Chapter 11: A Sporty Summer

AN: In the previous chapter I made a correction because Ginny wasn't the secret keeper for Sirius' secret

It was a week into the summer when Harry packed his trunk to go to the youth quidditch camp sponsored by the quidditch league, he didn't need to take his broom because the organizers were supplying their own brooms. Harry found this a better thing because he wanted to prove everyone that he was good at flying and that the broom wasn't doing all the work. He took the envelope of his ticket to the quidditch camp and holding his trunk tightly he recited the password, "Keeping the rings, beating the bludgers, chasing the Quaffle, and seeking the Snitch." With those words, the portkey activated, whisking him away to his destination.

Harry appeared then in what it looked like an office, where he was received by three people. The first one was an older man that looked like he was a strict person, he was dressed with the colors of the Appleby Arrows. The second person was a younger black woman with a pin of the Holyhead Harpies. The third person was a man that was dressed in muggle sport clothing, he had a scarf with the colors of the Tutshill Tornados.

The older man talked first, "Welcome Mr. Potter to the quidditch camp. My name is Peers Morce, I'm the head coach of the Appleby Arrows. I've heard a lot about you, don't expect special treatment. This camp is not for people with big egos because they are celebrities," he sneered when he said the last sentence.

"Peers!" Interjected the woman, then she addressed Harry, "At least I know you don't have a big ego. Gwenog talked a lot about you and your friends. I know she was the one that informed you about this quidditch camp. By the way, I'm Tatum Bonney, flying coach of the Holyhead Harpies."

The last man then presented himself, "I'm Guy Westbrook, but you can call me coach Guy. I'm the fitness coach of the Tutshill Tornados. I don't have any preconceived perception of you, I'll let your skills on a broom talk for you." Then he extended his hand in greeting.

Harry returned the greeting, "Nice to meet you." Then he went to greet the other two coaches.

Tatum took the opportunity to explain the camp, handing Harry a stack of papers. "Here is your schedule, the rulebook, and a map of the premises. Everyone has been assigned a dorm and will be provided with a broom courtesy of the Quidditch League. Go ahead and get settled; not many people have arrived yet."

Thanking Tatum, Harry left the office and surveyed his surroundings. The office turned out to be a small shack, and his attention was drawn to the nearby buildings. He spotted the dormitory building, another structure that he deduced was the cafeteria, and a quidditch pitch with an adjacent small building housing the changing rooms. With a clear sense of direction, Harry made his way straight to his assigned dormitory, unpacked his trunk, and quickly skimmed through the rulebook.

It was two hours later that his communication mirror started to vibrate, Harry took the mirror and saw the freckled face of his girlfriend, Harry quickly activated his mirror, "Ginny Weasley."

Ginny then said, "Harry! We arrived, we are in the common room of the fourth floor."

Harry quickly went to the location disclosed by his girlfriend, there he found the four younger Weasleys and Cedric Diggory playing exploding snap. Ginny spotted Harry and quickly ran up to kiss him.

"Hey! I don't want to see that," yelled Ron jokingly.

As Harry sat down with the rest, Fred said, "You know who else came? Percy!"

George continued, "Percy said he wanted to diversify his curriculum, he is now talking with the chairman of the league."

Fred commented, "Angelina and Alicia are coming as well. They are enthusiastic about the possibility of being pre-scouted."

Cedric said, "I can see that all of you are going to qualify for special training, the Gryffindor team is going to be a nightmare. Is a shame that no Hufflepuff was interested on this, and I have to create a team from scratch practically, the core players all graduated."

The rest laughed.

Ginny then said "Not just the current team, Demelza is coming as well."

The group kept talking and playing until a group of teenagers that didn't go to Hogwarts approached them. The leader a tall blond-haired guy talked, "So, here it is, the celebrity. Your dear Dumbledore isn't here to favor you. You are not welcome here. We don't want you tainting this beautiful sport. I'll make sure you don't keep tainting this quidditch camp," his group then walked away.

"What was that?" Ron asked.

Cedric answered, "Many people don't like Dumbledore's approach to education. In the case of the blood purists this is obvious. In the case of mixed families and families of muggle origin is because they think Dumbledore only cares about dark lords and not about social issues. This is why in Harry's and Ginny's timeline of origin the public was quick to turn against him. In the case of Harry, they see him as a symbol of this, and think he is a successor groomed personally by Dumbledore in his philosophy, and there is the classic prejudice against celebrities."

The door of the common room opened again, this time the ones that entered were Oliver, Angelina, Alicia, Katie and Demelza.

