"Excited for the first day of class?" Nick asked Harry as the boy sleepily piled food onto his plate.
"Mmm." Harry replied, not bothering to fully reply.
"Please." Nick said with a roll of his eyes at the boy's actions. "We used to wake up much earlier at home. This is practically a vacation."
"Yeah, but at home I was awaken with a couple mile run."
"You're right. You think we should keep up our training while we're here?" Nick questioned silently, making sure no one would overhear them.
"Unfortunately, yes. We'd never hear the end of it if we come back home out of shape. They'd just throw us into training even harder."
"Yeah, you're right. Run around the lake tomorrow morning?"
"I suppose." Harry said with a long suffering sigh.
"Thanks for waiting for me." Draco grumpily interrupted, sitting down gracefully across from the two boys.
"You weren't even awake when we left!" Harry said, trying to defend Nick and himself.
"Well you two could've woken me up then. I could hardly find my way down here." Draco said in annoyance.
"You all right there Draco?" Nick questioned with concern. Draco looked at him icily before his face softened.
"Yes, sorry. I managed to send a letter to my mother last night after you two went to sleep. When I woke up she had written back and she plans to inform my father of my sorting today."
"I thought you didn't care about what your father thought?"
"I don't. But that doesn't change the fact that he's still my father and he can control whether or not I stand to become the heir to the Malfoy line. For all I know, he could snap and blast me off the family tree."
"You think he would do that?" Harry asked curiously.
"I honestly don't know what my father would and wouldn't do anymore."
"Well, nothing like the excitement of the first day of school to take your mind off it then." Nick said, trying to reassure the boy. Draco gave him a small smile in thanks. Before they could continue any further conversation, the screeching of owls echoed throughout the hall as they flew in. There weren't many owls delivering letters as it was only the first day of school, but Harry noticed a regal black raven flying towards him.
"First day here and they already miss us, huh?" Nick joked quietly, watching as the raven made their way towards them. Harry noticed that a few people were looking at the raven with interest, but none more than Dumbledore. As the raven dropped the letter between Harry and Nick, Harry caught Dumbledore's eye and received a nod of recognition. Harry grabbed the sleek black envelope that had his name written on it in elegant golden writing that he recognized as his father's immediately.
"A letter from home?" Draco asked curiously. "I don't see many families use anything other than owls anymore. Mostly only the older purebloods."
"Yeah, our family just never got an owl." Harry said with a shrug. "I'm going to go out into the hall to read this, excuse me."
"Okay." Draco said as he turned to the food on the table. Nick caught Harry's eye before the boy left and Harry quietly made his way out of the hall. He walked into the entranceway and turned down an empty corridor before breaking the royal seal that was on the back on the envelope. Pulling out the letter, he quietly read,
Dear Harry,
I'm sorry for the quick correspondence. I'm sure you had probably hoped to be away from us for a little longer than a day before you heard from us, huh?
Unfortunately, this letter isn't just for personal matters. The public has been calling for a quicker trial for Holden than the one we were hoping for in December when you and Nick would be home. I suppose we should have thought about this possibility when we tried to pull such a public stunt by having him attack a guard. Tyler and Darius tried to placate those calling for a faster trial, but I'm afraid it hasn't worked. The people calling for it are saying that Holden is considered a traitor as he tried to attack one of our soldiers and there needs to be swift action. The trial has been moved up to tomorrow.
I know you'll want to be here for it, but I'm asking that you remain at school during the trial. You can relay this to Nick as well, as I'm sure he would want to be here too. The three of us will be able to take care of the trial and make sure it goes how we need it to with Athena's help. I will be sure to write to you as soon as the trial is over so you will be informed of how the trial turns out.
Since I'm already writing to you, I just want to say I hope that your first 24 hours at Hogwarts have been good. I know you were unsure of leaving home but I know with Nick there you'll be just fine. I wouldn't put it past you to be friends with half the school by now as well.
Your mother passes along her thoughts as well and that she misses you terribly already. I will confess, it has been unsettling how quiet the house has been without you, even in such a short amount of time. I know, I can already see you rolling your eyes. You've only been gone for such a short amount of time, but let your father be sentimental every once in a while.
Good luck in school, Harry. Be sure to write me and your mother back about where you were sorted. Don't spare any details.
All my love,
Cyrus Shade
Harry tucked the letter away into his bag as he thought over what his father had said. The news of the trial being moved forward wasn't necessarily unsettling, but it still made Harry nervous nonetheless. He had wanted to be there for the trial against Holden to make sure things wouldn't get out of hand. It was one of his duties, after all, to preside over the trial of those who pose a threat to the security of their land. Harry didn't like the idea of something so big happening without him being present, but he knew he had to trust in the words of his father that he would handle it along with Tyler and Darius.
He couldn't help but smile at the caring words of his father though. Cyrus never shied away from showering Harry with affection or showing him how much he loved the boy, but Harry couldn't help but feel of sense of joy whenever it happened. If he was being honest with himself, he did in fact miss his parents as much as they seemed to miss him despite the short amount of time being away.
