Nothing would have torn James Potter from bed at five o'clock on a Saturday morning except for one thing.

Sirius was dragging his broomstick and beater's bat behind him down the path to the Quidditch pitch, eyes closed and leaning his forehead against James's shoulder as he trailed along behind, ignoring it as James talked about how nervous he was. 

The sun was barely up by the time they'd slugged their jackets into lockers and strapped on their Quidditch gear. James tightened the chinstrap on his helmet as he paused to tap his palm against the frame of the chalkboard containing Derek Bell's last play for good luck. "Help me have a good year, Bell," he begged, staring up at the smiling photo of Derek in all his gear, chin held high and cape fluttering slightly in a breeze. He drew a deep breath and walked out onto the pitch.

The grass was still soaked with dew, and he carried the box of Quidditch balls to the center of the pitch, followed dutifully by Sirius, and set down the trunk, looking about at the sets of rings on either end and the high stands with their House colours and banners. The smell of the morning was invigorating and James could feel the adrenaline filling him up, coursing its way through his veins as he stood there in his Gryffindor red and gold. "Gods," he moaned, grinning as he looked around at it all, "It just makes me feel so alive to be back out here, like I'm utterly invincible. You know? Like the world is on balance, and nothing will set it off kilter ever again." James's eyes glowed with passion, "We're going to have a marvelous year, I can just feel it in every bone of my body, Sirius. We're going to win the house cup this year if it kills me to do it. I'm so ruddy glad to be back out here. I'm so glad that I listened to you lot and Evans and I'm just -- so -- ready -- for -- this. Are you ready for this?? Sirius???"

Sirius had sat down on the case of balls and fallen asleep, doubled forward against his knees, his beater's bad and broomstick in the grass at his feet.

James stared down at him, then nudged his head with his trainer. "Wake up, you tosser."

"Fivemoreminutes, Moony, then I'll do anything you want," Sirius murmured.

James made a face, "Urrrgh!" He decided to leave Sirius to it - he was clearly hallucinating things in a way that only Sirius Black could. Instead, James took a peek at Sirius's pocket watch for the time and took to the sky alone, sweeping the length of the pitch in long loops.

The wind in his hair was everything. He gripped his broomstick with the new dragon hide gloves he'd bought in Diagon Alley, which gave him excellent handling capability without any slipback. He dropped into a spiral and swooped so close to the earth that his back was wet from the dew when he rose back up into the foggy sky, slowing only to tug his goggles down over his glasses to keep the rain from clouding him over.

He'd been flying trick patterns and making tight, near impossible turns, warming up for nearly an hour when Lily Evans flew up neck-to-neck with him, her hair in a long braid tucked into her robes.

"YOU'RE A BLEEDIN' SHOW OFF, POTTER," she shouted, grinning over at him from behind her own pair of goggles that seemed to magnify her green eyes by several sizes.

"IT ISN'T SHOWING OFF IF I DIDN'T KNOW ANYBODY WAS WATCHING!" James replied, smirking.

"WELL NOW YOU KNOW," Lily answered, and they slowed down to a hover. "Good morning," she said once they'd come to a stop and pulled their goggles up to their foreheads to see each other properly. "Very impressive flying, by the way, since I didn't say that before."

James pretended to be shocked, "Are you complimenting me now? Is that how this works? I do something show-offish and you actually think it's cool?"

Lily laughed, "Shut up." And she dropped her goggles back over her eyes. "Race you back down."

James broke into a dive without even fixing his goggles, the pair of them flying off his head and falling to the earth nearly as fast as he was flying. Realizing they'd fallen off, he spiraled and caught them before landing neatly on the ground at a jog beside the balls case, where Sirius had tumbled onto the grass asleep. Lily landed beside him a mere beat after he did. James grinned and held up his goggles before pocketing them.

"Very good, Potter," Lily said, winded.

"Yes very good," came Ali Prewitt's voice, and James turned to see that a good deal of Gryffindors had arrived in response to his call for try-outs, which he'd posted on the bulletin board the moment he'd arrived at Hogwarts. "Glad to see you're somehow still in top form after being a layabout last term," she teased, elbowing him good naturedly.

James laughed, "Just imagine if I'd played through how good I'd be."

"Imagine!" Ali replied, "Might have been scouted by now. I heard there were National League scouts at a couple matches last term. Frank actually got an offer, but he turned it down."

"TURNED IT DOWN?" James asked, nearly falling over.

Ali nodded, "Said there was more noble things to be done than Quidditch at the mo' - with You Know Who taking lives and all."

"Still..." James murmured. "Quidditch."

Ali flushed, "He said he wanted to make it a safer world so that he wouldn't feel so guilty with starting a family when the time came." She moved her hand and the ring Frank had given her glinted in the morning sun. "I told him it'd be awhile, we've not even started planning the wedding or anything yet, kids are a far sight in the future, and he said that's the way it ought to be, seeing as this world ain't fit for'em yet."

Lily nodded, "Exactly. It's more important the world be safe for'em before any of our generation go about making them. It isn't fair to have children we haven't got the means to protect."

"Here, here," came James's voice.

"But there ain't a thing stopping us from practicing so we're dead good at it when the time comes," added Sirius, who had woken up and was now stretching and looking much more like himself than he'd done before. He grinned at Lily. "Right, Evans?"

Lily said, "Well it isn't as though you and Rey are making any - so there's no point in you practicing quite as hard as you do, is there?"

"On the contrary, it means we ought to practice all the harder," Sirius grinned.

Lily shook her head. "There are wee ones present," she said, waving at the second and third years that had come to try out.

Sirius looked aghast. "I'm not the one that started the conversation!" 

