Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Harry Potter and the Bad Wish ❯ Tryouts ( Chapter 7 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 7: Tryouts

Harry woke up early and went running in the Great Hall; he wanted to be warmed up for tryouts that day. Harry had a dreamless night, he had a good sleep, and now felt fit enough to play an entire game. Harry had a light breakfast not wanting to fill up before tryouts. Harry was excited; he would win both Seeker and Chaser, and beat Ginny to win the bet.

“Harry I wish you wouldn't do this.” Hermione had set the plan up with Ginny and Monica to make sure Harry lost. “What if you lose?”

“I won't lose, it's that simple.” Harry had gotten out his broom and was cleaning it with a kit. “I will win, that's all I have to think and I will.”

“You don't know that Harry, she does well during the games and she has had more practice than you.”

“Remember the one game I played as Chaser?”

“You were playing against old brooms, hell Ginny's broom isn't as old as those were and she has a hand me down.” And the three girls had set it up so Harry wouldn't win.

“I'm not playing against her but Monica, she does have a nice broom but she won't stand a chance.” Monica might not, but Ginny would have a much better chance then Harry.

“Well you have one hour until tryouts start, right now you are the Captain, enjoy it while you can.”

“I'll have two more years to enjoy it Mione.” Harry leaned down and kissed Hermione on the lips. “Wish me luck!”

“Good luck Harry.” Hermione shook her head, this would be a major beating, and too bad she couldn't see it since she wasn't trying out. New rules made it so only people who were on the team or trying out could go. Harry continued to clean his broom making it shine, he wanted to look brilliant as he flew around, and this would be the first time he flew on the Quidditch field since he played with his Dad.

Harry was on the field with the other students, they were trying out, he was keeping his Seeker spot and trying out for the Chaser spot.

“Alright students, since you don't have a Quidditch Captain I am here to watch the tryouts and see who gets the spots. Now we will start off by splitting you into four groups, people trying out for Keeper move over there.” Monica and two others, both 3rd years, went over to the spot Professor, now Headmaster McGonagall, pointed. “People trying out for Beater move there.” Six students moved to the spot, Harry was surprised to see Neville there. “Seekers over there please.” Harry went over as did Ginny, no one else did. “And Chasers over there.” Harry raised his hand. “What is it Harry?”

“Me and Ginny are trying out for both Seeker and Chaser, what do we do?”

“Well we will tryout Seeker before Chaser so you will have to tryout for those spots after you tryout for Seeker.”

“Well we were thinking of getting two teams, kind of. Me as Seeker for two games and then Ginny as the Seeker for the Hufflepuff game, where me and her switch spots, me as Chaser and her as Seeker.” And the little bet they had to settle. “And even though none of us get a Captain Badge we wanted to compete to see who would become the Captain since you can't be out on the field during the games. We need to think about the next couple of years, after Monica and I graduate we will need a new Seeker and a new Keeper, so we want two teams, first squad and then the training squad.”

“Very good Harry, it will change some things but it is good to start training for when the older students graduate and means I won't have to cut as many people from the team. Alright first we need to tryout Keepers, Monica since you are already on the team you will go first, Ginny, try to score some goals, I'll tell you when to stop.” Ginny hopped on her broom and waited for Monica to get to the goal posts. “Start.” The Quaffle shot up into the air so Ginny could grab it and try to score. Monica and Ginny went at it for nearly ten minutes before McGonagall called it. “Ok, next!” Monica flew down as another student went up to try his spot at being Keeper.

“Wow Harry, Ginny has been practicing at home, she nearly scored a dozen times!” Monica talked to Harry while the other two Keepers tried their best but Ginny pounded them scoring over 40 goals altogether.

“Well it seems we know who the Keeper is, you two can stay around if you want, we will be training other students since our older students will be graduating next year and we will want students to replace them.” One left, the other student stayed around, he really wanted to play for Gryffindor, his dad had when he want to school here. “Next will be the Beaters, for this since there are six of you I want you to split up into three groups, two in each group, you will hit the Bludgers back and forth, if your partner misses they are eliminated and you will have to wait for the next person to miss. When this happens you will pair up with them and do the same, if you make it past them you will go on to the next person, if you lose you will be the second Beater and they will be the first Beater, if you beat all three opponents you will be the first Beater and the last two people you beat will compete to see who will be the second Beater.” Harry sat and watched the students trying out for Beater when Ginny flew over.

“So Harry you going to be ready for our little bet?” Ginny was smiling; Hermione had given Monica and her a plan to make sure Harry lost.

