"Harry! Harry! Time to get up man."
Harry slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Hey Jack."
Jack just shook his head. "Better jump in the shower before the guy's next door figure out its open.
"Yeah, ok." Harry mumbled as he tiredly climbed out of bed.
After grabbing a change of clothes from his dresser, Harry walked sleepily to the bathroom to begin getting ready for the day. A little while later he returned to his room now fully awake. Picking up his schedule he noticed he had math, charms and history today. After placing the appropriate books in his new backpack, Harry left his room and headed down the hall to the elevator pads.
"Going down?" a small girl said from one of the pads.
Looking up, Harry almost laughed out loud. One of the pads had what looked to be about thirty people crammed onto it. Arms and legs of unknown people stuck out at odd angles and one person was even perched on top of the oddly shaped group of people.
"Umm, that's ok, I'll wait for the next one." Harry said with a smile.
"Oh, come on. We can squeeze you in." Another girl said waving him over.
"Ok." Harry said unsure of how they were going to do it.
As he stepped forward the group shifted a bit until a small opening appeared on one side, a very small opening. Harry tried a couple of times but couldn't seem to get completely on the pad.
"Damn, hurry up dude, I can't last much longer in here." a voice said from somewhere inside the pile.
Taking a deep breath, Harry stepped forward and thrust one leg into the unknown depths of the group of people. An arm followed and thus entangled in the crowd he finally managed to get completely on the pad.
"Wait for me!" a voice said from across the common area.
Harry looked across the space to find Kaela's roommate Mary approaching the group.
"Alright, but you'll have to jump on top. I'll activate as soon as you land." the girl who had initially invited Harry to join them cried out.
"Cool! Ready?"
"Yeah, yeah, just hurry!" another random voice yelled.
Mary ran across the room and jumped onto a nearby chair before vaulting herself on top of the group. The instant her weight became part of the mess of people, the small girl shouted out "Lobby!"
Once again Harry felt the sensation of unimaginable speed before the group landed in the main Lobby of the dorm. The pile of people immediately collapse spewing forth bodies in all directions. As he began extracting himself from the group, he looked up to find people standing around cheering. He helped several people up before he started to head towards the kitchens when Mary stopped him by grabbing his arm.
"Wait Harry, you've got to add your name to the wall. We set a record!"
"What?" he asked curiously as Mary led him to what looked like a small cork board on the wall to one side of the pads.
"We had thirty three people on that pad that beats the old record by two!" she said excitedly.
Grabbing a pen that was hanging on one side of the board, she quickly signed her name before handing it to Harry. Grinning at her excitement, Harry signed his name just below hers. Turning around, Harry and Mary found a laughing Kaela grinning at them.
"Nice one Harry. Here less than a day and already you've been immortalized." she said teasingly.
Harry just grinned already loving his new school. "Breakfast?" he asked the laughing redhead.
"Sure." she said accepting his arm. Mary quickly took his other one not wanting to be left out and the trio headed towards the cafeteria.
"So, does that kind of thing happen a lot here?" Harry asked laughing as they went.
Eventually Harry and his friends finished breakfast and it was time to go to their first classes of the day. All of the students at Salem had several requirements in various muggle classes they had to meet in order to graduate. The only one Harry had been unable to test out of had been math.
Kaela and Mary had both finished their math requirement the previous year so Harry would have to attend his first class alone. Not having a morning class, Kaela offered to show him where he needed to go.
"You ok?" Harry asked as they walked across the square.
Kaela looked up at him and smiled softly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks."
Harry nodded and tentatively took hold of her hand. Internally he sighed in relief when she gave his hand a small squeeze. They continued walking to the large concrete and glass building that housed the classroom he was looking for before saying goodbye.
"See you in charms Harry." she said with a wave before disappearing back the way they had come.
Taking a deep breath, Harry entered the door to his first class. As he walked in the door, he found himself standing at the bottom of a large auditorium that was rapidly filling with students. Several people walked past him and began climbing the various sets of stairs as Harry looked around the large terraced room. About half way across he saw the small girl who had invited him to join the group on the pad that morning waving at him. He gave her a wave back and saw her gesture him over.
"Hey." she said as he approached. "Harry right?"
Harry nodded.
