Chapter 1: The Newbie
Jason stood impatiently in front of the statue of Barry the Bemused. He wore muggle clothes-blue jeans and a gray shirt- and he held his Firebolt broom. He was in his third year at Hogwarts but small for his age (he was reserve Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team). He had a long nose, curly brown hair and large brown eyes that were very useful in pouting.
He looked at his watch--it was eleven thirty-five. They were late and any minute now the senile old caretaker Filch would find him. Why had he done this? What had possessed him? Jason mused silently. The forbidden races. Everyone knew they existed but precious few actually were able to establish contacts and become a racer. Jason had received a Firebolt for his good marks in his second year and had then decided to race. He had spent all of his first term that year trying to get in, and he had made it. A contact was supposed to pick him up that night. But what if it was all a cruel joke? Someone pretending to be a racer only to set Filch on him? Five more minutes, that was it.
A floorboard creaked. Jason froze and glanced about, readying himself to run. No one was visible. Then a small sneeze and a girl appeared, apparently coming from beneath a silvery cloak. Jason stared at her, wearing an expression much like the one of the statue behind him.
"Dust always makes me sneeze," the girl explained as she folded up the cloak. Jason was still staring at her. She was very tall and slim, and had brown hair. The split second when she had spoken to him had given Jason a glimpse of her blue eyes, dark in the shadowed hallway. She had a snub nose and a large mouth. She wasn't pretty, but she was…interesting, someone who captivated the imagination. She, too, wore muggle clothes: blue overall shorts and a white v-neck t-shirt. Not to mention she also carried a broom.
"Hi," she whispered, "You must be Jason. I'm Reggie, Regina. Are you sure you want to go through with this?" She looked at him solemnly, blue eyes boring into his skull. Jason nodded, he couldn't speak because his throat had just constricted in fear. Reggie nodded shortly
"Okay, let's go," she brought out her wand and tapped Barry's statue. He mumbled sleepily, winked at Reggie and moved aside, revealing a dark passageway.
"Lumos," whispered Reggie. Jason hastily fallowed her example and she silently led him into the dark.
*~*~*~*~*
Jason and Reggie emerged into a brightly lit room about ten minutes later. Blinking, Jason looked about. The atmosphere of the room was cheerful with small groups of people sitting at tables and clutching butterbeers. At one, a boy Jason recognized as a Ravenclaw was gesturing animatedly and people were laughing. Reggie steered Jason towards a table in the corner.
"Sarah, here he is," Reggie spoke to the blonde, older girl sitting at the table. She was surrounded by pieces of levitating parchment. Sarah looked up at Jason and smiled.
"Ooh, fresh meat?" she smirked; Reggie smiled.
"Yup. We'll have to see, though, he might be pretty decent." Jason didn't know whether to feel insulted or not.
"Alright then, name?" Sarah addressed Jason again.
"Jason Bennet," Jason answered.
"Age?"
"Thirteen."
"House?"
"Gryffindor."
"Cool. Broom type?"
"Firebolt III." Sarah and Reggie exchanged glances and smirked.
"Wow," Sarah stared down at her paper and seemed to be stifling giggles. Jason felt slightly irritated. He had a Firebolt! It was the fastest broom ever created! He'd show them!
Sarah had been writing all this information down on one of the parchments she had snatched from the air. It slowly disappeared from the parchment only to appear on the bottom line of a large chart on the wall behind her, followed by a string of codes Jason didn't understand. Sarah looked at her watch.
"Okay, Reg. We start in ten. You better explain everything to him,"
"Gotcha. Okay kid, let's go," Reggie waved at Sarah and headed towards a door in the wall, Jason trailing behind her. She greeted many people on the way but never stopped walking. "Come on, Jason. We have to get you ready for the race!" Reggie stepped through the door and outside. But when Jason turned to see where they had come from he only saw a clump of bushes. He hurried to catch up with Reggie.
"Where were we?" he asked.
