Chapter 7 - The Quidditch Pitch
While James was eating he had thought of how to start his letter to his father. So, after James had eaten his supper of roast beef, mashed potatoes and yorkshire puddings, he hurried up to the Gryffendor tower. He went to his dormatory and got some parchment and a quill and went down to a table in the common room. He took a deep breath and started writing.
Dear Dad,
This morning, (Saturday) Alice, Tom, Rose, Al and I went to the library to look at old Daily Prophet articles. See, when we were riding the Hogwarts Express Alice and Tom were having an arguement about how famous you really were. They asked me, but I realized that I didn't know much about your life as a Hogwarts Student. You don't really talk about your time at Hogwarts.
So, we decided to get the Daily Prophet issues from your first year until your seventh year, and what did we discover? Loads, dad, loads!
There was so much that I didn't know about you. We went through your first year and discovered that you faced Voldemort for a second time and that Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione were all a part of it too. In your second year we discovered that you saved mom from a place called the Chamber of Secrets. In your third year we discovered that Uncle Sirius is actually a mass murderer and he escaped from Azkaban (Please elaborate on that a little more.) And, in your fourth year you were a wizard chosen to take part in the TriWizard Tournament.
All of these events that are a part of your life were all news to me, and I was really upset that I needed to find out about your life through Daily Prophet Articles. The woman who wrote most of the articles in your fourth year sounded like she was off her rocker, so we stopped there, and I decided to ask you about your life. I would like you to be honest with me, dad, because I think I deserve to know. By the time you were my age you had already faced Voldemort twice and lived to tell the tale. That is cool and all dad, but I would like to know more about you and what you went through when you were a student at Hogwarts.
Thank you for listening.
James.
James was rather pleased with the letter. He read it back, and reread it to make sure that he didn't sound angry, and he was pleased.
James realized that it had taken him a lot longer to write his letter than he thought it would, so he folded it up, decided to reread it again in the morning before he sent it, and went up to his room to go to bed.
James was planning on going to the Quidditch Pitch tomorrow to really give it a go on his Firebolt. Alice was going to go with him, because she had decided to get a Nimbus two-thousand-and-one before she came to school and was wanting to give her broom a work out too.
James, being an early riser, was going to go to the Owlry tomorrow morning to visit Humphrey and get him to take the letter to his dad.
* * *
James did wake early on Sunday morning, but realized that it was actually the middle of the night. He was having a dream about a giant flying motorcycle. It was flying over London and then started to plummet to the ground below. That was all that James could remember from the dream, but he realized that he was breathing really heavy. He told himself it was just a dream and went back to sleep.
* * *
The next morning James got up and re read his letter. He was still happy with what he had written so he hurried to get dressed. It had been a few days since he had seen Humphrey and was excited to see his oddly shaped little owl.
James hurried down the grand staircase to the fourth floor landing. He then went down the fourth floor corridor to the clock tower. He had to go down a few flights of ricketty wooden steps to get to the clock tower enterance, and then the clock tower courtyard. He hurried out of the court yard to the covered bridge and began to walk. The covered bridge was one of James' favorite views in the whole castle. There were a few more good views from the Viaduct and from the stone bridge, but in James' opinnion this was the best. He could see the black lake, and the Owlry, and he could also see Hagrid's hut and the Forbidden Forest. When he reached the middle of the bridge he could look out to one side and see most of the castle. He took a deep breath of the crisp, fresh autumn air. James was happy.
James then walked the rest of the way down the covered bridge to stone circle. There were lots of different birds sitting on the large rocks at the end of the bridge, and James wished that he had brought some bread crumbs or something. He had brought some owl treats for Humphrey, but he didn't think about the other bird he would see. James could see smoke rising out of Hagrid's chimney and thought about going down the hill first to see his giant friend. He knew that him and Al would be going there for tea later that day, so he decided to make his way up the hill towards the Owlry.
Once James reached the tall circular tower-type building he hurried inside. He didn't realize how chilly it was out until the wind was no longer blocked by the castle or the bridge.
Once inside, James climbed the spirial staircase up to the top of the Owlry. Humphrey had already made friends with some of the school owls, and was hooting happily with them.
"Humphrey," called James and the tiny owl soared down to him. "I have a letter here that I need you to take to dad." Humphrey held out his leg to have the letter tied onto him, and he waited patiently for a treat. James had been training Humphrey to be well behaved when he was to take letters places. After James had finished he gave Humphrey an owl treat and sent him on his way. James was hoping that Humphrey would get to his father quickly.
James then ran back to the castle and to the great hall to have some breakfast. He saw Alice eating her porridge, and went to join her.
