Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story except Lily's friends, Gary, Alison, and the Slytherin boy.
Yeah, I finally updated! Wahoo! Hope you all like this chapter. I think it's way better than the previous ones. As usual, my notes are at the end of the story. Enjoy! :)
Chapter 4
When Harry got up the next morning, he temporarily forgot what had happened the day before, and was ready to wake up to the sounds of Ron shuffling trying to get in his clothes, and Dean, Seamus, and Neville talking and bustling before breakfast. He then remembered that he was in the 70s, and had traveled back to this time period through the time warp he'd created. He had met James his dad, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, was currently going incognito under the alias Michael Preston, and was on a mission to bid Sirius farewell properly (although how he'd make that happen, Harry didn't yet know) and settle the dispute between him and James and Snape.
It was a nice, sunny Monday morning. The sun shone cheerily through the windows, and birds chirped and leaves swayed outdoors. The dormitory was empty, and Harry guessed that everyone else was already down at breakfast. He jumped out of bed, got into his "custom made" school robes, and checked his reflection in the mirror. He had previously decided that since he was supposed to be a different person while he was in this time period, he'd have to change not only his name and history, but his appearance as well.
He took out a tiny, circular case from his trunk, and from this, extracted a pair of blue contact lenses. He then applied the contact lens liquid and popped the lenses into his eyes, giving him eyes of light, sparkling blue. As he did not need his glasses anymore, Harry took them off and stashed them away in his trunk.
Turning back to the mirror and whipping out his wand, Harry stared at his wild, unruly hair. He then tapped the tip of his wand against his head, reciting a Smoothing Charm, and the unruly tangle was gone, replaced by smooth, shiny hair that had the same slicked-back appearance as his mortal enemy's, Draco Malfoy.
Harry grinned at his reflection. Not bad, he thought, considering I'm in a Malfoy hairdo. He thought he looked like a young Elvis Presley (the famous 80s Muggle rock and roll star, whose records Uncle Vernon kept in a neat box next to the ancient turntable in the living room). I could actually keep this look of mine when I'm back to the present, he added, chuckling softly.
Descending the stairs for the common room, Harry noticed a large group of Gryffindors crowded around the Gryffindor bulletin board. Sirius and James were a few meters away from the crowd, talking excitedly.
"Oy, Michael!" James called. "Over here!"
"Wow, smashing new look," commented Sirius, grinning at Harry. "Have you gotten interested in a girl already?"
Harry laughed, snorting. "'Course not; I just thought I'd change my appearance…you know, 'cause of my being in a new place and all."
"Ah," said James. "Well, I have to say it looks awesome, Michael."
"Ditto," agreed Sirius.
"Thanks. Er..what's going on?" asked Harry, jerking his head towards the group huddled around the bulletin board. "What does that bulletin say?"
Sirius grinned wickedly. "It's announcing the annual Hogwarts Swimming Competition, which takes place on Wednesday," he explained. "This competition, Michael, is a two-day long swimming contest held amongst fifth, sixth, and seventh years, sponsored by Zonko's Joke Shop. The competition's gone on for a good fifteen years, and always takes place at the Great Lake."
"The contest goes on for two days because there's lots of elimination involved, too," James put in. "Only five students, provided they're old enough, may enter from each house. On the first day of the competition, the five students from each house are narrowed down to three, and those three are narrowed down to one."
"The final four from each house will compete in the big race the next day," said Sirius. "He who wins the big race will be the Hogwarts Swimming Competition Champion for that year, and he and whichever house he belongs to get a nice, shiny, golden trophy."
"Plus, a feast in honor of the winning house takes place the next day at the Great Hall," said James, a maniacal gleam in his eye.
"None of us has ever entered before, but Prongs here's thinking of joining this year," Sirius announced, elbowing James. "He's a pretty good swimmer, you know, and he reckons he could get one step further impressing Lily if he does this."
Harry had to keep himself from laughing. My dad was crazy about my mother! Not even Sirius mentioned how gaga he was over her.
