-----------------------------------------7. Quidditch Tryouts------------------------------------------

Ginny got to the pitch right after lunch on Sunday to prepare for tryouts that afternoon. With one hand grasping a large leather crate and another holding her broomstick, a light and fast Comet Three Forty, she took the all too familiar stroll to the locker rooms. Ginny had inherited the legendary Weasley Quidditch skills that had previously benefited Charlie, Fred, George, and, to a lesser extent, Ron; the pitch was her home away from home. She couldn't help but feel relaxed once she stood at the door that led to the pitch. The first time she stood here, as reserve Seeker for Harry when Umbridge banned him from playing, she was nervous beyond belief. Who wouldn't be, with so much to live up to? Yet she had performed beyond anyone's expectations, pulling a surprise win against Hufflepuff with a brilliant capture of the Snitch. Now, nearly two years later, here she stood, captain of a team just past the peak of what was sure to be labeled a Gryffindor dynasty. She smiled as she strode through the door and down to the center of the pitch.

She had taken longer than she realized in the changing room; there was already a small crowd of people approaching the pitch. Ginny slowly pulled herself from her reverie and set down the case and broom. Flipping the latches open, she pulled up the lid and grabbed the largest of the four balls inside. It was very old, beaten, and red. Stepping on to her broomstick and kicking off, she passed the time until the rest of the hopefuls came by shooting goals by herself. Whenever she made one, she quickly pulled out her wand and summoned the Quaffle back with a cry of, "Accio Quaffle!" She heard a smattering of applause from the sycophants in the crowd, trying to earn favor with her.

After another ten minutes or so, she grabbed the Quaffle and flew back down to the crowd. She scanned it and saw a few familiar faces; Demelza Robins, one of last year's Chasers; Seamus Finnigan, the sole seventh-year, trying to intimidate the younger students with his age; and last years' Beaters, Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote, looking small but confident.

"Hello, everyone," said Ginny with a smile. "I hope you're all well." A few students nodded; most just stared at her. "I'd like to do Chaser tryouts first. Everyone trying for Chaser, step forward, please." Well over half the students stepped forward, the great majority of them boys who simply stared at Ginny as if she were a priceless artifact on display. Ginny looked around in curiosity.

"Okay, well everyone get into groups of three, please." She paused as they slowly shuffled into groups. One boy whom Ginny had never seen before strolled up with a swagger and asked her, "who gets you, honey?"

"Excuse me?" Ginny said, her brows furrowing in anger. She was not the type of girl who put up with guys like this. "No one gets me. I'm your Captain – I get you." The boy winked at her before joining two others, who both gave her shifty grins before taking to their brooms and, without a word from Ginny, flying up to one side of the pitch.

"What the hell has gotten into those idiots?" she said to herself. "If they want to be first, then fine with me. You three" - she pointed to another group of boys, Seamus among them, - "get up there with them. You'll be scrimmaging together." Seamus immediately flew away to the opposite side, but the two others walked up to her. The one on the left said, "you know, I don't know if I can keep my eyes on the Quaffle with you around to distract me."

"Yeah, me too. Maybe I can get some private practice with you, if you know what I mean," said the other, before they both flew up to follow Seamus. Ginny looked up in shock – how did she attract so many morons?

Demelza walked up beside her and said, "Try to ignore them, Ginny. Once they heard about you and Harry, erm, splitting up, they couldn't wait to get out here and impress you. That one, Gerald" – she pointed to the boy who had winked at her before –"he made a bet with the rest of the fourth years that he could get a date with you before the end of tryouts." Ginny could feel her anger rising; it must have shown, because Demelza quickly added, "don't take it too hard, Ginny. It just means you're the prettiest girl here!"

Ginny was too angry to reply. She turned on Demelza and kicked off her broom so fast that her feet dug out huge clumps of grass. When she reached playing level, she threw the Quaffle to Seamus and said, "Scrimmage. Now. No talking." She blew her whistle and flew off to the side to watch, ignoring the wolf-whistles that had come from behind her.

As Ginny suspected, Seamus was the only one in the group of six with any discernible talent. While everyone else spent a lot of time flexing and posturing, Seamus weaved through them and scored three goals in quick succession. After Gerald "accidentally" opened up his robes and exposed his chest, Ginny lost it. She whipped out her wand and shrieked, "Furnunculus!" The six boys all screamed and dove for ground as Ginny sent a rain of curses after them. Gerald reached ground first; he jumped off his broom and sprinted away, followed closely by the rest. Ginny flew down and leapt off her broom, fuming.

