Alexandra Weasley: Book 5

14

Wednesday was the Hufflepuff quidditch tryouts. Alex went out to the quidditch field to compete for a place.

"Alex!" Malcolm waved. "Come to check out our new team?"

"Thought I'd try out, actually."

"Who, you?" Maxine asked, and Alex nodded.

"Yes, me. That okay?"

"Of course, sure. What role?"

"Seeker." She said.

"Guess we'll finally see if Cedric actually was exaggerating your skill." He smiled good naturedly, jotting down on the clipboard. "Alright, you're over there."

"Thanks." She joined a small group of students, some she knew, and some she vaguely recognised.

"Alright, everyone, listen up. If you're a first year hoping for a spot, I'm sorry, but it's against the rules. And if you know you don't have the time in your schedule, last chance to leave. Quidditch is not a hobby. It's a sport. It's a life. You don't just show up a couple times a month and expect things to be okay. Three times a week, we'll practice from dawn. Every other weekend, we practice till dusk. If you can't handle it, then there's no spot available for you on this team." Alex watched as a few people left, whittling down numbers. "Now those of you left, we're aiming for the house cup this year. Let's do Hufflepuff proud."

"Go Malcolm!" She heard Maxine call and saw him glare at her in return.

"Shut up, Maxy." He groaned. "Alright, seekers up first." There were five people including Alex who were trying out for the seeker position. "So, the way we try out is best out of five. We release a snitch into the air. Whoever catches it first wins the round. The goal is not to hurt each other, but to catch the snitch. Whoever catches the snitch the most gets the position. Got it?" They all nodded. "Alright. Ready, set, go!" They launched into the air, the snitch released five seconds later. Alex hovered, tracking the snitch, trying to find it. The sun was out and pretty blinding, though it was far from a warm day. She caught sight of it and jerked her broom forth. She wasn't the only one to see it and was soon head to head with Leanne. She dropped lower suddenly, and took advantage of Leanne's confusion to get ahead and flew slight up, sweeping the snitch at an angle. She flew back down to the ground.

"That's a point to me, right?" Malcolm nodded and took the snitch from her.

"Okay, round two." He said.

By the end of the five rounds, Alex had caught the snitch another three times, and Raashid had caught it once.
"Okay, Alex. Congrats. Raashid, you'll be reserve." He said and the duo nodded. "Next up we have a spot as a chaser open. You will need to work as a team, so we'll be testing you individually. We need to make sure you work well with Heidi and me. Up first- Zacharias Smith."

Alex watched as Heidi and Malcolm played with Zach to score goals past Herbert, and then testing his ability against the duo. There was only one other individual trying out. The majority of people wanted to fill in the beater position. Zach got the position. They still had the same keeper, so they moved straight on to beater placements. Maxine smirked at this.

When the spaces had all been filled, the team had a couple practice matches against reserve players before heading back to dinner, making sure everyone was the right fit. Alex didn't magically love quidditch. It still felt weird and wrong, but it also get right. It was her tribute to Cedric. Maxine had been voted as their captain, since Malcolm made clear he wasn't up for the job permanently.
"Alex Weasley, the jock. That's bizarre to say." Charlie winced.

"Yeah, I didn't expect it much, either." Alex answered, letting her head fall into her hands.

"Tired?" Susan asked softly and Alex looked up shaking her head.

"No, of course not." She said, obviously lying.

"Why don't you ask Snape or Madam Pomfrey for some dreamless sleep?" Susan suggested.

"I'm fine." Alex insisted, and Megan rolled her eyes.

"You're really not, but okay." She then changed the subject. "How barmy is Umbridge? Just knowing theory will never make us ready for the practical exams." She paused and glanced at Alex. "Well, unless it's you."

"I know I'm going to fail my defence OWL." Hannah despaired.

"Well, you can always retake it next year when we have a new teacher. And besides, who says you'll fail. Just because you can't practice in class, doesn't mean you can't practice the spells. Just do it in the dorms." Alex told them.

"What if we do it wrong and there are really bad consequences? The wizard Baruffio mispronounced a single letter with the levitation charm and ended up with a buffalo on his chest, remember?"

"Stun it and run like hell. It'll eventually fade away." Hannah still looked forlorn. "Or we could do study sessions to make sure we know the correct pronunciations and movements."

"Could we?" Hannah brightened and Alex nodded.

"Sure."

A/N- Ahh, the wizard Baruffio. You guys remember?

Lol, Favourite line-"You're really not but okay." Megan's not taking any crap 😂