Benedict chased Jackson down to the Great Hall before he was finally noticed. Jackson at first looked like he was about to shout at Benedict, but then decided to take a deep breath and calm down.

"What are you doing here Benedict?" he asked.

"A word in private" requested Benedict.

They moved to an abandoned classroom. Jackson got a few nasty looking glares from some of Teddy Lupin's friends, who were all consoling him over the news.

"This is about Teddy Lupin isn't it" guessed Jackson moodily, as he sat down at a desk.

"Yes" confirmed Benedict. "It is true that if you are a member of the Lestrange wizarding family, then the contents in that vault are yours, and you can do what you like with it. But you should definitely consider what Teddy is going through."

"Well… he has Harry Potter" Jackson argued. "He told me himself. Harry Potter took care of basically everything for him ever since he was baby. I bet he never even took anything himself from that vault."

"That last part is irrelevant" Benedict stated. "You said yourself that you had little to no money growing up. How would you like it if the next day, Gringotts wrote back and said you were just a regular muggle-born?"

"I'd be annoyed" Jackson replied. "I'd be angry that a fortune I was so close to getting was just gone."

"And do you really believe that Teddy wouldn't share those exact same beliefs?" Benedict asked. "To have your own fortune one day, and for it to be all gone the next."

"But he has Harry Potter" Jackson argued. "Harry can just take care of everything…"

"You're failing to understand the point" Benedict sighed. "Teddy is absolutely crushed by this news. He is at risk of losing a very large amount of money. You can argue whether or not he needs it, but you can't deny that losing such a vast sum would cause an emotional outburst."

"Well… what was he going to spend that money on, that a normal job could pay for?" Jackson asked more wearily.

"I can tell you right now that after next year, he was planning on taking a trip around the world with Victoire" Benedict answered.

"The prefect girl?" Jackson spoke up slightly.

"He was planning on buying her Madame Patils Perfectly Pristine Perfume for her birthday" Benedict went on. "Which I might add is more expensive than even the most lavish cosmetics in the muggle world."

"Well… maybe losing all that cash will make him think more about what he gets people for their birthday" Jackson said quickly.

"And the last thing I knew, was that he was going to share the vault with you" said Benedict. "Before he got that letter, he was considering giving you shared access to the vault, since you were an orphan with no money by the name of Lestrange."

"Oh" muttered Jackson.

"I cannot control what you do with that vault, if you so happen to own it" Benedict said. "But anyone can tell by listening to you, that you don't feel good about hurting Teddy."

"I… will wait on how Gringotts gets on" Jackson said sheepishly. "I don't want to hurt Teddy, I just want to stick it to…"

"The people who bully you for your name" Sebastian finished the sentence for him. "The very fact that you've shown any compassion for Teddy at all proves that you're not the soulless monster that people fear you to be. However what you do next will likely be a defining moment on the person you are viewed as. Not just by other people, but by yourself."

"Hmmm" Jackson murmured.

"Patricia wants us to take part in quiditch practise in the afternoon" said Benedict. "Why don't you join us; it will be a good bonding exercise."

"I'm not on the team though" Jackson muttered.

"I can convince Sebastian to take you on as a substitute" said Benedict. "Now let us go and have some breakfast."

James' desire for a nice relaxing Saturday was cut short, when Patricia ordered Sebastian to set up quiditch practise. It was an even greater surprise when he got there, and saw the amount of people who were there with them. There were seven members on the quiditch team, yet there were at least twenty Gryffindors on the pitch.

"What's everyone doing here?" Sebastian asked Benedict.

"I invited some of the try-outs from last year" replied Benedict. "We could do with a decent list of substitutes."

Sebastian glared intensely at Jackson Lestrange, who was part of the new group.

"I'll see if they're good enough first" he muttered.

"Right" Patricia screamed at the top of her lungs. "Enough chitter chatter kids; time to get you in gear."

"Isn't this the sort of thing you should be doing?" James whispered to Sebastian.

"Yeah, but she really likes to yell. Got to give the girl a treat every now and then."

"From now on, we'll be training twice a week" told Patricia. "On weekdays, we'll be practising tactics and formations. On weekends, we'll be improving your physical fitness."

"Does that mean we won't be on our brooms?" moaned a third year from the substitute group.

"No" grinned Sebastian. "And don't you guys moan yet. It's going to get worse."

A new person made their way to the front, and stood next to Patricia. To James' shock, it was Darren Crawford. He wasn't wearing quiditch robes, but rather shorts and a t-shirt. James couldn't understand how he was not freezing cold without drinking a warmth potion.

"My name is Darren Crawford; and I'll be helping you all get in shape from now on" Darren announced.

