I don't own anything related to the Harry Potter franchise
Two Weeks After The First Mini-Task…
On a sunny but cool fall Friday morning, Harry walked out to a rapidly filling Quidditch pitch, accompanied by Fleur, all of his friends, and his sports agent, Andromeda Tonks.
A little over a week prior, Mrs. Tonks was contacted by the Nimbus Broom Company, who wanted to arrange for Harry to take part in a demonstration event for today. The first Quidditch game between Beauxbatton and Hogwarts was in just two days, and the Nimbus Broom Company wanted to cash in on everyone's excitement. What Harry took this to mean was, while today's event would feature brooms from several other rival companies, the Nimbus Alpha was going to mop the floor with them.
According to Andromeda, the event would involve Harry flying the Nimbus Alpha on a racing course, against a real racing pro... She'd also warned him that the event was going to be open to the general public…
And its existence was not a closely kept secret.
While today's exhibition wasn't originally supposed to be a jam-packed spectator event, the gossip mill at Hogwarts was going strong, and everyone that wasn't Mr. Filch wanted to attend.
At first, Harry was extremely leery of making a huge spectacle of himself, but Mrs. Tonks had pointed out that this event would provide healthy, normal exposure, rather than the Teen Witch Weekly stuff that was currently flying around.
And Mrs. Tonks definitely had a point.
Suffice it to say, nowadays, Harry was paying his sports agent for full time representation, because getting Teen Witch Weekly to retract a near endless amount of made up stories was turning out to be a full time job.
That Rita Skeeter woman was a complete menace… as so far she'd accused Harry and Fleur of the following:
-Harry being under an allure thrall by Fleur
-Harry being under the effects of Amortentia by Fleur
-Harry using Amortentia on Fleur
-Fleur being a dark witch/creature
-Harry being the next Dark Lord because someone (Ron) confirmed that he's a Parseltongue
-Fleur being Pregnant with his children (with provided photo of him standing behind her and rubbing her stomach in a hug. (cute).
-Hermione being involved with Harry as a secret lover (with photo of them sitting and eating lunch together on the lawn. Harry cut that one out because as far as he was concerned it was a family photo.)
-Hermione pregnant with his children (Oddly enough Hermione always found these articles amusing rather than upsetting).
-Harry amassing a harem with the female members of the Quidditch team (photo provided of the group hug from the team tryout with Harry surrounded by the girls). Harry had received a ton of fake bowing from the twins due to this article.
-Fleur having a harem with the female members of the Quidditch team (Despite everything, Harry actually enjoyed this article). No photo proof provided (too bad)).
-Fleur secretly in love with Cedric (with photo provided of the three of them with Harry cut out).
-Harry having completed a dark ritual to swap out his eyes with someone else's. The only proof being he doesn't need to wear glasses anymore.
-Fleur killing her own grandmother and using her as components in her wand (Fleur's wand does contain one of her grandmothers hairs, but the woman is alive and well, residing in one of France's full blooded Veela enclaves)
-Various more scandal articles even more ridiculous than the ones listed above
While it goes without saying they would rather not have Teen Witch Weekly slander them every single week, it couldn't be denied that Harry and Fleur were becoming quite used to gossip magazines being on their case, and nowadays they just shrugged it all off.
The same could not be said back when this trend first began.
The first article that Rita wrote about Fleur, accused her of enthralling Harry, and at least at the school, very few people ever believed a single word that was written. Immediately after he read the magazine article, Harry sent a letter to Andromeda, asking her to get a retraction.
He needn't have bothered…
Andromeda already finished addressing the matter long before Harry's letter arrived, and before the day came to an end, she assured Harry that Teen Witch Weekly would be providing both a written apology and some cash remuneration.
At the time, Harry thought the matter was settled, and he stopped worrying about public opinion… As it turns out, he was making light of the situation…
Flashback scene…
During breakfast the day after Rita's first article, Harry and his friends sat at the Gryffindor table, talking, eating, and carrying on, when they abruptly saw a red, smoking envelope drop onto the table directly in front of Fleur…
And Harry acted immediately.
In a flurry of both verbal and nonverbal magic cast both wandlessly and without, Harry layered several sound-proofing spells around the howler sitting in front of Fleur, Conjured a piece of paper onto the table within the barrier and then attached a dictation spell onto its surface. Then, as the newly animated and exceedingly angry looking letter attempted to scream at Fleur through Harry's barrier, a page of writing quickly filled out across the paper.
Needless to say, while it was important to know just who sent the howler and exactly what it contained, Fleur would not be screamed at in Harry's presence... ever. Of course, when Harry looked aside at Fleur, she simply grinned at him while twirling her wand in her hand. Apparently, Harry had beaten her to the silencing spell by just a fraction of a second… On the other hand, Fleur did convey that she hadn't thought to record what the howler was screaming at her, so she thanked him for his forethought.
After the howler finished delivering its message and burned itself to ashes, Harry and Fleur leaned close as they read the copy that Harry's magic had created for them. Then, when they were finished reading, Harry pressed the palms of his hands to his face in a classic double face palm.
The letter read as follows...
HOW DARE YOU ENSNARE OUR HARRY YOU TROLLOP! HE'S FAMILY AND IS NOT FOR THE LIKES OF YOU, SO YOU WILL STAY AWAY FROM HIM IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU! HARRY SHOULD BE WITH A PROPER ENGLISH GIRL OF GOOD UPBRINGING WHO CARES ABOUT HIM, NOT SOME SCARLET WOMAN HE JUST MET! HE ALREADY HAS MY GINNY, WHO'S LOVED HIM SINCE SHE WAS ONLY FOUR YEARS OLD! HE HAS NO NEED OF AN AMBITIOUS INTERLOPER LIKE YOU! YOU AND YOUR LITTLE ALLURE CAN'T POSSIBLY HOPE TO KEEP SUCH A STRONG BOY FROM THE ONE HE TRULY LOVES FOR LONG. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO HIS ATTENTIONS SO JUST SHOVE OFF!
Truth be told, even as the howler screamed within his barrier, Harry somehow just knew that this could only be the product of one Molly Weasley. He felt as much based purely on how very hard it fought to break through his soundproofing spells... Molly's Howlers are, by a large margin, the loudest on the face of the earth…
At exactly the same time, Harry was legitimately surprised by the howler's contents. In the past Molly never spouted off about upbringing or bloodlines, and to Harry, she'd always seemed to be a very tolerant type of woman (when it wasn't her kids at least). After just a few moments thought however, Harry figured he knew the real reason for Molly's temper tantrum. It was actually pretty likely that Molly encouraged her daughter's preoccupation with him since she was very young, which is why Ginny was so very out of sorts where he was concerned, and now, her expectations were being ruined. This was a decent enough theory considering the contents of Molly's howler, and it would explain why the woman's words were so very delusional.
Harry knew, because he knew the woman, that Molly Weasley was in possession of reasonable intelligence and common sense. For that reason, she wouldn't have believed the contents of Rita's magazine article unless she really, truly wanted to.
Well… Shit.
In the end, how Molly felt was completely immaterial…
There was no excuse for the unbelievable rudeness contained within Molly's howler, or simply the act of sending a howler in the first place. It was a brutal form of punishment, because it revealed someone's private business to the whole entire world.
Oh sure, Harry had complete confidence that Fleur could've taken the howler's abuse in stride, as she was a calm and confident young woman (even if on the inside, she was completely incensed)
Ginny on the other hand... not so much.
Ginny Weasley likely would've dropped out of school in embarrassment.
Long explanation short, Molly crossed a line that she had no right to even approach in trying to manage Harry's romantic life, but what was even worse was her blatant disregard for her own daughter's feelings.
While empathically sharing his intentions with Fleur, Harry picked up the letter copy, kissed his wife on the temple, walked over to Fred and George, and then crouched down in between their chairs.
And since the twins were well aware that something was afoot, they both leaned in to within secret telling range.
Without a word, Harry drew out his transcription of the howler and he placed it face up atop the table in between his friends. Then, while leaning in even closer, he began whispering in a very businesslike tone of voice. "Listen... guys. While this howler has me completely furious, Fleur's fine, as she couldn't care less about your mother's opinions, no matter how loud and delusional they are... On the other hand, both Fleur and I think the two of you need to address this matter ASAP. I think you'll agree once you read the copy I created… that Ginny would've taken its contents… poorly..."
As Harry finished his explanation, Fred and George read and then reread the letter, during which time their facial expressions… transformed… becoming distinctly... vengeful.
The twins were quite protective of their little sister, and as a result they were extraordinarily pissed off at their mother. In the moments that followed, they quickly thanked their friend for managing to silence the howler, and then they hurriedly marched out of the Great Hall.
Over the course of the morning that followed, no less than thirty powerful howlers were sent back in Molly's direction, to the point that by lunchtime, the Burrow didn't have a single window, jar, cup, clock face or other glass surface that wasn't completely shattered.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, when Harry sat down for lunch in the Great Hall, a normal letter landed in front of him from one Arthur Weasley.
Dear Lord Potter and Lady Delacour
Let me begin this letter by sincerely apologizing on my family's behalf for the howler that was sent to the Great Hall this morning. I, Arthur Weasley, am extremely ashamed of my wife's actions and I am letting her know of it. While at first, I attempted to get my wife to write this apology letter, I eventually wrote it myself because it's enormously important that you receive one. Please understand, Molly Weasley knows of my displeasure with her as official head of the Weasley family, and I am not going to let this go until the woman finally returns to her senses.
Truthfully, it might take some time for me to assert my dominance, something that is not my area of expertise, which is why I'm going to provide an explanation while begging you for patience.