"Come to think of it, I am joining," said James, his eyes twinkling challengingly. "This isn't just to impress Lily, you know. Just think of the honor I'll be giving Gryffindor if I won this thing."
"I think you're right, Prongs," said Sirius, nodding. "I also think it'd be great if you could wipe the stupid smirk off the Slytherins' faces."
"What do you mean?" said Harry, tilting his head curiously.
"Slytherin's won every race over the past five years," said James darkly. "Most suspect their wins are all the cause of cheating and such, but there's no evidence to support that, so the Slytherin players never get disqualified. And now that the next competition's drawing near, Slytherins are walking around the school with their heads held high, as if they owned the place."
"If they held their heads any higher, they'd snap right off," commented Sirius. "Which isn't much of a bad thing, come to think of it," he added as an afterthought.
"We've had to endure five years of having all the delicious food at every after-race feast spoiled by the lousy green and silver hall decor and the Slytherins' horridly triumphant faces, staring condescendingly at the rest of the houses," said James, cringing disgustedly.
"Pretty nasty," added Sirius, staring into space as if reliving the whole experience at that moment in his head.
"--Well, what about you, Sirius?" said Harry, changing the rather unpleasant subject. "Are you entering the competition?"
"Nah," replied Sirius with a wave of his hand. "Swimming's not my thing. Besides, I want to watch Prongs from the sides and cheer him on instead of compete with him!"
"Ah, such a loyal friend Padfoot is," sighed James dramatically. "So kind and valiant.."
"True," said Sirius, snickering.
"Now, if you'll excuse me for a bit," said James, pulling out a quill from his robes, "I have some signing to do."
He ambled towards the piece of parchment pinned to the bulletin board, which contained the announcement and a set of blanks on which contestants were to affix their signature. James reached up and signed his name on the third blank.
An excited whoop rose out of the crowd. "Everyone, look! James is entering the competition!"
Smiling faces turned toward James. "Way to go, James!" another voice shouted.
"Old Prongs is really popular around the school," Sirius whispered to Harry, grinning.
The crowd near the bulletin board lifted James up on their shoulders, and, as if James had already won the competition, began chorusing, "James! James! James! James!…"
James was grinning from ear to ear, and after persuading the throng to let him down, beckoned Sirius and Harry back to the bulletin.
"Hmm," he said slowly to the others, rubbing his chin and pointing to the two signatures preceding his own. "Looks like ol' Gary Shaw and Alison Cooper have already signed up."
"They're tough competitors, Gary and Alison," commented Sirius. "But not as tough as you, Prongs. You'll beat everyone else in the race, I know you will."
"Yeah, make us Gryffindors proud, James," said a boy, who was seated in an armchair, reading a book, and was apparently listening in to their conversation. He edged closer to James and the rest. "I don't know what I'd do to myself if Slytherin won for the sixth time in a row."
He shuddered and went back to his reading.
"Yeah…well, I think it's time for some breakfast," announced Sirius, clapping James and Harry on the back. "I'm rather in the mood for bacon and eggs today. Hope it's on today's menu…Come on!"
The three boys exited the common room and headed for the Great Hall.
"So, who was the last swimming race champion?" asked Harry, as they descended the great marble staircase.
"There's your answer right now," said James grimly, staring at a figure just meters ahead of the group, heading up from the dungeons towards the Great Hall. It was a tall, burly sixth year boy, with shiny, silver, shoulder-length hair. Harry could just make out his steely gray eyes as the boy drew nearer and nearer. It was Lucius Malfoy. He bore an infallible, rather ominous resemblance to his own son (although he didn't exist yet), Draco.
The young Lucius, spotting James and Sirius, puffed out his chest and trod importantly towards them, his cold eyes glinting with malice.
"Ah," he said, smirking at the three, although he did not know who Harry was. "The dream team, Sirius Black and James Potter. Tell me, when are you the two of you getting married? Soon, I suppose."
"Oh, we'll give you a call when that happens, Lucius," said Sirius coolly. "Don't expect an invitation, though."