"I'm Sarah. Nice work this morning by the way. You put us over the top, Mary was just the icing on the cake." she said in a bubbly voice.
"No problem. Anyone sitting here?"
"No, have a seat." she said smiling.
The pair talked for a few minutes longer until a small bald man entered the room carrying a briefcase which he plopped down on a small table before stepping up to the podium. Drawing his wand, the man pointed it to his throat and cast a spell so that he could be heard throughout the large room.
"Good morning class. That's it, settle down now. Thank you. I am Professor Blackthorn. Welcome to Intermediate Algebra. I see a lot of familiar faces out there and many new ones as well." The man's eyes scanned the crowd as he spoke pausing briefly on Harry as he went by. 'It couldn't be.' he thought before shaking his head clear of the thoughts he was having and continuing with the class at hand.
With a wave of his wand, a course syllabus appeared on a large screen covering the wall behind him. "Alright everyone, lets get too it."
"Hey Harry!" Kaela greeted her friend as he walked out of his math class.
"Hey Kaela." he replied smiling. "See ya Sarah."
"Make a new friend?" Kaela asked.
"Yeah, she was part of the record breaking team on the pad thing this morning."
"Cool. Well, come on. We don't want to be late for charms."
Harry followed along chatting about his first class as the pair made their way across the way to the next building where their charms class was located. Entering the room, Harry was happy to find a much smaller class waiting for him. Before they could take a seat, a cheerful looking witch entered the room and immediately began taking charge.
"Alright everyone time to start class. I want everyone to grab a partner and take a seat at one of the tables."
"Partners?" Harry asked to a grinning Kaela who nodded in reply before leading the way to a table near the front.
"Excellent." the teacher began as everyone finished taking their seats. "For those of you who don't know me I'm Professor Tegrins, but please call me Melissa or I'll have to charm your socks to not stop at my classroom."
A chuckle passed through the room at the excitable woman's comments making her smile even more brightly than she already had been. Harry couldn't help but be reminded of his old charms teacher Professor Flitwick. Shaking himself from his thoughts of his old school, Harry turned his attention back to the class at hand.
Pointing to a stack of papers on one corner of her desk, Melissa continued. "These are your course syllabuses for this semester. Don't forget to pick one up on your way out after class. For now if you'll turn to page 148 of your texts and get your wands out we're going to start on a group of charms I know you've all been dying to learn since you moved into the dorms, Spatial Expansion charms."
Charms passed much quicker than his algebra class and before long Harry found himself leaving the room with a group of other students who were all talking excitedly about what they were learning. With very few exceptions, everyone was making plans for what they were going to do to their dorm rooms once they could get signed off by their teacher.
"She seemed like a lot of fun." Harry said to Kaela with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, she is fun and she really knows her stuff too."
The pair continued to chat while Kaela led Harry to a large white building that sat on one end of the square.
"What's this?" Harry asked as he looked around.
"Oh sorry, I forgot you don't know your way around yet. This is the main cafeteria on campus."
Kaela pushed open one of the many doors on the front of the building and led Harry inside. The room was very large and filled with small round tables that just big enough to seat four. Along one side there was a long series of cases and tables holding a wide assortment of foods. People on the other side kept filling up the various bins.
Harry followed along as Kaela joined the line of waiting students. The line moved surprisingly quickly and soon Harry found himself nearing a pile of trays. Copying Kaela, Harry grabbed a tray and some silverware before setting it on some runners that ran along the edge of the counter.
"Take whatever you want Harry, at the end you just show them your ID and it gets charged back to the dorms."
Harry nodded and continued to follow Kaela down the line grabbing whatever caught his fancy as he went. Reaching the end of the line he found an old woman wearing a hairnet. Passing her his student ID card, he watched curiously as she waved her wand over his tray before tapping the card twice with her wand and handing it back.
"Thank you sonny." she said with a smile.
After stuffing his ID back in his pocket, Harry picked up his tray and followed Kaela to a table in the middle of the room.
"So, how do you like Salem so far?" Kaela asked taking a bite of her salad.
"It's loads different than what I'm used to, but I love it!" Harry replied excitedly.
Kaela couldn't help but grin at his enthusiasm.
"Harry, Kaela, whats' up guys?" Jack said as he approached the pair.
