DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter
AUTHOR NOTES: I tried to write this chapter quickly, so I could up-date. The first part between the slashes is Harry's dream. Please review, I like to know what you think. Thanks to everybody who reviewed last time.
Chapter 10: Nightmares and Quidditch
/Distant screams. The smell of blood filled his nostrils. He had to get to her. She was suffering and it was his entire fault. Harry was stooped low stumbling as fast as he could toward her. He could hear her screams; she was close. But it was dark, much too dark and he didn't have his wand to light the way. Harry ran faster as her screams got louder. Suddenly they stopped and all Harry could hear was his own rasping breathe. Blood pounding through his head, Harry knew she was dead./
"Please hold on, I'm coming. Just a little longer," Harry moaned. Harry continued scrambling forward.
0000000
When Lily went out in to the Common Room on Saturday morning, she found Peter sitting by himself, looking lost. He was sitting by the fireplace glancing around as if looking for something. Wondering where the rest of his friends were, Lily approached.
"What happened to your fellow troublemakers?" Lily asked curiously.
"Huh? Oh, I'm not sure. They all just disappeared on me," Peter squeaked.
"That's strange. Maybe they're in the Hospital Wing?" Lily mused. "They spend a lot of time there." Peters face lit up in recognition and he slapped himself on the forehead.
"Oh, course! I'm such an idiot some of the time." Peter jumped up and ran out of the room toward the hospital wing.
Lily took the chair Peter had been sitting in and wondered what the Marauders had gotten into this time or if it was because of Remus. She was still curious why Remus was there so often, but had given up on figuring out the mystery after six years. Suddenly a thought struck her; if the Marauders were all down at the Hospital Wing, was Harry all by himself? Deciding that Harry might need some guidance on what to do on a Saturday, Lily got up to go get Harry.
Lily trotted up the Gryffindor tower to the seventh year dormitories and saw that it was completely empty. Shrugging, Lily assumed Harry must have gone to the Hospital Wing with them. A slightly anxious feeling filled her stomach at the thought of Harry being injured. He probably wasn't injured, but the thought still bothered her. After seeing Harry faint a week ago, she felt somewhat worried about his well being.
Taking a deep breathe Lily forced thoughts of Harry out of her mind and made her way down to breakfast. After a glass of pumpkin juice and a few slices of toast, Lily decided to get a head start on her homework. After all she wasn't made Head Girl by procrastinating. Gathering up her stuff, she made her way to the library.
Upon entering the library, Lily immediately headed toward the back, which was her favorite place to do her home work. As she walked past a bookshelf, she heard someone muttering. Cocking her head in concentration, Lily strained her ears to listen, but the muttering had stopped. Lily turned around the bookshelf and saw Harry sitting slumped over in a chair. His head was resting on a book and his right hand was clutching his left arm painfully.
Creeping up quietly, Lily peered over Harry's shoulder to see what he was reading. Suddenly, Harry gave a jerk and jumped back, knocking Lily down. Before Lily had a chance to even think about getting up, Harry whipped out his wand and stunned her. Harry squinted down at her. After feeling the table for his glasses, Harry picked them up, put them on, and watched the person on the floor come in to focus.
"Oh, bloody hell! Are you alright?" Harry exclaimed after realizing he had just stunned his mother. Quickly, Harry said the counter spell and helped Lily to her feet.
"Do you normally attack people if they walk near you when you're sleeping?" Lily hissed. Her green eyes were blazing with anger.
"You snuck up behind me," Harry defended himself.
"I wasn't sneaking; you were asleep!" Lily retorted. "What were you doing sleeping here anyways?" Lily questioned.
"Er, I fell asleep reading," Harry excused himself.
"You slept in the library? All night?" Lily exclaimed. Before Harry could defend himself, a young Madame Pince ushered them out of the library for talking loudly. Lily wasn't done with Harry though.
"So you slept all night in the library, attacked me, and then got us kicked out of the library!" Lily ranted. Lily's screeching reminded Harry of Mrs. Weasley scolding the twins. Smiling faintly, Harry thought proudly now he could tell people he know what it was like to be yelled at by a parent.
