Chapter 19

Quidditch

The Marauders were the only thing anyone talked about for the next three days. The students that had been attacked had woken up at midnight just as the Marauders had said. Because of this everyone now completely trusted them. There was no worry when the Marauders were mentioned, a lot of people found the need to laugh whenever someone mentioned them. To everyone's surprise Professor McGonagall was one of them. Frank Longbottem asked about the students that that had been attacked and they were shocked when she started giggling.

Professor McGonagall surprised them a lot. She had always seemed to be strict and mean. The Marauders were starting to see a different side of her though. She was kind, they had seen that when she used Sirius's detention to tutor him. She was smart, that was the most obvious of her traits. She had an excellent sense of humor. They had first seen signs of this when they had changed the Slytherin common room red and gold. When the Slytherin head of house told her about the change in decorations, she had laughed herself silly. Now she was laughing about their Halloween prank.

Their newest surprise though was that she was very competitive. She was one hundred present determined that the Gryffindor Quidditch team was the best team. She also was very big on trying to prove it to everyone else also. She was often found arguing with one of the other teachers on which team was the best. They had even caught her rambling about it once during class. Though when Sirius called her out on it she completely denied that she had got off on a rabbit trail and was just using the team as an example. Sirius got a detention for arguing with her, which caused James to feel the need to accompany his mate in the detention and began arguing about it as well. Both of their detentions were going to be served the day before the game. Sirius told everyone it was because at least one of them would have to serve it with her and she didn't want to miss the game.

The very first game was Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Everyone was exited, and Remus found out exactly how much Sirius and James were obsessed with the sport. If he hadn't known it was impossible he would have thought that they had completely forgotten about their Halloween prank. Quidditch was all they talked about.

"Do you know who the Ravenclaw seeker is?" Sirius asked James. They were in the dorm lounging around, they had two hours before the game began.

"I'm pretty sure it is Ted Tonks." James replied. He was losing in a game of chess against Remus, and he was losing badly.

"The seventh year?" James nodded and sighed when Remus' pawn destroyed his Queen. "Do you know if he is any good?"

"I heard he stinks." Sirius moaned.

"Shoot, they're going to lose aren't they." Sirius was obviously rooting for Ravenclaw.

"It is just one player, Sirius, him being bad doesn't automatically mean they lose." Remus said taking one of James' knights. They looked at him like he was mental.

"Are you kidding, have you ever seen a game of Quidditch?" Sirius' eyes looked like they were going to pop out. Remus realized he was wrong pretty quickly, he blushed.

"Um, no. It's only logical though, I mean aren't all the players important?" Remus said and watched as Sirius almost literally fainted out on his bed. James' eyes were wide and was looking like he had never met Remus before this moment. Even Peter was looking at him as though this was the strangest thing he had ever heard in his life.

"Never seen…" James was at a loss for words. "How is…" Not having ever seen a game of Quidditch was like a crime in his book.

"I told you! My mum is a muggle, and my dad hid the fact that he was a wizard until Dumbledore showed up on my doorstep." Remus was still red, he had read about Quidditch not long after their first flying lesson, he had wanted to know what James and Sirius were talking about. It sounded like a fun game and he knew almost everything about it, he just hadn't actually seen it play.

"I claim him, he is mine!" Sirius said in a way that made Remus worry

"What are you talking about?" Remus didn't understand what he had done wrong.

"He is claiming the right to be the one to kill your dad for not taking you to a Quidditch game. It would be acceptable if you were a muggleborn or something, but this is unforgivable." James explained with a teasing look in his eye. Remus stiffened.

"Please tell me he's joking, please." Remus looked franticly at James and Sirius.

"Calm down, no one is going to hurt your dad, right Si." James looked at Sirius who had a pained look on his face.

"But…But… James…" Sirius looked like Remus' dad had shot him or something. James laughed, James being so calm reassured Remus that Sirius actually wouldn't attack anyone.

"I know Si, I know. It is a crime worthy of Azkaban if I've ever seen one, but Remmy likes his dad, we can't kill him." James walked over to Sirius and petted him. Sirius didn't seem to notice the dog reference. They made so many he didn't really even care. Sirius flopped back on the bed. James laughed and returned back to the chessboard.