"Are you excited about going out to the Quidditch Pitch this morning?" asked Alice when James sat down. "Because I sure am. Hey, where have you been, your cheeks are all red. You weren't flying without me were you?"
"No, no. I went to the Owlry to send that letter to my dad. Humphrey was happy to take the letter, and he seems to be getting along with the other owls too." James was very proud of his little owl.
"Ok. So, hurry up and eat, and then we'll get our brooms and off to the Quidditch pitch!" said Alice with vigor.
Just then Tom came into the Great Hall to have his breakfast.
"I thought you two were going flying this morning?" said Tom quizitively.
"We are, but we are going to eat first. You can't fly on an empty stomach!" retorted Alice.
"Oh, well, Sorry!" said Tom in a snotty voice. Tom then turned his attention to James. "Is it ok if I come at watch. I would really like to understand Quidditch a little more. It seems a little strange that I don't know that much about it."
"Sure," said James. "I can explain it to you if you would like?" he offered.
"Um, maybe after you and Alice fly your brooms. I'll see if I can figure it out for myself."
"You have a book, don't you?" asked Alice, holding back a snicker.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. After you and James have your fun, then I am going to see how much I learned by trying to explain the game to James. That is, if that is ok?" asked Tom.
"Sure, why not," replied James.
So, after the three of them finished their breakfast they went up to get their brooms (or books in Tom's case) and made their way to the Quidditch Pitch.
When the three of them reached the Quidditch Pitch Tom went up to the stands to read his Quidditch book and Alice and James took their brooms and started to fly around the ovular grass field. At either end were three goal hoops (that looked like those toys that muggle children blew bubbles with) and James went circling around each one. Alice soared high in the air on her Nimbus and then took a dive straight down towards the ground again. She pulled up out of her dive just in time to not hit the ground, and when James saw her face, she was beaming with pride.
Alice and James were soaring around for at least half an hour when someone came walking onto the Quidditch pitch.
"Oi, you up there! What do you think you're doing?"
James and Alice quickly came down and landed infront of Annibelle Scott, the Gryffendor captain. She had an odd look on her face.
"Um, sorry?" said James. "We didn't think there would be a problem. We were just practicing flying around on our new brooms."
"There isn't really a problem, unless you say that you are not going to be trying out for the team. You are Gryffendor's, right? What are your names?" replied Annibelle. James figured out the odd look. She was looking for new talent.
"I'm Alice, and yes, we would love to try for the new team," said Alice, getting very excited. "I personally would love to be a beater!"
"Well, as you probably know, most of our team finished school last year. We are looking for a new seeker, two new chasers, a beater and a keeper. I am also a chaser. Our other beater's name is Sean Flannigan. He is a 5th year. Really good too," said Annibelle.
"Hi, I'm James. When are tryouts?" asked James.
"It depends," replied Annibelle, "what position do you want to play?" she pointed at James.
"I would really like to be a seeker, like my dad, but I would be happy to be anything you need me to be. Why?"
"Because, I saw you flying around those goal hoops and I think you would make a great keeper. Why don't I go and get the balls from the storage room and we can do a preliminary try out. If you do well, then I will use you as examples at the real tryout and you can be on the team!"
"WICKED!" said Alice, really excited.
James and Alice quickly kicked back up into the air to do a bit of a victory lap before Annibelle came back.
Annibelle came back dragging an old trunk behind her. When she opened it up there were three visible balls. One big red one that wasn't really round, because it had circular indentations in thirds around the ball, the Quaffle. Then there were two slightly smaller black balls that were shaking in the chains they were held in, the bludgers. Annibelle then opened a little drawer in the top of the trunk and took out a little gold ball, the snitch. While it was in her hand it sprouted wings, and took off. It flew in front of James' face and then flew in front of Alice's face, and then took off.
"Right now, we are just going to deal with the snitch and the quaffle. Alice, I would like you, and your fancy flying to try to find the snitch. James, I want you to position yourself in front of the goal posts. I am going to try to score, and I want you to block me. Basically, I want you to be the keeper."
"Alright!" Alice and James both said and went off to their positions. Alice went soaring way up above the pitch to see if she could find the speck of gold. She wasn't overly thrilled with the idea of being the seeker, but she was excited to be trying out for the team.
James, on the other hand, was more than thrilled to be asked to be keeper. He didn't think he was going to be the greatest seeker, because he has a hard time noticing detail, but he was excited to be showing off his flying skills by blocking the on-coming quaffle.
