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Longest chapter yet, I feel so proud.

Chapter Four: Questions and Answers

The rest of the day went quickly and before they knew it, it was Monday morning, two days before they left for the Christmas holidays. Lily went back to hating the Marauders and James went back to desperately trying to get her to go out with him. Meanwhile Sirius and Remus were still observing Lily and James' relationship and taking notes when necessary.

"I can't believe you got detention without me!" James cried from his bed in the Marauder's dorm. It was nine o'clock in the morning, they still hadn't gotten out of bed and would most likely be late for breakfast.

"Well mate you were sort of in the hospital wing with and thanks to a miss Lily Evans" replied Sirius sighing, this was the fifth time that day that James had asked that for he had only found out yesterday and couldn't pester them due to being in the hospital wing which he got back from very late the night before.

"And it's not like we intended upon getting detention. It was all Snivelly's fault" said Remus bitterly.

James just grunted but didn't push on. "How's Wormtail anyway?"

"A bit shaken. I mean who wouldn't be after having your head flushed down a toilet repeatedly?" replied Remus.

"Where is he anyway?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen him since we bashed Snivellus and rescued him. McGonagall took him away straight after we got detention, along with those two Slytherin gits" he said even more bitterly (if that was possible).

"Well at least Snivelly got what he deserved"

Sirius snorted "All he got was a black eye and a lot of very bad bruises, he deserved so much more"

"Is that all?" asked James incredulously. "When he came into the hospital wing he was put in the bed next to mine, I was going to hurt him but I noticed he was already moaning as if he was on his death bed!"

"Bloody wimp" muttered Sirius.

"Why were you gonna hurt him?" asked Remus. "I mean, you didn't know what he did yet"

"Well it was mainly because he's Snape, and he was within two meters of me" James replied and added "and he was alive"

"Ah yes good point" said Sirius

"How did McGonagall find you guys anyway? And why didn't you beat him up more?" asked James.

"Well Lucius Malfoy, being the coward that he is, went and got her. I think he thought that he wouldn't get in trouble if he got her" said Remus.

"Boy was he wrong" added Sirius "And now me, Moony, Malfoy and Snivellus have all got detention"

"But at least Snape's still in the hospital wing right now, otherwise we'd have to endure another day in his greasy presence" pointed out Remus shuddering.

"And at least he doesn't know what you got in there for" sniggered Sirius.

James began to laugh but stopped abruptly looking pale and horrified. "Uh guys?" he managed to choke out "I sort of, might have left the healing potion on the bedside table between me and Snivellus" the last part was barely a whisper.

"Yeah but it doesn't have a label for what it does" said Sirius dismissively "Just the name of the potion"

"PRONGS YOU IDIOT" shouted Remus, ignoring Sirius "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HE CAN DO WITH THIS INFORMATION?"

"But-" started Sirius, about to make his point about the label again.

"YOUR AND IDIOT TOO" shouted Remus, turning his attention towards Sirius. "THAT POTION IS ONLY USED FOR ONE THING AND WHO'SE THE TOP OF THE CLASS IN POTIONS?" he paused for a second but went on without waiting for an answer "SNIVELLUS! WHICH MEANS THAT HE'S PROBABLY ALREADY FIGURED OUT WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES ALREADY AND IS PLANNING ON A WAY TO GET REVENGE ON JAMES!" he finished panting, heavily out of breath.

James and Sirius just started at him with shocked expressions. It wasn't often that Remus shouted (at least not at them) but when he did it was usually over something far more important.

Remus sighed and fell back onto his bed muttering "I'm sorry, I overreacted, it's just with the Quidditch match coming up and Sirius dragging me around on his stupid little mission…"

Sirius coughed loudly and James eyed them both suspiciously.

"What mission?"

"Nothing" replied Sirius quickly "anyway, back to Moony" he said nervously.

"Well with Quidditch and everything and with.." he paused, searching for the right words.

