Early Saturday morning, Harry first went for a run with the Gryffindor Quidditch players.
The newly appointed captain, Katie Bell, was not as obsessed with the game as her two predecessors, Angelina Johnson and Oliver Wood, so she had not rounded up the players on the train to discuss training for the new academic year.
She waited until term had officially begun before calling everyone together for morning runs to get them back into shape.
Katie Bell had perfectly sound reasons, too.
With Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and the twins having left school, the Quidditch team had undergone a major overhaul this year, losing all its mainstays. But after several years of training, the reserves were actually quite good now.
Although Ginny was the reserve Seeker, Harry was still around, so she could play Chaser for the time being.
Parvati Patil and Sally-Anne Perks had also improved their skills considerably over the years.
As for the Beater positions, Seamus Finnigan could just about manage, and Colin Creevey was serviceable, too. Cormac McLaggen was actually another good choice. Although he was the reserve Keeper, with Ron around, he barely had any chance to play, so he could certainly take the field as a Beater.
Still, the exact arrangements would depend on what the players wanted, as well as the results of the upcoming trials.
The former reserves, now the starting players, were certainly not quite up to the standard of the old team-after all, Angelina had even been taken on as a reserve by a professional club's second team. But they were already good enough by school standards.
Most importantly, Gryffindor held an overwhelming advantage in the two most important Quidditch positions: Chaser and Keeper.
Keeper had originally been the least valued role in school-level Quidditch matches. Even former Gryffindor captain