"What are you smiling about?" Lily exclaimed angrier than ever. Harry just shook his head and thought only an orphan would be happy to be yelled at by a real parent.
"I'm sorry. It's just strange; being yelled at, that is," Harry replied wistfully. Lily gave Harry a strange look and saw the sad, yet peaceful look on Harry's face. Lily wasn't sure how to continue. Looking in to Harry's familiar green eyes, Lily suddenly was struck by how mature Harry looked. He seemed much older then seventeen. Lily began to wonder why he was so good in duels and quick to hex when he felt he was in danger. What had Harry been through that made him behave like this? Harry cut into Lily's thoughts—
"Do you think she'll let us back in?" Harry asked concerned.
"What?"
"I need to keep on researching in the library today. Do you think Madame Pince will let us back in?" Harry clarified.
"Probably not until after lunch," Lily answered.
"Are you sure? I really need to, er, study," Harry asked desperately.
"Yes," Lily said angrily, "and you're not the only one who needs to study. I was in there for a reason."
"Sorry." Harry walked toward the Great Hall for breakfast and Lily left him to go back up into the Commons Room to study. When Harry entered the Great Hall he saw the Marauders sitting together and joined them. They looked as tired and as battered as he felt.
"What happened to you guys?" Harry asked.
James looked at Remus nervously and replied, "We were just exploring the school. There are some interesting things you can find at night."
"You guys look like you were in a fight with a Blast-Ended-Skrewt," Harry told them. The four boys looked at him blankly.
"What's a Blast-Ended-Skrewt?" Sirius asked.
"Never mind," Harry said, shaking his head.
"I'm not sure I can help you research today," Remus grumbled. Harry suddenly noticed how pale and tired Lupin looked. Realization dawned on Harry; last night must have been a full moon, so Lupin must have transformed.
"That's fine. I was kicked out of the library anyway," Harry said darkly.
"Did you spend the whole night there?" Peter asked.
"Yes," Harry said moodily.
"You spent the whole night in the library?" Sirius said incredulously. "You certainly are wild," Sirius teased; Harry glared at him.
"Yep, I do all sorts of wild things like sneak in to the library," Harry said dully. Surprised, Harry realized the first time he sneaked out at night was to go to the library and research Nicholas Flamel. Sighing, Harry grabbed some sausage and began to eat.
"What were you doing in the library?" James asked incredulously.
"Reading," Harry said slowly as if James might be stupid.
"I think you've spent too much time with Remus and Lily. You need to come play some Quidditch with us after breakfast," James announced.
"I don't have a broom," Harry protested.
"You can borrow a school broom; they even have a Silver Arrow," James said proudly.
"A Silver Arrow?" Harry said, not sure how to react.
Luckily James didn't pay much attention to his response, "I know they're a couple of years old, but the Silver Arrow's are really nice," James said.
"I don't know. . . they're fast, but they don't have much maneuverability," Sirius countered.
Harry interrupted their debate, "but I haven't played in about two years."
"Well now that your ogre parents aren't preventing you from playing, you'll be able to play just about every week," James declared. Sirius bit back a laugh and began choking. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing," Sirius replied grinning. Eating the rest of his breakfast in silence, Harry thought about Quidditch. It seemed like it had been a life time since he had played Quidditch. Nervous that he would make a fool of himself in front of his father, Harry tried to remember the last time he flew a broom. It had been against Slytherin and Ron had done horrible. Harry rubbed his left arm, that match seemed like a lifetime ago.
"Let's go," James said. The five boys got up and began to get ready to fly.
0000000
Gripping his Silver Arrow, Harry kicked off the ground. Immediately, Harry relaxed. This was flying; the only thing in the wizarding world that seemed to come to him naturally. Harry flew a in a couple of circles to get the feel of his broom.
James and Wormtail were on a team against Harry and Sirius. James and Sirius had wanted to be on a team together, but by mutual agreement they decided it would be unfair to have the two assumed worst players on the same team. Remus was down below watching them. The rules were simple. They were playing without bludgers and only one Quaffle. All four players acted as both chasers and seekers. They could all score with the Quaffle and catch the Snitch. Everything else was the same.
