Chapter 6: Try-Outs and Thunderstorms
Sunday at Hagrid's was intensely enjoyable. The five
forgot about any homework they might or might not have been set (they honestly
couldn't remember) and ran down to the hut that morning. They spent an
enjoyable day there, but it would be the last time they made the mistake of
accepting Hagrid's cooking: not even Sirius' strong taste buds could stomach
Ferret and Mushroom Pie. They spent the time talking about the kind of animals
that lived in the Forbidden Forest and about the Gryffindor Quidditch Team,
both subjects that Hagrid was very enthusiastic about. They were all very excited to hear that the
Quidditch Trials were next Saturday morning, and that the team needed one
Chaser and one Beater. Lily, James, Sirius and Remus all decided to try out.
Never, they felt, had a week passed so slowly. Every
lesson seemed to crawl by, and they were too distracted to play any tricks.
Snape kept taunting them, asking if they had all turned into Peter's over the
summer, until, that is, James finally snapped and punched him in his over sized
nose, earning both of them a nasty trophy-polish and insult-filled detention.
Saturday morning finally arrived, and they rushed
downstairs to eat breakfast, only to discover that they couldn't stomach even
the thought of eating. Orion Black, who
had been the Keeper for the last two years, laughed at them so much that Sirius
finally saw red and attacked him. Luckily, Professor Dunworthy just saw it as a
family spat and didn't award Sirius a detention for that morning.
At ten to nine they were on the Quidditch pitch,
clutching the crappy school brooms, except for James, who held his now legal
Nimbus 1000 protectively. The four established members of the team soon
arrived, and they stood with smug grins on their faces in front of the other
nervous students. Apart from James,
Lily, Remus and Sirius, who had all decided to try out as Chasers, there was an
assortment of third, fourth, fifth and sixth year Gryffindors as well.
Finally, the Captain, a striking, brown haired Chaser
called Lydia Matthews arrived, and the group of nervous students broke out into
nervous whispers.
"Hello Gryffindors. Thank you for coming to try out
for the team." The chatter died down and there was silence as the girl looked
at each of the hopeful try-outs. "I'm Lydia, and this, in case you didn't know,
is the rest of the team: our fabulous Seeker Lyn, our Keeper Orion," Orion
winked at his brother, but Sirius just glared back, "our Chaser Sean and our
Beater, Damien." James snickered quietly and Lydia shot him an angry look. "As
you know, there are only two positions available at the moment: Chaser and
Beater. If you are trying out as a Beater, please line up in front of Sean, and
if you want to be a Chaser, Orion." Sirius scowled even more deeply at that,
but went obediently to stand behind his friends.
"Careful, Siri," Orion chuckled,
peeing around at him; "With this kind of wind your face'll stay like that!" the
rest of the line hid their grins.
It was a horrible day, windy and wild, making for
terrible flying conditions. The sky had gone past grey and was now into purple,
and it wasn't getting any better.
"Beaters up first," Lydia
called over the wind. Everybody watched in avid interest as each prospective
Beater had to aim a Bludger at a ducking and diving Sean, and then attempt to
knock it away from a rapidly circling Lyn. Only one person managed both tasks:
a springy haired fifth year girl, and when she was awarded the place on the
team she yelled loudly and hugged her watching friend.
The Chasers were next, and their task was to score a
goal past Orion while Damien attempted to knock the Quaffle out of their hands.
The four second years watched in growing hope and despair as person after
person failed, leaving them with more hope of winning a place but wondering how
the were going to succeed where these older students had failed. Sirius was the
first to try. He soared up in the air, grabbed the Quaffle, neatly avoided the
Bludger and threw the red ball so hard at Orion that it knocked him off his
broom and left him hanging by an arm and a leg. After Lydia had helped Orion
back onto his broom, se flew over to where Sirius was grinning happily. "Err…"
she said slowly, "I think you'd make a better Beater. Maybe you should try for
that next year?" Sirius looked annoyed, if he had chosen to try for that, he
might have got the place. Ignoring Orion, who was still swearing at him, e he
stalked off to sit with Peter.
