Days in Avalon Chapter Eleven: Waiting For a Star to Fall
The following week had been uneventful as usual in the month of November. Students were once again suffering under mountains of homework, but were grateful for the slight break they received on Halloween. As for four troublesome Gryffindors they couldn't get over what they had experienced just the week before. In all their years of misdemeanor offensives, they never thought that they could get away with something this illegal. Sure the thought of what could happen if they got caught had crossed their minds once or twice. But more importantly, one idea kept popping into their heads more often then getting caught though. What could they do next month when their friend had to go through his monthly transformation?
That Saturday afternoon after lunch, the Marauders went back up to the common room to continue planning for their next adventure. What they hadn't noticed though was that a group of girls had been up at the common room meeting for a study group at the same time. Naturally the James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter paid no attention to such things and went on with their tactical planning. As for the girls, they could help but wonder what had caused such a change in the pranksters.
"What's up with them?" whispered Karen to Andy. Andy had asked Karen for help in understanding this one rather difficult plant for Herbology. Karen was more than willing to help since she too was going to ask her for help in Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"Don't really know. They all have been acting a little weird ever since last week," remarked Andy as she flipped through her large Herbology book and notes.
"Everything they do is weird," chimed Lily as she wrote a letter to her family.
"Weirder than usual," said Andy as she cast a look over at the Marauders.
"What do you mean?" inquired Felicia as she finished off her Astronomy chart.
"They're always planning," said Andy as she scrunched up her face in disbelief.
"What else is knew," replied Kelly as she scanned her Potions notes for something.
"It's the way they're acting. They usually don't care if someone sees them conspiring. But now…" said Andy lazily as she cast another look at the group. They were now hunched over a table whispering and ever now and then one would look around the common room to see if anyone was listening in on them.
"They won't even show or tell me what they're doing," continued Andy feeling a little left out. "Whatever it is, it must be either really great or really dangerous."
"Ten gallons says it dangerous," said Lily, not lifting her eyes off her parchment. A few moments later, they four boys quickly got up from the table and made their way up the stairs to their dorm room. As they past they girls, they overheard one of them call the other by the name 'Moony' and the other 'Prongs' before they disappeared up the stairs.
"There they go again," sighed Andy as she returned to her book.
"What's up with the nicknames," inquired Kelly.
"I have not clue. I heard them call each other names like 'Prongs' and 'Moony' and 'Padfoot' and 'Wormtail'," said Andy. She couldn't help wonder why they called each other those names. She also couldn't help but feel a little depressed that they didn't include her. Sure she didn't always hang out with them. But she did like the feeling of being one of the guys. She never really got into all those girly things like some of her other friends did, but occasionally she did like to get a little glamorous.
As the afternoon passed by, the girls continued with their studies while occasionally hearing loud outbursts coming from the boys' dormitory. After studying for nearing two hours, Andy and Karen finally closed their books and sat back in their chairs. By this time now Lily was engrossed in her new book that she just got out of the library, while Kelly was proof reading her Potions essay. Felicia on the other hand was far from finishing her homework. If someone happened to pass by, they would presume that she was contemplating her next sentence for her essay. But on closer observation, Andy could see this glazed and dreamy look in her eyes like she was off in her own personal world. And from the looks of it she wasn't alone in that world either.
"What's up with the daydreaming princess?" Andy asked to Karen as she stretched her arms over her head.
"Don't really know," was her response as she put some of her books back into her bag.
"She's been doing that for awhile now. I noticed it at the beginning of the year," said Lily as she glanced up from her book.
"Ah, don't bother her. She's just dreaming about him again," said Kelly offhandedly as she continued to read her essay. The moment the words fell from her mouth, Kelly immediately regretted saying them. 'Ahh crap!'
Lily, Andy, and Karen immediately stopped what they were doing and stared at Kelly, fully intrigued as to what or rather to whom she was talking about.
"Excuse me?" said Andy with a raised eyebrow. Even though she would never admit it to herself, one of the girly things she definitely liked to hear was school gossip. Of course she would never spread it around the school or start up a rumor for the pure enjoyment of it. Same went for the other four girls.
"What about 'him'? Who is he?" asked Karen getting a little bit excited to hear something new.
