Author's Note: The characters that belong to JK Rowling belong to JK Rowling
Thanks to SilverWind for the help proofreading, and my brother for miscellaneous stuff.
Chapter 6: Werewolves, Wizwums, and Wronski Feints
The next morning was a bit awkward. The three that had decided Remus was a werewolf kept eyeing each other oddly, and the three that didn't kept eyeing those who knew even more oddly. All the while, Dhelia Brown, Sandra Hannet, and Fannie Flately kept eyeing everyone very oddly between giggling sessions.
Remus hadn't come back yet, he had said he would Monday. But Sirius, James, and Lily knew where he was. Or at least they had an idea. They decided to head to the library and set up a study session, and talk about what to do with the Remus situation.
"Well, I've found as many werewolf books as I can." Sirius said as he sat down at a small table in the corner of the library.
"That'll do for now." Sirius set them down and began reading through one.
"Should we confront him?" James asked the group.
"I don't know...he might be angry."
"Angry? We should be angry! What a thing to do to us, keeping that locked up inside him!" Sirius said in as hushed a yell as possible.
"It must be hard for him! Seriously, Sirius!" Lily said in seriousness, standing up. James fell off his seat doubled up.
"Serious Sirius! Hah! In eight years of knowing you I've never thought of that!" James laughed some more.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, ha-ha, very funny." The librarian quickly hushed them all.
When Remus returned the school went on holiday for two weeks and the six friends all decided to stick around, to be together.
Since nearly all the school had gone home for the holidays, the group decided that the Quidditch pitch would be available and went out for a match.
"Well," said James through his thick winter coat, "I think that Sirius and Remus should be the captains, since they have the best brooms." James looked up. It was dusk; they had spent the entire afternoon playing chess and Exploding Snap.
"Alright then! James is on my team!" Sirius said before Remus could. He looked weary as usual, but in much higher spirits for the holidays.
"Ok...I'll take Allyn." Allyn walked over to where Remus was standing.
"Um, come on Mary. Over here." Mary joined Sirius and James.
"Er, Peter." Remus said jaw clenched. He didn't really want such a bungler, but Peter was a good friend.
"Oh, er no, I'll spectate, thanks." He said nervously. Remus gave a sigh of relief and smiled.
"Alright. Lily, then." Lily looked slightly offended but joined Remus's side nonetheless.
"A game of Quaffleball, shall we?" Everyone nodded to James's suggestion.
"What's Quaffleball?" Asked Mary.
"It's Quidditch without the Beaters, Bludgers, Seekers, and Snitch. You know, all the stuff we'd have to get permission for." Sirius said. Mary nodded.
"Now, Mary, you'll be Keeper. Leave the scoring to me Sirius." James and Sirius slapped hands and laughed.
"I'll take care of keeping." Said Allyn in the other team's huddle. "I play it usually, I've got the broom for it." Everyone nodded and took to the skies.
"Peter, if you could toss up the Quaffle?" James yelled to the ground. Peter nodded, and shakily mounted the broom he had borrowed, Quaffle in hand. He came up to their level, then lifted the Quaffle above his head.
"R-r-ready?" He said, wavering. The flying practice was paying off slightly. He tossed the ball straight up, Sirius and Remus shot upwards after it. Sirius got there first, grabbing the ball away. He dove down below Remus and Lily, and James blocked the both of them with strategic placing. Sirius darted on a breakaway at Allyn, curving left, then right, then straightening out and chucking the ball through the hoop.
"Ten points for us!" He said, pumping his fist into the air. Allyn took the ball immediately, shooting forward. He lobbed the ball expertly across the pitch right into Remus's hand, and he sped off quickly. Only James and Mary were left to guard, as Remus had already accelerated and left Sirius in the dust. James shot towards his own goal, looking back to see Remus catching up to him. He shot to the left and stuck out his elbow as Remus passed, successfully knocking the Quaffle out of his hand.
The ball floated slowly downward, and James shot after it, but Lily barely beat him and Sirius to the ball. She swerved away from both of them, then tossed the ball to Remus again. He faked left and right, then threw the ball just past Mary into the hoop.
"Aha! Beat by a girl!" Lily taunted James and Sirius. Mary picked up the ball. And waited for a moment. James and Sirius had gone into a quick huddle.
"Look at that, there's two guys watching us."
"That's two of the Gryffindor house players. I think they're scouting us."
"I'll show them the Wronski Feint! That'll get me on the team next year!"
"James, don't be dumb, how're you going to do the Feint without a snitch?"
"You'll see." James smiled, then flew off, catching a toss by Mary. It was getting quite dark out, so the Quaffle was hard to see. This, of course, was all part of the plan. James centered himself on the pitch and began flying straight down it. Lily lined herself up with him, then shot towards him. He looked up; Sirius was right above him. Perfect.
