Quidditch Trial 19 by Nightsky

“Okay, Acacia. Remember the rules from last time?” My sister said to me as she we marched out to the grounds.
“Kind of...” I muttered. My sister stopped in her tracks and turned back to me, her eyes piercing through me.
“We’ve been practicing all summer and we must have gone over the rules at least a hundred times!” She said, infuriated, “All you need to remember is to dodge the bludgers, get the quaffle and shoot it through one of the opposing team’s three goal posts.”
“I don’t see why I have to do this. I’m only a first year and you know there’s no chance a first year will get on their house team!” I screamed. I was pissed at my sister. I knew she only wanted to help me succeed like she did... And my other two sisters did... And my parents.
It didn’t matter though, I had no chance. I threw the broom she had lent me onto the grass and stomped over, leaving her in the middle of the grounds, looking very disappointing. I didn’t mean nor did I want to disappoint her. I just knew I wasn’t a good flyer like my sisters but they refused to believe this...
                                             *****
But that was then. And this is now.  I’m in my fourth year now and have finally mustered enough courage to try out for my house Quidditch team. At least... I think its courage. It might just be indigestion... One last practice before the actual try outs: my last chance.
I march out onto the pitch and see my sister, the one who had tried to help me all those years ago, standing in the middle of the pitch with some of her friends who had said they would help out.
“Henrietta!” I called out to my sister. She waved me over, an excited and proud smile on her face.
“Okay everyone, you all know my little sister, Acacia. She had finally come to her sense and decided to join in on our family tradition of playing for our house team.” My sister said with an air of excitement in her voice. “Now, she’ll be playing chaser and my parents couldn’t be prouder,” she said, beaming.
My sister continued praising me for finally stepping up and trying out for a couple minutes and then went to explaining what we would be doing at the pitch today. I tuned in and out, feeling the gigantic butterflies eating my insides.
“Okay,” My sister clapped her hands, “Mount your brooms everyone!” She and her friends mounted their brooms and took off. I mounted my broom after a few minutes. This was my first time on my broom. My mother had gotten it for me as a little gift in my second year but I had yet to ride it. It was a firebolt: the best around. Anyone else would have given anything to get their hands on it but I didn’t want it. I didn’t want to fly: I was afraid. What if I didn’t make the house team and my family’s tradition? Then what? Could they even bare to look at me? I shudder to think what would happen then.
My mind wandered back the to practice game: They would be one Keeper guarding a set of goals, two beaters who would try to knock me off the broom with some bludgers they “borrowed” from the storage shed, one other Chaser whose only job was to get the ball to me, and then there was my sister, who would be shooting pointers to me from the sidelines.
Henrietta threw the Quaffle-like ball into the air I hesitated for a moment before putting my stomach back where it belonged and diving for the ball. The other chaser got it. And now my sister is yelling at me from the sidelines: “DO NOT Hesitate next time! A game can be determined by who gets the Quaffle first!!” She screamed at me. I rolled my eyes and caught the Quaffle as the other chaser chucked it to me.
I raced off to the goals and managed to dodge the bludgers being hurled towards me. As I neared the goal post, something came over me; a weird sensation, like something inside of me pop and was now yelling at my mind: ‘GO!! HURRY UP AND THROW THE BALL!!! YOU CAN DO THIS!!”
Hearing this... Voice inside of me, telling me I can actually do something besides study and pass exams gave me a new pride of myself. “I can do this.” I whispered to myself. I leaned all my weight forward and hurtled toward to goal post with a new-found sense of self-confidence. I know I can do this, I know I can.
I approached the goal and threw the ball to the middle post with all my might, while with my eyes closed of course. I had too much self-doubt to be able to actually see whether or not I’d make a complete fool of myself. I stopped suddenly and my neck whipped forward. Had I done it? I opened my eyes to see my sister holding the ball and cheering along with her friends. Apparently I had.
“YES!!!” My sister screamed as we landed on the pitch, “I knew she could do it! Didn’t I tell ya, Marry? What did I say, huh? I said ‘She’ll be better than our dad’ and she was!!”
We practice for about an hour more before it was too dark to see each other and we ended up in many midair collisions. We all landed on the pitch and headed to the Great Hall for dinner
                                              *****
The praise went on from my sister for the rest of the night. I was paying no attention to her; after all this was just a practice game. I still had to make it through the actual try outs tomorrow. I’m going to need all the luck I can get...