Harry woke up early the next day, he was quite excited over the lessons today. Mainly because they had flying in first lesson, and that was something he had looked forward to.
He got in his clothes rather quickly and hurried downstairs to the common room, where he waited for his friends, for like an hour. When they finally came down, they were surprised to see Harry sitting in the room. They headed over to him and asked "Excited for flying lesson today Harry?"
"Well… I really hope I won't make a fool out of my self in front of everyone"
"You won't make a fool out of yourself Harry. Remember flying is half skill half confidence, if you don't believe in yourself you'll never fly"
"Thanks Ginny" He said half hearted and they headed down to the great hall, to get something to eat.
It was a quite launch with no particular interruptions, except for a good part of Slytherin suddenly began to grow grey hair all over their face. Everyone, except the obvious, got a good laugh over this and Harry and Ginny instantly suspected the twins for that.
After a couple of hours, they headed for the flying field. Madam Hooch was already there and had several old brooms ready, lying on the ground in order. When the rest of the class finally came, she said "Welcome to your first flying lesson! Today we will explain the basics and test your flying skills on a minimum scale. Now everyone go to the left or right, depends on what hand you use, side of your broom"
They all did as told.
"Now I want everyone to hold their hand over the broom and say "UP!" This will give a small expression of your skills so far"
Harry did as told, he hold his hand over the broom and said "UP!" The broom literally jumped right up in his hands within a second. Not everyone got the same reaction. Ginny and a Slytherin, he didn't know, was the only two.
After everyone had gotten their brooms ready Hooch began to instruct "I would like everyone to get on their broom without leaving the ground. When I give signal I want you all to set of the ground, flow for a minute and then land again"
She raised her hand into the air and Harry set mildly of the ground, and was now hanging in midair. He felt wonderful weightless, like nothing in the world could force him down. The feeling of a cold, but mild breeze hit him in the face and he just smiled over the wonderful feeling he had, while hanging in the air on the broom.
When Hooch gave the command, he landed on the ground as the other. Hooch looked over them and said "That went well. Now we will try to take a few rounds around the field. When I say your name, you will be allowed to fly a round or two"
"Randison, Julie"
One of the Slytherin students took her broom and flew carefully one round across the field. It took her about a minute before she was done, and the next in the line could be called out.
"Willson, Robert"
Another Slytherin took his broom and flew towards the other end of the field. He got there fast than the other one and flew back. He only took one round, but got a hand from Slytherin, when he landed.
"Creevey, Colin"
Colin took his broom, as the first Gryffindor and sat off the ground, he finally got to the end of the field and was on the way back, when the broom gave a stop and he fell off. Harry heard several Gryffindors gasp in surprise, and a few Slytherins who snickered at Colin. He fell about five feet and collided with the ground, Hooch rushed over to see if he was all right. He was lucky enough to not have broken anything, but he was told to stay on the ground for the rest of class.
"McKinnon, Thomas"
The Slytherin, whose broom jumped right into his hands at first try, got confident on his broom and sat off quite hard. He flew with great speed across the field and took a second round. When he was done he landed next to the other Slytherins, who gave him a big applause for his flying.
"Show-off" Harry heard a Gryffindor behind him mumble.
"Weasley, Ginevra"
Ginny got on her broom rather quickly and sat off towards the end of the field with an ok speed. She made a nice turn in the air and headed towards the rest of the class. Where she landed next to the Gryffindors, who gave her a cheer, the biggest cheer came from Harry and Colin.
"Good job!" Harry said to her.
"Thanks. Just make sure you do at least as well Harry!"
"No pressure?" He joked.
"Potter, Harry"
Harry took his broom and mounted it, he took off as hard as possible. He felt the wind towards his face and that feeling of being free for all trouble. He couldn't help but fly as fast as possible. He turned sharply in the end of the field and flew back to the group. Again he couldn't help, he didn't want it to end, so he took another round, he was almost done, when he heard Hooch yell from the ground "Mr. Potter! Please hold for a minute!" Harry stopped the broom and looked down at Hooch.
"I will just try something Mr. Potter. Try to catch this ball" She took out a small golf ball and showed it to Harry. He looked confused at her, but nodded.
She threw the ball in a long route over Harry and far behind him, he quickly turned the broom and flew towards the ball, while flying a little down. He forced the broom to maximum speed.
He came closer and closer to the golf ball, which was the only thing Harry concentrated on right now. And just as he was about to hit the ground, he caught it in the hand he had stretched out.
He immediately stopped the broom, seconds before he hit the ground. He flew back to the rest of the class, who cheered loudly for him and some were awestruck over the catch. Hooch almost ran over to him, when he landed and said with a smile "Mr. Potter. Would you kindly follow me?"
"Sure professor, but what for?"
"I will explain later. First we need to get professor McGonagall"
Hooch took Harry away from the field, and to the castle, leaving behind confused students. They had walked for a couple of minutes, until they stopped right in front of the Transfiguration class.
