Harry Potter and The Secret of The Heirs

Chapter Six

At the Wizard Races

The two girls jumping on his bed awoke Harry early the next morning.

"Come on, Harry!" they shouted. "It's time to get ready to go to the races! Look, Mum's left some clothes on your bed. Hurry up and get ready."

Harry told Leigha and Kaylah that he was not getting up before they left the room. Reluctantly, they left him alone, with Kaylah ogling her idol as she walked out the door. He saw some clothes, as well as a towel and soap, with a note that read:

The shower's down the hall on the left, wander down when you're ready. -Maddie.

Harry followed the instructions and found an empty bathroom, which consisted of a mirror, a large tub, and a shower that looked like you could shower a horse in it. Harry wondered if the kids had ever tried it; he suspected they had, because he could see that they would if they could get away with it.

Harry showered and dressed, then headed downstairs, where he saw that a plate of breakfast had been laid down for him at the table. Sirius was the only one still eating.

"The others are outside getting the horses ready," he explained. "We'll be travelling by Floo and are leaving fairly soon, I imagine, so eat up."

"I need to tell you something," Harry began, but as he opened his mouth to continue, the children walked into the dining room and sat down at the table.

"We'll go and put a bet on later, Harry," Sirius said. "Meanwhile, you lot had better eat up."

Harry obliged, he figured that Sirius had meant that they could talk later.

Soon everyone had finished their breakfast, they all lined up at the fireplace, excepting Alec who had already left with the horses. One by one they jumped into the fire and emerged at a racecourse, which to Harry's surprise looked very different from a Muggle racecourse. In fact, apart from the sign that read "Loch Avie Racecourse" and a racetrack, there wasn't much resemblance. The actual course was covered in obstacles and there didn't even appear to be an apparent start.

By the name of the racecourse, Harry deduced that they were somewhere in Scotland. He wondered how far from Hogwarts they were.

"Come to think of it," thought Harry, "I'm not even sure where it is that Sirius or his family lives."

Harry was dragged out of his dream state, to be shown down to where they were preparing the horses. Harry admired the horses; he had never really been this close to horses before but had always had a secret love for the animals. He knew that his aunt Petunia had ridden when she had been younger, and Harry vaguely remembered seeing her ride when she was very young, but neither Harry nor Dudley had ever ridden. Petunia probably didn't trust them. Leigha dragged Harry over to a beautiful white Arabian.

"This girl's mine," she said. "Her name is Tula, it's her first race today; I wish I could be riding her. I can't wait until I'm seventeen and can ride them myself. I'll be the bestest jockey in he world."

"You'll get there soon enough," Harry said, laughing at the little girl who was so full of life.

Harry spent time admiring the horse; she was absolutely beautiful and Harry could tell that she was well looked after. Then a pretty woman walked over and quickly introduced herself as a jockey. The young witch that looked vaguely familiar to Harry.

"Hi, Harry," she said. "I was in seventh year when you were in first, a Hufflepuff so you probably don't know my name, but I know yours. I'm Terri Hamber, the McLachlan's jockey. I'll be riding a few of these horses today. Hope you enjoy the show."

Maddie led everyone up to the stands, to a box that said 'McLachlan' and they walked in and took their seats. There was a table full of snacks waiting for their arrival. The children moved to the front and took what they called their 'usual seats' then offered Harry a seat at the front of the box, so they could explain to him everything that was going on. Before Harry could sit down, Sirius interrupted and said,

"Hang on a minute," Sirius said as he pulled Kaylah off Harry's arm. "Harry and I need to place our bets. We'll take a wander, make sure we put money on your horse, Leigha, and be back in time for the first race."

So Harry and Sirius left the box, leaving the sounds of the children arguing about who was going to get the Dumbledore card in the chocolate frog behind them, as they headed towards the betting arena of the racecourse.

Sirius pulled Harry over into a quiet little alcove.

"What's troubling you, Harry?" Sirius enquired.

