I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.

Extended Family

Chapter 13 – Channeled Legacy

This is set in first term, Harry's seventh year.

Dedicated to: DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles

"What's got you so happy?" Hermione asked.

Harry put the letter down, his lips curled in a smile that was a touch too broad to be innocent. "Oh just a letter from Captain."

"Oliver? Good news then?"

"I was picking his brain over his past practices and making sure I wasn't looking through them with rose-tinted glasses and nostalgia."

Hermione frowned. "What are you on about?"

"Let's just say the team took the mickey out on me during try-outs and I decided that the first team practice should be…rigorous."

Hermione smiled. "Rigorous?"

"One might say, inspired even."

Hermione tried to hide her smile. "Oh no."

"Remember the time you got mad at Oliver for when I passed out in the common room first year?" Harry's smile turned malicious.

"Oh those poor lambs," Hermione laughed. "I'm going to enjoy watching this, aren't I?"

"Let's just say that it'll be good that we don't sleep in the tower anymore after practice," Harry laughed.

-0-

Ron blinked slowly, confused. He shivered lightly, trying to pull up his covers but could not find them. He woke fully when he realized that Harry was sitting beside his bed. "Bloody hell! What are you doing?!"

"Waking you up for practice." Harry looked disgustingly awake and fresh.

"Practice? What time is it?" Ron asked, shaking his head.

"Just a bit after 6:30."

"You maniac! It's Saturday!"

"And it'll be a nice early start for the day! On your feet Ron. You got ten minutes to get ready and then head to the pitch. I already have a light breakfast waiting. Up you get. If you go back to sleep, I'll send Hedwig to wake you up."

Ron knew that was no idle threat. He started swearing, glaring at Harry as he rose. Harry smiled and left the dorm room, ignoring his friend's words.

Ron made it down the stairs a little after ten minutes, still pulling his practice clothes on. He found Jimmy waiting in the common room, yawning and blinking slowly. "How'd Harry wake you?" Ron asked.

"Shook me a while and told me he'd enchant my bat to follow me around all day if I took too long," Jimmy said.

Ron felt cold. "Oh. Oh no."

"What?"

"That sounds like something Wood said and did to the twins once."

"Wood? The old captain?"

Ron nodded. "I think we're in trouble."

"Why?"

"Wood's practices were a little…intense. The twins used to complain about them a lot."

Ron's fear woke Jimmy up completely. "Uh…but it's Harry. He wouldn't do that to us…would he?"

Ginny came stomping down the stairs, fuming. Mirabelle, Demelza, and Erica followed. Demelza looked disgruntled and Mirabelle looked befuddled while Erica still looked asleep. "I'm going to get him for this," Ginny grumbled.

"What'd he do to you?" Ron asked.

"His Patronus yanked me from the bed! Do you know how terrifying it is to be woken up by a glowing lioness and be tossed about?!"

"You did tell the paper airplane message to piss off," Demelza said.

"So did you! Why didn't she attack you?!"

A hoot cut through the argument and they all looked up. Hedwig sat on the mantle over the fireplace and she looked at them severely. A small gold badge sat on the chain around her neck.

"Aww, she has a tiny captain's badge," Mirabelle gushed.

"Oh dear Merlin," Ron moaned. "Let's get out of here then."

The team left the common room, followed by Hedwig flying behind them. Ron tried to stop at the great hall out of habit but Hedwig bulled into him from behind, hooting and nipping. Eventually the team reached the pitch where Harry stood waiting.

"Good morning!" He said cheerily.

Ron and Ginny gave him the two finger salute. Demelza glowered. Jimmy yawned. Mirabelle blinked. Erica replied with a half-hearted "'Morning."

"Help yourself to some breakfast," Harry gestured at a side table with cereal and toast and eggs and bacon on it with juice and tea. "While you eat, I'll go over some things and then we'll get our first practice started."

They made plates for themselves and sat around Harry as he made the board float. He ate too while he shared a few ideas of plays, discussing how the other House Teams were the prior year, and diagrammed what looked like a reasonable practice schedule for the year.

Hedwig claimed the bacon tray and munched her way solidly through it.

"Right, any questions?" Harry asked.

By now the team was fully awake and had full bellies and thus, felt safer.

"Why the hell did you wake us up this early if you're just going to strategize?" Ron asked indignantly.

"Because we have a lot to do today and this was the slowest and easiest part," Harry replied. "It also worked out that we could do this while eating breakfast."

"Wait, this wasn't the practice?" Erica asked.

"This was the written part of practice," Harry said.

"What did you mean by the 'easiest' part?" Demelza asked, suddenly concerned.

