The Chaser's Heart

Year 5: Early

I was bogged down with homework for three of the next five weekends. Between that and Quidditch practise, I hardly had time to train on my own. The two weekends I was free, McNully had a Wizard's Chess club meeting and then there was a Hogsmeade weekend.

The third week of October, I finally had enough of a reprieve from homework to train and McNully had mentioned again that he was still keen to join me. I hadn't even had time to consider why he was so keen to watch me train. We'd never spent much time alone together outside of Quidditch practise. This was an uncharted portion of our friendship that I was both anxious and excited to discover.

'You're up early,' I commented on Saturday morning. The common room was usually empty this time of day. I hadn't actually expected McNully to get up this early on a Saturday.

'Trying to sneak out without me?' He replied.

'No, I just didn't think you'd actually be up at this hour,' I told him, meeting him where he was seated in his wheelchair near the fireplace.

He didn't look like he was dressed very warm. He only had a winter jacket on without any hat or mittens. I knew he could feel his legs, he was going to be cold.

'Are you going to be warm enough?' I raised an eyebrow at him. There was no snow yet, but the mornings definitely had a bite to them now.

'Why? Are you worried about me?' He grinned.

'You aren't even going to wear a cap?' I asked, avoiding the question and willing my face not to go red at his teasing. 'Your ears will be cold.'

'And hide this masterpiece?' He gestured to his perfectly groomed hair. 'My ears can freeze for all I care.'

'Who's going to see you apart from me and possibly the giant squid?' I countered.

'I'll take my chances,' he grinned and I sighed.

'I just have a routine I like to stick to, I'm not going to finish early because you're too cold,' I told him firmly.

'When have I ever slowed you down?' He countered, crossing his arms.

'Fair point,' I shrugged. 'C'mon, then.'

I held the door to the common room open and he wheeled out in front of me into the corridor.

I'd never seen him manage the stairs in his wheelchair and I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I wasn't curious about it. He had mentioned before that magic was involved, which I'd already figured it must be, there were no lifts at Hogwarts. At least, none that I knew of.

'So, what's on the schedule today?' He turned to look at me eagerly. 'Your run first, obviously. Think you'll beat your personal best? How many laps will you do today?'

'I dunno,' I shrugged. 'Some days I'm doing well just to get two laps in.'

'And then what? I can throw the Quaffle around with you again. What else do you usually do?'

'Er... strength training mostly,' I answered. 'Squats, press ups... that sort of thing.'

'You do press ups in the dirt?' He asked incredulously.

'Not in the dirt,' I replied with a scowl. 'I'll show you when we get there.'

We'd reached the staircase. He turned and saw me looking at him expectantly with my arms crossed and grinned.

'Go on, show me how you use magic to get down the stairs,' I nodded towards the steps.

'Gladly,' he grinned wider. He drew his wand with a flourish. 'Glisseo!'