Hmm...yeah...no one is reading this thing, I realize that...but gawww...Harry Potter is just so damn addictive. This is a weird filler chapter cuz I couldn't think of what to write. But it's unexpected...So if you do like this, read and review!
That's right, read and review ppl, read and review!
Chapter Eleven :: James
"Alrighty, everyone. I want a good, solid practice today! No goofing off on your brooms, no beating each other senseless with the Bludgers, and you'll all be glad to know that I've gotten Star out of detention due to my amazing skills of rhetoric and persuasion." James looked at the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. There were the Beaters-- Beatrice Magnelli and Jonathan Atwood. Though they looked rather imposing, they were just as manuverable as any Seeker. There were the Chasers-- Anthony Walker, Morgan Pickney, and Steorra Ming, the fastest, most agile Chasers you'll find on any of the House Teams. Christian Kirchner, the German exchange student. Though he barely spoke English, he was a damn good Keeper. And of course, there was himself, James Potter-- Super Seeker Extraordinaire.
"Our first games of the tournament is with Ravenclaw on Saturday," he continued, "that gives us...oh...three days, two hours, thirty-eight minutes, and..."James peered at his watch, "sixteen seconds to prepare to beat the crap out of them."
"You know," Beatrice began, "I heard Ravenclaw is actually good this year, ever since they got that new Seeker...what was his name..."
"The hot one?" Steorra piped in, "With the gorgeous black hair and those beautiful blue eyes?"
"Yeah, him," Beatrice nodded enthusiastically.
James scowled. The rest of the team, all male, groaned. "Hey. This isn't Gossipville. Anyway, no pretty boy is going to stand between me and a free trip up north.
"James, we're all probably gonna be able to go to Durmstrang anyway. Stop thinking like a cheapskate," Steorra said, "Anyway, let's just practice."
The seven of them kicked off the ground on their brooms and soared into the air.
"Just a few warm-up laps, and then I'll let the balls loose!" James shouted over the loud rushing of the wind.
No sooner had he finished speaking when, zoom! A rogue Bludger came out of nowhere and missed James' head by mere inches. He looked down onto the ground. A tiny robed figure with a head full of blonde hair stood there, pointing and seemingly laughing at them. Around him, were more robed figures, also all pointing and laughing.
There was a painful groan somewhere over his right shoulder. The Bludger had smashed into Jonathan Atwood's face. Blood poured out of his nose.
"Lucius Malfoy," James heard Steorra growl, "I'm gonna castrate you, your worthless piece of shit!" She sped past James, a blur, and directly into the crowd gathered on the ground.
James made a half-hearted attempt to stop her, but sat back and watched as Steorra pulled out of her dive, just before hitting the ground. The Slytherins all scattered.
Spells were exchanged as sparks flew between the dueling wands of Steorra and Lucius. The Gryffindors lowered their brooms to near ground level as they enjoyed the fight. Lucius seemed to be gaining the upper hand. Steorra dodged an impediment jinx, dropped her wand, and ran head first into Lucius, knocking him over and his wand fell onto the grass. It had turned into a fist-fight. Occasional insults were hurled. Spells were shouted with no effect without the wand. At last, after several long minutes of this, Beatrice walked up to the two wrestling on the ground, and gave Lucius a good, sound whack to the noggin.
A small audience, mostly Gryffindors who had come out to watch the practice, had gathered. Lily shot out of the crowd, running. She roughly dragged Steorra up.
"Are you stupid?!" She snapped. "Do you think there's gonna be any more Quidditch for you after this?! And you!" She turned to James, "Are you out of your friggin' mind? Letting her beat up Lucius Malfoy?"
James gave a pitiful, pathetic shrug. "Well…she did get beat up pretty bad too…besides…he started it…" He stared resentfully at the still, unconscious form of Lucius, lying limply on the ground. Then, his face lit up. He took out his wand and pointed it at Lucius. "Obliviate!" He said. "There," he turned proudly to Lily, "See? Problem solved. I trust none of you are gonna tell," James turned threateningly to the crowd, lovingly caressing his wand. "Sirius and I have been developing a new hex. It's called the Twitching Hex. Anyone care to be our first test subject?"