"Last night I had another vision," Harry said softly so that no one but Sirius could hear. "Voldemort was punishing Lucius Malfoy for letting Wormtail be captured. He put the Cruciatus Curse on Mr Malfoy, which doesn't bother me so much; it's just that Voldemort said that his son would have to make up for his mistakes. I'm worried about Malfoy. I don't even like him, but somehow I have a sense that I should warn him, I feel like I should be concerned. Especially given that Ginny's involved."

Sirius was quiet. Finally he spoke.

"It's a tragedy for anyone to be recruited, but especially for someone so young. It was common when we were in our later years at Hogwarts. You should feel sad because a life is being spoilt. I know what we should do about it - we can discuss it when we get back. We'd better go and put some money on this blasted horse or I'll never hear the end of it. Stupid thing, it will probably lose, knowing my luck."

Sirius led Harry to the betting arena, where they each bet a few Galleons on Leigha's horse before they found their way back to the box.

Sirius was shocked as he walked into the box. Chrys was standing there. She walked up to Sirius and gave him a hug.

"Well, well," she said. "Sometimes we get an unexpected surprise. I wasn't expecting you here today, Sirius."

"Change of plan," he replied. "I notice that Maddie 'forgot' to tell me you were here. Not that it's a problem, we were going to drop in tonight on the way back anyway. Harry, this is Chrystal Àille, your new Defence Against th Dark Arts teacher. Chrys, this is Harry Potter, my godson."

There was a big smile on her face. Sirius was right when he said she was beautiful. He gazed at her twinkling blue eyes and shiny caramel hair.

"Hi, Harry," she said. "It's nice to see you again. It's amazing how much you look like your father. Oh, I'm sorry, you must hear that all the time"

"Hi," Harry muttered, "nice to meet you too." Harry wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. She was Sirius' girlfriend, so he had to be polite, but she still was a total stranger.

"I, uh, hear you're teaching at Hogwarts," he muttered. "What, um, should I call you?"

She laughed in a manner similar to Sirius' when Harry had revealed his ignorance of the wizarding world.

"Chrys is fine, or whatever you feel comfortable calling me," she said. "You could even call me aunty Chrys if you want, given that your mother was practically my sister. You're right about Hogwarts, so you'd better watch out for me. You'll have to call me Professor Àille then, and I guarantee there will be no special treatment for you just because I knew your parents!"

"Didn't think there would be," Harry sprang to his own defence. A thought rushed into his head.

"Um, would you tell me about them?" he asked.

Harry saw the concerned look on her face and wondered if he had overstepped an invisible line.

"I don't mean now," he sad.

"Oh, Harry," she began, "it's not that I wouldn't want to, it's just a surprise to hear you ask. To be honest, Harry, I haven't spoke about Lily for a while. But if you want to know everything, between Sirius and I we should be able to tell you. I, however, will need time."

Harry nodded.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"That's okay," she replied. "Now let's get back to these horses. I guarantee you that you haven't seen anything like this before."

Over in the other corner of the box Sirius and Maddie were oblivious to Harry and Chrystal's discussion.

"Why didn't you tell me she was coming?" Sirius asked. "Did you think that by throwing us together as much as possible we'd work everything out? That's not the way things work, Madeleine."

"Sirius," Maddie began. "Don't be ridiculous, she's my friend as well. We've kept in touch although you haven't. When you got hauled away she had no one. Not a single soul. Her best friend was dead, her boyfriend was imprisoned for life and an Auror killed her mother because she was a Death Eater. The poor girl needed someone to turn to. I was going through a similar thing and we could be there for each other. I can't believe that when you escaped you didn't even try and contact either of us. I know the two of you have a few problems, but sort them out. She's been waiting for you for sixteen years, and Lily... well, she's dead, so just get over her. You had twelve years in Azkaban to do that!"

Her words struck Sirius harshly. Sure, he'd had feelings for Lily, but he felt that he was well and truly over that by the time he and Chrys had become an item. She'd married James, for heaven's sake.

"I don't appreciate comments like that," Sirius started. "Despite your soundproof charm, there may be a way for your children to hear what you're saying. The bottom line is, I love her, but we have a lot to sort out. We can discuss it later. Come on, let's go and watch the horses. I apologise for snapping. We'll work things out eventually, one way or another, and it will be for the best."