"Hmm? Oh. The meeting room is a sort of underground cave type thing," Reggie gestured animatedly as she spoke, "The door we came out of is a type of portkey gizmo which quickly transports us above to ground level. A spell is used to get back down."
"Oh," Jason mulled over this new information for a while. "Who set it up?" Reggie grinned.
"Harry Potter," Jason stopped and gawked at her.
"Harry Potter? The Harry Potter?"
"Yup, pretty nice guy really," Reggie looked at him amusedly.
"But…why? He didn't do this type of stuff, did he?" Jason tried to wrap his brain around the concept of Harry Potter, England's best seeker and defeater of the dark lord, setting up a special spell for illegal activities.
"Nah, to broom racing. He watched sometimes and his wife did it while they were in school. He set it up as a favor to her and us."
"Wow," Jason felt his mind becoming boggled. To distract himself he looked into the direction they were heading. The door had taken them into an area of the Forbidden Forest and now he could see a large clearing and lights up ahead.
"Er, where exactly will we be racing Regina?" he asked.
"Call me Reggie. Your track is a loop through the forest and Hogsmeade."
"My track?"
"You're a beginner so you race on a different course."
"Aha. So what are you?" Jason asked looking up at Reggie.
"Advanced," She looked down at him and raised her eyebrows.
"Oh." They had reached the clearing. Many people were milling about, chatting to each other. There were quite a few immodestly dressed girls hanging about some swaggering guys. Jason wondered how they could stand the cold winter air when he realized that the whole clearing was quite comfortably warm. He was deeply impressed. Charms was one of his favorite subjects and he acknowledged the time and effort put into this type of a large area charm. On one side, the side Reggie was leading him, there were people with their brooms. None of them seemed to be normal. A blonde girl, Jason recognized her as a Hufflepuff, was polishing her broom. Her metallic blue broom. It hovered in mid air before her and she took out her wand and started tapping it. First she tapped one part and suddenly blue lights appeared from the bottom, then small jets of fire at the end. A boy next to her was checking his black broom with red lights running the length of it. And on it went. All color combinations one could imagine. One broom even changed color. Jason gulped, no longer as confident in his Firebolt's ability. He shook his head and continued to look at the brooms.
"Well, well, well. It looks like you're regressing Regina," a malicious voice intoned behind them. "Down to showing little lions their way. Can't handle the competition, Scott?" Jason and Reggie turned to face the voice. It was a tall blond boy holding a metallic green broom.
"Gregory, Gregory, Gregory," Reggie shook her head mockingly, "Why are you here again? You should stick to the safer sport of dueling. When will you learn that snakes can't fly?" The boy Gregory stopped smirking and gazed past Reggie and Jason.
"Some do," he whispered softly. Jason and Reggie turned once again to follow his gaze. Gregory was staring at a girl on a large platform at the end of the clearing. She had light brown hair pulled into a ponytail at the back of her finely boned face. She was petite and was chattering animatedly to a tall, severe looking boy next to her. Reggie smiled and turned back to Gregory.
"A snake? You should know better, Greg. That's an angel." Gregory tore his gaze from the girl and gazed at Reggie. He smiled, kindly.
"Yes, she is." He turned and left.
"Come on," Reggie shoved Jason down the line.
"Who is that girl?" Jason asked as the walked down.
"Ari. Green lightening or, as you have seen, the green angel; probably one of the best racers…ever." Reggie grinned down at Jason.
"Why was she sitting at that platform? Who was she talking to?" Jason asked Reggie. She laughed.
"Slow down! She's sitting up there because she is a Substratum. She was talking to the leader of the Substratum: Vincent." Reggie grimaced. Jason was puzzled. Substratum?
"What's…Sub-stray-tum?" he asked, turning the word over his tongue carefully.
