There was not a lot that Harry was thinking about as he walked through the halls aimlessly, the soft buzz and dull ache in his head, kept him mostly occupied. The sound of his shoes against the stone floor is the only other intrusion into the fuzz of his brain.
Harry soon looked up from the floor, his fingers slightly raw from how long he had been dragging them against the walls and faced the towering Severus Snape.
"Potter, may I ask what you are doing wandering the halls this early in the morning?" Snape spoke like there was a constant stick up his arse, Harry thought mildly. But he bit his tongue and simply just shrugged his Harry thought. Whispers kept clouding his head.
Then he woke up.
Harry gasped awake, sweat drenched his shirt and pillow, his breathing sharp and fast. He couldn't remember exactly what he had been dreaming about, but he knew that it was no good dream. Harry's head felt too clouded for him to think about anything clearly, he reached over and popped on his glasses getting out of his bed as quietly as he could.
Harry thankfully was always good at sneaking around, for he and Sirius had to do a lot of sneaking around to escape the constantly chastising Remus. Harry shrugged on his robes and went down to the common room. There was a dull ache beginning to grow behind his eyes, but he ignored it as best as he could as he ducked out.
Harry felt like strolling through the halls of the quiet and cold castle, something nostalgic was bubbling in the pit of his stomach, a walk felt in order.
Harry sighed as he brushed his fingertips against the smooth stone of the castle walls, hundreds of years of students doing the same had weathered down the stone, very tiny valleys had even appeared, grooves that fit his fingertips just right.
Snape however didn't seem to be in the bullying mood, "breakfast will be starting soon, best start your journey there." He said before billowing past Harry.
Harry turned and watched, shocked that Snape hadn't tried to make any sort of nasty remark or dig out some sort of punishment that he did not deserve. Harry however thought best to listen to Snape and start heading to breakfast, but then a hand wrapped around his forearm.
Harry turned and was shocked once again to see Draco beaming at him.
"Harry what are you doing down here at the dungeons?" Draco asked a warm smile framing his face.
"Oh um, I don't know I kinda just wondered down here I think."
"Wandered?" Draco asked.
"Yeah I felt like going for a walk and I guess my feet just took me here." Harry shrugged, he still felt spacey. Which was weird for him, for he was always so alert whenever he was with Draco.
"Harry?" Draco asked, Harry turned to him, oh he had zoned out whilst Draco was talking to him.
"Sorry Draco, I'm just feeling a bit off today." Harry awkwardly smiled, he really didn't have any other explanation for why he was acting so weird, he just hoped that Draco wouldn't get offended.
"Oh, well we're here anyway." Draco shrugged, he waved a casual goodbye and hurried to his table. Harry watched on, he felt bad but he was too occupied with other things to think too much about it.
"Morning Harry." Fred said, sliding in beside Harry. Harry smiled and started plating up some food.
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed!" George said, sliding in next to Fred.
"No, I'm just still tired I think." Harry said, he smiled a tired smile to George and Fred and ate his food, they seemed to realise that he wanted some quiet so they left him alone to go annoy their friends.
It did not take too long for Ron and Hermione to show up, Ron grumpily sat and shovelled food onto his plate, Hermione huffed and sat down beside Neville, avoiding looking at Ron.
"Did you two fight or something?" Harry asked, his head was feeling a lot clearer now that he had some food and juice in him.
"She accused me of losing her History of Magic textbook because I borrowed it last, but I swear that I gave it back to her!" Ron angrily spat.
Harry sighed and got up. "I have to go get my books anyways, I'll see if I can find it, its probably under your bed or something."
"Fine, but I'm telling you that I gave it back to her!" Ron grumbled, Hermione looked to Harry, but said nothing.
Harry walked quickly back to the dorms, he needed to hurry if he didn't want to be late for class. He would have to hurry looking for Hermiones book or he wouldn't be able to hear the end of it.
"Mr Potter, exactly who I was hoping to run into!" Professor McGonagall spoke.
Harry stopped and turned, he sighed internally, there was only two reasons why McGonagall would be looking for her. One, there was a task that he wanted him to do, or two, he had homework that he had forgotten to hand in.
"Harry why don't you come with me, I would like for you to meet someone." McGonagall did not have a smile on her face, but it was bright with anticipation, which meant that he probably didn't forget to hand in his homework.
