Quidditch

Harry shook his head as Draco Malfoy and his two goons, three if you counted Weasley lurking behind them, turned and walked over to the Slytherin table. Neville's gran had sent him a Remembrall in the mail this morning, a glass orb with white smoke in it that apparently turns red if the person holding it has forgotten something. Malfoy had taken great glee in making fun of Neville on his way to his own seat after seeing Neville's mere touch caused the smoke to turn deep crimson.

"Why did your Grandmother send something like that in the morning mail, Neville?" Harry asked. She had to have known that it could be embarrassing for her grandson to open in the middle of his friends.

"Oh," Neville sighed as he looked at the accompanying note again, "she was mad that I forgot to mention that Dudley and Hermione can both use wandless magic too. She said maybe with this I won't forget something so important again." He shook his head, "Fat chance of that. I forget everything. She also wanted me to ask about your tutor, but you already said you taught yourselves."

"Maybe she needs the Remembrall." Dudley joked.

"You wouldn't kid like that if you'd met her," Harry admonished, "she was really… uh… I guess 'serious' is the right word."

"Well, we already said we would help teach you once we get used to the school schedule." Hermione said, "Professor Flitwick also asked to meet with us this weekend to talk about the book we were using to learn from."

"Yeah, maybe we could start doing that this weekend too?" Harry added, "After flying today we'll have had each class at least once."

Harry was really looking forward to flying, though Najash had already stated that he wanted no part of being completely separated from the ground. He was going to wait out that class in the Tower.

Hermione shuddered when Harry mentioned that they would be flying brooms for the first time today, she wasn't looking forward to that at all. Maybe she could get away with writing an essay or something for that class?

o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o

Remus Lupin shook the dust off his pants as he got to his feet after the old portkey deposited him just outside the area of Potter Lodge. The portkeys from the main vault seemed to have become a little weaker over the last ten years, this was the second one where the landing wasn't as clean as it should have been.

As he walked down the path towards the main building, which the goblins had told him was basically a hunting lodge, he felt the presence of wards. Potter Lodge was supposed to be abandoned, and it was never heavily invested in to begin with, its wards should have decayed by now. Remus continued cautiously as he realized that it was only a series of Muggle-Repelling wards and a simple Aversion ward and not a standard magical defense ward. The lodge itself was sitting on an acre of clearing surrounded by forest in the south of Scotland. According to Axegut the building should have a basement that Remus thought would be a perfect hole for his transformations.

Remus stopped at the edge of the treeline to get a look around, someone had to be coming around here for there to be a ward on the property. He only needed to wait a moment before he saw a rider on a broom come out from behind the lodge. The rider looked young, pre-Hogwarts age even, and they were chased by two more, younger children. He waited a few more moments before revealing himself, and was rewarded when a black haired woman came running outside of the lodge, yelling at the child on the broom.

Remus began walking out of the forest towards the woman and children while she berated the now-downed rider, a boy. He had crossed half the distance before the woman noticed him; so he raised his hands over his head to show he was unarmed, but she drew a wand and pointed it at him anyways.

Confident that he could move aside if the woman cast something at him, he continued walking forward as he stated, "I apologize for startling you, I mean you no harm."

"Stay back, you won't take them!" The woman shouted as she pushed the three children, two boys and a girl, behind her.

Remus frowned, "Are you alright ma'am, are you in trouble?"

"Don't try to fool me! My father sent you! You won't take my children!" The woman was becoming hysterical as she screamed at him, she seemed she would do something dangerous soon.

Remus, realizing that this situation would escalate quickly, made a decision, dropping his hand as he drew his wand from it's wrist holster and firing a silent stunner spell at the woman. She had just enough time to register the attack before it struck, but not enough to dodge. Remus followed up with a swift levitating charm to keep her from hurting herself on the stairs she'd been standing on.

The children screamed as the woman that had been protecting them hovered a few inches off the ground, unconscious. The oldest jumped in front of the other two, his fists up and ready to fight. Remus thought for a moment about how to calm the poor boy down before deciding to lightly toss his wand up onto the porch behind the children and raise his hands again.

"I'm sorry for stunning her, your mother I guess?" He asked as he slowly edged forward, "I don't know what's going on here, so why don't we get her inside and you three can tell me all about it?"

The oldest was crying as the adult wizard advanced, he glanced back at the other two, obviously his siblings based on the resemblance, before nodding and slowly lowering his own hands.

