Disclaimer – It has come to my attention recently that I unfortunately do not own Harry Potter. Who knew.

Author Note – I enjoy writing short stories for my own enjoyment but at a suggestion from a friend, I have decided to start posting some of my stories that I am working on or have completed. All feedback is welcome (hopefully constructive!) Looking forward to what you think!

As they approached the edge of the tent line, Harry realized that over the past couple minutes he had been noticing that there was the sounds of lots of people cheering and it had been steadily increasing in volume. This was understandable, however the cheering was accompanied by a very persistent buzzing sound that increased and decreased in volume but was definitely present.

When Harry, who was in the lead of the party with Ron, crested the hill, he froze as he had never expected to lay eyes on the marvel that spread out before him.

Stretching out before him was truly a Quidditch player's dream experience. There must have been at least six Quidditch pitches, an area which had variable heights of Quidditch goal posts (which appeared to be actively changing heights), and several enclosed tent areas that Harry could hear thumping sounds from. But the thing that really caught Harry's attention was the large grandstand which seemed to be facing a large empty field, probably at least the length of two Quidditch fields and much wider. It was populated with floating flaming rings which were at varying heights and inclines. On top of the structural marvels, there were no less than 100 individuals in the air on brooms throughout the area, no doubt participating in different events.

Even with all he had seen, maybe excluding his experiences in the Department of Mysteries and with Death, Harry had never seen something, which so fought against any attempt to properly describe.

Looking over, noticing the shared look of amazement shared in all of their eyes (although realizing Hermione and Percy might be amazed at the logistics in setting up and maintaining it rather than the flying itself), Harry laughed and asked aloud.

"Ok where to first?"

After agreeing to return to their tent for supper, so they would have time to eat, get ready, and make it to their seats; the group decided to split up. Bill and Charlie accompanied Ginny towards the goal posts, no doubt the quaffle accuracy toss. The twins took off, accompanied by Mr. Weasley and surprisingly Percy, in the direction of the tent where they were to dodge bludgers, and finally Hermione and Harry were led by a rather insistent Ron to the field with the floating flaming rings, which was no doubt the obstacle course that had been mentioned.

It took more than 15 minutes before they got to the obstacle course area that was no less impressive up close. As they joined a line which appeared to have formed they looked up as a guy on a broom flew by overhead no more than 10 feet above them. It appeared he was cutting a turn, to what Harry assumed was the next ring, too wide and wasn't going to make it. Harry cringed as the individual did indeed misjudge the turn and appeared to be heading right towards the edge of the ring. However, as Harry and Hermione visually cringed, rather than catching on fire or calling out in pain, the player continued on. The only apparent difference being that the ring of flames turned a bright vivid red for 3 seconds before reverting to the previous flickering orange hue.

Harry looked at Ron for an explanation, having noticed his lack of response when the player was heading right at the flame.

"Oh right, you two might not have seen a wizarding obstacle course before. The flaming rings are just conjured and don't burn or anything. If you make it through they flash green but if you touch any part of the ring be it body or broom, they flash red. And the judges will apply a time penalty to your run."

Nodding Hermione noted, "That is quite smart and would certainly help the judges especially at the speeds some of these individuals are flying at."

Ron proceeded to spend the duration of the wait in line going over strategy to best run the course. When they got to the front of their line, a rather normal looking witch welcomed them to the obstacle course.

"Hello you three, all interested in running the course? You either can run it for fun or be timed for prizes. Or if you are feeling particularly bold, you could try to run it against Victor Krum's time!"

"I am honestly not much of a flier so I can wait for the two of them to finish their runs". Hermione stated.

Harry looked at her, "Are you sure Hermione, even just for fun?"

"Thanks for the offer, but I watch you enough during Quidditch matches to realize that it is not an area of the wizarding world I need to participate in. But I'll get a good seat and cheer really loudly. Good luck you two!"

And with that Hermione turned around and headed towards the stands.

Ron eagerly stepped forwards ignoring Hermione leaving, solely focussed on the course "The two of us definitely want to run it. How much extra to run against Krum's time?"

"It's either six sickles to run the course as is or if you want to run against Krum it is three additional sickles."

Pulling out the required money, Ron said, "Ok I'll run against Krum. It would be wicked to see that."

"Ok I'll just need your name and you will see your score up on the leaderboard after you finish the run. If you finish the course in under a minute you can win your six sickle entry fee. And if you complete it in under 45 seconds you can win ten Galleons. Broom shed is over there."