"Hey Jack." Harry greeted his new roommate with a wave.
"You mind?" Jack asked indicating the open seats at the table.
"Not at all, have a seat."
"Thanks. I thought you guys might want to know Quidditch tryouts are tomorrow afternoon." Jack made his comment about the tryouts casually as he took a bite and couldn't help but grin at the looks that appeared on Harry and Kaela's faces as the pair shared a smile of their own.
"Kick ass!" Kaela said as she turned towards Jack. "So, you ready to give up the seeker position to Harry?"
"What?" Jack said not expecting the question. "He really that good?"
"Damn straight. You're gonna have your work cut out for you tomorrow Jack." Kaela replied causing Harry to blush.
"Oh, I'm not that great." Harry said bashfully.
"Yeah, right, that's why you're the only person at Salem who's in Quidditch Through the Ages."
"Shut it Moore." Harry growled in embarrassment thought he was grinning inside.
"No shit?" Jack said. "I haven't seen the new edition yet, that's cool man."
Harry blushed slightly and sent Kaela an evil look much to her amusement. "Awe, it was nothing, just got lucky really."
The three spent an enjoyable lunch talking about Quidditch and the upcoming trials before it was finally time to go to their next class. Laughing at Kaela's grumbles about not wanting to go to History, Harry smiled and followed her out the door. The building which housed their history class was the same one where Harry'd had his math class and before he knew it, Harry found himself in another large auditorium. He continued to follow Kaela who chose a seat much higher up than he'd had for his math class.
"Come on Harry. If you want to sit with me we're going up top."
"And what is it you want to do way up there?" Harry asked wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Kaela let out a snort. "You wish. Maybe I'll play some Tic-Tac-Toe or Hangman, if you're good."
Harry laughed and continued to follow Kaela to some seats near the top. Students continued to file in and Harry was surprised to find the auditorium was almost full when the teacher finally arrived.
Their professor was one of the oldest witches Harry had ever seen. He was surprised when she started her lecture that instead of hiding behind the podium, she moved about the stage in a very animated way. She jumped around and waved her arms wildly reenacting the different scenes of history she was describing. It was clear she was passionate about the subject she taught and it made learning the information fun an interesting.
The class passed far quicker than Harry ever dreamed a History class could and after a quick walk across campus, he found himself back at the dorms stepping onto a green circle with Kaela. As they appeared on their floor, Kaela turned towards her friend.
"We don't have anymore classes today, do you want to go fly for awhile?"
Harry couldn't help but grin. "That would be brilliant."
The pair quickly threw their things in their rooms and grabbed their brooms. Harry wanted to fly from the dorms but Kaela informed him that they weren't allowed to fly around the grounds and that their brooms would be confiscated if they got caught. Not wanting to loose his broom, Harry quickly agreed that it might be a good idea to walk to the pitch.
Artimus Blackthorn waved as the final student left his last class of the day and began collecting his things. Picking up his now loaded briefcase, he went to the buildings transport pads and called out the destination for the teacher's quarters. As the familiar sensation of porting passed, Artimus stepped off the red pad he had appeared on in to the comfortable and lavishly decorated common area of the teacher's apartments.
Waving to some of his fellow instructors, Artimus passed through the space and down a hall to his quarters. Placing his hand on a small pad to one side of the door, a warm tingle went through his skin and there was an audible click letting him know the door had been unlocked.
Entering the apartment, he closed the door behind him before passing through the living room to his study. Tossing his briefcase on a chair he took a seat behind the desk and began shuffling through the large mound of papers on its surface. After several minutes he came across the document he had been looking for and began scanning the many names on the list.
"Ahh, here it is." he said to the empty room as he reached the names of the students in his first class of the day.
The sight of the boy in the first row had been unexpected and had filled his thoughts for most of the day. As he scanned the list, his thoughts were confirmed. "Harry Potter." he once again whispered to the empty room. "I thought so."
Setting the class roster aside, Artimus picked up a piece of parchment and a quill to begin a letter.
Dear Headmaster Dumbledore…
Classes the next morning passed far slower for Harry and Kaela with the thought of an afternoon of Quidditch waiting for them but eventually lunch came and went and the pair headed down to the stadium with their brooms in hand. As they neared their goal, Harry became nervous at the sight that greeted him.