"Alright," Remus said kindly as he stopped at the base of the stairs, "let me carry her then." He reached down and picked up the woman, then indicated for the children to open the door and precede him.

Inside he found a simple sitting room with a pair of worn couches and two chairs in front of a hearth, and laid the woman on one of the couches. Once done, he asked the children if there was tea in the house and set to make some after they had said that there was. While the water boiled he learned that their names were, from the oldest who was nine to the youngest who was only three, James, Marielle, and Heathcliff. The woman on the couch was their mother, and they were hiding from her family. With the tea placed on the sitting room table, Remus finally stepped outside to retrieve his wand. When he walked back in with it, the children were immediately fearful again, despite the calming cups of tea in their hands.

Remus sighed and poured himself and the unconscious woman a cup before sitting down across from her and pointing his wand in her direction.

"Renervate." He incanted.

The woman jerked upright, head swiveling around until it locked onto first her children, then Remus, then the steaming cup of tea in front of her, "What's going on?" She asked, her voice weak and breaking.

"Do not worry, ma'am, I'm not here to hurt you or your children. I swear." He said, taking a sip of tea and gesturing for her to do the same.

She tentatively reached forward and took the cup from the table, allowing the bitter taste of the undoctored tea to fortify her nerves. After a second sip, with the strange man merely watching silently as he drank his own tea, she found the courage to speak again.

"Who are you?" She asked, "If you aren't here for us, then why are you here?"

"Actually, I'm sort of the landlord here. Or at least his representative." Remus answered with a chuckle.

"Are you going to make us leave?" The woman had a renewed panic in her voice, "I don't know where else we could go! Everyone in town knew that this lodge was abandoned, no one has thought to look for us here."

"Not right away, ma'am." He placated, "Do you know who's land this actually is?"

"I'm not sure, honestly." She replied after thinking a moment, "It's never been used to my knowledge. My father said that it belonged to an old family, but they must not have been the 'right sort' because he never talked about them."

Remus frowned, "Who exactly is your father?"

The woman's face turned pale again at his question, but she responded, "My name is Temperance Smith, nee Burke. Caractacus Burke, Lord Burke's younger brother, is my father."

She looked up at the stranger in front of her as she continued, "I ran away to marry a muggle after the war. Joseph, my husband, died while I was pregnant with Heath, and my father offered to take us back and help me through the pregnancy. I was desperate, and truly wanted to believe he'd come around. But six months after Heath was born, he tried to take my children from me and cast me out again. He said he thought he could 'beat the muggle out of them' if he tried hard enough. I ran away and we've been living here for the past two-or-so years."

Remus nodded as she finished her story, "How have you survived here for over two years by yourselves? You couldn't go into the village for supplies for fear of people suspecting where you came from, and you couldn't go to the magical world either with your father looking for you."

She looked ashamed as she answered, "There was a large pile of Galleons in the basement in a safe, a few thousand. I would take a handful of those and apparate to a muggle town with a pawn shop and pawn the gold for muggle money, different places each time. I also apparated to grocery stores and the like when I needed."

"I see, I'm glad there was something here to help support you." the man said, "Allow me to formally introduce myself now. I am Remus Lupin, House Steward of the Potter family. Yes, that one."

Temperance's eyes widened in shock. She had stolen from the Boy-Who-Lived?

"We're so sorry! I swear, we'll find a way to pay back every Galleon!" She was quick to say.

Remus merely smirked as he replied, "I doubt that will be necessary, by the state of this place I would say you have already performed quite the service for House Potter."

"How do you mean?" She asked. True, the lodge had been absolutely filthy when they'd moved in, but she was always good with household charms so it was only a couple week's work to disinfect everything by herself.

"Albus Dumbledore dropped the Quaffle, so to speak, when it came to caring for House Potter while serving as Harry Potter's magical guardian. So much so that a squib who was distantly related to him found out about it and was able to take Harry's magical guardianship from Dumbledore via Gringotts. One of the most egregious things he did, in-house, was neglect the care of every property except the one Harry was living at."

He continued, "I have visited four now, of the five Potter properties in Great Britain. This is the first one that is actually usable, as is. All the others will need a few weeks or more of work to remove pest infestations, clean ten years of neglect, and also rehire staff to keep up the larger one at Potter Manor."

Temperance had a look of hope on her face, "So, you aren't going to make us leave?"

The three children, now huddled around their mother on the couch, also looked to Remus now. He smiled sadly at the family, "Not today, I'm going to let Ms. Acacia know about you. She is my actual employer since, obviously, Harry is in school. She's a very caring woman, and I do not think her heart would let her leave you with nothing or nowhere."

