Harry arrived at Neville's house at 6:45 am on Monday morning. He wanted to be one of the first ones to arrive. Nev came down the stairs, dragging his trunk. He had been shocked when Harry told him that he had gotten him accepted to the announcer camp at The Farm. He had always thought Lee Jordan was a great announcer but had never imagined he could take the open spot until Harry said he thought he would do well. Harry had promised him that it wouldn't make any difference if he decided it wasn't for him, he just wanted him to have fun at camp and enjoy meeting new people.
"So are you nervous about seeing Fred and George?" Neville asked him as he let Harry shrink his trunk for easier travel.
"Not really," Harry said with a shrug. "I already know they are not using me like the others were. The worst that happens is that they knew about it but didn't join in. I tend to believe that they had no idea until recently and want to warn me."
"I don't think they would ever betray you," Nev added. "I'm not sure but I am guessing that you are their secret investor who gave them the money to get started."
"Good guess," Harry complimented. "I gave them my tri-wizard winnings as I didn't want anything to do with that money after what happened to Cedric."
"I can't blame you there mate," Neville said with a sad shake of his head. "I think it was a great idea to give it to them. I mean with all the bad things going on in the world we could all use more jokes and pranks to remind us that not everything is bleak."
"That's about what I told them when I gave them the money," Harry said realizing that Neville was definitely underestimated and a much better friend than Ron could ever be.
"So are you going to tell me just how you got my name on the list of accepted applicants at The Farm?" he asked as they prepared to activate the port-key.
"Nope," Harry said with a grin. "But it wouldn't surprise me if you figured it out on your own."
"I accept your challenge," Nev said before they disappeared for camp.
Harry led them over to the check-in area and saw that they were the only campers he could see. "Hey Sarah, Ashley," Harry said with a grin to the two sitting behind the check-in tables.
"Hi Harry, glad to see you back for Seeker camp," Ashley said with a grin. "You planning on dazzling us with more of your crazy seeker skills?"
"Of course!" He said with a chuckle. "This is my friend Neville Longbottom; he's here for the announcer camp."
"I've got him," Sarah said and walked Neville through signing up for workshops and gave him the map, rules and activity schedule.
"This camp is a bit different from yours," Ashley told Harry. "We open all the cabins for this one. So you can fit 8 bunks in each section. The seekers and the announcers are in the same section in Red section. The other three are for the amateur players. Your friends will be in Yellow section and Mike told me he made sure all three were in the same bunk. Your other friend over there," she said pointing to Neville, "is in your bunk with you. You're in Crimson bunk and I'm sure you know your way around. Kick off is at 10 in the dining hall. Do you now which activities you want yet?"
"I'll be in the dueling tournament again, advanced trick flying, speed building, advanced seeker moves, dives and feints, advanced seeker tactics, becoming a pro seeker, charming equipment, coaching, referee training, broom design contest and the seeker face off." He told her with a grin as she chuckled as he overfilled his schedule like last time.
"Ok, here's the list of the other activities, your schedule and map," she told him with a smile. "Are you sticking around afterwards again? Oh, and Mike said he wants to talk to you sometime today and I think Garret was looking for you as well."
"Thanks Ashley, I'll see you in the workshop!" Harry said and went over to where Neville was still trying to decide his schedule.
"What do you suggest I take Harry?" Neville asked looking unsure at the list.
"Definitely participate in the dueling tournament," Harry told him with a grin. "You should sign up for the flying class if you want to improve your confidence on a broom. I would take all the beginning courses and anything else that sounds interesting. I bet you'd like the broom design class."
"Thanks," Neville said as he realized Harry just wanted him to have a good time. He filled in his schedule with half announcer classes and half other ones like the flying class and the broom design classes. He signed up for the dueling tournament wondering how he would fare against the older campers."
"Come on, let's go check out the bunk and find out who our counselor is." Harry said with a grin as he led Neville toward Red Section and Crimson bunk. Scarlet, Cherry, Fire Engine, Ruby, Burgundy, Garnet, and Claret were the name of the other 7 bunks in their section. Harry explained a bit about the place to Neville as they walked. He pointed out the dining hall and the directions towards the other sections.
"What section were you in before?" Neville asked wondering as Harry hadn't shown them his pictures yet.
"Green," Harry said with a grin. "I was in Emerald bunk and on team 3."
"Are you going to show me your pictures yet?" Neville asked.
"Sure, how about I leave my album here for you." Harry said. "I need to go talk with one of the staff. He asked for a meeting this morning so I thought I'd head over before everyone else got here."
"I'll just wander around and learn my way." Neville said with a grin. "What bunk are the twins in? I thought maybe I would see if they're here yet."