"What the hell?" he said uneasily as he took in the sight of the pitch.
Kaela couldn't help but giggle. "Oh, did I forget to mention the whole school would turn up to watch tryouts?"
Harry shot her a glare that caused her to break down in hysterics before turning back to the pitch. The stands were nearly full and a large crowd of people were still lined up to get inside. As he looked around, he realized the hill above the pitch which they were now walking down was also packed with people. Above the pitch itself dozens of wizards and witches flew about on their brooms no doubt warming up for the tryouts.
Instead of heading for the pitch, Kaela led Harry to some tables that were setup on one side of the hill overlooking the stadium.
"Come on Harry. We need to sign in over here then we can fly onto the pitch."
"I thought we weren't allowed to fly around the campus."
"We're not, but they make an exception for today since it would take forever to get through the crowd."
Harry nodded in understanding and stepped up to the table where he was greeted by one of the many students checking in prospective Quidditch players.
"Position?" a boy asked.
"Seeker." Harry replied.
"Name?"
"Harry Potter."
The boy's eyes made the flick upward towards Harry's scar. Groaning internally Harry realized there were bound to be a few people around who recognized him as The Boy Who Lived.
"Cool. Nice to meet you." the boy said excitedly.
Harry took a pair of signs the boy handed him that each had a number 73 on them and moved to one side where Kaela was waiting for him.
"Here." she said taking the signs from him.
Holding the number up to his chest, she made sure it was centered and level and pressed it against him where it stuck to his clothing. She repeated the process sticking the other one on his back.
"Now mine." she said handing him a number 72 for her back.
Turning back around she was grinning at him. "Sorry, I already did the one for my front."
Harry's eyes flicked downward for a second before he blushed brightly causing Kaela to start laughing again. "Come on Harry, let's go fly."
Shaking his head at her antics, he mounted his broom and raced her to the stadium. They flew around the pitch for awhile before everyone was finally waved down when the tryouts were ready to begin.
"For those of you who don't know me, I'm Coach Strickland. Call me coach. Now, lets get too it. Across the pitch you'll find my assistant coaches holding up signs for each position. Find yours and get to it." The coach looked at all the faces of the hopefuls and sighed. "Now people! Move!" he roared causing everyone to scatter.
"Good luck Harry!" Kaela said giving him a quick peck on the cheek.
"You too." he replied as she ran off to join the chasers.
His hand came up to touch the spot where she had kissed him for a few seconds before he smiled and went to join the other seeker hopefuls.
Letting out a chuckle as the crowd ran off, Coach Strickland moved towards the first and smallest group. "Seekers, go take a seat, you're last."
A groan went through the group causing Coach to smile before he went to the next group. The crowd always liked the seeker tryouts the best so every year he saved them until last. And every year the group groaned as they'd just done.
The Coach with the help of his assistants took the groups through a series of drills making notes about their performance all the while. Eventually he moved up to something resembling a game where there was a keeper, two beaters and three chasers on the field. The chasers tried to score while the keeper guarded the hoops and the beaters tried to knock them off their brooms. During the exercise, the coach was constantly rotating the hopefuls through the various positions. Finally after several long hours, the coach decided he had seen enough and instructed everyone to land.
"Excellent work up there people. I know you're all excited to find out who will be on the varsity team this year but with one exception you'll have to wait until lunch tomorrow to find out. That exception is of course the seeker. If you'll all take a seat on the edge of the pitch and the seeker hopefuls will join me in the middle we'll get started."
There was a mad scramble as everyone who had just finished trying out grabbed a seat off the pitch while the seekers stepped forward. Coach Strickland grinned as ten students followed him out to the middle of the pitch. He knew exactly who Harry Potter was and had been looking forward to this tryout ever since he had found out he was going to be attending Salem.
It didn't take long for the hopefuls to join him forming a loose half circle in front of where he was standing. He didn't say anything for a couple of minutes, just looked at them silently while he awaited the arrival of a special trunk. A minute later one of his assistant coaches appeared and set it on the ground in front of him.
"Alright, in case you don't know how this works I just want you to know that by the end of this practice one of you will be named the varsity seeker for the lions."
