Harry Potter and the Sword of Gryffindor

Chapter 20

All week Ron and Hermione refused to speak to one another, Ron because he was sure Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers and Hermione because she was sure he hadn't. The result of this tiff was that Ron stopped joining them for study sessions in the Transfiguration classroom. Harry missed his friend since all the time he had to spend studying with Hermione meant that Ron somehow assumed Harry was allied with her.

Harry was glad for the evenings away from the tense atmosphere in the common room, time spent practicing quidditch in preparation for the game on Saturday: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. They had been scheduled to play Ravenclaw earlier in the year, but Madame Hooch had sensibly rearranged the schedule to give Oliver Wood more time with his new team.

At the first practice after tryouts, Wood pulled Harry aside.

"I'm glad you made Seeker," he said sincerely. "I hoped you would. But I felt I had to make you earn it, you know?"

Harry considered this. He had been pretty sore at Wood for making him try out for his own position, but he had thought that Wood did it because he didn't want to deal with a blind Seeker on his team. That Wood had done it so Harry could prove himself hadn't occurred to him. All he said was, "thanks."

Wood slapped him on the back and loped off toward the rest of the team, waiting in the center of the pitch. Harry followed him more slowly, wondering how the team would react. Wood's statement had buoyed him somewhat but he still had to ignore butterflies in his gut.

Wood immediately set the tone. "Welcome Victoria," he said first. "We're sorry to lose Katie but you've shown yourself to be an excellent flyer and we have no doubts you will make an outstanding chaser. Since you're the newest member, you will be the backup chaser."

Harry assumed Vicki nodded. She seemed like a quiet girl, which made her practically invisible to Harry since most of the cues he got from people nowadays were auditory. He made a mental note to try to talk to her sometime just to find out a little more about her.

"And now for Potter," continued Wood. Harry snapped his attention back to what Wood was saying. "For our team to work well together, we need good communication. I've never played with a blind Seeker but I did see a blind quidditch league play once and I was very impressed. I have no doubt we can make the best team Gryffindor has ever had."

Harry grinned as he heard comments of assent from his teammates and one of the Weasley twins clapped Harry on the back.

"Potter, first, you need to tell us exactly what you can see and how you plan to play. From there we can work out the team strategy."

Hesitantly at first, but with growing confidence, Harry explained the blurriness, the pain, the lack of color and the glare. He pulled the beeping Snitch from his pocket and showed it to the team.

"Will you need beepers on the goalposts?" queried Wood when Harry told them about the near miss with pole.

"I don't think so," replied Harry, "since I'm not a chaser. But I'm not sure about the Bludgers."

"That's our job, mate," said Fred, pulling a strong-man pose.

"They shouldn't be any different since they sneak up on everyone. I don't think you silly Chasers and Seekers ever watch out for our precious ickle Bludgerkins," added George.

Wood cleared his throat. "So you two keep the Bludgers away from Harry, especially," he ordered.

"Right-o Capitan," said George with a snappy salute.

"What else?" asked Wood.

Harry told them about the collision with Ron. "I can't see you coming until you're really close," he explained.