InsaneJournal

MG had been retired from quidditch for a while now, but flying was still a big part of his life and he tried to do as much of it as possible. Flying on his own, with family, old quidditch mates, it didn't matter. Flying was his stress relief and there was nothing like zipping through the sky to let some of your worries melt away.

Right now, he really needed the stress relief more than ever. The past near half year had been a trial, with Lady Noir's escalating violence, Aunt Minerva's name appearing on lists, and Order things kicking into full gear. But in the last month or two it had really gotten worse. Ridiculous workload aside, Jones being kidnapped by an old serial killer and barely escaped, and now Gideon Prewett had been killed. If there was any denying before that things were marching towards war, there wasn't now. He'd gone to school with Gideon, they'd been in the Order together, and now...dead. And Jones, poor Jones, just snatched from her home for something she'd written.

The workload was just the tipping point now. Florrie's visit early in the week was the only real lunch break he'd had, and the other day MG realized...he'd slept at the office twice this week. Sleeping at the office was both something he almost never did, and hated doing. At that realization he decided enough was enough, he needed an hour off, and wrote to James to tell him to clear an hour and meet at his office, they were going flying.

One quick portkey later and they were at one of the many empty quidditch pitches the department had access to, mostly for testing things out. "I'd apologize for dragging you out but I think we both need this, I was going to go mad if I had another piece of parchment slid my way."

“I was contemplating what spell I could claim backfired if I cast an incindio on the whole lot on my desk, so yeah. I definitely need to get away.” James hadn’t slept at the office--Lily would never let him do that--but he’d been working far too late far too much. Everything with Gideon dying and the increasing activity of the Order and Harry’s desire to become an Animagus had just added to his stress.

He mounted his broom and grinned at MG. It was a new, top of the line model--he and Lily didn’t flaunt the Potter money, but sometimes, it was worth it to buy the best--and he was counting on it to keep MG from flying circles around him. James had been a great flyer in his day, but he hadn’t kept up with it the way MG had. He could still hold his own, though, as he demonstrated by flying in a loop as MG mounted his broom. “Come on! Let’s go!”

"I say you should visit my office and stage a similar accident. I think if I saved all the parchment on my desk it could get someone through winter." MG smirked a little as he eyed James' broom with approval. He didn't have family money, but he'd been very successful during his years on the pitch and that had netted him a nice sum. But more importantly he had the connections to get the top notch brooms for less, and before they came out if he so wished. But that wasn't the case today, today he had the last broom he'd played professional quidditch on with him. There'd been upgrades since, and the new model (which he did own) was faster, but this one had nostalgic value and he did his best flying on it. He'd always been a whiz with handling brooms and this one had been his best one.

"My my Potter, I'm glad you brought the big brooms out today along with your eagerness. You'll need it." MG slid on his old pair of goggles, he'd always worn them when he played, regardless of weather, and he looked awfully like his old world cup days for a moment there. "Alright, through the goal posts with something fancy. Let's see if you've still got it Potter, I suppose you were a half-decent chaser back in school..." He was just taunting now, and mounted his broom, rising up in the air as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

James rolled his eyes--not that MG could see it beneath the goggles he was wearing--and readily maneuvered his broom do he was next to MG. "Half-decent? I was fantastic, I'll have you know. I could've played professionally, I was just a little more concerned with winning the war at the time. And I had to get the new broom. I couldn't let my kids have better beyond than me." Of course, it had been a long while since then, and though James still loved to fly, he would admit privately that his skills had gotten a little rusty.

Still, he was up to the first challenge MG set. With a grin, James took off for the goal posts, doing a few loops and circling around them. The hardest part was figuring out what to do. Fancy flying can't much easier when there was a quaffle to catch or a bludger to dodge.

MG grinned as he watched and shook his head a little. Of course chasers would need quaffles and each other to find fancy ways to fly. Seekers though, they never needed such crutches. After James had gone through, MG leaned forward on his broomstick, stationary for a second before he shot off at top speed towards the goal posts. Right before he reached them he rotated so that he was flying upside-down, then spiralling at top speed straight through the goal. Once through, he spun around on the broom and weaved through the goals backwards before stopping smoothly beside James. "Yeah, half decent. I'd say your boy is a better flier than you. He's not going professional is he?"

James shuddered dramatically at the idea of Harry becoming a professional Quidditch player. “No. He wants to be an Auror.” Not that Auror was necessarily a better career choice, particularly with everything going on at the moment. Professional quidditch player was probably less likely to result in injury at this point. "And he wants to be an Animagus. Lily and I tried to talk him out of that, but he seems determined."