"Potter, why don't you start the try outs so this one will hush?" Lily asked.

James said, "You've not been around him long enough if you think me getting started with hush Sirius Black, but alright." (Sirius grinned wickedly at Lily.) "Welcome to try outs everybody. I hope you all have your own broomsticks, but if not, there's a load of them in the shed over there and I'll get one for you --" a couple of younger students raised their hands indicating they needed one of the school brooms, and James accio'd them over for them, who looked mesmerized as the broomsticks flew across the pitch from the shed at his command.

"Summoning charm - I'm just excellent at summoning charms," came an arrogant sounding voice from the back of the crowd of students as a boy with tousled blonde hair turned to a girl next to him, grinning widely.

"Oh shut it," muttered Wally, rolling his eyes.

"Who the fuck is that?" Sirius asked, nudging Dexter as he was squinting over toward the boy.

"Oh that's the changed student."

"The what?"

"Exchanged," corrected Macy, "He's exchanged. From Beauxbatons Academy." She glanced over, "Gilderoy or something."

"She just doesn't like him because he's a flirt," Vivian said.

"He's a liar, rather," Macy said, rolling her eyes, "He says that the Sorting Hat chose Ravenclaw for him and he told it he looked better in red robes and would prefer Gryffindor and he says the Hat said that Gryffindor was a better fit for him then, and sent him over to us."

"Lucky us," Vivian said, rolling her eyes.

"Try sharing a dorm with him," Dexter mumbled.

Wally nodded, "Idiot's got photographs of himself on his nightstand."

Sirius raised his eyebrow, "Well, blimey. Even I don't do that, and I'm about as full of myself as it gets..." he said and then he quickly turned forward as James cleared his throat for attention. 

"As I was saying," James said, "I really want to have a great year on the pitch for Gryffindor... So I'm looking to build a strong team and just because you've been on the team before doesn't mean you will again... As some of you know, I'm flexible with my own position, --"

"Hear that Evans?" Sirius elbowed Lily.

"-- so I'll be trying out all posts today," James finished, not hearing Sirius.

"Honestly," Lily elbowed Sirius back, but blushed even as she did.

The next hour or so was filled with drills, races from one end of the pitch to the other, of Chasers throwing quaffles and Keepers trying to block them as Beaters hit bludgers into dummy bags and Seekers were sent through agility courses set up to show their quick reaction skills while following after the gleam of the golden snitch. James participated, flying alongside, shouting tips and reaching to improve grippers on broomstick handles, even taking off his gloves to hand over to a Ollie, whose main problem seemed to be staying even on his broomstick.

Lily watched, smiling proudly, seeing James nurture the younger kids trying out, even the ones that clearly weren't going to make the team. And he took pause to wave to little Anisha Suriar, who sat in the stands wrapped head to toe in Gryffindor colors and waving excitedly, obsessed with the sport of Quidditch.

When they'd finished, James landed on the grass and he took a moment to look over some notes he'd jotted down while the others whispered nervously to one another. Finally, he collected them all together and stood before them. His heart was pounding and he looked about 'til his eyes landed on the spire of the Bell Towers, grounding himself.

"Six years ago, in my second year, I was selected Seeker on the team for an All Star tourney against Ilvermorny. That's how I got the luck of flying under the best Captain Gryffindor's had in ages, Derek Bell. I've always loved Quidditch," he paused and pointed to the stands where Anisha was cheering and jumping up and down, "I was that kid my first year." The whole crowd giggled and Sirius affirmed it, nodding and agreeing loudly. James said, "And I want to win the cup ruddy bad this year. Nothing seemed more important to me than that when I stepped out of that locker room onto the pitch this morning. But -- But I realized while we were working just now that winning isn't all Quidditch is about." There was a murmur in the crowd and James added, "You helped me remember that, Ali."

"I did?" she looked confused.

"Yeah. You said Frank chose not to take his offer for placement on the National team because it wasn't as important as fighting You Know Who but..." James shook his head, "I ruddy say it is just as important, in some ways. Us standing here on the pitch, we had fun and we coorperated and worked together just now, we became a team." He wove his fingers together and knotted his hands up, "And we showed each other support and that's what being a Gryffindor should be about... That's what was so great about Derek Bell. It's how I ended up on the team at all. Because he gave a second year kid a shot at it. And it was Derek Bell that taught me how to play the game with heart, and it was heart that won the tournament in the end - not experience, but heart."

"This sounds like a load of Puff rubbish," muttered a fourth year.

"Shut it," snapped Ali.

James said, "It isn't Puff rubbish, and the Puffs have it right that kindness is important. Especially in a world like ours is, with evil lurking 'round every bend. We can't exclude anyone because of their differences or their abilities. With the right training and care, anyone could be a winner as well as any skilled athlete can. We all start from somewhere. And Quidditch is a source of joy and light in this dark world, isn't it? It brings smiles and entertainment and hope and there's a lesson here that losing one game doesn't mean you lose the season, and there's always next season if you do lose this one. It's not over for a loss. You can practice harder and make a come back and there's more than just glory you're fighting for - there's pride and there's one another, too." He took a deep breath, "And I've taken all of this into account making my choices."

They all looked at one another nervously.

"Ollie, you'll be our Seeker."

Ollie's eyes widened. "What? Me?"

"Yes, you're the new Gryffindor Seeker," James nodded, "Congratulations."

"Rubbish!" said Gilderoy, the exchange student, laughing as though this was preposterous.

James continued calling names - each one a surprise, each one making Lily Evans smile all the more as a shout of joy came from some student not expecting to be chosen. She wasn't even upset when he got to the end of the list and her name had not been called.