"Everything alright?" Nick asked, standing only a few feet away from Harry. Harry's eyes flickered to Draco standing right next to Nick.
"Yeah. Dad's just sending his well wishes." Harry reassured him.
"Ready to head off to defense then? We've got it with this lot." Nick told Harry, gesturing it Ron and Hermione who greeted him briefly. Nick passed Harry his own copy of the schedule. "Flitwick just handed out the schedules."
"Lead the way." Harry said as he gestured the two boys forward.
"How do you think Professor Black will be?" Nick asked, trying to make conversation after they had walked for a bit.
"If he can teach anywhere near as good as he does his job, I'm sure it'll be a fun few weeks." Draco commented.
"Is he that well known? When he was introduced yesterday it seemed like a lot of people recognized him." Hermione questioned with interest.
"He's really good at his job." Draco replied with a shrug. The other two students remained silent as they had final made their way to Sirius' room. They walked in to see Sirius standing at the front of the classroom with a solemn expression. The middle row of seats had been filled so Harry led the group to the open set desks in the front. They sat down quietly and waited for the rest of the Gryffindor's they shared the class with to arrive.
"Welcome to your first year of Defense Against the Dark Arts. My name is Sirius Black and I will be your Professor for the first few weeks of class. Your full time professor, Professor Quirrell, is finishing an expedition in Albania." Sirius said with a grim look on his face, as if what he was saying was of the utmost importance. "I have discussed my curriculum with him and he has found it satisfactory, so we shall proceed with it until he returns. Now, who can tell me what the most important part of defense is?"
None of the students raised their hands or made any other attempt to answer Sirius' question. Sirius' eyes scanned the room patiently, waiting for someone to reply.
"Winning?" A voice from the back called out.
"Close, but not 100% correct." Sirius replied, his eyes still looking over the room.
"Beating the enemy?"
"Close again." Sirius said and a few more students shouted out answers. "None of the answers you have given me are particularly wrong. However, they can called categorized as an effect of our real answer. Anyone else willing to care to try and answer?"
"Survival." A voice behind Harry calmly said. Harry glanced behind him to confirm that it was Draco that had answered and turned back to Sirius to see the man staring at the blonde boy,
"You are correct, Mr. Malfoy." Sirius responded, glancing around the classroom. "I will not lie to you all or try and tell you things you may want to hear. If a Death Eater were to come into this classroom at this very moment, you would all die. You are first years, none of you have the knowledge or the power to fight against a dark wizard, or even a regular wizard. That's why we teach defense, so you can try and defend yourselves.
"I'm sure many of you have the impression that your defense class would teach you how to fight back or to beat your opponent. Even if we were to start teaching you advanced defense spells, and you somehow miraculously managed to perform them, your opponent will likely have the advantage of experience on their side. So first, we will teach you how to survive while giving you experience. Are there any questions?"
Harry quickly glanced around the class to see if anybody would raise their hands. Harry had a hard time connecting this grim, determined Sirius with the loving, carefree, goofy uncle he had known as a child. Sirius seemed to rarely smile and there was always a dark look in his eye as if he was seeing something else in front of him than what was really there.
"Ms. Granger." Sirius said, gesturing to Hermione who had her hand held attentively in the air.
"What exactly are we going to be learning then professor?"
"We're going to be learning basic shielding charms and counters to a majority of the spells you would see a wizard using on you. Possibly talk about different strategies people fighting you may use and how to avoid them. We might even delve into surviving if you were stranded out in the middle of nowhere. Granted, I have a short amount of time to teach you but I will try my hardest to make sure that I teach you as much as I can. I'm trying to keep my lessons plans broad for now in case I want to try and rearrange things. Are there any other questions?"
"Is it true you hold the record for most Death Eaters taken down?" A voice asked curiously from the back. Harry glanced back in annoyance to see Ryan Potter with an innocent smile on his face. Sirius looked at the boy with a blank look before a small frown appeared on his face.
"Yes, Mr. Potter, I have. It is not something I take lightly, however. Every instance where I fought against one of them was a life or death situation. There were many times where I came out injured, and many more where I thought I wasn't going to make it at all. It is something to be respected, not bragged about. Does that answer your question?"
"Yes sir." Ryan replied solemnly, a small frown on his face as well.
"I've gotten off track. We're first going to discuss a basic shield charm that you all will be able to perform by the end of the week." Sirius flicked his wand and writing started to appear on a chalkboard in the front of the classroom. For the next twenty minutes, Sirius lectured them about the different scenarios that Protego may be useful for and moved onto demonstrations after.
"Ah, it seems as time is up. I had hoped to move on to having you practice the wand movements but try and practice for homework. Next class we will try and perform the actual charm. You're dismissed. Mr. Potter, if you could remain behind?" Sirius said simply, gesturing the young boy forward.