"If anyone" – she swept her wand out to the rest of the startled students, sparks flying from the end of it –"does anything like that again, I'll hex every last one of you. I'm here to find a Quidditch team, not to see every idiot who wants to score me on the rebound. And for your information, Harry and I are still together! So get out, now!" The last part got Ginny a few surprised stares before a number of boys slumped away, scowling loudly. Gerald was surrounded by students, looking very upset as he dropped handfuls of coins into their greedy palms.

"Right then," she said, dropping her wand and relaxing her tone. "Sorry about that, everyone."

"Are you and Harry still together? I mean, he's got a hundred-thousand Galleon price on his head right now! Not that he isn't cute and everything, but he's a wanted man!" said Demelza, her eyes wide with shock.

Ginny looked at her appraisingly; how much could she trust her? "This isn't the time to be thinking about that," she said quickly. "Okay, back to tryouts now! Two more teams of three, into the air!" Before Ginny flew up to join them, she turned to Seamus, who had not left with the rest of his group. "You've got some skill, so stay around, 'kay?"

"Thanks, Captain! You know I would never do that to you, right? I respect you and Harry too much." Ginny nodded and grinned at him before flying up to watch the new groups. They were composed of six girls, Demelza among them, and Ginny chose Demelza and three others to stay. Ginny went through the rest of the groups and eventually she had selected ten to stay back for an additional scrimmage (Seamus was the only male).

"Okay, you all take a break for now, and I'll go find some Beaters." The ten sat down on the grass while a dozen other students walked up. Ginny told them, "all you lot have to do is hit me with a Bludger, and you're in! Ready?" Everyone looked around in surprise, wondering if she was actually serious, before Ginny kicked the crate of balls, releasing two jet-black Bludgers into the air. She flew up and cried behind her, "come on, wake up! You'll have to catch me first!" There was a scramble behind her as everyone ran to grab Beaters' bats.

Ginny laughed and did some loop-the-loops in the air. She prided herself on her ability to swerve and dodge Bludgers; these kids had their work cut out for them. Soon she was flying in and out of kids on brooms and crazed black balls, laughing loudly and taunting them.

"Come on, I can't fly around forever! Will someone please sma-" her taunt was cut off as a Bludger struck the back of her right leg. She spun around in midair, trying to regain balance, as a second Bludger missed her face by inches. Setting herself upright, Ginny raised her wand and performed two Freezing Charms on the Bludgers.

"Nice job! Who was that?" Ginny looked around and saw a tiny little girl raise her hand. Girls that size were usually timid and quiet, but this one had an air of confidence around her that completely clashed with her small frame. "What's your name?"

"Rosie, ma'am. Rosie Jones. Is your leg alright?" Her voice was unnaturally deep, but feminine. At first glance, Ginny pegged her for a second or third year, but she carried herself with such maturity that Ginny had to ask, "What year are you?"

"I'm a fifth year - I know I don't look it, though. How's your leg?" repeated Rosie.

"I've had much worse, trust me. Welcome to the team, Rose!" Ginny said with a smile. Rosie smiled back before flying down amidst clapping and cheers from the onlookers. Ginny turned to the rest of them before saying, "all right, one down, one to go. The pressure's on!" She lifted the Freezing Charms on the Bludgers and let the tryouts commence.

It took another ten minutes of erratic flying before a Bludger hit Ginny in the small of her back with the force of a bullet. The impact was so great that Ginny had the wind knocked out of her and nearly fell off. Hanging off the broom with one hand, Ginny took a few seconds to catch her breath, while the rest of the students formed a human trampoline underneath her.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. That was a hell of a hit." Turning around, dazed, Ginny found herself face-to-face with the largest, most intimidating woman she had ever seen. Ginny had to raise her broom a bit to put herself on an even level with her. Everyone else groaned and muttered before leaving the pitch, defeated. The second Beater, Taraza Underhill, joined Rosie on the sidelines. The two differed in heights by well over a foot, and they looked quite comical standing next to each other.

"Okay," said Ginny, addressing the rest of the team hopefuls, "Seeker tryouts next. How many are there?" Five students strode forward. "Alright, this is simple. Catch the Snitch, and you're Seeker!" She opened the last latch on the crate, and a walnut-sized little ball flew out, its tiny wings flapping fast in the breeze. "Watch out for the Bludgers, I haven't put them away yet. Now go to it!" She watched as the five kids scrambled after the Snitch, glancing around for the two Bludgers. Ginny didn't follow them; she didn't need to. She knew that the best Seeker would be able to outwit and outfly the rest without her watching.