Molly's current behavior is caused by three separate delusions:
1. Ronald Weasley is a perfect little angel, and can do no wrong
2. Ginny is meant to end up with her prince charming, Harry Potter, AKA The-Boy-Who-Lived
3. Anything that upsets the first two beliefs is a complicated plot designed to hurt her family
The twins sent me both a letter and a Pensieve memory earlier this year, outlining Ron's most recent attitudes and how he's been treating you. I showed the letter to my wife, but unfortunately we do not own or have access to a Pensieve. Without access to the memory proof, Molly does not put too much stock in the words of our very mischievous sons. I, on the other hand, do, which is why I was so alarmed when we started receiving letters from Ron's Professors.
Ron is currently failing in every class with the exception of Divination, and yet when we sent him letters of concern, he blamed every single one of his failures on a relationship breakdown with you. He says the way you treat him is distracting him, and you won't let Hermione help him study like she wants to. I have repeatedly told him that they are his grades and therefore his responsibility, but my words are falling on deaf ears.
Molly has somehow gotten it in her head that you are under an impossibly powerful and ongoing allure thrall by Lady Delacour, which has led you to treat both Ron and Ginny like strangers. She believes that if such weren't the case you would still be best friends with Ron, and would be romantically involved with Ginny. Since anyone with a public library pass can find out that Veela allures truly don't function that way, I've been left shaking my head at my increasingly delusional wife. Any sane individual can see that you two are a fantastically happy couple, with no manipulations magical or otherwise. I want to stress that my wife's opinions are not those of the Weasley family.
Lady Delacour, I am exceptionally sorry for the abuse that you've endured from the Daily Prophet, Teen Witch Weekly and now my wife. While I've never met you, my twin sons have described you to me in the letters they send, and nothing that they've said has been anything but complimentary.
On a side note, Harry, I have been extremely happy with you this year. You've become more involved with the twins, and let me tell you that it is showing. The two of them are motivated like I've never seen before, and as a result they're doing extremely well, both in Quidditch and in their classes. Earlier today, when I came home and my hysterical wife informed me why my house had been destroyed by an entire flock of owls carrying weaponized howlers, a grin appeared unbidden on my face. The twins are protecting their sister, like good brothers should. They are displaying behavior befitting a Weasley, rather than the petty jealousies of my wife and youngest son.
I have begun to collect all of the photos I find of you and Lady Delacour in the papers, either together or separate, since you don't have a childhood full of photographs, and have no photo album to speak of beyond early infancy. I know these articles annoy you, Harry, but do try to take them for what they're worth. Some of those photos are of professional quality, and the two of you look fantastic together.
Once again I apologize on Molly and Ron's behalf, and I will somehow get them to see reason. I'll not have the antics of those two tearing my family apart.
Sincerely
Arthur Weasley
In the days since Arthur first made the suggestion, Harry and Fleur were in the habit of collecting all of the photos of them in the articles that they encountered, and they were scrap booking them all together in what amounted to a new family album. It was a positive act that they could do in retaliation for all of the slander.
Also, as it turns out, the act of cutting away at the articles themselves was enormously cathartic.
Back in the present, Harry looked around the Quidditch Pitch, taking in all of the event convenors and administrators, during which time he recognized at least two very unwelcome people amongst the staff. Chief amongst them was Rita Skeeter with her Teen Witch Weekly press badge…
Immediately, Harry turned towards Andromeda, who he was mollified to see was visibly incensed.
"I was very specific that Rita not be allowed to attend," muttered Andromeda darkly. "I have no idea how that woman even hears about these things, let alone gets in." Rolling up her sleeves, Andromeda marched off to confront the woman who was quickly becoming her arch nemesis. Thankfully, Andromeda was more than a match for the acid green wearing, bespectacled journalist, so the woman was generally forced to leave.
The second person that Harry wasn't thrilled to see, was Victor Krum, standing next to the Nimbus reps, looking very mature, serious and professional…
For just a split second, Harry thought about just Conjuring a meteor above the man's head, but even if Harry survived the magically binding oath not to cheat in the Tournament, the Aurors would probably trace the magical signature back to him.
In the end, assassination still wasn't a valid option…. Harry would put that option back under the maybe category in his mind.
In response to the surge of anger that Harry started feeling, Fleur started hugging him in the bond, while reminding him that she could access large portions of his magic now. She could both shroud herself in defense from Krum's miasma, and she could raise all hell Potter Grimoire style.
And it worked… Harry did, in fact, feel quite a bit better... Every time he saw the smug expression upon Krum's face, his inner reactions were pretty violent, but then, Fleur's capabilities had evolved quite a bit since Halloween, and he needed to keep that in mind…
As Harry continued walking down the slope towards the pitch, he suddenly noticed that he was walking in the middle of a protective membrane of sorts. Apparently, his friends had picked up on the reluctance that he felt about becoming a show for the general public, and had decided that they'd shelter him from the crowds. Fleur, Mione, Neville, Selene, Bella, Hannah, Cho, Roger, Alicia, Katie, Angelina, Fred and George, all had some reserved seating in the front of the stands. On the other hand, Harry intended to introduce Cedric to the sponsors, because he was a seeker. Secretly, Harry thought the conveners would likely ask the Hufflepuff Champion to take part once they met with him, and he wanted Cedric to take part as a fellow Hogwarts Champion and friend.
After walking through the entrance into the Quidditch pitch itself, Harry and Cedric approached a group of officials, where they met with the representative from Nimbus, who was arranging the event. The man's name was Mr. Chambers, and he was a very slim, tall man who Harry would always remember as having no neck whatsoever. The man was bizarre because he was all legs and torso followed by face. Deciding to show some maturity, Harry very carefully didn't walk a slow circle around the man, looking for where his spine meets his brain. His self control paid off when Mr. Chambers smiled at him and they shook hands in a casual manner.
"I saw a Pensieve memory of your tryout for the Hogwarts team, Mr. Potter, and it was quite the spectacle," Mr. Chambers began in an enthusiastic tone of voice. "We've decided that since you can make even the worst brooms imaginable behave themselves, you're perfect for the little event we're having today. We're going to have you fly laps around a professional track using several different brooms, and at no time will we inform you which broom brand you're currently using because this event is supposed to be an objective showing of our broom's superiority. We also invited a professional racer to join us today…"
Abruptly Mr. Chambers gestured to a very slim, very slight man that was standing to his right. "This here is Mr. Ambrose Kinchley. He's a French racing champion, a current pack leader, and he expressed an interest in meeting you today... At the end of this event, we've arranged for the two of you plus Krum to have a friendly race, but I'd be more than happy to get Mr. Diggory involved as well, if he's interested."
Beaming a smile, Cedric enthusiastically agreed to take part, and as he and Mr. Chambers began chatting animatedly, Harry turned towards Mr. Kinchley.
After noticing Harry's attention, the racer approached to extend a hand towards Harry. Then, when he spoke, it was in very smooth and cultured French. "Greetings 'Arry… As Mr. Chambers just explained, my name is Ambrose. It is nice to meet you. Mr. Chambers is right, I have been excited to meet you, but mostly because I have it on good authority that you speak excellent French. While I can somewhat understand what's being said, I'm still appallingly bad at English."
Harry laughed good naturedly as he extended a hand in return. This man was clearly good people, confident but humble in just the right amounts. Harry responded in French for obvious reasons. "I've been told by my French speaking friends that English is wasted if spoken without an accent."
Ambrose laughed at that, but he also shook his head. "Yes, yes, French women make excellent use of the lilt, I am sure. Too bad, I'm so bad at English it makes me look incompetent rather than exotic and appealing. I've been working hard on picking up the language, but it comes slowly… Speaking of doing my homework, when I heard that I'd be meeting you, I did some studying up on you... Of course, it wasn't hard to find recent literature about you. Not with the French papers featuring you on a regular basis. While a lot of the articles are drivel aimed at a very young and female demographic, I'll readily admit to being impressed with what I've read."
Harry smiled brightly at the compliment but he also waved a hand noncommittally. "Newspapers and magazines are notorious for exaggerating, as I'm sure you know."
"Oh yes, I know." Ambrose replied, with a knowing grin upon his face. "Newspapers exaggerate and sensationalize, while magazine's say whatever's convenient. I know this very well... Verified Pensieve memories however... do not. I've had the pleasure of watching your Hogwarts Team tryout. You're a beautiful flier, 'Arry. I really am looking forward to the race."
A large and happy smile slipped onto Harry's face, because he could already see that this was going to be fun. "I'm a talented flier, I'll admit. However... It goes without saying that you're the vastly superior racer and I'm looking forward to learning from you. For the past few months I've trained with a B league racer named Frank Coulston. Thankfully for me, he's had me completing a lot of time trials around a racing course. If I'm even somewhat competent, it is entirely due to his efforts."
Ambrose looked super excited by the time Harry was finished speaking. "I actually know your trainer, and at Mr. Chambers' request, he already sent me your current lap times. By any standard at all you're fast. Nonetheless, I'll still win because of my vast experience. I am not just being arrogant, because there are many differences between Quidditch and racing. You're used to being pushed around, while tracking a moving target, and moving in what is essentially straight lines. It is very different trying to stay on a line of best approach through tight turns, on a stationary track, while being pushed around. I assume you can see what I'm alluding to?"
"Yes. I can see that it'll be very different," Harry immediately replied, as the corners of his mouth started rising. Despite the obvious disadvantage that he was going to be under, Harry's smile was only growing wider by the moment.
This is going to be fun!
To his surprise, Harry started to feel intense arousal pelting him through the bond. Apparently Fleur had felt her husband's growing excitement from way over in the stands, at which point she started eavesdropping… and she liked what she found… like, a lot.
For the millionth time since the first day he met his wife, Harry was forced to use Occlumency to control his physical reactions.
