Amy: Thanks. . .believe it or not, it took me a while to figure out
anything to do that hadn't been done a million times. . .though, I suppose
a food fight isn't that original, is it? ::sigh:: Oh well. . .as stated
before, I can't tell what's going to happen. . .I am beginning to wind the
story down a little bit, though. You should know. . .probably by beginning
of May, latest. . .then I get to start on the sequel! Yay!
Shelly: No, not at all. I've never seen Malfoy in a tutu before. . .hmm. . .perhaps. . .I guess I just need to see how things flow. . .thanks for the idea though! It's much appreciated!
Leaf: And I take it you are? No biggie. . .Home for the Holidays will show a different side to Draco. . .eventually. . .that is if I ever get around to finishing it. . .would ya like me to let ya know when I start working on it again? Yes or no, I won't be offended if you don't! And thanks for the review! Quidditch. . .yes, that and a little something else. . .hehehe. . .
Ditto2001: Thanks! So glad you liked the pranks. . .there's gonna be one or two more, but not this chapter, next chapter. And, oh, is it going to be a doozy. . .
Wanted: Love
Ch26: Alls Fair in Pride and Quidditch
"This is pointless!" Harry exclaimed, plopping himself on the ground.
The incessant practice he had been enduring since he returned from Christmas break had begun to get to him. Not only did the sessions last for hours at a time, but he wasn't getting anywhere with his wandless magic. The improvement in his gymnastic abilities were the only upside to the entire situation, they had to otherwise he would have been pulverized in the three, sometimes four, to one battles he participated in. Remus, Sirius, and Tali (when she didn't have class) had all joined forces with Dumbledore in training Harry.
"I'm not getting anywhere with the stupid wandless magic! I'm going to have my wand, so what's the point!?"
"You never know what is going to happen, Harry. It's best to be prepared." Dumbledore said.
Remus nodded, "Better safe than sorry."
"Easy for you to say," Harry said, taking Sirius' offered hand and standing up, "No one's forcing you to learn something in an impossibly short amount of time."
"You sound like James right before the N.E.W.T.S." Sirius said, laughing.
"You, too, Sirius," Remus said in a slight mocking tone.
"I think all students experience a bit of anxiety before the test." Dumbledore said with a smile.
"At least that's one thing I'll never have to worry about." Harry said in optimism.
"Harry---" Sirius began.
Harry shook his head and held up his hand, "No, I've accepted it, Sirius. You need to, too. Let's just enjoy the time I have left."
Silence enveloped the men. Harry knew that they would never learn to "accept" it, but the hope would always be there. He had to get them to come to grips with it; otherwise there would be big problems for them when he left.
"Just make sure that someone keeps up the noble work of the Prongs legacy." Harry said with a smirk, ending the calm.
The three laughed, though it sounded terribly forced. Harry stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked down, beginning to wish he hadn't brought up the prophecy. Luckily, Tali chose that moment to walk in.
"Hey guys! Sorry I couldn't come earlier, but one of my students wanted some help. Couldn't very well say no, now could I?" she asked as she came to a stop, "What's wrong with you all?"
"Nothing, Tals, good to see you." Sirius said, giving her a hug.
"Obviously not your spirits. Come on, what's got everyone so down in the dumps?" she asked, turning to Remus, "You didn't get another visit from the scum wipe, Malfoy, did you?"
"No, it's fine." Remus said hugging her also.
"Dumbledore?"
He shrugged his shoulder, "You heard them, Tali."
Tali got a slightly perturbed look on her face and turned to Harry, "I know you wouldn't lie to me, Harry."
"Don't worry about it. It's fine, honest."
She sighed and ran her hand along the side of his face until it rested under his chin, "Men, I'll never understand you."
With that she ruffled his hair, "Come on, it's time for dinner."
The five headed on their way back up to the castle and Harry couldn't help but notice a certain something, "Tali, where'd you get that ring?"
Tali blushed, looked to Sirius and smiled, "Sirius."
Harry's face split into a smile, "You mean. . .?"
They nodded and Harry laughed, "That's great! When?"
"We're not sure. It just happened last night." Sirius said, putting a thoughtful look on.
"And it was just ever so romantic, too." Remus said sarcastically.
"Hey!" Sirius cried indignantly.
"Why? How'd you do it, Sirius?" Harry asked, enthused.
"He hit me with a piece of pie and so I dumped a bowl of jello on his head. He fell to the ground and when I went to help him up he knelt on one knee and asked me. . ." Tali said, apparently not bothered in the least in the manner her asked her.
"You hit her with a pie and then propose?" Harry asked incredibly.
Sirius shrugged, "Worked, didn't it?"
"To each his own, I believe would be the correct phrase for this moment." Dumbledore said as they reached the Great Hall.
The rest of the school's population was already eating and after a quick goodbye, Harry hurried over to where his friends had saved him a seat.
"Practice again?" Lavender asked, knowingly.
"Of course. . ." Harry said, glancing up at the professors' table and grinning.
"What's with you?" Ron asked.
Harry nodded towards the engaged couple, "You'll never guess who finally decided to get hitched."
"Sirius and Tali are getting married!?" Hermione asked, eyes bulging out of her head as Harry nodded, "That's great! When?"
"They haven't decided yet. And get this, Padfoot proposed after hitting her with a piece of pie." Harry said as he grabbed a piece of chicken.
"Graceful." Ron said sarcastically.
"And she said yes?" Lavender asked eye brow cocked.
"Go figure." Harry said with a shrug.
"Oh! By the way, Harry, Lavender and I talked to Ravenclaws and they're more than willing to help." Hermione said with a smile.
"The Huffelpuffs aren't. . .they're afraid they'll get into too much trouble, bloody cowards. You only live once!" Ron said, slightly perturbed.
Harry thought for a minute, "There's still time to convince them, and even if they still won't, the rest of the Gryffindors said they'll help. We'll have enough people. We have a Quidditch game tomorrow, so how about Sunday?"
