A/N: Voilá! A huge present for LD because of her birthday. And because she got into the college she wanted. And uhm...because I really felt like writing something.
Elementary map-making
Far up north in Scotland, where the waters are vast, the rain comes often and the winds are cold, lies Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is in this school; up in one of the towers that one of the rooms is strangely dark and quiet until…
"D'you reckon this'll bring Binns back to life?"
There was a general amount of shushing noises, followed by an exasperated and tired, "Nothing can bring the dead back to the living, Padfoot."
The silence that followed was only interrupted by the occasional scratching of a quill on a piece of parchment, when suddenly…
"It would be terribly funny to see him as a young ghost though…"
"Moony!" three other voices burst out laughing. Lights erupted out of wand-tips and the hospital wing dormitory came into view.
"Sssh!" Remus made a shushing noise. "Remember? You're not supposed to be here!"
"As if Pomfrey will wake up with that Silencing Charm Padfoot put on her door," James snorted, but he still snuck a quick glance towards Pomfrey's door…just in case.
"I never really understood why we try to hide stuff from others in here," Peter muttered, noticing a large ink stain on Remus' bed.
"Adds to the mystique, mate," James grinned, flicking his wand and making the stain disappear.
"Oh bugger, who's got the map?" Sirius's voice drifted out from the neighbouring bed. A large rustle followed during which everyone was trying to find their precious map.
"We did take it with us, didn't we?" Peter pondered, going through his bag.
Everyone stopped searching and looked terribly frightened.
"Oh bugger!"
The following morning saw the four Marauders staring idly at their plates at breakfast. None had had much sleep as the search party for the map had continued until the wee morning hours.
And without any results.
"Do you think one of the professors got it?" Peter finally mumbled, reaching out to grab a plate of eggs, then deciding better of it and grabbing the toast instead.
"Couldn't be," Sirius' muffled voice came out from between the arms his head was resting on. "They'd know it's us. We'd be serving multiple detentions by now."
"Or get a reward for actually doing something useful with the knowledge they try to teach us," James grinned.
"It's a map, Prongs," Remus sighed, making up his mind and filling his cup with pumpkin juice. "I doubt they'll find it 'reward'-worthy."
"Excuse me," James answered, "May I point out the fact that it follows each and everyone's single movement?"
"It does?" Peter said through a mouthful of marmalade toast.
"Of course it doesn't, Peter," Remus glared at James. "That was the whole problem yesterday…we couldn't find the right Charm. That's why we started planning that prank…"
"Which we'll never be able to pull off," Sirius offered, still with his head on his arms.
"Don't say anything stupid," James growled, "Here, eat."
"M'not hungry," Sirius swatted the offered plate away.
"Suit yourself," James shrugged and with renewed energy he dumped the contents of Sirius' plate on his own and started to eat the pile of breakfast.
"You seriously cannot eat all that by yourself after the night we had." Peter looked disgusted.
"We were up all night looking for that stupid map!" James exclaimed.
"Wasn't it a reward-winning map?" Sirius sniggered, his head coming up only ever so slightly.
James just glared at him and started to shovel the remaining eggs into his mouth.
"Well, I'm off to Muggle Studies." Peter stood up. "See you in Herbology!"
"Why on earth did you choose…" James started, but Remus interrupted him as he pulled his arm and said, "Yeah, we better go too."
"Ah, right. Dear old Minnie." James took one last bite and followed his friends out of the Great Hall.
"I still don't get how we lost it," Sirius muttered after a while. "What did we do yesterday? We were working on it before dinner, weren't we?"
"Yes," Remus nodded. "We got fed up with it, went to get some food and started planning that prank when we got back. Well, you three did. I stayed in the hospital wing."
Sirius shook his head in confusion. "But that doesn't make any sense! I saw Peter put the map in his bag! It should have been in there when we got back."
But James had stopped walking and was looking at Sirius with 'disaster' written all over his face. Remus and Sirius looked at him with confusion.
"Prongs, mate, you alright?" Sirius asked wonderingly.
"Er…do you remember what happened just before we entered the Great Hall yesterday?" James answered. "The map can be anywhere in the castle now!"
Sirius uttered some words that would most definitely earn him a detention, had McGonagall been present in her classroom at that moment. "Why does Wormtail bring his schoolbag to dinner instead of leaving it in his dormitory like us normal people?"
