Disclaimer: I do not own any of this. The characters and setting all belong to J.K Rowling. Only the plot line is mine, and even then it was somewhat influenced by Rowling as well.
Hello! OK, so though I cannot call this fan fiction my first, I can certainly say I have come a long way from the previous one I posted several years ago. It was so bad and illiterate I erased it and I'm sure there are many grateful that I did. (lol)
This idea came to me a long time ago, presumably after I watched the Goblet of Fire. I'm not sure exactly when, but several months later the idea was still sticking in my head. By that time I was at least somewhat literate and I began writing out the first chapter. It has been edited and changed allot to get to where it is now and I can say with satisfaction that I am completely pleased with it. At least it doesn't sound noobish. xD lol.
The loud hum of the students filling the great hall was clear in their ears as they entered and made their way over to the Gryffindortable. The first day returned to school after several months and the start of a new year always created such excitement, but the four boys noticed a significant difference. There was something else, all their parents had seemed excited, rumours were flying about a special event coming to Hogwarts for the first time. They knew nothing, of course. It was meant to be a surprise. Even the daily prophet would do little more than drop subtle hints on what is to come. This rumoured event was to be announced then, at the welcome back feast for the students, and it would have been a surprise to find any single student not speculating on what it would be.
This included the four seventh year boys as they sat down in their place on the gryffindor table. They had spent nearly the whole of the train ride discussing it and were particularly eager to learn what it was all about. Something as exciting had not happened in all the time they had been at Hogwarts, and even more surprising and mysterious was that they were choosing to do it now, with the Voldemort uprising in the back of everyone's mind.
This supposed Dark Lord was moving quickly through great Britain and for the past months there have been more than just several reports of muggle massacres and plenty of aurors going MIA. This included one James Potters own father, whose location had been unknown for several months now. James could not help but be immensely worried and had wanted to do anything to find him as soon as possible. But he was still a student. And besides, there wasn't exactly much he could do. James had not been the only one to worry over Harold Potters disappearance. Sirius Black, a resident of Potter Manor for the past two years, was also greatly distressed and his usual high spirited attitude had been dimmed down due to it.
Now, though, the four boys only chatted happily as they had in the past, when Voldemort had only been a shadowy rumour. A story to scare small children. A minor threat to the wizarding world. They had all made a pact to enjoy their last year in Hogwarts to its fullest, and nothing would stop them from doing just that. Not even "Moldymort" (in the words of Sirius.)
Their three deep voices (and the slightly childish one of their fourth friend Peter) rose above the hum of excited talk particularly and heads turned in their direction, as they usually did. Girls watched them through sideways glances, and the particularly brave ones greeted them as they passed on the way to their own seats. The boys either looked on in admiration or resentment. Nearly every girl in Hogwarts (including quite a few slytherins) were totally infatuated with them even if they pretended not to be. This came as no surprise to anyone. They were abnormally handsome and their charming and daring attitude often left the girls of Hogwarts swooning as they passed in the halls.
James and Sirius in particular were know for their playboy attitudes. James, with his messy, windswept hair and incredible quidditch skills that had not been seen for many a year and Sirius with his devilishly handsome face and carefree attitude. Remus, though not as popular as his two friends, also got a fair amount of attention from the girls. As for Peter, well, most didn't bother to pay attention to poor Peter at all. Except for, of course, the Marauders themselves, which is what the group of friends called themselves.
The sorting went by quickly, and then afterwards Professor McGonagall stood up at the podium and announced to the shock of many James as Head Boy and Alice Prewett as Head Girl. Everyone was quite shocked and many pleased, save for a good number of the slytherins, with the choice, and James's friends loudly accused him for the better part of ten minutes of keeping from them this important secret. "I wanted it to be a surprise!" He said as Sirius playfully punched him in the shoulder.
Then Dumbledore stepped up. The hum of the talking students quieted immediately and they all turned to look up at the headmaster as he cleared his throat. "Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! Now in normal circumstances, I would simply allow you to begin the feast at this time, but this year is certainly going to be different.