Remus threw the Quaffle into the air; James caught it and the game began. Sirius began to chase after James and Harry kept close to Wormtail. James took careful aim and scored within the first ten seconds of the game. Racing after the Quaffle, Sirius grabbed it and tossed it to Harry who managed to catch it, awkwardly. His broom was slower and less responsive than he was used to, but he was slowly adjusting to the older broom. James raced up next to Harry and tried to grab the Quaffle, but Harry went in to a short dive and avoided James. The Silver Arrow didn't pull out as fast as Harry thought it would and Harry ended up closer to the ground than he had planed. Harry threw the Quaffle back to Sirius and Sirius managed to score, after dodging Peter.
After about an hour they still hadn't caught the snitch and James was winning by about seventy points, Peter had only made one goal. Harry decided that finding the snitch was his only hope. So after throwing the Quaffle to Sirius, which was intercepted by James, Harry began to seriously search for the snitch. After only five minutes Harry saw a glint of gold fifty feet beneath James. Sirius was distracting James, trying to steal the Quaffle, so Harry dived for the snitch.
Peter gasped and pointed at Harry. James and Sirius were so busy with the Quaffle neither of them noticed. Peter followed Harry toward the snitch. Harry was flat against his broom speeding toward the snitch. When Harry sped directly beneath James and Sirius they looked down and noticed the chase. The snitch suddenly jerked to the left; Harry followed without hesitation. At neck break pace the snitch plummeted downward, followed closely by Harry. In a near freefall Harry was catching up to the snitch.
"Pull out of the dive, your going to crash," James yelled. Peter, Sirius, and Remus all stared disbelievingly at Harry. Ten feet above the ground Harry reached out and grabbed the snitch. Pulling back as hard as he could, he started to pull out of the dive. His feet hit the ground just as the broom became parallel with the ground. Slowing to a stop, Harry stood up and held the snitch up in his left hand.
The four boys crowded around Harry, amazed.
"That was bloody brilliant. The way you came out of that dive!" James let out a low whistled in amazement.
"I've never seen flying like that," Sirius said astounded.
"Where did you learn to fly like that?" Peter wanted to know.
"Did your parents teach you that? You could have been killed," Remus exclaimed.
"So, you, er, think I'm an alright flyer?" Harry asked James nervously.
"You're bloody brilliant! You really haven't played Quidditch in about two years?" James said in disbelief. Smiling widely, Harry thought this was the best feeling in the world. His father, an excellent Quidditch player, thought he was a good player. Elevated with happiness Harry couldn't stop smiling.
"You ought to try out for the Quidditch team. We already have a seeker, but he isn't nearly as good as you are," James told Harry. "With flying abilities like that you could become a professional Quidditch player. Why haven't you been playing for the past couple of years?"
"Er, well, I've just had other, er, more important things to do," Harry mumbled, still very pleased with himself.
"Like what? What's more important than Quidditch?" James questioned disbelievingly.
"I've just been busy," Harry said evasively. Pushing thoughts of Voldemort out of his mind Harry tried to concentrate on how happy he felt. His dad thought he was good at Quidditch.
"Didn't you say you were grounded from Quidditch for a year?" Sirius asked with mischief in his eyes.
"That was complicated," Harry said quickly.
"Your parents grounded you from Quidditch for a year!" James exclaimed indignantly.
"Er, well," Harry didn't know what to say. Umbridge had expelled him from Quidditch, which was kind of like being grounded.
"Your parents must be absolutely horrible," James said vehemently. Harry's began to feel sick to his stomach. Pushing his fringe over his scar Harry began to count to ten.
"They must be just terrible," Sirius pretended to sympathized with Harry. Remus and Sirius looked deeply amused by the situation. Gulping, Harry nodded, even as he could feel vile in the back of his throat.
"What other kind of ways have they punished you? And what did you do to get grounded from Quidditch?" James asked still in shook that somebody's parents could be so harsh.