"Is this a joke?" moaned the Gryffindor's main keeper. "We're expected to follow a first year who can't even fly higher than my knee."

Darren lost his nerve instantly. He went bright red, and started breathing nervously.

"Come on Darren" James said to himself.

"You ain't following him because he's a good quiditch player" Sebastian spoke up for him. "He's far from it, but what he has is a load of muscles. Show them Patricia."

"Accio, Darren's shirt" Patricia exclaimed.

Darren's t-shirt flew off his chest, and into Patricia's hand. Despite sleeping in the same dormitory, James and his fellow first years made it an unspoken rule to watch as other people were getting changed, so this was the first time he'd seen Darren undressed. He was surprised to see that despite being only twelve years old, Darren already had a six pack, and his arm muscles seemed to be fighting to escape his skin.

"Ok, he might suck at flying, but he is fit" the female chaser of the team said.

"Remember Darren is pretty bad at magic, and he's a muggle-born; so he didn't get these by drinking a fitness potion" Patricia pointed out by poking Darren's chest.

Darren twitched slightly at being called bad at magic, but he didn't seemed disturbed at all by being topless in the cold, being examined and assessed by older girls.

"Now let's compare this to you Corner" said Sebastian loudly.

"Accio, Cameron's shirt."

Corner's upper quiditch robes then went soaring into the air, and landed on the ground next to Patricia. Corner himself turned scarlet instantly. Several of the girls began wolf whistling, but in James believed they were doing it ironically, as Corner's upper body seemed flabby in comparison to Darren.

"Not as fit as you thought you were Cameron" teased the female chaser, as she poked him in the stomach.

"I get the point" Corner replied sheepishly.

"Get this back on then, and shut up" demanded Patricia. "I don't think any of us want to be staring at that any longer."

Everyone laughed at Corner as he and Darren put their shirts back on.

"Right" Darren roared. "Now we're all going to be jogging ten laps around the quiditch pitch."

"Twenty Laps?" James and Jackson gasped at the same time.

"Patricia wanted to do fifty, but agreed to see what your limits are first" Darren replied. "But no time to waste; let's go."

Darren clapped his hands, and then started to jog towards the side of the pitch. Everyone else seemed unsure whether or not to follow, until Patricia clapped her hands fiercely. They then all jogged along the circumference of the pitch behind Darren.

"I thought I saw the end of running back in primary school" moaned James. "My dad didn't have to do any of this."

"To hell with it all" spat Corner, and dropped back from the crowd.

"Sparkashock" Patricia shouted.

Corner screamed with pain, and jogged back up to the main crowd.

"Anyone who falls back behind me will receive the Electric Shock Jinx" Patricia warned. "The more times you do it, the more painful the shock."

James wasn't sure whether Patricia would really go through with her threat, but he was wrong. By the end of lap four, he began feeling tired, and fell back behind Patricia. She shocked him back, and James was forced to catch everyone up again. At the end of lap six, he received a more painful shock, and then another even more painful one by the end of lap nine. When the end of lap ten finally came, most people collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion.

"Girls aren't meant to do this much exercise" moaned the female chaser.

"Suck it up Tulip" Patricia said unsympathetically. "Girls are equal to men, so we're all going to suffer like them too."

"I think we have guests" panted Benedict.

James lifted his head off from the grass to see a girl with blonde hair, and who was also somehow taller than Sebastian.

"Hazel Macmillan" Sebastian tried to greet her as politely as possible, despite being worn out from the running. "Come to spy on us have you?"

"I would never spy on any team" Macmillan protested. "It would be very unsporting if I was to get information on you in a dodgy manner."

"It doesn't matter" said Sebastian. "We're just doing fitness training today; not really anything you can spy on."

"It's good to see that you all taking things really seriously" said Macmillan. "But I was only here to ask Patricia when our History of Magic assignment was due."

"Next Wednesday" replied Patricia. "It's annoying how we could hand it in on Thursday instead, but apparently Professor Binns really really needs it one day earlier, like we're not busy enough with all our other homework."

"I thought as much" moaned Macmillan. "No quiditch practise for Hufflepuff on Wednesday then."

"Better luck next week" grinned Sebastian.

"Well very good luck to you" Macmillan replied more cheerfully. "Hope that when we meet as a team, it will be a good match."

Darren had jogged over to James, as Macmillan took her leave. Whilst James was only now getting back up onto his feet, Darren was still jogging on the spot, like the ten lap marathon didn't tire him out at all.

"How many times did you do all that before you could do it without running out of breath?" panted James.

