Chapter 4

A Chapter by Jessie

DISCLAIMER! All characters and settings ('cept Sophie) go to J.K Rowling, who invented them. Her talent inspires me and there is no infringement intended.

Chapter 4

When we arrived, I discovered that there weren’t many kids daring enough to play Quidditch. Almost everyone who was left on the team had graduated, except for the captain and James. I found out that his name was Tommy. The same Tommy that had lead us to our common room that night, and shaken my hand. He seemed happy to see me.

“All right, we’ll start by making a few circles around the field so I can see how you fly, then we’ll try positions.

He seemed pleased with Al and I as far as flying went. After seeing all the upper-classmen who were trying out, I doubted that we’d make it… But it would be good experience to try out. There was one beater position open, and two Chasers, along with the Keeper spot. He tried the beaters first, and awarded the position to a boy named Louis Finnigan. I tried for beater too, just to see, but I was terrible at it. Tommy said it was all right and to keep going. Chasers were tried next in pairs of three, and people were eliminated every time after a run. I scored four times, and make six assists. I was on the last team of three; meaning one of us would leave. He tried Keeper next, and I was good at that too. I found that I was really good at whipping around on my broom dangerously. I rather enjoyed it.

“Well, well, Miss Frederick… I don’t quite know what to do with you. I think we’ll have you playing Keeper for now, all right? You keep drilling while I try out Seekers.” He patted my shoulder. I blocked all but one goal, drill after drill from the new Chaser team.

Only two people tried out for Seeker, and the other guy was every bit as good as Albus. I was afraid the other boy would get the spot, just because of seniority. But when the real snitch was released, Al found it every time. Tommy had no choice but to give him the position. The final results were Al as Seeker, and myself as Keeper. Together, we made up one of the youngest Quidditch teams in history. Tommy promised that we would surprise everyone.

Our first game was in a week.

I’d never been so nervous as I suited up in my Quidditch robe and took my borrowed broom to the field. It was an ancient broom, a Firebolt. They say Harry Potter flew on a Firebolt, though I didn’t quite know what that meant other than that I might have been on Al’s dad’s broom. Just before we went out, I suited up in all my keeper padding. I’d flown with it before, so I didn’t have to be nervous about that much. I could tell Al was nervous too. He gave me a nod as we walked onto the field behind Tommy, who shook hands with the Ravenclaw captain. The opposing players were all dressed in blue, Ravenclaw’s colors. Our team of red flew around the field four times, and into positions. Madam Hooch released the snitch and the two bludgers, and finally let go of the Quaffle.

Let the game begin.

Their chasers were ruthless, coming at us from every angle, and using maneuvers we’d never seen before to get the Quaffle on our side over half of the time. I was constantly whipping around and blocking. I wasn’t very good at catching it and throwing it away, but I was good at getting myself in front of it so it couldn’t reach the hoops. I managed to dodge a few bludgers, but one of them caught me off guard over halfway through the game. I heard it coming before I saw it. It was aimed right for my face. I tried to flip back and avoid it, but it caught the side of my face and shoulder. I felt blood trickle from my mouth, and my vision became blurry. I wasn’t sure if we could win, but I wanted to very, very badly. I played the rest of the game with a bloody mouth and a black eye, plus a bruise forming on my shoulder. It was harder for me to get where I needed to be, but I managed. I only let maybe six more by, out of the sixteen shots that were fired at me. But six was enough. At one point, I caught Al racing after a snitch, but the Ravenclaw seeker was smarter. We were tied at that point. I felt a cry rip through my throat. It was jumbled, but I think it sounded something like “AL MOVE!” He turned to see a bludger heading straight for him. He dodged it, but only just. The Ravenclaw Seeker got to the Snitch first, and we lost our first game with multiple injuries. As soon as the game was over, James rushed over and helped me off my broom. Everything was sore, and my shoulder hurt.

“Is it just your face?” He asked, his usually devious facial appearance had been replaced by a very serious look.

“My shoulder too.” I started to stumble forward, but the adrenaline was receding, and everything was starting to go black. I grabbed his sleeve as I swayed, and his muscular arm wrapped around me, holding me steady while Tommy said a few words.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “The strategy is that we’ll all get to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Gryffindor hasn’t won a cup since Harry Potter, and now that we have two Potters on the team, we’re sure to take it home. If not this year then next, all right?”

“Right.” We all said. My mouth started bleeding again and I fell on my knees. Had I lost much blood? I couldn’t remember.

“Soph?” James bent over beside me. “Soph can you say something?”

“Ow.” I replied as the world went black.

I was vaguely aware of James’s strong arms around me as I was carried on my first trip to the Hospital Wing. I couldn’t hear much, but I caught something James had said as we were almost there.

“You’re very lucky, Soph. Not many first years can take a bludger to the head and live to tell the tale, let alone finish the game. Tommy was right, you were a good choice.”

And the world went black again as my minor concussion doubled with the blood loss.

I was better by the time our next game came around. I won’t bore you with all the details of my first year, other than that, it was pretty boring. Gryffindor lost the house cup by a landslide, Rosie and Scorpius kept their secrets, and Al and James took turns flirting with me. James and I had become close friends by the end of the year, and Al hated it. The surprise Professor Neville had mentioned waiting for me was a broom to match Al’s. It was a Cirrus Rider 3.0. We won a few games, and I took a few more injuries, but I never blacked out again. It was a good year. When I went home for the summer, I discovered that my father was intent on ignoring my witching powers, and he hid my wand from me until the next school year. But I was all right with it. That sort of thing didn’t bother me any more.

The real action came in my sixth year. James was in his seventh year, and the captain of the Quidditch team. We were all best friends, and Scorpius had become one of us, through and through. Hagrid had decided that I was his apprentice, which I’d accepted fully and we’d all been meeting up at his house for three years at that point in time. It was also the year of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The greatest adventure I’d ever been part of took place that year… It all started that night…

The night we were all introduced to the Goblet of Fire.

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