Jasper, Harry, Marty, and Dorothy were in the stands when Cara Finnigan came up to them. "Hey guys!" She said brightly.
"Hello." Marty replied, waving to her. "Are you here to watch the tryouts too?"
"No, I am trying out again." Cara said. "I have been a chaser since my third year, I just wanted to make sure you were only planning to watch the tryouts, not try to sneak onto the pitch, and try out?" She looked at them sceptically.
"No, we just came to watch." Jasper told her. "I want to see how the tryouts work for next year." Marty nodded at this.
"Yeah, and it isn't like you have to worry about Harry trying out, he hates quidditch." Dorothy added.
Harry looked over from the book he was reading. "I don't hate quidditch, I hate flying."
"Oh please, you would rather read a book than watch quidditch!"
"Books are good!"
Dorothy was about to argue when Cara continued. "Well I am glad you weren't thinking of breaking the rules...we would have caught you if you tried." She added seeing Dorothy's mischievous expression. A whistle caught their attention, and Cara said goodbye, and ran down to the pitch where the other Hufflepuffs were waiting.
Wally Jones split the Hufflepuffs who wanted to try out by their year, and first had them fly laps around the pitch, eliminating the bad flyers of the batch. Next people paired up, and passed the quaffle to one another to see how good they were at catching, and throwing. Then the captain decided to set up a mock quidditch game to narrow it down to the six other players on the team.
After picking the beaters for the mock tryout Wally went to the box holding the beaters supplies. He opened the box, and looked up quizzically. "Where's the other beater bat?"
He was loud enough that Harry, Marty, and Jasper all looked over at Dorothy who had the bat beside her. "You stole it off the pitch?" Marty asked her.
"Ummmm...I borrowed it?" The other three gave her a look, and she groaned. "Fine, I'll give it back." She slid off the bench, and ran toward the remaining Hufflepuffs trying out. "Here you are." She handed Wally the bat.
"Thank you." Wally said completely oblivious that Dorothy was the one who stole it in the first place. Cara, who was still one of the possible players on the team, stared at Dorothy with suspicion. Dorothy gave a quick smile, and ran back to where the other three were.
"I wonder if James is okay." Marty said as Dorothy sat on the bench. "You gave him a pretty strong bonk on the head."
Dorothy shrugged. "I didn't hit him that hard, and he can go to the Hospital Wing if he is badly hurt." Dorothy sighed. "Next time I will tell him off, is that better?"
The three of them nodded, and Marty said, "Yes that is better."
They started the mock quidditch game, and Cara, who was a chaser, was doing very well. She was really speedy on her broom, and never missed a goal. Jasper thought that chaser seemed like a pretty fun position to play.
Jasper kept staring at the mock quidditch game with amazement in his eyes, and Harry nudged him. "Imagine what a real game would look like."
"I'm trying." Jasper whispered.
"It would be way more intense." Marty said.
"And louder." Said Dorothy. "The whole school would be in the stands, and there would be a commentator."
"I can't wait for an actual game." Exclaimed Jasper.
When the tryouts were finally over, Wally called the remaining 13 over, and started to list names of who would be on this year's team. A beater position was already taken since Wally had a confirmed spot on the team. The keeper was Lee Jones, and the other beater was Jasper Kenstigion. Wow, we have the same name. Jasper thought. The chasers were Amelia, and Bowie Bones, and Cara! Cara's eyes lit up when her name was called, and the seeker was a 6th year named Victoria Padlove.
The four of them went up to Cara, and congratulated her for getting a spot on the team, and headed down to the Care Of Magical Creatures reserve where they promised to meet up with Penelope, and Maryrose. (Gifford said he would be trying to come along as well, and that he would try to wake Jonathan who had a habit of sleeping until past noon.)
"The tryouts were so cool to watch!" Jasper exclaimed, hopping along.
"I know right!" Marty replied, equally excited. "Now we know what they will be like when we try out next year!" Marty skipped along. "I can't wait. I wish they would allow first years to be on the team."
"I think they don't allow it for our safety." Harry said. "And the fact we aren't as skilled as the older kids."
"You aren't as skilled as the older kids." Dorothy told him pointedly.
Harry shrugged. He couldn't argue with her. It was true.
They found Maryrose, and Penelope sitting amongst a few trees admiring these little green stick creatures. The four of them sat with them on the forest floor. "How did the tryouts go?" Maryrose asked.
"They were awesome!" Jasper exclaimed. "Cara got on the team."
"That's great!" Maryrose said, her hair a bright shade of pink.
"Dorothy hit James Potter with a bat." Marty told them.
Penelope looked shocked. "Why did you do that?"
"He said Marty couldn't be a beater." Dorothy replied.
"Not exactly..." Marty said.
Penelope, and Maryrose looked at each, and turned back to them. "Well is James okay?" Maryrose asked.
"He seems fine." Harry replied. "Him, and Marty are going to have a one on one quidditch game next week."
Penelope gasped. "Is it a date?"
Marty shook her head. "No, of course not. Just a..." She thought for a moment trying to find the word. "...friendly competition?"
Jasper was still staring at the little green stick creatures. "What are those?" He asked with wonder in his eyes, pointing to them.
"That's a bowtruckle Jasper." Penelope informed him. "We will learn more about them in our third year. They are little woodland creatures that eat insects, and live in trees."
"Wow." Jasper whispered. "I wish I had a camera." He would have loved to show his brothers, especially Francis who liked animals, and insects, though Jasper was not sure if bowtruckles were an animal, but they were classified as a creature nonetheless.