Silence met the coach's words but the anticipation and excitement could be felt heavy in the air. After looking at the group of students for another minute, Coach Strickland kicked the lid of the box open and dozens of snitches shot out, zipping away across the pitch.
"On three you're to catch as many as you can until you hear the whistle blow. Got it?"
Receiving nods from the hopefuls the coach grinned. "Three!" he shouted.
Most of the group looked around confused but Harry and two others immediately shot into the air and began hunting the small golden balls. The crowd around the stadium was a mixture of cheering and laughter as they watched the scene unfolding below. It didn't take the other seekers long to realize what had happened and join in the hunt.
Harry felt the familiar thrill of flight wash over him as he took to the air. Almost immediately he spotted a snitch and thrust his broom towards it. A moment later he had the small ball in his hand and was looking for another one. Spotting a pair of the balls near one of the towers, he shoved the one he'd caught in his shirt and pointed his broom towards the new ones.
Just as he reached the two balls they shot off in opposite directions. Pulling back hard, his feet brushed against the tower as he changed direction to follow one of the elusive golden orbs. Another seeker was climbing rapidly towards his prey but with a slight course correction he was able to lean forward on his broom and snatch it out of the air just before the other seeker arrived. With two caught, he zoomed off across the pitch to find some more.
Kaela watched the tryouts with her heart bouncing around inside her chest. Her eyes were locked on Harry as he zoomed across the pitch grabbing every snitch he encountered with what looked like a practiced ease. Her stomach would flutter as he would pass close to where she was sitting and she would see the large smile on his face. Her heart would rise up into her throat as he would aim for a tower or the ground only to plummet again as he pulled out, narrowly missing crashing into one or the other. Yes, she would definitely have to kill him for doing this to her when the tryouts were over.
Eventually the whistle sounded and all of the seekers landed around the coach.
"Starting on the left, sound off." he said.
Looking towards the opposite end of the line he was in, Harry saw a small boy holding a single snitch in his hand.
"One Coach."
The coach nodded and a man standing next to him with a clipboard noted a one next to the number the boy was wearing.
"Three Coach."
"Two Coach."
"Three Coach."
The hopefuls continued to sound off most having caught one or two, and only one having caught four when they finally reached Harry.
"Sound off son." the coach said as Harry fumbled around inside his shirt.
"Umm, I'm trying coach."
The coach let out a chuckle as Harry fumbled around pulling the snitches he had caught out of his shirt. Seeing he was having trouble holding them all he stepped forward to help. Once they were all out, the coach step back and called out again.
"Alright, now sound off."
"Fourteen Coach." Harry said.
"Nice work Potter." he said though Harry was barely able to hear him over the roar of the crowd.
The coach tapped the top of the chest with his wand three times and all of the snitches he had released earlier zoomed back into the box before one of the assistants closed and carried it away.
"Good job you lot. Some of you will be selected for our other squads but we need to select our varsity chaser for this year. You can all take a seat except for Potter."
Harry swallowed heavily and was surprised when he was joined by his roommate Jack and minute later.
"Sup Harry." Jack said extending his hand.
"Hey Jack."
"Nice job by the way."
"Thanks."
"Enough chit chat you two." the coach said interrupting their greeting. Reaching in his pocket he pulled out another snitch. "Games simple enough, whoever catches the snitch, gets to start varsity. Fair enough?"
Receiving a nod from both Harry and Jack, the coach threw the snitch into the air. "Three!"
Harry and Jack shot into the air like they were being chased by the devil himself. Both could see the snitch zipping through the air just ahead of them and both wanted to catch it more than they wanted anything else in the world right now.
The snitch led them high above the stands before shooting off across the pitch in a zig zag pattern that had both the seekers wondering what it was going to do next. A moment later it went into a steep dive with the pair hot on its trail. Their speed increased as the earth came nearer and nearer before the snitch finally leveled off a few feet above the ground. Harry pulled out just in time brushing his feet slightly against the grass but Jack wasn't so lucky. His feet contacted the ground hard causing him to loose his balance and he pulled up a little too hard overcompensating for hitting the ground. The result was that he was now a couple lengths behind by the time he required Harry and the snitch.
