To Kitten, Maizeysugah, ncgal, frizzy, Verna Lata, petriepair, Lanevaly, Saki, the zedmeister, DarkPhoenix484, Zahrah Radcliffe, and fea.
And yes, I really do need to change the genres, but I currently am not really sure about what's going to happen, so it might change every few chapters. ^^;; (this whole idea started with a scene that just won't leave my head... and that scene doesn't even play out until a few chapters later!)
Chapter 1
There was nothing better in the world than the feel of the sun on one's face. Nothing better than feeling the wind weaving its fingers through one's hair, knowing the freedom of being in the skies, the rush of excitement that came from the utter exhilaration of flying.
Harry closed his eyes he sat contentedly on his broom. There was no practice that day, but he felt as if he needed to be outside in the sky. This was in element, the air. Knowing that he could do anything he wanted here, could dive or spin or anything else imaginable. The sky was the only place that he felt truly free, as he his past was left behind him. He wasn't the boy-who-lived anymore, wasn't the boy that had such a terrible childhood, and wasn't the Hogwarts student struggling through his schoolwork. The feeling of flying was addicting, he mused silently. It was a miracle that no one had flown away from Hogwarts just because they could.
Of course, he knew why. Hogwarts was the best wizarding school in the world (though Harry had to admit he was biased), and no one would want to fly away from Hogwarts.
In fact, that brought up the subject that he had been out flying to avoid.
Graduation.
This, of course would occur that year. It was already February, and Harry didn't have the heart to count the days until he would be a full-fledged wizard. Sure, his greatest wish during the time Voldemort had been alive was the graduate Hogwarts, but now that the Dark Lord had been defeated? Harry didn't want his school days to end. Graduating meant that he had to take responsibility as an adult, and even though he had been doing that for far longer than other children, he wanted to hold on to the illusion of childhood, as fleeting as it was.
He didn't want to leave the stone walls where he and his friends had carved their adventures into, didn't want to leave the security blanket that Hogwarts represented for him. The school had been his salvation for so long, and he didn't want to just leave like it didn't matter.
I'm too attached to things, he scowled to himself darkly.
It was true, though. He couldn't remember moving while he was with the Dursleys, and barely had anything to call his own while he was there. He had never experienced the feeling of nostalgia about a place before, because he had never really cared for the house on Privet Drive.
The first place Harry had grown attached to was Hogwarts, and he had seven years to dream of that place and explore its deep secrets. The dark-haired Gryffindor was proud to have added more passages to the Marauder's Map, having found more trap doors and fake rooms in his last few years. Although he had never really been the prankster that his father and his friends had been, Harry had a wanderlust that would rival the greatest explorers.
And in a few months' time, he would be able to explore all he liked. Take up a job, maybe get into a relationship. Hermione had been badgering him about that. Ron had only shrugged and said it was great that Harry was independent, but Hermione wanted her best friend to be in a happy, loving relationship.
Fat chance of that.
As he took off into a dive which would scare most people just by looking at the angle, he remembered trying to explain to Hermione that he hadn't really loved, liked, or even wanted anyone. Not since Cho, and not since sixth year. His three year crush on the beautiful Chinese girl had sudden faded overnight, and no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that he still liked her, it was to no avail.
Pulling up sharply only a meter away from the ground, Harry let his broom carry him at top speeds across the Quidditch field, the wind from his tail shoving the grass aide violently. Harry could see the edge of the field in the distance, and could barely see the great lake even further away, at a curve from the castle. He had to squint in the wind, even though his glasses blocked most of the onslaught. The glare from the sun bright in the sky and shining warm upon his form was only urging him to even faster speeds, speeds that he saved only for a match against perhaps Slytherin.
Maybe he should go for professional Quidditch after graduation. He loved the games, and had gotten more than enough offers from various teams who wanted his talent, not his fame. It was something he could do because he was good at it, and not because someone had sympathy on the boy-who-lived.
But he knew if he went for the games, he needed something else to occupy his time. He loved flying, and was severely addicted to the naturalness that it came to him, but he needed something else as well. Maybe it was Hermione rubbing off on him, but he needed something stimulating to the mind. Something that would make him challenge himself, and not just physically.
