Closed Shaping Up

[Blake van Houten]

Blake didn't love the thought of how soon he would be leaving Hogwarts. He had barely begun shaping the Slytherin team into the disciplined fighting machine he knew it could be, and he only had another two years to make sure the legacy of their team would stay pristine. Slytherin had been champions for as long as Blake had been at Hogwarts, and he wasn't going to let that slip under his watch. Or, after his watch had ended. Having an alternate seeker on the team was a relief, as Blake knew exactly who it was he had to focus his attention on for the future. So he had sent Ruben an owl asking to meet him on the pitch, and made sure to get here early and bring all the equipment he would need. Today he was going to see just what this kid was really made of, and hopefully begin moulding him into a Seeking machine who could carry the weight of the team forwards after Blake had graduated.

 

[Ruben Right]

Ruben was in his dorm when he received Blake's owl. He immediately got into overthinking mode, maybe Blake wanted to say that there was a better seeker that he found out at the last minute and that the position wasn't his but why would he ask Ruben to bring his equipment? It made zero sense. One thing that Ruben hated was the fact that he would need to get up early to meet him, he was not a morning person but he guessed he wouldn't be getting much sleep after this letter.
The second year Slytherin arrived at the pitch, fully equipped and with a broom on his hand, and Blake was already there, he walked towards him and wondered how long he had been there already, hopefully not much "I'm sorry if I made you wait" he said apologetically "You wanted to see me?" he asked making an effort to keep his voice steady and getting ready for the worst even though deep down he knew it was illogical to expect the worst.

 

[Blake van Houten]

Blake knew he had been well and truly early for this meeting, but did that mean he would cut his potential protege any slack for arriving after he had? "Nice to finally see you." He said pointedly, echoes of his dad's coaching seeping into his voice. "Look kid, I'll be blunt. You wanna be Slytherin's seeker, you're gonna have to work a lot harder than anyone else on the team. Slytherin has a reputation to uphold, and a cup to keep hold of. You're young, but that's good. More years to work on your skills. Figured we'd start with some basic drills today, see what you're made of."

 

[Ruben Right]

Ruben blushed a little with embarrassment, Blake must have been waiting for him for a long time now. He heard the speech Blake was giving him completely aware that he was right, being a seeker had an extra pressure as a seekers ended the game and most of the times they would make their team victorious "Got it!" he said firmly to the older boy.
He mounted his broom and hovered looking at Blake "What exactly am I gonna do?" he said as he noticed that he had mounted the broom but not really sure of what to do as running drills was a pretty vague thing as he had no idea what could mean as a seeker

 

[Blake van Houten]

Blake nodded once, a little impressed with the younger boy's sticktoitiveness. He hadn't really been trying to intimidate him primarily, but Blake knew he had a reputation for being intimidating, one he liked to think he had learned from his dad. He kicked off with Ruben, gesturing to the hoops he had set hovering around the pitch. "Right, to warm up I want three laps of those hoops. First two go half speed to figure out the angles and learn the quick turns, last lap I want you going full speed. I wanna see how fast you can turn." He said firmly, giving Ruben a nod.

 

[Ruben Right]

Ruben gave Blake a puzzled look, not really sure how laps could help him, he thought he just needed to be fast and have sharp eyes to find the snitch but he wasn't going to argue with an older seeker that also happened to be the team's captain.
He flew towards the hoops and started the laps like Blake instructed him to do, he started half speed, which got boring at the second lap, so at the third he decided to push it a bit and go faster than he usually dared to. He was turning fast, Blake wanted fast so the young Slytherin was giving him fast but that meant Ruben had to have a better grip on his broom. His knuckles were already white from gripping the broom so hard that it was becoming a little painful, thankfully the lap ended and he returned to Blake.
"So...what did you think?" he said hovering on his broom and lacing his fingers so Blake wouldn't notice his still white knuckles and think that Ruben had trouble doing the laps. His hands were sore indeed but the other boy didn't need to know that.

 

[Blake van Houten]

Blake had deliberately laid out the course of hoops to have plenty of challenging twists and sharp turns, and he was pleasantly surprised that Ruben managed to navigate the obstacle course relatively well. "Not bad." He said slowly once the younger boy had finished the course, nodding slowly. "Right, catching drills next." He picked up a regular tennis ball, tossing it in his hand. "I'm gonna chuck a bunch of these, and I want you to catch them before they hit the ground." He waited to make sure Ruben had understood the instructions before throwing the first tennis ball, chucking it as far as he could. He picked the next one up and quickly threw it in another direction, tossing balls around the pitch at random angles, challenging Ruben to fly back and forth between them in time.