"Past six months or so, I used to jog outside in a circle for hours" answered Darren. "Almost all the free time I had, I spent exercising."

"You'd make a damn good quiditch player if you could fly properly" James noted.

"Yes…" Darren murmured. "What did you think of that Hazel girl anyhow?" he asked, intentionally changing the subject.

"Seemed a bit dense to me" James replied. "Not remembering homework dates, wishing the enemy good luck. She looks a bit thick to me."

"Sparkashock" Patricia Muggs shouted from right behind the pair.

James screamed his loudest, as Patricia provided him the most violent shock she could possibly perform. Even after the shock ended, James had to pat himself down to make sure the attack didn't leave any lasting marks.

"What was that for?" James demanded.

"Hazel Macmillan is a lovely girl and one of my best friends" Patricia explained.

"Did you really need to shock me though?" moaned James.

"You lied to Thicknesse and Professor Longbottom about where Darren was last night" Patricia retorted. "You defend your friends, and I defend mine."

She left James to ponder what she just said. He had to admit, it was cruel of him to tease Macmillan whilst encouraging Darren to get better.

"Right" Darren shouted to gather everyone else's attention. "The next stage of our training, is to train those arm muscles."

"How are we going to do that?" asked Corner.

"Easy; a good old fashioned push up" replied Darren.

Darren dropped to the floor, then did thirty push ups all at once without taking a break, or looking tired afterwards.

"Oh god" moaned Tulip.

"Now we are all going to follow suit" Sebastian commanded. "We are going to all do what Darren just did; and none of us are leaving, until every last one of us have done thirty."

"What?" gasped Jackson. "But I have homework to do."

"Then you better be quick about it then" replied Sebastian.

Everyone dropped to the floor son afterwards. It took James longer to do one push up, than it did for Darren to finish five. He wanted to lie on the grass for a break, but then he heard Patricia shock Corner.

"How the hell can Darren do this so easily" James moaned after the eighth press up.

"Do I hear moaning?" Patricia bellowed.

"No, no, no you didn't" James said quickly and erratically. "I'm having lots of fun here."

"I'm glad to hear you're enjoying yourself" Patricia grinned. "Since you're having so much fun, you can do fifty push ups instead."

About a dozen swear words came to James' head; none of them reached his mouth when he considered how much further Patricia would increase the shock. He continued doing his push ups, and cursing under his breath whenever Patricia congratulated someone for reaching thirty. By the time James reached forty, his arms had no more energy to lift himself off the ground, and required assistance from Benedict.

"I would advise you not to mess around with Patricia" he said. "She's rather fond of the Electric Shock Jinx."

"Looks like I was quicker than you again Potter" boasted Jackson. "I was quicker than you at flying, I was quicker than you at jogging and last but not least, I was quicker than you at doing push ups."

"You had to do less than me" retorted James.

"Can the pair of you please not moan at one another" begged Benedict. "There's nothing to be gained from arguing over who did better in practise sessions."

"Fine" Jackson muttered.

"Well, well, well" a female spoke from outside the team of Gryffindors. "What do we have here?"

The girl who just entered was around the same age as Hazel Macmillan, but in James' opinion, she was significantly better looking. She had long brown hair, blue eyes, and a more conventional female figure for her age.

"Do you see that?" Jackson murmured.

"She is rather good looking isn't…"

"No you plonker, I was on about her quiditch robes."

Being awoken from his daydream, James looked further down from her face, and saw what Jackson was on about. Her robes had the traditional cloak, but otherwise her outfit more closely resembled the type seen worn by Formula One drivers."

"Silverstone McLaren, Ravenclaw captain" sighed Benedict.

"First Macmillan, now McLaren" Sebastian greeted her. "What brings you here Silverstone?"

"I need to practise myself" replied McLaren.

"Team tactics, fitness, flying practise, stress testing the brooms?" asked Sebastian.

"Nah; one lap qualifying pace."

McLaren got out a purse from her pockets, then opened it up. What looked like a small model of a racetrack bounced out, and started jumping around the quiditch pitch until it was some distance away from the rest of the Gryffindors. Then in less than a second, it expanded in size, so that the toy model was now a complete circuit with a small circuit, about the same size as a go-kart track James once went to on a school trip.

"Oh…" Sebastian said blankly.

"I'm currently racing in the Eurocup Formula Renault Series" McLaren explained enthusiastically. "I'm got a drive with ART itself, and I'm in one of the closest title fights that series has had in years."

"Is that so…" Sebastian said, his voice trailing off.

"I'm the first girl to compete in that level of racing so successfully" McLaren continued. "It's really important that I practise my driving so that I win the race this weekend. Richard Lasseur is currently in second place, but he has an unfair advantage over me because he's a muggle. He already knows how traffic lights work, and can speak multiple languages without a language potion, and how to get from hotels to the race without the use of magic."

