Homework and Hormones
By Hannio
Chapter Three
Prongs the chaser
DISCLAIMER – Err James, Sirius, Remus, Peter and Lily belong not to me, I believe we all know who they do belong to. However this chapter has a few belonging to me – Rome Lupin, Sarah Andrews, Jonathan Wood, Connie Mills and Robert Hammond belong to me, there the Gryffindor Qudditch team people (Waves banner)
AUTHOR NOTE – Here's my third chapter, this one focuses on James, a.k.a Prongs as the chapter title suggest. You'll see a lot of my characters simply because they are 7 people in a team, not just James.Hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think at the end ok!
"Potter do you have your eyes closed or something? How could you have missed such an easy catch? Pay attention!" James closed his eyes briefly whilst he grinded his teeth together. He really wasn't in the mood for this, it was cold, it was raining, and his hands were so numb that he had the feeling that if he tried to move them, they'd simply stick to the broomstick like a tongue on a ice lolly, fresh from the freezer. Whether he was Remus's older brother or not, James was convinced that Rome Lupin was a bastard and a slave driver, who else would have the Gryffindor Qudditch team out in such conditions?
"Did you hear me Potter?" the older boy yelled again, bringing his broomstick closer to the stationary boy. James looked up at him gripping numb fingers slightly tighter on the smooth wood, eyes flashing from behind his glasses.
"Yes Lupin I heard you" he snapped back severely agitated, "I'm surprised the whole stadium and the school hasn't the way you've been bellowing!" Rome's pale blue eyes narrowed slightly as he considered the angry boy.
There was no doubt in his mind that Potter was a fantastic player, he had a control on the broom that was rarely seen, almost as if he was able to meld into it, his hand eye correlation was the best out of the chasers as well. Rome had no doubt the boy would make an impact on the world someday. It wasn't even as if he hated the boy, on the contrary he was fond of the three boys who had befriended his younger brother and made him smile. It was just that James was so damn arrogant that it drove the Captain wild.
"Potter" he warned his voice barely heard over the rushing winds.
"Can we get a move on, It's bloody freezing and I've stuff to do" Both turned to see Darren Wood glaring at them through grey eyes "Continue this on the ground" Rome nodded slightly at his friend who was looking mightily cold and pissed off,
"It's getting dark as well" Connie Mills pointed out swiftly coming up and indicating the darkening sky with a tilt of her head. James sighed heavily watching his breath come out in a puff of mist in front of him and allowed himself a quick scan of the stands. A grin covered his face as he saw the three familiar figures of Sirius, Remus And Peter, sitting there wrapped up snugly in many thick layers in amongst a crowd of mostly empty seats. It was rare of them to ever miss one of his practices and even then it was normally only Remus who did, through circumstances that couldn't be helped.
"Fine" Rome sighed in defeat "I guess we'll call it a day then." A whoop went up around the Gryffindor team causing Rome to shake his head as a reluctant grin came to his face, "The way you all moan, it's as if you don't even like playing Qudditch and practicing to win the cup."
"Oh we do," Sarah Andrews, the second beater, assured him, "we just don't like doing it in the freezing cold."
"Or the rain." Darren added with a grin.
"Or when it's so dark I can barely even see my face let alone a tiny, incredibly fast little golden ball" the seeker, Robert Hammond, said at this point flying up to them, the small ball firmly in his hand.
"Fine, fine, I get the point, I need a group talk though when we get back in the common room so I'll see you when you all get dressed, I won't keep you long." He smiled again and gracefully flew to the ground, the others following calling to each other as they did.
"When was the last time we heard that?" Connie shouted with a grin
"Last game" Sarah shouted back, laughing as she lightly jumped off onto the ground, "and every time we've ever played!". James remained silent, a crease marring his brow slightly, that practice definitely had not gone as well for him as he expected of himself, Rob had done as well as usual, Connie and Spencer were as good as ever and Sarah and Jonathan were simply great beaters. It was just him who was rubbish it seemed.
He sighed and stomped into the changing room where Rome and Darren joked around, unconsciously ignoring him, James was glad, the last thing he needed at that very second was Rome to start giving him another lecture.
