Note: Nothing in this chapter has anything to do whatsoeverwith Gundam Wing or any otherwise related fictions.

Quidditch

The following morning Harry was woken up by a house elf (not Dobby) at six and was given a breakfast tray that consisted of a fruit bowl and his choice of half a dozen cereals. Being that he wasn't ever hungry first thing in the morning he took the fruit and wished that pancakes were considered healthy eating. He made sure he had both dirks (otherwise known as smallish daggers) and his wands, his contacts were in and so on as was his usual routine. He got dressed as quietly as possible, grabbed his backpack and his Firebolt, both from Sirius and made his way to Dumbledore's office. (The Coach had asked if he had a Firebolt, he said yes. If anybody else asked he'd say the team provided it.) Now he had an excuse to ride his Firebolt instead of the Nimbus, yay!

"You're late Harry" was the first thing Dumbledore said when he walked in. Dumbledore had said 6:30 and it was 6:45, big deal. Dumbledore had taken to calling him by his real name when they were alone; maybe he just couldn't get used to another name. Dumbledore wanted him to go to his office before he left so he could keep track of him, a safety precaution. Dumbledore was becoming a real stick.

"I have personally looked over your contract and it is fine. I requested that you arrive here earlier so we could discuss it but clearly we don't have time. Just sign these and give them to your coach." Harry quickly scribbled his signature when needed. "I trust you slept well?" Harry answered in the positive but he really hadn't. As it was he kept yawning.

"Now, I just want to do a small experiment, I don't want you to panic, just do whatever it is you did with Nymphadora. Now, stand over here please." Curious he obliged and stood next to the desk. Dumbledore took out his wand and pointed it at Harry. "Silencio", he commanded. The spell hit him and he immediately lost his voice. It was obvious what the Headmaster was doing, he had taken out a stop-watch and was timing him. Determined to shock the old codger he started fighting it off. He had actually gotten quite good at it but it still hurt his voice.

After a few struggles he shook the curse off, coughed and commented his voice hoarse "you're evil". Man that hurt.

Dumbledore at least seemed pleased; he stared at his watch for a moment then started scribbling furiously on some paper on his desk. "Can you cast a spell with your voice like that?" Harry's face went dark for a second, a thought had occurred to him. He smiled and drew his wand. Pointing it at Dumbledore he quickly cast an engorgement charm on Dumbledore's nose. He looked amused and went back to scribbling notes after changing his own nose back to a normal proportion. "Now then I believe it is about time you left for practice my boy. Mad-Eye will be present as a precaution but he will be invisible and this is your Port-Key."

Dumbledore handed him a wristwatch that actually told the time. He could tell it wasn't a muggle watch however as it was too thin. Booya! He got a new watch. Dumbledore continued explaining. "When practice is over use the time turner to go back in time a few hours, then return here. Activate the port key and it will bring you directly to my office. Do you understand?" Dumbledore said this all very slowly.

"Ya ya" is what Harry tried to say but it came out more like a groan as his voice was just shot. Evilevilevilevilevil, I wonder if he has something for sore throats? As if reading his thoughts Dumbledore cast a spell that soothed his throat. There was no time to find out if it worked though as Harry glanced at his watch, saw that it was almost 7:00. Dumbledore told him to tap it three times with his wand to activate it. He did as instructed and was sent out of Hogwarts to Quidditch practice.

Darian arrived near the edge of the pitch. He heard voices from the rather large building behind him and walked in. Directly to his right were the change rooms, the origins of the noise he was hearing. A ways in front of him was a counter with a cashier and Coach Oakley. Unsure of what he was supposed to do he approached her. After all he couldn't exactly change as he had no uniform and he was too nervous to walk into the change room and ask the other players who were all adults what he was supposed to do!

"Coach?" he asked having walked across the marble floor and having discovering that his voice was fine. Said woman turned at his voice and upon spotting him she told him to wait a minute. Well technically it was more of a mumbled than anything but he got the gist. The cashier handed her a large coffee and she took a big swig of it despite that it was hot and had probably just burnt her tongue.

Satisfied she gave him her attention (or at least looked more alert) and greeted him. "How's our newest seeker this s'morning?" She asked with faked cheerfulness hiding a yawn with her free hand, the other holding her coffee.