"I got in a fistfight with another kid." I did attack Malfoy, Harry remembered. "And as for other punishments, well I was locked in a cupboard for a couple of months for doing accidental magic," (the snake he let lose on Dudley) "er, they, um locked me in my room for a while. Put bars on my window and a catflap in my door in order to feed me, er,--" Harry broke off and shook his head. What the Dursley's did to him normally didn't bother him, but after talking with his parent and knowing the life he might have had, staying with the Dursley's seemed worse.
"They put bars on your windows and fed you through a catflap? Why?" James asked horrified. Sirius was still trying to hide his amusement, but Remus was torn between thinking it was a joke and thinking there was truth behind his statements. Peter stood there shocked.
"Er, they thought I dropped a cake on my, er, father's friend's head, it was actually a house elf who did it, but they didn't believe me," Harry said quietly.
"That's awful," Peter exclaimed.
"Whatever, if doesn't mater," Harry declared quietly. Surviving much worse things than that, Harry knew that had hardly been the worst part of his life.
"Your parent must be truly horrendous people," Sirius said as solemnly as he could. Harry couldn't bring himself to nod. Both Lily and James were good people; they would never have locked him in a cupboard or told him that he was a freak.
"They must have been real monsters," Peter said, trying to sympathize with Harry. How dare Wormtail say anything bad about his parents, Harry thought. His mind blazed with anger. Everything was Wormtail's fault. Harry thought he was about to explode. His parents were great people. Harry's insides were withering in furry.
"Harry are you alright?" Remus asked.
Harry opened his mouth to say 'yes' but that's not what came out, "DON"T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MY PARENTS," Harry yelled. The four boys were taken aback. "My parents were good people; they've done everything they can for me. You don't have any right to talk about them like that," Harry spat out furiously.
Spinning on his heel, Harry strode away from the group, leaving the Marauders bewildered by Harry's outburst.
MORE AUTHOR NOTES: The dream will be explained in later chapters; I didn't forget about it. Please review. I'll give you a big hug.
AUTHOR NOTES: I tried to write this chapter quickly, so I could up-date. The first part between the slashes is Harry's dream. Please review, I like to know what you think. Thanks to everybody who reviewed last time.
Chapter 10: Nightmares and Quidditch
/Distant screams. The smell of blood filled his nostrils. He had to get to her. She was suffering and it was his entire fault. Harry was stooped low stumbling as fast as he could toward her. He could hear her screams; she was close. But it was dark, much too dark and he didn't have his wand to light the way. Harry ran faster as her screams got louder. Suddenly they stopped and all Harry could hear was his own rasping breathe. Blood pounding through his head, Harry knew she was dead./
"Please hold on, I'm coming. Just a little longer," Harry moaned. Harry continued scrambling forward.
0000000
When Lily went out in to the Common Room on Saturday morning, she found Peter sitting by himself, looking lost. He was sitting by the fireplace glancing around as if looking for something. Wondering where the rest of his friends were, Lily approached.
"What happened to your fellow troublemakers?" Lily asked curiously.
"Huh? Oh, I'm not sure. They all just disappeared on me," Peter squeaked.
"That's strange. Maybe they're in the Hospital Wing?" Lily mused. "They spend a lot of time there." Peters face lit up in recognition and he slapped himself on the forehead.
"Oh, course! I'm such an idiot some of the time." Peter jumped up and ran out of the room toward the hospital wing.
Lily took the chair Peter had been sitting in and wondered what the Marauders had gotten into this time or if it was because of Remus. She was still curious why Remus was there so often, but had given up on figuring out the mystery after six years. Suddenly a thought struck her; if the Marauders were all down at the Hospital Wing, was Harry all by himself? Deciding that Harry might need some guidance on what to do on a Saturday, Lily got up to go get Harry.
Lily trotted up the Gryffindor tower to the seventh year dormitories and saw that it was completely empty. Shrugging, Lily assumed Harry must have gone to the Hospital Wing with them. A slightly anxious feeling filled her stomach at the thought of Harry being injured. He probably wasn't injured, but the thought still bothered her. After seeing Harry faint a week ago, she felt somewhat worried about his well being.
