Chapter 5- The race
"What a night," groaned Harry, rubbing his eyes. He rolled over and the light gleamed in his eyes. Harry had to blink a few times before his eyes would stop watering. He had a slight throbbing in his head.
"Want to tell me about it?" came a voice next to him. Harry sat up immediately.
"Ron!" he exclaimed. "You won't believe what happened to me last night."
"Why don't you tell me over a spot of breakfast? I'm starved."
It took all of Harry's energy to keep up with Ron, who sprinted into the Great Hall, which had an aroma of bacon, and freshly made bread. Ron sat down in such a hurry that he knocked into Hermione who was already half way done with her plate. Harry sat there telling them every-thing. After, Ron and Hermione just sat there for quite sometime before Hermione realized they would be late for charms. Harry ran upstairs to get his books when he saw his father's glasses. No one would notice if he wasn't in class, right? Hermione would be able to recap the classes with him that night. He found himself reaching for the old glasses again. He wanted to see his father's old friends. He needed to see his mother. He took off his own glasses, and set them on the bedside drawer. Without thinking anymore about it, Harry put on his father's glasses and -whoosh- walked down to the common room. The skinny boy from last night came rushing to his side.
"James! Did you finish your History of Magic essay? You know it's due today, right?" How should Harry know? Dumbfounded, Harry nodded. Black came over and grabbed his shoulder, " Don't worry about it. History of Magic isn't till this afternoon. Right now let's get some food."
The three headed down to the great Hall where the ceiling was gray with clouds and slightly raining. The sat down near the redheaded girl from the night before. She waved at Harry when he came in. Sitting down next to her, Harry couldn't help but smile.
"Ready for flying today, James?" she asked. The Smallest boy for the previous night spoke up saying,
"Of course he is, aren't you Potter?' Harry hadn't even noticed him until he addressed him. Harry nodded slightly, keeping his mouth filled with food. The girl smiled.
"I can't wait to see you up there. I know that Severus won't stand a chance." Harry choked.
"Severus?!" he gagged.
"You said you would race him today," reminded the skinny boy, as if it happened all the time. "We better get going." Looking at the skinny boys watch, Harry noticed that it only had planets. It was well kept and looked very expensive. The boy quickly covered the watch with his dirty, torn sleeve. They all headed down to the door. Walking there, the girl grabbed Harry's arm.
"James? Can I speak with you?" she asked.
"Um, ok"
"I'm sorry I didn't believe you last night. It was wrong of me. If you said that you didn't come to the hide-out-"
"Actually," Harry interrupted. "What I meant was... Last night was so wonderful, seeing you and all, that it was like a dream to me and it felt like it didn't really happen. When I say that, know that it's our code that I enjoyed the time before, right?" By now, Harry could feel a trickle of sweat running down his forehead. He wiped he head casually so she wouldn't notice he was sweating. Instead she gave him a puzzled look.
"James, what is that on you forehead?" As quickly as possible Harry brushed his bangs down, hiding the scar that would give him way, and smiled stupidly.
Oy! You two! You coming or not?" yelled Black from the door.
"Coming Sirius!" the girl called to him. "Come on James, this'll be great." and she pulled him down the steps and out the door to the flying pitch.
It was cold that December morning and the wind clung to Harry's cheeks. Trying not to think about the upcoming challenge, Harry looked at the others walking out with him. Black was walking very tall, his hair hanging handsomely in his eyes. He smiled slyly at a few Hufflepuff girls as they passed. The shortest boy was staring at Harry, smiling with glee. He looked as though he would jump out of his clothes and go swim with the giant squid if James told him to. Moony was not looking anywhere but the ground, yawning slightly and always staying a step behind the others. The red-haired girl, who Harry was sure had to be his mum Lily, caught him looking at her and smiled. The smile left however, when she caught sight of Snape. Instead of sneering back he smiled.
"Lovely morning, don't you think?" Severus looked up at the gray morning, then added, "Perfect weather for flying." Snape always looked at Harry with the utmost dislike, but as James, it was (If possible) worse. A sneer constantly hung upon Snape's mouth. Lily just smiled.
"I quite agree Snivellus," she said. "The clouds are weeping over your loss already." She stuck her hand out, palm side up, feeling the drizzle. Black laughed. Mooney had found his way over to a secluded area and had sat down reading a book entitled Why Werewolves are So Scary. From behind the book Harry swore he heard Moony say,
"Let's hope it rains more. That way Snape can be humiliated and get his hair washed at the same time."
Black turned to the shortest boy. "Wormtail, give James his broom." The boy obeyed and showed so much respect towards the broom Harry thought at first that it must be made out of gold. But it was an ordinary broom and Snape had one just like it. As Harry mounted a thought occurred to him. Was Snape any good at flying? What if he actually lost to his professor's 15-year-old self? His father's friends seem to have great confidence in his flying. What if he, Harry, messed that up? Would it change the course of his father's life? It's only one race said another little voice in his head. He looked at someone for a signal to go. A young girl with blond hair came walking towards them with her hands in the air.
"Ok. Two laps around the pitch. No cutting corners, stay within the boundaries. Cheating will disqualify you from the race. First one back is the winner. Let's get this started before the professor comes out." The girl seemed to have done this often. Harry and Snape hovered above the girl waiting for the signal. "On my count. Three- two-one- GO!"