Chapter 6: Quidditch Tryouts
That Saturday, Merida woke up before dawn. It was a very important day, the Quidditch tryouts would take place and she should have a chance to be on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, like her father before her.
The last time Merida had woken up this early was four years ago when her mother took her to watch the final of the Quidditch World Cup in Argentina. Even though she was still very young, she could still perfectly remember the emotions she felt when seeing the Bulgarian national team rise as the champion against their counterpart from Brazil. She hoped she could feel the same one day with the Scottish national team, as a player or as a fan.
She hurried to get dressed and made her way through Hogwarts, across the fields, and down to the Quidditch stadium. The place was still empty, the only one there was Olivia Perkins, the older sister of her friend Emily, was also the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The girl was wearing the Quidditch robe and was using a levitation spell to move various boxes, presumably full of Quidditch gear and other things that were to be useful that day.
"Hello, Merida," the girl said as soon as she saw her arrive. Somewhat surprised. "You are early. Too much, I must say. I'm just preparing the field".
"I'm so excited about the tryouts that I couldn't wait to come," answered Merida, with a huge smile on her face.
"I believe you, the same thing happened to me when I had my first Quidditch tryout. By the way, Emily isn't with you?"
Merida shook her head. "She was still asleep."
"I hope she doesn't oversleep," Olivia said as she arranged several brooms on the floor, parallel to each other and about a meter and a half apart. "I really hope she makes the team".
Merida said nothing, she was thoughtful for a moment. About Emily and how she had told her and Astrid that Quidditch didn't seem so important to her as much as her sister and the rest of her family, that she wanted to be part of the Gryffindor team, for sure, but she was afraid of disappointing them because her family were fans to the bone. Just because she doesn't like the same thing they do. That she nonsense. "I think she's still asleep," she said at last. "Yesterday she fell asleep late doing her homework."
"Really? I wasn't expecting that from Emily", Olivia said, obviously upset. "I told her that the tryouts would be early, I hope she does not miss this opportunity just because she was doing homework".
…
Merida felt the uncontrollable need to change the subject. "How do you think it will go for me?"
"Well, if you fly as well as the other day you will surely make the team. Of course, playing Quidditch is not just knowing how to fly on a broom, that's why the tryouts need to be made".
"I know. I'm going to beat everyone, you'll see".
"I hope so".
Merida still had to wait for Olivia to put everything in order, and, more importantly, for the rest of those interested in joining the team to arrive, so she sat on a bench to the edge of the field. She recalled last Wednesday when Olivia "discovered" her broom flying prodigy talent, as the older Perkins girl said.
It was during her first flying class. Which Merida felt was unnecessary since she was very skilled since she was little, as her father taught her. That day she realized that there was another particularly skilled student. Jack Frost.
During class, a half-idiot Hufflepuff boy had an accident and broke his arm, so while Madam Hooch was taking him to the infirmary, Jack came over to her. Merida saw him approach out of the corner of her eye, and she pretended not to have seen him, instead, she paid special attention to what Emily told her about the Quidditch tryouts that her sister was in charge of.
"Hey, frenzy hair!" Merida hesitated to turn around, she knew Jack was referring to her, but she owed him a significant number of galleons so she thought it would be best to feign insanity. "DunBroch, I´m talking to you."
"What do you want, Frost?" Merida said, finally turning around.
"Nothing really," said Jack, leaning on his broom like if it was a staff, "just to remind you that you owe me more than ten galleons, of course".
"Hey, it wasn't that much!"
"Interests," said Jack, smiling.
"Get lost, Frost." Merida was starting to get annoyed.
Jack laughed. "Sorry, frenzy hair," he said. "What really brought me here is that I just found out that you are the daughter of the legendary Chaser Fergus DunBroch of the Ballycastle Bats".
"Yes, he was champion several times, what's up to you?" Merida was turning red with anger, no one had the right to talk about her father, for better or for worse.
All the other children were huddled around them. Merida saw Hiccup behind Jack; he was almost as skinny as his broom.
"Hey, calm down, little curls." Jack shook both hands. "I just wanted to ask you if you are as good as him at playing Quidditch. I've seen you fly and the truth is that you leave a lot to be desired. Quite disappointing though".
"He taught me himself to fly and play. So yeah, I'm better than you".
"Merida, stay calm," Emily said.
Jack raised his eyebrows. "Well, that's not what I asked, but I guess we can fix it and figure out who is the best."
