AN: I am not getting as much writing done as I would like due to this pandemic. My parents are both big into county politics, so I actually have more work than normal right now. I have a chapter for next week ready to go, and am continuing to work. Stay safe everyone!
Building Bridges
"Mind-to-Mind connection isn't actually Legilimency. Anyone skilled enough in Occlumency can do it if it is consensual." Healer Withering had explained to Tina's parents before the current session, "As long as she trusts me, and lets me in, I can use a spell with my wand to let us communicate on the mental level. That is why I was happy to let her help Mister Black. She has been learning to not instantly reject or ignore the magic of others when it brushes against hers. It was the magical equivalent of flinching and curling into oneself at the slightest touch."
Jeanette Withering was fascinated by the contents of young Tina's mind. The girl had no organization yet to speak of, her thoughts and memories flitted past the Healer's presence like wisps of dream, but certain markers were already apparent after only a few minutes in the child's consciousness.
Tina, she found, focused on people when she formed the backbone of her memories, rather than events like herself, but the child had a very odd way of going about it. Her subconscious created interesting pictures of people in her mind, emphasizing certain personality traits of the individual while suppressing others to create the girl's personal vision of the people she knew. A stray thought that passed her by peaked Jeanette's curiosity, and she followed the name 'Harry Potter,' until she found the memory that had been retreating from her; the day Tina and Harry met.
Tina's memory of that event was not what the healer expected. Her first reaction was shock, then surprise…
… and lastly, understanding. Unfortunately, Tina jerked back when the healer latched onto that particular memory, flinching away and eyeing the woman's wand nervously; and breaking the mental connection they had shared before she could feel the other woman's final decision on the event.
Jeanette carefully placed her wand down on the table between them to show that she wasn't a threat. Tina looked terrified, clearly she thought that she was in trouble over what had been seen. The healer smiled softly, and mimed zipping her own lips shut.
"I'm sorry to have worried you Tina, but I promise your secrets are yours." The healer assured her, "Could we keep going? That you could feel where I was means that we are making progress. Once we can find each other in your mind we can begin organizing your thoughts."
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
"Who did you say was visiting?" Temperance asked as she stirred the stew she was preparing for dinner, "One of your old friends from the Aurors?"
Sirius sighed, "She was the Head Auror back then, she's the DMLE head now. Amelia Bones."
"Well that sounds exciting," She answered, noting the almost worried feeling she picked up from his tone, "What do you think it's about? I would not think that they will need to ask any more questions after you have been interviewed so many times"
"I think she's coming for more of a personal visit." Sirius responded neutrally before sighing again, "Before everything happened we were pretty close. She was one of the ones I would have thought would look into my case when I didn't get a trial. But we both know how that went down."
"Will you be alright?"
"I think so." Sirius nodded with a determined expression, "Thanks for cooking for us and agreeing to be there."
"It's no problem at all. The children love listening to you and Remus tell stories of Hogwarts. I'm sure if things become too heavy then they can get you to talk about turning an older student's hair colours or enchanting a stairwell to turn into a slide."
Sirius spent the rest of the early evening playing exploding snap with James and Marielle, he could have sworn he was better at this game before (or maybe the two kids were cheating) but the group still had a good time. Heathcliff giggled happily whenever the cards exploded and showered them with fireworks and tried to grab the sparkling lights as they fell to the floor.
In the other room, Temperance was worrying anew about this social call. Sirius didn't need someone trying to bring his old life back! Reminiscing with Remus to entertain the children was one thing; but she wasn't sure he was ready to try and step into that kind of lifestyle again, where everything would potentially leave him stressed out and remembering what had happened to him. She and Remus would need to make sure that Madame Bones didn't try and pull Sirius back in, the man was getting a touch of cabin fever from the lack of travel. The only times he'd really left the island since coming here a couple months ago were to answer questions from the Ministry and the time he went to see Harry's Quidditch game.