He, without moving his hands, adjusted his knee slightly, whacking the ball straight up. But, of course, from what Lily could see he had done nothing, she couldn't make out the ball. James then pointed his arms downward, as if he'd dropped the Quaffle. He shot down after the imaginary ball, and Lily followed.
From James peripheral vision he could see the older students had lit their wands to see where the ball had went. James suddenly swerved up moments before hitting the ground; Lily didn't. With a thud she whacked in, though it appeared she had pulled up just in time, so she wasn't injured, simply grounded. She got back up, but before anyone figured it out, Sirius had scored twice.
Allyn finally realized Sirius had been scoring right next to him, and grabbed the ball. Allyn shot downward under Sirius, accelerating quickly. Sirius went to follow, but Allyn tossed the ball to Lily, who tossed it to Remus. He raced past James, and shot the ball in.
"It's getting dark, guys." Said Mary. "I think we should end it when one of us gets to fifty." Everyone heard and nodded, though no one could see. The ball, however was illuminated, both students in the stands had their lit wands pointing to it.
Mary shot forward, then upward, reverse of what Allyn had done, but then threw the ball still higher to Sirius who was flying quite high. He shot it down to James who was barely above the ground, and he shot off to the goal unguarded. Allyn blocked his first attempt, but the ball bounced off and James whacked it in for 10 more points.
"Forty-ten! One more!" Allyn lobbed the ball as far as he could, right into Lily's hands. Sirius caught up with her, but she shot it off to Remus, who James couldn't catch. Remus went in, faked, and-
"SAVE! SHE STOPPED HIM! AHA!" James and Sirius pumped their fists in the air and Mary blushed magnificently. She quickly tossed it to Sirius however, who gave it off to James.
"Take it James, I've got Remus!" It was true; he and Remus had their arms interlocked and were pushing their Thunderbolts to extremes against each other. They were whipping around quickly and flying higher as one mass.
James smiled.
"Ha, Lily, let's go!" He shot off towards the goal. He faked to the left, Lily bought it. He faked to the right, she bought that too. He went easily past the confused Lily and towards Allyn. Allyn however, had shot towards him, meeting him all the way out at the half line. He tried to fake right and left, but Allyn was too quick. He looked to his left.
"Mary!" He tossed the ball sideways to his keeper, who, from quite a long distance, lobbed the ball into the middle hoop.
"We win! We win!" Everyone grounded themselves. Sirius was helping Remus to his feet; it appeared that that last competition with Sirius made him even more tired and weak than before.
"Are you okay, Remus?" He nodded and smiled, and they walked off towards the stands.
"Excellent game!" Came a voice from where the two lights were.
"Lumos." Muttered the group in unison, and their wands lit up as well.
"Hello, there. My name's Max. Max Dorian. This here's William Johnson. Besides Evus McQuent we're the only non-7th years on the house team. You're Gryffindor, right?" They all nodded and introduced themselves.
"Great. I'll see you six for try-outs next year?" They all nodded again.
"Who was that with the Porksoff Ploy?" Asked William.
"Er, the what?" James asked.
"The Porksoff Ploy! The fake out with the Quaffle!"
"Oh!" Realized James. "That was me."
Just then came six new lights. They all swiveled their heads. Lestrange, Snape, Nott, Vedol, and two fourth years were escorting Peter Pettigrew to where they were standing. Peter ran over as soon as they came close.
"Care for a match? Slytherin versus Gryffindor? A little nighttime Quaffleball?"
"Fine. Three on three plus keepers?" Asked Max to the Slytherins.
"Fine." Max turned to the Gryffindors.
"Alright. Will, you're keeper. Black, Potter, and me, we'll be Chasers. Sorry to the rest of you." Lily, Mary, and Allyn all nodded. Remus might have been mad by not being selected, he was good, but he was lying on the bleachers.
The Gryffindor players took their brooms and took to the sky. On the opposition were Lestrange, Nott, and the two older students. Snape brought himself up to their level, looking a bit disappointed at not being selected to play, and pointed his wand at the Quaffle. He muttered something, and the ball shot straight upwards. Sirius shot after it, as did Nott. Sirius had the broom advantage this time, though, and Nott was a bit larger. Sirius grabbed the Quaffle quickly and began flying overtop everyone else.
The older student shot after Sirius, but Max intercepted him, bumping him out of the way. Nero went too, but Sirius dove just as he accelerated, leaving them all in the dust. All that was left was the keeper, another older student. He flew in, about 10 feet above the hoops, ball in hand. He checked the corner of his eye; James was under him at hoop level.