"Oh yeah? How?"
"Merida..." Emily's voice was almost a plea.
"Well, you see," Frost began, "I have this," from between the folds of his robe he pulled out a quaffle. "
"Where did you get that?" Hiccup asked.
"From Filch's closet," Jack replied. He turned to Merida again. "I challenged you to a little Quidditch match, just you and me. The first one to score will officially be the better Quidditch player of the two of us".
Merida smiled. "Do you really want to do this, Frost?"
"Merida, don't do it, you'll get in trouble."
"I really think you should listen to Emily, Merida," Astrid said.
Merida didn't listen. "Deal", she said and then added. "But if I beat you, I will no longer owe you a single galleon."
"And if I beat you, you will owe me double."
There was a murmur around her.
"I don't think she will take the bet", someone said.
"I wouldn't", someone else said.
"It is too much money to lose, I could never pay it".
And more comments like that were heard from the other students.
"Don't do it, Merida," Emily pleaded once more.
"Seriously, don't do it," Astrid seconded.
"Shut up, everyone," Merida exploded. Nobody else said anything. Merida snorted and spoke. "We have a deal, Frost."
"You must be eager to give me double the money, frenzy hair," Jack told her, as he mounted his broom, "there is no way you can beat me".
"Don't forget that the one who taught me to ride the broom was one of the greatest chasers on the Scottish national team," Merida replied, riding her broom as well.
"If you have so much confidence in yourself, then double the bet. If you win, not only will you not owe me anything, but I will pay you the amount you owe me. But if you lose, you will owe me four times what you owe me at this moment".
Merida hesitated for a second. "That is too much".
Jack laughed and shrugged "Wow, I thought the DunBrochs were known as bears, but you look more like a chicken."
Merida could feel her blood rush to her head. "Take that back, Frost."
"Gladly," Jack tapped his foot on the ground and began to lift a few inches off the ground, "as soon as you beat me."
Merida did the same and both reached a considerable height above all their companions.
"Are you ready, DunBroch?" Jack said with a grimace, throwing the quaffle up and catching it with his hand over and over again
"Are you, Frost?"
Jack tossed the quaffle at Hiccup. "Help us with this, my friend, so this can be a little fairer".
"I doubt this is a good idea, Jack," Hiccup said.
Jack smiled. "Let's get started," he said. He made a sign with his hand and Hiccup threw the quaffle as high as he could.
Long story short: Merida had the biggest debt of her life and every time she ran into Jack in class, he didn't miss the opportunity to remind her the two following things: her debt and her defeat, which hurt more by the fact that she had lost against Jack. Merida's pride was shattered.
Merida was so angry that she almost broke her broom when the little quidditch match was over.
But, the positive side of that was that, during the match, Olivia saw her flying, and as soon as Merida landed in the courtyard, despite having lost, Olivia insisted that she had to go to the tryouts next weekend. Similarly, the Slytherin captain saw Jack and made him the same proposal. That gave Merida hope, if they both were selected in the quidditch teams of their respective houses, it meant that she would have seven years for her revenge, and she planned to win them all.
Punzie sat in the stands of the Quidditch stadium between two Gryffindor students. She was feeling anxious and a little scared. She couldn't tell if it was because of the Quidditch tryouts were taking place or if it was because she was surrounded by people she didn't know.
Punzie began to hyperventilate, she felt like the world began to spin and turn dark, suddenly, she was no longer at Hogwarts. Around her rose the stone walls of her prison. The room was completely dark, there was only a small window where you could see the stars, and those floating lights that her parents threw in her honor.
"My flower," said the voice of that woman who kept her locked up for so long. Punzie had a chill and she felt like she was about to pass out, her throat closed and her eyes filled with tears. She felt Gothel's bony hand on her shoulder, but when she turned around, she saw a Gryffindor girl, maybe a fouth-year. "Are you okay?" She asked. And as soon as her vision had started, it was done. She was back in the stands at the Quidditch stadium. Several people looked at her curiously.
"Yes," Punzie replied. "Yes, I'm OK".
The girl sat down next to her. "Are you sure? You looked terrified".
Punzie nodded strongly. "Yes, do not worry".
The girl raised her eyebrows and left her alone.
"Hey," said another boy, 7th year. "You're not from Gryffindor, are you?"
"It's true," said another boy, "She's the barefoot girl from Hufflepuff"
Punzie felt the terror returning to her.