"Remus is partially right, though." James said and moved his king. "Maybe we will get lucky and they will still win. Ya, it is highly unlikely but possible, I heard their chasers were really good."

"I doubt they're that good, aren't two of them third years." Sirius sighed when James nodded.

"Checkmate." Remus had moved his bishop and had clearly won the game. James opened his mouth but Remus interrupted him. "No, I'm not playing against you again." It was their third game, Remus was getting bored with winning so easily. James sighed, and laid on his bed.

"Maybe Slytherin will get fouled for cheating so much that they give Ravenclaw too many points." Sirius said and sat across from Remus. Remus began setting the board again, he didn't have to ask to know that Sirius wanted to play. He didn't mind playing against Sirius. Unlike James, Sirius actually tried and unlike Peter, he was good.

"It doesn't really matter who wins this game because Gryffindor will take the cup." Peter said proudly.

"You don't know that Peter." Peter deflated when Remus said this.

"Well it had better not be Slytherin." Sirius watched as one of his rooks threw one of Remus' pawns clear across the board.

"How early should we go down?" James asked laughing at Remus' poor pawn.

"Probably soon." Sirius sighed impatiently. "Will you move already." He complained.

"Stop being so impatient." Remus moved a knight. Sirius laughed and moved his queen.

"Checkmate." Sirius stood and put his pieces away. Remus sighed, he really should have seen that coming.

"Let's go now." James practically ran to the doo and stood their impatiently. "Come on"

"We're coming," Remus put his pieces away and followed them out the door. They climbed out of the common room and James and Sirius attempted to run down the stairs. James fell. Sirius watched as he rolled down two flights of stairs and into a wall.

When they got down to him James was still on the ground rubbing a sore spot on his head. Sirius kneeled down to look at him properly.

"Is anything broken?" He asked and helped James stand.

"I don't think so." James was rather surprised at Sirius' act of concern. He expected him to laugh.

"Good." Sirius said then burst out laughing. James rolled his eyes and stood there for a minute. When Sirius didn't stop James pushed him. He didn't bother to get up, and still couldn't stop laughing. James rolled his eyes at Remus who laughed and tried to help Sirius up. James walked out to the grounds limping a little, Peter quickly followed.

Sirius still didn't have his laughter under control when he and Remus caught up with James and Peter. James raised an eyebrow at him.

"It wasn't that funny." Sirius couldn't reply, he was laughing too hard. James looked at Remus with clear confusion in his eyes.

"I'm starting to think he has been hexed." Remus said as he half dragged Sirius up to the Gryffindor stands. They found some good seats and sat down. The few people who were there were starting to stare.

"Just ignore him he is a moron." James told them and they looked away, but not before making it clear that they thought the Marauders were crazy though.

Sirius managed to stop laughing not long before the game began. They were going to ask him about it, but they were afraid he would start again so they decided to wait until after the game. Every few seconds he would start quietly laughing to himself though.

Everyone cheered when the teams walked onto the field. Sirius moaned when he saw the Ravenclaw seeker. Ted Tonks wasn't really built for being a seeker, he was much too big. The game began quickly. The Slytherins started out with the quaffle. They could hear Susan Abbott a Hufflepuff third year commentating the game.

There may have been two young students as chasers but they were still quite good. The chaser that was a sixth year was excellent, and the younger ones didn't seem so bad with him around. Slytherin's first cheat was only five minutes into the game. One of their chasers had grabbed onto one of the Ravenclaw beaters bats. Ravenclaw got the first score because of this. The Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs cheered, and the Slytherins hissed.

It was a very close game after that though. The Ravenclaws would make it in, then the Slytherins would. Then the Slytherins would get caught cheating and the Ravenclaws would get a free throw. It went like this for a while. It was pretty clear that if the Slytherins had actually played fair they would have been way ahead. Remus was just as excited as everyone else. He cheered when the Ravenclaws got a goal, and booed when the Slytherins cheated. After a half hour he was yelling at the players when they did something that he wouldn't have done. Yelling at the beaters to aim somewhere else, or one of the chasers to go left instead of right. He had completely forgotten that there were people around him. No one cared though; they were doing the exact same thing.

