Chapter Ten


The New Captain...er...Captains




Harry pulled on a pair of Dudley's old pajamas, wondering why he never bought himself new ones. He really needed to do that sometime - Dudley's were too wide and short, and his robes would be wrinkled badly by morning if he slept in them. So he had to put up with Dudley's for now. When they went to Hogsmead, he'd look into buying a new set.

He stretched, then laid down on his bed, pulling the covers up over him.

"Night, Ron," said Harry, "night, Seamus, night Dean."

There were a chorus of good nights from his dormmates, then Harry took off his glasses and closed his eyes, hoping sleep would not evade him.


Lily Evans was crying. She was in her dorm alone, and she was sobbing, crying hysterically. Her hands were covering her face, and her knees were tucked into her body. So she cried. After a moment her sobbing slowed a bit, and she lay down on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Lily?"

Lily jumped, wiping her tear-stained face dry. She didn't open the curtains of her four-poster.

"I know you're in here," said the same voice. Lily recognized it easily: James Potter. Who else would come into a girls' dorm in search of her? No one. Therefore, it was James.

"How?" she muttered crossly.

A figure appeared on the other side of her curtain, scratching its head.

"How what?" it asked.

"How d'you know I'm in here?" Lily asked.

"Well, darling, you just spoke to me," said the figure laughingly. "Therefore you're here."

"How can you be so sure?" Lily pressed.

"Oh come off it, Lil," said the figure, opening the four-poster's curtains. James appeared there, his black hair flying everywhere. He sat down next to her. "What's wrong?"

"What d'you think?" Lily muttered, turning on her side so that her back was facing him. Then she reconsidered this move, and lay on her back again.

"I don't know," said James.

"He...he killed them..." Lily said, tears once more rolling down her face.

"Voldemort?"

Lily nodded.

"Killed who?"

Lily didn't answer, she just turned to her pillow and sobbed. Harry's dream broke off abruptly, but once more he did not wake.


Harry yawned as he woke up the next morning, reaching for his glasses. Everything became clear as he slid them on, and he stretched his back for a moment.

"OW!" he yelped, felling a crick in his back. Ron stirred in the bed next to his.

"Wha's wrong, 'Arry?" Ron muttered sleepily.

"Nothing, Ron," said Harry, shaking his head. "I'm going down to breakfast. Want to come?"

"Sure," said Ron after a moment. "Gimme a moment to wake up, though."

"Okay."

Harry walked slowly around the room, stretching his legs now. Ron was grumbling under his breath and Harry heard lots of bumps and yelps coming from the four-poster. Harry couldn't help but laugh as Ron tried to walk out of the four-poster and slam his head into the top.

"Ouch." Ron rubbed his forehead vigorously.

"C'mon, I'm hungry," said Harry, grinning.

Ron nodded, and they started down the stairs towards the Gryffindor common room, and then on down to the Great Hall. Ron bumped into numerous things on their way; Harry suspected he wasn't much of a six a.m.-in-the-morning person. When they finally reached the Great Hall, hardly anyone was there.

Ron instantly headed for the seat next to Hermione, and Harry followed, sighing inwardly as he realized what he'd been trying not to realize for the past year: Ron liked Hermione. Of course. How could Harry have not noticed it? All the times they fought wasn't because they hated each other; it was quite the contrary. They liked each other.

Harry shrugged his thoughts aside and sat down next to Ron. He ate his bacon and eggs slowly, savoring the moment before classes began. As he took a sip of pumpkin juice, the first year from last night sat down next to him. At that moment, hundreds of owls burst into the Great Hall, and Kirk jumped next to him; some other first years even screamed. Harry tried his best not to laugh.

Hedwig landed in front of Harry, carrying two pieces of parchment: His schedule and a letter from Sirius, most likely. First Harry opened his schedule; Sirius would have to wait until he got to a private place with Ron and Hermione. He scanned over his schedule carefully. First Charms with Hufflepuff, then Double Potions with...Slytherins, again. And in the afternoon, Care of Magical Creatures.

Harry turned to Kirk. Kirk was reading his schedule as well.

"Hey, Kirk," said Harry grinning over at the first year. Kirk returned the grin.

"Mornin' Harry," Kirk responded cheerfully.

"You're American, aren't you?" Harry asked, noticing Kirk's accent.

