Chapter 5 – Try-outs
"How can you lose a broom?" James demanded, as Sirius disappeared under his bed, arms stretching as far as he could reach. Really, the space under the bed wasn't a particularly large one, but Sirius could have sworn that was where he'd stowed the new broom once they'd returned to school.
He was only half dressed and had been busy getting ready for Quidditch try-outs when James had burst into the dorm, already in his full kit, claiming that they needed to get there early because "I'm the Captain now, I can't just show up whenever I feel like it!"
The carpet scratched Sirius' arms as he hauled himself back up, still empty handed.
He looked around the room helplessly, quickly pulling his new Gryffindor jumper over his head to somewhat appease James. Peter was still down in the common room, completely engrossed in a game of exploding snap, while Remus had been sitting on his bed with his legs crossed for the past hour or so, glaring at the essay he was writing.
"Moony," he asked, taking a step towards him while James glanced at his watch. "Have you seen my broom?"
Remus looked up from his parchment, happy for an excuse to put down his quill. "You used it the other day to kill a spider on Peter's wardrobe," he said. "It's probably still around there somewhere."
Ignoring James' dismayed complaints that a Cleansweep Six should not be used as a bug swatter, Remus reluctantly turned back to his work. The problem was that, only two weeks into their sixth year, he was beginning to realise that NEWTs were a lot harder that OWLs had been. All their teachers had started setting record levels of homework, and it was difficult to keep on top of it all. He'd been trying to write an essay on Golpalott's Third Law, which was easier said than done, considering that he hadn't even heard of Golpalott until last week, and the guy had created far too many laws for Remus' liking. Irritatingly, he couldn't seem to get past the introduction.
"Sirius," Remus finally said as the broom was triumphantly extracted from under a pile of Peter's clothes, "I expect I already know the answer, but have you started this potions essay?"
"I've got all day tomorrow!" Sirius said carelessly, as he hoisted the broomstick over his shoulder.
James grabbed him by the arm impatiently and started dragging him towards the door, muttering to himself anxiously. He really didn't want to make a bad impression on his first real day in charge of the team.
"Why don't you leave it for now and come and watch try-outs?" Sirius called over his shoulder as he was pulled rather roughly down the stairs.
Remus extracted himself from his nest of books and parchment and followed them as far as the stairs. "I want to get this essay done so I can do all the transfiguration homework tomorrow," he called after Sirius. "Good luck though!"
Sirius grinned at him before clambering out of the portrait hole after James. Remus supposed he didn't really need luck, both because James was bound to choose him for the team and because he had, apparently, become an excellent beater from all the practice he'd had over summer. Despite the inevitability of it though, Sirius was likely to be so pleased about getting the position that he would have to tell everyone in the common room about it at least twice, Remus included. It was therefore best that he get the essay done before try-outs were over – except he still had no idea what to write.
Sighing, he went back into the dormitory and gathered up his books and writing equipment, piling them all inside his bag. He hoped he'd have better luck at the library; maybe he was just looking in the wrong books.
But when he got there, it was already packed, mostly with other sixth and seventh years. He circled the desks twice before concluding that there was someone sitting at every single table. He supposed he could have gone back to the common room, but it had been loud when he'd left and the cosy armchairs in front of the fire always made him want to nap instead of do work.
Warily, he went over to the only other Gryffindor sixth year he'd spotted, who was leaning over a sheet of parchment that was already nearly filled with her neat, curly handwriting. "Uhm," he said, putting his hand on the back of the chair opposite her. "Lily? Can I sit here?"
Lily jumped slightly, not having noticed anyone approach until Remus was already hovering in front of her, looking hopeful. Thankfully, she was almost done with her Potions essay, but she had a pile of other homework to contend with, not to mention hallways to patrol that evening.
Remus looked like Lily felt: stressed. He was wearing a thin jumper with small holes around the cuffs that he fiddled with as he waited for an answer. His eyes were wide and tired looking, as if he'd been staring at the something for far too long.
"Sure," she said, gesturing for Remus to take the seat; his obvious frustration quelled her feeling of unease about potentially being the victim of a prank.
She'd never quite known how to act around Remus – the fact that he spent all his time with Sirius and James didn't exactly instil her with confidence, but he'd never come across as untrustworthy or immature. He always worked hard, and whenever their prefect duties overlapped he was pleasant to her.
"What are you working on?" she asked, putting her quill down and peering across the table at Remus' short paragraph. "Potions?"
"Yeah," Remus said, taking the seat with relief. He took his quill, ink and parchment from his bag and frowned at his introduction. "I haven't really managed to get anywhere with it though. How about you?" He glanced at the book open next to her and saw a diagram of a cauldron with several labelled ingredients around it.
"I just have the conclusion left," Lily said. She pushed the book Remus was trying to see over to his side of the table with a small smile. "Here. It took me almost an hour to find a book that was actually useful. I'm not cruel enough to put you through that."
She re-dipped her quill and finished off her essay with a few more concise lines about how simply mixing anecdotes would not be sufficient in curing blended poisons. Scrawling her name and the date across the top, she smoothed the parchment out and put it to one side, feeling extremely relieved.
Remus poured over the potions book, flicking back a couple of pages and finding a concise explanation of how to make antidotes that didn't make his head spin. "This is great," he said, looking up at Lily and smiling. "That's twice now you've saved me from the nightmare that is NEWT-level potions."
"I don't know how you ever get anything done with those friends of yours," she informed him.
She'd pulled out a transfiguration book and was already half way through a paragraph describing how to make an enchantment hold for prolonged periods. "I bet neither of them have started what McGonagall set and they'll still get at least Exceeds Expectations."