"Come on, gals. Now let's not start," said Lily who thought it best not to snoop around their friend's fancy, even though a really strong part of her wanted to know just as bad as the others.
"Oh hush up Lil. How often does one of us keep something from the other? Besides where is you sense of adventure, little miss prefect," mocked Andy just to spite her.
"Come on Kel, tell us who it is!" said Karen gleefully.
"Are you guys talking about me?" spat Felicia as she came out of her daydream.
"No," said Andy in an innocent tone with an impish smirk.
"YES!" said Lily as a sort of payback for Andy's tease. Andy quickly glared at Lily before she met Felicia's judgmental eyes.
"So what if I am? At least I'm not talking to Patricia the gossip queen of Hogwarts! I'm just talking to my bud Kel here," replied Andy smoothly.
"What did you say?" said Felicia to Kelly in a harsh tone.
"She didn't really say anything. Just that you liked a guy," said Karen highly amused at her friend's reaction. Felicia glared at Kelly who was now completely avoiding her gaze while turning a shade of magenta.
"Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm not saying anything!" said Felicia with authority.
"Sure. Fine. Don't say a word," said Andy as if she were going to drop the subject. Felicia smirked at the thought of finally being able to avoid her friend's interrogation.
"But that doesn't mean that we can't guess," finished Andy while she and Karen turned their attention back to Kelly. Kelly began to feel a little hot under the collar. Even after all these years of friendship, Kelly had never really quite mastered the art of avoiding an interrogation that sprang up out of nowhere.
"Now let's see…is he older," said Andy. Felicia sat back in her chair and scoffed at the idea that Andy had said. She had confidence in her friend that she would keep her secret.
"That's a 'no'," chimed Karen. "Is he younger?" Kelly tried to avoid their stare by looking up at the ceiling and twirling her hair subconsciously.
"Another 'no'" said Andy. "So he's in our year?"
"I'm not saying anything," chuckled Kelly as if the whole idea was preposterous.
"Ahh…so he is in our year. That's very interesting," said Karen as she sat back in her chair and folded her hands together.
"Okay now for the house," said Andy getting a little bit excited at being closer to figuring out who this guy is.
"Count off Slytherin," said Karen quickly.
"Yeah, and Ravenclaw is to smart for her," said Andy stroking her chin while in thought. "So that leaves either Hufflepuff or Gryffindor."
"Is it Amos's brother?" said Karen quickly.
"Nah, not her type. What about Carlin?" replied Andy to which Karen shook her head.
"Chris? No, he's going out with Missy," said Karen.
"Hey, what about Aramis?" said Andy.
"He's not from Hu..." said Kelly quickly who couldn't take there guessing anymore.
"KELLY!" screamed Felicia in outrage.
"So he's a Gryffindor from our year," said Andy with a smirk, pleased to know that they were finally getting somewhere. "Is it Mike?"
"What about Orion?" said Karen. Andy shook her head in response.
"Paul?" piped up Lily who couldn't help but get involved now.
"I thought you weren't getting involved," said Andy with a raised eyebrow.
"What can I say? I've been around you lot for too long," said Lily with an impish grin. Andy and Karen returned the same grin knowing now that they would crack the mystery. "Right now let's think. She started acting weird around what, the end of September? Beginning of October?"
"Right, her and Kel were going to the Quidditch practices," said Karen getting caught up in the moment.
"That's right!" said Andy lost in the moment until reality dawned on her. "Wait…the only people on the team who are fifth years are me, Jay, and Blackie."
"Oh, my urgh," grunted Lily at thought that formed in her mind. "Please tell me it isn't Potter."
"It isn't," said Kelly meekly as she glanced over at Andy.
"So if it isn't James then it's…" stated Andy until the truth hit her like a ton of bricks.
"Oh Merlin!" whispered Andy as her delighted smirk with replaced with a look of disgust and repulsion.
"Andy are you okay?" said Lily.
"I think I'm going to be sick," moaned Andy as she placed her head on the table.
"You've got to be kidding me!" scoffed Karen in disbelief, as she looked at Felicia square in the eyes. Felicia, not being able to with stand her friends' gazes, bowed her head a bit and stood up from the table to stretch her legs. Lily and Karen gave each other a look of disbelief. They couldn't fathom what was going on in their friend's mind. For years they have waged a war against the illusive quartet, but never in their wildest dreams did they ever picture one of them liking a Marauder again.