They all nodded in agreement as the topic changed to the upcoming Quidditch game.
"You two should take your wands with you. Who knows what Malfoy might do, especially after last night." Hermione suggested with a note of seriousness.
"How thick do you think he is, Hermione? Not only is Dumbledore going to be there, but so are Sirius, Remus, and Tali." Ron said, not worried in the least.
"Yeah, he'd have to be stupider than normal to try something." Harry concurred. Hermione and Lavender crossed their arms and pursed their lips.
"Ron Weasley, all that aside, there's still the chance. You're taking your wand and that's that." Lavender said sternly.
Hermione nodded, "Same goes for you, Harry. We can't help you from the stands. Better safe than sorry."
"What's up with everyone saying that today?" Harry wondered out loud.
The girls started to narrow their eyes and Ron rolled his eyes, "Fine, we'll take our stupid wands."
The two looked satisfied and smiled, "Good. And you better beat their sorry butts, too."
"Of course, what do you expect?" Harry asked.
"Making Malfoy captain was the biggest mistake Slytherin ever made." Ron said, hitting his fist on the table, "They're going down!"
***************************
"This should be fun." Ron said cheerfully as he and Harry entered the Gryffindor locker room.
"It should be interesting at least. It's a whole new team, other than you, from last year." Harry said, starting to get changed.
"No worries there mate. We got the best of the best." Ron said, smiling.
"Really?" Harry asked, pulling his robe on, "Like who?"
"Well, Dean and Seamus are the new beaters. Colin Creevy, Ginny, and a second year girl. . .crap, what's her name?. . .Oh yeah! Megan Wood. . .Oliver's little sister."
"Ginny AND Colin are on the team?" Harry asked with a hint of dismay.
Ron laughed, "You mean you don't know?"
"Know what?"
"Ginny and Colin are going out."
"What!?" Harry exclaimed, "Since when?"
Ron shrugged, "A couple months. . .sorry, Harry. Looks like Ginny's moved on."
Harry laughed and shook his head, "What a shame."
"You two almost ready?" a young girl with blond hair and brown eyes asked, coming up to them with hands on her hips, "We only have about ten minutes until game time."
"Yeah, yeah sure, Megan. We'll be there in a minute." Ron said, tying his shoe.
"That's what you said last time." Megan said, tapping her foot.
"There. Done. We're coming, sheesh, no patience at all." Ron said as he grabbed Harry by the arm and pulled him towards the rest of the team.
"Never tick her off," Ron whispered to him, "She may be small, but she has a hell of a left hook."
Harry laughed as he sat himself down on a bench next to Colin, "I'll take your word for it."
Megan gave them a suspicious look before sitting between Dean and Ginny, "Let's just get the pep talk over with."
"Er---who's the captain?" Harry asked after no one took charge.
"Ron is." Ginny piped.
Ron shook his head, "I was only filling in for Harry. He was captain last year."
Harry was close to saying that there wasn't any point for him to be captain for one game, but caught himself just in time. He remembered what had happened the night before when he brought it up and had promised himself to not talk about it again, unless someone else brought it up.
Ron seemed to understand what Harry's silence, however, and continued before he could decline, "Besides, remember my attempt at a pep talk? Not something you want to go through again, I'm sure."
A not-so-quiet buzz of agreement followed this and Harry had to wait for it to calm down before he spoke, "You all know how busy I am with my training. Ron has much more time than I do to work out plans."
Hardly a witch or wizard existed by that time that didn't know about the prophecy, though, few knew the finer points. . .a.k.a. that he was due to die fulfilling it. Still, they knew enough to know that he was practicing for it nearly every day while they were in class.
Ron crossed his arms at Harry's deliberate attempt to push the title of captain onto him and before anyone else spoke, he stood up, "Not hardly; all the professors are dishing out tons of homework to get us ready for the upcoming N.E.W.T.S. . .and I still say it's too early to worry about those."
Dean and Seamus were about to state their agreement when Harry stood up.
Eyeing Ron, he spoke in a way that he hoped would get his message across, "Still, *you'd* make a better *captain*."
Ron imitated him, "No, Harry, *you'd* make a better captain."
The rest of the team looked at the two as they continued to debate with each other. This lasted for at least a good five minutes until they got fed up.
"Enough!" Colin shouted, silencing the two, "Why don't you two compromise?"
"Huh?"
"You'd both make good captains," Dean led off but neither seemed to understand.
"Why don't *both* of you be captain?" Seamus said, spelling it out for them.
Ron and Harry looked at each other, "Can you do that?"
Ginny shrugged, "I don't see why not, they do in the national leagues."
The two stared at each other a second longer than broke out into a smile at the same time and clasped their hands together, "Deal!"
"Now that we've wasted all that time. . ." Megan said, annoyed.
"Right! Onto the game!" Harry said, picking up his broom.
The rest of the team picked up their brooms and followed him out onto the field. Once they were in the center, McGonagall hurried up to them.
"Quickly," she said to Ron and Harry, "Which one of you is the captain?"
"Both of us." Ron said, clapping his partner on the back.
She looked at them for a moment before smiling, "Wonderful! We haven't had co captains Sirius and your father, Harry."
Before either of them could say a thing, she had hurried back off to the commentary stand.
"Makes sense, though," Ron observed as the Slytherin team made their way over to them, "I can't see your dad or Sirius outdoing the other."
Harry nodded, "Maybe we're more like the Marauders than we realized."
"Captains shake hands." Madame Hooch said cheerfully. Harry and Ron looked at Malfoy and vice versa.
"You've got to be kidding." Harry said, not moving.
"I would shake hands with that fucking bastard if you paid me." Ron said, eyeing Malfoy nastily.
"My sentiments exactly, Weasel." Malfoy sneered.
