Like the elves, I will leave no question unanswered, so long as it is mine to give...
---------------------
Chapter Nine: Quidditch Tryouts
When the first Friday of term rolled around, Harry wasn't sure if he was happy or not. The week did seem to go by rather quickly, but he was already falling behind in his homework. The only two classes he seemed to be caught up for were Defense Against the Dark Arts - where Talisien hadn't even asked for their last homework assignment yet - and Care of Magical Creatures - where Hagrid didn't seem to ever assign homework.
He kept his mouth shut after the evening meal was over, though, as he made his way back to the common room with Ron and Hermione. He had something he had to do that evening, having spoken to Professor McGonagall earlier in the day, but he knew that if Hermione realized that his homework wasn't done then she would nag him to do it until he finally gave in.
As he stepped into the common room, his eyes sought out Ginny instantly, who was sitting next to the fire talking with a few other fifth year students - he was surprised that Dean wasn't with her. Then again, he hadn't seen the two of them together yet, so maybe it really didn't work out over the summer after all. He kept looking and found Andrew Sloper and Jack Kirke playing a game of Wizarding Chess.
"Hey Ron," Harry said softly as he stopped. Hermione went passed them and sat at the corner table, where she had taken to leaving most of her textbooks. Everyone knew it was her table, and no one else would go near it while she was working except Harry. When Ron turned, he grinned. "It's time."
Ron grinned back and turned around. "Listen all you midgets!" he shouted, bringing all sound in the common room grinding to a halt. "Right, thought ya might hear me if I started with an insult. I need Sloper, Kirke, and my sister over by the couch by the window, now!"
Ginny leapt up right away when she saw Harry moving towards the window as well, and Sloper and Kirke simply left their game midway and joined them, plopping down on the couch. Harry sat in one of the larger chairs, while Ron paced in front of the four of them. Harry spoke before he had a chance to. "We figured it was time to talk a bit about Quidditch," he explained.
"You're letting us back on the team, even though we were horrible last year?" Kirke asked in surprise, looking from Sloper to Harry to Ron, then back again.
"You've got potential, you just need the training," Harry pointed out. "Don't worry. Besides, we have to find two chasers still for the year without Alicia or Katie - we don't really want to have to find two new beaters, too."
"Right, well, as you know, with Alicia gone, we are down not only an excellent chaser, but also our captain. We need a new one for the year," Ron explained once he finally stopped pacing and turned to them. "I think Harry would be the best for the job."
"What?" Harry asked at once, getting to his feet quickly. "It's your dream, Ron. I'm not taking that from you!"
"Like I told you before, mate, my dreams have changed," Ron replied with a grin. "Besides, consider it your reward."
Harry frowned. "For what?"
Ginny sat forward then. "For belting Malfoy last year. You shouldn't have been suspended from the team, Harry, you should have gotten a medal! Fred and George are still talking about how to reward you for your actions - even though George said that you got the best hits in on him. Right in the jaw with the snitch and everything!"
"Here, here!" Sloper cheered.
Harry turned to the two beaters. "You two alright with me being the captain?"
"You've never lost a game you've played through, Harry," Kirke pointed out.
"But what about..."
"The Dementors caused that, not you," Ron interrupted him as though he knew what he was about to say. "And that means you didn't play it through, either. Look mate, take the job before we force it down your throat anyway."
"You might as well, Harry," Ginny added. "Besides, we already told McGonagall that you were the captain this year. So I guess... in a way anyway, we already have forced it down your throat..."
"You what?"
"Can we argue about this later, captain?"
Harry sighed and sunk back into the cushioned red chair that had the Gryffindor crest emblazed on the back. It was not something he really needed on top of everything else, but it was rather heartening to be supported completely for once without anyone thinking he was a nutter or a legend. After a minute passed, he nodded. "Right then. You know I'm going to push hard?"
"Wouldn't have it any other way, mate."