Temperance sighed in relief at the news, "Oh thank you! If there's anything we can do for you, just let us know."

"Well, could you show me the basement?" Remus returned, "That was actually why I chose to come to this property at all, it wasn't on Ms. Acacia's list."

Temperance led him downstairs after extracting a promise from James not to try riding that old broom again when he was supposed to be minding his brother. A third of the basement area was cut off from the rest, as well as the stairs up, by a metal cage with thick bars that was obviously meant for holding dogs. There was direct access to the grounds from one side, but that was still on the outside of the cage.

"Perfect." Remus intoned.

"I'm sorry, what were you looking for down here?" Temperance wasn't sure what to think of a man looking at a cage and his first thought being 'perfect'.

Remus pondered how best to approach that subject, he certainly didn't want to do it with the children around, but he didn't want to panic Mrs. Smith either. At least she was one of the least likely people to out him as a werewolf. Deciding on a course of action, he offered her his wand, handle first. She didn't seem like she would be a danger, even if she did attack him in fear.

"Ma'am, do not be alarmed," he began once she had accepted the wand with a confused look on her face, "I am a werewolf."

The effect was immediate. She stumbled backwards, falling onto her bum and scooting away from him before looking at her hands and realizing she still held both their wands. Once she realized that she was armed and he wasn't she pointed them at him, though her hands were shaky as she tried to aim.

"I still promise you that I mean you no harm. Everything I have told you today was the truth." Remus said evenly, kneeling down to be at eye level with her, "I came here today to see if this basement would work as a place I could lock myself away when I transform. This cage is perfect because I can transfigure the bars to silver and draw some runes on them to ensure the wolf can't break them."

Noticing a pair of stools near the cage, he walked over and sat in one after moving the other several feet away and indicating for her to sit. She didn't look like she would have accepted his hand at the moment, so he didn't offer to help her up.

"I didn't want to scare the children," he continued, "but I felt that you should know. Especially since I am going to have to use the basement here. You and your children can't be here while I'm transformed."

Temperance, who had worked up the nerve to sit in the offered stool, looked heartbroken at that, "Then why did you tell them that we could stay?"

"Because you can," He placated, "at least for now. If you really want to stay here then we could work something out for the one night a month I have to lock myself up. But after seeing how nice the upstairs looked, I was hoping I could offer you a different solution?"

Temperance looked at him quizzically for a moment, "What did you have in mind?"

"As I said, there are other Potter properties that are in disarray, if you and your family are amenable, I would like to suggest to Ms. Acacia that we let you move into one of the other properties. One that is actually meant to house a family, I'm taken to believe there is only one bedroom here?"

Temperance nodded at that and he went on, "Before I continue, may I assume based on the state of the upstairs that you are adept at household charms?"

"Yes, in Hogwarts that was one of the few things I was really good at. I got an acceptable OWL in potions, and I'm pretty good at simple wards too, but not much else."

"Well then," Remus continued, "I would like to suggest to Ms. Acacia that you be allowed to choose one of the vacant properties to clean and inhabit. You would be paid for the service of cleaning, and then maintaining, the land and house. Once that is done, if you are agreeable, then I would like you to begin working on the others. Once a location is finished, other than the one you chose to live at, I'll have Gringotts erect stasis wards to keep it that way, like Dumbledore should have done in the first place."

"No offense intended, Mister Lupin," Temperance said with tears in her eyes, "but I'm rather glad that he neglected his duties in that regard. Without this place my father would have taken my children from me two years ago."

Remus nodded in understanding before rising from the stool again, just before he was going to suggest heading back upstairs he spied a second broomstick leaning in the corner. An old Comet if his memory was right, though he couldn't place the number on those older brooms. A red Quaffle was laying on the ground beside it.

"James wouldn't happen to be interested in Quidditch, would he?" Remus asked while he walked over to the broom and ball.

"I made the mistake of taking him to a game when he was five," She said, "he's obsessed with it now. I actually named him after James Potter, and when my James found out that his namesake was a star chaser that became all he wanted to talk about. I know he's too young, and I'm worried he'll hurt himself, but I don't have the heart to actually take the broom away permanently. There's just so little for the children to do here because they can't wander too far into the woods."