Ron started off, before turning around, excitedly asking, "How had Krum done?"

The witch laughed, "Another Krum super-fan? He had finished the course flawlessly in 32.42 seconds, over 8 seconds faster than the nearest finisher, as of this morning."

Ron continued down the path to the broom shed as the witch looked after to Harry and asked for his name, before pausing noticing his scar.

"Oh wow...you are Harry Potter? James and Lily's boy."

Harry began to groan, having forgotten just how much he hated the Boy Who Lived worship, but stopped when his brain caught that she referenced his parents.

"You knew my parents?" Harry questioned.

Wistfully she looked at him, "I did indeed, your mom was one of my best friends. And I put up with enough of your fathers pranks over the years, well him and Sirius both. You know, you may look like him but you have your mother's eyes."

Harry chuckled, "I have heard that once or twice. Were you really friends with my mom? What was she like? I've never really met anyone other than teachers who knew my mom, …well other than my aunt."

"Oh that horrible shrew, I hope you don't believe a word you heard from her. That being said, I feel bad for her. Lily was sure she was just jealous that she did not have any magic ability. Unfortunately that led her to taking out all the resultant anger out on Lily. Did you know that your aunt did not even come to the funeral?"

She paused and appeared to compose herself. "Sorry about that, your mom was just such an amazing person and I still can't believe she is gone. My name is Mary MacDonald and it is nice to meet you Harry. I never got the chance to see you when you were a baby, as I was out of the country and by the time I came home your parents had gone into hiding. I'd like to share stories about your mom if you'd ever want to hear them, well...both your parents, and their friends, ...if you want."

"I'd love that, I really ..."

"Oy, Harry, I got our brooms. You are running the course, right? Of course you are. Here you go mate." Ron interrupted handing Harry a broom. He continued, "Can you believe they are letting us use Nimbus 2000s for the course. Do you want to go first?"

Harry opened his mouth to reply but before he could utter a sound, Ron cut him off.

"Actually never mind I'll go first, I'm so pumped. Come on I'll meet you at the starting area over there." Ron finished and took off towards the starting gate.

Ms. MacDonald laughed, "It looks like your friend is a little eager, well no worries, he definitely isn't the first one today."

Harry tried to recollect his thoughts, "Ms. MacDonald. I would really like to hear more about my parents but I am spending the rest if the summer with my friends, The Weasleys and not sure if I can get away. People tend to keep a pretty close eye on me." Harry laughed humorlessly.

"Oh I imagine they would with Sirius Black breaking out last year… For what it's worth Harry, I have read what the Prophet is saying about him and heard there was a big incident at the end of last year at Hogwarts, but I don't think you are in as much danger as some people think...well...at least with respect to Sirius."

Harry looked at her shocked; he did not think he would have ever found anyone other than Dumbledore who would be willing to give Sirius a chance. It seemed the entire wizarding world was firmly set on their opinion of his godfather.

"As for meeting up. No need to worry if you cannot get away during the remainder of the summer. I do own the sporting supply store in Hogsmeade. When you come down on one of the trips feel free to pop by and I can tell you as many stories as I can remember." said Ms. MacDonald smiling.

"That being said I do need either six or nine sickles if you do indeed plan on running the course." She laughed as she nodded at the broom and the pointed to where Ron was frantically waving and gesturing to Harry.

Harry smiled, "of course, sorry about that. Here are nine sickles and I would love to take you up on that. I will definitely visit. Would love to hear about my mom." Harry handed over the money and started walking over to Ron before turning and looking back. "And thanks, this really made my day!"

Harry took off towards Ron whose gesturing had increased in intensity.

"Took you long enough mate, I am sixth in line, you will be a couple spots behind me. I was worried you might miss my run. Any last minute tips?"

Harry watched as the current racer just finished the course glancing up at the leaderboard as it was automatically updated with a time of 1 minute and 32.05 seconds. "Hmmm the biggest thing I can think of is that you just have to be confident Ron. You are not bad on a broom. You have been flying forever and I have not met a bigger fan of Quidditch. I am sure you have watched your fair share of professional players flying. Just believe in yourself and trust your instincts, I believe you can have a good run! Other than that, just have fun. The times I do best while flying are when I am not in my head but I'm enjoying myself."

Ron looked at Harry, "wow thanks mate. You really believe in me?".

