Chapter 156: Chap.153 - Quidditch Tryout - Part.1

On Friday afternoon, tryouts for the Gryffindor Quidditch team began. Not only were Gryffindor students watching, but several students from other houses came to see, some out of curiosity, others to get a look at the competition.

However, this year, the Gryffindor Quidditch selection exam was quite crowded, with dozens of students eyeing the field with curiosity, more specifically at the two figures among those being examined.

Harry Potter and Rigel Black, two first-year students, even more so with Harry Potter between them.

In the stands, Rigel's lips trembled, not far away, on one side of the auditorium, he could see Calypso smiling and cheering, with a Gryffindor flag bearing Rigel's picture waving behind her, even Kreacher had a small Gryffindor flag and hat on his head.

He looked like one of Santa's elves.

An old and ugly elf.

Rigel ignored the pair, while Harry, standing beside them, looked like he was about to throw up at any moment.

"I really shouldn't have accepted." Harry sighed.

"Don't be like that, at most you'll fall..." George said, not far from them.

Fred continued immediately afterward. "...Don't worry, you're not going to die, maybe break a few bones, but you won't die."

This made Harry turn even paler, causing the twins to burst into laughter.

Rigel rolled his eyes at them, they were wearing red and gold Quidditch uniforms. He sighed slightly, he would see if this would bring him a reward, if not, he could only find a reason to stop.

Maybe break a bone?

No, they were wizards, at most, a wave of their wands would fix any broken bone.

It was no coincidence that they allowed students to play this dangerous game.

Hmm... Rigel couldn't think of a good reason right now, maybe he'd only play for a year, and if he left out of the blue, it might freeze the affection he'd managed to achieve so far.

He really hopes there will be a reward.

"Alright! Let's begin, first the keeper test!" Wood shouted.

Rigel sighed as he left the field with the others who wouldn't need to play now, only a few students who wanted to take the test competed against Wood, in addition to the three current strikers, who tried to score Hoops to test the keepers.

The three were Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet.

One of them would have to give up their place to Rigel, which also made them look nervously at Rigel, but Rigel ignored it, sitting in the stands next to Harry, both already holding their Nimbus 2000s. Rigel asked McGonagall to approve the brooms for the trial, which she allowed, but if they didn't make the team, they would have to send their brooms back home.

Harry was embarrassed to receive the broomstick, at first he refused, but Rigel simply persuaded him to accept, saying it would be credited as an early Christmas present.

Harry finally let it go, he thought he should find a nice gift for Rigel, and he would ask Ron for help with that later.

Draco also received his broomstick, Rigel made sure to give it to him inside a bag with the Undetectable Extension charm, repeatedly telling him to keep it hidden, because if he were caught, Rigel would deny everything.

Draco promised quickly, but he ran so fast that Rigel was almost certain the boy had ignored everything he said.

Even before lunch, while walking through the corridors, he saw Snape angrily holding a broom while Draco lowered his head, filled with guilt. Rigel quickly turned and took another path.

The idiot was a real idiot.

In any case, the trial continued, and even though he was the captain, if he couldn't keep his position, he could only try out for another position or leave the team.

Fortunately, Wood was really good, not good at the selection level, but for a student, very good.

He defended all the shots, which secured his position. One of the students accused the Chasers of going easy on Wood, but in the end, nothing came of it.

Next up was the Beaters tryouts. Seamus had wanted to participate earlier, but after seeing the other players' skills, he gave up, as did Dean. So today they were there with Ron just to cheer on Rigel and Harry.

The test was basically an aerial 'battle'.

The scouts entered while the bludgers flew, trying to knock them down. The objective? The last two still on their brooms were chosen.

There were 5 students competing, including the Twins.

The result? Well, the twins really had chemistry, they practically played a 2-on-3 game and had a lot of fun in the process. In the end, with only one student having broken bones, they secured their places, their smiles indicating that they wanted to keep 'playing'.

Next, it was the Chasers' turn.

Rigel finally came onto the pitch, and Harry wished him good luck as he was leaving.

There were 6 people taking the test: Rigel, two boys from the 5th and 6th grades respectively, and the 3 original chasers.

The test was simple: score a goal while dodging the Bludgers that Fred and George were throwing.