"Ironically they are in the Canary bunk!" Harry laughed as one of the twins most popular gags were Canary Creams. The other bunks were named banana, golden, blonde, lemon, saffron, jaundice and snitch.
Mike waved Harry over to where he was sitting with Garret and Ilma Hooch. "Good to see you again Harry," he said shaking hands. "I wanted to tell you that your new ideas for the camp are being very well received. Those team posters have out sold all the other items in the gift shop save chocolate frogs and Butterbeer."
"Nice to see all of you as well." Harry said with a grin as he joined the three senior staff at their table.
"I wanted to talk with you about constructing some new family housing for the staff." Mike said while Garret pulled a stack of paper out from a case.
"I have had some construction estimates and preliminary plans done to get an idea of what it would cost," Garret told him and showed him the designs for the family housing. There were 35 homes arranged in a U pattern around a courtyard area that housed an outline of a park as well as a swimming pool, gym and a large building that would serve as the dining and activity center as well as half would be used for a school. There were three types of house designs. Along the connecting portion of the U were two rows of houses. The back row of houses was comprised of 15 small row-houses that would have only one bedroom, a living room, kitchen and bathroom. These would be used for young couples or those without children. In front of the row of small houses would be 10 medium size houses that would have 2 bedrooms instead of just the one. These would be for anyone with a small family. Along the sides of the U there would be 5 houses each, or 10 total larger houses that would have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms for those with larger families. Overall it looked like a peaceful suburban neighborhood.
"Where are you thinking of locating this on the property?" Harry asked as he was curious how it would change the landscape of The Farm. "And where are the rest of the staff quarters?"
"Well I was thinking about having apartment type buildings constructed behind the large family homes with four 2-bedroom apartments per building and 3 buildings per row. That would completely eliminate the need for the current housing set-up and give us this area to use for it. We all like living over in this corner of the property away from everything else." Garret said with a shrug, he was sure he was asking for WAY too much by building an entire neighborhood just for the staff.
"Do you think this will increase the retention of your staff?" Harry asked as he had been reading books on managing companies and making sound financial decisions in his spare time.
"Definitely," Mike said. "The main reason we have any turn over is that they leave to go start a family or meet a girl. The rest leave when they get a better offer."
"Ok, now explain about your concept of how the community areas here will work." Harry said pointing at the school, gym and park.
"The park is fairly self explanatory. It will be a place we can have barbeques, soccer matches, picnics and still have a good sized playground for the kids. The swimming pool would be fenced off and warded so a child could not enter without an adult to watch them. The gym would have exercise and weight training equipment much like the one the campers use. Right now the staff uses the same gym and they have expressed multiple times that it would be nice to be able to work-out in peace. The dining hall would work much like the campers one does and would be a place we could hold activities and meetings as well. The school is something I thought we could use. It would be used by the younger students for primary school and also have a large library available to the entire staff. It would also have labs or study areas for those who are pursuing higher education. It could also be used to hold small classes on different subjects such as languages, music, art and so on for anyone who would like to learn." Garret said with a smile as he envisioned the area.
"So how much do you plan on spending on this new community?" Harry asked with a smirk knowing that Garret expected him to reject the idea outright.
Mike just gulped as Garret slid a single sheet of paper across the table to Harry. "There are two bids there," Garret explained. "The first is from a squib contractor who would do things the muggle way and that is a cost in American Dollars and the second one is a magical contractor and that is in Galleons."
Harry looked at the muggle contractor first and thought it an interesting idea to have muggles build the structures but knew it would take much too long. The cost was $3,175,000 dollars and doing some fast math Harry realized that was like $317,500 galleons. The bid from the magical contractor was slightly more at $325,000 galleons but would take less than 1/10 the time to construct. Harry figured it was worth the extra money to have it done in a month rather than over a year.
"Did you look at any less expensive ideas?" Harry asked and smiled when Garret handed him smaller designs without the community center and with more apartments and less houses. The costs were comparable to the larger numbers costs. "Well I told you we would build some family housing and I am not about to break my word." Harry started watching the three's faces as he had set the 'bare minimum' design option on top. They looked sad but resigned and he had to hold in another smirk.
"I personally find the first idea to be the best. I like the community center idea and think it is exactly what is needed here. Now I suggest you tell the magical contractor that he will have the job as long as he completes the work for $322,500 galleons. I'm sure he inflated the price some as he never expected to be awarded the entire bid. Now I am going to authorize $350,000 galleons for this project at Gringotts. The extra money will allow you to furnish the school and homes. I am only authorizing $350,000 so if the contractor comes in over bid it comes out of the extras you can buy." Harry told them loving the look of amazement on their faces. "Leave 4 of the large homes open and a few of each of the smaller ones so we can move people up as their families enlarge. I'm sure you can come up with a fair way of deciding who goes were. Those with families or plans on marrying soon get first dibs on the homes."