Out in the real world, Ambrose looked like he might jump for joy at the determined set to Harry's eyes. "Oh I like you, 'Arry. You see, I don't want you to lie down at all today. I want to sweat it out against the terrifying boy in that Pensieve memory. I want a challenge, and I think you can deliver it."
"I truly, honestly can't wait," Harry offered in return… It was the truth. Flying against one of the best in the world, was going to be completely unreal.
"Good good!" Ambrose patted Harry on the shoulder and then smiled as he looked at the sky. "I'll admit one more thing. I'm happy that you aren't giving me that evil smile of yours…"
Both Harry and Ambrose laughed at that, looked up at the crystal clear sky, and bonded in the moment. In the silence that followed however, Harry's grin faltered, and he turned back towards Ambrose. Leaning in a little closer, he whispered, "are you concerned about Krum at all?"
Ambrose's smile immediately disappeared, but he paused for several moments before he finally answered Harry's question. When he did finally speak, it was in a very low voice that held poorly concealed frustration. "Arry... Victor Krum is an ugly flier... He defies logic with how fast he moves, because it's quite obvious he hates his broom." Smiling slyly at 'Arry, Ambrose patted him on the back. "You're not too kind on your brooms either, but that's because you fly the ever loving shit out of them."
Ambrose looked up at the sky again and it looked like he was having a hard time explaining how he felt. Eventually he settled on something, and sighed as he continued. "Krum will be a challenge. Of that we can be certain, but his flying is completely unnatural. Krum wrestles his broom as if it's a purse he's being forced to hold, rather than the source of his movement. I don't like it, but Nimbus is both my and Krum's largest contract sponsor, so I do what I'm told."
It was in those few moments that Harry realized just how sharp Ambrose Kinchley really was. What was a little less surprising was the fact that Krum's flying looked unnatural to a professional. Unnatural was Victor Krum's defining characteristic, so far as Harry was concerned.
A little later, Mr. Chambers called Harry over and gestured for him to pick up the first broom. As Harry took a look at it, he saw that it was completely featureless and it was painted a blank white.
Mr. Chambers nodded as Harry took in the generic looking broom. "All of the brooms will look like this today, Harry, because we don't want you to know what you're using. Take this opportunity to get used to the track. We'll be sending off the other three people every time you finish a lap, so that you don't run into each other at any point during the warm ups."
Harry had already figured out that he shouldn't get greedy and make these brooms do more than they're designed to do. He would exploit every last ounce of the broom's strengths, but to negate their weaknesses would be far too obvious and counterproductive. He could already see that the broom he had in his hand was most likely a second generation Cleansweep series, based on its relatively slow top speed and more than excellent cornering. Harry would need to turn on a dime using this and just suffer through the straightaways..
Grabbing up the broom, Harry attached himself to it magically as per usual while Aether started taking a look at the broom… and then grew bored with the fact that it didn't need her help. Harry conveyed to her that he'd be making it move as fast as it was capable of moving under its own power, without his intervention. What this meant to Aether was that he needed her guidance so that he could move as skillfully as possible. Aethir seemed mollified that her partner needed her help, because she knew he could make even terrible brooms fly well.
At the tail end of that very esoteric and spiritual conversation, Harry mounted the broom, and waited for Mr. Chambers to give him the go ahead.
With almost no warning, Mr. Chambers blew a sharp note into a whistle hanging around his neck.
Harry kicked off hard and was off into the entry ring to start his run. The broom felt sluggish, so he made himself a part of it as Aether helped him move like only she could. The circuit started halfway through a long straight-away and ended in a chicane. This chicane was a series of rings in a hard right turn into a hard left turn and it was designed to be an abrupt halt to the high speeds generated in the straightaway.
As Harry approached the chicane, he realized that he wouldn't need to slow down even a little bit, as he could feel that he wasn't moving fast enough to worry about being thrown, and this broom's turning was excellent. Next, came the realization that showing absolutely no restraint in the corners wasn't only a safe option on this broom, it was also the only way that he'd get a decent time out of it. Over the next fifteen seconds, Harry pushed the broom as hard as he possibly could through the various turns, with very little difficulty.
Moving into the next faze of the circuit, Harry entered the obstacle field.
The rings that comprise this part of the race are in an uneven row and are in a constant state of motion. They aren't moving at random, but rather they move in wide circles around a fixed point. What that doesn't mean however, is that they're turning in the same direction or at the same speeds. Flying quickly through these rings is an art form because you need to picture an efficient line of approach even as you move through it.
A few months earlier, when Harry first tackled the obstacle field, he wasn't very good at it, which was normal and expected. After suffering many failed attempts to get it right and even more attempts to complete it fast, Harry eventually built a system around his strengths to circumvent a lack of experience..
As he approached the first ring in the obstacle field, Harry began taking in the line of moving rings as a whole. As Harry exited the first ring, he began building a mental map inside of his Mindscape, as he made a wide turn into the second ring, he deconstructed the projected movement of all of the rings that followed, so that he could build the best line of approach. By the third ring, Harry was tweaking the route in his head, to make it tighter and more efficient. By the fourth ring, Harry was back up to full speed and he was no longer making any wasted movements. He swooped right, left, up, and down, with zero hesitation and very little concern that he'd miss the rings that followed.
The ability to efficiently navigate the obstacle field was what Harry was best known for by his trainers, as well as any racers that had seen his flying in Pensieve. Harry was hoping that this rare ability would allow him to multi-task several different things at once, which might help him keep up with Ambrose, one of the best in the world.
After the obstacle field is a wide spiral of rings in a very tight formation. These rings are arranged in such a way that you can clear them at near max broom speeds, but only if you're willing to perform a barrel roll through them. At some point in this area you will find yourself upside down and being held onto your broom by momentum alone. Personally, Harry loved this segment of the course, but he could see how someone might get a little bit freaked out…
Needless to say, Harry pushed the weaker broom that he was currently flying to its limits with no hesitation, as he whipped around the spiral, and entered the scariest part of this segment, which is how you're forced to exit it. You're not given an opportunity to become horizontal again before you enter the next part of the track. During a second barrel roll that the spiral leads you through, during a time when you're still upside down, the course moves into its next element.
The next part of the circuit is called the drop. What this means is if you want to get a competitive speed you need to pull up while upside down in the spiral. The point is to enter a nosedive and then play a game of chicken with the ground, while still dizzy from the spiral.
Harry Knew from watching the Quidditch world cup that Krum was a genius at the fabled 'Wronski Feint,' which is why he knew that Krum would be extremely good at the drop, but he shook that thought off and focused on making the best time he could right now.
Once again, Harry was able to essentially push this broom to its limits because it couldn't reach a top speed that required he slow down to make the turn. At the broom's top speed, Harry dropped through the lowest ring to the ground, where he pulled up towards the next part of the course.
The next part of the course was called the ascending eights. It made sense that the course would force you to gain altitude after diving towards the ground, but this portion of track makes doing so a very long process. You are made to fly through hundreds and hundreds of rings, leading you back up to average track level. These rings are in stacked figure eights and repeatedly force you to turn in hard rights and hard lefts over and over again.
Harry knew for a fact that this is the part of the course where it frequently becomes violent between racers. In most of the other areas, the technical difficulty of flying fast through the rings requires most of your focus. In the eights however, the turns become monotonous even if you're pushing as hard as you can. Harry did just that, and he was eventually rewarded by entering into the next element.
The eights open up into a part of the course fondly named the You-sucks. The You-sucks are a rapid series of U turns that happen after varying lengths of straightaway. The Yousucks seem to cause hell on a person's equilibrium, like nothing else Harry had ever done. You just get up to a nice high speed on a straightaway, before having to slow to a hard stop over and over again. No one likes the You-sucks, some people just hate them a little less than others.
Harry considered himself lucky that he was hit by a dizzying spell during the first Mini-Task, because that experience taught him how to negate dizziness via his Mindscape. Ever since the Task, he'd become capable of ignoring the fact that his blood was rushing to his brain every ten to fifteen seconds. Thus, even though Harry didn't enjoy the You-sucks, they were an advantage that he could bank on in a race.
Harry made excellent use of the broom's more than stellar cornering ability, in this area of the course.
Finally, Harry was in the last segment of the course which was a long straightaway. He poured all of his focus onto forward movement and let Aether guide his movements. He didn't move any faster than the broom could fly by itself, but it would be close. After pushing hard through the final white and black checkered ring, Harry completed his first circuit.
While descending towards the ground and the audience below, Harry allowed wind resistance to start slowing him down. He suspected very strongly that the broom he'd just used was chosen to be flown first purely because it was a good warm-up broom. After dropping to the pitch, Harry stepped off of the broom as gently as he could and smiled at the crowd of onlookers.
"Mr. Potter," Mr. Chambers enthusiastically called out, as he quickly walked towards him. "Just now, we clocked you in a lap time nearly as fast as the broom designers say is possible only as a theoretical for that broom." He gestured for Harry to stay where he was, as he blew into a whistle again, signaling Cedric to start his circuit. Almost immediately after, Mr. Chambers's head swiveled back to Harry, (somehow) and he was staring at him again. "You really flew that broom like crazy Mr. Potter. If you don't mind us asking, will you tell us how you made such excellent use of it?"
Harry nodded and handed the broom over to an assistant that was standing to the side. Then he noticed yet another man walking forward with a notepad and a dicta quill. Somehow the simple fact that he was going to be directly quoted made Harry take the moment far more seriously.