"That time of month coming up?" suggested Sirius.

Remus thought for a second "Yeah, for lack of better term. I'm just a bit stressed" he sighed again.

"It's ok Moony we understand" said James soothingly and he and Sirius went to sit on either side of Remus. The wolf sat up and James added "besides didn't we agree on calling it his 'furry little problem'?"

They all chuckled and James and Sirius pulled him in for a long brotherly hug. Unfortunately Lily Evans chose that moment to barge into the room.

She looked from one boy to the next, no one making a sound, as if they were in shock. "I'll just… go" said Lily, blushing. But before she could leave the room, they let go of each other and Sirius spoke.

"It's ok Evans, we got nothing to hide"

Lily looked skeptical but came in and closed the door behind her anyway.

James and Sirius stood up, Remus half concealed by James, and Lily noticed that they were all sans shirt and her mind began to wander.

Now he must have noticed her uncomfortable look so Sirius added "we're not gay Evans. It was just a hug"

"Well then why are you all shirtless?" she blurted out.

"Because we just woke up" said James.

"But your meant to be in the Great Hall eating breakfast right now" she meant to talk to their faces but couldn't help but stare at James and Sirius' gorgeous chests.

Wow she thought Quidditch does them good…

"We had a" started Remus getting up at last and standing between the two other boys "late dinner last night" the boys grinned for they knew that 'late dinner' meant that they had stolen from the kitchens (again).

"Oh my God Remus!" said Lily running over to said boy and inspecting his chest before pulling him in for a hug. "What happened? You have all those scars, they look painful" she said worriedly.

"Oh that's nothing" said Remus as she pulled away "just a little accident, nothing to worry about" he gave her a warm smile and she smiled back. Well Quidditch hasn't done badly for him either thought Lily Bloody hell what am I thinking? I have to focus on something other than their chests…

There was now an uncomfortable silence between the four of them and James decided to break it.

"So why were you breaking into our dorm in the first place anyway?" he said light-heartedly but this obviously offended Lily because she went red.

"Well McGonagall asked me to make sure you guys weren't out pranking someone" she glared at them.

"Well we're not" said Remus lightly and Lily softened considerably while James inconspicuously glared at Remus for being able to do that to Lily.

"Also" she began looking embarrassed "I wanted to know if…" she trailed off.

"Yes?" asked Remus politely.

"Well you see all my friends are going away for the holidays and I was wondering if…" she was blushing furiously by now and Sirius looked quite pleased at her predicament "if I could maybe hang out with you guys over the holidays?"

James was had an ear-to-ear grin on his face and Sirius looked smug so Remus answered for them.

"Sure Lily, it would be a pleasure"

She smiled at him and looked extremely relieved. Another awkward silence caused her to change the subject again.

"So, when's the next Quidditch match?" she asked.

"Tomorrow" said James immediately, he wasn't Quidditch captain for nothing "Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, last game of term and the next day everyone goes home. If we win this match by more than 170 points then it puts us in the lead for the House Cup, and Hufflepuff are a push-over" he finished proudly.

One of the reasons the Marauders usually got away with their pranks was because they were fast and fit thanks to Quidditch (well except Peter) and the teachers could never prove it was really them.

"Cool" said Lily stupidly.

"Yes well we'd better get going or we're going to miss out on training and then we won't be able to brag" said Sirius.

"Oh no, now we couldn't have that" said Remus sarcastically.

"Yeah so, we'll see you on the holidays" said James to Lily, smirking.

"Sure" she said and left the room with a slight blush.

When Lily had left James, being the Quidditch captain, put on his scarlet robes, grabbed his broom and headed for the pitch to set up for their practice.

While Remus and Sirius were putting their own Quidditch robes on, Sirius brought them back to a certain subject he'd been wanting to discuss with Remus.

"This is perfect" he said randomly.

"What is?" asked Remus.

"That Lily's going to be hanging with us"

"And why, pray tell might that be?"

