Disclaimer: While I'm trying to make this story more in line with the books during my 2018 rewrite, I've decided to stick with one uncanon piece – my interpretation of the Quidditch season. I'm going back and making the matches a little bit more believable, but in this story, each house will play each other twice a year. They only play once a year in the books, but I have too much of the plot tied to this story arch and I don't want to go back and completely rewrite everything :P
Additionally, when you first meet Aeryn, you're probably going to think she's annoying. That's ok and a little intentional. My advice is to stick with her.
"Lazy lightning, I'd like to find the proper potion to try to capture your emotion. You're right beside me but I, I can't get through." – Grateful Dead, 1976
Aeryn Miller covered her ears and squealed as James and the Seventh Year Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain, Walter Davies, rocketed over her. As the players zipped and zoomed across the pitch towards the Ravenclaw goal posts, she enthusiastically waved her Gryffindor flag and turned to smile at her boyfriend. Peter gave her a small smile in return and put his arm around her waist. She beamed.
"And Potter shoots! HE SCORES! 10-0 GRYFFINDOR!"
James high-fived Sirius and saluted the crowd. The red and gold section burst into applause and whistled for their Captain; the Ravenclaw students booed when Sirius knocked a Bludger dangerously close to their Seeker, Cora McKnight. Aeryn felt excitement bubble up from deep inside her and let out a squeaky, shriek of joy that rose above her housemates' cheers. Remus cringed. As the crowd started up another house chant, she giggled and reached up to place a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell in your ear!" she apologized over the roar of the Gryffindor section as James scored again. But, she frowned when Remus placed his hands over his chest and grumbled something inaudible. Did he hear her? Was he even paying attention to the game? Where was his mind?
She scrunched her brows together and poked him in the side. He physically jumped a few centimeters, clearly unaware of her attempts to get his attention, and shook his head as if he was trying to clear his head. Aeryn gazed up at him dumbly, not sure what to make of her boyfriend's best friend; he slyly glanced at the Ravenclaw section, thinking that no one was watching him. She tried to follow his gaze to try and see whom he was looking for, but failed to see anything due to Miranda's short crop of red hair being in her way. Aeryn puffed audibly and crossed her hands over her chest. She hated being so short.
"And Davies shoots! BLOCKED!"
As the rest of the Gryffindors began to spell their house name letter by letter in triumph, Aeryn decided to leave Remus in his own little world and turned back to her boyfriend. Much to her dismay, he was also focused elsewhere and barely noticed when she grinned at him. Instead of giving her the attention she so desperately wanted, he stood up on his toes and hopped back and forth to get a better view of the Slytherin crowd.
Who was he searching for?
"Ball goes to – OH WHAT A STEAL BY POTTER! He's got the Quaffle through the Ravenclaw hoop again! 30 – 0 GRYFFINDOR! Wow, James is having an excellent day already."
"Oh Peter, do you think we'll win?" Aeryn squealed dramatically as she tugged on his red and gold striped house scarf. Her action jerked him towards her and he whipped his head around to finally pay attention to her. The boy then glanced over at Remus, still not answering her question, as the Ravenclaws applauded James' blocked shot. When Peter confirmed that his friend was not watching him watch the Slytherins, he sighed and Aeryn felt temporarily speechless.
Why was he ignoring her right now when he'd been incessantly showering her with affection every day for the past month? And why did he want to watch the Slytherins of all people? Was it an upcoming prank? Or something else?
She started to feel antsy and didn't like his wandering gaze. However, she had little time to further contemplate his sudden change in mood because he immediately planted a large kiss on her lips.
While she recognized that the kiss was blatant attempt to regain her favor, Aeryn still enjoyed it. After a year of dating without having sex, he knew exactly how to kiss her the way she liked it and she thanked her lucky stars she'd found such a gentleman who respected her wishes. She didn't want to lose her virginity before marriage.
At first, she wasn't sure if their relationship would work – after all, the Marauders had quite the reputation for being rebellious and untrustworthy – but it was his notoriety that initially drew Aeryn towards him. He'd sent her an origami, lotus shaped note during the last Potions class of the term and even though his friends had made fun of him for doing so, she remembered blushing a deep shade of red. No boy had ever passed her a love note and now one of the famous Marauders was trying to court her in front of everyone!
After his romantic gesture, Aeryn couldn't help but have a soft spot for Peter. In her eyes, he was the only Marauder who seemed genuine and worth knowing. He didn't flaunt his looks like Sirius or Quidditch moves like James and actually spent time out of the Library, unlike Remus. So she encouraged his advances and they continued to keep in contact during the summer.
