The Stand

A Warning for Dumbledore

"Chang" Harry strode into the common room, his gaze fixed on the Asian Seventh Year.

"Potter" Cho turned away from her giggling friends to face the Boy-Who-Lived "What do you want?"

"May we speak?" Harry asked politely.

"We can" Cho nodded and allowed Harry to lead her away. He took her into a secluded classroom. He didn't want to deal with Cho's friends trying to eavesdrop so he cast some privacy wards.

Cho smirked as she sat on a desk "So, what do you want? I assume that you aren't about to take me right here on the desk."

"You assume correctly" Harry chuckled "Instead, I have an idea which I feel may benefit us both."

"What is it" Cho was intrigued.

"I have been named Quidditch Captain as the longest-tenured member of the starting squad. I'm pretty sure that none of the second years are secret Quidditch prodigies so we can be sure that you will be the reserve seeker" Harry explained.

"So?" Cho didn't see where he was going.

"I do not like you and I am quite sure that you don't like me" Harry conceded "However, we have a common goal: winning the Quidditch Cup. That's why I propose that you move to Chaser."

"Hm" Cho wasn't convinced "Why do you think I should do that?"

"Let's be frank here, you aren't going to unseat me as the starter without an injury. You'll be stuck as a reserve once again even though you could easily be a starter. Our chaser depth is depleted. Henry wants to focus on his NEWTs so we only have Alice. You're quick on a broom and can change directions easily. Alice is already a good chaser as a 3rd year. You could be deadly together" Harry ranted.

Cho laughed "That is true. The only people left are you, Rishi and Alice. Speaking of Gopal, I heard that he is your co-captain."

"He is" Harry nodded "You know that he despises you, but even he had to admit, you'd be good as a chaser. What do you say?"

"I'll have to think on this. Thank you Potter" Cho said after some deliberation.

"My pleasure." Harry nodded.

Harry took down the wards and let Cho leave. When she left, he let out a big sigh. He had no idea how Quidditch GMs manage rebuilding. It was painful, seeing as the rebuilding teams were always stripped down to the bone.

Last year, the Ravenclaw team was dominant but that coincided with some of the players ready to graduate. Graduation took 3 people off their starting lineup leaving Harry, Rishi, Henry Moore and his sister Alice.

Henry was entering his seventh year and decided to resign from the team to focus on his studies. His NEWTs were this year and like every Ravenclaw, failure was not an option. Harry heard that Alice attempted to convince her old brother into rejoining but he held firm. Harry couldn't blame the guy but it hurt the team. Being siblings, Henry and Alice had great chemistry on the pitch. They argued in practice but on the pitch, they played like one. It'd be hard to replace that.

Harry decided to head back to the tower. He had to think of exercises for tryouts.

On his way back, he found Alice walking up to him "Hey Alice."

"Hey Harry" Alice smiled "You ready for tryouts?"

Harry laughed "I have to be."

"Anyway, I have a note from Dumbledore" Alice grabbed a piece of crumpled paper from her pocket and handed it to Harry "Sorry about it's... shape. I kinda forgot about it for a while."