"Ms. Acacia's husband prefers if I don't stop by for discussions while he's away at work, so I have some time. Do you think little James would be up to some one-on-one practise?" Remus asked as he held up the ball and gripped the old broom in the corner, "I happened to know James, Potter that is. He practised scoring against me and another of our friends each summer during the off-season while we were in school."

"Wait, Remus Lupin? That Remus Lupin? The one that hung around James Potter and… Sirius Black? They were only a year behind me, How is that possible? You look so…so…" Temperance put her hand over her mouth as she realized how rude that statement was about to become.

"Old?" Remus laughed, trying to dismiss the mention of the traitor, "Yes, that sort of comes with it." He gestured at the cage as he answered.

"I'm so sorry, that was very rude of me." Temperance said hastily, "I'm sure that James would love a chance to fly with someone. Especially if you tell him that you knew Lord Potter."

"Well then, shall we head back upstairs?" Remus said cheerfully, "I'll transfigure something into a low-sitting goal post and we can have Marielle keep score."

Temperance nodded and smiled, trying very hard to focus on everything that Mister Lupin was offering her and her family and not on the fact that she was walking beside a werewolf.

o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o

"Up!" Hermione practically shouted at the length of wood on the ground beside her, which did nothing but roll over just like every other time she'd tried.

"You have to believe it's gonna happen, Hermione." Harry advised. His own broom had leapt into his hand on the first try, practically before he'd finished giving the command.

Hermione frowned, she didn't really want the broom in her hand. That would mean she'd have to actually get on it and try flying…

"Alright, those who haven't gotten their brooms to come to them, please pick them up." The flying instructor, Madame Hooch, said as she walked between the two rows of students split by house, "Now, mount your broom and stand in a ready position."

Harry glanced over at both Neville and Hermione struggling to position on their brooms, Neville's almost seemed to wiggle under him like it didn't want to be ridden.

"Mister Malfoy, your grip is backwards and too far back, please correct that before I have to pry you off a castle wall." She said, glaring at the pompous Slytherin as his face grew red with anger.

"This is how I've flown a broom my whole life!" He yelled back.

"Then you've been doing it wrong your whole life, a point from Slytherin for back talk." She returned, "Now when I blow my whistle, I want you to kick off and hover over the ground, then-"

The class didn't get to hear what to do then, as Neville shot up twenty feet into the air, screaming as his broom spun in circles while rising, before being bucked off and landing with a sickening crunch of broken bone. Hermione immediately dropped the broom in her hands like it was going to bite her.

"Stay where you are! All of you!" Madame Hooch shouted as she ran over to Neville and examined his wrist, pointing at a grotesque angle from his arm, "It's broken, we're going to have to go to the Hospital Wing."

"No one else leaves the ground until I return! If I see a broom in the air you'll be out of Hogwarts faster than you can say 'Quidditch'!" She continued as she levitated Neville, still moaning in shock, up to the castle.

"Look, the squib lost his Remembrall." Malfoy jeered as he picked up the glass ball from the ground once the teacher was away, "I wonder where I should put it? Maybe on the roof of the astronomy tower?"

"Give that here Malfoy." Harry demanded, holding out his hand. The rest of the class began watching the exchange intently.

"I don't think I will, Potter. Come and take it if you really want it." Malfoy taunted as he kicked off the ground into the air with ease.

Harry wasted no time in remounting his own broom and kicking into the sky after Malfoy with Hermione shouting at him from the ground about being expelled. Harry felt the magic of the broom underneath him respond instantly to his commands and he grinned as he took flight. Harry zoomed straight at Malfoy, aiming to grab the remembrall out of his hand as he wasn't holding it tightly. Malfoy panicked when he saw Harry charge directly at him and spun away from the smaller boy in a very wobbly barrel roll.

"If you want it that bloody bad then take it!" Malfoy shouted in fear as he hurled the ball at the nearest tower of the castle.

Harry immediately chased after it, watching the ball's trajectory as he flew at full speed towards the castle. With only fifteen feet before he would hit the stone tower Harry pulled his broom up vertically, stalling and slowing his speed tremendously as he swiveled his head and watched the approaching Remembrall before snatching it out of the air with his free hand. Harry had slowed enough by the time his feet hit the stone that he was simply able to kick back off the wall and return to his classmates, holding Neville's Remembrall up in triumph the whole way.

Harry knew something was wrong the moment he touched down, Hermione was white as a sheet as she looked not at him, but behind him.

"Mister Potter, please come with me." Harry heard Professor Mcgonagall's voice behind him, "Now."

