The Golden Emerald [#1]

Chapter 5

Chapter Five

First Year

After lunch I met up with Jake. Immediately I sent a letter back to Silvius, thanking him a million times for my present. Cal, Nico, and Gabe even gave me little gifts as well. This birthday was too good to be true. I never wanted it to end. "Hey, since you have your broom, why don't we play a little game of Quidditch?" Gabe asked me. "We'll explain the rules to you. I'm sure you can pick it up fast." Gabe loved Quidditch more than anything. He was more intense than anyone I have ever met.

"You really like Quidditch don't you?" I asked him even though it was obvious. "And yeah I've always wanted to learn how to play. I'm probably not very good at flying," I admitted embarrassed. They were definitely pros by now. We've only had a few lessons so far. I wasn't horrible. For being a first year I was pretty good at it. Silvius used to sneak me out a couple of times and tried showing me. The flying wasn't too difficult, it was just that my skills were probably rusty. Getting off the ground was simple for me, but moving around could get tricky. I can't imagine trying to catch one of the balls.

"We'll go easy on you," he joked as we all walked down to the pitch. They brought their brooms with them when they heard about my present. I really didn't want to embarrass myself, but I also wanted to put this broom to use. "I want to be the keeper for the Sweetwater All-Stars. Been a fan of them since I was little," Gabe told me.

"Who are they?" I asked. Gabe sighed and shook his head.

"Good thing we got you the book," he said in a relieved tone, talking about the book, Quidditch Throughout the Ages, they gave me. "The Sweetwater All-Stars are one of the only two teams from The United States. They are located in Texas which is the closest team to Hawaii. My dad took me to see them when I was little on weekends." Silvius never mentioned any USA teams to me. He only talked about his favorite European ones.

"Cool," I said. "So which team am I closest too?"

"The Fitchburg Finches, they are actually located right in Massachusetts. Didn't you go to any games when you were little?" He asked me seeming surprised. Most of the pureblood kids have been attending Quidditch games all of their lives.

"Um no," I answered while needing to think quickly. "My parents were always too busy to bring us to any games."

"That sucks. You'll have to come to the game with us over the summer, Sweetwater All-Stars versus Fitchburg Finches. It's going to be a good game, both good teams." If only my parents would let me out of the house.

We made our way down the hill towards the empty Quidditch Pitch. Gabe and Jake explained the rules to me. It surprisingly wasn't as difficult as I would have guessed. The game ends when the snitch is caught, watch out for bludgers, throw the quaffle through the hoops, and they went over the positions on the team. They let me play the keeper's position first, which I was insanely bad at because I kept dodging the quaffles. I didn't want to get hit and they were moving at painfully fast speeds. I already knew that I didn't want to be a seeker, too much pressure for me, and I'd probably lose interest after a few minutes of not finding the little golden snitch. They didn't even let me try being a beater, because I dodged the balls when I was playing keeper. Gabe also made fun of my very weak looking arm muscles. So finally they let me play chaser and I really enjoyed it. Flying came almost natural to me, well, once I got the hang of it again of course. I even scored a goal on Gabe when I was close enough to him. He was really impressed. "Wow," he said. "You're pretty good for a first year. If you keep practicing, you could possibly make a professional team by the time you're seventeen, maybe."