"How could you Felicia? After everything he's done?" stated Andy still trying to digest what she had just heard.
"I know! Alright? But I just can't help the way I feel," said Felicia at a lost for words.
"But…HIM! I mean I could understand Remus or James or heck even Amos Diggory. But him? Sirius 'I'm-so-great-everyone-should-bow-down-and-kiss-my-feet' Black!" roared Andy as a wave of rage started to form.
"He really isn't all that bad," said Felicia meekly, hoping that this would cool things down a bit.
"Not that bad? Wh- H- have you lost your ever loving mind?" stuttered Andy as she shot out of her chair. "What about all those nasty little things he's done to you? Too all of us? Weren't you the one who always complained about him more than me?"
"Andy calm down," said Kelly as she tried to coax her into taking a seat.
"He's different now. He's older," pleaded Felicia, trying to make her friends see what she saw.
"He's still an immature prat!" howled Andy as if it were obvious.
"He is not!" spat Felicia without even thing.
"PLEASE! He was shooting peas out of his nose at dinner last night!" screeched Andy.
"Felicia, why would you think that he's different now?" said Lily trying to rationalize with her friend and at the same time trying to understand where she was coming from and to give Andy time to calm down a bit.
"I don't know why, Lil. I just do," said Felicia in defeat. "But if any of you speak one word of this to anyone, especially to him, I'll hex you into the middle of next week." Felicia added in a threatening tone as she pointed her finger at the group; particularly toward Andy's direction.
"Like I would even tell him anything," spat Andy sarcastically. "Unlike some people, I try to avoid him at all cost."
"Come on, Star," said Kelly. "Just let her be. So she likes him. Big deal! It's not like she's asking you too."
"Whatever," said Andy as she rolled her eyes. She glanced over at the clock and noticed that it was now a little half past three.
"Look, I got to go. Braden wants to have another practice before the next match," sighed Andy as she gathered her things and got up from the table. "See ya later." With that she headed out of Gryffindor tower eager to get away from a person she once considered a best friend.
"Well that was a little rude," said Felicia as she brushed some of her hair out of her face. She retook her seat at the table and took a few calming breaths.
"What did you expect? Her to welcome the idea with open arms?" spat Karen. "You know she hates him beyond anything else is this world. Of course she's not going to be too please to hear one of her best friends telling her that she has the hots for him. Heck I still can't comprehend what you see in him."
"Well she didn't have to blow up like that," retorted Felicia.
"Felicia, how long have you know Andy?" said Lily. "You know how she gets at times. One minute she's fine and the next…kaboom! Enter over exuberant Miranda."
"Yes but still," said Felicia.
"Felicia, I told you that she would blow up like that," said Kelly.
"I still don't understand why she always has to be so closed minded when it comes to Sirius," sighed Felicia.
"I can't believe what I'm hearing," Karen said under her breath.
"Felicia, you know how she feels about Black. I mean after what he did to her. Humiliating her like that in front of the entire school for know apparent reason what so ever. Other than the fact that he thought it would be funny. Of course there is going to be bad blood between them. I mean I don't blame her and neither did you at one point. In fact if I recall correctly, you were rather pleased when she punched his lights out in the middle of the common room."
Felicia slightly snorted in amusement at the memory and folded her arms across her chest. She knew where Lily was getting at and knew that she was right.
"Just give her a little bit of time. She'll calm down eventually and try to come to terms with the way you feel," said Lily as wrapped a comforting arm around Felicia's shoulders. "She always does in time."
"If you say so," sighed Felicia. With that Felicia got up from her chair and headed towards her room to clear her head.
"Wow, I still can't believe it. Her and Black?" said Karen.
"It's not like they're going out or anything. She just likes him. He doesn't even know. Besides this is Felicia we're talking about. You know she has at least three crushes a year. It's just a phase. It'll pass," said Kelly as she cleared some of her things away.
"Maybe," said Lily thoughtfully. "Listen Kel, why don't you go check on her in a little bit. Make sure she's okay and everything."
"Sure, not a problem," replied Kelly as Lily stood up from the table. "Where are you off too?"
"You going to check on Andy?" said Karen.
"Yeah, I'll talk to her after the team practice. See you gals later," said Lily as she made her way through porthole.