Hooch knocked on the door, opened it and said "Minerva, could you spare a minute? I have something to discuss with you"
"Sure professor. The rest of you just keep writing down until I come back"
McGonagall walked out of the class with Hooch and saw Harry. She was confused, she looked at Hooch and asked "Did Mr. Potter do something wrong?"
"Not at all Minerva, rather the opposite. Just to get to the point Minerva. I think you finally found a Seeker"
The confused looked was switched out with a mix of surprise and happiness "Are you sure?"
"Certainly, young Mr. Potter grabbed this ball" She took the golf ball, to show her "in a fifty feet downfall, only few inches from the ground. Not even Charlie or James could have done that after him. I tell you, he is a natural"
McGonagall was looking at Harry with an impressed expression "Mr. Potter. Would you follow me to get someone?"
"Sure professor" He said, feeling this may not be as bad as he thought at first.
They were walked along the corridors, until they stopped at a classroom. McGonagall opened the door and called in "Excuse me professor. Could I borrow Wood for a second?"
"S-sure professor" Harry guessed it must have been Quirrel.
A second later a medium sized man came out, he must be a couple of years older than Harry. He looked confused from Harry to McGonagall.
"Wood. I finally found you a Seeker"
His expression switched from confusion to excitement. He looked at Harry, then to McGonagall and asked "Are you sure?"
"Certainly, according to Hooch Harry here is a natural. He caught a golf ball in a fifty feet downfall, only few inches from the ground. Charlie couldn't have done it after him" She turned to Harry "Was that your first try on a broom?" He nodded.
Wood turned to Harry and asked fast "Have you ever been to a Quidditch game?"
"No" He answered fast.
Then Wood started to walk around Harry, like he inspected him "He has the right building for a Seeker, he is small, fast and from what I hear good talent. We'll need to get him a good broom. A Nimbus or Cleansweeper"
"I'll see if I can get permission to go around the first years rules" She turned to Harry and gave him one of her rare smiles "Your father was also a fantastic Quidditch player, he would have been proud of you"
Harry suddenly felt very happy and gratitude towards McGonagall for telling him that.
Later that day, he meet with Ginny and Colin in the great hall, he told them what happened after Hooch took him to the castle. Ginny beamed at him and said "I knew if anyone could do it, it would be you. Told you, that you had no need to worry" While Colin looked at him in awe over he made it to the team in first year.
"Yeah" He said, while rubbing his head on the back "I'll guess you were right after all. Wood told me, he can tell me the rules later today"
"Good job Harry!" The twins, who came from behind and surprised Harry "We heard you got on the team. You must be excellent, Wood almost had a flip, when he told us. We are on the team too, we are Beaters! I just hope we can win this year. Last year was directly terrible…"
The twins walked up to their friend, Lee, and sat with him. Suddenly their all heard an owl and looked up while an girl with brown bushy hair said "It is a little early for owl post right?" It flew towards Harry and his friends, when it dropped a long package right in front of Harry. There was a mail on it
Don't open the parcel at the table!
This package contains the broom: Nimbus 2000.
Sincerely McGonagall.
"Wow…" Ginny said, while looking at the package "I have never been able to touch one of those"
The next class was their first Defends against the Dark Arts class. They have looked forward to this one, but got terrible disappointed, when it turned out Quirrel was one big joke to teach in that class. He stuttered all the time and almost jumped in fear, every time a student raised a hand for asking a question. Another bad thing was the whole class stank of onion, several students have said it was protection against the vampires he meet long time ago, and he feared they were still after him.
The last class was Herbology with Ravenclaw, which was perfect in Harrys opinion, since he had planned to visit Hagrid after classes today. The class was all right, they had to research and write different effect and uses of dragon dung. After class Harry and the others (A/N: With "Harry and the other" I mean Harry, Ginny, Colin and Luna) headed for Hagrids house, near the forest.
They got there after a few seconds, they got some tea and talked, until Ginny reminded Harry he had Quidditch practice in a few minutes.
He had just got out of the door, when Ginny came out, he looked confused at her as she asked "Do you mind if I come looking? I always liked flying, but mum never let me"
"Why not?"
"Because I'm the youngest kid in the house and her daughter. She is very protective over me. Can get kind of annoying"
Harry got a little suspicious and asked "How did you know you liked flying without trying it before you came here?"
Ginny gave him a look that said "idiot" and replied "I did use to sneak out and fly without they seeing me"
Harry just smiled to that and said "Let's go before it gets to dark or Wood is going to kill me" Then they headed up to their common room to get Harrys broom and after that for the Quidditch field, it took some minutes before they got there, but when they entered, they saw Wood waiting for them with a chest and a bucket of golf balls, probably for practice.
He looked from Harry to Ginny and asked "Is your friend here to watch?"
"Yes. I hope it doesn't bother you"
"Of course not. Always glad to help a fellow Gryffindor and a sister to my teammates"
"Thank you" Then she walked over to a bench, sat down and watched.