The crowd eyed each other nervously. "No James, certainly not; no James, your secret is safe with us," and scattered.
Lily gave him a disgusted look and stalked off.
"Wha?" James looked around, confused.
"Hmm…I think I broke a few fingers…" Steorra held her hand up to the fading light, trying to wriggle fingers that bent at odd places. She flinched as arrows of pain shot through her arm.
James surveyed her up and down. Her robes were torn and grass-stained. There were a few cuts and scrapes here, a nice welt across her left cheek, and a split lip that bled profusely. She looked okay.
"Er…James? Shouldn't she go to the hospital wing?" Anthony Walker asked, cringing a little at the sight of blood.
"Well…those fingers might be a bit of a problem…" James paused and thought for a moment. "But you really need to work on catching the Quaffle with your left hand, Star."
Steorra raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I can't quite feel my nose," Jonathan said nasally.
"Okay, okay," James held up his hands. "I'll let you guys off the hook this time. Just tell McGonagall you fell off your broom or something if she asks." Steorra and Jonathan started to walk away. 'Oh, and here, take Malfoy with you!" Lucius had begun to stir on the ground.
James prodded him on the side with his foot. Lucius' eyes blinked open. "Do you know what day it is?"
"Whaaa…?" Lucius looked dazed. "Where am I?"
"Good," James helped him up. He pointed to Steorra, who stood impatiently waiting. "Go and follow that girl to the hospital wing. You took a nasty fall off of your broom there."
Lucius nodded faintly and followed like an obedient monkey-boy.
James watched them disappear into the school and turned back to face his team. None of them seemed to be in the mood for practice anymore, thanks to the rather entertaining distraction.
"I'm guessing none of you are really up for practice today," James said.
There were murmurs of exceedingly large amounts of homework and tiring classes. The general response was a resounding "no." James let them go. He himself had some rather long essays to write for Binns. He took a few laps around the Quidditch pitch as a joy ride and went to the locker rooms to change.
The sun had gone down as he made his way there, and groped around for his school robes. He found them and changed in the dark. It had been an unusually warm day. The cool metal of the lockers felt wonderful to James' skin. He leaned back against a locker and fell to the ground. The events in the last few days had been too much for him. Though he pretended to be perfectly unfazed, it was hard to look Sirius in the eye. When he had been in that…dream world, he had seen both Sirius and Lily, telling him that it was all a ruse…something about being trapped in his own fears…his fear of Sirius being better than him. it was true, wasn't it? James led, but never without Sirius' consent. James was the puppet with Sirius as the puppeteer. Sirius was the good-looking one, the rich one, and direct descendant of the Blacks. James was from some unknown wizarding family. And Star…there was something about her. This whole thing had something to do with Star. James had seen, that day in transfiguration, the brilliant light erupting from her. It was because of that that he'd gone into a coma in the first place. Of that, James was sure of. Then, there was just yesterday, those blood tears Star cried. James had seen the look exchanged between Sirius and lily. They both knew something about Star that he didn't. But what was it? James hated this, this being kept out thing, the whole being alone thing. He had been happy for the first time in his life at Hogwarts. But being alone again might not be so bad. His friends can abandon him. So what? He was used to it. He twirled his wand around; tiny red and gold sparks shot out. James twirled his wand. The sparks fell into line and did the same. This kind of entertainment had sustained James through hours of History of Magic and Arithmancy.
Suddenly, the door burst open. A dark figure stood silhouetted there. James was stirred out of his trace-like reverie. The moon had risen and shone directly into his eyes.
"James, is that you?" Sirius' voice called out, "Come one! Party in the common room! That stink sap we booby trapped Rutherford' office with—"There was a loud crash, thump and two simultaneous "oomphs" sounding from the last row of lockers at the far end.
James hoisted himself up off of the floor, wand at his side; Sirius did the same. They tread cautiously and lit their wands. What they found was Steorra and Lucius, rather naked, going at it on they floor. They had tipped a large bench over into the lockers.