"Well, first of all, I wouldn't call you normal, Padfoot," Remus smirked. "Second of all, you do realize that you are talking about the bloke that managed to do one of the most difficult bits of Transfiguration in the same year he failed his O.W.L. in the same field."
"Oh yeah," Sirius realized. "He did, didn't he James?"
But James wasn't listening…he was looking at the door of the classroom. A charming, redheaded girl was entering the classroom and had captured his attention as she was walking towards them.
For some reason, her proximity to him shook him out of his reverie. "Hey Lily!"
Lily gave him one look and sighed deeply. "Please don't use my first name, James. You're ruining it and I rather like it. It's Evans."
"Well hello there, Evans!" James smiled. "How're you doing?"
"Well, I'm not going out with you for a start," Lily smirked angelically, and then turned to Remus. "Are you free this afternoon? I wanted to discuss some things with you. Say…after classes in the library?"
"Sure, see you then."
"Bye Evans!"
"Of course, James."
"Prongs, mate, you're so whipped!" Sirius grinned. "Seriously, Evans?"
"It'll be Potter soon," James stretched his arms out behind him and lay back on his chair, totally confident and relaxed.
When entering the library and seeing Lily sitting there, Remus remembered how he very much didn't want to be doing prefect duties. Full moon had just passed and although Madam Pomfrey had discharged him from the hospital wing, it didn't mean he was feeling well.
Then again, he only felt well one week a month.
"Hello Remus, how's your mum?" Lily asked with a bright smile on her face.
"Fine," Remus answered, knowing the different answers to the different excuses he'd used by heart. "But we're not sure yet. It's come back before."
"Well, good luck with that. But try to get some sleep next time, you look like hell."
"Thanks, I feel like hell."
Her face lit up in a wicked smile. "I wanted to show you something, I found the most amazing thing the other day and I wasn't sure what to do with it. Maybe I should show it to McGonagall…" She reached down into her bag and took a few books out. "I'm sure I put it somewhere…" She sat right back up and continued, "I'm pretty sure it's some kind of prank, meant to insult the reader, but I dunno…I have a feeling that it might be more." She was silent for a moment and went back to her bag. "I put it in a book…ah yes, here it is!" And out of her bag came a seemingly plain piece of parchment.
Only, Remus knew better. Without bothering to give Lily an answer, he stood up, grabbed his stuff and ran out of the library.
"Remus? Remus?!"
But Remus wasn't listening anymore. Not to his fellow prefect and most definitely not to the librarian that was running after him and shouting all kinds of terrible future prospects if he'd dare to set one foot into the library ever again.
"I know who's got the map!" Remus entered the dormitory.
"What?" Sirius said, together with Peter's "Who?"
But Remus wasn't looking at them. He was looking straight at James, who was wearing a look of shock by now.
"No way," the latter muttered.
"Oh, most definitely!" Remus nodded. "Miss Lily Evans found the map and asked me if she should report it to McGonagall."
"And???" the voices of the other three Marauders said as one.
Remus blanched visibly. "She's still got it…"
"Moony, you're supposed to be the smart and responsible one!" James exclaimed. "Dumbledore made you prefect, remember? Why on earth did you leave the map, our precious, very well thought-of map, in the hands of the one person who will most definitely recognize it for what it is and destroy all the work we've done by going to McGonagall with it!"
"You really love her, don't you?" Sirius snorted sarcastically. James just glared at him and looked back at Remus.
"I'm getting it back." and with that, he stormed out of the dormitory.
If you would ask them later about this moment, all three other Marauders would tell you that they really tried to stop him from going to his doom…but, when James Potter sets his mind to something, there really isn't much that can stop him…
It wasn't often that James went to the library. And the moments that he went alone could be counted on one single hand. But here he was, walking to the library with a really determined air about him. Now, the few students that knew Lily Evans was sitting in the same library would probably guess that she had something to do with the determination of this James Potter, but none would have foreseen what was going to happen.
"You have something that belongs to me," James slammed his hands onto her desk.
"I'm not going out with you," Lily said automatically without even bothering to look up from her books.
"I'm not asking you."
Lily looked up suspiciously. "Does this have something to do with why Remus was running away when I showed him that piece of parchment that insults you?"
"It does?" James' face lit up and then turned determined once again. "I want it back."
