Good Enough?

Tonks took a deep breath to settle her nerves. She could do this. Failing last year did not mean that this year would work the same way. She was a third year now; chances were better. And she wasn’t trying out for anything; she was trying out for Beater. Tonks thought back on her previous tryout. The only position open had been Seeker, and she was a horrid one. But she had tried out anyway, because all she wanted was to be on the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team, to be a Quidditch player just like Madam Hooch. Madam Hooch had not been disappointed at all last year. Just a quick nod of her head and a statement that next year would be a better chance, with Beater and Chaser positions.

She heard her name. Panicking, she tried to remember all that Bill and Charlie had taught her. Charlie was a bloody speed demon on a broom, which was why he had been such an obvious choice for Gryffindor Seeker. Bill was a smashing Keeper, and between the two of them, they had whipped her into proper form. If only she could remember how to swing the bat one way and make the Bludger go the other!

“Tonks! Get on the damn field!” Bulrich Morgan hissed and shoved her towards the field. Oi, she was going to miss her try out! Clearing everything out of her head, Tonks stepped onto the field and kicked off with the school broom Madam Hooch had tried to fix up for tryouts. She felt the thrill of flying, the ground sank from beneath her and the wind got stronger.

The captain was waiting for her. There were three Bludgers being held onto by the current two Chasers and Seeker. “Ready, Tonks?” Tonks swallowed and nodded. The captain gave out a shout and the three Bludgers were loose. They would go only for Tonks and her “teammates” right now, and she had to bat them off herself and against the green dummies set up about the field. Some were moving and some where not. There were also some blue dummies (her teammates) that she was supposed to protect. She blanked for just a second as a Bludger came straight for her head, but then a calm set in and she knew exactly what to do. She swooped and missed the first one, coming up behind and knocking it neatly into a green dummies, which vanished. Good, the impact was hard enough to knock that player out of the game. Another Bludger started for two of the blue dummies that had floated towards each other. Tonks flew at the speed of sound and reached it with ages to spare. She knocked it lightly away and then followed it for a second, giving it a second good tap when she knew she could hit the green dummy guarding the goal posts. Hit, but no vanish. Bugger, she thought. But the next one was already right there; it hit her in the arm. She used the hit to push her arm away from her body and deflected the Bludger to the closest green dummy. A Bludger was batted away from a blue dummy and vanished a green one. Another Bludger was headed towards her Keeper, was deflected with the gentlest of taps and then re-directed a second later to the other end of the field. Slowly, the green dummies were vanishing. Finally, they were only blue dummies on the field. None of them had been hit even once. Tonks smiled and rubbed her arm. She looked down and noticed a very large and ugly bruise forming. Oh, well, battle scars and all that.

“Alright, Tonks, we’ll let ye know!” The Chasers were smiling like they’d struck gold. Tonks sank to the ground and watched the rest of the tryouts through a haze of exhaustion and amazement. And when she was tracked down in the halls the very next day and told to send home for her broomstick, Tonks was so delighted that she lost control of her hair and turned it bright pink.

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Author's Note: Here's one of the big reasons that I put Tonks in Ravenclaw rather than Gryffindor. I wanted her to play Quidditch, and I didn't want to AU the twins out of their Beater rights when they get to Hogwarts! Also, I'm mostly making up other student characters as I go along; there don't seem to be a whole lot of canon for people Tonks' age. If any one wants a canon character included, just let me know; I'm sure they'll find their way in. Stay tuned for class time and a first romance!