"No pun intended, but Sirius seems a bit serious. A little boring too." Nick commented quietly as the trio packed away their things and made to leave the classroom, after bidding farewell to Ron and Hermione. Harry couldn't help but silently agree.
What had happened to the man that he had loved? Granted, he had known Sirius as his uncle his whole life, so maybe this was the way he acted as a professor. He had seemed very serious the entire lesson and very rarely talked in anything his monotone lecturing voice. He couldn't help but think this wasn't the same man as his fun-loving uncle that always had a smile on his face. Harry quickly shook aside those thoughts, knowing it wasn't likely he would ever find out what had ever caused the change.
"Black seems like an interesting enough professor." Draco commented idly as they made their way to their first charms lesson. "What Potter said was right, he really does hold the record for most captured Death Eaters. He really threw himself into his work and rounded up a lot stray followers after the Dark Lord's downfall. He's my mother's cousin and I've talked to him a couple of times at Black family events."
"Think he'll be better than Quirrell?" Nick questioned.
"Most likely. Quirrell was the muggle studies professor last year. I'm not really sure how that'll convert to defense." Draco said, shrugging.
"Is he always that serious?" Harry asked.
"Depends." Draco said with a shrug. "I've seen him in better moods and I've seen him in worse. He definitely seemed to have some type of chip on his shoulder today though, but he could just be taking his job seriously."
The trio continued to walk in silence, as Harry considered the vague information Draco had given him. Sirius had always taken pride in his auror job but it seemed that the man had really taken it to heart after Voldemort had been defeated. Harry briefly wondered if his disappearance had been the reason but almost immediately shook those thoughts away.
They eventually made their way to the charms classroom, finding it mostly full of their fellow Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs they would be sharing the class with. Harry, Nick, and Draco quickly found a set of three seats and sat down, eyeing their professor and Lily Potter who stood next to him. She held a bright smile of her face, though she looked a little nervous.
"Welcome to charms!" Flitwick chirped from his precariously stacked stand of books. "My name is Professor Flitwick and I will be your professor. As you heard yesterday, I have a returning student studying under me to gain her masters in charms and will be turning our first lesson, as I will most lessons, over to her. Professor Potter?"
"Thank you, Professor." Lily said, walking forward to the middle of the room. "We're going to start out our first class with a practical lesson. One of the first spells many wizards and witches learn to cast is the levitation charm. Though it is a fairly simple charm, there are many different creative uses for the charm, as well as different variations.
"The incantation for the charm is Wingardium Leviosa and it is accompanied by a simple swish and flick. Allow me to demonstrate."
Lily Potter sent the class a mischievous smirk and wink and turned to Professor Flitwick. With a loud and clear pronunciation, accompanied with the swish and flick, Flitwick was soon rising from his stack of books. At first, his eyes went wide at the sudden flight but began to laugh jovially after realizing what had happened. After a few seconds, she gently set him down back onto his stack of books.
"As you see, it is fairly simply to cast. Don't worry if you don't get the hang of it right away, for a lot of you this is the first spell you have ever tried and it can take a little while to get used to the feeling. As it is likely your first spell you are learning to cast, you may run into some problems. Let me know if you still cannot cast the spell after a few tries." Lily lectured as she sent feathers throughout the room with a simple wave of her hand, one landing in front of each student. "Now it's your turn. Just remember, it's not just saying some words and moving your wand. In order for your magic to work and respond to you, you have to want the feather to levitate. It's your intentions that cause your magic to respond, the incantation and movements just help channel your focus through your wand. As you cast the spell, believe that the feather will levitate for you."
Harry looked at his feather curiously, marveling at the similarities between Lily's way of teaching and his parent's way of teaching. He had been learning to control his intentions since he had been younger and trying to force a shadow to move across a wall. It seemed to be the central tenant to the different fields he had studied that your intention is one of the most important things in channeling your power. With the image of the feather floating loftily above the table, Harry tried his first spell.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry said forcefully, though not loud. His face broke out in a smile as the feather began to rise into the air, following Harry's wand dutifully. He couldn't help but marvel at how easy the magic came to his call. He could only guess that it was due to his previous training and that the concentration techniques must have carried over.
"Very good, Mr. Shade!" Lily Potter beamed, standing only a few feet in front of Harry's desk. His concentration breaking, Harry's feather fell back down to the desk.
"Thank you." Harry said through gritted teeth, annoyed that she had to ruin one of his moments of happiness once again. Harry's reaction caused Lily's smile to falter slightly, though the boy neither noticed nor cared.
"Five points to Ravenclaw for being the first to perform the spell." Lily said nonetheless. Harry looked around the room at her words and noticed that he was indeed the first to cast the spell, the others concentrating on their feathers. Harry filed a mental note to restrain himself in future lessons so as to not draw unnecessary attention to himself. He already had enough of that at home for a lifetime.
"Show off." Nick said with a smirk and stuck his tongue out at Harry briefly, causing Harry to laugh at the boy's antics. Nick wasn't paying attention to his feather in the slightest, nor had he even picked up his wand. Harry was appreciative for Nick's effort to relax him nonetheless.