"We can't started the game until you shake hands." Hooch said impatiently.
"Not going to happen."
The crowd in the stands began to get uppity and started shouting for the game to begin.
"Shake hands!" Hooch snapped at them. The three glowered at each other and roughly shook each other's hands.
"Good luck, Potter, Weasley." Malfoy said sardonically.
"Break a leg, Malfoy." Harry said, "I mean it."
"I hope you have Nanners on hand, you're going to need him when we whip your sorry ass from here to Timbuktu." Ron said, gaining a few chuckles from his teammates and a smile from Hooch.
They broke off the handshake, mounted their brooms, and took off into air. Hooch released the bludgers and the snitch. Knowing that it wouldn't do any good, she skipped the part about playing fair and tossed up the quaffle.
"And the game begins." Sirius said over the loud speaker. Harry glanced over to the commentary stand and saw that he and Remus were doing it. He laughed to himself; this was going to be a hell of a game.
"Slytherin in possession. . . Goyle takes the quaffle to the Gryffindor's goal posts. . .Oh! Beautiful save by Gryffindor keeper, Ron Weasley!" Remus said enthusiastically.
"Yeah! Take that you greasy old git! Looks like you'll be dishing out the dough this time!" Sirius said, grabbing the microphone from Remus.
"Padfoot, please. . ." Remus said, attempting to get control of the microphone.
Looking through the crowd, Harry could see Snape shaking his head and pulling out a large sack of what appeared to be money. He smirked and flew around over to the goal posts where Ron was floating rather bored.
"Hey Ron! Sirius' got money on this game!"
Ron looked up at him and smiled, "No problem! We'll win and then make him take us out to celebrate!"
Harry laughed and went back to looking for the snitch. Over the next fifteen minutes, Gryffindor scored six goals and blocked two more. Slytherin had made one while Ron had been busy trying to understand what Lavender had been shouting at him, which coincidentally was to notice Crabbe who had scored the goal. Through all this Harry had managed to avoid Malfoy, which was somewhat of a miracle.
However, miracles never last forever, and after a failed dive, Harry came up to find Malfoy's superior smile and typical deriding comment, "Nice try, Potter, maybe next time you'll actually catch the snitch."
Harry rolled his eyes, "Maybe next time you'll actually be able to think of a better come back."
"I'd watch your mouth if I were you." Malfoy said, tiredly, following him around the field.
"Like I'm scared of a prick like you. If I can handle your father, than I can most certainly handle his pathetic excuse for a son." Harry said, squinting around over towards the Slytherin goal posts where Pansy yet again failed to make the block, "Looks like your girlfriend could do with some more practice."
Malfoy's ears tinted pink, "Pansy's a better find than that Mudblood of yours."
Harry whipped around, "Call her that again and I swear to Merlin that I'll make you pay!"
"What? Mudblood too big of an insult? It's true though, you have to admit." Malfoy drove on.
Harry's nostrils flared, but he forced himself to keep his mind on the game. He would get even with him tomorrow, he could wait, "Not as big of one as you are to everyone you're associated with. Not that any of them have a good reputation to begin with."
He flew onward but Malfoy stared a look of pure evil at him, "Don't you EVER insult my family or my friends!"
Harry ignored him but gave his team a loud cheer as Colin scored a goal. Malfoy wasn't about to be ignored, though, he grabbed the stick out of one of his teams' Beaters' hand and flew after Harry.
"And the score is 80 to 10, Gryffindor, as Ginny Weasley scores yet another goal!" Remus said excitedly as Sirius whooped in the background, "Now all we need---oh! This could be it! Potter dives. . .HE GOT IT!!!!"
"YES!!!!! Gryffindor wins, 230 to 10!!!!!!" Sirius yelled into the microphone, nearly causing everyone to go deaf, "Snape you good for nothing piece of shit, you owe me twenty galleons!"
Harry pulled out of the dive, less than twenty feet from the ground with the snitch held tightly in his hand. His teammates met him as he reached their level in the air and hugged. Megan even had a few tears leak out of her eyes, Harry had learned one thing about her so far, she was Oliver reincarnated.
The team separated and started heading back to the ground when out of no where, a bludgers hit Harry in the back of the head. Quite a few people screamed as he fell from the air. His team members sped after him, only to discover the reason why Seekers were always so small. They made it to the ground just as he collided with it.
"Harry! Harry, you okay!?" Ron asked, turning him onto his back. Not surprisingly, he wasn't conscious at the time, though this only worried them more.
"Is he breathing!?" Ginny asked shrilly.
"Yeah, but look, he's bleeding!" Dean said, pointing out the red liquid seeping out of Harry's head.
"Who the hell hit him!? The game was over! That's against the rules!" Megan raged.
"Harry! Is he okay!?" Hermione shrieked, as she, Lavender, Sirius, Tali, Remus, and Dumbledore reached them.
"He's bleeding and won't wake up!" Colin informed them.
"Wait till I get my hands on whoever hit him! I swear to Merlin they're going to pay!" Sirius shouted, eyes gleaming madly.
"Not now, Sirius. We have to get him to the hospital wing." Tali said urgently.
***************************(You're lucky. . .I was gonna leave it there)************************
Hours passed and Harry slept on. Anxiety reached a new high as Madame Pomfrey told them that there one possibility was that he might have a concussion when he woke, or even temporary memory loss. Fortunately, Colin had passed his passion for photography to his younger brother who had snapped a picture of Malfoy hitting the bludger that had hit Harry. Malfoy, of course, had been severely punished. One hundred points from Slytherin house AND detention for the remainder of the year.
This had hardly been enough for any of the Marauder or Tali. All of them had to be physically restrained from hunting down the "good for nothing, cowardly, asshole," as Ron as so delicately put it. Dumbledore had smiled sadly and said pointedly that there was always tomorrow. Of course they all knew what he meant, but if Harry couldn't enjoy his own prank, than none of them were going to.