"You… you… you…" Ilma just stuttered at him looking like she was in shock.
"We can have the whole thing?" Mike asked in amazement and decided that he REALLY liked the newest Potter.
"Yes," Harry said with a grin. "Now other than expanding the Sanctuary and potentially adding a family camp area I don't expect any requests for expansion from you for many years to come."
"This won't cut into the Sanctuary funding?" Garret asked in shock. He was sure that Harry would pull that funding to afford this. "Are you sure the camp has enough capital flow to cover the costs?"
"Nope," Harry said with a grin. "In fact I would assume that it doesn't have enough to cover either of the projects. But I do have enough funding to float the projects. I have already set up a very low interest rate of return for the repayment of the loan. Being that I own 100 of the farm it is really just semantics as its one of my accounts putting money into a different one."
"Thank you," Garret said with a look of respect on his face that the young man was willing to risk not getting his money back on the project but wanted to make his employees happy and help preserve some amazing magical creatures.
"No problem," Harry said with a laugh. "I better get back to the camp so I can unpack and find my troublemaker friends. Watch out this week, you have 3 Weasleys here and two are the joke shop owners!" Harry laughed at Ilma's startled face and made his way happily back to his bunk to find Neville.
"Harry! Mate! This place rocks!" One of the twins said as he approached his bunk. He smiled at seeing the three red-heads. They were all outside talking with Neville so Harry hurried over.
"Sorry Nev, my appointment took longer than expected," Harry said with a shrug.
"No problem," Neville said with a smile. He had enjoyed talking with the older Weasleys. They didn't ever get to know each other at Hogwarts and he had never met Charlie before.
"Hey Charlie! Long time no see," Harry said and was pulled into a brotherly hug by the second eldest of the clan.
"Thanks for getting us in here. I've dreamt of coming here since I was 12." Charlie told him with the biggest smile anyone could remember seeing on the dragon handler's face.
""So are you going to tell us how you pulled it off? And how you got us a discounted rate?" George asked giving him a calculating look.
"Well the place is under new management and I mentioned to the new guy that you guys had been rejected without any reason and he looked into it. The reduced rate is a permanent thing now as they found out the old guy was skimming from the books and they are trying to fix his mistakes." Harry said with a shrug trying to downplay his involvement.
"So it has nothing to do with the fact that the owner personally vouched for us and demanded that we be admitted?" Fred asked with a devious smirk.
"Yeah good ol' Ollie was telling us that all the changes are due to the owner taking back control and firing like half the staff and making wide sweeping changes." George added.
"Makes you wonder who the owner is and why it took until now for them to get involved," Charlie said with his own smirk.
"So Harry, do you want to tell us what your meeting with the director was really about?" Neville asked catching onto what the others were hinting at.
Harry realized that they were already suspicious enough that he might as well tell them. "He was asking for increased funding for a project to build family housing for the staff." Harry told them with a sigh. "As the owner, I am the only one with authority to authorize such large amounts of capital." The other four just cheered at being right that he was the owner.
"So if you're the owner then why did we get black listed in the first place?" Charlie asked curiously.
"That is a story for a different time. Let's just say that until a few months ago I had no idea that I was the owner." Harry said. He wanted to find out how loyal they were before he revealed any more details to them.
"I take it this is part of that serious discussion we need to have?" Fred asked him.
"We could start that now if you want, it was one of the reasons we came so early," George said, looking serious for once. "We've tried to fill Charlie in so if he can listen I think it will help."
"Sure, Neville knows most of my side so let's all go inside. We can use the counselor's room so we're not disturbed." Harry said and they all filed in and conjured comfy chairs while Neville took the bed. "Why don't you guys start as my story is going to be a bit longer I'm afraid."
"Ok, the thing is we're not sure that Ron and Ginny are really your friends," George said quickly and flinching like he thought Harry would blow up at him. When he didn't he realized that Harry must already suspect and continued. "We had popped home to get some stuff from the attic and overheard the two of them talking. Ginny was complaining that if you didn't ask her out soon she would stop telling Dumbledore what you were doing. We thought it was an odd comment and listened closer."
"Ron said that he didn't know why she wanted to go out with Harry anyway as he wished he could stop having to hang out with you. He said that if he didn't get an increase in what they were giving him to spy on you with that he would threaten to quit. He also told Ginny that she should demand being made prefect like he did and that he was going to demand the Quidditch captain spot this year." Fred added with a frown.