"I think we will draw them in our third year." Maryrose told him.
"Well I better get good at drawing than." Jasper said, still staring at the group of bowtruckles roaming the forest floor.
"Oh, be quiet!" Said a voice near them.
"Why are you so mad, I didn't even do anything!" Exclaimed the other voice.
"You scared Quinn off!"
Marty, Harry, Dorothy, Jasper, Penelope, and Maryrose turned to see Jonathan, and Gifford yelling at each other.
"I did not!" Jonathan yelled.
"Yes you did!" Gifford told him.
"Guys!" Said Harry loud enough to stop them both. "What happened?"
"Jonathan decided it would be so funny to pretend to be me while I was in the loo." Gifford said. "So when I came back, he was making me look like an idiot while talking about potions with Quinn."
"I think Quinn thought it was funny." Jonathan said.
"No!" Gifford exclaimed. "You embarrassed me in front of Quinn, a Ravenclaw, who is smart, and you made me look stupid!"
"You're overreacting." Jonathan said, rolling his eyes. "Quinn knows it was me who said that now, you just like yelling at me, it is almost as if..." Jonathan gasped. "It is almost as if you have a crush on-"
"I DON'T!" Yelled Gifford making the bowtruckles scatter.
Marty looked between them. "Okay..." She said slowly. "Let's just take a deep breath, and-"
"You do!" Exclaimed Jonathan. "I can see it in your face." Gifford looked angry. "You have a crush on Quinn, you have a crush on Quinn, you have a crush-"
Gifford took out his wand, and sent a knockback jinx his way, and it hit Jonathan, sending him to the ground. Gifford laughed. "Wow, that actually worked!"
Jonathan sat up groaning. "Rude."
"Serves you right." Gifford said, and Jonathan rolled his eyes. Gifford turned to the other Hufflepuff first years. "So what's up?"
Jasper looked between them nervously. "We were just...looking at the bowtruckles." He signalled to the bowtruckles that now were coming back.
Gifford sat down. "Cool!"
After they admired the bowtruckles some more they headed back to the castle, and went to their dorms to do their homework. Jasper was having a bit of trouble with Defence which was a big problem. He needed to be good at Defence, his brothers' safety depended on it, but right now he had Charms homework.
"Wingardium Leviosa." Said Jasper swishing his wand trying to make a hairbrush float. It twitched, but that was it. He groaned. "Do you know when we will be learning shield charms?"
Harry looked up from his History essay. "Probably later in the year."
Jasper closed his eyes. He needed to be good at that. Maybe he should start practising earlier? He tried to float the hairbrush again. It once again twitched. "Ugh, I am never going to get this."
"Try adding more swish." Jonathan said from where he was promptly ignoring his History Of Magic essay.
Jasper tried again. "Wingardium Leviosa." He added more force to the first part, and the brush floated a few feet off the ground. "Yes!" He exclaimed. "Thanks Jon."
"No problem Jaz." He stared down at his essay. "History is so stupid."
"You think it's stupid because you're bad at it." Said Gifford from his own desk.
Jonathan looked over, "You're bad at it too."
Gifford shrugged. "I don't complain to everyone at least."
"Jasper literally just said he wasn't going to get the spell, and you had no problem with it." Jonathan said annoyed. "But as soon as I complain, you find it annoying."
Harry snorted. "Find."
Jonathan looked over at him, confused as to what he was finding so funny. "Huh?"
"I just found out what the joke meant yesterday." Said Harry, quite happy. The three of them looked at him confused. He sighed, and went back to writing his essay. "Nevermind."
Jonathan looked back at Gifford. "You are just annoyed because I embarrassed you in front of Quinn."
Gifford slammed his book down, making Jasper jump. "So you do admit you embarrassed me, hm?"
Jonathan rolled his eyes. "You are overreacting."
"How would you feel if I embarrassed you in front of your friends, huh?" Gifford glared at Jonathan. "You wouldn't like it."
"Actually, I would think it was funny after a bit." Jonathan said. "You just can't take a joke."
"Well maybe your jokes are annoying." Gifford said angrily.
"They aren't!" Jonathan yelled.
"Yes they are!" Gifford shot back.
"Guys!" Jasper shouted. The twins looked over. "Are you really fighting over something as silly as this?"
"Don't you get into stupid fights with your brothers?" Gifford asked.
"So you admit this whole thing is stupid?" Jonathan asked Gifford. Gifford threw a pillow at him.
"No." Replied Jasper. "Not really." His other brothers sometimes did get into silly squabbles like this, but Jasper really didn't. He was too busy taking care of his brothers to fight with them.
Jonathan sighed. "I'm sorry that I pretended to be you with Quinn."
"Thank you." Gifford replied.
Jonathan sighed, and said "I'm going to take a shower now, see you in ten." He walked out to the bathroom.
Gifford was smiling down at his book.
Jasper squinted, wondering why he was so happy. "What did you do?"
"What makes you think I did something?"
"No one gets that happy at doing History." Harry looked up. "Except Harry." Jasper added. "But the normal person doesn't."
"I'm normal." Harry protested.
Jasper smiled at Harry, and turned back to Gifford. "I know you did something."
Gifford was trying his best to hide his laughter. "I may have used some of that muggle hair dye you were talking about when Maryrose changed your hair...and I may have put some purple dye in Jon's shampoo."
Harry looked up. "Well, that's a way to get revenge."
Jasper looked between the two of them. He looked back at Gifford. "You didn't."
Gifford laughed. "I guess we will find out if it worked in ten minutes."