"Just that it's easier in comparison. You got to sit and eat. When I had practices with Captain, we rarely got to sit and eat."

"Oh no," Ron groaned. "Harry, we're friends, right?"

"Yup."

"So uh, you wouldn't hurt us, would you?"

"Nope."

"So it won't be that bad?"

"No, it won't be that bad Ron," Harry said soothingly. "In fact, we're going to start with some simple exercises. It's a calisthenics program I found."

"Well that doesn't sound so bad. What's cally-wotsit?" Ron turned and looked at Mirabelle and Erica's looks of horror. "What?"

"Uh, Harry? Captain, Head Boy sir?" Mirabelle quavered. "Where did the program come from?"

"Oh, from a football team."

She squeaked. "Is this because of the whole Papa Potter thing? I'm so sorry. That was Lyla's fault."

By now the rest of the team were staring at Mirabelle's obvious panic and Harry's smugness.

Harry grinned. "Now now, it won't be that bad."

-0-

Ginny lay on the ground, drenched in sweat and gasping.

"Come on Ginny! Up and at them!"

"I hate you so much Harry!" she screeched. "There is no bloody way Muggle sports teams do this!"

"Well they have to make up for lack of magic and what not so yeah they do. Be glad I picked something that was close to Quidditch. Boxing practice and American football drills would have been even worse." Harry was sweating too but he was used to this level of exercise, having done a lot of it with Tonks. He had led the team through stretches, push-ups, sit-ups, and he just had them run back and forth along the length of the pitch. "You all are doing great by the way."

"We are?" Jimmy gasped, incredulous. He looked over the rest of the team that had flopped over in varying states of misery.

"Sure are! Right, we're going to do some easy laps around the pitch now. No more running drills. Come on, up you get." He chided them up into a line. "Oh and here." He handed everyone a practice broom. "Carry this across your shoulders like so. Here we go!"

They groaned but shuffled after him. True to his word he kept the pace easy. He led them around the pitch a few laps before he magically stuck two small bags of sand to each broom, balancing them out. He had them run more laps. To add insult to injury, he ran around the line, taking time to run alongside each team member before occasionally sliding to the back and picking up the pace to keep them going along.

By then the sun had risen completely and Hermione and Luna came onto the pitch. They sat where Harry had their things set up and they read and did homework while they watched.

"How are they doing?" Hermione asked as Harry jogged over.

"Not bad at all."

"I don't know if that's good or not." Hermione smiled.

"I mean, I'm not doing everything Captain suggested," Harry laughed. He handed over the letter to her.

"Goodness," Hermione said as she read. "He really did all these things before?"

"He mellowed out some by his last year apparently," Harry said. "But yeah, I remember some of those practices." He glanced over at the team who had slowed to a lethargic walk. "Oh that won't do. Come on! You're doing so good!" Harry ran over and soon had the team jogging again.

"I imagine it must be very confusing," Luna said with a giggle. "To be told you are doing well and to be encouraged while suffering so." The two girls began to laugh as they heard Harry start a pace chant.

"Pick it up, laddie buck!

Pack it up, laddie buck!

Up and down, laddie buck!

Out of luck, laddie buck!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Ron and Ginny shouted hoarsely.

More of their friends arrived to watch the carnage. Harry took them around before letting them stop and they all fell over, gasping and groaning fitfully. He poured glasses of water for them, still looking way too fit considering he had done what they were doing at the same time.

"You look terrible," Hannah said to Ron. She was trying to be sympathetic but her giggles kept appearing.

"Save me," Ron gasped. "Whatever you need to do. Please, I can't take much more of this."

"What do you expect me to do?" Hannah asked.

"I don't know! Anything!"

"I'm going to kill him," Ginny repeated over and over.

"You!" Mirabelle had rolled over and saw Lyla sitting with Luna. "This is all your fault!" She clawed her way along the ground.

"What did I do?" Lyla asked, running behind Luna.

"You told me to call him Papa Potter! He's doing this to us because of that!" Mirabelle crawled faster. "You should be suffering with us!"

"You didn't have to actually say it!" Lyla said. She tried to run but Demelza rolled into her way, tripping her. "Ah! Get off Mira! Oh you're so sweaty and gross!"

"Break's over!" Harry said cheerfully.

"There's more?!" the team lamented.

"Well yeah. We only did the ground exercises so far. You can't have Quidditch practice without a little flying practice. But don't worry. Just a relatively simple one and then we will be finished. And, I made food for everyone after. So just get through this, and we're all done. Won't that be nice?" He took their groans for agreement.