"Mum yelled up that lunch was ready then and that was all that we were able to hear," George said with a sigh. "When you were able to get us into camp with Charlie we made sure to include our suspicions in our letter to him."
"I flooed Bill and Fleur as they are Order members to see if they had heard anything strange." Charlie said, seeming reluctant to tell his part of the story. "Bill started hanging out longer after Order meetings and overheard Dumbledore telling some of the guards that are supposedly watching you that their payments were in their accounts. As far as any of us knew, watching your house was volunteer duty infact all of the Order work is supposed to be volunteer work."
"You're leaving out the worst part," Fred said sadly. "Harry before we tell you what else Bill heard, please believe us when we tell you that we had no idea. Bill, Charlie and us had no idea and we didn't know what to do about it so we waited until we could talk to you…"
"What he is stalling to tell you is that Bill overheard our mum telling Dumbledore that she wanted double the money to watch you this year. She said that it was no longer worth just 200 per week and that she expected to be compensated prior to having you over." Charlie said with a sad and bewildered look on his face.
"Bill had the Goblins look into it and it seems like every time you have ever stayed at our house Dumbledore transferred $200 galleons into our account each week that you were there." Fred said dejectedly.
"Please believe that we had no idea Harry or we would have told Dumbledore where he could shove his money." George said fiercely.
"I believe you," Harry said and watched the three brothers sag with relief. "But let me tell you my story now. Starting with the fact that I am the Head of the Noble and Ancient house of Potter and have been since my father died. Dumbledore was obligated by law, as the Regent for the Potter family, to tell me about my title and responsibilities when I turned 11. Until I visited Gringotts at the end of the year I had no idea and he had still not informed me. The short version is that he ignored my parents wills and placed me with my abusive relatives, ignored me for 10 years while stealing my money to fund anything and everything he felt like as well as paying himself a huge salary from my accounts. He orchestrated my meeting Ron on the train and having Hagrid pick me up so that I would not end up in Slytherin. He continued to keep me in the dark and didn't even give me the basic information on the wizarding world that all muggle-born students receive. He has lied and manipulated me my whole life and has yet to give any good reason why he has broken more laws concerning me than is acceptable."
"I'm actually glad that you found out about your mum being paid for having me over," Harry said with a sigh. "It should make what I have to tell you a bit easier."
"She's been stealing your money hasn't she?" Charlie asked him with a depressed look on his face. "I've been wondering in recent years where they've been getting the extra money for things that we could never have afforded when I was home."
"Yeah, she has the key to my trust fund and has made 4 withdrawals each year of the $500 galleon maximum. The only money of that I ever see is whatever she spends on my school supplies and about $40 galleons of spending money. So I figure she takes around $1,750 galleons per year of which she deposits $1,400 directly into her personal vault every time. Not the family vault, but one with only her name on it." Harry told them and watched as their eyes widened in shock with how much money their mother had stolen from their friend over the years. "I figure she has taken about $8,000 galleons so far and if you add in the approximately $3,000 galleons that Dumbledore has paid her from my vaults to take care of me…" he trailed off not really knowing what to say.
"Can you recover any of it? What has she spent it on?" the twins asked at the same time.
"She has only spent little bits of it. I helped fund their trip to Romania in 1st year to see you Charlie, I paid for ½ your family trip to Egypt, I bought both Ron's and Ginny's brooms, I have also paid for assorted pampering and other larger priced treats for your parents." Harry said unable to keep the hurt from his voice. "I had the goblins put a hold on her account for now until I could talk to you about what you think I should do."
"I say take everything back from her personal account," Charlie said. "I would make her get a job to pay restitution for everything else she owes you as well. We never would have condoned her steeling from you. We would rather be poor and honorable than like, than like, she has acted like a Malfoy, dirty and underhanded."
"My question is," Harry said with a very serious look on his face. "Does your father know about this and do Ron and Ginny? I want to know who knew and let it continue. I will keep the hold on the account for now she cannot access either it or my trust vault. I'm sure everything will come out in the open once she realizes the pot has dried up. When she goes to Dumbledore he will find that his has dried up, as well as he owes me $800,000 in fraudulent salary withdrawals."
"Thanks for not automatically assuming we knew about this Harry," Charlie said with a grim look on his face. "We never would have suspected our mum was capable of outright steeling from you. I must say that I am ashamed of her and both Ron and Ginny. We don't know if dad knows or not. He has always been awful with money and lets mum run the house so hopefully he is blissfully unaware."
