𝗗𝗜𝗘 𝗔 𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘 ☼ 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘆

↘︎ chapter six

6 | Guess who's in the team!

The Quidditch school pitch was enormous and had the shape of an oval. It was five hundred feet long and a hundred and eighty feet wide, with a small central circle of approximately two feet in diameter. There were three Goalposts of different heights, surrounder by a scoring area. There were around twelve towers from where most of the teachers and staff were watching the game.

Marley Macmillan and Lee Jordan were sitting at the stands, waiting for their friends to get on the pitch. The girl didn't know Angelina Johnson was also planning to try to get in the team, but she wanted to be a Chaser. The current captain of the team was the ginger twins' older brother - Charlie Weasley. Now it was ten o'clock in the morning and the Gryffindors had one hour to pass the tryouts. There were at total fourteen Gryffindors and will play something like a real game, but it won't be one full game. They would also do different exercises to see good they are and which position suits them best. The players would have some uniforms to recognize the members of each team. Meanwhile, Charlie would see how are the students and he'd choose four or five to join the team.

"I didn't know Angelina wanted to try." stated Marley and looked at the pitch, now full of all the fourteen Gryffindors with uniforms. Charlie was giving instructions to all of them. There weren't only twelve-year-olds but and some older students. "When she was talking to me three days ago that Fred and George wanted to enter the team, I had no idea she was counting herself too."

"Lina is full of surprises, Marley." said Lee Jordan. The weather was sunny and clear. Charlie made a sign and all the players flew on their brooms, taking their positions in the pitch. After the different exercises it was tome for the short game. Fred and George were Beaters and carrying bats with themselves. The only players with bats. And the game started.

"Do you think they'll pass?" asked again Marley, now scared and nervous. Everyone were playing so well but she was just watching Fred, George and Angelina. She didn't care if someone else was going to enter the team, she just wanted to see her friends happy. Other students, supporting their friends were also sitting on the stands and cheering. Marley saw a couple of Slytherins and Hufflepuffs.

"Of course. They are Fred and George Weasley." replied Lee like it was obvious. "Do you doubt them?"

Marley didn't know what to reply, so she just kept silent for a couple of minutes and concentrated again on the game. It was doing well. Suddenly someone scored a goal. That was ten points, but Marley had missed some of the game and didn't understand for which team were the points for. For what she was seeing, one of the balls - Bludger was trying to knock off one player from Angelina's team, but the Beater, a stranger girl, aimed the ball towards the other team. It hit a boy from the twins' team in the stomach and continued its way. One of the twins went after the ball, so it won't knock off another player. According to Marley's observations, the Beater was the hardest position in Quidditch.

"Lee, I'm nervous," whispered Marley. She really wanted her friends to get in the team. Lee Jordan just looked at her with his dark eyes, smiling weakly.

"Just breathe, Marley." he tried to comfort her. "It's just one game and it's not the end of the world. Right, Fred and George really want to enter the team, but--"

"There is no but, Lee!" Marley cut him off. Her hands were trembling and she placed them between her knees. "They must pass. Lina too. Anyway, do you follow the game? Who is going to win?"

"These are just tryouts but I think it's gonna be the twins' team." shrugged his arms Lee, looking up at the players. Marley also looked up and narrowed her eyes, trying to find where Fred and George were. But she couldn't manage to find them because of the bright and cold sun. A moment later Charlie Weasley called the players down and they all went down by their broomsticks, then gathered around the captain. Maybe the game had ended because Charlie was looking at some list with notes, saying the results to the students.

"What's happening?" Marley bent over and tried to see in the distance the students better. She could hear only voices from the pitch, but couldn't recognize what they were saying. Some of the students looked disappointed but certain of them have the biggest grins on their faces. But before Marley could see her friends' faces, they all left the pitch. "We should go, now."

"Wait, don't run!" shouted Lee, but Marley grabbed him for the wrist, dragging the poor boy after her. They left the stands, while other students were sitting there. But the girl had to find her friends and see if they had passed the tryouts. Lee and Marley were already on the green grass, close to the exit of the pitch, when the girl recognized two ginger boys and a black girl talking.

"Marley!" Angelina was the first to see the girl and ran towards her, smiling. "We did it. Guess who's in the team."

"No way!" replied Marley squeakily and she jumped from happiness. "Are you serious? What about Fred and George?"

"We're the new Beaters, sunshine." the twins had popped in behind Angelina. Marley didn't recognize who said that, but she was too busy being excited about her friends. "Is it strange you look more excited than us?"

"Definitely," confirmed Lee, standing beside Marley and then the group brust into laughter. Since Marley arrived at Hogwarts, she had never felt that happy.

***

The friends were sitting on the Gryffindor table, during the dinner. The Great Hall was noisy and all the students were talking on high voice, mostly about the today's Quidditch tryouts. Dumbledore had greeted all the students that had passed and became part of the houses' teams. Marley was extremely happy for her friends.

This night the dinner was even more delicious - roasted pork (Marley's favourite), lettuce and pumpkin pie for dessert. The students' glasses were filled with something like champagne, and their cups with juice. There was a lot of bustle as everyone tried to get their food and kept reaching for the table, clattering utensils, and from time to time one of the glasses was spilling.

Marley's plate was overflowing with pork and salad. She didn't even know if there would be enough space for the pumpkin pie at all, but that didn't bother her. The girl was standing next to Angelina, and there was a red-haired Fred with his twin George next to him. Lee had lodged next to George, and they all gulped on their food until they filled their plates. Not every day there was so much food served at dinner.

"Where did you find that wolf's appetite, Mar?" joked George, cutting the pork in his plate with his fork. Marley just rolled playfully her eyes, coming with a good reply.

"Said the boy with gulped plate. Anyway, is that a champagne or puked by a troll?" Marley raised her glass, her nose wrinkled and eyes narrowed at the yellowish-white liquid, which made her friends laugh. "I suggest a toast. For the new players in the team."

The others took their glasses and approached them to Marley's. They said 'cheers' and drank from the liquid. Marley made an almost disgusted grimace and coughed.

"Jesus cries, that's awful!" she exclaimed and the ginger twins just laughed, but Marley could see they also didn't really like the champagne. Angelina hardly swallowed her sip and she glazed her eyes, her face getting red.

Marley quickly took her cup with juice and drank from it. It turned out to be sweet peach juice and sweetness poured into Marley's throat, displacing the bitterness of the champagne, which almost made her puke the few bites of food she had swallowed. "Remind me never to drink champagne ever again." she said.

"When you're older you'll think otherwise." smirked Lee Jordan, followed by nods by the side of the twins. Maybe he was right. Marley was оnly eleven years old and her friends were twelve. They were very young for every kind of alcohol, but this occasion needed it. Her friends had just entered the Quidditch team. Maybe the champagne was awful but it was worth it. Still, the toast was for her friends.