At the moment, it was going on seven o'clock, four hours since the game. The Marauders, both old and new, and Tali ate in the hospital wing. They had utterly refused to leave and after an okay by Dumbledore they were allowed to stay. No one said a thing as they ate. Every now and then, glances were stolen at Harry who remained still and silent. The dinner dishes were magically replaced with dessert platters. A couple of them picked at the sweets, but none were really that hungry.
". . .That smells good." came a tired voice from across the room.
Instantly all eyes had swerved towards the sound of the voice to see Harry pushing himself into a sitting position. He turned to them and smiled as they hurried over to him.
"Harry! How are you feeling?" Hermione asked worriedly.
Harry thought for a moment, ". . .A little sore. What happened, anyway?"
"That mother fucker hit you with a bludger!" Ron growled.
Surprisingly, Harry laughed, "Stupid git. . .it's not a good idea to tick off a bunch of wild animals."
"Harry, it's not funny, you could have really been hurt!" Sirius said critically.
"He's been punished, right? And of course there our little. . .plan tomorrow. Besides, I'm fine." he said as he attempted to stand up.
Half way up, though, a wave of dizziness struck him and he fell back to bed, "Oh, my head. . .Damn, how close was he when he hit it?"
"According to the picture. . .less than ten feet. You need to stay in bed anyway, Harry. Madame Pomfrey will have our heads if we let you get up so soon." Remus said, gently pushing him back down.
Harry sighed and reluctantly leaned against the headboard, "At least we won. . .you get your money, Sirius?"
Sirius laughed and pulled a sack out of his pocket, "It might have taken some work, but was there ever any doubt?"
"Harry! You're awake!"
The group looked to the door where Ernie MacMillen speedily walked over to them, "Everyone in the Great Hall is worried about you."
Harry sighed and shook his head, "Nothing new there."
"What do you want, MacMillen?" Ron asked shortly, still having yet to forgive him for the entire incident in their second year.
Ernie crossed his arms, "I came here to give Harry a message from us Huffelpuffs."
"A message?" Hermione asked.
He smiled brightly, "Due to recent events, we have decided to assist you in your. . .you know, tomorrow."
"Great!" Harry said cheerfully, "Practically the entire school's in on it now! He better watch his back tomorrow!"
"It won't make any difference, Mr. Potter. You aren't going anywhere."
There was a simultaneous groan from everyone else in the room as Madame Pomfrey bustled up to them with a potion bottle in her hand, "You fell over fifty feet to the frozen ground after being hit, in the *head*, with a bludger. It must have hit you harder than I originally thought if you think you're leaving any time soon."
"Oh, go on, Poppy. You can't keep him locked up here when there a trick to pull!" Tali said seriously.
"I most certainly can. Now if you all would excuse me, I must see to my patient. All of you, out---Not you, Potter! Get back in that bed." Pomfrey said, pushing Harry back in bed as he attempted to follow his friends out of the hospital wing.
He sighed irritably as Pomfrey set the potion on his bedside table and started changing the bandages on his head. This wasn't how he planned on spending the rest of his days. A sweet cry drew his attention to the door where Hedwig flew and landed on his knees.
"Hey, Hedwig, where have you been lately?" he asked her.
Her eyes started welling up and Harry graciously lowered his head. Immediately he felt his dizziness and soreness begin to diminish. Pomfrey clicked her tongue, apparently annoyed at the shortcut to recovery.
"Thanks, Hedwig." Harry said thankfully, stroking her gently.
"You're still not getting out of here by tomorrow." Pomfrey said sternly.
Harry laughed, "No, of course not."
It was for the best he supposed; now he had more time to go over the finer details with all those participating. Other than that, at least one of those absurd training sessions would have to be cancelled.
Pomfrey had by now poured the potion in the bottle into a cup and pushed it towards him, "Here, drink this. You need to rest."
Harry looked at it with a raised eye brow. The brown, bubbling goop had the same consistency as that of thick mud. Leaning over it, a particularly large bubble burst and splattered his forehead with the mystery substance.
He looked back to the nurse with incredibly, "You're kidding, right?"
In truth she couldn't have looked sterner if she tried, "Do I ever joke about these things? It'll help heal your head and help you sleep."
Glancing back at the cup he shook his head, "No way. If that's what it looks like. . ."
"Potter! You're going to take that one way or another; you might as well make it easy on yourself." Pomfrey said in a way that slightly made Harry cower.
Regret building up in advance, he took a small sip before scrunching his face in disgust and holding the cup as far away as possible, ". . .Tasty. . ."
"Now the rest."
Harry brought the cup to his face but quickly drew back, "No, sorry. It isn't going to happen."
"Potter. . ." Pomfrey led off in a warning tone.
He stared at the muddy "potion" and shuddered. There was no way he would be able to get the rest of it down. He hadn't tasted very much, but it was enough to kill any hope of taking the rest. Harry looked back to Hedwig who was staring at him with an odd expression. Opening his mouth to ask her what it was, he suddenly found the potion being forced down his throat. He tried to spit it out but found that it had already gone down. Collapsing against his pillow he held his mouth open in disgust. That was by far the MOST nauseating thing he had ever had to get down in his entire life.
As drowsiness began to overcome him, he saw Pomfrey shoo off Hedwig before pulling the blankets over him and walk away muttering something that sounded like, "Kids these days. . ."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, I was going to put more into this chapter, but it was getting kind of long. . .So. . .whatcha thinking? Bet you're wishing for the next installment, right? Well, I'm working on it. . .Malfoy's going to get it. . .and I apologize in advance for any stupidity that might ensue. Anywho. . .you like the chapter? Yes or no, gotta let me know. . .hey, that rhymes. . .hehehe! Write a review, pretty please!
