Harry McGonagall

Chapter 37 - Harmless Flying Creatures

Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

Harry McGonagall – Chapter 37 – Harmless Flying Creatures

A/N Italics in dialogue will usually mean that the speaker is using the French language to express the message I've written in English. As previously stated, I don't speak French and have no desire to butcher that language.

-HM-HM-HM-

The next few months passed quickly for Harry as he made sure to practice his flying, just to stop himself from getting rusty. One day, Professor Ladue, the French Transfiguration teacher, saw him on his broom and praised his flying skills, mentioning that, in his opinion, if he kept hard at it every day his flying skills would rival Krum's. He also mentioned that he should study up on flying creatures if he wanted to absolutely master the art. Harry suspected the man was trying to give him a clue about the second task, but since he already knew about it, the hint didn't really affect his training plans.

He was told, via his mirror, that the enchanting club that Hermione and Brianna started at Hogwarts was doing well, with over twenty members. Enough of them chose to enchant hoverboards that they actually had a pickup game of Quidditch where one of the teams used hoverboards instead of brooms.

"You should've seen it, Harry!" exclaimed Brianna excitedly through the mirror Harry was holding. Even Hermione (who was on the 'broomstick' team) couldn't keep up with us. We were winning by a hundred points...until the Snitch was spotted."

"I suppose it is harder to follow the Snitch on one of those things," agreed Harry.

"That stupid little ball just had to fly straight down, and Ginny couldn't keep up with Cho during that dive. I can't blame her, either. Only someone completely out of their mind would do a dive like that on a hoverboard."

"I suppose it would prove difficult," Harry agreed nonchalantly.

She eyed her brother suspiciously. "I hope you're not planning on trying that. You'll kill yourself."

"No, I'm not," he agreed. "But I do plan on making a few improvements to my board.

Later that night, after Harry had completed his planned fiddling with his hoverboard, he received his nightly call from his girlfriend, who'd suggested that a team where only the Seeker had a broom, while the others had hoverboards, would have a huge advantage in any game of Quidditch – two free hands with which to handle the Quaffle or Beater bats.

-HM-HM-HM-

Before Harry knew it, the day of the second task had arrived. Harry was nervously picking at his breakfast when his sister entered the Dining Chamber. As expected, Hermione wasn't with her. Despite the fact that he'd been warned of this, he still felt a knot form in his stomach. He knew that he would have to put his girlfriend at risk by trying to rescue her. The thought of just not participating had occurred to him, but he knew he couldn't do that – not after he'd already been told he had to do his best when he'd suggested doing the same thing during the first task. He was truly upset with the arrangers of this contest, but really couldn't do anything about it. He decided he should greet his sister, so he got up and walked toward her.

"Brianna," he said with a grin as he hugged her. "Thanks for coming. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing great," she replied happily. "I'm ready to watch you humiliate all those other champions today once you get on your broom. Then I'll humbly admit I taught you everything you know."

Harry laughed at that comment. "I doubt I'll be humiliating Krum, but I do think I'm a better flier than Cedric, and I've never seen Fleur on a broom. I've asked around and found out she's never even tried out for Quidditch." He took a deep breath. "That doesn't mean she can't fly, but..."