It would be at least another hour or two before the team finished their practice in the Quidditch pit. In the mean time, Lily made her to the Owlery to send her letter to her parents and then proceeded to walk to the library to do some reading.
"All right team, that was a great practice," said Braden brightly as everyone landed safely on the ground slightly out of breath.
"Great practice? That was bloody exhausting!" whispered Larry to Bill and James. Wood gave Larry a quick glare before he told the team to hit the showers.
"Hey Andy, can you do me a favor and put the box away?" said Braden when the team left for the locker rooms.
"I suppose," said Andy a little disappointed that she couldn't go right off and take a nice long bath after the grueling practice.
"Great! Thank you so much," beamed Braden as he ran off toward the locker room.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," mumbled Andy as she went over to take the Quidditch set over to the shed. When she returned to the field she discovered her best friend heading straight towards her.
"Hello," said Lily with a weak smile not knowing how Andy would react. Andy knew right off the bat why Lily had come to the Quidditch pit, and she really didn't want to talk about what had happened earlier that afternoon. She simply nodded at Lily, picked up her broom and the extra whistle she forgot to put away, and proceeded to head back toward the shed.
"Come on Andy. It's not the end of the world," said Lily, hoping to lighten up the mood a bit. Andy stopped dead in her tracks and spun around to look at Lily.
"Well how would you feel if one of your best friends liked someone you hated more than anything in this world?" spat Andy. Lily raised an eyebrow at her best mate's remark and gave her a knowing look. The moment Andy realized what she had said, she hung her head in regret. 'Of course she would know. I did the same thing to her back in third year,' said a voice in Andy's head.
"Talk about getting a taste of your own medicine, huh?" said Andy as she shook her head.
"Not all that pleasing, huh?" said Lily with a slight chuckle.
"How can you lot even stand me half the time," said Andy as she rolled her eyes.
"It's difficult. But we manage," replied Lily as she came up to her friend and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.
"God, I'm such a hypocrite!" said Andy in disgust.
"You are not," stated Lily. Andy sneered at the remark and gave Lily a look that stated 'yeah right'.
"Okay you can be at times, but that's just the way you are. We are all like that. It's what makes us human," said Lily.
"Well thank you Professor Dumbledore," said Andy jokingly as she continued her journey back to the Quidditch shed to put away the whistle. Lily couldn't help but giggle at the remark as followed Andy.
"All I'm saying is just give Felicia a chance. I mean come on, you know this whole thing won't last too long," said Lily.
"Yeah that is true," said Andy as they reached the shed. "Hmmm…that's strange," she said when she opened the door.
"What?" said Lily as she peered in to see what was so odd.
"The box is missing. I put it here before I ran into you," said Andy as she looked around to see if she had been mistaken. Lily too looked around as well, until she noticed something in the air between two boys on broomsticks.
"Uh Andy," said Lily as she tapped her shoulder.
"What?" replied Andy. She had nearly pulled off every item that was on the shelves of the shed trying to find the blasted thing.
"I think I found the box," chuckled Lily at her friend's displacement.
"Where?" said Andy quickly franticly turned her head every which way until she saw what Lily was looking at. Flying through the air was none other than the Marauders, heading off towards the mountains, carrying the Quidditch box.
"Apparently someone else decided to play a little more," said Lily with a hint of sarcasm in her voice
"Those little rats," said Andy a little miffed. "If they loose one of those balls, Braden and McGonagall are going to have my head."
"Where do you think they are off too?" asked Lily.
"Don't know. Probably to some nearby clearing on the other side of the lake," sighed Andy as she bent down to pick up her broom. She stared to mount it when Lily shot her a warning look.
"Andy, I don't think this is such a good idea," voiced Lily.
'What? Would you rather go after them on this?" said Andy as she cocked an eyebrow.
"Ahh well…" stuttered Lily who was absolutely terrified of flying on a 'little piece of wood and twigs' as she put it.
"I didn't think so," said Andy as she mounted her broom and hovered over next to Lily. "Besides, what's going to happen, huh?"
Lily tried to come up with some reasonable excuse that would convince Andy, but to no avail.
"I'll let you have the next one," called out Andy as she flew off to follow the boys.
"Alright boys. Welcome to Extreme Quidditch," said James trying to sound like some sort of sports announcer.