"Bill said that you could press charges against both her and Dumbledore," George offered with the most depressed look on his face Harry had ever seen.
"I don't want to ruin your family," Harry told them with a genuine smile. "I have more money than I could ever spend due to the fact that my parents and my godfather were taken from me. You three have always treated me like family and never asked for anything in return. I want your mum and Ron and Ginny to realize they have been caught, admit they were wrong and then give me back what they can. I don't want to drag your family name through the mud or bankrupt your parents but I also don't want them to think that this is ok. I will never trust Ron or Ginny again or your mother but that doesn't mean I have to stop being friends with the rest of you."
"You're a better man than me Harry," Fred said with respect in his eyes.
"Nope, I've just had longer to digest all this information. Now let's get to the dining hall and meet some more people and have a great week at camp!" Harry suggested and they all agreed and headed out of the room.
"Ollie!" Fred yelled out happily as they saw their old captain. Hugs were exchanged between the three Weasley boys and Wood. Charlie had been the team captain and the one to recruit Oliver to play.
"Well look what the cat dragged in," a girl's voice from behind them said and they all turned around to see Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinet standing behind them with another older girl that Harry didn't know but had a fairly good idea of who she was.
"Angie, Alicia and Amanda, what are you three beautiful ladies doing here?" Charlie said with a rogue grin.
"Charlie Weasley, still the charmer I see," Amanda said with a grin. "Good to see you again."
"Amanda White," Charlie said with a big grin. "Its been way too long."
"So are you three going to tell us what you are doing here somehow at the same exact time as us?" Fred asked with a chuckle.
"Oh we were sent personal invitations by the owner," Alicia said with a smile. "They said that we had been recommended and thought we would enjoy playing with some of our old team mates."
"So who are your friends?" Amanda asked the twins.
"Hi, I'm Harry Potter and this is Neville Longbottom," Harry said with a smile. "I am the new Gryffindor seeker since Charlie left."
"Nice to meet you finally. I'm Amanda White and I was a Gryffindor chaser for 5 years. I graduated the year before you started." She told him and they shook hands. "So Neville, what position do you play?" She asked with a smile.
"I'm going to be the new announcer." He told her with a shy smile. He was always shy around pretty girls and there were three of them! "I'll be working on my flying while I'm here but I doubt I'll ever be comfortable enough in the air to actually try out for the team."
"So do you guys know who the owner is?" Angelina asked. "I wanted to thank him for sponsoring us. I just hope they let us play with Ollie at least once so we can have the old team back together."
"So," Harry asked conversationally but everyone could see his smirk. "Which one of us is a better seeker?" He pointed between himself and Charlie.
"The infamous Charlie Weasley or the Legendary Harry Potter?" George just shrugged. "Don't know mate, I guess you two will just have to go head to head to find out."
"Oh we are so going to make that happen this week!" Oliver said with a grin. "I'll make sure that it does."
"Come now Ollie, you don't want to embarrass old Charlie here. I mean we know I can fly circles round any seeker you have here," Harry said puffing his chest out in mock seriousness and making the others laugh.
"Now Potter, I think that is saying too much." Victor Krum said, appearing out of nowhere next to them.
"Hey Victor, I didn't know you were helping out this week," Harry said with a smile and a hand shake.
"Someone told me the Legendary Harry Potter was going to be here and I decided that I wanted see you fly again, without the dragon this time." Victor said with a shrug.
"I see your English is a lot better now," Harry commented noticing that it was quite easy to understand the Bulgarian seeker.
"That's because his new girlfriend has been coaching him," Oliver said with a laugh and pointed over to Ashley Price the flying instructor. Harry was glad that Ashley was dating someone as she was one of his favorite staff members.
"So first you're gonna kick Charlie's butt and then get creamed by Krum… cool can we watch?" Angelina asked with a smirk.
"Hey now who said he was gonna kick my butt? What if I beat him?" Charlie asked with a pout.
"I would say that beating Harry here would earn you lets say 20 camp points?" Oliver asked Harry with a shrug.
"Sure thing but if I beat Victor I get a better T-shirt than 'Crazy Seeker' ok?" Harry asked with a pleading look on his face.
"Ok, now you better all get a seat so we don't hold up Garret's speech." Oliver said as he headed over with Victor to where the staff and professionals were seated.