"Mr. Aeron," Lily said suddenly, turning to Nick with a smile. "I'm sure you can replicate the results then?"
"Pft." Nick said with a snort. "Of course."
"Let's see it then." Lily said, gesturing Nick to his leaf
"Hmm, alright…" Nick said, a little less assured of himself. Harry eyed him curiously, wondering what exactly his friend was up to. Nick stared at his feather for a second before intoning. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The trio looked on in anticipation as Nick cast the spell, though the feather only twitched in response.
"Well, Mr. Aeron, it seems that you weren't able to do it." Lily said, sounding quite embarrassed. She had seemed somewhat ashamed at her act after he hadn't been preform the incantation on the feather. Nick looked down sullenly at her words. "Not to worry, not everybody can do it on their first time. Try again and I'll be back soon!"
"Thanks professor." Nick replied, sounding remorse. After she had walked away, Nick flashed a bright smile to Harry. "Man, I think I'm going to enjoy messing with her."
"Why didn't you perform the spell? You could have put her in her place."
"Well, of course I didn't actually try to." Nick said with a careless roll of his eyes. "But she seemed so sure that I could do it, I just wanted to prove her wrong. It makes her look worse to assume a student can do something when they can't, rather than the other way around. As if I can't float a feather. I can do that without a wand."
"Shh!" Harry hissed, looking around in alarm to see if anyone was listening. "You have to be careful about what you say. You want us to get caught?"
"Believe me, I know. I've only heard it about 200 times now." Nick said with another roll of his eyes. "Besides, people would have no idea what I was even talking about. They'd probably just attribute it to my gigantic ego." Harry shook his head and went back to concentrating on his feather, noticing Draco's yell of happiness when his began to float off the table.
"Good job, Draco!" Harry cheered for his friend, who seemed pleased with his work.
"The charm itself is quite simple." Lily said loudly from the center of the room, gaining the attention of the class. "It's the first spell many people learn how to cast, so some more experienced wizards can tend to look down upon it as a children's spell. However, the real beauty of magic is the things you can truly do with such a simple spell. Magic isn't just about pointing your wand and making something happen. It's about creativity. Think about how many ways these spells could be applied in different ways. Levitation can be much more than a simple party trick. Professor Flitwick, if you could help me demonstrate?"
Professor Flitwick, who had been simply watching over the class's project from him spot before, smiled at Lily and made his way to the middle of the room, awaiting instructions.
"Say you're in a battle and your opponent has just shot a spell at you that you don't know and have never experienced before. You could risk a shield to try and block this spell, but the spell might go right through your shield. A better choice in this scenario would be to use a physical shield to protect yourself. When I give you the cue professor, please shoot whatever spell you wish at me. Ready? Go!"
Harry watched in interest as Flitwick silently shot a sickly purple spell at Lily. She quickly brought her wand up and said "Wingardium Leviosa!" She hadn't used the normal movements of the spell, or even physically motioned for anything to react to the spell, but a collection of unused desks flew to her aid and created a physical shield in front of her. The spell collided with the desk and left a dark burn mark on the wood but left Lily unharmed.
"Spells all have their typical uses, which any of the professors here or books you read can teach you. What you must learn for yourself is how to reimagine these spells and make them work for you, not the other way around. One of the magical world's favorite mottos is 'work smarter, not harder.' What I just showed you may seem frivolous but imagine the spell Professor Flitwick just shot at me was the killing curse. There's no known magic that can stop a killing curse, though there have been a few exceptions, but a physical shield will block its path to you. It makes the levitation charm seem a little less silly in this context, doesn't it?"
Harry idly noticed that Lily held the attention of all of the students in the room, including himself. She seemed to have a true passion for the subject and really seemed to understand it. He himself hadn't really considered the possibilities of the different uses for any of his other abilities and now that the idea had been brought up, he couldn't stop his mind from racing with possibilities.
"For homework I want you all to take the first five charms in your textbook and list different uses for each of them other than the ones listed. We still have some time left in class so practice the charm and I will come around and help you if you need it."
"She's actually half decent." Harry whispered to Nick as everybody turned their attention back to their feather.
"I suppose." Nick replied evenly, turning his attention to the feather as well.
Huffing in mild annoyance at Nick's non-answer, Harry turned back to his feather. He cast the spell a few more times, taking a moment each casting to see how the magic felt traveling through his body. It was so much like the sensation he got when using his other powers, but it also felt fundamentally different. It felt as if the power flowed through his body in the same path his other powers did, but the power itself was what made it feel so different to him. Whenever Harry would use his shadow powers or anything having to do with them, he always felt a cold determination flow through him, though not in a malicious way. It was a scary feeling the first few time he felt it, but after a while his body adjusted and, just slightly, started to crave it. Magic made him feel like he had literal butterflies in his chest, threatening to burst forth at any second. He wasn't sure if it was just magic in general or just this charm, but it made him feeling bubbly, almost to the point of laughter. Harry couldn't help but wonder what other types of magic would feel like.