"This year, Hogwarts will play host to a legendary event. The Junior World Quidditch Cup!" Immediately, the excited hum returned as gasps rung throughout the hall and the Marauders exchanged excited glances. James and Sirius, captain and co-captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team, in particular. James jumped up throwing his fist in the air and shouting "Yes!" While Sirius gave a loud whoop. It was even better than they had anticipated.
Dumbledore nodded, a light friendly smile on his face and a twinkle in his bright blue eyes. He raised his hand for silence once more. "The Junior World Quidditch Cup is a Quidditch tournament that is hosted in different magical schools around the world every three years. And those magical schools play host to guests of Quidditch teams from schools around the world where they compete for the championship title! For the past ten years or so, this event has been put on delay due to complications. This year, Hogwarts has been chosen to host the event.
"As for the subject of which team will represent Hogwarts, the Tournament Officials and the Hogwarts staff have decided that the winners of last years Quidditch Cup for Hogwarts should have the honour." James and Sirius's grins grew wider and wider with every word and they had trouble staying in their seats. The headmaster gestured with a wrinkled hand towards the Gryffindor table. "Team Gryffindor, if you will do us the honor."
The cheering in the hall was almost deafening, the loudest of it coming from the Gryffindor table. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were cheering as well, happy at least that Gryffindor would be playing and not Slytherin. Slytherin was just about equally as good as Gryffindor, however no one really wanted them to represent Hogwarts in any way.
Dumbledoreraised his hand and cleared his throat. This time it took almost a minute for the hall to calm down, but when it was finally silent again he spoke, "Now, I would like to introduce to you the visiting teams this year. First, please help me in welcoming.." The teams entrance was grand and each school made sure they left the students of Hogwarts impressed. There were teams from all over the world including from China, Iceland, Africa and Australia. There was even an American team. Teenagers, witches and wizards from all over the world. When all of these had been introduced, Dumbledore cleared his throat and everyone stopped their clapping."So far we have-including Hogwarts-six teams competing but there are two we have yet to introduce." He cleared his throat and gestured towards the great woods doors of the great hall. "Please help me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, and their Head Mistress, Madame Maxime!" At this point Sirius, with a large smirk, nudge James in the ribs and whispered, "This is gonna be good."
The lights in the great hall suddenly dimmed and the doors of the great hall swung open. Glittering blue lights and butterflies followed as a group of young girls-probably from around their fourth to seventh years of school-strode in confidently, wearing their light blue school uniforms. Their heads were raised and their shoulders squared in their confidence and they kept their eyes forward but there was a grace about them that neither James nor Sirius had yet to see in any Hogwarts girl. The whole thing was dazzling and equally impressive, if not more, than the past five team introductions. The eyes of nearly every teenage boy in the room (including those from the other visiting teams) seemed to follow them as they glided down the length of the great hallway, occasionally flashing a smile or flipping their varying shades of blond hair over their shoulders.
All of them were tall and slender with eyes of either blue or brown and all of them had long, shining blond hair. They hardly seemed to pose a threat to the other teams, but James, as the his own teams captain, would not underestimate them. He could see the determined glint in their eye and the subtle muscles that showed in their legs and arms, covered partially by their modest yet elegant uniform.
Next to him saw he saw Sirius return a grin to a particularly blond beauxbatons girl as she passed who seemed to have given him a second glance. He sighed and rubbed the back of his head as his eyes followed them down the isle. "Lemme tell ya Prongsie ma boy, were gonna have some fun this year." He sighed, grinning hugely. Remus, sitting across from them with Peter next to him rolled his eyes and Peter blushed. James's mouth twitched slightly, fighting a grin.
"Not this year Padfoot ma boy. This year we've got to be entierly focused on the tournament. Early morning practices at least four times a week. I will not be satisfied without that first place trophy! We cant let these other teams think were complete idiots!" He declared, pounding a closed fist onto his chest. "We will win!"
