Chapter 29: Team Selection

Harry told the rest of the team to meet him in the Transfiguration classroom in half an hour. Professor McGonagall had given them permission to use it to discuss the team selection. Harry went off to have a shower of his own. Seamus and Dean were still in the baths of their dorm room, so he gathered up some clean clothes and went to use the Prefect’s Bathroom. One perq of being Quidditch Captain was that he was allowed to use it too.

The rest of the team had gotten to the Transfiguration classroom ahead of Harry. Dawn and Hermione were there too. They were just finishing up the final tally of everyone’s scores when Harry arrived.

Hermione handed Harry the parchment with the final summary. “Here you go. I’m glad I’m not the one who’s going to have to make these decisions. It really is close between some of them.” She looked back at Dawn. “Come on, let’s leave these guys to their work.”

Dawn and Hermione were pounced on by nearly everyone who had tried out when they got back to the Gryffindor common room. They all wanted to know what their scores were, and who was going to make the team.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” said Hermione. “First of all, the team selection isn’t going to be based on just your scores. Second, we’ve been sworn to secrecy! We can’t tell you what anyone’s scores were.”

“Come on Hermione!” said Lavender. “You have to be able to give us some clue!”

“We can’t!” said Hermione. “I’ll tell you this: it’s close. Harry wasn’t kidding when he told you down on the pitch that some of the decisions were going to be tough.”

“What about some of the not-tough decisions?” asked Christine. “Can you tell us which positions they’re not having trouble making up their minds about?”

“No,” said Hermione. “We can’t tell you anything.”

“What about Harry?” asked Dean. “Did he make his team?” Several people laughed at the question.

Hermione and Dawn exchanged a look. It really had been quite apparent to everyone watching that Harry was the best among the Chaser candidates.

“I think it’s fairly safe to say that there is a very good chance that Harry will be one of the people chosen to play Chaser,” said Dawn. “But don’t quote me on that.”

Dawn and Hermione quickly discovered that they weren’t going to be left alone in the common room, so they escaped to the library to get a start on a term project that they had been assigned for Muggle Studies. They were to adapt a piece of Muggle technology to work in the wizarding world.

“I want to get my computer working,” said Dawn.

“I don’t know,” said Hermione. “The more complex the device, the harder it is. I don’t think that anyone has ever managed to get something as complex as a computer to work amidst all the interference here at Hogwarts.”

“Have they really tried?” asked Dawn. “Computers are pretty new. Microprocessors have only been around for a couple of decades, and most people in the wizarding world wouldn’t be interested in getting one working anyway. Maybe some Muggle born kids might have tried, but their Muggle education pretty much stopped when they got their invitation to Hogwarts. They don’t know much about how computers are supposed to work.”

“And you do?” asked Hermione.

“Well…not so much,” said Dawn. “But I probably know more than the rest of the school combined, and I have friends who do know. Willow’s a wiz with the science stuff, as well as being a really powerful Wicca.”

“Is it fair to bring in outside help?”

“We can ask her for advice,” said Dawn. “It wouldn’t be any different than asking one of the Professors. As long as we still do the work.”

“What if we can’t get it to work?” asked Hermione.

“We do it in stages,” said Dawn. “We’re going to need electricity for the computer, so we start with getting a generator working. That shouldn’t be too hard. Get a portable generator, and spin it with magic, instead of a gas motor, or something like that. Then we move up, get a simple transistor radio to work…that was one of the suggestions Professor Tellurian made, which means she thinks it can be done. Once we’ve got that working, we move on to more complicated electronics.”

“You’ve really thought about this, haven’t you?” asked Hermione.

“I want to get my computer working,” said Dawn. “Writing by hand sucks. I can type a lot faster than I can write legibly.”

“So, I guess we start by finding everything in the library about why Muggle electronics don’t work in Hogwarts.”

“And I ask Willow to put together a package of books on Electronic Theory for Dummies to send to us.”

Hermione frowned at Dawn. “We’re not dummies.”

“Sorry,” said Dawn. “Muggle geek culture reference.”

They spent the next half hour at the library’s card catalogue, looking for all the books they could find on the effects of magic on Muggle electronics…there weren’t that many of them. By the time they had put their reading list together, and found the books, it was time to go to dinner.

Everyone in Gryffindor was crowded into the common room at eight o’clock. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Jack and Andrew were the last to arrive. They came in wearing their team robes, and stood together in front of the fireplace with Harry a little in front.