"Well, that's about all the time we have. Have a good rest of your day, and don't forget your assignment!" Lily called from the middle of the room, everybody starting to pack up around her. Harry observed her for a second more and watched as a nervous look based over her face before rushing to Flitwick. Harry smiled lightly as he barely heard her ask Flitwick how she was.
"We're meeting with the others now, right?" Nick asked as Harry and Draco joined him outside the classroom.
"Yeah, Ron wanted to meet up for a bit as we have a break in between classes and the next class is with the Gryffindor's anyways." Harry replied, leading the other two boys through the hallways. "I think he's bringing Hermione."
"Hmm… Maybe those two hit it off better than I thought." Nick commented gleefully, causing Harry to chuckle.
"Be nice." Harry chided with a small smile. "She seemed nice enough yesterday. I don't think Ron would have invited her if she wasn't."
"If you say so, Dad." Nick said with a playful roll of his eyes.
"I only want what's best for you, son." Harry joked back, ruffling Nick's hair and causing the boy to send him a glare, as they exited through the door to the grounds. The dying sun rays of summer were peeking out through the clouds onto random spots on the ground. Smiling happily at the weather, Harry led the group to a circle of sun in front of a tree near the lake.
The trio sat down, all of them taking in the feeling of being outside in the sun while they could. Nick sat with his back against the tree while Harry and Draco sat in front of them on the grass.
"What a morning! I'm beat." Nick exclaimed in an exaggerated manor, sending Harry a playful smile before closing his eyes and placing his hands on the top of his head. Harry rolled his eyes at the boy's antics, though his face held a smile of its own.
Harry idly ran his hands through the grass as he tilted his head upwards and watched the clouds lazily drift through the sky. He quietly pondered the day's event so far. He hadn't expected having to deal with Lily or Sirius at all during his time at Hogwarts, let alone all in the same day so early on in the year. He had to admit though, it did slightly impress him that she seemed to have accomplished so much in the past few years after the war ended.
'And without us there to annoy her.' A dark voice in Harry's head said to him, but Harry quickly shook away those negative thoughts. He could almost hear Cyrus' voice in response telling him it does not well to dwell on the past and decided to think of other things instead of dwelling on her any longer.
Seeing Sirius in person again was admittedly harder on Harry than he would like to admit. He thought he would have been able to put off a reunion with his uncle for much longer than this. There was a small hope that he wouldn't even have to see him at all during his time at Hogwarts for fear of what feelings would arise. He had often thought of his godfather that he left behind and truly missed both him and Remus, something that couldn't really be said for the rest of his family. Sirius and Remus had always shown him love and taken care of him, though a small voice in his mind reminded him that they never removed him from his situation. His parents had always been careful to not touch him at all when his uncles were around after Sirius had seen him get hit by his mother the one time, and Harry was always extremely careful that nobody saw his bruises. Harry assumed his uncles must've suspected something was amiss at home, but figured they didn't really know the true extent of it.
Harry quickly shook away his thoughts as he realized that Draco had said something to him, as the boy was looking at him expectantly.
"Sorry Draco, what did you say?"
"Just that I'm excited for flying lessons later. It's been a little while since I was able to get up on a broom." Draco repeated, idly playing with grass in front of him, plucking a few strands out of the ground and running them through his fingers.
"Me too." Harry repeated honestly, trying to remember the last time he had flown with a broom. He idly wondered if it even be as close to being as fun as it used to be when he was younger now that he had actual wings he could fly with, but he had truly missed playing Quidditch in the backyard though. He had tried to recreate it back home a few times but it had just seemed off without the broom. He had considered asking for a broom from Cyrus or Lyla occasionally but he didn't know how well it would be received if people saw him flying around on it.
"I've never been on a broom." Nick commented, cracking open one eye and looking at the pair. He closed it again after surveying the two for a second. "My parents were always too paranoid I'd fall and break my neck."
"My father used to fly with me pretty often but after everything that happened… Well, my mother takes me out now but nowhere near as often as I would like." Draco said, looking off into the distance with an empty gaze for just a second before he brought his attention back to Harry and Nick. "Anyways, I think you'll like it Nick. It really feels great to really take off and play a game of Quidditch."
"Can't wait." Nick said with a smile, which quickly turned into a smirk. "Once we get the chance I'll take you on in a game and I'm sure I'll sweep you." Nick finished with a small chuckle at his own joke.
"Original." Draco said in a deadpanned voice, though he smiled back at Nick before extending a hand. "But you have a deal. We can play one on one and see who can score the most points on the other."
"Deal." Nick said with a large smile as he enthusiastically shook the blonde boy's hand.
"I'll take the winner." Harry said with a laugh.
"Hey guys!" Ron called out as he approached the trio, with Hermione following closely by his side. Nick caught Harry's eyes and waggled his eyebrows jokingly, causing Harry to laugh to him. Draco watched on with an amused eye.
