The first of Wednesday's sunshine spilled through the window and fell onto the only four poster bed in the room which did not have the curtains pulled together. The occupant had fallen into bed just moments before, so tired that he had fallen asleep the moment before his head touched his non-existent pillow. It had fallen off earlier that morning, and he had not bothered to pick it up, simply slipping his hands under his cheek to provide the extra elevation. No doubt he did not care that his bed curtains were not drawn. It had indeed been a tiring morning for Harry Potter. The first thing he had seen when he woke up was complete darkness. More than reluctant to leave the warmth of his goose-down doona, he had finally edged his legs over the side of the bed by one minute past 4:30. Muttering incoherently – it was way too early to string more than 3 words together – he groped for his Firebolt and stumbled towards the door. By the time he had found his way to the Quidditch field, it was 10 past 5.
"Sorry…" he slurred, "forgot…glasses…mmm…hadto….gobaget… mmm…got…mlost…fell…asleep…broomcloset…15mmminutes…"
The rest of the team did not even blink an eyelid at his jumbled sentence (it was a bit hard anyway, as most of their eyelids were either half-closed or already closed). They had gotten used to each others' morning speech and were also used to someone arriving late for each practice. If not Harry, then the Weasley twins. Nor did they comment on Harry's mussed up (more than usual) hair or crumpled robes. Everyone had fast figured out that the quickest way to get ready in the morning was to be ready the night before. So they all looked as crumpled as each other in their slept-in Quidditch robes. Ron had pointed out countless times to Harry that even if they did get more practice than the Slytherin team, the morning sessions would not benefit Gryffindor if no one was able to walk properly or fully open their eyes, let alone sit on a broomstick and take off the ground.
"You wouldn't even be able to catch a Snitch the size of one of Hagrid's prize pumpkins! The only thing you'd catch out there is a Bludger in the face at 200 miles an hour!" "…especially since Fred and George can't even remember that the word 'bat' exists at 5 in the morning…" Ron had added as an afterthought. Harry had to admit Ron had a point there. Fred and George forgot their bats 9 out of 10 training sessions, and on the other 1, they forgot their broomsticks. In fact, everything Ron said was probably right. But that did not stop Harry from defending Wood.