POLE TIME: Alright, time for a reader's choice. The end of this story could have two outcomes. Either A: Malfoy still hates the Marauders and vice versa, but he turns out to not be that bad. Or B: Malfoy hates them so much that he transfers to a different school for the next year. Now, this is very important for the sequel. I need to know now so I start working out the details. . .
Shelly: No, not at all. I've never seen Malfoy in a tutu before. . .hmm. . .perhaps. . .I guess I just need to see how things flow. . .thanks for the idea though! It's much appreciated!
Leaf: And I take it you are? No biggie. . .Home for the Holidays will show a different side to Draco. . .eventually. . .that is if I ever get around to finishing it. . .would ya like me to let ya know when I start working on it again? Yes or no, I won't be offended if you don't! And thanks for the review! Quidditch. . .yes, that and a little something else. . .hehehe. . .
Ditto2001: Thanks! So glad you liked the pranks. . .there's gonna be one or two more, but not this chapter, next chapter. And, oh, is it going to be a doozy. . .
Wanted: Love
Ch26: Alls Fair in Pride and Quidditch
"This is pointless!" Harry exclaimed, plopping himself on the ground.
The incessant practice he had been enduring since he returned from Christmas break had begun to get to him. Not only did the sessions last for hours at a time, but he wasn't getting anywhere with his wandless magic. The improvement in his gymnastic abilities were the only upside to the entire situation, they had to otherwise he would have been pulverized in the three, sometimes four, to one battles he participated in. Remus, Sirius, and Tali (when she didn't have class) had all joined forces with Dumbledore in training Harry.
"I'm not getting anywhere with the stupid wandless magic! I'm going to have my wand, so what's the point!?"
"You never know what is going to happen, Harry. It's best to be prepared." Dumbledore said.
Remus nodded, "Better safe than sorry."
"Easy for you to say," Harry said, taking Sirius' offered hand and standing up, "No one's forcing you to learn something in an impossibly short amount of time."
"You sound like James right before the N.E.W.T.S." Sirius said, laughing.
"You, too, Sirius," Remus said in a slight mocking tone.
"I think all students experience a bit of anxiety before the test." Dumbledore said with a smile.
"At least that's one thing I'll never have to worry about." Harry said in optimism.
"Harry---" Sirius began.
Harry shook his head and held up his hand, "No, I've accepted it, Sirius. You need to, too. Let's just enjoy the time I have left."
Silence enveloped the men. Harry knew that they would never learn to "accept" it, but the hope would always be there. He had to get them to come to grips with it; otherwise there would be big problems for them when he left.
"Just make sure that someone keeps up the noble work of the Prongs legacy." Harry said with a smirk, ending the calm.
The three laughed, though it sounded terribly forced. Harry stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked down, beginning to wish he hadn't brought up the prophecy. Luckily, Tali chose that moment to walk in.
"Hey guys! Sorry I couldn't come earlier, but one of my students wanted some help. Couldn't very well say no, now could I?" she asked as she came to a stop, "What's wrong with you all?"
"Nothing, Tals, good to see you." Sirius said, giving her a hug.
"Obviously not your spirits. Come on, what's got everyone so down in the dumps?" she asked, turning to Remus, "You didn't get another visit from the scum wipe, Malfoy, did you?"
"No, it's fine." Remus said hugging her also.
"Dumbledore?"
He shrugged his shoulder, "You heard them, Tali."
Tali got a slightly perturbed look on her face and turned to Harry, "I know you wouldn't lie to me, Harry."
"Don't worry about it. It's fine, honest."
She sighed and ran her hand along the side of his face until it rested under his chin, "Men, I'll never understand you."
With that she ruffled his hair, "Come on, it's time for dinner."
The five headed on their way back up to the castle and Harry couldn't help but notice a certain something, "Tali, where'd you get that ring?"
Tali blushed, looked to Sirius and smiled, "Sirius."
Harry's face split into a smile, "You mean. . .?"
They nodded and Harry laughed, "That's great! When?"
"We're not sure. It just happened last night." Sirius said, putting a thoughtful look on.
"And it was just ever so romantic, too." Remus said sarcastically.
"Hey!" Sirius cried indignantly.
"Why? How'd you do it, Sirius?" Harry asked, enthused.
"He hit me with a piece of pie and so I dumped a bowl of jello on his head. He fell to the ground and when I went to help him up he knelt on one knee and asked me. . ." Tali said, apparently not bothered in the least in the manner her asked her.
"You hit her with a pie and then propose?" Harry asked incredibly.
Sirius shrugged, "Worked, didn't it?"
"To each his own, I believe would be the correct phrase for this moment." Dumbledore said as they reached the Great Hall.
The rest of the school's population was already eating and after a quick goodbye, Harry hurried over to where his friends had saved him a seat.
"Practice again?" Lavender asked, knowingly.
"Of course. . ." Harry said, glancing up at the professors' table and grinning.
"What's with you?" Ron asked.
Harry nodded towards the engaged couple, "You'll never guess who finally decided to get hitched."
"Sirius and Tali are getting married!?" Hermione asked, eyes bulging out of her head as Harry nodded, "That's great! When?"
"They haven't decided yet. And get this, Padfoot proposed after hitting her with a piece of pie." Harry said as he grabbed a piece of chicken.
"Graceful." Ron said sarcastically.
"And she said yes?" Lavender asked eye brow cocked.
"Go figure." Harry said with a shrug.
"Oh! By the way, Harry, Lavender and I talked to Ravenclaws and they're more than willing to help." Hermione said with a smile.
"The Huffelpuffs aren't. . .they're afraid they'll get into too much trouble, bloody cowards. You only live once!" Ron said, slightly perturbed.
Harry thought for a minute, "There's still time to convince them, and even if they still won't, the rest of the Gryffindors said they'll help. We'll have enough people. We have a Quidditch game tomorrow, so how about Sunday?"
They all nodded in agreement as the topic changed to the upcoming Quidditch game.