Taking a deep breathe Lily forced thoughts of Harry out of her mind and made her way down to breakfast. After a glass of pumpkin juice and a few slices of toast, Lily decided to get a head start on her homework. After all she wasn't made Head Girl by procrastinating. Gathering up her stuff, she made her way to the library.
Upon entering the library, Lily immediately headed toward the back, which was her favorite place to do her home work. As she walked past a bookshelf, she heard someone muttering. Cocking her head in concentration, Lily strained her ears to listen, but the muttering had stopped. Lily turned around the bookshelf and saw Harry sitting slumped over in a chair. His head was resting on a book and his right hand was clutching his left arm painfully.
Creeping up quietly, Lily peered over Harry's shoulder to see what he was reading. Suddenly, Harry gave a jerk and jumped back, knocking Lily down. Before Lily had a chance to even think about getting up, Harry whipped out his wand and stunned her. Harry squinted down at her. After feeling the table for his glasses, Harry picked them up, put them on, and watched the person on the floor come in to focus.
"Oh, bloody hell! Are you alright?" Harry exclaimed after realizing he had just stunned his mother. Quickly, Harry said the counter spell and helped Lily to her feet.
"Do you normally attack people if they walk near you when you're sleeping?" Lily hissed. Her green eyes were blazing with anger.
"You snuck up behind me," Harry defended himself.
"I wasn't sneaking; you were asleep!" Lily retorted. "What were you doing sleeping here anyways?" Lily questioned.
"Er, I fell asleep reading," Harry excused himself.
"You slept in the library? All night?" Lily exclaimed. Before Harry could defend himself, a young Madame Pince ushered them out of the library for talking loudly. Lily wasn't done with Harry though.
"So you slept all night in the library, attacked me, and then got us kicked out of the library!" Lily ranted. Lily's screeching reminded Harry of Mrs. Weasley scolding the twins. Smiling faintly, Harry thought proudly now he could tell people he know what it was like to be yelled at by a parent.
"What are you smiling about?" Lily exclaimed angrier than ever. Harry just shook his head and thought only an orphan would be happy to be yelled at by a real parent.
"I'm sorry. It's just strange; being yelled at, that is," Harry replied wistfully. Lily gave Harry a strange look and saw the sad, yet peaceful look on Harry's face. Lily wasn't sure how to continue. Looking in to Harry's familiar green eyes, Lily suddenly was struck by how mature Harry looked. He seemed much older then seventeen. Lily began to wonder why he was so good in duels and quick to hex when he felt he was in danger. What had Harry been through that made him behave like this? Harry cut into Lily's thoughts—
"Do you think she'll let us back in?" Harry asked concerned.
"What?"
"I need to keep on researching in the library today. Do you think Madame Pince will let us back in?" Harry clarified.
"Probably not until after lunch," Lily answered.
"Are you sure? I really need to, er, study," Harry asked desperately.
"Yes," Lily said angrily, "and you're not the only one who needs to study. I was in there for a reason."
"Sorry." Harry walked toward the Great Hall for breakfast and Lily left him to go back up into the Commons Room to study. When Harry entered the Great Hall he saw the Marauders sitting together and joined them. They looked as tired and as battered as he felt.
"What happened to you guys?" Harry asked.
James looked at Remus nervously and replied, "We were just exploring the school. There are some interesting things you can find at night."
"You guys look like you were in a fight with a Blast-Ended-Skrewt," Harry told them. The four boys looked at him blankly.
"What's a Blast-Ended-Skrewt?" Sirius asked.
"Never mind," Harry said, shaking his head.
"I'm not sure I can help you research today," Remus grumbled. Harry suddenly noticed how pale and tired Lupin looked. Realization dawned on Harry; last night must have been a full moon, so Lupin must have transformed.
"That's fine. I was kicked out of the library anyway," Harry said darkly.
"Did you spend the whole night there?" Peter asked.
"Yes," Harry said moodily.
