Rowan Haywood

Book 1: Chapter 10 - Quidditch Practice

As seven o'clock drew nearer, I left the castle and set off in the dusk toward the Quidditch field. Hundreds of seats were raised in stands around the field so that the spectators were high enough to see what was going on. At either end of the field were three golden poles with hoops on the end. I saw Harry there and we both said high.

Too eager to fly again to wait for Wood, we both mounted our broomsticks and kicked off from the ground. What a feeling -- Harry swooped in and out of the goal posts and then sped up and down the field while I was swirling from 100 feet to the ground before stopping at the last second, us both of my feet on the broom as the brake and to stop me from falling into my death. The Nimbus Two Thousand turned wherever I wanted at my lightest touch.

"Hey, Potter, come down!'

Oliver Wood had arrived. fie was carrying a large wooden crate under his arm. Harry landed next to him with I walked.

"Very nice," said Wood, his eyes glinting. "I see what McGonagall meant... you guys really are a natural. I'm just going to teach you the rules this evening, then you'll be joining team practice three times a week."

He opened the crate. Inside were four different-sized balls, I'm already familiar with.
　　
"Right," said Wood. "Now, Quidditch is easy enough to understand, even if it's not too easy to play. There are seven players on each side. Three of them are called Chasers."

"Which is your position."
　　
"Three Chasers," Harry repeated, as Wood took out a bright red ball about the size of a soccer ball.
"This ball's called the Quaffle," said Wood. "The Chasers throw the Quaffle to each other and try and get it through one of the hoops to score a goal. Ten points every time the Quaffle goes through one of the hoops. Follow me?"

"The Chasers throw the Quaffle and put it through the hoops to score," Harry recited. "So -- that's sort of like basketball on broomsticks with six hoops, isn't it?"

"Yeah, although I prefer soccer."

"What's basketball and soccer?" said Wood curiously. "Never mind," said Harry and I at the same time.

We both blinked at each other before laughing.

"I have a feeling that we're going to become a great team." I said outloud and Harry agreed.

"Now, there's another player on each side who's called the Keeper -I'm Keeper for Gryffindor. I have to fly around our hoops and stop the other team from scoring."
　　
"Three Chasers, one Keeper," said Harry, who was determined to remember it all. "And they play with the Quaffle. Okay, got that. So what are they for?" He pointed at the three balls left inside the box.
　　
"I'll show you now," said Wood. "Take this."

He handed Harry and I a small club, a bit like a short baseball bat.

"I'm going to show you what the Bludgers do," Wood said. "These two are the Bludgers."
　　
He showed the both us two identical balls, jet black and slightly smaller than the red Quaffle. Harry noticed that they seemed to be straining to escape the straps holding them inside the box.
　　
"Stand back," Wood warned. He bent down and freed one of the Bludgers.
　　
At once, the black ball rose high in the air and then pelted straight at Harry's face. Harry swung at it with the bat to stop it from breaking his nose, and sent it zigzagging away into the air -- it zoomed around their heads and then shot at me, who was right beside him. It was going to slam into my head so on instinct, I placed the small baseball bat(?) in front of me and the Bludger slammed into it. Using some of my strength, the Bludger sent to the air once again.

This time, it shot at Wood, who somehow managed to pin it into the ground,

"See?" Wood panted, forcing the struggling Bludger back into the crate and strapping it down safely. "The Bludgers rocket around, trying to knock players off their brooms. That's why you have two Beaters on each team -- the Weasley twins are ours -- it's their job to protect their side from the Bludgers and try and knock them toward the other team. So -- think you've got all that?"

"Three Chasers try and score with the Quaffle; the Keeper guards the goal posts; the Beaters keep the Bludgers away from their team," Harry reeled off.
"Very good," said Wood.
"Er -- have the Bludgers ever killed anyone?" Harry asked, hoping he sounded offhand.
"Never at Hogwarts. We've had a couple of broken jaws but nothing worse than that. Now, the last member of the team is the
　　
Seeker. That's you. And you don't have to worry about the Quaffle or the Bludgers unless they crack my head open."
"Don't worry, the Weasleys are more than a match for the Bludgers -- I mean, they're like a pair of human Bludgers themselves."

"Pff. I agree." I laughed.

Wood reached into the crate and took out the fourth and last ball. Compared with the Quaffle and the Bludgers, it was tiny, about the size of a large walnut. It was bright gold and had little fluttering silver wings.
　　
"This," said Wood, "is the Golden Snitch, and it's the most important ball of the lot. It's very hard to catch because it's so fast and difficult to see. It's the Seeker's job to catch it. You've got to weave in and out of the Chasers, Beaters, Bludgers, and Quaffle to get it before the other team's Seeker, because whichever Seeker catches the Snitch wins his team an extra hundred and fifty points, so they nearly always win.

That's why Seekers get fouled so much. A game of Quidditch only ends when the Snitch is caught, so it can go on for ages -- I think the record is three months, they had to keep bringing on substitutes so the players could get some sleep. "Well, that's it -- any questions?"
　　
We both shook our heads. I already understood what I had to do all right, it was doing it that was going to be the problem.

"We won't practice with the Snitch yet," said Wood, carefully shutting it back inside the crate, "it's too dark, we might lose it. Let's try you out with a few of these." he suggests.
　
He pulled a bag of ordinary golf balls out of his pocket and a few minutes later, we were up in the air, Wood throwing the golf balls as hard as he could in every direction for Harry to catch.

Harry didn't miss a single one, and Wood was delighted.

"Hey, can I try too?" I asked, hoping that Wood would say yes.

"Of course." said Wood.

I climbed onto my broom before flying up into the air. Wood started to throw the golf balls in multiple directions for me to catch. I don't know why, but it felt like my eyes were attracted to the golf balls and like Harry, I managed to catch every single one of them and Wood being very excited.

After half an hour, night had really fallen and we couldn't carry on.
　　
"That Quidditch cup'll have our name on it this year," said Wood happily as they trudged back up to the castle. "I wouldn't be surprised if you both turn out better than Charlie Weasley, and he could have played for England if he hadn't gone off chasing dragons."