Flying along a few feet off the ground, Harry knew he was in the clear to catch the snitch and pushed his broom forward, reaching out beyond its tip as he stretched his body towards the little ball. Just as he was about to grab it, the snitch reversed course, slamming into his outstretched hand. Already unsteady from the position he was in, the snitch knocked him backwards off the broom. He rolled over backwards once through the air before impacting Jack who was just behind him and they both fell onto the ground in a tangled heap of limbs.
All noise left the stadium as the pair lay still on the grass for a minute until Harry managed to shake the dizziness from his head and sit up. "You ok Jack?"
"Damn that hurt." Jack said letting out a little cough. "But yeah, I think I'll live. You get it?"
Looking down at his hand, Harry hadn't even realized he was holding the snitch until Jack had asked. "Yeah, I did." he said with a grin. Holding the winged ball up high over his head, the silence was broken as the crowed roared with approval.
The trainers ran forward and quickly gave the pair a once over before giving their approval and letting the two go. Coach Strickland accepted the snitch from Harry and gave him a pat on the shoulder before turning to address the crowd.
"I'm proud to announce the Lions Seeker for the varsity team this year will be Harry Potter!"
Another roar ripped through the crowd at his announcement before they all rushed the field. Almost immediately Harry found himself in the middle of the spectacle being patted on the back and congratulated by everyone who could reach him. After several minutes, he felt a hand grab his shoulder and spin him around before pulling him into a bone crushing hug.
"I knew you could do it Harry!" said an excited Kaela. After a minute she pulled back slightly. "But I swear I'll kill you myself if you keep scaring me like that!"
Harry grinned sheepishly before she pulled him in for another hug. Eventually she loosened her hold on him so other well wishers could congratulate their new seeker though she did not let go.
Harry and Kaela were joined by Jack again at lunch the next day. Harry had been worried that his roommate would be upset about loosing his seeker position but was surprised when Jack had been truly happy for him. 'It's only a game.' he had said.
They were about half way through lunch when cheering was heard at one end of the cafeteria and the group realized the results of the tryouts had been posted. Harry looked next to him to find Kaela looking very nervous. He was pretty sure she was thinking about fleeing the cafeteria.
"Come on ." he said grabbing her hand before she could get away.
"I… I don't know…"
Harry chuckled and pulled her up from her seat. "Chicken?"
Kaela's eyes narrowed as she looked up to find him laughing at her. Squeezing his hand tightly, she pulled him through the crowd to the posting. Taking a deep breath she stepped forward and began reading the list. A loud squeal escaped her lips and she spun around in excitement when she found her name listing her as being part of the varsity squad.
"I did it! I'm on the varsity team!" she screamed loudly.
Unable to control her self she jumped into Harry's arms and gave him a big kiss. The crowd around them started cheering loudly bringing Kaela back to herself. Realizing what she was doing, she quickly ended the kiss and lowered herself to the ground.
"Err… Sorry."
Harry couldn't help but grin at the abashed look on her face. "Don't worry about it. Congratulations."
Leaning forward he placed a kiss on her cheek getting a smile in return.
-
AN: Sorry it's been so long since I've updated, I just haven't been able to get myself to work on my existing stories lately. I haven't been completely idle though, I had several ideas bouncing around in my head and decided to write them down as single chapters to use later thinking this would get them out of my head and let me get back to this one. After I wrote a few of them I realized they all fit together really well as a single story and the next thing I know I've got another story that's sitting at about 70,000 words right now. I figure it's somewhere around half way done. Not sure when I'm gonna post it, I've already got several half done stories out there so I'm not sure if I want to post another one half done and risk not working on it or wait until its completed.
Lots of mixed reviews for Kaela, I know this story is currently weighted fairly heavily in the romance area, but that will become secondary very shortly as things get rolling once again. Much of the last couple of chapters has been transitional but as you hopefully picked up on, things will begin happening again soon.
Kinsfire – I love it that you're trying to figure out where the school I've described is but you'll never succeed for two reasons. One, I've never been to Salem so made it up completely and two, you're a muggle so the repelling wards will keep you from finding it. Grins!
As always, I can't thank you all enough for reading and reviewing. My single biggest gripe from the reviewers is that I don't update enough and while I can't promise anything, I'll try. Thanks again everyone!