Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) - Book One (Marauder Era)

Chapter Thirty-Five - The First Years' Quidditch Game

At Flying lessons on Tuesday Hooch was having them play a short game of Quidditch. She led them all to the actual pitch, and reluctantly allowed James to join, to make the teams even. Apparently it was going to be a huge game. There were thirteen Gryffindors and thirteen Slytherins, so Hooch explained she was just going to double all the positions except for Keeper. James was practically vibrating, clutching the school broom, so happy he could be part of this. Especially since quite a few older students had shown up to watch, knowing that Hooch was planning this game and they wanted to see the first years.

I don't even know the rules, Remus thought miserably, wondering if he could fake passing out enough to get out of this. Hooch had talked about the rules of Quidditch in a previous class however he had sort of phased out during that, not caring. Now he wished he had paid attention.

"Urswick and Struthers will be the Keepers," Hooch said, looking at the list she had made out. "The four Seekers will be Evans, Jacknife, Lupin, and Nott."

Remus jerked a little bit at hearing his name. What did a Seeker do? He couldn't remember. However glancing around he realized Hooch had chosen the four smallest students to be Seeker, so there was a reason for that. Then he burned with humiliation as he realized all the other Seekers were girls, and he was among their ranks as being the smallest. Then he realized he was the smallest except for Jacknife height wise. Even Lily standing next to him was a good inch and a half taller than him. At least Peter was close to his own height, as well as Silverlocke, so he didn't feel too wimpy. Just mostly.

"Beaters: Alexander, Black, Bulstrode, Crabbe, Magpie, Mulciber, Nettle, and Spinnet. Everyone else... a Chaser. Now, the Bludgers we'll be using aren't real bludgers. They're softened so they won't do much damage if they hit you." Remus noticed Bulstrode snap his fingers. "There will be four Bludgers, two Snitches, and two Quaffles, however the Quaffles cannot be thrown at the same time towards the same goal. If one team has both Quaffles, and they throw them at the same time towards the goals, you will lose points for your side. Understand? Now, because there are two Snitches, they're only worth seventy points. Also, since we only have forty-five minutes, catching either or both Snitch won't end the game. The winning side will be rewarded with twenty-five points to their house. Any questions?"

Yes, what does a Seeker do? Remus kept his question to himself, not wanting to humiliate himself. He figured he could watch the other three and go from there.

Hooch gave rather terrifying looking bats to the Beaters. Bulstrode began smacking his into his other hand, grinning wickedly at the Gryffindors. Sirius spun his around, also grinning though not in a mean way, more in an excited manner. Though nobody was as excited as James who was now hopping from foot to foot in anticipation.

"Lily," Remus whispered while they mounted, "what do Seekers do?"

She stared at him in disbelief. "Find the Snitch," she replied. "And catch it."

Remus went pure white. Catching it meant taking his hands off the broom. Then again, every single position involved taking hands off the broom so he doubted there was anything better for him.

Hooch released all the balls. Six of them flew on their own, two of them--the red balls they had used before in class--were tossed up as Hooch blew her whistle and everyone took off. Remus stayed close to Lily, trying to remember which ball the Snitch was. Only two of them and not the one the Chasers use, so the gold ones, with wings. He scanned the air, remembering how fast they had darted around. How were they supposed to see it? Let alone catch it?!

Remus hovered far too high off the ground, just watching the game. James had one of the Quaffles and was doing fancy tricks to avoid the Slytherin Chasers; he got the first goal of the game. And the second. And the third. He got the Quaffle again but Remus couldn't watch since one of the middle-sized balls whizzed by his head. Remus yelped, nearly falling off his broom, having to wrap both his arms around his broom.