"They are the best of the best. The elites. Ari's one of them. She made it there in less than a year." They were nearing the end of the line; brooms were starting to look plain and normal. "Listen, Jason, the race begins in five minutes. Stay here. When the gong sounds fallow Keiko, she'll help you." Reggie gestured to a short Asian girl polishing her broom at the end of the line. "The track is marked with orange flares, just follow it through. Don't freak out when you don't win: nobody expects you to your first time. Good luck. I'll see you later." And with that Reggie melted into the crowds.
Jason fumed. When he didn't win? Didn't she mean if he didn't win? He had a Firebolt, damn it! Why didn't anyone understand? "Humph," he pouted. The girl-Keiko? -glanced up at him disinterestedly, her almond shaped eyes regarded him coolly.
"Oh, hi," she said, "Is this your first race?" Jason nodded. "Cool, I'm Keiko, as Reggie already told you," she stuck her hand out. Jason took it and shook it gingerly.
"Jason," he replied. He glanced at her broom, it shone slightly silver. "What kind of a broom is that?" he asked curiously. The shape looked familiar but the coloring was odd. Then again, almost all the brooms here were.
"Cleansweep X2," she said proudly.
"A Cleansweep?" Jason asked incredulously. Was she serious?
"An X2," she corrected him.
"What's the difference?" Jason asked. They're all crap, he said to himself silently, obviously forgetting that his first broom had been a Cleansweep.
"X2 is an upgrade. It's been soaked in mercury. Cost me a fortune." Keiko replied, not noticing his condescension.
"And this helps?" Jason was puzzled now. Maybe all the stuff on the other brooms had not only been decorative but also helpful.
"Yup," Keiko replied happily, "it turns the Cleansweep X into one of the best brooms of our class. You'll see when we race," she grinned mischievously. As if hearing her, the bell sounded. Jason's stomach plummeted. The crowd grew quiet and then surged forward.
"Come on," Keiko gestured to Jason, "let's get ready to rumble!" she grinned, "Sorry, I couldn't resist."
Feeling increasingly nervous, Jason fallowed Keiko's winding path through the crowd. He abruptly found himself in a small clearing in the crowd with Keiko and some other racers lining themselves up. A white line was drawn in the grass and all the racers stood there. Jason placed himself next to Keiko. A burly boy with low, sunken eyes on Keiko's other side growled something intelligible at her. Keiko appeared to ignore him except for one coolly raised eyebrow.
"That's Steven," she whispered to Jason when the boys back was turned, "the Neanderthal actually thinks he's my archrival," she rolled her eyes, "stay out of his way. Just try to get through it all as quickly as possible."
"Okay," Jason gulped again. Water, I need some water, he thought.
A hush fell on the gathering. The tall boy Reggie had identified as Vincent came through. He stood in front of the racers and seemed to pierce them with his dark, black eyes. He seemed to be judging them. Finally he turned to the spot from which he had emerged. The crowd silenced again and parted, allowing the tiny Ari to emerge. Up close, Jason could see that she was very pretty. He forgot his thirst and merely blinked stupidly at Ari. Fortunately, she didn't seem to notice. She grinned up at Vincent who smirked at her and backed into the crowd. Ari turned to the racers, her grin faded and her eyes focusing.
"Welcome racers!" every one cheered, "I see we have some new comers," Ari's eyes briefly flashed to Jason. His face burned and he looked to the ground quickly. "Let's have a fair race tonight, please," she glanced at Steven, "this race's flag girl is Anya!" a red-haired girl emerged from the crowd. She had short red hair and big crimson painted lips. Her brown eyes flashed at the racers. She lifted her arms.
"Racers, rise!" All the racers began to rise about ten feet into the air, Jason a second behind. One racer seemed to be having some problems, however. His broom seemed determined to throw him off. Anya sent the poor boy a dirty look and shouted with all her might: "GO!"
Jason never stopped to think. He instinctively threw himself forward. The crowd cheered behind him. In seconds he had reached the forest and was dodging trees. Stupid, he thought about himself savagely. He had to be careful of trees and he had no idea where the trail was. He glanced up at the heavily canopied ceiling of leaves and branches, looking for a space to escape. This was rather difficult, seeing as he also had to look ahead. There! He flew straight up, narrowly avoiding ramming straight into a large tree. He rose and the ceiling of foliage now became his floor. Dark figures raced ahead of him following a line of orange flares. Growling angrily he threw himself violently forward.