An hour into the game and there was still no sign of the snitch. The Slytherins had a small lead. They watched as the Ravenclaw chaser faked a pass to one of his team mates. They were sure that it had worked until one of the Slytherin chasers smashed right into him obviously on purpose. The eldest chaser fell off his broom while the coach awarded Ravenclaw a penalty throw. It didn't matter though, without him the younger chasers seemed to fall apart. They seemed to have been dependent on him. Now they had no hope. One of the teachers walked the chaser to the medical wing saying that he would be fine. Remus could hear James yelling.

"OH COME ON, THAT WAS HORIBLE. HE NEEDS TO BE KICKED OUT OF THE GAME!" James yelled along with everyone else. Sirius growled, being glad once again that he had been sorted into Gryffindor. He didn't want any connection with someone who would do that.

The Ravenclaws were suffering badly. In ten minutes they were already down by a hundred points. Their chasers were now completely useless, and their keeper seemed to be half blind or something. Or at least that was what Sirius seemed to think.

"Oh come on… Of their entire house they couldn't find any decent players at all! Half their team sucks. Who is their captain, he needs to get hexed! What kind of person would recruit these people?" Sirius let out a long stream of complaints.

"I'll bet their friends of the captain, that's why they got in." James clearly agreed that the captain stunk. They were abusing the captain when Remus yelled.

"Look!" Everyone within hearing distance watched where he was pointing. Ted Tonks was racing towards what looked to be a golden ball. He had found the snitch. Unfortunately the Slytherin seeker was right behind him. Tonks could barely keep a lead on her. The Slytherin beaters quickly aimed at him, one of the Ravenclaw beaters managed to keep one of the bludgers away but couldn't do both. The other zoomed straight at him. A few people screamed but he did a spectacular dodge, and the bludger hit the Slytherin seeker instead. Tonks didn't watch her fall, he continued going after the snitch. He caught it, not quite with ease, but he caught it. The Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and Gryffindors all cheered. James started jumping up and down and hugged Peter.

"I knew it! I knew he didn't stink as much as they said!" James said even though it had been obvious he had believed it. They ran down from the stands and saw the Ravenclaws carrying Tonks back to the castle. They were cheering loudly. They climbed to the Gryffindor tower replaying parts of the game to each other. When they got in the common room everyone was exited, the Gryffindor Quidditch team more so than everyone else. Ravenclaws victory made claiming the cup for Gryffindor much easier. It was much easier to get points against the Ravenclaws than the Slytherins. With such pathetic players in the Ravenclaw team they knew they could get a lot of points during that game.

They stayed up in the common room talking about the match for quite a while. When Sirius got into an argument with one of the girls about the Ravenclaw beaters' tactics James decided it would be a good time to go to bed. He dragged Sirius out of the common room. Remus and Peter followed. This surprised Remus, he knew Peter followed James everywhere, but since when had he started doing it to? He knew that James didn't care if he stayed in the common room, but it seemed like if James did something he felt the need to do it as well. He knew James only wanted to leave so Sirius would leave the girl alone, but it was like James had just unconsciously gave an order that the Marauders were to leave the common room. Remus felt like he had to follow the nonexistent order. It was a very strange feeling. He looked at Peter; Peter didn't even seem to notice that he was even following James. Peter followed him way too often. Remus worried that he would get that way as well, blindly playing follow the leader. He decided to break the habit before it began and told him that he wanted to stay in the common room. James shrugged; he didn't realize that Remus had any desire to follow him to the dorm.

Remus stayed down there for a half hour and realized he was bored. He sighed and went to the dorm. Despite James deciding it was bed time, Peter was the only one in bed.

"I thought you wanted to go to bed."

"We changed our minds." They were sitting on the floor playing chess; or rather they were fighting over whose chess pieces could destroy the other pieces in the most creative, or rather most violent, way. Sirius played differently when he was playing with James, knowing James didn't really care about whether he actually won or not.

Remus laughed and sat down on Sirius' bed watching the game. He winced every time a piece was taken. They had really started to get brutal. He liked to imagine that the pieces were actually alive, not just enchanted to move.

