Hogwarts Journeys; Ch. 9-25, To be written! Options

[evlpez]

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[StarWalker]

“Travers!” Madam Hooch’s whistle pierced the crisp autumn morning air shrilly. “How many times do I have to tell you…”

James tuned out the drubbing Pollux Travers was getting as he looked around at the other students hovering on their brooms, waiting for the signal to restart the drill. Grinning, he watched Philip try to steady his broom, gripping it so tightly with both hands that James could see his knuckles whitening, a look bordering on desperation flickering over his features.

“Relax mate!” Philip glanced over at him grimly, and gave a wan smile, while continuing to attempt to strangle his broomstick. Funny, James mused, how he can be so good at everything else, but can’t seem to enjoy the freedom of flying. He shifted his gaze to Duke, in the middle ring next to another of the Slytherin first years.

Surprisingly, his cousin sat easily on his broom, though there was a spark deep in his eyes that indicated he wasn’t quite at ease as he appeared, and he was staring fixedly straight ahead. Frowning, James glanced down Duke’s line of sight, expected Serena to be at the end, but realized that Duke didn’t appear to be looking at anything in particular. Serena, he noted, was in the bottom ring today, directly underneath Duke while they waited to resume practice. He could see her mouth moving as she talked to the girl next to her in the circle, but the breeze was just strong enough to block him from hearing what she was saying.

Intent on wondering what mischief she was planning, he missed the whistle returning them to the co-ordination drill Madam Hooch had them working on today, and barely heard Philip’s warning as the quaffle they were working with came hurtling up from the ring beneath, preceded by a gleeful “Potter!” from the Slytherin who launched it at him. Reacting instinctively, he caught the ball away from his body, and let its momentum flip him over, around the axis of his broom, where he promptly dropped it the ten feet towards Sean Hughes, directly beneath him. “Danforth!”

Sean veered sharply to the outside of the circle to let the ball fall through the second ring and into the hands of the madly scrambling girl in the bottom tier. The students gradually picked up speed, alternate rings flying in opposite directions, the quaffle passing from student to student and ring to ring on whim, as each student sought to catch the next off guard. Lost in the enjoyment of flying on such a beautiful day, and exhilarated by the air and exercise, the next forty minutes passed too quickly for James.

Walking to the locker room with Philip, brooms over their shoulders, James was certain there wasn’t anything better than being at Hogwarts, practicing flying. Philip, however, was still sweating, and mumbling under his breath. James glanced at him, and saw that his knuckles were white, and he continued to grip his broom tightly, even though it was over his shoulder. “You really should relax on that thing. Trying to choke it doesn’t help you fly better.”

“Yeah – well - you’re not afraid of heights, are you?” Philip’s voice was unnaturally loud, and cracked as he asked the question. “You’ve been flying all your life, haven’t you?”

“Come on Philip! Look at Duke. He’s muggle born too, and he doesn’t have any trouble. And he sure hasn’t been flying all his life either!”

“That’s not the point, James! I’m not afraid of flying. I just don’t like heights. When I look down and can’t see my feet touching the ground, and the ground going on forever, my stomach kind of flip-flops, and I feel sick and woozy. And what is it about Duke, anyway? I thought you told me Slytherin didn’t want to teach muggle born students. If the Sorting Hat took the place of the school founders, and selected the way they selected, how did he end up in Slytherin?”

Talk stopped as they stowed their brooms and gear. Why did the Hat put Duke into Slytherin! James looked towards his cousin thoughtfully, watching him and his classmates leave the room. I’ll have to remember to ask Dad next time I write.

“Good question, but you can’t change the subject that easy.” James grinned at Philip and then followed him from the room.

“Nothing to change, because there’s nothing to say,” Philip retorted. “But we’d better hurry or we’ll be late for Potions.” He started running as he finished speaking. James looked after him for a moment and then attempted to catch up. During the race down the corridors, he forgot the question of Duke’s placement.

Lunch brought a smattering of owl post, and James watched with Philip and Serena as the owls entered through the high windows. A great eagle owl headed straight towards them, and James barely cleared a spot for it to land as it dropped to the table in front of him.

“Whose owl is that, James?” Serena’s inquisitive nature took over, as she righted her mug of pumpkin juice.

“Never saw it before,” he replied, puzzled, as he removed the small scrap of parchment from the owl’s leg. With a very soft hoot for such a large bird, it took off, knocking Serena’s mug back over. She ignored the spreading orange stain as she tried to peer over James shoulder. James casually pushed the note into a pocket and stood.

“Coming, Philip? I’m heading to the library.” Philip stood as James started to leave.

“Aren’t you going to read that?” Serena called after them, frustration visible on her face and evident in her tone. James turned back towards her, smiled knowingly, and headed back towards the door.

“Why’d you do that to her?” Philip asked as they climbed the stairway to the library.

“Sometimes she’s just too nosey,” James replied, as they pulled chairs up to a table. He reached into his pocket and retrieved the note, opened it and smoothed it out on the table in front of them.

James,

I know ya don’ have classes this aft’noon. Well, none after Binns, at any rate. Why don’ ya come on down for a visit? Sumun’s goin’ to be here ya might like to meet.

Hagrid

Bring a friend if yu’ve a mind to.

“Wanna go with me?” he asked Philip, as he refolded the note, tucked it into his bag, and pulled out his potions text.

“Wouldn’t miss it!” Philip replied cheerfully, and started emptying his own bag.

History of Magic was the dullest class they had, and normally everyone struggled to stay awake. Today however, James and Philip sat whispering, trying to guess the identity of the guest Hagrid thought James should meet. Serena, noticing their conversation, did not try to hide her attempts to hear what they found so interesting, and, in turn, James spoke lower and lower to keep her from hearing, which only made her redouble her efforts. Eventually the class ended, and the boys ran to their dormitory, dropped off their books, and headed to Hagrid’s.

This post has been edited by StarWalker: Feb 27 2005, 07:21 PM