The match lasted for four whole hours as the rules had been changed. Instead of a team game, Flitwick had got them to play for themselves. The only distinct feature was that they had to act like they were in a team.
The seeker who caught two snitches before the other would be selected and that was the only role that had a set goal to be selected. The others were told that they would be selected after their gameplay was observed properly.
As the match went on, Flitwick slowly kept calling the players out one by one and adjusted the team compositions if it was required. Everyone noticed the pattern as Flitwick only called the players whose plays stood out.
Everyone other than Aman struggled, including Alex who seemed to be more than exhausted as he stood in front of the half-goblin.
"Alright then, I'll now announce the finalized team." He said and looked up at the group of kids, all of them looked back at him like they already knew the results.
"Firstly, the seeker for the team will be Cho Chang and the goalkeeper is undoubtedly Aman with sixty-four saves. Impressive performance I'll say."
"Anyways." He said as he straightened up his posture, "The selected beaters are Jason Samuels and Alex Jordan while the chasers are Roger Davies, Randolph Burrow, and Su Li. I'll congratulate you all when you win against the main team so I wish you all the best.
We will be changing the schedules a bit as the professors have complained that some of you" he said as he glanced at Roger Davies "have been using this as an excuse for not doing your assignments on time. I only talked to them about excusing your absence in class, not your inability to submit your assignments on time. The match will be held after two weeks on Saturday morning."
He put the parchment inside his pocket and looked at Jeremy Stretton who looked like he had lost something extremely important.
"You are a good chaser. Honestly speaking, you have a much better individual skill, but to be a good chaser you have to learn to play with the others which Su Li does the best among all the chasers here. Train hard and if this team becomes Ravenclaw's representative team, I'll give you another chance next year."
Jeremy nodded and before he could say anything, Flitwick glanced at all the team members before speaking, "As for the team captain…. I guess Roger Davies would be the best option as he is the oldest one here but if there's anyone interested in captaincy, please come forward."
No one responded and Flitwick smiled as he nodded and said, "Alright then, that's that." Before he trotted off toward the castle.
Everyone walked back into the castle after a while and saw the great hall already semi-full as people were having their lunch. Alex turned to look at Aman and said, "I'll go take a bath and come back. Which subject do we have next?"
"We have Defence against the Dark Arts after lunch at three so take your time. It's still a few minutes past one."
Alex nodded and headed towards the dormitory to get his things and freshen up while Aman directly sat at the Ravenclaw table and began eating his lunch as he was extremely hungry,
Harry's nimbus floated right in front of him and landed on his lap gently. He noticed a small piece of paper stuck to the shaft which read "Thanks for the broom."
Ron looked at the broom and said, "Hey mate, did you hear the news that Professor Flitwick made a team that has more than one first-year students playing? Apparently, he used you as an example and talked to Headmaster Dumbledore about it. It's the team he selected back then at the tryouts."
"Well, if he's making a team, let him do what he feels is right. After all, Professor Dumbledore approved of it, didn't he? I was selected for my talent so if he finds someone, I think they do deserve the chance. I didn't really expect that the tryouts were held to make a team that can replace the old one…."
******************
Alex walked back to his common room after DADA and sat down on a chair before he began to read a random book. He was interrupted by Aman who sat down beside him with his broom and the maintenance kit.
"Looks like we're the first ones huh?"
"The first years have potions, third years got divination and fourth years got care of magical creatures. Potions almost always goes on for two hours straight while the other two are like extra classes and we will also have to attend an extra hour of classes from next year."
Aman didn't respond and began polishing his broom while Alex simply turned his attention back to his book. They waited for a bit more than an hour and the rest of the team brought chairs and sat down, forming a circle.
Everyone looked at Roger Davies as he cleared his throat, "As we all know, we have a decisive match after two weeks and as a captain, I talked to Professor Flitwick about the practice and he told me that we are only allowed to practice after five in the evening as that's the time when all the teams wrap up their practice.
Since it starts getting dark after six, we will only have an hour to spare. I know that it isn't much but that's all we can get so, I hope all of you will be on time so that we can make the best out of it."
All of them nodded and discussed a bit more before going back to do their own things. Aman headed to the great hall for some dinner while Alex continued to read as he didn't feel hungry yet.
It was only when the clock struck eight, did Alex stand up to get some food in his stomach. He sat down at his usual seat and filled his plate with some chicken, stew, and some pie.
He was about to have his first bite but stopped as everything went eerily silent. He looked around and saw everyone stuck in place like statues. Before he could get to observe more, he heard a voice behind him.
"Hello, Alex. Or should I say, the soul that has occupied Alex Jordan's body?"