"Good. First thing's first. I booked the pitch tomorrow morning and afternoon. The morning is meant as our tryouts to find two new chasers. The afternoon will be a planning session for future practices, and we should be able to get our hands on a schedule of games, too."
"You work fast," Ginny said with a glint in her eye. "This should be a good year. It'll be nice to fly with you."
"Right, well, time to start being a prat, then," Harry said, standing. "All of you, off to bed. We've got a lot to do tomorrow, and I'm not going to stand for anyone sleeping in, understand?"
"Yes, master. We will obey, master," Ron said as he backed away, bowing with each step.
"Don't push your luck, Ron." Harry waited until the others stood and started making their way to the dorms as well before standing up himself. "Alright, listen up everyone! Tomorrow morning we are holding Quidditch tryouts for two new chasers! It starts right after breakfast, so anyone interested should be getting to bed shortly." To his delight and surprise, he found a few people got up right away and started to their dorms.
With a sigh once everyone stopped moving, Harry walked over to Hermione's desk and sat down at the other chair. She barely registered the fact that he was even there as he pulled out his potions textbook and a roll of parchment. As he got his quill out, she pushed her ink pot over so it was between the two of them without a word, and flipped the page in her book.
He got two lines into his essay before she said anything. "Congratulations, Harry," she said softly. "You must be pretty happy, right?"
He looked up, surprised, and found her looking at him. He shrugged. "Sort of. I don't really have time to be captain on top of running the DA - which I still haven't started again yet - going to classes, and keeping up with homework. I think I'm swamped already."
She looked thoughtful for a moment before reaching into her bag and pulling out a large piece of folded up parchment. Unfolding it, she spread it out on the table before her. "I could make up a study schedule for you a little early, if you wanted. I'll even leave most weeknights free for training or the DA..."
Harry, who was very pleased that she wasn't tearing into him for not getting to schoolwork right away, could only smile to her as an answer before she started scribbling down his information next to her own on her large schedule. It made sense that she knew each of his classes, since she shared them all with him. She only had an extra class. He noticed right away that his sleeping in on Tuesdays and Thursdays was coming to an early, tragic end, but said nothing until she finished. "Thanks, `Mione. You're a lifesaver."
She nodded with a soft smile to him and then went back to her text. He looked back to his potions essay with an inward groan and started writing again. By the time he had finished half the essay, he noticed that they were the only ones left in the common room, and he yawned as he looked up.
"What time is it?" he asked softly.
"Almost two," Hermione admitted. "We should have been in bed hours ago, but I didn't want to stop you from doing that essay." Harry groaned as he started to collect his things that had spread out over half the table. Hermione stopped him with a touch on his arm, and he turned. "You need your sleep tonight for the tryouts tomorrow. You can just leave it here. I'll even check your essay later for you, if you want."
"Thanks," Harry whispered. The two stood there for a moment until Harry yawned again. He then turned and pulled Hermione into a brief hug before starting up the steps to his dorm room. "Night, `Mione."
"Good night, Harry," she whispered after him once he was gone, shocked by his sudden display of affection.
------------------------
When Harry arrived on the Quidditch pitch before breakfast the next morning, he was the only one there, as he had expected. He changed into his robes quickly enough, and noticed that someone had managed to sew the word Captain above his position on his sleeve. He wasn't sure who or when, but it was well done.
He walked out onto the field carrying his Firebolt in one hand and mounted it, taking off in an instant. The moment his feet left the ground was sensational. It was one thing to fly for practice around Grimmauld place in a secluded field. It was quite another to be flying over the full sized Quidditch pitch at full speed, rolling and diving through the air.
As he shot between each of the hoops at either end of the pitch, he noticed vaguely that there were two people sitting in the stands watching, and as he shot across the field and higher into the air, he recognized one of them as Hermione, and the other one as Kailyn. He hadn't thought that either would really show up for tryouts - Hermione always watched the games, but never much more than that. He doubted that Kailyn even knew the first thing about the game, which meant it would be interesting listening to Hermione explain it to her. Too bad he had to lead the team...