"You can't be here, you know?" the first boy warned him. "You could be a spy."
"Oh please," said the girl who had asked her if she was okay. "That only applies to the Slytherins, those vermin do spy on other teams. Leave the girl alone".
"Whatever you say, Lorra," replied the first boy. "But if his team magically defeats Gryffindor it will remain on your conscience."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Don't pay too much attention to them, people around here get very intense when it comes to Quidditch.
Rapunzel giggled "Yes, I have noticed." She breathed in relief and paid attention to what was happening on the field.
Merida was wearing the training uniform, she, along with the other first-year girl, Emily Perkins were the only first years in the tests. Merida looked really confident, paying attention to what Captain Olivia Perkins was telling them. Emily didn't seem so. The tryouts were about to begin.
The Gryffindor students huddled together, everyone, including Punzie, wanted to see Fergus "The Bear" DunBroch's daughter demonstrating what she was made of, especially after the humiliation she received from Jack Frost.
That Wednesday, Madam Hooch had to take Lucas Selik to the infirmary as he broke his arm falling off his broom. After that, Punzie did not know very well what had happened, but all the other students crowded around Merida and Jack, after some provocations and bets the two began to play Quidditch with a quaffle that Jack had taken from who knows where.
Everything started well for Merida, as soon as Hiccup had thrown the quaffle she was the first to catch it and headed for the arch at full speed, the truth was that it was a long time since Punzie had seen someone fly with such agility. Merida was halfway across the field in seconds and prepared to toss the quaffle, but then Jack appeared out of nowhere and gave her a slight shove. Merida lost her balance and released the quaffle to hold onto the broom with both hands. Jack rushed to grab the quaffle and sped toward the opposite arc, Merida snapped up and followed Jack closely behind. Jack tossed the quaffle toward the highest arch of the three.
Jack threw up his arms in victory, and the rest of the students held back a cheer of joy just as Merida reached for the quaffle and kicked it out of the way.
"Crush him, Merida!" She heard Emily Perkins scream from the crowd.
By then Merida had gotten the quaffle back and was making a counterattack. Having partied early cost Jack dearly, who was considerably behind Merida, but increased his speed dramatically. It seemed like Jack was the wind itself.
Merida did not commit the same mistake as Jack and she got as close to the goalie as she could before throwing the quaffle, it even seemed as if she intended to go through the goal with everything and the ball, but at that moment Jack appeared from behind the goalie and went through it to snatch the ball from Merida's hands.
Merida cursed and chased after Jack, who was flying in a zigzag to confuse Merida and gain distance, little served him, since the redhead soon caught up with him and they were flying in tandem over much of the length of the Quidditch field. Elbows and kicks were dealt, but neither of them relented. Merida tried to snatch the quaffle from him, but Jack kept it as far away from his rival as he could. Suddenly, they swooped down from more than forty meters high, straight to the ground. The elbowing and kicking continued, but Jack was smiling. Was he planning something?
Suddenly, Jack stopped and changed direction so fast that it seemed almost impossible that he could have done it at such speed, he was moving like the wind. Merida couldn't do the same, she had a hard time controlling her broom and she almost crashed into the field, which cost her dearly and she lost Jack by several meters. Jack was only a few meters away from the goalie.
"You got it, Jack!" That was Hiccup, Punzie couldn't imagine seeing him so upset by a game of Quidditch.
Jack threw the quaffle, Merida screamed a curse, and the quaffle went through the arch. Half of the students on the ground cheered, mostly Slytherin, and Punzie heard the Gryffindors cursing under their breath, including Emily and Astrid.
Both Jack and Merida went down to meet her companions, Merida's face was as red as her hair. As soon as they reached the ground, half of the students congratulated Jack, patted him on the back and asked him how he had learned to fly like that.
On the other hand, Merida was only approached (or she only allowed to approach) by Emily and Astrid. Astrid said something that Punzie couldn't hear and Merida told her to shut up. Punzie approached cautiously, clutching the broom with both hands. "Hey, Merida," she said to the red-haired girl, "I think you did very well. You are a very good player... "
Merida turned quickly, her eyes damp with anger and her brow furrowed. "And who the hell asked you?"
"I'm sorry…," Punzie muttered.
"Merida, don't be rude," said Emily
"Shut up you too."
"We just want to support you," Emily said once more, a little lower.
"I don't need any of that, and I don't need this damn broom either." Merida tossed the broom as far as she could and walked off the Quidditch field.