As Harry was led away by Mcgonagall, he glanced back to see Hermione watching him and silently sobbing while Parvati put a comforting arm around her shoulders, he mouthed 'sorry' to them before turning back to keep up with the professor.

Harry wasn't sure exactly what he could say in his defense. He'd broken the rules, no doubt, but he felt that it wasn't fair that she hadn't made Malfoy come to be punished as well. His frustration turned to curiosity, then horror, when she stopped at the charms classroom and asked Professor Flitwick if she could 'borrow Wood for a moment.' Did Hogwarts actually use corporal punishment like Mister Filch liked to suggest?

His fears were put aside when an older student, a Gryffindor that Harry remembered seeing in the common room a few times, came out of the classroom. Mcgonagall guided them a few doors down to an unused room and kicked Peeves the Poltergeist out of it. Before turning back to the students, she took her wand and erased the profanity that the prankster spirit had written all over the blackboard.

Once the older student, who had introduced himself to Harry as Oliver Wood as they crossed the hall, asked what was going on the Professor smiled like a cat with a canary.

"Mister Wood, I believe I have found you a Seeker." She said proudly.

"Huh?" Harry asked.

"Really?" Wood talked over him, who began to circle Harry to examine him more closely, "Are you any good at flying, Potter?"

"What's going on here?" Harry asked, his confusion showing more and more on his face, "Am I not in trouble?"

"Oh, make no mistake Mister Potter, you are most certainly in trouble. But I am hoping to give you a rather different form of 'punishment'." She said the last word with a hint of mirth and sarcasm, "Have you heard of Quidditch?"

"It's a sport on broomsticks is about all I know about it." Harry responded, "I was sort of interested in it, and flying that broom earlier was awesome. I just felt so… free. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Mister Potter," She explained, "the Gryffindor Quidditch team is missing its most important player this year, and there is no one who even tried out for the position from the older year groups. If this state had continued until October, the cutoff for team entry, Gryffindor would have had to concede the entire inter-house Quidditch league for the year. Which would also effectively drop us from contention in the House Cup as well."

"And you think I could be that player? The most important position on the team? Why me? I don't even know the rules!" Harry had no idea what was going on here, was he being offered the position instead of being punished? Or was embarrassing himself trying to play this sport he'd never seen before supposed to be the punishment?

"No offense professor," Wood interjected, "but what makes you think he'd be a good seeker? He has the build, for sure, but he's a first year. Also, he's muggle raised from what I heard, so he's got no experience on a broom."

"What does experience matter in the face of raw, natural talent?" Mcgonagall answered smugly, "You should have seen him earlier, he pulled out of a full-speed charge directly at a tower wall in time to catch that Remembrall still in his hand. Just snatched it out of the air like picking a flower, then kicked off the wall and landed. I doubt Charlie Weasley could have pulled out of that charge in time while still catching his target."

"Weasley?" Harry asked. Another one?

"Charlie Weasley graduated last year." Oliver lamented, "He was the seeker and team captain. He was the best seeker the team has seen in years. The twins are both on the team now. Seeing all three on a team together last year was like poetry in motion."

"If the team needs a player then I don't mind trying out." Harry said, confident now that he wasn't really in trouble, "What does a 'Seeker' do?"

"Almost exactly what you just did outside," Mcgonagall answered, "There are three kinds of balls in Quidditch, the seeker only really cares about one, the Golden Snitch. Its slightly smaller than that Remembrall, and flies using magical wings. The seeker's job is to catch the snitch, which marks the end of the game and gives the successful seeker's team points equal to fifteen goals."

Harry frowned, that didn't sound like a very interesting game at all. What was the point of the other players if the seeker could invalidate an entire game just by doing his job?

Seeing the young boy's trepidation, Mcgonagall went for the kill, "Did you know that your father played Quidditch?" Harry's eyes widened as his attention was suddenly fixed on the professor's words, he had forgotten that his father played on the school sports team. Obviously that sport had to be Quidditch, since there wasn't another one that was played at Hogwarts.

"He was team captain for the last three years of his schooling as well. He was a chaser, the position that scores goals, and not a seeker; but I still think he would be rather proud of you for your flying skill." She finished.

Harry's grin at learning that he shared something with his father helped Mcgonagall not feel quite as bad about using his parents to get him to play, she really wanted to win this year!

"As well," She finished, "I believe that there is still at least one award that your father won for his Quidditch victories on display in the trophy room."