But Sirius had stopped listening to him, his eyes focused on the doors of the great hall. Dumbledore spoke in the background, "Madame Maxime, and the Beauxbatons team Captain and Co-captain, Lilian Evans and Marie Girard." At this announcement, James's head snapped up from looking at his friend and turned towards the doors of the hall. He was stunned by what he saw.
No, he was not completely shocked by the seven foot giant woman who strolled in with such grace that James would have thought impossible. What completely stunned him was the two girls, tiny in appearance as they stood next to their giant Headmistress that had him stunned. They were completely different from the rest of their team.
One was tall for a girl, though she did not particularly look it standing next to the giant headmistress, but fairly attractive in a cold sort of way. Her piercingly bright blue eyes stood out shockingly against her pale, almost translucent milky white skin, like silk stretched over glass. Her hair, cut in an angled bob, was black as the blackest night and shone under the glittering blue lights that accompanied them. She had a cool, collected expression on her face but her angled eyebrows were slightly raised and the smirk she wore on her surprisingly red lips dared anyone to mess with her. Sirius in particular, James would be informed later, had a hard time looking away from her, his mouth dropped open slightly as he stared at her in shock. James, however, had trouble turning away his gaze from the other girl.
She was tall, though not as tall as her co-captain, with creamy pale skin that had the hint of a tan. She was stunningly beautiful and almost exotic looking. Her features were soft, yet somehow angled with an elegantly long neck and high cheekbones and she had a kind face. She was thin, or at least looked it from where James sat, and almost delicate looking. Shockingly red hair, almost the color of a rose, spilled like waves of blood over her shoulder and down her back, resting just above her hips in smooth curls. She held her head high with her shoulders squared and took long graceful strides, a determined glint in her eyes.
She was scanning the crowd of Hogwarts students and visiting teams. Finally her eyes passed over James and he sucked in a sharp intake of breath. Her eyes. Oh, her eyes. They were almond shaped, and green. Not just any green, however, but the most stunningly bright green he had even seen. He had never seen eyes so bright or so vivid before. They bored into him as she returned his gaze for a short moment, and then turned away. James let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding.
As she neared the front of the great hall where the rest of her team was lined up, James was finally able to rip his eyes away from the girl. He looked towards Sirius, who to the great shock of James seemed slightly flustered and there was was the hint of a blush on his face. Then he scanned the crowds and noticed almost angrily that nearly every boy in the room was staring towards the two girls, most noticeably the red head.
Suddenly, the boom of Dumbledore's voice broke though the murmurs of the students and the room went silent again, everyone's head snapping up to look at the headmaster as he spoke, "And now, the strapping young lads of durmstrang, their High Master, Demeter Anchova!"
The doors burst open again and the durmstrang team marched through the doors, great displays of fire and bursts of light. One student at the front blew through a flame that danced on top of his wand and it stretched and grew into the shape of a dragon that blew fire over head before it shrunk back. They strolled in, with frowns or scowls except for two, the captain and co-captain who marched in with confident smirks before their headmaster. They spotted the two astonishingly beautiful girls from beauxbatons and walked toward them, away from the rest of their team as they lined up in the front of the great hall with the rest of the teams. No one seemed to protest, their own headmaster merely glanced their way once before returning to his scowling and stood with his arms crossed by his students.
The two boys from Durmstrang went to stand by Evans and Girard, throwing their arms around them and grinning. The rest of the girls from Beauxbatons looked on jealously. The two girls seemed to be fond of them, though slightly annoyed that they had come up to them at a time like then. They shot them amused glances and the red head, Evans, even dropped her determined facade for a second to let out a small laugh.
James stomach did a flip as he watched her giggle softly to the Durmstrang team captain who had thrown his arm over her shoulder. The determined look, he decided, did not suit her nearly as well as her carefree smile did. But he found himself murderously jealous of the Durmstrang captain, who had put that smile on her face. He found himself wanting desperately to be the one with his arm around her shoulder, making her giggle as she did now.