"Oh, it's yours. Well, I'm surprised I didn't realize that sooner."
They were silent for a moment until James impatiently said, "Well?"
"Well, what?" Lily answered innocently.
"Can I have it back?"
"It depends on what you're offering."
"Well, I'm not offering you a date, as you won't be taking it anyway," James snapped at her.
"If you put it that way, I most definitely will not be taking it!" Lily snapped back.
"Mr Potter, Ms Evans!" Madam Pince walked swiftly towards them. "Mr Potter, I remember telling you not to step even one toe into this library for another month. Out! Ms Evans, you usually agree on my punishments of Mr Potter. Please follow him out and join him in his one-month banishment from this library."
"But…" both teenagers started.
"Out!"
Lily quickly shoveled her books, parchment and quills into her bag and hurried out of the library, closely followed by James.
"I still want it back," he said once they were out of Madam Pince's reach.
"What's so special about it?" Lily crossed her arms in front of her chest and was now looking at James with a defiant look in her eyes. "It only insults you. I reckon you only want it back because it would be some kind of trophy. 'Look what James managed to get from Lily! Even she has fallen for his charms.' Well, over my dead body." And suddenly an idea seemed to form in her head. "A Quidditch match."
"Beg your pardon?" James said automatically.
"You, me, Quidditch match. The winner may have that bit of parchment."
"Do you fly?"
"Of course I fly!" Lily said indignantly, unconsciously determining that she would not let James Potter win under any circumstances. "We will be Chasing, so we can both have a Keeper and another Chaser joining our teams. All Gryffindor."
"All sixth-year?"
"No, there aren't enough students. But it should be second year or up, just as Hogwarts Quidditch rules state."
"You do know that I am Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, right?" James raked his hand through his hair, earning him a glare from Lily.
"Think hard about who you want on your team, Potter. And have them ready this Saturday at two o'clock on the pitch." And without saying goodbye, she turned around and walked towards Gryffindor tower.
The moment she stepped into the common room, a tall girl with shoulder-length blond hair waved at her.
"What are you doing Saturday afternoon, Marlene?" Lily fell down on the couch next to her.
"Nothing, why?"
"I need a Keeper."
The problem was that James knew he would be in trouble for Saturday. And the main reason for that problem was the minor detail that the only decent Keeper he knew to be present in Gryffindor just so happened to be Lily's best friend. It was rather unfortunate that first-years weren't allowed as he knew a girl that was particularly good at catching Fanged Frisbees…he briefly wondered whether Lily would notice if he passed the girl for a second-year, but dismissed that idea almost immediately as Lily knew almost all Gryffindor students. Being a prefect did that to a person…
He gave a deep sigh and looked at the Quaffle in his hand. Practice would start soon…there was always a slight chance that Lily hadn't seen Marlene and that he could ask her anyway…
Making up his mind, he grabbed his broom and headed towards the Quidditch Pitch.
Everything was silent, as practice wouldn't start for another fifteen minutes. James mounted his broom, kicked off from the ground and started to do some laps. Flying always made it easier to think.
"Oy! Cap'n!" Sirius' voice drifted up from the ground. "Care to come down?"
James groaned and flew back to the rest of his team. Marlene was looking at him and the moment he caught her eyes, he knew he was too late. Lily had got to her already. But just in case he got it wrong, with the hope of a fool, he put on his brightest smile and said, "So Marlene…what do you say…you, me, together, Saturday…"
"I already said 'yes' to Lily, James," Marlene said, totally unfazed by his proposition. "You're going to have to find another Keeper."
"Bugger!" James muttered under his breath and he turned to Kyra Hunter, the new Seeker on the team this year. "Can you Keep?"
She immediately turned beet red, something she hadn't stopped doing ever since she joined the team and James spoke to her, and said in a small voice, "Not really…"
"Bugger," he muttered again, looking at the rest of his team. Sirius and James II were out of the question. They liked their Beater's Bats far too much to do anything other than hit things that even looked like a ball. He turned to his fellow Chasers, Greg Darden and Sara Abbey. "Greg, would you like to join me in winning a bet from fair Lily Evans? I'll need another Chaser."
"Sorry, James," Greg shrugged. "Lily already asked me. And I said 'yes'…"
"Just wonderful," James muttered, turning to Sara. "So?"
