Running With Wolves

Chapter 11: Teamwork

Chapter 11: Teamwork

Something collided with Sirius' shoulder, and he yelped.

"Padfoot, will you please pay attention. That's the third time you've missed the bludger."

"What?" Grumbling, James flew over. The wind whipped his robes back, and the flapping sound drowned out his voice.

"That's the third time in the last ten minutes you've missed the bludger, Sirius, and I know you're better than this."

"Sorry," Sirius murmured. He followed James back to the center of the field where he landed on the ground.

"Alright!" James called to the whole team, waving them all over with an arm. "The first match is in a little more than a month. As far as skill level, I think we have all the other teams beat. What we need to work on this year, is teamwork. Dervla, Ben, I trust the two of you have worked out your differences?" Dervla and Ben glanced guiltily at each other. "Lack of teamwork is what cost us the cup last year. "

Sirius remembered vividly the last game of the season the year before. James' first year as Captain of the Gryffindor team had been going spectacularly. Gryffindor was set up to have the best quidditch season of the century until the last game for the cup at the end of the year. Gryffindor needed only to catch the snitch to end the game. No one was sure quite how it had happened, but suddenly Dervla and Ben were in a loud and vicious argument. James went up the separate them, but not before Dervla punched Ben in jaw, and broke both his nose and her hand, and the pair had broken into a fight on their broomsticks. Both went careening sideways into half the other team and they two remaining chasers, as Hufflepuff's seeker saw her chance and dove for the snitch, beating Gryffindor by a measly ten points and taking the cup away from them. James could be found the next day with his face in his pillow moaning about failure and the end of the world. It had become the sorry task of Sirius to comfort him and coax him back to the world of the living.

"For this first practice, especially with the new additions to the team, I want to focus on drills that will increase team work. For the first drill I want everyone to find a place on the field."

Sirius kicked off the ground and flew to one end of the field.

"Right!" said James, flying to the hoops on the left side of the field. "None of you are allowed to move. I will throw the quaffle to Sireen, who will throw it to Ben, etcetera. You must get the ball all the way across the field and into the other hoop without moving, and without dropping the ball. Everyone must receive the quaffle, but no one can have it more than once. Go." He tosses the quaffle at Sireen el-Matin, who was a chaser. She almost dove sideways off her broom to catch it, and came up again, her dark pony-tail mussed and her robes askew. Ben, who was the closest to her was nearly a third of the way across the field. Adjusting her grip on the quaffle Sireen drew back her arm and threw it as hard as she could in his direction. The throw made it to him, though Sirius suspected there was a reason Ben was a beater rather than a chaser. James dove to retrieve the quaffle before it hit the ground.

"Again!" James called as he came back to the end of the field, and tossed the quaffle to Sireen, who tossed it to Ben who promptly dropped it again.

Sirius had never seen James look so close to a teacher as he did in that moment, dropping his head into his hand, and flying back to the center of the field.

"Alright, change of plans, everyone, I want everyone to pick a partner. You will take turns throwing the quaffle back and forth to each other. Each time you successfully catch the quaffle again, fly further apart, until one of you drops it. Ben, you're with Sireen, Delva, with Spencer, and Sirius, you can go with Mallory since you're both new to the team." James summoned two more quaffles from the locker rooms and distributed them among the pairs.