Aunt Rose

7.

Marlene was trying to get out of tryouts on Wednesday but Rose was having none of it.

"Seriously Rose, I don't think I can do this. I'm not that good anyway!" Marlene excused, dragging her feet toward the quidditch pitch.

The normally outspoken and confident girl was a shy, self-deprecating mess.

"Mar, you're one of the best beaters here, I don't think you realize how good you are. Gryffindors stick together and today, I'm with you. So, let's get out there and you show these boys how good you are!" Rose told her, giving Marlene a side-hug. She rolled her eyes but appreciated the sentiment.

When the two girls arrived at the quidditch pitch the only other players there were James and Sirius. Rose may or may not have intentionally forgotten to tell them the exact time of the tryout.

She smiled devilishly at the boys, setting the trunk with all of the playing pieces down in the middle of the pitch.

"Why hello, boys. Nice to see you two could make it!" Rose teased, letting Marlene get to the change rooms as she set the supplies up.

"You're seriously making us try out?" James asked, his arms crossed.

"All members of the Gryffindor quidditch team need to be able to prove themselves," Rose replied, smirking.

She took out the quaffle and set it on the ground but left the other two balls inside the case. She didn't need a snitch and bludger flying around.

The boys huffed while the rest of the players trying out arrived.

Rose wouldn't admit it to the boys but she was never going to kick them off the team, they were by far the best players.

The open spots were one chaser and a beater.  Phineas had been a chaser and graduated but their beater had been pulled out last year because he was a muggle-born.

Once all of the players for tryouts had gathered, 7 players in total, Rose made sure they had all properly signed up. After that, she had them do some flying warmups and rounds to see how each of them flew.

Because there were six of them, she had them all play a game, rotating keeper on one side to see everybody fly. She flew next to all of them, watching intently how they worked as a team.

Once she had an idea of the chasers, she unleashed the bludger and watched how the players went about it.

The tryout as a whole took about two hours and when they were finished, Rose knew exactly who she wanted on her team.

"Alright, that was great, everybody! Really happy with that and I think I've got the spots picked!" She announced to the tired players.

"So, for the keeper, I'm gonna stick with Malcolm, obviously," Rose said first, the boy smiled.

"For chasers, I'm going with James, Romaz, and Unoria," James looked relieved and slightly angry. Romaz was more excited, hugging and clapping hands with the others, Unoria pumped her arm in the air.

"And finally, for my two beaters, I want Sirius and Marlene!" Sirius smiled and gave James a fist bump as Marlene looked slightly surprised even though she was just as good as Sirius.