"How's it going you two?" Nick innocently asked the duo, though neither of the two caught on.
"We had transfiguration after defense this morning and it was so intriguing!" Hermione told them with a bright smile. "We turned our matchsticks into needles and Ronald was the third in the class to achieve it!"
"Congrats Ronald." Nick joked, lightly teasing the boy and causing the tips of his ears to turn red. He sat down silently, looking at the ground to avoid eye contact. Hermione sat down next to him, either not hearing or ignoring Nick's comment.
"How was charms?" Hermione questioned, interest shining in her eyes.
"It was good." Draco answered for the boys. "Professor Potter taught us the levitation charm and different uses for it."
"That sounds interesting!" Hermione replied genuinely. "Oh! Speaking of Professor Potter, I invited Ryan Potter to come sit with us. Did you know he supposedly survived…"
Harry started to tune Hermione's mini-lecture off after she had mentioned inviting Ryan Potter. He didn't want to raise any suspicions by protesting to the boy's presence but Harry didn't really plan on spending any more time with his ex-brother than what was necessary, nor did he want to. The boy frankly confused him, as did Lily and James to be completely honest. Lily had seemed so kind and caring in his charms lesson, something he used to crave from her when he was younger, and the entire family had acted the same way when he had run into them in Diagon Alley.
Was it truly just because of me? The dark voice from earlier whispered, but Harry ignored it once more as he had noticed Ryan Potter himself at the steps of the castle, seemingly deep in conversation with Sirius. This time, Sirius seemed much more carefree. He held a smile on his face while he talked with Ryan, though it did not seem to fully reach its full height, and he seemed much more animated. Harry recognized this man much more than the man he saw in class today, but Harry felt a twinge in his heart as he realized it wasn't because of him that Sirius felt so comfortable. Harry felt the twinge grow into an ache as he watched the two hug before Sirius ruffled Ryan's red hair and disappeared back into the castle. Harry tried to quickly disregard these feelings as he realized Ryan was now walking towards the group, though he could still feel the strange ache in him.
You gave up that life. You have no entitlement to that family anymore. The voice in his head reminded him. Harry begrudgingly pondered these words as he muttered out a hello in reply with Ryan's greeting to the group. Harry felt Nick sending him a look but Harry averted his eyes to the ground, suddenly not feeling in the mood for company. He desperately wished to disappear into a shadow and go for a fly over his familiar woods, but he felt deserted in the sunlight with no escape instead. He idly realized the group was having a conversation around him but let the words flow through him instead of participating.
"Harry?" A voice asked, snapping Harry out of his thoughts. Harry looked up from the ground and looked around the group for who had called him, realizing in dismay that is was Ryan himself. Harry decided he did not enjoy hearing his brother calling his name again, as the mere sound brought back many flashbacks to him calling it out as he would chase Harry around.
"What?" Harry finally ground out, realizing it probably sounded harsher than he meant as Nick sent him a warning glare that almost screamed 'be careful.'
"Er, Draco and Nick had been saying they accepted a Quidditch challenge from each other and you wanted winners. I suggested we should have a little tourney with me and you playing each other and then winners play each other. If you're up to it." Ryan explained, adding the last part after a few seconds of silence where Harry just looked at Ryan and tried to gather his thoughts. Harry stared at the boy for a few more seconds, trying to dissect every single piece of Ryan in his mind to find out what exactly his deal was.
"Deal." Harry said rather suddenly, quickly putting up his hand for Ryan to shake. Ryan looked at Harry for a second with a quirked eyebrow before shaking Harry's hand. Nick sent Harry a subtle, curious glance to which Harry just sent back his most innocent smile, hiding his glee at the idea of decimating Ryan in a game.
After the boys shook hands, the group settled into an easy sort of camaraderie where they continued to make small talk. Harry tried to avoid engaging with Ryan as much as possible, as did Nick but not to the extent that Harry had. Ryan also seemed to be wary of Draco at first, and vice versa, but they remained friendly to each other. The group talked and enjoyed the weather until it was time to head over to the Quidditch pitch, where Hermione split off from the group so they could change robes.
They reconvened not long after on the Quidditch pitch itself, waiting patiently for Madame Hooch to arrive to start the lesson as more and more students filed onto the pitch for their lesson. A few moments later, someone pointed to the sky, causing a cascade of students looking to the sky as someone in black robes and a dark walnut broomstick flew around the pitch at lightning speed. The figure looped through the rings a few times, showing off their impressive air choreography as they danced through the air. The figure finally slowed and landed on the field in front the now clapping students, throwing back her hood to reveal Madame Hooch with her wind kissed hair and a quaffle in her arm.
"Good afternoon and welcome to my favorite class at Hogwarts, and by the time I'm done with you, it will be most of yours as well. Flying! How many of you have flown on a broom before?" Madame Hooch questioned with an excited smile on her face, looking around as a little more than half of the students raised their hands.
