well, if I said I owned something, I could either be a liar or honest. my lawyer told me to say no comment. hah! as if I had a lawyer :P
~Chapter 10 Following A Dream
In the weeks following Alice and Remus were over constantly in the Library. One of the days Neville got sick so Alice took it upon herself to restock the potions cabinet. In her mourning for her diseased husband she threw herself into her studies in an attempt to move on. James however, wasn't busy. He was in a spiraling depression that led him to drinking nightly, often with Sirius. He often left the elves to watch Harry while he went and got plastered. On one of his excursions he came across an old friend who he had played quidditch with at Hogwarts and learned that this friend, Kevin was invited to play Quidditch for the Irish national team. Kevin then remembered they were as yet undecided about one of the chasers, the position that James played. He told him if he wanted the job to show up at the practice the next saturday. It was a tuesday. James whose dream was always to play for the Irish national team since he was at the game they won the cup at in 1968 hoped he could make the most of the opportunity.
In the days between that and the tryout he didn't drink at all, and he tried his best to get back into game shape. If he wasn't sleeping, he was in the training area working out or in the air. Harry was being watched by the elves and Alice for the most part. James wasn't in the shape he was once in come saturday but he was getting there. When he got there he found that he was one of 3 people trying out. One of them was fresh out of Hogwarts, the other was around his age. He learned from Kevin that the others had an invite from the staff for a tryout, but he had put in a very good word. For the tryouts they were put through drills which included passing, catching, and shooting. He was expected to do this while dodging expertly place bludgers. The passing and catching went very well for all players trying out which left the decisions down to the shooting. They were shooting on the Irish National starting keeper, and it was best of 10... James to 7, the one fresh out of Hogwarts also got 7, and the third guy got 6.
The coach was excited it to be this close, so he decided to test there defense, he got his other 2 starters that were already picked and told them to play keep away. The tryout chaser would have to get the quaffle 5 times, and whoever got it the quickest would likely get the spot. By this time both James and his rival were tired, they had been here for a few hours trying their hardest for the spot. The rival went first and it took him around 5 minutes to get the quaffle 5 times... James went and after his first catch he realized almost two minutes were already gone. He took a few breaths and put his heart into the game mentally forsaking all else. He wasn't so much as thinking as anticipating and reacting. He ended up catching his 5th at just before 4 minutes. He just prayed they didn't focus on his worst attempt.
The coaches brought him and his rival together. The then asked if their were any things that could interfere with schedules, and James thought of Harry, but decided he could possibly invite Alice to live with them. If she said no there were always house elves. He hoped use of the Library and Potions lab would be good enough incentive to move in though. After a quick conference between staff and starters, they announed James as the then told the other guy that if anyone proved a wrong decision, or if their was an injury, he would be the replacement, and that he should report to training also. They were both told to report to preseason conditioning starting January 2nd. It was December 1st.
James spent the next month trying to get Alice to agree to move in and in the process they could both try to follow their dreams. He also spent a good portion of the time getting back into shape as it had been a few years since he had played. In that month he put on around 10 lbs, and probably lost 30 lbs of well hidden fat. He studied all the strategy he could and pulled off all of the moves he could find in books, and made a few himself. His favorite was one he dubbed the slingshot, where he would throw an arm around one of the goal poles and close his hand. If done while going fast, and not turning it could probably rip an arm out of socket, or even off, but, going at the right speed, and turning the broom with the spin, it was at least relatively safe.
Finally during boxing day Alice agreed to move in and keep and eye on Harry in exchange she would get the 3rd floor of the living quarters as private quarters, and permission to bring people whenever she liked. She was told the wards are intent wards and the front gate will only lock away those with ill intent.
So, he got his dream job, and was away for most the day, every day, until the season started. Once the Season started in March, he would be gone 3 weeks a month. When he wasn't pursuing his dream, there was no guarantee that he would really be there.
And So ends Part 1 of my new series, the next part should be quite a bit longer... and will focus on harry, and will start when he is 7 and go right up until Hogwarts. Hope you have enjoyed part 1. Part 2 should be up soon but for now, Good day.