Ginny walked over to the ten potential Chasers, who were all sitting on the grass. She made mental notes on those who got along well with the others and who seemed happy to be there. She saw two girls sitting alone, away from the rest, talking in angry whispers, occasionally pointing at another girl in the group: Ginny privately eliminated those two from her choices. She saw the two new Beaters, Rosie and Taraza, stroll over to the Chasers, talking to each other animatedly. Ginny was pleased that they hit it off, since Beater teamwork was essential to winning games. Hoping to herself that the Seeker would be up to scratch, Ginny flew off to watch the contest.

The kids were having a horrible time of it: the Snitch flitted in and out of their reach, constantly tempting them before zooming away just in time. Ginny thought that if Snitches could talk, this one would be laughing. Suddenly, the Snitch turned and headed straight for her. She saw everyone's eyes follow it before five brooms flew in her direction. Ginny quickly rose and dodged them, turning around just in time as two girls passed through the spot where she had been only seconds before. They flew neck-and-neck and grabbed the Snitch at the exact same time.

"Oh, damn," said Ginny in frustration. The two girls were fighting fiercely, neither letting go of the Snitch. The other three circled them, hoping that the girls would get too engrossed in bickering and drop the Snitch. Ginny raised her wand and yelled, "Accio Snitch!"

The Snitch flew out of the girls' hands and landed in Ginny's palm. "Well, I guess we have a tie." The two girls immediately flew up to her, yelling in loud, shrill voices.

"I caught it before she did -"

"She's lying, she was trying to steal it!"

"Nuh-uh! Besides, I'm a better flyer than you, anyways!"

"Yeah-huh! And you're awful at flying, you nearly hit me!"

"Nuh-uh! I was trying to you hit you, stupid!"

Ginny clutched her forehead. These two had annoyingly high, whiny voices that gave her a headache. "Oi! Can you shut up, please?" she shouted, but they would not stop.

"You don't just hit people, I could've been killed!"

"That's how the game works, stupid!"

"I'm not stupid, you are!"

"Idiot!"

"Moron!"

"SHUT UP!" The two girls stopped and stared at her; they had apparently forgotten that Ginny was even there. By now, everyone on the ground was laughing at them, and Ginny's headache had blossomed into a migraine. Why couldn't someone less annoying have beaten these two to the Snitch?

"You, take the Snitch." Ginny motioned to the girl on the left. She gleefully grabbed it out of Ginny's hand, while the other looked incensed.

"She didn't take it first, I did! This is so unf –"

"QUIET! You, take the Snitch from her." The girl on the left, a skinny blonde, dropped her grin and handed it to the other, a short brunette, who took it happily. Ginny, ignoring the girls completely, was focusing on the Snitch itself. She knew that Snitches were enchanted to recognize the first person to touch them, and sure enough, when the brunette grabbed the Snitch, its wings slowed and relaxed, and it began to glow faintly.

"Congratulations, you're our new Seeker," said Ginny to the very surprised brunette. The blonde, who was looking ecstatic just a few seconds ago, was now glaring daggers at Ginny. "How in the hell do you make her Seeker when it was obviously me who" - Ginny smothered both girls' mouths with her hands.

"You two just don't stop, do you? Look at the Snitch. It's reacting to her touch, and it didn't to yours. That means she touched it first. Sorry," she added to the blonde, who was still issuing muffled sounds from behind Ginny's hand. She removed her hand and the blonde immediately turned and flew away in anger. The brunette, however, flew up next to Ginny and hugged her tightly.

"Ooh, thank you thank you thank you! This is so awesome, I just knew all that training would pay off! I trained with my sister all summer and I was so scared flying around up there but I can't believe I won! Yay! Oh, my name's Kate Bronsky!" She said this all so fast that Ginny could only catch her name.

"Congratulations, Kate. Er, welcome to the team." Kate was still talking; Ginny wondered when she would stop to breathe. She didn't wait to find out, though, as Kate flew down and landed, still talking.

It seemed that the farther she got from her new Seeker, the better Ginny's headache was. Thinking that this might pose some problems during team practices, she Summoned up the Quaffle and called the ten Chaser hopefuls back into the air. Some looked visibly more nervous, while others looked very confident. The confident ones were likely to do better, Ginny thought; Demelza, Seamus and a pretty blonde girl Ginny didn't recognize fit this category.

