Promise Me

The Quidditch Team

Valerie had almost forgotten her position of Quidditch Captain until Professor McGonagall pulled her into her office after classes on the following Monday.
"Valerie, I just wondered if you had given any thoughts to when you'll be holding tryouts for the team?"
"Erm... I was thinking about Friday after classes? Could you reserve the pitch for us?"
"Of course. You'll do well as the captain this year. I have great faith in us winning the cup again." McGonagall looked at Valerie and did something Valerie had rarely seen her do: she beamed. As soon as Valerie had left McGonagall's office, she drew up the team try-out posters and hung them around the common room. She also went around and informed the remaining players from the year before that tryouts were to be Friday, and they were all expected to be there if they wanted to keep their spot. She knew that James and Sirius were planning on keeping their positions and she was going to try her best to get Remus to try out for the team. He would play when they would do 2 on 2 matches at the Potter's house, and from what she had seen he could hold his own. He had never been able to join the team when he was still affected by Lycanthropy because he might miss a game. Now, he didn't have to worry about that, and Valerie suspected he might make a really good addition to the team. Right then she heard the three boys come into the common room.
"Hey, quidditch tryouts on Friday. James, Sirius, you guys still want your same spots?"
"Ugh. She's being all captain-y," James complained to Sirius but continued. "Yeah, I'll be there and you better believe I want to keep my position."
"Got it. Sirius?"
"You bet."
"Remus, please, please think about trying out?" Valerie pleaded.
"I don't know..." he trailed off, thinking about it. "Oh fine, what could hurt to just try out."
"Yes!" Valerie was ecstatic.
"Great, mate! It's about time, too!" Sirius clapped Remus on the back.
"Alright, well we have James and me on chaser and Sirius as our keeper. I told Hodgson and Jenkins that tryouts are Friday, so assuming they want to keep their spots, we have our beaters set, too. We just need another chaser and a seeker. Rem, do you know what position you want to try out for?"
"I guess I'll try out for chaser. I think I'd be pretty good at that," he smiled shyly, looking hopeful.

Friday's tryouts came quickly. That afternoon, the group marched down to the quidditch pitch. Valerie, Sirius, and James headed into the Gryffindor locker room to grab their brooms. Nathan Hodgson and Zachariah Jenkins were already there. Nathan, or Nate as he preferred to be called, towered over most of the team, only beaten in height by Remus and Sirius. His olive skin and curly hair had almost every girl throwing themselves at him. Valerie was an exception. She wasn't much for the tall, dark, and handsome stereotype. Zach was almost the polar opposite of Nate, at least in looks. Valerie had a suspicion that he was somehow related to the Weasleys because of his fiery hair and abundance of freckles. Everyone knew that a red-headed Gryffindor usually meant a Weasley in some way shape or form. The team gathered their brooms and all the spares they could find before heading out onto the pitch to meet their hopeful team candidates. There was a surprising number of Gryffindors that had shown up to try out. Once in front of the group, Valerie mounted her broom and hovered above the crowd.
"Alright, first I want to thank everyone for coming out today to try out. I'm Valerie Potter, the Gryffindor team captain. Right now, we're looking for a chaser and a seeker. If you don't feel comfortable playing either of these positions, I suggest you leave now. Also, if you're a first-year, you're not allowed to try out, so you lot can clear out, too." After this she paused. There were a lot of disappointed expressions from the first years who had tried to sneak in. Many in the crowd turned around and headed to the stands to watch instead of trying out. She was left with about fifteen students. "Now, I want everyone to divide into two groups. Over here I want those who wish to try out for seeker," she motioned to her left. "Now over here," she motioned to her right, "I want everyone who wishes to try out for chaser."
Once the groups had divided, and Valerie was satisfied, she set to explaining how tryouts were going to work. "We'll begin with the chasers. We're only going to have one student trying out at a time. You'll be playing with one other chaser and I'll be acting chaser of the other team, trying to steal the quaffle. One beater will be acting as your team and the other will be acting as the other team's beater. It'll be as close to a real game simulation as we can get." Valerie finished and drew a breath. "Who'd like to go first?"
"I will," said a girl, stepping forward.
"Name and year?" Valerie asked.
"Natasha Brown, sixth-year," the girl replied.
"Great. Mount your broom, and on the whistle. One.... two.... three...." at that, she gave a sharp blast on her whistle. Natasha kicked off of the ground and took off shakily. As soon as the first bludger came flying at her, she screamed and nearly fell off of her broom. Valerie signaled for Nate to catch the flying ball. "Next!" She shouted.
"William Henry, fourth-year," a smaller boy said, mounting his broom. He managed to make the shots well enough but kept fumbling the quaffle and Valerie was able to intercept it with ease.
"Next!" She shouted.
The rest of the chasers were just mediocre. None of them could fly fast and hard, keep passing the ball, and also make shots. Valerie was getting exasperated. Finally, it was Remus's turn. After only a few minutes, Valerie couldn't believe how good he really was at the sport. He was diving and dodging with ease, and every time he took a shot at a goal, he made it. Remus made 7 goals and dodged every bludger hit his way before Valerie called it off. The team touched down on the ground, and Valerie turned to the group of seekers.
"Alright, you lot, two at a time. I'm going to release the snitch and wait thirty seconds. On my whistle, you'll take off. I'll be timing you and I'll also have these two," she waved at Nate and Zach, "hitting the bludgers around to test your dodging skills. Got it?" She asked the group and was met with nods. "First two up! Names and year, please."
"Otis Shepherd, third-year," the first boy said, stepping up.
"Tarran Bell, seventh-year," the second boy also mounted his broom, and Valerie let go of the snitch in her hand.
"Ready? One... two... three," Valerie gave a sharp blast on her whistle. Within minutes, Otis was knocked clean off of his broom. Tarran made a move like he was going to fly down to check on him, but Valerie motioned for him to keep going. After making sure Otis was fine, she instructed James and Sirius to watch Tarran while she got the next two ready to go. Aaron Mullins, another seventh-year, and Harmony Stephens, a sixth-year were next up. Tarran caught the snitch in 12 minutes, and as soon as he touched down, Aaron and Harmony took off. Neither of them was knocked off and they both spotted the snitch at the same time. After an intense dive, Aaron pulled up, victorious. He had caught the snitch in only 9 minutes and 23.7 seconds. The last two hopefuls, Mavis Arnold and Wren Banks collided mid-air and had to be sent to the hospital wing. Once that had been sorted out, Valerie again faced the group.
"Great job you guys, I'm glad so many people came out today. I'll have the names of our new team members posted in the common room by tonight!" She smiled at the group and they began to disperse. She turned around to the team. "Team meeting in the dressing rooms. Let's go," she instructed.
The team gathered in the Gryffindor dressing room. "Alright let's talk chasers first," Valerie began.
"Remus, no question," Nathan piped up from where he was sitting, sprawled out over the equipment trunk. "He was the only one who scored every shot he took and didn't get hit by a bludger."
"So that's one vote for Remus, anyone else?" Valerie asked, and everyone, including herself, raised their hand. "Great, so that's done. Now on to seekers."
"I think I can safely say it's between Tarran Bell, Harmony Stephens, and Aaron Mullins," Sirius said.
"That is, only if we want someone who we can trust not to hit us in mid-air," James joked, and they all laughed.
"Harmony had quite the attitude on her," Zachariah said.
"What do you mean?" Valerie asked, confused.
"Up in the air, she kept making fun of Aaron. She was saying that he was a terrible flier and that his broom was old and not good enough for a Gryffindor player."
"I don't care how good she is, we don't need that kind of attitude on our team," Valerie said, and the others agreed. "So that leaves us with Bell or Mullins."
"I mean Tarran flew well enough, but Aaron was just faster. He seemed like a good sport about things, too," James said.
"All in favor of Aaron Mullins?" Valerie asked and again the decision was unanimous. "Well, that was easy enough. Now I just have to write that down and post it on the bulletin board when we get back."

