Karina Potter, Aunt Marauder

Chapter 22

The tryouts were tough. Karina couldn't imagine how tough sport tryouts were for Muggles if this was how hard Coach Richards went on these kids. 

He had them start out with a workout. Running laps, doing push ups, jumping jacks. A simple workout, but rough with the heat of the day and the fact that these kids, when preparing for these tryouts, were used to flying and not using their bodies very much. A few of the kids were already trying to leave, not liking the manual work, and two of the kids' parents had already pulled them, one mother going off on the coach for how hard he was pushing kids who hadn't even made the team yet. There may have been a few remarks about him being Muggle Born, but he just let her go off and leave, her son crying. 

Karina was proud of Harry though. He did as he was told each time, from being told to run after a small plastic ball like it was a Snitch without a broom to sitting patiently  for his turn to show off how well he could fly, he was a champ. His mop of black hair was plastered all over his forehead, soaked in sweat, and he was panting, but he looked like he was having fun.

Draco, however, didn't look like he was having much fun. He was fine at first, but his broom, as she thought, was far too big for him, and he was constantly whining about having to do what he was told. He had pushed his blonde hair back, and it stuck up from the sweat. She glanced over at his father a few times, who didn't look very pleased with his son. Narcissa didn't appear to have any sort of reaction to how her son was behaving. They both didn't look too happy however. 

The tryouts went all day, and many of the kids were pulled, either by their parents, or kicked by Richards. He wasn't cruel about it, but he wasn't too kind about it. He told one girl that maybe Quidditch wasn't the sport for her after she ran away screaming when he threw a foam Quaffle at them to see who could catch it. When her mother demanded to know why on Earth he thought so, he explained that the point of being a Chaser, was that she had to go after the ball. He was slapped, and the girl and her mother was sent away. 

Soon, they were down to about seven kids, just enough for a team, and Richards crossed his arms ,walking back and forth as he looked down at his little team.

"I'll admit, I was hoping for a larger choice, but now I know I got the best of the bunch." He smirked, looking at the kids, including both Draco and Harry. "But that doesn't mean that you're safe. Just because I need seven for a team doesn't mean I'll keep you. You passed the first test. But practices will be harder. I want to make sure that I can create lasting players. This isn't going to be some pansy Try it and if You Don't Like it You Don't Have to Play it type of sport. This is the beginning of a career, and the building of what I hope to be the strongest Quidditch team to go down in history!"

"It's just a little league team." One father whispered to Karina as a joke. "You'd think this was life or death." Karina chuckled a little to herself. The coach was making this a little dramatic, but she appreciated his enthusiasm. It made for a better coach than what she had heard about most Muggle coaches. 

"Now team! Are we going to be the strongest Quidditch team out there? Or are we going to be like real Pygmy Puffs and just curl into little balls?"

"The strongest!" A couple of the kids were truly riled by Coach Richards' words, and got excited. A couple of them were jumping around and waving their hands. Even little Draco was smiling, even if Lucius was not. 

"Good! Now come on over!" He held out his wand and made a box appear. "I know normally Quidditch players wear robes, but I thought these would be fun!" He held up a few colorful tee shirts with numbers on the back. They were made out of meshy, sort of plastic material, and the numbers on the back felt like stickers. "These are what we wear in the Muggle world. I find them much easier to move around in and breathe in, so this is what we'll be wearing! We call them jerseys!"