Harry looked out at the crowd of expectant faces. He wasn’t used to talking in front of so many people, and felt a brief twinge of panic. He felt for an instant that he’d rather look Voldemort in the eye than all these people…especially the ones he knew he was about to disappoint.

“Ahem.” He cleared his throat. “Okay, er…you all know why we’re here, and I want to thank everyone who tried out for the team again. It was really tough making some of these decisions, you were all so good, but we had to make them…so here it is…er, I’m going to tell you who the reserves are first…so… This was one of our toughest choices. Our new reserve Seeker is Lindsey Fulford!”

Everyone applauded, and the people around Lindsey pounded her back, and shook her hand. Harry was glad to see that one of the first people to congratulate her was Dennis Creevey. It had been a tough choice between them.

“Okay, congratulations Lindsey! Next, our new reserve Keeper is… Christine Bedley!”

There was more applause, and Christine collected congratulations.

“Way to go Christine! Next on our list, our reserve Beaters are Brian Malette and James McCarthy!”

The two big seventh year boys stood and bowed to all the people applauding them. Harry looked at Randall Dey, and Allan Wight, the two second year boys who had also been trying out for Beater, and saw the disappointment on their faces, but they were clapping with everyone else.

“Good show Brian and James!” said Harry. “Now we come to the positions that I didn’t have any say in. I mean it, if you have any problems with the choices you have to blame these guys.” Harry pointed to the other team members behind them. “I was working on some Potions homework while they chose the Chasers, so here they are. Our three new reserve Chasers are: Dean Thomas, Natalie McDonald and Trish Maat!”

The applause for the reserve Chasers was just as loud as it had been for the other positions, but Harry could see that the students named weren’t quite as happy about being selected for those spots. They knew that meant that the Chaser positions had gone to someone else.

“Which brings us to our final selections,” said Harry, “and we’ve got some robes for a couple of you.” Ron and Ginny held up the extra team robes they were carrying.

“The first new member of our team is…Lavender Brown! Come get your robes!”

Lavender squealed with delight as everyone cheered her. She ran forward and Ginny helped her get her new robes on.

“The second new member is…Colin Creevey!”

Colin yelled, and jumped up and down in his excitement as he came forward. Ron proceeded to put his new robes on him…backwards. Colin was so excited that it took him a little while to notice.

“Alright Colin! Okay…” Harry looked really embarrassed. “…I guess that by now most of you have figured out that the last choice for Chaser is…well…me.”

That announcement got just as much applause as all of the others. Harry just blushed from all the attention.

“Okay!” said Harry, after the last round of applause had died down. “I have a couple more announcements to make! First of all, for our new reserves, and the rest of the team: practices are Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons at four! I expect to see you all there! If you miss a practice, you better have a pretty good excuse, and I know all about Weasleys’ Skiving Snack Boxes and if I catch any of you trying to use one to duck a practice you’re off the team!” There was a general round of laughter. “Next, the Friday practice is open to everyone, even if you didn’t make the team. Anyone wanting to improve their skills, just for fun, or because they hope to make the team themselves in a year or two is welcome to join us!”

Harry looked around at everyone. “There’s just one thing left, and I hope Dobby remembers his cue!” He clapped his hands three times and trays of party foods and drinks appeared on the common room tables. “To quote Professor Dumbledore: ‘Tuck in!’”

You wouldn’t think that the students of Gryffindor had just eaten a rather large dinner a couple hours earlier, the way they descended on the food tables. Everyone started talking and joking, and coming around to give their congratulations to the new team members. Colin Creevey made his brother Dennis run up to his dorm room to get his camera so he could have his picture taken in his Quidditch robes with the rest of the team. Harry made sure that Dennis got pictures of all the reserves too.

Once the pictures were taken the ‘old hands’ on the team quickly shed their robes. They were much too warm to be wearing inside the common room, but no one would let Lavender or Colin take theirs off. They had to keep wearing them the rest of the night. A little later, once she had worked up a good sweat, Lavender pointed out that Harry really ought to be wearing his robes too, since he’d just qualified as a Chaser. The rest of the team quickly agreed, and Jack and Andrew grabbed Harry before he could escape, and Ron forced his robes back over his head.

Harry sought out Randall and Allan, the two second year boys who had tried out for Beater, early in the party. They weren’t looking quite as happy as most of the other Gryffindors. He pulled them aside for a bit of a talk. “I really want to see you guys at the Friday practices.”

“Why?” asked Randall.

