Fictober23

Don't worry, I got you 02/10

Having the flying speed record and being a good quidditch player were two very different things, Imelda told you so over and over again as she helped you prepare for the next season's tryouts.

"Imelda, are you sure that I stand a chance to make it into the team?" you asked her after your first training together "I had never played quidditch before coming to Hogwarts".

"Of course you do. If you didn't have what it takes I wouldn't be bothering on training you."
For such a competitive person, she was very good at encouraging others, although she made it clear that she helped you as your friend, in tryouts, as captain of the Slytherin team, she would be completely impartial.

Since you learned to fly you were a natural for dodging obstacles, but avoiding the bludger while throwing and catching quaffles was terrifying.
It was easy for you to go at full speed on a course where you could see the bigger picture and plan your movements, but chasing a golden snitch at full speed while having to follow its random movements almost made you fall off your broom on several occasions. You had a long road ahead of you.

You trained all summer, Imelda sent you letters almost every day to ask about your progress and you responded to her happily when there was progress but several times the response included an anecdote about your visits to the hospital wing,

"...when I woke up Ominis told me that the bludger had hit me in the head and I fell off the broom, Sebastian carried me to the infirmary but he and Anne returned to  Feldcroft before I woke up.
Sebastian felt so guilty that he bought me a giant box of chocolate frogs. I have to take it easy for the next few days, but I'll try and practice my throws. Anyway, I hope your week goes better than mine. - MC"

You could have filled a diary with those letters, but your summer days were pretty much the same. You spent almost all your time with Ominis and training, sometimes he helped you as he could, although you discovered how good a thrower he was, of course he couldn't move his broom while flying but it already seemed quite impressive.

You took a few days off to walk around the castle grounds or to visit Anne and Sebastian at  Feldcroft, and when they visited you at Hogwarts they helped you practice quidditch.
During those months it was more than once when Sebastian sent you to the infirmary and you suspected that at least twice it had been on purpose. And almost every visit to Hogsmade included a stop with Albie Weekes who kept asking you to try his broom prototypes.

By the end of the summer, your progress had been immense.
September arrived and the castle was again filled with life, although now it was a little overwhelming to see the hallways so busy as you got used to the tranquility of its emptiness, but your friends were back, and that made up for everything.

Thus the first week of school passed and the day for which you had prepared, the Quidditch tryouts arrived.
You arrived a little early, in the middle of the Gryffindor trials, you sat in the stands watching Garreth Weasley as captain of his team shouting orders to his candidates and words of encouragement from time to time. When he finished his tryouts he came up to greet you.

"I hate turning people down. I wish I could admit everyone" he said sadly.
You just laughed.

"I wish Imelda thought as you do" you said as you watched more of your housemates arrive, Garreth laughed at such an idea.

"I'm sure she knows who made it in by the time they start flying"

"Thank you, that doesn't make me more nervous at all."

"Oh MC, I'm sorry"

But you laughed and he did the same and added "You'll be fine, I've seen you train. If you were a Gryffindor you'd already be on the team."