She shook her head, but softened slightly when Remus looked uncomfortable. "Mary's gone to try-outs too," she confessed. "So I'll probably be about for a while if you need any more help."
Surprised at the offer, and relieved at the change of topic, Remus smiled. "Thanks," he said as he dipped his quill into the inkwell and started his next paragraph.
Try-outs were going better than expected. James hadn't wanted to kick anyone off the team and would have just recruited for the three positions that were open, but McGonagall had told him that he had to give everyone a chance, just in case he found someone better than last year's players. Luckily, no one wanted to be keeper except Marlene McKinnon, a seventh year who was already on the team, so the position had automatically gone to her.
Chaser try-outs were a little more complicated since he already took up one of the positions and four people wanted the remaining two. Still, it had been pretty clear who the best fliers were.
"Alright," James yelled, and the group of Gryffindors that were gathered around him quietened down. "I've made my decision. You all flew well, but there can only be three chasers. This year they will be me, Benjy Fenwick, and Mary MacDonald."
There were a couple of woops from the chosen chasers and their friends before James hushed them again. "Okay, beaters next, listen up those of you who're trying out for that position. I know beaters are usually prized for their strength, but aim is also important. I don't want any injuries today, so instead of aiming for people, you'll be trying to hit the bludgers through the goal posts. I'm letting two bludgers out at once, and you'll have to keep track of both of them to make sure they don't hit anyone, okay? Kingsley, you're up first."
Kingsley nodded and mounted his broom, soaring up to the height of the goal posts with a bat in his hand. Once he was high enough, James told everyone to step back and released the bludgers. They rocketed straight up into the air, and within seconds Kingsley had hit them both. The first one was too high, but the second went through the left hoop before zooming back towards him.
James watched him for about five minutes before getting on his broom to help retrieve the bludgers and return them to the box. Kingsley had been on the team for as long as James had, and all his practice meant he'd almost certainly get one of the beater positions. James hoped that the second person who tried out wasn't as good, so that Sirius didn't have too much competition. He crossed his fingers, but he needed have worried; the girl was only a third year, and in five minutes she only got a bludger through the goal posts twice. At one point, she even lost track of one of the bludgers and it would have smacked Benjy Fenwick in the face if Kingsley hadn't pulled him out the way. James knew Sirius could do a lot better than that.
Sirius was quietly confident as he got on his broom, winking at James, who was poised to release the bludgers, before he took off into the air. Somewhere in the back of his mind the possible embarrassment of being beaten by a third year buzzed around his head, but he soon shook the feeling off, watching the two balls as they launched into the air before him.
Sirius had only been flying on the pitch a handful of times, more used to the open fields around James' house and aiming at carefully marked out targets between trees. Surprisingly, it wasn't too hard to get used to the change of scenery. Without really thinking about it, Sirius sped forward, ducking the first bludger and knocking the second towards the goal closest to him, where it flew through the goal with what he was tempted to think of as a menacing swoosh. Before it could rally back towards him, Sirius turned his attention to the other ball. Waiting until just the right moment, he swung his bat with as much force as he could, sending one bludger flying towards the other, where they crashed together and fell through two different hoops. Somewhere below him, Sirius heard a ripple of applause from the other players and smiled to himself. Glad not to have let James down, he raced back towards the centre of the pitch, preparing for his next hit.
James grinned as the bludgers swooped back towards Sirius and he knocked them through the hoops again. He was delighted that, when the five minutes were up, Sirius had managed to get the bludgers through the hoops as many times as Kingsley though admittedly at one point he was too busy being pleased with himself to notice the bludger that slammed into him. Still, even with a probably-dislocated shoulder he was able to hit the bludger as hard as it had hit him, which James thought was an admirable quality in any Quidditch player.
As the two of them rounded up the bludgers, James flew close to Sirius and gave him a thumbs up. "It's hard to tell, but I think you might just get on the team, mate."
"Don't know how wise the Captain is then," Sirius grinned, "or me for that matter, if I'm going to get hit every bloody game."
The two of them wrestled the bludgers back into their box for the final time, and James, to no one's surprise, announced that Sirius and Kingsley would be the team's beaters. Kingsley put a heavy hand on Sirius' shoulder as James gathered the potential seekers and realised the snitch.
"Good work," he said. Sirius flinched away as Kingsley raised his wand, but all he felt was a wave of warmth in his shoulder as he muttered a spell under his breath.
Rolling his shoulders back experimentally , Sirius found that the pain was completely gone. "Thanks!" he said, surprised. "Though a bit of warning next time, eh?"
Kingsley just laughed. "You won't be saying that when the other team's beater slams a bludger into your chest."
Sirius didn't know if he was joking or not. Kingsley seemed to have that effect on people. Turning his attention back to the team, Sirius saw everyone flying back down to the ground. In the few minutes that he'd been talking to Kingsley, someone had apparently managed to catch the snitch, though most of the audience seemed to have missed it.
The someone turned out to be a small, brown haired fourth year called Chloe, who stood in the centre of her much larger teammates with a huge grin, holding out the golden winged ball to James, who looked extremely impressed.
"Congratulations, Chloe," he said, patting her on the back. "You and everyone else who made the team make sure you all turn up to practice next Sunday, and I hope we'll see the rest of you supporting us at the first match of the year!"
As the others disbanded and began the trek back to the castle, Sirius helped James organise the abandoned school brooms and equipment that had been used during try-outs.
"Think we've got a chance?" he asked hopefully, dragging a crate of balls across the grass with one handle.
"Are you kidding?" James replied. Sirius couldn't see his face over the mountain of brooms in his hands, but he had the distinct impression that he was grinning. "We're going to win every match!"