Chapter Eight

Chaser Tryouts and Mini-Beast Hotels

The storm had blown over by the following day so when Lily and Mia walked down to the Quidditch pitch straight after lessons, it was to warm September sunshine.

"I hope whoever Sam turns up is good," Lily said. "Mind you, after playing with James and Fred, pretty much anybody would be a comedown."

Upon reaching the pitch, Lily and Mia quickly changed into their Quidditch robes and headed out onto the pitch. The rest of the team was already assembled, even Samuel, which Mia guessed was only because she had sent him a MI reminding him between last two lessons.

The group of prospective Chasers was smaller than last year, which Mia thought was odd, considering there were two positions to fill this time. There were seven of them in total: a seventh year Mia knew by sight but not by name; Samuel's younger brother Peter; Kyle Caplan, who tried out every year for one position or another; a third year girl Mia thought was called Olivia; JJ, looking nervous and clutching his new broom; Reuben Goldstein; and Ailie, who was accompanied by Louis, who was trying to lead her away.

"Ailie, sweetheart," he said. "You have many talents, but Quidditch just isn't one of them. Come into the stands with me and watch."
Remembering Ailie's disastrous tryout last year, where she hadn't even managed to get airborne, Mia thought he had a point.

"All present and correct?" Samuel asked, strolling over to the group.

"Almost," Louis said. "We were just leaving, weren't we, Ailie?"

Ailie gave the Quidditch team one last mournful look, then said, "Fine!" and flounced off the pitch, Louis following.

"Alright, I'm going to divide you into two teams and put you in a bit of a game," Samuel told the prospective Chasers. "Lily will be the second Keeper and both Beaters will be sending Bludgers at all of you. You'll change ends after five minutes and the winning team after ten automatically go through to the next round. Some of the losing team might join them if they've impressed me. I'll try and make the teams fair by age, so Nadia, Reuben and JJ will be one team and Peter, Kyle and Olivia'll be the other."

Mia was blocking goals from Nadia, Reuben and JJ first. She kicked off hard and felt that exhilarating rush of air as she soared toward the goal hoops. Once Mia and Lily were in position, Samuel blew a whistle he'd procured from somewhere and the six prospective Chasers took off.

Reuben had the Quaffle and flew confidently up the pitch toward Mia. As Roxanne shot a Bludger at him, he passed to JJ, who only just managed to catch the Quaffle and passed it back to Reuben as soon as he was able to, as if he didn't quite trust himself to have it. JJ's aim was good, Mia noted, and he was quite a decent little flier.

Reuben flew closer to Mia. As he entered the scoring area, he threw the Quaffle through the left hand hoop. Mia dived and her fingertips just brushed the Quaffle but it went in anyway. Mia retrieved the Quaffle and passed it to Olivia, the third year girl, who promptly dropped it. JJ, waiting below, caught it, and shot wildly at the goal hoops, which Mia easily blocked.

This time, she passed the Quaffle back to Peter, who flew off up the pitch with it. When he found Reuben blocking his way, he passed to Kyle, who passed back to Peter, who passed to Olivia, who dropped it. Nadia, the seventh year girl, dived to get it. The Quaffle had fallen almost to the ground when she reached it and as she pulled out of the dive, Mia thought she was probably really a Seeker.

Nadia flew up the pitch with the Quaffle but dropped it when she had to dive to avoid a Bludger. Peter caught it and passed to Kyle, who scored. The other team now had the Quaffle and Nadia and JJ set Reuben up for another goal before Samuel blew the whistle for change of ends. Nadia, JJ and Reuben quickly found their groove, with Nadia and JJ setting Reuben up for another four goals in the next five minutes, whilst the other team didn't score any.

After the ten minutes were up, Samuel announced Nadia, Reuben and JJ as the winners and also put Kyle through to the next round. For this, he had the prospective Chasers work in a team with Lily, two at a time, to try and get goals past Mia. After five minutes each, Samuel called the team down to confer with him.

"Reuben's a dead cert," Samuel said. "He's really taken on board what James said to him last year about being a team player and, let's be honest, it wasn't that he didn't make the team last year because he was bad, just Lily was better. If there'd been two spots then, he would've got the other. So, yeah, he's on the team. But the second spot…?"