Meanwhile, Amelia Bones had taken the latter part of the afternoon off so that she could prepare herself, both mentally and physically, to once again see the man she had loved a decade ago. The earlier times when he had just been released didn't count, in her mind, Sirius had been too out-of-it to truly recognize her then; and she meant to make a good, new, first impression.
When the Potters were killed and Sirius blamed for their deaths, Amelia hadn't wanted to believe it. Unfortunately, her position as his senior trainer during Auror school rendered any opinion she had voiced about his potential innocence moot. No one wanted to hear from his "clearly distressed" supposed romantic partner.
In the end, the former Head Auror resigned herself to accepting that he was probably guilty, she couldn't have imagined Crouch being willing to subvert the justice system the way he had, and tried to put Sirius out of her mind. The recent deaths of her brother and his wife certainly contributed, her attention needed to be directed to taking care of her niece, Susan, since that happened.
Now, Amelia was desperately hoping that Sirius didn't hate her like she knew he probably should. Her visit today had multiple purposes, but at the forefront of her own mind was the chance to try and begin patching her relationship with one of her oldest friends. Sure, the Auror department was in desperate need of experienced personnel, and Sirius was one of the better ones; but Amelia was a realist, and Azkaban was likely to put a damper on any hope he might be fit to return to active duty right away. Paperwork would be the only thing in his immediate future in the department. At least that part of her visit wouldn't be as hard as convincing him of just how sorry she was that she had failed him all those years ago.
It never even occurred to her that Sirius might simply turn down her offer of a job. After all, who would say no to such a great career, especially in a time of relative peace when it was safe as well?
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle had no idea what they should do. A month before school started, their fathers had taken each of them into their studies and laid down the law. They were to do whatever they needed to keep Malfoy, and Nott as well to a lesser extent, happy and stress-free at Hogwarts. Neither of the two were very bright, but they knew how to follow instructions. Deciding that the easiest way to do what their fathers wanted was to just be nearby, they had taken to following Malfoy everywhere he went and doing whatever he asked of them. It was a good deal all-around, they would cut stuff up in Potions and rough up anyone who bothered Malfoy and they got passing grades without having to possess the smarts to actually pass.
Just now, Malfoy had turned back to them and told them, "I need to do this without you two, and I am not sure how long it will be. You should probably find something to do. If I am successful I might not be around as often."
And then he had gone into the library to try and find Potter, of all people, which left Crabbe and Goyle floundering without a leader for the moment.
Harry rolled his eyes when he saw Malfoy heading towards the table where he and Hermione were working on their most recent Potions essay, but quickly noted that the two that usually served as his shadows were absent this time. Realizing that the blonde wasn't stopping, Harry leaned over to Hermione and warned her that they had company incoming.
Hermione had time to move her essay away from her inkwell, she absolutely was not rewriting it because Malfoy felt like tossing ink (again, he had done that to Harry once back at the beginning of the year), before he made it to them. Hermione triggered her wrist holster to release her wand into her hand under the table as the boy stopped in front of their table. When Malfoy started to speak, only to stop multiple times and ultimately get a flustered look on his face, Hermione glanced at Harry in confusion.
"Can we help you?" Harry asked when he caught Hermione's look.
"Um, I just wanted to say…" Draco hesitated once more, "Just before the second term started, my father told me I should try and patch my relationships with you and Weasley."
"Good luck with that with what your father is doing to Sirius." Harry shot back.
"I don't know if that's him but…" Draco froze once more, "It does look like it. If so, he hasn't seen fit to tell me, but that isn't why I'm here."
Harry simply raised an eyebrow, indicating for Draco to continue, "My mother wanted me to as well. She said she wanted to try and reconnect with her cousin, your godfather Sirius Black."
"What? So she can rob him?" Hemione answered indignantly, "Your mum is the one who would keep his spot on the Wizengamot if your father's plan works out, which it won't."