"Nice to know I'm your first choice," she sighed. "But yeah, I'll do it…otherwise you'll be bothering third year fan girls that don't even have a clue what a broom is…"
"But you'll do it?" James asked hopefully.
"Yes, I'll help you win this…what was it? Fair Lily's heart?"
James immediately glared at her, earning him a full-out laugh from everyone on the team.
"Ten laps around the pitch!" he barked. "And I want to be able to follow you with my eyes…so no exceeding speed limits!"
"Prongs, mate…" Sirius started.
"I'll make it twenty if you want…" James interrupted him simply.
"Ten it is," Sirius saluted him, but he could be heard muttering, "We need to get him a girl…" as he got onto his broom.
That Thursday, James was in an even fouler mood than when he'd found out Lily had stolen his best teammates. Breakfast was okay, but once the four Marauders entered the Charms classroom and saw Lily talking with professor Binns, James' face clouded darkly.
"Hello, James," Lily said politely. "How's the team going for Saturday?"
"I hate you," James answered darkly.
"Why thank you," Lily answered, still in that same polite voice. "I'm glad you feel the same as I do." And with a smile on her face, she turned around and walked to her seat.
"I really hate her," James muttered to his friends.
"Of course you do, Prongs." Sirius led his best friend to their own seats, knowing fully well that this feeling most definitely wouldn't last.
But as news travels fast at Hogwarts, everybody seemed to know at lunch that Lily had successfully nicked James' best Quidditch players right from under his nose, and James didn't feel all that tolerant towards her as he was lying on his bed with a Quaffle in his hands. Who on earth could he trick into being just good enough a Keeper to get that map back?
Angrily, he began tossing the Quaffle to the ceiling, not really caring that Peter was working on his Transfiguration essay and that he might be bothering him. Even Sirius and Remus' laughter when entering the dormitory didn't make him look up from his Quaffle-throwing.
"What's going on?" Peter therefore asked instead, pulling a Sugar Quill out of his mouth.
"Remember Alana Norwood?" Sirius sniggered, crashing down on James' bed. Not a moment too soon, James moved away before Sirius landed right on top of the spot his arm had been mere seconds ago.
"Alana 'I wanna date hawt Sirius'-Alana?" Peter said incredulously.
"The one and only." Sirius grabbed a Chocolate Cauldron from the pile of sweets on the bed and popped it in his mouth. "Moony really outdid himself this time!"
Remus sniggered and sat down next to Peter.
"What did you do?" the latter asked. James had started tossing the Quaffle again.
"Well, apparently, Alana'd set her eyes on dear old Padfoot here…"
"You think?!?" James snorted, interrupting Remus. The dull 'thunks' his Quaffle made could still be heard.
"So that's why she was stalking the Gryffindor sixth-year classes!" Peter grinned, sucking on his quill once again.
"But of course, I don't want anything to do with her," Sirius continued.
"Yeah, you might've mentioned that once or twice…" James started.
"…every second…" Peter continued.
"…of every moment…" James was laughing now, but still the Quaffle went up and down.
"…she walked by!" Peter finished, his quill once again forgotten as all the Marauders were laughing.
"So anyway," Remus continued after everyone sobered up a bit, "Here we are, walking through the hallways, minding our own business when that giggling friend of hers…Tara? Anyway, the brunette…when she comes up to us and gives Padfoot this note."
"Here," Sirius took a tattered bit of parchment out of his pocket and threw it towards James. Being the expert Chaser he was, he caught the Quaffle swiftly with one hand and folded the piece of paper open.
"2 o'clock pm, broom cupboard on the 3rd floor, between the painting of the hunting party and the armour. AN" James looked up, "She can write?"
"Apparently so," Sirius sniggered again. "But I didn't really feel like going there when all of a sudden Moony exclaims, 'I'll do it!'"
"Excuse the language of Mr Padfoot, he's got his facts wrong," Remus glared. "I don't exclaim things." He sighed and smirked. "But I did say that I would do it."
"Moony, old man, you're absolutely done for now," James mumbled, but he never took his eyes of his friend and all but begged him to continue.
"So," Remus continued, grinning. "I got there a bit too early and waited in the cupboard. It didn't take long for her to arrive and, being the smart girl she is, she didn't even look inside before entering. So she starts snogging me and doing all these disgusting things…by the way, Padfoot, you owe me so much! And just when it starts to get really heated, I decide to put an end to it once and for all. I probably did the male Hogwarts population a huge service…"
"So…what did you do?" Peter asked again.