The children stared. They could see two conversations going on, but couldn't hear either.

"I wish I could break Mum's charm," Kaylah said mischievously. "She and Uncle Sirius look kinda mad. It'd be funny to hear what they're saying"

"No," Leigha said harshly. "It would just be rude. Anyway, look, they're bringing the horses out."

On that note, everyone focused their attention towards the racecourse.

Harry had never seen anything like it. There was a fanfare of music, trumpets blasting out melodies, as a small round man walked out into the centre of the course. After he had entered, the fanfare changed into concerto music, which sounded like an orchestra was playing it. Harry looked around wondering where it had come from, but was surprised when he couldn't see it.

"You wondering where the music's coming from?" Troy asked.

Harry nodded.

"You can't see it because they're on the roof," the young boy explained. "That way, the noise fills the entire stadium."

Harry couldn't understand why it would fill the stadium by playing from the roof, but nodded in agreement anyhow, and looked back at parade.

The round wizard was announcing the creatures as they came in. Creatures where entering the centre of the course now. There were horses of many kinds and colours. Harry spied unicorns prancing around the circuit. They were not being led or ridden, just participating in a perfect choreographed routine that appeared to need no instruction. They were followed by centaurs with bows and arrows, who began shooting once they had entered the racecourse. Harry jumped in fright, before he saw that they were shooting heather, and not actual arrows. The heather fell in the centre of the course, forming a ring-shape. Horses followed the centaurs. Again, they did not have any riders. Harry blinked, and then saw that they were winged horses. They flew up towards the sky, to the level of the boxes. They threw heather branches at the crowds. Everybody reached up and grabbed a branch.

"Put it on your cloak, like this Harry," Sirius said. He then demonstrated to Harry by placing the heather branch through the join of his cloak. As Harry looked around he could see everyone placing their branches there. Harry assumed that it must be a tradition.

Suddenly Harry heard the rounded man spoke again.

"Introducing the Loch Avie monster," he roared. "She only comes out on special occasions, so put your hands together to welcome her."

"Loch Avie?" thought Harry. "I thought it was the Loch Ness monster."

Harry gazed at the creature. It was kind of like a green dragon, except smaller. Harry noticed that it had gills on the side of its neck as well as being able to breathe out of water.

"It hides in the bottom of the Loch," Troy explained. "She's not quite as famous as Nessie of course, but still pretty impressive."

Harry was mesmerised by the monster. It was an amazing creature, so graceful, and in a sense, beautiful. Hagrid would have loved it.

Soon the creature was led off and was announcing the horses for the first race. It was a winged horse event, so all the jockeys seemed to be covered in what appeared to be protective robes. Harry could see that the course was set up with a few obstacles on the ground, a few hoops in the air at variable heights, and each rider had a bucket of balls. Harry figured that they must have to put the balls through the hoops. He wondered about the ground obstacles though, given that they were winged horses.

Soon enough the question was answered. The round man announced that they would have to complete the course on the ground before they were allowed to fly.

"On your marks,' the fat man said. "Set."

Bang.

The gun sound echoed through the air and the horses were off. The crowd started to cheer in a deafening fashion. The horse and riders had to complete obstacles like jumps (similar to an equestrian event), riding through narrow gates and then a segment of hill riding. After the hills they grabbed their buckets of balls and took off into the sky. Harry glanced over at Alec and Maddie, who had huge grins on their faces, so he figured their horse must be in the lead from the way they were yelling and cheering.

Once in the sky, the riders had to place the balls through hoops in a complicated set fashion (kind of like a dressage exercise). Up until this point, the spells had been pretty sedate. Now the witches began to go crazy with wands pointing every direction and spells going everywhere. The spells themselves were fairly harmless; they were things like boil curses, or small gusts of wind to put the rider off course. Nothing too dangerous and obviously no Unforgivable curses.

As the neared the end, Alec's rider was hit in the face with a downpour of rain. The rider, who looked like Terri, was put off course and missed the hoop. She picked up a spare ball and rode back to try again. At the same time she pulled out her wand and sent a large heavy wind in the direction of the rider who had overtaken her. The rider struggled to stay on her horse, and Teri overtook her as they were flying down to the finish line.