"In that case I'd definitely like to try it out." Harry said, "But I didn't think that first years were allowed to have a broom at Hogwarts? There's no way one of those school brooms could compete could they? They all looked pretty old and worn out."

"I will speak to the headmaster about relaxing that rule in this case. There is already precedent for it, though a century or more old. At the conclusion of class today I will visit your aunt about getting you a broom. It will need to be fast, since you're a seeker, and I daresay it could be faster than most because of your innate skill."

"Maybe a Nimbus Two-Thousand? Or the newest Cleansweep?" Wood offered.

"We shall see," Mcgonagall responded, "it will depend on Harry's aunt. She may decide that the sport is too dangerous and forbid him, and I shan't argue with her if that's her decision."

"I understand, ma'am." Harry said, "Please tell her about my dad being on the school team when you do. Uh, would it be alright if I visited Neville to make sure he's alright? He broke his wrist really bad right before that thing with Malfoy."

"Perhaps wait until tonight then, if his wrist was broken too badly then Mister Longbottom was probably given a sleeping draught to ease the pain of the bone-reknitting potion. Even more likely if Madame Pompfrey had to vanish his bones and grow all-new ones."

"That makes sense, ma'am. What should I do now, then?" Harry asked. "Flying class doesn't let out for another half-hour."

"Surely you have some homework you could get ahead on? That will be something else you will need to consider if you want to join the team." Mcgonagall stated with a raised eyebrow; Harry nodded sheepishly, took the dismissal for what it was, and left for Gryffindor Tower to collect his work and tell Najash about what happened while he was sleeping.

o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o

"That poor woman has been taking care of three children while hiding out in a run-down hunting lodge?" Petunia's voice was weak after she listened to Remus's report of Potter Lodge.

"Yes," He answered, "apparently there was an emergency fund in the basement that she was able to access to pay for necessities. But I can't imagine what that kind of living would be like for the children."

"I think your plan to let her clean a house so she can live in it is a great one." Vernon added as he put down his tea, "We can't in good conscience just kick her and her family out, and this way it'll keep anyone in your world from knowing that the properties need work in the first place."

"Those were my thoughts exactly." Remus answered, "As much as I'd like to bring Dumbledore to task for letting things get into this state, nothing we throw at him would stick. It would be better to just let everyone think that House Potter is as strong as ever."

Vernon nodded his agreement. His nephew may be heir to a lordship, but that didn't mean anything if the family name was dragged through a ton of negative press.

"Could you take me to meet them on Saturday or Sunday?" Petunia asked, "We could take a folder with us of the different properties and let her and the children pick one out while we take the chance to get to know them. If they seem alright we may be able to introduce the children to some of Harry and Dudley's friends, maybe start with Tina? We wouldn't need to worry about their ability to hide their magic with her."

"That would be excellent." Remus said, "I was wondering as well, is Hedwig here by chance? She found me on Tuesday and left a rather interesting note from two of Harry's classmates concerning my own time in Hogwarts, but didn't stay long enough for me to write a response."

"She's been here since Tuesday afternoon despite us not planning to write the children for a while." Petunia answered with a smile, "We figured she knew something we didn't."

After verifying that it was okay to work magic in their living room, Remus began composing his return letter to the Weasley twins. Hopefully they would agree that Harry deserved to be the one to inherit the Map. If not, there was always the Marauder way of doing things to ensure it ended up in the right hands.

It took longer than he had planned to get the enchantments on the letter to behave just right; and by the time he was done Petunia had asked him to stay for dinner, something he certainly wasn't going to say 'no' to. Her cooking was almost as good as he remembered Lily's being.

As Petunia was gathering the plates from the table after they had finished eating, the doorbell rang. Vernon was the one to check on it, and was a little put off to find Professor Mcgonagall waiting on his front porch.

"Did something happen?" He asked as he let the woman in, "One of the boys get into trouble?"

"Of a sort." She returned, "Neither of them is hurt, nor Hermione, though I was hoping I could speak to you and Petunia about something concerning Harry."

"What's wrong?" Petunia asked as she came into the living room, followed by Remus, "Is everything okay?"

Mcgonagall was prepared to tell Petunia about the incident in flying class today, but seeing her former student in the Dursley home threw her concentration.

"I'm sorry, ma'am." Mcgonagall said as she temporarily turned away from Petunia, "Mister Lupin, what are you doing here?"

"I am fulfilling my duties as Steward of House Potter, Professor Mcgonagall." He answered smoothly, "You said you were here about Harry, has something happened?"