"You spent the whole night in the library?" Sirius said incredulously. "You certainly are wild," Sirius teased; Harry glared at him.
"Yep, I do all sorts of wild things like sneak in to the library," Harry said dully. Surprised, Harry realized the first time he sneaked out at night was to go to the library and research Nicholas Flamel. Sighing, Harry grabbed some sausage and began to eat.
"What were you doing in the library?" James asked incredulously.
"Reading," Harry said slowly as if James might be stupid.
"I think you've spent too much time with Remus and Lily. You need to come play some Quidditch with us after breakfast," James announced.
"I don't have a broom," Harry protested.
"You can borrow a school broom; they even have a Silver Arrow," James said proudly.
"A Silver Arrow?" Harry said, not sure how to react.
Luckily James didn't pay much attention to his response, "I know they're a couple of years old, but the Silver Arrow's are really nice," James said.
"I don't know. . . they're fast, but they don't have much maneuverability," Sirius countered.
Harry interrupted their debate, "but I haven't played in about two years."
"Well now that your ogre parents aren't preventing you from playing, you'll be able to play just about every week," James declared. Sirius bit back a laugh and began choking. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing," Sirius replied grinning. Eating the rest of his breakfast in silence, Harry thought about Quidditch. It seemed like it had been a life time since he had played Quidditch. Nervous that he would make a fool of himself in front of his father, Harry tried to remember the last time he flew a broom. It had been against Slytherin and Ron had done horrible. Harry rubbed his left arm, that match seemed like a lifetime ago.
"Let's go," James said. The five boys got up and began to get ready to fly.
0000000
Gripping his Silver Arrow, Harry kicked off the ground. Immediately, Harry relaxed. This was flying; the only thing in the wizarding world that seemed to come to him naturally. Harry flew a in a couple of circles to get the feel of his broom.
James and Wormtail were on a team against Harry and Sirius. James and Sirius had wanted to be on a team together, but by mutual agreement they decided it would be unfair to have the two assumed worst players on the same team. Remus was down below watching them. The rules were simple. They were playing without bludgers and only one Quaffle. All four players acted as both chasers and seekers. They could all score with the Quaffle and catch the Snitch. Everything else was the same.
Remus threw the Quaffle into the air; James caught it and the game began. Sirius began to chase after James and Harry kept close to Wormtail. James took careful aim and scored within the first ten seconds of the game. Racing after the Quaffle, Sirius grabbed it and tossed it to Harry who managed to catch it, awkwardly. His broom was slower and less responsive than he was used to, but he was slowly adjusting to the older broom. James raced up next to Harry and tried to grab the Quaffle, but Harry went in to a short dive and avoided James. The Silver Arrow didn't pull out as fast as Harry thought it would and Harry ended up closer to the ground than he had planed. Harry threw the Quaffle back to Sirius and Sirius managed to score, after dodging Peter.
After about an hour they still hadn't caught the snitch and James was winning by about seventy points, Peter had only made one goal. Harry decided that finding the snitch was his only hope. So after throwing the Quaffle to Sirius, which was intercepted by James, Harry began to seriously search for the snitch. After only five minutes Harry saw a glint of gold fifty feet beneath James. Sirius was distracting James, trying to steal the Quaffle, so Harry dived for the snitch.
Peter gasped and pointed at Harry. James and Sirius were so busy with the Quaffle neither of them noticed. Peter followed Harry toward the snitch. Harry was flat against his broom speeding toward the snitch. When Harry sped directly beneath James and Sirius they looked down and noticed the chase. The snitch suddenly jerked to the left; Harry followed without hesitation. At neck break pace the snitch plummeted downward, followed closely by Harry. In a near freefall Harry was catching up to the snitch.
"Pull out of the dive, your going to crash," James yelled. Peter, Sirius, and Remus all stared disbelievingly at Harry. Ten feet above the ground Harry reached out and grabbed the snitch. Pulling back as hard as he could, he started to pull out of the dive. His feet hit the ground just as the broom became parallel with the ground. Slowing to a stop, Harry stood up and held the snitch up in his left hand.