After taking one more moment, during which time he really studied the broom's magic to give a useful answer, Harry started his explanation. "As I was on the entry straight I realized that the broom would never exceed speed levels that I'd deem truly dangerous, because the broom's forward thrust magic wasn't capable of accepting enough of my magic. Every time I pushed for more speed, what I got instead was increased control and maneuverability. Sure enough, when I entered the first chicane, I felt the broom's unusually sharp cornering, with overpowered turning charms that appear to be located both on the front of the broom and the back, where they were also feeding off of the broom's primary thrust charms, and I realized that I was flying a keeper's broom, designed for split second direction changes and movements made from a hover. For that reason, I decided to push as hard as I could for the entire circuit, without ever breaking or slowing. The harder I pushed, the more maneuverable the broom became, so slowing down would actually have decreased my control…"
When Mr. Chambers looked nonplussed at his explanation, Harry became concerned. He wasn't a professional racer. He didn't know if what he'd just said was far too simple for the man, or too specific to know under normal circumstances.
Mr. Chambers finally snapped out of his blank look, and his eyes came to rest on Harry. "Relying on just your magical senses and gut feeling, you completed the drop without using any breaking charms at all?"
Harry was actually a little bit relieved it was his so-called 'daring' that had Mr. Chambers confused. "Yes Sir. I pulled up at the broom's top speed. I was confident in the broom's stabilizer charms, but even without those, I'd still have done it. I'm a Seeker. I've pulled out of steeper dives while moving much, much faster."
Mr. Chambers finally nodded and then smiled. "That's very true indeed, Mr. Potter. You're just so young that I was surprised at your fast, calm, appraisal of an unknown broom. I'm also very surprised at the level of skill that you're approaching the circuit with." While smiling again, Mr. Chambers motioned that he was done with Harry for the moment. "I'll be busy with Cedric, (he gestured in the air where Cedric was flying through the course) then with Krum and Ambrose. Feel free to sit with your friends while you wait."
After nodding with a smile, Harry walked away from the group of sponsors while making sure to give a wave to the ever growing audience in the stands that he was approaching. At exactly the same time, he was extremely grateful that he'd had the forethought to reserve seating for his friends, and that they were dutifully buffering both him and Cedric from amassed spectators surrounding them on every side.
Hopping up a few levels of stands brought Harry to Fleur's side, where she was chatting animatedly with Selene and Bella, and after sliding in directly behind the French blonde, he ran his hands along her shoulders but otherwise left her to her own devices. Within the bond was another matter entirely, as Fleur took in everything that he just did via the bond, and she was very impressed with his professionalism and ethics. She was well-aware that Harry could've completed the course in a time that would be considered completely impossible using the broom that he just flew, and she thought that he was very wise for showing the restraint that he did.
"So how did it go, Harry?" Up until this point, Hermione had been talking to a Mr. Roger Davies, but now that Harry was back among them, she wasn't going to wait for the boy to volunteer answers. "I watched you fly of course, but you always look like you're doing the impossible to me, so I can never tell."
After smiling at Hermione's question, Harry made a dismissive gesture with his hands. "I just flew what I suspect is an old but impeccably maintained Cleansweep Keeper's Broom, as fast as it's capable of flying. Mr. Chambers, the representative from Nimbus explained that although the time I flew is technically possible, he was surprised that I could get so much out of a slower broom…" Abruptly, Harry threw up his hands in a halting gesture, stopping his friends before they could get started. "Before you guys say my first and last name in bold, capitalized letters, I didn't do anything magical to the broom. I'm a good flier and I only slowed down in the turns twice because most of the time the broom was moving too slowly to bother."
The twins deflated at that, because Harry had beaten them to their favorite running gag.
"Zank you for doing ze warming Rune structure on my clozing 'Arry," Selene barked out, quickly, cheerfully and at random while staring at his facial expression… Only to sigh dramatically when the boy just looked back at her with a puzzled expression upon his face. Then she tried again… "Ze year 'aas becoming late and eet ees cool even een ze sun today, which ees why ze climate controlled clozing ees appreciated."
"I'm not quite sure what you're talking about, Selene, but if you're happy then I'm happy." Harry smiled as he gently ran his fingers through Fleur's silky smooth hair. "For most Hogwarts students, it's still mild yet, but I imagine it's a bit chilly if you're used to southern France's climate. I think the weather is a contributing factor to why Beauxbatton is playing both their first and second Quidditch matches first… although I'll admit that I'm curious why your classmates refuse to learn the warming charm. I've already seen dozens of winter jackets this year, and it's not even below thirteen degrees Celsius (55.4 Fahrenheit)."
After shrugging her shoulders, Selene bobbed her head back and forth in her very own 'I am thinking' pose. Finally, after several seconds of watching Selene's head bounce back and forth like a metronome, she seemed to come to a conclusion. "Zere ees a strong possibility zat my fellow Beauxbatton students aren't learning ze charm on principle alone. Ze French are very stubborn as a rule."
All of the sudden , Fleur leaned back into Harry's stomach in between his legs and started rubbing the back of her head against his stomach muscles. "I 'aave not once completed a warming charm seence I sat down 'ere today, 'Arry, and do you know why?"
Very suddenly and completely, everyone sitting around Harry and Fleur, began paying extremely close attention to the two of them. Cho was still staring up at Cedric as he flew, but you could almost see her ears straining to keep up with the conversation.
Harry shook his head in the negative, but his smile was somewhat mischievous.
Fleur turned towards Selene and shook her head. "'Ee zinks ee ees so clever sometimes, no?"
Selene enthusiastically nodded her head, looking desperate for answers. She was the curious type and this not knowing was positively killing her.
Running her hands along Harry's thighs to get his undivided attention, Fleur turned to look at the man over her right shoulder while leaning into his left inner thigh. "'Arry… Some-zing razzer remarkable 'appened to everybody 'ere last night, and we 'aave been discussing eet while you've been flying. All of us hoo are 'ere, woke up zis morning, got dressed, and eemmediately noticed zat somezing 'ad changed..."
Fleur turned even more within her mate's thighs and gazed lovingly up into his eyes, even as she continued her explanation. "I, especially, 'ave been affected by zis very random and magical event, 'Arry. Eet appears some mysterious benefactor bestowed upon me a full wardrobe of clozing rune eenscribed up to ze nines. Every sock, shoe, shirt, skirt, cap, pant, bra and panty, een my drawers, 'as now become climate controlled, ees softer zan silk, light as a feather, refuses to wrinkle, refuses to stain, adjusts een size by eetself, and repairs eetself when damaged. I was forced to run a full diagnostic spell on eet all for several minutes een a row, een order to understand just 'ow comprehensively my wardrobe 'as evolved. You must admit, 'Arry, eet ees quite ze mystery ees eet not? I would like to meet ze enigmatic 'ero be-'ind zis event and... zank 'iim properly," Fleur purred.
Selene giggled and shook her head in amusement. "Oh I agree, Fleur… Zat ees some mystery... I wonder hoo would be boz willing to and capable of accomplishing an act as magically wasteful as Rune eenscribing socks?"
There were scattered laughs from Harry's friends, but they were all far too focused on him at the moment to commit to laughing. It appeared they believed Fleur would get Harry to admit to something.
"You wouldn't know any-zing about zis mystery 'ero now would you, 'Arry?" Fleur was positively draped over her husband's upper thighs by this point, as she had no intention of pulling her punches. She wrapped both of her arms around his waist, and then she poured on the cuteness as she stared up at him from his belly button.
And at Harry's very visible wince, everyone began to smile in anticipation. No one thought that Harry had it in him to deny Fleur anything, especially not from that angle on his lap.
While staring back down at Fleur, Harry softly ran his thumb along her cheek. He appeared to be pouring on the charm, and working on the woman within the bond.
Selene started looking scared, because she was losing her alliance with Fleur, and she could see it.
All of the sudden, Fleur nodded in understanding, snuggled back between her man's legs, and began watching Cedric's flying. "Oh well," she sighed dramatically, while grinning in a mockery of innocence. "I suppose eet will just be one of zose mysteries we will never feegure out."
Selene looked comically devastated and desperate now that Harry had recruited Fleur as an accomplice.
Off to the side and nearly forgotten, one Hermione Granger was highly amused. In fact, she felt like she might howl with laughter any second now, and the smile on her face was a mile wide. She'd been the one who'd initially asked around, starting the conversation in the first place. Since then, she'd found out that every single one of Harry's closer friends had received climate control, anti-friction, feather light, self-repairing, self-tailoring and stain proofing Runes, on all of their most commonly used clothing (the man had stayed away from underwear).
So far, everyone involved was graciously allowing Harry to think that he'd gotten away with his highly altruistic prank. The main problem with Harry's prank was how high level it actually was. Their wardrobes would legitimately cost a fortune now if they tried to buy them in a store, but that was a moot point considering they'd never be commercially available in the first place. The strength and complexity of the Runes applied to the clothing could never be mass produced. It could quite literally only be Harry who'd pulled this off, so he'd essentially been caught from the very beginning..
What Hermione really wanted to know now was how? Harry had secretly altered all of their wardrobes in one or at most two days, like some kind of Santa Claus. Hermione could also see in Harry's eyes that the man knew that his friends knew the truth, but he also knew they couldn't prove it. His face was radiating mysterious enjoyment in truly annoying levels.
While Harry was low-key interrogated, Cedric finished his circuit, and everyone cheered for him as he swooped down to meet Mr. Chambers, gave a quick statement to the developers about the pros and cons of the broom, and then started walking back towards the group. As Cedric walked closer, Harry saw Krum lazily mounting a broom, and he grit his teeth in frustration. He couldn't help it. The fact that this cretin was considered the world's best flier felt like a personal insult.
But then, a single moment later, the Bulgarian Seeker began his first circuit, and Harry found himself having to pick up his chin…
As soon as the whistle was blown, Krum careened towards the first few rings leading into the chicane at basically mach speed, exceeding the broom's max potential in every conceivable way to the point that his movements completely ignored the mechanisms that allow a broom to fly...
Needless to say, Krum's flying was dramatic and thrilling, and everyone present just stared up at the man in awe.
Harry wasn't impressed.
