In James's Wandlore lessons in the week that followed, Olivander taught James how to recognize by look what wood a wand was made of and by the end of his lesson on Wednesday, September 8th, 2020, James was able to successfully identify all of the major wand woods by wand appearance.
On Saturday September 12th, 2020, Wesley Wood held a Chaser trail to replace the now graduated Rachel Robins. Both Hugo and Devon would be trying out.
James. Fred, Roxanne, Ainsley, Samantha, Stephanie. and Lily all came out to watch and stood on the east side of the pitch.
Wesley was pleased they were there but asked for quiet until he announced his decision.
Ultimately it came down to Hugo and Devon.
They were only two Chaser hopefuls who passed the basic flying test Wesley put Chaser hopefuls through.
With only two contestants, Wesley decided to start them with some one on one competitions.
He gave them each ten quaffles and had Hugo shoot at the north center hoop from mid pitch and had Devon shoot at the south center hoop from mid pitch.
They each hit all ten shots.
Wesley then had them shoot one at time until one of them missed. Both tied making exactly twenty four shots in a row.
Wesley then handed Devon and Hugo three quaffles each and told them to aim all three towards their hoop at once. Hugo and Devon got all three quaffles in their hoops.
Finally, Wesley decided to have Hugo and Devon just fly around and play one on one Quidditch for fifteen minutes.
To Wesley's approval. Hugo and Devon not only played one on one in terms of trying to score goals but occasionally took a break and practiced passing with each other. This allowed Wesley to see their passing skills. Both Hugo and Devon had great passing skills so that wasn't much of a tiebreaker. Nether really got the upper hand on the other and finally Wesley called off the trail and asked for a ten minute thinking period to make the tough choice.
"The newest Gryffindor Chaser is..." began Wesley, holding his voice for effect.
Wesley held his breath for about a minute and then...
"Devon Dursley!"
Devon stood almost stunned for a nanosecond and then jumped up into the air in a leap of fierce joy.
"YES!" screamed Devon in a voice that reeked of surreal ecstasy, "I- I'm really a Gryffindor Chaser. I-I really did it."
"Great job, Devon," said Hugo with a genuine smile on his face, "High five?"
Devon and Hugo high fived and Hugo then looked Devon eye to eye.
"Devon," said Hugo in a sincerely happy voice, "You were awesome out there and I couldn't be happier for you to have this opportunity. I KNOW you are going to make our families, friends, and fellow Gryffindors proud with your performance as a Gryffindor Chaser this year. Great job buddy."
Hugo held out his hand and Hugo and Devon exchanged a heartfelt handshake.
"Thanks a it, Hugo, you're a class act and a wonderful friend and I hope you get another at making this team in the future.," said Devon warmly, "By the way, although I edged you out, you should still be very proud of your effort and performance today. I had to play out my mind to = that."
"Thank you, Devon," said Hugo, "Well I am a year below Roxanne so maybe I'll have a shot in seventh year."
Hugo and Devon now went to join James. Fred, Roxanne, Ainsley. Samantha Stephanie, and Lily.
"YES! I DID IT!" shouted Devon as he ran up to Lily, "I'm a Gryffindor Chaser!"
"Congratulations Devon," said Lily radiantly, patting Devon on the back, "I can't even to tell you how proud I am of you and how far you've come. Last year you couldn't even fly at all and now you're a Gryffindor Chaser!"
"I'm really proud of you as well," said James sincerely, "You changed your life for the better after New Year's and this is just another reward along the way. I look forward to calling your first match and I'm sure my big sis is looking forward to having you as a teammate."
"Absolutely correct, baby bro," said Lily happily, "And he's going to better than Rachel, so it also improves our team."
"I owe a lot of this to the Potters," said Devon with a genuine tent of appreciation in his voice, "Harry noticing I was so severely overweight and giving Lily her mission to help me. Lily knowing exactly how to get through to me and making see I how I needed to take more responsibility for my life and what I had to gain by doing so. James convincing me to give up beer. James. Albus, and Lily all helping me practice fly and practice Quidditch over the summer. My triumph is largely of the Potters making."
"Still, it was ultimately down to you, Devon," said Lily clearly, "You were the one who had to do those weight loss exercises. You were the one who had to develop more self-discipline and take more responsibility for your own life. You were the one who actually had to give up beer. And at the end of the day, while we did help you out in terms of practicing with you, you were always fully committed to developing your Quidditch game and you always took that very seriously. You flat out earned the spot. That you were able to go from not even being able to fly at all to being a Gryffindor Chaser in only a year's time is absolutely amazing!"
"I think you'll fit right in with Ainsley and me as our third Chaser," Roxanne told Devon.
At that nanosecond Devon felt a slow stream of something cold and wet on his neck. He instinctively turned around and saw that Ainsley had positioned herself behind him and was spraying him with her Super Soaker fifty water gun.
"Good one, Ainsley," said Devon with a grin and giggle.
"New season, new prank," smirked Ainsley, "Don't think I have totally given up the water balloon pranks though."
Changing her tone, Ainsley said in a more serious voice, "Devon you were magnificent out there today. I am so happy to have you as a teammate. It's nice having another one of my friends on the team and I know you are going to help Gryffindor keep that Quidditch Cup. All due respect to Rachel Robins, who was a very good Chaser in her own right, I think with you on board, we have a chance to be the best Chaser trio in Gryffindor history, even better than Johnson, Spinet, and Bell."
"Roxanne, Ainsley, thanks," said Devon gently, "It feels really good to know that my fellow Chasers believe in me."
"After the way you performed today, how could they not!" beamed Fred.
"To add a great Chaser like Devon to an already strong Chaser group and with Lily as Seeker and Fred and Stephanie at Beater, and I, the great Samantha Saver, the greatest Keeper of all time, I KNOW we are going to repeat!" said Samantha confidently, "Devon, welcome to the team!"
"Fred, Samantha, I appreciate the warm welcome. Wesley, I will make you glad you chose me."
Stephanie remained silent. Remembering her original Beater trail from the previous year, Stephanie, was thinking of Hugo and how heartbroken he must be feeling at this nanosecond.
Hugo himself finally came over.
"Hugo," said Stephanie sympathetically, "I was in your position last year at this time. I know how crushing it is to be on the losing end of a great battle like that. I know how devastating it is to be awesome only to see someone else be just as awesome and snatch the spot away."
"Stephanie, I understand why you would empathize with my not making the team after the way you lost your original trial last year," said Hugo, "But this is Devon's day. Can't you either congratulate him or else offer him some kind words?
"I relate more to the loser than the winner in a situation like this because of my own experience," replied Stephanie, "But Devon was superb and deserved his triumph."
"You know," said Lily thoughtfully, "I'm obviously proud of Devon but I'm also proud of Hugo both for his more than worthy performance and his classiness in defeat."
"Being a friend is more important than being a competitor," said Hugo fiercely, "Besides, I'll still come out with James to watch team practices. That's not so bad. If my friends are successful, then I'm happy for then. Go Devon!"
"Go Devon!" chorused everyone.
They all looked at each other and smiled. Devon had come so far in such a short time and the pride they all had in him was palpable.