Percy Jackson and the Locket of Salazar [Book 6]

23) Lies, Lies, Lies!!!

Harry was having a hard time with tryouts, and that made my job much, much easier. People were somewhat infatuated with him, trying out with little to no skill.

There was a girl badmouthing the first years that had come to try out, and before Harry or I could tell her to shut up (she was right that they weren't any good, but rudeness wasn't something any of us tolerated), Owen Cauldwell, who was trying out for Beater on my team, jumped off of his broom right in front of her, landing in a puddle of mud that I was certain had not been there before, spraying it all over her.

"Sorry!" He said, not sounding sorry at all.

I didn't want people to think that pranks would get them into the Hufflepuff team, so I quietly told Rosie, who was taking notes for me and definitely wasn't doodling anything phallic next to the names of people she didn't like, to mark him down for Beater.

He wasn't the best but he certainly wasn't bad, and having him practice would make him a serious threat for the other teams. Pairing him up with various other people trying out for Beater, I found he got off well with a kid named Kai, and they made a decent team, so my new Beaters were settled.

The new Seeker was a bit harder, as none of them were nearly as funny as Katie Gardner had been, nor near as good. Thankfully, we found a decent flyer in the shape of seventh-year Logan Dodds (luckily not related to any monsters from the Underworld).

It took about thirty minutes to find my future teammates. It took Harry about two hours.

He had half the school trying out, it seemed, and most of them were there just for Harry. Once kicked off the pitch, they hurried off to the stands to watch, a sign of how little they cared about the results, instead searching for entertainment.

Harry's Seekers were all cool people. Katie Bell made her great return, and Demelza Robins had always been kind to me. The best, though, was Ginny, who was absolutely going to destroy us all. Watching her fly kind of terrified me — she was the best Chaser I'd ever seen. His Beaters were two younger boys I'd never met, but they were decent enough.

Then, Keeper tryouts. Ron had a bit of stage fright, and everyone watching was not going to help his case. Luckily, he didn't have many people to compete against.

The first three applicants were all duds, the best of them saving only two penalties. Cormac McLaggen did much better, saving four of the five, though he shot off in the complete wrong direction on the last one. Finding that to be particularly odd, I looked back at Hermione, raising an eyebrow. Her face turned a surprising shade of pink as she ducked down.

I shrugged it off. It wasn't my team she was messing with.

"Good luck!" A voice cried from the stands once it was Ron's turn. I was tempted to make gagging motions as I realized it was Lavender Brown. Not that I had any particular issue with her, it was just so  embarrassing. She seemed to think the same, burying her face in her hands.

Maybe the call from her had helped, though, because Ron saved five penalties in a row, even when I'd sent one spinning on purpose.

As I landed, Harry turned toward the group of potential Keepers. McLaggen marched forward, face red, and I rushed over, ready to beat him up if he hit Harry.

"His sister didn't really try," McLaggen said, snarling. "She gave him an easy save."

"Rubbish," Harry said coolly, looking like he didn't really need my help at all. "That was the one he nearly missed."

McLaggen took a step closer, but Harry didn't back down, even as the older boy threatened, "Give me another go."

"No," Harry said. "You've had your go. You saved four. Ron saved five. Ron's Keeper, he won it fair and square. Get out of my way."