He raised his arm to throw it, but dropped it and knocked it down with his elbow to James. He quickly caught and threw the Quaffle; 10 points for Gryffindor.
"Ha! Take that Lestrange!" Sirius said, pumping his fist. The Slytherin took it quickly though, and tossed it ahead to Lestrange. He jetted forward; he and the older Chaser were on opposite sides of Max. Max was beating him though, and his chances of a good shot were diminishing.
Nott suddenly jetted underneath Lestrange, and Lestrange dropped it to him. James was to quick, however, and stole the Quaffle before Nott could grab it, and threw it to Sirius. All the Slytherins were on his side of the pitch, and Sirius had an easy breakaway on the Slytherin keeper. He faked left, then right, then faked a shot, then-
"Score! Woohoo!" Sirius slapped James hand.
"That's it!" Yelled the Slytherin keeper. "Time out! Dorian! Over here!" Max obliged and headed over to the Slytherin keeper. The players formed a circle around them.
"Next point wins. Winner gets the Globus Argentum." Dorian nearly fell off his broom.
"The Globus?"
"Yes." He said. Max gulped.
"Unless you're afraid? In that case, maybe I should take it-"
"No! You're on. Let's go team!" Max rounded up the team.
"Alright, guys, let's go. We just need one quick goal. Just do what you've been doing." The team separated. Lestrange had the Quaffle and shot forward quickly. He tossed it back and forth to Nott and the older boy very quickly. It was hard to keep track.
James and Sirius both backed up, they didn't want to risk being passed by. But Slytherin was quick; they were fast approaching the goal. Lestrange finally held the ball for a while, zooming towards the goal. Sirius shot at him, a flying elbow nearly knocked Lestrange off his broom, but he held onto the ball. He tossed it to Nott who chucked it at the goal. Will dove-
"Save!" Yelled Allyn from below. Will threw it, but it was intercepted by the older Slytherin. He threw again, it got by Will.
"No!" Yelled Allyn. But Sirius was quickly flying behind Will. He reached out his hand, fingers deflecting the ball-
"It hit the side! It didn't go in!" James quickly grabbed the ball and jetted past Nott and the older student. It was him and Lestrange, but he saw Sirius above him. It was even darker than before. James adjusted his knee, pointed his hands downward, and shot towards the ground. Lestrange, Nott, and the older student all went for it. James didn't even dare try and pull all the way up. He did so slightly and jumped off onto the ground at the end; Nott and Lestrange both smashed straight in, the older student landed as James did. James looked up. Sirius was heading in alone, he faked once, then tossed it to Max, who put it home.
"Wronski Feint wins another one!" James yelled pumping his fist.
The three Slytherins got up around him. The looked furious. They all raised their wands-
"Ferio!" A blast came from Max's wand and knocked over the older Slytherin. Lestrange and Nott acted quickly.
"Furnunculus!" They both shot jets at James. He choked-
"C-c-Circumvalo!" A tiny, weak shield sprouted from his wand.
"Wallo!" From behind him on both sides jets came together and enlarged the silvery shield to block the curses. James smiled. He raised his wand himself and-
"Expecto Demori!" The jets shot back at Lestrange and Nott. Lestrange ducked, but Nott got hit with the blast and fell to the ground with a face full of boils. James looked back.
Sirius and Remus were both lying on the ground, Lily, Mary, Allyn and Peter looking at them. Max was trying to convince the Slytherin keeper they had won fair and square, and Will and the other Slytherin boy were corralling their house's students to get away from each other and not get into trouble. The Gryffindors sat on the bleachers.
"What's the matter with Remus and Sirius?" Said James, panicking.
"It's okay, James, we're okay." Sirius said, lifting his hand barely. "The Wallo Spell Enhancer just takes a bit out of you. I think Remus is out cold."
The next morning Sirius and James got up early and headed downstairs to the library. They had agreed to meet Max Dorian there after asking him what the Globus Argentum was. He agreed to show them.
Max was standing at the front of the library, one hand clenched.
"Here it is, let's go." They walked over to the same table in the corner Lily, Sirius, and James had met at. Max laid his hand on the table, and opened it up. A silver ball, one inch in diameter or so, rolled out.
"It's a silver snitch!"
"It's a wizwum!" Said Sirius.
"A what?" Asked James.
"It's a wizwum, you know, those little balls that wizards put on their doors, that have the little eyes in them. It's a wizwum."
"It's the Globus Argentum." Everyone stared.
"Me and Kravitch, that Slytherin kid who was keeper, found this together." Max said.
"How did you find it together?" Asked Sirius.
