Chapter Thirty-Six: The Art of Losing

Sirius was on a mission…the man was hungry. Sure, he had only just eaten breakfast less than an hour ago, but damn it all, he was still hungry. The food trolley witch spent the beginning of all of the journeys in the front of the train with the conductor, and that was where his mission was leading him.

"Hey, Black, long time no see." The soft female voice immediately pushed his mission onto the back burner…if only for the time being.

"I saw you two days ago, dearest sweetest love of my life," he said, flashing a smile as he turned to face Emmeline Vance.

"It's called sarcasm, dummy," Emmeline said, rolling her eyes. "Where are you off to?"

"I'm hungry," Sirius pouted as his stomach offered up a mighty growl to back him up. Emmeline giggled at him as she offered up a peck on the cheek and then told him that she would find him later.

Just like that, his mission was first priority again.

Fifteen minutes later, Sirius returned to his friends as he finished off what had been an arm full of Cauldron Cakes. As the door to their compartment closed behind him, he pulled a chocolate frog out of his robes pocket and tossed it to Lily. "Here, Lils," he said as he did so. "I know you love those."

"Thanks, Sirius," she said, closing her novel and unwrapping the frog.

"What? Nothing for me?" James asked, looking slightly hurt. "How come Lily gets something?"

"Because I like her more than you," Sirius said simply, taking his seat.

"That hurts."

Any further discussions of Sirius' allegedly hurtful comments were cut off by the arrival of Remus. Lily, James and Sirius all looked at him expectantly. "He's not coming back," Remus said, looking extremely put out. "Pete's not coming back."

"What?!" all three exclaimed at once.

"I just spoke to Nancy," Remus began. "She got a letter from him yesterday…he's not coming back to school after what happened with Hogsmeade. He wrote to her to suggest she see other people or something…"

"Why didn't he write us?" Sirius demanded angrily.

"Maybe he doesn't know how to tell us," James suggested. He looked beyond sad at the loss of his friend's presence.

It was Sirius who voiced what the others were thinking-even Lily-in a very dejected tone. "How can we be the Marauders without Pete?"

Silence engulfed the compartment…

---

Sirius fell backwards onto his bed with a heavy sigh. Remus sat atop Sirius' trunk facing the dark-haired boy. "It's so weird," Sirius commented, feeling the young werewolf's eyes studying him. "There were six of us in this dormitory in first year, and now it's down to just us two." He sat up so he could see Remus properly. "Between this whole evil war thing and James' Head Boy stuff…jeez."

"Yeah, it's going to be strange without Peter…I wonder what they're going to do about his diploma."

"I'm sure Dumbledore will authorize some sort of home schooling," Sirius said, flipping onto his stomach in order to reach under his bed. "Cocktail?"

Remus frowned for a moment. "I am a prefect, you know."

"Cocktail?" Sirius repeated, ignoring Remus' comment.

"Eh, what the hell…pour me an amaretto on the rocks."

Sirius chuckled. "'On the rocks…'" he repeated. "You've been around me too long, Moony."

"Yeah, I know," Remus said, taking his glass from his old friend. "Here's to Peter," he said, holding the glass up. "May he…return out latest letters."

"Cheers."

---

The end of spring break seemed to signal to the professors that their students deserved to be punished for the relaxation that they had taken part in for the week that they were not at school…or at least just the seventh and fifth years did. N.E.W.T.s and O.W.L.s were creeping up, so between study groups organized by Lily and Remus and Quidditch practices to train for the Final, James didn't even have enough time to eat a daily dinner. He was feeling thoroughly wiped out, which was apparent by the scrambled eggs that were stuck to his forehead when Lily woke him up one Friday morning in the Great Hall.

"Whahappen?!"

"You were asleep in your breakfast, darling," Lily said sweetly, trying to hold back her laughter. She swatted the eggs off of his forehead before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Did you sleep at all last night?"

"Barely," James answered with a sigh, rubbing his eyes. "I wanted to end practice at eleven, but they wanted to push it…we went until one. By the time I got back and showered and all it was almost three."

"Well, the match is tomorrow," Lily said in a comforting tone. "Soon you'll be done with Quidditch-as a champion, I might add-and then you'll have time to study and to sleep. Lucky you!"

"Can't wait," James mumbled sarcastically, resting his head on the table-this time away from his breakfast. Studying for N.E.W.T.s was not his cup of tea.

Lily slipped her hand into his and he instinctively pulled her closer to him. "I love you," he mumbled, half asleep already.

"I love you, too, sleepy," Lily said with a smile as she began to make up her own plate. She definitely could not wait for the Quidditch Finals to be done with; she wanted her boyfriend back.