"Excuse her," Emily told Punzie, "when she gets mad, she says things she shouldn't."
Punzie didn't answer, she just followed Merida with her eyes. Why was she trying to talk to her?
As she watched her leaving, she noticed a girl approaching her, now she knew that she was Olivia Perkins and that she invited her to go to the Quidditch tryouts next weekend.
And there was Merida.
Punzie noticed how she had a decisive face; to show what she was made of. The tryouts went fast with intensity. Olivia gave orders to all the candidates, she demanded that they play as if they were in the World Cup Final and she sent those who did not show enough talent to be on the team to the stands.
As Punzie learned during Quidditch tryouts, the Gryffindor team had to fill three vacant positions: Two Chasers and the Seeker. Olivia forced everyone to participate in all kinds of tests, it did not matter if a candidate was interested in being a chaser, they also had to do the test for the seeker, keeper, and beater. Some grumbled, either because they didn't know how to play in that position or because they were already too tired. But not Merida, she seemed to shine every time she had to occupy a different position. She gave and received excellent passes when it was her turn to be a chaser, in addition to scoring several times, she hit the bludger with such skill that she sent them directly to her target when it was her turn to be a guardian, she did not allow a single quaffle to cross her hoops and even caught the snitch when she got to be the seeker.
Everyone was in awe of her, especially Olivia.
When the tryouts finished Olivia gathered all the candidates, they were too far away to hear what she was saying, but she could see how Merida exploded in anger. She yelled something, threw the broom as far as she could, and left. Punzie watched as Olivia said something to Emily and she hurried to catch up with Merida. Punzie, even knowing that Merida wasn't very nice when she got mad, followed them.
"Why are you so angry?" Punzie overheard Emily question Merida. "You are on the team. We both are".
"But she chose me as the Seeker, it's the most boring position in the whole game," Merida replied.
"But it's one of the most important positions in the game," Emily replied, "The fate of the game is up to you."
"As if I cared," Merida countered. "I must have been a Chaser, like my father."
Punzie followed them out of the Quidditch pitch, where Jack Frost was coming in, a determined look on his face much like Merida's moments ago. Over his shoulder, he was carrying his own broom. A Firebolt.
Elsa was sitting in the stands at the Quidditch stadium with Sirrah. Lately, she had spent a lot of time together, Elsa attributed it to the fact that they were the first to speak to each other among the girls in her bedroom and that for some strange reason no one in the entire Slytherin house approached her, neither Sirrah nor her brother, only occasionally by Albus Potter.
Elsa believed it was because they were related to her, but when she told Sirrah, the girl laughed and told her that it had nothing to do with it. Everyone, not just from Slytherin but from all over Hogwarts had a good reason not to talk to her and her brother. When Elsa asked what she was referring to, Sirrah seemed to be invaded by a gloomy aura and she told her that later, when the time was right, she would tell her and that she should not try to find out any other way. Elsa, even though she was eaten by curiosity, agreed. She didn't want to damage the pretty friendship she was forming with the pale girl with hair blacker than night.
But her curiosity had already made Elsa feel terribly anxious, so she was willing to get the information out of Sirrah earlier that day. That morning, while having breakfast in the Great Hall, they saw Jack Frost, the boy who suddenly became popular by defeating the red-haired girl from Gryffindor, preparing to go to the Quidditch tryouts. He was surrounded by several Slytherin students and one or another from the other houses, they asked him questions about his broom, where he had learned to fly like that, his favorite team, and more things like that. Jack responded to everything while gobbling down a huge plate of roasted sausages and fried eggs.
"He is wonderful, don't you think?" Sirrah asked.
Elsa noticed something special in the way she said it, she smiled. "If you say so, it must be true."
"He did a great job putting the Slytherin name up high by defeating the DunBroch girl." Elsa thought that Sirrah was being very proud of being a Slytherin despite the way she was being treated. "He is really wonderful."
"I heard you the first time," Elsa said with a smile. Her friend was lost for Jack Frost.
"Just look at him," Sirrah said, extending her arms to Jack.
Elsa looked at him, and yes, Jack Frost was a very handsome boy, but at the moment, speaking with a mouth full of eggs and ham, he didn't look so handsome. Elsa frowned. "Yes, I do see him," she said, not knowing what else to answer.
And then she got an idea. "How about we go watch the Quidditch tryouts today?" she asked Sirrah.
