The Marauders: Year Five #Wattys2017

Andy's Experiment

Andy Woodhouse had on a pair of dark sunglasses that covered his eyes and there was a walking stick leaning against the bench. His face was turned slightly off the direction it ought to have been and it reminded James what had happened, that Andy Woodhouse had been blinded by Orion Black, and he felt his stomach sort of swirl all uncomfortably.

"Andy, James Potter's here. Saved us a trip. Nice of him, isn't it?" laughed Frank, "I've just caught him from the corridor."

"Hey James, nice to... see you." Andy said.

Frank and Ali both looked uncomfortable and so did James, as though the word see was taboo. "Nice to... to see you," James said. He couldn't quite bring himself to say the word also, as he was the first one doing the seeing and didn't want to rub it in. "What were you going to come and get me for?" he asked.

"Sit, sit, have a seat, Potter," Frank said, waving a hand to the bench beside Andy.

When James was seated, Andy turned his head, though, again, he wasn't quite aimed at James the way he would be if he could see. "Well, Potter, it's like this. Because I can't see, I'm having to resign as Quidditch captain and keeper for the Gryffindor team this term."

James had deduced this over the summer, of course, but it still seemed awful. He nodded in response, then realized Andy couldn't see him nodding, so he said, "I'm sorry Andy."

"Yeah, it's rubbish," Andy said, "But anyway because of the circumstances, Dumbledore's given me a rather unique opportunity. He's going to let me choose the next Quidditch captain myself."

James's heart rate picked up. "Oh?"

"Yes," Andy said, "And after years of playing with you lot, I've narrowed it down to you and Frank Longbottom, my two best players."

Frank smiled at James amicably.

James felt like his destiny was being realized. "Oh wow," he murmured.

"Anyway, basically, what I've done to decide is we've organized a - a sort of trial experiment for me to learn who might be better equipped for the job of captain. I've selected two neutral parties to be my eyes - who, I can't tell - and they're going to advise me on how our little experiment goes."

James felt nervous. "What sort of experiment?"

Andy answered, "Well, Madam Hooch and the other captains last term had got together a bit and talked on it and we were thinking the current flying lessons could use some specialization. We have a record number of muggleborns coming in the gates this year, there's more muggleborns coming this year than in any other year prior in the school's history. There's more of them than there are purebloods coming this term, even!"

"So?" James asked, hating the topic of pureblood versus anything else.

"So muggleborns don't have any experience with a broomstick the way those of us who grew up around them do. They shouldn't be expected to learn flying at the same speed as those who have experience at it. So we were talking about adding a second flying lesson, open to those who want to add to their skill. It would be run by one of the prefects, who Madam Hooch will be selecting and assigning to the job, and you two will be trainers. The two of you will assist the prefect selected at the job of it and I'll hear back from my look outs and by the end of the month I'll have made a decision for which of you will be the new Gryffindor captain." Andy smiled, "It's a win-win situation. The muggleborns get a chance to learn better about flying and I get a chance to know what sort of team captain you'd each make."

"Brilliant," James agreed.

Frank, who'd already heard all this, nodded eagerly, "I thought so too."