"Er, I have the contract here. Umm, aren't I supposed to get equipment and stuff before practice?"

"Right." The Coach put the contract on the counter and bent over and picked a big bag up off the ground and with a slight heave handed it too him. "I'll need that bag back when you're done. Everything's in there, just go on in and get changed, the guys are expecting ye. Boys change is closest to the pitch. We're workin' in the gym first thing so just put on the shorts and shirt in there. Ummm you're gunna have to leave your shoes and socks off too. Take off any jewelry or anything that might fall off. " Not bothering to ask why he made his way to the change room.

The second he opened the door all talking ceased. You could have heard a pin drop. The man closest to the door spoke first. The most obvious thing about him was his strong arms, an observation that was proven correct when he shook his hand and introduced everyone. He said something like this "Hey, Everson right? I'm Morgan Arden, beater, that's Hans Blix, chaser, Duo Maxwell-"

"The BETTER chaser". Maxwell interrupted. Maxwell appeared to be about 18 years old making him the second youngest player on the team. He had brown hair, was generally good looking and not overly tall.

"Sure sure. Just remember who scored the most points last time." Blix interjected.

Moving on Arden continued to point people out and introduce them. "And lastly this guy here is Otto Nerpin, chaser. Pick a locker any locker." With that Arden turned back to getting ready for practice. That wasn't too bad Harry thought. Very considerate of Arden introducing me like that. He quickly got dressed so he wouldn't be last out and followed the team to the gym. He had taken off his timeturner and dirks and wands, whatever except for the necklace that was rather permanently stuck round his neck.

The gym was as expected, pretty damn big. It reminded him of 5th grade in Surrey, gym class. He was always picked last. This gymnasium was much more impressive, and he knew he wouldn't be picked last for anything ever again. Fame can bring good things after all.

Coach Oakley was getting equipment out and everyone went to help. They ran on a routine, it showed as they quickly and efficiently got everything out without a hint of confusion. He helped set up mats on the floor while they took out weights and such. That was expected, what wasn't expected was the gymnastics stuff. They took out bars and put up bigger mats beneath and around them, indicating more safety was needed. A huge mat was set up in the corner of the gym and a spring was set before a longer mat. There was also a long beam, he'd never even been on one before. This bode no good for him, all the gym classes he'd had were in elementary school and gymnastics wasn't really covered very well. They had yet to do gymnastics in gym at Hogwarts. All I can do is a cartwheel, they can't expect me to do this stuff right! He thought nervously.

When everything was ready each teammate went to different places and most didn't look too happy. He saw two girls on the team, Hailee Blix who was a beater and Hans Blix's sister but not twin and Carmen Sanchez the keeper. They had of course been in the other changeroom but had already seen him when he came to tryout.

Not knowing what he was to do Darian went to the Coach again. She knew what he was going to ask and explained the training. "Most of the time we're out on the pitch but today we're obviously in here. I know what you can do on a broom but I want to see how flexible you are. Since you're small you should focus on flexibility and speed, lucky you don't have to do bench presses!"

Here Blix the chaser complained "Damn straight he's lucky. Lucky lucky lucky" Blix continued as he walked past.

"You seen Krum play right?" At his nod she continued "You're going to be playing him sometime. He is a lot bigger than the normal seeker and he uses that weight for sharp turning and excellent dives. You being so tiny are going to worry about the fancy and cool-looking sneakiness. I have an assistant to help with the acrobatics here, where'd she go… Angie there you are!" Angie was a woman of about 30 years and when she heard her name she walked over on her hands! Her hands! "Angie here's gunna spot you and teach you how to do the flip-de-doos and make your toe touch your ear." With a nod to Angie, the Coach left them.

"Darian Everson" he introduced himself. May as well get on her good side right? They shook hands and got to work. First they stretched out, okay she stretched while he endured a lot of pain. Sure they stretched before football in gym, but not to this extent. He got the feeling that Angie was both disgusted and depressed at the same time when she discovered that he couldn't touch his toes. When she did the splits he visibly flinched and she said that soon he'd be able to do it too. Oh Merlin. Well one thing was for sure, Mad-Eye was going to have a hard time trying not to laugh.