"What is the one thing she keeps bragging about?" Sirius tried to stifle his laughter, but of course, he failed miserably.
"No!" James and Peter gasped as one.
"Oh yes, the long blonde curls are no more," Remus' eyes were positively twinkling. "Nor is that ridiculous Everlasting Push-Up Charm she's put on all her clothes."
"And you know what the best part is?" Sirius was laughing once again.
"Well?"
"The first thing she saw once she stepped out of that cupboard, and might I add, more undressed than anything else, was…tumtedumdedum…me!"
There was no holding back now; the four Marauders gave in to their urges and rolled over laughing.
"I wish I could have been there," Peter finally managed to say. "All I did was try to tune Prongs' foul mood out."
James glared at Peter and threw the Quaffle his way.
"James," Remus warned, snatching the Quaffle out of the air just before it hit Peter.
But James didn't seem to be listening. He Summoned the Quaffle out of Remus' hands and threw it back. Again, Remus caught it, this time looking angry with James. And again, James Summoned the Quaffle and threw it back, this time towards Sirius.
"Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed as Remus saved him from being knocked down by a Quaffle. "What's gotten into you?"
"Why didn't you ever try out for Keeper?" James ignored his friend and asked Remus.
"Oh, I don't know," Remus shrugged angrily, not having forgiven James for throwing the Quaffle around the room. "Maybe the minor little fact of me being…how do they put it…a werewolf? Physically incapable to do anything at least three days a month? Add to that a week leading up to the full moon, causing me to feel utterly miserable because I will be transforming soon and a week after transformation during which I'm recovering from that utterly miserable feeling of transformation and that gives us…one week? Yeah, about one week where I can attend practices and play games."
James Summoned the Quaffle once again and threw it towards an hourglass standing on a table just out of Remus' grasp. But that didn't stop him from ducking and catching the Quaffle just before it would break something.
"What the…James!" Remus exclaimed. "Stop being such a prat!"
"You can Keep, mate," was all that James answered, totally unfazed by the outburst of his friend.
Sirius looked up, just having realized what James was thinking about. "Prongs, mate…you've got three days…that's impossible. He's untrained!"
"What's going on?" Peter looked around confused, but none of the other Marauders heard him or, if they did, they decided to ignore him.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Padfoot," Remus said sarcastically, keeping the Quaffle close to him in case James got in a far worse destructive mood.
"Oh, I believe in you," Sirius answered. "I just don't think James will be able to train you. He'll have to get Marlene to do it and there's no way she'll help us defeat her own team."
"We've got Sara," James added stubbornly.
"Who is a good Chaser, nothing more, nothing less," Sirius nodded. "You'll need a prodigy Keeper to train him…"
James glared at him and a large grin appeared on Sirius' face. "But a real Quidditch team might also do the trick…"
During the days that followed, the Marauders could be found on the Quidditch pitch at every spare moment they could get. Peter would be sitting in the stands, making notes as Sirius and James tried to help Remus improve his flying (which wasn't all that bad to start with), avoid Bludgers (no matter how often Remus pointed out that they would not be used in the little match against Lily, Sirius insisted on it) and catch the Quaffle. Sometimes, Sara would join them…most of the times because Sirius dragged her onto the pitch, and sometimes, even Kyra would come and help, mostly giving him tips and tricks to not fall off his broom.
Remus wasn't sure how he felt about all this. He could still feel the effects of the last full moon and had even mentioned it often to James that he wouldn't be fit enough. But James just waved that away and told him that as long as he could stay on his broom and make sure that nothing would pass the goal hoops, everything would be fine.
"I hate James," Remus muttered that Friday-evening. James had insisted on practicing every last minute of the day and Remus was absolutely certain that James would keep up this attitude Saturday-morning.
"He's being enthusiastic," Sirius grinned.
"I'm this close," Remus glared, moving his fingers close together, "to just going to Pomfrey and asking her to keep me in the hospital wing over the weekend."
"Just go to bed, I'll distract James," Sirius laughed.
Remus sighed, but did as he was told, knowing fully well that he would most probably not be rested the following morning.