Jason quickly passed the last two racers, leaving only Keiko and Steven ahead of him. He felt a mild annoyance: Keiko was outstripping him on a Cleansweep! He was gaining on them though. Keiko was only fifty feet away when she dropped, Steven a second later. Jason almost halted out of surprise before realizing that they had reached the edge of the forest and Keiko had merely dropped down to street level. Jason did the same a few seconds later. Now on the main street of Hogsmeade Jason was definitely catching up with Steven. Thirty feet, twenty, ten, then neck to neck they were racing. Jason felt triumphant when he finally pulled ahead. They turned into a small alleyway that was so narrow that Jason had to fly low enough for his toes to skim the ground. Steven swept ahead. Jason growled and tried to regain his lead. He barely had time, or space, to react when Steven pulled out his wand and pointed it at Jason.
"Impedimenta!" Steven roared, sending sparks flying. Jason swerved, narrowly missing the hex. He didn't have time or balance to hit Steven back. He caught up with Steven and they were once again racing neck to neck. Although he had his wand in hand, Steven didn't seem to have the balance to let go of his broom and hex Jason again. Jason steadied himself, grabbed his wand and whispered under his breath. Steven cried out as he was hit with the strong gusts of wind Jason was sending. He was blown of course. Not caring where Steven hit, Jason leaned parallel to his broom and went around the corner into another main street of Hogsmeade. He has almost reached the Forest when he was hit with some type of a large object. He caught a glimpse of Steven throwing himself forward on his broom.
WHAM! Jason saw stars as Steven pulled back for another attack. Jason shook his head, trying to clear it when he was hit again! Again Steven pulled back, readying for another body slam but Jason caught himself and flew straight up. Steven hurtled beneath him to hit a house wall, falling off his broom and crumpling to the ground. Jason allowed himself a triumphant smirk before continuing his course. Keiko and the others were out of sight by this time but Jason accelerated, breaking into the forest. He spotted the orange flares and hurtled alongside them, starting to make out some broom riding figures. He continued flying quickly until he had reached his starting point in the clearing. He landed in the warmth of the lights and the cheers and jeers of the crowd.
"Glad to see you alive," Reggie appeared at his side and grinned. "Nice sunrise?"
"What?" Jason asked, confused. Reggie handed him a small mirror in which he could just see his brightly colored black eye. It was beginning to look puffy. Gingerly, he touched it and winced.
"Come on," Reggie slung her arm around him. "We need to get your points and Sarah happens to be a rather good medi-witch." She grinned at him.
"Points?" Jason asked as Reggie led him through the crowds.
"You get points when you race. There's some sort of a mathological systemy thing they use with your age, place, time, and broom; I don't try to understand it. And when you reach a certain amount of points, you get bumped to the next level. Except Substratum, you have to be invited for that." There was a slight hint of bitterness in her voice. It faded in her next sentence however. "Weird, I know. But it's the only system that seems to work for us unruly school children." She laughed. They reached Sarah who was staring at a piece of parchment next to her elbow then furiously scribbling on another one. As Reggie and Jason drew closer, Jason could see glowing numbers that Sarah transcribed into columns on the other parchments. Reggie and Jason waited patiently until Sarah put down her quill and sighed.
"Finally!" she exclaimed. "I swear this is going to kill me one day! I don't know why I still volunteer," she grumbled good-naturedly.
"Because you love us," Reggie replied innocently.
"Too true, too true." Sarah's tone became business-like. "So, what can I do for you?"
"Jason here," Reggie pushed him forward, "has seemed to be involved in a little scrap, so to speak, and we need your expertise." Sarah raised an eyebrow at Jason's rumpled appearance and sighed.
