I hope this is a bit longer than before! Thanks to everyone who's reading this!
'Excellent! I have never seen anyone keep that well!' Daniel beamed at Sirius as they touched down to the ground after a successful practice session. Sirius was playing absolutely perfectly and the chasers hadn't been able to goal at all. James was seeking fantastically as well. Sirius's recovery had seemed to give him new heart and new spirit. He caught the snitch in a matter of seconds. This time, Daniel was sure they would win their match against Durmstrang. Sirius beamed back at Daniel.
'And James… you're the man! You're the one who should be winning this match for us, OK?' Daniel said to James, clapping him appreciatively on his back.
'Sure thing boss'said James playfully.
'Right then! To the changing rooms, end of practice!' Daniel exclaimed and lead the way to the changing rooms.
'Great session mate!' said James as he walked over to Sirius who was bent over, tying his shoelaces.
'Thanks!' said Sirius as he finally stood up.
'You can't believe how glad I am to have you back!' said James as the two friends walked over to the changing rooms.
'You can't believe how glad I am to be back' replied Sirius good-naturedly.
'If we play like this against Durmstrang, there's no way we can lose!' James declared.
'Yup!' cried Sirius as he changed into his normal clothes and out of his heavy Quidditch robes.
'I waited so long last night, where were you?' asked Lily the next morning at breakfast.
'I… well, I just came in late!' lied James. Truth was, James, Sirius were formulating a plan against Snape again… as always! But of course Lily didn't know this. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter had then sneaked into the Slytherin common room and finally put their plan into action. They had poured a Drying Potion into Snape's hair products. That way, whenever he oiled or gelled his hair, they would dry up and stand at end. This potion really wasn't meant to have such drastic effect, but as always, the famous four had altered some ingredients for it to act that way. It also caused a lot of dandruff to settle in Snape's hair, so it would shed anywhere he went.
'You should've told me you were to come late' Lily retorted. 'I would've at least gotten some sleep!' she said. James chose not to reply.
Sirius arrived at that exact moment. 'Yo!' he cried as he came over to James and Lily and sat opposite them.
'Hey' said Lily, with a bit more happiness in her tone than when she had talked to James. She was very cross with him. He had given her less and less time by the day as the Durmstrang match drew to a close. It was now only three days away.
'How're you today m'lady?' asked Sirius.
Lily giggled. 'Very well, Sir!' she acted back. Sirius simply laughed and raised his eyebrows at James.
'What's up with him?' he asked.
'I suggest you ask him yourself!' Lily replied stiffly.
'Nothing's up with me!' cried James defensively.
'Oh?' Sirius said, raising his eyebrows. 'You can tell me all about it later' he mouthed at James. James smiled and nodded. Fortunately, Lily was busy eating her breakfast and didn't look at what was happening. Sirius winked.
'The Durmstrang Team is arriving tomorrow' Daniel Thompson announced as he entered the Great Hall for breakfast. The Gryffindors cheered.
'Bring 'em on!' James cried.
'I want you all to be ready! They can try to sabotage our players, give them NO chance!' Daniel cautioned.
'C'mon Danny! We can handle them!' Sirius cried enthusiastically.
'Don't become over-confident. It's the one thing that is bound to make us lose this match' Daniel went on frowning at Sirius who completely ignored this little warning.
The very next day which was a Friday, the Great Hall was filled with students. The castle of Hogwarts had been given an extra cleaning round and now gleamed perfectly. Peeves was warned and threatened till he shut himself up in one of the unused classrooms on the top floor. The metal suits of armors were oiled and now made no noise when they walked. The gate of the castle was polished till it shone and had a brand new golden knocker at the front. A good impression had lasting effect.
Dumbledore stood up. 'In a few moments, we will have the honor of welcoming the Durmstrang Quidditch team along with their headmaster of course' he informed his students.
'Honor… yeah right!' Sirius scoffed, earning a severe stare from Daniel.
The whole Hall waited for their guests. Five…ten…fifteen minutes passed by and there was no sign of the Durmstrang team.
'There's something known as etiquettes! And that includes being on time when you're going somewhere!' said Selina George impatiently as she checked her watch for the umpteenth time.
'I so agree with you' James said wearily.
Sirius yawned hugely.