James had been flying around for a grand total of five minutes when Alice came soaring over to Annibelle with the snitch in her hand. Annibelle was very impressed, and asked Alice to let it go again. Annibelle and James started to train again, and again, in a very short time, Alice was back with the snitch.
"Ok, Alice, can you go put the snitch away now, and help me try to score of James?" asked Annibelle.
"Sure. And, out of curiousity, do I get a chance to show you my stuff with a bludger and a bat?" asked Alice.
"After you help me try to score on James, we can do some beater training," replied Annibelle.
Alice went back to the ground, put away the snitch and soared back up into the sky. Annibelle and Alice worked hard to try to score on James, but try as they might, they were not able to get the quaffle through the hoops. Any of them.
Annibelle was very impressed with the flying of the two second years, and so she let them go back down to the ground, gave them each bats, and let the bludgers free. Alice was an excellent beater as well. She almost knocked James off his broom twice, but he managed to dodge the bludger flying at his head.
"Alright, you two!" hollered Annibelle. "Come down here, I would like to talk to you."
The two of them quickly landed on the green grass, and walked over to Annibelle. Just as they were walking towards her, both bludgers came towards James and Alice. They each caught one and wrestled it back into the trunk where it came from.
"I'm impressed with you and your performance, both of you!" said Annibelle with pride. "I think with you two on the team there is a chance we could win the Quidditch cup this year. Gryffendor hasn't been able to win the Quidditch cup since Harry Potter has been here, so it would be great if we could win again! So, James and Alice, what are your last names?"
"My last name is Fitzgerrald, and his is Potter," Alice answered for both of them.
"Potter? Are you related to Harry Potter?" asked Annibelle, getting excited.
"I'm his son," replied James, a little bit embarrassed.
"WOAH!" said Annibelle. "Imagine us, with the son of Harry Potter on the team. We would be unbeatable. This is GREAT!" Annibelle was getting all worked up.
"Well," said James, "you just let us know if you want us to play on your team, and what position you would like us to play."
"James, it is a no brainer. I would like you to be our Keeper. Would you join our team?" asked Annibelle.
"On one condition. You treat me like I am me, James, not like I am the son of Harry Potter. I have my own identity, and I am good at this sport because I am good, not because of my dad."
"DEAL!" said Annibelle. "And, Alice, I would like to see what happens at tryouts. I think you would be a great beater, but I also think you will make a great seeker, so we will just wait and see if we find someone who can fill one of those positions better than you. Is that ok?"
"Yeah, that's fine," said Alice.
"Ok, perfect. Tryouts will either be next week, or the week after. Just watch the notice board in the Gryffendor common room, and we'll go from there. Does that sound good?" asked Annibelle.
"Yes!" both Alice and James said.
They said their goodbyes to Annibelle, and she walked off the Quidditch pitch.
By this time Tom was walking out onto the pitch. He sat in the stands watching them fly for over an hour, and was now looking a little cold and bored.
"I still don't understand this game. It just sounds like a load of nonsense to me. James, can you please put it in plain terms?" asked Tom.
"Sure. Ok, you see those things way up there?"
"The things that look like giant bubble wands?" asked Tom.
"Sure... Those. Well, they are the goal hoops. The red, funny shaped ball, the quaffle, has to get through those hoops to score ten points. Are you with me?" Tom nodded. "Ok. There are three chasers who's job it is to get the quaffle through the hoops, and there is a keeper, who's job is to protect the hoops."
"Like a goal tender?" asked Tom.
"Sure... That. And, then there are two beaters, who fly around with bats in their hand who hit the bludgers, the scary black flying balls, at the opposing team to try to stop them from scoring. Do you have that much?"
"Sure, it is like basket ball, and soccer on broomsticks!" said Tom excitedly that he was getting the game.
"Sure... whatever. Then lastly, there is a seeker. It is the job of the seeker to find the little tiny golden ball called the snitch. The snitch is worth one-hundered and fifty points, and once the snitch is caught, then the games is over. That is the game. Do you understand it now?" asked James.
"Yes, I understand much better. Thank you!" replied Tom.
"What book were you reading?" asked Alice. "It should have been all there in the book only with a little more explination." Alice grabbed the book out of Tom's hand. "Well, no wonder you weren't able to understand the game. This book is not even written in English. What is this written in?"
"Bulgarian," replied Tom. "They won the quidditch world cup when your dad went to see it, James, and so I thought they would know what they were talking about. Turns out that when Blugarian is translated into English, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense."
Alice just burst out laughing. "Next time, just ask. We'll tell you better than any Bulgarian could!"
James and Tom walked off the pitch towards the great hall for lunch, with Alice behind them laughing at Tom and his quest for knowledge.
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