His thoughts were interrupted yet again as Dumbledore spoke and everyone ceased their chatting, including Evans and Girard and the two Durmstrang boys. "Now im sure you all will be pleased to know that, according to tradition, the tournament will be, how do the young people say it, kicked offthis Sunday with a ball. All the teams members are invited, along with anyone else they choose to bring as a partner. The first game will be the following Friday with Durmstrang against Gondol, the American team."
Dumbledore gave a light-hearted smile and turned towards the crowd of visiting students, "Now, you may all choose any of the four house tables to sit at, or if you wish you can return to your housing and eat there. But in any case, I believe that we have delayed the feast long enough. Now, eat up!" And suddenly food appeared at the tables and there was a great lot of noise as people began piling food on their plates and visiting teams moved to exit the hall or sit at one of the tables.
"Well, that was interesting." Said Remus as he grabbed a bun from a pile of them off a nearby plate.
"Interesting?! Its bloody brilliant! I cant wait till our first match! I wonder who were playing against?" Sirius shouted, swallowing a mouth full of food. He nudged James in the ribs, who was shoving a biscuit down his throat. "Eh James, what did you think of those Beauxbatons girls? Hard to believe there actually quidditch players huh? Specially that Girard." He added, shaking his head thoughtfully.
Remus snorted and looked at Sirius quizzically. "Padfoot, your eyes were all over that Girard. Ive never seen you blush that shade of red before." He snickered and Peter went off into fits of giggling. Sirius scowled and gripped his goblet of pumpkin juice.
"I was not blushing dammit! Men do not blush! Save for Peter." He added at the now furiously blushing Peter who had promptly stopped giggling and was now staring pointedly at his potatoes.
They all laughed at their friends embarrassment and Remus pounded him on the back good naturedly. "And what about you Prongs? That Evans was sure something special, hm? He asked suggestively and James grinned foolishly.
"Yeah, its hard to believe that shes actually the team captain." Suddenly, a voice behind him spoke,
"Tough words for a preety boy." The voice was heavily accented with french and Remus and Peter, who were sitting on the other side of the table, facing who ever had spoken, suddenly straightened and their eyes widened. Sirius and James promptly turned around and their eyes widened as well.
Standing there with their arms crossed and looking livid were Lilan Evans and Marie Girard. Sirius's jaw dropped but James managed to keep his composure, though only barley. Evans, the red head, looked positively furious while Girard, the one who had spoken, looked only dangerously angry. She stood in front while Evans stood close behind at her shoulder. There was a significant height difference between them, but Evans somehow managed to stand out. At least from James point of view.
"You do not theenk girls can play quidditch as well as boys? Jus' because we are preety you theenk we can not play well?" She said, almost casually but there was a dangerous glint in her eyes.
James smirked and glanced at Sirius who seemd to have composed himself. Sirus returned the smirk. "Well darling its only natural." James began, grinning lopsidedly, "Someone with your looks simply cannot win against expert teams like ours."
"And an all girls team simply has no chance against the rest of the teams. You'll be beaten the first time you play." Sirius added as if it was common sense.
"'Ow dare you!" Girard shouted and Evans gave an indignant screech. She brushed past Girard, looking perfectly ready to slap the two.
"How dare you! You think just because were girls we have no chance against stuck-up, arrogant, toe rags like you? What makes you think you stand a chance against us?!" She practically shouted. James was surprised. She had a heavy English accent as if she had grown up in Britain and gone to Hogwarts just like James and the rest of them.
"Your a gir--"James began but had no time to finish as he was suddenly slapped across the face.
"Lily!" "Oi!" Girard and Sirius both shouted at the same time. Girard grabbed Lily's hand to restrain her.
"You weel get us disqualified!" She protested but didn't seem too upset, an amused smile on her red lips. Lily seemed slightly shocked at what she had done. Her eyes were wide and she stared at the palm of her hand, now red from the impact of slapping James across the face.
James simply held a hand to his face where she had slapped him and gave her a lop-sided grin, the kind that made most girls swoon. Lily only scowled and her hand cringed dangerously, as if she was getting ready to slap him again. "So, Lily's your name? My names Potter. James Potter. Just call me James."