The Cleansweep that Krum was currently sitting on was most certainly not designed to fly as fast as a Firebolt, and yet that's exactly what the man was doing with it. As he continued to watch however, Harry began to realize that Krum knew next to nothing about broom racing. Oh sure, Krum was moving at Firebolt max speeds, but he was also all over the damned place. That's not to say that the man was out of control, but rather the opposite… Krum seemed to micro-adjust his broom fifty times a second, as if he was never satisfied with its trajectory at all. Krum was all hard, jerky movements and brute force upon a broom, just like Mr. Kinchley described. In fact, from Harry's perspective, it looked like Krum resented the fact that he was forced to use a broom at all, and he was yanking it around like he wanted to throttle the life out of it.
Krum also didn't seem to understand that there was a best line to follow in racing. Case and point, as Krum flew the obstacle field, he frequently had to change course, and even slow to a near stop just to get through the rings. Despite all of those things being true, Harry knew that Krum was still going to beat his lap time by more than half a minute. Somehow, Krum was moving faster than his broom had the power to offer, and all without damaging it in the process. While Harry could achieve the same speeds and achieve somewhat similar results, he'd have to render the Cleansweep into a burned out and ruined husk in the process. Krum, on the other hand, was flagrantly disregarding what the broom was supposed to be capable of doing, and yet the broom wasn't taking any damage…
In his curiosity, Harry extended out his magical senses to read what exactly Krum was doing. Then he immediately retracted them away from the man as if he'd touched the heating element of a stove. At the moment, Krum's body was like a boiling purple comet, magically speaking, due to the fact that he was trailing his acidic miasma for several meters behind his body.
Well... damn, Harry thought to himself in a moment of extreme frustration, as he came to the understanding that racing Krum was going to be a massive nuisance to say the very least…
At the tail end of that rather depressing thought, Harry felt Fleur's body stiffen down between his thighs, as apparently she'd been closely following his line of thinking in the bond, and she'd caught all of his observations about Krum in the process. Harry, in turn, sifted through his wife's most recent thoughts and found that she was trying to think of a legitimate reason for him not to take part. Of course that was the moment that Fleur realized how closely they were entwined empathically, realized any excuses she might make would be a total waste of time, and simply admitted that she was scared for him.
While pulling Fleur back towards his body, Harry slid down so that he could wrap his arms around her belly. In response, Fleur settled back into him, resting her head upon his shoulder. For several seconds, Harry just immersed his wife in waves and waves of empathic love and comfort. Then, when she was as relaxed as possible under the circumstances, he started whispering into her ear. "While I think I'll be as safe as I've ever been during a Quidditch match in the past, I want you to know that I'm aware of the risks. Krum's involvement and abuse of his aura, means that I'll need to keep from ending up directly behind him, so that it can't hurt me. If the man gets ahead of me, I'll stay to his sides, above or below..."
All of the sudden, Harry's words trailed off, as he started regretting Cedric's involvement in the race. Cedric wouldn't be able to protect himself from Krum's miasma like Harry could, and there wasn't much he could do to protect his friend without hurting himself in the process, other than letting the boy know to avoid drafting behind Krum's back.
A few minutes later, when Harry was called down to use another broom, he turned towards Fleur, and they stared into each other's eyes. "Can you warn Cedric about what we just witnessed, and our concerns?"
"Oui, yes, I will do so," Fleur somberly replied. "Be quick and come back to me, 'Arry."
After nodding at his wife, Harry walked over to a Mr. Chambers, who was holding a slightly longer broom for him to try.
Over the course of the afternoon, Harry flew about a dozen brooms around the circuit, keeping his magical involvement to a minimum, and achieving speeds that the developers theorized were possible in an almost ideal run. As he used faster and faster brooms, it became more difficult to reproduce the same success, until finally, doing so was completely impossible. At the speeds that Harry was flying at, small errors became big errors, and he was no longer completing nearly ideal runs. That's not to say he wasn't doing well, but rather, his line wasn't as seamless as Ambrose Kinchley's, who had a lifetime of experience to rely on.
On the other hand, Harry noticed that the time differential between himself and Krum decreased every time he picked up a newer, faster broom... Krum's lap records for every broom he picked up were monstrously fast, but they were also essentially the same every single time. For that reason, it didn't take long for it to become completely obvious to everyone on the pitch that Krum would get a Firebolt time using any broom at all, regardless of how old it is.
As Harry used progressively faster brooms, their times became more and more similar.
Mr. Chambers ended up giving Krum weird looks all afternoon, and eventually, he stopped asking the teen how he was performing so well on all of the subpar brooms. Truly, Krum's involvement broke the scientific method of the event, because he just kept claiming that the key to his success was his extremely strong willpower. Krum was adamant that he was just pushing the different brooms well beyond their limits with his iron will and determination.
Harry, on the other hand, was very popular with the developers, because of his excellent times and odd familiarity with the brooms that he used. Harry could accurately point out a broom's problems, such as a weakness in a broom's flight stabilizers or an out of sync propulsion charm affecting tight turns that had slowed him down. He was also able to explain how he eventually circumvented those problems by making the most of the broom's better attributes. To the developers, it looked like Harry was an expert at rapidly deconstructing a broom's traits while he flew, while in reality he could actually feel the magic happening within the brooms.
Either way, the end result was the same. After the developers picked up on Harry's unusually high level of insight, he spent the rest of the afternoon completely swamped by the engineering staff, so that they could ask him about every aspect of the flight systems that he used. By the end of the afternoon, the developers had written sheet after sheet of information off of Harry, and were visibly hero worshiping him as a goldmine of information.
When the event was nearing its final stages, Mr. Chambers approached Harry with a wide smile upon his face. "I have to say, Mr. Potter, my development team has fallen in love with you, and they claim that with you on staff we could design the very best broom ever made within a year and a half at the most… Would you be amenable to Nimbus broom company contacting Mrs. Tonks to hash out a contract of some kind?"
Smiling back at Mr. Chambers, Harry gazed up at Cedric as he careened through the rings. "Mr. Chambers… Flying is one of my greatest joys. Of course I'd be interested. At some point in the future, I'll be quite a busy man between my magical council seat and hopefully playing professional Quidditch. That being said, I'd still like to take part in developing the world's best broom with you."
Mr. Chambers's face slackened into a goofy grin at the idea of the world's best broom, and it took several moments for the man to snap out of his fantasies. When he did, he addressed what he assumed were Harry's primary concerns. "We can definitely make the effort worth your time, and we can keep your involvement from being too time consuming. Keep in mind, it takes months to develop any new broom design, so it's not as if we'd be approaching you on a daily basis."
Nodding his head, harry extended a hand for Mr. Chambers to shake. "By all means. I'll look forward to hearing your proposal, through Mrs. Tonks."
Mr. Chambers looked thrilled as they shook hands and turned back towards the racing circuit. "Good to hear, Harry… The real race using our broom is coming up next, and trust me when I say that it'll be a doozy. Gods only know how Krum is doing it, but he and Mr. Kinchley will probably be neck and neck in there, with you not too far behind."
"I saw that, and I'm just as baffled as you are," Harry slowly replied. "It's completely inspiring how smooth Mr. Kinchley is in the rings, and it's beautiful to watch… Krum, on the other hand..."
Mr. Chambers slowly nodded his head, but he didn't opt to speak on the matter.
"If it's okay with you, I'll go tell Cedric and the rest of our friends that the race is about to start." In all honesty, Harry wanted to escape from the rather awkward moment, because Mr. Chambers looked openly troubled, and there was nothing that he could do about it.
"Oh! Oh, yes, go and tell everyone that the main event is set to begin in just a few minutes." Mr. Chambers looked galvanized by Harry's statement, and was bouncing on his toes in his enthusiasm. "I'll go retrieve the brooms that you'll be using. I look forward to seeing what you can do with the Nimbus Alpha, since you're much more familiar with it."
"It's an excellent broom," Harry replied in a cheerful tone of voice. "I have no complaints at all, despite the fact my personal broom is a Firebolt. If you wish, after the event, I can talk to your development team about what differences I feel between the two brooms."
Mr. Chambers happily bounced around at Harry's offer, and began rapidly nodding his head. "I'd be thrilled if you'd do that for us Harry. Now off you go. I'm becoming impatient to see this race."
Smiling and waving one more time, Harry ran over to the bleachers, where his friends were beginning to mill around. As he approached, Harry gave Cedric a meaningful look. He wanted to know if his friend had been brought up to speed on the danger Krum represented. To Harry's relief, Cedric nodded seriously, indicating both that he'd been informed and that he'd be careful. He was standing at the bottom step of the bleachers, with a somewhat anxious looking Cho standing at his side.
After walking up the steps to the rest of his waiting friends, Harry slipped his hand into Fleur's and then decided to skip the mystery and distract his friends with some good news. "It appears, I've been offered a new side career deconstructing and evaluating broom prototypes."
With her head canted to the side, Selene looked like her natural curiosity was getting the best of her. "Ees eet because you demand ze brooms explain zeir pros and cons to you, and zey obey out of fear?"
Everyone grinned at Selene for just a moment before the mood returned to its earlier seriousness. It appeared, everyone knew that Krum was cheating using his miasma and that he likely posed a threat during the event itself, and they were pissed as all hell about it…
Stepping into Harry's side, Fleur spoke to her mate in some very quiet French. "I know you don't have it in you to lose on purpose 'Arry, but this is a publicity stunt not the Quidditch World Cup. I want you to avoid suicidal risks, do you hear me?"
Harry smiled and nodded at his wife, before pulling her into a very tight hug. "Between the audience and assorted mass media types, there are far too many witnesses for Krum to go on a berserker rampage. Doubtless he'll be cheating, but it won't be quite that obvious."
