Harry (well, Harley in this universe) made the Gryffindor Quidditch team after one single practice. Professor McGonagall watched her pull off moves that would make professional Seekers jealous, slammed her hand on the desk, and declared, "Potter is our new Seeker. Discussion over."
McGonagall might look stern, but everyone knows she's secretly insane about Quidditch; she's a die-hard Puddlemere United fan and treats the Gryffindor team like her own children.
Cho Chang crushed the Ravenclaw tryouts too and snagged the Seeker spot without breaking a sweat. Suddenly Harry and Cho had the same obsession, the same brutal training schedule, and zero time for anyone else.
Poor Lynn got completely ignored.
Wood was so thrilled about Harry that he even sweet-talked the Ravenclaw captain into joint practices. "We've got months before the real matches start; plenty of time to train the newbies together!"
So while the two Seekers were busy trying to kill themselves on broomsticks six days a week, Lynn's life settled into a comfy routine: classroom → Great Hall → Room of Requirement → dorm. Rinse and repeat. He'd already chewed through half the wandcraft books Ollivander lent him and figured he'd finish the prerequisites before Christmas.
But September 25th was circled in red on his mental calendar.
"Happy birthday, Cho!"
Lynn had bribed the house-elves (who adore him) into baking a chocolate raspberry cake that looked like it belonged in a Diagon Alley window. An empty classroom got transformed into party central: floating candles, rainbow streamers zooming around like hyper pixies, golden bells chiming the birthday song. Party poppers exploded in a shower of confetti, and a glittery crown landed perfectly on Cho's head.
"Thank you, everyone!" Cho's smile was so big it barely fit on her face. This was her first proper Hogwarts birthday; last year she'd just gotten presents in the mail. Today felt magical in a completely different way.
Lights out with a quiet "Nox," candles blown, wishes made, cake sliced. Then came presents.
Harry's gift was a brand-new Nimbus 2000; Cho actually squealed. Her best friend Marietta gave her a rare Tutshill Tornados badge that made her bounce in her seat. The rest were smaller, but every single one made her eyes shine.
Harry, nose still smeared with frosting, poked Lynn. "Oi, where's yours?"
"It's ready," Lynn said with a mysterious grin, "but fair warning; it's a little… lively."
He pulled a wrapped box out of his four-dimensional pocket. It looked suspiciously like a birdcage.
Originally he'd planned to buy her an actual Golden Snitch; super meaningful for a Seeker, right? Except real Snitches cost a fortune, and he'd been saving for months. Then, a couple weeks ago, he'd stumbled across a shady dealer in the Hog's Head who was smuggling something way more interesting.
Cho carefully undid the ribbon and lifted the lid.
Inside a delicate silver cage sat the fluffiest, walnut-sized golden puffball anyone had ever seen. Tiny ruby eyes blinked up at her, wings twitching nervously. It looked like someone had taken liquid gold, rolled it into a dumpling, and given it the cutest face in existence.
"Is that… a Golden Snidget?!" Cho clapped both hands over her mouth.
"Yep. The original creature they used before they invented the Snitch," Lynn said proudly. "Over-hunted to near extinction, so they're protected now; officially XXXX-class and banned from Quidditch. BUT; I wrote to Newt Scamander and asked Professor Dumbledore, and apparently the population's recovered enough that they can be registered pets again. All the paperwork's under the cage; McGonagall pulled some strings at the Ministry for me."
Cho stared at him, stunned. "You're actually giving him to me?"
"Her. Whatever. The tiny bird flapped once and let out the softest cheep.
"He's yours," Lynn laughed. "Still a baby, so I packed enough food to raise him to adulthood. Just… maybe don't let him out during matches or Wood will have a heart attack."
Cho threw her arms around Lynn in the world's fastest hug, then immediately turned back to coo at her new golden marshmallow.
Harry leaned over to Lynn and muttered, "Mate, how did you even get your hands on a Snidget?"
Lynn just smirked. "Trade secret."
(He definitely didn't mention staking out the Hog's Head for four hours, Stunning the smuggler the second he stepped outside, then tipping Hagrid off so the guy got yeeted into the Forbidden Forest as a "poacher." Hagrid happily confiscated the entire crate of baby Snidgets, the Ministry got their bust of the year, and Lynn walked away with one very confused, very adorable chick.
Black-market karma, baby.)
Cho was already naming the tiny bird "Sunny" and letting it perch on her finger. The little traitor immediately started preening her hair like they'd been best friends forever.
Best birthday ever.