"Welcome to The Farm. I'm Garret Erb the Director here. This week we have 3 different camps going on simultaneously. We have our Seeker Special Session, our Announcer Camp and our Amateur Camp. I have a few announcements before letting you go to your activities. You may have noticed on your way to your cabins that there are bulletin boards set up in each section. You should try and look at them at some point each day. Workshop schedules, additional activities, the day's program and the squad stats will all be found there. Additionally we have started a point system here. Points will be awarded for good deeds and exemplary performance throughout the week. Points can be redeemed for merchandise in the Gift Shop. The dining hall will be open all day until 9pm every evening and snacks and beverages will be available between meals. There are two different mailboxes on he back wall one for owl delivery within the US the other for Gringotts drop to your respective countries. Mail will be handed out each morning through one of our counselors. Curfew is 10 pm and lights out at 11 pm for our younger campers and we recommend the adults follow it as well. PT starts at 6am for those who wish to participate; breakfast is at 8am, lunch at noon dinner at 6 pm. Please remember if you spot one of our professional players they are volunteering their time and are not here to give autographs or be hounded for pictures. There will be a meet and greet session at the end of the week where these folk will be willing to sign and have their pictures taken. I expect them and our camp staff to be treated with kindness and respect and we'll treat you that way in return. Thanks everyone and let's have a great week together!"
"Well, that was almost identical to the speech he gave last time so I am assuming he has it memorized and decided not to mess with a good thing!" Harry laughed he said bye to everyone and made his way to the seeker kick-off session.
After everyone arrived David Church, one of the seeker trainers, stood up to address all of them. "Welcome to this years Seeker Special Session. All of you have attended one of our camps earlier in the year or last year and have been invited back for this special session. This week we will be focusing on improving your seeker skills and hopefully getting you ready to try out for one of the pro teams once you graduate. I think all of you have been seekers on your school teams for at least 2 years so I am going to assume that you understand the game. We are going to break you apart based upon skill for different areas so we can focus on what you need to improve upon. There will be a few activities where you can show off and go head to head against the other seekers but for the most part this week is about improving your skills. We will have the help of a few of the professional seekers this week so please treat them with respect. Any questions so far?"
"When will our skills be tested and how do we move up into a higher skill grouping?" A snobby boy in the back asked.
"The skills test is next and you'll only change groups if myself and one of the other counselors agree that you are ready. This is not a competition like your previous camp experience the points handed out will be based upon hard work and improvement of your skills." David said.
"What if our skills don't need improvement?" Another person yelled out and Harry could see David roll his eyes.
"There are very few of you here that could successfully try out for a professional team right now. You may be the best of your school or even of your age group but that does not make you ready to be a pro. This camp is going to teach you the differences between pro level playing and the school yard level you've been at." David said with a smirk as the boy huffed at being referred to as school level.
The first test was a flying test and they all had to use the camp brooms so they could be judged on their flying and not their broom's capabilities. The brooms were Nimbus 2000 models and he picked one up fondly remembering his first broom. It didn't take Harry long to realize that there were very few of the other seekers that were at the same level of flying as he was. He had to hold back a laugh as he saw the boy who thought he didn't need any improvement get placed in the second to lowest flying group. Harry had three others in his group and he introduced himself to each of them. There were two girls, one from Canada and one from Spain and another boy from France.
They did a snitch catching skill test next where different staff member tossed golf balls for the seekers to catch. Each person got 3 minutes to catch as many balls as they could and they would be watched and evaluated and placed in groups afterwards. Harry once again was placed in the best group, having caught the most number of golf balls. The 4 other seekers in his group had all caught over 10 like him but 3 had just caught 10, and the other only 11 where he had caught 16. The girl from Canada was in his group again but the other 3 were different with 2 Americans and 1 Belgian.
The last skill test was on game strategy and they each had a short test to fill out about what they would do in certain situations. The test was multiple-choice and the answers were automatically tabulated and they were broken apart again. This time Harry was the last to be placed in a group.
"Harry," David said walking over. "You answered everything the best way. You can either join the top group or do an independent study with myself or one of the pros during what would be your group time on strategy. What would you prefer?"
"I'll take independent study, that will give me a bit more free time as well," Harry said with a grin and headed over to talk to the girl from Canada who was once again in the top group.
"Hello, I'm Gina," she introduced herself and they talked for a few minutes while the staff was getting their schedules ironed out. They all headed off to lunch after that and Harry was anxious to hear how Neville was liking it and if the twins had a good team.
After lunch Harry headed over to one of the pro pitches for Referee training. He thought it would be neat to learn how to run a match and decided to take the 3 hour class and then be tested for his license. He had the first half of the training after lunch. The first thing the instructor had done was hand each of them their own, unabridged version of the rules of the game. The book was charmed so that it was lightweight and portable but if it hadn't been then it would have been as thick as some of Hermione's 'light reading.' Harry also found out that the referee course cost extra and was not part of the regular camp due to the need for the rule book, special charm knowledge given and the fee for the exam. Harry had wondered for a minute why they hadn't asked him for the extra fee when he remembered that he was the owner and the camp would pay his fee.