And just as he'd predicted, he still felt absolutely rubbish at breakfast.
"Good morning Moony!" Sirius sat down, far too cheerful for Remus' liking.
"Please tell me you didn't come with James, 'cause I'll kill him," Remus growled.
"You've seen nothing yet." Sara sat down with them. "Imagine that, day after day, week after week, just as long as Quidditch season takes…if I didn't like Quidditch so much, I'd have given up on it ages ago."
"Yeah," Sirius sniggered, "Prongs wants to win."
"Oh, so that's what it is!" Remus answered sarcastically and he stood up from the table. "If anyone asks…and I don't mean James, I'm at the hospital wing and then at the pitch."
When James arrived at the Quidditch pitch, he saw that Sara and Remus were already present, talking with Peter and Sirius. In a fit of generosity, Sirius had done the most unlikely thing and offered to do the commentary. At first, James had tried to talk him out of it, when Sirius had kept on insisting and James had just said 'yes' to get away from his nagging.
He was glad he'd done so as he saw the amount of people present. The Gryffindor stands were packed with students and the others were coming close. News travelled fast around Hogwarts, especially when it concerned Lily and James.
Looking around, he saw that Greg had already arrived and was talking to Kyra.
"Hullo Greg, Kyra," James said, walking up to them. "Up for it?"
"Yeah, reckon so," Greg nodded. "Well, I got to find Lily."
"So…" James turned to his Seeker, "looking forward to watching the match?"
A dark pink coloured her cheeks as Kyra answered, "Lily asked me to referee."
"Did she now?" James grinned.
"James Potter, get away from her this instant!"
"Didn't do nothing!" James said automatically the moment Lily's voice reached his ears.
"Kyra is our impartial judge and I would very much like to keep it that way," Lily continued suspiciously.
"An impartial judge that just happens to be on my team," James smirked.
Lily glared at him. "She was the only one who knows how to fly, understands the rules of Quidditch and does not have an unhealthy adoration of you." James merely kept on smirking, causing Lily to grab her broom tighter. "Oh let's just play!"
"Captains, stay on the ground," Kyra said softly, but confident too. "Players, take up positions."
Soft swishing sounds around them told James that his teammates and friend had lifted off.
"Please shake hands," Kyra nodded.
James grinned and offered his hand immediately when suddenly… "First, I want the parchment."
"No way," Lily shook her head stubbornly. "Only if you win."
"When I win," James smirked. "And I don't want it right away. I want you to give it to Kyra…seeing as how she is the impartial judge and everything." He ruffled up his hair and smiled at Lily, who was looking angrier by the second.
"Fine!" she snapped, taking the piece of parchment out of her pocket and giving it to Kyra.
"Thank you!" James smiled happily, offering his hand once again.
And despite all her instincts that told her not to take it, her hand joined his. The smile on James' face got larger and brighter and with one swift movement, he lifted her hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss on it. Smiling happily, he jumped on his broom and shot up in the air.
"You little…" Lily started, but then she thought better of it, mounted her broom also and flew up in the air.
"Ladies, gents and all you other creatures out there," Sirius' voice boomed out over the stadium. "Welcome to this little treat we prepared for you. An extra Quidditch match between our favourite pair that provide us with much needed entertainment in our otherwise boring lives at Hogwarts."
"Just get on with it, will you Padfoot!" James laughed from the air.
"Very well, but it's your loss…" Sirius could be heard muttering through the Sonorus spell. "As our dear public can see, there are some differences with the original game. No Snitch will be released, nor any Bludgers, causing no need for Seekers and Beaters. The first team to score ten goals wins. So, without further ado, I give you Darden, McKinnon and Evans for team Lily!"
Cheering sounds erupted from the stands, making Lily smile.
"Lupin, Abbey and of course, Potter for…what else could it have been, team Potter!"
Loud roars joined the cheers that had sounded for Lily, and James used his hands to conduct them into something that vaguely could pass for a melody.
"Miss Hunter," Sirius' voice cut through the noise, "I say, let the game begin!"
Kyra saluted him and threw the Quaffle out. Without even giving it a second of thought, James flew up, caught the Quaffle and flew towards the goal hoops. His arm shot out, his broom lifted a few feet and with his other arm he threw the Quaffle with such force that Marlene didn't even have a chance of blocking it.