"Everyone will do three laps around the pitch then you'll do flying drills across the length before doing them along the width. When you get to that part, you'll have to dodge something. Dodge it three times consecutively and you're done. When everyone has done it successfully, practice will be finished."

"You're going to send Bludgers at us now in this condition?!" Ginny exclaimed.

"What? No! I'm not that mean," Harry said, aggrieved. "And it's not spells either."

"That's fine I guess," Ron muttered. "Better than more bloody running."

Harry clapped him on the shoulder, smiling at Ron's sullen expression. "That's the spirit! Off you go!"

The team took to the air and started their laps before transitioning to their drills.

"So what will you be shooting at them?" Daphne asked.

"Me? Nothing." Harry made a chirrup sound. Hedwig took to the air, eagerly. He smiled at her. "Time to work off that bacon. And remember our agreement." She barked hungrily and took off, keening her hunting cry.

"You're a monster," Tracy gasped.

Harry smiled ferally. "This will teach them to give me nicknames." He poked Lyla. "Don't think I forgot your role in it either."

She batted her eyes at him. "But big brother, I'm just your cute little sister. You wouldn't do anything to me that will get Katie mad at you would you?"

"You know that I know that she would say you deserve everything and more."

Everyone watched as Hedwig flew at the players like an irate ping-pong ball fueled by bacon and mal intent. She bounced between them, alternating her attack path and hooting shrilly all the while. She would ricochet off them and fly to the next, cuffing them gently with her wings or nipping at them with her beak or scratching at them with her talons.

"You really shouldn't weaponize her," Hermione said, her censure ruined by her laughter.

"Are you kidding? When I asked her if she wanted to do this, she was ecstatic."

"What was the agreement?" Daphne asked.

"Every few tags she gets is a quarter-rasher of bacon."

"That's stingy," Luna sniffed.

"She eats more than enough as it is. If I offered a whole rasher per set tags, she'd keel over from clogged arteries."

Everyone laughed as she bounced between Ron and Ginny several times, hitting them with each bounce. "You might have invented a new sport," Daphne giggled.

Erica completed the task first, flying to the ground with naked relief. Jimmy was next, followed by Demelza. Mirabelle descended next, rubbing at her cheek where Hedwig had cuffed repeatedly. They all watched as Ron and Ginny continued to fly, harassed by Hedwig. At one point Ginny chased Hedwig, screaming at the hooting owl. The Weasleys finally completed the exercise. Hedwig fluttered to land on Harry's shoulder, looking proud of her work.

"Good job team," he praised them. He revealed the picnic baskets he had set aside and laid out a feast for them. "I'll do the clean-up. Eat, enjoy, you deserve it." He handed out potion vials. "Here are some pain relief potions to help."

They ate voraciously, overcome by hunger and relief to complain too much. Ron and Ginny glared at Hedwig who glared right back at them. "Practice won't always be like this right?" Mirabelle asked tentatively.

"No they won't," Harry said and they all sighed with relief. "This was just a demonstration of how it could be. Besides, I know you don't need to run when you play on a broom but it's still a good workout and keeps you fit, helps you fly better in my opinion."

"I still can't believe whole teams do that kind of training," Ginny muttered.

"Believe it. Even in the pro Quidditch teams. Angelina and Captain tell me what kind of practices they have. Lots of times, they do group exercises for half a day and the other half is position based. They do that three or four days a week depending on their game schedule."

"And when Wood was the captain, he had practices like this all the time?" Jimmy asked.

"Similar. He usually did lots of laps for us and less of the group stuff. But he did emphasize flying drills a lot. He didn't have Hedwig as Captain's Assistant though." He scratched Hedwig's chest.

"There probably wouldn't have been a team if he did," Ron grumbled.

-0-

"You have started something," Daphne said to him a few days later.

"Oh? And that's that?" he asked.

"Rumors of your extreme training session got around to the other teams and they are in a bit of a panic," Daphne laughed. "I know Crowley has been driving the Slytherin team very hard and have heard the others doing the same."

He smiled. "Well, that means it'll be an interesting year of Quidditch at least."

-0-0-0-

DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - As requested, hope you enjoy.

guest - Minne 'Proper Hooligan' McGonagall is surprisingly fun to write for when she lets her hair down.

diffident-serpiente - Thank you so much. I would hope I do a decent job with writing Quidditch games. I've certainly had the practice haha. It is a bit tough to find the right balance between detail and too much and am glad to see you still enjoy it.

Raevl - There's at least 5 more waiting and I typically manage a new one every week or so. Plenty more.

Urgwaew - I had the idea from that random line way back and thought it would be fun to expand on it. She is a lot of fun to write for in these different settings and situations. Hope you are doing well.