"You're doing quiditch and muggle racing?" Patricia came over and asked.

"I ain't going to get into F1 without climbing the racing ladder" explained McLaren. "I'm going to be both the first witch and first woman to become world champion."

"She's a girl from a wizarding family who is really into her racing, and just so happens to be called Silverstone McLaren" Jackson pointed out. "Please tell me that's not her real name."

"Her birth name isn't that far off" replied Benedict. "Her real name is Silverton McLaggen. I've never spoken to her personally, but from what I've heard from other people was that she changed her name out of spite due to her father objecting to her racing career."

"Silverton McLaggen…" James murmured, but kept his eyes focussed on McLaren, who was now bizarrely talking to Darren of all people. "As in Cormac McLaggen."

"I believe so" answered Benedict. "Cormac used to be Gryffindor keeper, and went on to become chairman of the Tutshill Tornados. I suppose he thought the idea of his own daughter perusing a muggle sport would damage his image."

"That's terrible" bemoaned James. "If she wants to do racing, she should be allowed to do it."

"You were one who was complaining that Formula One was really boring, and that quiditch was so much better" argued Jackson.

James turned around angrily, his face blushing slightly.

"I don't remember saying anything of the sort" he protested unconvincingly.

"You said that you couldn't blame Bella for ditching the F1 geeks" Jackson said back.

"Well… there are more interesting sports than Formula One" said James.

"Are there? Which ones?" someone asked from behind James.

He turned slowly back around. Silverstone McLaren was standing right behind him with Darren by her side.

"I'm so sorry" James blurted.

"This was your friend Darren?" asked McLaren.

"Yep" Darren grinned. "Good luck with your practise."

McLaren said goodbye to him, then jogged towards the car. It looked so small that it could barely fit a small baby; but when McLaren got in it as if it was significantly large than it was.

"She must have casted a sizing charm on it so that she could get in" Benedict predicted. "I assume that the circuit which was laid out is the same as the one where she will race next in the Formula Eurocup."

"How did you manage to pay attention to all that?" begged Jackson. "I'm from a muggle orphanage, and I didn't even remember half the things she said."

"What did McLaren want with you anyway Darren?" asked James.

"Well…" Darren suddenly went scarlet.

"Spill it" demanded Jackson.

"She… she…" Darren stuttered. "She wanted to know if I was the boy with the big muscles."

"Oh I see" chuckled Jackson. "Some competition there James."

"Can you shut up" James hissed.

There were still a couple of people who haven't finished their push ups yet. Patricia was standing over them barking out loud. James was about to complain to Sebastian, when yet another person had entered the quiditch pitch. A fifth year boy wearing green robes, with black hair and a thin moustache. He wasn't as tall as Sebastian, but looked more muscular.

"Benedict" the boy called out.

"Oswald" Benedict replied back. "How is…"

"What the hell are you doing here" Sebastian exploded.

He stormed over to Oswald Cannon, pointing his wand at him as if he was about to unleash a curse.

"Calm yourself Gorren" Cannon said dismissively.

"Why are you here?" Sebastian sneered. "Spying on us?"

"I only came here to ask Benedict if he wanted to help us out again with our quiditch selection" replied Cannon. "I have myself as chaser, Gant as seeker, and Bletchley as keeper, and that's it."

"I'd love to help" Benedict said back. "Sunday I presume?"

"Well you lot are still here, and McLaggen is out doing muggle stuff, so I guess it will have to be" muttered Cannon. "I can see I'm not wanted" he glared at Sebastian. "I'll see you tomorrow Benedict."

Sebastian performed an obscene finger gesture towards the back of Cannon as he left the pitch.

"Good riddance" Sebastian muttered.

"Get a move on Corner" Patricia screamed. "You only have two more; then we can all get out of here."

"James, did I tell you that I met Kevin Bletchley the day I helped Cannon out the first time?" asked Benedict.

"No" replied James. "Why would you?"

"He seemed a rather jovial fellow" said Benedict. "He got in the same position his father used to play, his O.W.L.s last year were rather promising, and he's currently going out with Silverstone McLaren."

"So he's McLaren's boyfriend?" James tried his best not to sound too disheartened.

"Like I said; happy fellow Kevin Bletchley."

After receiving a few more electric shocks from Patricia, Cameron Corner was finally able to complete his push ups, and everyone was allowed to leave the stadium. James was happy with his performance physically, but felt rather embarrassed that he might have made a fool out of himself by making his new crush very unsubtle.