After conceding a brief nod of understanding, Fleur kissed Harry's neck, although, privately, the woman was anything but happy about their current situation…
Nudging Fleur from the side, Harry smiled at the woman, and then just said what needed saying… "I am the air, wife… I'll be fine…"
After biting her lip in a small but visible display of passionate love, Fleur nodded her head in understanding once again, and this time, she actually did feel quite a bit more optimistic.
With one last squeeze of Fleur's hand in parting, Harry motioned for Cedric to join him, and together they began walking towards the amassed sponsors and racers. Harry smiled at Mr. Kinchley, who upon seeing some friendly faces, walked over to stand in between the two of them. The three of them stood in a comfortable line as they waited for the race officials to get into their places.
"Have you noticed what I was talking about regarding Krum's flying," Mr. Kinchley asked both Cedric and Harry in quiet French. "The boy drags the slower brooms at speeds that they shouldn't have the magical hardware to attain. I don't know how, but he's clearly cheating. You can tell that the conveners know about it as well. They're the developers of these brooms, so they know best what they're capable of… They can't make a stink about it however, because of Krum's fame and the fact that they have no proof."
Harry and Cedric nodded in quiet understanding, because there was nothing they could do about it. Their faces both became very serious and grim however, and Kinchley nodded his understanding.
Mr. Kinchley eventually sighed, and decided to explain what would happen next. "Okay, here's the deal guys. The organizers will collect our averaged lap times, to find our spot in the lineup. I beat Krum in the two fastest brooms, but he beat me on all of the others. Unfortunately for me, that means it'll be Krum in pole position, then myself, closely followed by you two. 'Arry you were very good, but I beat you on the three fastest brooms. I think you lost speed in the eights, because you were taking the turns like you would a chicane rather than a smooth, continuous turn. You were turning with the front of the broom, which meant the turning charms were slowing you down even while you were pushing for max speed. Continuous, unbroken turns are best completed with some drift of the tail of the broom like a car. If done correctly you're barely using the turning charms and instead using the forward momentum charms. I think you haven't been taught this technique, because you're a seeker not a racer, and drifting is a bad habit in Quidditch... Cedric, you're very good as well, but you lost time in the yousucks. I imagine it's just lack of experience and you become dizzy. Most racers turn their brooms in a drift before pushing forward to stop. It's a hard maneuver to get used to, but it stops the blood from rushing forward to your head."
Both Harry and Cedric nodded gratefully, as Mr. Kinchley was being very kind in instructing them. He was a consummate professional, and had pointed out several areas where they could improve over the course of the morning.
And Kinchley's most recent advice had Harry's undivided attention. Truly, he never once even considered allowing some loss of control to improve his speed, but that's why he wasn't a racer. He had extreme amounts of control over his broom at all times when flying, like a Quidditch player needed. In Quidditch drifting gets you hurt because it slows down your reaction speed when you have to alter or stop a turn on a dime. Racers don't need to swerve to catch or avoid moving objects, people or bludgers like a Quidditch player does, so a little drift is apparently a welcome thing.
Needless to say, Harry would have to see what he could pull off in the upcoming race, because now that he was thinking about it, a drift meant he could push forward at straightaway speeds even while turning a corner. Even as he stood there, he began mentally exploring the idea within his Mindscape and was putting together how it would feel in his head.
Mr. Chambers walked up to the racers with a crate of the Nimbus Alphas that they'd all grown used to in recent months.
Hefting his broom over his shoulder, Harry lined up at the starting platform with everyone else to wait for the head race official to finish his little speech. Sure enough, an officious looking man walked up to stare at them all, before reciting lines that he'd clearly said a million times in the past. "The order to start the race will be Victor Krum, Ambrose Kinchley, Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory. Victor will begin after the first whistle and a full second later the whistle will be blown again, until you're all on your way. This will be a two lap race, beginning at the whistle and ending at the checkered ring. Are you all ready?"
After settling their brooms in between their legs, everyone nodded that they were prepared.
TWEEEEEET!
Krum was off like a cannon blast and the second that followed seemed to take forever.
TWEEEEET!
Ambrose was off at similar speeds to Krum, and Harry's adrenaline started skyrocketing in anticipation.
TWEEEEET!
Harry tore away from the earth, the wind giggling happily in his ears as he hurtled through the air towards the first rings, his entire will centered on catching up to Ambrose who was approaching the chicane.
In what felt like a split second, Harry was entering the chicane himself, and he was swerving through the turns with as little drop in speed as possible. The sponsor who'd claimed that the Nimbus Alpha was as fast as a Firebolt was almost right, after all. It had a similar top speed but it was just a little bit slower on the acceleration. A failing that it made up for, by having excellent cornering just like the Nimbus rep promised.
Blurring through the jagged series of right and left turns, Harry entered into the obstacle field next, and he scanned the rings into his Mindscape in order to begin constructing a line. As he did so, he noticed that Ambrose was right there in front of him and the both of them were catching up to Krum.
Which made sense…
All afternoon, Krum proved himself to be notoriously bad at the obstacle field segment of the circuit
Snapping his full attention back to the line he'd created, Harry thanked the Gods once again for his absurdly strong Mindscape,and ability to split his focus. Even as he'd been distracted, the line finished forming deep within his mind, and his body began following it from force of long habit.
Over the course of the obstacle field, Harry caught up to Ambrose quite a bit, and he was just a half a second behind, when the entire racing pack flew through the spiral with no loss of speed whatsoever from anyone involved. It was thrilling, and by and far Harry's favorite part of the course when they flung themselves into the tight loops and they blurred past in a psychedelic lightshow of vaguely translucent light.
When the entrance to the drop exploded wide within Harry's vision, he pulled up into it in a full speed, upside-down dive, barely keeping himself from hooting and hollering in his mad excitement and enthusiasm… until he caught sight of something that took the edge off of his enjoyment…
Victor Krum was flying downwards towards the earth at the speed of a bullet with absolutely no restraint whatsoever, moving at a speed that no broom could possibly pull off or pull out of regardless of the skill of its user…
It was an extremely annoying thing to look at, mostly because Harry knew that he could fly even faster than Krum was… IF he was willing to destroy his broom with an outpouring of extra magic and have Aethir erase all traces of wind resistance in his path… Something Harry knew he'd never do…
Harry Potter legitimately loved taking part in flying sports, which is why it was important that he never ruin them for himself by becoming a cheater.
On a side note, while Aethir passively guided Harry's movements, making him far more graceful in the air, he didn't consider his elemental alignment to be a sly form of cheating, because in a very real way the little wind sprite was a part of him, a part of his spirit, incorporated into his body... To consider Aethir's presence a form of cheating would be like saying a basketball player who is tall is cheating.
But then, by that standard, whatever personal animus Krum was using to push himself through the air wasn't cheating either (because it sure as hell wasn't the Nimbus Alpha that the man was sitting on), which meant Harry needed to make peace with the man's unnatural movements and simply roll with the punches…
And as this thought unfolded in the back of Harry's mind, he and Ambrose Kinchley lost some, but not all, of the ground that they'd gained on Krum as they plummeted towards the earth.
They were still moving in the right direction, they were still gaining, they were still pushing, they were still moving like a bat out of hell as they pulled out of twin reckless dives…
After leaving behind the drop and entering the eights, Harry watched Ambrose closely as the man began his drifting technique, in order to make the most out of the broom's powerful forward thrust charms. Then he smiled, because now that he was seeing it for himself, the technique was definitely doable. Not only that…
It looked fun!
Harry already knew for a fact that he was going to lose some time in these turns while getting used to drifting his broom, but that he'd figure it out and then catch up to the leaders in the second lap.. With that in mind, as he entered the first turn in the eights, he began by leaning into the turns normally, and then over time, and very carefully, he began slipping more and more tail into the mix and pushing forward harder and harder, during which time, he saw that Ambrose and Krum were pulling away…
Then he felt it, his body seemed to settle, Aethir helped him feel the proper approach.. . he was flying sideways at essentially a forty five degree angle to the turns and pushing forward like a damned madman in a straightaway… and he had it…
A tight, aggressive, feral looking smile grew across Harry's face as he sped up more and more and more, and the wind blasting into his leading side carried the joy-filled laughter of his elemental alignment.
After slingshotting free from the eights, Harry poured on the speed time and time again, relentlessly pushing through the yousucks, banking on the fact that he didn't get dizzy to gain on Ambrose and Krum, but in the end, he still had a lot of ground to cover when they all pulled through the final U-turn and blurred down the straightaway towards the finish. Ambrose, in a similar fashion, had caught up with Krum by the final turn and was hot on his heels leading into the straightaway… which is, of course, the exact moment Krum completely shattered his broom's limits and started pulling away at completely absurd amounts of speeds. Harry used Aethir's guidance to arrow his body against his broom, moving literally as fast as the broom would allow, but while he did slowly gain on Ambrose, Krum still pulled away...
On the bright side, both Harry and Ambrose were closer to Krum than they'd been at the start of the first lap, which meant they'd eventually get their chance later on this lap…. Harry grinned from ear to ear, as he felt his body reacting to the thrill of the chase and the mad speed of the brooms, as he entered the chicane at a way faster speed than the first lap and hurtled through it with a reckless melding of body into broom. If it weren't for the fact that he performed yet another barrel roll in the chicane he would've been thrown off the broom. Instead, it ended up looking like a second wider spiral area of the course that had him laughing like a fool.
