Chapter 9- Flight of the New Seeker *Harry*
Awaking to a piercing scream, I reconsider the wisdom of sleeping in the common room with Hermione without introducing ourselves to the girls first.
"POTTER! BLACK!" Apparently everything is their fault. Although I suppose as they are sleeping with us, it's a reasonable assumption to make.
I jump up, moving into a defensive position in front of Hermione and assessing the situation; the Marauders are just getting up, still groggy. Lily, on the other hand, is wide awake and bearing down on us, and it's blatantly obvious that she is a force to be reckoned with.
She stops, taking her first real look at me, comparing me to her boyfriend and wondering just what is going on. I try to make things a little less awkward; "Sorry if we startled you. I'm Harry, and this is Hermione. We're new Gryffindor seventh years, but we arrived late last night because of our Portkey."
Amazing how much easier my teenage mum is to talk to than my dad, despite her aggressive entrance. She's calming down now, going into Head Girl mode and introducing herself, apologising sheepishly and asking if we slept alright.
"Oh yeah, it was great up until we got attacked by the Lily version of a raging hippogriff," Sirius rolls his eyes, Prongs, can you control your girlfriend or what?" James slugs him in the arm, none too gently, and turns to me and Hermione.
"He's not a morning person." No kidding.
Lily huffs and walks out of the common room, leaving us to go up to our dormitories and get dressed. Well, some of us anyway; Sirius and Peter flop back onto their pillows and begin to snore. Hermione is ready for us by the time we return to the common room, a look of impatience on her face.
"Harry, are you coming to the library?" She gives me a loaded glare, and it's obvious she wants to talk to me alone. Fortunately for me, Remus jumps in to tell us that's exactly where he's going, and offer to help us find our way there. Lucky for both of us, as it's easy to forget we're supposed to be new here.
I'm going to pay for this later. "Actually I was planning on going down to the Quidditch pitch, I hear there are house teams here…." James is bouncing up and down.
"Do you play? You can borrow a school broom, they're not brilliant but they fly; what position do you want to try first? I'm captain and chaser of the Gryffindor house team, best one there is of course. We can go down there now, I'll show you where to go!" I allow him to steer me out of the room, keeping up this flow of commentary all the way to the pitch.
He grabs a broom and hands it to me; a Silver Arrow. This is what I've been waiting for; I kick off and speed round the stadium once, twice, three times before rising high up into the clouds where I'm the king of the sky. The feeling of freedom is intoxicating. I hover for a while, searching for James, and find him circling level with the top stands. I grin and pull into a vertical dive, egging the broom on as fast as it can go, the ground rushing up to meet me. The wind in my hair, the fresh smell of damp grass, the feel of my heart in my throat. I pull up as hard as I can, levelling off barely a meter from the ground. The adrenaline rush is incredible.
James lands beside me, his face an absolute picture. I feign ignorance at my skill, turning away so he can't see my smirk.
"That," he attempts to form coherent words, "was amazing. I've never seen flying like that!" My smirk fades. This is the first time in my entire life I've ever heard my father compliment me. I turn to face him.
"You think I could make it on the team? I would like to play Seeker, it's my favourite position." His face seems to glow at this, and he walks around me, assessing my physical potential.
"You're the right build for one," He strongly reminds me of Oliver Wood, my former captain and friend, "short, scrawny, in need of a few decent meals but we can work on that…" Maybe not so similar to Oliver. He was far less insulting, if a little less concerned about my well-being. It worked out in the end though, 'catch the snitch or die trying' sort of became my motto after that game and it's never failed me yet.
Then he does something few Quidditch Captains would ever consider; he promises a place on the team, no tryouts. He explains that the first match of the season is against Slytherin, and to ensure we win he wants to keep my talent a secret from everyone. We will have private Seeker practice sessions, the rest of the team will work together without me. It's a brave move.
We walk back to the castle, James bouncing with excitement, before I remember another young Seeker currently fast asleep still inside the Room of Requirement. I make my excuses at the Portrait Hole, and dash towards the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy…