"Oh, I forgot to ask why you were going crazy on us before the game." Remus said remembering Sirius' laughing fit. Sirius gave him a confused look.

"Oh come on, it was after I fell down the stairs." James reminded him, and Sirius laughed.

"Oh, that. Sorry, it's just that I've never seen anyone do that before." James looked at him in disbelief.

"You have never seen anyone trip before." James sounded skeptical.

"Ya, I thought they only did that in books." James didn't give him the benefit of the doubt. Remus understood though.

"I suppose it sort of makes sense when you think about it. Gracefulness is often an inherited trait isn't it? Did you ever even meet anyone outside of your family?" Remus felt kind of sorry for him. He didn't seem to get out much.

"Not really, all purebloods are related, we marry each other too much. I was only aloud to talk to someone from a full pureblood family that weren't blood traitors, in other words I could only talk to a Black, Lestrange, or a Molfoy. Those are the only ones we have real contact with. There are a few others out there, but I don't know them very well.

"Well that really sucks. How could you find a girlfriend when the only people you know are related to you?" Remus rolled his eyes, trust James to be thinking about girls right now.

"I'm not sure exactly, we all sort of marry each other or something. My parents are cousins." Remus shuttered, that was nothing short of sick. He thought of his cousin and tried to imagine marring her. Not a pleasant picture really. James looked ready to puke.

"You're kidding." He said attempting to remove all pictures from his mind.

"Nope."

"That's sick, how can you stand knowing that. I think I would run away or something."

"After a while you start to get used to it. It doesn't really matter to me anymore, just sorta one of those random facts that you don't really think about unless it is brought up in conversation."

"Don't people that marry their family end up with kids with mental disorders." Remus was reasonably sure that Sirius didn't have any mental disorders, though there were times when he wondered. Usually when he woke up at four a.m. and saw Sirius brushing his hair or whatever.

"That is usually only with siblings, not cousins." Sirius said and moved one of his pawns to crush one of James'. James looked down at the board, he had forgotten he was still playing.

"Great, I just know I'm going to be having nightmares about that tonight. Thanks a lot Sirius." James said and yawned. Sirius gave him an apologetic smile.

"Woops." Remus laughed and went over to his bed.

"I'm tired, let's just call it a draw shall we." James asked and Sirius nodded. They turned out the lights and climbed into bed. Remus became very aware that the window was open. He didn't need to see it to know that the nearly full moon was shining just outside of it. It unnerved him; he knew there was no chance of sleeping while the window was open.

"Does anyone mind if I close the window?" He asked quietly in case they had already gone to sleep.

"Go ahead," and "Sure" were his answers. He climbed out of bed and walked over to the window. He shivered when he felt the glow of the moon on him. It seemed like it was just dying to transform him, to cause him pain. He closed the window and shut the blinds as fast as he could and ran back to bed hiding behind the covers. He knew it was silly, he knew that the moon was not alive, and it certainly didn't want to hurt him, but he couldn't help it. He had been afraid of the moon for as long as he could remember.

Even with the window closed he still didn't get much sleep, maybe an hour at the most. It wouldn't be long before the moon was full. He could feel himself getting sick, and he was sure Sirius had noticed. Maybe this time he should tell them he was sick instead of his mum. Only problem with that was that they might come see him in the medical wing. If they saw his scars there would be no way that they would believe he was sick. Hurt maybe but not sick. Maybe he would get by with no scars this time, but could he take that chance. He sighed, he still had a few days left, he could figure it out later.

A/N I am so sorry, I made a huge mistake. I mentioned in a previous chapter that James' birthday was soon. It isn't, it isn't anywhere near this day, and I completely forgot about it. I am going to repost the chapter that said it and take it out, but a lot of you already read it, so I need to tell you. Sorry

Also I finally got a hold of half-blood prince and Deathly hollows and finally managed to read it. I realized that my first chapter is completely wrong. I am not going to change it though. I want to make it close to the book, but Rowling's description of how they met in Snape's flashback, was a little too anticlimactic for me. I like mine better. No offence is intended to Rowling of course.