Seeker's Game

15th of April, 1995.

Harry was standing on the Quidditch pitch with Cedric and Viktor. It was Easter, and in the middle of all the homework, they had decided to take a break and play a Seeker's Game. The Champions plus some had started meeting up in the Library to study together. Insanely enough both Cedric and Harry were going to take the end-of-the-year exams despite them not needing to.

Harry looked up at the stands. They were full. "So how does this work?" he asked Viktor.

"Ve use these gloves," Viktor said and handed extra pairs out to the other two. "I have a training Snitch. Every time ve catch the Snitch it gives us a point. The one who catches the Snitch the most times in an hour vins. The gloves keep track of the points."

"Easy enough," Harry said.

"I have a bit of a disadvantage," Cedric said as he lifted his broom. "The both of you are on Firebolts."

"The broom doesn't make the Seeker," Harry said. "I keep telling people that."

Cedric smiled. "Yeah I know," he said. He pointed to Madam Hootch. "Give the Snitch to her. She can release it so it is fair for all of us."

Viktor nodded and walked over to Madam Hooch. He gave her his training Snitch before taking to the sky.

Harry smirked. The three of them were settled in a triangle. They didn't look away from each other. "Best flyer wins," he said. The whistle sounded and they were off. Harry never sat still in the air. He kept moving around. He spun the broom around suddenly and grabbed the Snitch long enough for it to register. The gloves Viktor had given him showed a one on the back of them. He smirked if he could do that he could make it impossible for anyone to tell when he caught the little golden ball. He was off after the Snitch again. After catching it they had agreed that you had to wait ten seconds with your eyes closed.

Green eyes opened and he was off again. He saw Viktor catching the little golden ball and letting go of it. He waited until Cedric had caught it too and then he flew in after it again. He was spinning, whirling and doing tricks on his broom as he flew. He caught the Snitch mid-move several times.

Then they were given a last-minute warning. All three of them went after the Snitch at the same time. Cedric fell behind. The crowd was holding its breath. Their knees were touching the grass. Harry jumped up so he was standing on the broom handle. He had done this before. He hadn't known what he was doing last time though. He pushed off from the broom, closed his fist around the little golden ball and rolled against the hard ground beneath them. The whistle sounded. He was laughing. He felt so free. Slowly he moved his head to the side so he could see Viktor and Cedric.

Cedric lifted his wand into the air and sent off a golden number much like the ones that the judges had been using to award them points after the first task. The golden strand showed the number four.

Viktor raised his wand and sent up his own golden strand as Harry stood up. He had caught the Snitch seven times.

Harry walked up closer to them. He pulled his own wand out. He raised it. He sent off his own seven. He'd tied with a world champion. He held his glove up to Viktor with a smile.

"You insane…" Cedric didn't even know what to say. He had seen that last dive. Harry was crazy.

"Ve tied," Viktor said. "You are a good Seeker. I vould like to meet you in a proper match. You are better than the Irish one I met this summer."

"Thank you," Harry said. He relaxed as best as he could. He knew that Hermione was on her way and she was not going to be happy with him.

"Harry, how could you? That last dive could have broken your neck," Hermione said angrily.

"I knew what I was doing. I've been training," Harry said in defence. He turned to Viktor. "Do something about your girlfriend before she kills me," he said. He moved back and then he mounted his broom again.

"Don't you dare just fly away! I'm not done with you Harry James Potter," Hermione called after him. At least her behaviour towards him hadn't changed just because she knew he was actually twenty years old.

That of course didn't change the fact that Harry had known what he was doing. He did not feel like being lectured by her no matter how much he liked her. He could hear someone else moving behind him. He stopped and turned around. A smile grazed his lips.

It was Fred and George. "You were amazing," they said in unison. "You tied with Viktor Krum." "That's insane," "he's like renowned for being the youngest world champion in forever," "and you tied with him." "You're just fourteen."

Harry shrugged. "I love flying," he said. "I have been training a lot. I fly with Tanya more than just for practice to give her a feel for things."

"You are way too modest," Fred said. "Yeah, come on you're darn good, Harry," George said.

Harry shook his head. "I can live without getting a big head," he said.

"Oh don't worry we'll deflate you if you get a big head," Fred said.

"I want to make candy," Harry said. "Come let's go to the Lab." He steered his broom down towards the front doors of the castle. They hurried through the corridors and disappeared behind the mirror. Fred had created a batch of the gender-changing potion, but they hadn't decided what the candy for them should be yet.

"What about a hard candy surface with a filing that holds the potion," Harry said.

"Yeah, the muggle world has those, right?" George said.

Harry nodded. He tried to remember what they were called. "Straws. We can make chocolate-filled straws and put the potion in the chocolate," he said.

"Okay, so we need chocolate and stuff," Fred said.

Harry laughed. "Let me figure that out," he said. He called Winky and the two of them sat together discussing how to best make what Harry wanted to make. Eventually, Winky was sent off to buy what he would need to get started. He would be doing fruit-flavoured ones.

Winky came back and Harry got started. There was a bright smile plastered on his face as he worked. They had watered the potion down so it wouldn't hold for more than two hours. If you wanted to continue looking like the opposite gender you would have to eat more candy. They had to make a working business out of it after all.

"You look like a right mess," George told Harry a couple of hours later.

Harry looked up at him with wide eyes. He had chocolate smeared over his cheek. He had melted sugar clinging to his fingers and stuck in his hair. He looked back down at himself and laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he said. "I need to clean up." He looked down at the candy. "The straws turned out alright though," he pointed out.

"Yeah, they look amazing," George said. "You look like a mess. At least it's not the other way around."

Harry stuck his tongue out at George. "You watch it," he said. He looked down at himself and sighed. "Maybe we're done for today." He looked around. He had made more candy than he'd first thought.

22nd of April, 1995.

The sky was clear and the students of Hogwarts were spending some time outside. Harry was sitting under the open sky. He was watching Tanya fly. Just like many times before he had given her his broom. He was leading her around with a glowing ball of magic. Natalie was sitting next to him with Neville going over her herbology homework. She was having trouble with herbology since she was allergic to most plants.

Professor Snape was still working on a solution for that. The common antidotes hadn't worked for her.

Neville didn't mind helping her. He loved talking about plants.

Hermione was spending the day with Viktor after Harry had forbidden her from going to the library on such a fine day. If she and Viktor wanted to study together that was fine as long as they weren't in the library.

Harry smiled as Tanya landed next to him.

"Will you come with me this time?" Tanya asked.

"Sure I can do that.," Harry said. He got on the broom and the two of them were off. They sailed through the air and laughed as Harry did barrel roll after barrel roll.

Tanya was laughing happily as they landed once more. "Thank you, Harry," she said.

Harry smiled at her. "No, thank you, Tanya," he said. "I have a lot of fun flying with you."

Tanya blushed. She liked Harry. He was nice. He held his hand out to her and she took it. Natalie and Neville joined them and they headed back to the castle.