"He was surprised on Valentine's Day." Harry muttered to himself as he turned to Hermione, "When the article came out, he looked just as blindsided as me. The only person I saw that looked like they knew it was coming was Cedric."
Now it was Draco's turn to raise an eyebrow, he hadn't expected Potter to have forgiven Diggory and be back on such a familial basis after everything that had happened. Especially after the last Quidditch match, Diggory looked furious at Potter as he was being led off the pitch.
"So you want to try again?" Harry asked for confirmation, "Fresh start, for your mum?"
Draco almost answered without thinking, in his mind there was no way a 'fresh start' was possible, but took a moment to consider, "Yeah, for my mother."
"Cool, then why don't you come to Flying Class this week?" Harry answered with a smirk.
"Huh?" Draco and Hermione responded at the same time, causing the pair to give each other an odd look.
"You tested out of flying, right?" Harry asked, getting a nod from the other boy, "I go every week that Gryffindor doesn't have a practise scheduled to help the people who are still learning. You're a really good flyer, you should come as well."
"And what, you want me to teach mud-muggleborns to ride their brooms properly?" Draco retorted, wincing at his slipup.
Harry frowned at Draco's almost-use of the slur, but decided that the frown was enough to start based on the other boy's contrite expression, "Well, I figured since you came in here alone that you didn't want to broadcast to all of your House that you weren't staying totally neutral anymore." He mused aloud, "And it isn't only muggleborn that need help flying, there are plenty of purebloods too. If you need to, I guess you could tell anyone that asks that you 'can't just trust a half-blood to teach the noble art of flying'." Harry tried to affect Malfoy's voice for the last bit, causing Hermione to snigger and smack him on the shoulder.
Draco knew he probably should have been offended at how Potter was imitating him, but he was too caught up in trying to understand the Boy-Who-Lived to truly care. This was such a Slytherin solution; no one in his House would question his motives, and it opened up the opportunity to explain a tentatively amicable acquaintanceship in the future. Draco Malfoy was struck with an odd thought, did I really need to act like a Gryffindor if he was this much of a Slytherin?
"Well?" Harry pressed.
"That could work Potter," Draco agreed, "I'm surprised you understand so much about how my House works, though. Weasley must have told you quite a bit."
"It didn't take much thought," Harry answered with a shrug as he raised his arm to show that Najash was there, "the Sorting Hat said I could have been in Slytherin anyways. One thing though; at least in private, it's Harry and Hermione."
"Right, last names are for authority and enemies." Draco answered, remembering what Weasley had said about such idiosyncrasies in muggle conversation, while also filing away Potter's claim that the Hat had thought of putting him in Slytherin, "If you insist… Harry."
"Are you sure about that?" Hermione asked Harry once Draco had walked away.
"Not really, no." He answered, "But I'm planning to write to Aunt Andi and see what she thinks."
"What made you listen at all? Just because he hasn't harassed us much recently doesn't mean that he isn't a stuck-up-"
"I don't think I've ever heard Draco talk about his mum before, just his father. Have you?" Harry interrupted to answer. Hermione thought about that for a moment before shaking her head, 'no.'
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
Amelia regained her bearings quickly after the portkey deposited her, she had always been good with magical travel of all types, but stumbled back when she was greeted not by Sirius or his friend Remus, but by a young boy she vaguely remembered. Running back through her brain, she recalled a family of caretakers that were staying on the island where Pettigrew had been captured. Was Sirius staying there and not in his family home? Quickly looking around, she confirmed that that was the case.
"Madame Bones?" The boy asked politely.
"That is correct, I don't believe I got your name last time I was here."
"I'm James!" He said excitedly, "Padfoot is helping mum finish dinner, he said he'd-"
"Be right there, thanks kiddo." Sirius said as he exited the cottage onto the porch and patted James on the head before giving him a push towards the door, "Your mum wants you to get cleaned up while we wait."
