32 32: Quidditch

[3rd Pov]

"Gather up!" shouted Marcus Flint.

With two weeks of school gone by, the Quidditch team's trials had come at last.

The skies darkened with more clouds with each passing hour, some droplets of rain wetting the Slytherin students who were present in the stadium.

As always, Professor Snape scheduled the Slytherin's quidditch team to be the first to host their trials. Everyone could see he showed blatant favoritism for his house, more than any professor. Even so, most were scared to call him out, and it wasn't as if the other Heads of Houses didn't do the same, albeit more discreetly.

Marcus Flint, the Slytherin's Quidditch Team Captain, appeared to be more excited than usual. How couldn't he be? Thanks to another generous donation from Draco's father, the whole team would be supplied with a bunch of brand-new Nimbus 2001s.

He only had to keep Draco on the team, giving the boy whichever position he wanted. Although he proved to be a good flyer, he wasn't exactly a good seeker. Average, at most.

He planned to use this trial to show Draco he wasn't made for the position he wanted, and that he should try any of the others.

And if he was lucky, Flint hoped that he could find a good replacement for the seeker position.

Then maybe, they could win back the Quidditch House Cup those damned Gryffindors stole from them!

"Don't go tripping now, Grindelwald — you have to be careful with that pretty face of yours!"

Alaric, who was standing at the front of the line with a bored expression, turned to look at the source of the voice.

Draco, and his goons whose names Alaric couldn't bother to store in his mind palace, stood on the side, hovering above the ground on their brooms.

"Shut up Malfoy!" Blaise exclaimed with a frown. "Did Daddy's money fail to buy you a brain?"

*CLAP*CLAP*

Before the situation could escalate further, a 6th year Slytherin girl clapped her hands. "How about you two lovers fight after this?" she said, sneering at the two boys.

She then turned to Alaric. "Grindelwald, you're up first!"

Mounting on his custom sleek black broom, Alaric lifted a few feet above the ground. In front of him was a large wooden ring, followed by a variety of different obstacles going around the stadium.

The young witch brought a watch out of her pocket, before putting a whistle on her mouth.

"First trial, Obstacle course — Begin!" she said, blowing air out of her mouth and starting the chronometer.

Hearing the whistle, Alaric sped in the direction of the ring, flying through it. As soon as we went through the ring, a giant log, supported by a bundle of ropes, came swinging down to him.

In an instant, before the log could knock Alaric out of his broom, the boy dived underneath it, almost at a ninety degrees angle. As soon as the log went past him, he performed a similar maneuver, but this time he went up.

"Bloody hell!" Most students were stunned, seeing Alaric easily dodging the incoming log.

"I told you he was good, didn't I?"

On the Quidditch Stadium benches, a raven-haired blue-eyed girl was smirking at her two friends.

Going through the numerous rings, Alaric continued the course with extreme ease. All the while, the students on a tryout and the ones who had come to see were astonished by the boy's skills.

"I still think my brother is better than him," Hope was adamant about insisting Harry was a better flyer than Alaric since Harry had trained in flying and Quidditch with their father ever since he could hold onto a broom.

"You haven't seen anything yet," countered Lysandra. With the few games of quidditch she saw Harry playing, she had to admit he was a good flyer, but not even close to her brother.

The only thing he loved more than flying was magic. His animagus form spoke for itself.

"Where did he learn to fly like this anyway?" Hermione, who was as stunned as the rest of the students, finally decided to ask.

"We have somewhat of a mini-quidditch stadium back in our castle in the Alps," Lysandra said absentmindedly. "He and I used to play a lot there..."

Having already heard about the ancestral home of the Grindelwald family from their best friend, Hope, and Hermione weren't shocked. But they couldn't stop from growing curious about what other things the castle could have.

"Speaking of which, when are you going to take us for a visit?" half-joked Hope. She didn't want to impose on her best friend, but visiting a magical castle as big as Hogwarts sounded phenomenal to her.

"Maybe when you're able to hold a conversation with Al without blushing like a tomato," Lysandra chuckled, watching as Hope's face turned red.

"W-What are you talking about?! — I don't have a crush on him!" stuttered Hope, unable to stop the blush that was creeping up her face.

"No one said anything about a crush," added Hermione, laughing at her best friend's slip-up.

All the while, two other girls, one with long flowing golden hair, and the other with short fluffy brown hair were looking at the three Gryffindor girls a few seats beside them.

"What is she doing here?" muttered Daphne, looking with a frown at Hope, her arms crossed in front of her chest. She came to the stadium to cheer for her friends, not to be forced to listen to Hope talking about Alaric.

"Who cares," said Tracey. "She's with Al's sister, so she probably came to support him as well,"

Hearing what her best friend said, Daphne's frown deepened. Before she could say anything else, the students erupted in cheers for Alaric, the boy having just landed after completing the course.

After Alaric, the other students went through the same obstacle course, but no one was able to beat his time.

Under the supervision of the team members, the students had to complete four other trials. A one-versus-one situation, a one-versus-two situation, a strength and agility test, and another timed race, but this time, without obstacles, and in a straight line.

By the end of the trials, only fourteen students remained. Three second-years, five fourth-years, two fifth-years, and four sixth-years.

As only seven new players could be admitted to the team, the group was divided into two teams to play against each other. Those who demonstrated superior skill would be the ones to make it, even if they lost the match.