"Absoloutly not! And thats Evans to you, Potter!" She spat angrily and Marie gave an amused grin which promptly turned into a scowl at the wink Sirius gave her.
"It seems you certainly despise us, Evans. I wonder why you came over here, then, if not to talk to us. Or why your still here." Sirius pointed out and smirked. Marie's pale skin began turning red as she tried to control her anger. Lily narrowed her eyes dangerously.
"Checking out the competition. And luckily its not to intimidating. At least, not the Hogwarts team." She said with here bright green eyes narrowed dangerously. James thought it looked rather intimidating.
"Lily! Marie!" Someone suddenly shouted and the two Durmstrang boys from earlier came up, putting their arms around the girls shoulders. "Ivann! Viktor!" Lily said, surprised.
"So this is vhere you haf been." Said Viktor, the one who had his arm around Lily. They both looked over at James and Sirius with glares in their eyes. The two Gryffindors glared back, Sirius gripping his cup tightly so that his knuckles began turning white. He bored a death glare towards Ivann, the one with his arm around Marie, and Ivann glared right back.
Viktor nodded towards them, "Vere these guys bothering you?" He asked and Lily glared back towards James and raised an eyebrow.
"Not anymore." She said, with a slightly smirk. Viktor tightened his grip on her shoulder and him and Ivann turned and began walking towards the Slytherin table.
"Vell, in any case, you must come sit vith us at the Slytherin table. They are qvite entertaining, these Brits." Ivann chuckled as they led them away. Marie looked hesitant to go, but said nothing as Ivann led her over to the table. Lily looked simply disgusted, as if the very thought of sitting at the Slytherin table repulsed her. But she could not stray Viktor from sitting there, and eventually was talked into it. Sirius glared after Marie, gritting his teeth and James found himself murderously angry as well.
"Well, that was interesting." Remus spoke again for the first time in a while.
"Who were those guys?!" Sirius shouted angrily, him and James turning back towards Remus and Peter.
"That's Viktor Baronova with his arm around Evans and Ivann Demine. There the captains of the Durmstrang team. Apparently, those two are quite protective over their little french flowers." A voice spoke behind Sirius and James.
"Emma!" Remus exclaimed and some of his pumpkin juice spilled over the ledge as he suddenly slapped his cup down and began blushing lightly at his mistake.
Emma giggled and Sirius and James scooted over so she could sit with them. "Hey Remus."
"So how do you know that?" Sirius asked, returning to his food.
"It was in Witch Weeklys last issue." She explained. "Apparently, Viktor Baranova is quite famous in Durmstrang, as is Lilian Evans in France. Them and Ivann and Marie. They were in Witch Weekly as the top two most adorable couples in its foreign section. Why do you care so much, Sirius?" She added quizzically.
Sirius had apparently found his plate suddenly very interesting. "Just checking out the competition." He said.
James scowled and glared at his plate. He just couldn't get the image of the Viktor with his arm around Lily out of his mind. It made him unethically angry. He thought it ridiculous, to get this upset over a girl. And a girl he barley knew. A girl who was competition for gods sakes! He must not allow her to distract him, he decided.
"Well, who they are and what there doing with Evans and Girard dont matter. What matters is winning! We cant allow Hogwarts to lose. I mean, did you hear that guy? 'These brits'!" He scowled and snorted. "We cant let them think were incompetent British idiots like Peter!" He added at the end with a face full of mock seriousness. Peter looked up at him with a shocked expression and they all burst out laughing.
"You know were only kidding you Peter." James said as the Gryffindor boy blushed. For the next half hour they all only concentrated on eating and enjoying themselves. James discussed practice times he was setting up, "Immediately. We've got to get ahead now or we never will. Im booking the pitch for tomarrow, bright and early. Don't worry," He added at Sirius and Emma's (who was on the Gryffindor team) protesting expressions. "Its just for a couple hours in the morning and then you'll have until Monday afternoon to rest up again. But starting after monday its going to get intense so make sure your prepared!" He announced and shovelled a spoon full of mashed potatoes into his mouth. For the rest of the night they joked and enjoyed the highly delicious feast.