Once the boy had gone inside, Sirius turned back to his guest, "How've you been?"
How have you been? That was what he leads with? "It's been busy," she answered evenly, "I thought that we'd be meeting in Grimmauld Place or perhaps that muggle flat you had in London. I guess I should have checked the portkey, but I didn't even question it when Andromeda gave it to me. I must be getting sloppy."
"Well, the nice weather here has been a plus, and Temperance and the kids are great." Sirius replied with a shrug, "I've been staying in the other cottage and Moony's been coming and going too. Sorry for the confusion, they told me they decided to cut the floo off after the rat. The only floo connection left is a direct one to a friend of Petunia Dursley's in case of emergency."
Amelia noted the dark look that crossed Sirius' face as he spoke, "I can understand that, it must have been terrifying for the children."
The silence stretched for a few uncomfortable seconds before Temperance came out to check on them, "Why are you just standing around, Sirius? Offer her some tea."
While she followed behind the pair, Amelia took the chance to examine this new woman. She remembered her from the Pettigrew incident, but she hadn't spoken to her directly since the woman had apparently fainted during the altercation. Something about her seemed familiar, an older memory than Christmas past…
"You are Temperance Burke." She concluded aloud as they entered the family room.
Sirius and Temperance readjusted their stances in moments, with him standing between her and Amelia. Meanwhile, both of the older children in the room were suddenly on edge.
"I suppose I should take that as a 'yes'?" The DMLE Head asked with a frustrated sigh, "Miss Burke, your father reported you missing a few years ago. I am supposed to inform him of your whereabouts if they are discovered; and I believe he was also claiming custody of his grandchildren, saying that you lacked the means to support them properly." She crossed her arms and let her eyes drift between the two adults, "Could I get an explanation as to how a missing family happens to be the groundskeepers for the Potters?"
"James, go get mummy's special box." Temperance instructed before turning back to Amelia Bones, "My father cast me out of his family before any of my children were even born." She explained, "We were accepted as wards of the Potter Family, my father has no grounds to claim anything."
As she finished explaining, James returned with a wooden lockbox which he handed to his mother. Opening it, she gave the parchment detailing her family's status to Madame Bones for inspection.
"I'm sorry to have worried you ma'am." Amelia said after glancing over the document, "If it makes you feel better, I will not be telling Caractacus Burke where you are, only that you have been found and are not under his jurisdiction."
The way all three of the Burkes relaxed at that told her she had done the right thing. Temperance sighed and thanked her, "I didn't even know my father had done that. I'm so grateful to you for understanding."
"Did I miss something?" Remus asked from behind everyone, having just let himself in.
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
There is absolutely no reason that I couldn't take advantage of the situation to make my followers more useful, was the thought that pushed Draco Malfoy to bring Crabbe and Goyle along with him to the next meeting of Flying Class. The two had been utterly confused at first, their "boss" didn't normally think about helping other students in any way; but after Draco pointed out to them that they were both atrocious flyers and only special notes from their fathers had excused them from the class in the first place, they had relented to go and work on their broomstick skills. Draco's good mood, brought on by thinking he had turned Potter's little game back on him, took a hit when he saw Potter and Granger each frown and put a Sickle in the hand of a girl he thought was named "Brown."
"Something wrong?" Draco asked when they got within earshot.
Harry shrugged, "Hermione and I figured you'd come by yourself, but Lavender said you had complained about how clumsy Crabbe and Goyle were and wouldn't miss the chance to bring them around for help."
"Told them all I was coming, did you Potter?"
"Of course he did." Lavender interjected, "Madam Hooch spends most of her time helping the worst flyers, she never has time to give the rest of us pointers when we need them. Harry is sort of a professor's assistant, and he also makes sure none of us fall." She said the last with a blush, Harry had caught her once before when the broom she'd been riding bucked unexpectedly. "Even if it's you, several of us are excited that there'll be another good flyer around."
