The Story of Regulus Black - Years 1-4

XXXI. The First Match

Regulus Black was so nervous that he was practically shaking. In fact, he felt very similar to how he had before the Quidditch tryouts themselves. Only this time, he had an entire team counting on him instead of just himself.

The weather outside was absolutely dreadful. It was only a few degrees above freezing, and the winds were so strong that Regulus almost fell over multiple times on the way down to the pitch. Regulus was positive that the blustery state would most certainly mess up the dynamic of the entire team.

Carson had woken up the whole team at four o'clock in the morning and brought them all down to the pitch for one last minute practice. It was still dark out by the time they reached the field, and everyone was wrapped in layers upon layers of clothing. Regulus suspected that the Slytherin Quidditch team must look like a group of black and dark green marshmallows.

Just as Regulus suspected, the winds messed everything up. Gillian, Wyatt, and Carson kept fumbling their passes with the Quaffle, and the winds had a habit of picking up right as a goal was about to be made, sending the Quaffle off kilter and away from the hoops completely.

After the third time, Gillian heaved a very irritated sigh and flew laps 'round the pitch to expel her frustration. Carson was in a similar state. He was barking orders at all of the players, and his exasperation was rising by the second.

Mulciber and Macnair weren't having any better luck. Their Bludgers kept flying off of their intended path. Carson screamed at the two of them several times because of this, seeing as they had been specifically meant to work on their aim for the past few weeks.

"It's not our ruddy fault!" Macnair yelled in response. "It's not like we can change the weather! And, it's not even five in the morning yet, and it's bloody dark out!"

"I don't care what time it is, I don't care how dark it is, I don't care how windy it is, make up for it! Aim the direction the wind is blowing to account for the direction change!" Carson shouted back, hovering in front of the rings where he had been talking to Harrison Willis seconds before.

"Yeah, Macnair, just don't suck at your ruddy job!" Wyatt Pearce added.

Macnair shot him a fiery glare, and his next Bludger was miraculously aimed right towards Wyatt.

Regulus was shivering uncontrollably on his broom. He had on two different long sleeve shirts, a sweatshirt, a jacket, a thick scarf, and the warmest pair of pants that he owned, though it didn't seem to be doing much. Regulus was still freezing cold.

He was zipping this way and that around the pitch, trying to create as much body heat as he could, while still looking for the Snitch. The wind didn't help his flying patterns, but it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, either. Though, there had been a few hard gusts that almost pushed Regulus clear off his broom.

The Snitch was a completely different story.

While the tiny ball was doing surprisingly good fighting the breeze, Regulus couldn't seem to reach it. Every time he would reach out his arm to wrap his fingers 'round the golden ball, the wind would either knock his hand off the path or the Snitch would zoom away before he could reach. Regulus just hoped that Deacon would be having as much trouble during the match.

During his hours spent practicing with Deacon, Regulus had discovered that Deacon was actually much better than Regulus thought he would be. However, Regulus was still fairly confident in his ability to catch the Snitch.

Slytherin would be playing against Gryffindor for their first match, meaning that Sirius would most definitely be watching.

In truth, Regulus had only joined the Quidditch team in order to make Sirius pay more attention to him. Because, no matter how much he didn't want to, he really wanted to be close with his brother again. Quidditch seemed like the most logical first step.