Four and a half hours later Darian felt like a rubber balloon (a deflated one at that) and was wondering why, just why he loved Quidditch. These flexible things would help on a broom though. The bars were a scary thought; he couldn't think how they expected him to twirl around on a broom like a stupid gymnatics bar, hundreds of feet in the air! Angie had been happy that he could do a cartwheel and learned a round off, an easy variation of the cartwheel, and simple things like somersaulting but those weren't much help. They were most concerned with the bars, which is where he spent half of the practice. Thankfully around 10:00 they went onto the pitch and had a mock game, followed by more practice. But at least it wasn't done on a balance beam!

"Kay, 12:00, you can all go. On the pitch first thing tomorrow. Get out of here." The Coach dismissed them.

Famished Harry was in a hurry to get back to Hogwarts just in time for breakfast. Course that would mean he had the wonderful selection from healthy food. Bah. Before he could eat however he had to shower. They all sweat and smelled awful. Once in the change room everyone went for the showers and Darian couldn't help but noticed how scrawny he was compared to them, in most places he noted proudly.

He was reaching for his towel when a wet one whipped him on the side of the leg. He yelped in surprise and before his attacker could even grab the other end of the towel Darian's hand had, perhaps on reflex, grabbed his opponent's wrist in a firm grip. He looked up to see who it was (everybody was taller than him) and saw the chaser Duo Maxwell. He was, duh, surprised that he had a hold on his wrist and it showed on his face. Hans Blix who was also done in the shower saw the whole thing and burst out laughing. Darian let go of Maxwell's wrist embarrassed, picked up his towel which he wrapped around his waist and smiled when Blix teased the chaser instead of him. At least they had pants on.

"Haha! Should've known better than to try that on the seeker you dumbass! "This was closely followed by "Ahhhhh!" as said dumbass threw the towel at Blix's head. "Ew, tell me this isn't the one you just used!"

Ignoring Blix and turning back to Darian, Maxwell said "Just call me Duo, it sounds better than Maxwell. Sorry about the whip lash there, just kidding around."

"Ow" Darian muttered looking disheartened in response bringing a laugh from his team mates.

"Figures a seeker would have fast reflexes. Hey, what's that, your family crest?" Duo asked indicating his necklace. He couldn't take the damn thing off even for a shower.

"Ya, I can't take the bloody thing off, it's permanently stuck here." Darian complained.

"Awww shit, Coach won't like that. Here I'll fix it so she won't care." Before Darian could really work up a good argument Duo had fetched his wand from his locker and was approaching Darian eying the necklace on his chest. "Just don't move, I wouldn't want to shrink any body parts." Not sure if the guy was kidding Darian didn't even dare breath. After a few moments Duo backed up and nodded happily "that'll do. I shrunk the chain as far as I could. Now it's not so big on you, before it could have gotten caught on something or whatever and been a "safety hazard" in Quidditch. I'd say there'll be no problem now."

"Thanks, I hadn't thought of that" Darian said. By now everyone was done in the shower and he went back to his locker and changed into the clothes he had worn that morning. He put his Quidditch stuff in Sirius' bag and took out the coaches bag and put in where she could find it in the hall. He went back in, put on his weapons and was almost ready to leave when someone asked the question "Did you quit school to join Quidditch Everson? Or what?"

He answered truthfully "Nah, I use a time turner to go back for classes."

The adults seemed impressed but Duo said "brilliant but man, I don't think you're supposed to tell people that."

"Oh" he said blinking and left the change room hoping nobody would say anything. He hadn't considered that, if anybody wanted to get him in trouble he could always say he didn't know it was a secret. Oooops.

Not sure if they were right Harry checked to see if anybody was near and called "Eh, I need to ask you something." The only response he got was the invisible Mad-Eye pushing on his back edging him outside. Pushing is an understatement, more like he side checked him or something and knocked him into the door and Harry opened it to escape. If that was his plan it failed miserably as the second he was away from the door Mad-Eye tackled him to the ground and held him pinned which was a hell of a lot scarier than if he was visible.