"And how many of you have dreamt of being a Quidditch player before?" She questioned again, her smiling growing brighter as only a few kids lowered their hands. "Excellent! As some of you know, I used to play professionally and I love teaching here because I can always pick out the best new recruits!" Madame Hooch joked and continued on with teaching the class, with almost the entire class listening raptly and excited to move on.
Harry was a little more than excited when his broom immediately jumped into his hands, smiling happily when he felt the familiar weight and feel of the wooden broom handle in his hands. He noticed that Nick didn't have any problems either and also wore a happy smile on his face. He watched with interested as Hermione seemed to have a little bit of trouble calling her broom to her, but succeeding after Ron helped her through it. The rest of the class passed quickly, with Madame Hooch walking them through the basics of flying their broom and allowing them some free time to fly around the pitch by themselves.
"Madame Hooch?" Ryan Potter called out as he approached the professor, Harry and the others landing not far behind him as the other students filed off the field. "We were hoping we could borrow the brooms for a bit longer and have a little Quidditch tournament. We've all been on brooms before and played Quidditch so we shouldn't have any problems, plus it's still pretty bright out and shouldn't get dark soon."
Harry idly noted how easily Ryan lied to Madame Hooch about Nick's credentials, though he supposed the boy technically had been on a broom now after the class they just had.
"I would usually say no, but I did notice how at ease you all were in the air during class. I suppose it wouldn't hurt if I stuck around for a bit while you played to keep an eye out and make sure none of you don't get hurt." Madame Hooch said contemplatively, eyeing the group one last time before giving them the final go ahead.
"You guys go first. Typical one on one, whoever scores 100 points with the quaffle first wins." Ryan said to Draco and Nick with a smile as he turned away from Madame Hooch. "Good luck!"
Draco and Nick both nodded at the boy before Madame Hooch tossed them her quaffle. They lined up across from each other before mounting their brooms and rising to typical Quidditch height.
"They do look kind of small all the way up there." Madame Hooch said, sounding suddenly unsure.
"Ah, I'm sure they'll be fine. Are you a witch Rolanda, or aren't you?" She continued, mostly to herself.
Harry and the group watched the first match with interest. Both boys seemed to be pretty closely matched, and would often match any points right after the other. Harry was proud of Nick's prowess on the broom and his skill at Quidditch even though he had never done it before, but Harry knew that if Nick could fly without the broom, he would have no problem with it. Draco had pulled a late lead and was winning 90 to 70 but Nick managed to score twice in a row by pulling off an impressive interception by pulling up on Draco's right, grabbing the quaffle, and then twisting underneath and twisting both the quaffle and Draco with him. Harry and the others couldn't help but cheer at the move, Madame Hooch even making a small whistle of appreciation from behind them. Harry had seen Nick pull something similar when they had played a game while flying but was nonetheless impressed by how it was carried out on brooms.
After Nick's move, Draco had possession of the ball and started towards the other end of the pitch at an increasing speed. The group watched as Nick raced past Draco before turning completely around and seeming to charge Draco head-on at full speed to block him off. At the last possible moment, Draco pulled back on his broom completely and twisted, pulling of a forward corkscrew and going over and then twisting under Nick, who passed right through. Draco ended the match triumphantly, sailing the quaffle through the middle ring unopposed.
"That was wicked!" Ron gushed as the group ran to Nick and Draco as the two descended to the pitch and shook each other's pitch.
"Looks like I ended up sweeping you, huh?" Draco teased playfully as they shook hands. Nick huffed as the boy but also had a large smile on his face from the excitement.
"You won this time, but I'll have you beat next time for sure." Nick said, still smiling as he broke off the handshake and clapped Draco on the shoulder.
"I must admit boys, for two first years, it was rather impressive. It's been a while since I've seen broom work from such young players. I think you pulled off some of those moves better than some of the players I've shared a team with." Madame Hooch said, praising the boys as she walked up to the group.
"Well Harry, I suppose it's our turn. Guess we gotta make sure it's a good show after those two, eh?" Ryan said, turning to Harry with his broom in his hands. Harry nodded solemnly, already running through different scenarios in his mind in order to beat the boy, and took up their positions on the field as the group moved back to the sidelines. The two slowly raised up into the air.
"Good luck!" Ryan called out over the wind that was now swirling through the air.
"Good luck." Harry called back, and then added quieter. "You'll need it."
The duo watched as Madame Hooch spelled the quaffle into the middle of them before shooting off green sparks to give them the go ahead to start the match. Before the sparks even finished leaving her wand, Harry pushed his broom forward and snatch the ball from the air, rolling to the left and shouldering past Ryan. He flew quickly to the ring unopposed and tossed it through, getting the first set of points on the board. Harry raised his eyebrows at Ryan innocently as the boy shot him a calculating look as he gained possession of the quaffle.