Later that night, Valerie was alone in her room. She had posted the list and dealt with the angry and disappointed students that didn't make the team, namely Harmony Stephens. Once she had sorted that out, she headed up to her room. She was sitting at her writing desk, scribbling hastily on a piece of parchment. She rolled it up and then filled a small pouch with Galleons before tying both items onto Ollie's leg. Remus walked in while she was making the final knot.
"Hey, what are you up to?" He asked, walking over to her.
"Oh, nothing," she said, practically throwing Ollie out of the window.
"Definitely something," he said looking at her suspiciously.
"Nope. Listen, I wanted to say congratulations on making the team. You played well out there! I didn't know you were that good!" Valerie quickly changed the subject, and Remus reluctantly went along with it. They began to talk about upcoming matches and how strong the other teams were. Remus didn't forget how suspicious Valerie was acting, however.

That weekend, Remus and Valerie were tense around one another. Remus knew she had been lying to him and was honestly a little worried. The last time one of them had lied to the other, things didn't end up so well. On Monday, during breakfast, Valerie kept looking anxiously overhead to see if the mail had shown up. Finally, the screeches of owls and rustling of letters signaled that the morning post had arrived. Valerie spotted Ollie swooping overhead with a large parcel. He landed neatly on the floor behind them and she quickly swung around to untie the package. She stroked his head and fed him a few bits of bacon before he flew off again. The boys were looking at her in confusion.
"Rem, this is for you," she said, handing the package to him. He looked confused but tore it open. Inside was a beautiful new racing broom.
"No way!" He exclaimed. "This is mine?"
"Congratulations on making the team," Valerie was beaming at him.
"Was this what you were being so secretive about?" He asked her, and she nodded. He hugged her. "Thanks, Val," he kissed the top of her head.
"Oi mate, is that the new Comet? Can't wait to play with that broom on our team! Ready to crack some skulls on the pitch?" Nate exclaimed as he and Zach made their way over and sat down by the Marauders.
"Nate, our goal isn't to crack some skulls. We're trying to score the points. If you want to crack some skulls, go for it but make sure they're Slytherins and make sure it looks like an accident," Valerie said with a smile.
"Got it, Boss," Nate joked back. "Oi, Aaron! Come sit by us!" He waved Aaron over. Valerie had to hand it to the guy. For being as popular as he was, he never let it get to his head.
Throughout breakfast, the team joked back and forth. Finally, it was time to head to class. "Alright you lot, practice after classes today, you better all be there," Valerie told them before they all headed their separate ways.