"You be lucky I'm guarding you else I would ave lit your ass on fire! How dare you steal from me twerp! Now use my turner and get back to school a'fore I change my mind about having fireworks." This was a rather hard command to obey as Mad-Eye held him under all his weight and thus he couldn't really move. Probably because he was frightened his magic kicked in and sent Mad-Eye flying, the same as with Dudley only with less power. He'd really have to learn how he did that as it would be good wandless magic.

With Mad-Eye effectively removed Harry tugged out his (technically Moody's) time turner and set it back 3 and a half hours. The sun up in the sky rapidly changed position and the temperature dropped until it was certainly morning again. He pulled his sleeve up and tapped his watch three times to activate it and was sent back to Dumbledore's office. The headmaster was there and asked how it went, Harry replied by asking "Am I allowed to tell my teammates that I use a time turner?"

"Now that's really up to your coach. I assume practice went well, go on down for breakfast. From now on this office will be empty when you get back so let yourself out. I enjoy eating in the Hall at this time." Nodding understanding Harry left and ran for the Great Hall, more specifically, food. At this point he didn't care if it was another fruit bowl, food was good.

He found Hermione and Ron sitting together and went to sit with them when Ron turned and saw him. Ron sent him the coldest look ever; it would give even Snape frostbite. Clearly he shouldn't even consider sitting near Ron, instead he located Dean, Seamus and Neville and ate with them. It was good to talk to Dean again, he hadn't seen much of 'im as he'd been with Ron.

Now it was something before nine and after eight thirty in the morning and he had time for some breakfast food before potions, then Herbology followed by lunch. After that he had Gym and Defense. Bascially he'd be dead by the end of classes.

Potions was almost a disaster as Dean was his partner that day and neither of them excelled in that class but their potion turned out alright. At least it didn't explode. Pretty much everything else did though, Ron kept looking at him with the maddest look, everybody noticed, and even Snape was too busy trying to figure it out to take too many points. Ron's glare was obviously upsetting Harry, he couldn't deny it as stuff kept suffering from his magic. The shelves, neighboring potions you name it. Before he left the room was a disaster.

Herbology was much of the same as Ron also had that class. He was starving by lunch and had to remind himself to eat healthy stuff. In gym they all got considerably wet. Mme. Hooch had them play Blitzball, a wizarding sport that was popular in the West but rarely played in Britain. Defense was getting progressively harder, even for him. When someone complained he only said he had to make up for their past incompetent teachers. They were learning some serious curses now. After class he cheated a bit a used the time turner going back to lunch time and took a nap in Gryffindor Tower. That done he and the guys actually did some homework (gasp) and he went off to find Remus.

He saw Mme. Hooch leaving Moony's office and when he walked in asked "Hey Remus, did you make a new friend?"

Blushing Remus began furiously rubbing his cheek and ignoring the boys question asked innocently "how was practice?" They had a good time in which Remus made him recount everything about practice that morning which seemed like forever ago and flipped out when he mentioned that Mad-Eye tackled him after. Remus left shortly after that probably to complain.

Harry ran into Hermione who was on her way to visit Hagrid. He insisted that he get reintroduced to his large friend. Hagrid had seen him around with Hermione and sometimes Ron and before they left for curfew commented that he knew why they liked him, he was a lot like Harry Potter. "Did you know him well too?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Aye, I knew 'im. Didn't ever like fame that one, he was like a son too me. I was the first wizard he ever met." Hagrid said gloomily.

Trying to be comforting Darian said softly "wherever Harry is right now, I'm sure he's watching over you". They promised to visit again and the second they were out the door twack Hermione smacked the back of is head in penalty.

And so three weeks passed from October to November and the upcoming big and humongous Quidditch world tournament. Through this time Ron and Darian got into more than one angry duel in DA meetings all of which Ron got his ass whipped. He was loaded down with the extra homework for the two weeks he'd be missing. Things blew up less frequently as he was often tired from Quidditch practice. His flexibility had improved phenomenally as Angie had a potion brewed up that he took daily for the first week that made him more flexible. He didn't know the details about it, just that he was really sore for days. And so, he lay in bed the night before a nervous wreck, not even knowing where the team was headed the next day.