'And… I dare say, is that the sound of arrival?' Dumbledore called out. The students turned towards the open doors of the castle. There was a bubbling sound from the lake and a whirlpool occurred right there and then… as if someone had taken out the plug at the bottom of the lake.
A black-blue ship that had an evil sort of air to it, emerged from the water and came up to the surface. The door of the ship opened and a man who seemed to be in his 60s came out. He was plump and had a thick neck. He was wearing clothes that seemed to made out of the most expensive fur and the most exquisite leopard skin. the few strands of hair that decorated his shiny scalp were combed back. He had small, shiny eyes that glinted in the dark.
'Ah! Mr. Hemphord!' cried Dumbledore and started to clap. 'Durmstrang's headmaster!' he informed the students. The students joined in with the applause as the plump figure of Mr. Hemphord made its way into the Great Hall. Followed by Mr. Hemphord was none other than the Durmstrang Quidditch team. Everyone on their team was huge and massive. They too, had fur coats on of a royal-blue color. Big and burly, the Gryffindor team seemed like a joke next to them. However, Sirius simply scoffed them off and made fun of them in whispers to James, Remus and Peter.
'Welcome! Welcome!' Dumbledore cried amidst the applause by his students.
'Thank You, Dumbledore!' Mr. Hemphord said, smiling. 'And Thank you dear students!' he said referring to all the students filled in the Great Hall. The crowd applauded again.
'It's not everyday you get a welcome like this one! Extraordinary!' he said appreciatively. 'May I present to you, my own students' he said motioning his team to come forwards. The Durmstrang team marched forwards.
'Gits' Sirius muttered.
'Pleased to meet you all' Dumbledore said politely. 'You may be seated in any one of the four House tables over here' he motioned towards the four, long tables. The Durmstrang team lingered awkwardly for a moment then went and sat down at the Hufflepuff table.
'I told you they were total gits! Hufflepuff, I ask you…' said Sirius joyfully as the Durmstrang team took their places in between Hufflepuff students. They removed their heavy fur coats and were found to be wearing a handsome grey uniform inside. Mr. Hemphord took his place next to Dumbledore and engaged him into conversation.
After a while, Dumbledore spoke up:
'Now that we are all settled, let the feast begin!' he cried and no sooner had the words come out of his mouth when food magically appeared in the golden plates and goblets that glinted marvelously in the light of the chandeliers that had been put up in honor of the guests.
The Durmstrang students seemed quite impressed by the food that was served and pointed excitedly at the golden plates and the glossy goblets. Dumbledore remained engaged in conversation with Mr. Hemphord and the rest of the Hall ate their way through three delicious courses. The house elves had certainly out done themselves.
'That wasn't so bad' said Paul Stately, the other beater (alongside Selina) on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. 'I thought their arrival would be… sort of gaudy' he admitted.
'Yeah' agreed Edwin Poirier.
'That's the team captain and one of the beaters from their team' Daniel Thompson whispered to his team indicating at the hugest team member from the Durmstrang team. 'Woah!' said Sirius, his brow furrowing. 'He's… enormous!' he cried.
'Yeah!' said James, looking a bit worried. 'He may not even need the beater's bat! He can simply swing his arm at it!' he added.
'I told you… their team is not a joke! No matter how good we may be, we can never be too confident. There's always room for improvement' Daniel kept reminding his team.
'That one on the left, with that spiky haircut…? That one' Lily was whispering to her friend Jennifer Fanning.
'What about 'em?' asked James abruptly, across the table.
Lily glared at James for a moment, then said: 'He's kind of cute'
James narrowed his eyes at her. Surprisingly, she smiled and mouthed 'You're cuter!' her anger towards James vanishing in a moment. James flushed red.
'That one is the seeker, James' Daniel pointed out, indicating to the same person Lily was pointing at.
'Oh' said James, his jaw clenching. He was so going to win now!!
Heck! it's not only 'a bit longer' it's 3 pages! My average is about 1 ½ page or something! WoW!! Anyways, my reviewers:
Padfootsluvr: Thanks again for your review! If it weren't for you guys reviewing my story, I would've been really hurt! Thanks a lot!!
LavenderMansworth: buddy! What's up? Hehe… you've got some great possibilities there, it'll be quite long before you find out what really happened! So… yeah! You'll have to keep on reading!