"I was just about to get my books for class." Harry said, hoping that he could avoid whatever McGonagall wanted him to do for the morning.
"No bother, ill write you a late note, come."
Harry with no choice now but to follow McGonagall nodded his head and obeyed. McGonagall lead the way and the bell rang.
"This took a lot of persuading from Dumbledore you know, so I hope that you'll accept the position." McGonagall said.
"Accept the position?" Harry asked confused.
"You'll see."
Harry then realised that after walking out of the castle, that they were heading towards the quidditch field.
"Professor McGonagall…" Harry started.
"Just wait." McGonagall spoke.
Harry bit his tongue and continued to follow.
Soon they had finally made it to the pitch and who Harry remembered to be the captain of the Quidditch team Oliver Wood, stood waiting.
"Mr Wood, glad to see that you're on time!" McGonagall spoke. Oliver politely smiled at her.
"Of course, I'm pretty anxious to test out our new youngest player of course."
"New youngest player?" Harry spoke, his voice quiet.
"Mr Potter, I was sitting in my office two weeks ago, grading some papers, when you came flying towards my window at such a speed that I was sure you would crash straight through it. But before I could even utter a spell to stop you, you did a magnificent spin and caught Mr Longbottom's Remember ball. Instantly I was reminded of your fathers skill and since our own Seeker has now graduated, I thought that you would be the perfect candidate."
"But Professor I thought only second years and up can qualify for the team?"
McGonagall nodded. "Yes, that is true, and it took a great amount of determination to persuade Professor Dumbledore to allow you on the team even though you are a first year."
"But wont people get mad about it?" Harry asked, he typically liked to stay away from situations that gave him a great amount of attention.
"Probably, and they'll be even more upset when you make Gryffindor win the Quidditch cup." Harry didn't like the maddening glint in McGonagall's eye, suddenly he knew that he would have no choice but to say yes, he wouldn't like to be on the bad side of her.
"So, what am I to do here?" Harry asked, eyeing the sealed wooden box by Oliver.
"I am going to test you, a seekers main goal is to catch the snitch, so for now I want to see if you can achieve this." Oliver stepped towards him and handed him a broom that wasn't used for quidditch lessons, it felt a lot younger and more reliable, this must have been one of the teams brooms.
"You want me to catch a snitch, right now?"
"That would be most preferable Mr Potter." McGonagall nodded encouragingly.
Harry breathed in a deep breathe to calm him his racing heart, already he feel the broom reacting to him and he desperately tried to focus on the excited feeling of being able to fly again.
Oliver leant down and clicked open the box, within the box contained two other larger balls, quaffles, but Oliver didn't unhook these balls from their restraints. He carefully undid the strap that held down the golden snitch and picked it up gently, placing it onto the palm of his hand.
Harry may have ridden multiple times in his life and played many backyard games of quidditch, but he had never played with a snitch before, and he was suddenly afraid that he would never be able to catch the impossibly fast little ball.
"Don't worry Harry im sure you will do fine." Oliver smiled, noticing the shift in Harrys expression as he eyed the snitch.
Harry nodded and gulped down his anxiety, Oliver motioned for him to mount and he quickly obeyed.
As soon as Harry had mounted Oliver smiled and threw the snitch up into the air, Harry had the barest glimpse of the direction the now awake snitch had flown into it.
With Harrys instincts roaring, he kicked off the ground and shot high into the sky, his broom reacting as fast as it could to his commands. Harry knew that he shouldn't try and chase after the snitch, that first he should go high and look around for it, so Harry rose high, higher than he typically would go for a game of quidditch.
He searched the field, his eyes darting and tracing for any sort of gleam or golden colour, finally what felt like hours he finally noticed a golden gleam reflect from the corner of his eye, Harry quickly swivelled in the direction of the snitch, hovering by the goal posts. He shot straight towards it, for he knew how fast those little shiny balls could be, and he would have to use the art of surprise to have any advantage on the tiny snitch.
The snitch nearly at arms lengths finally darted away from Harrys reach and shot high into the sky, Harry followed with determination, flattening his body against the broom to gain speed and elevation. The snitch now closer than ever, Harry uncurled his right hand from the tight grip he had on the broom and outstretched for the snitch, his fingers straining as he desperaley tried to keep both speed and balance in order to catch the snitch within his grasp.