"Ok Harry. How about you get on your broom and take a few rounds, to show me what you got? Then I explain the rules to you"
"All right" Harry did as told, he got on the broom and flew with amazing speed across the field, turned between the goals and took a few loops on the way for pure enjoyment.
He landed after a minute or two and Wood stood with a smile, which went from ear to ear "I can see what McGonagall meant, you're a natural born flyer"
Then he took the chest next to him, opened it and exposed four balls, two of them looked like each other and if Harry didn't see things, they were moving, trying to get free from the lock that hold them.
"Quidditch is easy to understand, but harder to play. There are four different kinds of players. The first on is called a Chaser, their job is too score goals for their team with throwing this ball" He took the big red on in the middle "This is called a Quaffle, and the Chasers throw it through the goals. Each goal is worth 10 points, there are three Chasers on each team"
"Three Chasers, who score goals for their team, each goal is worth 10 points" Harry repeated in a try to memorise it.
"Then there is the Keeper. They protect the goals and try to block the Chasers shots"
"Keepers protect the goals"
"The next player is the Beater. They are flying around and try to block the Bludger" He pointed at the two moving balls in the chest "with the bats they are given. There are two beaters on each team"
"Two beaters, who block the Bludger and try to send them at the other team… Have a Bludger ever killed someone?" Ginny heard this and gave a small laugh
"Not at Hogwarts. The worst we had so far is a few broken jaws"
"Ok"
"The last, but probably the most important player is the Seeker. They got the hardest job of all and they are always target for injuries and Beaters. Their job is to catch this one" Then he took a small golden ball with the size of a nut "The Golden Snitch. It's worth 150 points and when you catch it, the game ends. There is no limit on games, the record on this school is a month. When the Snitch is captured, it almost always means the captures team wins"
Harry nodded as a sign he understood it all
"But we are not going to train with it yet, since it is to dark and there is a chance it flies away. We are going to train with these" Then he took the bucked of gold balls "Now fly up and then I begin to throw balls around, your job is to capture as many as possible"
Harry flew up and gave a sign to he is ready, to Woods excitement Harry didn't miss a single ball. When he came down an half hour later Wood ran over to him and said happy as ever "This years trophy is as good as ours!"
"Excuse me Wood" "Just call me Oliver" He interrupted.
"Ok Oliver, but can you please stay and watch Ginny try fly. I think she is very good, for what I have seen and maybe she got a chance for playing as a backup for a player"
"That is not a bad idea, we don't got a backup for Seeker, I don't think she can play as Beater, but maybe she is worth as Chaser too. She can try if she wants, she got a broom?"
"No, but she can borrow mine for this time"
"Well. I suppose if she is good enough, I can allow her, but we'll have to ask McGonagall first"
Then Harry walked over to Ginny and explained she could try to get into the team as backup. When he had done explaining, Ginny jumped up and engulfed him in a hug "Thank you! Thank you!" She said "But I don't got a broom!" She realised with horror.
Harry laughed and said "Don't worry, you can borrow mine for this time"
"You mean it? Thank you!" Then she took the broom and walked over to Oliver. She did as instructed and ran back to Harry an hour later shrieking "I did it! Now Oliver only have to ask McGonagall for allowing it!"
"Good job Gin! I knew you could! What are you backup as, if you come in?"
"Chaser and Seeker. But I don't have a good enough broom… What did you call me by the way?"
"Gin. I called you Gin. You don't like it?"
"No. It just surprised me. Gin is fine, if you want to call me that"
"And to that about the broom, if I get sick and you have to play Seeker you can use my broom. If you have to play Chaser we'll find something out"
"Thanks Harry, without you I never had a chance of getting in" She said.
"Don't mention it. After you gave me courage to my first flying lesson that was the least I could do. But let's get back to the tower, before it gets too late. I certainly don't want Snape to catch us up this late"
They headed back to the tower and after a few minute they finally got there. They heard loud noises coming from behind the portray and wondered what it could be until it opened and exposed a huge party inside. They both got dragged inside by a group of older students, who took them both on their shoulders and lifted them over everybody else while they yelled "Let's welcome the two youngest players of Gryffindor in all time!" Then everybody began to cheer at Ginny and Harry, they just smiled awkward over the common room. Then the twins came over to Ginny and cried in unison "WAY TO GO SIS! We never knew you were this good!" She just blushed over the praise, but then asked "What do you mean?"
"We got told that Oliver just got McGonagall to get you a place as backup!"
"She did?" Ginny looked very happy, but then confused "How did you already know? We just left from there!"
"Rumors and news go fast around here at Hogwarts. Not possible to hold a secret" They just shrugged as it was normal at Hogwarts.
Their friends wouldn't let Harry or Ginny go upstairs to sleep for at least an hour, where they were forced to stay down and explain how it happened and get multiple congratulations from different Gryffindors.
Harry fell quickly asleep when he finally got to bed.