“Because I expect you two to be on the team next year,” said Harry. “Jack, Andrew, Brian and James are all going to be leaving, the Beater positions will be completely open. You two have the skill—confidentially, on a pure skill level, you’re already better than Brian and James—but you need strength to be a Beater too. Give you guys a year to grow, and I think you’ll be every bit as good as Fred and George were as Beaters.”

“You think so?” asked Allan Wight. He’d worshipped George Weasley. He’d been the first in line every time the Weasleys had asked for some volunteers to try one of their new products.

“I know so,” said Harry. “If you show up on Mondays and Wednesdays I won’t chase you away either. Now go grab yourselves some of those pumpkin pasties, before they’re all gone!”

Randall and Allan left to get themselves some food, and Harry went looking for Dennis Creevey.

Harry told Dennis that he wanted him at the Friday practices too, and he could come to the others. The Seeker spot wasn’t as open though, so he couldn’t be as encouraging. Ginny still had three years left, and Lindsey another year after that. “But it was really close between you and Lindsey. You keep working and you could take her place as the reserve.”

The last person Harry had to talk to was the conversation he had been dreading the most. Of the six people who had tried out for Chaser, Seamus Finnigan was the only one who hadn’t made the team, or been selected as a reserve. He found him sitting with Parvati Patil. “Hey, Seamus, can I talk to you for a second?”

Seamus smiled at Harry. “Is this the part where you tell me you’re really sorry I didn’t make it? Don’t bother. I know I sucked.”

“You weren’t that bad.” said Harry.

“Yes I was,” said Seamus. “I fumbled half the passes thrown my way. It was more of a tribute to the skill of the catchers that half of the passes I threw were caught by anyone, and I could only score against a blind Keeper riding one of Filch’s floor brooms.”

“And again: you weren’t that bad,” said Harry.

“Yes I was, but thanks for trying to let me down easy.” Seamus put an arm around Parvati’s shoulder. “I only tried out to attract the chicks anyway. And speaking of chicks…” Harry saw that he was looking toward the stairway that led to the girls’ dorms.

Dawn had gone up to her room to change into ‘appropriate party clothes.’ When she came back down to the common room she was wearing her black leather pants and a light blue baby t-shirt. She stopped at the base of the stairs and looked around for Harry. She saw him with Seamus and Parvati. Harry was turning to look her way, and Parvati whacked Seamus on the shoulder.

Dawn walked across the room to Harry. Every boy in the room who had reached puberty was looking at her by the time she got to him. Someone had tuned to a music program on Wizard Wireless. “Wanna dance?” Dawn asked Harry.

Harry looked embarrassed. “Er…I don’t dance much.”

Dawn grabbed hold of his hand. “Nothing to it.” She pulled him toward an open spot on the floor. “Next to Quidditch, it’s a breeze!”

Dawn started dancing, and Harry tried to match her moves. He felt like he was failing miserably. There was no way he could emulate the suppleness of the way Dawn could move her body. She didn’t seem to mind his clumsiness at all though. They were soon joined by other couples. Ginny was dancing with Dean Thomas, and Harry was a little surprised to see Ron and Hermione taking a turn.

Students from other houses started to show up too. The Fat Lady had been told to let everyone in tonight, and word had spread about the party in Gryffindor. Most of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Quidditch teams came. Harry saw that Cho was there, and she was dancing with Michael Corner. He was surprised to see Neville dancing with someone he thought at first was Parvati, but he realized quickly it was Padma. Parvati was dancing with Seamus.

There were even a few Slytherins. Malfoy and his crowd didn’t make an appearance, but Harry recognized Blaise Zabini (he’d learned her name since she became Dawn’s Potions partner) and Eric Hamelin. (He wasn’t happy to see that Eric was handing out money to some people. Apparently he’d had a pool going on who would make the team.) He saw another Slytherin who seemed to be spending a lot of time with Laurie Davis, one of the Ravenclaw Chasers. Dawn told him his name was Rob Harding. Harry was a little surprised that she knew who he was.

Hermione chased all the first years off to bed at ten o’clock, and then chased the second years away at eleven. Harry had had a quiet word with her first, and she seemed to miss Allan and Randall when she chased the second years away.

A vote was taken at midnight, and it was decided by a narrow margin to let Harry, Lavender and Colin out of their robes. Ron’s comment about the body odour from all their sweat might have had something to do with the way the decision came out.

Harry found himself dancing with Dawn again a little while later. It was a slower song, and they were closer together, holding each other gently. “I don’t know what Ron was talking about,” said Dawn softly. “I think you smell good.”

