance to evade their opponent and catch the Snitch. Eventually the fifth year Slytherin Team Captain had finalised his team, players and positions. The balls were all gathered up and made available for the Hufflepuff students who were next.
Ginny watched the tryouts with great interest, the other Team Captains largely made the team choices she would have made, from the evidence before her. There were a couple of exceptions made where a close friend may have been promoted to a position another student was probably likely to bring more success to, but it would be hard to argue and she didn't care enough, at the end of the day. She didn't blame them, not everyone was as passionate and serious about Quidditch as she was, except maybe Cho Chang. Like Cho, Ginny was hoping to make a career out of Quidditch.
Ravenclaw were next and Ginny watched the Ravenclaw hopefuls walk across the pitch, she managed to catch Cho's eye and mouthered 'good luck'. Cho mouthed 'thanks' in reply and then forced herself to forget the pretty redhead with the freckles on her nose and focus on helping her team get the balls in the air. Her tryout for Seeker would take place after the other team positions had been decided but her Team Captain, Chrissie Berry, had said that she would like to see her take a turn at each of the positions in turn, just to give an idea of possible flexibility between roles in case of injury or illness.
Between Cho's talented flying, game experience, leadership and teamwork she was a shoo in for the team and easily the most skillful seeker available to them. Chrissie Berry had been afraid that Cho Chang might have been a know-it-all, attempting to control the team just because she was a returning student, a seventh year and Head Girl, but she was relieved to find Cho friendly, good natured, easy going, enthusiastic and she followed directions willingly without offering to give any advice!
Afterward, as Ginny crossed the pitch she patted Cho on the back, "Well done, Chang," she congratulated her friend.
"Thanks Weasley, Goodluck," Cho replied.
Ginny laughed, "Luck? I'm the Captain!"
"Well now that I am Seeker, I thought you may want to reconsider?"
"Nice try, Chang, but I look forward to taking you down!" They laughed, all too familiar with each other's good natured trash talk, as one walked onto the pitch and the other left it for the stands. Cho was as interested to watch Ginny's try out as Ginny had been to watch hers, she would be very surprised, shocked even, if Ginny was not the most skillful seeker in Gryffindor.
Ginny prepared to put her potential team members through their paces. Unlike the other teams she started with selection of the seeker position, she was convinced that there would not be a Gryffindor seeker as talented as herself, but she wanted to make sure. She cleared everyone from the pitch and hovered on her broom in the centre and made everyone, one at a time, catch the 20 marbles in her pouch. She was the only one to catch all 20, the closest person only caught half a pouch.
Having publicly demonstrated her skill, no one, not on her own team, nor any other student, would be able to claim that she hadn't won her Seeker position fair and square and convincingly. Her authority as Seeker and as Team Captain was without doubt. She flew in the direction of Cho who was watching her and gave her thumbs up, "Your ass is mine" she mouthed and Cho laughed out loud, giving her a silent round of applause.
She then grilled the rest of her team, belting bludgers at potential Beaters and pelting Quaffle after Quaffle at the hoops to potential Keepers. Ginny selected the most skilled individuals for her team but she noted that, like the other house teams, the players were considerably younger, more feeble and less experienced than previous teams, but they were no less passionate, excitable and hopeful!
Ginny looked around at her new team, she felt like a mother hen, she wanted to take them all under her wing and coach them gently but certainly towards personal development and team building and ultimate Championship success. She let them continue to pat themselves on the back and prattle on excitedly as they picked up all the balls over the pitch.
Not only was Ginny the Team Captain, she was also the oldest on the team. It was rare that seventh year students would play on the House Teams, usually finding their academic schedule and NEWT Examinations left little time for training and match day commitments, only those students who hoped to play quidditch professionally and there were precious few of those. There was a fifth year student appointed to the Keeper position, and the rest were third and fourth years.
She had always been the youngest, the youngest of the Weasley children and the youngest of the Harry, Hermione and Ron foursome, they had frequently withheld secrets regarding challenges, mysteries and adventures that she was not privy to. There was a brief window when Ginny had been Harry's girlfriend where she had not been sidelined but that period had not lasted. But now, she had apparently come of age! Promoted on her own merit, not due to age, not as a Weasley, not as Harry's girlfriend nor as the fourth of a well known trio.