Making a turn, he pulled up suddenly to go straight up in the sky at a almost ninety degree angle. He could feel the force of gravity clutching at him, clawing and trying to pull him back to the earth, but he only ignored it and urged his broom to go higher still, not wanting to stop until he was among the clouds.
He wanted to go higher than that, but dared not at the moment.
Icarus had flown too close to the sun and fallen to his death, Harry remembered from Greek mythology. His wings had melted in the heat of the sun, and he couldn't save himself after that.
As his broom continued to go up, Harry let his body relax and fall back, his head resting softly on the rough twigs at the end of his broom. The only reason he was still on his Firebolt was the safety charm that Hermione had insisted on putting. He had argued only a minute with her before giving up, knowing that she would do it whether he agreed or not.
It was funny, really, he thought has he closed his eyes, letting himself hang upside down in midair, how protective Hermione had gotten of him after she started dating Ron. She had continually fussed over him while his red-haired best friend could only give Harry sympathetic looks. He reasoned that it was because Hermione felt guilty of leaving him out of things when she and Ron needed their 'alone' time. But he didn't feel that way- he was happy for them, and almost glad to have more time to himself.
Ron understood, of course. It was a guy thing.
But Hermione had insisted that Harry needed someone as well, who could look after him when she wasn't there to. Harry had protested many times that he didn't need someone to look after him as he was perfectly capable of looking after himself, but the bushy-haired girl would not hear a word of it.
Maybe he should find someone. Just to satisfy Hermione, of course.
Finally opening his eyes, Harry stared unblinkingly into the sun.
Draco had only been running an errand for Professor Snape. The Potions Master was his head of house, after all, and the blonde Slytherin couldn't refuse. So when he had been called out from his comfortable seat in the middle of his book to retrieve a plant from Professor Sprout (whom he had to find first) because Snape was busy watching over a potentially dangerous potion, his mood had darkened but he had obeyed out of courtesy.
But, if anyone asked him, he would be looking for annoy Potter and his mudblood-loving friends. Couldn't let everyone know that Malfoys actually ran errands, now could he?
Of course, he dismissed the thought as soon as it occurred in his mind, him actually out looking for Potter was bad enough.
So when he had sneered his excuse of 'looking for Potter' out to a fellow seventh year who asked him where he was going, the other teen had mentioned that Potter was in the Quidditch field, and Draco couldn't resist a chance to find the Gryffindor, wondering if he could catch the other boy doing something that he could blackmail Potter with later.
He had gone to look through one of the windows that gave a full view of the Quidditch field, eyes scanning for the dark-haired figure. It took him a while before he looked up extremely high, and he startled to see the person he was looking for, suspended in midair. Potter's broom was pointing straight up in the sky, while his body was laying back on his broom, green eyes closed and his peaceful.
It was… a breathtaking sight, to say the least.
Even as far away as he was, Draco could imagine that he saw those green eyes when it opened and stared out listlessly into the sky, his gaze resting on the burning sun. He could almost feel the pain and brightness in his own eyes, the blinding light that flooded his pupils. It was as if there were a connection between him and the figure so high up in the sky, hanging upside down from a position most would not dare try.
Draco shook himself out of the reverie, scowling deeply at the idea that he and Potter even had a connection. The only connection they had was as rivals, and through hate. After the fall of the Dark Lord, Draco had been setting himself against the Golden Boy deliberately at every chance. But what shook him the most was that Harry didn't see him as a threat anymore, and was set to ignore all the attempts that Draco made to catch his attention.
Potter was just stupid, Draco decided. It didn't matter that the smaller boy was gorgeous, since he had noticed that long ago. He made no attempt to hide what he thought of the green-eyed boy physically, his fellow Slytherins often getting a good laugh when they thought of how Draco would harass the boy-who-lived about it. But his beauty was the only thing that Draco found appealing. And even that beauty that Potter had couldn't claim to be as flawless as Draco due to the small scars that ran up his arms, and especially that huge disfiguring scar on his forehead.
Honestly, Draco shook himself away from that hauntingly beautiful image of Potter in the sky, he couldn't believe his moment of weakness. There was nothing that would make Draco want him at all.
No… nothing at all.
"What were you thinking?" Hermione raged when Harry got back to the Gryffindor dorm room. "You could have died pulling a stunt like that! At the very least, broken your neck!"