Oliver furiously flung himself over the table and yelled, "Why didn't you inform me of this quidditch camp?! I found out from Gemma. How is that a Slytherin cared more about the future of the Gryffindor quidditch team than you?"

Ginny then teased, "Gemma? When do you start dating her?"

Harry then continued, "I saw you looking at her a lot when we had our meals in the great hall."

Oliver blushed and became flustered. The rest laughed.

Sirius was in the Diagon Alley dueling arena with Gemma Farley. It was the first round of the national quidditch tournament, they just watched how Andrew Greengrass was defeated in a very humiliating manner by a contestant from the arena of Godric's Hollow. Sirius already had his fight against an opponent from Hogsmeade, where he won with ease.

Sirius asked, "Why did Greengrass lose, aside from being underserving of being in this tournament."

Gemma answered, "He was arrogant, he was so confident of his superiority that he didn't take the opponent seriously."

Sirius praised, "Good, you are learning well, you'll do well in the junior tournament."

Gemma commented, "You know what? This tournament looks embarrassing. I think you'll win with only basic spells."

Sirius noted, "The people that are skilled in magic rarely go to these tournaments and like to pursue more academic paths or in rarer cases they join the DMLE. Professor Flitwick only did this one time and then considered it a waste because he didn't use most of his skills. The sport scene is poor here in wizarding Britain. If you were to visit MACUSA, even if quidditch isn't popular, the other sports like broom racing, dueling, and more muggle disciplines like track and field are more popular."

Gemma then said, "Is this a symptom of a bigger problem?"

Sirius answered, "Yes. This is why so many social issues are prevalent in this society. The focus is only in magic and about how it makes us different from the people out there. But not about living with magic, and living in general. For a society that is blessed with extraordinary abilities, we seem remarkably dull."

Gemma then commented, "So, you want to increase the reputation of this and your reputation at the same time?"

Sirius answered, "Yes. I want to open a small dueling dojo for the people interested in dueling. Also, the DMLE have hired me as a part time trainer for self-defense courses for civilians because of my experience in the war against Voldemort. Many of the people interested in self-defense classes are women, because even if magic is the great equalizer, sexual harassers are still a problem."

Sirius' mirror started to vibrate, Sirius activated it, "Harry Potter."

Harry's and Ginny's faces appeared in the mirror.

Sirius smiled, "How is the quidditch camp going?"

Harry said, "Great! The entire Gryffindor team is here. We are going to show everyone what we are made of."

Ginny saw Gemma and said, "We know about you and Oliver!"

Sirius then asked Gemma, "Who is Oliver?" Sirius obviously knew who Oliver was, but that was worthy.

Gemma flustered replied, "No one."

Harry said, "Don't worry, the quidditch camp ends before your tournament. Oliver can cheer on you."

Ginny then said, "Ask Sirius for a pair of mirrors, this way you both can talk."

The attendants to the quidditch camp were all standing in the quidditch pitch receiving instructions. Coach Peers Morce was the one giving the opening speech. "Quidditch is a beautiful sport, where two teams in synchrony fight for glory. Big egos are not allowed," he looked at Harry when saying that last sentence, "Talentless hacks are going to be weeded out right now, like stupid celebrities," then he shouted, "Everyone, on the air now!"

All the young prospects took their brooms and hovered to the air. Then the coach ordered, "Bludgers, now!"

Many beaters from the league started to send bludgers to the youngsters, after a minute, half of the flyers had to retire.

Half of the beaters started to focus the bludgers on Harry Potter, who skillfully avoided the bludgers on the cleansweep 7 provided by the league. In the process because of his skilled flying, the bludgers that were aimed at him hit most of the players around him. On another side of the pitch, Ginny was skillfully avoiding bludgers as well. Percy was doing well, but decided to retire after he was in the last fifteen. The next one to retire was Demelza Robins after she was hit by three bludgers at the same time. Then one by one everyone was retiring until Harry and Ginny were the only ones left. Oliver Wood was the last one to retire after he was overwhelmed by strays.

Being the last ones left, Harry and Ginny decided to play a game, they started flying close to the beaters in order to have them being the ones that get knocked out by the bludgers. They slowly eliminated every beater until Gwenog Jones and a beater from Puddlemere united named Duncan Bernard were the only ones that remained. The beaters dropped their bats and hovered towards Harry and Ginny.

"That was awesome!" Exclaimed Duncan, "Potter, you were targeted by half the bludgers out there and you were never hit! You are skilled my friend, and the little redhead that is your girlfriend is skilled too!"

