Chapter 7: Rule Breaking
James was bored. All five friends had decided to stay
at Hogwarts over Christmas and he was watching Remus and Sirius try to teach
Lily how to play wizard chess. It had been funny the first, second, third, etc
times, but now it was just getting silly. She just could not understand the
game.
It was Christmas Eve and the presents for his friends
were sitting neatly wrapped under his bed. Amazingly he had done all his
homework and he was bored. It was late afternoon and he had the prospect of
another boring evening ahead of him. What could he do to liven things up a bit?
He thought hard, and then it hit him. Something that had been lying unused in
his trunk for long enough.
The idea was
enough to get him through the evening, and anyway, watching Sirius singe
himself playing exploding snap was always fun. He said nothing of his plan to
the others, and they went to bed as usual. Just before one o'clock he woke his
friends up. "I've got an idea. Who's going to get Lily?" They all shuddered.
They girls in Lily's dormitory were horrible. "Remus had better go," Sirius
said, "They're less likely to scream if they see him."
Resigned to his terrible fate, Remus set off to get
Lily, and when they two came back, Lily looking sleepy and grumpy, James pulled
something out of his trunk with a flourish.
"A Nimbus 1000!" Sirius cried, dropping to his knees
in front of it.
"A broom, Jamsie?" Lily
asked, her eyes twinkling.
"We're going to the
Quidditch pitch," James explained. "I'll take Lily on the broom now and you
three sneak out, ok?" They nodded as James and Lily got onto the broom. As the
two soared off into the night the others watched enviously.
It took a while for Sirius, Remus and Peter to reach
the stadium, and James and Lily had spent the time seeing what tricks they
could do with two people on a broom. Sirius looked up in awe.
"Why didn't you tell us
you had a broom, Jamsie?"
"Not allowed, remember? And I forgot, to be honest."
Sirius and Remus tittered before calling, "Let us have a go!" James landed and
they got on.
"You going to have a go,
Peter?" Lily asked five minutes later.
"Can't fly, can I?" he
replied quietly.
"We'll teach you!" James
cried excitedly. Sirius and Remus landed and they proceeded to teach Peter, so
that when they were finished he could fly, even if he didn't like it very much.
"I know!" Sirius exclaimed suddenly. The others winced, waiting for one of his
crazy ideas. "Lets see how many of us can fly the broom at once!"
The others grinned. James got on the front, followed
by Lily, then Sirius then Remus. Peter refused flatly and hid his head in his
hands. The broom took off; it didn't get very high but it still flew. They were
whooping and screaming from about 10 feet up when the boys thought it would be
clever to let go. Within moments they were in a pile on the floor and Lily was
laughing hysterically on the broom.
"Quick, Peter!" She flew down and pulled him onto the
broom before waving to the three confused boys. "Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! See you
later!" Lily shrieked as the broom flew towards the castle. Lily and Peter
laughing madly.
"I'll KILL you, Lily!"
James roared after the retreating broom.