Over the following weeks Harry got very good at avoiding Lockhart and learnt to appreciate Neville and Ron's sudden growth. Provided he wasn't standing behind Hermione he barely needed to bend his knees and he was invisible behind one of his friends until Lockhart moved on.
September slipped in to October and life settled in to peaceful routine. It was with great excitement that the Gryffindors greeted the announcement that Quidditch trial would be this Thursday at 6pm. Both for the break from the already crushing monotony of school life and for the chance at having a less awful team this year. Last year even Hufflepuff had slaughtered them, leaving them trailing 300 points behind in fourth place.
Ginny, Harry and Ron used their relationship with the team beaters, Fred and George, relentlessly. By the time they were shivering on the quidditch pitch with Hermione, Luna and Neville falling asleep in the stands they knew that there were places for a new first line seeker, reserve seeker, reserve beaters and a reserve keeper.
Oliver Wood, the team captain, waited until 6 o'clock on the dot before declaring those assembled on the pitch the only ones eligible try out. "Any late comers will have to be on time next year." He said.
Oliver was slim, dark hair boy who's mind was perpetually on quidditch. He introduced himself as team captain and first line keeper. The rest of the first line team stood in a rough line behind him waving as they were introduced. First the three female chasers, Angelina Johnson, a pretty black girl who blushed a delicate rose colour when Oliver complimented her, Katie Bell, a tall slim girl with delicate heart shaped face framed by messier hair than Harry, and Alicia Spinnet, a stocky girl who stood slightly behind both Angelina and Katie even when introduced and then the twins as beaters.
"Alright," Oliver called out, "I want seekers by the Gryffindor stands, keepers by the Hufflepuff and beaters by the Ravenclaw. If you want to try out as a chaser join the rest of the house in the stands we have a full first line and reserve team."
While the hopefuls separated the twins, Angelina, Alicia and Katie took to the sky setting out an obstacle course. They then arranged themselves with Angelina at one end, Katie at the other and Alicia and the twins spread along the course.
"Done!" Angelina called down.
"Good." Oliver picked up five Cleansweep 6 brooms. "Would the first five seeker candidates come to me?" He asked.
Ginny and Harry found themselves pushed aside by the larger third and fourth year candidates who rushed forwards to claim a broom.
They rose up in to the air on Oliver's command and congregated at around Angelina. One at a time she signalled they could go and Katie started the timer in her hand. When all five had flown the course Katie sent them back to the ground and flew to the twins and Alicia in turn before descending herself. She had a whispered conversation with Oliver and he sent four of them to the stands.
"And the final group," Oliver said.
This time Ginny and Harry were part of the group although shoved aside by the others and given the last two brooms by Oliver. "You will mount and ascent to meet Angelina. She will then give each of you your starting orders. You need to fly the obstacle course swiftly and safely." Oliver said, "Mount up!"
Harry and Ginny could feel his eyes on them watching their form and confidence. Angelina made them huddle tightly seeming to deduct marks from a third year boy who could knocked into Ginny and Angelina. She sent him out first and sneered slightly at his awkward handling of the broom.
Then it was Harry's turn. There was a responsive broom beneath him and Charlie and Tonks had set up tougher course than this over the summer. With a broad grin he set out pushing the broom to its limits feeling the air rush through his hair, barely noticing the obstacles just enjoying the feeling of flying. When he got to Katie rather than come into the huddle immediately he shot up into the air and then came down in gradually tightening and slowing spirals until he was hovering still at her side his cheeks feeling like they would split from grinning so wide.
Looking back down the course he could see Ginny speeding through her hair streaming behind her and her lithe body shooting straight through the centre of each obstacle to finish at a dead stop in front of him.
Katie looked like she wanted to smile as she sent them down to wait for Oliver to make his decision and it seemed to take no time for her to come down and talk too quietly for the waiting hopefuls to hear, "Potter, Weasley you're through to the next stage. Go sit with Aarons."
Next up were the beaters. The first group of five barely got off the ground and the second only delivered two possible candidates.
After that Oliver called the keepers, Ron's greater height allowing him to fight his way into the first group and be one of two who were chosen to progress. The other a girl who was so average it was hard to describe her or remember who she was after you looked away.
"The next trial looks at specific ability at your desired role and compatibility with the existing team." Oliver explained as the obstacle course was dismantled and the twins and chasers descended back to earth. "For this I'm going to ask our reserve chasers to help out."
Three boys descended from the stands carrying Cleansweep 7's, they were the same height and slender build, each wore an easy going grin. "These are Duncan Jones," Oliver pointed at the freckly blond, "Eric Davis," a palid dark haired boy with a long oval face much like his sister Tracy, "and Elliot Bell," His hair was messy as his sisters but the face it framed was strong and square.
"Keepers," Oliver said, "You will each take a turn in goal. Three of our chasers will throw the quaffle at you. You will be judged on the number you save and your attitude during this trial. Ernhart, your first."
The average girl mounted her broom rising to greet the three chasers, Alicia, Eric and Elliot, chosen with a polite smile. She settled in goal seeming nervous and only successfully guarding the hoop she was in front of. When she returned to ground she had only saved 3 shots.