"Perhaps we could sit down for a moment?" The professor suggested, she needed a moment to categorize that new tidbit of information, "This may take a few minutes to get through."

After the four had found seats and evening tea, Mcgonagall continued explaining, "This afternoon was Harry and Hermione's first flying class-"

"Oh no, did one of them fall and get hurt?" Petunia interjected, "Hermione was so worried about it."

"No ma'am," Mcgonagall answered patiently, "a student did fall and hurt his wrist. But he should be right as rain by tomorrow morning. No, what I want to tell you about happened right afterwards…"

"So Harry almost breaks his neck while skirting the rules and you want to reward him?" Petunia hissed after Mcgongall had finished telling her hosts about Harry's altercation with Malfoy.

"In his defense, Missus Dursley," Mcgonagall apologized, "Harry seemed to be in perfect control of the broom the entire time. Frankly the only person I've ever seen quite that comfortable in the air on their first flight was Harry's father."

"You really think he's that good?" Lupin leaned forwards to gauge how serious the teacher was as the Dursleys looked at him to elaborate. "It's just," He added, as he saw Petunia glare at him, "James was one of the best flyers Gryffindor had ever seen. He was Quidditch captain from his fourth year until he graduated. Is Harry really that good?"

"Perhaps even better," Mcgonagall corrected, "James may have been a flyer, but Harry was able to follow the path of Mister Longbottom's Remembrall with his eyes while moving at full speed. It was truly remarkable."

"What did Harry say when you asked him about this?" Vernon asked. He knew Harry was pretty good at sports, even if the boy wasn't the biggest fan of them.

"He said he found flying to be exhilarating," She answered, "and said he would love to try out the game at the very least. Learning, after the fact, that his father was a Gryffindor Quidditch champion just made him that much keener to try."

Petunia looked at Remus for a moment before asking, "Mister Lupin, do you believe that Quidditch is too dangerous for an eleven-year-old? I presume there must be a reason that first years need parental permission to join the team. Especially if they aren't even supposed to have their own broom at school that year either."

"Quidditch can sometimes be a rough game." He answered honestly, "Though much less so in the school league. Harry's position as seeker isn't especially dangerous on the field, per se, but injuries up to broken bones are pretty common for just about anyone playing. One of the elements of the game is dodging two medium-sized iron balls called 'Bludgers' that fly around on their own and try to disrupt the players. One of the positions on each team has a bat that they use to play defense for the others from the bludgers."

"Broken bones? Common?" Petunia gasped, "How could a sport be worth risking his education if he broke his arm or something? How would he practise for classes?"

"I can answer that." Mcgonagall supplied, "The second question at least. The student who fell today actually broke his wrist pretty horribly. It was mangled enough that he wasn't allowed to have visitors until just before dinner tonight."

Petunia covered her mouth with her hand to stop from releasing a sob on the poor boy's behalf, but Mcgonagall pressed on with her explanation and shook Petunia's world, "He should be good as new by breakfast. Madame Pomfrey simply vanished all the bones in his hand and gave him a dose of Skele-Gro to replace them, all while he slept peacefully under the effects of another potion to keep from feeling pain or discomfort."

"Thats-" Vernon began, haltingly.

"The wonders of magic." Mcgonagall finished for him, "You see, any game would be on a Saturday, and that meant that even if a bone were broken they would be able to make it to class on Monday. That isn't to say that we don't care about injuries, obviously we try to minimize them where possible; but it does tend to change the meaning of "serious injury" in the magical world when things that I know take muggles weeks, months, or even longer to recover from can be bounced back from in mere days."

"That's incredible." Petunia breathed, "I knew that magical healing was amazing, but disappearing broken bones and growing new ones in their place overnight is far-and-away more impressive than making cuts heal without scars."

"You likely never heard of it because Skele-Gro would have been completely beyond your ability to brew. As well as having a very short shelf life, it actually requires spells to be cast over it in the brewing process." Remus explained to her, "I've been told it's not especially difficult to brew, but it does require a witch or wizard to even begin."

"I feel after this conversation that I already know the answer to this," Petunia finally asked, "but, Mister Lupin, do you think that Harry's parents would have wanted him on the team?"

"James? Absolutely." He said without reservation, "Lily would have argued, but probably caved if Harry asked, though she likely would have demanded certain academic standards for him to be allowed to continue."

Petunia smiled at that answer, exactly like she would have expected from her sister, "Alright, then that's what I'll do. As long as Harry maintains a 'B' average he can play on the team."