Lucius laughed softly. He was inches taller than Sirius and James, and looked down on them from his steely eyes. "Well, I expect the two of you will be watching me again this year, as I help Slytherin win the Hogwarts Swimming Competition for the sixth year straight. Needless to say, I don't need any of you there to see me bag the trophy, but I guess two more devoted fans won't hurt."
Harry felt a twinge of annoyance at Lucius' words. It was easy to tell from whom Draco had inherited his arrogant demeanor.
"And who is this?" Lucius continued, his eyes landing on Harry, gleaming with dislike.
"This is Michael Preston," said Sirius, glaring boldly at Lucius. "He's an exchange student, and don't even think about creating trouble for him, Malfoy."
"We'll be watching you," said James firmly, "and if we see you picking on our friend, you'll be so, so sorry you ever did."
Harry, feeling increasingly proud of his dad and godfather, spoke up. "James is entering the competition, so you better train long and hard, Lucius Malfoy. Although you probably won't need to train as James will beat you anyway."
Sirius and James grinned. Lucius's mouth thinned. He turned smugly towards James. "Good luck, then, Potter. I dare say you'll need lots of it on Wednesday."
With that, he turned and stomped off to the Great Hall.
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The next day, Sirius and Harry helped James train and polish his swimming strokes at the Great Lake, in preparation for the competition. Lily Evans and her group of friends was sitting by the lake as usual, and, instead of gossiping and telling stories like they usually did, took to watching James train, with eager smiles on their faces. Seeing Lily watching gave James a burst of confidence, and by the end of the training session, felt he was as good a swimmer as ever and would be unbeatable the next day.
Numerous other race contestants were training in the lake as well, including Gary Shaw and Alison Cooper, who were both fifth years. They and Harry were introduced to each other, and Harry found them to be very nice people. They were excellent swimmers, and Harry felt James surely had tough competition.
That same day, Harry was formally introduced to Lily and her friends, Arianne Richards, Selma Shaw (who was Gary's older sister), and Helene Hunter. James and Sirius were stuttering profusely as they introduced Harry to the girls and made small talk, and this caused the girls to giggle madly, as if they thought the boys were some sort of freaks. As the latter turned to leave, Lily called out and wished James good luck. James, still in his wet swimming trunks, walked with a spring in his step all the way back to the castle, humming jovially beside Harry and Sirius.
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"This is the day, boys," announced James with a grin the next day, slipping his pale blue swimming trunks underneath his school robes. "This is the day I conquer all, become this year's Hogwarts Swimming Competition champion, and win Lily Evans's heart forever!"
Everyone else chuckled. Remus and Peter, who were in the library the whole day before working on a Potions project, had joined James, Sirius, and Harry in the Gryffindor common room. The race was to commence in fifteen minutes, and luckily, the weather was perfect for swimming, the bright sun bathing the grounds in cheery sunlight.
"You'll be awesome, mate," said Sirius, slapping his best friend on the back. "We'll be cheering you on! Break a leg, alright?"
"And remember that if you don't win, we'll all still love you," said Peter, grinning encouragingly.
"Thanks, guys," said James, smiling gratefully. "Now come on, let's get to the grounds and do this thing!"
The Great Lake was as sparkly as ever, the light wind gracefully blowing the clear water about, sunlight glistening on the water's surface. Benches that surrounded the lake and rose up from the ground (like the seats in a football stadium) were occupied by hundreds of individuals, students and teachers alike, yelling and cheering and calling out to the racers. Most held flags that waved in the wind and bore the faces of contestants they were rooting for. Almost all the Gryffindors, plus some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, were waving red and gold flags with James Potter's grinning face stamped on them.
A large banner bearing the words "16th Hogwarts Swimming Competition" hung from a pair of posts at the top of the benches. A commentator's stand lay just below the banner, a megaphone perched on a table.