“Oh, now I know you’re lying,” said Harry. “I stink!”

“No!” said Dawn. “You smell like good, clean, sweat.” She moved herself closer to him. “I like it.”

Harry was aware of the smell of Dawn’s perfume, accenting her own scent. He felt his body responding to her odour, and the closeness of her. He liked the way she made him feel, but it made him nervous too. He pulled back a bit.

Dawn felt Harry pull back, and she understood it. Her body was sending her signals that her brain wasn’t used to dealing with. She’d been attracted to guys before: she still remembered her crushes on Xander and Spike…and there was that whole thing with the guy in the jacket, but what she was feeling with Harry was different, stronger and more real, and it scared her a little bit too.

The song ended and Harry and Dawn returned to one of the sofas to sit down opposite Ron and Hermione. Dawn was a little surprised to hear they were talking about The Lord of the Rings. She gave Harry an inquiring look.

“Oh, I let Ron read them after I was done.” said Harry. “I think they were the biggest books I’ve ever seen him read, and they didn’t even have pictures in them!”

“I should have gotten the Deluxe Illustrated Set,” said Dawn.

“What do you think Dawn?” asked Ron. “Was Tolkien a wizard? I think he must have been.”

“But his magic doesn’t have much to do with the way wizard magic works,” said Hermione. “No one uses wands. Gandalf and the other wizards have staffs, but no one else uses anything like them…and the wizards aren’t even human anyway…they’re a different class of being, like the elves and dwarves and hobbits.”

“Wait a minute,” said Ron. “Where do you get that from?”

“The Silmarillion,” said Dawn. “It’s another one of his books. Has the full stories of some of the legends and stuff mentioned in The Lord of the Rings. Gandalf and Sauron are really the same sort of being. Light and Dark sides of the same coin.”

“Like Dumbledore and Voldemort,” said Harry. “Sauron was defeated once, and came back. Voldemort was defeated once, and now he’s back.”

“And like Sauron, Moldywart is going to get his ass kicked again!” said Dawn.

“Hear, hear!” called out Ron. He raised a bottle of butterbeer. “To Moldywart getting his arse kicked!” He drank from it.

“Moldywart’s kicked arse!” called out a dozen people around the room, and they drank too. Then half of them looked a little puzzled as they tried to figure out who Ron meant. A couple of them looked scared when they worked it out, and then they let out little nervous laughs.

It was getting late. The common room had mostly emptied out. Everyone from the other houses had gone. Harry found that Dawn had somehow manoeuvred them into a quiet corner where they could sit together in a little privacy. “So, it was, er, a good party.”

“Yeah, it was,” said Dawn.

“And, er, you’re a good dancer.”

“I like dancing. It’s fun. The music was a little weird though. I don’t think I’d heard any of it before.”

“Wizards have their own music,” said Harry. “There isn’t much cross over between wizard and Muggle music.”

“It’s good,” said Dawn. “Good for dancing.”

“I’m not much of a dancer.”

“Oh, sure you are!” said Dawn. “You just need a little practice. You did very well.”

“So, er, it’s getting late. I think we should be going to bed soon.” Harry suddenly blushed. “Er, not that we…ah…”

Dawn smiled at him. “I know what you meant. Harry, I feel myself channelling my sister: stop yacking and kiss me!”

Harry didn’t need any more encouragement. He leaned toward Dawn and gently pressed his lips to hers. He felt her arm going around his back, pulling him closer. He rested his hand on her hip.

Harry felt Dawn’s mouth opening, and then her tongue brushed against his lips. He didn’t know what to do, but somehow, without him willing it, his mouth opened too and his tongue came forward to meet hers. Dawn pulled him tighter against her, and he could feel her heart beating against his chest, its rhythm in syncopation with the pounding of his own heart. His hand moved down from her hip and around behind her.

“I think we’ll need some ice water,” said Ron.

Harry and Dawn pulled away from each other and looked up. They saw the entire Quidditch team was standing over them, and they both blushed furiously.

Ron had a big grin on his face that went from ear to ear. “I hate to interrupt what looked like a really good snog, but everyone else has gone to bed. I think it’s time for us all to call it a night.”

Dawn suddenly found herself yawning. “Oh…um…yeah. It is kinda late, isn’t it?”

Ginny pulled her up off the sofa. “Come on, let’s go.” She pulled Dawn toward the stairs leading up to their room. “See you guys in the morning.”

Dawn let herself be pulled up to her room. She was suddenly feeling very sleepy, but she didn’t think she would be falling asleep too quickly tonight.