"I know, I saw," she motioned for Jason to come closer.
"How?" he asked as Sarah raised her wand and muttered under her breath. A cool, green feeling—almost like gel—covered Jason's body. When it subsided, Jason felt newly born and wonderfully chipper. Sarah scrutinized him carefully then answered his question.
"Our map," she said pulling forward a huge sheet of parchment with lines and dots covering it, "we have a bewitched map of the tracks that shows us who is in the area, and what they are doing. See," she pointed at a large cluster of green dots moving rapidly in a drawn circle, "this is us or anyone else who has been in the clearing. We have so much junk on this clearing that we have a few hidden things too. Now, these red dots," she pointed at a solitary dot slowly skulking at the edge of the map, "they are people or any other kind of beast, that has not been in the clearing. I am the map keeper among other things, so I am in charge of watching everything to make sure all is running smoothly. She put away the map briskly, leaving Jason's mind to reel at the complexities of this activity, not to mention the time and effort invested.
"I saw that you and Steven seemed to have gotten delayed in Hogsmeade so I'm not too surprised at your appearance." Sarah broke into his thoughts. "Glad you won," she grinned at him.
"Me too," Jason smiled back, relieved to find that his face was no longer painful. "So, how'd I do in the race?" Sarah shuffled her papers, searching for his score. As she was looking she launched into a complex explanation about how the scoring system worked. Thankfully, she found his paper before she could bore them all to sleep.
"Aha! Alright, your points are," she skimmed the numbers, "twenty-three." She looked at him. Jason felt slightly nervous.
"So…is that good then?" He asked her, unsure. She sighed.
"It's not bad. It would have been better if Steven hadn't interfered." She scowled. " I really need to talk with Vincent about him. He's caused one too many problems."
"I know," agreed Reggie. "Was it not his brother who brought in the moonshine?"
"Oh God," groaned Sarah, "don't remind me: it was the most horrible mess!"
"Why? What happened? Why?" Jason asked, looking from Sarah to Reggie.
"Talk while we walk," Reggie crooked her finger at him and waved to Sarah. "See you later Sarah!"
"Bye!" Sarah called after them before turning to her parchment. "Oh, wait! Jason, do you want me to look after your broom while you watch the next races?" Sarah called after them.
"Yeah, sure. Thanks Sarah," Jason handed over his Firebolt and Sarah put it under her table.
"Okay, come pick it up later. See you now!"
"Goodness, we don't give her enough credit," sighed Reggie. "She basically runs everything but all we see is Vincent and the rest of Substratum. It's not really fair when you think about it."
"Right. So what's with Steven's brother then?" Jason asked her, impatient for the more exciting news. Reggie grimaced.
"Steven's brother thought it would be amusing to bring a bottle of a highly potent American alcoholic beverage—moonshine. Not to mention it's illegal. Subsequently, he and about half of the crowd became drunk. It was not a pretty sight and I'm surprised we didn't have half the ministry on us."
"But, aren't the races illegal too?" Jason asked.
"Yes, but we don't usually hurt anybody and the ministry spends most of its time chasing down senile old death-eaters. They can't really be bothered to mess around with a bunch of kids. There might be a raid every now and then but Sarah'll sound the alarm if that happens."
"Oh," Jason was slightly alarmed. Ministry raids? Oh God, if he were to be caught his parents would take away his pocket money and broom. He would not allow that to happen. Well, easiest way out: don't get caught. Simple. He breathed, trying to calm himself and looked around. Reggie had led them near to the Substratum platform. Ari spotted them and waved energetically at Reggie. Reggie grinned back and drew closer to the platform. Ari jumped off and met them.
"Reggie, hi!" She said brightly.
"Hey, Ari," Reggie replied, grinning.
"Who's this?" Ari peered at Jason. He felt himself go red as he looked at the ground and mumbled unintelligibly.
"I'm Jason," he told the ground.
"This is Jason," Reggie confirmed for Ari who was looking at Jason oddly, not appearing to have understood his muttering.