"You ok James?" James frowned as he looked up and was confronted by a pair of dark brown eyes looking into his. He blinked taking in the good-looking face and well-kept black hair and spoke,
"Yeah Spence I'm as great as ever." Spencer Hill frowned at the younger boy, for someone who was meant to be as great as ever he sure wasn't looking happy and Spence knew from past experience that when James was happy, the world knew about it. He now shrugged
"You were good out there today," he commented lightly as he took off his t-shirt to reveal a nicely toned stomach and chest. James nodded absently running a hand through his hair.
"Sure I was" Spence glanced at him through the corner of his eye and nodded his head, pulling his shirt on as he did
"You were, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. You're only 14, not many people could do what you do you know." James shrugged off his own t-shirt and rolled his shoulders round trying to gain some feeling back into them, his fingers were beginning to painfully come to life.
"14" he repeated, ignoring most of what Spence had said "The bloody youngest in the squad by two years" Spence grinned at him
"Someone has to be, it used to be me, so its good you're here now, you get all the pranks and dares instead" an unwilling grin came to James's face as the other boy winked and nudged him with his elbow.
"You mean they try" He retorted. Spencer laughed out loud
"They'll find your weakness James, they always do, and then they'll exploit it at every opportunity, trust me on this, being a Marauder won't save you" James shook his head,
"Not likely, my secrets are well kept." he boasted then looked curiously at the older boy "And so your weakness was?" he prompted. Spence shook his head
"A secret from the likes of you Potter" he remarked kindly "See ya in the common room, you might want to hurry up though. You know what Rome is like for pacing and grumbling when he's kept waiting long." he grinned brightly at James then left. James cast a quick glance around him and groaned. Rome and Darren were nowhere in sight. He was already late.
Within 10 minutes he was sprinting up the staircase towards the common room, ignoring the portraits to the side of him who were either cheering him on or giving him a disapproving look as he passed. He flung the password at the fat lady and sprinting in, allowing himself to pause and grin at his three friends who were in their usual seats by the fire and dropped in one of the chairs to the side, where the other team were. He saw Spencer glance at his watch and raise a disapproving eyebrow
"15 minutes late, why Potter I believe that's a new record for you" he teased, clapping slowly "Congratulations!"
"He'll beat it" Sarah remarked at Spencer, blue eyes twinkling in the bright light. Connie looked unconvinced, tapping her finger absently against her lower lip.
"I don't know, remember, this is James we're talking about, I've heard rumours that him and the rest of his little gang are impossible to wake up"
"If they were" Sarah pointed out in a mock serious voice "Then young Potter wouldn't be here now" Spencer nodded
"So true, so true" James broke in at this point
"I'm not that bad!" he said sticking up for himself since no one else seemed to be doing it "I'm rarely late"
"Really?" Darren scoffed, sitting himself in one of the chairs, he sent a lazy grin in James's direction "I wouldn't say that to Rome if I was you, he's still pissed off about the last meeting" James looked thoughtful.
"Don't you remember, 2 weeks ago" Connie prompted. James thoughtful expression remained; you could almost see the cogs turning in his head.
"Can't say that I do, it's a vague memory if that"
"You arrived half an hour late after doing some wild scheme with Black, Pettigrew and my brother" Rome announced at this point, they all looked up to see if he was angry but instead was smiling. "Like I said this won't take long"
"Bollocks" someone coughed, in a crude attempt at being inconspicuous Rome turned to Spence with a questioning look
"Everything ok there Hill?" he asked pleasantly "That's quite the cough you have, shall I escort you to Madam Pomphrey?" Spence shook his head
"No just clearing my throat Lupin, you carry on with the wonderful speech you've chosen to bless us with this evening"
"Come on" Robert said with pleading green-blue eyes "Dinner's soon and I'm starving, everyone has already eaten bar us" he said rather resentfully.
"Yeah and I have a date tonight" Sarah announced, immediately Connie turned to her and squealed
"You have oh my god, you kept that quiet, what's his name? What house? Is he cute?" Sarah grinned back blushing a little at the sudden interest and went to answer when Rome cut over her forcefully.