"Because this is a perfect opportunity to observe Lily and James, without everyone else around impacting their relationship!" he exclaimed happily.

"Sirius…"

"Yes? What is it that you're serious about?" said Sirius sniggering at his own joke.

Remus groaned "What have I told you about the serious/Sirius jokes? And I knew there was a catch to you letting Lily stay with us"

"What can I say? I'm Sirius Black, the Great One" he replied grinning.

"C'mon Mr. Great One or we'll be late to practice and were going to have one severely pissed of Captain on our hands"

"Aye, aye sir" said Sirius saluting Remus as he just rolled his eyes.

But just as the two boys were leaving the dormitory, Sirius gave Remus a hard kick in the shins.

"Hey! What did you do that for?"

"That was for nearly spilling our secret before" hissed Sirius.

Remus looked bewildered for a moment then realization hit him "Oh you mean about the mission?"

"Yeah"

"Sorry"

"It's ok"

--

Six hours later, the two Marauders walked back into their dorm, tired and sweaty with a beaming James behind them saying "After that practice we'll beat them for sure!"

Remus and Sirius just groaned, flopped on their beds and fell asleep straight away. As for James, he was so excited that he didn't even notice the letter lying on Peter's usually messy bed which was now very clean and kempt.

James had a shower, brushed his teeth and lay down in his bed thinking that there was no possible way he could get to sleep tonight. But within minutes, James' snoring was ringing through the dorm, unnoticed by anyone for they were all asleep.

--

The next morning James woke very early. He looked at the watch next to his bed and saw that it read 7 o'clock. Four hours until the match. Well I might as well start getting ready.

He got out of bed and noticed the two other sleeping figures. Ah, I should let them sleep. They were exhausted yesterday and I need my team members fully awake at the game today!

So he did all his morning preparations and came out of the bathroom at 7:15am. He was a guy after all and didn't need a lot of time in the bathroom. Unlike some… he thought bitterly I'm not going to name names SIRIUS BLACK.

Sirius unfortunately was on of those guys who took more than half an hour in the bathroom getting ready. What for? James never knew.

He got out a copy of some book about Quidditch his mum had sent him and began reading through, looking for tips on how to beat Hufflepuff.

It was 8:30am when James decided to wake up Remus and Sirius, seeing as how breakfast was at 9 o'clock. He decided to wake them with some 'oomph' so he cast a sonorous charm on his voice, stood between their beds and yelled "WAKE UP YOU LAZY BUMS ITS QUIDDITCH TIME!"

With his already super enhanced voice plus yelling, James had to say that it was pretty loud. And that made it all the more hilarious when Sirius and Remus fell out of their beds in fright.

Sirius had fallen with his sheets, so he got tangled in them and ended up getting stuck, whereas Remus had fallen and immediately grabbed his wand, standing up to see what the cause of the commotion was and defend himself is necessary.

It took the two a while to realize that James was now on the floor, laughing so hard that his stomach hurt and that he had just pulled one on them.

Sirius, after he had gotten away from his blankets was about to start yelling at him when Remus' voice stopped him.

"Hey James?" he asked.

"Yeah?" said James once he had regained his composure.

"How long have you been up?"

"And hour and a half, give or take. Why?"

"Did you even notice this note on Wormtail's bed?" asked Remus holding up a folded piece of parchment which obviously came from the bed.

"Nope" said James coming over to examine it with Sirius.

"Well then I think you need better glasses" said Sirius snickering.

James glared at him but didn't say anything. "What's it say?"

Remus took the letter and unfolded it then began reading aloud. "Dear guys, had to leave, family stuff, Wormtail."

"Huh" said James staring at the letter.

"Hope his family is alright" said Sirius.

"Awww ickle Padfoot is all worried about Wormy" said Remus grinning for he knew it annoyed him. A lot.

"Shut up" grumbled Sirius as James began to laugh.

