James woke up to the sound of heavy breathing. Abruptly sitting up, he saw Archie desperately rifling through his trunk.
"Alright, Archie?" James called out, causing several of the other boys to stir.
"I can't find my socks," Archie said in a panicked voice. "I don't think I remembered to pack any!"
And with that, he buried his head further in his trunk and began throwing various objects behind him. A jumper flew out and hit Lucas square in the face.
"Watch it," Lucas said, peeling the jumper off of him. "I'd be happy to lend you some of my socks until your mum can post you some."
Archie sighed gratefully, "Thank you. You know, I'm sure they're here, I just can't figure out where."
"Can you wait to look until we're not in the line of fire?" yawned James, ruffling his already messy hair. He slid out of bed and opened his trunk, pulling out a comb and raking it across his scalp.
"I don't think there's much hope there, mate," laughed Jerry, watching James struggle to tame his hair.
"No, there probably isn't," James admitted with a grin. "It always sticks straight up no matter what I do. I just comb it to please my mum."
"Well none of our moms are here now," Jerry gleefully launched himself out of bed.
"Fair enough," James tossed his comb aside and began to dig for his robes. "Excited for classes, Philip?"
Philip pulled his retainer out of his mouth, "Absolutely! I want to learn how to levitate the most."
The other four boys exchanged a look, "Not really how that works," Lucas said.
Philip's face fell.
"You do get to ride a broom!" Archie volunteered helpfully. "I'm rotten at it but it's still tons of fun!"
"Yeah, we can teach you how to play Quidditch!" James said excitedly.
"First years can't play Quidditch," Jerry pointed out.
"They can't play for the house team, but nothing is stopping us from going down to the pitch on our own."
Archie looked uneasy, "I don't know about that. I think we'd get in trouble for being down there all alone."
"No we wouldn't," James reassured the group. "Once they see me play they won't be able to scold me because they'll be too amazed at my skills!"
Lucas laughed, "I love Quidditch. My dad's a pro so I'm pretty good at it myself."
"We'll see about that," James challenged. "Unless you're too afraid to come down to the pitch like Archie here?"
"I'm not afraid!" Archie snapped.
"Then come play Quidditch."
"Alright," Archie puffed up, "I will then."
Philip nodded enthusiastically, "It sounds so exciting! I'm in!"
Jerry shrugged, "If you're doing it, James, I guess I am too."
"Are you in, Lucas?" James cocked an eyebrow.
Lucas grinned, "Oh, you're on!"
"Great!" James started for the door, "We'll meet while everyone is at dinner. The pitch is bound to be empty then. In the meantime, I'll try to work out how we can get some brooms."
And with that he left, Jerry rushing out behind him.
"Are you really that good of a player, James?"
"Of course I am!" James whirled around. "You didn't believe all that stuff Lucas was saying about him being great, did you? I've known Lucas for a long time. And I've seen him play. Trust me, I've got every reason to feel confident."
"I wasn't trying to challenge you," Jerry protested. "I was only asking because Lucas seemed to think that you weren't really all that."
James rolled his eyes, "Lucas is a pinhead."
Jerry broke into a wide smile and laughed, "I love your confidence. You're going to crush him later."
"Crush who?" a voice broke in.
James and Jerry turned to see Alice standing at the bottom of the stairs. She smiled up at them. "I thought I heard your voices."
"We're playing Quidditch later during dinner," he explained, coming down the remaining stairs. "Lucas Wood was trying to talk a big game, but I know he's not as good as he says he is."
"Are you any good?" Alice asked.
"Am I any good?" James gasped incredibly. "I'm fantastic!"
"Not to brag, but I'm not too bad myself," Alice admitted as the three of them headed out of the common room and towards the Great Hall. "A bunch of the older students who didn't go home on holidays would invite me to play with them when I was younger."
"So you've learned from the best?" James teased.
"Only the finest Hogwarts has to offer," she smiled back at him. "Do you think maybe I could come and play with you guys?"
"Sure," James shrugged and looked at Jerry. "We'd just have to get you a broom."
"Say, you don't think your dad could help us with that, do you?" Jerry asked Alice excitedly.
"I don't think he'd want to help a bunch of first years who want to fly brooms unsupervised," Alice said dejectedly, but then her face lit up. "But he does have a master key to the castle! I bet if I got it from him it would work on the broom shed!"
"Would he give it to you if you asked?" James said.
"Who says I'm going to ask for it?" Alice smiled mysteriously and winked.
"I like your style," Jerry nodded approvingly.
"I can sneak up to his office during Herbology and take the key," Alice said. "Do you think we'll have it today?"
"We're about to find out," said Jerry sitting at the table and pointing to a professor handing out schedules.
Smiling broadly, the professor approached them, "Hey there, I'm Professor Dean Finnigan, head of Gryffindor and the Transfiguration teacher. What's everybody's name?"
Professor Finnigan handed everyone their schedules, pausing when he got to James, "Are you Harry and Ginny's kid?"
"That's me," James beamed.
"We were friends back in the day," Professor Finnigan said, handing James his schedule. "Don't suppose they've mentioned me? No? Well that's okay. Just tell them that Dean says 'hi'. And Seamus too for that matter."
"I will," James said, struggling to remember the name for later.
"Do you really not know him?" Jerry asked once Professor Finnigan was gone.
"Not at all. I can't remember my parents mentioning a Dean or Seamus. I suppose I'll have to write them and ask."
"I guess you will," Jerry looked at his schedule. "Look at that! Herbology last today!"
"Perfect," Alice grinned. "And we've got flying second so we'll be all warmed up for Quidditch later."
"And hopefully at that point Philip will have picked up on the fact that not everything in this castle is magic," Jerry said, nodding his head towards Philip, who was examining a bread roll with great interest.
"He's the kid that tried to drink the lake water yesterday," Alice said, her eyes widening. "For some reason he thought it would strengthen him. Said he read that drinking from enchanted lakes grants special powers."
James scoffed, "Too bad this isn't a book. I think he'll get a nice dose of reality the second his feet leave the ground later today."
"That does always tend to shock people," Jerry chuckled.
Alice frowned, "He's not playing with us, is he?"
"Oh, well, we did technically invite him," James trailed off. "I guess we didn't think that through."
"No, you didn't."
"We figured it'd be a good way to teach him the rules. Besides, we could stick him in the goal and leave him there. I reckon he's got the makings of a great keeper."
"Really?" Alice looked at Philip, who was attempting to communicate with a salt shaker, much to the delight of Archie who seemed to be egging him on.
She sighed, "Well I suppose it can't hurt to at least get him involved. And who knows? Maybe he'll end up being a great keeper after all."
"We could tell him the quaffle feels physical pain everytime it goes through the hoop," James volunteered. "That should motivate him."
Jerry looked at him in wonderment, "You are just full of good ideas today, aren't you?"
James winked, "I have nothing but good ideas. Come on," he stood, "let's get to Potions. My dad says that the teacher's the kind of person you have to see to believe."
