Chapter 8 - First Quidditch Game

Arth yawned as he walked out into the fields with a very bored look on his face. Although he would rather be reading, at the moment he was forced to complete another task. That task being flying.

"Alright everyone, let's try this again! Do not panic or freeze up when riding your brooms. Now like I have said, say Up!"

Their teacher, Madam Hooch, had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk. She would use her intimidating eyes to watch out for any rough and idiotic behavior while they flew.

Arth extended his arm out as did Alice and his other friends.

""Up.""

Arth, Alice, and James all had their brooms fly up immediately while Sirius got it on his second try. Lily and Remus struggled to raise their brooms while Severus, who was across from Lily, also made no progress.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle.

"Now anyone who was unable to raise their brooms by command, do not worry. Practice makes perfect. Now ready your brooms. On the count of three, you will all mount your brooms and hover a couple feet above the ground. On my whistle. Three- two- one-"

Madam Hooch blew her whistle and everyone rose up to a height they were comfortable with.

"Wonderful. Now I reckon you all understand how to play quidditch? Shall we have a practice round then?"

Everyone cheered, except for Arth and a few other people who did not seem to enjoy the thought of playing Quidditch. Quidditch was the current most popular wizarding sport in the world.

Matches were played on a large oval pitch with three ring-shaped goals of different heights on each side, between two opposing teams of seven players each: three Chasers, two Beaters, the Keeper, and the Seeker. There were three different balls: the Quaffle, the two Bludgers, and the Golden Snitch. The Chasers and the Keeper respectively scored with and defend their goals against the Quaffle; the two Beaters bat the Bludgers away from their teammates and towards their opponents; and the Seeker locates and catches the Golden Snitch, whose capture simultaneously wins the Seeker's team 150 points and ends the game. The team with the most points at the end wins.

Or in simple terms, basketball on brooms with an unfair freeball wandering around.

As they were choosing the roles that people should play, James and Alice immediately stood up and volunteered themselves for chaser.

"I wish to be a chaser!"

"I'm chaser, you got it?"

"We need a seeker and a keeper, hey Sirius, wanna be seeker?"

"Nah mate, I'd rather be a chaser. You be the seeker."

"Well.... if we don't have a seeker, I'll be a seeker.... hey Arth! Do you wanna be a seeker? You are good with a broom."

Arth vehemently shook his head. "Nah. I'll sit this one out. Take Remus."

Remus gave Arth a shocked look. "I hate heights. I'm not playing."

"Oh come on Remus," whines James. "It'll be fun."

Arth did his best to avoid detection and almost succeeded when Alice grabbed him by the good and dragged him to the center.

"Arth will play seeker."

Arth groaned. "Oh come one Alice, let me sit out."

"We need an extra player. Be the seeker."

"I'd rather be a chaser, seekers get all the attention."

James' eyes lit up as he proudly declared. "Arth can be a chaser. I shall be a seeker."

Arth reluctantly grabbed one of Madam Hooch's brooms and walked onto the field with a proud looking James, a laid back Sirius, a confident looking Alice, and three other Gryffindor kids that Arth didn't know too well.

"I want a nice clean game you all," said madam hooch before raising her hand. "Now on a count of three, the game begins. One- two- three!"

The whistle blew and Alice grabbed the Quaffle before passing it immediately to Arth.

Arth grabbed the ball before passing it on to Sirius who immediately went for the hoop.

The keeper for the Slytherin team was inexperienced and failed to block the quaffle earning ten points for Gryffindor.

Slytherin team then grabbed the quaffle and made their way to the Gryffindor hoops without passing and got slammed in the face with a softened version of a Bludger.

Alice caught the falling quaffle and zoomed off for the hoops and threw the quaffle into the hoops.

Now it was 20-0 and Slytherin had the ball. This time, the Slytherins tried to pass their ball back and forth which made them easy to steal from and allowed Sirius to Nick the ball and score another point.

Just as the Slytherin team tried to mount on final attempt to score a goal, James catches the slowed down version of the snitch and ended the game.

It was an obvious Gryffindors victory and everyone celebrated and cheered on James while Arth quickly slipped past the crowd and grabbed his book bag and pulled out a book.

Arth honestly found Quidditch to be simple and quite boring. As long as he kept his eye on the snitch when they released it, he would be able to track it and catch it immediately after the game began. As long as his vision didn't get obstructed from the snitch. It was an easy game. And if he lost sight of the snitch, as a seeker, he would have to wait around aimlessly until he found it again. Just the sound of it made Arth shudder.

Same thing with keepers. It was a boring task.

Now playing as a beater or chaser, that was more understandable. With one, he would be constantly active while with the other, he would be able to hit people without repercussions. Arth was fairly confident in his ability to aim and reckoned he could break a skull or two.

But even then, the game was too simple and dull. Arth wished that there was some other interesting wizarding sport he could play.

Only if....