Instead of thrusting them apart, their distance added to the excitement of the chase. When they returned to Hogwarts for their Sixth Year, he'd asked her out and eagerly kissed her, just as he was doing now. Aeryn publically swooned and giggled loudly as Peter snaked an arm around her waist.
"Oh, Peter!"
"Would you two just get a bloody room already?" Miranda scoffed.
Aeryn's eyes narrowed. The redhead had already spoiled her view earlier and her nasty comment only fueled the fire. She immediately placed her hands on her hips; the rest of the Gryffindors cheered for their team as the score began to climb in their favor. Miranda raised her eyebrows, as if to say 'Yeah, I just said that, what are you going to do about it?'
"No one is making you stand here," growled Aeryn.
"I wish I could say the same to you," Miranda smirked as she turned her back to the game, "but we both know you don't have other friends. You have to stand here. You have nowhere else to go!"
Aeryn let a shocked squeak and her hands flew to her chest. She felt extremely hurt, because although she hated to admit it, she knew the girl's words were completely true.
When she and Peter started dating, she was so obsessed with their budding relationship that she unintentionally alienated all of her friends. At first, they feigned interest when she said she was dating a Marauder and listened to her squeals of joy … but after a month or two, she noticed that they stopped asking about her life during classes or mealtimes.
As she began to plan her entire life around her Marauder boyfriend, they began to slowly drift away from her; they no longer invited her to girls' nights or gossip sessions. While Aeryn still remained friendly with her dorm mates, she ultimately pledged her loyalty to Peter. He was her everything, which is why she had no room to deeply care about any of the other females in her year if they weren't going to take an interest in her love life.
But her eyes began to water as her mouth dropped open in distress.
"Shove off, Fletcher," Remus cut in with a menacing growl. "Just because Sirius won't snog you doesn't mean you have the right to be such a bitch."
Miranda narrowed her eyes at the sandy haired Gryffindor and when he did the same, ultimately realized she wasn't going to win the fight. No one messed with Remus Lupin when he was in an angry mood. Aeryn smirked when Miranda huffed and turned back to watch Wood block another one of the Ravenclaw's shots. As the rest of the crowd cheered for their Keeper, Aeryn stuck her tongue out at the back of her head.
"Potter's got the Quaffle, passes to Bigsby – they're doing the whirling windmill technique! What skill, Brown doesn't stand a chance! 70-20 GRYFFINDOR!"
In a fit of rage, one of the Ravenclaw Beaters launched a Bludger at James and it grazed the side of his left arm as he sped down the pitch. Aeryn yelped and placed her hands over her eyes while the rest of the crowd collectively gasped. A couple of seconds later, she spread her fingers and peeked through them to see that James was still upright on his broom. The ball had torn part of his Quidditch uniform off - and some of his skin as well - but he was still able to play after he cast a lightweight, healing spell on his arm. He bellowed in pain and ripped off the entire sleeve of his robes to get rid of the loose ends.
In retaliation, Sirius hit one of the Bludgers towards McKnight, who immediately pulled up and lost sight of the Snitch. As James passed over the Gryffindor section to catch up with the rest of the Chasers, Aeryn heard him scream to his own Seeker that she needed to find the Snitch as quickly as possible.
"I hope James is alright," Aeryn said softly, fearing her doubts would curse the situation.
"Oh he'll be fine, dear," Peter replied, rolling his eyes. "He lives for these kinds of moments. If he and Evans were on my friendly terms, he'd use the injury to ask her out again. She'd say no of course, but he'd still try. That's James Potter for you."
"And Hill passes to Bigsby who passes to – MERLIN, Potter made that shot from 10 meters out! How did he fucking -"
"Language, Mister Longbottom!"
"See," Peter said with a smirk, "I told you James would be fine."
As the game progressed, Aeryn couldn't believe the Gryffindor Captain's tenacity. He scored more goals than the entire Ravenclaw team combined; they were no match for his newly found motivation and he tore up the competition as he zipped up and down the pitch. This was a new James Potter and the Gryffindors loved it.
His energy invigorated his fellow Chasers, Josephine Hill and Charles Bigsby. Their many years training together finally clicked and all three of the Seventh Years played the game of their lives. They executed each move with precision and grace and Aeryn barely had time to catch her breath as one great play developed into an even greater one. She could feel her vocal chords straining, but didn't care. Even though she really knew nothing about Quidditch, she supported her team as loudly as she could.