He swerved to the side on instinct just as a bludger streaked passed him in the sky. Twirling around again as it shot passed a second time, he saw a crowd of people on the ground, four of whom were wearing Gryffindor Quidditch colours.
He leaned forward on his broom and took off into a dive at dizzying speeds. As he rocketed downwards, he reached out and grabbed at the bludger and held it tightly as he pulled out of the dive and landed neatly on the ground.
He was met with tumultuous applause, at which point he simply thrust the bludger into Ron's chest and waited for him to grab it before he made any other remark. "We voted on it, and figured it the best way to get your attention, Captain," Ron said solemnly.
"Ron, if you start calling me Captain all the time, I'm going to hex you into Snape's NEWT class," Harry warned with a smile. He then turned to the crowd of Gryffindor students who had turned out for the tryouts. "Ginny," he called to her.
She came up right beside him instantly. "Yes, Harry?"
"You know more about picking a good chaser than I do," he admitted right away. "And since they have to work in tandem with you anyway, I'm leaving the initial exercises to you. Once you've narrowed the field some, we'll all take part and see what we can do to figure out the best."
He had to admit as he sat back against the benches for the teams and watched Ginny take flight with a crowd of followers that it felt odd not to be taking part. It also was strange to be giving the orders that he had always associated with Wood. His forth year Quidditch was cancelled, and his fifth year he was banned, so he was looking forward to this year without question.
He watched for about five minutes, but seeing as he couldn't hear what she was saying, he gave up and turned to the others. Ron was watching the chasers still, but the two beaters were eyeing the box of balls that still held the Snitch and both Bludgers.
"What happened to Katie, anyway?" he asked Ron when he looked over to him.
"I heard that she actually was called out of school a year early for an opening job in the Ministry. I guess her marks were very good."
"I wonder if she's still doing any Quidditch..."
"Be a shame if she wasn't, right? She was good..."
"Yeah, she was. But we'll be fine without her." He then turned away from Ron, who was looking up to the skies again. "Sloper, Kirke," Harry called. Both came over to him right away. "I'll be straight with you. From what I saw last year, you both need work. You admitted that yourselves, right?" he reminded them. Once they nodded, so did he. "Good. Then here's what I want you to do. Every spare chance you have, I want you two to be passing a rock back and forth using your quills or a couple of sticks."
"A rock?" Sloper asked. "But that's a lot heavier than a bludger, and it's not enchanted, either."
"You'll be used to hitting a moving target," Harry pointed out. "Trust me on this one. It'll work. I guess you two never saw Fred and George passing things back and forth in class. Mind you, they usually used dung bombs or exploding snaps, but I wouldn't recommend it."
It was almost noon when Ginny touched down on the ground again, followed by a mere half dozen other students. Harry was surprised to see Seamus and Lavender both in the batch, but not as surprised to see Colin Creevy and his brother Denis. The two had talked about Quidditch last year almost as much as Ron. He was just glad that Colin didn't have his camera with him still.
"Alright Harry, we need a keeper and..." she trailed off, looking to the two beaters who were already following Harry's directions. "I think one bludger for now, but both beaters should be up there."
"Sure," Harry said. "I'll take a beater stick, too," he added once he had motioned to Sloper and Kirke to take to the skies. He then looked to Ron. "Your time to be king again, Ron."
Ron didn't reply to the comment, but he did grin slightly as he got on his Cleansweep and took to the air. As soon as he was up he started circling the hoops slowly, keeping his eyes open. He knew there were at least four Quaffles in the air at this stage as Ginny drove the hopefuls as hard as she could, constantly keeping them passing to one another.
Once the bludger entered the mix, Ginny started calling out directions. Two chasers at a time would make a run from the halfway point with two Quaffles while the beaters tried to unseat them. Their goal was to score against Ron.
