Finder's Keeper || Oliver Wood [1]

Chapter 16: Trials and Triumphs

She watched as the actual and reserve Chasers from last year's team expertly shot goal after goal. Oliver saved a lot of them, too, but it was impressive how many they still got past him. Jessica noticed there was some sort of balance, and she supposed that it must be because both parties were familiar with each other's techniques when it came to playing Quidditch due to being teammates for so long. This was a huge advantage on their end because Jessica had personally only ever played against Oliver once, and it wasn't even in a real game. The nerves were now kicking in.

Angelina and Katie scored six out of ten goals, and the two other former reserve Chasers — one male and one female — scored five. When it was finally Jessica's turn, she only managed to get four goals past Oliver. She was feeling disheartened, but fortunately, she somehow still made it past that first round. It turned out that a lot of the younger students couldn't score even one goal, so they were dropped at once. Oliver let those who scored at least four shots through to the next round, so that included Jessica, a sixth year student who hadn't been on the team before either, and the experienced players from earlier. If she didn't do better here, she was sure to get rejected.

The next part of the tryouts involved scoring goals in a setting more similar to an actual game, meaning that there would be Bludgers involved now — and that meant that the Beaters were going to be thrown into the mix, too, which got Fred and George all eager. The idea was easy to grasp: work together as a team to score against the Keeper. Of course, one of the main objectives was still to score the most points overall, but it was almost just as important for Oliver to check if the players could do it while Bludgers were attacking them and while working well with others. To him, it didn't mean anything if someone managed to get all ten shots if they didn't even know how to be strategic during a game.

The first group consisting of Katie Bell, the sixth year first-timer, and the female reserve Chaser from the previous year went up first. The mini match was timed since they couldn't simulate an exact game complete with a Seeker and rival team, which would take up way too much time. Katie was clearly the most skilled out of them despite only being in her third year at Hogwarts. With the short amount of time they were given, they ended with a total of five points with Katie taking credit for three of those.

Oliver was nervous for Jessica when it was her group's turn. She only got four shots earlier, so he desperately hoped she'd somehow do better here. He had faith in her and could see that she had a lot of potential, and as both her friend and captain, he truly wanted to see that come out. There was no way that the same Jessica he played Quidditch with in the summer couldn't do well in their team tryouts. It just didn't make sense if she performed badly. He hoped the nerves wouldn't get to her in this round.

"We're not gonna go easy on you, Hawthorne," Fred had warned, a mischievous grin on his face.

Jessica's group with Angelina Johnson and the male former reserve player went up next. Oliver threw the Quaffle at them. Angelina snatched it first, tucking it under her arm and flying away almost instantly. It looked too simple for a brief moment; she could easily pass it to Jessica or the other player, and then one of them could just shoot the ball into the hoop.

But the Weasley twins weren't lying — they weren't going to go easy on them. George swung a Bludger at Angelina, which blocked her way before she could throw the Quaffle anywhere else. When she finally got away from it, the Bludger came swerving back to her after another hit from Fred on the other side of the pitch. The twins were purposely trying to stop her from getting far. Jessica ducked under the speeding Bludger, zoomed past Angelina, and overtook her before angling her broom diagonally. Angelina quickly noticed what she was trying to do and transferred the Quaffle to Jessica. She didn't second guess her next move and immediately hauled the ball into one of the hoops, scoring their first point.