Deserts showed up and it only took a couple of seconds for the surrounding plates to become empty as Sirius, James, and Remus especially, stocked up on the treats. They shoved some of the more portable candies for later into their pockets and shoveled down cupcakes and pudding the rest of the night. Remus enjoyed his chocolate and chatted with Emma most of the night while Sirius began discussing their annual upcoming start of the year prank.
"I think we should do something to target to visiting teams." He said with finality, nodding his head firmly. James shook his head slowly,
"Nah, I'm head boy this year remember? If McGonagall catches us doing something to embarrass Hogwarts or Gryffindor for that matter there gonna be hell to pay, specially cause we got the tournament this year."
"C'mon Prongs! Since when have you ever cared about that?!" James only shrugged. "Well then we can do something more traditional!" Sirius suggested, giving in. "How bout a good ol fashioned slytherin prank?"
James considered it for moment before grinning hugely. "Alright then. Lets meet up in the heads room and get to planning before we all get to busy with the tournament. How bout we set it off at dinner tomorrow?"
The Marauders agreed while Emma politely ignored them and munched on her cupcake. Pretty soon, the feast was over and people were filing out of the Great Hall, groaning tiredly and heading to bed. As the Marauders followed James out, he found himself unconsciously glancing around for a head of blood red hair. He thought he saw one heading out of the castle and onto the grounds, where the housing for the visiting teams was, but it disappeared quickly and James found himself disapointed. Fighting back a sigh, he shrugged to himself and led his fellow Marauders to the heads dorm.
When they got there, he found Alice stand at the entrance waiting for him. He couldn't help but be highly grateful that Alice had been made Head Girl. She was a good person and one of the few people who did not swoon at the sight of him, along with Emma. But then again, she didn't need to. She was already desperately in love and engaged to Frank Longbottom, who had been a good friend of James. Frank had just graduated Hogwarts and was now attending the auror academy. Alice, according to her, would follow after him shortly after she got out of Hogwarts and their wedding was to be after they had finally become aurors.
"Alice!" He exclaimed upon seeing her. She eyed the rest of the Marauders carefully and waved at Emma who had followed them looking for Alice.
"Well, as I can see you guys are having a special Marauder night and don't want to be kept up until all late hours, I'm going to go with Emma and sleep in the girls dorms." She told him and James nodded. "The passwords Snorflack." She whispered into his ear and laughed when he looked at her quizzically. "Something Amelia told me about." James laughed and grinned, nodding in understanding.
Amelia was a rather eccentric Ravenclaw seventh-year who was currently going out with Xenopholis Lovegoodof the same house. He was equally eccentric as she was and so it was thought throughout the school they were a good match. Though they were often ridiculed because of their odd behavior and beliefs. James personally thought them brave and reliable and sometimes wondered how they had not been put in Gryffindor.
"Well, we'll see you guys later!" Her and Emma said and they walked off towards the girls dorms. "Your gonna love it in there!" Alice added and turned as the continued down the hall and disappeared around the corner.
James looked after them only for a moment before turning to a great big dark wood door. It was rounded at the top and intricately carved with the symbols of the four houses. He stood in front of it, confused for a moment, wondering how he was going to get in. There was no door knob, and it was not a portrait that he could just talk too. Suddenly, the face of the Gryffindor lion from his carving in the door called out to him, "Over here, Ma'boy! You've got the password, I suppose?" It asked him.
"Uh, yeah." He took a breath and then said, almost quentioningly, "Snorflack?" The door swung open and James, quite pleased with himself, strode in confidentally with the rest of the marauders following. Sirius was chuckling to himself and mouthed 'snorflack' to the lion whom shurgged before returning to its sleep.
"God, that Amelia. She certainly is one amusing character." He chuckled and bumped into James who had stopped abruptly in the doorway. "Bloody-Prongs!-" He began but his mouth dropped at the sight of the dorms.