"AND THE SEEKERS START TO DIVE FOR THE SNITCH!" Frank yelled and immediately all eyes were on the two players as they swept around the right side of the stadium. Aeryn felt excitement bubble up inside her as they both reached out for the small ball in front of them. The anticipation proved to be too much and she immediately put her hands over her eyes. She couldn't watch.
"McKnight looks like she may – WHAT A GRAB BY THE THIRD YEAR PATIL! SHE'S GOT THE SNITCH! SHE'S GOT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS, 400-90!"
Immediately, the Gryffindor section burst into pandemonium. Aeryn jumped up and down so forcefully that she almost lost her balance as the students around her jostled out of their rows and onto the field. Assuming that Peter and Remus would be right behind her, she finally let the flow of people move her forwards and tried not to get trampled. Most of the other students towered over her and she began to feel claustrophobic as the Gryffindors jumped out of the stands onto the pitch below.
She didn't have time to react or look around for her boyfriend; she had to leap or pay the price.
As the students behind her hurried to congratulate their victorious housemates, someone's elbow knocked into her spine and threw her towards the ground. Her blonde curls violently hit the dirt and she cried out in pain as she rolled away from the frenzy. After spitting out several blades of grass from her mouth, she ran her fingers through her hair and took in her surroundings; the crowd had gathered around the Gryffindor Quidditch team and several older students had hoisted James up into the air. He laughed joyously, totally forgetting his earlier injury, and smiled when he caught her gaze. He motioned to be let down and grabbed Sirius as he made his way over to her.
"Aeryn! Where are the rest of the boys?"
"I don't know!" Aeryn wined, trying to blink back tears. "I just got pushed!" But after the words came out of her mouth, she gasped and placed her hand over her lips. "I shouldn't be complaining. You're the one with the real injury!"
"Oh," James said as he scanned his left arm, "this thing? It's not so bad." He moved his fingers to prove to her that it didn't hurt, but Aeryn saw him grimace after he returned his hand back to his side.
"Prongs, I don't know how you did it," Sirius said incredulously. "You played out of your skull today, even with a bum hand. What a bloody game! I'm going to remember it until I die – it felt like we were playing professionally … Next time you decide to slip something into your pumpkin juice, I'd appreciate it if you shared."
"I didn't drink anything special this morning, honest. I was playing normally and then bam!, that Bludger ripped my skin off!"
"Ewwwww," interjected Aeryn.
"It hurt like fucking hell too, but I just told myself I had to keep fighting. It worked pretty well, didn't it?"
"Well if you're telling the truth, that nasty pain will come back once your spell wears off and you run out of endorphins," Sirius chuckled as he ripped off the sleeve of his own uniform and gave it to James. The Head Boy smiled appreciatively and made the fabric into a makeshift sling.
Aeryn suddenly heard a joyous shout behind her and whipped around to see Peter running towards her with Remus in tow. She beamed and opened her arms to hug him, but he raced past her towards his friends. As he congratulated the other Marauders with vigorous slaps on the back, Aeryn couldn't help but notice there was something different about him. His eyes were wild and chaotic. His movements were strong and robust.
"Ehem," she coughed.
Peter finally turned his attention back to her. With a maniacal grin, he picked her up off the ground and twirled her around. She wasn't used to this type of behavior from Peter, but squealed nonetheless. His affections had grown exponentially in the past month and she figured this was just an extension of his happiness with their relationship.
"We won! We won!" he proclaimed in a singsong voice after he finally put her back on the ground. His arms never left her sides and he suddenly dipped her as he gave her a kiss.
As happy as she was, Aeryn couldn't quite pigeonhole his newly found energy. She knew he was a large Quidditch fan, but she realized she had never seen this happy about an outcome before. His hands began to wander as he forcefully stuck his tongue in her mouth and she protested softly, but his hands clamped down on her shoulders. He kissed her vehemently as if his life depended on it. Aeryn squeaked and when she finally was able to get her hands on his chest, pushed him backwards.
"Peter, what is wrong with you?"
"Huh?" he finally replied, shaking his head back and forth to clear his mind. His facial expression softened; he placed his hands on her shoulders lightly and hung his head slightly. "I'm sorry, I got a little caught up there. The game – it was just so exciting!"
He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and she smiled, forgiving him easily. As they intertwined their fingers and held hands, they followed the rest of the Marauders to the Common Room. Peter squeezed her hand reassuringly and Aeryn gazed up at him dreamily.
In her eyes, nothing could keep them apart. Not even his strange mood.