"You two should take your wands with you. Who knows what Malfoy might do, especially after last night." Hermione suggested with a note of seriousness.
"How thick do you think he is, Hermione? Not only is Dumbledore going to be there, but so are Sirius, Remus, and Tali." Ron said, not worried in the least.
"Yeah, he'd have to be stupider than normal to try something." Harry concurred. Hermione and Lavender crossed their arms and pursed their lips.
"Ron Weasley, all that aside, there's still the chance. You're taking your wand and that's that." Lavender said sternly.
Hermione nodded, "Same goes for you, Harry. We can't help you from the stands. Better safe than sorry."
"What's up with everyone saying that today?" Harry wondered out loud.
The girls started to narrow their eyes and Ron rolled his eyes, "Fine, we'll take our stupid wands."
The two looked satisfied and smiled, "Good. And you better beat their sorry butts, too."
"Of course, what do you expect?" Harry asked.
"Making Malfoy captain was the biggest mistake Slytherin ever made." Ron said, hitting his fist on the table, "They're going down!"
***************************
"This should be fun." Ron said cheerfully as he and Harry entered the Gryffindor locker room.
"It should be interesting at least. It's a whole new team, other than you, from last year." Harry said, starting to get changed.
"No worries there mate. We got the best of the best." Ron said, smiling.
"Really?" Harry asked, pulling his robe on, "Like who?"
"Well, Dean and Seamus are the new beaters. Colin Creevy, Ginny, and a second year girl. . .crap, what's her name?. . .Oh yeah! Megan Wood. . .Oliver's little sister."
"Ginny AND Colin are on the team?" Harry asked with a hint of dismay.
Ron laughed, "You mean you don't know?"
"Know what?"
"Ginny and Colin are going out."
"What!?" Harry exclaimed, "Since when?"
Ron shrugged, "A couple months. . .sorry, Harry. Looks like Ginny's moved on."
Harry laughed and shook his head, "What a shame."
"You two almost ready?" a young girl with blond hair and brown eyes asked, coming up to them with hands on her hips, "We only have about ten minutes until game time."
"Yeah, yeah sure, Megan. We'll be there in a minute." Ron said, tying his shoe.
"That's what you said last time." Megan said, tapping her foot.
"There. Done. We're coming, sheesh, no patience at all." Ron said as he grabbed Harry by the arm and pulled him towards the rest of the team.
"Never tick her off," Ron whispered to him, "She may be small, but she has a hell of a left hook."
Harry laughed as he sat himself down on a bench next to Colin, "I'll take your word for it."
Megan gave them a suspicious look before sitting between Dean and Ginny, "Let's just get the pep talk over with."
"Er---who's the captain?" Harry asked after no one took charge.
"Ron is." Ginny piped.
Ron shook his head, "I was only filling in for Harry. He was captain last year."
Harry was close to saying that there wasn't any point for him to be captain for one game, but caught himself just in time. He remembered what had happened the night before when he brought it up and had promised himself to not talk about it again, unless someone else brought it up.
Ron seemed to understand what Harry's silence, however, and continued before he could decline, "Besides, remember my attempt at a pep talk? Not something you want to go through again, I'm sure."
A not-so-quiet buzz of agreement followed this and Harry had to wait for it to calm down before he spoke, "You all know how busy I am with my training. Ron has much more time than I do to work out plans."
Hardly a witch or wizard existed by that time that didn't know about the prophecy, though, few knew the finer points. . .a.k.a. that he was due to die fulfilling it. Still, they knew enough to know that he was practicing for it nearly every day while they were in class.
Ron crossed his arms at Harry's deliberate attempt to push the title of captain onto him and before anyone else spoke, he stood up, "Not hardly; all the professors are dishing out tons of homework to get us ready for the upcoming N.E.W.T.S. . .and I still say it's too early to worry about those."
Dean and Seamus were about to state their agreement when Harry stood up.
Eyeing Ron, he spoke in a way that he hoped would get his message across, "Still, *you'd* make a better *captain*."
Ron imitated him, "No, Harry, *you'd* make a better captain."
The rest of the team looked at the two as they continued to debate with each other. This lasted for at least a good five minutes until they got fed up.
"Enough!" Colin shouted, silencing the two, "Why don't you two compromise?"
"Huh?"
"You'd both make good captains," Dean led off but neither seemed to understand.
"Why don't *both* of you be captain?" Seamus said, spelling it out for them.
Ron and Harry looked at each other, "Can you do that?"
Ginny shrugged, "I don't see why not, they do in the national leagues."
The two stared at each other a second longer than broke out into a smile at the same time and clasped their hands together, "Deal!"
"Now that we've wasted all that time. . ." Megan said, annoyed.
"Right! Onto the game!" Harry said, picking up his broom.
The rest of the team picked up their brooms and followed him out onto the field. Once they were in the center, McGonagall hurried up to them.
"Quickly," she said to Ron and Harry, "Which one of you is the captain?"
"Both of us." Ron said, clapping his partner on the back.
She looked at them for a moment before smiling, "Wonderful! We haven't had co captains Sirius and your father, Harry."
Before either of them could say a thing, she had hurried back off to the commentary stand.
"Makes sense, though," Ron observed as the Slytherin team made their way over to them, "I can't see your dad or Sirius outdoing the other."
Harry nodded, "Maybe we're more like the Marauders than we realized."
"Captains shake hands." Madame Hooch said cheerfully. Harry and Ron looked at Malfoy and vice versa.
"You've got to be kidding." Harry said, not moving.
"I would shake hands with that fucking bastard if you paid me." Ron said, eyeing Malfoy nastily.
"My sentiments exactly, Weasel." Malfoy sneered.
"We can't started the game until you shake hands." Hooch said impatiently.
"Not going to happen."
The crowd in the stands began to get uppity and started shouting for the game to begin.
"Shake hands!" Hooch snapped at them. The three glowered at each other and roughly shook each other's hands.