Saturday morning arrived with a splash. It was pouring outside and there was only ten minutes to go before the match. James stood in front of his team in the locker room as he rubbed his eyes, searching his overtired brain for something meaningfully encouraging to say to them.

"Listen up," he finally began. All chatter ceased abruptly. "For quite a few of us, this will be the last time we take to the Hogwarts Pitch. I just want to stress that this is a game…it's just a game. Have fun with it. Whether we win or lose, we've already beaten Slytherin, and that's all that really matters." Everyone chuckled at this. It was the truth for a few of them. For others, it was a joke, and this was the most important match ever to be played at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft And Wizardry. "Seeing as this is my last year here, I have to name my successor," James went on slowly. "The person I've chosen is new to the team this year and has proven their worth and skill time and time again. Next year's Lions captain is Emmeline."

The round of applause that Emmeline was receiving was cut off by the voice of Remus Lupin out on the pitch. "Welcome to the final match of this Quidditch season…Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw! I hope you all brought your umbrellas because it is wet and we could be here for quite some time."

"Lets go, everyone," James instructed, picking up his own broom. "Good luck."

"The players are taking to the pitch, followed by the lovely Madame Hootch," Remus said into the magical megaphone. "As the captains shake hands, the Snitch goes up. The Seekers are going to have their work cut out for them today, I'll tell you… The Bludgers are up…and there goes the Quaffle.

"Potter makes a quick move and is able to gain possession. He passes it to McGuire straight away and she's off! I think Gryffindor plays better in the wet weather, honestly. McGuire fakes Matthews and scores!"

The crowd, about half of which was on Gryffindor's side, made a tremendous amount of noise both positive and negative. The Chasers didn't seem to notice, however, because they were right back to their task.

The game went on for quite some time staying at that score. Matthews seemed to have gotten used to the inclamate weather because he wasn't letting anymore slip past him.

Remus seemed to be having a good time. The game was moving fast and he had a lot to say about it. Lily was seated next to him, her cloak wrapped tightly around her small frame. She was growing quite cold and shivering a bit but enjoying the game all the same. It was the first time, she noticed, that James hadn't scored within the first fifteen minutes or so of a match, and she wondered if that was a bad omen.

The whistle of Madame Hootch soon startled everyone for the second time that season. The entire crowd looked down at the pitch wildly. James dropped the Quaffle, his eyes moving straight to Emmeline expecting to see her taking a victory lap, the Golden Snitch held high in her fist…but it wasn't she who was taking that lap…

Gryffindor had lost the Quidditch Final.

Lily stared openmouthed at the Quidditch Pitch for some time before turning to Remus. "Did that just happen?" she said. He nodded wordlessly, the magical megaphone still held up to his mouth.

"R-Ravenclaw…Ravenclaw wins the Cup," he said finally, sounding absolutely flabbergasted. He switched the megaphone off and looked down at Lily. "Crap," was all he said.

Nodding, Lily stood and together they pushed their way down the stands. By the time they had made it to ground level, the Lions had already retreated into their locker room. Both Remus and Lily stood outside in the rain, waiting for the Lions to reemerge. When the team finally did come out, they completely surprised the two bystanders.

Sirius was giving James a piggyback ride while the others were carrying on rather rambunctiously. "C'mon, guys!" James called to Lily and Remus from atop Sirius. "We're having a party!"

"Er…you guys are-"

"It's a goodbye party for the seventh years," Emmeline explained as the rest of the time followed Sirius and James up to the castle ahead of them. "We already had all of the plans for this, and we did have a really good season, so we figured that there's no reason to be that upset about losing."

All smiles, Lily and Remus joined the team in cheering and racing up to the Heads' Common Room.

"You should have had this in the Gryffindor Commons," Lily said, laughing as she and James slipped into her bedroom. It was three in the morning and the party was still raging thanks to some of Lily's handy silencing charms. "We have to clean all of this up tomorrow, you know."

"We're magic, Lils," James said, chuckling. He drained his glass and let it fall to the floor before flopping onto Lily's bed. "A quick spell or two and it's fine."

Lily laughed and followed James' example. Once her drink was gone, she jumped onto her bed, landing on James. "You're right," she said, giggling still. She maneuvered herself until she was in his arms and facing him.

James gave Lily a tight squeeze and sighed, a smile on his face and his eyes closed. Lily leaned close and pressed her lips to his. What began as an innocent little kiss soon turned into a passionate fire. When they finally broke apart, Lily's button-down was somewhere on the floor and James was propped up over her.

"I love you, Lily," he said quietly, lowering himself enough to kiss her neck.

Lily's back arched slightly and she moaned something that may have been, "I love you too." Her hands moved to James' pants and her fingers fumbled with the button and zipper.

"Are you sure?" James whispered huskily. Lily answered him by taking his lips on yet another fervent journey as the party raged on outside of their door.