Draco glanced around, looking for the teacher so he knew who to mock later for not being able to fly after an entire fall term and half of spring. But when he did, he was surprised to find that three of the four students in need of "special attention" were purebloods! Madame Hooch was hovering near Longbottom (no surprise), and another Gryffindor who Draco knew to be a muggleborn, but Davis and Greengrass were there as well! From where Draco was, it looked like Davis was actually not incompetent, and was there to support her fellow Slytherin. So that wasn't three in four, but how could there be only one muggleborn in three? Most purebloods learned how to ride at home!
Before Draco could make a disparaging comment about the people needing assistance, Harry stepped forward again, "We were hoping that everyone could be comfortable enough on brooms before the end of term that we could have a mock-Quidditch game or something. Do you want to help us with that?"
"A Gryffindor-Slytherin practise game for the first years?" Draco asked with an incredulous laugh.
"Actually we thought we would do a draft like with Muggle sports." Hermione answered, "Choose two captains, and have them alternate picking members for their team."
Draco and his two followers didn't know how to respond to that so he changed the subject, "What about Weasley? I thought he would be here."
"He's over there," Harry answered, pointing out the redhead, who was flying with two others that were not in need of any help, "He's not the most patient, so he doesn't help much. But I don't think that'll be a problem for you."
When Draco gave Harry a quizzical look at the comment, the other boy nodded his head to indicate the two behind him. Draco couldn't help but let out a laugh at that, "Alright Potter, let's see how bad your Gryffs are."
They weren't too bad, the Gryffindors at least. Much to Draco's frustration, though not to his surprise, Cabbe and Goyle were the most inept of the group in the air. The two spent five minutes continuously diving into the ground. Draco liked to think that he had learned a modicum of patience in dealing with these two. But he just couldn't figure out what they could possibly be doing so wrong. It must have started to show on his face that he was losing his patience, because he heard his name called from behind him. Potter had flown over to stick his nose in things.
"I think I know what their problem is." Harry explained when he pulled up beside his Slytherin counterpart, "Would you mind keeping an eye on the others. Everyone's fine, for the most part, but the school brooms aren't always reliable."
"Oh this should be good." Draco muttered to himself as he drifted to be closer to the others. When he looked back, Potter had taken Crabbe and Goyle to the ground and was mounting one of their brooms while his Nimbus floated a few feet away.
"Gregory Goyle, right? Mind if I call you Greg?" Harry asked as he dismounted his broom and stepped away from it towards the other boy, "Could I sit on that for a second? I think I see what's wrong."
Greg watched incredulously as Potter mounted the broom and flew forwards at a slow pace. While he was flying, Greg glanced over at Potter's Nimbus; I bet Malfoy would get a kick out of me taking that for a joy ride. He didn't get to act on his impulse before Potter returned and handed the broom back to him.
"When you sit on it, slide back a little." Harry explained, "That broom's balancing charms are off or something. The cushioning charm doesn't quite reach back far enough, but it's better than nose diving."
He couldn't think of anything to say, so Greg remounted the broom, sliding back like Potter said, and frowned when he felt himself slide past the edge of the cushioning charm. That was a little uncomfortable for someone as heavy as him. Putting his feet in place, which was awkward due to his position, the large boy began flying forward expecting to begin dipping down again, only to find that he was flying a level path. Vincent Crabbe had scoffed when Potter offered to help the pair, but seeing his friend actually flying softened him enough to listen when the Gryffindor asked to see his broom for a moment.
Draco groaned as he followed behind Granger's broom, which had bucked on her a couple times all on its own. Something he couldn't deny now that he was seeing it for himself. Wasn't Hogwarts supposed to be the most premier wizarding school in the world? If that was the case, why was all of the equipment here so stupidly out of date? He resolved to speak with his father about this when he next went home. Obviously the reason that purebloods would be disadvantaged is that they were used to a certain standard! When he glanced back to Crabbe and Goyle he almost fell off his own broom. That idiot was clearly edging towards Potter's Nimbus while the Gryffindor was away on the school broom! Granger shrieking when her broom unexpectedly dropped a foot drew his attention back.