The common room was huge. Over on the east wall was a gigantic, roaring fireplace. Sirius, the tallest of the Marauders, could have easily fit inside of it standing up straight. Above that was a huge red and gold tapestry of the symbol of Gryffindor. Red and gold tapestries and streamers decorated the walls and ceilings. Surrounding the huge fireplace were red plush couches and velvet bean bags, stocked with pillows. Over each of the couches was draped a cotton blanket. The entire west wall was made of book shelves which stretched to the ceiling and there was a large round oak table surrounded by chairs, presumably for doing homework or arranging head duties. On the south facing wall were two stairways, above one a large gold HB, another a large HG. In between the two stairways was a small nook, which had a bench built into the wall. Pillows were piled onto the bench and the window there overlooked a magnificent view of the Black Lake.
"Bloody hell." Sirius whispered and him and James grinned at each other. "This place is fantastic! Prongs you lucky dog! Or should I say stag?" Sirius grinned and was promptly hit in the face with a pillow by James.
"If any ones a dog around here its you Padfoot!" He grinned and the two immediately launched into a pillow war, throwing things at each other and making a mess of the place. Remus and Peter looked on for a moment, before Remus with a curious expression went over to examine the books. Peter continued to watch the two boys brawl playfully. They were now wrestling each other on the huge expanse of floor which was covered with a soft gold rug. Eventually they settled down enough and a four of them gathered around the fire place.
The chatted and planned for well into the night, though by one o'clock all of them were exhausted. Eventually, as the roaring fire dimmed, they all crashed. James and Sirius, the tallest of the four, slept on the couches while Remus and Peter were perfectly content with the beanbags which were just as good if not better than any bed. However, quite some time after he could clearly head Sirius's loud snoring, Peters sleep talk, and Remus's soft breathing James stayed awake, thinking.
He thought about quite a lot of things. First, he found himself finally realizing how busy he would be this year. With the tournament, heads duties, and the seventh year exams, he would have to be very careful to be able to even think about pranking. But it was their last year. And so they would have to impress this year more than any other with their pranks. It was the Marauder thing to do, James decided. They would go out in style, or else they could not call themselves Marauders.
The second, of course, was the tournament. He found himself doing as he usually did since he had become captain, making up practice schedules for his players, and figuring out days he would book the pitch. He decided early morning practices were best on the weekends. They would last well into the afternoon, except on Hogsmede days of course. Weekdays were for late night practices, but not too late. He knew pushing himself and his team too hard would affect their play during the tournament.
Lastly, as he finally found himself drifting off to sleep, he thought about that girl. Evans. Lilian. "Lily," he whispered, loving the way it sounded to him. It was the most beautiful name in the world. And he thought it suited her perfectly. He thought about when she had approached him, her and Marie. She looked beautiful even as livid as she was. But, he thought, her kind, laughing face suited her far more. It was as if her face was made for it, for smiling and laughing. He knew he shouldn't be. She was competition, the enemy. And he barley knew her. But he kept replaying the image of her giggling to herself in his head. His thoughts turned sour when he thought of that Viktor Baranova, the stocky Durmstrang captain with his arm around Lily. '
'Apparently, those two are quite protective over their little french flowers.' Emma's words replayed over and over in his head. He didn't like the image of the guy with his arm around Evans. And the fact that he had dragged her off to sit with Slytherins suited him even less. She had obviously been repulsed by the idea. He decided, among the many other things he had to do, he would keep an eye on Baranova. For some reason, the thought of him around Lily, who in his mind was so small and delicate, made him incredibly nervous and well as murderously angry. He finally fell asleep, with the image of Lily's laughing face in his head.
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Taa Daa! And that concludes the first chapter. Since I like to make my chapters long, and I will not post a chapter until I'm sure that every spelling and obvious grammar mistake is taken care of, it will probably take a while to post the second chapter. Don't panic! It will get up within the next month, you can be sure. Just make sure you post your reviews, tell your friends, have them post reviews, and Ill get it up as soon a I can! The more reviews I get after all, the more ill be influenced to post the next chapter quicker. ;D So keep watching for it people!