The Half-Blood Princes {Book 2}

Quidditch Trials

Jason

The Quidditch team trials were today. It had been a week since Percy and Annabeth got engaged and the school's still buzzing.

"Hey, Ron!" I called him over on the field. I was wearing the Gryffindor team colours. Ron's hair blended in with the red and gold. He was fidgeting with his robes; he was extremely nervous. "Calm down, you'll do fine." I told him.

"Easy for you to say, you've got Harry's broom!" It was true, Harry had leant me his Firebolt since I didn't have a broom of my own. If I made the team I would have to get my own broom though. Ron's broom was... inadequate. It was an old model. There was no other way to describe it, it just wasn't a good broom.

"Okay, we're going to get started." Harry said. A group of us stood huddled together on the large field. "You've been put into three groups, based on who wants to try out for what." He then proceeded to number us off into groups. I was in the same group as Ron and Ginny. Someone in our group came up to Ron, I think his name is Cormac.

"Hey Ron, is that your friend Hermione?" He pointed up to the bleaches where Hermione, Percy, Annabeth and Piper were talking and laughing. Ron nodded, still really nervous. "Do you think you could introduce me when this is over? I really would like to, get to know her a little more." Ron suddenly stood straighter and walked over to the goals without looking back. Cormac looked at me for an answer but I shrugged and followed Ron. I know he would never admit it, but he's had a crush on Hermione for as long as if known him, even if he could be really oblivious sometimes. Harry blew a whistle and my group took off. I was trying out for Chaser, so I took the ball - quaffle - and flew at full speed towards Cormac's goal. I loved having the wind in my hair. I dove for the lower hoop and Cormac followed. I threw the ball over him and into the centre hoop. I heard cheers from the stands where my friends were. I grinned and flew back into the middle.

The rest of the tryouts were roughly the same. Ron defended his goals very well, the Chasers only scoring a couple of times. I didn't realise how good he was. Cormac was doing okay. Not as good as Ron, and I suspected it was to do with Hermione's wand that she hid under her coat. The groups swapped on and off, and finally it was the last round. I was playing with two girls, one of them was really good. I can't remember her name though. It was half way through the round when out of the corner of my eye I saw the bludger heading straight towards Ron. He was focused on the Chaser coming towards him and the Beaters weren't paying attention (they were really bad). In the split second I had, I raced towards the Beaters. They noticed me coming and started shouting, but I flew above them. When I was over one of them, I flipped upside down and snatched the bat out of his hand. I flipped up the right way and sped across the field. The bludger was speeding towards Ron who had caught the quaffle when the Chasers tried to score. I used the winds around me to go faster and leant into the broom.

Whack!

The bludger flew towards the river and didn't look like it was going to stop. Everyone was looking at me, stunned. I dropped the bat and looked at Ron. 

"You right?" I asked. He nodded slowly, still gaping at me. Harry blew his whistle and everyone flew down to meet him. 

"Where did that come from, Jason?" Harry asked, bewildered. 

"It was headed straight for Ron, so I acted without thinking. Sorry?" I didn't know if I had done something wrong, surely I hadn't because I had saved Ron from a concussion or maybe some broken bones. 

"No need for a 'sorry'," Harry waved it off, "That was amazing! You managed to get to the other side of the field faster than I thought possible! And," He looked over to the lake where the bludger had flown, "I think we might need a new Bludger."