"The game is simple. All the old Quidditch rules apply, except now it isn't illegal to knock someone off their broom. First team to reach 100 points wins. Padfoot and Wormtail are one team, while Moony and I are another. Everyone savvy?" said James with a smirk. Everyone quietly nodded before they mounted their brooms.
During one of his many trips flying around the grounds, James had stumbled across this great rock quarry located near the mountains. It was full of sharp turns and deep caves that were great for hiding. But what was really unique, were the two oddly shaped rock sculptures that resembled the hoops on the pit, each at the opposite end of the quarry. Sirius had come up with the idea of the game last year during one of the many detentions he served with Filtch, while Remus and Peter came up with the new rules.
After mounting their brooms and kicking off, James opened up the Quidditch box to let out one bludger and the Quaffle. He didn't really feel like let the Snitch out since her had just spent the last hour and half chasing after it. Once he was in the air, he used the levitation charm to ascend the Quaffle out of the box. Once ever one was in place, James released the spell on the Quaffle causing the soccer size ball to drop, and beginning the game. Peter and James played the part of keeper and beater, while Remus and Sirius played the part of chasers for each respected team.
Sirius and Remus quickly dove at the Quaffle once the spell had been taken off it. Sirius was the first to grab it and pelted off toward the other end of the 'field' where James was waiting. When he was in range, Sirius chucked the ball at the natural hoop, but was diverted back to him when James used beater bat to send it back.
Remus snuck up behind Sirius and 'playfully' nudged him in the shoulder, causing him to slightly roll off his broom. Remus in the mean time, instantly grabbed the Quaffle and made his way down the other end of the 'field'. When he came face to face with Peter, he faked him out by turning right instead of left, and scored the first point of the game.
After playing for about twenty minutes or so, the score was now 40-30 in favor of James and Remus's team. But none of the Marauders really cared for score, since they were having such a great time diving and twisting in and out of sharp turns while trying to avoid the Bludger they had set free.
At this point of the game Sirius had reclaimed the Quaffle once more and made his way down the field toward James. When he was half way there, the Bludger nicked Sirius in the arm causing him to drop the Quaffle. He dove after it with Remus at his heels. As the reached the floor of the quarry, they saw the bright red ball roll into a nearby cave that was pitch black.
"Lumos," said Remus and Sirius at the same time as they flew into the cave with their lit wands guiding them. They search high and low for the darn thing but they couldn't find it anywhere.
"Where is it, Padfoot?" called James at the entrance of the cave.
"I don't know! We can't find it anywhere," called back Sirius.
"Looking for this," said a voice from above Sirius that nearly scared him half to death. As he looked above him, he saw the outline of person sitting on little ledge. Suddenly a bright light lit emerged from the tip of Andy's wand lighting up the ceiling of the cave. She sat on the edge of a very sharp wall with her broom next to her and the lost Quaffle in her hand.
"Sparky? What the…how the hell did you get here?" stuttered Sirius. Andy simply glared at him as she got on her broom again and flew out of the cave with the Quaffle. Remus and Sirius followed after her and joined Peter and James who were surprised to see the blond haired witch there.
"Andy what are you doing here?" said James at a lost.
"Well it seems that someone has taken the school's Quidditch set that I clearly remember putting in the shed after practice," stated Andy as she began her little speech. "So I went out in search for it and low and behold, I find that none other than the Marauders have it. Now I know I must be mistaken, because none of them would ever do such a thing, since it would be my hide on the line."
Peter began to turn four shades of red as his hands began to fidget, while Remus seemed to take keen interest at a rock that was near his foot. Sirius chuckled slightly at Andy's little performance of trying to make them feel bad, while James ran his hand through his already windblown hair.
"Look, Star. We're sorry, okay. We were going to bring everything back," said James.
"That's not the point, Jay. The point is you shouldn't have taken it in the first place. You know what McGonagall would do if she found out that someone on the team had stolen the set and lost one of the balls. They wouldn't be able to see sunlight until the end of the year," said Andy hotly.
"Would you quit being so melodramatic," said Sirius.
"Shut up, Blackie. I wasn't talking to you," roared Andy.
"Hey, lay off him, alright. And besides since when do you care what McGonagall thinks? I thought you were one of us?" said James.
