While flying high in the sky, still one of his favourite activities, crow spotted something peculiar. Those were humans flying on a stick? He did not see them do that often, but he supposed they were capable of that. Swooping down he decided to investigate more.
It were indeed humans, a big one and a few smaller ones. Riding on their sticks, he now saw that it were brooms, he decided to observe what they were doing from a nearby tree. A little red headed boy shouted to the larger one, "come on Charlie, show us how this practice snitch works! I want to try it myself."
Over the last few months, Harry's brain had become considerably more bird-like. While in the beginning, he had found the idea of eating a mouse revolting, that morning he had even eaten a piece of a cat that had been run over in the street. He had on occasion even captured a mouse himself and also enjoyed some grains and berries he found. The young, brutal bird considered himself one of the masters of the food chain.
Meanwhile the large red-headed human dove down with his broom. Two smaller boys were trying to hit some sort of ball to him using clubs. But the human gracefully avoided the ball and increased his speed even more. He stretched out his arm and caught something golden. This was interesting, crow decided, he liked shiny! He decided to go even closer and check what the boy was holding.
"Fantastic catch Charlie, can I try now?", the small human asked. "I will charm it to a slower, less manoeuvrable setting first, Ron. Be careful when you're up there. Mum will kill me if you fall down. Fred, George, can you lock away that bludger for Ron's attempt?"
Something strange happened, after poking the little, golden ball with a small stick. It spread out small wings and took off quickly. Where did it go? The small red headed boy, actually all these humans seemed to have red hair, got on his broom and rose in the air. He was considerably slower than the other humans. Crow decided to fly up in the air and see what was going to happen.
"Now, be careful Ron. Try to fly the basic search pattern and spot the snitch.", the human on the ground called. "Okay, Charlie!". The small boy started a series of manoeuvres in the air, crow followed him for the moment. Suddenly crow spotted the little golden, flying ball. Ooooh, shiny! The human on the ground spotted it as well, "watch out now, Ron. Can you see it?".
But before Ron could really start to locate the ball and start to chase it, crow had swooped besides him. Ron was surprised by the sudden black appearance on his side and clenched the broom with both hands to avoid falling. The bird dove down and grabbed the practice snitch with his claws. "Oh no, come back here, stupid bird!".
Crow quickly flew away with the shiny ball in his claws. He did not only like the shininess of it, it also had a nice feeling to it. This was fascinating, he really had to keep this prize!
The small red headed boy had been called down by the other humans. After he had landed the large human and the two smaller boys who carried the clubs before, now quickly rose in the air on their brooms and started chasing after crow. "Let's catch that bird!". Crow cawed his shrieking, brutal laughter and increased his speed. The humans on brooms were a bit faster than him, he decided to fly into the woods ahead.
An exhilarating chase in the woods ensued. Crow had better manoeuvrability and could easier fly through smaller holes in the foliage. But there were three humans and they almost had him cornered a few times. The coordination between the two smaller boys was particularly impressive. He had to use his best rolls and turns to avoid them. But finally, in a particular thick part of the woods, crow managed to escape from his chasers. He let out his crow laughter one last time, while he heard the large boys further in the woods swearing. "Dammit, that stupid bird escaped and is now mocking us!"
He flew further for a while until he was safe and decided to stop an a roof to study his prize. His talons had damaged the wings of the golden ball, which still tried to flutter away, but was no longer able to fly. Crow pecked it a few times with his beak. He did get a weird, nice feeling in the presence of this ball. He would take it to the small nest which he had built as a temporary living place nearby and keep it close for the moment.
What an exciting day! Crow decided to find his nest, drop his prize and then go and eat some berries from a nearby bush. Life as a bird was good! That was a strange thing to think, the bird life had always been his life, hadn't it? Oh no, he still vaguely remembered another life before this one. A dark, wary life that now seemed far away. Better not to think too much about that life. With a loud caw, crow took to the air.