"Oh yeah! The Newbie!" Ari smiled at him. Jason met her brown eyes and felt himself go a deep red again.
"Ari, we're having problems with Steven again," Reggie told her. Ari directed her attention back to Reggie.
"How so?"
"Well, he seemed to feel that Jason somehow was posing a threat--" Jason glared at Reggie. He could be threatening! "—And attacked him during the race." Reggie replied. Ari gave a concerned look at Jason.
"Are you all right?" she asked him kindly. This time Jason managed to nod.
"Yeah, I'm okay." He puffed out his chest. "The guy thought he could knock me off of my broom but I managed to fight him off and--" Jason glared at Reggie who seemed to be suppressing giggles. He shot her an annoyed look.
"Sarah fixed him up and I believe someone will send out a team to bring back Steven who took a fall." Reggie managed to speak through her laughter. But then her tone became serious again. "Ari, will you talk to Vincent about this? Steven is becoming a permanent nuisance quite easily and he could jeopardize everything!" Ari nodded.
"Yeah, sure. Wait, why don't you talk to Vincent? He's right over there," Ari pointed at the tall, dark haired boy who had given the racers such penetrating stares. Right now he was languishing in a chair on the center of the Substratum platform, looking both at ease and superior at the same time. Reggie's eyes widened slightly and her already pale skin blanched more.
"Uh, you know what, Ari, I think you should go do it. I-Vincent…no." Reggie turned away. Ari shrugged and gave Jason a puzzled look. He looked down at his feet again. Who knew that matted grass could be so interesting? Suddenly, a gong sound resonated across the clearing. Both Ari and Reggie looked up together, into the same direction. They resembled hounds picking up a scent. First, both faces tensed then relaxed into smiles.
"Come on, it's time for intermediate!" Ari waved at Reggie and Jason before disappearing into the crowds that surged back to the race starting line. Reggie and Jason managed to catch up with Ari and were able to make it to the front of the crowd by following in the girl's wake. The crowd parted for her as they would a queen, except that Ari spoke to a great many people and smiled while she walked. Jason dreamily followed.
The starting line was the same as the one Jason had used. He glanced over the racers. They were bigger and their brooms were a little flashier than the ones in his category. He was surprised to see Keiko in the racing line. He tugged at Reggie's shirt. "Why is Keiko in this one too?" he whispered. Reggie kept her eyes on the racers while she answered him.
"Keiko got bumped up with her latest racing score and was able to immediately compete in the next category as well. She deserves it." Reggie smiled at Keiko. Ari came forward with a tall gangly boy with mousy blonde hair. A remarkably strong voice came out of his frail body.
"Racers, RISE!" he shouted. In this category there were no problems, all racers rose in perfect formation, even Keiko. The crowd stirred slightly then settled again. "GO!" shouted the boy and the flyers took off into the night sky. Dimly, in the distance, Jason could see a purple flare guiding the path. He turned to leave the line but no one else moved. Jason soon saw why. A large, slightly opaque map had risen into the air by the finish line. On it, small dots zoomed along a purple trail. No, not dots, numbers. Jason looked around and saw a small business beginning where a boy was taking bets on the racers numbers. Which was Keiko? He wondered. He stared into the map. The purple trail was a large oval shape, with a few faults. Around it the numbers zoomed. They seemed not as preoccupied with knocking each other off as the beginner class did. A few minor skirmishes did occur as the numbers circled. The crowd oohed and aahed as the flyers took the lead or fell back. The group by the boy who had been taking bets was particularly vociferous. Words not voiced in school emerged, only shocking Jason and a few others. Reggie's eyes held to the map. And it looked as if the first racer had almost arrived. Jason shook his head, how long had it been? It had seemed like such a long journey for himself yet these racers were almost done in ten minutes.
There! The first flyer landed, closely followed by a second; a few seconds later the third landed. A minute after the first flyer came down, Keiko brought her broom down followed by the last flyer. Beaming, Keiko bounced up to Reggie and Jason.