Next, Harry entered into the obstacle field, where a mixture of both adrenaline and manic enjoyment had him building his best line of approach in record time. Even as he was entering the first ring, he knew exactly where he'd go next, which meant for the first time ever, he wouldn't lose even a fraction of a second to indecision. He bobbed and weaved, turned, pivoted and dropped through the obstacles so smoothly, it looked like he never needed to turn at all. He made up massive amounts of ground on the leaders, and by the time he exited the obstacle field, he was at Ambrose's back like a burr. All three racers were on each other like white on rice, as they entered the spiral and corkscrewed in a line, and Harry had to force himself to fly just to the right of the slipstream that Krum and Ambrose's bodies provided
Nevertheless, Harry was firmly tucked behind Ambrose as they pulled up into the dive and they swerved up towards the earth together, which is why, when Krum pulled away from the both of them again, Harry saw Ambrose shake his head in disgust and then pour on yet more speed. Needless to say, Harry followed suit, and as they exited the dive they both pulled up with all of their might so as not to slam into the earth. It was only with a matter of inches to spare that Ambrose and Harry exited their dives and then careened into the eights.
Harry knew that this time for sure, he'd manage to remain relatively close to the leaders through the turns, even if he still wasn't as good at drifting as Ambrose was. Over the next minute, he followed the man through the rapid right and left turns again and again, and although he did lose some ground, it was nowhere near as much as the first lap, and the two of them were both gaining on Krum again, because the man felt it was necessary to change his line like a hundred times a second throughout the turns.
While he may have simply imagined it in his excitement, Harry thought he saw Ambrose smile aside at him during the last turn leading into the you-sucks. His teenaged brain decided that the man was impressed with his improvement, and he took a huge amount of satisfaction from that as he allowed his drift to slowly come to an end.
Harry and Ambrose screamed out of the eights and down the first mini straight-away towards Krum and the first u-turn, during which time Krum pulled ahead at a fantastic speed, but then was extremely sloppy in the turn, having to adjust his line and speed up again. Harry, in turn, made sure to follow Ambrose's line as faithfully as possible, and he learned a ton just by mirroring the man.
As it turns out, Ambrose Kinchley wasn't even turning at all… Instead, the man was swerving backwards at the entrance to the U before accelerating forward to bring an end to a backwards slide.
And when Harry recreated the maneuver, he saw the more experienced racer perform directly in front of him, it felt like the answer had been staring him in the face the whole damned time. It just felt natural not to have to use the brakes throughout any of these turns.
Or at all…
Tearing free from the turn, Harry and Ambrose were right on Krum's heels, which forced Harry to focus on staying above or to the sides of the man... He was far too busy to probe the man's miasma with his aura, but he instinctually knew that It was out and trailing the man like a comet trail made of poisonous gas…
Even then, it wasn't hard to keep up with Krum anymore, as the man appeared to be losing his cool now that the two of them were nipping at his heels, which was decreasing his ability to focus on the u-turns and his broom.
Krum growled angrily while pouring on ridiculous amounts of power through the next mini straight, but then, for the first time today, he completely overdid it...
Krum was moving waaay too fast to pull himself through the next u-turn and as a result, he entered the turn with a terrible line.
With Krum out of the way, Ambrose and Harry finally had the space that they'd been looking for since exiting the eights. At extremely close range like twins, both Ambrose and Harry pulled through the u-turn, and they were finally ahead of Krum for the very first time this whole entire race. As they pulled ahead, they knew it would be a close thing because Krum would be catching up to them at the end of the next straight. They saw him careening up behind them, but once again, in his desperation and rage, he blew it on the turn and lost some ground.
Both Ambrose and Harry grinned in that moment, because they knew it was down to just the two of them and the distant checkered ring.
This is how it should have been the whole time, Harry thought with a huge smile upon his face. "Show me how to race Ambrose," he screamed into the wind, and he thought he heard laughing ahead of him, as they both careened towards the last U turn at fantastic speeds.
At this point, Harry was pouring everything he had into pulling past Ambrose and getting the inside line for the turn, but he wasn't succeeding because Ambrose was dominating the line and was so damn good at it that it was absurd. All Harry could do was hold on tightly to their formation and watch carefully for any opportunity.
The two men flew just shy of mach before releasing control of their brooms juuuuust enough to allow their bristles to swing wide and swerve out behind them at the very beginnings of the next turn. They moved in a united blur of preternaturally skillful reaction speeds, their brooms synchronized by necessity and a desire for absolute perfection. They were dialed in, focused in the extreme, moving with a singular purpose that they felt deep in their souls…
Unfortunately for both Harry and Ambrose, in their excitement and focus, neither one of them were watching for Krum coming up behind them. Krum had apparently decided to pour on every ounce of speed that he could muster, and fuck anyone else that he met within the turn.
As they entered the very last u-turn, Harry and Ambrose were stacked together like cards and following a beautiful, perfect line. It was as close to a dance as these two men would ever perform together, and their entire focus was on decreasing drag as they rocketed themselves into the final straight-away...
Which is why, neither Harry nor Ambrose noticed Krum jetting in from behind them within an explosion of displaced air and sound, growling like a damned animal as he flew at speeds that no one had seen at any point that day.
From an outsider's perspective, it was obvious right from the get-go that Victor Krum had every intention of using his opponents to redirect his body in the turn, because the cretin never even attempted to slow down into the corner. Instead, the man made a beeline straight for their bodies and his wild, maddened eyes were locked upon their faces the whole entire time.
At the very last second, Harry heard a frantic empathic warning from Fleur within his mind, and time seemed to slow down to a crawl as the information penetrated his thoughts... Then Krum's shoulder suddenly collided into Ambrose on Harry's left hand side, whose body in turn collided with his left shoulder.
Despite the split second of warning, Harry was still violently knocked off of his broom, because at the speeds that the three of them were flying, Krum's body hit them with the force of artillery fire. Thankfully, due mostly to his wife's warning, Harry managed to reach out, catch, and then hold onto his broom near the bristles, and then hold with inhuman strength as his body waved like a flag….
Even as he strained to keep momentum from tearing his fingers off of his broom, Harry could tell that his new friend Ambrose was in a bad situation. The man had taken all of Krum's momentum directly to his body, and he was flying down towards the Black lake in a spiraling, out of control, ragdoll effect.
And the race itself suddenly lost all of its importance, as Harry instantly started swinging around his broom like a gymnast on a parallel bar. At the apex of his swing and upside down above his broom, Harry abruptly released his grip and flipped in the air in a ball (with Aethir guiding his movements). Quick as a thought, Harry adjusted his body in the air so that he landed flat atop his broom, the wood between his thighs…
Then he was off.
With a mixture of magic and adrenaline skewing his perceptions, Harry had no idea how much time he lost getting himself back upon his broom, but as he began flying down towards the lake like a bullet, he knew that this was about to be close. Ambrose had already fallen about halfway down to the lake and the man was now falling at terminal velocity…
Ambrose Kinchley would not be killed by the likes of that asshole Krum!
While forcing a gigantic amount of his magic down into his broom, Harry asked Aether to eliminate all of the wind-resistance in front of his body, and then he broke the broom's limits by a factor of three as he began screaming down towards the lake like a ballistic missile. A description that was appropriate because he could actually hear his broom sizzling and sparking with an outpouring of smoke and fire
And yet, anything that wasn't Ambrose's falling body was currently immaterial.
And then he was there.
All of the sudden, Harry was directly above and pulling close to Ambrose Kinchley, who was a professional racer with ice in his veins, had already noticed Harry moving in his direction, and was holding out an arm for him to grab. Harry quickly lined up with the man and had the broom under and between his legs with surgical skill. Ambrose's one arm was quickly wrapped around Harry's ribs, While the other hand gripped the front of the broom so that he could help him pull up.
Then both Harry and Ambrose looked ahead and saw that there was a problem. They were moving waaaay too damned fast towards the water, and would never be able to pull up in time with two people on a broom. As one, they both heaved up on the broom anyway, and Harry slammed his entire will into the damned thing. It was going to pull up and it was going to do it now.
The broom began slowly turning up towards horizontal with a tortured screaming and popping noise, but both Harry and Ambrose could see that it wasn't going to work. They had no time and were just a split second from slamming into the water. In his desperation, Harry extended his arm out in front of them, calling out the spell "Caeri Solidus" (thick air), during which time, he poured everything that he had into the spell, and Aethir also flew into the air he was Conjuring to do what she could to help. The air just below their bodies instantly exploded into a small invisible twister of super thick cushioning air, an intense updraft that pushed them both up and forward, helping them pull out of the dive.
With a growl of increased determination, Harry heaved both back and up on the broom with all his might. Then, with an absolutely enormous booming noise, the broom finally swerved upwards, sending them barreling across the lake, mere inches away from the water. Slowly, over the next ten seconds, Harry allowed the broom to slow, skimming the lake's surface at a hover.
Both Harry and Ambrose were left heaving for air and leaning heavily against each other for support… They'd done it. They were alive...
Ambrose looked back at Harry, Harry looked aside at Ambrose. Then they both smelled it and they looked back towards the tail of the broom, which was now the site of a growing, smoky fire. It appeared that Harry had once again exploded his broom...
Turning back to Ambrose, Harry simply shrugged. "If you control the broom, I'll put out the fire." Ambrose grinned and then nodded before grabbing the broom and steering them back towards both land and the pitch. Turning back towards the fire, Harry silently cast an Aguamenti spell, shooting a small jet of water out of his finger. Turning back towards Ambrose, he saw that his plan hadn't worked and the man had caught the silent, wandless magic. Harry grimaced, shrugged again and gave the man a questioning look. "I don't suppose you could keep my more… dramatic skills to yourself could you?"
"'Arry… I owe you my life," Ambrose exclaimed, a completely incredulous expression upon his face. "I think keeping your confidences is the very least I can do under the circumstances."
"I appreciate it," Harry replied, when his magic indicated that the man was indeed telling the truth. "I need my skills secret for a very good reason, I promise."
