QUICK FIC: Everyone Wants Harry Part 10: Quidditch Tryouts (Harry Potter)

At the insistence of all the returning members, particularly Ginny, Harry resumed his old post as the captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team. This post had not been filled in his year away, as there had been no quidditch played at Hogwarts during Severus Snape's tumultuous year as headmaster. Ginny had greater passion for the sport than Harry did, and he would have gladly nominated her for the position of captain in his place. However, she insisted that she did not want the added responsibility of holding tryouts, selecting the team, and organizing their practices. Ginny's focus was solely on playing and improving her skills as much as possible during her final year at Hogwarts as she pursued her dream of playing the game professionally. Truthfully, she hadn't needed to twist Harry's arm too hard to get him to agree. In this Voldemort-free world, trying to captain his team to one more quidditch cup in his last year at Hogwarts seemed like a fine thing to direct his attention toward.

That was how Harry found himself hovering in the air on his broomstick, overseeing the tryouts to fill out all of the positions on this year's team. Peakes and Coote were no Weasley twins, but none of the other would-be beaters who tried out handled the bludgers any better than the 5th-year boys who’d been on the team the last time quidditch was played. Ron had chosen not to return to Hogwarts for another year, so they had no choice but to find a new keeper. A 5th-year girl named Nichols nearly won that competition, but she was narrowly beaten out by Marshall Johnson, a 2nd-year Gryffindor who happened to be the younger brother of Harry's old teammate Angelina. He was small physically, as could be expected for a 2nd year, but there was no denying his quickness or his instincts for the game. The kid was a natural.

Harry had the aspiring chasers try out next, with Ginny and her fellow seventh-year Demelza going first. As he expected, both of them had no trouble proving that they deserved to return. Ginny was the better of the two by far, but Demelza turned in a good performance, too, and they worked together pretty well in tossing the quaffle around and setting each other up to get to the hoop. Striking on inspiration, Harry had all the remaining chaser prospects work with Ginny and Demelza for the bulk of their tryout. What they needed most of all was a chaser who would work well with the top two.

Ironically, this was what prevented Dean Thomas from turning his old substitute chaser role into a full-time position. He might have been the best of the lot individually, but it seemed like he was trying to score himself rather than setting up Ginny for easy goals as she darted around the bludgers and moved into optimal positions to put the quaffle through the hoop. As it turned out, it was another of Ginny and Demelza's yearmates, a girl named Jessie, who had the most chemistry with them. Harry vaguely remembered the girl trying out two years earlier, but she played much more confidently now than she had then. Most importantly, her teamwork with her fellow 7th-year Gryffindors was immediately apparent. She did a great job at setting up Demelza and especially Ginny to put the quaffle in, and seeing all the trouble they were giving Johnson as he tried to guard the hoops, Harry could picture how formidable this trio could be in actual matches against the other houses.

“I think we’ve got our chasers,” Harry said with a smile as the three girls finished up and flew over to him.

“Me, too,” Ginny said, nodding at him. “I could feel how well we worked together.” She smiled at her dorm mates. “You’ve both gotten loads better over the last year.” Demelza just smiled politely, but Jessie giggled and struck a pose.

“Damn right!” The girl with reddish-brown hair tied back in a ponytail wiggled her finger around in the air. “We’re gonna get that cup for sure!" She grinned at Harry. "Especially now that we've got our star seeker back!" Jessie laughed and gave him a thumbs-up.

“I’m not the seeker yet,” Harry said, shrugging. “For all you know, I’ve forgotten how to fly over the last two years, and you’ll have to pick a new captain.”

“Right.” Ginny rolled her eyes. “The bloke who was such a natural that McGonagall broke the rules and put him on the team as a 1st year suddenly forgot how to fly.” She glanced at his broomstick. “I’m more interested in seeing how you handle the new broom—even though you’d probably out-fly the other blokes trying out for chaser on an old school broom from Charlie’s day.”

“Let’s see,” Harry said. He hadn’t wanted to buy a new Firebolt to replace the one that had been a gift from his godfather, so he’d chosen the latest Nimbus model instead. It handled pretty well when he practiced flying it, though he didn’t know if anything would ever feel as good to him as the Firebolt had.

Regardless, he took off and flew through the air, putting the broom through its paces until he noticed that their practice snitch had been released a few minutes in. He closed the distance quickly, and when the snitch tried to fly away above his head, he shot the broom straight up and stretched his right arm high above his head to catch the snitch before it could escape his reach. By the time he returned to the ground, snitch in hand, he noticed that the three younger years who’d turned up to try out for seeker were already returning to the castle, not even bothering to try and follow him.

"Thanks for coming, everybody," Harry said, dismissing the others as politely as possible. Ginny, Demelza, Jessie, Marshall, Peakes, and Coote stood in a circle, and Harry nodded at them. “I think we’ve got our team.”

There was applause in the stands from many of the Gryffindors who’d come to watch the try out, and Jessie continued to show her bubbly confidence as she stepped in front of the rest of the group and waved her arms in the air.

“Go, go, Gryffindor!” she shouted.

“She’s excitable, huh?” Harry muttered to Ginny. She chuckled and shrugged her shoulders.

"She used to be like this only in the dorm," Ginny said. But I guess she's ready to come out of her shell after surviving the war."

“Yeah, after everything we’ve been through, I think we're all ready to have fun this year," Demelza said. Harry caught her eyes lingering on him briefly as she said it, and he wondered if that look might mean what he thought. Given how his year was going thus far, it wouldn't surprise him.

"This year?" Jessie said quietly, returning to the group and standing before Harry. "Try right now!" She made a show of sticking her tongue out and licking her lips. "What do you say, captain? Wanna do some team bonding with your chasers?" Demelza blushed, but Harry noticed her take a little half-step closer to both of them. He glanced at Ginny, who smirked and shook her head.

“I think I’ve already bonded pretty well with my captain, so I’ll pass,” Ginny said. “But don’t let me stop you lot from bonding.” She turned around and tucked her broom under her arm like she was going to return to the castle.

Which direction are we going, Harry?