By the time he had gotten back, word had already spread about how Harry had hung upside down in midair for a full three minutes, the only thing keeping him suspended higher than 50 meters in the air being a safety spell and his own magic. Of course, Harry had not even noticed the few people who had seen him in those minutes, and hadn't heard the whispers as he came in.
The one thing Hogwarts has that really needs to be killed, Harry thought grimly, was its grapevine.
"And if you broke you neck," Ron joked, obviously not seeing what Harry did wrong. "You would have been in the hospital wing while the rest of us takes the NEWTS. Now, why didn't I think of that?"
"That's not funny!"
Hermione swapped the redhead viciously on the back of the neck, making Ron yelp out in pain raise him hands to protect his neck, glaring at the brunette. But as Hermione turned back to Harry, Ron only rolled his eyes and gave Harry an exasperated look. Luckily, the redhead wasn't jealous of all the attention that Hermione seemed to lavish on Harry, since it was the type of attention that he didn't want and got from his mother all too frequently.
"Besides the fact that you both still need to study for the NEWTS," Hermione steamed, for a moment reverting back to her old self of caring more for her grades than she did her own life. "What you did was extremely dangerous!"
"I knew what I was doing," Harry commented, all too used to Hermione's ranting. He was seated comfortably in one of the plush couches in the room, one arm wrapped around a pillow. Hermione was pacing the length of the couch while Ron sat on one of the armrests, looking amused at the conflict between his best friend and his girlfriend.
"Harry's one of the best flyers in the world," Ron said, trying to pacify his girlfriend. "Aren't you, mate?"
"I'd like to think so," Harry mused with a hint of a smile. He wouldn't have said so a year ago, but after being invited to practice with the England team (and a team of reporters, although he didn't know it at the time), he found them to be… quite slow. Oh, they were certainly much better than what Hogwarts had to offer, but Harry had been disappointed to realize that he expected so much more from such a prestigious team.
"It doesn't matter if you're the best flyer in the world." Hermione was saying, "You still have to be more careful!"
Harry sighed, recognizing the tone that she was starting to take, "'Mione…"
She ignored him and continued, "What if something happens to you? You're important, Harry! How would Sirius feel to know that something happened to you when he wasn't there? And the rest of the wizarding world! They were be hysterical!" Now she looked towards Ron, blatantly pretending that Harry wasn't there even if she had been talking to him a second ago. "I think we need to find something to take care of Harry."
"I can take care of myself and I don't need-"
"We need to find someone for him to settle down with. Maybe when he falls in love he'll stop all this recklessness and think about the other person's feelings."
Harry held up a hand, trying to stop this conversation. "Hermione! When I want a parent, I don't mean you." He ran a hand through his untamable hair, looking exasperated. "Ron- please tell her that I don't intend on settling down anytime soon."
Ron shook his head, too used to these arguments that his two best friends had. "Hermione- Harry doesn't intend on settling down anytime soon." He repeated.
Hermione sighed deeply, "Harry. You're seventeen. You've never had a girlfriend before-"
"Hey!" was the indignant shout.
"-and you're not even interested in anyone. If you had various crushes on different girls, I wouldn't worry, because I'd think that you were going through a phrase. But this… this is so unlike a teenaged boy's behavior!"
"I could have had crushes." Harry protested weakly.
"Well, you don't tell me about them anymore!"
Ron leaned over Harry, mock whispering, "You used to tell her who you liked?"
"I was young and stupid back then." was the response.
Hermione stopped her pacing and glared at the two of them. "I heard that." But then she shook her head when the two grinned innocently, pretending their earlier exchange hadn't happened.
"I really don't think I'm going to find someone I'm interested in anytime soon." Harry commented. He watched as the witch sigh and plop herself on the couch adjacent to the one he and Ron were sitting on, and eye him tiredly.
"But please look for something?" Hermione asked. She wrung her hands, "I'm not asking for much. Just try. Please? If someone's interested in you… if someone likes you, promise me that you'll give them a chance."
Harry rolled his eyes. "I promise."
"Oooh, you shouldn't have said that." Ron said. "What if the first someone who likes you is someone like… Malfoy?"
Harry laughed. "Then I guess Satan would be handing out free snowballs, wouldn't he?"
And little does Harry know.... *evil laughter*
Since I'm not concrete on how everything goes, what do YOU want to see happen?? =D