Quidditch Tryouts of a Future Animagus
"Good luck, Jamie!" Sirius yelled across the Great Hall.
"Don't call me that. Only certain people can call me that name." James shouted back.
He shouldered his Cleansweep 5 and left for the Quidditch pitch while he heard an, "Sure thing, Jamie!" Sirius could be very Siriusly Sirius sometimes. He chuckled at the overused pun.
"What are you laughing at, Potter?"
James jumped and saw Prewett following him, also carrying her broom. Her blond curls were tied back in a ponytail with one stray curl falling out from behind her ear. She looked cute in a sweet, tiny girl way.
"Nothing. Are you going out for the Quidditch team?" He asked.
"Nope, I was just going to sweep the floor with an amazing racing broom." Prewett's attempt at sarcasm failed. It was impossible with a face like Prewett's to pull off anything like that. With her bright blue eyes and ever-cheerful, round face, the effect was quite the opposite.
"Really think you can beat Alexandra Hopkirk?"
"Really think you can get off the ground when your head is full of sawdust?" Evans appeared behind her best friend. Unlike Prewett, Evans had the sarcasm and cynicism down to the twitch of her mouth. James shuddered. He had hoped to not set off her temper this early in the morning, but his luck was pretty bad today.
"Are you talking to me or the mirror?"
Evans's lip curled slightly. "Not even a mirror is that stupid, Potter."
James drew himself up to his full height, which didn't help much since he and Evans were almost the same height. "I think you'll change your mind when you see how well I play."
With that, he turned and headed towards the Quidditch pitch, but not before he heard Evans mutter, "The day he joins the team will be a very sad day indeed."
Alice POV
"Okay, people, you're going to split into groups and fly around the pitch once just to separate the flyers from the non-flyers." Riley called out to all of the people wandering around.
Alice could barely keep her hands from shaking when she saw Riley calmly explaining to a first year with no broomstick the rule of no first years. The first year walked away dejected.
Alice noticed that Potter was casually chatting it up with Alexandra Hopkirk who just giggled at the bigheaded second year. Alice shook her head. The only person who had ever been able to banter effortlessly with Potter was Lily. She almost had to smile at those two. They would end up married one day, Alice was positive about that.
Alice was divided into her group comprising of Potter, two third years, and four fifth years including Zach Ryans. The third year boy crashed halfway around the pitch, and his friend didn't fare much better.
For all five groups the only people who could fly better than Alice were Mark Woods, the new Head Boy, the four veterans from last year, Zach Ryans, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Harper Johnson, and Alexandra Hopkirk, along with a fifth year named Sophie Dankers and James Potter. Alice was surprised at Potter's flying ability. She hadn't seen him fly much during the flying lessons first year because Madam Hooch had asked Alice and Lily to escort an unfortunate Geoffrey Fudge to the Hospital Wing, so she was expecting Potter to be all talk. He was arguable one of the strongest flyers, tied with Riley Wallows and Mark Wood, and he was only a second year.
Riley had eliminated most of the people and split them into groups based on the desired positions. The Chasers consisted of Potter, Ryans, Sophie Dankers, and a short and burly fifth year. Kingsley and Johnson were already the Beaters due to the fact the other people who had tried out usually missed the Bludgers over eighty percent of the time.
Alice twirled her broomstick in the air. The only Seekers who had made it to this stage in the tryouts were herself, Alexandra, and a seventh year she recognized as last year's reserve.
Alice took a deep breath as Riley called the forward the Seekers.
I can do this.
Lily POV
Alice rocked back and forth on the edge of the couch, muttering under her breath, "Jack…three catches so… Alexandra…advantage of…but she did… good tryout…" She kept glancing up to the staircase as if waiting for Riley to come down and post the tryout results on the notice board in exactly a second.
"Relax, Ali," Lily put her hand on her best friend's shoulder, trying to calm her down to the point of using her nickname, "You're a great flier and Quidditch player no matter what Riley Wallows decides."
Alice's lips twitched. "Yeah, but I want to play on the team, Lils."
The stairs creaked, and Alice shot of the couch as if electrocuted. Riley padded down the stairs dressed in her bathrobe like she had spent the entire night deciding on the new team. She smiled kindly at them. "Great tryout, Alice, really excellent for a second year. Alexandra got the Seeker spot, but I was wondering if you were willing to be the reserve?"
Alice's smile was guarded, but she accepted the position of reserve and the defeat gracefully.
Lily scanned the list.
Keeper: Mark Wood
Beaters: Kingsley Shacklebolt, Harper Johnson
Seeker: Alexandra Hopkirk
Chasers: Riley Wallows, Zach Ryans-
At the last name, Lily rubbed her eyes, sure that she was reading the name correctly. Surely…surely he had just been talking and bragging about something he actually had little talent of. Her new favorite sport to watch was Quidditch. If she had to see him every time, it must have been a sick joke Riley Wallows had cooked up. Nobody in their right mind would make him Chaser, but there was no mistaking the last name.
James Potter.
James POV
"So Remus, we, meaning me, Sirius, and Pete, have been thinking." James said. He had been trying to find the best way to approach telling Remus their idea to help on full moons. The big question was how would Remus react to it. Sure, he would say it was dangerous, but it might help him. Anything was worth it to help ease the terrible monthly problems their friend had to face.
Remus raised an eyebrow. "About what?"
"Well," James started while biting his lip, "During the full moon werewolves are only a danger to humans." He paused after that sentence, wondering how on earth they would convince Remus to go through with this crazy idea.
"Yes?"
"But not to animals," he finished lamely.
Remus gave a nervous laugh. "Sorry? What do you plan to do about that? Conjure a little birdie for me to curl up with?"
James glanced at Sirius with a clear question: How do we ask him?
James regretted it the moment he asked it. Sometimes it slipped his mind of exactly how blunt Sirius could be.
"We would become the animals meaning we learn how to become animagi."
"No," Remus said, his voice firm. "First: It's illegal for underage wizards to become an animagus-"
"Right," snorted Sirius, "Because it's the first time we've ever broken the rules."
"But it's the law! This isn't just some silly school rule. Do you know the punishment- Azkaban! If you think I'm going to let my only friends risk that hellhole then you're sadly mistaken. Plus, it's extremely difficult! Only seven animagi have been registered this entire century."
"Are you kidding, Remus? I'm one of the best Chasers this year, and I'm top in the class in Transfiguration with Sirius right behind me." James yelled.
Remus just stared at James as if he had never seen anything like him. "I highly doubt a twelve-year-old could pull off being an unregistered animagus. I'm sorry, James, but sometimes talent will take you only so far. None of you are old enough."
"Look, we'll just research past animagus transformations. We'll look at the processes you have to go through. If it turns out to be too difficult, then we'll stop, and we will only attempt it if we are absolutely, positively sure that we can succeed." James said in the best deal-making voice he could use.
"No, I'm not risking my friends getting into Azkaban just to help with a little bit of monthly suffering."
Sirius cut in. "We weren't asking for your permission, Remus. We were just letting you know. We're doing this with or without your consent. That's what friends do."
Remus looked hopelessly at Sirius, and James knew that Remus knew there was no use trying to get Sirius to back down.
He threw up his hands in defeat. "Fine, try to explain to the Wizengamot why you're stuck as a half-puppy for the rest of your life."
Sirius grinned in the way only Sirius could grin. "You really have that much doubt in out abilities?"
Remus rolled his eyes. "You should know that this isn't transfiguring a match into a needle. Seriously."
"I'm always Sirius."