Granger had pulled back on her broom in shock, ruining her balance and forcing Draco to actually touch her to get her stable and moving forwards again. When he pulled his hand back he saw a couple of the other Slytherins looking at him in shock, so he made a show of wiping his hand on his robes. That was the last straw, though; as soon as this issue with Black was done, Draco was writing his father about this! When she was moving forward again, calling back a "thank you," he looked over to Potter and his two followers only to find both Crabbe and Goyle flying steadily around. Neither was doing anything fancy, but they were no longer slowly nose diving with every foot they moved forwards. Thank Merlin for small favours.
He wasn't sure when, exactly, it happened, but Draco found himself flying with most of the other Slytherins in his year. Even Crabbe and Goyle had managed to join the group, a fact which surprised literally no one more than it did the two of them. He couldn't call what he was having fun, Draco had a Cleansweep at home that was only a year old, but he was certainly entertained. The Slytherins were split between the very few who were working on actual aerial acrobatics in the hopes that they would make it onto the Quidditch team, and those who knew that was a pipe dream (so, mostly the girls since the current captain only allowed boys). Draco couldn't help but chuckle to himself when he saw Weasley and Zabini doing drills on the far side of the designated area for the class. They couldn't say two words to each other without an insult or hex being thrown, normally, but Quidditch apparently brought them together once a week.
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
Amelia had expected to be dining with Sirius and Remus, possibly Andromeda if she was particularly unlucky; but she wasn't prepared for a mother and her three children to be joining them, even preparing the meal. She hadn't said anything ahead of time other than that this was a social visit, but she had hoped Sirius would have let her talk to him in relative privacy. There was no such luck incoming, the adults spent the dinner recounting stories of their times together in Hogwarts. Amelia had been only a few years ahead of them, so she had her fair share of encounters with the pair before she graduated.
It wasn't unpleasant by any means, James and Marielle got on her nerves when they would demand that the Marauders go into detail whenever a prank came up in conversation; but she couldn't blame them too much. As the evening moved on, Amelia found herself relaxing in a way she hadn't in a long time. For ages, her life had been nothing but work and Susan; she hadn't really had time for friends, otherwise.
"So what are you planning to do once that obvious farce in the Wizengamot is dealt with?" Amelia asked once the food had been cleared away and Temperance had left to put her children to bed. "After tonight, I cannot imagine you not being cleared. If I didn't know any better I would have thought you had just been living here for the past ten years."
"Well, I didn't. Did I Amy?" Sirius asked, his demeanor much less cordial now that the children weren't around.
"Sirius, stay calm." Remus put a hand on his friend's shoulder as he turned a baleful look at the woman.
"I'm sorry. That must have come out wrong." Amelia backpedaled.
"Andi and Petunia have some plans they were working on before I was released." Sirius answered her previous question, "I'm intending to help them with whatever that is for the time being. Right now I'm just planning to make up for lost time with my godson."
Amelia frowned, that answer was rather forceful, which meant he wasn't likely to be persuaded into rejoining the Aurors. It was unfortunate, she was confident that Sirius could have gotten his old rank back pretty quickly while doing some paperwork to start to reacquaint himself with the procedures.
"You look like that wasn't the answer you were looking for." Remus mused aloud as he examined the stern witch's expression, "You don't think he's open to rejoining the Aurors do you?"
She sighed, "The thought had crossed my mind. I wrote it off at first because I didn't think Sirius would be in such a good state at this point." She turned to Sirius, "But we are always understaffed, so if you were willing…"
"No, probably never again." Sirius said with finality.
"And you shouldn't have to." Temperance added as she reentered the room, "You don't owe them anything."