"One of us'? Is that what I am? Hmm…gee that's funny. It sure hasn't seemed that way since what ever you lot did last weekend. You guys haven't said practically two words to me for a week!" shouted Andy.
"Well why would we with you acting like a girl and all," spat James.
"Hey Jay? If you haven't noticed, I AM A GIRL!" roared Andy. "I can't believe you actually said that. You sound just like this loser over here," she added as she motioned over to where Sirius was.
"Hey why doesn't everyone just take a deep breath here and calm down," said Remus trying to play the roll of peacemaker.
"Yeah before she starts to cry or something," said James under his breath. Andy stood there in complete and utter shock as well as the rest of Marauders. A remark like that they expected to come out of someone like Sirius, but James?
"You…little…git" snarled Andy as she took a hostile step toward James's direction, before Remus held her back.
"Okay, I think that's enough talk for one day," said Remus as he tried to restrain Andy a bit.
"Oh what's a matter Rem? You afraid that I'm going to kick the little jerk's arse?" growled Andy.
"Like that's even possible," said James smugly.
"Oh what? You don't think I'm capable?" said Andy.
"No, I know you are. I just don't want you break a nail or anything," said James with a smirk.
"Oh don't worry about me. You just name the time and place and I'll show you," said Andy.
"Fine! You want feel more included. All right then, we'll have a little race. The first one to catch the Snitch wins," said James.
"What's that going to prove?" said Andy not seeing where James was getting at.
"Come on, Andy. You want to feel more included, one of us, so why not do something that we do sometimes," said James.
"All right, fine. I'll go along with your little game," said Andy sweetly. She broke away from Remus's grip and walked over to where her broom was.
Once James and Andy were up in the air, they flew over to where the Quidditch box was placed. Sirius, Remus, and Peter followed closely behind and wondered what the heck was going on. Sure Andy and James had gotten into rows every now and then, but this came out of nowhere.
"Uhh…are you guys sure about this?" said Remus as he went over to the box.
"Just do it Moony," shouted James as he got into position.
"Yeah so I can prove to Potter here that this is ridiculous," said Andy as she got into position also.
"Okay, here it goes," said Remus as he opened the box and let out the Snitch.
The golden ball flew high into the air and stood between Andy and James for a moment before it pelted off down the quarry with James and Andy in it's wake. Both of them flew neck to neck as they chased after Snitch. They weaved in and out of dark caves and sharp turns as they all around the quarry trying to catch the tiny gold ball. A few times James was close to catching the darn thing had Andy not interfered and vice versa. At one point of the race, they flew nearly ninety feet into air and shot back down into the quarry along the edge of the quarry's wall. It was then that James's broom slightly clipped a large bolder causing it to slightly rock back and forth.
As they flew along the floor of the quarry, Andy's broom caught the edge of large rock causing her to loose control of her broom and skid to a halt on the floor. At that same moment, the Snitch shot up into the air once again with James closing in on it. Andy quickly got on her broom again and shot up after him willing her broom to move faster. As James threw himself into his broom, he closed the gap between him and Snitch with every passing second. Soon he was right on top of it and quickly grabbed it before it flew off into another direction.
"Ha! Simple little task. I win!" said James gleefully as he hovered at the spot where he caught the Snitch.
"JAMES LOOK OUT!" screamed Andy as she pointed to something behind him. When her turned around, he saw a large bolder falling along the wall of the quarry heading straight toward him.
"Explodere!" cried Andy as she pointed her wand at the bolder. A jet of pink light shot out from her wand and hit the bolder blasting it into a million tiny pieces. But with the reverberation of the rock exploding bouncing off the walls of the quarry, a huge rockslide started to fall upon everyone in the quarry.
Remus, Sirius, and Peter quickly jumped on their brooms and sped off toward the entrance of the quarry, while Andy and James flew in the same direction trying to avoid getting hit by on coming rocks. James and Andy pitch, rolled and swerved to avoid the falling objects. As they neared the exit, from out of nowhere, the bludger hit Andy in the side causing her to veer off course. She could see the clearing as she tried to steady the broom and steer it toward the exit. Suddenly when it looked like she was going to make it, she felt a hard blow to the back of her head and everything went black.
Disclaimer I own nothing except the characters I made up and this story plot. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Studios.