“Our bet is as good as done; I will beat you so easily it goes down in history!” Harry had a good time with his `history'.

“You hope so anyways.” Monica grabbed Ginny by the back of the shirt and dragged her away from Harry, she had some doubts about what they were going to do, it was mean, and Harry had been so nice to her over the summer.

The Beaters had gone through round one with Neville and two 4th years making it. “Alright Neville and Nikky, you two will go, who ever wins this goes on to the next round but don't worry if you don't make it, if they lose to Robert you will still have a chance.” Neville and Nikky went back and forth with the Bludger, trying to make the other one miss it. Finally Neville hit it on the side sending it flying out of Nikky's range. “Next.” Robert flew up as McGonagall sent the Bludger back. “Go!” They sent the Bludger back and forth until again Neville hit it just right to send it out of the range of his opponent.

“Alright Neville!” Harry was glad to have someone he knew make it, but who would become the second Beater?”

“Ok Nikky and Robert, who ever wins this becomes the second Beater, and if anyone who doesn't make it wants to stay around to become the training team you may.” Nikky and Robert hit the Bludger back and forth until Nikky got mad and hit the Bludger so hard that when Robert tried to hit it back he was knocked off his broom. McGonagall cast a spell to catch him before he slammed into the ground. “Nikky and Neville are the starting Beaters, next is Seeker, Harry?”

“We don't really need to do that, Ginny and I agreed that I would be starting Seeker and she would be the Seeker for the Hufflepuff game.”

“Are you sure?” McGonagall looked over at Ginny who was still talking to Monica. “You agree to this Ginny?” Ginny turned and nodded, she was trying to get Monica to go along with the plan Hermione had made. “Well then I guess it is Chaser tryouts next, Ginny, since you are on the team you will go first, Monica, you…”

“No Professor McGonagall.” Monica interrupted her. “Have Jim do it, this is a test of the Chaser skill, not Keeper skill.”

“Come on Monica you have to!” Ginny couldn't believe Monica; did she really want Harry to win? Ginny could be Captain as a 5th year, the youngest Captain in Gryffindor Quidditch history!

“Beat Harry fair and square Ginny, you have the skill, besides Harry has never played as Chaser before, how well could he do?” Ginny grumbled and went to get her broom.

“If you are ready you have five minutes to score as many points as possible.” Ginny nodded and hopped on her broom flying up into the air ready to take out her frustration on poor Jim.

“Beat that Harry!” Ginny flew down after scoring another 23 goals.

“Don't worry Ginny I will.” Jim was going to be humiliated again. Harry got on his broom and waited for McGonagall to give the signal.

“Go!” The Quaffle flew up into Harry's arms and he went to work. The first minute Harry was to busy worrying about the time and only scored four times, realizing this he shook his head to forget about the time limit and started scoring nearly as fast as he could get the Quaffle in his hand. Harry flew around faster than Ginny, he had better stamina than Ginny, and now Jim was getting tired after being scored on for nearly ten minutes in a row.

“That's not fair Jim is tired!” Ginny was keeping count, Harry was at 18, five more and they would be tied, six more and Harry would win. Harry flew faster and faster, turning quicker and quicker, he scored again, just five more goals and he would win. Harry scored again and again, three more, Ginny was watching her chance to become the youngest Quidditch Captain slip away with every score, Harry had nearly 30 seconds left to score three times, if Monica had stuck with the plan she wouldn't have to watch, she would have already won the bet! Harry scored another goal, one more to tie, two more to win. “Damn it Monica if he wins it will be your fault!” McGonagall heard this.

“Ginny watch your language, I highly doubt you won't make the team, there are three spots and Harry will only be playing as Chaser in one game.” Why Ginny was becoming so upset over Harry doing well McGonagall didn't know. Harry had tied the score; he only had to score one more goal to win the bet. Ginny was counting down the time, just 15 seconds left, but Harry only needed another three before he scored again.

“No!” Ginny got up and stomped off the Quidditch field heading for the school. Harry didn't hear or see it as he took the 12 seconds he had left to score two more times. Harry flew down to Monica not seeing Ginny.

“So Monica looks like I win!” Harry looked around. “Where's Ginny?”

“She got mad, I was supposed to be the Keeper for this, let Ginny score as much as she wanted then I would block you, don't be mad at her though it was Hermione's idea.” This surprised him, why would Hermione want him to lose? “But you were nice to me over the summer even if I acted like a total bitch and it would be mean to do that to you, although I have to ask how the hell did you learn to play like that?” It was impressive, Ginny had trained over the summer and played Chaser last year and Harry had never played as far as she knew.

