Chapter Five

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September 7th

The Quidditch Pitch

07oo hours

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Rose had hoped that the early start might have weeded out some of the most hopeless cases, but, watching the group of potential players make their way onto the pitch clutching a collection of brooms that varied from Flying Saucers to the wonky old school brooms, it appeared her plan had failed. She sat astride her broomstick, hovering about ten feet from the ground, arms folded as she scanned the candidates. Her mouth pursed.

Scorpius, who was hovering next to her, told her to cheer up. 'Your expression is enough to turn milk sour', he teased while Al, on the third of the hovering broomsticks, snorted. 'Cheer up Rose. Ever since you told us about that bloody competition you've been looking like a salamander someone left out in the rain.'

'This team needs to be perfect, and I'm not about to sacrifice my professional career on substandard players.' Rose answered brusquely. 'I need dedication, hard work and talent. Finding one new player is going to be hard enough, never mind four.'

'Then scare off the weaklings and uncover the real talent.' A new voice said, and Rose turned her head to see the last member of their team, Lily, who had joined them. 'There's at least fifty kids here, and you need four. Do your intimidating thing and get rid of the time-wasters.'

'My intimidating what?' Rose asked, but Al cut across her.

'She's right, this will take all day otherwise and you've only got me until the Heads meeting at eleven.'

Rose turned her face to Scorpius who shrugged in a 'what can you do' kind of way. 'You know I'll stay here as long as you need me.'

'This is going to be incredibly painful.' She groaned as she stared down at the squabbling and yawning crowd.

'Perfection is pain, isn't that what you always say?' Lily teased. 'Now go on, those boys over there look too small to even be first years.'

Rose sighed one more time then stuck two fingers in her mouth and let out a piercing whistle that left the buzzing crowd below silent and Albus rubbing his ears. Scorpius and Lily, used to Rose's tactics, had long ago perfected the art of hiding their pain when Rose did that.

'First years, leave.' Rose roared, her voice echoing around the pitch. A number of first years scuttled off, some looking terrified, some mutinous. Ah well, they'd learn soon enough.

'Anyone here who is not willing to get out of bed at six am every morning - leave. Anyone here who is not willing to train everyday - leave. Anyone who is not willing to run until they are sick - leave. Anyone here with any kind of life beyond quidditch - leave.'

The crowd was watching her, eyes wide, and Rose suddenly felt flush with the power of the sport, the power her training had brought her.

'I don't care who you are, put your brooms down and run three laps of the pitch.'

Mutters broke out among the crowd, and very few people moved. Many looked confused, many annoyed. Only a handful followed her instructions, laying down their brooms and beginning to run. Rose noticed with interest that her own third year cousin, Lucy, was among them. This surprised her. After all, it wasn't like Uncle Percy or Aunt Audrey were known for their quidditch prowess, nor for their lack of stringent health and safety measures. Lucy and Molly, as far as Rose knew, had never been on a broom in their lives.

'We're here to play quidditch, not run laps.' A boy had stepped forwards from the ranks, his brand new Io 16 is one hand.

Rose smiled. It was not a nice smile. It was the kind of smile a crocodile gives before biting into your leg.

'Oh I'm so terribly sorry. How incredibly foolish of me. Of course we're here to play quidditch! How about you come up here and help me with these trials seen as I obviously have no idea what I'm doing?' Her voice was silky as Stinkwell sap and twice as toxic.

The boy gulped.

'No? Well then maybe you should get off the pitch.'

The boy gaped. 'What?' He shouted, 'You can't do that!'

'Can't I?' Rose's silky voice suddenly rose to a roar. 'I train for four hours every single day. I can run a four minute mile and bench press twice my own weight. I have played quidditch in four continents, including against the Russian underage national team in sub-zero temperatures. I have trained in sleet and snow, thunderstorms and gale force winds. This team will be comprised of the best players at Hogwarts, players who potentially will go on to play for the league and I will NOT TOLERATE TIMEWASTERS!'

A young second year burst into tears. Rose and Lily watched in satisfaction as the crowds thinned, some heading back up to the castle, others to the stands to watch the trials.

'Much better.' Rose let out a breath, and felt her calm return. Her voice returned to normal as she addressed the remaining students. 'Why are you not running?'

