Chapter 11
News Years was uneventful with Harry and Peter having to watch everyone snog their partners for a full minute while they sit on the coach eating caramelised popcorn. It was still fun though. Sirius, James and Marlene flew on their brooms and dropped firepoppers from high in the sky. Everyone gasped as they exploded, making glittery pictures of different animals.
Harry was still messaging his friends everyday and they all managed to find a time they could meet up at Diagon Alley for ice cream. He tried to get Hermione to come too but she kept saying she didn’t feel that welcomed with all his friend.
I could talk to them! Make sure they don’t say anything rude to you. Harry wrote in one of their letters.
It’s alright, Harry, thank you for trying to help but I think I’ll just see you when term starts up again
On the day of the Diagon Alley meet up, the Potters had an unfortunate meeting with the Weasleys at Gringotts. Lily accidentally bumped into Molly Weasley who let out a loud shriek and physically put both arms out on either side of her as if to guard her children from the family.
“Molly dear, please calm down.” Mr Weasley muttered nervously, giving an apologetic smile to the Potters.
Molly glared at Harry then his parents. Lily and James were definitely glaring back, even though Harry couldn’t see their faces.
“Arthur, lovely to see you and the kids.” Lily remarked sourly.
Harry tried not to laugh.
“Indeed.” Arthur replied, sounding absolutely terrified.
Molly cleared her throat and grabbed Ginnys upper arm who was hiding behind Charlie. “We were just getting money to buy Ginny some new shoes, who know how kids are.”
Harry smiled tightly at Ginny who was looking wishfully at him, twirling a strand of her bright orange hair around her finger. Ron, who was standing next to her, gripped her other hand.
“Hmmm.” James replied coldly. “We were getting money for the game between Sweden and Australia that’s coming up this Spring, you coming to that?”
Everyone knew the Weasleys would not be coming to the quidditch match in Spring, it was far too expensive. Molly’s jaw tightened before walking off with her children in tow, Fred and George waved goodbye to Harry who waved back shyly and Arthur stood behind, pulling on his fingers hesitantly.
“Sorry about her, Molly is very against Slytherins and-“
“And you can tell her to leave the children out of it.” Lily scolded. “Now, if you could excuse us, we have friends to meet.” She then grabbed her boys and walked out of the bank.
——
“It sounds so cool the way you dealed with that.” Pansy gushed.
The Slytherins were standing in line for ice cream while the parents were sitting and talking at a large table.
Harry looked down at his golden coins and rolled them over his fingers. “Yeah, they act like such try-hards, it’s kind of embarrassing.”
“Took you long enough to figure that out.” Draco scoffed. “Father taught me at a young age to treat them like they are, filthy poor blood traitors.”
“Yeah.” Harry muttered, feeling the need to defend the twins who still treated him like normal.
Pansy giggled and clapped her hands. “Anyway, I must tell you what happened in France. So, I have family at St Cloud, so we went to visit them and they gave me, like, a thousand galleons-“
“Let me guess, which you’ve already spent?” Blaise interrupted with a smirk.
Pansy crossed her arms and lifted her nose in the air. “Not all of it.”
“But this is a new fur coat, is it not?” Tracey teased. She played with the long tuffs on Pansy's collar.
“Very regal, fancy Pansy.” Millicent joined, the two girls giggled.
“Of course I got a new coat!” Pansy reproached. “It was part of the Paris fashion.”
“Why am I friends with you?” Harry sighed.
“Because,” Draco started, putting an arm around Harry’s shoulders, “we are experts in looking our best whereas you… obviously weren’t.”
“Then we came along and made you the handsome man you are today!” Tracey finished, gesturing to Harry’s outfit.
He had put a lot of effort into his look today, wanting to impress his well dressed friends. He decided on a black blazer, dark green button down and his Slytherin scarf. It was due to snow so he wanted to be both classy and warm.
“Oh.” He blushed out, pulling self consciously on his scarf.
“Next!” Mr Florean Fortescue called out happily.