"The person who put you in this tournament wants you dead, along with that monster Harkenen and Gods only know how many other people," Ambrose declared knowingly. Then, when Harry looked surprised, Ambrose grinned and shrugged. "I told you, I did my homework 'Arry. I judge people by how they fly, so I figured you were the honest, hardworking type. Given that knowledge about you, I put together everything you've ever said in public or interview settings and figured it out... It wasn't hard either, given the fact that fifteen hit-wizards tried to kill you just three weeks ago."
Nodding his head, Harry sighed loudly into the newly quiet moment. "Every year it's something new, but so far they've always underestimated me. That trend's truly the only reason I'm still alive, so I've learned to keep my abilities to myself."
"Now that, I can understand." Ambrose's face suddenly became very serious as he looked back at Harry. "Let's go see what the judges have done with that ass-hat Krum."
"I like this plan," Harry replied with a smile. "Gods that was fun by the way. Racing you was crazy fun. I can see why you were looking forward to it."
"I know right!" Ambrose began laughing like a maniac. "I saw you grinning that scary grin behind me and it gave me chills. I'm glad you love Quidditch so much, because you are a scary, scary guy on a broom. That is… for as long as the damned thing survives you." Ambrose grinned as he motioned towards the scorched, tortured bristles emitting copious amounts of smoke behind their backs.
After a silent moment spent just staring at the broom's tail they both began laughing like only people who just survived near death can.
Suddenly remembering something that Ambrose had said earlier, Harry tapped him on the shoulder. "Now that you've volunteered to keep one of my secrets, I'll tell you about a secret product I have access to… I can probably arrange for you to receive a learning aid bracelet to help you both speak and learn English, similar to the one that helps English speakers learn French. The English version hasn't been mass produced yet, but I can get you one for teaching me how to race. Truly, you showed me a lot today and it was amazing."
At first Ambrose looked ecstatic at the news, but then he paused and sighed. "I'd feel bad if I took even such a life altering gift, because it is I who owes you, 'Arry." Then Ambrose brightened and he waved his arm. "How about this? In return for the bracelet, I promise to Floo to the school twice a week to oversee your Quidditch training. You're an amazing flier, but there are one or two areas that I know I can help you with. Do we have a deal, Mr. Potter?"
"Of course! I'd be a fool to say no to such an amazing opportunity." At this point, Harry's smile was about to break his face.
"Good then! I will enjoy working with you." Ambrose nodded happily as they shook hands. Then he returned his attention back towards his flying, and they both fell into a rather relaxed but tired silence.
The flight back to the pitch was very slow, because the broom carrying them was sputtering and coughing smoke and falling apart. A minute later, when they finally did arrive back to the pitch, it was to the mad cheering of the ever-growing audience up in the stands. It also looked like someone from Nimbus had been loaning out Omnioculars, because there were hundreds of them held in hands throughout the crowd.
The amassed people were all hooting and hollering and having a great time with it all, and Harry noticed now more than ever that Hogwarts's class division was being broken down by these events. He wondered if the main purpose of the tournament wasn't to encourage school unity more than it was to encourage global unity…
Shaking off his thoughts, Harry saw that Ambrose had managed to bring them into a smooth landing, even with the destroyed broom.
Just as Harry slid off of the smoking broom and settled his feet back into the sand of the pitch, he was side-tackled by a very soft and curvy young woman, who immediately wrapped her long, lean legs tightly around his waist, and as he staggered backwards and to the side, platinum blonde hair fanned out around his face blocking his view of anything else. Then, all of the sudden, he felt all of his adrenaline dumping all at once, and he promptly dropped to his ass within the sand. The French blonde currently latched around his body appeared unconcerned, and she dropped to the earth right along with him.
In the end, Harry's lap was very thoroughly occupied, as a Veela squeezed him in a vice-like grip with both her arms and her legs.
"I'm okay, Fleur," Harry pointed out, while laughing. "No injuries or damages this time. I'm fine, I promise!"
"You will let me freak out, 'Arry James Potter," demanded Fleur, in very loud and officious French. "That was terrifying, and once again I was helpless but to watch as you were in danger. Just one week I want to go without you scaring me like that, 'Arry, just one!" Leaning back just half a foot, Fleur gave her husband's chest several dandelion fluff punches. When that was done however, she very abruptly dove back in and wrapped herself all around his body.
From off in the background, Harry and Fleur heard Ambrose start giggling like a loon, and they turned towards the sound.
Upon discovery, Ambrose adopted a chagrined expression, but even then, he wasn't capable of fully hiding his amusement. Belatedly, the man decided it was time that he helped his young savior, and he approached the two youths while waving his hands palms out in front of his chest. "Truly, Lady Delacour, it wasn't 'Arry's fault this time at the very least. He was flying a very clean, inspired race, and we would've finished neck and neck with no danger to speak of. It was out of our hands that our fellow competitor decided to ram into us at full speed."
"Isn't that the truth," Mr. Chambers exploded, after walking up from behind them all with barely controlled rage clear to see upon his face. "We were clocking both of your times up until that last turn, and hypothetically you both could've been in pole position for this year's International Broom Racing Championships. I was so excited to release those times to the press, dammit! They'd have been a great way to showcase our broom's world class design! Now we can't use any of those incredible times, because neither of you finished the race! I cannot condone the poor sportsmanship shown by our ex-sponsee… Krum's officially been dropped by Nimbus Broom company for behavior unbecoming and reckless endangerment of one of his fellow members. Ambrose, Harry, are you two both okay? We can call for that excellent Healer Madam Pomfrey if either of you are in need…"
Both Ambrose and Harry quickly shook their heads that they were fine, but Harry wasn't fast enough. Once again he was tightly squeezed by Fleur, as if she was confirming his health for herself. He hugged her back, breathing in through her hair for no other reason than the woman smelled like heaven.
As dangerous as his latest stunt had been, Harry wasn't as upset as he'd normally get. For some reason, when these things happen in the air, his fears always feel more abstract and far away. Truly, Harry felt great at the moment, and would fly some more if Fleur wouldn't strangle him for it... In the end, Harry loved his wife very much, so he erred on the side of caution, and decided that he was done flying for the day.
In response to this decision, Harry felt Fleur squeeze him in the bond.
Over the next few seconds, Harry slowly rose back up to his feet, which was a little awkward because he was still being wrapped up by a beautiful blonde. Turning towards Ambrose and Mr. Chambers, Harry offered them both a smile. "Well... I think I'm done for the day, gentlemen. It does appear… I will be hugged for the next several hours straight."
Both Ambrose and Mr. Chambers choked out in twin guffaws followed by hard laughter because yes... that's exactly what it looked like.
As he calmed down, Mr. Chambers patted Harry on the shoulder and grinned. "I was very impressed with you today, Mr. Potter. If/when you're recruited to a professional team, I hope that you'll keep Nimbus in mind for sponsorship. I'll also be talking to Mrs. Tonks about that tech job."
"Thank you, Mr. Chambers," Harry replied happily. "I'll look forward to hearing from you." Turning towards Ambrose next, Harry tried to convey that he didn't have the hands available to shake with him.
Ambrose just grinned and nodded.
"Oh! I'll have the device ready for you in a couple of days. Do you want to come see the Beauxbatons Quidditch game?" Harry was asking for at least two reasons. Ambrose was good people and despite the age differential, he already knew that they could be good friends. He was also really looking forward to having a Broom Racing pack leader as a flying coach. Right away, he could tell that this was going to be a huge game changer in the Quidditch tournament.
"I would be delighted to attend, and I will see you then." Ambrose happily agreed. "Now, I'll bow out for now, because I think your Lady has a claim on your time…." Ambrose laughed once again, when, over Harry's shoulder, he heard a muttered, "your damned right I do." Then, while walking off, Ambrose waved casually over his shoulder…
It was a nice day and Fleur felt good wrapped around his body, so Harry took his time walking towards the bleachers, while smiling cheerfully at the noisy crowd that was not so subtly staring in his direction. He didn't give a damn about the PDA, or the intense scrutiny that he was receiving from all sides. To his immense relief, Harry thought that he might actually be growing beyond such things...
Then Harry's more introspective thoughts were cast aside, when he finally caught sight of Cedric Diggory standing next to Cho, with a first place ribbon draped around his neck.
"You did it," Harry loudly exclaimed in his excitement. "You must've been right on our asses for that to happen!"
"I was and I did," Cedric happily replied. "You guys caused each other so much trouble, I just cruised right on through…"
"You're too modest as always." Harry shook his head while laughing. "You've become a fierce flier and you know it." Turning back towards the castle, Harry and Cedric found themselves flanked on all sides by their friends.
"I am a better flier now, and what Ambrose taught was extremely helpful," Cedric admitted. Then he grinned a rather shit eating grin. "Of course, it didn't hurt that Krum smashed into you guys at full speed and almost fell off of his broom. I saw you tear off like a bat out of hell for Ambrose and knew without any doubts that you had him taken care of. I also knew that you'd absolutely hate it if Krum won the race." Cedric's grin suddenly returned full force upon his face. "I decided then, for you, Harry, I would win the race... You're welcome."
Both Cedric and Harry burst out laughing..
"I do appreciate that you kept the honors out of Krum's hands," Harry added with a massive smile on his face. "Gods, but I hate that guy."
"Ditto," Fleur added over Harry's shoulder, forcing her husband to hug her even tighter... In response, she tightened around him in return and began nipping at his neck in hot little bites that forced the man to regulate his body...
At that point, it became impossible for Harry to have any further thoughts about Krum.
To Be Continued
Author's Note:
If you like my writing, want to check on my release schedule + want to help support me, consider visiting my P-a-t-r-e-o-n page
[h-t-t-p-s-:-/-/-w-w-w-.-P-a-t-r-e-o-n-.-c-o-m-/-k-a-r-m-e-a-l-i-o-n]
Thanks