Chapter 6 - A bludger to the head is a piece of good luck
The next day was a school day, of course, so the four Marauders got up early to go down for breakfast. Slight adjustments to their usual sitting arrangements did not pass unnoticed to the rest of the school. Sirius gave up his traditional place next to James for Lily, and instead took her seat next to Remus - an arrangement that was quite agreeable to both pairs, though the rest of the school didn't know that.
This new arrangement also made it easier for Remus to pass a note to Sirius unnoticed, short, simple words hastily scribbled on a serviette.
'Meet me at the Shack tonight?'
Sirius responded by merely smiling at Remus, then gave him a short nod.
After this, the day couldn't pass swiftly enough for the two Gryffindor boys. Especially Sirius, who didn't have his friend's calm attitude to waiting for something, felt quite restless all through their lessons that morning, and barely managed to gather enough attention for doing his homework.
Even worse was the evening's Quidditch practice James had arranged. Not only that all through practice James and Lily shared some not-so-secret looks that Sirius felt quite jealous of, not only that it was paralysingly cold in the February evening air, and not only that Sirius was so distracted he caught more bludgers with his head than with his bat. He was by now desperate to figure out a way of getting to the Shack unnoticed.
He couldn't well ask James for the invisibility cloak without telling him what he needed it for, and by the time they'd be finished with practicing it would be almost bedtime. The risk of being caught by one of the teachers was at its peek at that time.
Desperately trying to think of a solution to this problem, Sirius got hit by another bludger, square on the chest this time, that sent him flying towards the ground in a dangerous-looking spiral.
Quick to grasp the severity of the situation, James speeded down on his own broom, only just managing to grasp Sirius to him before the other boy would have made a non-too-graceful landing on the hard ground.
"Sirius! Pay attention!" James screamed, more out of fright than in real anger.
"Sorry." Sirius answered numbly. He'd been shocked out of his thoughts by the cruel fall.
"Okay, listen here, Sir. I don't know what's distracting you today, but I think it would be life-threatening to let you play on. Come on, give me your bat and your broom. You're dismissed from practice for today. Sleep over it or something. Pete'll fill in." Peter always attended their practices as an on-looker, his fascination with Quidditch never shaken from the fact that he was only a second fill.
Sirius tried desperately to show some signs of remorse, but couldn't help feeling that a piece of luck had been thrown his way. He was already outside the castle, kids-play to get to the Whomping Willow now. He'd still have to think about a way for them to get back into the castle unnoticed later on, but later on was far from his thoughts at that time.
He could just make out James' "Peter, grab that bat, you're filling in for Sir," before he scrambled away quickly, albeit still somewhat shaken from the force of his fall.
The next day was a school day, of course, so the four Marauders got up early to go down for breakfast. Slight adjustments to their usual sitting arrangements did not pass unnoticed to the rest of the school. Sirius gave up his traditional place next to James for Lily, and instead took her seat next to Remus - an arrangement that was quite agreeable to both pairs, though the rest of the school didn't know that.
This new arrangement also made it easier for Remus to pass a note to Sirius unnoticed, short, simple words hastily scribbled on a serviette.
'Meet me at the Shack tonight?'
Sirius responded by merely smiling at Remus, then gave him a short nod.
After this, the day couldn't pass swiftly enough for the two Gryffindor boys. Especially Sirius, who didn't have his friend's calm attitude to waiting for something, felt quite restless all through their lessons that morning, and barely managed to gather enough attention for doing his homework.
Even worse was the evening's Quidditch practice James had arranged. Not only that all through practice James and Lily shared some not-so-secret looks that Sirius felt quite jealous of, not only that it was paralysingly cold in the February evening air, and not only that Sirius was so distracted he caught more bludgers with his head than with his bat. He was by now desperate to figure out a way of getting to the Shack unnoticed.
He couldn't well ask James for the invisibility cloak without telling him what he needed it for, and by the time they'd be finished with practicing it would be almost bedtime. The risk of being caught by one of the teachers was at its peek at that time.
Desperately trying to think of a solution to this problem, Sirius got hit by another bludger, square on the chest this time, that sent him flying towards the ground in a dangerous-looking spiral.
Quick to grasp the severity of the situation, James speeded down on his own broom, only just managing to grasp Sirius to him before the other boy would have made a non-too-graceful landing on the hard ground.
"Sirius! Pay attention!" James screamed, more out of fright than in real anger.
"Sorry." Sirius answered numbly. He'd been shocked out of his thoughts by the cruel fall.
"Okay, listen here, Sir. I don't know what's distracting you today, but I think it would be life-threatening to let you play on. Come on, give me your bat and your broom. You're dismissed from practice for today. Sleep over it or something. Pete'll fill in." Peter always attended their practices as an on-looker, his fascination with Quidditch never shaken from the fact that he was only a second fill.
Sirius tried desperately to show some signs of remorse, but couldn't help feeling that a piece of luck had been thrown his way. He was already outside the castle, kids-play to get to the Whomping Willow now. He'd still have to think about a way for them to get back into the castle unnoticed later on, but later on was far from his thoughts at that time.
He could just make out James' "Peter, grab that bat, you're filling in for Sir," before he scrambled away quickly, albeit still somewhat shaken from the force of his fall.