The group came forward and started picking their flavours. There were so many Harry thought he would have to be here for hours before he could pick one, but the chocolate cone with chocolate sprinkles always seemed to call his name. Harry was about to ask to taste test the ‘unicorn hair’ flavour when Florean gave him a wide look.
“Harry Potter.” He said in shock. “I can’t believe it, even with my own two eyes!”
Harry smiled at the man. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
Florean looked like he was about to faint. “My, my, look how grown up you’re looking. I remember when you were just a youngling, you know, before that dark night.” He hinted, touching his forehead where Harry’s scar was.
Harry laughed awkwardly. “Y-yeah.”
Florean smiled widely at the group and clapped his hands twice. “This calls for a celebration! Free ice cream for all of you!”
His friends all cheered.
“Oh no, you don’t have too-“ Harry tried.
“No, no, I insisted. Our Saviour does not walk into my shop and spend a single penny!”
“Stop trying to be nice and accept that being famous means you get free food.” Goyle muttered.
Harry sighed but ordered his chocolate sprinkle ice cream anyway, trying to get Florean to go easy on the number of scoops the man was attempting to fit on the one cone.
“Thank you so much, sir.” Harry said again when all his friends went excitedly to the table.
“Absolutely no problem, young Potter.”
“Can I at least pay for the others-“
Florean shook his head and started shooing Harry away. “Go to your table and stop asking to pay, this is a gift from me to you.”
“Thanks again, Mr Fortescue!” He called one last time, getting an eye roll in return.
“Your politeness makes me sick.” Draco teased when Harry took the spot next to him.
“Just because you aren’t polite-.”
“I am totally polite! Aren’t I mother?” Draco defended himself.
Narcissa placed a motherly hand on Draco’s hair and flattened a piece that was sticking up. “Of course you are, my love.”
Draco raised his chin some more and gave Harry a sophisticated look. “See.”
“Your mum had to say that, otherwise you would be having a tantrum.” Harry teased.
Blaise snorted into his bubblegum cone. “He got you there, Draco.”
“Oh mother, oh mother, I’m getting bullied. My father will be hearing about this!” Pansy mocked, falling dramatically into her chain with a hand of her forehead.
Harry was laughing uncontrollably as Draco gaped speechlessly.
“Aww babes, loosen up.” Tracey pouted, ruffling Draco’s gelled hair.
“Back off!” He shouted, trying to flatten it down again.
Harry wouldn’t tell him this, but he thought Draco definitely looked better with loose hair.
“Okay, this looks like a good time to get going.” Narcissa started getting up. “Lovely to see you all, Prudence, I’ll be seeing you on Friday.” Pansy Parkinson’s mother nodded and all the mothers seemed to take an hour kissing each other on the cheek. Harry was proud to see his mum putting an effort into being friendly with his friends parents. James had ran off a few hours ago after the run in with the Weasleys for ‘Wormtail rescue’ whatever that meant.
“We have school in three days.” Millicent stated.
“Yes! We must meet up in the same cabin so we can have it all to ourselves.” Pansy said, linking elbows with Millicent and Harry as they headed out.
“Sounds good. Try not be late this year Crabbe, we almost thought you weren’t coming.” Blaise teased, flicking the back of his friends head.
“Oi! It was my brothers fault, not mine!”
“That’s what they all say.” Blaise sing songed.
Crabbe scoffed. “You don’t have any siblings.”
“And thank Salazar for that.” Harry heard Blaise mutter.
Lily came up behind her son and rested her chin on the crown of his messy hair. “You read to go, darling?” She wrapped her arms around his front like a backwards hug.
Harry felt an embarrassing flush overtake him and shook his mother off, crossing his arms and looking around to see if his friends saw it.
“Don’t hug me in public, mum.” He muttered quietly.
Lily frowned before grinning mischievously. “Did I embarrass you, my sweet little prince?”
“Stop.” Harry whined.
Lily chuckled and ruffled his hair. “’Tis alright my pumpkin pie, I’m just playing with you.”
“Well stop.”