He leaned forward on his broom and shot down to the other end of the field, where he duplicated MG’s moves precisely except for stopping at the end. Instead, he spun back around on his broom, flew up above the spectator towers, and barrel rolled as he headed back down to MG. As he stopped smoothly, he smirked. “I wouldn’t say he’s a better flyer. More creative, maybe, but I can pull off any move you want me to do.”

MG laughed at James copying his moves. "Why do you think I invited you out? No fun if you can't fly worth a damn." He did a lazy backwards loop as he thought on the Animagus thing. "I'm not going to say much on the Auror thing..." It was a dangerous time, and he was sure Lily and James were worried enough about their boy going in that direction and had likely discussed their worries enough. "But the Animagus thing is interesting. Why does he want to be one?"

“He thinks it’ll help him as an Auror.” James shook his head as he maneuvered his broom in a wide circle. “He thinks it’ll make him stand out. Lily hates the idea, of course, but we’re not going to stop him. I figure the best we can do is support him.” James, naturally, had a lot more to say on the matter, but it wasn’t something he could bring up with MG, not as an unregistered Animagus.

"I don't see how it will too much, unless he doesn't register. But I can't blame the lad, there was a time I considered it too. But I didn't have any good reason to, and an aunt who was very serious about the matter herself. 'Not something to be taken lightly' were her words. You could always send him to talk to her, I imagine if there's anyone that can impress the importance of such an undertaking, it'd be Aunt Minerva," MG pointed out. As he spoke, he took his hands off his broom handle and flew handsless backwards in a wide circle counter to James' one.

“He’s talking to Sirius about it, so he’s not going in blind.” He’d talked to Harry too, though again, he couldn’t say that to MG. “I think he understands how serious it is. He’s just not going to be talked out of it.” James sighed. If he thought that talking to the Headmistress would change Harry's mind, he'd encourage it for Lily's sake, but he suspected it would just make Harry all the more determined at this point. "I appreciate the thought, but I think forcing him to talk to your aunt will make things worse, not better."

This was not exactly the stress relief he'd hoped for when MG pulled him out of the office, so he pushed that subject aside. "Enough of that, though. I thought you invited me out here to fly, not chat. We could have done that over a pint. Let's race."

MG shrugged, if Potter said he had this in hand, he'd assume it was true. "Her brand of giving advice doesn't work on everyone," he admitted as he floated by James. "Ah good, finally get to try that new broom of yours out is it? Seeker vs. Chaser race would be silly otherwise." Finally he put his hands back on his broom handle and grinned over at James. "Lap race of the pitch it is."

“Just because I didn’t regularly hurl myself around the pitch at breakneck speeds doesn’t mean I can’t fly fast, McGonagall.” James was out of practice enough that he did need the advantage of the new, faster broom to hold his own, but he wasn’t going to admit that out loud. He lined his broom up next to MG’s, even with the middle goal post so they’d have a finish line. “Ready? Go in three… two… one!”

James shot of as soon as he said one. It was, perhaps, cheating a tiny bit, but he needed all the advantages he could get against someone who played professional quidditch. A half-second head start would even the field.

MG smiled at James' early start, perfectly fine with it really. He'd played with enough chasers, even helped train a few, and while many of them were excellent at maneuvering they also had less experience hitting the broom's top speeds and staying there. Too many of them held back just a bit, forsaking speed for more surety of control. But he didn't expect that behaviour out of Potter, which was why he was delighted to race, Potter wouldn't hold back or make things easy. A half a second head start and a new broom would help make things more fun too.

The broom he was using wasn't as new as James', but he was very familiar with it, having played on it for years. He knew how to control it and hit the broom's top speed as quickly as possible, something that'd would be harder to manage even for him with a new broom. Crouched low for streamlined speed to utilize those wind-resistance charms most professional seekers brooms had added on, MG hurtled around the pitch, keeping a steady height and cutting as close to the borders of the pitch as possible to cut down on distance.

James stayed ahead of MG through the third turn, though just barely, but on the final long stretch, MG gained on him, and they were handle-to-handle going in to the final turn. James leaned forward, pushing that last bit of speed out of his broom, but MG managed to keep pace with him. If he could just get a little more speed…

He leaned forward further, tucking his legs back closer to the tail of the broom, and urged it forward. At the last second, it shot ahead, and he passed the goal post a half-broom length ahead of MG. “Yes!” James spun the broom around as he sat up. “Take that, McGonagall!”

When they passed the goal post, MG only smirked over at Potter. "Congratulations Potter, you came in front by less than the head start you got. If you really want to prove yourself, you're going to have to make it a best two out of three and win without cheating..."

“I thought you seekers were supposed to be super fast. It’s hardly my fault you couldn’t start that fast.” James looped around the goal posts and lined up with the middle one again. “But if it’ll make you feel better, you can count us off this time.”