"Did you see? Did you watch? I was fourth!" she bounced excitedly. Reggie laughed.
"Good job, Keiko, that was a great first flight." She grinned. Jason mumbled a congratulation.
"I know! Did you see how the outstripped me? It was amazing, wasn't it?" Contrary to Jason's feelings, Keiko seemed in genuine awe and excitement of her loss. Jason couldn't imagine why—she had lost! Fourth out of five? How was that good? Her whole attitude to racing baffled him. "Well, I gotta go. I have a ton of homework to do. See you later!" And with that, Keiko slung her broom over her shoulder and walked back to the castle. Jason stared after her.
"How, how can she leave?" he asked, shocked. Reggie smiled at his shock.
"Keiko is a good racer but she has other priorities," Reggie said, as if this were a proper explanation.
"Homework?" Jason asked incredulous. There was all of tomorrow to do that!
"Homework, good night's sleep--the stuff we miss during the week. Keiko knows what needs the most attention in her life and it isn't always racing." Reggie raised her eyebrows at Jason, "she's amazing that way. I'm the worst procrastinator you will ever meet."
Jason felt a new respect for Keiko and he thought he might be seeing why her placing in a race was not all that important to her. He shook his head; he could never be that way.
"Crap," Reggie said looking down at her watch, "I have to go, my race starts in a few minutes. Meet me at the starting line?" she asked.
"Sure," Jason agreed, what else did he have to do? And he was looking forward to seeing his "mentor" race. Suddenly it hit him: these were the advanced racers! The best (except of course for the Substratum)! This was going to be far more exciting than all the previous races.
The now familiar gong sounded over the clearing for the third time that night. Jason now put in to use his small size and squished himself through the throngs to the starting line. There were slightly more racers in this category than in any other, probably about nine or so. He scanned the line looking for Reggie, spotting her at the end of the line. She also seemed to be looking for him and grinned nervously at him. Her broom was a bright…pink. Jason stared at it. Reggie had a pink broom. But as he thought on it, it seemed to fit Reggie perfectly. He could not help but grin. A boy straddling a metallic maroon broom leaned in to talk to Reggie and she took her eyes from Jason and leaned in to talk to the boy. Jason felt slightly put out but this passed momentarily as Ari stepped in front of the racers.
"Well, racers, we're almost done for the evening, and I believe I shall personally start this particular race. Good luck all!" She grinned with an almost mischievous undertone. "Racers, RISE!" The brooms, all the flashy colors, rose. As they did, many turned on underlying lights. Reggie's broom had a line of orange lights running on the sides of her handle. This was by far the most colorful race Jason had seen so far. He loved it. "GO!" shouted Ari and they all took off.
The speed at which they left took Jason by surprise. One minute they were there, the next they were gone. Bets were being taken again, except that this time business for the boy running it seemed to be better. The crowd cheered. The holographic map came up again. Jason had no idea which racer was Reggie but he hoped she was one of the three leading the rest. This time it seemed that the racers had to make two laps around the track, which was a zigzag path through the forest and many sharp turns in Hogsmeade. And indeed, here they came again! With no seeming intention of stopping. The crowd rose into a great cheer. As they swooshed through the clearing, Jason could feel the displaced air hit him and he felt the intense thrill of a chase. There was Reggie's pink blur, in third place. She passed too quickly for Jason to see her face but he could imagine the look of determination she would be wearing. Again they were gone and all attention turned back to the map. Jason guessed that Reggie was number twenty-one and followed this number with a great intensity. His breath caught as the dot almost hit a wall in Hogsmeade but then recovered. She was gaining on the second place…passed him or her…and raced quickly to the finish line. She couldn't seem to pass the first place racer though; he or she was always slightly ahead of Reggie. They were almost there…and here they came!