She chuckled some more but stopped teasing as she led him to the flu network.
“Ready, honeybunch, or do you want me to hold your hand?” Lily teased once they were there.
Harry groaned louder and didn’t answer as he went into the fire place and shouted,
“Potter Manor!”
The scary green light that used to make him flinch as a young boy erupted around him and before he could breathe, he was in his living room fireplace.
“For the love of Salazar, I hate that thing.” He muttered as he lifted his leg high over the fire screen.
“What have I told you about using that terrible word in my house?” James grinned as he came into the room, pulling Harry into a one armed hug.
“Why is everyone hugging me today?” Harry said to himself.
His father looked to the fireplace and frowned. “Where’s your mother?”
“Huh,” Harry frowned too, “she was just behind me at the flu network.”
Remus and Sirius strutted in with giant smiles and linked hands. Sirius sat on the couch first and pulled his boyfriend on top of him, putting his chin on his shoulder and his arms around Remus’s waist.
“You’ve been gone all day, Prongslet, how were the little snakes?” Sirius asked.
Harry shrugged and glanced between his Godfathers. “What are you two up to?”
“What do you mean?” Remus asked innocently. “Oi, James!” He suddenly barked, “Get out from there, Lily’s coming through.”
James jumped out of the where he was looking in the fireplace, bumping into the fire screen and falling over just as Lily landed elegantly where he was just standing. She climbed out and put both hands on her hips, then looked at Harry and gave him letter.
She then sat next to the two lovebirds and played with the tip of her braid.
“Hello boys, guess who I just bumped into.”
——
To Mister Harry J Potter,
Following a long discussion with Professor McGonagall, I have made the decision to allow you to bring your broom back to school to try out for Seeker on our Quidditch team in the second term. Currently, our Seeker, Philippic Sorther, is spending his last remaining year at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which has left space on the team for a new team member.
Even if you are a year too young, I know you will be a valuable asset to our team if you are as talented as Professor McGonagall says you are.
Please talk to our Slytherin Quidditch Captain, Marcus Flint, he will sign your name down for tryouts which will be on the 7th of January.
Yours Sincerely,
Slytherin Head of House,
Professor Severus Snape
——
Harry was buzzing with excitement as he ran through the brick wall onto Platform 9 and 3/4. His trunk was packed full of schoolwork, clothes and books, along with the exciting edition of his new Nimbus 2000. He knew not everyone would have been able to afford it so his family had given him the usual talking to about being humble. That’s not to say they were excited about the letter, the Marauders were so excited they didn’t even comment on the fact ‘Snivellus’ wrote it.
“My son!” James gasped dramatically after reading the letter for the first time. “My son is going to be the best Seeker of the generation.”
“Don’t put so much pressure on him, Prongs.” Remus tried.
Sirius flapped his hand. “You must tell us the moment you get on the team!”
“If you get on the team.” Lily started. “We won’t be disappointed if you don’t make it on. It’s only your first year, love.”
“But you will! You are my son, after all.” James teased, ruffling Harry’s hair.
Harry had blushed and shrugged all the affection away.
Now, he was on the Platform and kissing his family goodbye, getting his fathers watery eyes in his hair as he was hugged extremely tight.
“Write to us tonight, yeah?” He said.
Harry snorted. “‘Course.”
“Shit, I’m going to start crying again.” James half sobbed.
Lily chuckled and shoved Harry away. “Go quickly before your father keeps you in our house forever.”
“Smash all the other Seeker wanna-be’s, you’re going to get it cause you’re our little quidditch star.” Sirius encouraged.
The bell on the train wrung again and Hagrid was moving everyone on, “Hog’arts, train’s ‘bout to leave!”
“Okay, okay, bye!” Harry rushed, he grabbed his trunk and Hedwigs cage and ran onto the closest carriage. By amazing coincidence, he saw Crabbe and Millicent go into the end cabin just as he got on.
What luck he was having this term!
——
With the encouragement of his friends behind him, the large group sauntered into The Great Hall.