The four boys crowded around Harry, amazed.
"That was bloody brilliant. The way you came out of that dive!" James let out a low whistled in amazement.
"I've never seen flying like that," Sirius said astounded.
"Where did you learn to fly like that?" Peter wanted to know.
"Did your parents teach you that? You could have been killed," Remus exclaimed.
"So, you, er, think I'm an alright flyer?" Harry asked James nervously.
"You're bloody brilliant! You really haven't played Quidditch in about two years?" James said in disbelief. Smiling widely, Harry thought this was the best feeling in the world. His father, an excellent Quidditch player, thought he was a good player. Elevated with happiness Harry couldn't stop smiling.
"You ought to try out for the Quidditch team. We already have a seeker, but he isn't nearly as good as you are," James told Harry. "With flying abilities like that you could become a professional Quidditch player. Why haven't you been playing for the past couple of years?"
"Er, well, I've just had other, er, more important things to do," Harry mumbled, still very pleased with himself.
"Like what? What's more important than Quidditch?" James questioned disbelievingly.
"I've just been busy," Harry said evasively. Pushing thoughts of Voldemort out of his mind Harry tried to concentrate on how happy he felt. His dad thought he was good at Quidditch.
"Didn't you say you were grounded from Quidditch for a year?" Sirius asked with mischief in his eyes.
"That was complicated," Harry said quickly.
"Your parents grounded you from Quidditch for a year!" James exclaimed indignantly.
"Er, well," Harry didn't know what to say. Umbridge had expelled him from Quidditch, which was kind of like being grounded.
"Your parents must be absolutely horrible," James said vehemently. Harry's began to feel sick to his stomach. Pushing his fringe over his scar Harry began to count to ten.
"They must be just terrible," Sirius pretended to sympathized with Harry. Remus and Sirius looked deeply amused by the situation. Gulping, Harry nodded, even as he could feel vile in the back of his throat.
"What other kind of ways have they punished you? And what did you do to get grounded from Quidditch?" James asked still in shook that somebody's parents could be so harsh.
"I got in a fistfight with another kid." I did attack Malfoy, Harry remembered. "And as for other punishments, well I was locked in a cupboard for a couple of months for doing accidental magic," (the snake he let lose on Dudley) "er, they, um locked me in my room for a while. Put bars on my window and a catflap in my door in order to feed me, er,--" Harry broke off and shook his head. What the Dursley's did to him normally didn't bother him, but after talking with his parent and knowing the life he might have had, staying with the Dursley's seemed worse.
"They put bars on your windows and fed you through a catflap? Why?" James asked horrified. Sirius was still trying to hide his amusement, but Remus was torn between thinking it was a joke and thinking there was truth behind his statements. Peter stood there shocked.
"Er, they thought I dropped a cake on my, er, father's friend's head, it was actually a house elf who did it, but they didn't believe me," Harry said quietly.
"That's awful," Peter exclaimed.
"Whatever, if doesn't mater," Harry declared quietly. Surviving much worse things than that, Harry knew that had hardly been the worst part of his life.
"Your parent must be truly horrendous people," Sirius said as solemnly as he could. Harry couldn't bring himself to nod. Both Lily and James were good people; they would never have locked him in a cupboard or told him that he was a freak.
"They must have been real monsters," Peter said, trying to sympathize with Harry. How dare Wormtail say anything bad about his parents, Harry thought. His mind blazed with anger. Everything was Wormtail's fault. Harry thought he was about to explode. His parents were great people. Harry's insides were withering in furry.
"Harry are you alright?" Remus asked.
Harry opened his mouth to say 'yes' but that's not what came out, "DON"T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MY PARENTS," Harry yelled. The four boys were taken aback. "My parents were good people; they've done everything they can for me. You don't have any right to talk about them like that," Harry spat out furiously.
Spinning on his heel, Harry strode away from the group, leaving the Marauders bewildered by Harry's outburst.
MORE AUTHOR NOTES: The dream will be explained in later chapters; I didn't forget about it. Please review. I'll give you a big hug.