Sirius's son

Quidditch tryouts

The rest of Thursday passed by normally and without a hitch. They did have to stay up a bit later for Astronomy though, making Rigel extra tired in the morning. And then it was Friday, and all he had to do was suffer through Herbology, Charms, and double Defense before it was finally quidditch tryouts. As soon as Charms ended, the last class of the day was over, Rigel was rushing back to the Gryffindor dorms to retrieve his Nimbus 2000 he had ordered. He met Harry, Eliza, Hermione, and Ron down by the quidditch pitch. Rigel changed into the slightly-too-large Gryffindor quidditch uniform that was provided for him and he ran out onto the pitch, one of the first to arrive. Harry and Ron were already in uniform, standing with the rest of the team, and Ron and Hermione were up in the stands to provide moral support.

Considering that only one position was open, the chaser, Rigel was surprised at how many people were milling about on the field once tryouts officially started. Most people just had the standard school-issued brooms, but some had nicer, store-bought models, such as a Cleansweep 67 or a Comet 60. Rigel noticed that he was one if not the youngest person for the tryouts.

Oliver Wood, the team's keeper, and the captain got straight down to business.

"Right," he yelled, getting everyone's attention. "There's only one open spot this year, and that position is the chaser. Due to the former chaser, Alicia Spinnet, resigning from the team, the position needs to be refilled. So, if you were planning on trying out for anything else, I'm sorry, but no. Just leave."

More than three-quarters of the people hoping to try out left, grumbling under their breath. Now with a much smaller group of people to address, Oliver spoke at a normal volume.

"Right. You all want to try out for chaser?" They all nodded. "I'm basically going to set it up like a tournament. "Angelina and Eliza here," he gestured to the other two chasers, "will occasionally be playing with you. Everyone else on the team will be acting as the opposing team's chasers and I will be at the goalposts. Other than that, you will use teamwork and skill to get the quaffle through the hoops. The player with the most scores at the end of tryouts gets to be on the team. Oh and also we will also be using the same broomsticks so nobody can complain about having the better broom or any of that crap." he pointedly stared at Rigel who shrugged handing him his broom.

With that, Oliver started dividing them up, putting Rigel in a group with first a large fifth-year boy and Angelina Johnson, one of the current chasers. After their round, Rigel had scored the most and was able to advance, next being paired with a small third-year girl and a tall fourth-year boy. It went on like that for a while, Rigel thankfully advancing every round, spurred on by his friend's cheering from the stands and Harry's occasional yelled encouragement.

And then it was just Rigel and a boy called Cormac Mclaggen, a rather haughty-looking third year. Even though it was just the two of them left, neither Angelina nor Eliza stepped in to be the third chaser, leaving it all up to them. Instead, the two girls posed as enemy chasers along with the Weasley twins, doing their best to steal the quaffle and block them from scoring.

Oliver blew the whistle, and the last round began. Rigel immediately swooped in and grabbed the quaffle, dodging Katie as he went. He rose up into the air, looking for an opening, but was forced to pass it to Mclaggen. The other boy immediately sped off, not giving Percy a second glance. Percy followed, scowling at the third year's back. McLagged threw the quaffle once he was near the posts, but he missed, Angelina tried to catch it but slipped and Rigel intercepted before Katie could catch it. He swooped over to the posts, threw the ball at the middle one, and scored.

It went on like that for what seemed like hours but was really only minutes. Every time Rigel would score, Mclaggen would get madder. The guy was also very unsportsmanlike and even had the audacity to lecture Fred Weasley on how to hit a bludger (That got him a bludger on the mouth),

When Oliver blew the whistle to signal that the round was over, Mclaggen had scored far more often than Rigel.

They all landed their brooms in the center of the field, ready to hear Oliver's decision. "Mclaggen, very nice throwing arm and very good on that broom of yours. And nice goals"

Mclaggen grinned cockily Rigel's shoulder's slumped.

 "However," he stopped grinning. "Black here had given more passes to you. More opportunities while you were arrogant enough to think that you could score. Therefore, Rigel Black, welcome to the team."

Harry clapped Rigel on the back, grinning. The rest of the team surrounded him and said their congratulations, Fred and George each ruffling his hair, Eliza and Angelina kissed him and even Wood gave a fist bump. Rigel could see Mclaggen sulking off to the locker rooms, disappointed in his loss.

Oliver continued speaking once everyone had quieted down a bit. "Right. So, first practice is tomorrow morning, everyone, first thing." There were a few groans here and there. "Now, now. We need to get Black accustomed to playing on a team and we need to go through some drills from last year. Understood?"

Rigel gave a mock salute much to the amusement of his teammates.

Once everyone was done changing and they were starting to head back to the castle to eat dinner, Oliver pulled Rigel aside and quickly got his measurements. Then, using magic, of course, the older boy tailored Rigel's very own Gryffindor quidditch uniform to fit him perfectly. Oliver basically just gave him a box that had his uniform inside of it, told him to open it in the dorms, pat Rigel's shoulder and grinned, congratulated him one more time, and then walked off to join the others at dinner muttering about a 'ruddy good chaser'.

As Rigel got ready for bed to the sound of Ron's snores, he thought. He had made the Gryffindor quidditch team as chasers, which was good. Most of his classes had gone fairly well that week, which was also brilliant. So far, Rigel's year had been nice. Nothing super dramatic had happened yet and nothing was trying to kill them all. And, as far as he knew, Voldemort wasn't sticking out of the back of anyone's head this year.