Becoming Alpha

Chapter Six

Harry walked into the Quidditch pitch and stopped short, his friends just barely stopping in time to not run into him. He stared at the six fifty-foot tall hoops, three on each side of the field. Walking into the pitch a bit more, he turned in a circle to look at all the stands surrounding the field. They were all split into four sections, each one a different house color to show where each house sat during a match. There was a special box in the center of one side of the pitch between the Gryffindor and Slytherin stands, which was obviously for the teachers as it was black with the school symbol on it.

"So, what do you think, Harry?" Daphne asked from behind him, bringing him out of his amazed stupor.

"This is amazing!" he replied in awe, making his friends laugh at the look of amazement on his face.

"I remember my father telling me I looked like that when I first saw a Quidditch pitch," Theo said while smiling at the amazed look on Harry's face. It was the first time since they had met him that he had looked like that and it made him seem a bit more normal.

"I remember Astoria looked like that the first time she saw one when she was five," Daphne muttered quietly to herself as she thought about her sister and how she hadn't written to her since she got to Hogwarts.

"Ah, good, you're here Potter," a voice said from behind them, startling Harry into spinning around quickly to spot Flint coming up behind them. "I see you've kept the arrangement within Slytherin alone; very good, Potter." Flint nodded appreciatively, his face blank as he looked Harry over carefully. "Can't have our team given away before it's even formed, eh?" Flint smiled slightly.

"Harry told us that you needed Professor Dumbledore's permission for him to be on the team," Theo said into the silence that had quickly fallen over the group.

"Oh yes, he does," Flint replied as he turned to look Theo over. "I guess we're very lucky, then, as just this morning, Professor Snape came over to me to inform me that Professor Dumbledore has agreed to the use of a first year on our team, though only if it's Potter here." Flint nodded in Harry's direction. "He also said that if Potter, and only Potter, is the Seeker, he'll get him a Nimbus 2000," Flint continued, trying to keep the awe out of his voice while Harry's friends all whistled appreciatively.

"That means, Potter," Flint started suddenly, whirling around to face Harry, "that you have to get that position. A Nimbus on our team will make us unbeatable!"

Harry nodded quickly when he realized that everyone else really wanted that broom on the team, though he didn't understand why. To him, a broomstick was just a broomstick, though it was obvious to him that it wasn't actually like that in the Wizarding World. It seemed that there were some brooms that were better than others, and the Nimbus 2000 was one of those brooms.

"Now, Potter, I think I can guess correctly that your friends have told you about Quidditch," Flint said. "Well, what I'm going to tell you is that it isn't as easy as it sounds, and I'm hoping it didn't sound easy. As a Seeker, you'll be dodging a lot of Bludgers, especially when we're up against Gryffindor because the Weasley twins love aiming for our Seeker just as much as our Chasers. It doesn't really help that you're who you are," Flint added as an afterthought.

Harry fought back a groan at the idea that his fame would make it so that he was a larger target than normal. He truly did hate his fame, and it didn't help that the rest of the school outside of his House and friends stared at him a lot of the time. Some days he wished that he could just disappear.

"So, Potter," Flint began, drawing Harry out of his thoughts, "when Higgs gets here, you're going to use my broom and then both try and find the Snitch. We both have Cleansweep Sevens, so you'll be equal when you race for the Snitch. The best Seeker and flier will win and get the position with the other as a reserve. Got that, Potter?" Harry nodded.