The match proceeded in similar fashion, with each boy growing rougher with the other as time went on and making more and more daring moves to try and score or grab the ball from each other. Ryan's last goal had seen the two boys almost shoulder to shoulder pushing against each other roughly, Ryan trying to protect the quaffle and tie the score while Harry tried desperately to steal it and end the match with a win. Ryan finally managed to shoulder past Harry roughly, throwing Harry off balance enough for him to lag behind and give Ryan enough time to time the score at 90 to 90.
As Harry gained possession of the quaffle, he sent Ryan a look that verged on a glare while Ryan stared on with a competitive fire in his eye. The group on the ground looked on with the entire focus on the match, with Madame Hooch saying a silent prayer that neither of the two hurt themselves. She probably should've reined them in a couple goals before as they grew more careless but couldn't help being utterly enraptured by the game of Quidditch happening in front of her. It was some of the most fun she had watching a one on one in ages.
Harry and Ryan stared at each other for another moment as Harry plotted his run down the pitch. He glanced at Ryan for one more second before pushing his broom the hardest he had so far that day, forcing an extra amount of speed through it by the sheer force of will, laughing loudly at the sheer speed he was traveling at. He loved flying with his wings, but, he decided then, there was something about the speed you can get on a broom that Harry felt was totally unique to it. He tried to zig past Ryan to throw the boy off his tail but Ryan was just as determined to win and stuck to Harry extremely close.
Harry tried to throw the boy off as they got closer and closer to the rings but couldn't manage to. He knew in his current position that Ryan would be able to block any attempt at a shot that he could try and make and knew that he would regain possession and possibly beat Harry on his next attempt. Harry shot a glance over his right shoulder and saw Ryan's determination in his eyes.
Making a split second decision, Harry readjusted his feet and loosened the grip on his broom, throwing his body towards the left and swinging in a sloth grip with the quaffle tucked tight to his chest with right hand. The motion and inertia from the swing caused the broom to descend and roll underneath Ryan, with Harry hanging upside down and looking up at the boy. Harry saw Ryan look down in surprise before Harry swung his body up and to the right, swinging the broom around once more so he came up on Ryan's right side, right way up. Harry's left shoulder shoved into Ryan harshly as they flew as Harry's broom corrected its stability, all while the two flew through the air at top speeds. Harry quickly moved the quaffle into the right position and shot it through the center ring, securing his hard fought victory over his competitive ex-brother.
"Yes!" Harry called out in pure joy, swinging his broom around to rub his victory into Ryan's face at the same time a piercing "No!" echoed out through the pitch.
Harry swung his broom around in a panic, trying to find the source of the screaming. Time seemed to slow to a halt as he realized with a growing horror that his game winning maneuver had caused Ryan to presumably lose his balance as he was now in an open freefall towards the ground, having screamed out for help. Harry watched as Ryan was now seemingly racing his broomstick to see who would be the first to hit the field at terminal velocity.
He knew he had wished for his Ryan to fall off his broom more than once in the past, but Harry couldn't stand by and see anybody suffer harm, let alone from his own actions. His training and need to help people jolted him out of his thoughts and he acted without thinking of the consequences and sprung into immediate action.
Harry swung his one leg over the side of the broom and plunged himself forward off the broom into a freefall, falling into a skydiving form he had years of experience gaining speed with and perfected when flying and racing with Nick and Cyrus. Harry threw his left hand behind him, hoping this portion of the plan would work or else he was just as much of a pancake as Ryan was, or else he risked exposing himself if he had to use his wings to save himself. Harry called to his broom in his mind, reaching out with his hand behind him in the hopes that the broom would properly be summoned and follow behind. Harry felt a shock of magic in his palm, hopefully a sign that the broom was reacting properly. Harry pushed his body forward, trying to gain more speed in order to catch up with Ryan as the ground grew closer at an astonishing speed.
A sickening SNAP! sounded throughout the field as the group of onlookers on the field, enjoying the game only moments before, screamed in horror at the sight before them.
Harry slammed to a halt in the air as the broom finally caught up with his left hand, his grip tightening around it immediately and causing it both the broom and the boy to come to a complete stop in the air. The sudden stop jolted Harry harshly and caused him a few moments of disorientation. Harry grimly realized he had slammed his eyes shut at some point during the whole thing, trying to block out any potential failure. He slowly opened his eyes, afraid at what he might find. He let out an extremely deep sigh of relief as he saw he grasped Ryan Potter's hands in his right hand, the boy's broom shattered into a million pieces only ten feet below their position where they were hovering. Ryan looked up at Harry in a combination of horror at the trauma from the fall and extreme relief caused by surviving said fall from Harry's quick actions.
Harry weakly readjusted his grip on the broom that was holding them about fifteen or twenty feet in the air, feeling extremely drained from the events of the last few moments, but not drained enough to shift his attention towards Ryan and cough out one more phrase.
"I won."
With a smile on his face at this declaration, Harry felt the remaining energy in his body completely slip away as his eyes closed of their own accord and he passed out, releasing his grip on the broom as the two now fell the rest of the way to the ground in a heap.