Harry nodded and looked at his friend remembering Ron had always struggled with confidence, "of course I do." Smacking him on the back and laughing, "but maybe let's pay attention and see if we can pick up any patterns from the last runners before you are up."

Ron smiled and looked back at the current individual on her broom running the course as she accidentally bumped into one of the flaming hoops. Harry was able to overhear Ron quietly repeating, "Be confident, you can do it. Be confident, you can do it."

When it was Ron's turn, he stepped up to the start line at the guidance of a wizard, wearing swim trunks and a football sweater. Harry laughed and noted that at least they were sports related. With a swish of his wand, a slightly blurry image of an individual of his broom appeared right beside Ron. Harry assumed this must be the figure of Krum that they would get to race against.

At some unseen signal, Ron and the Krum mirage kicked off at the same moment hurtling towards the first hoop. Harry watched as the figure continuously pulled ahead of Ron, running what he was sure was a perfect run. But Harry was more impressed with the run of his friend. While possibly cutting wide on some of the turns, Ron was certainly performing well and had not hit any of the rings so far. As Ron shot upwards to go through his last ring, Harry saw that as he passed through the ring and angled his broom downwards to head to the finish line his momentum carried him upwards and pulled the broom up, which Ron had to then correct. It was slight but Harry was sure that even in experienced hands it would cost some time. Ron was flying towards the finish line and as he got closer, Harry noticed a large smile that seemed to cover his entire face, which somehow got even larger as he crossed the finish line. Coming to a stop and jumping off his broom he ran over to Harry as they both looked up at his time. 59:58!

"Oh wow! Harry did you see that run? It felt amazing. I do not know if I have ever flown that well. I cannot wait to tell Bill, Charlie, and the twins! I wonder if they will run it? Thanks for the advise Harry, good luck! I'll go wait over there; maybe I'll be able to find Hermione before your run." Ron exclaimed excitedly and then took off towards the stands.

Harry had to wait for three more fliers before it was his turn to head to the starting gate. While he was waiting, Harry was still replaying the conversation with Ms. MacDonald over in his mind. He could not believe that he now had a source of information on his mom and had a chance to get to know her or at least a chance to get to learn about who she was as a student at Hogwarts.

As an equally surprising bonus, she somehow seemed to believe in Sirius, Harry could not help but think that maybe he was not so alone anymore. He certainly intended to be more proactive this time around and hopefully get Sirius freedom, and was positive that having several adults on board was sure to help. Harry's daydream was interrupted when the same fashionably dressed wizard, who had helped Ron, pointed to the start line and started explaining the rules.

"Hello and welcome to the course. It is all pretty self-explanatory. The rings you need to fly through are orange hued fire, if you hit the edge it will turn red for a couple seconds and a time penalty will be applied to your score, otherwise they will turn green. Let see...you are...yup looks like you are flying against Krum's time. So I'll preform a spell that will mimic Krum's exact run and you can see how your run stacks up against it. Provide a little extra motivation and maybe you can see how close you get. Now just mount your broom and get ready for your cue to go."

Harry mounted the broom and for one second, it felt like the time he had first mounted his original broom that he had been "mysteriously" gifted. While he could certainly not find fault with his Firebolt, which truly was a masterpiece, there was always part of him that ached when remembering his first broom when he was flying on his Firebolt. This feeling of longing was currently absent and probably due to his thoughts relating to the conversation with Ms. MacDonald, Harry felt a warm relaxing sensation blooming inside him.

He noticed that his focus improved and was able to fully shut out the cheering of the fans in the stands. He had never felt more in the zone, than he was at this very moment. He noticed the apparition appearing to his right side, he felt a slight headwind ruffling his hair, and he noticed a slight glint of sunlight off the broom handle.

Harry began to turn his head towards the attendant to ask what exactly the cue was when he felt a small tremor in the handle of his broom. This drew Harry's attention forwards and he witnessed the Krum apparition take off.

Harry leaned forward and immediately shot towards his first ring. The academic part of Harry realized that there was no way the Nimbus 2000 could be faster or more responsive than the Firebolt, but at that moment Harry felt that he was a part of the broom and his every impulse was translated into exact action by the broom. Harry was aware of himself shooting through the first couple of rings, before he corkscrewed the broom and headed towards the next ring, trying to overtake the apparition of Krum who was "maintaining his lead". Harry was enjoying flying as he never had before and all of a sudden he noticed that he had entered the steep climb to approach the last ring. Harry thought back to Ron's run and as Harry was a couple yards from ring, almost at the apex of the climb, he began rolling his broom so that he would fly through the ring completely inverted. Positive he managed to perform the roll, without bumping the ring, Harry began to immediately rocket towards the finish line. Not sure at what point it happened Harry noticed that he could no longer see Krum's apparition in front of him. Harry startled for a second before noticing that there a slight glimmer less than a fraction of an inch in front of his broom, making it appear as if he was going so fast he was bending light. Harry leaned even further into the broom and pushed everything into finishing the race.

