On Friday at dinner, Oliver Wood told the rest of the Gryffindor team that they were going to have Quidditch practice tomorrow. When Fred and George complained about how they had been woken up at the crack of dawn for their first practice last year, and all the chasers and Alex joined in agreement, Oliver hastily said that it would take place at nine o'clock, not six or seven in the morning, and they could grab a quick bite to eat first.

"That's better," said Beth. "Hey, Oliver, this is going to be your last year, right? So maybe we should also think about training someone to be your replacement when you leave, and he or she can be the reserve Keeper for this year."

"That's not a bad idea," said Angelina Johnson. "You have Beth as our reserve Seeker and Chaser, but we don't have any reserves for the other positions. And it would be nice to have someone that we know can take your position and do well when your graduate."

"Then we'll do that," said Oliver. "I can have tryouts tomorrow for a reserve Keeper and Beater. And maybe get another reserve Chaser also. I doubt it would happen, but there's always a chance that something could happen that would prevent Alex and one of the Chasers from playing, and I don't want to be short a Chaser."

"Er, do we have to have tryouts?" asked Katie Bell. "McClaggen's been saying how he wants to take over as Keeper when you graduate, and if he heard about tryouts, he'd definitely show up to try and win one of the spots."

Oliver winced at the idea of having Cormac McClaggen back on the team. He had no choice in letting the younger boy play Seeker two years ago, since Alex couldn't be a full member of the team as a first year and there was nobody else that tried out that could fly so well, but it was different now. Sure, McClaggen was a very good flier and had the build of a Keeper, but he would be insufferable and would no doubt neglect the goalposts during matches in an attempt to tell everyone else how to do their jobs, even though he wasn't Captain.

"You don't have to have open tryouts," George said. "Just get a few Gryffindors that you know would be good for the reserve positions and try them out. For example, Ron's not that bad at Keeping. He plays Keeper whenever he plays Quidditch with us and his friends at home."

Beth and Alex nodded in agreement, and Fred said, "George's right. Ron is pretty good as Keeper. Not up to your standard, Oliver, but for casual matches, he's good enough, and with the proper training with our team, he'll get better."

"I doubt anyone, outside of some professional Keepers, would be better at you at Keeping, Oliver," said Alex. "However, Ron is as good as my cousin Cara at it, in my opinion, and she just got appointed as Hufflepuff's reserve Keeper at their tryouts yesterday."

"All right, you guys have convinced me," said Oliver. "Ron!" Ron looked up from his spot a couple seats down and Oliver said, "Come down to the Quidditch pitch tomorrow at nine o'clock, with your broom, and I'll try you out as Keeper. I'm looking to train a replacement, since this is my last year, and the Gryffindor team could use a reserve Keeper. Your brothers and friends all say you're pretty good."

Ron looked at his twin brothers in surprise, for they were more likely to good-naturedly tease him than compliment him. Then again, it was about Quidditch, which they were more serious about. "I'll be there, Oliver," he said, happy at being given the opportunity.

"And you don't need to bring your broom, Ron," said Alex. "You can use the team broom and I'll just practice with mine." Ron cheered up at that, for while he had a decent broom (a Cleansweep Seven that the Romanov-Petrov clan had given him for his eleventh birthday), it wasn't as good as a Nimbus.

"Now we just need a couple of people to try out for reserve Beater and Chaser," said Oliver.

The rest of the team exchanged looks, for none of them knew of anyone that would be good enough to take those spots. Well, Ginny and David were good enough to be Chasers, but they were in Ravenclaw, not Gryffindor. After a moment of thought, Alicia Spinnet said, "You could always ask the second-years if they've got anyone that's interested in playing Quidditch. I was the reserve Chaser in my second year, after all."

Alex added, "And my dormmates Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan both like Quidditch and are good fliers. At least, they were at our flying lessons back in first year. I could ask them to try out for the reserve Chaser if you want."

"You can do that, Alex," said Oliver, looking satisfied. "I'll speak to the second-years." He got up and walked over to the cluster of second years seated at one end of the table, one of them being Colin Creevy, a rather mousy and excitable boy who had spent a good portion of the previous year walking around with a camera and taking pictures. Alex suspected that part of the reason Colin was so excitable was due to the fact that he was Muggleborn and therefore fascinated with just about everything in the wizarding world. In fact, after having heard about the incident with the Philosopher's Stone from an older student and getting wind of the Chamber of Secrets, Colin had approached the Gryffindor quintet to take their picture and ask them more about both incidents. While Ron had been initially pleased with the attention, he, like his friends, had soon grown tired of being pestered, and they finally had to tell the younger boy that Professor Dumbledore wanted to keep the exact details private before Colin would leave them alone.

Colin, two other boys (one named Jack Sloper and the other Ritchie Coote), and a girl named Demelza Robins expressed interest in trying out for the reserve positions, and said that they'd be there tomorrow at nine. Colin didn't have a broom, however, so rather than have him use a school broom, Oliver said that Colin could borrow his, since he was using one of the team brooms. When Oliver returned to his seat, Fred said, "I don't know about the others, but from what I saw of that Creevy kid last year, he's probably just trying out because he likes Quidditch and finds it interesting, not because he's any good."

Oliver shrugged. "We'll see how good he is tomorrow. He doesn't strike me as being good enough to be Beater, anyway, and I doubt he'd be that good at Chaser either, since his build is better suited for being Seeker, and we have Alex for that. I don't think Colin Creevy would be too put out at not being chosen, in any case. He'll probably just be happy that he had the chance to try out, and take lots of pictures at our matches."