“Well I figured how hard could it be? I've been watching Katie and Alicia do it for nearly five years, and Jim was no where near as good as you are.” He was still wondering why Hermione wanted him to lose so badly as to try and fix the bet, was who Monica was with really that big a deal? “Anyways, I win the bet so you have to tell me the truth, who have you been seeing?”

“Not telling you.”

“Hey you made a bet with me!” How could Monica back out of it?

“No I didn't Harry, Ginny did, and if you can get her to tell you then you will know.” Monica smirked at Harry; no way was Ginny going to tell Harry, although Ginny might not talk to her either after what she had done. “I think you should be grateful I didn't go with the plan, if I had you would still not know and you wouldn't be the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain.” Monica stuck her tongue out and ran off to find Ginny.

The other students who were trying out for Chaser had a fun time flying around and trying to compete with Ginny's and Harry's score. No one did but the third Chaser, a 4th year, got 14 goals. “Ok we know who the starting team will be and most of the training team, whoever would like to be on the training team please stay behind for a few more minutes so I can get your names down and what position you will be playing. Now just because you didn't try out for that spot today doesn't mean you can't sign up for it on the training team.” The rest of the students who had made the starting team went up to the castle while the others who wanted to be on the training team stayed behind.

“Wow Harry I finally tried out and I made it!” Neville was smiling ear to ear. “I was going to try out last year but really there was only Keeper open and I didn't want to play Keeper, but so many students graduated I got the chance to tryout for Beater this year!”

“Good job Neville, it will be fun to play with you on the Quidditch field.” Harry was brewing over being hoodwinked by Monica and Ginny, and Hermione trying to help them win, but was still happy for Neville.

“Same here Harry!” Neville ran to the castle excited to right his grandmother to tell her about making it on the team.

Harry got back to the Common Room finding Hermione sitting in a chair with her nose in a book. Harry walked over silently sneaking up on her, slowly moving around behind her, silently… “Boo!” Hermione flinched dropping the book and jumping out of the chair.

“Oh Harry what was that for!” Hermione knew, Harry had figured out that she had helped her female friends keep him from winning.

“For conspiring against me, thankfully Monica has a conscience and didn't go through with it.”

“What? Oh no so you know about that, and Monica…”

“No I don't, Ginny ran off and Monica said that I made the bet with Ginny not her so she wasn't going to tell me. Why did you do this Mione?” Harry almost lost being the Quidditch Captain because of her.

“Because if Monica wanted you to know about her and the other person they would tell you. Trying to force them to tell you was wrong Harry, what's next, telling me I have to tell you or you will break up with me?”

“Mione I wouldn't do that, and the reason I made the bet is because I don't get what the big deal is, I probably already figured it out.” Harry didn't think it was that big a deal, nothing that would get that kind of a response from Hermione.

“Really? Who do you think it is?”

“Well I first thought it was a ghost, but Peeves said the redhead and the blonde, it isn't Ron or the twins, but I was thinking maybe Devin is hiding something.” Harry knew a redhead who dyed their hair, and he had dyed his hair in 1974 so he could be Hermione's Brother.

“What! They are twins!”

“Like we were Mione? They came over here from America, Devin has talked about America's version of Death Eaters, the Republicans, and then he was here at Hogwarts the safest place in the world. Maybe his family was killed for not being evil so his girlfriend and her Mom went with him to Hogwarts to help protect him.”

“You go tell that to Devin while I get your bed ready in the Infirmary.”

“Sure, you just can't believe I figured it out for myself.” Harry smiled at her proud of himself; Hermione wouldn't be so defensive if he had gotten it wrong.

“Whatever Harry, congratulations on beating Ginny, did it without any tricks involved, good job.” Hermione hugged Harry. “Don't be mad at me for the plan, I didn't want them to be forced to tell you, even if you think you figured it out.”

“I know I figured it out, don't worry I won't tell anyone.” Harry hugged her back. “I'm not mad just couldn't believe you would try to make me lose.” Harry pulled away so he could look Hermione in the eye. “I know you did it for Monica but please don't do that again Mione, next time just tell me to stop being an ass.”

“Ok Harry let me make it up to you.” Hermione reached up and grabbed Harry's head kissing him hard.

“That's ok Mione,” Harry was trying to catch his breath after that kiss; “I forgive you.” Harry kissed her back. “I'm a little tired after tryouts, maybe you could help me relax?” Harry grabbed Hermione's hand.

“What kind of relaxing?” Hermione raised an eyebrow and smiled.

“Well wizard chess is always a good way to relax.” Hermione laughed and followed Harry up to his room for some snogging.