"Okay, you lot get into trios again and we'll do a second set of scrimmages." As they flew together in scrimmage groups, Ginny suddenly realized that there would be one extra. This extra turned out to be Seamus, who was looking a bit uncomfortable surrounded by ten girls. Ginny flew over to him.

"You can scrimmage with me," she told him.

Seamus gave her a wide smile. "Sweet! Let's go first!"

As it turned out, Seamus was talented but not good enough to beat out the first scrimmage group, even with Ginny's help (they lost 40-10). Seamus, looking dejected, flew off without a word to anyone; Ginny didn't see him come back. She figured that he would complain about only having Ginny for a partner, but he said nothing. Either Seamus didn't really think he was at a disadvantage, or he was afraid of being cut from the sword-stealing operation if he picked a fight with her.

In the second scrimmage, Demelza's team handily won 60-0, causing the losing team to brandish their wands threatingly at her. Ginny was eventually forced to put a Shield Charm in between them to prevent a fight. Finally, the two winning teams faced off in a close match that was eventually ended when Demelza made a brilliant pass through the arms of two opposing Chasers to the blonde Ginny had noticed earlier, who put it in for an easy goal and got the win, 20-10.

"Nice job, everyone! You three are the winners!" They flew towards her, looking tired but pleased. Ginny, however, had her wand in her hand; she was about to send one of the three "winners" away, as Ginny herself took the third slot, and she was sure there would be some sort of complaint and/or threat made at her.

"So, I know Demelza already, but what're your names?"

"I'm Cindy Baffel!" said the pretty blonde. Up close, she reminded Ginny forcefully of Fleur: the girl seemed to make everyone else seem less attractive by comparison. She was glad that Harry wasn't here to see her, as she suddenly felt very ugly. Unfortunately for Ginny, she had flown better than the other girl, who was looking very surly.

"Betty Durner," grunted the third girl. "Don't worry, I already know you're cutting me. See ya." Without another glance at the three of them, she flew off.

"Er, okay then, bye! She was right though, you are my new Chasers! Welcome to the team!" The girls smiled at her and flew down to join their teammates. There was now only one position left to fill: Keeper. Ginny looked around for the rest of the kids waiting to tryout, but there weren't any left. Had she taken too long with the rest of the team, and bored the potential Keepers into leaving?

"Er, does anyone see the Keepers? We still need one," Ginny asked her team.

"Hi!" exclaimed a tall, thin girl Ginny hadn't seen earlier. She walked up to Ginny with her hand outstretched, who shook it hesitantly.

"Um, hi," said Ginny. "Are you the only one trying out?"

She nodded. "Well, not when we first started. I guess no one else really wanted it. I'll try out formally, though, so you can see if I'm good enough."

"Yes, that's a good idea. We'll each take some shots at you and see how you do," replied Ginny. She studied the girl as she took off for the three hoops at the end of the pitch. The girl was not unattractive, but she didn't stand out like Cindy or Kate. She had an unassuming look about her: she was the type of person you could easily notice on the street and forget.

The girl, whose name was Andrea Dawkins, turned out to be very talented, stopping all of Cindy's shots and most of Demelza's. However, she was not a top-caliber Keeper yet, as she couldn't stop a single shot from the more experienced Ginny. All the same, the fledgling captain was happy that she stayed. She got the team together for a last talk before they headed back to the common room; it had been nearly two hours, and everyone was sweaty and tired.

"All right, before I let you all go, I thought you'd like to see the team whole for the first time," said Ginny.

"This team is gonna rock!" said Kate loudly. "Girl power all the way!"

"It isn't so strange that no guys got in," quipped Andrea. "They're all deathly afraid of you, after that little spat with the idiots." Everyone laughed, even Ginny.

"We're like a minor league Holyhead Harpies here," added Taraza. "They won the league last year, you know." Ginny did know; the Harpies were her team.

"That's a good standard to set ourselves by," said Ginny. "We've got a lot of potential to show up the more experienced teams here, but we need to learn a bit more teamwork and advanced tactics. I know we've got a lot to live up to, talent-wise," – I know I do, she thought – "but with a few practices, we'll kick some serious ass this year!" The team cheered collectively and turned to walk back together while Ginny hung back to clean up.

After wrestling the Bludgers back into their straps, and getting several bruises on her arms, Ginny smiled to herself: She was quite happy with her new Quidditch Team. She never meant to recruit an all-female squad, but after she hexed away all of those flirty morons there wasn't much left, really. Ginny had a brief flash of her in a Harpies uniform, replacing the famous Gwenog Jones as captain and star Chaser of the team. Still smiling, she strode into the locker room.