The history of Quidditch - 41

                                    

                                          
   When Hadrian first met Draco and he was introduced to the world of Quidditch, Hadrian found it to be quite strange. Which is understandable considering the fact that despite having magic and being able to control it, Hadrian grew up with muggles. Most were either disgusting and or idiotic but muggles none the less. All he had ever know sports wise besides running from Dudley's fat fists and thug friends was the times he would watch the tv from the backyard window while working on the garden. Vernon loved to watch boxing and would yell at the telly and Petunia occasionally watched soccer which was usually on around the time he had to wash dinner's dishes. Dudley loved basketball and baseball as it involved throwing things but he didn't fully understand it as he just wanted to throw the balls at people so he mainly stuck to dodgeball.
   After Draco gave Hadrian a extremely detailed explanation of the entire game and showed him his magical mini quidditch field game, it oddly reminded him of several muggle sports combined. He would never tell Draco this as he was trying to put the muggles in his life behind him and embrace his wizard self. However no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't help but picture a basketball for the quaffle, a soccer goalie as the keeper with basketball hoops, bullies on brooms playing dodgeball with baseball bats, and a flying golden golfball no where to be seen. So while the game itself seemed fascinating, Hadrian felt a bit intimidated and scared to actually watch, much less actually play.
   However Draco insisted that Hadrian play with him and his friends on several occasions and finally caved when Lucius got bored of watching his son beg and offered to watch in case something did go wrong. It was just the three of them on that summer day but it was then that Hadrian realized just how much he loved being in the air and had so much fun that he let his creature out. His black and red wings slipped through the slits Madam Malkin had created for him and Hadrian instinctively hopped off the broom. He held it in one had so it wouldn't fall and break but he whooped and hollered happily as he flew for the first time throughout the air. After that Hadrian couldn't ever get enough of being in the air and felling the wind in his hair and wings whenever he let them out.
   Hadrian and Draco spent much of the spare time flying over the summer before Hogwarts and when the first Quidditch game began, Draco was nearly vibrating with excitement. He kept his mask on well but Hadrian and their friends could see certain signs most didn't, like how he was eating quicker than usual and had a happy shine in his eyes. Hadrian was officially in love with the sport by the end of the game and had to keep himself from laughing at Wood's defeated face. They had tryouts for a new seeker as their old one had just graduated and their new one looked shaky on his broom at best. Draco and Hadrian both complemented the team's performance that night during the small celebration Severus allowed them to hold and Marcus looked smug as they praised him. Eventually Andria sent them to bed, claiming they were going to make Marcus's head too big to stay on his body but all three already knew it was. 
   The two boys practiced their skills on the school brooms constantly during flying class and even Madam Hooch occasionally complemented them but mostly she scolded for going too fast. One time they went too high and nearly got hurt attempting a trick they knew the old broom most likely couldn't perform and she called them reckless lion wannabes. Severus scolded them afterwards as well but Marcus found them later and teased them for acting like lions out on the brooms before ruffling their hair and telling them he expected them to try out next year. Draco was furious at Marcus for ruining his hair he had worked so hard on and Hadrian just laughed. They took Marcus's demand very serious and had fun training in the summer after their trip through Europe. 
    It was finally time for the two to prove their skills at the tryouts. Lucius had bought both boys Nimbus 2001s for their birthdays as they were both summer babies and the Nimbus 2001 was released in early May or else Draco would have gotten the Nimbus 2000 he had asked for upon its original release. It was a great surprise for the both of them and Lucius was more than happy to get it as a gift for them as both he and Narcissa could see the love the boys held for the sport. Blaise, Daphne, Vincent, and Greg all went with them to watch. Pansy, Theo, and Tracy decided against it as Theo wanted to read and the girls didn't understand the love for the sport and decided to paint each other's nails instead. 
   Marcus was just as strict as his teammates complained about him being during tryouts but Hadrian and Draco didn't mind. He had them all split up into groups of which position they were trying out for and the brothers smiled at each other before going separate ways. Due to Hadrian's small size and speed in the air, he would be seen as a good seeker but he wanted to be a chaser. His small size allowed him to avoid bludgers easier and to weave around slower players in order to steal the quaffle or get past the keeper to score. Draco was going for seeker and had trained constantly to try and improve his observation skills which Hadrian had lots of fun doing. He would create little snitches through transfiguration and control them with his wandless magic. Using wingardium leviosa, he would fly it around as fast as possible around his brother and Draco's speed got faster over the summer.
   Draco was only going against one other Slytherin who had been their seeker the year before. He wasn't amazing but he wasn't bad either. Marcus believed everyone had to earn their place so if Draco caught the snitch three times before the guy Hadrian believed was called Dennis, Draco would become seeker. Hadrian and his friends watched in anticipation as Draco managed to catchy the snitch first! They sighed nervously as Dennis caught it the second time and it was a close call when Draco got it the third time around. Marcus released the snitch a fourth time and Draco was flying higher up and faster as he had a better broom and Hadrian thought he had better skill too but he may be a little bias. Draco suddenly fly straight down and Dennis began to follow him but Hadrian didn't see the snitch anywhere. He smirked as Draco pulled back up to the sky and towards the other side of the field where Hadrian spotted the snitch near the three goal posts. Draco caught the snitch a third time and Hadrian happily cheered and bounced up and down in excitement for his brother. 
   Draco landed and Hadrian tackled him in a hug making them both laugh as he nearly knocks them both down. Marcus barks an order at them to calm down and for Hadrian to get ready but he can tell by his eyes that he isn't really mad. Hadrian hops on his broom and prepares to compete against six older years. Two held spots on the team last year with Marcus as the third chaser and he gripped his broom handle as his nerves grew. Marcus split them up into two group to see how well they could work together with little prep time and played them against each other. One sat out each round as only six chasers played per game and Marcus didn't want odd numbers. He had the beaters tryout at the same time and had to focus on playing and avoiding getting hit all at once. It was exhilarating and Hadrian made the most goals out of everyone. Tryouts finally came to an end and Marcus promised to have results posted in the next two days.