Chapter 75
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Yeah! Here's the new chapter!
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Today is Friday, and my colleagues and I are at the Quidditch pitch waiting for Clark Hillton, the Seeker and Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, who will test us.
At the pitch with me were Anthony and Terry, who obviously weren't going to miss this chance to join the Ravenclaw team, as well as Corner, Stephen, and Sue, who was the only girl taking the tests since Lisa and Padma is afraid of heights and Mandy and Morag prefer more 'feminine' things *cough* gossip *cough*.
The rest of my classmates were sitting in the stands watching us, along with some Ravenclaws from the upper years who are here to pass the time and relax, or just to watch the tests.
While we were waiting, it didn't take long for Captain Hillton to arrive, along with the other players on the Ravenclaw team.
"Alright, everyone's here? Great, then I'll explain to you how the tests will be" Hillton said as he stopped in front of us holding his broom in hand, a Cleansweep Seven.
Hillton was a tall sixth year, with wavy blond hair to his ear, and black eyes. He looked at all of us with analytical eyes, as if trying to discern who would make a good player just by looking.
"In Quidditch there are four positions for seven players," he began to say, his voice echoing through the pitch, "There are three Chasers; two Beaters; one Keeper; and one Seeker, which happens to be me on this team. And the game is played with four balls; a Quaffle, two Bludgers, and a Golden Snitch"
"First for positions. The Chasers are the forwards who will try to score points with the Quaffle in the opposing team's goal; the Beaters are the ones who carry two bats that they will use to deflect Bludgers who try to hit their teammates while sending it to the opposing team; the Keeper is in the goal, which are those three hoops at the far end of the pitch..." Hillton said pointing to the hoops in the goalposts, "and they defend against the Quaffle sent by the other team; and the Seeker is the one who stays in charge of searching and catching the Golden Snitch before the Enemy Team Seeker"
Hillton then saw that everyone was still paying full attention to him. He then went to a chest that was in front of him and opened it.
As he opened the chest we saw four different sized balls held together by some ropes and chains.
"Those are the balls. The red ball with small depths on it is the Quaffle, and a goal with it is worth 10 points. The black iron balls that are moving there are the Bludgers, and they are enchanted to fly and try to take down the players of their brooms. And this little golden ball is the Golden Snitch, it has wings and flies at a very high speed, it can reach and even surpass the speed of some brooms, it is worth 150 points and once it is caught the game is over" Hillton explained everything in one breath.
"E-eh...excuse me..." Stephen said as he slowly raised his hand.
"Yes?" Hillton said.
"What happens if someone falls off the broom?" he asked fearfully.
"You don't have to worry about that, the teachers are always present at matches, so if someone falls they can cast spells to break the fall" Hillton replied, "Any more questions? No? Perfect! So let's start with the tests."
After that Hillton started scoring four lines on the pitch.
"I want you to line up these markings according to the position you intend to test for," he said, "From the first line to the last it's going to be Keeper, Beater, Chaser and Seeker. And that's also going to be the order of the tests"
"What if someone wants to test for more than one position?" Corner asked with a raised hand.
"If you want to test for more than one position, you can stand in line for that position and when that position is over you can go to the other line" Hillton replied patiently. And after that we started going to the lines, with me standing in the Chaser line and planning to go to the Seeker line after the Chaser tests were over.
My colleagues also went to the queues, and after everyone finished getting ready, the order was like this:
Keeper: Corner e Stephen;
Beater: Surprisingly Anthony;
Chaser: Terry, Sue and me;
Seeker: Nobody, but probably like me, they are also waiting for the other tests for the other positions to end.
"Good," Hillton said as he walked past the lines, but then his gaze landed on me.
"Where's your broomstick?" he asked me confused.
Seeing that he was talking to me, I just reached into my pocket and I took something out of there, and that something was a miniature broomstick. And in front of everyone's confused look, I took my wand from its holster and with a simple tap on the mini-broom it grew to the size of a regular broom.
'The Shrinking Charm {Reducio} and the Engorgement Charm {Engorgio} have never been so useful' I thought with satisfaction.
Even the simplest spells can be put to good use.
While I was lost in thought, I didn't see the commotion I made showing my broom.
"Wow!"
"Is this a Nimbus 2000?!"
"But it's too expensive!"
Those around me, whether my friends, colleagues, or even the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, all had a similar reaction as soon as they saw I had a Nimbus 2000, the last broom on the market.
"Eh... Ethan... Is this really a Nimbus 2000?" Anthony asked me shocked.
"Huh? Yes, why?" I asked confused.
'I know this is currently one of the best brooms ever released, but it is just that, a broom' I thought as I looked strangely at my classmates who were drooling on my broom.
"What do you mean 'Why'? That's a bloody Nimbus 2000!" Patrick James, one of the Ravenclaw Beaters exclaimed.
"What about this broom being a Nimbus 2000?" Stephen asked confused and surprised by the others' reaction.
'Oh yeah, Stephen is also a muggle-born like me' I remembered.
"This is a Nimbus 2000! And this is the best and fastest broom ever made today. And in addition to being fast, it's also very expensive!" Corner replied as he eyed my broom with envy.
"This is so expensive?" Stephen asked uncertainly.
"This is expensive? Hah! With the money you use to buy a Nimbus 2000 you could buy everyone's broom here... All together" James replied, and that surprised Stephen and even myself.
My colleagues used good new brooms that were from that generation, like the Nimbus 1700, Comet 260, and Cleansweep Six and Seven; but none of them are better than my Nimbus. It's like comparing a Ferrari to a Bugatti, they're both good, but the Bugatti is better.
But I didn't expect my Nimbus to be able to buy all these brooms, as here there was a total of 13 brooms, including 5 from my colleagues and 7 from the Ravenclaw team.
'Huh, I only got the Nimbus 2000 because it was the only broom featured in the franchise that was for sale this year, as the Nimbus 2001 and Firebolt haven't even been built yet,' I thought, looking more appreciatively at my broom.
I guess I never really thought about things from the angle of someone in the wizarding world, so I just saw the Nimbus 2000 as just another good broom. But when I think about it, a wizard's broom is the same as a Muggle car, and I am currently in possession of one of the finest 'cars' ever made.
'Well I think it makes up for the fact that I didn't get that car I so wanted in my first life, heh'
End.
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(End AN: And to close with a flourish, I would like to congratulate one of the, and in my humble opinion, the best literary series of all times, which is also what brings my story to life.
Congratulations Harry Potter on his 20th birthday!
I'm happy to know that I followed everything about this world, and that I could feel the emotion, where I cried, laughed, got emotional in ways I didn't expect.
Harry Potter is a huge point in my life, and I couldn't be more grateful that he existed.
Thanks also to all the actors in the movies, for being these wonderful people who made me love characters that I didn't even know I could like.
This franchise has given me a lot of good memories, and I have only one more thing to say to it.
Expecto Patronum!)