The main crowd had only completed around half a lap when the first group, the ones who could follow orders, Rose thought, had finished. Some were breathing hard and looked a little winded, but that didn't worry Rose. Weakness could be eradicated through hard work and dedication.

Four broomsticks hit the grass as Rose, Albus, Scorpius and Lily landed. Rose walked over to the group of about six students and noticed Keegan, who obviously knew Rose too well after six years of being the same house as her to argue, and Erin Oxley, whom Lily had obviously warned about Rose's volatile ways.

'Split yourselves into groups depending on the position you are trying out for, then warm up.' Rose told them. 'When those lazy lumps decide to join us, they'll do the same.'

'You know', Albus whispered in her ear as she pulled out a clipboard and quill, 'You're bloody terrifying sometimes. It's like Aunty Hermione and mum polyjuiced into one person!'

'Thank you.' Rose was honestly flattered.

...

The rest of the trials went reasonably well and Rose didn't need to shout again, seemingly having terrified everyone enough for one day. They filled the two chaser positions reasonably quickly, Lily deciding that, of the four potential players she and Rose had chosen, two she could work with and two she just couldn't. Of the rejects, one was a sixth year girl who had good aim, but lacked Lily's dedication ('She can't even see the quaffle through all that gunk she's got round her eyes!') and the other, a spindly looking boy who moaned the whole time that he was cold despite the late summer sun which had made an appearance, and his excellent ability to dodge bludgers.

Rose had known from the beginning that she wanted Erin to be on the team, and watching her put away nine out of ten goals did nothing to worry her. But it was her attitude to the game that really appealed to Rose. After all, she had been friends with Lily for the five years they had been at Hogwarts, and like most definitely turns to like.

The other, surprisingly, was Keegan Lucas. He had never tried out before, and had no interest in following the sport as a career. In fact, Rose privately wondered why he'd tried out at all. He clearly enjoyed flying, and was excellent at it, but he lacked the burning passion Rose and Lily had. Still, he cleared as many goals as Erin, and managed to dodge both the bludgers that Rose sent at him without dropping the quaffle.

Keeper tryouts was less unexpected. Though Rose had been silently routing for Alex Simpson, a well built forth year who had been in the initial group of runners, it was Mack McClaggen who saved every goal that Lily sent his way, including one spectacular save including a sloth grip role.

Rose might periodically go out with him, but she didn't like his arrogance on the pitch. That last save with the sloth grip role had been entirely to please the crowd, but there was no denying he was the best keeper of the bunch and she grudgingly wrote down his name on her list.

It was the beater tryouts that caused the biggest stir however. Partially because of the difficulty of the position, not that many of the students could fly without their hands, but mostly because of Rose's reputation, very few people had decided to try out.

Rose missed Roxy as she watched the first two flyers almost knock themselves out with the misjudged force of their swing, then even more as the third flyer fell off the back of their broom as they over-powered their swing and sent the lone bludger down the pitch.

She had almost settled on Ryan Coots who had the physical requirements of a beater and could aim well when she saw Lucy fly up for her turn. It was shocking really, how well the thirteen year old could fly. She seemed as natural as all the Wotter children were in the air, gripping casually with her knees as she tossed her bat from hand to hand.

'Lucy?' Rose choked. 'You can't be serious.'

'Deadly.' Lucy replied and swung, sending the bludger ricocheting towards the goal posts at the far end of the pitch where it passed through the centre hoop and slowed, coming back for another attempt.

'Uncle Percy will kill me.' Rose answered, but she was beaming as Lucy used both hands to power the bludger towards Albus who was hovering with Lily. Rose was impressed to see the way Lucy had put additional spin onto the ball so it changed direction at the last moment, not giving anyone time to avoid it. Albus was less impressed when he woke up in the Hospital Wing an hour later, but even he had to admit it had been a good hit.

...

By midday the trials were over and the stands were beginning to empty of Gryffindor students began to wander up to the castle for lunch, only to be replaced by the blue and gold of Ravenclaw as Davies began to set up his own tryouts.

'Results on the notice board tomorrow at midday', Rose told the remaining Gryffindors, then it was over. She, Lily and Scorpius landed and sat down, examining the list that Rose had drawn up.