"Good luck, Potter, Weasley." Malfoy said sardonically.
"Break a leg, Malfoy." Harry said, "I mean it."
"I hope you have Nanners on hand, you're going to need him when we whip your sorry ass from here to Timbuktu." Ron said, gaining a few chuckles from his teammates and a smile from Hooch.
They broke off the handshake, mounted their brooms, and took off into air. Hooch released the bludgers and the snitch. Knowing that it wouldn't do any good, she skipped the part about playing fair and tossed up the quaffle.
"And the game begins." Sirius said over the loud speaker. Harry glanced over to the commentary stand and saw that he and Remus were doing it. He laughed to himself; this was going to be a hell of a game.
"Slytherin in possession. . . Goyle takes the quaffle to the Gryffindor's goal posts. . .Oh! Beautiful save by Gryffindor keeper, Ron Weasley!" Remus said enthusiastically.
"Yeah! Take that you greasy old git! Looks like you'll be dishing out the dough this time!" Sirius said, grabbing the microphone from Remus.
"Padfoot, please. . ." Remus said, attempting to get control of the microphone.
Looking through the crowd, Harry could see Snape shaking his head and pulling out a large sack of what appeared to be money. He smirked and flew around over to the goal posts where Ron was floating rather bored.
"Hey Ron! Sirius' got money on this game!"
Ron looked up at him and smiled, "No problem! We'll win and then make him take us out to celebrate!"
Harry laughed and went back to looking for the snitch. Over the next fifteen minutes, Gryffindor scored six goals and blocked two more. Slytherin had made one while Ron had been busy trying to understand what Lavender had been shouting at him, which coincidentally was to notice Crabbe who had scored the goal. Through all this Harry had managed to avoid Malfoy, which was somewhat of a miracle.
However, miracles never last forever, and after a failed dive, Harry came up to find Malfoy's superior smile and typical deriding comment, "Nice try, Potter, maybe next time you'll actually catch the snitch."
Harry rolled his eyes, "Maybe next time you'll actually be able to think of a better come back."
"I'd watch your mouth if I were you." Malfoy said, tiredly, following him around the field.
"Like I'm scared of a prick like you. If I can handle your father, than I can most certainly handle his pathetic excuse for a son." Harry said, squinting around over towards the Slytherin goal posts where Pansy yet again failed to make the block, "Looks like your girlfriend could do with some more practice."
Malfoy's ears tinted pink, "Pansy's a better find than that Mudblood of yours."
Harry whipped around, "Call her that again and I swear to Merlin that I'll make you pay!"
"What? Mudblood too big of an insult? It's true though, you have to admit." Malfoy drove on.
Harry's nostrils flared, but he forced himself to keep his mind on the game. He would get even with him tomorrow, he could wait, "Not as big of one as you are to everyone you're associated with. Not that any of them have a good reputation to begin with."
He flew onward but Malfoy stared a look of pure evil at him, "Don't you EVER insult my family or my friends!"
Harry ignored him but gave his team a loud cheer as Colin scored a goal. Malfoy wasn't about to be ignored, though, he grabbed the stick out of one of his teams' Beaters' hand and flew after Harry.
"And the score is 80 to 10, Gryffindor, as Ginny Weasley scores yet another goal!" Remus said excitedly as Sirius whooped in the background, "Now all we need---oh! This could be it! Potter dives. . .HE GOT IT!!!!"
"YES!!!!! Gryffindor wins, 230 to 10!!!!!!" Sirius yelled into the microphone, nearly causing everyone to go deaf, "Snape you good for nothing piece of shit, you owe me twenty galleons!"
Harry pulled out of the dive, less than twenty feet from the ground with the snitch held tightly in his hand. His teammates met him as he reached their level in the air and hugged. Megan even had a few tears leak out of her eyes, Harry had learned one thing about her so far, she was Oliver reincarnated.
The team separated and started heading back to the ground when out of no where, a bludgers hit Harry in the back of the head. Quite a few people screamed as he fell from the air. His team members sped after him, only to discover the reason why Seekers were always so small. They made it to the ground just as he collided with it.
"Harry! Harry, you okay!?" Ron asked, turning him onto his back. Not surprisingly, he wasn't conscious at the time, though this only worried them more.
"Is he breathing!?" Ginny asked shrilly.
"Yeah, but look, he's bleeding!" Dean said, pointing out the red liquid seeping out of Harry's head.
"Who the hell hit him!? The game was over! That's against the rules!" Megan raged.
"Harry! Is he okay!?" Hermione shrieked, as she, Lavender, Sirius, Tali, Remus, and Dumbledore reached them.
"He's bleeding and won't wake up!" Colin informed them.
"Wait till I get my hands on whoever hit him! I swear to Merlin they're going to pay!" Sirius shouted, eyes gleaming madly.
"Not now, Sirius. We have to get him to the hospital wing." Tali said urgently.
***************************(You're lucky. . .I was gonna leave it there)************************
Hours passed and Harry slept on. Anxiety reached a new high as Madame Pomfrey told them that there one possibility was that he might have a concussion when he woke, or even temporary memory loss. Fortunately, Colin had passed his passion for photography to his younger brother who had snapped a picture of Malfoy hitting the bludger that had hit Harry. Malfoy, of course, had been severely punished. One hundred points from Slytherin house AND detention for the remainder of the year.
This had hardly been enough for any of the Marauder or Tali. All of them had to be physically restrained from hunting down the "good for nothing, cowardly, asshole," as Ron as so delicately put it. Dumbledore had smiled sadly and said pointedly that there was always tomorrow. Of course they all knew what he meant, but if Harry couldn't enjoy his own prank, than none of them were going to.