"Yep. Canadian, really. But hey, England's not half bad. 'Cept there's no hockey."

"Hockey? Like ice hockey?"

"Yeah. Dad's a goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He's real good."

"D'you play Quidditch?"

"Best Keeper in my league."

"Hey, we need a Keeper this year," said Harry slowly.

Kirk shrugged.

"First years can't try out for the team," he said gloomily.

Harry realized this, and kept silent. Kirk left a moment later, so Harry turned to Ron and Hermione.

"I can't believe they're putting us with the Slytherins again," Ron complained loudly. The Slytherins glared at him from across the room. Ron glared right back.

"Same here," Harry muttered.

"C'mon guys, we've got Charms in ten minutes," said Hermione briskly. She stood up and walked towards the exit of the Great Hall, Harry and Ron trailing after.


The next few weeks were filled with all kinds of strange sounds and squeaks. The band had been assigned their instruments, and it wasn't pretty. None of them had learned anything about music - it was all noise. Hermione said that she had thought of signing up, but backed out. Harry was thinking of it now, but wasn't sure he could take all those...sounds he was hearing.

The professors seemed ready to give them as much homework as possible. Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was usually a very humble teacher. But he had assigned them a five foot report on Song Charms, which wasn't too hard for Harry, as he'd already read a lot about them over the summer. Professor Snape had, of course, loaded the Gryffindors with studying about Powerful Sleeping Potions, which they'd be making in two weeks. McGonagall wasn't as livid as the others, but she gace them a two foot report on the importance of knowing how to change a penguin into a cat. Professor Sprout, the herbology teacher, hadn't given them anything for a change, and Hagrid had only told them to read up on Magical Sugar Gliders, a rare type of squirrel that they'd be taking care of for the first semester.

All in all, their first weekend off was welcomed by Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. Ginny's class had been assigned a lot of lessons as well, so they were often in the library studying or doing homework where they were undisturbed.

By Sunday, with Hermione's help they'd completed their homework. Harry chose to take his free time to advantage; he sat down in the common room, pulled out some earplugs, and fell asleep.

A loud blast from a bronze trumpet woke him up with a start. He jumped up to see Kirk standing there, hiding a trumpet behind his back and looking innocent.

"Kirk," said Harry sleepily, "don't do that. Please."

Kirk grinned broadly.

"D'yeh like my trumpet?" he asked happily. He pulled the trumpet out from behind his back and showed it to Harry.

"Can you play anything on it?" Harry asked. "Something not so...loud?"

Kirk shrugged.

"Not really," he said. "All we play right now is stuff like Mary Had a Little Lamb. Later we'll get better."

Harry laid back down on the couch.

"Where're your friends, Harry?" Kirk asked, glancing around. Harry glanced around too. Only Ginny was in the common room, lying on the sofa across from him asleep.

"Knowing them, out fighting," said Harry.

"They fight a lot, I take it?"

"Yes. A whole lot."

Kirk shrugged.

"Well, I think I'll go torment the Slytherins with my newfound skills," he said, grinning evilly. "See yeh later Harry!"

He bounded off, trumpet clutched in his hand. Harry shuddered, almost feeling sorry for those poor Slytherins.

Almost.


Harry finally decided to sign up for band, and Ron went with him. Hermione couldn't bare pushing any of her extra subjects out of the way, so she refused to sign up. Harry and Ron were going to drop Divination, so they were both eager to begin band. Harry had began thinking of what instrument he was going to play, but the thought was brushed aside the next morning when Fred and George bounded happily into the Great Hall at lunch.

"Guess what, Harry!" Fred said happily.

"We've been named captains!" George said.

"Er - co-captains, that is," said Fred, grinning broadly.

"That's great, guys," said Harry, grinning back. "When does practice start?"

"Tonight," said George.

"First game's in three weeks against Hufflepuff," said Fred.

"Already?" Harry asked incrediously. "Wow. Dumbledore must've meant it when he said we'd be starting the season early."

"Apparently," said George.

"Meet us on the Quidditch pitch tonight at seven," said Fred.

"And we got the team new robes," said George, grinning evilly.

Before Harry could ask what he meant by that, they had bounced off to tell the rest of the team. Harry grinned at their retreating figures. This was going to be a good year.