Ginny seemed to be in seventh heaven as she rode alongside Luna on the track, Hermione watched the two giggling girls in front of her who's moods appeared in sharp contrast to the thoughtful girl riding by her side, "What's the matter Susan, I thought you liked horse riding?"
"Oh I do Hermione it's just…" Susan decide to spill the beans, "Cedric asked me to let him know if there were any decent Hufflepuff players in the match yesterday, when I tell him how good the three Potter's are he won't give you a moment's peace."
Hermione couldn't resist teasing the girl, "And you wish he was paying all that attention to you?"
Susan's face was red but she was determined to air her worries, "Nym told us you don't like your business broadcast but I couldn't tell Cedric lies, what should I do?"
"Susan I'm sure the Gryffindor team have already mentioned the match and we don't expect our guests to swear secrecy oaths. We would appreciate you not telling what part of the country we live but even then people would have a hard time finding Potter Manor. When your friends ask about us please don't feel you have to tell lies, as you can see we've nothing to hide, we just value our privacy."
The change in Susan was remarkable, the girl had clearly been worried about it and now appeared as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, "Thanks Hermione, I know with my aunt's job there are things I shouldn't talk about, it's really hard to make friends when your guardian could be the next minister so I understand the fascination with the Potters and your uneasiness with it, I really have enjoyed myself here and would like to be a friend to all of you."
"Thanks Susan, it's been a hell of a few days and this is just what we needed to recover, both Luna and I love riding while Harry prefers his broom but we all share our hobbies with each other. Luna has always been fascinated with astronomy and now Harry and I are just as keen on it, we tend to lose track of the time and spend hours up there until Cas comes along and chases us into bed. We'll show you our set-up later."
Susan was so glad she had spoken about her fears, she was also looking forward to seeing their astronomy set-up since it was a subject she liked to study. The big excitement though was the defence lesson this afternoon, her aunt was dismayed when she heard how little Susan had been taught last year, she'd complained it was bad enough Fudge was cutting their budget but when Hogwarts didn't teach students defence how the hell was she supposed to find new aurors.
-oOoOo-
Harry had quickly reached the conclusion that wizards just didn't do exercise, they were playing two-on-two basketball and Neville was ready to collapse after ten minutes, the twins weren't much better while he'd hardly broke sweat yet. He and Neville were playing against the twin and getting beaten in the beginning, but Harry was now dancing around both twins and, having just levelled the game, called a halt for some refreshments.
Neville was struggling for breath as they all took a seat, "Do you play this often Harry?"
"We play it at school and the girls also do hockey, now there's a dangerous sport! Give twenty two young girls great big sticks and send them on the pitch to try and hit a ball, scary as hell. When we were in Florida, Emma took us all to see ice hockey which seemed like a battle on ice with the puck irrelevant."
The three were a bit confused so George asked the question, "Do muggles have a lot of sports?"
Harry had to laugh, "Non-magical people tend to be so competitive they can turn putting Christmas decorations on your house into a sport, to answer your question they have hundreds, if not thousands. We visited Barcelona this summer where the Olympic Games were held, here the top athletes from every corner of the globe compete to see who the best in the world is, you have to be the best in your country just to earn the honour of competing. Watching the elite athletes run one hundred meters in just under ten seconds is a phenomenal sight, the Olympic motto is 'swifter, higher, stronger' and Sirius claims this is the difference in our worlds. While magical users adhere to the 'if it aint broke don't fix it' philosophy, non-magical people are more likely to strip something to pieces to see if they can improve it."