It was neck and neck.

Then a loud cheer filled the stadium.

Teri had won.

The next few races weren't as exciting after that, probably because they were on the ground watching. The riders had to get around obstacles such as lakes and streams, objects that just appeared out of nowhere, boggarts, and some weird creatures that Harry had never seen before. And, they had to contend with curses from the other riders. Some of the curses were hilarious and entertaining. Harry wished he could hear what the riders were saying. A new curse might come in handy next time Malfoy opens his smart mouth, Harry thought to himself. Alec's horses didn't do as well, in these races, but it didn't seem to matter. Everyone appeared to be having fun and Harry was certainly enjoying himself. He hadn't seen anything like this before.

Finally, it was time for the last race of the day. This was the one that Leigha's horse Tula was competing in. Harry saw that Leigha was getting nervous.

"Harry," she whispered. "I trained her myself. I want to be riding her, but I'm too young. I don't know if Teri will do well on her."

Soon the race began. Tula was charging forward and Teri had her wand poised. She began sending spells in every direction as she approached the first obstacle. Harry noticed that most of the spells sent out didn't hit anyone, or hit the crowd rather than the rider, but it was all in the spirit of the sport. Tula was one of the first horses to approach the water obstacle. Just as they entered someone's spell hit the water and created a tsunami engulfing the horses and riders. Leigha screamed. Harry was sitting on the edge of his seat until he felt a wave of relief as he saw horse and rider emerge on the other side.

There were three horses in the lead group as the approached the final three obstacles. On was a narrow gate that got smaller every time someone tried to pass through it. Someone eventually hit it with a fire curse, so it was difficult for the riders to see where they were going, despite being able to get past. Only two horses emerged at the end of it, Tula and a black stallion. They approached the next jump, which created no problem. The final obstacle was a boggart. The rider of the black stallion panicked and tried to scream 'Riddikulus,' but somehow could not, as she had been hit with a silencing charm. A monstrous Hungarian Horntail dragon was facing her, causing her to fall off her horse.

That left Tula and Teri to finish first. Everyone was screaming and jumping up and down in the box. Leigha was jumping up and down and hugging everyone.

"We'd better go and collect our winnings, Harry," Sirius said. "If we don't go quickly, the goblins take off. Leigha must have some talent with horses because that's the best any of their horses have done first time."

He had a large grin on his face.

Harry nodded and smiled.

Then he asked,"So we're going to Chrystal's for dinner, are we?"

"Only if you're happy to," Sirius replied, "because if you aren't, we can go straight home. Alec is going to borrow my bike for a few days, so I've reconnected my house to the Floo network just for tonight."

"We can have dinner," Harry responded. "I don't have a problem at all with that. It will be interesting to see what kind of girl my godfather goes for."

Harry had a smirk on his face.

"A crazy one," replied Sirius. "You'd better behave yourself or I'll clock you one, just like I did to your father!"

Harry and Sirius arrived at the betting arena. Because it had been the horse's first race and the trainer was virtually unknown (well, she's only eleven!) the odds had not been fantastic; in fact they'd been fifty-to-one. Which meant Harry and Sirius had won 150 Galleons each.

As the wandered back to the box, they pondered what they should do with the money. Sirius, ever the practical joker, decided he would buy a year's supply of Dungbombs to put in his students' bags. Harry had other ideas for the money, which he decided to keep quiet for the time being. They returned as Chrystal was announcing that they should leave, so Sirius and Harry thanked the Blacks, Harry stating that he had thoroughly enjoyed their time together and couldn't wait to see them again. It was true. They had been so friendly to him that he had really enjoyed the time he had spent with them. Then they jumped into the fire in the box and arrived a rowdy bar in Portree.

"My house is not on the Floo network, Harry," Chrystal explained. "Auror policy."

She led them down the streets of Portree until they got to a small alleyway where a car was waiting. They hopped in and Chrystal drove them the ten miles to her house just outside the city.

As Harry looked at the place, he was filled with warmth. It reminded him of a smaller version of The Burrow. It was going to be an interesting night.