"Weasley." Oliver said.
Ron mounted up his face pale with nerves, Ginny and Harry tried to smile comfortingly at him but were full of nerves themselves. From the stands they could hear Hermione, Luna and Neville cheering. Ron barely spoke to the chasers selected to test him only settling on his broom ready to move to where ever the ball went. He caught the first quaffle thrown by Katie with a whoop and tossed it back grinning. His confidence seemingly returned he caught her remaining throws and chatted with Duncan as he got in position. Ron missed two of Duncan's throws but caught the remaining three and 2 of Angelina's. He returned to the ground chatting the chasers.
"Weasely for the reserve team keeper." Oliver announced his wand at his throat to a round of screaming applause. Taking his wand away he said, "Both of you did a brilliant job go join your friends in the stands."
The two hopeful beaters were handed bats and thrown quaffles by the chasers which they then had to bat back at them. Neither were very good but Oliver must have seen some talent in them or need to have reserves for he announced, "Ackerman and Dalton for the reserve team beaters."
The applause was less impressive for Ackerman and Dalton but present and they ran of to the stands smiling.
"And finally the Seekers," Oliver kept his wand at his throat, "one of our hopefuls will be the first line seeker and one the reserve." Removing his wand he explained that the chasers would throw golfballs at them, as with the keeper and beater candidates they would be judged on attitude as well as performance, "It doesn't matter if you're the best thing since butterbeer if you aren't a team player."
"Weasley," Oliver called, "let's see if you're as good as your brother."
Ginny rose in to the air, "Sorry you'll have to wait your turn Harry," She grinned down at him before rising high enough to hear the chasers and giggle, the roll of her laughter drifting down and making Harry smile as he craned his neck back to see.
The balls came faster than for either the beater or keeper candidates, the little white balls hard for the spectators to see so it looked like Ginny was madly flying about the pitch and chasers lobbing nothing. After 5 minutes Ginny descended holding the balls she had caught to be counted by Oliver.
"15," Oliver counted, "well done Weasley. Your next Hughes."
Hughes wasn't as fast as Ginny, nor did he keep up a running conversation with the chasers. In fact when he came down he was puffing hard and the handful of balls he dropped into Oliver's hand was obviously less.
"5," Oliver said, "Now you Potter."
Harry felt the familiar exhilaration of flight as the rose to meet the chasers, and the familiar shyness made his face burn. "Going to be beat your sister, Harry?" Angelina asked.
Harry grinned, "Ginny plays chaser at home." He said and the first ball flew. Soon he was lost in the rhythm of spotting the shinning white golfball, catching the ball and placing it in the pouch on his broom. He didn't notice the passage of time or think about how weird he must look. His shyness drifted away and he found himself smiling at the chasers when he happened to meet their eyes.
When Oliver blew his whistle with a piercing shriek Harry reluctantly flew down and handed his balls over to him. "With 20 balls, Potter is our new seeker," Oliver announced his wand at his throat again. "Our reserve seeker will be Weasley. Full team listings will be up tomorrow morning. Practice is Monday evening at 6 for reserve and first line players and Wednesday evening at 7 for first line players."
Hermione, Luna, Percy and Neville rushed down from the stands to join the twins in congratulating Ginny, Harry and Ron on their new positions before Percy hustled them up to the Common room to "Do the homework I'm sure you have been neglecting."
With all four house quidditch teams needing to train new members and new brooms for all the teams competition for the elusive Saturday morning spots on the quidditch pitch was fierce. Harry and Ron were woken by Oliver leaning over them at the crack of dawn the Saturday after they had placed on the team.
Blearily they gazed up at him, "Wha?" Ron said his normal morning self.
"Quidditch practice." Oliver said, "Come on!"
Groaning Harry and Ron had dragged themselves out of bed waking Neville, Seamus and Dean in the process, glowering at them Neville had joined the sleepy fumble for clothes while Dean and Seamus hid their heads under pillows and stumbled down stairs to see the rest of the reserve and first line teams and the closest dorm mates of each member dozing against each other.
Drill Sargent Wood dragged his reluctant team out through the Great Hall, the ceiling was a pale peach with golden bellied clouds drifting into the rising mist, where they were met by a squeakily furious house elf who plied them all with toasted BLTs from a tray pilled high and hot milky tea in large tin mugs that scolded their hands before popping away with a snap.
Munching on their sandwiches they were marched out to the quidditch pitch and the team separated from their supporting friends to change in the bitterly cold changing rooms. They had goose pimples in places that should always be warm once they were acceptably attired and Oliver had handed out the new brooms; Cleansweep 8s for the keepers and beaters and Nimbus 2001s for the chasers and seekers.
Exiting the changing rooms the team found the stands had been a hive of activity; shimmery blue shields acted as wind breaks, bluebell flames hovered in glass jars through out the crowd and charmed animals danced around, birds swooping and diving at stalking cats who climbed the stands in an attempt to master their adversaries.
Oliver stalked over, "No distractions!" He said glowering at Lee Jordan and another boy who had tried out for reserve keeper until they had banished the charms.
