The next day was the weekend, no classes were scheduled.
In the morning, as Kael opened the dormitory door, he was immediately met by Cedric stretching out his arm.
"What's with that pose..." Kael asked curiously, "Are you imitating a lucky cat?"
"What cat... never mind, that's not important."
Cedric lowered his raised arm and said, "I'm here to remind you, did you forget today is the Quidditch tryouts, why are you just coming out now?"
"I haven't forgotten, I just woke up..." Kael rubbed his face, answering matter-of-factly.
It's rare to encounter a nice weather weekend, it'd be a pity not to sleep in a bit more.
Cedric massaged his forehead and said, "The tryouts start at ten, it's already nine-thirty... how can you sleep at a time like this?"
"There's still half an hour, plenty of time."
Kael grabbed his Nimbus 2000 and followed Cedric out of the common room.
Conna was also with them, she had been waiting outside when Cedric went to get Kael earlier.
The group made their way across the grounds to the Quidditch Pitch.
The tryouts hadn't officially started yet, but there was already a lively crowd around the pitch. Even Professor Sprout, who rarely left the greenhouse, was there, standing in the middle of the pitch, chatting with Madam Hooch.
The stands were filled with a good number of people, not only from Hufflepuff but also from other houses.
It wasn't hard to see from their tense expressions that at least half of them were there to gather information.
But as the team captain, Harris didn't mind at all, showing no intent to shoo them away.
When Kael and the others arrived, he was even enthusiastic enough to explain the basic rules of Quidditch to some of the younger students.
"Quidditch is actually very simple, the Chasers are responsible for scoring with the Quaffle, the Beaters use bats to protect the players from the Bludgers, and hit the Bludgers towards the opposing team."
Sitting in the stands, Harris said to a boy with glasses, "But you don't have to worry about that. As a Seeker, Potter, your job is to catch the Golden Snitch as soon as possible."
"What is the Golden Snitch..." Harry asked curiously.
"A very tricky little guy," Harris said, "but catching it ends the game and adds one hundred and fifty points to your team's score."
"Golden... Snitch..." Harry muttered to himself softly.
Soon he realized something, and looked at Harris with a bewildered expression, "Wait... how do you know I'm the Seeker!"
"That's easy."
Harris shook his head and said, "Wood has been grinning from ear to ear these days, even taking two extra helpings at meals. We realized something was up long ago.
The only thing that could make him so happy would be something about the Seeker position."
"So Wood told you?" Harry sighed in relief.
At least it wasn't leaked from his side.
"It had nothing to do with him."
Harris shook his head and said, "Wood, that kid, tried to keep it a secret from me, saying he was happy because his family's owl had a second clutch.
So I went straight to ask Professor McGonagall, she was the one who told me you were Gryffindor's new Seeker."
"Professor McGonagall?" Harry sat there dumbfounded, inexplicably feeling a bit sympathetic towards Wood.
He had initially thought of himself as a secret weapon to catch the other teams off guard, but within less than a day, the opponents had openly learned the news from Professor McGonagall.
So much for secrecy...
"Do your best, Harry, you're going to be great." Harris stood up, patted his shoulder, and said with a smile, "I'm looking forward to the day we play against you."
With that, he left the stands and headed towards the center of the pitch, greeting Kael and the others as he passed by.
"Looks like it's about to start."
Kael, holding his Nimbus 2000, found a seat near the front of the stands.
Conna glanced at the pitch and asked, "How many players are they selecting this time?"
"Two, a Beater and a Chaser," Cedric said, "Kael is trying out for the Chaser position."
"Yep."
Kael nodded from the side.
Compared to battling Bludgers all game or seeking the Snitch, he preferred the feeling of scoring goals.
Even though each goal is only worth ten points, scoring enough can also earn one hundred and fifty points... or even more.
At exactly ten, the tryouts began.
The first selection was for the Beater position, with three participants in total.
Under Harris's arrangement, the three of them sat on broomsticks, heading to the center of the pitch.
The Beater position mostly tests accuracy, and the power when wielding the bat, Harris had already brought the box containing the Bludgers over in advance.
What they had to do was stay on their broomsticks as long as possible. The last one standing would earn a spot on the team.
As Harris opened the box, the two Bludgers shot out like cannonballs, starting to wreak havoc in mid-air.
Each of them took bats, hitting off the Bludgers flying towards them.
After all, they had passed the initial selection, so they certainly had the skills. It was unlikely that they would be knocked out right at the start, but it's different when things go on for a while.
Everyone watched in silence.
Five minutes later, the first one was eliminated.
It was a second-year student, the youngest of the three.
Perhaps seeing that nothing was happening, he began to lose his cool and tried to hit the Bludger towards the other two.
But because of excessive force, he accidentally let go, throwing his bat away.
There was nothing to be said, the next second he was knocked off his broom by another incoming Bludger.
"Oh... that must have hurt."
In the stands, Harry couldn't help but exclaim upon seeing this, instinctively reaching for his shoulder as if he had been hit too.
"That's just how it is for Beaters,"
Ron explained beside him, "George told me that in his first year on the team, his arm was broken three times by Bludgers.
Fred was about the same, but he broke his leg."
Sitting not far away, Kael heard Ron's words and looked at Cedric in confusion, "Fred and George got their arms broken by Bludgers?"
"No, never!"
Cedric asserted firmly, "While other Beaters more or less got injured, Fred and George... as far as I know, throughout a whole school year's matches, Bludgers didn't even touch their clothes.
In fact, they were like two Bludgers themselves."