On one side, Alaric was playing as the seeker, and Blaise as a beater, with older students filling the other positions. On the other side, Theodore was playing as the keeper, who teamed up with the rest of the students.

The sixth-year Slytherin girl, Zoe Carrow, blew her whistle, signaling the start of the match.

The moment the sound of the whistle spread around the stadium, Zoe released the Quaffle, which was immediately taken by a chaser of Theo's team, who tried to pass it to a fellow chaser, only to be hit by a bludger, courtesy of Blaise.

Alaric, who was still looking for the snitch, quickly grabbed the Quaffle from the other team's possession. Dodging a stray bludger, he flew past the beaters, coming face to face with Theo.

Shotting the Quaffle in his direction, Theo was late to react, and Alaric scored the first points for the team.

He quickly retreated, placing himself in a way he could see the whole stadium. Just as he was about to continue to help his team, he noticed a streak of gold flying past him.

Theo's seeker, seeing Alaric after the snitch, tried to catch up to him, to no avail. While the two teams clashed, with Blaise sending Bludger after bludger, and Theo keeping up with the scoring attempts, the match was at a stalemate.

Alaric covered more and more distance between himself and the snitch, dodging bludgers aimed at him, or evading players that tried to knock him off the broom.

When he was about to grab the small golden ball, he noticed the other team's chaser trying to ram into him. Smirking, Alaric stood up on his broom, and jumped over the chaser, stepping on him, before catching the snitch with ease.

When he was about to fall down, he gracefully landed on his broom.

The surrounding students, erupted in cheers, especially Tracey, a Quidditch fanatic. She had never seen a move like that, so she went feral with the cheering.

"Team 1 Wins!" shouted Flint.

With another whistle from Zoe, the match ended, and the players slowly landed on the ground.

"That was bloody brilliant!" cheered Blaise as soon as he landed. When he saw Alaric jumping off his broom, he thought he'd have to take him to the Hospital Wing, but to his surprise, his friend was able to not only dodge the older student but catch the snitch with relative ease!

"Yeah, that was pretty cool," noted Theodore.

Although Alaric had stolen the spotlight with his acrobatics, both Blaise and Theodore played extremely well, with the dark-skinned boy constantly keeping in check the opposing chasers and seeker, and Theodore saving numerous shots.

Marcus Flint, who looked like he might have some troll blood on him, approached the group with a grin.

The fourteen students stood before him, some with dejected expressions, already knowing they would probably fail.

Flint looked at the piece of parchment in his hands, before starting to read.

"Alaric Grindelwald, ... ..., Blaise Zabini, ... ..., and Theodore Nott," he said. "Those I mentioned stay. The others, SCRAM!"

The students that didn't make it into the team slowly left the stadium, looking crestfallen. As soon as they were gone, some players gave the ones who stayed their team robes.

"First practice is tomorrow at sunrise," Zoe said, looking at the new players, especially at Alaric. "Dismissed!"

Yawing out of boredom, Alaric left the stadium with Blaise and Theo. The two boys were extremely excited about playing quidditch, as they couldn't shut up about it, even at dinner.

__________

[Alaric's Pov]

After we arrived at the Great Hall for dinner, some people came to congratulate me and the others for making it into the team.

While the day was extremely monotonous and boring, just seeing Draco's face red from anger was enough to make my opinion change. The git couldn't take it that we three were good enough to join the team, while he had to ask Lucius to donate so he could enter.

I heard he wanted to play Seeker... too bad for him I exist.

I felt my ring pulse for a second, making me look at it, just to find a message from my sister.

'Congrats. Not that it was hard,'

Laughing to myself, I looked at my sister, who was on the other side of the Hall, smiling at me.

'Thanks'

"Where are you going?" asked Daphne, seeing me standing up from my seat beside her.

"I have some stuff to do," I said, earning a suspicious glare from her. This girl was too smart for her own good.

Leaving the Great Hall, I made my way to the kitchens.

Walking through a door in the entrance hall, I descended a flight of stairs, reaching a broad stone basement corridor, brightly lit and decorated with food-themed paintings.

At the end of the corridor, was a painting of a bowl of fruit. Tickling the pear on the painting, a soft giggle escaped from it, and a green door handle appeared in its place.

The painting opened like a door, revealing the entrance to the kitchens.

As soon as the door was open, high-pitched voices sounded from within.

"Give up the fork, Bilm!"

"N-No please, Mr Weasley. This fork is Bilm's favorite!"

Walking into the kitchens, I was expecting to see a lot of things, especially since the twins asked me to meet with them there. But I wasn't exactly expecting... this.

In front of me, Fred, George, and their friend, Lee Jordan, were sitting with the elves around a big round table. Each one of them had magical poker cards in their hands, including the elves.

Some elves were curled up on the ground, sobbing, while others had fierce expressions while looking at their cards.

A lot of different objects, from forks, and spoons, to towels, and wine bottles were resting on top of the table.

The food that was supposed to be cooking was all burnt, and smoke was coming from some of the pans.

"You were the one who betted it. Now pay up!"

Were they playing wizard's poker... with the house elves?!

**********

A/N: There won't be many chapters solely focused on Quidditch, so don't worry. Try to see it as more of a hobby to Alaric that will come in handy in the future.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Don't forget to stone me!