Chapter 12: First Flying Lesson OR Never let James Near a Broom without a Leash

James as excited, Peter was nervous, Remus was carefully apathetic, and Sirius was a mix between excited, anxious, and preparing to be bored. He knew all of this already, but his friends didn't. So, the first flying lesson was a time of mixed feelings. When they got to the field, Sirius paid little attention to what Madam Hooch was saying, and watched his friends instead. As he expected, Peter was edgy, Remus was cautious, and James... "POTTER!" Yep. There it is. James was already zipping around, laughing like the madman he was. Sirius shook his head.

"James! Get down before that broom bucks you off for going too fast!" Sirius yelled up at his friend. He edged his broom up, trying to get close, but James zipped away, cackling. Sirius huffed, thinking that if only he could use magic freely without people questioning his skills he could get that stupid Potter to stick to the curriculum... mostly. Or at least, he wouldn't be doing loop de loops above the astronomy tower. Honestly, what was that boy thinking? Of course, James was completely oblivious to all the heart attacks he was causing down below and continued to fly all about. Finally, Sirius decided he'd had enough and stalked away, ignoring the calls behind him. With a flick of his wand, he summoned Andromeda's broom and flew at James, snagged him by the collar, drug him onto the broom with him, grabbed the school broom, and flew the whole lot back to Madam Hooch. "You, James Charles Potter, are never to be let near a regular broom for as long as you attend Hogwarts! That was foolishly reckless! I will personally make sure Madam Hooch spells all your brooms to never fly more the seven feet off the ground outside the Quittich pitch. I'm sure she would be more than happy to make sure you don't get your fool self killed via reckless flying," Sirius scolded, handing both brooms to Madam Hooch. "Now, I think me and James have had enough flying for today and should sit out the rest of the lesson while doing our transfiguration homework. Would that be acceptable, Madam Hooch?" he added. The hawk eyed woman nodded, stunned into silence, as the two boys walked over to their bags and began working on their homework.

/*/

"And so that was how I saved your father's life for the first time!" Sirius said happily to a six year old Harry. The little boy tilted his head and said,

"That wasn't how Daddy told me the story of his first flying lesson." Sirius quirked an eyebrow.

"Oh? Did he tell you that he was the model student and even helped your mother move around the class area and that that was when she started to warm up to him?" he asked. Harry grinned.

"Something like that, yeah!" he said excitedly. Sirius snorted.

"Nah. It didn't happen that why. Your fool father nearly killed himself trying to do pro level Quittich moves on a piece-of-junk school broom," he said firmly. Harry wrinkled his mouth, then nodded as if he had come to a grave decision.

"I must call upon Uncle Mooney. He'll tell me the real story." Sirius, who had been gearing up for a win against James, fell over in a comical way.

"No! You were suppose to say, 'I believe you Uncle Padfoot! You're the bestest!' Not go running to Mooney!" he lamented. Said werewolf, who had been in the doorway the whole time, chuckled.

"Harry's got you there Pads," he said evenly. Harry squealed with joy and run to his Uncle Mooney, arguably the most level headed of his uncles, though Bagheera and Bartok were pretty level headed... most of the time.

"Uncle Mooney! Will you tell me what really happened?" little Harry asked. Remus gave his favorite little honorary nephew a grin.

"Well little one, it went a bit like this..."

/*/

Remus looked like he was completely composed and couldn't care less what happened that day, but really, he was a mess of nerves. Flying lessons were scheduled for that afternoon. Flying! He'd heard James talking a mile a minutes about all the tricks he knew and how he was sure he'd get the Chaser spot on the Gryffindor team next year and how easy flying was... but he'd also heard from Peter all the accidents he'd had when his parents tried teaching him. Remus had never had a training broom, let alone a real one, so he couldn't know which one to believe. He was just glad their year was small enough that all four houses had flying lessons together. He wasn't sure he'd have made it through without his friends. When he got out there, James was nearly vibrating, Peter looked vaguely sick, and Sirius had a look that practically screamed, 'been there, done that, got the T-shirt, can't we do something else?' "Well? Step up now! Hold your right hand over the broom and say very firmly, 'up!'" Madam Hooch barked. Sirius lazily held his hand over the old Cleansweep and said, calm as you please,

"Up." Remus sighed, looking at the broomstick beside him. Honestly, he didn't want to fly. He was happy on the ground thank you very much. James, on the other hand, had barely said the word before the broom was in his hands. Peter was in much the same position as Remus, but squared his shoulders and commanded the broom to come,

"Up." He wasn't too surprised that it took him three tries to get the broom into his hand. Remus shook his head and commanded his broom. By then, there were only a few students who hadn't called their brooms and James was chaffing at the bit, so to speak. As soon as Madam Hooch had said he was holding the broom right, James was off like a shot and laughing all the way. The flying instructor huffed.

"Potters. Think they're so great with brooms. I should have known that boy wouldn't be able to keep his feet on the ground for more than three minutes when he has a broom at hand," she muttered, though there appeared to be a somewhat fond smile on her face as she spoke. A black and green streak followed the cackling Potter.

"And there goes Black. Honestly, that whole family is more trouble than it's worth!" Remus tilted his head curiously at this. Sure he'd heard of Sirius' crazy family, but this was pushing it to new heights.

"James! Get down before that broom bucks you off for going too fast!" Sirius yelled up at his friend. He edged his broom up, trying to get close, but James zipped away, cackling. "I'm going to impound your broom! As soon as you get one!" Sirius threatened, but James was already too far gone. It took Sirius, Madam Hooch, Mcgoneagal, and Slughorn to get the madly cackling Potter out of the sky and back on the ground.

"Your flying rights are restricted to the Quittidch Pitch for the rest of your Hogwarts career, Mister Potter," Mcgoneagal said, casting what Sirius later called a leash spell.

/*/

"As you can imagine, James pouted the rest of the week. He eventually got over it, but to this day, he can't fly on Hogwarts grounds," Remus finished. Harry grinned.

"Daddy's crazy," he said happily. Sirius and Remus both laughed.

"Yes, your daddy is crazy. But we wouldn't have him any other way, would we Prongslet?" Sirius said. Harry shook his head, messy black locks flopping this way and that as green eyes shined. The Marauders simply sat and soaked up the sound of the boy's happy laughter and the warm, content atmosphere of the Potter Family Home. In that moment, life was good.

/?/

Baby Harry! Isn't he cute? Hope you enjoyed the way I did this one. It was actually rather hard to write. I blame Padfoot. He stole the show.