"In wizarding terms that would be an 'Exceeds Expectations', professor." Remus explained.

"Well," Mcgonagall concluded, "as well as he's done in my class so far, coupled with his downright sterling reports from Professors Sprout and Flitwick, I think that shouldn't be an issue at all. I also spoke with him today right after the incident about getting ahead on his homework if he wanted to be part of the team. I shall be sure to impress upon him that his academics come first."

Vernon and Petunia nodded at that, satisfied that Harry wouldn't let himself fall behind.

"There is only one other thing we need to take care of then." Mcgonagall continued, "He shall need a broomstick of his own. The school brooms are fine for learning the basics of flight, but there's no way they would be allowed anywhere near an actual Quidditch match."

"Oh dear," Petunia said, "How much does a broomstick cost? I wouldn't want to pull it out of his education fund if its a lot."

"Brooms can range from one hundred Galleons up to around eight hundred." Remus offered.

"That's preposterous!" Petunia exclaimed, after explaining the conversion to pounds Vernon was right beside her.

"That's pretty standard." Remus countered, "A broom is one of the most important investments a witch or wizard can make, besides their own wand. You probably don't want to hear this, but in your shoes James would have bought Harry the best broom imaginable the moment he showed any talent at it at all. He and his father both lived by the motto that you should never fail due to subpar equipment."

Petunia sighed in defeat at Remus' words. Since meeting the werewolf and finally having a connection to the other part of Harry's parents lives, she and Vernon had implicitly agreed that they should try and treat Harry as much like his parents would have done as they could. At least with regards to the magical world.

"Could you take care of that tomorrow morning then, Mister Lupin?" Petunia finally said after a short deliberation with her husband, "I'm sure I don't know the first thing about brooms. You could pick him out a good one for a seeker."

"Would you mind if Professor Mcgonagall joined me?" He asked hastily, "I'm a little out of touch with the finer things, she would be better for choosing an appropriate broom since all I really know about the current models is pricing. I was thinking of asking you to let me buy him one for Christmas, but I can think of something else."

"Of course, whatever you think is best." Petunia responded, "And I'm sure you can come up with something just as perfect for Christmas."

"In that case could we go this evening?" The professor in question asked, "That way he can have the broom delivered in the morning and have it available for him for practise on Saturday. It's scheduled for before breakfast, so if the broom were sent tomorrow it wouldn't get to him in time."

Vernon grinned at the woman, he could recognize a fellow sports fan when he saw one, "Am I to take it that you are rather invested in this… Quidditch?"

"Oh yes, I'm an avid fan of the sport. I'm hoping that with Harry's help the school cup will be sitting in the Gryffindor common room at the end of this year."

"An admirable goal," Vernon declared, "I was worried the boy would get soft away at that school. He didn't really play outside much around here unless Dudley was dragging him into it, so knowing that he's going to be doing something to keep in shape up there is good."

Mcgonagall smiled, "Yes, your son actually has a couple of his housemates running with him some mornings before breakfast. They have a circuit they jog around the Black Lake. I'm not sure what they'll do once the snows set in, though."

The professor glanced at the clock on the wall as she told the family about Dudley, "Mister Lupin, we should really be getting out if we are going to make it to Quality Quidditch Supplies on time tonight. They'll certainly open back up for me if we arrive a little late, but not if they are already gone for the evening."

After saying their goodbyes, the two magicals stepped around to the back alley that was used for apparition and left for Diagon Alley. Only Mcgonagall and the Headmaster had clearance within the wards to apparate on the property.

"It just doesn't end, does it Pet?" Vernon asked once they settled back down, just the two of them.

"Yes, but it's certainly exciting." She returned, "I hope we can get to see one of Harry's games. Maybe since I'm a squib I could get us a pass to come visit? It would tip our hand to Dumbledore, but with Remus and Mcgonagall on our side I don't think that should be a problem much longer."

"Something to think about," her husband agreed, "But maybe not in the first term? Give us a little more time to get everything with Harry's House straightened out."

o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o

The next morning at breakfast, Harry Potter received a five foot long package delivered by a quartet of owls. The attached letter informed him that it was his new broomstick, and that he shouldn't open it at breakfast to keep the other first years from rioting.

Meanwhile, further down the table, Hedwig delivered an envelope to the Weasley twins. Their neighbors, however, couldn't figure out why the twins were over-the-moon excited to receive a blank letter in the mail.