There was only one other student age camper in the training and the rest were the amateur players. He enjoyed the tips and instructions from the three different referee instructors. He also realized that he was at an advantage as he was used to multi-tasking during matches being the seeker. He asked a few of the others who looked more at ease what position they played and two were seekers and the other an announcer.
After his referee training he headed off to his first group session. This was his flying group and they learned about different ways to maneuver the broom for quicker movements. Harry thought it was the most beneficial class he had been to yet as after the class was over they did sprints on the Nimbus 2000's again and he had shaved a whole 2 seconds off his lap time.
He hung out after flying waiting for his group for the catching class. The class focused on the best ways to find the snitch and then how to catch it the most effectively. David was the instructor for that class and told them that Wednesday when they had class next they would work on how to block the other seeker from getting the snitch as well as more drills to increase their awareness of the pitch and finding the snitch amongst a full stadium.
Harry happily made his way to dinner after a quick shower to wash off the sweat. He earned a few looks as he was wearing one of the sets of dueling robes he had the goblin tailor make for him. He wanted to be a contender in this dueling tournament and wasn't going to risk loosing from a spell his dueling robes could absorb.
"Ready for the first round of the dueling tournament?" Harry asked Neville as they ate dinner and chatted about their day. Neville had loved the activities he had signed up for and realized that Harry was right and that he was perfect for the announcer position.
"I'm as ready as I'm going to be," he said with a shrug. "I could have used some extra practice to get ready but I think I can make it at least through the first round, unless I have to go up against someone like you."
"Don't sell yourself short Nev," Harry reminded him with a gentile smile. "Remember that you were still standing at the Ministry after taking out a few Death Eaters. Just believe that you can do it, don't let your guard down and bingo… you're the camp dueling champ!"
"He won't be if I have any say in the matter," Charlie said plopping down in the seat next to Neville. "No offense there Neville but I hope to make it at least to the quarter finals and that would most likely mean knocking you out."
"I think Harry here can give you a run for your money," Alicia said as she sat down next to him. "I never would have passed my NEWTs without his help in DA. I'm signed up for the tournament too but I know that Harry could take me 9 times out of 10."
"Not 10 out of 10?" Harry said pretending to be insulted.
"Nope," she laughed. "After loosing 9 times I would just flash you and you'd be so busy staring at my bits that I'd be able to stun you."
"Probably," Neville laughed as Harry blushed scarlet just at the thought. "Poor Harry here doesn't have the best luck with girls." The others just laughed as Harry nodded in agreement.
"So," Harry said desperate to change the subject. "Who's on your team?"
"All of us are together!" Angelina said excitedly. "It's so great to be able to play with people you know. We have a full Gryffindor team as our keeper is a man named Pete Hansen and was on the house team like 5 years before Charlie started."
"I just wonder how they knew to put us all together since Oliver said he didn't have anything to do with it." Alicia said curiously.
"Must be the owner," Fred said with a smirk.
"Yeah we heard he was envious of our old team and was hoping to knock us down a peg or two," George added chuckling.
"Poor sod doesn't realize we're going win the camp championship." Charlie added in and the three plus Neville all burst out laughing signaling to the girls that they knew something they didn't.
"What's their deal?" Amanda asked Harry wondering what they boys knew.
"No idea," Harry said innocently. "I'd say it was the freckles but that wouldn't explain Neville."
"Oh! They're starting the dueling!" Angelina interrupted and they all turned to listen to Ken explain the rules and announce the first three pairs that were dueling. Since there were more duelers this week they had 3 matches at once going on in the early rounds.
Charlie was actually the first of them to duel and they all cheered for him as he quickly won against one of the other amateurs. Harry was noticing that there were very few of the campers his age in the tournament and they were dropping quickly. Fred and George both won their duels, leaving their poor opponents looking like they just walked out of the joke shop. Angelina and Alicia won their duels as well and Amanda had not signed up for the tournament. Neville was placed against a cocky guy in his late twenties.
"You might as well give up now little boy," the guy said in a tone that reminded most of them too much of Malfoy. "I am the dueling champion of my county and am training to be a hit-wizard."
Neville just ignored him and bowed as expected before firing off a full body bind closely followed by a stunner. The idiot was only half way through some ridiculously long incantation and was hit by both spells. "I hope whoever hired him as a hit-wizard can get a refund." Neville said loud enough for many to hear and laugh at. The idiot was revived and tried to claim that Neville cheated which earned him boos from the crowd and Neville was awarded extra camp points for keeping his cool.