Jason tore his eyes off the map as the racers entered the clearing once more. The boy on the maroon broom was in first but Reggie landed a mere split-second after him. Jason surged forward with the rest of the crowd surrounding the racers. The stragglers of the race came in but were not paid much attention. Jason managed to reach Reggie where she was standing with the first place racer, receiving congratulations. Just as he came up to her, she turned to the boy and offered him her hand.
"Good race, Raiden. I'll beat you next time though," she grinned. Raiden grinned back and took her hand. He was tall, taller than Reggie, with dark brown hair and almost startling green eyes. Jason supposed he was handsome but Jason wouldn't really know.
"You wish, Reg. We'll see," Raiden winked. Reggie raised her eyebrows and turned to Jason.
"Hey Jason! Did you watch?" her voice was slightly breathless; Jason supposed it was the adrenaline.
"Yeah, you were awesome." Just then Ari pushed herself through the crowds to see the winners.
"Raiden, good job! And you too Reggie!" Ari cried cheerfully and launched herself at Raiden and hugged him. He took it quite naturally and hugged her as he would a sister. Jason's eyes narrowed as a dark feeling erupted in his chest. Ari then hugged Reggie too. "Now, Raiden, when will you actually accept to join Substratum?" Ari pouted and clung to Raiden's hand. He laughed good-naturedly.
"When you actually have some fun." He tweaked her nose. Ari scrunched it up.
"We have fun!" she protested. Raiden raised a cynical eyebrow.
"What? Sitting like royalty on a platform and then performing for your groupies? No thanks! Besides I prefer this competition," he winked at Reggie who turned pink and tried to smile.
"Fine, be that way. Vincent'll be mad though," Ari pouted again. Raiden sighed.
"My esteemed brother will just have to get over it then," he put his broom over his shoulder. "I have to go talk to Sarah, I'll see you all later." He waved and walked off. Ari shrugged.
"Well, I tried. Oh, Reggie, you're all red again." She grinned saucily and left, dissolving into the crowd. Reggie hastily fanned herself.
"Oh, well, it's a little warm in here isn't it?" She said hastily. Jason shrugged.
"You're probably hot from the race. What did Raiden mean by 'my brother'?" he disregarded Reggie's discomfort and plunged into his question. Reggie looked slightly surprised.
"Oh, I forgot that you are a Newbie. Raiden and Vincent are brothers." She fanned herself as Jason mulled this over. Now that he thought, he could detect a slight family resemblance but Raiden seemed far more approachable.
"Okay." He looked around. "So is it all over now?" The crowds did seem to be thinning.
"Yup, except for some of the partiers, it's all over. Next week though, Substratum will race so you'll be hanging around a little longer." Reggie looked around and nodded. "Let's go get your broom." Jason had almost forgotten about that. He followed Reggie to Sarah's table. She was far too immersed in her charts to give a proper conversation so Jason picked up his broom and then he and Reggie headed back to the underground room with the swarms of people heading in the same direction. Jason suddenly felt very tired, his eyes started to droop. They reached the bush from where they had first emerged but Jason was too tired to pay attention to the spell Reggie said to bring them back into the room. He heard voices around him and he attempted to wake up. He saw Reggie talking to some people then wave and she led him to the door to the passage.
"Hey, Jason, come on. Stay awake, we're almost there." She said as they walked the narrow passageway. Jason yawned and tried to rip his eyes open. A few minutes later they had reached Hogwarts proper and Reggie excused herself. "I need to go to bed, can you find your way back to the Gryffindor tower by yourself?" Jason nodded sleepily. Reggie gave him a concerned look. "Never mind, I'm taking you back so you don't collapse snoring for Filch to find you." She draped her invisibility cloak over him and they walked to the tower. The portrait was asleep but a few sharp knocks awoke the fat lady grumpily and she grudgingly opened to Jason's sleepy mumbling of "schnoogle". Reggie waved goodbye as she disappeared under her cloak again and left Jason in his tower.
Jason dragged himself up the stairs to his dormitory where his classmates were peacefully sleeping and dropped into bed without changing into a dreamless sleep.