Finally, after a breathless moment, he closed his hand against the cold smooth metal, the snitch fought for a few fluttering moments then became still against his sweaty palm. Elation spread throughout his cheeks as he broke out into a wide smile. He slowed down to an almost complete stop and let himself fall backwards towards the ground, almost free falling, but in enough control to do a side maneuver in order to right himself before he hit the ground.
Both Oliver and McGonagall held proud smiles on their faces as Harry presented them with the snitch.
"And impressive ten minutes and thirty five seconds!" Oliver beamed out, clapping his hand heartily on the back of Harrys back.
"Welcome to the team Mr Potter." McGonagall nodded, trying to keep her face professional, but Harry knew that she was elated on the inside.
"Don't I still have to go to try outs?"
"Yes… but I'm almost certain that no one is gonna beat you to that Seeker position Harry." Oliver said and Harry knew that he was right.
"Okay Mr Potter about time that you head back to class, ive held you long enough." McGonagall waved her wand and brandished out a note for Harry to carry to his professor.
"For now Mr Potter lets keep this a little secret of ours, keep the surprise until try outs."
Harry nodded in agreement with McGonagall, he was already pulling so much attention just a few weeks in, he would like to keep extra attention away from his as long as possible.
Harry hurried to his next class, and the day went by in a whirlwind, his head was still stuck on that quidditch field, chasing for that snitch and he was quite ready to leave yet.
"Harry whats up with you today?" Ron asked, a slight tone of worry to his voice. Harry than realised that he hadn't told Ron or Hermione the big noise.
"Right I forgot to tell you." He said, a broad smile widening his face.
"Forgot to tell us what?" Hermione asked, looking away from the notes she was scribbling even though it was now end of class time.
"I'm unofficially the new seeker of the Gryffindor quidditch team."
"What!" Ron shouted out, standing up and disturbing the ink well that Hermione had precariously balanced on a pile of papers.
"Ron!" Hermione hissed out, quickly stopping the ink well tipping, than her attention turned to Harry.
"What do you mean Harry? The new seeker, but I thought only second years and above could try out for the quidditch team?"
"Yeah McGonagall had to beg Dumbledore to let me join the team." Harry nodded, Ron was still staring at him with his mouth agape.
"Oh Ron can you stop looking like a fish out of water, surely you are used to this sort of thing by now." Hermione waved her hand dismissing Ron.
"Wait is that what held you up this morning, you were joining the quidditch team?" Ron asked, finally sitting back down and composing himself.
"Yeah, they made me catch a snitch, caught it in ten minutes, it was… one of the best things that I have ever done." Harry smiled nostalgically, even if this event had only occurred this morning.
"Blimey Harry, you really are something aren't you?" Ron chuckled, Harry tried to keep the blush at bay.
"Do you still have to go to tryouts?" Ron asked, fiddling with one of Hermiones quills.
"Yeah, I do, but Oliver Wood said that I was practically guaranteed the position."
"Hope its not too dangerous, you are gonna be much smaller than the other players." Hermione said worriedly, her bushy eyebrows creasing together.
"Don't worry Hermione, im only seeker and we don't really get targeted all that much." Harry tried to reassure, but he could tell that he hadn't really helped.
"He'll be fine, especially if Fred and George make it back on the team as Beaters again."
"Oh do your brothers play?" Hermione said perking up.
"Yep been on the team as the Beaters since second year, they're really good at it." Ron beamed proudly.
"See Hermione, ill be fine." Harry spoke.
Hermione seemed to relax a bit more, but he knew she would continue to worry until he saw how he really went in his first game.
"What about your uncles Harry, wouldn't they need to give permission first?"
Realisation struck Harry as Hermione spoke and he groaned, for he had forgotten momentarily about Sirius and Remus.
"Great now they'll have to somehow convince uncle Remus, Sirius would be all for it, but Remus, hes going to be a hard nut to crack."
"Surely he would let you play! This is the opportunity of the century." Ron exclaimed.
"Yeah but Remus has always been adamant on giving me the most normal life tha the can, and this is really classified as normal." Harry said now feeling slightly deflated.
"I'm sure that it will turn out, surely there's something that you can do to convince him to let you join."
Harry contemplated, but he would have to think longer to find a way to convince his uncle to let him join the team.
"I don't know, I'll have to think of something." He said to Ron, thinking hard.
"Well better think quickly cause tryouts are only a week away."
Harry groaned.