"Team Potter has just earned its first goal!" Sirius roared, Conjuring a scoring board up in the air and adding ten points to James' side.
James grinned as Marlene rolled her eyes and flew down to retrieve the Quaffle she then tossed at Lily who, in a show of utter skill, caught it swiftly in one hand and sped up towards the other end of the pitch. James immediately went in pursuit of her.
"Sara, intercept her!" he yelled, coming closer to Lily when suddenly, she stopped.
Having far too much speed, James sped past her in the direction of Remus, "Bugger!" he exclaimed as from the corner of his eye, he could see Greg catching the Quaffle and throwing it through the left goal hoop. He really had trained them too well…
Sara caught the Quaffle before Remus could get near it and tossed it to James. He sped forwards, but got intercepted by Greg who immediately turned around and threw it to Lily who propelled it forwards to the hoops.
Remus jumped up and caught it, throwing it back to James, who sped up, threw it at Sara, who dodged Greg and threw it back at James, who threw it towards the goals, only to have it intercepted by Marlene just in time.
"It seems that both teams are evenly matched," Sirius said as the Quaffle went back into the game. "And Evans is back after receiving the Quaffle from Darden. Look at her fly! It makes you wonder why she never tried out. And she sco…oh! A marvellous save from Remus Lupin! I must say, I knew he had it in him all…oh! Sara Abbey just scored! That makes it twenty to ten for team Potter. Wait, make that thirty to ten, Abbey scored again. Wormtail, mate?"
"Noted!" Peter piped up, his voice carrying over the pitch as the Sonorus spell picked it up too.
The game was in full swing now. Nobody seemed to care that the Snitch and Bludgers were missing as the teams were evenly matched. Lily was a ferocious Chaser and Remus was able to block more than a few lucky ones. And suddenly an hour had passed and the score was eighty to sixty in Lily's favour.
"I give up," James muttered, signalling a time-out to Kyra. She nodded, took the Quaffle from James and flew towards Sirius to tell him what was going on.
"James Potter is so kind to accord us a much-needed break from this battle of wills," Sirius commented through the spell.
"We're losing," James sighed as he joined Sara and Remus.
"But the map!" Remus answered, even though James could see that he would gladly forfeit the game if that would mean some rest.
"A map?" Sara groaned. "All this for some stupid map? You're bloody mad, Potter…"
James sighed. "Maybe we should just forfeit…"
"What?" Sara exclaimed, together with Remus', "No!"
"Are you absolutely daft?" Sara continued heatedly. "You're James Potter! You can't forfeit! Especially not to Lily Evans."
"I can't, can I," James answered thoughtfully.
"Most definitely not," Sara nodded.
"Well then…how about we win this little game…Remus, you tend to hover too much on your left. Try to keep it even in the middle, so do not suddenly start flying more to the right, got it?"
"Crystal clear," Remus nodded.
"Sara, remember that move we tried a few weeks ago? The one Marlene made us stop doing because it made her dizzy?"
A large smirk erupted on Sara's face. "Let's keep that for the final blow, shall we?"
"I like the way your brain works, Abbey!" James started laughing.
"It looks as if Prongsie-dear has gotten his groove back," Sirius boomed, followed by a furious, "Padfoot!!!" from the young man in question. Not that Sirius was offended by this outburst as he happily continued, "Hunter beckons the two teams to the middle of the pitch and we're back on! Lily has possession of the Quaffle…oh…look at that, now this is the James we all love and know! James speeds up with the Quaffle and Abbey catches it after a perfectly executed Porskoff Ploy and yes! Eighty to seventy in favour of team Evans."
But James wasn't listening to him anymore. Greg had just lost the Quaffle to Sara, who was now moving up again to score. Instinctively, she turned around, saw Lily approaching and threw the Quaffle back to James. Lily's attention moved to James (how he would have loved that, had not so much been depending on him focusing on the game now) and he smiled. That was the classic mistake new Chasers made. They only paid attention to the opponent's Chaser with the Quaffle…
He moved his broom backwards a bit, saw Lily approaching him quickly with Greg hovering near Remus in case Lily managed to take the Quaffle from James, and with a precise arm, threw the Quaffle back at Sara. With one fluid movement, she caught the Quaffle and threw it back at Marlene, catching her unaware and scoring.