Gwenog said, "See! You should always let their skills on a broom talk. Harry, I think many people have a new image of you. But I think the Arrows coach will hate you forever. But I think the rest of the league is going to fight for you"

Harry replied, "I already have to deal with someone that hates me for existing at Hogwarts, I don't care what that old geezer thinks."

Gwenog then continued, "And you, Ginny, I know that you prefer the Harpies, but take into account that many teams in the league are going to fight for you as well."

After that conversation, the young couple went to their friends in order to have lunch as a group, during lunch they were approached by the bullies from the previous day. Their leader started to talk, "Potter, I underestimated you, you deserve to be here. You're a natural. We are glad that the boy-who-lived is more than just someone that survived a dark lord."

Harry then said, "Don't call me the boy-who-lived. I'm Harry."

The blond youngster then replied, "I'm Kyle, Kyle Branson. Nice to meet you," extending his hand.

Harry shook his hand extending an offer of friendship.

Sirius was in the new brewery he bought with Aoife and Andromeda, making renovations in order to have it ready for its grand opening. They had the idea of making the brewery fantasy themed in order to encourage the nerds that read fantasy books of cosplaying as fantasy creatures, that has the big purpose of hiding the true wizard costumers in plain sight and that way avoid breaking the statute of secrecy. Sirius was taking a rest with a beer in hand, when an owl arrived with a newspaper, Sirius with curiosity snatched the paper and began to read.

Boy-Who-Lived spotted in quidditch camp

Something that has been brought to our attention was the fact that Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, has been attending the quidditch camp organized by the quidditch league. He has already impressed players and coaches alike after the first week of this camp.

Coach Guy from the Tutshill tornados gave us his perception, 'I only care about how good someone is on a broom, and he is pretty good, he is a great prospect for the future of the league'. Randall Gold, seeking coach of the Caerphilly Catapults commented, 'He is a rare breed of seeker, he can play many strategies that aren't the classic seeker ones'. But not everyone was thrilled about Potter's abilities, Peers Morce, the head coach of the Appleby Arrows said, 'I don't understand what everyone else is seeing in that brat. He is just a talentless hack that is going to taint this game with his ego and his arrogance'.

Harry Potter's presence in the quidditch camp also spurred reactions of high profile people. Chief warlock and Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore said, 'I'm glad that Harry is enjoying himself. Unlike what most people think, I don't plan to groom him as a successor, I want him to live a life'. The minister Cornelius Fudge also gave his opinion, 'Potter playing quidditch would be a boost for our international relations'. Upstanding citizen Lucius Malfoy, had a different perception, 'People of high profile like Potter shouldn't consort with people that play that barbarian sport. Quidditch is for school and for watching. Someone that decides to play quidditch for a living doesn't belong in high society'. The famous author and adventurer Gilderoy Lockhart had his own weird perception, 'That is not a good way for Harry Potter to increase his fame. I'll try to keep coaching him at Hogwarts about how to capitalize on his fame'.

Potter's godfather, Sirius Black, has also been dwelling in the sports business and is now participating in the national dueling tournament.

Sirius then put the newspaper on the table, then he commented to Andromeda, "It looks like the defense curse was linked to that stupid tiara, the blond fraud is still defense teacher".

Andromeda furrowed her brows in thought and then stated, "Maybe that is a good thing. We know that the Malfoys are going to try to take over Hogwarts. His conspiracy with the diary failed, so he'll become more desperate. And no matter which puppet he chooses, that puppet will have to deal with that ponce and that would be hilarious."

Sirius then said, "I'm glad that Harry and Ginny at least have knowledge from another timeline in order to pass their defense qualifications," then he asked, "Any news brought by Nymphy?"

Andy answered, "Nymphadora doesn't have any interesting news. She is focused in her auror training as well, I think when she gets her full auror qualifications she will be a better spy".

Sirius then asked, "How is your potions mastery?"

Andromeda answered, "I'm having my exam next week."

Sirius said, "Now, we just need a plan to get rid of Snape."

Andromeda smiled and said, "The time for that will come. I know that his frustration is going to the roof after Harry's time in the front page because of the quidditch camp. I know that he suffers everytime he sees you, Remus or Harry living in happiness. This is why he disclosed Remus' condition to Greengrass, at least Remus is spending time with Caoimhe, just like you are with Aoife."

"Hey! Sirius Protested.

"Go, get her Sirius. Enjoy yourself, you missed many years of enjoyment," Andromeda encouraged.