Ardent Adversaries

Chapter 10: Quidditch

September ends fast and with October now here, my favorite time of the year starts back up. Quidditch season. I spend all Saturday morning before quidditch tryouts polishing my broom and making sure everything is in working order. Tara meets me down on the pitch at half past seven and we head into the Slytherin locker room to change into our uniforms and grab the chest that holds the balls as well as some extra bats and spare jerseys. After we get dressed we head back to the pitch to go over some drills and get the equipment set up. As captain and co-captain respectively, it's our job to make sure the team for this year is as good as ever. After an hour or so of flying around, our team as well as some prospective new members start to file in, brooms in tow. I spot Draco in the crowd and smile at him. He gives me a smirk back.

"Alright, thank you guys for coming out this morning, I know it's early but I wanted to be first on the pitch so we could get some good time in for tryouts," I say loudly to the crowd.

"First, we're going to separate you out, so returning members to the left and prospective new members to the right," Tara says and everyone shuffles off to their respective sides. Draco, Goyle, Miles Bletchly, Cassius Warrington and Adrian Pucey all head to our left and the newbies head to the right. Our team was solid the last season we had and although we couldn't have games last year because of the tournament, I know at least Tara, Draco and I have been practicing non-stop. Pucey is glaring daggers at me from his spot on the left and I shoot him a glare back.

"Okay, you lot," I point to the returning members. "Go through some drills with Cofford while I talk with the people who want to try out." Tara leads them to the far end of the pitch and I watch them mount up and get in the air before I turn back to the new guys. "Alright," I continue. "Any first years thinking they can use mummy and daddy's money to get on the team, leave now. I don't have time to deal with that shit." I hear a few groans and three leave right away. "Is that all?" I ask, shooting them all a stern glare. Two more leave with glares aimed at me.

"First things first," I say. "Beaters line up in a row on my left, chasers on my right and keepers in the middle. Anyone who's trying out for seeker, go stand behind them all, you'll be trying out last." Everyone does what they're told and in a minute I have four sections to work with. There's six keepers, four seekers, five chasers and three beaters. "Okay first, I would like the beaters up in the air so that I can see your skills," I say. "So beaters, step forward and mount up. I'll release the bludgers in a second." The three of them step forward and grab the extra bats before mounting up and pushing off into the air. I head over to the chest and release the bludgers before grabbing my bat and getting into the air with them.

"What would you like us to do?" One of them shouts. I smirk.

"Try and hit me," I shout back. "If you can get me, you're on the team. You have ten minutes." I zip off around the pitch. I dodge and weave around the two bludgers that the newbies try to hit me with. After ten minutes, I have yet to be hit, so I pull out my wand and mutter a quick finite on the bludgers. They drop to the ground and I make my descent to the grass. The rest of the aspiring beaters drop to the ground around me looking dejected.

"Sorry guys, thank you for your time today. If you're able to, definitely try again next year. You lot are more than welcome to stay and watch from the stands but otherwise you're free to go," I say to them. "Drop the bats before you go, thanks again." I turn to the chasers next. The beaters remove their jerseys and leave them with the equipment before walking off.

"Bletchly," I shout to him across the pitch. "Can you come over here?"

"Yeah," He replies as he flies over. He touches down next to me.

"Hello," He says to everyone. They all say hello and hi back to him.

"For those of you hoping to be chasers, you're going to be doing some complex flying drills to try and score against Bletchly. If you score, you move on to the next round. If not, you'll be out," I say. Bletchly is the best keeper we've had in a while so I doubt if anyone will be able to score against him, hell, even we have trouble making goals against him sometimes. Bletchley mounts up and soars into the air in front of the three goal posts. The rest of them follow suit and I grab the quaffle before joining them in the sky. I toss the quaffle to one of them before moving away to talk to them.