Lily was up next. She caught the Quaffle, avoided the
Bludger and shot, but the ball flew just wide. "Shit!" she swore.
"Very good," Lydia said
approvingly. "Best so far." It was now Lily's turn to scowl and walk over to
Peter.
Remus stepped up to take his turn. As soon as he got on
his broom, the Bludger hit him. It had escaped Damien's grasp. "OW!" he yelled
at the Bludger. The Quaffle had gone soaring past him in the strong wind and
was headed for the ground. Remus pointed his broom straight downward and shot
after it, catching it about ten feet from the ground. Without thinking, he
swooped back up again, towards the goal, but he shot hopelessly wide.
Remus flew disconsolately back to the ground, while
Lydia and Sean had a conversation in nid air. When she had finished talking,
Lydia flew back to Remus. So far, the three second years were getting more personal
attention than the rest of the try-outs put together. "That was excellent
flying," Lydia said to Remus, "shame about the aiming though." Remus hung his
head, annoyed with himself. "Sean reckons, with that dive you just did, that
you might make a good Seeker. You don't have to aim for anything with that."
Remus looked up at her now, joy in his eyes. "We already have a Seeker," Lydia
continued, "But Lyn's in her last year, and we'll need an replacement then.
Don't forget to try out." She grinned at him, and called out to James to take
his turn. As Remus walked happily towards the others, he was so happy he didn't
even notice the dirty looks Sirius had been throwing him since he had started
talking to Lydia. The Seeker! That was so amazing!
While Remus had been walking, James had mounted his
broomstick. Determination was written all over his face: when James Potter
decided he wanted something, he got it. He saw the Bludger coming towards him,
ducked, the looped around it; he caught the Quaffle easily, dived with it, then
he flew towards the left goal, taking Orion with him, but shot back over to the
left goal and scored easily. Lily, Remus, Sirius and Peter were on their feet,
cheering. He'd done it, he had done what ten people before had failed to do: he
had scored a straight goal against a Keeper who had kept a clean sheet in two
out of three games last year.
Lydia was absolutely beaming at him. "Excellent,
Potter, brilliant! There's only two people to go, and then…" she trailed off, looking
at the two extremely nervous fifth years who were trying not to look too
impressed.
James now faced the most agonizing wait of his young
life. He stood next to Sean and Lyn, trying to nonchalant, and failing
miserably. His hands twisted around his beloved Nimbus, and when he started
fiddling with the twigs in the end, Lyn softly but firmly took it off him and
gave him a sympathetic smile.
Luckily, (for James, that it) neither of the two fifth
years came close to matching his flying. When the last one had spectacularly failed
to score, Lydia flew over to him. "You're on the team!" she said. James just
grinned manically, he was too happy to speak. "Team practices Tuesday, Thursday
and Saturday, ok?"
Without warning, he was enveloped from behind in a
furious bear hug. "Siri, stop," he tried to sat, but Sirius was squeezing him
so hard he couldn't even breathe, let alone talk.
"Sirius, let him go,
you're suffocating him!" said Remus happily. Sirius allowed himself to be
pulled off, and again James was hugged, but this time he could see his
attacker, and Remus was a lot gentler. "Ow," James said ruefully, when his
friend had let go.
Then it was Lily's turn. "Congrats, Jamie!" she said as
she hugged him almost as tightly as Sirius had. Peter was still dancing around
them, squeaking "Well Done! Well Done!" Lily broke away from James, and for the
first time in five minutes James felt able to breathe properly. He grinned at
that thought, and when he saw Orion approaching he grinned even more.
"Congrats, James, your brother'll be very proud of you.
That was some amazing flying," Orion concluded sadly. "I really pity the
opposing Keepers. Bad luck, lil bro, but did you have to try and kill
me?"
"Sorry, bug bro. But you
were annoying me. No hard feelings?"
"Of course not. I only
have to think of Esme and I understand."
Remus smiled at this touching show of brotherly love, while James compared them
to his own family. He, Luke and David had never settled things that easily: it
usually took hours of inventive swearing and throwing anything breakable his
gran hadn't moved before arguments were settled in the Potter household.
Momentarily, he felt terribly sad, but then recent events washed over him and
he smiled widely.
