QUIDDITCH; next gen

Chapter One- Captain Constellation

[ ROSE ]

Rose could feel a rush of adrenaline as she kicked off the ground and began to soar around the quidditch pitch; finally, she was back to doing what she loved, after 4 long months. Quidditch season was starting, and that meant trials. She had hoped to be quidditch captain after Fred, her cousin and their previous captain, had finished school, but instead they had Captain Constellation. Most of the other Gryffindors who had been on the team last year had taken to calling Malfoy that, since his first name was Scorpius (as in the scorpion in the stars). Personally, Rose didn't feel that there was any need to act differently towards him, after all, Malfoy was still a Gryffindor. His family may not have been the nicest people, but this Malfoy was a good one. His parents, Draco and Astoria, weren't bad people. His mother had been in Ravenclaw, unlike her older sister. These Malfoys held different views on Muggle-borns and half-bloods like Rose than the ones before them. Scorpius, who had by now showed up to hold tryouts, had plenty of non-pureblood friends. He blew his whistle, signalling to Rose and everyone else on their brooms to come back down to the ground.

"Okay, I want to make sure this goes by as quickly as possible, so if you don't have a broom, aren't a Gryffindor, or are younger than 2nd year, save yourself and us some time and get back to the castle." Malfoy came across harsh, but it was what was needed.
About a quarter of the group left, most of them giggling in Slytherin scarves. Rose found Hugo, James, Roxanne, Dominique, and Louis in the crowd that had stayed, and her heart sank. She knew that it was very unlikely that they'd all make the team. Even though they were all trying out for positions that would fit (Roxie, Louis, and Dom played chaser, Hugo played beater, James was seeker, and Rose was keeper), there were plenty of other options. Their captain, for the first time in awhile, was a beater, and that's who he flew first. Hugo flew well, but so did a boy called Peakes. Rose didn't know who he was, but she really hoped Hugo would do alright. Malfoy had bewitched some brooms to fly around with dummies on them, and he had the hopefuls hit bludgers at "the other team". Each person got 10 tries, and her heart swelled as she watched her brother hit bludger after bludger straight at his target. When the whistle blew, signalling the end of beater tryouts, she pulled Hugo into a hug, and he grinned.
"I think I did really well!" He exclaimed.
"Of course you did, Hugh!" Rose encouraged, though Hugo frowned at his nickname, which he hated.
"Are you gonna stay and watch Roxie and them?" Hugo gave her a you-better-or-else look, Rose laughed.
"Of course I am, they haven't called keepers yet and the chasers are already in the air, look." Hugo glanced up to see his cousin Louis fly over his head, before saying goodbye to his sister and heading up to the stands to see the rest of tryouts.
Dominique and Louis hadn't been on the team last year, and there were a lot of good guys and girls wanting to play chaser, though several of the girls left the field in tears after Malfoy said in an annoyed voice, "Those six of you girls who flew at the back, get off the pitch. I'm NOT interested".
Then, the chasers had 10 attempts to score, and Dominique and Louis both did well, scoring nine each. Others also scored 9, but Roxanne did the best, scoring on all ten attempts. Rose made a mental note to sleep with her fingers crossed, so that Dom and Louis would have the best luck when the team was posted in the morning.
Rose had been so lost in thought that she didn't notice Malfoy had called the seekers until James shouted "Oh ROSIEEEE" down at her from his broom.
The seekers usually didn't take long, because so few people tried out. James and only 3 others had showed up to trials. Malfoy had them do some dives, and did a lot of flying, but before Rose could even get butterflies, the keepers were up. They circled the pitch twice, and then the Captain started calling them up to block shots. There were only 8 potential keepers, and the first four did awfully, only saving about 2 each. The girl that went before Rose, named Wood, did really well, saving all ten shots. Then Rose was up, and she wasn't just playing quidditch, she was living the sport, breathing with the breeze that was whistling through the goal hoops, and she was part of the broom. Rose closed her eyes and thought Let's do this. And then she didn't think, just moved, and in the period of 2 minutes, she saved 10 goals, and came back to land gracefully on the ground, grinning ear to ear. The next keeper saved only 5, but the last boy, Rose could only remember his surname, McLaggen, saved eight.
"Alright, the team will be posted in the morning, keepers. Good luck." With that, Captain Malfoy turned and headed back up to the castle.
Rose hurried off the quidditch pitch, and joined Roxanne, Louis, James, Dom, and Hugo as they walked back up for dinner.
"I can't wait until tomorrow!" Roxanne burst out. "I can't take the suspense!"
Everyone laughed.
"Roxie, you were the best chaser there! I'm sure you made the team, again. Me, however, I'm not so sure." Dominique sighed.
Entering the Great Hall, they caught sight of Albus and Molly heading to the Slytherin table. Albus gave Rose a thumbs up, and she grinned.
"Well, James, if you make seeker, which I'm sure you will, you're gonna be against your BROTHER!" Rose teased.
"So the Slytherins got their results, and they only had theirs a half hour before ours. The Hufflepuffs had theirs yesterday, and found out during trials, Lily told me." Roxanne crossed her arms, envying her cousin, who played Chaser for her house.
Hugo groaned. "Why won't Captain Constellation tell us today?" He whined.
James started "It's because he's ev-" but Rose cut him off.
"I would've done the same thing if I was captain and you guys hadn't tried out. There were a lot of good players, and he wants to make sure he picks the right people."
Dinner had long since started, and normally the Weasley-Potter section of the Gryffindor table was the noisiest place in the Hall, but all the cousins fell silent at Rose's remark. After about ten seconds though, James broke the silence.
"Rosie defending a boy? Hmm.. I wonder why?" He stroked his chin in mock thought, as Rose turned beet red.
Dominique, however, grinned.
"Maybe Rosie has an itty bitty crushie" She teased.
"I-I don't...Malfoy....Never" Rose stammered.
Hugo and Roxanne snickered.
Rose glared at them and said, "Yeah, right. I would NEVER have a crush on a Malfoy. Besides, did you SEE how many girls there were at trials that were there to impress him? He's got plenty of admirers without you guys pretending I'm one of them." I don't like him like that, right? She thought.
James opened and closed his mouth several times before finally saying "Good god Rose, we were bloody joking!"
Rose started turning less red at this, and opened her mouth to say something, but as she did so, Roxanne realised it was already half past 8, they'd been at dinner for nearly two hours!
"Bloody hell!" James yelped, and they all jumped up and headed for the Gryffindor common room.
After 3 trick staircases, an encounter with Peeves, and a brief moment in which Hugo the prefect forgot the password, they finally arrived back in their warm, familiar, circular common room. After a few "goodnights", Rose traipsed up to her own dormitory, pulled on some pyjamas, and fell into bed, barely remembering to cross her fingers before drifting off to sleep.

A/N- Well this is my first real book, so yay! I don't write this unless I have inspiration, so updates will be sporadic. Be sure to check out my book A Cast of Characters to see how I envision the cast!