"As I was about to say-" a quick glance round showed them to finally all be listening at last, "-there's no doubt that we are the best team, as usual. We always are but for some reason winning the cup always seems to be slightly out of our grasp, this year however it will change."
"Hear, hear" Darren said banging on the table showing his support, a talk with Rome was always amusing because he always lost himself, the team always tried to spur him on. The most memorable occasion was when Rome had gotten himself revved up into a frenzy pepping the team before a big match, to the point where his face was a brilliant shade of pink, and he had with a sudden outburst, taken of his shoe and thrown it at an innocent first year who had merely coughed as he'd walked past.
"I'm 17 now and this is my last year as captain and I'll be damned if I see the Quidditch cup in the hands of a slimy…"
"Yeah" the girls said together, grinning as they got into the spirit of the Captain's words, they knew who he was talking about
"Greasy…" Rome continued his voice becoming louder as he spoke each word
"More, more" the boys joined Sarah and Connie in their chant this time even James as depressed as he was feeling couldn't help but get into the mood of things chanting the same as the others were and ignoring the amused look the other Marauders were shooting at him, The team only becoming silent when Rome continued
"Good for nothing Slytherin" Rome looked quite fierce for a second, blue eyes glinting and his teeth grinding together as if he was ready to find a couple of Slytherins and start a rumble right there and then. "The Slytherin team is nothing compared to ours, we can crush them with our skills but they use foul methods and it's those foul methods that help them win." He ended off almost talking to himself.
"We could just use the same methods back?" Robert suggested hesitantly then nearly flinched as Rome's passion filled eyes flickered to him.
"No" he roared attracting the rest of the common room's attention "We'll never lower ourselves to do anything like the Slytherins, we don't need to cheat to win like they do." He looked around them all individually "I have faith in you all," his eyes landed on James, who stared back meeting the eyes full on "and I know we can do this. We have the best seeker out of the four houses" Robert grinned, his eyes brightening even as he spoke
"Not as good as Russell Johns, the Ravenclaw one" he pointed on but Rome brushed his statement aside with a wave of the hand.
"He's lazy" he said "You're not, that's the difference, we have the best beaters as well no one can get by them"
"Damn right" Darren said coming to his feet and punching the air, if there was anyone who took it as seriously as Rome it was his best friend and second in command Darren, "Me and Sarah rock" Sarah clapped adding her agreement, grinning all the while, it was impossible to be serious at these meetings.
"The chasers are…" Rome stopped lost for words and just indicated the three instead beaming.
"The keeper's not bad either, we could do better though" Spence remarked with a laugh a teasing look on his face
"Yeah he's gotten a bit podgy recently" Connie replied giggling. Rome rolled his eyes
"Sure" he replied patting a trim stomach "So fat I can barely walk" the squad laughed "That's all I have to say right now, we're gonna win this, I can feel it in my bones" he looked solemn for a moment then grinned and jumped up "I'm off to the library" he made his way to the door after this announcement
"Leaving so soon" Sarah shouted after him
"Yeah you doing work what a joke" Robert yelled after him, Rome turned round and winked
"Work?" he repeated "I didn't mention anything about work" he grinned and walked out the common room, quickly turning back and saying something in French to Remus who looked confused for a second before nodding his head then Rome was gone.
"Great captain" Connie said with a smile "Rather scary but quite cute."
"Scary" Spence said with a smile "Bloody insane about Qudditch you mean." he stood up, "I'm off to see my older sister quickly, see ya later." James watched him go then stood up himself
"You did good today" Robert suddenly said "You'll be the best Chaser yet y' know?" he went to say more but Connie jumped him with a pillow and began whacking him with good will, yelling as she did
"Better than me? Never! Eat pillow Hammond" James wearily made his way over to where the others sat and collapsed into his favourite chair, which Remus had gotten out for him
"How was it then?" Sirius asked looking at him keenly, he did not seeming majorly happy nor miserable.
"It was great and I got praise and everything, the only bad thing was Rome yelling at me." Remus sighed and looked up.