"I know you were hoping that things would go back to the way they were," Sirius said, his voice breaking a little, "but they can't. I could never be an Auror again because I can't trust them, can't trust you, not like that. At least not right now. I understand that you had other obligations, Remus told me about your brother; I'm sorry, and I do want to renew our friendship. Merlin knows, there aren't but so many people I was close to that are still around… but it won't be the way it was."
While he spoke, Amelia noted that Mrs. Smith seemed conflicted on how to respond. The woman looked torn between pushing Remus to console him, or doing it herself. By the time he finished his statement, she made up her mind, moving forward and sliding a chair next to Sirius. After which, she pushed him down into it and said, "You sit and calm down, I'll go make some tea."
"I should go," Amelia said abruptly after Temperance had left the room, "I'll see myself out."
"Stay, please." Sirius called, "I meant what I said, all of it. I want to get to know you again. Stay and talk, just… not about that. Why don't you tell me about your niece, Susan right?" He grinned a little and let out one of his signature doglike laughs, "You know, for most of the time I was in St. Mungos getting better, I was scared I would let Harry down? I'm his godfather, but what do I know about kids, huh? I wasn't really godfather material before the Azkaban thing, we weren't ever thinking it would matter."
"What changed?" She couldn't stop herself from asking.
"A friend of his spent some time in the hospital while I was there, she pretty much insisted on getting to know me when she found out who I was." He chuckled at the memory, "Then, the kids here wouldn't leave me alone when they found out about Padfoot. I may not be godfather material, but I can settle for being the cool uncle."
Amelia grinned at that. Despite what he said, that was such a quintessentially Sirius attitude to take.
Much later that evening, Amelia Bones was deposited in front of her home, just outside the wards, by the Potter Isle portkey. Immediately upon landing, the portkey burned to ash. "Mistress Bonsey be's home!" The excited squeak of a house elf greeted her moments later, "Did youse have a good night?"
She smiled as she recalled the latter part of the night, "Better than I expected to be honest, thank you Livvy."
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
"Potter!" Harry heard being called from a side corridor as he and Neville made their way down to the Great Hall for dinner. He knew the voice by this point, but was getting tired of being randomly called out like this.
With Neville following along with him just in case, Harry entered the first room down the hallway his name had come from to find three Slytherins, "Can I help you Draco?"
"How did you know about their brooms?" He returned, "There's no way a first year can sense the charms on a broom. Even those really old ones have spells on them to keep people from knowing how they work."
"I didn't do anything like that." Harry answered quickly, "I just rode the brooms and checked the balance."
"Where did you learn to do something like that, Potter?"
"I told you, it's Harry."
"Where did you learn to do that, Harry?" Draco returned, "I didn't even think to do so."
"Almost every non magical person learns to ride a bicycle." Harry explained.
"What does some muggle thing have to do with brooms?" Vincent Crabbe asked from behind Draco.
"There's no balancing charms on a bicycle, obviously, so you have to learn how to feel the balance." Harry explained, "I just did that. It took a second to adjust for forward-to-front, since bicycles only fall left or right, but once I did it was easy to figure out that I needed to be further back."
Eventually, Draco found his voice, glancing at Longbottom standing behind Potter, he cringed internally at having to be polite in front of the Gryffindors, "Sorry, I thought you were messing with me or something. My father does business with a broomstick company; so I was worried that you had some skill that let you bypass their security, or something of the like."
Harry couldn't resist smirking and chuckling to himself before he responded, "Is that all? I get that you don't want your House to get any wrong ideas, but you could have asked this out in the hall and no one would have thought anything of it, seriously."
When Potter and Longbottom made to continue on their way to dinner, they left a very confused Draco Malfoy behind. Was Potter a Slytherin or a Gryffindor? Draco couldn't decide. Potter's idea to get to know each other through the guise of Flying Class was Slytherin; but then he brought Longbottom, of all people, into their confidence and took offense at stepping a few dozen feet out of the way to talk in private?