Harry felt cool, the cool he only saw in muggle movies where the group of lone heroes entered a scene in a pyramid shape, the protagonist at the front and his mates behind him.
Harry definitely felt like this was his protagonist moment. Everyones eyes were on him as they entered, he saw people literally stop talking as they entered and it made Harry both want the floor to swallow him whole or a bright halo to appear around him. With a smirk he hoped look liked the one his dad made sometimes, he made eye contact with a scowling Ronald Weasley, this would show that traitor of an ex-friend what he was missing out on.
Since this was all happening in slow motion in Harrys mind, like the muggle movies, the group made their way to the Slytherin table quickly and Harry made sure he was sitting close to Marcus Flint.
“Just go for it, Harry.” Pansy whispered, nudging him with her elbow.
“I have to be subtle.” He whispered back.
Still looking at the captain, he grabbed a dinner roll and pulled pork so he could do something with his hands.
Blaise giggled. “Like that Ravenclaw who stood on the tables and literally serenaded his quidditch captain?”
“He did get on the team though.” Tracey smirked.
Harry felt a cold sweat wash over him. “You’re not telling me I have to serenade Flint, do I?”
“It would be proper funny, but I wouldn’t.”
Tracey put a hand over Blaise’s mouth. “We’d be your backup dancers. I heard Flint likes those muggle dancers on the poles-“
“Are you lil ones talking ‘bout me?” Marcus Flint asked, his eyebrows raised.
Harry took a large mouthful of his roll and giggled nervously. “No-“
Draco smirked mischievously and put an arm around Harry. “Harry got an invite to do Slytherin quidditch tryouts and was told to talk to you about it.”
Marcus frowned. “You’re a first year, you can’t tryout till second.”
“He was sent an official letter.”
“Lemme see it, chum.”
Draco shrugged and pulled out the letter from where Harry had it in his robe pocket, then gave it to the fifth year. Marcus frowned some more as he read it.
Harry gave Draco wide eyes but calmed down when Marcus smile brightened.
“Well then, I can’t fight with an official letter from the head of house himself. I was told you were epic on a broom.”
Harry blushed and looked away. “I’m not bad.”
“Stop being modest.” Pansy said confidently. “He’s incredible, amazing, out of this world fantastic. You should see him during flying lessons, he can dive like no one I’ve seen, then swoop up just as you think he’ll crash.”
Marcus looked impressed. “Woah, well that is in the job description of a Seeker.”
“So can I put my name down or…”
“Of course you can, even if he was a Gryffindork, your father has a trophy in the trophy room for the 1978 Quidditch match, so I bet it runs in the family.”
Harry blushed again and muttered thanks.
“I’ll double check with Snape just in case you were cheeky enough to write a false letter, and if not, then you’re all set for tryouts next week. You brought a broom, yeah?”
Harry nodded quickly.
Marcus grinned handsomely and ran a hand through his hair. “See you in the Common Room and if you need anything, you know where to find me.”
Pansy hummed dreamily as they watched them leave. “Imagine getting to see Flint change. I bet he has the toniest chest-“
“Oh bloody hell Pansy.” Harry groaned in embarrassment.
“What? He looks proper fit.”
“True.” Millicent and Tracey sighed at the same time.
The boys grimaced to each other but Harry felt his cheeks get redder by the second.
“He looks like every other fifth year boy to me.” Boyle stated, putting a handful of hot chips into his mouth.
“Ugh boys.” Tracey groaned.
“Can’t see beauty when it’s right in their faces.” Pansy finished.
“I know the model on the cover of Witches Mode is hot, does that count?” Blaise joked.
“You disgust me!” Pansy squealed.
They started arguing and Harry wasn’t bothered to join in, after all, not when he had so much quidditch planning to do.
——
With there being nothing but quidditch tryouts on his mind, the week past remarkably quickly and Harry was soon waking up at 5am to train for the biggest Saturday of his life.
After talking to Sirius and his dad, he got inspired on what to do to perform his very best. Running before school and doing pushups apparently worked magic for a quidditch players arms and legs so Harry had made it his goal to do that for the rest of his life.