Wood stayed in Hoops. This time, it would be harder for him to defend because the Chasers could get much closer.

Each person had 3 chances, if there was a tie, they would repeat until the best were selected.

The first three girls were chosen, Angelina got 2/3 correct, and Katie and Alicia got 1/3 correct.

Alicia was nearly hit by the bludger on the last throw, causing her to miss and leaving her furious with Fred, who just shrugged, it was part of the game.

Rigel followed soon after, he had observed that scoring in those open field conditions was much simpler, even with the twins getting in the way, without worrying about other Chasers trying to steal the ball, you only needed to worry about the bludger.

Rigel climbed onto his broomstick, the objective was clear: 3/3.

As soon as a student acting as 'referee' blew the whistle, Rigel advanced from midfield, the twins were already ready, Fred released the ball and George, who was waiting, made good contact with the ball, turning it straight towards Rigel.

It wasn't because Rigel was their friend that they would go easy on him, on the contrary, they had seen Rigel play and trusted him.

As the bludger approached rapidly, Rigel simply turned his shoulder back, the bludger almost hit him there, but passed right by. Rigel used the momentum from the turn to spin along with the broom in the air, the ball escaping from his hand in a side throw, going straight into the leftmost hoop.

Wood was ready, Rigel threw the ball from a distance, which was an advantage for Wood, he appeared in front of the hoop even before the ball arrived, but Rigel smiled. Before shooting the ball, he used his hand to apply a spin effect, and not only that, but he used the wind to accelerate the ball even further.

The ball, which seemed to be going in a straight line, spun rapidly, changing direction. Before Wood's shocked eyes, the ball arced and went straight for the center hoop. The ball went past, but almost hit the post. Rigel clicked his tongue, the movement wasn't perfect yet, he almost missed.

Even so, the audience remained silent, Wood's eyes wide, the Twins' mouths agape, and the next moment, a fierce cheer was heard.

It was truly brilliant!

Wood, who should have been sad, was grinning from ear to ear, he was laughing like an idiot, but nobody blamed him.

It took some time for people to calm down and for Rigel to finally be able to try again.

On the second throw, Wood was already ready, this time he didn't rush forward, but observed the ball's movement. However, when Wood caught the ball with a smile, thinking that even though Rigel was good, he wasn't bad yet, however, he was shocked when a hand caught the ball and threw it into the Hoop.

Rigel didn't stop after throwing the ball, but accelerated, and when Wood had just caught it, he took it from him and shot it into the hoop.

The crowd cheered enthusiastically again.

George was clapping and laughing too, but Fred asked, "Does that count?"

"So what? It was fun, so it counts!"

Wood wanted to complain, but in the end, he just gave a wry smile. Technically, he never said that once he caught the ball, the play would stop, if it was in the middle of the game, as long as it wasn't a foul, the game could still continue.

The third play made Wood completely focused, not only on the ball but also on Rigel. He was ready. At that point, the crowd in the stands was completely quiet, clearly wanting Rigel to make that last play. Even the other Chasers felt that watching Rigel play was really fun.

The moment Rigel stepped forward and dodged the bludger, he threw the ball upwards, it wasn't a throw, it was weak, simply making the ball fly a few meters. While the group was still confused, Rigel changed his grip on the broom, jumping into the air and holding it like a bat. When the ball fell, he hit it directly with the broom, as if it were a baseball.

All of this took only a second or two, when the movement ended, Rigel used centripetal force to jump back onto the broom while Wood even forgot to defend.

The ball went straight through the rightmost hoop.

For a moment, the field was completely silent, no one could believe what they were seeing.

The next moment, an extremely excited shout rang out, the twins had already gone to Rigel and flown around them, shouting excitedly.

When Rigel went down, he was overwhelmed by the 'sea' of Gryffindors and thrown upwards, clearly the group was excited.

Even Wood, after landing, was dancing enthusiastically.

Rigel wasn't sure he'd get the last one right, but he was curious if he could, in the end, he had to admit, that feeling of scoring an 'impossible' goal just to be able to do it and be applauded for it.

It was a really good feeling.

Furthermore, Rigel sensed something.

A new legend seemed to have begun to take shape within the King's Treasury.

Well, maybe joining the Quidditch team, even without a reward, wouldn't be so bad.