"Well, we're both Seekers for our house teams, and last year there was this chap, probably rich. Used to be a Seeker himself, right? So he has this artifact, the Globus Argentum, and says 'I've hidden this artifact somewhere in the castle, whichever Seeker finds it first gets to keep it, and gets 100 galleons!'. So, Kravitch and me found it at the same time, so we decided to have a competition for it some time. Never found the time though, until now. He at least got 50 galleons."
"Why did the guy give it away?" Asked James.
"My guess is he didn't know what it was, or how to work it. Neither do I, or Professor Dumbledore, or anyone."
"How do you know it's not just a lump of silver?" Asked Sirius.
"Well because it has an inscription. See: 'Globus Argentum de Integumentum Occaecor'."
"Isn't that Latin? Doesn't someone know Latin?" Asked James.
"Professor Dumbledore does, but he says those words aren't Latin. He says that it's probably an heirloom that needs to be opened by the person meant for it. Weird.
"But, oh well, I guess it was probably just a doorknob for some place called Globus Argentum or something." He tossed it to James.
"You can have it."
"Are you serious?" Asked Sirius.
"No, you're Sirius!" James said. "Haha! Gotcha again!" James doubled up in laughter again.
"I'm going to hit you one of these days." Sirius said, getting up and leaving.
The rest of the day no one did anything. Lily and Sirius would break into discussion about the Remus debacle every time he left but he always came back quickly. James just looked at the Globus Argentum. Remus played chess with Allyn, and Mary was bouncing a ball off a wall.
James was left alone to ponder his Globus Argentum when everyone else went to bed. He sat there in the chair closest to the fire, rolling the ball over in his hand. Finally he pointed his wand at it.
"Open Sesame." Nothing.
"I command you to open." Still nothing.
"Please open." And yet, nothing.
"Please, please, please, please, please!" Nothing.
"Grr! You're so annoying!" He pocketed the ball and headed off towards bed. When he got up there, everyone was asleep, except Sirius who was just getting into bed.
"Ah, so you've given up on that wizwum?" Said Sirius tiredly.
"Yeah. I reckon you're right." James, too, flopped into his bed, putting the Globus Argentum into his trunk. He laid himself down into his bed, drifting off to an easy sleep.
James was riding on a large winged lion. He was flying over the countryside. He had a cloak on, it was scarlet and gold, Gryffindor's colors. The lion finally made its way to a castle. It wasn't Hogwarts, but rather a plain, square castle with four large towers at each corner. He flew to the farthest tower. The lion let him off on it, then suddenly grew to a massive size, and wrapped itself around the tower. James looked at the one across from him diagonally. There was a serpent around it, and a man atop it. He was clothed as a muggle. Suddenly there was an explosion of green light from the windows of the tower below him, as there was a yellow one from the tower to his right, and a blue one from the tower to his left. James looked down. The lion was still there, wrapped around the tower. There was a ball in his mouth. It was a silver ball.
James woke with a start. He grabbed his pajamas-he wasn't wearing his gold and scarlet cloak any more. He ripped the sheets off of him, and opened the curtains. He thought of waking Sirius, but didn't. He paced the room for a moment.
In a sudden movement James knelt at his trunk, his hands in its lid. He got back up and started pacing again. He walked to the door, hand on the knob. He was thinking of going to Dumbledore, or Evus, or Max. He turned around.
It was just a dream. He thought. It didn't mean anything. It was just the four houses. The ball...it was just because I was thinking about it. That's all.
James calmed down a bit. He went back into his bed. He fell right asleep.
James was standing on the tower again. The snake across from him was moving. It raised up and looked at him. It shot across the castle, opening its fangs wide, the ball in its mouth. It came right at James, fangs bared-
"Ah!" James woke again. He got up and out, and opened his trunk. He grabbed the ball. He sat on his bed.
"Got to be something." He looked up. Sirius was staring at him grumpily, head poking through his curtains.
"Sorry." He said.
"Just give that wizwum a rest."
"It's not a wizwum. It's something...."
"Yeah, yeah it isn't." Sirius flopped back onto his bed, behind the curtains.
James looked at the ball again. He took out his wand. He stared at the ball.
"Globus Argentum de Integumentum Occaecor. What is it?" He swished his wand.
"Globus Argentum!" Nothing happened again. "Integumentum Occaecor!" Nothing again.
"Agh! This is stupid!"
"Yes it is." Came Sirius's voice from through the curtains. James prodded the ball with his finger.
"Do something!" He prodded it again, with his wand this time. Suddenly the ball became very cold, and almost like a liquid.
"Sirius!" James yelled, hushed.
"What?" He yelled hushed as well, through his curtains.
The ball unfolded as if silvery liquid, though James could feel it was cloth. It spread out over his knees and legs, and to the floor.
"What?!" Sirius opened his curtains and looked out.
"What is it?" Asked James in a panicked tone.
"It's an Invisibility Cloak!"