Ginny went first with Seamus and Lavender. Harry had to swoop down just before the goal posts to catch Seamus as he fell after taking a bludger to the chest, but Lavender ended up shooting twice. Ron managed to stop them both, but that didn't mean she was out of the running.
Harry didn't see the next run as he took Seamus to Madame Hooch, who he found watching from the central box. She promised to take him to the hospital wing, and then he hopped on his broom to return. He arrived as Colin and Denis started their run.
He found himself wishing for another bludger as they approached. Ginny dodged each shot expertly, as he knew she would when there was nothing else to focus on, but Colin and Denis both seemed to do well as well. They passed around Ginny as they approached a scoring position and both shot at opposite hoops.
Ron blocked one with his hands and managed to knock the other aside with the butt of his broom. With a nod towards Harry, those in the air started towards the ground again.
"As much as I don't really want to take Colin if he's still got that camera around, I think it would be best to take him and his brother," Ginny told Harry when she took him to the side. "They worked well together all day, and had no problem adding me to the routine that they obviously have worked on. I'll admit that I think Lavender actually flew better than them, and she didn't even seem unnerved by the bludger that hit her teammate, but I don't think it would work to split them up."
"So, Colin and Denis, then?" Harry asked quietly.
"Yeah. But like I said, if Colin still has that camera, I think I'd take my chances with training Seamus up to scratch and taking him and Lavender."
"The other two were that bad?"
"They missed the Quaffles twice."
Harry grimaced, and then looked to Ron as he came over to them. "Whatta ya say, guys?" he asked, clapping Harry on the shoulder. "Do we have a team yet?"
Harry didn't reply right away. Instead, he looked over to the three remaining hopefuls. "Hey Colin? You still got that camera hanging around?"
"It's in my room," Colin admitted. "But I don't bring it with me most of the time." He looked back to Denis for a moment before returning Harry's gaze. "No offense, Harry, but after last year when I got to know you, I figured out that you aren't some superhero. You're just a normal guy like us, only with much bigger problems than can be considered healthy."
"I'm going to ignore that," Harry said with a grin. "Because I can't decide if that's an insult or a compliment." He then looked to Lavender. "Sorry, Lavender, but we are going with the Creevy brothers this time."
She nodded and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before replying. "That's alright, Harry. I'll try again next year. Besides, I'm not the biggest Quidditch fan in the world, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. I always thought flying above the field would be fun."
"You flew like that as a natural?" Ginny asked in surprise.
Lavender shook her head. "No, I've flown before quite a bit. Just never like that."
"Harry, can I have a word with you?" Ginny asked, pulling him aside without waiting for an answer. "If she can fly like that for her first competitive time, then we need her on the team. Can we have a reserve on the team?"
Harry looked to Ron, who nodded. "Each team is allowed one reserve," Ron admitted. "Most teams don't bother, though, cause they can't find enough people with the talent."
"Right," Harry said, turning back to the three hopefuls. "All three of you are on the team. One of you is our reserve, though."
The three exchanged a quick glance before reverting their gaze back to Harry. He noticed at that time - for whatever reason - that all three of them had blue eyes.
"Which one of us?" Lavender asked after a moment of silence.
"That will depend on the match and the efforts of previous practices," Harry replied. "Or, whether or not someone is injured," he added. "As that is the official role of the reserve - to fill the empty position in case of accident."
"Oi, Harry," Ron called suddenly. Harry looked over to him, and found him pointing to the castle. "Looks like we missed lunch!"
Harry looked at his watch and found it was almost two thirty. "Oh..." he started, searching for the right words. "Blood hell!" he cursed. "I skipped breakfast, too..."
"Might as well call it a day now, then," Ginny suggested.
"Sure. Sloper, Kirke... you two keep practicing, got it?"
"We won't stop except for classes, Harry," Kirke said with a nod.
"Despite classes is more like it," Sloper corrected him.