The trio poured over the list, occasionally making suggestions that Rose scribbled in the margin of the parchment, assembling the team that they thought would work. All three had reservations about the appointment of Mack, but, as Lily said: 'He may be a pillock, but he's a pillock who's a bloody brilliant keeper.'

Coach Hendrix joined them mid way through this discussion, accompanied by a lean women with hair cropped so short it looked more like a faint fuzz of brown against her pink scalp. Her robes of dark grey and white distinguished her team, as well as doing little to hide the ropey muscles in her arms.

'Rose.' Coach Hendrix said as Rose jumped to her feet. 'I'd like you to meet Rhoda Mantis, reserve chaser for the Falcons. She is one of the overseers of this competition. Rhoda, this is Rose Weasley, the Gryffindor captain.'

Rose stretched out her hand, and the two engaged in a battle of brief but powerful squeezing, wanting to see who would breakaway first. To Rose's delight, it was Mantis who pulled away, smiling slightly as she examined her fingers.

'Not bad.' She said. 'Ives seemed more worried about hurting me than considering me as a quidditch player.'

'Well you know Hufflepuffs, too nice by half. Just wait until you see him on the pitch though, he'll soon forget all about being nice.' Rose replied.

'Interesting practise. Can I see your notes?' Without waiting for a reply, Mantis plucked the parchment from Scorpius's grasp and scanned through the pages of notes surrounding each chosen player's name.

'Intriguing choice, picking Lucas over Boyle. Any reason for doing so?'

Rose cocked her head slightly as she considered the question. 'Boyle may technically be the more experienced player, he certainly has flown and trained more than Lucas. But I'm not here to only access players in terms of their talent. I have to take into account my team's thoughts, as well my own instincts regarding the attitude of the player. We are first and foremost a team, and Boyle is not a team player. Nor, considering the amount of moaning we had to listen to today, is he willing to devote enough time to the less glamorous side of quidditch, like the five am starts.'

If Mantis disagreed with Rose's pronouncement, she didn't say anything, simply handing turning another page of the parchment.

'What are these?' She gestured to a set of bullet points Rose had neatly laid out on the last page of parchment.

'The rules.' Lily answered, before Rose could. 'And before you ask, yes they do work, and yes, they are necessary.'

'I would expect nothing less, though I imagine your new team members might be less keen', Mantis said, handing back the parchment. 'I am going to be watching the tryouts of all four teams', she continued. 'And attending all the matches with a number of my colleagues. Good luck Rose Weasley. Let's see if your instincts pay off.'

She swept away with Hendrix to take her seat again to watch the Ravenclaw trials which were just beginning.

Rose picked up her broom, and Lily and Scorpius did the same, exiting the stadium with a cheeky wave to Robert Davies who was dividing up students into groups.

'What did you make of her?' Lily asked as they began the long climb up to Gryffindor Tower to put away their broomsticks and change out of their sweaty robes. 'Rather forceful I thought, but very straight-laced.'

They jumped the trick stair, third from the bottom and crossed onto the second floor landing to avoid Peeves the Poltergeist by taking a short cut behind a suit of armour.

'She liked you', Scorpius told Rose.

'Oh really, how could you tell?' Rose asked as they continued to climb.

'Instinct', he smiled. 'I think you remind her of herself. And whether the other captains like it or not, you are the one to watch in this competition.'

'Thanks Scorp.' Rose gave his arm a quick squeeze then suddenly pulled back her ears burning red. With the madness of homework, training and quidditch over the last few days, she'd almost forgotten the weird feelings in her stomach whenever she looked at her friend for too long but now she was grateful she's pulled her matted hair from its eye-brow-raisingly tight ponytail, because the thick locks covered her ears from sight.

Looking hastily away, she ran up the last few steps after her cousin.

A.N.

Another day, another chapter, and I'm really enjoying this story. So sad that so few people are reading it :( Ah well... Shout out to Gandalf537 for the lovely review!

What did you make of this chapter? I had great fun writing Scary Rose, let me know!

Updates are going to be every Sunday from now on as I already have the next two chapter written, and the rest planned!

love and hugs

A.A.A.