Convinced there would be no further distractions Oliver ordered the team to mount up and began a gruelling trial for the chasers and keepers who were set as opposing teams flying through an moving obstacle course to try and score while each keeper was defending twice the normal number of goals. It was obvious that Oliver was vastly more experienced than Ron but also why Oliver had chosen Ron. There was a natural talent that told Ron where the quaffle would be when he trusted himself. With the first line chasers and Ron in one team and the reserves and Oliver on the other it was a close run competition with both teams being worked hard. From watching the twins practice last year, Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville knew that Oliver would switch the teams around to prevent familiarity and ensure he always had a full team at each game.
After half an hour the chasers and keepers descended panting to join their supporters, the beaters and seekers. Refreshed with water thoughtfully provided by the team supporters Oliver sent the beaters and seekers to complete the same obstacle course while on two opposing teams with bludgers, bats and a practice snitch. Again the teams were a mixture of first line and reserve players with Harry and the reserve beaters on one team and Ginny and the twins on the other. As the twins were the twins and as such an insanely good team and Ginny and Harry were far more evenly matched than Ron and Oliver it did not balance the teams as efficiently as before. Below in the stands Oliver could be seen shaking his head.
They were allowed to descend bruised and exhausted to the stands and glorious fresh cool water after half an hour of Oliver's torture. The reserve beaters looked defeated, their shoulders slumped and heads down as they joined the rest of the team while the twins, Ginny and Harry were cheerful in their pain, their shoulders rubbing together and eagerly slapped by their supporters and teammates.
Only a five minute break was allowed before Oliver sent them all back to their brooms for a full practice match, Angelina, Alicia, Katie, Ginny, Oliver and the reserve beaters Dan Ackerman and Ben Dalton on one team with Duncan, Eric, Elliot, Harry, Fred, George and Ron on the other.
The gathered supporters readied themselves separating in to teams and calling support out for their team as they rose into the sky. Torn between Ginny and Harry, Ron and the twins; Hermione, Luna and Neville found themselves in the centre of the stands directly behind Lee Jordan who had found a pair of omnioculars from nowhere and cast an impressive enhancement spell. Noticing Hermione and Luna behind him, Lee drew them forward and whispered, "I think we deserve some mascots."
It was a fast and furious match, Ginny and Harry were evenly roughly evenly matched as seekers, the twins obviously better and more experienced beaters but hampered by less experienced chasers, Ron glowing as he caught quaffle after quaffle from Angelina, Alicia and Katie. With the colourful charmed animals encouraging their supporters to charm their cloaks to match it felt like a real match.
When Oliver's team was winning 150 to 100 several people in green robes marched onto the pitch. Looking around the largest of them made his way over to the stands. "How long have they been up?" He asked.
"About three quarters of an hour," A tall boy who looked the same age as Oliver said.
"So it's just waiting for the seekers to get around to doing some work then." He reached out and scrubbed the head of one of the robed figures causing his hood to fall down.
When the figure pulled away the Gryffindor spectators could see Malfoy's sharp pale face looking faintly blue. "Go get some tea and bring enough back for the rest of us." The largest Slytherin said.
"Right, Marcus." Malfoy said eagerly trotting away.
"Budge over, Edwards." Marcus told the stands pushing his way into the stands and carving out space for his team. "Who's winning?"
"Oliver's team is a head by 50." The same boy as before said, "We've got the tigers." The tiger frolicking on his cloak crawled up his shoulder to roar at Marcus. "The others have the leopards." One of the charmed cheaters pounced on the tiger on his cloak.
"Cute." Marcus said with a sneer.
"Alicia passes to Katie," Lee continued commentating as though the Slytherin team hadn't arrived. "Katie passes to Angelina and is intercepted by Eric- Has Harry seen the snitch‽"
Harry dove through the chasers with Ginny a nose behind him both narrowly avoiding a buldger which was intercepted by one of the twins and slammed back into the chasers midst.
"Eric passes to Duncan." Lee called out the charmed mascots called by Hermione and Luna dancing around him each celebrating as the quaffle entered their teams possession. "Seems Harry and Ginny have both seen the snitch they're neck and neck. Duncan shoots and he scores! That's 110 to the Leopards."
Harry and Ginny were skimming across the ground their legs brushing the dewey grass hand out stretched. Harry's hand closed and a fraction of a second later Ginny's hand wrapped around his.
"And Harry has caught the snitch!" Lee yelled. "The final score is Tigers, 150 and the winners Leopards with 260 points."
Marcus nodded to the Slytherin team and they left the stands. He clasped his hand around Oliver's in a tight grip. "Good game, Wood." He said. "You over ran."
With a twist of his wrist Oliver flicked his watch around, "By two minutes," he said after a glance. "You arrived 15 minutes early. Have you found a new seeker yet?"
With a sulky scowl Marcus pointed at Malfoy, "My best chaser is also the only decent seeker I could find." He said, "How come you got two?"
"Charlie Weasley's sister and James Potter's son," Oliver said with a smirk,"I just got lucky." After a pause he added, "To be Gryffindor. Have fun, the forecast is for thunder later."
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