'Eight down, two to go,' was all that James could think as Marlene threw the Quaffle quickly to Greg, who caught it just in time. Sara was already closing in on him, making it possible for James to cover Lily.
"Only one to go, Potter," Lily smirked next to him as Greg's attempt went through the hoops.
"In your dreams, Evans," James smiled back and let his broom fall down a few feet to let Sara fly over him towards Marlene and score. "You were saying?" he yelled back to an astonished Lily. But Marlene didn't give her any time to do anything besides playing Quidditch as the Quaffle found its way to her. She was off to Remus not even a second later.
James let her go and caught Sara's eyes. She laughed and made a tornado-like movement upwards, circling around Lily in the process. Confused, Lily started to look for Greg, found him and threw the Quaffle to him. Immediately, Sara intercepted it and threw it to James. A weird chase ensued, with Sara and James moving randomly and passing the Quaffle in between one another.
"Would you please stop doing that Woollongong Shimmy, James?" Sirius' voice suddenly bellowed out over the pitch. James smirked and tossed the Quaffle with a little bow to Sara, "After you, M'am," he bowed.
Sara sped up forwards and took a shot at the goal when suddenly; out of nowhere, Greg appeared and collided with Sara.
"Foul!" James' hand immediately shot up in the air and he looked up at Kyra expectantly.
"Well, that looks an awful lot like blatching," Sirius commented, confirming James' thoughts exactly.
James had met up with Kyra and Lily, who were talking about what was going on.
"I'm sorry, Lily," Kyra turned red once again. "That did look like blatching; I have to accord James a penalty."
Lily sighed deeply, but nodded. Kyra turned to James and handed him the Quaffle. "Please end it now," she all but pleaded. "I would really like to be able to sit on a broom again after this weekend."
"You know what the nice thing about having you as captain is, James?" Marlene asked as James took up his position.
"Please enlighten me," James smiled.
"You don't trust anyone to train me to block penalties," Marlene smiled back. "I know your weaknesses."
"I don't have any," James laughed and he weighed the Quaffle with his hand. Then, he put his index finger in his mouth, put it back up in the air and waited to find out where the wind was coming from. He turned his broom and nodded to Kyra to let her know he was ready.
"Whenever you're ready," she shrugged.
James ruffled up his hair and took a deep breath. He threw the Quaffle up in the air, gave his broom a 360-degree turn and kicked the Quaffle forward with the tail of his broom.
"He scores! James scores!" Sirius exclaimed. "We win! We got it back! Did you see that Wormtail, they did it!"
"Good game, Evans," James turned to her, ignoring the noise coming from the stands.
"Well, you are Quidditch Captain," Lily shrugged. "At least I made it difficult for you."
"That you did," James smiled, ruffling his hair up again. "So…since this turned out to go quite alright…"
"Argh!" Lily exclaimed. "I'm not going out with you!"
"It didn't hurt to ask, did it?" James shrugged, feigning innocence. But Lily shook her head in exasperation and started flying towards the ground.
That evening, the sixth-year Gryffindor boys' dormitory was dark, save for a little light illuminating a piece of parchment on a bed. Four boys could be seen around it, looking hopefully at the blank parchment between them.
"It doesn't do nothing," Peter muttered, poking the parchment with his wand.
Stop that!
Words appeared, causing Sirius to exclaim happily, "It does work!"
"Moony," James laughed, "This time, you really outdid yourself!"
Remus smiled and probed the parchment with his wand, "I wonder if we also made the map visible."
There is a proper Charm in one of the books in the library.
Hush! Don't tell them that!
"We really aught to have them tell us who says what," James muttered.
"Actually, that's fairly easy," Remus smiled. He muttered a spell and tapped the parchment.
Mr Prongs would like it to be noted that he does not like all this probing with wands.
The four friends burst out laughing.
"Can Mr Prongs help us opening the map?" Sirius asked, laughter still sounding in his voice.
Depends on who's asking…
"Mr Padfoot, at your service."
Oh yes! Mr Padfoot says 'Aye'!
Of course Mr Padfoot would say 'Aye' to Mr Padfoot. Mr Prongs just wants to be careful, as this is a very valuable object.
Valuable, my…
Mr Moony thinks they should have a try. If they know the password, they can use it.
The four Marauders looked at one another…password?
A/N: Happy birthday, LD! Hope you enjoyed it!