When Harry was called up the dining hall fell silent, except for the twins who were making catcalls. Everyone turned to try and get a look at the famous 'Boy-who-lived'. He noticed he was being eyed like a piece of meat by some of the older ladies and that his fellow seekers were staring at him wide eyed, especially Gina from Canada. He was paired against a very tall and thin fellow. Harry looked closely and thought the guy had pointed ears and may be related to the true Elves of old.
The two bowed to each other and dueled for over 20 minutes before Harry was finally able to connect with a disarming spell and gained the other man's wand. The duel had been interesting as both of them had lightning fast reflexes and perfect aim. The applause for the two was enormous.
"That was very invigorating," the man said shaking Harry's hand once he had his wand back. "My name is Alexander Hightree; I believe you have met my younger brother Aaron."
"Yes we met during OWL testing and became friends," Harry said with a grin. "I enjoyed our duel as well. Would you be interested in sparing some morning after PT?"
"I look forward to a rematch," Alexander said with a nod. "That is the first duel I have lost in over 70 years."
"70 years?" Harry asked unbelievingly. "You don't even look 30!"
"I am part Elvin," Alexander told him quietly. "We age normally until our 17th year and then the aging process is extremely slowed down. I am actually 82 years old. We elves age around one year for every five years you do. So if you do the math that puts me looking approximately 30 years old."
"Elvin, very neat," Harry said with a smile. "So is Aaron just 15 or 16 then?"
"Yes, he won't come fully into his Elvin heritage until next year." Alex said with a smile. "He will have to invite you to our home some day. We do not invite many as they are usually just glory seekers but I can see that you do not seek glory.
"Thank you, I would enjoy visiting." Harry said and returned to his table of friends to watch the rest of the duels for then night.
Tuesday was another full day for Harry as he first had his group flying class followed by the second part of referee training before lunch. After lunch he had the Advanced Trick Flying workshop and he wowed the others with his balance and flying ability. Ashley told him that he should think of coming to the trick flying camp next year when they have teams of professional trick flyers in to teach the hopefuls. She thought if he ever tired of playing Quidditch that trick flying would be a good alternative for him.
He had a speed building workshop followed by a one-on-one Seeker Tactics session with David after trick flying before moving on to an hour long class on coaching. The speed building workshop was helpful as it explained aerodynamics and how to minimize wind resistance. The seeker tactics session with David consisted of them talking for an hour about different strategies. The coaching class was interesting as it talked about the roles and responsibilities of a coach and then focused on how to be a good coach.
Harry sank down tiredly in his seat at dinner next to Neville who looked excited rather than tired. The others joined them looking as tired as Harry and commenting on how full their days had been. "We won our first two games today," Fred said through a yawn.
"I only caught the snitch once though so we are not up that high in the point race," Charlie griped, still upset about not having seen the snitch.
"Congratulations," Neville told them with a smile. "I was able to watch most of your game and I was even announcing part of it."
"Cool, when are they going to let you announcers actually use the voice magnification charm?" George asked.
"Maybe tomorrow for the afternoon games depending on how well we do on the morning ones and in our workshops." Neville said happily and they were all glad to see him look so relaxed and enjoying himself as he had always been so shy before.
"So second round of dueling tonight," Charlie said with a grin. "Anyone want to make any wagers on which of us will be moving on?"
"Are you trying to loose money Weasley?" Amanda said with a chuckle. "I'd wager that Harry and Charlie move on for sure but I don't know enough about anyone else to risk my spending cash."
The twins opened a quick betting pool and other campers even joined in. The boys were smiling thinking of the profit opportunities they could exploit on wagering on games here. Soon the dueling started and Alicia was the first one of their group out of the tournament. She had gone up against a guy in dueling robes who toyed with here for a bit before finally ending things. Neville was next and managed to win his duel against one of the amateur campers. Fred lost his duel but not before his opponent was wearing a pink frilly dress with long blonde braided hair and speaking like a little girl. George surprised everyone by taking the straightforward approach and just stunning his opponent who was getting ready to dodge some prank hex not a stunner.
Angelina dueled against another girl from yellow section and they ended up in a draw as they both stunned the other at the same time. With so many duelers in the competition they were both out but content with at least not loosing. Harry was next and easily summoned one of the other seeker camper's wand without much hassle. Charlie was the last of them to duel and Harry watched his form carefully. He was a good dueler but predictable and Harry was fairly sure he could win against him. Charlie won the duel after 5 minutes and they all sat around watching the other duels and talking until it was time to head in for curfew.