The pale girl came out of her reverie and saw Elsa with eyes full of emotion. "But of course, we are going to".
So, there they were, the Gryffindor tests had ended about 15 minutes ago and all the Slytherin students interested in getting in were already on the field. But Jack Frost was nowhere to be seen. The Captain of the Slytherin team looked desperate and Sirrah somewhat uneasy about not seeing Jack.
"We have to get started, Jason," said a red-haired girl who was already part of the team. "Perhaps, Frost regretted it."
"I can't believe it," replied the Captain, "Less than an hour ago he was filling his ego with everyone's praise, and now he's not coming."
"It must have given him stage fright," replied the red-haired girl.
"Anyway, we can't wait any longer," agreed the Captain. "All right, listen up everyone, let's get started ..."
And just at that moment, Jack appeared. He was running as fast as he could through the access tunnels. "Sorry, it wasn't my intention," he said. "I had to do something before coming here."
"Don't let fame go to your head, Frost," the Captain snapped, "that's not going to guarantee you a spot on the team."
"I know, I'm sorry," apologized Jack. "It won't happen again, Captain."
Jason mumbled something and ordered everyone to get into his positions.
Everyone was attentive to what Jack Frost was going to do in practice, they were willing to see how the captain and the whole team discussed what would be the right position to leave Jack.
"They could even make him Captain and no one would complain," Sirrah said, looking at Jack as if she was looking a dream. To Elsa that sounded like an exaggeration. Jack had proven to be very good at riding broom, but being a Captain? He still had a long way to go for that. "I bet they will want him to play in all positions, he is going to surprise everyone."
But contrary to this, everyone was disappointed.
It was so strange, during flying classes Jack proved to be better than everyone else when riding a broom, but that day during practice, he failed at everything. As keeper, he couldn't prevent a single Quaffle from missing one of the goals. As a beater, he failed to hit any of the bludgers thrown at him, as a chaser he could not properly catch the quaffle or throw them with enough force to prevent the keeper from catching them.
"What's happening?" Sirrah was upset. "They won't let him join the team if he keeps playing like this. Elsa, what's wrong? "
Elsa was a little startled. "I... I don't know," Elsa shrugged. "Maybe he is nervous." It was the only thing she made sense of.
"But that doesn't make sense."
OK.
"What's happening, Elsa?"
"I honestly have no idea," Elsa had to reassure her friend so that her plan would work. "The Seeker test is still missing; it may surprise us all there."
"That is the most boring position in the whole game. Jack deserves to be a Chaser".
Jason signaled to everyone that it was time for a break. All the candidates got down to the ground and congratulated each other on their good performances, all except Jack. The boy stood apart from everyone, his head lowered and his gaze lost in the grass. He didn't seem concerned; it was more like he was meditating deeply. Elsa recalled that sometimes Minerva did the same when she did not know what decision to make or what to do when faced with a situation at school.
After twenty minutes Jason restarted the tryouts. All candidates to enter the team, even those who did not want to be Seeker, had to take the test, Jack's turn was in the middle of all candidates. And boy there were surprises. Of his three attempts, he captured the golden snitch in all of them, showing great ability to see it even from distant positions.
"Wow," the red-haired girl muttered, "we can already end this test."
"I think so," the Captain seconded.
Just to be sure, Jason repeated the test a few times, Jack gladly did it. Everyone in practice agreed on one thing: They had found Slytherin's Seeker.
"Well," Sirrah began, "If it's that good, I suppose there's nothing wrong with it being the Seeker. Don't you think so Elsa? "
"That's for sure".
Elsa understood something that no one else had understood. Jack had intentionally played badly during previous trials only to be selected as a Seeker, like Merida DunBroch.
That day had been so weird that she even forgot to lurk the reasons why the whole school didn't talk to Sirrah and her brother Mitch.
A/N: Sooooooo, hi. It's been like what? Five months. Sheesh, I know it's been a while, I'm sorry but I was really into my thesis. Good news by the way I finished it :D! So now I can fully dedicate myself to writing this thing, and other things. But that's another story (literally).
Hope you like this and don't worry, the next chapter won't take that long to come out.
Answering some questions you have made:
No, Merida isn't fit to be a proper lady, she doesn't want to.
And the main characters are 11 years old since they are in their first year. I don't understand why some fanficers put them in Hogwarts with the ages from the movies, but whatevah.
Hope you like this, see you around.