He had made the Quidditch
team!
*************************
As they were walking back to the castle after James'
first ever Quidditch practice, Sirius rounded suddenly on Remus. "You were getting very friendly with
Lydia!" he snarled.
"What?" Remus stared
blankly at him.
"You. And Lydia. I don't
believe you sometimes, Remus."
Remus, Lily and Peter
continued to stare blankly at this stranger-than-normal Sirius, but daylight
suddenly dawned in James' Quidditch-fuddled mind.
"Oh my god!" he chortled,
going into hysterical laughter.
"What?" the others asked,
Sirius with a slightly antagonistic tone. James was definitely not helping.
But James couldn't, or wouldn't, stop laughing, and
Sirius, for the third time that day, lost his temper. He threw himself at James
and they crashed to the floor, Sirius flailing out with his fists and James
trying to defend himself through laughter. They rolled over and over, and James
was just beginning to get angry when a piercing wolf-whistle startled them both
so much that they looked up, straight into Lily's slightly amused face. "You're
not having a good day, are you, Siri?" she asked.
Slightly ashamed of themselves, the two got up. That
had been so very close to going beyond play fighting, which was doubtlessly why
Lily had stopped them.
"So, Jamie, are you going
to tell us what you were laughing at?" asked Remus
"Sirius," said James
infuriatingly.
"Sirius what?" snapped
Lily.
"Sirius had got a crush.
On Lydia!" James announced triumphantly. The other three collapsed into gales
of laughter.
"No, I don't!"
"Sirius and Lydia, sitting
in a tree," sang Remus,
"K- I – S – S – I – N –
G!" they all finished.
Sirius went bright red. "I
don't like her!"
His friends looked back at
him sceptically.
"Oh, so I do. What's wrong
with that?" he asked defensively.
"Er…she's two years older
than you," said James.
"She's the Captain of the
Quidditch team," said Lily.
"And she's going out with
your brother," ended Remus. hey all threw him shocked glances. "Oh, come on,
it's so obvious!"
"Never mind, Sirius, never
mind. This'll only embarrass you horribly in years to come," said James
consolingly.
Sirius walked off, but the
others soon caught up with him, and the teasing continued all the way to the
common room.
********************
"Could Remus Lupin please go and see Professor
Dunworthy please?" the third year asked boredly. The five second years playing
exploding snap looked up, and then at Remus.
"It's probably my mum
again," Remus said ruefully. They all knew that Remus' mother was frequently
ill; James had told them it had been like that since he had met Remus, even if
he didn't know what the illness was.
"Oh, well, I hope she's
alright," said Lily.
"Give her my love," added
James. Remus nodded, and left the common room, looking preoccupied. The others
turned back to their game, but their rapt attention had been broken.
"I know," Sirius whispered
in a loud stage whisper, "lets plan our revenge on the Slytherins!"
"Excellent!" beamed Lily.
Unfortunately Luke was
right behind them.
"Oh no you don't!" he said
fiercely. "I'm a prefect and if I hear a word about revenge I'll turn you
straight in. you lost enough points last year without starting anything now!"
"But-"
"No buts, Sirius."
"You're sounding more like
David everyday," James said scornfully. "Come on guys, I don't want to be near him!"
He got up and his friends followed him out of the common room, Lily pausing to
collect the snap cards and getting slightly singed in the process.
"Where are we going?" she
asked James.
"Kirrin, of course."
Kirrin was their secret
room; it couldn't be entered without the password and only they could set the
password.
"Of course, of course,"
mimicked Lily. "What am I, a bloody mind reader?"
"Shut up," said Sirius
shortly. "We've more important things to think about now: Revenge." He said it
with a capital 'R'.
They reached Kirrin,
entered and raided their stash of chocolate frogs, then sat down on one of the
beds.
"Well, Mr Ideas-Man,
what's the idea?" James asked Sirius.
"The idea was to discuss
revenge. I never once said I had an idea for revenge."
They all groaned. They
were useless at this: actually sitting down and thinking of things. Inspiration
came much more easily when they were doing other things, especially homework.
"Nothing," said Lily.
