Chapter 14

     Soarin' dragged a large wooden trunk into the courtyard. Fluttershy sat in the grass, clopping her hooves together impatiently.

     "Sorry I'm late," Soarin' apologized in a thick Scottish accent. "I had detention with Professor Trixie."

He looked sadly towards the grass. "Again," he muttered.

     He unlatched the wooden trunk. Inside, a large red ball with three huge indents sat in the middle. To each side were two smaller brown balls wrapped in chains.

     On the top part of the trunk was a small box with the Hogwarts "H" on it.

"Quidditch is quite simple," Soarin' said. "You have three chasers, two beaters, one keeper, and a seeker." 

     He pointed at Fluttershy with his left hoof. "That's you," he said. He picked up the red ball.

"Now," he continued "This is called the quaffle. The chasers handle the quaffle, and they try to get it through one of those three hoops."

     Soarin' pointed towards the Quidditch field off in the distance. At each end of the field were three golden hoops on top of tall golden poles. 

Soarin' looked back at Fluttershy.

"The keeper, that's me, defends the hoops," he said. "With me so far?"

"I think so," Fluttershy said. "What're those?"

     She pointed towards the brown balls wrapped in chains.

"Ah," Soarin' said. "Those are the bludgers. Nasty things. The beaters try to hit us with the bludgers."

     Fluttershy winced at the thought of getting hit.

Soarin' grinned. "Don't worry. Just stay on your guard and you'll be fine. With Dashie as one of out beaters, the bludgers will remain in our possession for the most part."

"Dashie's on the team too?"

     "Oh yeah," Soarin' said. "Dashie is the best beater Gryffindor has seen in years. She's wicked fast, and could be our star chaser if she wanted, but she seems to enjoy hitting Slytherin's with bludgers. Anyways, the only thing I want you to worry about is this."

     Soarin' pressed the Hogwarts emblem, and it opened like a door to reveal a small ornate golden ball. It had long dragonfly wings, and it moved incredibly quick when Soarin' let go of it.

     "This one is pretty," Fluttershy cooed.

     "Sure is," Soarin' agreed. "It's called the snitch. It's incredibly fast and damn near impossible to see. You certainly aren't going to have the time to admire it."

"So what do I do with it?" Fluttershy asked.

"You catch it," Soarin' explained. "If you catch the snitch, the game is over. If you catch the snitch, we win."

     The golden snitch zipped back and forth in front of Fluttershy. It was incredibly fast, and Fluttershy couldn't see much more than a feint streak of gold where it flew. Fluttershy wondered how she qualified for this.

****************

     "Have you heard Fluttershy is our new seeker?" Scootaloo asked Lyra.

"I heard eight times," Lyra sighed. "All from you."

Scootaloo giggled with excitement.

     It was conversations like these that made Fluttershy so nervous. She sat next to Twilight and Applejack in the courtyard, prodding at leaves on the ground with her hooves.

     "Hey Fluttershy!" Pinkie said walking by. "I just heard you made the team."

"Yeah," Dashie said. "Hopefully you don't get beat up too bad on your first game."

Pinkie giggled. "Oh yeah," she said. "Rough game, Quidditch. Nopony has died in years, but you see an awful lot of injuries."

Pinkie and Dashie walked away laughing.

"Don't listen to them Sugarcube," Applejack said. "Quidditch is great!"

"But I've never played!" Fluttershy cried. "What if I make a fool of myself?"

"You won't," Twilight said. "It's in your blood."

     She stood up and motioned for Fluttershy and Applejack to follow.

She lead them to a trophy case just inside. Behind the thick glass was a line of gold medallions.

"Quidditch championship winners," Twilight explained. "This is sort of the Hogwarts Quidditch hall of fame."

Caramel

Gryffindor Championship Seeker

1979

"That's my father," Fluttershy said softly.