--

When the boys had all gotten ready they went down to the Great Hall for breakfast, late of course thanks to Sirius. They were greeted with lots of encouragement from fellow Gryffindors for the match that would start in less than two hours and ate in silence, each worried about the outcome of the match in their own way.

Wow, what if we win? Maybe Lily will admire me more? But what if we lose? And let all of the Gryffindors (Lily included) down? They'll hate us! They'll hate me! Okay strategies, got to think about the strategies. Don't want to forget all that we practiced. Now when we lift off I have to make sure to go to the west side of the pitch that's usually where… thought James.

Remus was thinking Okay, I have to do well today, if I don't then James will kill me. No wait, what was the word he used yesterday? Oh yeah, pulverize. But if I do, do well then James promised to buy me the book of my choice no matter how much it costs. And he's practically rich! I can take my pick from any book in the world…

While Sirius had a different approach. I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die. Then James will resurrect me and then he'll kill me even more. Is that even possible? Well if it is then James will do it because I've totally forgotten everything he told us yesterday. Okay maybe if I remember what I was thinking yesterday then it will come back to me. Yeah… that'll work. What was I thinking yesterday? Oh I remember! I had that stupid little song stuck in my head. 'On the good ship lollipop, it's a sweet trip to the candy shop. Where the bon-bons play on the sunny beach…

All around, they were quite neurotic but finished breakfast with fake smiles plastered in their faces and walked quickly back to the dorm to get ready for the match.

"Where's my broom?!" shouted James from the closet.

"It's in my bed!" shouted Sirius back from the bathroom.

"Why's it in there?" asked James.

"Because I threw it at you this morning but I missed and it landed on his bed" yelled Remus from under his own bed.

"Ok!" said James.

"Has anyone seen my shoes?" asked Remus coming out from under the bed and walking towards the closet.

"Which one?" asked Sirius exiting the bathroom and going over to his bed.

"Both" replied Remus searching for his shoes in the closet.

"Left is behind the bookcase" said Sirius.

"And right is in the sink" said James walking over to the bathroom. "I'll get it, I'm heading there anyway"

"Thanks mate" said Remus.

"Oi guys?" said Sirius from under his covers "Anyone seen my lucky boxers?"

"Uh the ones with bludgers on them or the ones with clovers on them?" asked James.

"Bludgers" replied Sirius.

"Oh they're on the roof" said Remus.

"How'd they get there!?" asked Sirius.

"Remember that night you got drunk?" asked James.

"Oh yeah…" replied Sirius sheepishly. He grabbed his wand, opened the window and said "Accio Bludger boxers" and they came whizzing into his hand.

By the time all three boys were ready it was 45 minutes until the match and they had to leave. They went into the change rooms to find the rest of the team waiting and James said his usual pre-match pep talk so that when he finally finished, the match was to start in one minute.

Outside, the stadium had filled quite quickly and the commentary had already begun. The Hufflepuffs then began walking out onto the pitch.

"Now here come the Hufflepuffs with keeper and team Captain Amos Diggory in the lead, then the chasers Miley Jones, Eric Stebbins and Fiona Hopkins, beaters Nathan Whitby and Collin Carter and finally seeker Robin Maverick" said a thoroughly excited Andrew Jordan.

The Gryffindor team entered the stadium to hear Jordan announcing them all. "And the Gryffindors! Keeper Stanley Wood, chasers Remus Lupin, Karl Johnson and Hannah Taper, beaters Sirius Black and Sally Douglas, and seeker and team Captain, James Potter enter the field!"

The crowd roared as the Gryffindor team assembled on one side of the pitch while the Hufflepuffs on the other with Madam Hooch standing in the middle. "Potter, Diggory shake hands" she commanded and James and Amos came to the centre and shook hands solemnly.

"Teams to your places!" she called out and the teams assembled in the right order. She opened the struggling box and released the bludgers and the snitch, then threw the quaffle in the air and blew her whistle.

The fourteen players shot off the ground as Jordan yelled "And they're off!"

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