At the moment, it was going on seven o'clock, four hours since the game. The Marauders, both old and new, and Tali ate in the hospital wing. They had utterly refused to leave and after an okay by Dumbledore they were allowed to stay. No one said a thing as they ate. Every now and then, glances were stolen at Harry who remained still and silent. The dinner dishes were magically replaced with dessert platters. A couple of them picked at the sweets, but none were really that hungry.
". . .That smells good." came a tired voice from across the room.
Instantly all eyes had swerved towards the sound of the voice to see Harry pushing himself into a sitting position. He turned to them and smiled as they hurried over to him.
"Harry! How are you feeling?" Hermione asked worriedly.
Harry thought for a moment, ". . .A little sore. What happened, anyway?"
"That mother fucker hit you with a bludger!" Ron growled.
Surprisingly, Harry laughed, "Stupid git. . .it's not a good idea to tick off a bunch of wild animals."
"Harry, it's not funny, you could have really been hurt!" Sirius said critically.
"He's been punished, right? And of course there our little. . .plan tomorrow. Besides, I'm fine." he said as he attempted to stand up.
Half way up, though, a wave of dizziness struck him and he fell back to bed, "Oh, my head. . .Damn, how close was he when he hit it?"
"According to the picture. . .less than ten feet. You need to stay in bed anyway, Harry. Madame Pomfrey will have our heads if we let you get up so soon." Remus said, gently pushing him back down.
Harry sighed and reluctantly leaned against the headboard, "At least we won. . .you get your money, Sirius?"
Sirius laughed and pulled a sack out of his pocket, "It might have taken some work, but was there ever any doubt?"
"Harry! You're awake!"
The group looked to the door where Ernie MacMillen speedily walked over to them, "Everyone in the Great Hall is worried about you."
Harry sighed and shook his head, "Nothing new there."
"What do you want, MacMillen?" Ron asked shortly, still having yet to forgive him for the entire incident in their second year.
Ernie crossed his arms, "I came here to give Harry a message from us Huffelpuffs."
"A message?" Hermione asked.
He smiled brightly, "Due to recent events, we have decided to assist you in your. . .you know, tomorrow."
"Great!" Harry said cheerfully, "Practically the entire school's in on it now! He better watch his back tomorrow!"
"It won't make any difference, Mr. Potter. You aren't going anywhere."
There was a simultaneous groan from everyone else in the room as Madame Pomfrey bustled up to them with a potion bottle in her hand, "You fell over fifty feet to the frozen ground after being hit, in the *head*, with a bludger. It must have hit you harder than I originally thought if you think you're leaving any time soon."
"Oh, go on, Poppy. You can't keep him locked up here when there a trick to pull!" Tali said seriously.
"I most certainly can. Now if you all would excuse me, I must see to my patient. All of you, out---Not you, Potter! Get back in that bed." Pomfrey said, pushing Harry back in bed as he attempted to follow his friends out of the hospital wing.
He sighed irritably as Pomfrey set the potion on his bedside table and started changing the bandages on his head. This wasn't how he planned on spending the rest of his days. A sweet cry drew his attention to the door where Hedwig flew and landed on his knees.
"Hey, Hedwig, where have you been lately?" he asked her.
Her eyes started welling up and Harry graciously lowered his head. Immediately he felt his dizziness and soreness begin to diminish. Pomfrey clicked her tongue, apparently annoyed at the shortcut to recovery.
"Thanks, Hedwig." Harry said thankfully, stroking her gently.
"You're still not getting out of here by tomorrow." Pomfrey said sternly.
Harry laughed, "No, of course not."
It was for the best he supposed; now he had more time to go over the finer details with all those participating. Other than that, at least one of those absurd training sessions would have to be cancelled.
Pomfrey had by now poured the potion in the bottle into a cup and pushed it towards him, "Here, drink this. You need to rest."
Harry looked at it with a raised eye brow. The brown, bubbling goop had the same consistency as that of thick mud. Leaning over it, a particularly large bubble burst and splattered his forehead with the mystery substance.
He looked back to the nurse with incredibly, "You're kidding, right?"
In truth she couldn't have looked sterner if she tried, "Do I ever joke about these things? It'll help heal your head and help you sleep."
Glancing back at the cup he shook his head, "No way. If that's what it looks like. . ."
"Potter! You're going to take that one way or another; you might as well make it easy on yourself." Pomfrey said in a way that slightly made Harry cower.
Regret building up in advance, he took a small sip before scrunching his face in disgust and holding the cup as far away as possible, ". . .Tasty. . ."
"Now the rest."
Harry brought the cup to his face but quickly drew back, "No, sorry. It isn't going to happen."
"Potter. . ." Pomfrey led off in a warning tone.
He stared at the muddy "potion" and shuddered. There was no way he would be able to get the rest of it down. He hadn't tasted very much, but it was enough to kill any hope of taking the rest. Harry looked back to Hedwig who was staring at him with an odd expression. Opening his mouth to ask her what it was, he suddenly found the potion being forced down his throat. He tried to spit it out but found that it had already gone down. Collapsing against his pillow he held his mouth open in disgust. That was by far the MOST nauseating thing he had ever had to get down in his entire life.
As drowsiness began to overcome him, he saw Pomfrey shoo off Hedwig before pulling the blankets over him and walk away muttering something that sounded like, "Kids these days. . ."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, I was going to put more into this chapter, but it was getting kind of long. . .So. . .whatcha thinking? Bet you're wishing for the next installment, right? Well, I'm working on it. . .Malfoy's going to get it. . .and I apologize in advance for any stupidity that might ensue. Anywho. . .you like the chapter? Yes or no, gotta let me know. . .hey, that rhymes. . .hehehe! Write a review, pretty please!
POLE TIME: Alright, time for a reader's choice. The end of this story could have two outcomes. Either A: Malfoy still hates the Marauders and vice versa, but he turns out to not be that bad. Or B: Malfoy hates them so much that he transfers to a different school for the next year. Now, this is very important for the sequel. I need to know now so I start working out the details. . .