Harry Potter Breaking The Chains

Zacharias Smith spoke up from the Hufflepuff table. "Is it true that you and some of the others from last year's DA got into a battle with Death Eaters at the Ministry of Magic last June?"

"Err -" Harry stuttered. He looked over to the Gryffindor table at each of his friends that was there that night. Hermione and Ron were both giving him sympathetic looks. Ginny gave him an encouraging smile. Neville gave him a small, shy smile. Luna, over at the Ravenclaw table, just had a dreamy expression on her face, and Harry wasn't sure if she was even paying attention. He took a deep breath and continued, "I went to the ministry on information that my godfather was being tortured there by Voldemort. A few of my friends insisted on coming with me. We were led into a trap, and yes, we fought several Death Eaters. After holding them off for quite some time, we were eventually rescued," he explained, giving them the abbreviated version of events.

"Now, if there are no more questions about the HA then this concludes our meeting. I'll see the beginners' class on Tuesday at 7:00."

The students looked around at each other. Some stood and walked out of the hall, others hung around. Most of the former DA stuck around to talk to Harry briefly. He got comments like "Great speech," "Can't wait to get started," and "Bloody brilliant what you did to Malfoy." Eventually the hall emptied of everyone except Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.

Harry turned to Ginny. "Thanks Gin, for a moment I was worried that no one would sign."

"Don't mention it Harry," she told him with a smile. "I know you wouldn't have us sign anything if it wasn't perfectly safe and legit. I trust you. Now if Fred or George had asked me to sign a contract, that would be an entirely different story."

"Well I appreciate it," he told her. "And the two of you as well," he added to Ron and Hermione. "That was nerve racking."

"You did a good job, Harry," Hermione told him honestly.

"And that bit with Malfoy was brilliant," Ron added. "He looked ridiculous with his skin chalk white, the pink, rosy cheeks, the bright red nose and lipstick… priceless."

"Well he can't say I didn't warn him," Harry responded unconcernedly. "Come on; let's head back up to the common room."

The next day Harry found himself out on the Quidditch pitch in the late morning. The sun was shining brilliantly in the sky, hardly a cloud obscuring the blue expanse above him. Harry, for his part, was having the time of his life speeding around on his Firebolt, oblivious to everything going on around him at the time. He was looping in and out of the goal hoops, then shot across the pitch. He suddenly dropped into a vertical dive and pulled up just in time so only the tips of his feet grazed the grass growing on the field. Harry dropped his arm and felt the grass underneath him, a smile on his face.

"Oi, mate!" Ron's loud voice reached Harry. "If you're done showing off, we've got tryouts to run."

Sufficiently cowed, Harry blushed slightly and flew over to his friend, who was standing before a group of hopeful Gryffindors with brooms clutched tightly in their grasps. He landed next to the red head as he was beginning to address the crowd.

"Right, I'm Ron Weasley, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team," Ron proudly proclaimed, displaying his captain's badge rather self-importantly. An image of Percy fawning over his own Head Boy badge rose unbidden into Harry's mind, but he quickly shook off the thought. "I'm sure you all know that Harry, here, is our seeker," he patted Harry on the shoulder. He put his other arm around Katie Bell's shoulder and said, "This here is Katie Bell, chaser, and I'm keeper. We'll be holding tryouts for all positions as I'd like to have a reserve team this year."

"Right," Ron ran a hand nervously through his hair. "Why don't you all take a few minutes in the sky to get warmed up, then we'll get started. I'll call you all back down in a bit."

Harry sidled up to his friend as they turned their heads skyward to watch the recruits fly around. "So how do you want to do this?" Harry asked. Katie walked up beside them.

"Well, I was thinking I'd have them split up into what position they were trying out for, then take them in turns," Ron replied.

"Sounds fair," Harry announced. "Mind if I take a few minutes to fly with them?" Harry was itching to get back out on his Firebolt.

"Yeah, sure," Ron said distractedly. Harry shrugged and took off. There were two activities in his life that left Harry feeling completely at peace, as if the world just made complete sense. They were both flying. One was flying on his Firebolt; the other was flying as an owl. The feeling was incredibly freeing, which was exactly what Harry was searching for in his life: freedom. Freedom from the war, from his fame, from the death surrounding him, from his life in general, from the people like Dumbledore that always tried to control him… Harry just needed to get away from it all. With the air rushing all around him as he flew, he felt like none of that could touch him.

Soon enough Ron was calling all of them back down. "Alright, I want you all to split up based on position. Those trying out for chaser stand over there, beaters there, keepers there, and seekers over there," he directed, pointing to different spots on the pitch. The Gryffindors all obligingly walked to the designated spots and awaited further instructions. "We'll be doing the tryouts in turns. Since there doesn't appear to be anyone trying out for seeker, Harry why don't you take the beaters. Katie and I will start with some ball drills with the chasers and keepers."

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