Alex sought out Seamus and Dean, who were sitting at the middle of the Gryffindor table, and they agreed to try out for reserve Chaser.

The next morning was tryouts. Ron was first, and Oliver was satisfied enough with his performance to make Ron the reserve Keeper and train as future replacement. After that, Dean, Seamus, Colin, and Demelza Robins tried out for reserve Chaser. Demelza was a very good flier, quite skilled at dodging bludger, and managed to get past Oliver and score three times. Colin almost fell off his broom in his excitement over tryouts, and dropped the Quaffle multiple times. It was clear that even if he got over his excitement, he still wouldn't be good enough to be on the team. Oliver kindly told him that he couldn't be on the team, but with practice, he might be good enough to make the team in the future.

Colin, who had been disappointed at first, cheered up at the idea of possibly being on the team in the future, and skipped off saying that he was going to practice hard. The rest of the team chuckled at this, and then turned their attention to Dean and Seamus. While Seamus was a decent flier, Dean did better than him when it came to carrying out the role of Chaser. In the end, Oliver made both Demelza and Dean the reserve Chasers, saying that Alicia and Angelina would be graduating in two years and it wouldn't hurt to have them both be ready with Beth. Out of the three of them, the two that were better could join Katie as full Chasers, and the third would be a reserve, and when Katie graduated the following year, the third person could then take the spot. Seamus was disappointed at not making the cut, but congratulated his best friend for doing so, and went to the stands to watch the rest of tryouts.

Finally Jack Sloper and Ritchie Coote tried out for reserve Beater. Before they could take off, however, Cormac McClaggen showed up, his broom clutched in one hand. "That Creevy kid said he had been at tryouts, when I saw him with a school broom a few minutes ago," McClaggen said by way of explanation. "Why didn't you say there were tryouts, so I could attend?"

"They weren't open tryouts," Oliver said impatiently. "We just asked a few third and second-years to try out for reserve positions if they were interested."

"Why didn't you ask me?" complained McClaggen. "I might be in fourth-year, not second or third, but I'm an excellent flier and would be perfect to take over as Keeper when you graduate at the end of the school year. You can still try me out, since your tryouts aren't over."

"Actually, we've already filled the slot for reserve Keeper and all we've got left to do is reserve Beater," said Oliver coldly.

"Who's the reserve Keeper?" McClaggen asked, rather belligerently. "They can't be better than me!"

Fred, looking annoyed, said, "It's my brother, Ron, and he is better than you, McClaggen. Or should I call you McClueless, instead?"

"And if you say anything more about our brother, we'll prank you," George added. "Not only is Ron a better Keeper than you, but he has a better attitude too. Or did you not realize that your attitude is a big reason why we didn't hold open tryouts or invite you to try out?"

"What's wrong with my attitude?" demanded McClaggen.

"Let's see," said Angelina acidly. "You think you're better than everyone else at playing Quidditch."

"When you were playing as Seeker, half the time you didn't focus on your position and instead tried to tell everyone else on the team what to do," added Katie. "That's Oliver's job, not yours. You're not the captain."

"And you're not a good sport and threw a fit over Alex and Beth being chosen for the team because they were better than you at tryouts last year," Alicia finished.

"I'm not going to even consider you for any reserve position," Oliver snapped. "So get off the pitch, McClaggen, or maybe I should call you McClueless as Fred did, or I'll go to Professor McGonagall about it. Even she doesn't think you're right for the team. Why else would she have given you that detention so that Alex would have to take over for Seeker in the match against Hufflepuff two years ago?"

Cormac McClaggen stormed off the pitch in a huff and the tryouts resumed. A couple minutes in, it became very clear that Jack Sloper wasn't any good at being a Beater. He waved the bat around wildly, missing the bludger nine times out of ten, gave a shriek and toppled off his broom when Ritchie flew a little too close to him (fortunately Oliver reacted quickly with a spell that slowed down Jack's fall so he wasn't hurt), and after getting back on his broom, lost his grip on the bat at another attempt to hit the bludger. The bat flew out of his hand and would have hit Alicia, but she was able to dodge it and it landed on the ground instead.

At that point, Oliver put an end to Jack's tryout, saying, "I'm sorry, Jack Sloper, but you're not what we're looking for in a reserve Beater. You're going to need more practice before you'll be good enough. Why don't you try again in three years, when Fred and George have graduated?"

Jack, looking rather disappointed but acknowledging he just wasn't that good at the moment, picked up his broom and left the pitch. Ritchie, however, showed some promise as a Beater. He was rather weedy, but aimed well, and was a rather good flier. "All right, you've got the spot as reserve Beater, Ritchie Coote," said Oliver. "Since you're a reserve, you don't need to be at all our practices, but you do have to show up for at least one a week so we can further train you. The same goes for you, Ron, Dean, and Demelza. I would like it if you four stayed for the team's practice session that's going to happen now, though you can just watch for a bit if you need some rest."

All four of them were willing to participate in the practice session, so Oliver sorted things out and practice began. It went pretty well, other than Ron becoming nervous at one point and fumbling his attempts at blocking the Chasers from scoring. After Alex and Beth shouted encouragement at him and Fred and George pointed out that they didn't want to have take back what they said to McClaggen, Ron got over the attack of nerves and did better. When practice ended for lunch, Oliver complimented the team on how well they did, and said that they were going to win the Quidditch Cup this year, like they had done last year.