Harry waited until the others had started up to the castle before moving himself. Rather than return right away, though, he mounted his Firebolt again and shot up to the stands to land before Hermione and Kailyn, who were in the middle of a conversation that stopped when he landed.
"Are you hungry, Harry?" Hermione asked him as she reached into her robes. "Because I saved some lunch when I realized you were going to work right through it. I think you skipped breakfast this morning too, unless I just missed you."
"Thanks `Mione," Harry said gratefully, taking the sandwich she offered and cramming it into his mouth. "Have I told you lately that you're a lifesaver?"
She smiled back to him. "Almost every day this term..." She said softly, looking down to the field. "I take it you're done for today, then?"
"Yup," Harry replied. "Colin and Denis Creevy, as well as Lavender made the team. One will be our reserve," he explained.
"Excellent," Hermione said, standing quickly and shouldering her bag again. "I've got to finish my reading for Arithmancy still."
"I thought you were easily caught up..."
"I am," she replied casually as she started down the stairs. "But I need to make sure I know what's happening for next class!" With that, she vanished down the darkened shaft that held the staircase.
He motioned towards the staircase, and Kailyn got up and walked with him. "So, what do you think of your first view of Quidditch, Kailyn?" he asked once they were on the grass walking up to the castle again.
"Looks neat," she admitted. "A bit dangerous, though. I thought for sure that dive you did at the beginning to catch the blogger..."
"Bludger," Harry corrected.
"Right, the bludger, I thought you were going to plow right into the ground. Hermione didn't seem too worried, though. She said you did that sort of thing all the time," she said, looking up to him.
Harry chuckled to himself. "I suppose I do take some stupid risks in Quidditch, but it's all a part of the game. As I was told when I started, no one's died in years."
They walked in silence for a few minutes until the first year looked up to him again. "So, when can I meet your mate, Harry?"
If he hadn't just done it, he would have sworn that it was impossible to choke on air. He stopped and coughed for a moment until he was under control again, and then looked to Kailyn. "What?"
"Your mate," she repeated. "I mean, I can see your bracelet clearly enough, even when you're trying to hide it, it stands out to the observant eye. I don't see the rings, though, but I guess I assumed that you were waiting to share those until you were officially joined, right? Maybe mate isn't the right word..." She smiled to him and started walking again. "So, when can I meet her?"
Harry sighed. "It's a little complicated, Kailyn," he explained. "I'm not sure if you could understand, really."
"You haven't told her?"
"It's not that," Harry said at once. "She knows how I feel, and I know how she feels. I just... can't. Not right now. I mean, just by being friends with me, people wind up in all sorts of trouble."
"I heard some about that from other students. A fifth year said you killed a basilisk in some hidden chamber. Is that really true?" Harry nodded, but didn't say anything. "Does she understand?"
"She's in trouble anyway just by being my friend," Harry replied easily. "Getting any closer would mean even more trouble. She could be killed, and then what would I do? It would be my fault for letting her get too close, right?"
Kailyn stopped him and took hold of his left wrist. When she had it held before her, she placed a wooden box in his hands. "If you think she can't understand that, then maybe you are right, and you shouldn't try anything. But if she understands, and still wants to be with you, then who are you to argue?"
"What is this?" Harry asked, examining the box.
"Inside is another bracelet. One that you can give to Hermione. She doesn't have one to match yours right now, does she?" She continued without giving him a chance to reply. "This one has elven engravings on the inside. Some of them will help keep her safe, so that should put your mind at least a little more at ease."
Harry looked away from the box and into her green eyes briefly before pocketing it. "And just how did you know it was Hermione?"
"I didn't, I just guessed. But you just told me," Kailyn pointed out. "I've got to get going - I was supposed to meet a few people in the library just after lunch, and now I'm so late it isn't even funny..." She was gone before he could even reply.
----------------------
Until the sun sets upon a broken world...
The Shadows
-->