"Nowt," said James.
"Not a dickybird," said
Peter.
"Bloody useless lot you
are then!" Sirius said. Lily and James bristled at him.
"You started-"
"It's your bloody-"
"Just joking. You two are so
easy to wind up!"
if looks could kill, Sirius
would have dropped dead right then.
**********************
It was hours and hours later and they still nobody
had thought of any ideas. They were full of chocolate frogs and pumpkin juice,
and Peter had fallen asleep.
"I don't know about you
guys, but I'm going to bed," said Sirius.
Lily yawned widely and
slid off the bed. "Me too. Night all." Peter snored and James yawned in
response. Sirius had already pulled off all unnecessary clothing and climbed
into bed. Lily got into another one of the beds. "Night," called James
sleepily. He, in turn, he got a snore
from Sirius.
"Night Jamie," Lily
called, but it was drowned out by the sound of the wind crashing outside. It
was a wild night, Lily thought sleepily, before sleep claimed her.
************************
A
particularly loud rumble of thunder woke Lily. The room was pitch black and she
could hear the frightening sound of the trees whipping outside. She looked
towards the window, but no light had come in; the clouds had obscured the full
moon.
A flash of fork lightning lit up the room suddenly,
followed seconds later by a deafening crack. Lily shivered; this was one of the
worst storms she had ever experienced. Then, in the eerie silence following the
thunder, Lily heard a most unexpected noise. Someone was crying. But who?
"Peter?" she called,
thinking he was the most likely person. The crying intensified, but lightning
lit the room again, and Lily saw that it was James who was sat up with his head
in his hands and his covers pulled around him.
"James?" she called more
softly. When he didn't answer, Lily decided. She jumped out of her bed into the
cold air, scurried across the room and landed on James' bed with a plop.
"Jamie? What's wrong?" she
asked quietly. "Are you afraid of the storm?"
James looked up at Lily.
His eyes were big and round and red, and tears were running down his cheeks. He
opened his mouth to reply, but lightning flashed across the sky and he
dissolved into tears once more. "Is it the storm?" Lily asked, more
insistently.
James nodded his head. He
wished Lily hadn't seen him like this: thunderstorms were his secret fear, and
only his grandmother knew of it. So far he had kept it from his friends by
hiding under the covers to cry whenever there was a storm, but he lived in
fear. Tonight he had been off guard, and he had forgotten that Lily was in the
room. He wasn't worried that Sirius or Peter would wake up, they were such
heavy sleepers, but he had forgotten about Lily.
He was so lost in his fear and his thoughts that he
was thoroughly startled when Lily put her arms around him. She hugged him
tight, whispering in his ear, "It's ok, the storm can't hurt you," and James
relaxed slightly. It didn't last for long, as soon as the next crack of thunder
echoed around the room he tensed again and began crying anew.
They sat like that for a long time, until the storm
rolled away, leaving just the rain to lash at the windows. It was still dark,
and Lily thought it must be about 3am. When James had stopped shaking she
climbed out of the bed and fumbled in her discarded robes for a tissue. "Here,"
she said, handing it to James, before climbing back onto the bed.
"Now listen, Jamie," she said, looking him straight
in the eye. "I know about this now, and you don't have to go through this alone.
Whenever-"
"I'm pathetic!" James
said, cutting her off. "You thought I was Peter."
"It's nothing to be
ashamed of, everybody's scared of something," Lily consoled.
"What about you?"
"I don't know mine yet."
Lily grinned. "I'll probably find out at the worst time possible, like when
we're fighting the Slytherins or something."
James managed a small
smile. "Ok, but please don't tell the others."
"Not if you don't want me
to. But seriously, I know now, so whenever there's a thunderstorm and you're
scared, you come and get me, or I'll come and find you, ok?"
James nodded.
"But now I want to sleep.
So night again, Jamie."
Lily lay down where she
was, and closed her eyes. She was surprised when James lay down beside her. He
put his arms around her waist. "You don't mind, do you, Lil? Its just that –
I'm still scared."
Knowing how much it must
have cost him to admit that, Lily said, "Course not." Looking down at James,
she saw he was already asleep.
