The Chaser's Heart

Year 3: Black Quill

Skye had asked me to arrive at the pitch an hour before my first practise as a member of the team. It was a bit of a mad dash to get from my Potions lesson, stop by the Great Hall to grab something to eat quickly and then up to the dormitory to change out of my school robes to meet her on time, but I made it.

'Let's start with a few laps,' she said when I met her on the pitch. She was already in the air drifting figure eights and practising rolling on her broomstick.

'Right,' I let her start and I followed as closely as I could.

'Can you drift?' She asked after a few circuits of the pitch.

'Not well,' I admitted.

'What sort of broom are you riding?' She asked, looking quizzically at my broom handle.

'Er... Shooting Star,' I answered.

'Oh,' she made a face.

'It was my brother's,' I explained. 'Er... I'm working on getting a newer one.'

'Well, it doesn't seem to be holding you back, in any case,' she said. 'Show me how you drift.'

I tried my best as I maneuvered a few figure eights. They weren't as clean or tight as hers had been earlier. My broom was old, but I knew it well. Drifting would be easier on a newer, faster broom for sure, but neither myself or my family had the money for a new one and I wasn't about to push the issue with them.

'Better than probably anyone else in this school could do with a Shooting Star. You could have fooled me that that's what you were flying,' she looked mildly impressed. 'Okay, I'll get the Quaffle.'

We passed around the Quaffle for a few minutes before she released the Bludgers as well. Jacob used to love Quidditch and hod gotten into more than his fair share of trouble for launching Bludgers, or rocks if he was in a pinch, at me while I dodged them. I would never have admitted it to him, but it was one of my favourite games. Sometimes I would do something to upset him on purpose so he would do it. I got good at it without really realizing it.

'You're talented,' Skye told me as I successfully pulled off my third barrel in oll to avoid a Bludger.

'I just practise a lot,' I replied.

'Maybe,' she said. 'But you have a lot of raw talent, too.'

'Just hard work,' I mumbled. 'I like flying.'

'Good, you'll fit right in,' she nodded.

The rest of the team arrived and we touched down to meet them. I hadn't realized our hour was up, I'd been enjoying myself far too much.

I'd met the team briefly during trials. I knew most of them already and they were all friendly. Orion was the captain, he Skye and I were the team's Chasers. The Beaters were Christopher Dermody and Seth Forrest, both sixth-years, Sean Ross, seventh-year, was the Keeper and Irina Stravinski, fifth-year, was the Seeker. I was the youngest on the team, but not by much. It probably would have been incredibly intimidating to be on the team a year prior.

Orion had us all run through some drills and then divided us up into our different positions so we could practise maneuvers. We ran through the Parkin's Pincer, Hawkshead Attacking Formation, Blitzen Ballet and the Wollongong Shimmy. We decided what signals we would use to communicate when we'd execute each one and I was glad Orion would be the one making those decisions.

The first match of the season wasn't for another month and it would be Gryffindor versus Slytherin. We would play a few weeks after that against Hufflepuff. Still, Orion insisted on weekly practises for now increasing to twice weekly when our first match was closer.