The contestants were already slipping out of their robes and revealing their swimwear, rubbing their hands together and whispering words of encouragement to themselves. Harry, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter walked onto the grounds, and were greeted by eager yells from fellow Gryffindors. From a distance, Lucius Malfoy, who was seated in the stands and was clad in dark green swim trunks and his hair tied, glared malevolently at James and his friends.
A teacher came over to James and handed him a red patch to stick to his trunks, which was to serve as identification of the players from each house. Harry noticed the rest of the contestants with either red, blue, yellow, or green patches on their swimwear.
"Er, Sirius," he muttered, "how long has wearing those color-coded patches been a practice in the competition?"
"Oh, since forever, I guess," replied Sirius, who was using his wand to flatten the red patch against James's shorts. "Mind you, I wasn't here during the first few years of this competition, but I know over the past six years, it's always been a practice."
Harry, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were then ushered to the stands to allow James to rev himself up. After wishing their friend the best of luck, they took the seats nearest the lake. Harry got a very clear view of the whole lake and the twenty small precipices laid at the starting point, from which the contestants would jump into the lake after the go signal. Harry spotted Severus Snape in a seat not very far from where he sat. Lily and her friends were in another corner of the stands, pointing out male contestants who were standing down by the lake and talking animatedly.
As he was seated on the edge of the bench, Harry spotted a square box lying on a table next to him. Looking inside, he found that the box contained the patches contestants were made to stick onto their suits. There were two yellow patches left.
Harry was about to turn back to the stands and search for more familiar faces, when he heard a crunch of soil behind him and to his left. Turning his head around slowly, he spotted a boy crouched low behind the table with the box containing the patches, his wand poised in his hand. Owing to the metal railing partly obscuring Harry from view, the boy did not see him staring, and apparently thought no one could see him. He raised himself a bit higher up, looked into the box, and slowly whispered an incantation, pointing his wand at the patches.
Shocked, Harry quickly looked around, hoping some other student, or perhaps a school authority, could see what this boy was doing. Everyone else seemed to be so engrossed in the race, oblivious to anything that was happening around them. Harry turned back to look at the boy. He had a satisfied smile on his face, and as he turned to crawl away, Harry spotted the Slytherin symbol on his robes.
Just as the Slytherin boy disappeared, a teacher approached the box and took out the two yellow patches. Harry tried to get her attention and tell her what he had witnessed, but due to the loud voices pervading the stadium, and because the teacher was moving very quickly, he could not make himself heard. The teacher walked over to two Hufflepuff girls and handed them the patches, which the girls promptly stuck onto their suits.
Harry's heart pounded. If he wasn't mistaken, a Slytherin boy had just sabotaged the contestants' patches--he, Harry, being the sole witness. He didn't know what danger the patches might do, but he had to make the racers take them off right now.
He was about to jump up and run to a school authority, when the commentator's voice roared through the megaphone and throughout the stadium. "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen!" he yelled, "Welcome to the 16th annual Hogwarts Swimming Competition! As you all know, this is a contest between the four Hogwarts houses, open to all fifth, sixth, and seventh years. Today, the final four, one from each house, will be determined, and these four will compete in the final race tomorrow.
"The five contestants from each house will now be narrowed down to three in the first race. Remember, the three from each house to reach the finish line, which is 50 meters from the start, the fastest, will move on to the next round. Now, will all the contestants please step up to the starting point! GOOD LUCK!"
Harry gasped. There was no time left to warn anyone about the patches. The racers, poised and grinning around at each other, were bent low on their precipice.
"Ready," said the commentator, "set…GO!"
A loud bang sounded, and as the crowd roared, the twenty racers dove into the great lake.
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Review Thanks:
rhythm emotion2: Ah, thanks for pointing that out!
LimaBean: Heh, I'm glad you like my story, and I'm glad it's stirred a lot of interest in you!
Grey Werewolf: Xie xie! Lol. Thanks for reviewing this! :D By the way, Lily's hair's red, but I'd rather her hair were reddish-brown, or auburn. :)
Yep, that's all for now...Stay tuned for Chapter 5! :D