“I do plan on being a professional quidditch player!”
“That was my plan too but now I’m an ex Auror and a stay at home father.” James chuckled.
Getting out of bed just as the sun rose, he tried to be quiet so he didn’t wake any of his roommates who he knew were more than willing to end him so waking them up before.
“Ugh, shut up, Harry!” Goyle groaned from his bed.
“Sorry.” Harry whispered, tip toeing to the showers.
After his shower he had his quidditch clothes from home set up neatly on top of his trunk. They were all black with his fathers old number ‘7’ embroidered in green. It used to be red and gold but obviously some things had to be changed.
Once he was all dressed at ready, he jumped on the spot and grabbed his beautiful broom. In a hurry to get out there and show everyone he was perfect for the role of Seeker. He had been talking to Marcus quite a lot and was informed that five other students had signed up to tryout, all of them older and probably more experienced than Harry.
“Don’t worry about anyone else but yourself, if your father did that every game he would never have won as much as he did.” Remus had told him during their meeting session
“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” Harry muttered to himself now as he ran outside to run around the black lake.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” He muttered as he waited impatiently for his dorm mates to get ready for breakfast.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” He muttered to himself during breakfast, taking little nibbles off his bacon and eggs.
Draco rolled his eyes and linked their arms as they walked down to the quidditch field, the others were behind them but Harry didn’t want to look back. It felt too symbolic.
“You’re going to do brilliantly.” Draco started, sounded more confident than Harry felt.
“You think?”
“I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t mean it.”
“Well, thanks mate.”
Draco gave him an unimpressed look. “Since when did you call me ‘mate’?”
Harry shrugged. “Since I couldn’t call you ‘Dray’.”
“And you still can’t.”
“But I need to give you a nickname!”
Draco patted his back sympathetically. “Worry ‘bout that later, you have some Seekers to beat.”
Harry almost forgot about his worries till now, he looked out to see the Slytherin Quidditch team standing judgementally at a smaller group of students trying out.
“Oh god.” He groaned.
“Go Harry!”
“You got this!”
“Potter rocks! Potter rocks!” His friends cheered from the stands, the girls had even gotten flags that they were waving around frantically.
“Potter! Good to see you, now we can finally begin.” Marcus called out, everyone laughed and Harry felt a blush spread over his face. This was it.
The tricks they had to perform were the most basic stuff Harry had ever been told to do. Marcus asked everyone to show him their dives, spins and tight turns, then after everyone did it, he would write on his clipboard and whisper to the other students already on the team.
Harry thought, actually he knew, he was doing better than everyone else trying out. One fourth year boy forgot to push up at the end of his dive and face planted into the grass. Harry perfected his dives and spins and flips and waved happily to his friends who were cheering loudly whenever he did anything.
“Alright, this has been all fun and games but I want to see you can really catch the snitch.” Marcus said mysteriously. He opened a box and pulled out the familiar golden globe with wings. Harry felt a shiver went through him as Marcus grinned expectedly at him before letting it go in the air.
Harry had always been told he had the perfect eye for the golden snitch. Along with his flying skills and the fact he had been catching his dads snitch since before he would talk was probably the main factor to how he caught the snitch 30 seconds after Marcus Flint let it fly.
He held it above his head and grinned proudly as everyone clapped and whistled. His friends were the loudest and they all came running down from the stands.
“You have to be the Seeker now!” Goyle shouted.
“If you don’t put Harry on the team then you’re stupider than I thought.” Blaise blatantly told the captain who chuckled at the younger boy and patted his shoulder.
Harry flew down and duck his head in embarrassment as everyone crowded around him.
“I don’t think I need to put a notice up, Harry Potter, you’re now our new Seeker!” Marcus called out, getting help with one of the beaters to lift Harry onto their shoulders.
“Potter! Potter! Potter!” The chanted all the way back to the castle.
“Shut up!” Harry whined, but everyone knew he loved it.