DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognise belongs to JKR

Written for the Early Childhood Competition on HPFC

Character: James Sirius Potter

James wriggled carefully into a balanced position, took a deep breath, and slowly raised one, then the other hand from his broom.

"Look Mummy, I did it!"

"Good work Jamie," Mummy replied, scooping up a quaffle and mounting her own broomstick, a new Comet 380 nearly identical to James's except for the size.

"Ok, are you ready to catch?"

James nodded quickly, and wobbled for a second before recovering his balance. He carefully watched the red ball all the way to his hands, as he had been taught, and caught it cleanly.

"Got it!" he cried ecstatically, then grabbed at the broom handle as his sudden movement unbalanced him again.

"Well done, but I think it would be best if we practiced one-hand catches. After all that's what we mostly use in the game."

James pouted for a second; he could already do one-handed catches. But he knew he could do it two-handed now, so maybe it was better to get good with one hand first.

Tucking the quaffle under his left arm, he flew a little closer until he was in range, and tossed it back to Mummy. She caught it easily in her off-hand and grinned at him.

"Ok," she said as they passed it back and forth, "I'll give you another ten of these, and then I'll start throwing them wide and you have to fly after them."

James grinned too; he loved that game, though eventually he always missed one. But not today, today he was going to catch them all. From the corner of his eye he could see Al and Daddy on the ground, throwing a tennis ball back and forth. Al wanted to be a Seeker like Daddy, and he was so little that it would be better for him. After all, he was only a year younger than James, and James was nearly two and a half inches taller. Al looked lile Daddy too, with black hair and green eyes. He didn't wear glasses, but the healers said he might have to when he was older. If he grew up like Daddy then he would be the perfect size for a Seeker. James already looked more like Mummy, though everyone else said he looked like Uncle Bill when he was little, only with darker hair. If he grew up like Uncle Bill, he would definitely be too tall for a Seeker.

James liked Chasing much better anyway, though he thought Keeping might be fun too. Teddy, who was nearly fourteen, played reserve Keeper for Gryffindor, and he said it was good fun, though James did wonder how it could be fun when the other team scored and it was your fault. He couldn't wait for Teddy to come visit next. It was only three more weeks until the holidays, and then they could play a proper game, and James would show him how much better he was now, and Teddy could teach him how to do the Slothy roll, like he did during the family game last summer when Uncle George hit a bludger at him.

That had been funny, since Mummy thought she would score, and was really surprised when Teddy blocked it. And then Vicky nearly beat Daddy to the snitch, even though she was only eleven and didn't even play for Gryffindor yet.

"Ready for a big one?"

He looked up to see Mummy throw the ball up really high and far. Mummy had always told him not to fly higher than six feet while he was still learning, but if he just went a little higher…

With a glance back at her, he leaned over his broom and zoomed upwards, laughing with delight as he raised both arms and snatched the quaffle level with the top of the walnut tree. Behind him, he could hear Mummy yelling for him to get down, though she didn't sound really angry, just ekasberated.

A sudden gust of wind caught him by surprise, and he found himself thrown sideways off his Comet Junior. At the last second, he squeezed his eyes shut, dropped the quaffle and grabbed for the handle, feeling his fingers close around solid wood.

Opening his eyes in relief, he looked up to see a walnut branch floating in mid-air, supporting his weight as it slowly lowered him down. On the ground, Daddy had his wand pointed at him, while Mummy was holding his broomstick and really did look angry now. Swallowing a gulp as his feet touched the grass, James hoped she wouldn't confersate his broom for too long this time.