"Nadia's just not accurate enough," Lily said. "I'm sorry but she'd always let you down in a match because she can't shoot well enough, and actually her passing's not great either. Reuben was definitely having to overcompensate to catch when she threw to him."

"Okay, not Nadia," Samuel conceded. "JJ?"

"He's not a Chaser," Roxanne said. "I reckon he's a Beater, really."

"Oh, so that's what it is," Samuel said. "I knew there was something not quite right but I just couldn't put my finger on it. So, that leaves Kyle."

"He's alright," Mia said. "Nothing out of the ordinary, but his aim's not bad. He needs to work a bit on being a team player but we can teach him that."

"Reuben and Kyle," Samuel said. "Okay, let's go tell them."

He led the way over to where the four prospective Chasers were, the rest of the team following.

"I won't beat around the bush," Samuel said. "Reuben, Kyle, you're in. Welcome to the team. Nadia-"

"'s fine," Nadia shrugged. "Didn't think I'd make it anyway." And she walked away.

Samuel turned to JJ. "Just because Chasing's not your thing, doesn't mean Quidditch isn't," he said. "Get some friends together and try out all the positions and see where you fit. Roxanne reckons you might be a Beater."

"Okay, thanks," JJ said and he too walked away.

Samuel turned to his new team. "Alright guys, first practice is Tuesday. Between now and then, Reuben and Kyle, I want you spending lots of time with Lily, getting to know each other. James, Fred and Lily were tight and used this to their advantage when playing together – I want you three to be the same."

"Okay Sam, we're on it," Lily said.

She was true to her word, and the following night, she begged off the second HEC meeting to hang out with her new teammates. In the end, Mia headed down to Greenhouse One by herself, as Hugo said he wasn't coming either due to a study date with Rachel. ("More date and less study, I bet," Lily said.). In the greenhouse, Mia took a seat next to Mac and opposite Louis and Ailie. Looking around, she was grateful that Javan and his sixth-year friends hadn't come to heckle tonight.

"Where's Lily?" Mac asked.

Mia grinned. "Hanging out with Reuben and Kyle – the new Chasers."

"And you're grinning because…?"

"You Like her, don't you?" Mia asked.

"No," Mac said.

"Yeah, alright," Mia grinned. "She's being as evasive as you are but I think she likes you too, so if you want to ask her out…"

"I don't," Mac said decisively. "I have a crap record with girlfriends, anyhow."

"So you do like her but you're scared," Mia surmised. "I'm right, aren't I?"

But Mac was spared having to answer by Matilda standing up and declaring the second meeting of the HEC open.

"Firstly, Mac has made us some official HEC badges," Matilda said. "They will be given to every member upon payment of a one-off membership fee of one Sickle, which just covers the cost of the badges. You're welcome to come to HEC meetings if you're not a member but only members will be able to vote on stuff… if we ever vote on stuff. We four-" she gestured to herself and Emma, JJ and Archie, who were sat around the end of the table with her, "-and Mac became members at lunchtime. Anyone who wants to be a member needs to give their membership fee to Mac, who's the treasurer."

"They're trusting me with money, Mia," Mac whispered in mock terror and Mia grinned.

"Shh!" Matilda said. "Okay, so tonight we're going to make a start on the things we planned to do last time. I'm gonna lead a group that's going down to the edge of the Forest to find a good place to plant trees. Emma – with Eiley-" Matilda nodded at the first-year girl who'd suggested building mini-beast hotels "-is in charge of making a start on the bug hotels. Hagrid's given us an area to use next to his vegetable patch. JJ's group will be making a start on our poster campaign to get people at Hogwarts to live more sustainably. And we had another idea of keeping a record about what creatures we see just outside this greenhouse at this time on a Friday night all year, so Archie's group's gonna be doing that tonight. So, pick yourself a group and let's go!"

Mia decided to go with Emma and Eiley – partly to spend time with her little sister and partly because making mini-beast hotels sounded like it might be quite fun too. Mac came as well, "Though I'm afraid I won't be helping you," he said as the four of them set out across the grounds. "I've got far too many badges to make."

When they reached the area Hagrid had set aside for the mini-beast hotels, true to his word, Mac sat down and started making badges. The other three spent a happy half-hour coming up with plans and collecting the materials they might need to make homes for Flobberworms, Bowtruckles, Knarls, and any number of non-magical mini-beasts.