"My brother's like that." He said with a shrug, "He wants to win, you're good and he knows it, that's why he picked you and not Andrea Roberts to be the chaser," James breathed out loudly
"Yeah, well he's really acting like he regrets it" Sirius frowned
"Naw, you're just tired," he said casually. Peter looked at him
"No doubt some food and sleep will do you good" he looked past James and grinned, "You know what else may cheer you up?" he remarked, James shrugged still looking glum
"What?" he replied
"Lily Evans just entered the room" James remained motionless for a minute then the next his head was flying round and a lovelorn grin covered his face as the girl he had been staring at in the library walked in, tall and slim with red hair and emerald green eyes she was extremely pretty and it was becoming public knowledge that the chaser liked her desperately. Unfortunately though she seemed to hate him in return.
"Hi Lily" he said brightly as she stalked past on the way to the girls dormitory running a hand through his unruly hair in a pointless attempt to make it appear more controlled. Lily glanced uninterested at both him and Sirius who simply watched her with a bored look, she looked over at Peter in disinterest but smiled sweetly at Remus,
"Hello Remmie, you look well." Remus smiled back nervously looking cautiously at James who had suddenly stiffened
"Err… Hi Lily, you look well too" Lily smiled at him as she ascended the stairs, once she was gone, James turned to Remus with a glare, he held his hands up in defence "She spoke to me, not the other way round and I couldn't be rude and ignore her" James continued looking at him then sighed, his face relaxing into a stupid grin
"She so wants me" Peter glanced at Remus and Sirius with a raised eyebrow
"Did we just see the same scene as he did? Or did I blink and see something completely different" Sirius grinned as he patted Peter's arm
"Nope we all saw it except Lover boy there" Remus grinned as well then glanced at his watch. He jumped up and casually ran a hand through his head, the other three looked at him in surprise,
"How do I look?" he demanded surprisingly, Sirius made a face and frowned
"The same as you always do, as if you have a huge stick up yo…."
"Stop right there Siri" Remus warned "Or I'll have to beat you once again" Sirius held his hands up, like Remus had done only a short time earlier and became muted though his eyes still looked curious
"You look fine" Peter assured him, Remus grinned at him
"Cheers Peter" he said "Right I'm off see you later"
"Where you going?" James asked finally dragging himself out of his thoughts
"Library" Remus replied instantly
"You need to know how you look because you're going to the library?" Peter replied in confusion, a slightly suspicious look dawning on his face as he looked at the werewolf who suddenly seemed interested in everything else bar them.
"Yeah well… see ya" he ran out the common room before they could say anything else
"Well that was interesting" Sirius replied still staring at the entrance to the common room with a frown, James nodded
"I've never known Remus to ask that question before" Peter added looking thoughtful "About him looking good I mean" James shrugged
"That's because he already knows he looks good" he replied, " Just like we always do, there's something suspicious going on" Sirius tore his eyes away from the entrance and glanced at James
"So what did you find out?" he demanded, James frowned
"I haven't spoken to my mate if that what you mean" he replied, Sirius nodded impatiently
"Yeah but you must of spoken to Spence" James made a face "you just spent all that time with him"
"I completely forgot, I know now that they have an older sister though" Peter rolled his eyes
"Yeah that's gonna help" he muttered, James fixed a glare on him and although Peter met his eyes at first he soon dropped them and apologised, once he had James continued
"I was so pissed off with Rome that I wasn't thinking" Sirius nodded
"We could tell from the ground" he conceded "You'll have to find out soon though, Remmie's being stubborn as hell, I have more luck of changing my mothers views then finding out about his secret" his face darkened for a second and he became quiet so Peter continued
"Her birthday's in May" he said "Don't know the date though" Sirius nodded
"2 months younger then Remmie" James stood up
"I'm off to dinner, we had to skip it for training so I'll catch you later, I'll talk to Spence alright and see what I can get" the other two nodded, he waved goodbye and jogged out of the common room, half his mind on Remus the other half on Quidditch. Just how was he going to prove to Rome Lupin that he belonged on the squad as much as any other player was? It was a mystery but he was going to solve it.
There you go, I hope you enjoy it. You know the drill, pleasant and helpful reviews below, flames above to the back box.
I'll update soon ok!
Hannio xxxx