The next thing Harry noticed was another slight tremor in the handle of his broom handle, assuming this corresponded with him crossing the finish line and his time finishing, Harry leaned back and expertly brought the broom to a landing near one of the attendants, who appeared to just be starring at Harry. And just like that it was as if someone turned his senses back on. The tunnel vision slowly expanded until he was aware of everyone in the stands standing on their feet and watching. His hearing returned and he heard the staccato beating of his heart and the slight sound of the wind as it blew through the course. It took a second before Harry realized that was all he heard. This caused him to look up at the score board. 32.43. At that exact moment, it was as if the rest of the world's sound finally caught up with him and the stands exploded into cheering. Well...except that of the attendant who just stood there with a partially opened mouth as he accepted Harry's broom.

Harry made his way over towards the stands, in the direction where he had seen Hermione and then Ron head.

This assumption was confirmed to be true when he saw his red headed friend rocket, almost as fast as he had gone on the broom, towards Harry, followed closely behind by Hermione.

"Harry I've always known you were an amazing flier but you almost beat Krum's time...like the Victor Krum...arguably the best Quidditch seeker to play...top five at least...and to consider..."

Ron paused, as if remembering something and then he continued, "I can't wait for our lessons to start. If you help me become half that good, all the extra homework, for McGonagall that I'll have to do, will be worth it!"

Hermione who was also beaming at Harry, looked as if she had been about to say something to him before Ron's words caused her to do a double take and look rapidly between the both of them expecting context.

"Ron you are planning to do more homework? Voluntarily? Why? I mean I'm happy for you and Merlin knows you should have started this a couple years ago but I'm so happy to hear this!"

As Ron began to explain the arrangement he and Harry had made, Harry could only watch with a smile as his two best friends continued on; alternating between talking about the homework plan, which of course Hermione had already made a study plan for the year (offering to help Ron with his studies), and looking over to Harry, talking once again about the run. Ron could not stop talking about the roll Harry performed at the end and even Hermione was impressed and tried to explain to both of them the physics behind the maneuver. Harry who had never taken physics classes at school told Hermione as such and Ron meanwhile began a long discussion on why physics was something that was not worth learning. After all what was the point of learning about gravity in a world with Wingardium Leviosa or other such charms.

Harry was smiling as he let his friends control most of the conversation. Much preferring how they used to converse, compared to once they all ended up on the run hunting horcruxes.

Unknown to anyone on the fields though, while Harry was watching his friends with a smile plastered on his face. An individual sat in the top corner of the stands with a hood completely shadowing their face, firmly watching Harry...however on their face...was definitely no smile.

kailashmaharana2500 - It is not so much that Hermione knows everything and will just automatically come to the conclusion that Harry time travelled. While Harry definitely does have good instincts, Hermione is written as pretty observant (not just book smart) she was the only one to put together the fact that Lupin was a werewolf based off the clues present and by their fourth year Hermione had already spent the entire previous year using the time turner so she would be aware of time travel (maybe not the way the Harry of my story travelled) but I think she probably might have made a couple mistakes the first time she used the time turner and seeing similar behaviors (verbal slip-ups) might trigger something that will cause her to question. I hope I do the character of Hermione justice though, please definitely let me know how I am doing.

zega606 - they are among my favorite characters, Hermione as she seems the most capable and practical of the Trio, and Fleur as I believe she had a great story arc and definitely had the quickest character growth in fourth year going from super snobby (at least my take in the books) to incredibly grateful of Harry, albeit saving someones sister probably helps but I like how she wasn't too proud or dismissive of Harry which would have tied in to how she was originally portrayed

Pteaset - Thanks I am trying!

Mark1 - Happy to hear you think so, I tried.

Lucy Elizabeth Dawson - Thanks so much, I am looking forward to sharing more.

Kind Regards,

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Again appreciate all feedback whether positive or positive! Haha but seriously constructive criticism or suggestions are welcome!